Continental Life Building

skyscraper
art-deco
MO
St Louis

About the Continental Life Building in St Louis
Architect and team
Architectureal style
Spaces and uses
Structure and materials

The Continental Life Building is an Art-deco skyscraper designed in 1928 by William B. Ittner and built between 1929 and 1930 in St Louis, MO.

Continental Life Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

Continental Building.
Continental Life Apartments from 2022 until this day.

Its precise street address is 3615 Olive Street, St Louis, MO. You can also find it on the map here.

The building underwent a major restoration between 2001 and 2002. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was HBD Contrating.

Building's timeline

Design completed

1928

Construction begins

1929

Construction completed

1930

Restoration

2002

Continental Life Apartments

2022

years ago

2024

2001 to 2002 - After being closed since 1979, the building was renovated and transformed into residential units. Also, a connection was created with the neighboring building, which was adapted to create a parking lot with a rooftop pool for the residents' use. The architect in charge was HBD Contrating.

Architect and team

William B. Ittner was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

William B. Ittner was in charge of the architectural design, however, architecture is a complex discipline, which usually involves many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Otis as the company in charge of the elevators system.

Architectural Style

The Continental Life Building can be categorized as an Art-deco building.

The Art Deco movement flourished during the 1920s and 1930s, with many historians marking the outbreak of World War II as its final decline. Even though a couple of decades might not seem as much, the Art Deco movement had a great impact on architecture, and it's widely represented in many American cities due to the development boom that happened during that time.

Art Deco marked the abandonment of traditional historicism and the embracement of modern living and the age of the machine. In architecture, that meant leaving behind the ornaments of Beux-Arts and Neo-Gothic buildings and instead favoring simplicity and visual impact through geometric shapes, clean lines, and symmetrical designs. Ornaments were still an important part of the design, but they became bold and lavish, and were often inspired by ancient cultures or industrial imagery, instead of nature.

The Continental Life Building was completed in 1930, right when the Art Deco movement was at its peak, so it kind of went with the trend at that time.

Spaces & Uses

The Continental Life Building reaches an architectural height of 285ft (87m). It has a total of 23 floors, 22 above ground and 1 basements, served by 2 elevators.

In regards to parking space, the building has a total of 50 spots available, which roughly equals 2 spots per floor (above ground).

When it opened its doors to the public in 1930, the Continental Life Building was primarily used as Commercial space. That however, is no longer the case, and today it mainly provides Residential space.

About the residences

The Continental Life Building has a total of 107 residential units throughout its 22 floors.

Materials & Structure

The Continental Life Building uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade is non-load bearing either, as it is common in frame structure type buildings.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a dark gray granite cladding at street level and up to the second floor. The main entrance features stylized columns and an Art Deco pattern above, along with the antique clock that was recovered after restoration.

As we move up, vertical lines accentuate the height of the building, with several setbacks along the way.

Another characteristic feature of the building are the sculpted terracotta figures on the parapet of the 16th floor.

Another material found at the Continental Life Building is green granite, found in the lobby walls and stairs.