# Wainwright Building: exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [SULLIVAN, Louis Henry]() - Date: 1851-1900 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary Wainwright Building: exterior view 1890-91 Photo 709 Chestnut Street, St. Louis, Missouri The Wainwright Building \(also known as the Wainwright State Office Building\) is a 10-story, 41 m high office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It is considered to be one of the first aesthetically fully expressed early skyscrapers. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, built between 1890 and 1891, and named for a local brewer, building contractor, and financier Ellis Wainwright. Aesthetically, the Wainwright Building exemplifies Sullivan's theories about the tall building, which included a tripartite \(three-part\) composition \(base-shaft-attic\) based on the structure of the classical column and his desire to emphasize the height of the building. Despite the classical column concept, the building's design was deliberately modern, featuring none of the neoclassical style that Sullivan held in contempt. ## Related artworks - [Auditorium Building: façade \(detail\)]() - [Auditorium Building: façade]() - [Auditorium Building: general view]() - [Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company Building: entrance]() - [Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company Building]() - [Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company Building]() - [Farmers and Merchants Union Bank]() - [Guaranty Building]() - [Harold C. Bradley House]() - [Home Building Association Bank]() - [Home Building Association Bank]() - [Home Building Association Bank]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()