The Gateway to the West

Ok, so yesterday I went up into the St. Louis arch and learned a lot more than I thought I was going to. Apparently back in the early 1960's there was a contest to create a monument in St. Louis which would become the central focus of the City and a kind of Gateway into the west. around 180 architects drew up designs for the front part of the city which would lead up to City Hall, and the winner was the guy who created the Arch, which rivaled the Roman Cathedral hallways. It took 2 years to create the arch and not until 1965 was it finished, and in 1967, a man created a lift system which would take you up into the arch (which is what took my dad, CheeseCake, Creego, and myself up to the top of the arch in a little pod)

So today, I wanted to see the types of designs that didn't quite make it in and so I traveled to the old City Hall (it wasn't far, just had to cross ONE street, its right across from the arch, I can see it from my window) and they only had the top 5. There was one with two tall towers off to the side, but by far, the arch blew the rest out of the water. They design is just so much more advanced than anything anyone could have thought of back then, and I'm glad it was built so I could find a great appreciation for it. On my way out, I saw this amazing shot and sooo... I took this.