19 St. Louis Places That Are Way More Beautiful Than You'd Expect

"Downtown St. Louis used to look so terrible, it stood in for post-apocalyptic New York in Escape from New York."

Union Station, 1820 Market St.
"This is an old train station where they shot a shitload of scenes for Escape from New York. Look how far we've come!"

Photo courtesy of Pete / Flickr

Chain of Rocks Bridge

10950 Riverview Dr.
The name might make you think that this bridge is going to be just a natural site -- like a beaver dam that you have to walk across rocks to get to the other side. But the Chain of Rocks Bridge is a real structure that spans the Mississippi River. Walking out above the middle of the river and taking in the gorgeous views is a treat for both locals and tourists. This picture shows one of our favorite angles, a peek over the edge of the bridge at the intake towers (structures that pump water to a treatment plant) that were designed look like they have mini mansions built on top of them.

Photo courtesy of Nagel Photography / Shutterstock

Central Library

1301 Olive St.
Libraries are usually thought of as purely functional spaces. Generally, they're just a place that houses dusty old books and a few behind-the-times computers. But the St. Louis Public Library excels in a few areas and design is at the forefront. While many of the branches are aesthetically pleasing, none of them compare to the Central Library downtown. Holy heck. It's dazzling from top to bottom.

Photo courtesy of Nagel Photography / Shutterstock

Weldon Springs Interpretive Center

7295 MO-94, St. Charles, MO
Known as the "Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail," this site in Weldon Springs is the home of a former uranium processing plant. The toxic materials have since been covered by 75 feet of earth and you can visit it all. Poke through the Interpretive Center to learn all about the history of the area, and then go hike up to the top of the toxic mound (the "Weldon Spring Disposal Cell") for a panoramic view of St. Charles county. It's stunning. And hey, you might glow in the dark after your trip!

Photo courtesy of Ken seghers / Flickr

Union Station

1820 Market St.
For a train station, this is some pretty fancy stuff. St. Louis has always been a port city and a hub of transportation and Union Station was the crown jewel. It was once the largest and busiest train station in the world and its grandness lives on. If you were visiting for the first time and just expecting to just see a hollow hall converted into an indoor mall, you'd be totally shocked by the beauty within.

Photo courtesy of Pete / Flickr

City Hall

1200 Market St.
Paying your personal property tax must be one of the lamest things we do as Americans, but in St. Louis it doesn't have to be an ugly situation. Our City Hall is hauntingly beautiful. Built in the 1890's, the French-style building has ornate towers and ornamental dormer windows on the outside and the inside is equally impressive, with high ceilings and open spaces that create an elegant echo.

Photo courtesy of City of St. Louis / Flickr

St. Louis Fire Department Engine House No. 7

2600 Lasalle St.
St. Louis has no shortage of stunning mid-century modern buildings, so sometimes it's easy to overlook some of the amazing designs that we see every day while just driving around town, like this beautifully preserved fire house along Jefferson near Chouteau.
Photo courtesy of Jaime Lees

Coldwater Creek

Florissant, MO
This awful creek has been spreading the radioactive waste left over from the Manhattan Project all over north county for decades. It has caused so much disease and death that it's kind of shocking when you see it and it appears to just be a harmless little stream tucked under some lovely trees.

Photo courtesy of Melissa / Flickr

McLaughlin Funeral Home

2301 Lafayette Ave.
When the Lafayette Square neighborhood association held a murder mystery fundraiser earlier this year, the setting at the McLaughlin Funeral Home was definitely an attention-grabber -- but no more so than the stately mansion proved to be once party-goers were inside it. Though it was originally built as a single-family home (!) it managed to survive the great tornado of 1896 and eventually became a funeral home, which it remains today. But you should try to check out the beautiful space before you're the one being laid to rest. With elegant stained glass, elaborate chandeliers and a grand old staircase right out of Gone with the Wind, this place is way more gorgeous than the average funeral home.

Photo courtesy of Trish / Flickr

Cotton Belt Freight Depot

1400 N. 1st St.
This five-story railway depot was built in 1911 and has since fallen into a state of complete disrepair. But the Cotton Belt Freight Depot lives on in 2018 and beyond as one of the most prominent sites in the city for street art, as witnessed by this gorgeous mural on its east side.

Photo courtesy of henskechristine

Post Office downtown

1720 Market St.
A series of big heavy doors open into a wide lobby with massive murals on the wall at this post office. Each step echos up to the tall ceilings and reminds us of a time when good design was a priority for even boring government buildings.

Photo courtesy of Jaime Lees

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

975 N. Warson Rd.
The building is essentially a big lab and greenhouse for exploring eco-minded science, but the area outside is a pastoral paradise. The Bio Research & Development Growth Park (pronounced Bridge Park) is a lovely area to stroll through and examine details the details of different plant species. Science can be very pretty.

Photo courtesy of Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Ethical Society of St. Louis

9001 Clayton Rd.
With a round roof that reaches for the heavens and a kaleidoscopic interior courtesy of walls of candy-colored stained glass, the home of the Ethical Society of St. Louis is a total stunner from the bottom to the tippy top.

Photo courtesy of Paul Sableman / Flickr

Flood Wall

Chouteau Ave & Leonor K. Sullivan Blvd.
As a city on a major river, we need a flood wall to (try to) protect our land from rising waters. In most places, flood walls are just functional items, but here they are art. But in St. Louis, artists from around the globe stop in to beautify the dull wall with graffiti art, making the flood wall an ever-changing canvas of local and international art.

Photo courtesy of DukeNewport Photography / Flickr

Lambert Airport

10701 Lambert International Blvd.
This place could not be more confusing to navigate outside, but once you're inside it's a land of beautiful serenity. Architect Minoru Yamasaki's design for the main terminal is awe-inspiring. The vaulted, arched ceilings with swooping aerodynamic lines help to create a sense of peace in anxious travelers.

Photo courtesy of Matthew Hurst / Flickr

River Des Peres

All over St. Louis, Mo
Most of us city slickers know this "River of the Fathers" as a gross-looking concrete-lined storm drain, but the thing runs for 9.3 miles in areas far outside of the city where its tributaries host lots of secret, enchanted corners.

Photo courtesy of Sally Wright

Skate Church

1850 Hogan St.
They call this place the "Skate Church" or the "Church of Sk8n," but its real name was St. Liborius Church. In recent years it's been converted into a private indoor skate park where half pipes fill the holy spaces and the congregation sometimes includes kickflippers like Lil Wayne. Beautiful and blessed.

Photo courtesy of screenshot

U-Haul on South Kingshighway

1641 S. Kingshighway Blvd.
When you go into a U-Haul rent a truck, you don't expect to find world-class art hovering over you, but that's exactly what happens at the location on Kingshighway just north of HIghway 44. The ceiling there was molded in 1940 by Isamu Noguchi for former occupants of the building and the U-Haul recently gave city preservationists the tingles when they removed the drop ceiling tiles that had been covering it.

Photo courtesy of Jaime Lees

Rainbow Car Wash

3142 S. Big Bend Blvd.
Technically this place is called Big Bend Car Wash, but everybody in the neighborhood calls it the Rainbow Car Wash. It's a landmark in the area and its gritty, yet cute design makes in stand out from the other million carwashes in town. In this case, just a little bit of bright paint helps to elevate the experience and makes all of the difference.

Photo courtesy of Jaime Lees

Cathedtral Basilica

4431 Lindell Blvd.
Like, you know it's going to be beautiful, but you still don't think that it's going to be that beautiful. The Basilica is easily one of the most gorgeous churches in existence and it has to be seen to be believed. The grand archetecture combines with the warm lighting and elegant details to create a breathtaking experience.

Photo courtesy of Jon Dickson / Flickr