Q & A

A Fine Design

   The dazzling Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, was designed to represent the spirit of western pioneers. The 630-foot, stainless steel monument, its foundations 60 feet into the ground, offers visitors a tram ride to its peak. The arch's design arose from a national competition created to draw as many bright and audacious ideas as possible for the judges to choose from. National Parks recently spoke to Bob Moore, a site historian, about the competition and the enduring impact that the monument has had on its city.

Q: How did the arch's design develop?
A: A competition was held in 1947 to determine what the memorial would look like. The memorial had been designated in 1935, but because of a lack of money and World War II, among other reasons, a design was not chosen then. The competition was open to any architect who was a U.S. citizen, and it was the largest competition held up to that time, in terms of prize money, with a first prize of $50,000-quite a chunk of change in those days. The competition drew 172 entries from all over America and some very interesting designs. Some of the designers were famous, such as Walter Gropius, Edward D. Stone, Louis Kahn, Percival Goodman, and Charles Eames.

Q: What types of designs were submitted, and how were they chosen?
A: An esteemed panel of judges made it known that they favored the modern idiom of architecture, so the designers knew that a classically styled design, like the design of the Jefferson Memorial, was not going to please the judges. Almost all submissions were in the "International Style," very boxy, concrete and glass-but nothing as audacious as the arch. The entries were pared down to five semi-finalists, who then had a chance to go back to the boards, accounting for the criticisms of the jury, and re-do their designs. Almost all five completely re-did their designs-all except for Eero Saarinen. He made only minor modifications, such as opening up the view from the courthouse to the river. There were no names on any of the designs, so that they would not influence the judges' decisions. In February of 1948, the judges unanimously chose [Saarinen's] design.

Q: What set his design apart?
A: I once interviewed a guy who was an intern at the time, brought in to unpack the boxes of all the entries as they arrived. They were really large boards, encased in wooden crates, which had to be unscrewed. He and another intern had the same reaction when they saw the arch: "This is an incredible design, but will the jury have the guts to choose it?" That is not just a story based on hindsight; after seeing most of the designs myself, I can say that there really aren't any others that compare with the arch. There's just nothing that stands out the way that design does. All the other plans are pedestrian. One runner-up looks like a drive-in movie screen. Others have a series of pylons or some other features. But the competition called for the memorial to have a central feature that people would be attracted to. The committee actually hinted at an arch, but few of the architects paid attention. Hardly anybody created something like that. The others just don't stand out like Saarinen's arch does.

Q: How much was known of Saarinen?
A: He was relatively young, 38, and unknown at the time; he had worked mostly in his father's architectural office. At first, the competition committee sent congratulations to his well-known father, Eliel Saarinen, who had also submitted an entry, saying that he was one of the semi-finalists. It wasn't until later that they realized the error and retracted it with a great deal of embarrassment. Although Eero Saarinen died before the construction of the arch, he and his office saw the project through to completion, which had not been guaranteed; the Park Service was initially interested in designs only. But Saarinen was persistent and overwhelming. George Hartzog [a former Park Service director and superintendent of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial] told me that he considered Saarinen one of the greatest salesmen who ever lived, with an answer for everything. He was an aesthetic artist who could carefully explain any nuance of his designs.

Q: What was Saarinen's vision?
A: Saarinen toyed around with architectural forms, noticing that the Washington Monument was an obelisk, the Jefferson Memorial, a dome. He actually created a soaring monument, with three legs, but thought it looked ungainly. So, he took off one of the legs and was left with an arch. He looked at it and said, "Wow, not only is this a very neat form but it symbolizes St. Louis' role as a gateway to the West." He saw it as a symbolic gateway, and he envisioned people taking a "sky ride," as he called it, up to the top of the arch to take in a great view.

Q: How did the public react to the design?
A: When the pictures were first published in the paper, some thought it looked dumb or like a big croquet wicket. There was some opposition. One critic dug out an arch designed for Mussolini in World War II and said that Saarinen had copied it, which he certainly did not. At first there was some skepticism about whether this could be built. But over the 15 years before they even started to build the arch, the people of St. Louis started to embrace it. Saarinen remembered coming to town and seeing logos on the sides of vehicles and in the telephone book that had already incorporated the arch into them. Before the arch was even built, it was becoming the symbol of St. Louis. So by the time they started building it, people had completely embraced it, and it was a huge happening in St. Louis to watch as the arch was built. It was even televised locally, and on the final day of construction, schoolchildren were allowed to watch it in their classrooms. It revitalized the downtown, an area that had been dying, bringing businesses, hotels, and life back to the city.