Gateway Arch
Eero Saarinen's 192-metre stainless steel arch, with a tram to the top and a museum beneath it.
The Gateway Arch rises 630 feet, about 192 metres, on the St Louis riverfront and commemorates the westward expansion of the United States. Eero Saarinen won the design competition for the memorial in 1948 with a weighted catenary curve clad in stainless steel; construction began in 1963 and the last section was set in place in October 1965. The structure is as wide at its base as it is tall, and its cross-section is a triangle that narrows steadily towards the apex.
Visitors reach the observation deck by a tram of small capsules that climb inside each leg, arriving at a narrow chamber with windows looking over the Mississippi and the city. Beneath the arch, a museum rebuilt and reopened in 2018 traces the region's history in six galleries, reached through an entrance facing the Old Courthouse. The surrounding grounds, landscaped to Dan Kiley's scheme, were redesignated Gateway Arch National Park in 2018.
Highlights
- Tram ride inside the legs to the observation deck at the apex
- Weighted catenary form clad in stainless steel, completed in 1965
- Underground Museum at the Gateway Arch, reopened in 2018
- Landscaped riverfront grounds and the nearby Old Courthouse
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