Take a Stroll at the Citygarden in St. Louis

Find sculptures, flowers, and fountains in an oasis of greenery in downtown St. Louis in the Citygarden.

I walked about 1.7 miles around the Citygarden and Kiener Plaza Park up the block from the garden. This is a paved and mostly level walk that can include steps if you go into other areas of the Citygarden.

Starting the Walk

I parked along the street close to the corner of Chestnut Street and North Broadway in downtown St. Louis. From this corner, I walked first left along North Broadway. Across the street from the Old Courthouse which is part of the Gateway Arch National Park.

Old Courthouse

The 1847 Dred Scott case was held in the Old Courthouse. It went all the way to the Supreme Court which decided that slaves were property, and as such, had no right to sue. This decision hastened the start of the Civil War.

Olympic Runner Statue

Next, I turned right and walked into Kiener Plaza Park. In the middle is the Olympic Runner Statue in the middle of a fountain. The statue honors the former Olympian Harry J. Kiene of St. Louis and is the work of Lithuanian-born immigrant William Zorach.

To the left of the statue is a playground. Kids here can climb on ropes and around wood. Young children can play on wooden ducks and snails along with a colorfully painted wooden fish slide.

*Fountains with water shooting out of the cement plaza.*

Water Feature

I walked out of the playground and towards the west end of the plaza and found a fountain in which water shoots out of the cement steps at different heights.

Wainwright Building

Across from the corner of Seventh Street and Chestnut Street is the Wainwright Building. It’s considered one of the first modern skyscrapers with masonry encasing its steel frame. It is a ten-story National Historic Landmark. Built between 1890 and 1891. Designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and named after Elllis Wainwright, a St. Louis brewer, and financier.

Regions Bank Garden

Then I crossed Seventh Street and entered a flower garden in front of the Regions Bank Building.

700 Market

Looking south from the garden you can see 700 Market. Pritzker Prize-winning architect Philip Johnson created a cube of steel.

The northwest portion of the cube is 45 feet above the ground to create a large portico. In the front courtyard of the building is a modern sculpture with half-moon wings.

Citygarden Tour

After passing these buildings and crossing Eighth Street I entered the Citygarden.

The first statue I saw is the Eros Bendato by Igor Mitoraj which is the dismembered head of Eros, the Greek god of love and desire, lying on its side.

Then I went by La Riviere by Aristide Maillol, a female nude whose body is low to the ground with her head and arms extended beyond the pedestal.

In the grass nearby are Bernar Venet’s 2 Arcs x 4 and 230.5 Degree Arc x 5. These are large brown metal arcs that rise up to the sky at different lengths.

*Fountains with part of the skyline in the back.*

Back behind this sculpture are fountains.

On the ground nearby is Floyd Elzinga’s Unzip the Earth, which is a giant zipper that is opening up grass showing dirt below.

In its own stone circular is Ju Ming’s Tai Chi Single Whip, a larger-than-life bronze sculpture that depicts a faceless Tai Chi practitioner in a basic pose known as a Single Whip.

On my right was the Four Rectangular Oblique. In creating this piece, George Rickery rejected the use of motors to power his sculpture and uses rectangular panels- like sails- to capture the wind.

Near Ninth Street was Kiera and Julia Walking by Julian Opie is of two people walking done with Led panels in continuous animation.

After Ninth Street

I walked across Ninth Street and came to Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels. Jim Dine has Pinocchio with arms wide open with white gloves on, and his face with a long nose pointed up to the sky on a wooden cart with wheels. (Main blog photo)

Nearby is the Dance Chimes created by Alfons van Leggelo. It consists of nine bronze tiles equipped with mechanical sound elements and tuned to a five-not scale. Dancing or walking on the tiles activates a hammer mechanism that creates bell-like sounds.

Erwin Wurm creates a figure in our mind when all we really see is a pink suit and pants with a white button-down shirt with his Big Suit.

Mark di Suvero uses industrial i-beams welded, bolted, and painted red with one part a V pattern and the other circular, for his Aesop’s Fables.

Mimmo Paladino’s Zenit has a horse with a geometric form that mathematicians call a stellated dodecahedron (a star-shaped form with twelve faces) appearing to balance on one of its points on the horse’s back.

Kan Yasuda’s The Door of Return has an egg-shaped form at the top of the black structure that resembles a seed that has just split open or a mouth that opens to the sky.

Up some steps, I came to Donald Baechler’s Scarecrow isolated in woods and a garden area standing with arms out and a top hap on its head.

*Twain sculpture with the Judicial Circuit Court building behind it*

At Tenth Street

Then I came to Tenth Street. Across the road is Richard Serra’s controversial Twain sculpture. Made of long walls coming to points in a field. Behind it is the regal Civil Courts Building with its columns at the top.

Added Walk: Freedom Suits Memorial

If you want to walk a bit further you walk up Market past Tenth Street then beyond the Twain Sculpture in Serra Sculpture Park. Then up to Eleven Street. Across Eleventh Street in front of the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court building is the Freedom Suits Memorial.

*A tablet behind it has more information.*

This Memorial Sculpture commemorates the roughly 400 slaves who petitioned the Missouri Courts for their freedom.

This is a .2 mile out and back walk to Tenth Street.

Back across Tenth Street into Citygarden

I turned around heading back into the garden finding more sculptures to see.

Near the street is Julian Opie’s Bruce and Sara Walking also done in the same fashion as earlier.

Keith Haring’s Untitled (Ringed Figure) uses simple shapes and bright colors for a feeling of energy and motion created by the bended knees, which makes the figure feel like it’s about to spring forward.

Tom Classen’s Untitled (Two Rabbits) sculptures are bronze, but enveloped in white paint, creating the impression of marshmallow lightness.

Jean-Michel Folon’s Voyage has an everyman sitting in a boat opposite a sleeping cat. Everyman is about to embark on a voyage, but he is not the one rowing the boat.

Jonathan Clarke’s Lifestlyle sculptures are cast metal structures and he said he is recreating “defenses against the vulnerability felt when controlled by this seemingly overwhelming world.”

Martin Puryear’s Untitled stainless steel piece depicts a manmade structure or vessel. Influenced by Scandinavian basketry and furniture design from his undergraduate years in Sweden.

Back Across Ninth Street

I walked to the other side of Ninth and this time walked by the closed Kaldi’s Coffee location in the sculpture park.

At the front of the café Night by Tony Smith. The process of arranging and combing geometric forms is at the core of his sculpture painted black.

Inside the restaurant is Adam and Eve created by Niki de Saint Phalle who is best known for her brightly painted, oversized female figures representing female empowerment. In this sculpture, the two figures are seated side by side enjoying a picnic. The artist’s retelling of the story depicts Eve not as the temptress, but as an equal partner in the relationship. I couldn’t get a photo of it inside the restaurant, but you can see it through the windows.

Nearby is Laura Ford’s Bird, a dark sculpture part human and part animal with a large beak.

Found along the wall of the coffeehouse is Fernand Leger’s Femmes au Perroquet. It includes images of women, leaves, parrots, and plants in bronze.

At the bottom of some steps is Tom Otterness has created the Kindly Geppetto, which is a bronze sculpture and shows the kindly Geppetto about to hammer the poor puppet Pinocchio.

Among trees is Jack Youngerman’s Samarkand which resembles a Japanese folding screen with elements drawn from Middle Eastern architecture.

Other Garden Sites

Raked into designs are the gravel walkways.

Marked are some of the garden plants such as this Japanese Spire.

Returning to Kiener Plaza

I ended my sculpture walk by stopping by the bronze of Frankie Muse Freeman, Attorney At Law, sculpted by Brian Owens. She was an African American lawyer who led a case to make it illegal to discriminate based on race in public housing in St. Louis.

DETAILS:

Drive: Go on Interstate 64 to downtown St. Louis and take exit 37A for Market Street and make a left onto Seventh Street then a right on Chestnut Street and look for parking here bordering Kiener Plaza.

Hours: 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. daily

Address:

Kiener Plaza, 500 Chestnut St, St. Louis, MO 63101