An award-winning journalist recognized for her media leadership and for promoting diversity, Trish Muyco-Tobin has more than 20 years of experience in print and broadcasting. She is also a dedicated community volunteer.
An award-winning journalist recognized for her media leadership and for promoting diversity, Trish Muyco-Tobin has more than 20 years of experience in print and broadcasting. She is also a dedicated community volunteer.
Amrit and Amy Gill, the power couple behind Restoration St. Louis, have unveiled their latest showpiece with the opening of the Hotel Saint Louis downtown. The former Louis Sullivan-designed Union Trust building on Olive Street underwent a $68-million renovation to become the first-ever Marriott Autograph Collection hotel in St. Louis.
The Gills are only the second owners in the history of the circa-1890s building, an exceptional footnote, which is not lost on them.
“We had wanted to do something for St Louis for a long time, and that this property was in disrepair was really such a shame, considering it’s a nationally significant historic building that is incredibly beautiful,” Amy Gill recently told Gazelle. “And the fact that there are only 30 Louis Sullivan buildings left in the world….”
Restoration St. Louis and others involved with the two-year project made a concerted effort to stay as true to the original Sullivan design as possible. The Gills even left intact a multi-story mural of ancient Greek architecture that adorns the hotel’s exterior back wall.
The hotel itself has 140-guest rooms, including 52 suites, 14 luxury apartments and a three-bedroom penthouse. And guest-room amenities feature plenty of St. Louis touches, such as a vintage record player and vinyl albums curated by Vintage Vinyl’s Tom “Papa” Ray, and rugs and headboards patterned after the Gateway Arch. You’ll even receive a metal water bottle at check-in with the St. Louis Water Department’s logo on the bottle. In another green-friendly move, cards left on the beds encourage guests to conserve water with the words, “We could warsh your sheets.”
The on-site restaurant, Union 30, offers St. Louis comfort foods with a twist, and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The spectacular rooftop bar, Form Skybar, has a south-facing wall that provides open-air views of the city’s skyline.
Since 2001, the Gills’ organization has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the revitalization of architecturally significant buildings and neighborhoods across the country. In St. Louis, the Gills oversaw the renovation of the Moolah Temple in Midtown, and The Carleton and the Motorworks Lofts in the Central West End, among others. An official dedication for Hotel Saint Louis is planned for March 2.
St. Louisans will get their first major opportunity to meet new St. Louis Symphony Orchestra music director Stéphane Denève this month. “Fall in Love with Stéphane” takes place Friday, Feb. 8, at St. Louis Union Station. The special event—featuring creative cocktails, a buffet dinner, dancing, and musical performances with surprise guests—is being dubbed as a one-of-a-kind musical welcome gift for Denève, who officially took the reins beginning with the 2019-20 season.
Storytelling through music will be the focus of a special Opera Theatre of Saint Louis panel led by world-renowned composer Terence Blanchard at the Missouri History Museum on Sunday, March 17, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. He’ll be joined by St. Louis musician Lamar Harris and others in an exploration of music and the written word, followed by live examples of various musical languages like hip-hop, jazz and opera. The panel will be followed by the official kickoff of OTSL and Jazz St. Louis’ new high school composers’ lab called THE LAB. Over six sessions, students selected for the program will compose new work, which will be performed at Jazz St. Louis in May. The March 17 panel, Music and Words: Composing Across Genres, is open to the public.
