The 21-story Chicago school high-rise in downtown St. Louis

The Railway Exchange Building is a 21-story high-rise office building in St. Louis, Missouri. Built in 1914, the steel-frame structure is in the Chicago school architectural style and was designed by architect Mauran, Russell & Crowell. It was the city's tallest building when it opened and remains the second-largest building in downtown St. Louis by interior area, with almost 1,200,000 square feet of space.

The building was long home to the flagship store of the Famous-Barr chain of department stores and the headquarters of its parent company, May Department Stores. Following the purchase of the brand by Macy's, the store was rebranded as Macy's in 2006. Macy's sold the building in 2008 and closed the store in 2013, after which the building has been vacant.

In January 2017, Hudson Holdings, a National Historic Property Developer based in Delray Beach, Florida, purchased the building for $20 million. The city of St. Louis was granted an emergency condemnation on 4 January 2023 and proceeded to board up the building and remove people who appeared to be squatting there.

Marie Moentmann, who lived from 1900 to 1974, worked at the information desk in the Railway Exchange Building.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons