The Challenge
A landmark theater reopened with its protected historic facade completely untouched
The Arabesque was a century-old landmark theater in St. Louis with a protected historic facade and an interior that had deteriorated to the point of requiring near-total structural rebuilding. The facade couldn't be touched: no bracing, no temporary loading, no connections to new structure that would transfer load or movement to the protected skin. The interior rebuild had to happen entirely behind the facade without the facade ever carrying construction loads it wasn't designed for. At the same time, the new structure had to meet current seismic and occupancy standards the original building was never designed to satisfy.
Our approach
We designed an entirely independent internal structure to carry all new loads, with no structural reliance on the existing historic fabric. The key problem was the facade: during demolition of the interior, it needed to remain standing without the floors and walls that had previously been supporting it. We engineered a temporary internal propping system to support the facade from within while the old structure was removed and the new one was built behind it. The new lateral system was sized and detailed to transfer seismic loads entirely through the new internal frame, so the facade would never see forces it wasn't designed for.
The outcome
The Arabesque reopened to current life-safety and seismic code with its 1921 facade completely undisturbed. The independent internal structure performs all the structural work, with the historic exterior serving its original purpose: enclosure and identity, not load path. The landmark designation was preserved intact, which had been the client's primary condition from the start. The theater is now in active use, with a building that reads as original and performs as new.
1
Facade fully preserved
1921
Original build year
46,000
sf rebuilt inside
"They rebuilt everything behind the facade without us ever losing the building we were trying to save."
Robert Chen, Executive Director, St. Louis Arts Foundation
