English: View of busy commercial district on Washington Avenue west from Sixth Street. The street is crowded with pedestrians and adorned with American flags for an unknown occasion. Built on the site of the Lindell Hotel, one of the cities largest lodgings for the Worlds Fair, the Grand-Leader Building was completed in 1906 as a new home for the Stix, Baer, and Fuller department store, with eight floors and 60 separate departments. Designed by John Lawrence Mauran, the store was hailed as modern and progressive in its design. Department stores in the 20th century were attempting to establish themselves as civic institutions rather that profit driven businesses. To accomplish this and to lure in their mostly female clientele, Mauran incorporated free public telephone service, waiting and writing rooms, as well as manicurists, hairdressers, bathrooms on almost every floor, and even “hospital rooms” staffed with physicians and nurses. Mauran strategically placed a restaurant on the top floor that could accommodate 750 comfortably, to get patrons to circulate through the floors. No merchandise was sold on opening day in 1906 to emphasize the department store’s image as a cultural hotspot rather than a business. A massive soda fountain was installed in the center of the main floor that could seat 100 people around a 21 foot tall mirrored column topped with statuary, a proven method to get women to meet and socialize in the store. Stix, Baer and Fuller’s “Grand-Leader” continued to be an important commercial enterprise in St. Louis throughout most of the 20th century.
Title: Washington Avenue west from just east of Sixth Street.