STLToday.com

Home > Buy historic photos & newspaper pages
Look Back: Spanish Pavillion bankruptcy, 1970
Date: 6/15/2012 Album ID: 1488142
Photos by Post-Dispatch staff photographers
Slideshow icon View Slideshow
by Tim O'Neil --- It was called the "jewel" of the New York World’s Fair. After the fair’s two-year run, Mayor Alfonso Juan Cervantes snapped up the Spanish Pavilion for St. Louis in 1965, saying the pavilion would add pizzazz to downtown’s comeback, already alive with construction of the Arch, Busch Stadium, new highways and office towers. On June 15, 1970, the Spanish International Pavilion Foundation filed for bankruptcy. The hotel, later a Marriott, now is the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. The pavilion endures as the lobby and main public area.
St. Louis Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes sits amidst chairs from the Spanish Pavilion of the New York World's Fair, which ran in 1964 and 1965. He led a local fundraising drive to dismantle the pavilion and rebuild it here. The pavilion was considered the jewel of the fair, and Cervantes was proud of his Spanish heritage and St. Louis' time as a colony of Spain. He is seated in a warehouse at 1201 Cass Avenue on Dec. 17, 1965, shortly after he made the deal with Spain. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The future site of the Spanish Pavilion as a parking lot in 1966, looking eastward. In the foreground is the intersection of Seventh and Market streets. The second Busch Stadium, then only in its first year, is at right. The far end of the parking lot was the site of a theater building, built in 1852, that was called the Grand Theater when it was demolished in 1964. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes (center) and his wife, Carmen, board a plane at Lambert Field with Harold Koplar for a flight to New York on Jan. 22, 1966, for a dinner with Spanish government officials to celebrate the deal to move pavilion to St. Louis. Koplar first suggested the idea to Cervantes. Koplar's holdings included the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel and KPLR-TV (channel 11). (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Mayor Alfonso J. and Carmen Cervantes ride in the back seat of a 1929 Rolls Royce. With them in front is Anthony F. Sansone, a businessman and associate who had managed Cervantes' campaign for mayor in 1965. They were headed from LaGuardia Airport to a dinner in Manhattan with Spanish government officials. (Paul Berg/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Andrew Frisella (left), who had the contract to move the contents of the Spanish Pavilion to St. Louis, inspects some of the wares with Jasper Colletta, who was in charge of storing it at the warehouse at 1201 Cass Avenue. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
A bronze figure of a Franciscan friar by sculptor Pablo Serrano is on display at the Bank of St. Louis downtown in March 1966, awaiting reconstruction of the Spanish Pavilion, where it was part of the display. Discussing it are Mrs. Richard Wood, a bank employee, and Mrs. Richard Siewing of 3560 Jamieson Avenue. (Lou Phillips/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Concrete slabs from the Spanish Pavilion are stacked in a storage yard at 549 South Ewing Avenue in December 1966 for reassembly downtown. (Jim Rackwitz/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
A bulldozer excavates the future site of the Spanish Pavilion in July 1967. Behind the site is Busch Stadium, which opened the year before. (Robert C. Holt Jr./Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Work underway on reconstruction of the Spanish Pavilion in December 1967. The view is across Broadway facing west. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The Spanish Pavilion ready for its grand opening on May 25, 1969. (Arthur Witman/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The terrace of the pavilion with its tile floor set in a Moorish pattern. (Arthur Witman/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The exterior, looking west on Market Street. (Arthur Witman/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
A father and daughter view art exhibits in the Spanish Pavilion in January 1970. By then, the operation already was in financial trouble. It would close that April, to be followed in June by the bankruptcy petition of the Spanish International Pavilion Foundation, the group that had raised money to bring it here. (Robert LaRouche/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The Breckenridge Pavilion Hotel, with its tower built atop the pavilion, opened in June 1976. It later became a Marriott hotel, and now is the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. (Karen Elshout/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution
© MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution All rights reserved.

FAQ | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Order Status