9001 Clayton Road
Ladue, Missouri 63117
www.ethicalstl.org

Walter Sheldon founded the St. Louis Ethical Society in 1886 following the principles of Felix Adler. It is a religious fellowship based on ethical humanism and independent of any particular creed, ritual or tradition. The society has long supported fine music, both at its Sunday services and in its sponsorship of other musical events. Former Chamber Chorus director Stephen Curtis was at one time the music director here, and the Chamber Chorus performed here in 1968, three times in the 1980s, and again in 1998 and 2003.

The Sheldon Concert Hall at 3648 Washington was built as the home of the Ethical Society in 1912 and still retains the name of the society's founder. Having enjoyed that distinguished design by Louis Spiering for half a century, the society turned in 1964 to another respected St. Louis architect, Harris Armstrong, for its new building in Ladue.

By the time he designed the Ethical Society, Harris Armstrong (1899-1973) was considered the dean of Modern architects in St. Louis. His 1935 office for orthodontist Leo Shanley (still standing at Maryland and Bemiston in Clayton) was recognized as the first International Style building in the Midwest and won a silver medal at the 1937 Paris World's Fair. His later work continued to attract national attention, notably his headquarters building on South Kingshighway for Magic Chef and his two engineering campuses for McDonnell-Douglas. Among his many admired residences are the Art Deco house in Glendale for Carl and Gerty Cori (who shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1947), the Wright-inspired Evarts Graham House off Jamestown Road, and the 1952 glass and stone house for Arthur Stockstrom in Sunset Hills.

Armstrong's experience with religious buildings prior to the Ethical Society included his prizewinning A-frame Lutheran Church of the Atonement in Florissant (now gone), St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in St. Louis Hills, and Epiphany Episcopal Church on Dougherty Ferry at Ballas. The Ethical Society's site and program presented his biggest challenge in this field. He managed to make the building conspicuous on what was essentially a fifty-foot hole in the ground, and he was able to create a contemplative atmosphere without reference to traditional religious symbolism. The central block is designed as a pavilion of paired concrete columns, which continue around the back. The slightly oriental qualities of the exterior reflect the popular influences of Edward Durrell Stone and Minoru Yamasaki at that time, but, typically of Armstrong's interest in technology, the reflecting pools near the entrance also served the air-conditioning system.

Notes by Esley Hamilton and Philip Barnes
Exterior photo by Beth Tuttle