The Wainwright Building is best known for being one of the first skyscrapers in the United States and in the world. Build in the early 1890s, the office building was named after its local financier, Ellis Wainwright.

Composed of 10-stories and built using red-brick in the Chicago architectural style after Louis Sullivan?s design, the Wainwright Building also uses ornamentations inspired by the French Notre-Dame de Reims. Deemed as a prototype of the modern office building, it was declared as a National Historic Landmark in 1968.

After years of neglect, the Wainwright Building is now owned by the Missouri government and is used as a government building. It houses a series of Missouri state offices and is continuously being preserved by the state.