Wiltshire and Versailles Historic Buildings

The Wiltshire and the Versailles apartment buildings, constructed from 1924 to 1926 and 1927 and 1929 respectively, are associated with the spread of large and upscale multi-unit residential buildings after World War I. The two buildings embody distinctive apartment designs of the "Roaring '20s" that catered to the middle class. The Wiltshire and the Versailles buildings are located along historic Forest Park, which hosted the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

After World War I, the nation saw tremendous growth in large urban apartment construction, with an average of 226,000 multiple-family dwelling units being completed each year from 1924-1928. Between 1915 and 1929, a growing number of investment companies and commercial builders designed apartment hotels that catered to single residents and small families of the mobile and middle-class while also constructing luxury and penthouse apartments for the upper-middle-class. 

In St. Louis, the development of luxury-class, high-rise apartment houses in St. Louis occurred primarily along significant transportation routes in a relatively narrow east-west demographic corridor. The Wiltshire and the Versailles exemplify several prominent characteristics of the early twentieth century, including their location along a major urban roadway and facing a park. 

The Fidelity Bond and Mortgage Company of St. Louis developed the Wiltshire and served as a minor contributor to the development of the Versailles. The company retained a staff architect, William H. Mills, who designed the Wiltshire and did early work in creating The Versailles before Preston J. Bradshaw took over and finished the project. Both Bradshaw and Mills enjoyed acclaim for their work on noteworthy projects (many of which gained national and local landmark statuses) in St. Louis as well as cities such as Kansas City, Denver, and Chicago. One feature Mills added to the design of the Wiltshire was a one-story garage, which speaks to the rising popularity and impact of the automobile.

The October 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression significantly slowed the construction of luxury high-rise apartment buildings, including in St. Louis. Vacancy issues also became a problem during the 1930s. However, both buildings survived. The Wiltshire and Versailles remained luxury apartment buildings until around 1980, when the buildings were converted to condominiums.

Babcock, Richard F., and Fred P. Bosselman. "Suburban Zoning and the Apartment Boom." University of Pennsylvania Law Review 111, no. 8 (1963).

Harris, Richard. “The Rise of Filtering Down: The American Housing Market Transformed, 1915–1929.” Social Science History 37, no. 4 (2013): 515–49.

Johnson, Jill. "Nomination Form: The Wiltshire and The Versailles Historic Buildings." National Register of Historic Places. mostateparks.com. 1982. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Wiltshire%20and%20Versailles%20Historic%20Bldgs.pdf.

"The Wiltshire." St. Louis Patina. Accessed August 19, 2022. https://stlouispatina.com/the-wiltshire/.