File:Wainwright Building, 7th Street and Chestnut Street, St. Louis, MO.jpg

English: Built in 1890-1891, this Chicago School-style skyscraper was designed by Adler and Sullivan for Ellis Wainwright to house the offices of the St. Louis Brewers Association. The building was the first skyscraper to break from traditional architectural styles, utilizing ornament that fit the scale of the building, and taking advantage of the steel frame and masonry curtain wall to create a building that embraced the skyscraper form through its design, rather than trying to make the skyscraper fit the box of previous traditional architectural styles, and is widely regarded as being the most precedent-setting building designed by Sullivan. The 10-story, 135 foot (41 meter) tall building features a tripartite exterior composed of a base, shaft, and capital, which was a novel facade treatment, but was highly influential. The building eschewed classical ornament in favor of Sullivanesque ornament inspired by natural forms, as well as the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements. The building originally housed retail space on the ground floor, with offices above, with many tenants in the building in addition to the St. Louis Brewers Association.

The building is clad in red brick with terra cotta trim and ornament, with a decorative frieze at the top of the building with small oxeye windows, an overhanging cornice at the crown of the building, recessed ornamented spandrel panels, and decorative brick pilasters, one-over-one double-hung windows, a glass curtain wall on the north facade, added in the 1980s, a relatively simple and unadorned base, large storefront openings at the base of the building, recessed doorways with decorative trim surrounds, natural and geometric ornamental motifs, and brick pilasters between the window bays with decorative bases and capitals. The interior has been heavily modified, with several renovations in the 20th Century removing most original elements and features, and it features a very standard modern office interior.

The building has housed office space for much of its history, though it was threatened with demolition during the late 20th Century. It was saved in large part thanks to the intervention of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, though several neighboring buildings that formed an intact ensemble of late 19th Century architecture were demolished, robbing the building of its context. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968, owing to its major architectural and historical significance. The building presently serves as an office building for the State of Missouri.