Editing Gateway Arch (section)

===Design competition (1945–1948)===
{{quote box |width=26em |salign=right |quote= ... [T]he steel monument one sees today—carbon steel on the interior, stainless steel on the exterior, and concrete in-filling, with an equilateral-triangle-shaped section that tapers from 54 to 17 feet at the top, and the concept of a skin that is also structure—is in essence [Saarinen's] competition design.<ref name="SaarinenPelkonenAlbrecht">{{cite book |last1=Saarinen |first1=Eero |author-link1=Eero Saarinen |last2=Pelkonen |first2=Eeva-Liisa |last3=Albrecht |first3=Donald |title=Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future |url=https://archive.org/details/eerosaarinenshap0000saar |url-access=registration |pages=222–229 |year=2006 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0-9724881-2-9 }}</ref> |source= —''Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future'', 2006}}

In November 1944, Smith discussed with [[Newton B. Drury|Newton Drury]], the [[National Park Service#Directors|National Park Service Director]], the design of the memorial, asserting that the memorial should be "transcending in spiritual and aesthetic values", best represented by "one central feature: a single shaft, a building, an arch, or something else that would symbolize American culture and civilization."<ref name="Brown4"/>

The idea of an architectural competition to determine the design of the memorial was favored at the JNEMA's inaugural meeting. They planned to award cash for the best design.<ref name="Corrigan"/> In January 1945, the JNEMA officially announced a two-stage design competition that would cost $225,000 to organize. Smith and the JNEMA struggled to raise the funds, garnering only a third of the required total by June 1945.{{#tag:ref |Once he revisited a generous sponsor, requesting more money: "Now you have to protect your investment".<ref name="Taylor"/> |group=lower-alpha}} Then mayor [[Aloys P. Kaufmann|Aloys Kaufmann]] feared that the lack of public support would lead officials to abandon hope in the project. The passage of a year brought little success, and Smith frantically [[Underwriting|underwrote]] the remaining $40,000 in May 1946. By June, Smith found others to assume portions of his underwriting, with $17,000 remaining under his sponsorship. In February 1947, the underwriters were compensated, and the fund stood at over $231,199.<ref name="Brown4">{{harvp |ps=. |Brown |1984 |loc=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091101114617/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jeff/adhi1-4.htm Chpt 4 (1945–1948)]}} Archived from [https://web.archive.org/web/20091101114617/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jeff/adhi1-4.htm the original] on February 14, 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2011.</ref>

Local architect [[Louis LaBeaume]] prepared a set of specifications for the design, and architect [[George Howe (architect)|George Howe]] was chosen to coordinate the competition. On May 30, 1947, the contest officially opened. The seven-member jury that would judge the designs comprised [[Charles Nagel (architect)|Charles Nagel Jr.]], [[Richard Neutra]], [[Roland Wank]], [[William Wurster]], LaBeaume, [[Fiske Kimball]], and S. Herbert Hare.<ref name="Bahr29–31">{{harvp |ps=. |Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects |Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates |Alvine and Associates |2010 |pp=29–31 }}</ref> The competition comprised two stages—the first to narrow down the designers to five and the second to single out one architect and his design.<ref name="Brown4"/> The design intended to include:<ref name="AECOM32">{{harvp |ps=. |AECOM |2010 |pp=32 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|(a) an architectural memorial or memorials to Jefferson; dealing (b) with preservation of the site of Old St. Louis—landscaping, provision of an open-air campfire theater, reerection or reproduction of a few typical old buildings, provision of a Museum interpreting the Westward movement; (c) a living memorial to Jefferson's 'vision of greater opportunities for men of all races and creeds;' (d) recreational facilities, both sides of the river; and (e) parking facilities, access, relocation of railroads, placement of an interstate highway.}}
[[File:Eero Saarinen with Gateway Arch Model.jpg|thumb|left |Saarinen working with a model of the arch in 1957]]

Saarinen's team included himself as designer, J. Henderson Barr as associate designer, and [[Dan Kiley]] as landscape architect, as well as [[Lilian Swann Saarinen|Lily Swann Saarinen]] as sculptor and [[Alexander Girard]] as painter. In the first stage of the competition, [[Carl Milles]] advised Saarinen to change the bases of each leg to triangles instead of squares. Saarinen said that he "worked at first with mathematical shapes, but finally adjusted it according to the eye." At submission, Saarinen's plans laid out the arch at {{convert|569|ft|m}} tall and {{convert|592|ft|m}} wide from center to center of the triangle bases.<ref name="SaarinenPelkonenAlbrecht"/>

On September 1, 1947, submissions for the first stage were received by the jury. The submissions were labeled by numbers only, and the names of the designers were kept anonymous. Upon four days of deliberation, the jury narrowed down the 172 submissions, which included Saarinen's father [[Eliel Saarinen|Eliel]],<ref name="Taylor">{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-28-stlouis-arch_x.htm |title=St. Louis' Arch to Ring in 40th Year |last=Taylor |first=Betsy |date=October 20, 2005 |work=[[USA Today]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=September 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070521041827/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-28-stlouis-arch_x.htm |archive-date=May 21, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> to five finalists, and announced the corresponding numbers to the media on September 27. Eero Saarinen's design (#144) was among the finalists, and comments written on it included "relevant, beautiful, perhaps inspired would be the right word" (Roland Wank) and "an abstract form peculiarly happy in its symbolism" (Charles Nagel). Hare questioned the feasibility of the design but appreciated the thoughtfulness behind it.<ref name="Brown4"/> Local St. Louis architect [[Harris Armstrong]] was also one of the finalists.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Raimist |first=Andrew |date=April 2006 |title=Ten Things You Should Know About Harris Armstrong |journal=[[Dwell (magazine)|Dwell]] |volume=6 |issue=4 |page=3 |issn=1530-5309 |quote=In 1947, Armstrong was among five finalists in the design competition for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the St. Louis riverfront ... Armstrong was the only St. Louis architect to be selected as a finalist. |url=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/107044798_8abd47c867_o.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424202333/http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/107044798_8abd47c867_o.jpg |archive-date=April 24, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The secretary who sent out the telegrams informing finalists of their advancement mistakenly sent one to Eliel rather than Eero. The family celebrated with champagne, and two hours later, a competition representative called to correct the mistake. Eliel "'broke out a second bottle of champagne' to toast his son."<ref name="Taylor"/> They proceeded to the second stage, and each was given a $10,069 prize (about ${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US-GDP|10069|1947|r=-1}}}}{{Inflation-fn|US}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars). Saarinen changed the height of the arch from 580 feet to {{convert|630|ft|m}}<ref group=lower-alpha>He would also change the width of the arch to match its height.</ref> and wrote that the arch symbolized "the gateway to the West, the national expansion, and whatnot."<ref name="SaarinenPelkonenAlbrecht"/> He wanted the landscape surrounding the arch to "be so densely covered with trees that it will be a forest-like park, a green retreat from the tension of the downtown city," according to ''[[The New York Times]]'' architectural critic Aline Bernstein Louchheim.{{#tag:ref |In 1954, Louchheim married Saarinen.<!-- additional info: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/11/05/the-purpose-driven-wife.html --><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=K6BOAAAAIBAJ&pg=1967,4840007 |title=Eero Saarinen: Widely Known Detroit Architect |date=September 2, 1961 |work=[[The Blade (Toledo)|Toledo Blade]] |agency=Associated Press |page=1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/09/03/archives/eero-saarinen.html |title=Eero Saarinen |date=September 3, 1961 |work=[[The New York Times]] |quote=The associate art editor of this newspaper wrote of him in 1953 that his contribution was 'in giving form or visual order ... ' The words were written a year before the writer, Aline Bernstein Louchheim, became the architect's wife. }}</ref> |group=lower-alpha}} The deadline for the second stage arrived on February 10, 1948, and on February 18, the jury chose Saarinen's design unanimously,<ref name="Brown4"/> praising its "profoundly evocative and truly monumental expression."<ref name="Mehrhoff">{{cite book |last=Mehrhoff |first=W. Arthur |title=The Gateway Arch: Fact and Symbol |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6T0-KMqbIagC |pages=17–18 |year=1992 |publisher=[[Bowling Green State University|Bowling Green University Popular Press]] |location=Bowling Green, OH |isbn=978-0-87972-568-6 }}</ref> The following day,<ref name="Bahr29–31"/> during a formal dinner at [[Hotel Statler (St. Louis, Missouri)|Statler Hotel]] that the finalists and the media attended, Wurster pronounced Saarinen the winner of the competition and awarded the checks—$40,000 to his team<ref name="SaarinenPelkonenAlbrecht"/> and $50,000 to Saarinen.<ref name="Duffy"/> The competition was the first major architectural design that Saarinen developed unaided by his father.<ref name="Brown4"/>

On May 25, the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission endorsed the design.<ref name="Bahr29–31"/> Later, in June, the NPS approved the proposal.<ref name="SaarinenPelkonenAlbrecht"/> Representative [[H. R. Gross]], however, opposed the allocation of federal funds for the arch's development.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZwYrAAAAIBAJ&pg=6360,7161845 |title=Monument Completed: 'Gateway to West' Portrays St. Louis' Role in History |date=October 29, 1965 |newspaper=[[Reading Eagle]] |page=3 |access-date=December 16, 2010 }}</ref>

The design drew varied responses. In a February 29, 1948, ''The New York Times'' article, Louchheim praised the arch's design as "a modern monument, fitting, beautiful and impressive."<ref name="Louchheim1">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/ |title=For a Modern Monument: An Audacious Design |last=Louchheim |first=Aline B. |date=February 29, 1948 |work=The New York Times |page=X8 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/61qMXs7wB?url=http://hn.bigchalk.com/pqdocs/share4/pqimage/hnirs102v/201109201235/05606/8482/out.pdf |archive-date=September 20, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some local residents likened it to a "stupendous hairpin and a stainless steel hitching post." The most aggressive criticism emerged from [[Gilmore David Clarke|Gilmore D. Clarke]],<ref name="AECOM39–40">{{harvp |ps=. |AECOM |2010 |pp=39–40 }}</ref> whose February 26, 1948,<ref name="Corrigan"/> letter compared Saarinen's arch to an arch imagined by fascist [[Benito Mussolini]], rendering the arch a fascist symbol. This allegation of plagiarism ignited fierce debates among architects about its validity. [[Douglas Haskell]] from New York wrote that "The use of a common form is not plagiarism ... [T]his particular accusation amounts to the filthiest smear that has been attempted by a man highly placed in the architectural profession in our generation."<ref name="Corrigan"/> Wurster and the jury refuted the charges, arguing that "the arch form was not inherently fascist but was indeed part of the entire history of architecture."<ref name="Mehrhoff"/> Saarinen considered the opposition absurd, asserting, "It's just preposterous to think that a basic form, based on a completely natural figure, should have any ideological connection."<ref name="AECOM39–40"/>

By January 1951, Saarinen created 21 "drawings, including profiles of the Arch, scale drawings of the museums and restaurants, various parking proposals, the effect of the levee-tunnel railroad plan on the Arch footings, the Arch foundations, the Third Street Expressway, and the internal and external structure of the Arch." [[Fred Severud]] made calculations for the arch's structure.<ref name="Brown5"/>