The National Park Service placed three Anheuser-Busch buildings – the Old School House, the Brew House and the Clydesdale Stable – on the Registry of National Historic Landmarks. The dedication ceremony took place at Anheuser-Busch on April 14, 1967.
Old School House
Originally constructed in 1868 at a cost of $42,000, this building, first known as the Lyon School, served the entire far southern and western portions of St. Louis. Its district was bounded on the north by Victor Street, on the east by the Mississippi River and on the south and west by the city limits.
Named in honor of General Nathaniel Lyon, the commander of Union forces in Missouri during the early days of the Civil War, the school was described as having three stories with 12 rooms warmed by furnaces and capable of accommodating 700 students with “13 English and two German teachers.” Adolphus Busch sent each of his children to this school, including August A. Busch, Sr., who later occupied an office in the same room where he once attended class. By 1907, the city no longer needed the Lyon School and sold it to Anheuser-Busch, which converted it into the brewery’s central office. It served as the brewery’s main administrative building, housing each succeeding president of Anheuser-Busch, until 1982 when the main office building at One Busch Place was dedicated.
Brew House
Constructed between 1891 and 1892 from designs by architects E. Jungenfeld and Co., the Brew House was and still is the center of Anheuser-Busch’s St. Louis Brewery. Romanesque in design and standing six stories high with a clock tower extending another two stories, the architects followed Adolphus Busch’s direction to “make this the finest brew house in the world.”
The exterior was granite based and finished with pressed brick, while the interior was dominated by a light well running nearly the length of the building and accentuated by a multi-story hopvine chandelier climbing to the skylight. The floors were imported tile and the wainscoting was polished marble, while the stairs were polished brass and marble with silver plated railings. The exterior windows were decorated with either stained or embossed glass designs that included the A & Eagle trademark, hops, barley and other brewery related symbols.
Originally consisting of six kettles with an annual production of 1.8 million barrels, the Brew House has been expanded over the years and, as of 2007, had an annual capacity of 15.8 million barrels. In 1892, it was the most modern, efficient brew house of its era; today it continues to serve as the heart of the Anheuser-Busch St. Louis Brewery.
Clydesdale Stable
Built in 1885 at the cost of $35,000, the Budweiser Clydesdale Stable was originally the private stable of Adolphus Busch whose home, One Busch Place, stood about 200 feet to the southeast. One of the five major buildings of the Busch family estate, the stable was used to house family and guest carriages and horses.
The interior, arranged on the pattern of a railroad roundhouse, was decorated with brick wainscoting and included paneled hardwood stalls surmounted by wrought iron scrollwork and decorative lighting fixtures. With overall dimensions of 95 feet by 110 feet, the stable contained a superintendent’s office, waiting room and billiard room.
Other accents included marble-topped washbasins, harness closets made of Florida pine and a glazing in all principle rooms of cathedral glass of variegated hues.
As motor vehicles replaced coaches and the Busch family moved to its estate at Grant’s Farm, the stable fell into disuse. However, in 1933, with the repeal of Prohibition and the introduction of the Budweiser Clydesdales, August A. Busch, Jr. decided to house this new symbol in the old family stables. Since then, the lead hitch has operated from the stable, allowing brewery visitors a glimpse back at the long tradition and pride of the Budweiser Clydesdales.
