Built in 1904 to accommodate World's Fair visitors, it was subsequently known as the Ambassador Hotel, which was gutted by fire in 1971 and razed in 1973.

[2] The building was a U-shaped hotel, seven stories high, with bay windows around the wings.

[4][5] It was at the hotel's bar that the Major League Baseball career of Larry McLean ended during a drunken encounter with his manager, John McGraw.

[4] After the St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of America was founded on February 8, 1906, the organizational meetings and many early lectures were held at the hotel.

[16] Eventually acquired by the Royale Investment Company, the hotel was sold to attorney Morris Shenker in 1965.