The dream of a high-rise residential development overlooking the soon-to-be constructed “Saarinen Arch” began in the early 1950s. By 1959, the city was fiercely debating two proposals for a mixed-use riverfront redevelopment project. Of the winning proposal, architecture critic George McCue wrote: “Visible from points to the west, [the towers] would beckon visitors, with their bold forms by day and their lighted windows at night, to an area of revived human activities.”

Groundbreaking for Mansion House took place in May 1964, and the first residents began moving into the building in April 1966. Later that year, the St. Louis chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Producers’ Council named Mansion House the most outstanding apartment building for the years 1964-1966.