March 13, 2024 • 10 mins
Step inside whimsical City Museum, a former shoe factory where a giant preying mantis sculpture and a ferris wheel on the roof are just a few of the interactive exhibits that were the brainchild of Bob Cassilly. This museum welcomes adults and kids to climb, jump and twirl on the installations! Next, join Darley and curator Judith Mann at the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park to learn about the largest collection of Max Beckmann paintings with this episode focused on the diverse and splendid arts in St. Louis Missouri.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
How many museums can you visit that allow you to climb, jump, and twirl on the installations?
(00:05):
Two ten story slides and one five story slide.
Not too many. A kid's jungle gym dream out here.
Adults too! Yeah. It wasn't just built for kids.
But at St. Louis's City Museum, adults and kids are encouraged to get interactive inside
and even on the roof of the 600,000 foot former shoe factory,
(00:28):
celebrating found goods.
We're exploring one of the coolest museums I've visited to date, City Museum,
along with a diverse and splendid works at the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park.
Really, what we're famous for is where the largest collection, Max Beckmann, paintings in the world.
We also have his drawings and his prints.
(00:49):
In this Travels with Darley Podcast, we go around the world with locals as the guides,
exploring art, history, food, culture, and adventure.
And this week's podcast takes us to St. Louis, Missouri.
And if you like this podcast, please subscribe and look for the video version of Travels with Derley
on PBS and streaming.
Housed in a former shoe factory
(01:17):
City Museum feels more like a playground than a museum.
Celebrating found goods that inventive artist Bob Cassilly decided was worth showcasing.
City Museum has four floors and a rooftop with surprises around every corner.
Adventurous souls may opt to careen along a ten story slide between floors.
(01:38):
Paige Rudd, a museum administrator and expert, is giving us an insider's tour.
Paige, this is wild.
Well, a lot of it comes from different parts of the city and served different functions
before it showed up here at City Museum.
A lot of this out here is steel and repurposed more structural architectural pieces.
(01:59):
But as we get inside, there will be far more significant historical architectural pieces,
as well as a lot of sculptural pieces created by our founder and creator, Bob Cassilly.
Well, this is a kid's jungle gym dream out here.
adults too, yeah.
It wasn't just built for kids.
We're walking outside the museum's entrance beside a giant ball pit and series of wire and steel
(02:21):
ladders, giant slinkies and slides where kids are climbing and playing.
Above this interactive sculpture playground, there are two old airplanes suspended in the air,
which you can actually go inside if you dare to venture through the wire tunnels to get there.
We make our way into the museum, which first opened in the 1990s,
and head towards the roof, walking up a stairwell lined with colorfully painted rollers.
(02:46):
That you can spin as you walk up the stairs.
So the rollers that you see here and they spin, they were actually original to the conveyor belts
whhich were part of the shoe factory.
An old school bus, a giant whale, pinball hall, the world's largest pencil, and even a bank vault.
I do believe I'm in one of the most interesting museums I've visited to date.
(03:07):
Best of all, this is a museum that encourages travelers to touch, feel, climb on,
and truly experience each element housed inside and out.
So this is our enchanted cave area. This is one of the original areas to the building.
The building was once a shoe factory and these shoots you see here were used to bring the shoes down
from one floor to the next to be worked on or shipped out.
(03:31):
We now have repurposed them into spiral slides and now have two 10 story slides
and one five story slide. We also have an organ. It's a thousand pipe organ
that served from the Tivoli Theater in New York. Wow, okay.
It is like everywhere you go in here, there's something different or new that you definitely did not expect.
(03:53):
Yes, on the bottom floor there's also the cave area where you can climb through different structures,
made of cement, and there's all sorts of hidden tunnels and all sorts of different sculptures built
by Bob and his crew. A lot of areas in this building have been one thing for quite some time
and they get repurposed into something completely different a couple months later or a couple of years later.
(04:14):
Paige says it's so matter of faculty, but I'm impressed. Just imagine trying to move and rebuild
any of the pieces inside or outside of City Museum and you'll be impressed too.
You can get lost in tunnels and caves that wind through the museum on the first and fourth floors.
What I find on the roof though blows my mind. There's a three thousand pound praying mantis
(04:39):
and a ferris wheel. Our praying mantis has an interesting story. It used to be at our botanical gardens.
Bob designed it and it was brought back here. It's actually at one point stood over our door and now
can be seen from many miles away as people drive into the museum. He's kind of one of our mascots
(04:59):
watching over you. And the ferris wheel, like that's so, so retro.
It's a really neat view from the top. Definitely it's a very gorgeous view. Another City Museum
mascot you can see from below is the hippo. If you're walking from any distance on Washington Avenue,
you can always see the hippo. And why the hippo is there is, the reason behind it or the hippo is
(05:23):
a recast from a hippo park in New York City, which Bob designed and built. An amazing mind and talent.
Bob Cassilly was a sculptor and entrepreneur who was born in Missouri. In the 1980s,
Cassilly was known for creating large, whimsical sculptures, like a 50-foot giant squid for the St. Louis
(05:44):
Zoo. He brought the 10th story building that City Museum is housed in, which brings in hundreds
and thousands of visitors each year. Cassilly passed away in September of 2011 while working on another
big creative project. His legacy lives on through the remarkable City Museum. So Bob had this kind of
(06:04):
theory that nothing of anything could be used as bricks. So you have areas like the bottle walls and
various spaces throughout here that use unconventional items to create walls or tunnels or climbers,
because not everything has to be used for its original purpose. Yeah, that's so, it's so creative,
(06:25):
everything's creative and just looking at it makes me think, it just opens your mind. Yeah,
everyone who comes in here ends up, you know, age 2 to 102. Kind of goes back to being a kid and
getting to play and seeing things through a different light and that's kind of what this museum is
about. It makes me want to go home and redecorate. Get really creative. Yes, definitely. I'd like to
(06:47):
see your house. What I've done is not as interesting as this place.
If you're traveling to City Museum, you definitely want to wear comfortable clothes and closed
toed shoes. I take some time to recline in a rotating chair and get a little dizzy before moving
on to my next adventure. On my way from City Museum to the St. Louis Art Museum, I'm making a stop
(07:12):
to see the iconic St. Louis Arch symbolizing St. Louis's role in the Western expansion of the
United States and a monument to the vision of Thomas Jefferson. The tallest national monument
in the United States at 630 feet tall and weighing over 43,000 pounds, standing below the arch is
(07:33):
impressive. Another museum worth visiting in St. Louis's Forest Park, a large public park that's
also home to the St. Louis Zoo and Missouri History Museum. We're visiting the St. Louis Art Museum
with the collection spanning the centuries. This museum has a variety of treasures to discover.
Curator Judith Mann is introducing us to the museum and some top picks.
(07:57):
So we're walking through galleries devoted to the ancient world, the ancient near East, Greece, Rome.
This collection from the time it started in the late 19th century was devoted to covering all
the cultures of the world, not just Europe, but Oceania, Africa, ancient Americas. And so
this is typical of the wide range of the collections at the museum. A lot of wonderful
(08:22):
bronzes, Greek painting, Greek vases, sculpture, busts, mosaics, all the kind of major parts of that
type of art. And there installed sort of engroupings, things like this has to do with the
kinds of things people would have in their homes. We're a free museum and we really
(08:43):
honor that idea that people can just poke in. You don't have to pay so you come in for
10 minutes, look at a couple things and go. You know, that's a nice thing. And get tips on decorating.
Yes, we often get asked about the wall colors. They're very popular and people have used the
reds, the blues, the greens that we do. Yeah. Judith leads me to a section that's a must see
(09:04):
for art lovers. The building we're in was built for the 1904 world's fair. There were three buildings
all of equal size that were built to house all the art. This is the only one that still survives.
And now we've been collecting globally, so all cultures from all over the world. But really what
we're famous for is we're the largest collection of Max Beckmann paintings in the world. We also have his
(09:28):
drawings and his prints. Beckmann was here in St. Louis, so he has a really particular connection to
the city. But along this wall in particular, there's some early paintings in the middle is the
wreck of the Titanic is proven to be one of the favorites by St. Louisons because they really are
interested in that particular event. Yeah, this is so dramatic and big. Yeah, yeah.
(09:50):
And what I love is just the colors, that beautiful blue, that beautiful blue green, even though it's
this tragic event, but the image is really quite stunning. Yes, it is. Yeah. And the space is great.
There's with the high ceilings and the works nicely spaced out. Mm-hmm. Yeah, a lot of
the galleries have skylights, so this one has particularly beautiful lights, so we enjoy that for these.
(10:14):
And you can see these are large paintings, so they benefit from a large space.
If you want to look in the next gallery, the painting that people really come to St. Louis to see is our
early painting by Henri Matisse, the Bather's with the Turtles. So maybe we can go and look at that.
(10:36):
Yeah, okay. From Arts in St. Louis to beer in Belgium to Outdoor Adventure in West Virginia
and Train Rides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I hope you are enjoying these episodes of the
Travels with Darley Podcast. And if you like to travel and explore or learn new things,
please subscribe.
How many museums can you visit that allow you to climb, jump, and twirl on the installations?
(00:05):
Two ten story slides and one five story slide.
Not too many. A kid's jungle gym dream out here.
Adults too! Yeah. It wasn't just built for kids.
But at St. Louis's City Museum, adults and kids are encouraged to get interactive inside
and even on the roof of the 600,000 foot former shoe factory,
(00:28):
celebrating found goods.
We're exploring one of the coolest museums I've visited to date, City Museum,
along with a diverse and splendid works at the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park.
Really, what we're famous for is where the largest collection, Max Beckmann, paintings in the world.
We also have his drawings and his prints.
(00:49):
In this Travels with Darley Podcast, we go around the world with locals as the guides,
exploring art, history, food, culture, and adventure.
And this week's podcast takes us to St. Louis, Missouri.
And if you like this podcast, please subscribe and look for the video version of Travels with Derley
on PBS and streaming.
Housed in a former shoe factory
(01:17):
City Museum feels more like a playground than a museum.
Celebrating found goods that inventive artist Bob Cassilly decided was worth showcasing.
City Museum has four floors and a rooftop with surprises around every corner.
Adventurous souls may opt to careen along a ten story slide between floors.
(01:38):
Paige Rudd, a museum administrator and expert, is giving us an insider's tour.
Paige, this is wild.
Well, a lot of it comes from different parts of the city and served different functions
before it showed up here at City Museum.
A lot of this out here is steel and repurposed more structural architectural pieces.
(01:59):
But as we get inside, there will be far more significant historical architectural pieces,
as well as a lot of sculptural pieces created by our founder and creator, Bob Cassilly.
Well, this is a kid's jungle gym dream out here.
adults too, yeah.
It wasn't just built for kids.
We're walking outside the museum's entrance beside a giant ball pit and series of wire and steel
(02:21):
ladders, giant slinkies and slides where kids are climbing and playing.
Above this interactive sculpture playground, there are two old airplanes suspended in the air,
which you can actually go inside if you dare to venture through the wire tunnels to get there.
We make our way into the museum, which first opened in the 1990s,
and head towards the roof, walking up a stairwell lined with colorfully painted rollers.
(02:46):
That you can spin as you walk up the stairs.
So the rollers that you see here and they spin, they were actually original to the conveyor belts
whhich were part of the shoe factory.
An old school bus, a giant whale, pinball hall, the world's largest pencil, and even a bank vault.
I do believe I'm in one of the most interesting museums I've visited to date.
(03:07):
Best of all, this is a museum that encourages travelers to touch, feel, climb on,
and truly experience each element housed inside and out.
So this is our enchanted cave area. This is one of the original areas to the building.
The building was once a shoe factory and these shoots you see here were used to bring the shoes down
from one floor to the next to be worked on or shipped out.
(03:31):
We now have repurposed them into spiral slides and now have two 10 story slides
and one five story slide. We also have an organ. It's a thousand pipe organ
that served from the Tivoli Theater in New York. Wow, okay.
It is like everywhere you go in here, there's something different or new that you definitely did not expect.
(03:53):
Yes, on the bottom floor there's also the cave area where you can climb through different structures,
made of cement, and there's all sorts of hidden tunnels and all sorts of different sculptures built
by Bob and his crew. A lot of areas in this building have been one thing for quite some time
and they get repurposed into something completely different a couple months later or a couple of years later.
(04:14):
Paige says it's so matter of faculty, but I'm impressed. Just imagine trying to move and rebuild
any of the pieces inside or outside of City Museum and you'll be impressed too.
You can get lost in tunnels and caves that wind through the museum on the first and fourth floors.
What I find on the roof though blows my mind. There's a three thousand pound praying mantis
(04:39):
and a ferris wheel. Our praying mantis has an interesting story. It used to be at our botanical gardens.
Bob designed it and it was brought back here. It's actually at one point stood over our door and now
can be seen from many miles away as people drive into the museum. He's kind of one of our mascots
(04:59):
watching over you. And the ferris wheel, like that's so, so retro.
It's a really neat view from the top. Definitely it's a very gorgeous view. Another City Museum
mascot you can see from below is the hippo. If you're walking from any distance on Washington Avenue,
you can always see the hippo. And why the hippo is there is, the reason behind it or the hippo is
(05:23):
a recast from a hippo park in New York City, which Bob designed and built. An amazing mind and talent.
Bob Cassilly was a sculptor and entrepreneur who was born in Missouri. In the 1980s,
Cassilly was known for creating large, whimsical sculptures, like a 50-foot giant squid for the St. Louis
(05:44):
Zoo. He brought the 10th story building that City Museum is housed in, which brings in hundreds
and thousands of visitors each year. Cassilly passed away in September of 2011 while working on another
big creative project. His legacy lives on through the remarkable City Museum. So Bob had this kind of
(06:04):
theory that nothing of anything could be used as bricks. So you have areas like the bottle walls and
various spaces throughout here that use unconventional items to create walls or tunnels or climbers,
because not everything has to be used for its original purpose. Yeah, that's so, it's so creative,
(06:25):
everything's creative and just looking at it makes me think, it just opens your mind. Yeah,
everyone who comes in here ends up, you know, age 2 to 102. Kind of goes back to being a kid and
getting to play and seeing things through a different light and that's kind of what this museum is
about. It makes me want to go home and redecorate. Get really creative. Yes, definitely. I'd like to
(06:47):
see your house. What I've done is not as interesting as this place.
If you're traveling to City Museum, you definitely want to wear comfortable clothes and closed
toed shoes. I take some time to recline in a rotating chair and get a little dizzy before moving
on to my next adventure. On my way from City Museum to the St. Louis Art Museum, I'm making a stop
(07:12):
to see the iconic St. Louis Arch symbolizing St. Louis's role in the Western expansion of the
United States and a monument to the vision of Thomas Jefferson. The tallest national monument
in the United States at 630 feet tall and weighing over 43,000 pounds, standing below the arch is
(07:33):
impressive. Another museum worth visiting in St. Louis's Forest Park, a large public park that's
also home to the St. Louis Zoo and Missouri History Museum. We're visiting the St. Louis Art Museum
with the collection spanning the centuries. This museum has a variety of treasures to discover.
Curator Judith Mann is introducing us to the museum and some top picks.
(07:57):
So we're walking through galleries devoted to the ancient world, the ancient near East, Greece, Rome.
This collection from the time it started in the late 19th century was devoted to covering all
the cultures of the world, not just Europe, but Oceania, Africa, ancient Americas. And so
this is typical of the wide range of the collections at the museum. A lot of wonderful
(08:22):
bronzes, Greek painting, Greek vases, sculpture, busts, mosaics, all the kind of major parts of that
type of art. And there installed sort of engroupings, things like this has to do with the
kinds of things people would have in their homes. We're a free museum and we really
(08:43):
honor that idea that people can just poke in. You don't have to pay so you come in for
10 minutes, look at a couple things and go. You know, that's a nice thing. And get tips on decorating.
Yes, we often get asked about the wall colors. They're very popular and people have used the
reds, the blues, the greens that we do. Yeah. Judith leads me to a section that's a must see
(09:04):
for art lovers. The building we're in was built for the 1904 world's fair. There were three buildings
all of equal size that were built to house all the art. This is the only one that still survives.
And now we've been collecting globally, so all cultures from all over the world. But really what
we're famous for is we're the largest collection of Max Beckmann paintings in the world. We also have his
(09:28):
drawings and his prints. Beckmann was here in St. Louis, so he has a really particular connection to
the city. But along this wall in particular, there's some early paintings in the middle is the
wreck of the Titanic is proven to be one of the favorites by St. Louisons because they really are
interested in that particular event. Yeah, this is so dramatic and big. Yeah, yeah.
(09:50):
And what I love is just the colors, that beautiful blue, that beautiful blue green, even though it's
this tragic event, but the image is really quite stunning. Yes, it is. Yeah. And the space is great.
There's with the high ceilings and the works nicely spaced out. Mm-hmm. Yeah, a lot of
the galleries have skylights, so this one has particularly beautiful lights, so we enjoy that for these.
(10:14):
And you can see these are large paintings, so they benefit from a large space.
If you want to look in the next gallery, the painting that people really come to St. Louis to see is our
early painting by Henri Matisse, the Bather's with the Turtles. So maybe we can go and look at that.
(10:36):
Yeah, okay. From Arts in St. Louis to beer in Belgium to Outdoor Adventure in West Virginia
and Train Rides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I hope you are enjoying these episodes of the
Travels with Darley Podcast. And if you like to travel and explore or learn new things,
please subscribe.
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