What an amazing example of 1880s architecture in Midtown! In the 1870s-1890s, Midtown was known for having some of the nicest homes in all of St. Louis. At the time, one of the popular architectural styles was that of Richardsonian Romanesque, which has an appearance similar to that of a castle. The Cupples House is one of the finest remaining examples of this style of architecture left in midtown, and it was built between 1888 and 1890 for Samuel Cupples, a wealthy St. Louis businessman. The house truly massive inside and the rooms are beautifully designed with deep earthy colors that come straight out of the late 1880s and early 1890s. You get a sense of the level of craftsmanship that went into building the house from outside, but it's even more apparent when you go inside and get views from the turret rooms. To get an idea of just how much went into the house, it's important to bring up the numbers. The mansion has an astonishing 42 rooms, 22 fireplaces, and a total of 18 people living in the house in 1900, mostly servants. To construct the house, pink granite was shipped in from Colorado, and the total cost for construction equated to what would be 15 million in today's dollars. The house was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Thomas B. Annan, who went to England and Ireland to study the architecture in those countries, in order to get ideas for how to design the house. At over 20,000 Square feet, with 3 floors each having 12 foot ceilings, this was one of the largest and most impressive homes at the time. read more