STRICTLY BUSINESS: DRURY HOTEL SAVED HISTORIC BUILDINGS FROM WRECKING BALL

Charles Drury Sr. was almost too late to rescue three downtown St. Louis buildings from the "headache ball."

Wreckers were already at work demolishing three buildings at Fourth and Market Streets in downtown St. Louis when Drury happened across the property.

Drury and his wife, Shirley, discovered the old International Fur Exchange building, the Thomas Jefferson Annex and the American Zinc building on their way to Sunday Mass at Old Cathedral Church.

The demolition crew had already pounded a large hole through eight floors of the adjoining Thomas Jefferson Building Annex.

Drury called the New York City owners of the building the next day and arranged to buy the buildings.

That was two years ago.

The International Fur Exchange Building, constructed in 1919; the Thomas Jefferson Building, added to the Fur Exchange building in 1957 as a home for a hat manufacturing company; and the American Zinc Building, constructed in 1967, today make up the new 370-room Drury Plaza Hotel, and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Charles and Shirley Drury, owners and developers of the new Drury Plaza Hotel, will host a grand opening gala today to introduce the new hotel -- 95th in the Drury Inns Inc. group and the 15th Drury-operated hotel in the St. Louis area -- to the St. Louis business community.

Special guests for the 5-7 p.m. event today will include Archbishop Justin Regali, St. Louis Mayor Clarence Harmon, local business leaders and politicians and team members from the Drury Development Company and Drury Inns Inc.

Much of the original millwork and ornamentation in the lobby of the 80-year-old fur exchange, designed by the late George W. Hellmuth as a fur trading center, had already been destroyed. But Drury construction workers brought in tons of imported ivory-colored marble, black granite and other materials to cover the floor of the lobby, parts of the walls and parts of 24 concrete support columns.

To replace the missing ornamental millwork, constructions crew set up a plaster shop on site, built the molds and poured the plaster to replicate the millwork.

As part of the renovation, the Thomas Jefferson has a new brick exterior to help blend visually with the Fur Exchange. About 15,000 pieces of Waterford crystal were used throughout the building for light fixtures and chandeliers.

Drury is no stranger to restoring history buildings into motel/hotels.

The Drury Inn & Suites Riverwalk is in the refurbished Petroleum Commerce Building in San Antonio, Tex.

Designed by noted Texas architect Atlee B. Ayers, the building served as San Antonio's public service company for approximately 30 years. The utility company was known to showcase its electrical appliances like stoves, lamps and refrigerators in the windows on the street side of the building. As customers passed by, they would be enticed to buy new appliances.

The public utility company changed over time, but the Drury refurbishment took great pains to preserve many of the building's architectural highlights like its high ceilings and ornamental plaster moldings. The exterior was restored to the original 1920s appearance.

Earlier, Drury architects and builders refurbished the turn-of-the-century buildings at St. Louis' Union Station and Historic Union Market.

Historic restorations are also under way now in New Orleans on a 1917 telephone building at Poydras and Carondelet and slated to be a Drury Inn & Suites.

The latest hotel in the Drury Inns Inc. group previously served as a fur exchange after it was built in 1919. The building was home to the world's largest and most important fur trading auction throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Sealskin had become a desirable fur for women's coats, and Funsten Brothers had obtained a contract for Alaskan Pribil sealskins. Funsten Brothers consolidated with the F.C. Taylor Co. to form the International Fur Exchange. The building was designed by St. Louis architect George Hellmuth and cost an estimated $750,000 to build.

Caradine Hat Company added the 10-story Thomas Jefferson Building Index in 1957. The building was then home to the hat manufacturing company and Southwestern Bell Telephone's operation for more than 25 years. The American Zinc building at the corner of 4th and Walnut street were building in 1967, and is one of only three buildings left in America which employed the Vierendeel truss structural style, named for Arthur Vierendeel, who first used the quadrangular truss on a bridge building in 1896 in Tervueren, Belgium.

The four-story jewel box-looking American Zinc Building is suspended atop two steel structural beams and is clad in the same brushed-finish stainless steel as the world-famous Gateway Arch.

With the opening of the new downtown hotel, the Drury chain will operate 2,440 rooms in the St. Louis area, making Drury Inns one of the largest hotelier in the city.

The Drury motel/hotel story started in the early 1940s, when Lambert Drury started a plastering business at Keels with his four sons.

Lambert believed that success was achieved only by delivering the highest quality product possible at an excellent value. His philosophy was passed on to his sons as they worked with him and later continued on their own ventures.

One of the Drury Plaster projects was at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. In 1967, they constructed a motel along Interstate 55, for the Holiday Inn.

In 1973, the Drury family opened the first Drury Inn in Sikeston.

Once Drury established its own name in the lodging industry, it never stopped growing. Today, Drury Inns, Inc. continues to be family owned and operated. Charles Drury Jr., son of Charles Drury Sr., is president and chief executive of Drury Inns Inc. Charles Drury Sr. is chairman of Drury Development one of the chain's largest building arms.

During the past 27 years, the company has grown to operate a chain of 96 motels/hotels in 15 states. The 96th motel opened at Birmingham, Ala., last week. The group is expected to hit the 100 mark this year.