[M]USEUMS
CITY MUSEUM:
ONE PERSON’S TRASH, A CITY’S TREASURE Written by Ellie Lawrence
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This whimsical paradise is the brainchild of Bob Cassilly, an entrepreneurial artist whose desire to share his childlike imagination with the world led him to purchase a mostly vacant warehouse.
When your children ask you to take them to City
Museum to
check out a No. 2 pencil and a yellow school bus,
you may
not understand the dire urgency in their voices,
but you take
them there just
the same.
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AMERICAN LIFESTYL E
After all, how often do your kids beg you to go to a museum? You’ll soon discover their reasoning behind the impromptu trip—this museum in St. Louis, Missouri, is more like an enormous playground, that 21,500pound writing utensil is the largest in the world, and the must-see bus is actually perched on the building’s rooftop with its front wheels hovering in mid air! It would be an understatement to say that this is not your average museum. Boasting over 600,000 square feet of unusual exhibits, hidden tunnels and treasures, and a “feel free to touch” mentality, children have been mesmerized by City Museum since 1997 when it first opened its doors. This whimsical paradise is the brainchild of Bob Cassilly, an entrepreneurial artist whose desire to share his childlike imagination with the world led him to purchase a mostly vacant warehouse. Viewing the former International Shoe Company building as a
blank canvas brimming with potential, Cassilly transformed the open space into a labyrinth of adventures for the young and young at heart. Reusing found objects in new and unique ways—items which were mostly found within the city, like old chimneys, salvaged bridges, and abandoned planes—Cassilly and his team of artisans built a slightly out-of-control collection of play spaces interfused with a slew of mystical sculptures. Inside City Museum is a dark and mysterious interactive environment, complete with a maze of underground passages and caves, twisting ramps and stairs, and even multi-story slides. This museum is a true fantasy world. With no signs to tell you where to go or rules to tell you what to do, locating the next “exhibit” is part of the experience. Construction of City Museum took on a momentum of its own as Cassilly and his team AMERICAN LIFESTYLE
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