One of the treasures of Saint Louis University’s campus, the Samuel Cupples house, is a place most don’t know too much about.
Hundreds of students walk past the house daily. The vision of the prominent architect Thomas Annan, the Cupples House is one of the last standing examples of the long-forgotten Romanesque architecture.
Cupples was one of the richest men at the turn of the 19th century. He commissioned his house to be built in 1888.
As Cupples broke ground on his house, Saint Louis University was in the process of relocating from downtown to Midtown.
It is said that Cupples resented SLU, because DuBourg Hall blocked his view of Mill Creek Valley and downtown.
Cupples helped establish Washington University and Barnes Hospital. He remained generous to Washington University, giving them gifts totaling $7.5 million.
After his death in 1912, his house could not be sold for eight years, and it especially could not be sold to Saint Louis University, per his will.
The house fell into the hands of a few businesses, however, and SLU eventually gained control of the house in 1946 for $50,000 (SLU got the last laugh; Cupples paid $500,000, which is $999,406 in 1946 dollars, for the house to be built).
The house served as the student union until Busch Memorial Center was built and later dedicated by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967. With the dedication and help of Maurice McNamee, S.J., the Cupples House was saved and opened to the public in 1975.
Today, it serves as an art museum and holds American and European paintings, Christian art and a part of the Peter De Smet, S.J., collection.
Visitors can tour the house Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.