The ground floor of Square and Cash App’s St. Louis office, housed in an eight-level former newspaper building renovated by CannonDesign, is dominated by the original Goss printing press.
The ground floor of Square and Cash App’s St. Louis office, housed in an eight-level former newspaper building renovated by CannonDesign, is dominated by the original Goss printing press.

June 8, 2022

Words: Michael Lassell

Photography: Eric Laignel

CannonDesign Transforms the Interiors of a Former Newspaper Building into Modern Tech Offices

Back in 1878, when the West was still wild and the U.S. had only 38 states, Joseph Pulitzer, a self-made Hungarian immigrant, acquired two struggling Missouri newspapers and merged them into the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which has been publishing ever since. In 1959, the paper moved its newsroom and printing plant into a 1930 art deco-style building by prominent local architects Mauran, Russell and Crowell for another, now-defunct news daily. The Post-Dispatch sold the building in 2018 and now occupies smaller facilities nearby.

Today, after a $70 million overall makeover, the building houses 850 employees of Square and Cash App, two divisions of Block, Inc., the high-tech financial services and digital payments company. The staff had previously been working in three different locations, and the corporation’s primary objective was to centralize this workforce in one user-friendly space.

Now based in San Francisco, Block was founded in St. Louis in 2009 by two natives of the Gateway City: Jack Dorsey (also a co-founder of Twitter) and Jim McKelvey, a tech-head, entrepreneur, and glass artist. To create its new Missouri digs, the company hired CannonDesign, one of the nation’s largest architectural firms.

Block was clear about its remit for the 225,000-square-foot building, which comprises six stories and two basement levels: “The client was looking to create a home for its employees,” reports project director Ken Crabiel, vice president and commercial and civic market leader at Cannon’s St. Louis office. “A place where they could be connected with one another in a variety of ways.” Like a home, the plan called for a series of connected spaces, both large and small, public and private, to accommodate multiple activities.

Representing drops of printer ink, a ceiling installation by Third Degree Glass Factory, a local studio started by artist and Block co-founder Jim McKelvey, animates one of the building’s three atria.
Representing drops of printer ink, a ceiling installation by Third Degree Glass Factory, a local studio started by artist and Block co-founder Jim McKelvey, animates one of the building’s three atria.

The large spaces include three multilevel atria that connect to the more intimate areas by a series of interior staircases. Employees can choose to work at a traditional desk or on a sofa or lounge chair, and meetings can range from intimate tête-à-têtes to company-wide confabs in the vast all-hands area. The building can accommodate up to 1,200 workers, so Block has room to grow in place. (Currently, most employees are free to work from home or in the office, as they choose.)

In a project-defining move, the original newspaper printing press has been left in place—a steampunkish behemoth that stretches roughly 80 feet along the ground floor. Project designer and Cannon associate Olivia Gebben is especially enamored of the small basement-level lounge spaces tucked among the massive steel columns and beams that support the machinery above. “In these lounges, you can look up and literally touch the buttons and wheels that made the presses tick,” she enthuses.

“It’s hard to overestimate the role that press has in the collective memory of St. Louis,” Crabiel observes, noting that the machinery was clearly visible behind large street-level windows. “People used to come to watch the presses cranking out the paper. Nowadays the use of the building may be different, but you can still see activity in and around the press through those same windows, especially at night.”

The renovation also preserved a spiral staircase, much of Pulitzer’s office, and areas of decorative terrazzo flooring. Otherwise, floors throughout are the original concrete, with all their evolved patina showing. “We just refinished them with a low-grit polish,” Gebben notes. Adaptive reuse is nothing new to Cannon, which operates its St. Louis practice out of a similarly gutted and reinvented 1928 power station. “We’re fortunate to have a lot of that kind of building stock in our city,” Crabiel acknowledges. “And much of it is getting new life.”

The interior program was intentionally kept timeless, both natural and neutral. “We featured exposed concrete and natural oak against a lot of black and white,” Gebben says. “The bright blue printing press is a huge presence, so we didn’t add much color.” Most of the color, in fact, comes from numerous art installations.

A mural by local Black experiential designer Jayvn Solomon energizes a fourth-floor corridor, where polished-concrete flooring is original, as it is throughout.
A mural by local Black experiential designer Jayvn Solomon energizes a fourth-floor corridor, where polished-concrete flooring is original, as it is throughout.

“Art is in the DNA of our company,” says Jay Scheinman, Block’s global municipal affairs lead. “Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey came up with the idea of Square when Jim couldn’t complete the sale of one of his glass pieces because he didn’t have the ability to take a credit card.” In keeping with this strong connection to art, a contest was run for local artists to come up with pieces reflecting the company’s mission of economic empowerment. The 10 winning entries are now incorporated into the fabric of the building. Third Degree Glass Factory, founded by McKelvey in a reclaimed 1920’s service station, devised a striking ceiling installation—a constellation of suspended vitreous globes—for the third-to-fourth-floor atrium. “The blue color is as close a match to the press as possible,” Crabiel explains. “And the individual handblown ‘bubbles’ are meant to represent ink droplets.”

“So often in design, you look at the physical form and can see the connections between the original building and the renovation,” Crabiel continues. “But sometimes there’s an underlying philosophical connection, too.” Pulitzer believed that providing information enabled readers to make responsible choices. “Block is centered on the same principle,” the architect says, “and we wanted that notion to have a presence in the new iteration of the Post-Dispatch building.”

The ground floor of Square and Cash App’s St. Louis office, housed in an eight-level former newspaper building is dominated by the original Goss printing press.
The ground floor of Square and Cash App’s St. Louis office, housed in an eight-level former newspaper building, is dominated by the original Goss printing press.
Although the 1930 art deco-style building’s north facade was a later addition, it now functions as the main entrance.
Although the 1930 art deco-style building’s north facade was a later addition, it now functions as the main entrance.
A custom mural by design collective Arcturis backdrops Jehs + Laub lounge chairs in the basement-level game room.
A custom mural by design collective Arcturis backdrops Jehs + Laub lounge chairs in the basement-level game room.
Flanked by the printing press and a Carlos Zamora mural, the vast all-hands area on the ground floor hosts company-wide meetings and serves as a café.
Flanked by the printing press and a Carlos Zamora mural, the vast all-hands area on the ground floor hosts company-wide meetings and serves as a café.
Ensconced in an oak-paneled banquette niche on the third floor, an installation by St. Louis artist Kelley Carman celebrates the landline telephone.
Ensconced in an oak-paneled banquette niche on the third floor, an installation by St. Louis artist Kelley Carman celebrates the landline telephone.
The travertine wall, fireplace, and credenza are all original to this conference room, once part of the office suite of Joseph Pulitzer, founder of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which had occupied the building.
The travertine wall, fireplace, and credenza are all original to this conference room, once part of the office suite of Joseph Pulitzer, founder of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which had occupied the building.
Anthony Land’s Yoom sectional sofa and a Luca Nichetto coffee table furnish another seating nook under the printing press.
Anthony Land’s Yoom sectional sofa and a Luca Nichetto coffee table furnish another seating nook under the printing press.
A Mags sectional sofa outfits one of the small lounge areas tucked between the press’s massive steel support system in the basement.
A Mags sectional sofa outfits one of the small lounge areas tucked between the press’s massive steel support system in the basement.
The roof terrace, a popular lunch spot overlooking downtown St. Louis, tops the building’s later addition.
The roof terrace, a popular lunch spot overlooking downtown St. Louis, tops the building’s later addition.
A typical break-out area near benched workstations includes Scolta chairs, Jørgen Møller coffee tables, and a tufted wool rug on a patch of original terrazzo flooring.
A typical break-out area near benched workstations includes Scolta chairs, Jørgen Møller coffee tables, and a tufted wool rug on a patch of original terrazzo flooring.
Also new is the glass roof above another atrium, where oak-finished engineered wood forms the stairs and ribbed acoustic bamboo panels some walls.
Also new is the glass roof above another atrium, where oak-finished engineered wood forms the stairs and ribbed acoustic bamboo panels some walls.
PROJECT TEAM
Cannon­Design: Ken Crabiel; Olivia Gebben, michael bonomo; nicole andreu; kevin zwick; elise novak; enge sun; melissa pirtle; stephen gantner; carmen ruiz cruz; kelsey mack; heather rosen; michelle rotherham; rita radley; brendan smith; jocelyn wildman; alex oliver; alyssa packard; barrett newell
trivers architecture: architect of record
mcclure engineering: MEP
KPFF Consulting Engineers: Structural Engineer
tarlton corp.: general contractor
PRODUCT SOURCES
FROM FRONT
Andreu World: café tables (all hands)
davis: chairs
ofs: high tables
coalesce: stools
flos: lighting system
plyboo: paneling (all hands, atrium 2)
knollstudio: chairs (game room)
gestalt: side tables (game room, lounge area 1)
kasthall: rugs (lounge areas)
Hay: sofa (lounge area 1), side chairs (terrace)
ecosense: pendant fixture (conference room)
tretford: carpet
herman miller: side chairs (con­ference room), task chairs (office area)
stylex: sofa (lounge area 2)
bernhardt: coffee table (lounge area 2), side tables (atrium 1), ottomans (atrium 2)
modloft: lounge chairs (atrium 1)
mafi: stairs, flooring (atria)
poe: storefront systems
Janus et Cie: tables (terrace)
Paola Lenti: lounge chairs
kettal: side tables, lounger
landscape forms: benches
pair: workstations (office area)
fine mod imports: lounge chairs
de padova: coffee tables
anthropologie: rug
focal point: pendant fixtures
Interface: carpet tile
woodtech: café tables (atrium 2)
Fredericia: side chairs
resident: sofa
vitra: lounge chairs
Ethnicraft: coffee table
vibia: floor lamp
THROUGHOUT
growing green: planters
ppg industries: paint

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