New Burnham LLC

Leijona

In Like a Lion

This building, originally designed in 1923 as the St. Louis County Jail and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was converted recently into a unique 33-unit mixed income apartment building. Historic details were exposed and highlighted wherever possible, from the terrazzo floors of the booking room that was redefined as a beautiful residential lobby to the original doric columns and lion sculptures that inspired the building’s new name. (Leijona is Finnish for lion). Some original cell bars were retained as decorative screens between kitchen and living spaces in the units. Where other cell bars were removed that had originally formed part of the building’s structural system, the design team rose to the challenge of redesigning the floor structure to work without the bars.