Millennium Hotel’s Rotating Restaurant Will Live on at the City Museum
Date Posted: August 4, 2026
Posted In: News, Projects,
From First Alert 4: Crews have removed the rotating mechanism from the former rooftop restaurant atop the Millennium Hotel as demolition of the 28-story building continues downtown.
The restaurant, which once rotated 360 degrees and offered views of downtown St. Louis and the Mississippi River, closed in 2014. The mechanism that powered its rotation was pulled from the building this week and transported to the City Museum.
Workers lifted the piece of equipment, lowered it to street level and loaded it onto a truck in approximately 10 minutes. The City Museum will incorporate it into a future display expected to be ready early next year.
“We collect a lot of unusual things, and this is definitely one of those things that might not be preserved or collected by a traditional institution, but for us, it’s just building material too, which is really cool,” said Maria Cassily of the City Museum. The display will not be one for kids to climb on, Cassily said.
The Gateway Arch Park Foundation has been gathering stories connected to the restaurant as part of a digital archive project.
“Story after story after story have been taking place at this restaurant. So to know that this piece is being saved and this piece powered so many of these memories, it’s really special,” said Ainsley Worthley of the Gateway Arch Park Foundation.
The public can submit photos, video and written memories of the restaurant at the link here.
The Millennium Hotel demolition is part of a broader $670 million riverfront development planned near the Gateway Arch. The project includes food, retail and loft spaces. Demolition of the hotel is expected to be complete by the end of 2027.