Photos by Ella Manthey
The modern landscape of Downtown St. Louis has been, in part, shaped and adapted by the work of architecture, planning, urban design, and interiors firm Trivers. From the Gateway Arch Museum and The Post Building to the Old Courthouse, the Old Post Office, and The Victor, the architecture and design firm has restored and beautified spaces in the city’s center.
“Trivers is a firm that really specializes in adaptive reuse, specifically Downtown,” says Amanda Truemper, associate principal. “Working in Downtown, for me, really feels like an investment in St. Louis’ core. It’s a commitment to being in the city [where] our work is centered. It’s great to be a part of a city that’s actively revitalizing.”
Trivers’ own office is now located in The Victor, a project that Joe Brinkmann, principal at Trivers, describes as ideal for the team’s needs. “We made a decision to move into The Victor after seeing it for decades, either unused or underused,” Brinkmann says. “Being in a space like this, that we did design, but also in just this kind of environment is what we were looking for.”
Naviinesh Gunalan, architectural designer at Trivers, expands on how the environment at The Victor, located in Downtown West, serves the team. “A bigger thing about The Victor is the amount of amenities that are packed in the space, and we as employees of Trivers get access to all of these amenities,” Gunalan says. “It creates a good work-life balance; whenever we get burned out at work, we go up and play golf, pickleball.”
In late July, The Victor was named a winner of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) 2026 Americas Awards for Excellence, one of the real estate industry’s most prestigious honors, according to a recent press release. The $130 million adaptive reuse of the former Butler Brothers Building was developed by Memphis-based Development Services Group, Inc. (DSG) in collaboration with the team at Trivers. PARIC Corporation served as the project’s general contractor.
“The Victor is a powerful example of thoughtful adaptive reuse and of what can be achieved through successful public-private partnerships,” Trivers Principal Joel Fuoss said in the release. “We are grateful to ULI for this recognition and for the opportunity to help realize DSG’s vision for returning a building of extraordinary historic significance to productive use for the benefit of the entire St. Louis community.”
