Lemp Mansion

The Lemps sold more beer than almost anyone in America, and then the family came apart.

The William J. Lemp Brewing Company was a dominant force in the United States beer market before Prohibition, best known for its Falstaff brand. The mansion at 3322 DeMenil Place in Benton Park, St. Louis, was built in 1890, and in 1911 it was heavily renovated, with some of the space converted into offices for the brewery. The company ceased production entirely when it was sold at auction to the International Shoe Company in 1922.

Three members of the family died by suicide, and the house is recognised for that as much as for the beer. The Lemps lived here until 1949, when Charles Lemp died in the mansion. It became a boarding house in 1950 and lost much of its ornate character over the following decade. Building Interstate 55 through the neighbourhood in the 1960s destroyed much of the grounds and one of the carriage houses.

Enough survived to be worth walking through. The decorative iron gates from the open-air elevator can be seen from the basement restaurant. An Italian marble mantel still stands in the office where William Lemp Jr. died. The parlour ceiling is hand-painted and the mantels are carved from African mahogany. The main bathroom holds a glass-enclosed shower that Lemp brought back from an Italian hotel. The three vaults where the family stored their art are still at the rear of the house.

It now runs as a restaurant with overnight lodging and a wedding venue. It is also reported to be haunted by members of the family, and the owners lean into it: the mansion advertises ghost hunts and bills itself as famous from ghost to ghost.

What is actually here is the house of a brewing dynasty, a century of hard family history, and dinner in the basement.