Rising in creamy limestone-colored glory above the corner of 7th and Market Streets, the American Hotel commanded St. Louis's downtown plaza with the architectural confidence of the Beaux-Arts era — and this saturated Curt Teich linen card from around 1935 renders it in the dreamy, sky-punching palette that made the Chicago printer's work so beloved: cobalt clouds, amber sidewalks, and the tiny period automobiles below that date the image as precisely as a dendrochronologist reading tree rings. The hotel boasted a Rathskeller, a grill, an in-house theatre, and a garage — the full urban luxury package — and this unused advertising card would have sat on its front desk inviting guests to write home. The reverse is clean but shows age toning and light soiling consistent with 85-plus years of storage; the stamp box reads "Place One Cent Stamp Here," confirming its pre-1952 first-class postcard rate era.