The Crestwood Board of Aldermen voted unanimously last week to spend $5,000 to preserve artwork from the former Crestwood Plaza site that possibly could be worth as much as $300,000.

Mayor Gregg Roby told aldermen June 28 that the artwork was created by sculptor Saunders “Sandy” Schultz for the former Stix Baer & Fuller department store, which later became Dillard’s.

The owner of the mall, Chicago-based UrbanStreet Group, is in the process of demolishing the buildings on the 47-acre site for a $104.3 million mixed-use redevelopment project.

Roby said he learned about the artwork while attending the opening reception of the Missouri History Museum’s Route 66: Main Street Through St. Louis exhibition.

“Stix Baer & Fuller was a company that prided themselves on their art galleries in their stores, and when they built the new Crestwood store, one of the ideas was that they were going to incorporate some really nice artwork into their third-floor gallery,” he said. “And so they wanted something that would provide people with an entrance to that area, and … commissioned these plastic — I’ll call them plastic — panels that are between the floors that as you’re going up the escalators you can see these mounted in between frames and directly below them are these plaster castings.

“Well, these pieces are one of a kind. They were one and only. They were never, ever reproduced for any other project, and they are due to be demolished with the building here in two weeks …”

Schultz decided his inspiration for the artwork would be Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s book, “Gift From the Sea,” Roby said, adding that he spoke personally with the artist, who is 88 years old.

“Mr. Schultz said he always liked the novel ‘Gift From the Sea,’ and utilized many writings from the book for his inspiration for these pieces. The plastic pieces actually had inscriptions on them from the book …,” he said.

The mayor said he spoke with Schultz’s daughter, a judge in New Mexico, who confirmed the authenticity of the pieces.

Earlier this year, SOHA Studio + Gallery hosted an exhibition of Schultz’s work.

Roby said he spoke to one of the gallery owners, who said of the panels, “Whatever you do, these are priceless. They should not be allowed to be destroyed.”

The city will pay the $5,000 to Ahrens Contracting, the company that is demolishing the mall, Roby said, adding he has spoken to a number of people who believe the $5,000 can be raised through donations.

Of the pieces, Roby said, “What we decide to do with them is up to us. I will tell you that and this is just talk, his daughter said, ‘Do you realize the value of those panels?’ And I said I had no idea that they even existed until somebody brought them to my attention. She said, ‘At a gallery at auction, those would bring close to $300,000.’ So again, that’s just talk. I want to see the green before I’d agree that that was a factual situation, but certainly there are enough people that feel that they should be saved …”

During a period for public comment, resident Steven Liddy said, “… I’m going to make it easy on you. I’ll put up the $5,000.”

Roby said, “There you go.”

After a lengthy discussion, aldermen voted to approve the $5,000 expenditure to preserve the artwork, with the stipulations that donations be sought to recoup the cost and city staff makes a recommendation on what to do with the panels.