Strauss Peyton is one of the oldest photographic portrait studios in the country. The studio originated as a St. Louis studio known as Strauss Studio. The major portrait photographer in St. Louis from 1880 until 1920 was J.C. Strauss. His custom designed studio-gallery was on Franklin Street in downtown St. Louis. J.C. Strauss' younger brother Benjamin Strauss, worked for him at an early age learning the photography business. In 1900 Benjamin Strauss moved to Kansas City, Missouri to start his own studio and hired an employee named Homer Peyton. Homer Peyton was so well liked an important to the Kansas City studio that Benjamin made him a partner and changed the name to Strauss Peyton.

Over the next several years Strauss and Peyton famously photographed and hobnobbed with the likes of Al Jolson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Douglas MacAurthur, and Bette Davis to name a few. In 1911, J.C. Strauss' son Louis Strauss began working in the St. Louis Studio and took over for his father in 1924.

As the Great Depression took its toll on several businesses in the St. Louis area, the Strauss Studio was also affected. By 1940 the Strauss Studio in St. Louis had closed and in Kansas City, Benjamin Strauss and Homer Peyton had also parted ways and sold their Strauss Peyton studio.

The Strauss Peyton studio in Kansas City is still open today and has continued to be a major contributor in the Portrait Photography world. This is where the current owner of Strauss Peyton St. Louis, Colin Miller, began his photography career. After working at the Kansas City studio and learning the history and tradition of this great company, Colin had no choice but to bring it back to its origin. He reopened the St. Louis studio in 1990 in Clayton, Missouri and brought back the tradition of exceptional portraiture to St. Louisans. Strauss Peyton, St. Louis, is the premier portrait studio in the area with Colin Miller at the helm. Visit our gallery on Lindbergh Boulevard (you'll recognize the home with the red door), and see what the Strauss Peyton Experience is all about.