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Monday, November 17, 2008

Demolitions in Shaw, Academy, and St. Louis Place on this month's Preservation Board agenda

See for yourself here.

What's really interesting is the Shaw property, on the 3900 block of Shenandoah. Sure, the building's roof is collapsed and it's in terrible shape. But the facade is prime for saving. Does the Board ever recommend this? Has something else happened to this formerly robust multifamily since Google Streetview rolled through in 2007?


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The proposed demolition in Academy, at 5115 Cates, is potentially damaging to a North Side neighborhood notable for its intactness. Despite this fact, certain blocks in Academy have witnessed one too many demolitions. The 5100 block of Cates has lost somewhere between five and eight structures from its blockfaces over the years. I'm not sure what the present state of this handsome building (below) is, but I would hope that demolition would be the last of last resorts.


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There's another proposed demo on the 1800 block of Warren in the Columbia House/Brewery National Register District. Unfortunately, I can't get a good image of this building, save for a Bird's Eye view through Maps.Live.Com. Again, it looks like one of the many gratuitous ("It's empty. Why not?) St. Louis demos.

It's small, incremental loss that compromises neighborhoods. Shaw may be safe in the long run--but this loss will certainly damage the integrity of the block. Ditto for Academy on Cates.

1 comments:

Brian said...

The Cates and Shenandoah demolitions make no sense to me, and I hope they're both denied.

Shaw is a great neighborhood, and Cabanne is making a comeback - the house on Cates looks like it's on a pretty nice block. There's no reason why these two buildings can't be refurbished.

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