2723 Pine Street -- September 1936.
Today, a part of the A.G. Edwards (I mean...Wachovia) campus.
AND
3127 Laclede (circa 1960?).
Today, part of the SLU campus.
Thank you, Midtown Institutions, for your stewardship.
While we're on the topic, check out the sliver of a historic building just west of the still present Cupples House on West Pine in the heart of the SLU campus (photo circa 1988). They sure do have a thing for demolishing historic mansions.
Thanks, HABS, for depressing me as usual.
4 comments:
I believe the building next to the Cupples Mansion was the old Scholars' House. When I was at SLU, it was used as housing for top students. Unfortunately, it was torn down to make way for...nothing. There's a "lazy river" there now.
For an even more egregious demolition, try to find a picture of the old mansion that once stood at the northwest corner of Spring and Lindell. It's now a SLU parking lot. You can see it on the cover of the book "St. Louis Lost."
Leaving aside the question of SLU's stewardship (which isn't much of a question, really, we all know it doesn't exist), the demolition of Mill Creek Valley didn't have a lot to do with institutional stewardship. The availability of federal urban renewal funding, the ambitions of the newly created local LCRA, racism, and a surprisingly optimistic spirit of improvement - all of these things converged to displace a poor and largely voiceless population and destroy a historically significant neighborhood. Can't blame this one so much on AG Edwards.
I wasn't so much trying to blame A.G. Edwards as I was pointing out the magnitude of the loss. Look at the legacy of that plot of land--and what it is now!
Mill Creek Valley set a precedent which continues to haunt and promote the culture of demolition so prevalent in St. Louis City.
Post a Comment