June Preservation Board, Proposed Demolition: 3020 California

Photograph obtained from the City of St. Louis.

3020 California, in the Benton Park West neighborhood, is a resource within the Gravois-Jefferson Streetcar Suburb National Register District.

It is up for demolition on this month's Preservation Board Agenda, prompted by none other than the City of St. Louis Department of Public Safety.

This multi-family unit is exactly the type of property that made mass transit work so well in the City of St. Louis's heyday. Today, in an emptied city, density is vilified and multi-unit properties are seen as unsavory attractors of low income persons, and by extension crime. Many sit vacant, as the costs to redevelop are higher in such large structures and the payout for a rehabilitated building is lower than a single-family home.

Let's hope that 3020 California, located in the oldest section of the Benton Park West neighborhood, can survive to see a time where its density will be welcomed and its location near transit lines celebrated.