Dotage St. Louis

40 Broadway

2010-08-24T20:19:00.001-04:00

In my absence from posting, my St. Louis excursions to blog about kept piling up to the point where the heap became incredibly intimidating. While they continue to accumulate, I thought I'd take a night off and post about one of the more recent ones--my trip to Badenfest, in North City, via the #40 Broadway bus.

St. Louis has plenty of amazing bus lines--ones that casually weave through our city's storied urban fabric and allow a passenger a finer look into our city than if he is driving himself. Take the #73 Carondelet, for instance, which offers glimpses into Lafayette Square, Benton Park, Dutchtown, and, of course, Carondelet.

Besides a short a jaunt over to the Anheuser Busch tourist center, the #40 is not a bus I'd recommend a visitor to our city hop aboard for some sight-seeing. It mostly sticks to Broadway itself, which, north of downtown, can be less than visually stellar. Even so, this is St. Louis, and even the most forlorn and neglected parts of town have an amazing backstory. While Rob Powers can show you each and every surviving house left in this now-mostly industrial district, I can only offer you what's visible from the bus.

Here are a few captures from my bus ride from downtown to the Baden neighborhood in North City.

Now arriving in Baden:

The Baden business district, seen above, is one of the city's most intact and attractive commercial corridors. The wide street made crowds seem a bit sparse at Badenfest this past Saturday, but the mood was lively and the smells wafting from barbecue pits were irresistible.

If you're ever hankering for an adventure on a Saturday or Sunday morning, there's really no better way to do it than to hop on a bus that you don't know very well (or at all!) and see where it takes you. See something interesting? Pull the chord and stop there!

Just as an FYI to all current and potential transit users: Metro is restoring yet more service on August 30. So before I send you to bus schedules, be forewarned that they're nearly all about to change. For more information on Restoration 2010, Round Two, click here. Soon, you'll have less of an excuse not to hop a more frequent bus to exotic parts of our city and region.

The NorthSider

2010-07-28T19:46:00.000-04:00

If you visit the city's official website and click the link to its 79 official neighborhoods, you'll witness the digital divide right before your eyes.

Well-to-do and well-known neighborhoods like St. Louis Hills and Soulard have attractive, contemporary websites. Neighborhoods less on the radar are not likely to have much of a web presence. Many of these historic neighborhoods are faced with a city-designed website that dates to the mid-1990s--and hasn't been updated since.

But it's not just a matter of flashiness and neighborhood pride--neighborhood websites can be a great place to disseminate information out to residents. Other than Old North St. Louis, not a single other North Side neighborhood had much in the way of an online presence. Now, several of them have something even better--a neighborhood/ward newspaper that has both a physical and online copy, the NorthSider.

The NorthSider is a project of 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French. The neighborhood newspaper lists its constituent neighborhoods underneath its title: Penrose, O'Fallon, the Greater Ville, Mark Twain, and Kingsway East.

In its first edition are stories regarding the North Side Recreation Center to be constructed in O'Fallon Park:

and new housing on North Newstead:

The NorthSider fills a tremendous gap in coverage of the goings-on and development news across a wide swath of the North Side. South Siders and Central Corridor-ians better take note of the NorthSider's covered neighborhoods--they're true architectural stars of which we should all be proud.

A Bright (Green) Future for McRee Town?

2010-07-27T00:21:00.002-04:00

Unlike Dotage, the 17th Ward has a fairly regularly updated blog keeping St. Louisans abreast of developments in that section of the city (Central West End, Forest Park Southeast, McRee Town, et cetera).

One of the most exciting bits of news covered by Blog 17 is a newly announced redevelopment plan for the old section of McRee Town not razed for the Botanical Heights development.

On the 4200 block of McRee, Urban Improvement Construction (UIC) has proposed a green redevelopment of nearly the entire block -- 16 historic renovations along with 12 new LEED-certified homes.

Blue buildings are existing, to be rehabilitated; yellow are proposed new construction. Image is courtesy of Blog 17.

Brent Crittenden of UIC and the Central Design Office (CDO) also spoke of UIC/CDO's plans for the corner building at McRee and Tower Grove, located diagonally from their main offices.

While this building has been allowed to degrade over the past years, under the plaster finish that now covers the façade is a glazed brick former Standard Oil station, with white glazed brick and a bright red cornice. We intend to restore this vintage filling station and outfit it as a small corner café. Our hope is that this café will provide some vibrancy to the neighborhood and become a long term icon and meeting place.

To me, this is a great step in the right direction towards revitalizing McRee Town. While I'm quite sure Botanical Heights has stabilized its surrounding neighborhoods, I do wonder if a more sensitive infill-based project like that proposed for the 4200 block of McRee would have been even better. I even like the design philosophy suggested by UIC/CDO:

Maintaining and restoring as much of the historic character of the neighborhood is important to us for many reasons, both culturally and architecturally. Our firm has developed an expertise in the restoration of difficult rehabs and we hope to showcase that ability in this project. On the new units, we plan to build homes that match the proportions and materials of the existing homes, but in a more contemporary design that appeals to a design conscious buyer.

We need more infill housing across the city that walks the fine line between homage and challenge to our architectural heritage.

Below is one of the homes slated for renovation, including facade improvements:

Image courtesy of the City of St. Louis

I have always thought McRee Town to be a sadly and unnecessarily overlooked part of St. Louis; having I-44 and heavy industry as a neighbor on nearly all sides doesn't help too much. That said, this is actually part of the neighborhood's history, having sprung up around the looming Liggett and Myers Tobacco Factory on Park Avenue. Thankfully, the remaining portion of McRee Town is now a historic district under the Liggett & Myers name. I am glad to see it may not be too late to appreciate what's left of this small, but classic south St. Louis neighborhood.

Please check out Blog 17's item on the redevelopment here, which includes the full interview with Brent Crittenden,

I'm a Cherokee Person

2010-07-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

Just last week, I attended the Pecha Kucha night that took place at the Contemporary Art Museum. I saw Mike Glodeck there - proprietor of one of the city's best coffee joints, Foam. We had a brief discussion on what was the next step for Cherokee Street.

Mike mentioned that the street needs more people living on, not just around, it -- more stakeholders, in other words. He's right. Misguided zoning of the modern era sought to make commercial districts businesses alone; corner storefronts only residential; etc. The intermixing of uses and users on the same urban block is the essence of city life. No one street or space belongs to any particular group. It is quintessentially public and shared, whether you're a lifelong resident who lives above the bakery or you're the person stopping in for some fresh-baked bread.

I'm excited to say that, as of today, I'm living on Cherokee Street (Foam is now my neighbor!). What that means for you, dear reader, who has been scratching his or her head wondering what has happened to this blog, is that I will once again have my own space. This blog should return to its normal life shortly. No excuses.

Well, except for Black Bear Bakery, Apop Records, the St. Louis Curio Shoppe, Phono Mode, the Mud House, Foam, CAMP, Firecracker Press, STyLehouse, La Vallesana...

The Triangle, Benton Park West

2010-07-06T09:14:00.002-04:00

When my parents' neighbors in Bevo announced they were moving and put up a "For Sale" sign, I couldn't help but think perhaps urban life had gotten the best of them. Perhaps I was stereotyping just a bit--she's pregnant, and so I assumed that she was preempting the tough decision ahead when her child reached school age by moving to a better school district now.

To my surprise, she told me she was moving to the "Triangle". I was intrigued that she assumed I would know where this mysterious neighborhood was. At first, I was thinking of the Ivory Triangle in Carondelet/the Patch. Then I figured it out: that wedge of Benton Park West bounded by Arsenal on the south, Jefferson on the east, and Gravois to the northwest, forming a pretty neat triangle. She confirmed this nebulous Near South Side neighborhood to be the same Triangle in which she and her husband were undertaking a four-family rehab!

The Triangle has no shortage of Essential Red Brick St. Louis, but this Second Empire-styled commercial building and its neighbors form one of my favorite street scenes in the area, at Texas and Lynch:

Whether you call it Benton Park West, the Triangle, or something else entirely, this is a neighborhood that St. Louis should be showing off! May many more intrepid pregnant women decide to rehab forlorn homes here!

A Lafayette Square Transformation

2010-06-28T23:17:00.001-04:00

St. Louis's Lafayette Square--and specifically the portion fronting the park itself--is one of the city's most immaculate, attractive, and quaint strolls. In 1896, a cyclone destroyed the neighborhood and its namesake park. This photograph shows the damage to the Lafayette Park Presbyterian Church on Missouri (west side of Lafayette Park).

Source

The level of devastation makes it very surprising indeed that so much of the neighborhood was ultimately salvaged and/or rebuilt. Over 100 years later, Park, Mississippi, Lafayette, and Missouri Avenues are collectively one of the city's finest showcases. What gaps remain are now lushly landscaped side yards or future development sites, as much infill activity has occurred on the Square already.

There was one odd sight on the Square, though: a heavily altered church that had a bit of a sore thumb appearance in its particular spot of Park Avenue just east of Benton Place. 2035 Park Avenue, shown below, was originally a two-story historic home hacked away at over time. Perhaps the 1896 Cyclone played a part?

Source

Walking past the site yesterday, there was little indication it had any relation to the building shown above. From the city's Geo St. Louis website, the "after" shot:

Source

While some might argue that this neighborhood's strict historic code has stifled creative urban design, I find historic recreations like that above appropriate for such a self-consciously historic neighborhood. After all, the neighborhood had a choice to rebuild itself in a different fashion after 1896, but it chose to emulate the old then, too. Why should we let a little mid-20th century urban decline have its way with the Square's protected identity? I think 2035 Park looks great!

Is St. Louis Truly Getting Better?

2010-06-25T21:29:00.001-04:00

Over at Urban St. Louis forums, there is an excellent discussion afoot regarding whether or not St. Louis has truly turned a corner from its dark days of decline and despair in the latter half of the 20^th Century.

The provocateur is a Fortune article from 1985, touting the city’s against-the-odds comeback. St. Louis Centre was “glittering” and Union Station’s shopping was an “extravaganza”. Tax breaks were luring in out-of-town investment and the stars were just finally aligning for the ailing city, according to the article.

Of course, most of the present stock of urban thinkers in St. Louis believes that the 1980s were a bleak time for the city—and that we’re now, even despite a deep recession, on a much better path. Homicide rates were ballooning then, businesses and people leaving, and landmarks were being felled by the day. Yet, the above article is a good demonstration that any city has reason to hope and will do so to survive. Certainly, St. Louis Centre seemed novel at the time, as the largest urban enclosed mall in the nation. With numbers not going the city’s way, I’m sure that a gigantic mall downtown seemed an epinephrine-like injection of confidence in a bleeding downtown.

This might all sound very scarily familiar. No, but things are really different this time! We're really emerging from a half-century slump this time, for sure, right? But what if, in 20 years, Culinaria is closed and the parking garage above sits mostly empty? What if Citygarden of today is the Kiener Plaza of tomorrow? I guess we should all hang our heads low and resign our efforts to improve our city: this incredible spike in reawakening neighborhoods and business districts, daring rehabbers, transit users and supporters, and generally creative civic energy is all a horribly mean and unfair taste of the sky at the top of the Ferris wheel. That sinking feeling is bound to return, and the ground is the only way off the ride.

In other words, our civic energy and collaboration right now is part of a cycle. There have been counterparts to each of us in the past—exact replicas in their passion and dedication to their city. Today, these same people are our harshest and most cynical critics, their own efforts having been shot down long ago under eerily similar circumstances. Or so they say.

I simply have to believe that it's not true. While some St. Louis boosterism is the work of naïve idealists, I say more power to them (to us, I should say!). Naïve idealists approach situations with an air of possibility; their critics tout a bitter “reality”. Truly, though, their very faith in such a reality helps to preserve it.

We need a special kind of idealism in the city.

We don’t need someone who’s so confident that a “glistening” mall downtown will save it that we don’t have a meaningful discussion of what a mall might do to an urban retail environment. We need an open civic dialogue to direct a constant stream of ideas to their proper source for refinement, as well as for enactment. We need great efforts at organizing motivated St. Louisans, such as UrbanSTL or City to River. We need to be aware of what challenges exists in our extant political and cultural structure, but also play selective amnesiacs when we hear “I told you so”. It’s a damning statement designed to punish people for taking a risk—and that’s the opposite of what we should be doing in St. Louis.

The brand of idealism we need is the kind that generates ideas, endeavors to situate them in their proper context, and the kind that rejects the word “failure” outright. To stumble is to learn how to walk gracefully.

What is going on in St. Louis right now is nothing short of spectacular, and, I believe, largely irreversible if we continue on the same track. Note that conditional statement; it’s going to take sustained work to address all of our systemic issues. But, as with any person who entered long years of physical and social decline, the city of St. Louis needs first to learn to love itself again. It needs that shot in the arm. And I’m here, with hundreds of others of you reading now, to administer that shot. That's the stage we're in right now.

This is a place of tremendous character—one that develops only out of a unique struggle, a wear and tear, a patina. To deflect any criticism that we’re just the next generation of urban dwellers destined for disappointment, we must help fashion a place from which one can’t help but derive excitement, passion, and purpose in life. We can start by--we have started by--trumpeting this very special place to everyone we meet; by opening shops and restaurants and supporting the unique local ones that already exist; by doing our best to not just be tolerant of but inviting to people who are different; by better marketing our assets and developing honest and open solutions to our oft-mentioned problems.

I know this is the touchy-feel realm I'm in right now. And it's also vague. But I think many readers will know how to interpret these broad statements. I just have a terrible feeling that the moment we start to believe that we even have the option to let all of this great momentum slip away, it will. Let's stay positive, focused, and do what's right for our city no matter who's declaring the odds of success.

Downtown - a Core of Discovery

2010-06-23T01:35:00.001-04:00

Have you ever heard the phrase "there's nothing to do downtown"?

The National Park Service's answer to this is the Downtown "Core of Discovery".

With the ongoing City Arch River 2015 design competition, it's great to see the NPS express its dedication towards connecting the Arch to downtown in the meantime.

Each attraction has a nice informational page that will certainly be of use to tourists if this website is well-advertised. I particularly like the Flickr photo pools for each listed attraction. My favorite part, though, is the downtown architecture tour.

It's a 20-stop architectural smorgasbord. The tour covers the greatest hits (the Wainwright Building), the modern marvels (the Zinc building), house museums (the Campbell House), and more.

It might seem like a small step on the part of the NPS, but clearly much thought has gone into the design of this site and the marketing of our downtown. I applaud this effort and am excited that I'll be here in person to witness the more radical interventions that will be proposed this fall as a part of the Archgrounds International Design Competition.

Where to Live?

2010-06-20T21:47:00.000-04:00

Now that I've moved back to St. Louis (still getting settled in--please pardon the quietness of this blog), I'm now having to ask myself where I'll live when I get my own place. While I love my parents' house in Bevo and its location, I don't think I'll stay in the neighborhood. I work downtown and would like a simple, hassle-free commute by bus, train, or foot.

Just when I think I have decided on one neighborhood to settle into, another steals my heart. Will it ultimately be Old North's overwhelming community spirit and promise of a bright future that wins out? Will it be Benton Park's glut of beautiful architecture and great coffee shops? The Grove's eclectic style and thumping nightlife? Or the sheer convenience of downtown? I have a tough decision ahead and will keep everyone posted.

June Preservation Board Agenda Online

2010-06-14T22:37:00.001-04:00

The temporary agenda is accessible here.

On the agenda are:
-A preliminary review of lighting at Aloe Plaza
-A preliminary review to extend an existing roof deck in Lafayette Square.
-A preliminary review to renovate 6120 Delmar (blogged here) in the East Loop, while demolishing a non-contributing addition.
-Review of proposal to install an illuminated ground sign with reader board at St. Francis DeSales Catholic Church.
-An appeal of staff denial of an application to replace third floor front window in the Central West End.
-An appeal of staff denial to retain 7 vinyl windows installed without a permit in Fox Park.
-An appeal of staff denial to retain exterior wrapping on front windows installed without a permit, also in Fox Park.
-An appeal of staff denial to retain a front door installed without a permit, in Benton Park.
-A new application to install solar panels on front roof slope, also in Benton Park.

Proposed demolitions are below:

-6044 Cates, in the West End neighborhood (photo from Geo St. Louis)

4308 Gano, in the Fairground Neighborhood. (Photo from Bing Maps).

4623 Kennerly, in the Greater Ville neighborhood. (Photo from Bing Maps).

The Preservation Board meeting is held at 1015 Locust, Suite 1200.

The date is June 28th at 4 p.m.

Why Do You Stay in St. Louis?

2010-06-11T12:45:00.000-04:00

You could have your choice of any city in the country. Chicago's larger and a short drive away. Heck, Kansas City's economy is doing better. And let's not even talk about cities along either of the coveted coasts!

Why do you stay in St. Louis?

Well, because you realize St. Louis is a soulful, elegant, fun, interesting, eclectic place poised for great things. You like its grit, its neighborhoods' character, its street festivals, its parks, its food, its nightlife, its affordability. Or something along those lines.

In fact, you should probably put it in your own words here, at the new microblog dedicated to this very question: Staying in St. Louis.

The submit button is located in the yellow box in the left tab--it's the mail slot icon.

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that, next week, I'll be among those who can actually submit "why I stay" there in St. Louis. Because I'm coming home, for good.

More on that soon.

Anarchy in Affton, and Other Reflections on St. Louis's Placeblogosphere

2010-06-09T16:23:00.002-04:00

Does anyone know the whereabouts of one J. Patrick O'Brien, the "city" of Affton's onetime mayor? Has there been a coup?

On December 23, 2007, after a somewhat regular posting schedule, the esteemed pseudo-mayor of a pseudo-city (Affton is not incorporated) simply stopped posting. See for yourself here at his now-defunct blog: Mayor of Affton.

The Mayor offered St. Louis placeblog readers something we're all too light on: laughter. O'Brien would refer to his wife as the "First Lady" and his home, more than likely, being in Affton, a Tudor-style gingerbread or a Post-War saltbox, the "Mayoral Mansion".

Whether he reviewed the Affton restaurant scene...:

Last night the First Lady and I tried out the new Trattoria Toscana restaurant on Gravois next to the Ten Mile House. Let me first say that earlier I told a friend that I was going out to Affton's newest Italian eatery and he said "Fazoli's?" Chris, you are a jerk and so are you Fazoli's. I hate Fazoli's food and apparently they hate Affton since they don't have a location here.

...or faux-bombastically trumpeted his mayoral background in real estate development...

The Mayor attended a conference on Sustainable Development this morning hosted by the Urban Land Institute. Most of the discussion was old hat for the Mayor as I am well aware of the concepts that create such developments. What was enlightening was to see actual reports and data that proved the return on investment to developers that choose to “go green”.

...the Mayor of Affton was a delight to read.

If this were the end of the story, I'd be kind of depressed. With the passing of the Mayor of Affton blog, there was definitely a visible void, and not just in everyone's favorite South County hamlet. Our region needed more people writing about their neighborhoods, their municipalities, to get us excited and interested. Affton is one of the most stereotyped places in the region--it's all retirees, it's boring, it's not urban, etc.--yet I believe O'Brien opened our eyes to a colorful place. That's St. Louis--an impossibly varied kaleidoscope of villages.

So, it's important to note now, three years after Affton's Mayor disappeared from the blogosphere, that we have plenty of other Mayors running around town (keep in mind--some of these mayors predated the ascendancy of Foursquare!).

One of my favorites is Nicki's Central West End Guide. Neighborhood resident Nicki Dwyer snaps photos of businesses new and old, street life, flora and fauna, and more--all in the Central West End or nearby. By focusing on the life of the neighborhood, as opposed to blogs like mine that settle for our great, if inanimate, built environment, Nicki truly enlivens the neighborhood. I know she doesn't go by "mayor", but I'd vote for her!

We now even have a Near South Side-centric neighborhood newspaper online, called Your Local Messenger, and an online-only (and VERY well done) North County magazine at NoCoSTL.

56 Houses Left dutifully and beautifully cataloged the long destruction of a North County neighborhood near the airport--the Carrollton Subdivision. In happier news, a swanky mid-century modern neighborhood of Crestwood (the Ridgewood subdivision) gets much love on this web site.

Old North St. Louis has a whole band of blogger-rehabbers. Check out 1318 Hebert and the 3 Walls Project (covering the process of a stunning renovation at 3240 N. 19th). Our Little Easy hasn't been updated in a while, but is worth a look.

So, neighborhood mayors out there reading this--urban, suburban, rural, it matters not, of course--please send us your placecentric blogs so that we can all rest assured that the faux-Mayoral blogging doesn't have a term limit.

East Loop Redevelopment Falls a Bit Short; Make a Call to Improve It!

2010-06-08T15:48:00.001-04:00

When Neal Shapiro of Original Cast Lighting announced he was packing up his business and taking it from the East Loop to Westport Plaza, he promised his presence on Delmar would not fade.

Now, the Summer 2010 issue of the Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere has the proof: Shapiro's rendering for the site at 6108 Delmar.

Here is the before, from Google Streetview:

And the rendering, from the Times of S-D.

As you can probably tell, half of the building (a non-contributing addition to a historic building) is slated for demolition while the other half will be surface parking.

Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council supports the plan with minor alterations, saying that "this additional parking will be a welcome addition to the Delmar streetscape and complement the renovation of the historic OCL building...". While I respect this neighborhood group greatly and feel that their newspaper is among the city's best, I disagree with them entirely on this point.

The East Loop is at a point, urban-design wise, where it could really take off and be seen as a cohesive district on par with the western portion of the district. The African American Cultural Center (shown below) will fill in a large gap in the street wall, but the East Loop still has plenty of blank space.

Image Source: Terrence Says

If you need confirmation of this, step up to the rooftop bar at the new Moonrise Hotel.

This humongous gap between the East and West Loops is bad enough--why create more gulfs between activity?

I understand that the Loop is a regional destination and that most people drive there. That said, the Loop is actually not a huge district. Able-bodied individuals should park at the gigantic surface lot behind Delmar between Leland and Kingsland and walk to the East Loop if that's their destination. If you want to grab-and-go, try street parking, which is usually available if it's not a weekend or a popular Pageant show. Let's not forget to mention that there is a Metrolink stop a block away from this site--and a proposed Loop Trolley that would run right outside the front door. Those who wanted to avoid a parking headache in the Loop could always take one of the many other forms of transportation (I didn't even mention the bus...) to get there as well, possibly with a park-and-ride situation if they still wish to drive at all.

The Loop has the greatest potential of all business districts in St. Louis to become even more of a showcase of how active, urban, and lively St. Louis can be. Parking lots suck energy away, especially when they're visible. If it's determined that parking is absolutely necessary for the site, why not hide it? Keep the facade of the building to be demolished intact, paint it, and let it at least hold down a proper street wall for the East Loop. This would be a very creative use of the building and a better public face for Delmar than a brick wall screening surface parking.

If you agree with me, please contact the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council below:

6008 Kingsbury Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63112

Voice: (314) 862-5122
Fax: (314) 862-5153

Email: beverett@skinker-debaliviere.com

As I said before, I respect the work of this great neighborhood association, but it's their word that will allow, or block, more surface parking on Delmar in the East Loop. Remember--this is St. Louis's premiere urban strip. Why can't we put a better face out to the world than striped parking spaces? I think we can!

Thanks to the Urban St. Louis forum for this story idea.

The North Side: Let's Plug the Loss of Place

2010-06-07T18:09:00.001-04:00

I won't take the easy route and claim the entire North Side of St. Louis is suffering unimaginably. Those fearful of anything "North of Delmar" would be well-advised to check out Old North St. Louis, one of St. Louis's most exciting stories of revitalization and community reinvestment. Even though it's the most often cited North City neighborhood for tales of urban regeneration, Old North does not have a monopoly on the moniker "the future is north" by any means.

Hyde Park has seen several measures designed to stop the outward flow of residents and to plug the loss of irreplaceable historic buildings. Blue Shutters Development, Better Living Communities, and Sun Ministries are just some of the groups in Hyde Park attempting to make a difference for both the built and social environments. Sponsored by the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, artist Theaster Gates is attempting to heal the neighborhood through arts and education.

With the same development and financing team as Old North's 14th Street Mall restoration project (known as Crown Square), the resurrection of Dick Gregory Place in the Greater Ville is no less exciting. There are stable North City neighborhoods as well who have not seen the worst of decline. These include Academy, the Lindell Park area of JeffVanderLou, Visitation Park, Baden, etc.

Yet much too large swaths of the North Side continue to slip away, losing a valuable sense of place.

The most recent news is that four houses in College Hill burned. One of the four was occupied, and was a complete gem. See 859 Cowan, pre-fire, below:

In the Post-Dispatch story, their photograph of the fire shows the extent of the damage to this particular home. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Four homes burning within blocks of one another is more than suspicious. Arsonists are likely the culprits here, considering that the three vacant homes had no utility hookups.

Arson, brick rustling, and simple demolition-by neglect are forever denying generations of St. Louisans enjoyment of some of the city's oldest and, at one time, most charming neighborhoods. College Hill is but one struggling North City neighborhood; St. Louis Place, much of JeffVanderLou, the Vandeventer neighborhood, the Ville proper--all are very significant historic neighborhoods that are literal shells of their former selves. JeffVanderLou, in particular, just saw a devastating round of arsons back in March. Then there's an eight year history of NorthSide project visionary Paul McKee, Jr's holding companies' neglect of its properties. So widespread was this neglect that blogger Rob Powers was able to catalog over 200 days of blog posts worth of destruction.

In certain North Side neighborhoods, I wonder if there will be much of a physical infrastructure left to save in the next ten years. St. Louis Place is already infamous for its expansive urban prairie.

This web site and several other St. Louis built environment blogs focus quite often on St. Louis's healthiest neighborhoods or those seen as having the most potential. Benton Park, Benton Park West, the Grove, the Central West End, and yes, Old North St. Louis, are pretty popularly blogged areas of the city these days. In some ways, it's to be expected that a St. Louis blogger will focus on where the most "news" is, or where the best photographs/stories come from. Even those bloggers that like to point out areas of improvement in the city generally look to some gaping holes in otherwise stable streetscapes and neighborhoods.

It's clear that we have an imperative to focus considerable attention on some of the North Side's most distressed neighborhoods. Now, will historic preservation alone lift up neighborhoods that have witnessed disinvestment and flight of people and businesses for decades now? No, quite simply. But, for a hypothetical moment, make the city a mirror image. Soulard is a pockmarked neighborhood ringed with unsuccessful attempts at housing low-income residents. It's now undergoing a remarkable resurgence of the pieces of its built environment that remain. It's our Old North. Today's St. Louis Place and JeffVanderLou are nearly 100 percent intact and now thriving; they're our Benton Park and Benton Park West. O'Fallon is our Tower Grove South. Baden is our Carondelet.

In this mirrored image of St. Louis, we must see the value in saving Benton Park. Our chopped up Soulard is still worth saving, and is seeing rehabilitation, so let's not write off neighboring Benton Park off either. So if we flip back, we see the importance and potential of JeffVanderLou, or College Hill, or St. Louis Place. They should be neatly woven into the fabric of the rest of the city, but they're not. Their hopes of a Benton Park-style revival are slim because of their isolation.

We can't wait around for a NorthSide development proposal, which is too big, or a North 14th Street renaissance, which was very specialized and hard to replicate.

First of all, we need more preservation advocacy specifically focused on the North Side's most sensitive areas. With few people in St. Louis speaking to the importance of these areas, it's easy to see why there's no push to save/repopulate these neighborhoods. It would be nice to see Landmarks Association of St. Louis open a satellite office in Hyde Park or College Hill, renovating and occupying a storefront in the process. Such an action would show that these neighborhoods have great architectural and social value and deserve reinvestment.

Second, we need more leadership like Antonio French, of the 21st Ward. French has partnered with the group Rebuilding Together to tackle vacancy and blight in the Penrose neighborhood. His "Block by Block" program is a great model that can spread to other neighborhoods in surrounding wards. French is also attempting to curb gang violence in his ward, is regularly seen cleaning up O'Fallon Park, and introduced Preservation Review in his ward. While staging alley and park cleanups as well as hosting prayer vigils for crime victims might seem like minute steps, French is investing his confidence in his neighborhood and ward. French is very wise to invite the presence of Rebuilding Together into the 21st Ward. The full force of St. Louis's non-profit arm should be applied to ailing North City. If St. Louis is one of the most giving cities in the country as certain studies show, surely we can channel some of this energy toward addressing systemic poverty and blight in North City (and beyond). Non-profits will take notice of sound leadership and will hopefully respond with the same confidence that the area's leadership projects. Our leaders, but also bloggers like me, must shift the dialog about North City from its crime/violence to "ideas" "hope" "opportunity" and "improvement" in earnest. This means working with and for, not in spite of, neighborhood residents.

We need to install cameras on targeted city blocks. These cameras could catch criminals in the process of robberies, assaults, and other crimes. Cameras could definitely help put an end to arson and brick rustling in some of St. Louis's most tattered neighborhoods. All parties caught illegally demolishing properties and selling off their bricks should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They're literally stealing a building. Antonio French is already at work to bring cameras to the 21st Ward, at least.

We need philanthropic investment in North City. In New Orleans, there was a corporate-sponsored event called "Christmas in July" where employees of large firms downtown would take a couple days off and assist in renovations of historic properties in a then-rundown neighborhood. Why not do this in North City, HOK? Anheuser-Busch InBev? Monsanto? Enterprise? Et cetera. I proposed in a previous post that the Gateway Foundation, the bankrollers of Citygarden downtown, fund a citywide greening program to install mature trees on barren blocks. Imagine a Citygarden-scale investment in targeted areas of North City--$40 million dedicated to renovating LRA properties, installing new lighting, neighborhood banners, etc.

Speaking of the LRA, we need to market vacant properties better. Again, I turn to Antonio French, who created a website to market city-owned properties in his ward. The LRA should also have a bricks-and-mortar storefront, either downtown or in both North and South City, that would inform would-be buyers of what is required of them as well as offer technical assistance in purchasing and renovating properties.

Realistically speaking, most of presently fallow North Side land won't be built upon anytime soon, right? Yet I see Detroit get boatloads of attention for its mostly empty neighborhoods and all of the opportunities they offer in terms of art installations and urban farming. I wonder why St. Louis's most neglected neighborhoods don't generate the same interest, nationally and locally. The St. Louis PR machine rightfully, it would seem, focuses on the city's vibrant and up-and-coming neighborhoods, but our most struggling areas are the ones that need idea factories. It would be great to see St. Louis University and Washington University, among others, bringing art installations to empty North City blocks. Detroit artists literally froze a house to very visibly tell the tale of what foreclosures do to an urban neighborhood. And a New Orleans artist bought up a whole block of the St. Roch neighborhood and transformed each house into something of an outdoor art showcase, renovating one of the shotguns for her own residence. We need more of this type of eye-catching activity in some of our abandoned neighborhoods.

The "Safe House" in New Orleans--an interactive art exhibit advocating for clean soil in polluted areas of the city. It is one house on a whole block dedicated to outdoor/indoor interactive art in a destitute New Orleans neighborhood. Image Source: Art:21 Blog

We could do both at once--that is, create artful built environments and fill in vacant lots. Habitat for Humanity St. Louis is currently constructing several dozen homes in Old North. In that neighborhood, Habitat consulted a strong neighborhood association to get a sense of what type of design for housing that neighborhood residents would see as reflective of their community. The result of that interaction was a thoughtful play on Old North's architectural heritage, with small, but contemporary shotguns as well as two-story flounder houses. Maybe North City residents could be sold on the concept of container houses, which are growing in popularity worldwide.

A simple shipping container house in Atlanta, Georgia. Image Source: G Living

In College Hill, and other North City neighborhoods like it, we need to plug the loss of place and start filling these parts of the city with a constant stream of ideas. We have creative, thoughtful people engaged already in the betterment of our city. How do we use them to create a sense of energy and possibility directed at the least successful of St. Louis's neighborhoods? What are your ideas?

Moderne No More: Industrial Building's Renovation Begs Question about Mid Century Modern Preservation

2010-06-03T16:32:00.002-04:00

What do you think of this building, located in the southern reaches of Tower Grove South, at 4110 Beck Avenue?

The picture above, showing the long and deep structure's two public elevations, is from a Cultural Resources Office staff report dating to September 2009. 4110 Beck is something of a classic industrial "Art Moderne" building. Built in 1951, it displays a bold, yet repetitive modern spirit as it emphasizes its horizontal sprawl. A rounded corner entry allows it some visual prominence and breaks up two very long and identical facades. Back in 2009, the party that had recently purchased the building decided to use it as storage. In the process, they proposed a renovation that they felt would make the structure less visually monotonous.

Because 4110 Beck is located within a Preservation Review district, and because the new owners sought to build projecting elements off of the building into the public right of way, the Cultural Resources Office had to first review the proposal. Click here for the staff report. Ultimately, it was decided that the Cultural Resources Office had no purview over the design of alterations in the case of 4110 Beck (the purpose of Preservation Review districts, after all, is to review proposed demolitions, not alterations). This case was a Board of Public Safety referral and, apparently, adding brick pilasters to a building does not create an immediate safety hazard to pedestrians. While Cultural Resources declared the proposed alterations "unfortunate", it is clear now that the owner's plans were not derailed on account of a design that compromised the industrial minimalism of the building.

Walking by the site earlier today, I snapped a cell phone picture of the ongoing work:

The pale tan bricks of the original structure have been painted over with a cool green. The proposed brick pilasters have been added at equal intervals, as have new entrances and lighting. The domineering corner remains, at present, untouched, but that is all.

The alterations to 4110 Beck make us examine our collective attitude about buildings built within the modern era (roughly defined as 1945-1975). Was the Swing-A-Way Manufacturing Company building above a repetitive bore of a building--one whose renovation/makeover as shown above is probably a good sign for the neighborhood? Or was this a considerable loss to our city's mid-century modern architectural heritage?

I suppose, in order to answer this question, we have to generate yet more questions. How visible is this building to the traveling public? Beck (and its intersecting street, Holt) are fairly quiet streets here, but there is a surrounding residential context to the north. Was the building National Register eligible? The Cultural Resources Office believed it to be so. Do the changes make the building look better? In this blogger's opinion, the structure now has an un-charmingly awkward look to it.

As our city continues to age, our modern era buildings will likely continue to see such attempts at making them more "personable". I, for one, hope we can develop an appreciation for the best of our well-designed mid-century housing and commercial stock--and I think 4110 Beck is, or was, a member of that club.

What do you think? Who cares--the building is still there? Like the alterations?

St. Louis - A Blog City

2010-05-30T13:10:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, June 3, City Affair will be discussing citizen activism and blogging in St. Louis. They've entitled the event "Blog City" and have invited me to speak! I can't wait. To my own surprise, I'll be in there in person to take questions. Event details are here and below:

Thursday, June 3rd 2010
7:00-9:00 PM
Urban Eats Café
3301 Meramec Street
St. Louis, Mo. 63118

Not to spoil the fun by tackling this topic early, but there seems to be a dissonant chord among some St. Louis bloggers and observers that I wanted to talk about first. Some people feel that bloggers, and their blogs, are merely creating noise and that feet aren't hitting the pavement. In other words, St. Louis's urban blogs might be inspiring discussion, but there's not enough action resulting from this dialog.

I can go along with this statement easily, but only because we should never be satisfied with the level of citizen involvement we currently have. We can pat ourselves on the back for progress, sure, but we can also always do better.

But there are some commentators on the Blog City notion that suggest something further than the above--that bloggers are talking about the wrong things and may be even harming any efforts to create meaningful change in urban St. Louis. After all, blogging about your favorite streetscape in Dutchtown or the outcome of the Preservation Board hearing doesn't do anything for St. Louis's quality of life issues that hold it back: crime, education, poverty, etc.

Sure it doesn't. What urban blogging does do, however, is get people excited about their city and interested in parts of it they had perhaps never seen or never felt connected to. The next criticism to level against this statement is, well, are we only strengthening the singing voices of the choir, preaching to the converted? Maybe so. But an engaged and informed core of people willing to do anything to advance their city is not a bad thing, no matter if it appears to be a small percentage of the overall city's population or not. We need these people and their passion.

Besides, most blogs and their bloggers never set about blogging with the expectation of creating a paradigm shift in the city of St. Louis. Most people just love their city and want to share it with those who'll listen. Most of us bloggers have been surprised at the positive reception of the general public towards our posts. Dotage St. Louis, for one, was never begun with the intention of launching a political campaign, creating better schools, or ending poverty in the city. If my blog could do these things, I'd never quit clicking the keys. As I've put it in the past, Dotage is my love letter to the city that gave me so much. I owe to St. Louis the person I am today, whom I generally like.

If I've convinced one person to go out and proselytize about Carondelet's limestone cottages to a wider audience, then, in my mind, Dotage has been successful. If we bloggers happen to be helping cobble together a coalition of people seeking urban change along the way, then I am beyond thrilled, and am honored to be a part of it.

A note to would-be bloggers out there: don't start with a lofty goal of solving the problem of crime and violence in the city. Just let your passion flow forth and see if anyone gets caught in the stream.

South Grand Branding

2010-05-29T14:28:00.000-04:00

The Grand South Grand business district is searching for a logo that will capture the visual aesthetic of the area. Three options have been provided on their well-used Facebook page. Which do you prefer, if any?

Number One?

Number Two?

Or Number Three?

While commenters on Facebook have not been kind to number two, I like its reference to Tower Grove Park and the neighborhood and business district's relationship to it. What sort of symbols, colors, etc. would you use to capture the essence of South Grand?

City to River - Get Involved!

2010-05-27T13:47:00.002-04:00

Rarely do I copy a blog post and re-post it in its entirety, but I am doing so on behalf of City to River. CTR is the most exciting case of citizen activism in a city that's becoming known for it. We deserve a city for people, not just for cars, and so any Archgrounds redevelopment should remove the barrier of both the elevated and depressed lanes of I-70. Read more on their website. The blog post is below, and is linked here:

What is City to River doing to make the boulevard idea a reality? City to River is an all-volunteer advocacy organization working on many fronts to bring the idea of highway removal to all the key decision makers in the Arch design competition.

Time is of the essence and City to River needs your help. Here’s what we’re up to and what you can do to help:

City to River is:

Meeting with finalist design teams to advocate for the inclusion of I-70 removal as part of the Arch grounds design competition.

Earning endorsements of our vision from property owners, developers and other stakeholders.

Encouraging the public to contact both Mayor Francis Slay and Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Superintendent Tom Bradley to express their support for the removal of I-70.

Communicating with local elected officials to express support for the removal of I-70.

What YOU Can Do:

Contact Mayor Francis Slay, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Superintendent Tom Bradley, and our downtown Aldermen to express your support for the removal of I-70 (contact info below).

Spread the word to family, friends, colleagues. Ask them to follow @CitytoRiver on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CityToRiver. Send an e-mail to your contact list with a link to www.citytoriver.org, ask them to send the link to others.

If you have contact with downtown developers, businesses, or property owners, tell them about City to River and the boulevard idea. If they would like to learn more, connect us with them and we will provide them with information about the effort and how they can help.

Mayor Francis Slay
Phone: (314) 622-3201
Email: mayorslay@mayorslay.com
Twitter: @mayorslay
Address: Mayor’s Office
City Hall, Room 200
1200 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103

Superintendent Tom Bradley
Phone: (314) 655-1600
Email: Tom_Bradley@nps.gov
Address: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
11 N. 4th Street
St. Louis, MO 63102

Alderman Phyllis Young
Phone: (314) 622-3287
Email: youngp@stlouiscity.com
Address: City Hall, Room 230
1200 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103

Alderman April Ford-Griffin
Phone: (314) 622-3287
Email: griffina@stlouiscity.com
Address: City Hall, Room 230
1200 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103

Alderman Kacie Starr Tripplet
Phone: (314) 622-3287
Email: TriplettK@stlouiscity.com
Twitter: @KacieStarr
Address: City Hall, Room 230
1200 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103

A Modest Proposal for Guiding Tourists Around St. Louis

2010-05-25T16:10:00.002-04:00

The Baltimore Visitor Center is located on Light Street, just adjacent to the city's bustling Inner Harbor.

All photographs by Michael Powers

This is a simple, but not un-serious structure to show to visitors. Its contents are much better than its exterior, though.

Inside are booths with brochures grouped by activity. A spacious front desk was staffed by four attendants when I visited. There is even a small theater that plays a Baltimore promo that looks as if it dates to 1997. My favorite part, though, was Baltimore's boasting of its ridiculous number and variety of neighborhoods:

Here are some random shots of the facility:

Baltimore does a great job of branding itself as a maritime/seafood destination. Crab paraphernalia is everywhere, as are sailboats, seen above.

This is the basics: have well organized booths where tourists-on-the-go can grab information about local attractions and restaurants.

The Inner Harbor was absolutely packed when I was there; the visitor center therefore had a good amount of pedestrians strolling through as well.

Two people staffed the welcome desk while two others roamed the floor.

St. Louis needs its own propaganda theater.

Guess what else? The Baltimore Visitor Center is located just outside a splash fountain popular with children...

I would like to see a nice St. Louis Visitors Center on Gateway Mall, specifically the block that houses Twain, better known as the Serra Sculpture. The center would feed into what has become a destination for St. Louis--Citygarden--much as Baltimore's does and could help visitors interpret and interact with the Serra Sculpture more than ever before. In addition, obviously, it would serve all the functions of that any visitor center should. The neighborhood map is a must!

I'm aware that St. Louis already has something similar to the example shown above in Baltimore. I volunteered briefly with the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission at the Visitor Center on the northwest corner of 7th and Washington. This seems like a great spot, connected to the convention center and closer to the Loft District. The space, though, to me was a bit underwhelming and the programming is not as good as Baltimore's. With St. Louis Centre being retooled into a parking garage, perhaps it would be better to pick up operations and move the center to the Gateway Mall, where it could have an interplay with Citygarden and truly show the city at its best.

Using an extant storefront for this purpose would be fine, too. Basically, this post is just a plea for our visitors center to produce video propaganda promoting this city and to put up a neighborhood map. We can do at least that. We can all move along, now. Nothing else to see.

What Will Become of the Penrose Park House?

2010-05-24T15:47:00.002-04:00

Built in 1902 by a private owner, the Craftsman home at 4961 Penrose was later acquired by the City of St. Louis, and the land around it became today's Penrose Park. This property was used as the park keeper's house until the 1980s, when it was abandoned. The Board of Public Service recommended demolition in 1997. Though this never happened, the Penrose Park House did appear on the Preservation Board agenda in May of 2006 with a fresh demolition request.

In the Cultural Resources Office (CRO) staff report, Kate Shea recommended approval of the demolition permit. The CRO's reasoning was that the city did not have the funds to maintain the home and that the park's master plan contained drawings for an public amphitheater on the site. A demolition permit was applied for on April 26, 2006, but no work commenced. The permit was canceled on March 12, 2008.

The city's Geo St. Louis website contains April 2010 photographs of the building still extant, albeit decayed. What are the plans for the Penrose Park House?

This Google Streetview capture, probably dating to mid-2009, shows the battered beauty and its bucolic surroundings.

Lafayette, Forest, Carondelet, and Tower Grove Parks all have historic houses within them. Urban parks with remaining park houses are much better at relating the history of the neighborhood. It's sometimes the case in St. Louis that parks and gardens were created by clearing buildings on site. In our most historic parks, though, historic homes were trapped within or specifically built as park houses. It's nice to have a physical piece of history dating before or during park construction.

Private homes within public parks can work. There's one in Tower Grove, on Magnolia, that to my knowledge is privately owned.

Maybe the Penrose Park house could become an "Aldermanic Mansion" where the elected official of the ward would reside?

Downtown Dutchtown's Vital Signs Improving

2010-05-20T18:49:00.003-04:00

Just a few short years ago, when I worked as an intern at Dutchtown South Community Corporation, a humble coffee joint (Java Joe's) and a pair of small antique shops were about all that a once vibrant stretch of Meramec Street could claim. The one true anchor of the business district was Winkelmann's Drug, a pharmacy open since 1913 at the southwest corner of Meramec and Virginia. Java Joe's closed for good soon after I completed my internship. While I'm not 100 percent certain, I believe the antique shops are by appointment only, or have random hours otherwise. The street was clearly not at its best.

Today, the story of Meramec, and the overall outlook of the street, is much different. A dedicated group, the Downtown Dutchtown Business Association, or DT2, is working to attract businesses to the neighborhood commercial district. So too is recently elected 25th Ward alderman Shane Cohn.

The Java Joe's space, and, I believe, another short-lived coffee shop, gave way to Urban Eats, Dutchtown's best little cafe and hangout spot. Urban Eats is cozy and has an innovative concept: couture wraps and pizzas. Their food is made to order and exactly to your liking, from the type of bread on up. They also have a really nice retail shelf of Dutchtown and St. Louis-related items. Urban Eats must be given credit for infusing Downtown Dutchtown with the right energy level and a sense of creativity and community all at once.

Urban Eats
3301 Meramec
314-558-7580
facebook.com/UrbanEatsCafe

Twice Blessed Resale Shop, across the street from Urban Eats, is a not-for-profit store run by the folks behind Our Lady's Inn, which serves homeless women in the St. Louis region. The staff is friendly, its wares somewhere between free and dirt cheap, and its profits help keep the shelter afloat.

Twice Blessed Resale Shop
3302 Meramec
314-481-3332

Another newcomer to Downtown Dutchtown is the Virginia House, an art gallery sheltered in a diminutive brick Dutchtown storefront that was vacant for quite a while.

UPDATE [5/21/10]: Reader Maude has informed this blog that the Virginia House is no longer an art gallery, but will soon be home to a boutique produce market, which will accept EBT and WIC! Awesome! Reader Dan tells us not to fret over Virginia House; they're looking to expand because their first two events were too big for their space! All around great news!

Virginia House
4219 Virginia
314-805-8026
Facebook Page

Pre-renovation shot, from their Facebook page.

And post-renovation, shot in artsy Polaroid, also courtesy of the Virginia House Facebook page.

Here's a nice photo of the outdoor gallery space as well:

The newest kid on the block, though, is Refabulous, a consignment shop. Definitely worth a visit for its incredible prices and great selection of men and women's clothing, the owners are delightful as well!

Refabulous
3314 Meramec
314-353-1144

I have a pretty trustworthy feeling that we'll see more movement on Meramec quite soon.

Building Better Blocks

2010-05-14T22:22:00.008-04:00

The folks in Oak Cliff, Texas--a suburb of Dallas--have much to teach urban St. Louis about how to use its streets. (Digest that for a moment!)

The Better Block project in Oak Cliff did just that--made a forgotten little commercial corridor a much better block, if briefly. A team of artists and community activists set about reclaiming a stretch of one-way, car-friendly road that had a bunch of vacant but pedestrian-oriented commercial buildings.

They painted a bicycle lane, created faux-pedestrian lighting, received donations of plants for some on-the-go streetscaping, and even went so far as to install one-day-only "businesses" in each vacant storefront. A flower gallery, cafe, and children's art studio popped up on the stretch overnight. The point was to show what a narrowed, enlivened street that accommodated all modes of traffic (pedestrians, cyclists, and cars) could look like one day of the year so that residents could demand such an environment 365 days a year. The event organizers' wishes soon came true, as city officials soon expressed a desire to make the installation permanent. Several businesses leased the empty spaces immediately afterward as well!

Their fruits of their efforts, under a paltry $1,000 budget, were nothing short of spectacular. Here is a shot of a before (bottom) and after (top) of the bettered block:

Source

You can watch the video of the street's metamorphosis below:

The organizers even left admirers with a "How To" guide for creating a better block in your own city...which is exactly what St. Louis should do. One of the best observations made by the Block Betterers is that the owners of the vacant space essentially get the most up close and personal marketing available. What a great way to generate interest in forgotten commercial districts across the city!

Of course, I got to thinking of where in the city would be most appropriate for such a project. The purpose of the project is to take a stretch of road that is highly visible and highly trafficked and return it to its original pedestrian-oriented function. (Cars are still allowed, albeit on a narrower, safer road).

Initially I thought of Olive Street just west of Taylor in the Central West End. It has many empty storefronts and could truly shine with the Oak Cliff treatment:

However, Olive Street has storefronts that have been vacant and sealed for quite some time. Just the task of getting the owners to remove the boards and make the properties safe for staging might be too much of a hassle. Plus, more importantly, the road is probably far too quiet and off the beaten path to make the same impact as shown above in Dallas. (As a plus, though, the south side of Olive appears to have pedestrian lighting already in place. Yes, I said only the south side. The north side of the street falls within another ward. Sigh. Another plus is that nearby Bowood Farms could donate some trees for streetscaping.)

So after giving it a bit more thought, I think I found the perfect spot.

That's a shot of Gravois Avenue at Victor Street. This stretch has a series of mixed use and commercial buildings not unlike the Dallas road. Gravois is a high-speed road, incredibly visible, and yet, in this strip, is still largely intact.

Imagine the above scene with a two-lane road in place of six. A green bike zone clings to each side of the road; historic street lamps adorn an artificially expanded sidewalk; trees and shrubs soften the industrial grayness of the street. The Dallas team included lots of artists, and Good Citizen Art Gallery, already extant on Gravois, could take the opportunity to make this temporary re-do of its host road something of an outdoor art exhibit. The strip already has a bakery, with Bittersweet Bakery, and a recording studio, Shock City Studios, among other businesses, so the pressure to create fake, one-night-only businesses is lessened. Yet, of course, there are still enough unfilled storefronts to change the dynamic of this part of Gravois from expressway to true urban business district.

So what do you think? Who's willing to put a St. Louis Better Block project together? If you agree with me, and think we should take over a block of St. Louis, let's get started!

Preliminary May Preservation Board Agenda Includes Demolitions, New Bike Rack

2010-05-13T18:31:00.004-04:00

On the latest temporary Preservation Board agenda, BJC Healthcare is seeking the demolition of two buildings for a new patient care center. The addresses are 4948 Parkview Place and 329 S. Kingshighway. These are the old Jewish Hospital buildings.

Vanishing St. Louis warned us of these proposed demolitions back in February of 2008. Here is a picture that author Paul Hohmann snapped then:

I am against a proposal that calls for the demolition of fine old buildings just to create new buildings that are blandly deferential to the monochromatic "campus" aesthetic. For Washington University's Medical Campus, this means a beige building with blue glass. No thanks, if that's the plan.

Also on the agenda is a proposal to install a five-foot tall Eiffel Tower sculpture doubling as a bike rack outside of new Lafayette Square cafe Rue Lafayette.

Also in Lafayette Square, there is a proposal to construct a home on the vacant lot at 1117 Dolman. My old block of Dolman appears to being doing well. Just south of here, the Preservation Board has granted approval to single-family home construction on another grassy lot. By a Google Streetview survey, yet another large empty lot on Dolman has a sign with some model homes on it further down the street. Maybe Dolman can soon mirror the success of the rest of the neighborhood with sensitive infill consuming its unfortunate gaps.

A new single-family home will join this row soon, if approved by the Preservation Board in May.

See the temporary agenda here.

As always, I encourage readers to attend Preservation Board meetings and testify for the items for which they are passionate:

The St. Louis Preservation Board will meet on May 24th, 2010 at 4:00 P.M. in the Cultural Resources Office of the Planning and Urban Design Agency, 1015 Locust Street, Suite 1200.

A Survivor in St. Louis's "German Quarter" Hangs On

2010-05-10T20:06:00.002-04:00

Even in a city with a lot of German heritage to speak of, St. Louis's Patch and Carondelet neighborhoods stand out. A separate city until annexation by St. Louis in 1870, the city of Carondelet indeed has its own storied past. It is so important to the city that absorbed it due to its unique architectural cache. The oldest parts of the Carondelet and Patch neighborhoods show contemporary St. Louis what its oldest neighborhoods once looked like prior to demolition in the post-war period. Small colonial homes by new German arrivals in 1840s Carondelet closely matched their French counterparts in portions of St. Louis closest to downtown. There is one major exception, though, which is the use of limestone as a building material. German Carondeletters preferred this striking material for their building facades:

This home, at Vulcan and East Marceau in the Patch, is known as the Schlichtig House, constructed in 1852. As you can see from this Google Streetview capture, its environs today are less than urban. This was not always so.

This 1945 capture shows the Schlichtig House at left with a fine row of neighbors, including another couple stone houses that may have been built by the Schlichtig family as well. (You may see more photographs of this area in the National Register of Historic Places "Carondelet - East of Broadway" Multiple Resource Area nomination).

Industrial expansion in this historic area of St. Louis (nee Carondelet) has claimed a lot of architectural lives. The Schlichtig House holds on, as do dozens of other homes dating to the same era in this battered part of the neighborhood. What can be done to preserve them?

The city of St. Louis asked this question twice, once in 1967 and again in 1973. The former was a St. Louis Riverfront Plan, while the latter was a St. Louis Development Program planning document. Both called for the majority of historic buildings to be moved to a protected site north of industrial territories. Their notion was to recreate the old village of Carondelet. While this might even today sound inauthentic and misguided--and certainly historic homes lose a part of their historic significance when removed from their context--I now wish it had happened then.

Far too many of these simple stone houses have been lost; few would be appreciated anyway without a self-consciously didactic arrangement of such homes as proposed in 1967 and 1973.

Now, with the nearby River City Casino complex up and running across the River des Peres in Lemay, Carondelet is seeing some development attention. Is now the time to buy up historic Carondelet stone homes and move them to safety in a series of protected blocks? History buffs will recall that Carondelet developed the nickname "Vide Poche", meaning empty pockets, due to its gambling houses that sent St. Louisans home empty-handed. Since River City has restored this historic function to the neighborhood by its very proximity, can we bring back Vide Poche as well? Is it time to dust off plans long ignored?

Why not, especially if such a plan would save this beauty in the 7700 block of Vulcan?

I wouldn't want to live in this splendid c. 1850s row house where it sits today. Were it moved, I'd love to snap it up. Moving historic buildings can be a touchy subject, but if our options are slow decay-in-place or success in mobility, I choose the latter.

The Loss of a Historic Building May be a Win for the Neighborhood

2010-05-07T22:17:00.003-04:00

When, exactly, is the above statement true?

When, and only when, the replacement of the historic building is a thoughtful, well-crafted one that advances the neighborhood. Vacant lots and out-of-scale shoehorns need not apply.

6323 Arthur in Lindenwood Park (also known as the Linden Heights subdivision) was a small, frame front gable home in disrepair. In a neighborhood noted for its stability and high levels of owner-occupancy, the vacant, deteriorating home definitely stood out.

6323 Arthur, before. Courtesy of Geo St. Louis.

Today, the site is home to new construction (by Blue Brick Construction). I feel the replacement meets our simple litmus test outlined above. The small frame home could have been restored with careful TLC into something quaint and yet affordable. But the replacement solved its vacancy and solidified this neighborhood all at once. Would this infill look good in Benton Park West, replacing a solid red brick four-family? Of course not. In Lindenwood Park, it manages a persona that is both classy/traditional and, subtly so, sleek/contemporary.

6323 Arthur, after. Photo courtesy of Blue Brick.

Is this the best case of a net positive historic preservation tradeoff? Maybe not. But I enjoy this infill and am happy the little home on Arthur did not die in vain.

Open the Streets or Close Them?

2010-05-05T21:49:00.003-04:00

St. Louis Open Streets kicked off on May 1. Most accounts of it call it a qualified success; qualified in that there could be several improvements the next go-around. A shorter or different route? Better advertising? And how to handle speeding cyclists? The success part comes from showing St. Louisans their city from afoot and doing so from the normally dangerous space where fast vehicular traffic usually courses. It's a great respite for a pedestrian. No curb cuts to worry about; fewer opportunities for collisions, and pedestrians and cyclists all around.

Open Streets, on Locust Street, in downtown St. Louis. Photo courtesy of St. Louis Energized.

At the same time Open Streets were debuting in St. Louis, a road long closed to vehicles was anticipating a reunion with them. North 14th Street in Old North St. Louis now has curbs and bare tree wells; a paved street, which will allow cars for the first time in almost 40 years, will appear soon.

14th "Street" is starting to look the part! Photo courtesy of Old North St. Louis.

So which is it? Should we "open" or "close" our streets? Notice the cross-definitions here; 14th Street was closed to vehicles in the 1970s whereas Locust, Manchester, and Lindell, among others, were opened to pedestrians on May 1.

I say we do both! Open Streets is a great event that should become a semi-regular thing. Hosting it too often stifles the mystique to participants who find it a novelty to be able to walk calmly along major roads. Without constant programming, such events will inevitably thin out.

While most observers regarded Open Streets as a progressive move by the city and by the event's sponsors, so too is the long awaited re-opening of 14th Street in Old North advancing our city. The strange irony is that, for the benefit of pedestrians, cars should be on a lot more streets in St. Louis than they currently are even encouraged to go. An urban, traditional street grid works best because it gives the pedestrian and the motorist multiple options for making the same trip. This has implications for the sauntering pedestrian who might stumble upon a new corner store that she'll then patronize regularly as well as the emergency vehicle whose driver can choose to bypass a busy intersection's bottleneck by maneuvering down some minor streets. (Whenever we urbanists complain that tourists or suburbanites or who have you never see the "real" St. Louis, we need to realize that the city is hiding its best assets behind road blocks and private streets).

While closing off streets with barriers and bollards and such seems like a great idea for pedestrians, it actually renders streets semi-private and much too quiet for comfort.

Restoring St. Louis's street grid by re-opening streets to through-traffic (I'm looking at you, Forest Park Southeast, Shaw, and others!) will bring about connections that are currently unrealized. The fewer disruptions in both pedestrian and vehicular transportation networks, the better. It gives us all more options and allows us to more easily and more safely explore and traverse neighborhoods.

Our major roads could see traffic eased up a bit as drivers filter into neighborhoods now considered, unjustly, "off the beaten path". Combined with Complete Streets legislation, recently introduced in the City by Alderman Shane Cohn, these major streets could better accommodate pedestrians trying to use/cross them as well! This would be an equitable network that could encourage pedestrian-oriented development on all roads while simultaneously not restricting vehicles--except on those exciting, every-once-in-a-while Open Streets events!

We need to re-assess policies that keep vehicles from winding through our great quilt of neighborhoods, because a lot of explorers and admirers would otherwise arrive on four wheels. Confining noise, traffic, and pollution to a handful of large arterials is only doing a disservice to our city. These streets (Kingshighway, Natural Bridge, Grand, etc.) become the face of our city to most; and not even a great street like Grand is without its unforgivably autocentric gaps. We can change this by depressurizing the stress we put on these few roads and opening the grid to all. Close the streets to any and all vehicles a couple times a year? Sure! Otherwise, open them all up to everyone.

Open the streets and close them!

So You Think Southwest City is Boring?

2010-05-01T13:10:00.001-04:00

I've heard it said before by many a St. Louis urbanist: southwest St. Louis, with its tidy rows of gingerbread Tudors and neo-Georgian colonials, is "quaint" at best. It's boring at worst.

Those that desire the red brick ambiance of the city's older innards will not be disappointed by Southwest Garden--a neighborhood that stretches to Hampton Avenue on the west, which is surely an urban-suburban demarcation in the minds of some. (For many, that boundary is anything west of Kingshighway, or even Grand).

Southwest Garden is an incredibly architecturally diverse neighborhood. The eastern section of the neighborhood, east of Kingshighway and south of Vandeventer, is mostly brown brick multi-families with Craftsman or even Spanish Colonial detailing. The subdivisions just west of Kingshighway have some larger homes in the American Foursquare, Romanesque, and Classical Revival styles. There are even two International style houses on Kingshighway itself within the neighborhood. The rest of Southwest Garden is home to frame shotguns that clearly belong to the Hill neighborhood's housing stock; tract houses built in the 1950s; "bungaloids" of the 1920s; and the aforementioned Tudors and Georgians that changed the landscape of St. Louis post-World War I but pre-modernist fever.

I like neighborhoods with a diverse housing stock, and St. Louis has some of the most variation within and between neighborhoods that I've ever witnessed in an American city.

Just a short three blocks from Hampton Avenue--the encroaching suburban ethos is palpable--sits the 5600 block of Reber Place. No, this isn't the part of Reber with the tree-lined median that you'll find just west of Kingshighway. We're talking really close to Hampton, here, folks!

It's my favorite block in the neighborhood. This block rests, humble and demure, allowing "cooler" South Side neighborhoods their unfounded disdain. It's no matter, though; 5600 Reber's quiet confidence is there for those that appreciate it.

Southwest City is not boring. If it is, it certainly doesn't look the part. If you need more than architectural evidence, I'll now point you to the Luminary Arts Center and the TreeHugger installation in Southwest Garden. Oh, and Sandrina's.

Archgrounds Design Competition: Its Participants and Their Design Philosophies

2010-04-29T18:45:00.006-04:00

St. Louis Energized has a nice write-up on last night's "Meet the Designers" session for the City Arch River 2015 competition, which was held at the Roberts Orpheum Theater downtown.

The author summarized the five teams still vying in the competition along with their design philosophies, presented in brief, 15-minute presentations in which no questions were allowed from the audience.

- The Behnisch Team focused on the "needs of people" (stating that a "good city is a city with a human dimension"), as well as the built environment by calling for the Memorial to become an "active catalyst for urban cohesion."
- The approach of the MVVA Team seems primarily landscape-oriented, stressing that landscape (1) accommodates a humane scale, (2) provides continuity, and (3) is affordable.
- The PWP Landscape Architecture, Foster + Partners, Civitas team (whose representative personally knew both Eero Saarinen and Dan Kiley) advocated "subtle and respectful" changes that, while transformative, are so natural that they're barely noticeable to the majority of the public.
- The SOM, Hargreaves, BIG team stressed "making places for people" (places that are "alive" every day), as well as tying design ideas into a community's bold, long-range plans to "create economic vitality."
- The Weiss/Manfredi team referred to three primary design categories, titled "Icon and Setting," "Connections," and "Layering Programs." The interesting facet of this team's approach was an affinity for embracing barriers (such as highways), by turning them into connections and "capturing their energy" without actually removing them.

Reading Live Tweets from the event, as well as the above summary in addition to others, I must say I am a bit worried that the most obvious problem of the Archgrounds may not receive its due attention and the needed ultimate solution. Interstate 70 from the Poplar Street Bridge all the way to the New Mississippi River Bridge is the obvious problem. Wholesale removal is the needed ultimate solution. I-70 will be re-routed upon completion of the new bridge anyhow, and connecting the Arch to neighborhoods should take this very symbolic and helpful step. An open doorway with a removed I-70 will literally allow surrounding neighborhoods a brand new view of, and connection to, the Arch. I fully endorse this concept and support City to River's effort to make this solution part of any proposal to redevelop the Archgrounds.

It's important here to note the ramifications of the removal of I-70. Does a removed I-70 promise instant development along the old interstate right-of-way? Of course not. The land where the highway once sat, upon removal, might sit as a landscape boulevard with few buildings of note for quite some years. Almost certainly, the entire 1.4 mile stretch of the new Memorial Drive that would take the place of the old I-70 will not be filled with urban-formatted buildings by the time the design competition's winning proposal is completed in 2015. This sounds very pessimistic, right? It seems to defeat the purpose of undertaking something so exciting and momentous as giving a stretch of road back to the city and its people rather than to speeding vehicles. After all, if the "new" Memorial Drive is in fact just a landscaped but largely lifeless boulevard in 2015, City to River will have failed and all skeptics of the City to River concept will have been vindicated, right?

Wrong (at least in my opinion!). An empty, but pedestrian-oriented, Memorial Drive will create an opportunity that does not presently exist--development could then locate on the periphery of the Archgrounds and create a "spine" of activity linking neighborhoods to the north (Carr Square, Columbus Square, Neighborhood Gardens, the Bottle District, Laclede's Landing, the Near North Riverfront, etc.) to their downtown. The present mess made by I-70 as it slices through a once functional grid is reason enough to abandon this alignment. Pedestrians and vehicles alike could safely maneuver a reconstructed street whereas I-70 today merely creates confusion and barriers.

As far as the new Memorial Drive proposed by City to River, and the possibility that it might not attract builders to populate the newly developable parcels, I point you here:

Source

The year is 1951 and these jets are flying just northeast of today's site of the Gateway Arch, which was completed in 1965. It was in 1947 that Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch concept won the international design competition. In anticipation of the competition, most of the dozens of square blocks containing an antebellum manufacturing district were cleared in the early 1940s. So, if all building were gone from the site by 1942, and the site was a surface parking lot, as seen above, by 1951, then for at least 14 years the site of the memorial was not truly public. Considering that the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial didn't even officially open to the public until 1967, we see here that the same competition that netted the ingenious Arch design caused a 40-block swath of the city to go out of commission for over a decade. (I don't count parking lots, even publicly owned and maintained ones, as public places). If this is true, then we should allow for the same grace period for a new Memorial Drive in anticipation of its own greatness. That doesn't mean we as a city shouldn't aggressively market this newly available land or that the design competition won't cause an increase in demand for these blocks. It's just a plea for skeptics to realize that sometimes, as the old moniker goes, great things come to those who wait. The old I-70 alignment's erasure will have been more than justified if, in ten or twenty years, a new Memorial Drive is beginning to kick and thrive.

Now back to the buzz over the five teams. Not having seen the actual presentation, it's difficult to pass any substantive judgment on their concepts. As written up by St. Louis Energized, I despise the idea of Weiss/Manfredi. St. Louisans have had to limbo around barriers long enough! There are no LCD screens; no garish light displays; no amount of lush greenery or ivy screens; there is no sculpture large enough; no pedestrian bridge crazy enough; no public-space-beneath-the-interstate-avant-gardeism impressive enough; no single or multiple solutions to screening and/or incorporating deadening infrastructure into the redesign. While this is surely an interesting proposal from a conceptual standpoint, the design will be inhumane, no matter how flashy it is, if it values "concepts" over people and access. So I am turned off by this description of their philosophy entirely.

I am surprised at the suggestion of the PWP, et al. crew to make changes that are "barely noticeable" to the public. We must keep in mind that the Archgrounds are quite large and that, preserving the landscape largely as is requires that activation efforts on all edges of the Memorial be stepped up considerably. People need to be able to appreciate the passive landscaping of the Archgrounds, or otherwise the respect for its presence in this competition is somewhat ill-founded.

Many of the teams correctly identified that the Arch redevelopment, ultimately, should cater to people. This is a great though often overlooked observation--especially as traffic engineers crunch numbers and determine that the needs of cars somehow take precedence over the needs of people in what should rightfully be the region's greatest civic and public space.

I would not mind a design proposal that dedicated most of its time to addressing issues presented by having an interstate as a neighbor. Remove I-70 (do not tunnel it and merely hide the problem for just four blocks). Incorporate retail or tourist-supporting services within the arches of the Eads Bridge piers. Redesign parking for the site so that the northern edge of the Memorial visually and physically connects with Laclede's Landing and points north. Landscape the riverfront itself--certainly it is one the nation's most barren urban riverfronts today. Have water taxis or some sort of pedestrian bridge to connect to East St. Louis; see to it that the East St. Louis Riverfront indeed becomes home to the world's largest architecture museum, as proposed and sought by the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation. Enhance pedestrian connections to Chouteau's Landing; allocate some funding to the Chouteau Lake and Greenway to jumpstart that project. And so on and so forth. All of these interventions would make the Arch more of a "place" situated in a context--and little would have to be altered within the existing landscape other than its worst features currently, the parking garage and floodwalls.

Despite my earlier comments, I am absolutely thrilled by the excitement over this competition. Its outcome and winning proposal could truly lift the spirits of our city and give us all a place we're proud of. The Arch, downtown, the Mississippi River, and the city deserve it!

Will a Gate District Landmark Soon be Reborn?

2010-04-27T19:25:00.002-04:00

The Garavaglia Grocery complex at Lafayette and Nebraska in the Gate District is something of a faded landmark. It is shown below, courtesy of Google Streetview:

Why do I ask if it's soon to be rescued from its vacancy?

Well, on March 31, 2010, the Garavaglia buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination contains some excellent photography of the interior of the building, so I would recommend checking that out!

Why would the owner, listed by the city as Garavaglia Quality Foods, have sought historic status? Could it be to renovate the building and take advantage of the state historic rehabilitation tax credits? Possibly.

Could work begin soon on this Gate District landmark? Anyone have the scoop?

Metro Can Bring Us a United Cherokee, from Lemp to Grand

2010-04-26T08:58:00.003-04:00

Post-Proposition M in November 2008, Metro's service reductions would litter streetscapes everywhere with plastic bags placed over bus stops that, we now all know too well, read: "We Regret Due to Lack of Funding Service to this Stop has been Suspended".

Sadly, St. Louis's most exciting business district--Cherokee Street--was among those areas without transit service. Vanishing St. Louis observed at the time that "Downtown St. Louis [would] be without street level transit for the first time since before the Civil War". Likewise, Cherokee Street, the South Side's downtown, would lose its historic transit service as well, present since the 1890s in the form of an electric streetcar and later, of course, as a bus.

Today, the #73 Carondelet bus serves the eastern portion of Cherokee, between Lemp and Jefferson, which is known as Antique Row. Yet Cherokee between Jefferson and Grand is without service. This is unacceptable. All great cities, and by extension all great streets, should offer the opportunity to live without a vehicle. Living on or around Cherokee Street west of Jefferson is now made more difficult without direct transit service. Even a relatively short walk to the nearest bus stop can make a commute a headache. Living in the heart of the Cherokee District, say at Nebraska Avenue, one would have to walk six blocks to the Jefferson bus (#11 Chippewa), more than seven blocks to the Gravois bus (#10 Gravois-Lindell); nine blocks to the Grand bus (#70 Grand); and four elongated blocks to the Arsenal bus (#30 Soulard). This is not an impossible journey in any of these directions; just frustrating and inconvenient. We must press for a United Cherokee!

Image borrowed from WeLoveCherokee and edited by me.

Plus, currently, Cherokee Street and Grand South Grand seem miles and eons apart. Mostly this is due to the fact that Gravois is such a wide street with high-speed traffic. Transit has a way of healing unforgiving urban environments. If I lived in Old North St. Louis, for example, I'd likely never choose to walk the roughly one and half mile distance between Crown Candy and downtown--I'd take the bus. Without this bus service, Old North would feel like a distant planet from relatively nearby downtown--and a much less attractive place to live. Luckily, though, the #30 Soulard can get me to City Hall (to apply for a building permit to renovate my row house?) in less than 10 minutes.

The #73 Carondelet should therefore cross Gravois and connect with the city's best used bus line--the #70 Grand. At that point, it would not be a stretch for St. Louis University students (and other people who live along the long and populous Grand Boulevard) to take the #70 to the "Cherokee bus" and explore the city's most bustling commercial district.

People living in Benton Park along the #73 could then use just one bus line to get to a grocery store (the South Grand Schnucks, where an influx of shoppers might finally force the management to substantially refurbish that location. That's enough of an incentive, huh?).

The current route of the #73 Carondelet. Can you even spot the pitifully short leg on Cherokee Street?

Now, would I love this bus to become a streetcar? Of course. But let's get the transit service restored first and see what else we can do later. Who's with me? Let's make sure Metro takes its funds from the Prop A victory and reestablishes a bus line down Cherokee in its 2010 Restoration plan!

Please do any and all of the following if you support a United Cherokee, from Lemp to Grand!

Email Metro officials: restoration2010@metrostlouis.org (thanks, Paul!)

Comment on Next Stop, Metro's transit blog, indicating your support for a United Cherokee.

Contact the two alderman who could have sway over such decisions: 9th Ward Alderman Ken Ortmann and 20th Ward Alderman Craig Schmid:

Ken Ortmann
(314) 622-3287
(314) 776-0161 Additional Phone

Email here.
Craig Schmid
(314) 622-3287
Email here.

Tweet Metro or its orderlies (note: term of endearment) with your support!

Official Twitter feed for Metro: http://twitter.com/STLMetro

Twitter feed for Courtney Sloger, Next Stop blogger and Metro Social Media Maven: http://twitter.com/STLTransit

Facebook Metro and leave a wall post indicating your support for a United Cherokee. Link to official Facebook page.

Thanks, all, and thanks to Cherokee Street News for giving me this idea!

Oak Hill Area of Tower Grove South - Now Historic

2010-04-25T16:18:00.003-04:00

I am jumping the gun just a bit, as Monday's Preservation Board meeting will see this National Register of Historic Places nomination approved, but I'm okay with that. The beautiful Oak Hill sub-neighborhood of Tower Grove South will soon be officially designated as historic. Some might scratch their heads and say, "well of course this neighborhood is historic," but in the eyes of the federal and state government, who issue lucrative historic rehabilitation tax credits, your property must be "officially" designated historic either individually or within an approved district.

Oak Hill will be the city's latest historic district. All over St. Louis, these fairly sizable districts are opening new parts of the city to investment in historic properties. Old McRee Town, Grand-Bates, St. Cecelia, the old Wellston shopping district along Martin Luther King, Marine Villa, and more have all been added to the Register recently. Oak Hill is 32 blocks containing 1,261 contributing buildings. Here is a map of the proposed Oak Hill district, from the Cultural Resources Office staff report for the April Preservation Board meeting:

The Oak Hill district extends from Gustine on the west to Portis Avenue on the east; Arsenal on the north to an irregular boundary on the south that includes Humphrey and Utah.

It is notable, to me, for its concentration of historic frame structures mixed in with classic red brick apartment buildings. It also includes the revitalizing Morgan Ford Strip, also known as Skinnytown, which may be the most immediate beneficiary of the historic rehabilitation tax credit. West of Morgan Ford, the architectural diversity increases, with some lightly detailed Queen Anne buildings and even some small Second Empire buildings. Below is a picture of Juniata at Alfred, one block west of Morgan Ford (courtesy of Google Streetview):

A brown brick four-family with St. Louis-style white baker's brick adorns the corner. It neighbors a nice red brick simply-detailed front-entry vernacular building. Next door to that are two Second Empire micro-mansions, followed by a series of simple frame front gable structures. There are a lot of styles working over here. When you throw in lushly planted streetscapes, the result is a beautiful, if understated urban environment.

I'm happy to see Oak Hill gets it due attention!

Cultural Resources Office Recommends Denial of Demolition Permits on Chouteau

2010-04-25T15:33:00.002-04:00

UPDATE (4/27/10): The Preservation Board has denied the appeal for demolition of the buildings shown below! Great news!

The Cultural Resources Office (CRO) is encouraging the Preservation Board to deny the appeal of owner Crown 40, Inc., a convenience store operator, who wishes to tear down a row of four buildings on Chouteau.

The CRO staff report notes that Crown 40 seeks to demolish the four buildings to keep them as "grassy lots" in lieu of future development. Thankfully, the CRO does not feel that this "plan" constitutes a true development plan for the sake of the preservation review ordinance. They note, rightly, that none of the Chouteau buildings individually is significant, but, as a group, they make an important contribution to Chouteau's urban street wall.

Hopefully, the Preservation Board will heed to advice of the CRO and deny what would be a senseless plan to demolish four buildings just to create vacant lots. The Board meets Monday, April 26, at 4pm. The location is 1015 Locust, Suite 1200.

The CRO report also includes several buildings--and a new historic district in Tower Grove South called Oak Hill--that will be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Update: More Information on Hyde Park Rehabs

2010-04-23T18:31:00.002-04:00

This blog recently reported on 15 building permits for renovations in Hyde Park, all received in March 2010. All parcels in question are owned by the Eliot School, LP. The Eliot School, LP shares the same registered address as the Irving School, LP, owners of the now renovated Irving School. To view photos of that renovation, I point you to Michael Allen's Flickr page.

Here is a picture of the historic school prior to renovation, also courtesy of Michael Allen via Ecology of Absence:

Eliot School, LP will be rehabbing the Eliot School as well, located at 4218 Grove Street in the Fairground neighborhood, just outside of Hyde Park. The Board of Education is still the owner, but the city's development website says the former school will be converted into low-income housing. The city lists the developer as Better Living Communities--a project of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, which completed a development of several new townhomes on Salisbury called Salisbury Park I in the early 2000s, among other projects.

Pictured below, courtesy of the City of St. Louis, is the old Eliot School:

Better Living Communities has put a lot of effort into stabilizing and bettering its surrounding neighborhoods. Bravo to them. It's a thrill to see so much of Hyde Park's heritage rescued all at once.

I wonder if they had anything to do with Salisbury Street's new sidewalks and nifty acorn street lamps?

Above, a nicely redone streetscape along Salisbury. The Salisbury Park development is located on the south (right) side of the street staring down some historic beauties on the north (left) side.

This is all such great news! I cannot wait to check out Hyde Park the next time I'm in town.

Another Gas Station on Chouteau?

2010-04-23T11:53:00.004-04:00

Gas station, then-under construction, now complete, at Jefferson and Clark

Quick note: the reason for this month's proposed demolitions on Chouteau Avenue in the Gate District is a familiar, though saddening one: to make way for a gas station. Michael Allen of Ecology of Absence has made the connection I did not: that applicant Crown 40 is related to the convenience store chain of the same name. I should have known.

The loss of any urban buildings to a gas station is unacceptable. With a new gas station located mere blocks away on Jefferson just north of I-64/40 (its construction site is shown above), this proposal is ludicrous.

I must urge you to testify at the Preservation Board meeting if you are available. Do not stand by to watch an urban design disaster take place. Vote, with your testimony, for a city built for pedestrians, not automobiles exclusively.

Monday, April 26, 2010 at 4pm
1015 Locust
12th Floor Conference Room

If you cannot make it in person, please send your testimony to BufordA@stlouiscity.com.

Hyde Park's "Number Streets" See a Flurry of Renovations in March

2010-04-22T18:47:00.002-04:00

In the month of March, the Hyde Park neighborhood saw over $4.8 million in building permit activity. Almost all of the permits are in Hyde Park's western half, in the "number streets" from 19th up to 25th.

Included in the mix of units with permits for substantial rehabilitation are:

--two single-family homes
--ten two-family homes
--three four-family homes.

The owner of the parcels in question is Eliot School, LP.

Below is a list of the addresses, with whatever pictures I could scrounge up from the city's website. UPDATE (4/26/10): Chris Naffziger of St. Louis Patina was kind enough to get some photographs of addresses I couldn't get pictures for online! Thanks, Chris!

4034 N. 23rd Street (courtesy of Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina)

4008 25th Street

3606-08 19th Street (at center)

3613 19th Street

3915-17 19th Street

3942-44 N. 20th Street (courtesy of Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina)

3918 N. 21st Street (courtesy of Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina)

3931 N. 21st Street (courtesy of Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina)

4031 N. 22nd Street

3906 N. 23rd Street

4013 N. 23rd Street (courtesy of Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina)

3610-12 25th Street (at left)

3933 25th Street (what a gem!?)

4009 25th Street

1918 Angelica (courtesy of Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina)

I am absolutely overjoyed to see so many venerable Hyde Park structures getting rehabilitated! Hyde Park is my favorite North Side neighborhood and among my favorites in the city. Concentrated rehabilitation is a great strategy for stabilizing this portion of the neighborhood. Way to go! Anyone care to fill in the photographic gaps for me? I'd credit your work and possibly buy you lunch at Cornerstone Cafe in Hyde Park the next time I'm in town!

Op Art Brickwork in Bevo, Dutchtown

2010-04-21T18:45:00.002-04:00

Does anyone know what type of brick/brickwork this is? I call it "Op Art" because, up close, it almost disorients the eye with its stylistic patterns.

Bevo, at Neosho and Morgan Ford:

And then one of my favorite little houses in the city, on Kingsland Court at Hydraulic in Dutchtown West:

The home above, in particular, is a must-see. What are these eye-popping bricks? Are they just cleverly arranged buff-colored brick?

Kosciusko Historic Building Now...History?

2010-04-20T11:17:00.002-04:00

I regularly follow Mark Groth's St. Louis City Talk blog. I especially love his neighborhood profiles. He recently covered the large industrial "neighborhood" known as Kosciusko.

Readers of this blog likely know that Kosciusko was not always a large riverside industrial park. It was once an urban neighborhood successfully woven into the urban fabric. Prior to its clearance via urban renewal in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this neighborhood was part of the greater Soulard area and looked the part--with red brick row houses and commercial buildings.

While stories and pictures of other St. Louis neighborhoods demolished under the auspices of urban renewal exist in plentiful fashion (see DeSoto-Carr and Mill Creek Valley), there are very few available historic photographs of Kosciusko. (Click here to see a photography thread via Skyscraper Page of St. Louis urban renewal neighborhoods, including DeSoto-Carr, before the wrecking ball. Warning: not for the faint of heart).

I have found exactly one actual photograph of Kosciusko, via the History of Urban Renewal planning document that Urban Review St. Louis posted on in January of 2009. It shows two buildings in the historic neighborhood that were felled for a new one.

Not the best quality, huh?

Of course, there's always the 1875 Compton and Dry Atlas to consult. These aren't photographs, yet they are meticulous bird's eye view drawings of the city just prior to its heyday.

Here is a view of Kosciusko's northern half, bustling at the beginning of the last quarter of the 19th century.

In this view, the top of the photo is facing west and the right side of the photo is facing north, towards downtown. Miller Street still exists today, while the commercial street with the notably taller buildings at the top of the photo is Carondelet Avenue, today's South Broadway.

But the portion of Kosciusko I'm interested in is farther south. In fact, I'm talking about a specific address: 107 Victor, at Kosciusko Street. The building(s) there appeared on the Preservation Board Agenda in September 2009, but were removed before the date of the actual meeting under unexplained circumstances. It is possible that the Cultural Resources Office granted a demolition permit after some sort of concessions were made. Groth noted in his post that while photographing in Kosciusko, he was stopped by security guards who told him one of the historic buildings he was seeking was recently demolished. I can only presume that the guards were referring to 107 Victor, pictured below.

107 Victor looks to be one of the last remaining 19th century buildings in Kosciusko. It also has a very interesting outbuilding that makes me speculate a bit as to its origins. It is shown below:

This type of outbuilding is found all over New Orleans' older Creole neighborhoods: a small structure with a flounder-shaped roof attached perpendicularly to a main building. Almost all have side galleries as well, just as this one does.

This is an aerial view of the French Quarter in New Orleans with such buildings highlighted.

The fact that 107 Victor has this fairly well preserved Creole-styled outbuilding made me wonder if the Italianate main building was built afterward, with the original main structure having been torn down. Then I thought it wise to again consult Compton and Dry for some clues. If the outbuilding was there as of 1875, then we can assume this is likely an old Creole style building typical of the Soulard and Kosciusko neighborhoods at the time.

That's a zoomed-in shot of 107 Victor at Kosciusko Street. Behind it appears to be a Creole-styled outbuilding, though admittedly its view is obfuscated by the main building. As for the main structure itself, it's definitely not the same as what stands (or what stood) at 107 Victor today. The current structure is three stories. But wait...do you notice the elongated center window? Today's structure has that same feature:

Notice the elongated central window on this structure as well? The third story--along with its Italianate-style cornice--could have easily been added onto the building after 1875.

Let me again repeat: I have no idea if this building and its outbuilding were actually demolished. As they did not show up in Mark Groth's blog post, and as security guards informed him a building had been recently demolished, I had to assume it was 107 Victor, which was on the Preservation Board Agenda previously. Could anyone confirm whether these buildings are still extant? It's a short hop away from Soulard and on public roads.

What's the point of all of this anyway? Part of it is just documentation of the history and architecture of a nearly vanquished part of the city. The other part of me is hoping we don't lose all traces of our heritage as the nation's fourth largest city, when we had residential neighborhoods circling downtown without a single break in the street wall. Buildings, people, everywhere. Kosciusko will likely never be anything other than what it is now: an industrial park. Still, I think the old buildings it retains still have value despite their isolation and removal from their historic context. At least one historic Kosciusko structure is receiving good treatment--the Hager Hinge Company building right down the street at 139 Victor. It's a historic St. Louis vernacular building constructed in the early 1870s that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Have we lost the piece of history at 107 Victor, though? Most would say, "who cares?" but I'm still curious.

UPDATE (3:20pm): Reader Hilary has driven by the site and confirmed that 107 Victor is gone. Thanks Hilary!

Conceding Tucker Boulevard to Blandness

2010-04-19T09:49:00.003-04:00

St. Louis doesn't have a system of comprehensive planning. Thus it surprises few observers in the urbanist community when an individual developer floats his or her project without regard to its surroundings.

Today comes (overall, great) news that the AFL-CIO Trust will commit $108 million to two downtown development projects--the Laurel Building (also known as the Dillard's Building) and the Park Pacific building at 13th and Olive.

So what's the bad news? Tucker Boulevard--a street whose grandiose size might confuse visitors into thinking it's St. Louis's "Main Street"--is being dedicated as the parking garage elevation for the Park Pacific building's redevelopment. A tiny rendering is shown in the article:

Some might say, in autocentric St. Louis, it's necessary to have dedicated parking (it's probably also tied to financing, in some way). Truthfully, I don't dispute that some parking is needed to redevelop this building. However, the above rendering is unacceptable for Tucker Boulevard if this street is ever to become active, urban, and attractive.

The City of St. Louis recently constructed a monster of a parking garage at the northeast corner of Tucker and Clark. See a Google Streetview capture of the garage, without its retail bays added as of yet, below:

I commend the city for attempting to make a statement with a parking garage rather than constructing a series of bare concrete decks (sort of like the kind shown in the Park Pacific rendering, on the north side of the site). However, parking is in severe oversupply downtown when all off-street spaces are accounted for. And the Tucker garage shown here at Clark Street is not even attached to any one project--it's a municipal garage. If every downtown redevelopment project includes its own dedicated parking garage with more than one space per visitor or resident, not to mention separate municipal garages, opportunity for a true urban environment is squandered. Transit is disincentivized as driving becomes easier. Every new parking space drives the cost of parking down, and as parking becomes cheaper, it becomes the better option. Convenient parking reduces walking times and distances, cutting down the chances that a pedestrian will linger downtown and walk around to discover its retail, restaurant, and entertainment offerings.

But this post is not even really a statement against downtown St. Louis's parking oversupply, primarily. It's about poor urban design on one of St. Louis's major downtown streets. Across from the new municipal garage at Tucker and Clark is a surface parking lot serving City Hall. Just north of the Gateway Mall blocks are the Park Pacific site, a pair of deadening and severe mid-rises, a woefully underused parcel that a one-story US Bank branch sits on, and several other gaps as well. Filling in the Park Pacific site with an unsightly parking garage relegates Tucker to third class status as an urban boulevard.

I wrote on a previous post in agreement with a statement that said people desire to live in cohesive urban environments. That means that few people will be proud of a place that is beautiful in one area (Washington Avenue), while dreary just a block or two over (Tucker Boulevard). We must reposition our downtown so that its dead zones are not so apparent.

Park Pacific developers should include a four-story mixed-use building that wraps Tucker, Pine, and Olive on all sides. Parking could be hidden in the core of this building. Street-level retail is not enough to mitigate the damage of exposed parking decks on a street with as many issues as Tucker has already. Here is an example of what I mean, from Baltimore's Fells Point neighborhood.

This new mixed-use building may not be flashy, but it's a nicely scaled urban building. Do you see its attached parking garage? I don't.

Walk too fast and you might even miss the spot to pull in to its large dedicated parking garage. It's located behind the building, on the inside and invisible to the public portion of the block.

Park Pacific should not proceed with plans that would concede Tucker to blandness. It's a visually important street for St. Louis.

Tucker--once 12th Street--has an important legacy that should be respected. 12th Street was once symbolic enough of St. Louis for postcard representation.

Source

Especially as St. Louis bids for the Democratic National Convention and wishes to play host to tens of thousands of visitors from across the nation in 2012, we should be cleaning up the face of our region--downtown St. Louis--not further scarring it.

Fox Park Neighborhood Exploring a Local Historic District Expansion

2010-04-17T18:03:00.003-04:00

The Fox Park neighborhood is pursuing an expansion of their local historic district to include portions of the neighborhood south of Victor. (Click here to see blogger Mark Groth's excellent photos of the neighborhood).

For non-preservation types, a local historic district is a far different animal than a district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A local historic district comes with a set of rules and regulations for exterior alterations, demolitions, and new construction. Such regulations only apply for qualified renovations in a National Register district, and only if the applicant is seeking tax credits. National Register districts do not, by themselves, prevent demolitions in any way. If a project with federal funding is to impact a National Register property or properties, a process called Section 106 review is triggered which may recommend preservation of a threatened resource or resources. However, even Section 106 cannot in and of itself prevent demolition.

Local historic districts are often the most effective at dissuading demolitions, as their enabling ordinances contain clear clauses pertaining to how to handle proposed demolitions and alterations. In these cases, the Preservation Board and Cultural Resources Office must defer to the intent of the ordinance. Lafayette Square's local historic district ordinance, for instance, basically prohibits all but the most unavoidable demolitions of any structure constructed in the period of significance. In a city like St. Louis, which lacks a powerful central planning authority, local historic districts are often also a means to introducing urban design standards.

Naturally, then, as local historic districts go much farther than National Register districts (which merely offer rehabilitation incentives), they're also harder to enact.

Fox Park appears to be going through the proper steps to assure that a local historic district expansion is not created without informing residents who will be affected. There have already been three "unofficial" public meetings, not including hearings that are required to introduce such legislation. Plus, on the neighborhood's recently refurbished website, there is a whole section explaining the rules of living within a local historic district. I find this to be a nice gesture towards residents worried about the extra regulations. All neighborhoods inside historic districts should provide this information on their websites.

The write-up even includes examples of "appropriate" and "inappropriate" designs, such as this figure displaying the proper storefront design:

The President's Corner section of the Fox Park Neighborhood News (Spring 2010), penned by Ian Simmons, expresses a point all too often overlooked in St. Louis. Here is a snippet of that text, with a portion bolded by me.

The members of the committee believe that, to continue the growth that has been evident in Fox Park over the last several years, both halves of our neighborhood must be preserved. Both halves contain the same housing stock built by German settlers, and the streets are lined with homes exhibiting beautiful exterior design, architecture, and brickwork; however, the southern half has seen more decay and deterioration, and less restoration. Abandoned, dilapidated homes invite crime into our neighborhood. Designation of a local historic district there would instead encourage rehabilitation of these homes, as owners and investors take advantage of tax credits which would then be available. This would also attract homebuyers to our neighborhood, who are eager to live in a cohesive, historic neighborhood. Expansion of the historic district would also help stabilize and eventually increase property values, protect neighbors’ investments, and encourage business investment in Fox Park. We believe expansion of the existing historic district will benefit not only the southern half of our neighborhood but also Fox Park as a whole. For these reasons, we hope neighbors will embrace this idea.

Simmons hits on a great point: we need cohesive, historic neighborhoods. It's easy to play the parochial card and to say "south of Victor" or "north of Delmar" or "east of Compton" or insert whatever direction and whatever street here, the neighborhood drops off. And we simply accept this as true. All of Fox Park has an interest in the success of just a part of it. That's a great message for the city as a whole. If Fox Park residents can see the importance in picking up a downtrodden section of their neighborhood, why do so many St. Louisans still write off "the State Streets" or "the North Side" or whathaveyou? We should want a cohesive city. That doesn't mean widespread gentrification. Rather, it means paying due attention to the less glamorous areas of our city and realizing our interconnectedness.

Stepping off the soap box, it's good to see yet more of the South Side be added to the expanding list of officially historically designated properties. Hopefully a developer will snatch up this property, located in the expansion area, and return it to use:

Thanks to Corresponding Fractions for the above photograph. I love Fox Park!

The Gift of Greenery: Could Every Block Have a "City Garden"?

2010-04-16T10:05:00.003-04:00

Downtown's Citygarden has been very well-received--almost universally so. A two-block segment of the Gateway Mall transformed from passive (read: boring) green space into a magnificent sculpture garden and public space. The metamorphosis came at a cost--$25 million in design and construction alone. The Gateway Foundation picked up the tab.

On the foundation's website, there is a list of projects and initiatives that the foundation has either contributed to or created. You can thank Gateway for St. Louis's three water towers' dramatic lighting, not to mention minor city landmarks like the Arch and Old Courthouse. They helped to renovate Penrose Park in North City, as well. Still, Citygarden is their crowning achievement, their greatest gift yet to the city.

I couldn't help but marvel at the construction process of Citygarden itself. Almost overnight, some worn patches of grass became lush lawns home to new and relatively mature trees. No thin, weakling trees that would take years, perhaps decades, to blossom into proper shade trees--if they survived at all.

I can't help but wonder if the Gateway Foundation could help certain St. Louis neighborhoods overcome a fatal urban design flaw: treelessness. Treelessness need not be taken literally; some blocks in certain neighborhood have quite a few trees, but they're often unhealthy, ill-placed, or simply, there just aren't enough of them.

Trees are so vital to an urban landscape that New York City, to name just one city, has conducted a census of them (the count you ask? 592,130) and a plan to increase their numbers. Of specific interest to me is the "benefits" section explaining why trees are important.

First, this note:

Benefits are directly linked to tree size. The environmental benefits of trees arise from respiration and transpiration – the biological processes by which trees breathe and absorb water from the environment. Because these processes involve interactions between a tree’s leaves, the environment, and the atmosphere, the benefits increase as trees grow in size. In general, the larger a tree, the more canopy cover and leaf surface area (the total area of the leaf spread) it has.

This list of benefits is so sensible and actionable that I will post each segment in its entirety:

Air Quality Improvement. Leaves absorb gaseous pollutants (carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide), and capture air-borne particles including dirt, dust and soot. Trees also prevent the release of many airborne pollutants by reducing energy generation. Ground level ozone, a contributor to greenhouse gas formation, is reduced through the tree’s ability to lower air temperatures.
ANNUAL BENEFIT VALUE: TO NYC: $5.3 MILLION

Energy Savings. Trees provide shade, reducing the demand for electricity for cooling in the summer. Trees also reduce wind speeds, slowing the loss of heat from interior spaces during the winter. Trees cool the air through the process of transpiration, where moisture is converted to water vapor. An estimate for energy usage for every building in NYC was derived from data on building age, tree shading effects, and local climate. This estimate was drawn with two scenarios—with and without street trees—in order to show the difference in the resulting energy use. Local energy prices were then used to calculate the value of the impact of trees on building energy use.
ANNUAL BENEFIT VALUE TO NYC: $27.8 MILLION

Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Trees indirectly reduce emissions of CO2 from power plants by reducing building energy use. Also as trees grow, they remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in woody plant tissue. At the same time, trees release CO2 as they decompose. These releases are subtracted from the total amount of CO2 avoided from power generation and absorbed by tree growth to calculate the net CO2 benefit.
ANNUAL BENEFIT VALUE TO NYC: $754,947

Reducing Stormwater Runoff. Trees help reduce flooding and improve water quality, as runoff flowing over impervious surfaces picks up contaminants including oil and metals. Trees intercept rain on their leaf, branch and stem surfaces and by absorbing water through their roots. The water that trees intercept in NYC each year was calculated using local rainfall data.
ANNUAL BENEFIT VALUE TO NYC: $36 MILLION

Property Value and Other Benefits. Research has shown that homes with a tree in front sell for almost 1 percent more than similar homes without trees. The difference in sale price indirectly reflects the value buyers place on trees and their more intangible benefits, such as aesthetics. This difference was applied to the median New York City home resale price ($537,300) to calculate the total value.
ANNUAL BENEFIT VALUE TO NYC: $52 MILLION

TOTAL ANNUAL BENEFIT TO NYC: $122 MILLION

Clearly, street trees in urban areas are necessary for the city's natural--and built--environments. Yet some of our neighborhoods aren't receiving these benefits.

Let's look at a neighborhood that is among my favorite in the city--Benton Park West. Tree coverage is passable in some places, non-existent in too many others. Check out the 2700 block of Utah Street for a good example of the conditions of the neighborhood:

What we have here is actually a nice historic blockface typical of the neighborhood. But it looks unnecessarily barren without a proper line of street trees (it also feels barren when you're walking down a sidewalk in summer weather, baking atop unprotected pavement). This should be an in-demand block based on housing stock and location alone.

Let's look at a street in Benton Park proper, some half mile away from the view we see above. This is the 2900 block of Lemp.

2900 Lemp is not a perfectly planted block by any means, but is similar in most respects to 2700 Utah--historic buildings, just about the same street width and setback, etc. Yet 2900 Lemp is shaded and inviting.

If our lower income neighborhoods have fewer trees, which I believe, in general, is true, then wouldn't planting some mature trees give them a leg up? As demonstrated in the New York City study, trees save households on energy costs and raise property values. Wouldn't it be great if the Gateway Foundation and their Citygarden partner the Missouri Botanical Garden could donate trees to neighborhoods such as Hyde Park and Benton Park West? Again, the trees have to be large to have an effect. Yet a mature tree costs a lot of money. This source says that a locally-available species of tree aged 7-10 years will run you at least $200 a pop.

Still, a $25 million program focusing on a few neighborhoods that need these trees could see the planting of 125,000 trees if the $200 figure held true (not counting the costs of planting and maintenance). That would be equivalent to 20 percent of the entire city of New York's stock that that city has counted! Passing over some neighborhoods that already have excellent tree coverage (Tower Grove East in parts, St. Louis Hills nearly in its entirety), such a program to establish these citywide "City Gardens" could confer incredible benefits on the recipient neighborhoods (again, see the NYC study). And it should be noted that green projects--tree planting, park renovations, etc.--are among the least controversial projects that a philanthropic foundation like Gateway can put their name to. That said, they're also much needed and do a great service to our city.

Would the Gateway Foundation/Missouri Botanical Garden be willing to plant City Gardens--also known as full streetscapes of mature trees-- across St. Louis?

A New Life for Soulard's Anheuser Busch Parkings Lots?

2010-04-15T18:32:00.002-04:00

Most St. Louisans are well aware that the new management at Anheuser Busch-InBev, or A-B InBev, has been cutting positions at A-B's onetime world headquarters in Soulard. With financial operations moved to New York City, and with much of the company's leadership in either Brazil or Belgium, the Soulard campus is growing quieter. Don't get me wrong. I believe this is pretty bad news for St. Louis and for Soulard.

But there may be a small--or potentially large--up-side to this.

Take a look at Exhibit A: north Soulard, above Sidney Street.

Despite being hemmed in by Interstate 55 on the north and west and an overly-wide and relatively unadorned 7th Street/Broadway on the east, Soulard is a remarkably intact and physically dense neighborhood.

South of Sidney Street, A-B parking lots pervade and largely sully what could be a great connection to one of St. Louis's greatest urban neighborhoods. Living in the shadow of perhaps the world's greatest brewing legacy should be a saleable amenity, but few Soulard homes are within arm's reach of the complex these days.

Exhibit B: south Soulard, below Sidney Street.

Especially towards 7th Street, surface parking takes over an otherwise intact and beautiful neighborhood. Now, with fewer employees and a gradual shift away from the Soulard campus towards other spots across the globe, could the city reclaim these lots? Would A-B InBev hand them off? At least four square blocks are entirely dedicated to surface parking in an area bounded by Lynch Street on the south, 10th Street on the west, Sidney on the north, and 7th on the east. Well, almost entirely.

A nice Soulard home survives on 9th Street with its outbuilding intact (courtesy of Bing Maps). Anyone know the story behind this odd island in the sea of parking?

At any rate, it serves as a good reminder of how to reinvest in this area. We should seek to return these blocks to that successful Soulard scale--one of the city's most intimate.

I wonder what the status of these large lots is now that A-B in Soulard is essentially being downsized. Do surrounding businesses use these lots as well? Would Soulard residents or A-B InBev really miss them?

Preliminary April Preservation Board Agenda Includes Demolition of a Row of Buildings on Chouteau; Several National Register Nominations

2010-04-13T17:00:00.002-04:00

You may access the preliminary agenda here.

Four buildings on Chouteau in the Gate District are proposed for demolition: 2612; 2614-16, 2618-22, and 2626-30 Chouteau are all on the chopping block. The owner is listed as "Crown 40 Inc.". As with all preliminary agendas, there is no reason stated for these proposed demolitions. A Google Streetview capture is shown below.

While none of these buildings appear to be of extreme historic significance, they'd be sorely missed from an urban design standpoint if parking, for instance, is to replace them. I'll report any further information as it becomes available.

In other Preservation Board news, several buildings are to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including a new historic district surveyed by Lynn Josse--the Oak Hill District in Tower Grove South. A full list is below:

Address:   St. Louis News Company -1008-1010 Locust St.
Project Description: Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
Preparer:   Lafser & Associates - Julie Ann LaMouria
Owner:   Alverne Association

Address:   Chippewa Trust Co. Bldg. – 3801-05 S. Broadway
Project Description: Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
Preparer:   Karen Bode Baxter, Ruth Kenney & Tim Maloney
Owner:   SCD Investments III LLC – Steve Roberts

Address:   Father Dunne’s News Boys Home & Protectorate
    aka Harbor Light Center – 3010 Washington Ave
Project Description: Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
Preparer:   Karen Bode Baxter, Ruth Kenney & Tim Maloney
Owner:   The Salvation Army – Major Lonneal Richardson

Address:   Berry Motor Car Service Bldg. – 2220 Washington Ave.
Project Description: Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
Preparer:   Landmarks Assoc. of St. Louis – Ruth Keenoy
Owner:   Sheralee Properties

Address:   Oak Hill Historic District
(Roughly bounded by Gustine, Arsenal, alley west of
Portis Ave. and Humphrey St.)
Project Description: Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
Preparer:   Lynn Josse
Owner:   Various (see nomination)

Stay tuned for more information.

A Neighborhood Changes (in Name) Across Time

2010-04-12T21:48:00.003-04:00

Above is a Google Streetview capture of the 3400 block of Grace Avenue. True to its name, the quiet street retains beautiful, graceful brick pavers. It's located in the southeastern quadrant of today's Tower Grove South neighborhood.

In 1947, according to the city's then-brand-new Comprehensive Plan, this was the Fanning District, named after the school of the same name located just a stone's throw from this photo. The Fanning District was bounded by Utah on the north, Bent on the west, Grand on the east, and Gravois on the south. (See a map here).

In the 1970s, neighborhood historian Norbury Wayman called this area--and a much larger area extending from Arsenal on the north, Kingshighway on the west, Grand on the east, and Gravois and Bates on the south--the Oak Hill neighborhood.

If you live in the southern end of what we now officially call "Tower Grove South", what do you call your neighborhood?

Lafayette Square, St. Louis / Jackson Square, New Orleans

2010-04-11T10:44:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite new-ish blogs in St. Louis is St. Louis Elsewhere, which presents ideas for St. Louis based on the author's observations while living and traveling across the country and globe.

While I have heard it said that "St. Louis is its own animal" and "you can't just import ideas from elsewhere," I mostly disagree with this statement. Great cities don't insulate themselves from great ideas simply because all local conditions are not at complete parity with the source of the innovation in question. On the flip side, I'm not saying that just because one idea works somewhere--such as New York City's recent closure of portions of Time Square to automobiles--that it will work somewhere else just the same (imagine trying to transform South Kingshighway into Times Square!). We do need to be judicious in floating new ideas and attempt to tailor them to St. Louis's realities.

Here's a relatively noncontroversial suggestion: let's try to emulate New Orleans' Jackson Square with our own Lafayette Square.

Jackson Square in New Orleans is a truly unique place in this country. It's the city's original public square, platted by its French founders in 1718. The famous St. Louis Cathedral flanks the square, which is a gated and lushly landscaped public park with a statue of Andrew Jackson inside. Jackson Square is truly the center of the city, located inside the French Quarter, and invites throngs of people daily.

Jackson Square with the St. Louis Cathedral at center. Source.

This is less true with Lafayette Square in St. Louis. Lafayette Park was a set-aside from the once sprawling St. Louis Commons, once considered far outside the developed city. Therefore, Lafayette Square was intended to be a rural respite from an expanding city, not the center of the action like Jackson Square, which retains that function to this day. Still, as we know, times have changed since the mid-19th century, and Lafayette Square is a central St. Louis neighborhood known to have a somewhat regional draw--like Jackson Square.

Even so, I find Lafayette Park to be a little too quiet on the average day. One of the Midwest's most breathtaking neighborhoods--Lafayette Square--deserves more admirers.

One way Jackson Square invites people in is through art. Artists rent a segment of the fence surrounding Jackson Square and tourists and locals alike peruse the offerings around the square. This seems like a wonderful idea for at least a portion of the much larger Lafayette Square!

Here's what I mean:

Here, Jackson Square's peripheral fence is covered in art. During high tourist season, the whole square is surrounded by art. Source.

Imagine a segment of Lafayette Square covered in art every weekend, creating a new draw to the neighborhood and a new use for the park. Lafayette Park's fence is not nearly as tall, but I think the fence could still support a few smaller pieces. I know Lafayette Park has featured painters and artists before, but I could see a weekly or at least monthly event from April-October being very popular.

I think people would flock to an "art market" at Lafayette Park. Just look at the views! Source.

Perhaps establishing Lafayette Park as a go-to source for local art would inspire some of the neighborhood's remaining commercial spaces to fill up with galleries that would only complement the weekly/monthly art market.

I'm not saying that Lafayette Square can or should be Jackson Square in New Orleans; only that the art display is a great use of the park gate and its beautiful surroundings. It's a great way to activate the park and its surroundings.

Artist Peat Wollaeger is "Eyeing" Powell Square

2010-04-10T15:42:00.002-04:00

Powell Square, a long abandoned, long vandalized landmark right off of Interstate 55 south of downtown St. Louis, is about to get a new use of sorts--civic billboard. Click here to see a series of Flickr photographs of Powell Square.

According to the Post-Dispatch, Wollaeger was approached by Chivvis Development, developer for the stalled Chouteau's Landing project in which the Powell building sits, to develop a large mural with a positive message to the city.

The message soon to be scrawled across the Powell in a 16 by 16 feet display? "Eye" Heart St. Louis. Yes, Wollaeger's trademark "eye" will stand in place of the letter "I". Above is the Post-Dispatch photograph attached to their article "Peat Wollaeger has his eye on St. Louis", which gives an indication what the piece might look like.

As someone who has called for more uplifting civic images and messages to be placed across St. Louis, I think this is great! I am especially happy Chivvis seems to have backed away from the idea of cleanly renovating the Powell Square building, renaming it the Chouteau's Landing Art Center, and then painting it the least "artsy" of all colors--beige.

Guess the Neighborhood

2010-04-08T20:34:00.001-04:00

How well do you know St. Louis?

Can you tell by a group of houses what neighborhood you're in with literally no other information?

Then where's the site below, captured by Google Streetview?

There are a few clues after all, I guess. For one, there are driveways present. That should narrow it down a bit. Secondly, the house in the center is fairly rare for St. Louis, with its pronouncedly concave roof eaves.

Which neighborhood is it? If you dare, which street/block?

STLToday Commenter Greatest Hits: Post-Proposition A Win

2010-04-07T19:27:00.002-04:00

I read through the Stltoday.com comments on Prop A's passing...so you don't have to!

Category: Doesn't Understand How Cities/Transit Work

There are many commenters who believe transit should serve all areas equally, despite the fact that population density and transit need do factor in. There are others who believe that the prosperity of suburbs is somehow related to the fact that there are no or few transit options. There are many others who believe St. Louis, in particular, is not fit for any sort of investment and is dying. These people don't seem to understand urbanism, transit, or St. Louis.

suburbianite April 7, 2010 2:23AM CST St Charles County prospers despite the lack of public transit!

MyOpine April 7, 2010 10:46AM CSTCan anyone tell me what is the business model of Metro? Is it to turn a profit or is it to subsidize transportation? Either way, it's Christmas time for Metro. I see a Vegas convention in the near future for their management. I wish I worked for a company that when their business model failed and couldn't turn a profit, could just go out and propose a tax. Let's raises taxes during a recession. Makes perfect sense. This is a permanent tax, not something temporary to just help them get out of the red. Yep, we need more 50 foot buses employing $30 an hour drivers out on the road driving out to West County to pick up 5 people. Makes perfect sense. $75 million a year? Heck, it might be cheaper to just pay the cab fare for everyone who needs a ride. What kind of management runs a business that needs $75 million a year just to survive? This was put on the ballet in April because it would of never passed in November. The supporters were well organized though. The supporters rolled out the "go green" t-shirts and stuck them on the backs of college students who still live at home.

Reality_Czech April 7, 2010 5:13PM CST Can someone list me the major employers that relocated to STL along a Metro line? I'm trying to think of one, but all I can see is downtown emptying out and the areas along the lines being "Escape from New York" sets in miniature.

Category: " All Transit Users Are Low-Lifes / Transit is Entitlement"

By far, the most popular sentiment among negative commenters is that they are paying for a good they will never use. This may in fact be true, but to call transit an "entitlement" ignores the huge cost of interstates and driving in general. While the fuel tax does indeed pay for a portion of interstate highway maintenance, local roads receive no such funding. Many drivers don't use interstates and yet are helping to fund them when they purchase fuel. Air and water pollution, noise, traffic, autocentric land uses, and personal injury/death are all an unfortunate byproducts of driving that are significantly reduced or ameliorated by taking mass transit. It's also rarely mentioned that transit use can save the commuter hundreds of dollars per year, as cars are not only expensive to society, but to the individual in the form of insurance, gasoline prices, oil changes, regular maintenance, collisions, etc.

The important part of this debate is that funding transit is a value statement for any society: that we wish to allow for mobility for all, for a cleaner environment, for a more walkable metropolitan region, and so on. Putting a price tag on these values is difficult, but most of us think these are worthwhile goals--which is why Proposition A overwhelmingly passed.

Comments that depict the non-car owner as a deadbeat, thug, or low-life are based on pure ignorance and an unhealthy civic state in this country. It shows that private automobility so limits social interaction that a whole class of people (car-dependents) have no clue how a significant portion of the population even lives. We are sharply divided as a metropolitan region and as a country. Comments like these highlight our divisions and lack of civility that is inherent when interaction between different groups in society is limited. What is most puzzling about a good swath of the comments is suggestions that students somehow won't pay into the system, but nevertheless voted for Prop A. Since when do students abstain from any purchases?

Underwhelmed April 7, 2010 5:54AM CST Now the majority will pay MORE for the minority. I don't like to pay for something I don't use. Charge the users more to ride, make them pay their own way. Transportation entitlements?

jwr8369 April 7, 2010 6:17AM CST And so it goes. I will have to hand over even more of my hard earned money for people with no ambition to make better of themselves. I like the quote at the end of the story, it pretty much describes St. Louis. No common sense. "We sunk a lot of time into it and effort with all our volunteers," Burns said. "But I think more importantly the lesson to be learned here is that an enormous amount of money can defeat common sense in St. Louis County." Enjoy your free rides, it's on me.

Vincent Gallagher April 7, 2010 6:35AM CST How can anyone cheer paying higher taxes? Because the people who voted for this tax increase don't pay taxes. They belong to Obama's entitlement constituency that sponges off the government. They had time to vote today because they don’t work and contribute to the tax base that supports all of these government programs and services. The middle and working class is having their income increasingly redistributed to the entitlement class.

Skooter April 7, 2010 7:56AM CST This is NOT a victory for St. Louis. It is a victory for the left wing socialists and entitlement queens. I pray this gets repealed at the earliest opportunity. Yeah, and the kids in the picture don't have a clue as to what they're really celebrating. If they did, they'd all be moving to different schools in different cities...(if they were smart).

38N90W April 7, 2010 8:18AM CST They look so happy! It really IS fun to spend someone else's money!

Hardsheller April 7, 2010 8:44AM CST The Soviet Union didn't die. It just swam across the ocean. The people of St. Louis just voted to enslave their fellow citizens so they can have something they desire. It's pathetic.

38N90W April 7, 2010 9:05AM CST Hey, maybe if they restore all the bus routes and add more MetroLink trains, the car thieves won't need to "appropriate" cars and get into high-speed chases! Wow, a real win-win! (the preceding massage brought to you by "Naive Citizens for Mis-Managed Mass Transit")

Category: Metro is Stealing My Money and Hasn't Changed a Bit!

I have addressed the notion of Metro being mismanaged on this blog. Metro booted the leadership that led them into a cost overrun on the Cross County extension and a resulting losing and expensive law suit. The agency has labored to open its operations up and involve the public. What else do these people want?

Ghetto Prez April 7, 2010 7:58AM CST I think the majority of voters rode the short bus. If you don't pay income tax you shouldn't have a vote. This is the biggest bunch of BS I've ever seen. A grossly mismanaged agency that spends like a drunken sailor just passed a tax hike. Un-friggin-believable.

Category: Just Buy Everyone a Car!

While this could have been included in the "Doesn't Understand Transit" category, it does deserve special attention. I found one comment that by a South Countian who commutes every day to St. Charles County for work. I was expecting him or her to proclaim a "no" vote for Prop A and to complain that he or she was not served by transit, so why should they vote for it. Instead, the commenter voted "yes"--s/he didn't want any more cars clogging up the highway and thought a reduced Metro system would lead to just that! Buying everyone a car (or calling each commuter a cab) ignores the incredibly high costs of driving and creating more traffic. Since this is an especially outlandish claim, I thought it deserved a specific counterpoint.

Scott Akins April 7, 2010 9:07AM CST I'm all for doing what's right for STL, but this tax doesn't make sense.If I do the math, since 1993 we've spent $15B on MetroLink and currently have 62k riders/day. That comes to a total fixed investment of $242,000 per rider! That doesn't even factor in the cost of financing. At that rate, it would've been more cost effective to buy cars for everyone.I don't see ridership growing enough to ever make the math work. If we can't prove viability over 17 years, we never will.In this economy we need to find better things to do with our precious tax dollars.

The Award for the Dumbest / Most Insensitive / Least Constructive Comment Goes to:

Speaks for itself. Welcome to Reagan County, Missouri. I wonder how Claytonites would feel about being the county seat to this new separatist county?

Skooter April 7, 2010 10:55AM CST I wonder if we can split the county in to two parts. We can use I-70 as the dividing line and evertything north of there can be 'St. Louis County' and everything south of there can be....'Reagan County, Missouri' or something like that. Than the RESPONSIBLE citizens can set their own rules and tax rates.

----

I hate to put too much weight on Stltoday.com's many trolling commenters. And it would appear that they are indeed in the minority given the wide margin of victory for Proposition A (also considering that there are more than legitimate reasons to have opposed it). Still, some of the arguments raised demonstrate a need for not just our local government, but our state and federal governments to show leadership in the arena of transportation. While other nations are building advanced systems that include high speed rail and excellent inter-urban transportation systems, the U.S. is still stuck in the modern era (1945-65), too often privileging automobiles over alternative forms of transit. In order to compete, we must upgrade our infrastructure and quit relying so much on fossil fuels and private automobiles. Proposition A positions St. Louis closer to peer cities who have already shown forethought in alternative transportation. Welcome to the "Portland, Oregon" club, St. Louis!

Transit Maps

2010-04-07T11:46:00.003-04:00

Washington D.C., 2010

Source: D.C. Kaleidoscope

St. Louis, 2040?

Source: Moving Transit Forward

This system can now be a reality in St. Louis's near future due to St. Louis County's overwhelming support for Proposition A last night.

The above map includes a handful of new light rail lines (including a Westport extension from Clayton, and a city-centric line known as the Northside-Southside Line); two commuter rail lines; and several Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines, including one down Grand Boulevard. Have no clue what BRT is or does? Check out this video from Curitiba, Brazil, the city credited with crafting this transportation idea.

I have seen t-shirts, posters, and other swag honoring the colorful, extensive D.C. rail transportation system. I'm excited by the possibility of St. Louis having a transit map worthy of swag as well!

Proposition A Passes!

2010-04-06T22:44:00.001-04:00

An early call, but likely a safe one!

Thank you, St. Louis County, for investing in the future of our region's transportation system! Today's vote triggers the enactment of a 1997 vote by St. Louis City to kick in a quarter-cent sales tax increase there, in addition to the half cent sales tax increase in St. Louis County. With a relatively reliable funding source, Metro may now plan its future. The agency may now expand rather than contract!

What's the next stop...err, step? Fighting for a greater share of the state of Missouri's transportation funding pie--one of the most road-centric in the country.

For more coverage of this exciting victory for St. Louis transit, see UrbanSTL.

Spoiled

2010-04-06T18:55:00.007-04:00

A woman rolls her eyes. "SIX minutes?" she whines, clearly exasperated.

She's waiting for the next Yellow Line Metro train toward northern Virginia. She's clearly used to the morning and evening rushes, where two minute waits are considered an inconvenience. But this is D.C.--its Metro system is the envy of many cities. In my eyes, she's spoiled.

Proposition A in St. Louis County can put us on the track to expanding our system and making it the best it can be for the realities of our region. A six-minute wait time for a bus or train will likely always be acceptable, even desirable, for St. Louis--but it will be unheard of if Prop A fails tonight. Buses every 45 minutes to an hour will likely be our (permanent?) reality. Our rail system, including its recent expansion, will suffer as well. Many eyes will be rightfully rolled. A bevy of groups won't even consider St. Louis as a place to live with such limited transit options--certainly not this woman trying to get to Virginia.

It's nearly 7PM EST here in Baltimore--which means, back home, folks in St. Louis County have another hour until polls close. Please vote yes on Prop A to ease the stress on our rolling eyes and tapping feet! Let's make spoiled commuters out of St. Louis's transit riders.

Transit Tales: All Aboard the Architecture Express!

2010-04-05T14:41:00.003-04:00

First of all, I have to say to my St. Louis County readers: please vote YES tomorrow, April 6, 2010, on Proposition A, a one half of one percent sales tax increase that will be dedicated to the funding of St. Louis's mass transit system. Your "yea" vote on A will ensure Metro transit does not endure another crippling round of cuts, causing hundreds to lose their jobs instantly and rendering many riders unable to reach their workplaces as well. Beyond that, a failed Prop A means a third class transit system in a city struggling to compete with its peer cities across the Midwest. As almost all progressive cities are in the process of expanding transit systems, St. Louis would be foolhardy to allow the drastic cutting of its own.

If you live in St. Louis County, and need to find your polling place or read the text of the ballot, etc., please click here.

If you would like some convincing on why Proposition A is important and what Metro has done to turn itself around, please click here.

And now, a transit-related story.

Several years ago, I was riding the #10 Gravois (now the Gravois-Lindell) downtown from the Bevo neighborhood to meet my father for a late lunch near City Hall. When I boarded the bus at Gravois and Itaska, a woman in her 50s nearly came sailing into my arms; she had not braced for the bus to quickly rear back onto the travel lanes of Gravois. I offered her my arm to keep her from falling. She had a particularly heavy camera and I'd have winced to witness that one break. She thanked me as she regained her footing, but to my surprise, did not take a seat. Well, not exactly anyway. She knelt on one of the seats closest to the bus driver, facing the window that was perched above. Her camera's lens tapped the window several times as the bus bounced through that unique tangle of city blocks that diagonal Gravois creates.

"Whoa!" she kept exclaiming. "Oh my word, are you looking at this, Frank?" I now noticed that the much more sedate man sitting (the correct way) beside her was her husband, or at least an acquaintance. "Look at all of this! Just look at it!" Dutifully, he did, eventually joining her in what looked to me an impossibly uncomfortable posture--his arms holding the back to her seat, twisting his torso to meet her demands for his visual attention.

More than interested, I wondered where the two were from but decided not to guess.

"Oh we're from Arizona," she responded in an excitable tone. "We have just never seen anything like all of this! That windmill [I guess the Bevo Mill hadn't escaped her view]...all of this brick architecture. It's just fabulous!" She wouldn't commit to facing the inside of the bus very long. Speaking to me, planted on the opposite side of the bus, seemed only to help her realize there was a whole other side of the Gravois streetscape that she was neglecting. Gasps ensued, then clicking--especially as she spied St. Francis De Sales--the Cathedral of South St. Louis. But Benton Park West's red brick streetscapes didn't fail to mystify her either and employed her camera with equal vigor.

I inquired a bit more into the circumstances of the affable Arizonans' visit, but I don't really remember what they said. What did stick with me is how the woman would not shy from a--GASP!--mid-sentence, like that, when another piece of our architectural heritage astounded her to the degree necessary to encapsulate it in a photograph.

I also remember thinking how my ordinary bus ride down a street I could navigate eyes closed suddenly seemed so memorable. The Arizonans made me even more proud of my city, even more assured of its beauty. It's a moment I'd never be able to relate to you right now if I were in that moment shrouded in the privacy of my own vehicle.

Public transit allows so many of these human moments. Driving my own car, I feel like an integral cog in an impersonal but practical machine--"integral" in the sense that if I make the wrong mistake at the wrong time, the machine has the potential to be destroyed! It's all so mechanical and inhuman, evidenced by the fact that people that would smile at me on a sidewalk instead race around my vehicle in a fit if I've lingered at a stop light too long.

Riding a bus or a train brings me to a totally different mental state. I rejoin the human race. I put faith in a driver I don't know. I sit next to and around strangers. I absorb conversations, sights, and smells I'd otherwise never take in. Not all of this new sensory information is necessarily pleasant, but it's all a part of participating in the human experience. On the whole, it's life affirming, though: watching people trudge through wintry sleet and huddle all together to make it to work on time, for example.

Even the simple things get me...like the elderly woman who thinks she's pulled the string for her stop with the right degree of pressure. She hasn't. No "Ding!". No light lit up saying "Stop Requested". The woman behind her notices, though, and, herself not getting off for several more stops, pulls the chord anyway. The old woman departs never knowing someone saved her aging joints a couple extra blocks of walking.

The city looks and feels different from the elevated position of a bus, too. As the drivers yell out each major intersection--"GRAND!" "COMPTON!" "ARSENAL!"--a sort of hyper-local patriotism reigns over me. These are our streets. We all share this network. The city before me is not a selfish figment of my imagination. I am proud to share it, too.

I just hope the next time the Arizonans visit St. Louis that they're still able to hop aboard another "architecture express" in a restored and expanded transit system--not an ailing and shrunken one.

We Demand...an Inspiring Showing of Hyde Park Students Pressing for a Better Neighborhood

2010-04-02T12:51:00.000-04:00

I hope you have been keeping track of the Pulitzer's Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark exhibit. Not content at keeping the art inside their post-modern walls, the Pulitzer has created an interactive website where St. Louisans are asked to complement the exhibit, which, put simply, analyzes urban change and how people respond to it. (Visit "Your Saint Louis" Here).

The Pulitzer has also sought out local artists and change-makers and has displayed their work on the site. Of particular interest to this blogger is Theaster Gates, who is working with a group of students in Hyde Park on a project called "We Demand".

Any educational system should train students on how to be good and active citizens. In doing so, we just might fashion the next generation of leaders who will generate positive ideas on how to improve our cities and our neighborhoods. Hyde Park needs these creative, motivated children and their mentor, Theaster. I encourage you to watch the video below! In addition, there are other videos available here.

Urban Expression: We Demand from The Pulitzer on Vimeo.

A Patch Neighborhood Landmark to See New Life?

2010-04-02T12:23:00.001-04:00

The former Coca-Cola Syrup Plant at 8125 Michigan in the Far South City's Patch neighborhood may soon see new life as lofts and, potentially, the Lemp Brewery as a ground floor tenant. (Link to an April 2009 UrbanSTL discussion on the redevelopment).

A building permit in the amount of $11 million was just applied for yesterday--does this mean work will commence shortly?

Google Streetview Capture

At any rate, I will be a cheerleader of Pinnacle Entertainment's new River City Casino complex if it proves to be a catalyst for development in two of St. Louis's most historic but overlooked neighborhoods--Carondelet and the Patch.

(In semi-related news, building permits are WAY up in 2010 in the City of St. Louis compared to last year. I'll provide figures as soon as I get them).

Winners of Archgrounds International Design Competition to Frame a Modern Masterpiece...

2010-04-01T00:01:00.001-04:00

...with the Serra Sculpture, AKA Twain (pictured below).

A source who wishes to remain anonymous has leaked the winning proposal of one of nine teams behind the City.Arch.River2015, the international design competition for the Archgrounds in downtown St. Louis.

The ever-controversial Serra Sculpture will be relocated from its current spot on Market between 10th and 11th Streets to the large lawn fronting the Arch, only several yards from Memorial Drive. The much-maligned "depressed section" of I-70 will remain as is. So too will its elevated portion near Laclede's Landing.

I am told that the winning team--also not to be announced yet--was selected for their design's "thoughtful reflection on the 'less is more' school of modernism".

"The winning team was believed to have stayed most true to the modernist spirit of the Archgrounds. What's more modern than a depressed interstate?" my source rightfully asked.

Below is a preliminary rendering of the proposal.

Above, the Serra Sculpture will soon frame the Arch and Old Cathedral. Not to scale.

Think it's a little bare bones? Well, the multi-million dollar budget of the Framing a Modern Masterpiece design competition was completely gutted when, out of the blue, the National Park Service threatened to relocate the Gateway Arch to Clayton's Shaw Park, forcing the City of St. Louis to offer $10 million in tax credits for the iconic monument to remain in its historic location.

Reportedly, the second place team proposed reinstalling the St. Louis Centre skybridges over the depressed section of I-70 to allow for better connections between downtown and the Archgrounds. Competition judges felt the 1980s mall appendages were too garish and clashed with the minimalist 1960s-design of Interstate 70.

More details as they emerge.

Can We Compete? My Thoughts.

2010-03-31T12:40:00.002-04:00

I love how the Post-Dispatch is forcing the conversation on St. Louisans: can we compete in a changing economy, with a lot of the metrics stacked against us?

There is no simple answer to this question. It's an impossibly complicated, messy question with an even more tangled answer. But there are good steps we, as a city and region, could be taking to get to that elusive answer (answers, in reality).

One obvious one to me is: openness. Let's be an open city--a place where ideas big and small are discussed and debated openly, involving all parties.

In my mind, our government and our larger power structure in the city is essentially conservative and concerned with self-preservation. No one in the system wants to surrender power. Remind me why we can't have an open discussion of just how many aldermen we need. Tell me again why we don't have a huge public forum discussing how aldermanic courtesy is hurting our city. Or why we have primaries or political parties at all in an essentially one-party system? Preserving age-old divisions (white vs. black vs. other; North Side vs. South Side vs. Central Corridor; etc.) is the last thing St. Louis needs. Yet few want to take a dip into these murky waters to try to change the status quo.

Few leaders put forth good ideas or any ideas at all. Most of our local government officials still operate under the rubric of damage control. They react to constituent complaints and try to mop up after each one.

We need an open government that involves residents at all turns. We need our elected officials floating ideas about how to improve our city. We need our corporate underwriters to get on board with helping ideas come into fruition.

The ideas don't have to be literally big--like the NorthSide project or China Air Cargo Hub. In fact, as it relates to development, they should probably be small, organic, and incremental. But there should be a constant stream of ideas to improve our city. Let's reexamine our circa 1949 zoning code. Let's look into completely obliterating the "North of Delmar" stigma. Let's all have a discussion about what's right for the Ballpark Village site. And on and on and on and on (crime, schools, etc.).

But we can't have this discussion if we're not all at the table--or if there is no table at which to discuss.

Take a look at what one rapidly improving city has done. Pittsburgh's Public Square Project is all about connecting citizens to their government, opening it up, and demystifying its ways. PopCity Pittsburgh has a great article that sums up the group's goals. While St. Louis is working on similar projects in different capacities (see UrbanSTL, which is uniting urbanist voices into one super-network), there's still no one place that we all come together--whether online or in the physical realm of our large, fragmented region. We need this discussion table more than anything right now--so that a lot of the ideas floating around can gain currency and spread. Most importantly, those at the table should be from all the varied backgrounds St. Louis can offer. While projects like Citygarden are great and improve our city, their public consultation process is limited and doesn't represent the city's denizens as a whole. In large part, St. Louis is either apathetic about its government, doesn't understand it, or doesn't trust it.

Our first step needs to be: open up our government! Part and parcel to this is more regional cooperation and coordination between our many governments. This is all easier typed than done; but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be rebuilding our own "Public Square" and letting the light shine in on our government. That way we can get people involved and motivated to discuss how to move our city and region forward.

(Thanks go to Jeff Vines for forwarding me the Pittsburgh Public Square Project!).

Itaska Castles Make For Yet Another Delightful St. Louis Streetscape

2010-03-30T22:58:00.002-04:00

I grew up on Itaska Street in Bevo Mill. At a very young age, I lived on Itaska Street in the Southampton neighborhood. One of my first self-guided, no-passengers driving architectural tours through the city was to cruise the entire length of Itaska Street, which had been my home address for most of my life in St. Louis. While I quickly learned that I-55 made that an impossibility in the strict sense, and that Itaska jogs several times and is never a straight shot, I saw a street that is in so many ways quintessentially St. Louis.

From the sturdy red brick late 19th/early 20th century structures of Dutchtown to the fanciful Tudor stylings of St. Louis Hills' section of Itaska; every moment of it oozed uniqueness and told the story of St. Louis's westward expansion and development. I suppose this was all fitting. Itaska Street is named after Minnesota's Lake Itasca--the headwaters of the Mississippi River. One special street of a great American city, like our nation's great river, is sinuous, complicated, and gripping all at once.

No stretch of Itaska is more notable than its run between Virginia, on the east, and Grand, on the west. It's here that some developer or developers built some of the South Side's most interesting little shaped-parapet "castles". I don't believe I've seen another city that has whole rows of these little romantic brick ramparts. Some have polychromed arches above doorways and windows; others have "Beetlejuice" themed awnings. Some even have dueling griffins! Here are some of Itaska Street's greatest hits in Dutchtown.

If you're still not convinced and don't think it looks like much from Google Streetview captures, go walk the street for yourself. How do such small houses command such an urban presence?

You'd think that we bloggers, with our environs becoming increasingly crowded, would run out of facets of St. Louis to freak out over--but they keep on coming. That's because St. Louis rocks your face.

What Does a "Real City" Look Like?

2010-03-29T11:33:00.001-04:00

As promised in the previous post: let's get to what constitutes a "real city".

The background for this question comes from this Craigslist apartment ad on Cherokee Street (yeah...I might have been looking...).

Unique and spacious open loft in the fast growing Cherokee street arts district. Easily walk to an array of interesting shops and restaurants including APOP Records, The Archive, The Mud House, The Stable, Foam, O'Malleys, Off Broadway and Firecracker Press. The area is also known for a great selection of authentic Mexican restaurants and grocers, eclectic clothing and antiques. Probably the only Street in St. Louis that actually feels like a real city and can provide your every need without having to drive.

The emphasis is mine.

A litany of questions comes to my mind. What does the author mean by "real city"? Is it simply a function of being able to walk to satisfy all of your needs? If that's the definition of the term, do you agree or disagree that Cherokee Street is among the only spots in the city that fit this term? Or is "realness" also associated with diversity of ethnicity and income?

I'm sure the poster of this apartment advertisement is just doing a little up-selling of the Cherokee District and intended no harm to our fair city. But I still balk at language that dismisses other parts of the city as less "real" simply because they're not quite as active at all hours of the day or because they don't have certain types of businesses. Many people live a car-free or car-lite lifestyle in the Central West End, Skinker-DeBaliviere, DeBaliviere Place, Forest Park Southeast, and South Grand, too (not to mention places in the city where people can't afford vehicles and walk/take transit most of the time).

I would rephrase the ad to say: "Cherokee Street is the city's most creative, diverse, exciting, and collaborative street..." or something to that effect. I don't think that's too much of a stretch. But many parts of the city are still "real" to me without some of the energy of Cherokee Street. What are your thoughts?

McKinley Heights Billboard Now Advertises Art, Not Slots

2010-03-28T12:43:00.001-04:00

I don't know how I feel about urban billboards. Usually, they're ugly and dwarf the buildings they're superimposed upon. Sometimes, at their best, they add color and life to barren streetscapes. The venerable Skyscraper Page forums have a great thread dedicated to urban neighborhoods that take billboards to an awe-inspiring extreme--lighting them and allowing them to consume entire facades of buildings, a la Times Square in New York City. Check that out here.

Here in St. Louis, we don't have a Times Square. We just have some rusty billboards often attached to turn of the century commercial buildings--such as on Gravois Avenue.

Well, one art gallery in McKinley Heights (on Gravois) has taken a billboard and made it a true urban asset. According to an excellent Post-Dispatch article highlighting unconventional art galleries, Good Citizen owner Andrew James chose a spot on high-speed Gravois due to the billboard that came packaged with the building. Now the south side of the billboard is handed over to artists who wish to promote their shows, while the north-facing side is open for arts organizations to rent. The vacated billboard used to advertise Casino Queen slots. Below is a shot of artist Jennifer Flores' work on the Good Citizen billboard. To see others, click here to visit their Facebook page.

While the following discussion deserves its own post, I recently had a brief Twitter back-'n'-forth on whether/what parts of St. Louis constitute a "real city"--and what that terms means. To me, a real city is surprising and interesting around every corner. St. Louis's architecture--and often its people--pull these requirements off already. But one thing under-represented in St. Louis's landscape is both informal and formal art--murals, thoughtful graffiti, and other random and possibly unsanctioned bursts of color and ideas on city objects. Don't get me wrong--I know some of this is here already. We just need more. Artists reclaiming billboards is a great step in the right direction! This reads "real city" to me--whatever that means!

Be Confident, St. Louis

2010-03-27T00:02:00.001-04:00

Do me a favor. Caption this photograph, provided by urblogger Mark Groth:

Did you say something along the lines of "Compton Hill Reservoir - A South St. Louis Landmark"?

A contributor to the Atlas of American Architecture (2009), which features the Gateway Arch on its cover, summed up the most romantic of our famous water towers with the following statement.

"Few American communities are as adventuresome and self-confident as St. Louis. Its Compton Heights Water Tower is one of several municipal fantasies in this visually marvelous city."

Wow. If our city fathers built our city so adventurously and confidently (the Bevo Mill is featured in the book as well), why can't we be more confident in what we've inherited? While some us are more than proud of this city, the majority suffers from the misguided notion that St. Louis is somehow not as good as other places. It may not be the trendiest, smartest, slimmest, greenest, or other such superlatives. But it's wholly unique. And interesting. And accessible (affordable!)! Shouldn't that matter most when we assess the lot of our fair city?

I think we found our feel-good tagline! St. Louis: A Visually Marvelous City.

Someone agrees with the unnamed editor of the Atlas referenced above--the Los Angeles Times. Their travel writers called St. Louis one of the most underrated destinations in the world in 2009! (Scroll to #25 on the slideshow on that link). Somehow I missed that one.

I think the lesson here, St. Louis, is: be confident. We have a lot to be proud of. Spread the word.

South Grand Searching for Artists

2010-03-26T11:50:00.006-04:00

According to a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) released yesterday, the City of St. Louis Board of Public Service is searching for an artist or artists to create two-dimensional artwork to be embedded in the reconstructed sidewalks of South Grand. The call for art is a result of a major streetscape overhaul now underway thanks to the East West Gateway Council of Government's Great Streets Initiative.

I love the idea of sidewalk art for South Grand! The RFQ notes:

The selected artist team may include, but is not limited to, visual artists, graphic designers, writers, and poets. Prior public art experience is helpful, but not required.

The artwork will need to fit into discrete sections of the reconstructed sidewalk. The size, location and dimensions of these sections can be determined by the artist, and will need to be coordinated and finalized prior to construction. The artist will be responsible for the final design, fabrication and installation of the artwork into these discrete sections. Final design specifications will be reviewed by members of the project design team and/or City officials.

The new sidewalks will be constructed with pervious concrete. The artwork inserts can be a non-pervious material, but must be durable and approved by the project team. Possible materials may include colored and/or textured concrete, lithocrete, lithomosaic, mosaic, stone, brick, metal, terrazzo or other materials. The inserts could include imagery, text, poetry and/or designs that reflect life on South Grand.

The project budget is $30,000 and the deadline is April 9, 2010. If you're an artist reading this blog, please apply! South Grand needs you!

Here are some examples of sidewalk art I came across:

Village of Rochester Hills, Michigan...sidewalk insets would be the most common form of sidewalk art. What would you recommend for insets along South Grand?

SOURCE

Okay...so this is faux-3-D chalk art, which I assume can't be permanent. But it's nevertheless something to think about.

SOURCE

Tile mosaic sidewalk

SOURCE

Text-based art. If you stand from a certain angle, it looks as if the word "DOWN" is floating. Sure this is inside a parking garage, but since the RFQ allows for text-based art, there seem to be many possibilities here.

SOURCE

As I said, if you're an artist or poet, get to work for South Grand! But send your plans to this blog first.

Full RFQ here.

St. Louis 2009 Population Estimate

2010-03-25T14:22:00.005-04:00

The Census just released July 1, 2009 population estimates. These will be the last estimates before the official count of the 2010 Census.

Here is the breakdown of the three core counties (plus St. Louis City) on the Missouri side:

Click to expand

If the table is too small, or if you'd like to see more counties, please visit the Census website.

As you can see, the Census estimates that St. Louis City declined every so slightly from its July 1, 2008 population--a loss of 143 people. The current figure--356,587--is still significantly above the 2000 population of 348,189. This is probably a good sign in a city that has been shedding people for a half century.

If I were to guess what the April 1, 2010 Census base estimate for St. Louis will be, I'd go with a number right around the 2009 figure. With the recession and the difficulty moving residential units during the economic crisis, I doubt St. Louis has seen much more growth. Look for a figure of 357,000 at the highest. For what it's worth.

Continued, though slowed, growth in St. Charles County likely means that the 2010 Census will show that county overtake St. Louis City as the region's second most populous "county".

Last Day to Show Your Support for Google Fiber in St. Louis!

2010-03-25T10:38:00.001-04:00

Contributed by Joseph Decepida.

Google is planning to build ultra-high speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the country. The plan is to deploy 1 Gbps, fiber optic connections directly to people's homes and businesses. This connection would be over 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.

You can learn more about the project here: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/overview

What will Google Fiber mean for St. Louis?

Securing ultra high speed internet infrastructure in St. Louis will provide strong momentum for the creation of next generation internet infrastructure services, companies, and jobs. Many of the internet-based services like YouTube that have come to be a part of our daily lives weren't possible until broadband. Google wants to accelerate the next era of innovation by testing fiber optic cable to the premises in a community. We think that community should be St. Louis! With fiber optic cable coming directly to St. Louis homes and businesses and the enormous media attention that could come with being chosen as a trial community, our City would strengthen its ability to attract companies, new talent, and capital.

What Can You Do to Help?

The City is responding to the Request For Information (RFI) released by Google. The deadline for submissions is March 26th. (EDITOR'S NOTE: YES, that's TOMORROW!) We will be competing with many other communities across the country to be chosen for this experiment.

One part of the RFI requires us to demonstrate our community support for this project. To this end, we've created the following website:

http://stlcin.missouri.org/googlefiber/

Please show Google we deserve ultra high speed broadband by doing any or all of the following:

1. Share the site and our effort via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or through your own email.

2. Embed a link to the site on your business or organization’s website.

2. Nominate St. Louis as a resident. (Note: You must be logged in to a Google account.)

3. Get an organization of which you are a member to support our effort.

4. Leave a comment of support on our map.

5. Upload a video discussing what an ultra high speed connection would do for you, your

business or organization, and your community.

We’ll measure support through the number of Facebook fans, re-tweets on Twitter, organizations who’ve added their support, and comments on our map. Don't pass this opportunity up. So far, we're just nearly breaking 1,000 Facebook fans. With all the pride and swagger the online community has when talking up St. Louis, now is one of those times where we really need to demonstrate it. Whether you're a die hard professional blogger or anonymous forum lurker, please show your support for the City of St. Louis!

If you have any questions, please reply to stlwantsfiber@gmail.com and the team will get back to you.

Metro (St. Louis Transit) Now Has...

2010-03-24T12:03:00.005-04:00

Source: Tracking Progress

...new and effective leadership. Bob Baer (pictured above) has reversed the public relations nightmare of the Larry Salci-era and all of its bungled law suits and expensive, over-budget Metrolink expansions. As a result of Baer's leadership and other restructuring, Metro transit now has all of the things below as well.

...credit card machines to make those of us who travel without bills and coins happier. I had a picture, but it's not working. Sorry. You can imagine what they look like though!

...heaters at nearly every Missouri-side Metrolink station. Sorry, no picture...yet.

...a new website interface. They also have started an excellent blog called Next Stop. Beyond that, Metro is on Twitter and Facebook. The agency participates in a bi-weekly live chat on STLToday.com every Wednesday at noon. So keeping up with developments and news with Metro is easier and more fluid than ever. If your questions still aren't answered, Facebook, Tweet, or live chat with them and get a nearly immediate response!

...plans for a new transit plaza at the Grand Metrolink stop (see above).

Map of the proposed transit network, courtesy of Moving Transit Forward.

...a long range transportation plan, which has been approved by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments. The plan calls for an expanded system, including light rail, bus rapid transit, and commuter rail over the next 30 years. The plan is appropriately titled Moving Transit Forward and has its own website.

Rendering of potential Transit-oriented Development project near Forest Park, via West End Word.

...plans for REAL transit-oriented development! Metro is working with McCormack Baron to develop a mixed use building atop its current parking lot at DeBaliviere and Pershing. The adjacent strip mall may be torn down and incorporated into the development as well. While development has occurred around Metrolink stops, there has not yet been a self-consciously urban transit-oriented development, with the stated goal of appealing to transit users.

A screen capture of Google transit directions.

...Google Transit compatibility. When Google Maps began adding a transit feature, St. Louis was one of the first cities to provide Google with the information needed to place transit-based directions on Google Maps. That's owed to Metro. Another great side story here: Metro initially abandoned its clunky though functional TripFinder feature available on its website in favor of more streamlined Google Maps. When several users complained about not being able to figure out the Google Maps feature, Metro put TripFinder back up and uploaded a video tutorial about how to use Google. That's great customer service if you ask me!

The Hive, located at the Delmar Metrolink station. Courtesy of Next Stop; photograph by Dan Donovan.

...more art at Metrolink stations. While a controversial expenditure for the cash-strapped agency, art in transit is important for the system. Metro was quick to respond to its critics about why art is crucial to transit...and how it's a requirement for agencies receiving federal funding. I think the art adds a visual punch to transit and makes our transit system look invested and full of character. See the Arts in Transit website here.

...transit schedules available via text message! Note that this is NOT officially provided by Metro, but by a third party company, but still...it's an important feature that improves the whole transit experience.

Metro has been working hard to reverse its image as a poorly run and inefficient agency. All of the above improvements help tremendously to that end.

St. Louis County voters will decide the fate of a one half of one percent sales tax increase dedicated to Metro on April 6, 2010. While I intend to write a longer post explaining my reasons and reservations, I wish to let readers know that this blog endorses Proposition A and asks all St. Louis County voters to support it. Please vote yes on April 6!

The above improvements are only the beginning. An expanded funding source for Metro will only see to it that a system poised for greatness is not instead cast into third class status. What will become of these investments if Proposition A fails? Not just a civic embarrassment, a crippled transit system will hurt our economy and put us well behind peer cities in the enhancement of transportation infrastructure.

Vote "Yea" on A come April 6, 2010, St. Louis County!

City Pride in Everyday Places

2010-03-23T10:17:00.003-04:00

"St. Louis: the Greatest City in America"

How would that tagline look plastered all across the city, on billboards, city vehicles, and benches?

The City of Baltimore's ubiquitous benches indeed feature this tagline. The benches are located all across the city, at bus stops and in business districts. I can't stress enough the importance of a little civic confidence--even cockiness, as Baltimore is displaying here. We can change attitudes about our city if we start by changing our own.

Come to think of it, the City of St. Louis's government vehicles do have license plates that read "St. Louis: The Place to Be". But I think we need to aim higher, like Baltimore. I think uplifting civic messages like this, on everyday objects, subtly transmit happiness and civic pride. What do you think? If you agree with me, what similar text would you put on a St. Louis bench?

UPDATE (2:10PM): How about this tagline? (Photograph is courtesy of Flickr user Pruitt-Igoe).

St. Louis: The City of a Thousand Sights. I like that.

Preservation Board Updates

2010-03-22T20:44:00.001-04:00

Quickfire update! (Click here if you have no idea what this post is referring to...).

-6169R Pershing, owned by Washington University Quadrangle Housing, was denied its retroactive demolition permit and will be going to housing court.

-4269 Westminster (AKA 414-18 Boyle); Board upheld staff denial of demolition permit.

-6102 Michigan; Board upheld staff denial of demolition permit.

Great news! But will they be back on the agenda next month?

Information Source: Michael Allen

Fishing for Flounder Houses in Alexandria, Virginia

2010-03-22T17:32:00.000-04:00

I recently visited Alexandria, Virginia and was delighted by that city's bustling streets and historic ambiance.

I was keeping my eyes peeled while walking around historic Old Town because I have heard Alexandria is one of the only other cities besides St. Louis to feature "flounder houses". These homes (and commercial buildings) are called flounders because their roof lines steeply lean to one side, resembling the head of the fish of the same name. (As far as a reference to the fact that St. Louis and Alexandria share this unique housing type, take a look at this article about one such flounder house in Virginia).

Sure enough, I found several. Here is one of my favorite Alexandrian flounders, located the corner of King and Lee Streets. The image is courtesy of Google Streetview.

The above example reminded me of this home in Soulard, on S. 10th Street at Emmett.

The interesting thing about the Soulard example, though, is that it was built in the late 2000s!

While there are plenty of historic flounder houses in St. Louis remaining, it's nice to see new construction reference this rare housing type, nationally speaking. I also love the little local folklore surrounding them: that the St. Louis flounders took their shape to trick tax assessors into thinking the house was only half of an apparently under-construction twin unit. I don't know how much I believe this, but the story is all part of the local culture of a unique, understated place loaded with surprises.

On a related note, I look forward to the handful of Old North St. Louis flounder homes, under construction now thanks to Habitat for Humanity! Click here for a rendering.

Full March Preservation Board Agenda Online

2010-03-20T12:29:00.001-04:00

You may access it here.

As reported earlier, the agenda contains three demolition-related items. All photographs used within this post are courtesy of the Cultural Resources Office.

6169R Pershing in Skinker-DeBaliviere is a rear structure that has already been demolished. Applicant Washington University Quadrangle Housing is applying for a retrograde demolition permit to approve work that is already completed. The structure was built in 1910. Cultural Resources staff recommend denial of the permit application and referral of the owner to Housing Court.

6169R Pershing prior to demolition.

4269 Westminster (414-418 Boyle) in the Central West End is a one-story, brick commercial building in a largely residential section of the neighborhood. Core Holdings, LLC is seeking the demolition permit for public safety reasons. However, the building has not been condemned by the Department of Public Safety and is considered sound under the historic district ordinance. The Cultural Resources Office staff recommends upholding staff denial of the demolition permit.

A front profile of the commercial building facing Boyle.

A detail of the parapet.

6102 Michigan in Carondelet is a two-story residential building. Owner James B. Fritz is seeking a demolition permit to create a garden and planted area. The Cultural Resources Staff notes that this building is a High Merit and structurally sound contributor to the third extension of the Central Carondelet National Register Historic District. Cultural Resources speculates that, due to the pitch of the roof and the rear flounder-style construction, this is likely a mid-19th century building that was later altered to fit its decidedly Arts and Crafts surroundings. The blockface of 61xx Michigan is entirely intact. Cultural Resoures recommends upholding staff denial of the demolition permit, as the building is an important structure and rehabilitation is likely feasible.

Front detail of building proposed for demolition.

Rear detail. Note the historic flounder-style roof pitch.

As always, I encourage readers to show up to Preservation Board meetings and testify!

Without the voice of the public present, the case for demolition is stronger. You really could be the difference in saving some of St. Louis's unique architecture! If you absolutely can't show up in person, at least make sure to email the Board. Contact information and meeting information is below!

Contact: Adonna Buford

BufordA@stlouiscity.com

Monday, March 22, 2010

1015 Locust, Suite 1200

4:00pm

Ferguson Says 'No' to CVS

2010-03-19T02:05:00.006-04:00

As recently reported by NoCoSTL.com, CVS officials have dropped plans for a CVS store at North Florissant and Hereford Avenues in the North County municipality of Ferguson.

CVS wished to demolish seven historic homes in Ferguson to shoehorn one of its generic suburban stores onto a lot conveniently located across the street from arch rival Walgreens.

We've seen this move by CVS before. The pharmacy giant built a store catty-corner to a Walgreens on Gravois in Boulevard Heights, taking several homes down with it. A proposed CVS on Lindell nearly demolished three buildings off of the landscape before being called off, more than likely due to issues with usage of the alley for the drive-through. The Walgreens on Lindell is less than a block from this site.

It's nice to see a citizens' group rise up and defeat one of these proposals to demolish sound and attractive buildings for duplicative services. Bravo, Ferguson!

Here's a Google Streetview shot of two of the homes slated for demolition:

View Larger Map

St. Louis: Let Ferguson be our guide. Historic character is more important than allowing chain pharmacies to steal away some market share from one another!

On a slightly different note: just because a CVS promises to build up to the street and screen parking, it doesn't mean the building is "urban" in format or that gestures toward urbanism justify squandering historic buildings for unneeded services. That Central West End CVS was dangerously close to being approved if it "urbanized" itself a bit more. To me, architectural diversity and pedestrian-friendliness spell urbanism. If CVS can't reuse a building, or find a vacant parcel in the city to build on and to build a new store appropriate to the urban environment, then CVS is simply not welcome.

Two Great South Side Avenues: Jefferson and Gravois

2010-03-18T21:26:00.002-04:00

Like many neighborhood or business groups of today, the Jefferson Gravois Business Association (JGBA) maintains a Facebook page.

Their page contains over 150 photos of the commercial buildings that line both streets: Jefferson, from I-44 to Arsenal; and Gravois, from Russell to Arsenal.

The photographs display a bevy of sound, though altered mixed use buildings that, together, could be something great. Unfortunately, both streets are too wide. This means that each side of the street is divided by a gulf of asphalt; not a friendly environment for a walkable, pedestrian-oriented district. Gravois is often busy during rush hour, while South Jefferson never seems to carry the traffic load to justify its width. I have called for a median to be placed on South Jefferson to slow traffic; Gravois needs wider sidewalks, taller and more consistent tree cover, new pedestrian lighting, and a transit right-of-way as well (light rail, streetcar, or bus rapid transit).

But improvements to each street is not really the subject of this post. It's to point readers to the individual buildings on each street. One can see their potential to be sewn together into a cohesive, even vibrant district if the nature of their host streets were to change. Gravois, for one, is a street I've been up and down hundreds of times, whether by bus or car. There are always surprises and secrets missed when using a street as a highway rather than a pedestrian pathway. If you scroll through all of the photos, I think you'll agree with me that both streets are surprisingly full of character despite their often very ugly and unfortunate gaps (gas stations, fast food, etc.). Thanks to the Jefferson Gravois Business Association for the pictures below!

2600 Block of Gravois

2700 Block of Gravois

2800 Block of Jefferson

These are just a few underutilized examples. Again, you can view all of the photos here. The JGBA service area includes some famous St. Louis landmarks as well as some newbies who have taken their chances. Trader Bob's Tattoo has been on South Jefferson since the 1930s, while Bittersweet Bakery has risen quickly in status to become a must visit Gravois spot having just opened last year. Let's help the JGBA keep these and other businesses viable! After South Grand's road diet and streetscape improvement project is completed, the Great Streets program should turn its gaze toward Gravois and Jefferson in what the JGBA calls the "heart of south St. Louis".

Who Wants to Live by Free-Standing Fast Food Restaurants?

2010-03-17T13:44:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure there's anyone in St. Louis City government asking this question.

I'm also not sure if anyone has suggested the obvious: why not force fast food restaurants to reuse old storefronts in mixed use buildings?

Of course, I know the answer to both questions. Surely some consumers of fast food wouldn't mind living near a Burger King, McDonalds, or Wendy's. They may even relish such "amenities". But to live across the street or next to one? With their lights, their constant stream of trash, their late night traffic, their plastic buildings and oil-stained parking lots, their regular truck deliveries? Well, I at least know that I don't want to live adjacent to one!

To the second point: obviously, fast food restaurants make more money when they have a drive through attached. Unfortunately, this often requires a specialized building that subsumes several urban parcels and includes at least two curb cuts and plenty of parking spaces as well.

But these two questions are clearly related. If fast food restaurants are such a drag on their surroundings, yet they "must" have drive-throughs to compete, then we have to make a value judgment. Do we want attractive urban main streets or profitable suburban strips? Unfortunately, St. Louis has chosen--and continues to choose--the latter in nearly all cases.

The latest example is the new Wendy's on Gravois in the completely pedestrian-hostile Gravois Plaza development. Instead of correcting the many mistakes of that strip center, we're about to add to them.

A new Wendy's restaurant will be located on the former site of Cuddles Daycare and, previous to that, a Shoney's restaurant. I presume it will be the standard store, with drive-through, curb cuts, etc.

This is a shame to me, making an already compromised area less livable. In urban environments, land values rise when amenities are nearby, attractive, and walkable. A grocery store, for example, should be a huge value added to an urban neighborhood, but the Shop N Save is practically a fortress inside Gravois Plaza. Now Wendy's will be its moat.

Above, a fine row of apartment buildings faces Gravois Plaza and the future Wendy's site. Gravois Avenue itself is already too high-speed and has little in the way of pedestrian amenities. Adding more vehicular traffic, car-scaled lighting, and trash to the area will be further detrimental to these surrounding residential and mixed use properties.

St. Louis has so many great old urban commercial buildings that are vacant or underutilized. It would be nice to see Wendy's open inside one of the storefronts in the area, examples of which can be seen in this photograph. In spite of the rather quiet look of the street shown above by Google Streetview, this stretch is usually heavily walked by St. Louis standards. A pedestrian-oriented Wendy's could work in this portion of the city, though I know it would be less successful than what is currently being built. Again, though, choices present themselves: urban or suburban format, pedestrians or vehicles, attractive or ugly?

St. Louis's main roads (Kingshighway, Hampton, Natural Bridge, Gravois, etc.) are too often the city's least attractive streets to live on. This should not be so! Concentrating residential density on these main roads turns the retail/restaurants present into salable amenities, but the streets must be attractive and mitigate, not exacerbate, the effects of busy traffic and intense use. A revised zoning ordinance or well-crafted zoning overlay district for St. Louis should address these problems and make our main streets beautiful and convenient places to live.

Urban St. Louis v2.0

2010-03-16T16:40:00.002-04:00

The Urban St. Louis forums (http://urbanstl.com/forum/), usually referred to simply as "UrbanSTL", have spent the past couple months undergoing a series of changes. The site has long been St. Louis's go-to source for urban-related news and developments. To those of us who have enjoyed the website since the mid 2000s, the UrbanSTL of those shaky few months was a shadow of its former self. As the forum regularly crashed or froze up, users dwindled and posts became more infrequent.

The new interface

What was once a good source for finding out just about any built environment news, new developments, or other issues in St. Louis became a wholly frustrating experience.

Thankfully, some creative (and patient!) minds have gotten together and retooled the site, adding several new features. Most importantly, the new UrbanSTL is fast and reliable. May its network and frequent posters repopulate so that St. Louis can again brag of this more-than-useful resource!

What I am calling Urban St. Louis v2.0 is integrated with Alex Ihnen's St. Louis Urban Workshop blog, meaning that UrbanSTL now has a companion/host website to aggregate news and developments. Furthermore, the site contains a "social" section to connect with other forumers and a wiki so that users can avoid wading through 400 pages of rumors and chatter about Ballpark Village and find only the latest news.

I encourage every reader of this blog to register and contribute to the discussion. For those who have sworn the site off due to its past problems, rejoice and reconcile!

UrbanSTL is (or at least was) a truly thriving online community unique to St. Louis. Even larger and more prosperous Boston, with its ArchBoston forum, once expressed envy over St. Louis's urbanism forum. Let's make that the case once more! Click here to visit the forum directly.

Register!

Guest Piece: Sun Ministries in Hyde Park

2010-03-15T10:52:00.003-04:00

The following is a guest piece by Jason Calahan of Sun Ministries. Mr. Calahan contacted me after reading a previous post on the vacant buildings bill. Sun Ministries' "Board Up Hyde Park" effort--as well as other undertakings in the neighborhood--are, I feel, more than worthy and deserve space on this blog.

Sun Ministries is launching a nationwide effort to rebuild America's most devastated inner cities. We are calling this undertaking the Isaiah 61 Initiative. We hope to unite people to serve these areas, and are calling for missionaries to relocate to the inner cities, in order to live and work, rebuild decaying structures, minister to the neediest residents, and make a generational impact on these desperate areas. We want to minister to the whole person and the whole community by addressing physical, emotional, spiritual, and educational needs, providing creative opportunities, as well as restoring homes and buildings, starting new business and cooperating with existing ones, and beautifying public spaces.

This house, which actually faces Hyde Park, exemplifies the neglected state of the skillful artisanship found in the Hyde Park neighborhood. It is one of the better preserved structures.

We are starting in the historic Hyde Park neighborhood, located in North St. Louis. Although Hyde Park is beautiful in its layout, classic old-city brickwork and architecture, welcoming sidewalks and parks, the area has been subject to generations of poverty, oppression, and neglect. There are over 900 vacant buildings in the ward, half the population lives below the poverty line, and a third are single parent households. The neighborhood is one of the most desolate in St. Louis. There is little tax base, as many residents and businesses have left. You can walk down streets where one whole side consists of abandoned, decayed buildings, many of which look like they have been bombed. Pruitt-Igoe was a notorious failed segregated housing project, and though it wasn't located in Hyde Park, it sent damaging shock-waves throughout all of North St. Louis, and is a symbol for the kind of abuse and division affecting the area.

A common sight in Hyde Park. Good examples of the architecture and brickwork of the area.

One of the many "bombed out" buildings.

Desolation.

Unfortunately, this is not a rare sight in Hyde Park.

We hope to partner with groups of any kind, including schools, colleges, churches, police forces, city governments, student activity groups, and other social entrepreneurial organizations in order to reach our goals. We will be moving into homes in the area and restoring buildings. We hope to provide job skills and training, start businesses, help the homeless enter the workforce, and provide business/retail incubator space. We are working on providing community programs in sports, arts, and tutoring. We hope to address spiritual and emotional needs in a one-on-one manner. We aim to lay foundations of change and attack root problems to poverty and hopelessness in the area.

Our current base of operations is a building on Newhouse that was given to us by G. W. Helbling and Sons, a silk screening business that had been in the neighborhood for 45 years. We are currently working on bringing the building up to code and beautifying the property and surrounding city block.

We hope to transform this huge, beautiful house into our Leadership Center, which will house missionaries and interns and provide space for them to develop community service ideas.

We are planning to restore this building and create our Opportunity Center, which will have offices for providing job skills and training, and a retail space for providing work for poor, homeless, and missionaries.

This building features exceptional brickwork, a cast-iron facade and corner entrance, beautiful architecture, and it is decaying at an alarming rate. We want to preserve and restore it and use it to provide employment.

In ministering to this community, we have noticed that racism and division are still very alive in St. Louis and the surrounding counties. St. Louis suffers from little tax support from its county. People in the suburbs warn us of violence in the city, oblivious to the violence happening in their own “safe” towns. It has been difficult getting groups with highly-aimed mission statements to come into a poor area. Individuals and groups in the city have been confused by a group that seeks to build nothing but community. But we have met really great people in the neighborhood. Our neighbor Ralph was eager to help us clean out our building. We played football and wrestled with a group of about ten rowdy young boys. The people at Cornerstone Cafe have been very kind and welcoming. Alderman Bosley and his staff have been cleaning parks and alleys with us, and have assisted us greatly in getting established in the neighborhood.

In ministering to the whole person and the whole community, we hope to preserve and restore the architecture and history of Hyde Park, to retain the beauty and artistry of the neighborhood and increase the sense of community identity. Most of the structures in Hyde Park are beautiful, classic, St. Louis-style brick buildings with ornate brickwork, and some even feature cast iron facades. In an effort to protect and preserve these properties, beautify the area, and make a declaration that someone cares about these people and this neighborhood, Sun Ministries is partnering with Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. in an effort we are calling Board Up Hyde Park. We are looking for groups of all kinds who want to help us decorate boards with positive words and images that we will then install in the vacant properties. If you want to be a part of this effort or learn more about our work, you can see the flyer below or visit http://www.sunministries.org or http://www.isaiah61initiative.org.

The flyer:

South City "Quirk-itecture"

2010-03-12T22:00:00.002-05:00

Ever pass by buildings and objects in the built environment that force you to double take?

How about this assisted living facility, appropriately titled the Silver Spur, on Texas Avenue at Utah in Benton Park West? Yes, those are wagon wheels, pitchforks, and other Western accoutrements attached to the facade. Photograph is courtesy of Google Streetview. By the way, the sign on the corner of the building reads: "Smile Pardner: You're Being Taped by the Police".

What about this home, on Missouri Avenue just north of Broadway (in Marine Villa)? The lavishly painted side of the home shown (barely) by this capture is not even the main attraction: swing around the front for some seriously strange (and oddly attractive) bulging, glassy, post-modern windows on this classic red brick St. Louis structure. For a better view, make sure to walk, bike, or drive by yourself. Photograph is courtesy of Google Streetview.

The dueling griffins on this too-cute Itaska Street cottage are one of the many notable attractions on a stretch of Dutchtown road that certainly deserves its own post. Interesting little South Side castles dominate Itaska from Virginia to Grand, but none are as fantastically decorated. Image courtesy of Google Streetview.

This blog has actually already covered the next entry: the "Tree-House" in Compton Heights. When the homeowners' favorite tree succumbed to the elements, they swiftly outlined its shadow onto the facade of their building to mark its historic position prior to its removal. Photograph by me.

When I passed by this structure on the 2800 block of Missouri in Benton Park last December, I wondered if it was a home or a street-fronting garage for nearby condominiums. Let's see though...it was decked out for the holidays while surrounding structures were not. Who would only decorate their garage and not the main house? It also had its own mailbox and an address prominently displayed. It looks like it could have been a former auto body shop or something of that nature and might now be residential. It's a real head scratcher! Check out the Google Streetview of the property here. Photograph is mine.

All across the city there are dozens of examples of quirky structures that lend real character and "weirdness" to their host block. Do you know of one not shown here? If so, submit a picture and I'll add it to the list! North City and Central Corridor (and elsewhere!) examples are permitted; I just named the topic after where all of my examples came from.

Fiber FAIL? St. Louis's Bid for Google Fiber Network Deemed "Lagging"

2010-03-12T09:16:00.002-05:00

KMOX believes that St. Louis is "sitting on the sidelines" when it comes to competing with its Midwestern peers for the coveted experimental Google Fiber network. Google Fiber would deliver home internet speeds over 100 times faster than anything available today. It's possible only one city will get to be the host of this trial network.

KMOX points out that Columbia, Missouri aired a pitch for the Google network with thousands of Mizzou basketball fans holding up signs in support of that city hosting the Fiber network on national television. As was mentioned in my previous post, Topeka recently changed its name to Google, Kansas. St. Louis's Facebook page for its Google bid has just under 200 fans; Columbia has 5,342, while Topeka...err, Google, Kansas claims 14,777 Facebook fans.

What do you think? Is this enough evidence to show that St. Louis is truly lagging in its bid? The city's website is a nice gesture. What else do you think St. Louis should be doing? Why is our Facebook lobbying so far behind much smaller Columbia and Topeka?

UPDATE: Kudos to the St. Louis Social Media and Tech Report for finding a list of cities that have bid for the Google Fiber network. The competition is stiff--many cities large and small are already in the running.