A Lafayette Square Transformation 11:17 PM

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!

Preliminary May Preservation Board Agenda Includes Demolitions, New Bike Rack 6:31 PM

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.

Lafayette Square, St. Louis / Jackson Square, New Orleans 10:44 AM

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.

Gas Stations in the City 10:56 AM

A recent Your Local Messenger article (yourlocalmessenger.com) on the renovation of an old fueling station into meeting space in Soulard got me thinking about gas stations in the City of St. Louis.

First, that renovation, at 12th and Gravois just adjacent to the monstrous I-44/I-55 interchange: it's great!

Photo credit: The Messenger

Instead of a large paved lot at a highly visible intersection, we now have a renovated and attractive old gas station structure fronting a lushly landscaped triangular lot. This is a win for the city. The building itself looks to be of that 1920s or '30s Spanish Colonial vintage and is now safe from demolition. The paved lot that made it such a detractor to the cityscape is now a contributor to the neighborhood's beauty and a much better gateway.

Sure, a corner hugging, triangular-shaped building would have been ideal, but this is still a victory in my book.

The City of St. Louis would do well not to wait around for successes like that shown above in Soulard. Public policy can influence what becomes of parcels formerly dedicated to gas stations (and other autocentric uses). It can also regulate new ones in a way that benefits the city and its residents.

To the first point: St. Louis has lots of gas stations. Way too many for a city of its current size and any realistic future size as well. The history of the fueling station, of course, extends back to the early 20th century, when cars first made an appearance in cities. Because car ownership did not reach levels of ubiquity until after World War II, early fueling stations were often small, having one or two "bays" for refueling at most. Even more interestingly, the architecture of the gas station (yes, gas stations once involved design beyond the level of stacking cinder blocks) was often meant to match the surrounding neighborhood in residential contexts, or possibly play on current architectural styles. This is why Soulard, a 19th century red brick neighborhood, saw the construction of a Spanish Colonial 20th century fueling station--that style was in vogue at the time. If you need an example of a gas station meant to "fit in", look no further than Brannon and Pernod in the Northampton neighborhood:

In a neighborhood chock full of charming "gingerbread' Tudor Revivals, this gas station adopted the same design motif.

In most cases, I believe these historic gas stations should remain, even if they're not the most urban in form and allow a gap in the streetscape. They're often attractive and can even host other uses, such as retail or even restaurants. This gas station at January and Eichelberger in Princeton Heights contained a florist for a long while. I'm not sure that it's still open, but it still goes to show that these buildings can be reused. It may even be worthwhile to list all of the city's historic fueling stations on the National Register of Historic Places under its Multiple Property Submission (MPS) format.

But the most important policy should go towards future (and current) gas stations operating as gas stations. The city needs an ordinance limiting the number of pumps at gas stations. Such an action should be coordinated with a reexamination of zoning. In certain areas of the city--such as the long, autocentric stretch of South Kingshighway between Arsenal and Tholozan--larger gas stations are less obtrusive. Their lights don't shine into neighboring houses, bringing down property values. Their multiple curb cuts and constant stream of traffic do not disrupt pedestrian flow quite as much as other, more residential areas.

I think it would make sense to limit the number of pumps at each gas station in more residential areas to six pumps, or three bays. Along with the limit, there should be absolutely no liquor sales. Liquor makes gas stations very profitable--and therefore lucrative--enterprises. There should be only one curb cut per station. In addition, each gas station should have urban design guidelines--as should every new building in the city of St. Louis. The city should look to close (via eminent domain?) several gas stations due to their extremely negative effects on surrounding property values, crime, light and noise pollution, pedestrian hostility, and general aesthetic concerns. One such target should be the Grand and Gravois station adjacent to the South Side Tower redevelopment. It's an eyesore and destroys what could be a picturesque corner that would stabilize its surroundings (I'll do another post on fast food restaurant regulations...). All gas stations, current or proposed, should have to comply with stiff landscaping regulations, replete with many trees and flowers--not just small hedges. Signage and lighting should be shortened and softened, respectively. Each station should have to obtain a special operating permit, whose overall number should be capped at a sensible number and distribution. Licenses should never be awarded to adjacent gas stations.

Gas stations are a noxious, but necessary use in a city. As such, they should be present, but limited. They should be fewer in number, more expensive than suburban stations, and better designed in truly urban environs. Removing some incentives (such as liquor and lottery sales) and adding regulatory measures to stations (landscaping, special permits, etc.) would accomplish these goals.

You might be asking: well, can you really make a gas station attractive? Take a look at these modernist gas stations, which I find highly appealing.

The Netherlands:

Sacramento, California: imagine this one with some landscaping.

See more examples here.

We should be demanding a more attractive, walkable environment for the City of St. Louis. Today's crop of gas stations simply misses that mark. Better and more regulations would make sure current stations are retrofitted...or even that older, smaller stations are reused while newer, larger, and uglier stations are closed and redeveloped into something more urban. The worst that could happen to the city by enacting legislation would be that gas stations would find it less profitable to operate in the city and would focus on the periphery. To me, that's a worthy sacrifice.

Smaller gas stations across the city that have been vacated have been transformed, many for the better. Community gardens and green space are becoming increasingly popular re-uses for former gas stations sites, as was done in Lafayette Square (at Dolman/Park). New residential construction has arisen in Fox Park atop an old service station (Russell/California), while Washington University student housing is being proposed for an old auto repair shop in the Loop (Eastgate/Delmar). These are all positive uses for former gas stations or autocentric sites; public policy in St. Louis should be pressing for more success stories like these.

New Life on Dolman Street 1:32 AM

Back in August, the Zumwalt Corportation, located in Lafayette Square, sought the demolition of one heavily damaged unit in a trio of row houses on the 1600 block of Dolman Street near Lafayette. The company wished to renovate the remaining two houses while converting the site of the fallen row house to extra parking for their business. You can read the Cultural Resources Office (CRO) report here.

The Lafayette Square Restoration Committee, as well as the local historic district ordinance, does not take demolitions lightly. The apparent collapse on Preston Place just blocks away that I reported on earlier today was just that--a collapse, not a demolition--according to commenter Chris Yunker.

And so, the heavily damaged row house at 1624 Dolman Street did not receive approval for demolition by the Preservation Board during that meeting.

So many times on this blog I cover Preservation Board hearings and lament their outcomes. In this case, I was delighted to walk by the site this November and see it under renovation. The CRO staff report had said the owners found it financially infeasible to repair the structure; I'm glad to see they shored up the money!

To their credit, it was in a pretty pitiful state when the CRO photographed it this past August:

Here's my photograph, from late November:

Dolman Street was originally excluded from Lafayette Square's historic district boundaries. The detrimental effects of this arbitrary exclusion are clear today. Just a block over, on 18th Street, for the extent of the neighborhood, homes that are meticulously restored and maintained are the norm. Yet on Dolman Street, there are still many vacant properties and far too many vacant lots.

I lived in the 1000 block of Dolman Street in 2006. During my stay there, a derelict house across the street succumbed to a powerful storm and collapsed into the street. We had few neighbors as all adjacent homes had been long demolished. And our house even backed to the beautiful Harris Row. The alley between us might as well have been an interstate highway.

Luckily, the intervening years have brought stabilization of some of the properties and even plans for new construction. Case in point: tonight, the Preservation Board will review a proposal to construct a new home atop three vacant lots on the 1200 block of Dolman at the monthly meeting. The CRO staff recommended approval of the designs with some minor modifications. While it would be nice to see a higher density proposal, being able to witness Dolman Street fill up and rejuvenate is a personal pleasure for me.

Happy holidays!

Demolition or Collapse in Lafayette Square? 12:39 PM

While walking through Lafayette Square over Thanksgiving weekend, I happened upon this site, at 1724 Preston Place. Click here for a Bing Maps aerial view.

Per the aerial view on Bing, this looked to be a large two-family structure. Being located in the Lafayette Square Local Historic District (and very likely a contributing resource to the National Register District), I am surprised to see it in ruins. The neighborhood group, Lafayette Square Restoration Group, is usually strongly opposed to any demolition of historic and contributing structures. Furthermore, the matter never appeared before the Preservation Board to my memory.

Researching on Geo St. Louis, I find that it was issued an "emergency" demolition permit in July of this year. (An emergency permit would have automatically bypassed the Preservation Board's review). The photo above, showing the collapse or demolition, is from late November. Yet the emergency permit was canceled on December 2, 2009 and swapped for a regular demolition permit. Curiously, the original permit noted demolition of a "2-story, 2-family brick" structure while the new one says "2-story, 1-family brick". Could this have been a demolition of a rear structure, too, or is it just a typo?

Either way, the loss of this building is rather unfortunate. The host block was already halved by the construction of the bloated I-44/I-55 interchange. Now, the shortened block has a noticeably large hole in it. To be more optimistic I'd say the site is probably bound for some historicist new construction given the speed with which vacant lots in the neighborhood have been disappearing.

Still, if this is another case of the "emergency" demolition permit striking, it's clear that these requests should at least be reviewed by Cultural Resources Staff and should definitely be examined by a structural engineer except in the most egregious of cases, such as outright collapses. Even then, the remaining intact materials should be set aside for salvage by the ordinance.

Want to See Where I Went While in St. Louis? 10:50 PM

Check out my Skyscraper Page photos (and, if you're already registered, post a comment).

Part I: LaSalle Park

Part II: Soulard

Part III: Lafayette Square

Part IV:  Benton Park

Part V: Miscellany

Enjoy!

I promise more updates soon. Finals weeks, moving, etc. are getting in the way of regular posting.

Who Knew Lafayette Square Had Two Parks? 8:40 PM

...or that "I-44/I-55 Confluence State Park"* was the larger of the two?



*Not a real park.

Then and Now: Lafayette Square 5:07 PM

1800 Block of Chouteau, October 1985 (Landmarks Association of St. Louis Survey)



Circa October 2007 - Google Streetview


View Larger Map

Lafayette Square Gets Its Second Coffee Shop 6:27 PM

I have contemplated starting a coffee blog for St. Louis. No, not one that discusses the merits of dark vs. medium roast. Rather, one that espouses the greatness and versatility of the coffee shop. You can study, hang out, chat with a friend or two, read, drink, eat, often hear poetry or music, all at once.

That's why I'll be excited to try out Lafayette Square's second coffee shop as soon as I'm back in town:

Rue Lafayette at 2024-26 Lafayette Avenue.

It's right across from the old Lafayette Park police station. The setting could not be more beautiful. Oh, it's also an antique furniture/gift shop!

Here's the building:

View Larger Map

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Economic Stimulus should NOT be used to bring the suburbs into the city. 6:12 PM

An UrbanSTL forumer posted the link to the St. Louis Economic Stimulus Package Proposal, which the city titled "St. Louis: "Fired Up and Ready to Go"".

[cue blank stare]

Among the many things I will discuss from this plan is the I-55/Tucker interchange overhaul, which the city is correct to have identified as a priority.

However, the city wants to reformulate the interchange to leave more room for suburban big box stores!

Page 81 details the "Change We Need":

The former Darst Webbe high-rise public housing development has now been transformed into a mixed-income HOPE VI low-rise development; City Hospital, more than 30 years vacant and vandalized, has now been transformed into residential condominiums, most of which are now sold and occupied. Over the past 30 years, the adjacent neighborhoods of Lafayette Square, Soulard and LaSalle Park have been almost completely revitalized. The most significant missing piece linking all of these successful revitalization initiatives is quality mainstream retail development.

Hmm...okay. I'm listening. But take a look at the old rendering for the site (in the city's Bohemian Hill neighborhood) that the city uses to makes its case:




That site plan is "dependent upon ramp relocation"?

The lack of vision and lack of sense for urban design is flabbergasting. This area has been slowly destroyed with the vision of giving this interchange (Tucker, I-55, and I-44) over to big box retail. Built St. Louis has documented what has already been demolished in the diminutive Bohemian Hill neighborhood. Why aren't these structures providing a model on how to rebuild?

Instead of suggesting that the bloated and utterly disruptive mass of interstate interchanges should be given over to urban development, the plan argues that the extra space is needed so that front-facing surface parking can be in clear view and plentiful.

The author of this write up even has the nerve to argue that one of the benefits of the proposal--under a heading entitled Green Features-- is that more people will be able to "walk and bicycle" to new services provided by the development. Sure, it is possible to walk across a giant parking lot, but it's not exactly "green" design.
The city will continue its long malaise if the absence of sound urban planning continues. The wonderfully urban neighborhood slowly nixed for this future development contains the code on how to rebuild--street grids, small scale, walkability, attractive architecture and design. Yet these lessons seem completely squandered.
It is extremely important to reduce the size, prominence, and convenience of interstates within the City of St. Louis. This interchange is a wonderful place to start the demonstration of how urban neighborhoods can be reclaimed from the clutches of deadening, autocentric planning. This proposal, however, will only damage the nearby neighborhoods. With nothing to distinguish it from suburban strip centers, except for, in all likelihood, higher rates of crime and vandalism, it will take the typical big box route of a 15-year life cycle before creeping blight sets in--perhaps on accelerated track.
I question the wisdom of encouraging big box retail in the City of St. Louis. While big box seems appropriate in less walkable areas of the city adjacent to interstates (Hampton and I-44, for instance), it is not appropriate here, or in many other spots in the City of St. Louis. Too many close-in suburbs (Richmond Heights, Maplewood, Brentwood, and South County) offer automobile-owners a safe and parking-aplenty opportunity to shop in big boxes. It's hard for a more constrained urban site, which, as I've stated, usually grapples with worse crime and perception of crime issues than suburban locations, to compete effectively in the long term. The city should be bending over backwards not for big boxes to place an anti-urban store in city limits, but for small business owners to continue to lend a local flair and distinction from those very suburbs.
Big boxes do not belong in, or near, the Near South Side.

This land should be opened up to smaller scale retail, office, and residential development, with an urban street grid reinstated.

The St. Louis new/proposed construction report and questionnaire 11:09 AM

SI'll start this post off by commenting on a recently completed new building that I have come to really enjoy--Park East Tower in the Central West End. I finally "get" this building now. It's not as if its contemporary take on Art Deco truly escaped me. It's just that I saw it as cheesy before. Viewed from one of the skybridges at the Washington University Medical Center, the building was striking to me. The southern approach looks great. The street level, though, could use some reconfiguring.

Along with the Park East Tower, the Park East Lofts seem to me an excellent addition to the streetscape (and might resolve some of the issues with the Tower's street level presence). It's hard to assess how the actual build-out will look, since they've only got the steel beams up right now, but renderings are promising (see below).



Let's stay within the Central West End. The new mixed-use building on Lindell between Sarah and Vandeventer (dubbed Villas of St. Louis) is the perfect scale for the street. I don't think it's any paragon of design in and of itself. But it's not offensive, in my opinion. And it might set a proper, urban precedent for massing along that de-urbanized stretch of Lindell Boulevard. Here's a picture from Steve Patterson's flickr page:



Moving out of the CWE, what's that huge, LEED-certified warehouse along Chouteau just east of Compton? I'm glad that it's billed itself as energy-efficient, but did it have to offer its window-less face to such a huge swath of Chouteau? It's so bulky and lifeless. I guess I'm disappointed because this was a great opportunity to spruce up Chouteau and maybe, someday see it as a true, urban boulevard.

Also, there's a sign up for new construction in the Gate District--near Compton and Eads. I couldn't stop (grandparents were driving at the time), but it looked like there was a name and rendering for the development. This seems significant because it's on the west side of Compton--the side that St. Louis University's medical campus has systematically dismantled. Even if the rest of Gate District construction isn't top notch by any measure, I would breathe a sigh of relief to see houses constructed on this unlikely urban prairie. Anyone have any more information on this development?

Okay. South Grand now. The new building at S. Grand and Winnebago (formerly Pyramid's senior homes, now Dominion's) is progressing nicely. While this is a much less appealing building than Villas of St. Louis, I do have to once again admire the scale and the mixed-use nature of the project in a city that practically mandates suburban design through its outdated zoning code.

Here is an earlier view of the building from the St. Louis Business Journal:



I think Vivienne on Lafayette is a great development--a wonderful adaptation of a St. Louis vernacular style. I hope they shake up the formula a bit and build more.

The down-the-street-neighbor Union Club, though, is disappointing. The inability to imitate the (oxymoronic) graceful ruddiness of Richardsonian Romanesque in the angles of the bay curvature and the brick color renders this building as odd-looking in my book.

Let's shoot up to Grand Center. Last night, I went to the reception for the Light Project. The Light Project is four installments, but, of course, the one that will grab the most attention is the burnt out church on N. Spring--its onetime roof now bedecked in lamps and lampshades of every color. It's truly a magnificent sight. It was also amazing to see people strolling casually around Grand Center in such numbers. All of this temporary urbanism made me long for some permanence. The large signs advertising the ArtHouse development made me feel a little more confident that St. Louis's "arts district" may truly materialize someday.

One last site to discuss: the new recreation center in Carondelet Park.

Here is a rendering:




I had no idea they were going to completely isolate this suburban-style building in the middle of Carondelet Park. Why not add to street life? Why remove the old-growth trees? Why take up park space? Why does this center need to be within a park? I can think of dozens of other sensible places. Why not fill in a gap along the Patch's South Broadway stretch? Or somewhere along Gravois (the overly large parking lot behind the Bevo Mill, for example)?

I am disappointed that I voted for the proposition to allow for this construction. Shouldn't residents of south St. Louis have been consulted with the placement and design of this facility?

Your thoughts?

A truly urban plan for Lafayette Square 9:39 PM

What happens when an industrial site implodes in a city's poshest neighborhood, sending fiery flotsam into the helpless 'hood?

They kick it out of their neighborhood entirely! Sorry, Praxair (well, and a couple city jobs, but that's all right...).

Then, Lafayette Square laid out a plan to determine the type of development they wanted for their neighborhood--one which accounted for the land freed up by Praxair's departure.

You may view it HERE.

And I would recommend it.

It includes:

1. Extending (re-extending?) LaSalle Street through the former Praxair site and turning it into a secondary business district for the neighborhood.

2. Bring two to four story mixed use buildings to face Chouteau.

3. A specific reference that big box development and suburban style apartments are not allowed.

4. That the pedestrian should come first!

There's a lot more to it...but just those four are amazing!

Please check it out to see a real, urban neighborhood plan.