A Bright (Green) Future for McRee Town? 12:21 AM

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 7:00 AM

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...

Anarchy in Affton, and Other Reflections on St. Louis's Placeblogosphere 4:23 PM

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.

Moderne No More: Industrial Building's Renovation Begs Question about Mid Century Modern Preservation 4:32 PM

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?

South Grand Branding 2:28 PM

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?

Downtown Dutchtown's Vital Signs Improving 6:49 PM

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.

The Loss of a Historic Building May be a Win for the Neighborhood 10:17 PM

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? 9:49 PM

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? 1:10 PM

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.

Will a Gate District Landmark Soon be Reborn? 7:25 PM

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 8:58 AM

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 4:18 PM

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!

Op Art Brickwork in Bevo, Dutchtown 6:45 PM

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? 11:17 AM

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!

Fox Park Neighborhood Exploring a Local Historic District Expansion 6:03 PM

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"? 10:05 AM

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? 6:32 PM

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 5:00 PM

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 9:48 PM

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?

A Patch Neighborhood Landmark to See New Life? 12:23 PM

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).