Old home on Virginia in Tower Grove East 4:40 PM

Looking through the property database in the City, I found this very old house at 2347 Virginia in Tower Grove East. Anyone know more about it?

Its setback and rural cottage look and feel seem to corroborate the city's reported construction date of 1848. That was probably a good time to live that "far" outside the city. In 1849, much of the developed city would be destroyed in the Great Fire; to make matters worse, a cholera epidemic would kill thousands (10 percent of the city's population).

I have never seen this property before, and I know I've been down the street. I'll have to check it out next time I'm in town and get some photographs.

If you'd like a slightly better view than that City of St. Louis pic above, then click here, for now.

UPDATE [1/31/09 at 9:29 p.m.]: Oops! This property was featured on Landmarks Association's Most Endangered List in 2007. There is a much better photograph there, as well as a brief history. Thanks go to the ever helpful and knowledgeable Michael Allen of Ecology of Absence for this information.

Also, the much more clear photograph indicates an Italianate style--though the rural form is not in dispute. Landmarks notes an 1870 construction date. Again, I am going off of the city's database, which is known to be flawed.

Preservation Board Meeting, January 26, 2009 - Outcome 2:45 PM

First of all, does anyone know where, besides Landmarks Association, that I can find Board meeting minutes online? The results of these meetings seem like information that should be more public--meaning, put online.

I happened to call the Board yesterday to find out about the fate of three buildings proposed for demolition.

1108-10 Mallinckrodt was not given consideration since the owner did not show up.

Apparently, the rear of the structure has collapsed. Despite this, the other walls remain solid. Adjacent propert owners complain of continual debris on account of this building and would like to see it come down. Concerned for the demolition of historic properties in his Ward, Third Ward Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. would like to see the building remain standing.

I applaud the alderman's commitment to see this 1892 building be preserved. I hope that he can work with the nearby residents to assuage their concerns. I believe that the city should eminent domain the property, secure it, and auction it off at a later date. The Hyde Park Historic District cannot afford another gap, especially so close to Interstate 70.

Luckily, 5214-16 Kensington in Academy was denied a demolition permit.

Finally, 7001-03 S. Broadway in Carondelet was approved a demolition permit.

This is a shame, particularly due to the age and size of the building. St. Louis has very few structures remaining from the antebellum period. This one was constructed in 1857. By virtue of that fact, it should likely be left alone. Yet, its inobtrusive size makes this demolition even more puzzling. It rests at the edge of the lot, actually facing Quincy and not Broadway--the city demolished the main structure in 2000 under an emergency demo permit.

The CRO staff report notes that the owner wishes to "clear the lot for future development". Considering that, fairly recently, a building used to be on this lot in front of the tiny structure in question, why is it that the original footprint of this already demolished building cannot be used for this unclear "future" development?

The New Orleans preservation agency, called the Historic Districts and Landmarks Commission (HDLC), does not allow demolition without a redevelopment plan having been submitted first. Further, if the plan is for a parking lot, it is usually denied. If the parking or other lesser use happens to be approved, it is reassessed each year to determine if parking is needed and if there are no other development plans. Urbanistically speaking, this just makes sense. The St. Louis Preservation Board should not approve any demolition without a submitted statement of purpose and redevelopment plan.

From a preservationist standpoint, it pains me to see the loss of an early Carondelet structure--even if it has been altered with permastone.

Recall that Steins Row, another one-story rowhouse from the 1850s, was almost knocked down for a service station.

I already emailed Matt Villa, 11th Ward Alderman, urging him to deny this demo, but received no word back. The application notes that he supported the destrution of 7001 S. Broadway.

In Memoriam: 3963 Gratiot 1:37 AM

Swallowed by industry, 3963 Gratiot was a pleasant, if deteriorated, reminder of the onetime residential character of this now very gray and non-residential portion of Forest Park Southeast.

I am not sure when it was demolished, but this present view of the area shows that it's definitely not there anymore. The "graffiti" (it looks like chalk, honestly) actually flattered this building, adding smart punches of color.

Green Alleys in L.A.--doable in St. Louis? 1:05 AM

Los Angeles is turning some of its urban alleyways into greenways.

Seeing this story is funny; I was just thinking today of my previous misconception of alleys. To me, they signified urbanity. I grew up in the Bevo neighborhood and always had an alley to play in or to cut through when visiting a friend's house nearby. To me, alleys were a quintessential part of the urban experience. That harrowing alley with evenly spaced dumpsters and unadorned garages just screamed "city" to me as a child.

But check out this aerial view of a typical New Orleans block (Make sure you zoom in unless you have really good eyes):


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There are no alleys. Buildings generally span the entire length of their allotted parcel. Only one neighborhood in New Orleans has alleys--Lakeview--and it's mostly a post-War neighborhood. After all, the purpose of alleys was for loading, in commercial areas, and to allow off-street parking in rear garages, in residential neighborhoods. So, that makes the alley a post-automobile phenomenon.

The L.A. case is interesting: in a park deprived city, alleys can serve as linear parks, offering an automobile-free pathway for pedestrians without also cutting off the connectivity of the city via automobile and bicycle.

The opportunities of green alleys are many. For one, storm water runoff would be lessened if several alleys became strips of greenery instead of impervious pavement. Second, residents could garden their share of the green alley. These alleys could also serve as quiet walkways for neighborhood residents and their dogs.

It's something to think about on an alley-by-alley basis. Would you surrender your alley for green space?

Unnecessary Demo on South Jefferson 4:25 PM

As reported by DeBaliviere on the Urban STL forums (better known as Brian over at Downtown St. Louis Business Blog), there is a demo possibly in process at 2001 S. Jefferson (at Allen, just south of the McDonalds).


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Geo St. Louis doesn't show any demolition permits, but it does say the building was condemned to be demolished in June of 2007. This Google Streetview shot was likely taken in October of 2007. Why was this building condemned? Why is it only being demolished now if it was such a threat to health/safety?

The big question here is: where the hell is the demolition review process in all of this? This building falls within the Fox Park certified local historic district; the City Assessor says it was built in 1891.

The Assessor also notes that this is an Auto Parts shop. Might the owner be demolishing the old building for something more autocentric? This building is located dangerously close to I-44 (easy advertising) and already has a context for auto-oriented, anti-urban use (see McDonalds to the north) to point to.

What a waste. We need to reform demolition review in the City of St. Louis.

Really Old St. Louis, Part Two: 6633 Minnesota 11:54 AM

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6633 Minnesota is located in the city's Carondelet neighborhood. The city says it was constructed in 1823--the same year as the landmark Bissell Mansion in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Clearly, it's been altered over time--to the point where a passer-by would assume it an unimportant, later frame structure, perhaps.

But, according to the city, it's been on that hill at Minnesota and Haven Streets for 186 years.

As with the last post, I very much doubt that this building is that old. But it is true that Carondelet houses some of the city's earliest remaining construction.

Michael Allen, of Ecology of Absence, confirmed my suspicions of the City's unreliability as far as building construction dates, noting that you should always view the structure's building permit to get an accurate read.

With that caveat aside, I'm going to continue to cover what the Assessor says are the oldest buildings of St. Louis.

Covering St. Louis's Oldest Buildings: #1, from 1810(?) 1:15 AM

Since I have a list of all the properties in the City of St. Louis by date of construction (that is, according to the Assessor's Office, and where this information is available), I thought I would begin posting on the city's oldest remaining structures. My list is from 2007, so it will be interesting to see what is still remaining.

It is sort of counterintuitive to start a countdown at the most coveted spot, but it is also difficult to determine where to start on the other end. So I'll begin with the oldest listed date of construction for a structure in the city of St. Louis. And I have a big feeling that it's a total mistake.

First, though, how do you spot an old building in your neighborhood. Well, what is old, I guess, is the first thing you need to figure out. In the city of St. Louis, anything pre-1880 is lucky to be there still. Even so, St. Louis has quite a few scattered pre-1880 structures, mostly in a couple neighborhoods (Soulard, Old North, Hyde Park, Benton Park, etc.). If it's pre-Civil War, and it's not a monumental, public, or religious structure, it's extremely lucky to still be standing. Think the DeMenil Mansion in Benton Park or the Bissell Mansion in Hyde Park.

The second sign of an especially old building is a sudden break from the street wall. Often, these buildings were intended for rural settings, as they were the first structures on their blocks, certainly, and perhaps in their "neighborhoods" for quite a number of years. Their construction predated any sort of formal zoning, for sure, as well as informal zoning and early urban development.

Another sign, often, is simplicity and small size. Many post-Colonial buildings were fairly small and unadorned structures. Colonial buildings were often very functional, rather than decorative, stressing symmetry and utility in daily life. They needed to be simple to heat in the wintertime, another reason for their small size.

But I just don't believe there's anything left from 1810's St. Louis. At that time, St. Louis only had a couple thousand people, if that.

Here is a quote about St. Louis in 1809, from the City's website.

Frederick Billon, who first saw St. Louis in 1809, described the town as virtually unchanged in over forty years. At that time, he said, there were but two roads ascending the bluff from the river at the present locations of Market and Oak (Delmar) Streets. They were abrupt ascents that had been quarried by the settlers for access to the river for water. He further commented that in 1809, Fourth Street south of Elm was a road with only two or three houses.

Structures in just-post-Colonial St. Louis were crude and often temporary. I cannot imagine that this building has been around since 1810, or all of the preservation community would know of it.

Nevertheless, it's at the bottom of the list, and so I'll report on it:

It's actually two almost contiguous properties: 3324 and 3328 North Ninth, in the section of Hyde Park that was trapped east of Interstate 70 upon its construction.

Unfortunately, Google Streetview largely ignored the North Side, so I'm relegated to this somewhat inconclusive Microsoft Live Maps view.

Still, from the looks of it, I do believe the building with the extreme setback (a former "slave quarters"?) could be quite old. But I am really not sure of the stone building on the southeast corner of Angelrodt and Ninth. Next time in St. Louis I will have to take a look.

Anyone care to do an investigation for me?