I somehow forgot to go down Enright Avenue west of Ruth Porter Mall, but here is the street east of there. It is perhaps a portent of what the West End would have become if the City had not lost out to the suburbs: increasingly dense with apartments replacing single family homes built earlier in…
Cates Avenue Between Porter Mall and Clara Avenue, West End
Before we get up to Cates Avenue, we’ll look at a couple of buildings down on Clemens Avenue, such as this apartment building. We’ve looked at Clemens Avenue east of Clara Avenue, back in April of 2019. We looked at Cates Avenue west of Porter Mall back in late November. To the east of the…
Cabanne Avenue Between Porter Mall and Belt Avenue, West End
I want you to understand that with the exception of the two houses you see below, every other single house on Cabanne Avenue in the fire insurance map above is gone. Sorry to go on a tirade, but this is what happens when you let government go crazy and implement its vainglorious ideas on entire…
Maple Avenue Between Clara and Belt Avenues, West End, Revisited
I realized I had so much fun revisiting the West End a couple of weeks ago that I decided to go back. This time I tried to hit blocks on the east side of the Ruth E. Porter Mall (read about Porter here). I’ve actually looked at this block of Maple Avenue before, back in…
Crunden Martin Ruins, Revisited
Hey, office and flex space for lease! I revisited Crunden Martin to check up on the state of the buildings after the disastrous Black Friday fire. Yes, in case you were wondering, that sign is new. As I had appraised on Black Friday, the building that had already suffered a fire back in 2011 is…
Normandy High School and Viking Hall
The former Eden Seminary and then the old Normandy High School was in the process of being torn down in 1953 when it was captured in the photograph above. It had used the old seminary build since 1923. The new Normandy High School, designed by William B. Ittner, opened later in the 1920s, was constructed…
Former Normandy Presbyterian Church
The former Normandy Presbyterian Church was not within the city boundaries of Normandy, but rather Pasadena Park, not to be confused with Pasadena Hills. It operated from 1940 to 2003, it seems. As is fairly obvious, the church clearly grew rapidly, requiring a Modernist addition with a cool arcade that attached a Sunday School wing…
St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church, Normandy
St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church in Normandy along Natural Bridge Road dates to 1953 and is not the first building on the site. The parish dates back to 1854, when Ann Lucas Hunt donated land for the church. The current church was designed by Joseph Murphy, who along with Eugene Mackey, also designed Resurrection in…
End of Autumn 2025 Odds and Ends
Here are some leftover photos from the last six months. Above is a Falstaff sign in Benton Park. Above, looking down a street in what I think is Kingsway East towards the Chase Park Plaza, but I can’t be sure. Above is the Missouri Athletic Club, which I snapped while sitting at the light at…
Some Early Historic Maps
I had a bunch of maps saved up that I had some purpose for that I forgot, so I thought I would present them here for your enjoyment. The first two are related to Mill Creek and Chouteau’s Pond, and demonstrate how important the body of water was to early St. Louis. Remember, all images…