Update: I went back in the Spring of 2022.
Well, I’ll be darned! Last winter I featured the tragically abandoned Vine Grove Avenue (posts one and two), and lo and behold, the most deteriorated houses were demolished in mid September. From the looks of it, the vast majority of the houses on the west side of the street, which were in a severe state of deterioration, were demolished, and the rare, but trashed, Italianate wood frame duplex on the east side is gone. The house nearby damaged by fire earlier this year, and its neighbor, are gone, too.
A few of these houses seem to have had already been demolished in the summer, when I visited the block, but then there was a new push to clear this block by City Hall.
North St. Louis is looking like Downtown Chernobyl. Only this disaster was caused by predatory Capitalism.
As soon as the city saves up enough money, they’ll take out another block without thinking twice. Investing in destruction instead of preservation. At the very least, an effort should be made in saving the historic churches & landmarks, etc.
I don’t know if you saw my article on-line for St. Louis Magazine, but I mentioned North St. Louis churches as some of Missouri’s most endangered buildings. There are so many that have gone abandoned in the last decade since I started St. Louis Patina. I keep their identities and locations secret (unless commonly known by most people) so they are not burglarized or vandalized. It is a crisis.