North of the Delmar Loop, and even north of Olive Boulevard, there is an intriguing cluster of old, very old houses, dating back to perhaps the late Nineteenth Century west of the City limits. The east-west streets have the same… Continue Reading
Historic aerial photography reveals that Bircher Boulevard used to be just that, a tree-lined, elegant boulevard in North St. Louis, separating the Penrose and Walnut Park neighborhoods. But then Interstate 70 came along, and annihilated it, turning Bircher Boulevard into… Continue Reading
I’ve been bringing people up to Mount Grace Convent for years, and this house is out in the strange triangle out in front, and I just realized it has really gone downhill. I’m afraid it is abandoned now.
There are many well-maintained streets, such as Zealand Avenue (second photo), in College Hill, where we saw homeowners sweeping their sidewalks out in front of their bungalows. But there is also abandonment, sadly, such as this stately house below, which we… Continue Reading
Moving north, the street grid changes, and there are a series of north-south streets that break up the dominance of the east west streets, as well as some north-south streets that continue up from the south. There are also more… Continue Reading
We met a homeowner in one of those HUD houses, as we call them, who’d lived in the neighborhood for forty years. We talked for a while and discussed the house next door, with a mysterious terracotta coat of arms… Continue Reading
Linton Street has some occupied and abandoned buildings, and like many streets affected by the curve of the Mississippi River, had its 1500-1800 blocks squeezed out. But then there are beautiful four-family apartment buildings with sun porches that gleam in… Continue Reading
Moving west on DeSoto Avenue, there is not much to say beyond the first house above, which is well-maintained and occupied. The blocks moving west are empty, vacant and deteriorating. It is deeply sad. A few of the houses are… Continue Reading
DeSoto Avenue used to be completely hidden from the rest of the world by the thick underbrush the blanketed the hill north of East Prairie Avenue. It has now been cleared, and the feeling is one of exposed openness. This… Continue Reading
A gentle blanket of snow had covered up the gash of demolition on the north side of the East Prairie Avenue Valley, which I photographed a month ago. Before the clearing of what was essentially a forest, this area was… Continue Reading