More destruction since I documented the ladders and ropes hanging from the roof of St. Augustine. More sad damage appears on the front; probably due to falling masonry(?) or something, some of the flamboyant Gothic details above the main portal have fallen and smashed below on the steps. Or did it? There doesn’t seem to…
Tag: Brick Thieves
Ruins Week Alumnus, St. Louis Place
Update: Demolished for the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in 2017. The City of St. Louis cut ties with Paul McKee’s Northside in June of 2018. Originally featured two years ago; they don’t get around to cleaning stuff up very fast up this way.
Decimated JeffVanderLou
JeffVanderLou is easily one of the most devastated and forgotten neighborhoods in the city. Straddling Grand Boulevard, it is not in the news anymore, as there are few people left. This poor church, below, was ravaged by brick thieves years ago; it sits in the same state, more or less. It used to look like…
The Sun is Setting on St. Louis Place
Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Lamentations 5:20 Update: All the buildings below were torn down for the new NGA, whose giant campus swallowed a large portion of the southwestern St. Louis Place neighborhood.
Vernon Avenue West of Shaare Zedek
Update: I went back and looked at the north side of the street in February of 2022. This is definitely not an April Fools’ Day post. Heading west from the old synagogue, we were shocked at the severe state of desolation and abandonment along Vernon Avenue. It was really, really sad to see this. This…
Dollhouses, JeffVanderLou
You know, lost in all of the talk about the new stadium and the military installation, is that North St. Louis inside Grand Boulevard was destroyed in the last decade. Yes, there are houses left, and signs of proud life, but for the most part, our stupid gamble with McKee has failed. Brick theft almost…
The Neighborhoods Around St. Augustine
The dilapidation of neighborhoods around St. Augustine, the church whose slow destruction I wrote about in June, also helps to create a feeling of hopelessness in the surrounding streets. Just south of the church, these two houses above are remnants of what had been at least a half dozen identical mates. They fell one by…
Long Suffering Block on St. Louis Avenue Being Put Out of Its Misery, JeffVanderLou
Update: I checked back in on the houses above in early July of 2018, and they were still sitting in the same half-demolished condition. They are still standing as of the summer of 2019. Also, again in many ways, very little changed when I went back in late summer of 2019. There looks to be…
Hebert and Jefferson, in the Snow
Update: The buildings were demolished around the beginning of 2020. I return to this intersection often because it affords good views of St. Augustine a block away, but I still find the condition and life of the residential buildings on the other corners interesting to watch over the years. Just a couple of weeks ago,…
Lone House, Western St. Louis Place
Going… Going… Going… Gone. Update: Eventually cleaned up for the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in 2017. The City of St. Louis cut ties with Paul McKee’s Northside in June of 2018. The rubble sat there for a very long time.