Midtown has been reimagined several times, first as an extension of the downtown area in the early Twentieth Century, and then again in the 1950s as there seems to be an attempt at keeping the neighborhood relevant. These small Modernist storefronts have now gone vacant, but one can imagine they once saw large amounts of…
Tag: Midtown
Monument Plumbing Supply Company
Records show that the tall, beautiful Beaux-Arts style warehouse was the part of the Monument Plumbing Supply Company in 1917. Its architecture shows the influence of Roman architecture, with a dentilated cornice and strong vertical lines dominated by pilasters. There are even some triglyphs tossed in for ornament. The red terracotta accents the orangish-red brick….
Dead Olive Boulevard
It starts out strong enough, rows of rehabbed buildings with award-winning restaurants around Compton Avenue. Then it starts to get a little more quiet, and the buildings, while well-maintained, start to look a little less august. And then the giant swaths of grass, generating zero activity, and surely zero tax dollars. Is this the middle…
The Stories To Be Discovered by Finding a Stone Wall
As I discovered over in Compton Heights earlier this summer, an old stone retaining wall can foster a fascinating story. Take this one, on the 2900 block of Locust. As can be seen in the Sanborn maps below, it was a large mansion, probably in the Italianate style, and sat just west of St. Charles…
1870s Houses Hiding in Plain View, Midtown
If you keep your eyes pealed, you start to realize Midtown still holds clues to its Nineteent Century past, before the neighborhood was taken over by auto dealerships and other businesses in an extension of downtown in the early Twentieth Century. Take this house, or I should say houses, which are essentially two half flounder…
Banneker School
While Ittner and Milligan schools in St. Louis are amazing, it’s always interesting to see how educational architecture developed after their tenure. George Sanger took over as architect of St. Louis Public Schools in the early Twentieth Century. Many of his first designs are conservative, but as the decades passed, he embraced more modern architecture,…
Jamison Memorial Church, Formerly Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion
Update: Severely damaged by fire over Memorial Day weekend of 2023. Other examples of churches that started as smaller sanctuaries on a side street before expanding onto a major artery are Lafayette Park United Methodist Church and Oak Hill Presbyterian Church. One of the august churches that gave this portion of Midtown the nickname “Piety Hill,”…
Dinks Parrish Laundry
In a style I would best describe as a mix of Venetian Gothic combined with various eclectic elements, the Dinks Parrish Laundry building is one of the most striking use of textured terracotta in the city.