Heading east of Hamilton Avenue, Bartmer Avenue is north of not a parallel east-west street, but actually two, one-block north-south streets which are now blocked off, Parkland and Thornby places. I’ve looked at Thornby Place back in October of 2017. A synagogue once was located where there is now a parking lot on the northeast…
Tag: Modernism
Bartmer Avenue Between Hodiamont and Hamilton Avenues, West End
I’ve looked at Bartmer Avenue in the Chamberlain Addition several times over the years, starting all the way back in April of 2012. This is Gamble’s Second Subdivision of Rose Hill, from 1871, which shows just how early this area was originally platted. We’re going to start at close to the city limits at Hodiamont…
Horton Place, West End
The Horton Place Addition was platted in 1887; city records do not preserve the name of the surveyor, though Julius Pitzman was active in the area at the time period. Sanborn maps split the one block (but very long) street into two maps. Above is the west end, and below is the east end. It…
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…
Demolition Commences, Former Stouffer’s Riverfront Hotel
Apparently it was a big deal when the Stouffer’s Riverfront Hotel opened downtown. Personally, I see it as a symptom of a larger problem: the belief that turning St. Louis into a giant showpiece of Modernist superblocks would save the city. I think we can all agree it failed miserably. One thing that always sticks…
Trinity Lutheran Church, Town and Country
Sometimes ironically called the “cash register church,” Trinity Lutheran Church, Chesterfield at the intersection of Clayton Road and Missouri Highway 141 is actually a historically rich and interesting congregation. It’s actually within the boundaries of the suburb of Town and Country but identifies with Chesterfield, further to the west. This Trinity is in the Evangelical…
Former Epiphany Episcopal Church
Known as Church of the Epiphany or Epiphany Episcopal Church, it seems that the congregation moved to its final location at Dougherty Ferry and Ballas roads in 1960 and lasted until 2007. The interior featured a sculpture by Elizabeth Phelan of bronze and walnut entitled “Christus Rex,” or Christ the King. I do not know…
St. Clare of Assisi Roman Catholic Church
The current church of St. Clare of Assisi dates from 1965, though the parish was formed several years before. The congregation used the chapel of the adjacent Passionists nuns, who still exist next door until its own church was built. As we have discussed lately, the church is similar to St. Martin de Porres in…