I love the variety of housing in Benton Park, primarily built in the years surrounding and after the Civil War. The architecture has many varieties, but Second Empire dominates. This house below is still sitting vacant; I could just a… Continue Reading
Designed by William Rumbold–who also aided in the design of the Old Courthouse–when St. Louis was still in St. Louis County, the giant edifice that was once called the Insane Asylum dominates the southwestern portion of the city, on the… Continue Reading
I wonder what that crane is doing, I asked one weekend. A week or two later, I received my answer. The massive smoke stacks of the Ashley Street Power Plant are being replaced, and these rusty remnants are the old… Continue Reading
Despite the assurances of plenty of nay-sayers, the abandoned Arlington School, which I photographed in 2009, could be saved and is now impeccably restored. Tasteful in-fill has been added around the old school.
The stunning renovation of the old Cherokee Brewery is continuing, with tuckpointing having removed the ugly red paint that had slathered the building for decades. The brick masonry between the two huge doors will be replaced soon, and the doors… Continue Reading
The point of this website is to promote the forgotten corners of this city, and I sometimes neglect the more well known places, such as Lafayette Square. But the Second Empire mansions lining Lafayette Square are still spectacular, coming around… Continue Reading
What reinvestment could do for a neighborhood such as Hyde Park, full of small bungalows like the one above, perfect for a first-time home buyers. Little old wood frame houses may be in bad shape, but they represent an important… Continue Reading
The block containing the Arcade-Wright and Paul Brown Buildings is the only block with completely preserved historic office buildings. The masterfully restored Arcade-Wright Building, with its distinctive shopping arcade, is one of the most important renovations in the last decade.
This building, like many older office buildings in downtown St. Louis, received a Modernist slipcover in the 1950s or 60s, its owners now ashamed of its historic architecture. The slipcovers have started to come off these old buildings, revealing often… Continue Reading
The Central Library, by Cass Gilbert, is a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style, a triumph of combining ancient influences from Greece and Rome, with the best of the Italian Renaissance. The main branch of the St. Louis Public Library system… Continue Reading