I think one of the more interesting aspects of the built environment in St. Louis is the number of churches we have lost not due to neglect and disinvestment but rather due to rapid growth. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the earliest churches in St. Louis that…
Tag: Second Empire
Missouri Avenue Between Albion Place and Park Avenue, Lafayette Square, Revisited
Crossing over Albion Place, we are still in the large Funkhauser Addition, at least until the last few houses before we reach Park Avenue. As can be seen above, there was nothing built yet in 1875, and the only features present was what looks to be a farmhouse and a small grove of trees and…
Missouri Avenue Between Lafayette Avenue and Albion Place, Lafayette Square, Revisited
I looked at Missouri Avenue on the west side of Lafayette Square back in September of 2019, but I felt like it was such an interesting stretch of street that I’ve split it up into two posts. Up first is a house I looked at all the way back in April of 2008.; it was…
Twenty-Three Years of Paul McKee: Old North
Old North was originally going to be in the footprint of the Northside TIF (Blairmont, one of the shell LLCs, takes its name from a property McKee bought at the intersection of Blair and Montgomery in the neighborhood). But neighborhood opposition caused the McKee to withdraw Old North from his plan. The only problem is…
Old North, January 2026
As Charles Dickens said in one of my favorite books, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Let’s get the worst of times out of the way first up in Old North. This act of deprivation committed against what was and could be a beautiful building on Hebert Street (I…
Hyde Park, 2011, From the Vault, Part Two
Here are more photographs from the vault. This is south of Salisbury Street in Hyde Park, I can tell. Things have gotten better with the filling in of vacant lots, but there have also been demolitions.
Hyde Park, 2011, From the Vault, Part One
I found some old photographs from Hyde Park that I took back in 2011 that I never used. I don’t know why, and apart from a few views, I have no idea where these photos are. I think the majority are along Salisbury Street or thereabouts. Things have changed dramatically in fourteen or fifteen years.
Julian Avenue Between Hamilton Avenue and Goodfellow Boulevard, West End
The first thing we see at the corner of Julian and Hamilton avenues is this nice church, and then we head east. A block west on Julian Avenue from the concrete block houses I looked at back in March of 2022 are houses that are more indicative of the West End as you move further…
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…
South Seventh Street Between Geyer and Lafayette Avenues, West Side
I was heading up South Seventh Street (no, it’s not South Broadway) north of Geyer, which is the eastern border of Soulard, and I was admiring the buildings to my left. Of course, it must be terribly loud with all the trucks driving up and down the street to the interstate, making quality of life…