Every time I visit the West End neighborhood, I think of the stupidity of the federal government, who drew a red line just to the south of this beautiful community, thereby damning it to eventual oblivion. Despite the government’s best efforts, a strong African American middle class flourished in the West End; but unfortunately, those people are now growing elderly, and their homes are now being abandoned. Above, this house sits on Maple Avenue, just north of the oldest house in St. Louis.

Update: The building above was demolished in the summer of 2019.

The outrageously beautiful house above was the subject of my camera back in December of 2015, when I headed in east on Maple Avenue.

Nearby, houses on Bartmer and Chamberlin offer interesting surprises.

The house below looks like something that would be comfortable on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

And then, which I find fascinating, are the plethora of wood frame houses, which were allowed even though they were already within the city limits of St. Louis at this point. Perhaps they were considered to be far enough away from the city center to not be considered a fire hazard.

Close to Kingshighway, a house is being demolished due to fire damage, its neighbor already completely gone. They are not going to be replaced anytime soon, and certainly not by anything of the same quality.