Update: See the beginning of Boone’s Lick Road in downtown St. Louis here.
Month: January 2016
Baths of Caracalla
Read enough about St. Louis or American architecture in general, and eventually someone will make an offhand reference to a building being based off of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. But what were the actual Baths, or Thermae, of Caracalla? They were begun by the Emperor Septimius Severus (thus some old maps called the…
Dickhaus-Stemme House, Daniel Boone Grave
The Dickhaus-Stemme House sits within a short walk of Daniel Boone’s Missouri grave. It’s a great example of Greek Revival architecture in a rural setting. The friendly owners have begun to assemble a group of buildings around the house. Their Facebook page tells about their projects. And here is Boone’s grave; controversy still surrounds where…
The Mystery House, Benton Park West
This house, at 3022 Wyoming, has always fascinated me. Now, after doing some research, it intrigues me even more. City records state that the Mansard roofed house, which sits all the way on the alley line, allowing for a huge front yard, was built in 1858. It appears on Compton and Dry, so it is…
Benton Park West, Revisited Again
Update: I went back and looked at this block again the summer of 2020. Apartment living to many St. Louisans is not glamorous, but for most of this city’s history, the wealthy and well-to-do lived in exquisite apartment buildings, such as these two, mixed in with other houses. I got back to photograph these two…
Reskin, JeffVanderLou
Back in the day, new fronts on buildings were a way of freshening up older buildings. The reskin, as we call it, didn’t work forever.
Looking Through the Windows, Fourth Baptist
Update: Demolished in February of 2016. The interior of Fourth Baptist is destroyed, and in much worse shape than right after the fire. I shot these photographs by sticking my camera through windows and taking pictures blindly. What a shame.