Moving north past Quincy Street, the majority of the historic built environment is on the west side of South Broadway. On the east side are a bunch of vacant lots and rusty warehouses. Still, there are more elaborately decorated Italianate storefronts that are not common in St. Louis anymore, largely swept away by later development…
Month: March 2021
Revisiting Carondelet: South Broadway Between Nagel Avenue and Quincy Street
South Broadway is where the industry and the people met in Carondelet, and the businesses that served both line both sides of the thoroughfare that was originally known as Carondelet Road for much of its early history. Below is the Southern Commercial Bank, with drive-up bank teller windows in the back. The bank still has…
Revisiting Carondelet: Nagel Avenue Between Michigan Avenue and South Broadway
We already saw the front of this house (last photo) at the corner of Michigan and Nagel, but now we see this interesting addition out the back along the latter street. This was the home of J.C. Degenhart, but it doesn’t seem to help us identify the purpose of the building. Perhaps it was a…
Revisiting Carondelet: Virginia Avenue Between Blow Street and Nagel Avenue
The west side of Virginia Avenue south of Blow Street has a group of very old houses that makes me suspect there was some type of industry nearby. These wood frame houses are old, perhaps dating back to the 1860s or 70s, right around the time Carondelet was annexed into the City of St. Louis….
Revisiting Carondelet: Virginia Avenue Between Loughborough Avenue and Blow Street, Blow Elementary School
It’s interesting to see how a similar pattern of development occurs in different parts of the city. As I showed recently at the old Webster Elementary School in Old North, at the Blow Elementary School in Carondelet, there were original two earlier school buildings built adjacent to each other before both were demolished for a…
Revisiting Carondelet: Virginia Avenue Between Haven Street and Loughborough Avenue
Heading one block west over to Virginia Avenue (Compton Avenue gets squeezed out down in Carondelet), we now head south from Haven down to Loughborough, first on the west side. The street is far more quiet than Michigan Avenue, and narrower. But there are some real great surprises, such as the two houses below. Similar…
Revisiting Carondelet: Michigan Avenue Between Nagel and Robert Streets
Up next is another row of houses from the 1880s and 90s on the west side of Michigan south of Nagel down towards Robert Street. This block was clearly developed later, with a preponderance of Romanesque Revival houses on larger parcels. This house anchors the northwest corner with Robert with this round tower with a…
Revisiting Carondelet: Michigan Avenue Between Blow and Nagel Streets
The block of Michigan Avenue between Blow and Nagel has some of the most interesting houses in Carondelet. First up, we realize there was actually a wood frame house right on the southwest corner, with an address on Blow Street. But it was demolished and now the first building on the west side of Michigan…
Revisiting Carondelet: Michigan Avenue Between Quincy and Blow Streets
The west side of Michigan Avenue south of Quincy Street starts out nice enough with a rehabbed corner store, but then… Update: Tragically damaged by fire on the evening of June 18, 2021. It was demolished by the winter of 2023. Wow, what might easily be one of the most interesting and beautiful houses in…
Revisiting Carondelet: Michigan Avenue Between Loughborough Avenue and Quincy Street
Heading south on Michigan Avenue past Loughborough Avenue (which originally was Pine Street in the original town of Carondelet), we see a row of what I call the Italianate–Second Empire hybrids, a Romanesque Revival four-family and Greek Revival house on the west side of the street. There’s a very nice corner storefront first, and then…