I looked at the Hawthorne Apartments a long, long time ago, and I was walking down West Pine Boulevard recently, realizing again what a beautiful building it was. It’s typical in that it has a heavily ornamented base, much like a classical Greek or Roman column, then a less decorated shaft, and the finally a…
Month: June 2021
The Crossroads, Wentzville
You’re looking at the intersection of two famous roads: Highway 40, which started as the National Road, and Highway 61, immortalized for its role in world music. Of course, this is no longer that intersection, as Highway 61 is now on a viaduct high above the ground, and Highway 40 now shares its names with…
Former Immanuel Lutheran Church, Wentzville
The former Immanuel Lutheran Church on Pearce Boulevard is a fantastic example of the Carpenter Gothic, which I wrote about several years ago at St. Louis Magazine. The congregation was founded by a minister who came from New Melle in 1874. It is a form of the Gothic Revival, which bends wood carefully and also…
Downtown Wentzille
Downtown Wentzville, which straddles the railroad, has a wealth of interesting historic buildings, including these on the southeast corner of Main Street and Linn Avenue. The storefronts are full of restaurants and other businesses. The Trinity Executive Building is further west down Main Street on the south side facing the railroad tracks. There is a…
Augusta In Transition: Lower Street to Chestnut Street
Heading back down to the riverfront on Lower Street, we took a detour down into one of the hollows that was never filled in by urban expansion in the Nineteenth Century. There’s a weird little one-lane road that snakes its way through the hollow, shaded with trees. There’s a house with a vineyard sitting on…
Augusta In Transition: Locust Street Between Lower and Jefferson Streets
At one point as we walked around, an SUV full of women pulled up and asked Jeff if he knew where downtown was. He replied, “I guess this is it?” They found that response hilarious and drove off laughing. Though the intersection of Lower and Locust streets is perhaps the greatest concentration of storefronts in…
Augusta in Transition: Walnut Street Between Public and Lower Streets
Proceeding east on Walnut Street past Public Street, we came upon the same church I photographed last year. I’m starting to suspect that the tower and sanctuary were built separately. There are two wonderful Queen Anne cottages on the south side of the street. There’s also a restaurant that was producing some good smelling food…
Augusta in Transition: Walnut Street Between Jackson and Public Streets
There are still owner-occupied single family houses, including this nice Italianate house, with a rolling backyard. Two friendly dogs greeted us around back. There are other houses with businesses mixed in, as well. But then more future businesses appear, and in this case a cigar bar. This massive freshly painted white building will be a…
Augusta In Transition: Jackson Street Between Walnut and Locust Streets
Walking past the participants of the Dionysiac Mysteries, we came upon what could be best described as the inner sanctum of the Hoffmann properties in Augusta. Freshly painted buildings and antique pickup trucks were arrayed around what looks to be an old feed or hardware store. The Hoffmann buildings are labeled with what they intended…
Augusta in Transition: Water to Jackson Street
Little did we know when we took a drive out to Augusta back in May of 2020 that there were big plans afoot to transform the town into a new “Napa Valley of Missouri.” But nonetheless, regardless of my opinion (which is “unless it’s for a toxic waste dump who turns down a $100 million…