One of the oldest suburbs in the St. Louis region, Kirkwood has a wealth of historic houses, including a few that even date to before the Civil War.
One of them is the Marquitz-Garesche House, which dates to 1858, and is a historic landmark in Kirkwood. You can see the interior in a recent real estate listing.
When I stopped by, I was stunned at the beautiful house and setting, with flowering bushes and mature trees. So you might be as surprised as me that this house is supposedly totally unsalvageable and needs to be torn down, despite the previous homeowners saying they spent one million dollars renovating it. Right. I’m sure. Read more about it here at the Kirkwood-Webster Times and check out the rendering of the house the owner wants to build in its place. What exactly is “traditional French Eclectic/English Country style?” I can tell you: it’s not a real style. I’ve been to England and France and houses don’t look like that in those countries.
In reality someone just wants to built their McMansion on this lot and they’re just saying that to get rid of the inconvenient historic house. Unfortunately, Kirkwood decided earlier in April to allow the demolition.
“Seven fifty…that address sounds familiar…” I thought to myself as I looked at the stately house. Oh right, just across the street a developer knocked down a historic house to stuff in four McMansions a few years ago!
Oscar Wilde once observed , ” Nobody ever lost a nickel under estimating the taste of the American public . ” Historic refinement and preservation are not in the lessons at every child’s family table . ( See Mattew Arnold’s Treatise on Culture and anarchy ).
“Traditional French Eclectic/English Cottage Style” is a verbose way of saying “HGTV Suburban.” I guarantee that the new house wouldn’t last 75 years, let alone 35. The whole “It’s his right to demolish because it’s his property” excuse is BS, because he had every opportunity to pass up the house if it wasn’t to his liking.
Kirkwood really dropped the ball on this one. I can’t say I’m surprised with the ruling, though, given our area’s apathy toward its historical fabric.