I willing be a guest on KMOX AM 1120 at 8:20 AM on Friday, January 17, 2020 talking about the 100th anniversary of the beginning of Prohibition. Please tune in if you’re able!
Valley Park has some great architecture along Benton Street. The city hall is a nice building, and then to the east, there is this house below, which I suspect was once a much more elaborate Queen Anne Style home before it was simplified at some time in the Twentieth Century.
Most of the houses are wood frame, but there is the occasional brick house, such as the one below, which I believe is covered in stucco. I am not sure. It is what we would probably call Georgian Revival.
Many houses are built in pairs, such as the house below (twin not shown).
The twin pattern continues with these beautiful Queen Anne/Dutch Colonial style houses that I would expect to see on a larger scale in the West End neighborhood of St. Louis. I strongly suspect these houses might have also been built for the St. Louis Plate Glass Window Co. for management, as they are further away from the smells and smoke of the factory south of Marshall Road.
Regardless, they dispel the ugly stereotypes I often hear about the original core of Valley Park. There is a lot of interesting architecture down here, and many of the houses are in great shape and well maintained.
Then this house is one of what I suspect was one of four; three are still standing but there is a vacant lot in between two of them and the last one where I suspect a demolished fourth once sat.
The house in the 4th photo from the top appears to may have had another front door to the right originally. It does not appear to be a typical two-family flat, if that was in fact a second door. I wonder if its twin house would also have two front doors, and if they both still remain operational.
Oooh, good eye! That makes perfect sense and would explain the crowded fenestration on the second floor.