Chippewa Street is such a major artery in St. Louis Hills, that we often forget it continues on east of Jefferson Avenue into Marine Villa, where it is a quiet residential street. But it does not fail to surprise with beautiful houses, such as this Second Empire central-hall home above, which is also carefully fit onto an irregular-shaped lot. Below, a half flounder hides in the undergrowth next to a little Modernist in-fill house.

Holy street-grading, Batman! Whenever you see houses sitting high above the street, it means the lay of the land was dramatically changed by hills being cut down and hollows filled in. I’ve founded old records in City Hall where these contracts were bid out to private companies as far back as the early Nineteenth Century. By the way, I’m curious about the little bridge between the two houses below.

I’m always discouraged by how many abandoned houses there are on Chippewa, and other side streets, in Marine Villa. Some streets are perfectly fine, but the east-west streets struggle.

But this house below has been renovated, it appears.

These houses below are latecomers to the neighborhood, and I’m curious of their story.