We couldn’t figure out the history of what is now a Christian Science Reading Room, but it is clearly an old house, judging from its Greek Revival style and the soft brick that makes up its walls. Early brick in the St. Louis region was not fired at as high of temperatures as later eras, so it does not have the durability.

Despite its unknown pedigree, it is a very interesting house, sitting on a large plot of land that gives a sense of what the area looked like before suburban development.

And perhaps what I find most interesting is the service wing, which is clearly the result of multiple additions. The original summer kitchen is at the far left, and then I think it was expanded to the right, and then finally connected to the main house. You can see how the brick changes color for each building campaign.

There is also an old barn out back, which surely belonged to the house up front originally.