Country Club Place is another interesting subdivision in Clayton off Hanley Road. Turn off Hanley onto Polo Drive and it splits off into West, East and Middle Polo drives, but to make it simpler to understand, the streets basically create a “reserve” in the middle with huge lots and houses, and on the outside perimeter are good-sized houses.
Polo Drive then loops around to the north of another subdivision, Country Club Court, which we’ve looked at before. The names come from the fact that the land for the subdivisions was the former location of the St. Louis Country Club’s polo grounds.
631 East Polo Drive, was owned by none other than John George (J.G.) Taylor Spink, editor and owner of The Sporting News, the famous baseball magazine based here in St. Louis. He took over the reins of the magazine after his father, and the family controlled it from 1886-1977.
Architects such as Preston Bradshaw as well as Maenner and Senne designed houses in the subdivision. Homes cost around $17,000 and were built around 1919 and 1920.
I can’t help but notice that these houses look very similar to the houses on nearby Country Club Court.
