I decided to re-examine the Gate District in response to the impassioned arguments of one of the neighborhood’s residents that the area does have life in it, despite its reputation among local preservationists and others.

What I found were several streets of very beautiful houses along Lafayette Avenue, with some abandonment and some new in-fill construction.

The building above, the Hodgen School, has since been demolished, despite having been the oldest remaining school building in the city of St. Louis.

I still think there is a major problem of a lack of nearby restaurants or other “hang-outs,” which I presume were planned but never materialized.

Update: The two rowhouses on the left below have been demolished, leaving only the one on the right.

Time will tell if this area retains its dichotomic nature, or fuses into a cogent neighborhood.