This house’s turret is ridiculous–ridiculously awesome! What happened to that playful spirit in American architecture? This is just a middle class house, not a wealthy person’s house.
A Blog detailing the beauty of St. Louis architecture and the buildup of residue-or character-that accumulates over the course of time.
Love turret houses, always wanted to live in one
Wow, she’s a cute little dish…got her number? 🙂
These days large developers give the middle and lower classes peculiar variations on American colonial, with pediments and gable ends strewn all over an elevation. This is not so much to add interest to what are very poor designs, but to give the impression that the house possesses more value than it actually retains. The upper middle classes have been convinced that they should have some vomit-inducing style which I like to describe as Fronch Provincial. Which bears very little semblance to real French Provincial architecture. No natural stone, except as a veneer surrounding the entrance. Fenestration which would make any French citizen hurl their frommage. (Spell-check just gave me frontage; I would have preferred frottage, but hey…). I digress…I’ve seen phony lightning rods, and roof vents (though some have been copper, thankfully), peculiar stucco colors, non-functioning shutters (which, like my wife likes to say, make one shudder; ain’t she cute?). Oh, yeah, and bizarre two-story arched entrance-ways, most of which are all out of proportion to the rest of the structure (as if to shout, “HEY, I’M THE ENTRANCE HERE! OVER HERE! SEE? Yeah, no shit Sherlock) We saw one off of I70 in Warren Cty or some podunk locale which had a porch railing over the two-story entrance, right in front of a squat domed structure. With no way to access the ‘porch’. We LAAAAFFED!
No, this little gem has more character in the corbelling running the circumference of the turret than a thousand Fronch Provincial wrecks. (Seriously, that is some fine-ass corbelling).
Damn shame about the condition of this fine lady. Shite replacement windows in the second-story turret, and what appear to be major foundation issues in the rear. And of course the absence of the stolen copper guttering doing a number on the lintels. Wouldn’t happen to be Northside-owned?
I echo both of the earlier comments, particularly samizdat’s on the pretentiousness and incongruity of some of the larger McMansions (and I ain’t arkytectural-wise!).
A question, though: It appears that there is some sort of narrow door in the right side of the entryway – true? Is that some sort of closet for muddy shoes and raincoats, umbrellas and the like? I’ve never noticed this before – is it common and i just keep missing it?
Nice catch…and frankly, I have no certain idea what it may be. Perhaps the round recess is a hole for a doorbell? I kind of imagine seeing the ghost of an escutcheon surrounding the recess, so perhaps someone used a recovered door to replace the wooden raised-panel insert commonly found on this type of entranceway. Usually (from my own observations only) there are identical panels running up the wall. Judging from where the exterior wall ends, it doesn’t seem likely that a shallow closet would be concealed behind it. That would be an interesting, though rare, appointment. So many things it could be. So many things which builders used to do, the reasons for and functions of which are now lost to time and memory.
Nice. Do you have an address for this beauty? Thanx. Best, Emma
2314 University Ave; one block north of St. Louis Ave in between 23rd and 25th; there’s no 24th Street right there.
I am looking for an online website with maps, pictures or pencil drawings of the area St Louis Place especially 23rd and Sullivan. Want to find out any information that I can on our house at 2320 Sullivan Ave. I left the neighborhood in 1956 when my Grandfather sold our four family flat.
Try this page at the History Museum:
http://genealogy.mohistory.org/genealogy/addresses
Also, here are maps of the neighborhood:
http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?page=index;c=umcscsanic
Thank you will give it a try. Trying to find a house like ours since it was torn down. The neat thing is if you go to Google Earth and then to North St Louis there is now a Senior Home that forms an “X” over two square blocks and my house was right in the middle.
Yeah, that happened about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the History Museum has anything on that address. The Sanborn maps will show your house, most likely.
I found the maps very interesting. Found out a lot about my old neighborhood. One small church that was on the corner was a “Moving Pictures” building and a big empty dirt floor building that we played in was a slaughter house. Stayed up way too long last night exploring the maps. Did find my house and already shared the info with cousins. Thank you.
Any comments from Sacred Heart graduates of class of 1956
I (CBC’58) had a lot of buddies from the City House ’58 class.
St. Alphonsus (Rock) High School, Class of 1960