The west side of Iowa Avenue in between Lynch Street (which continues as sort of an afterthought west of Gravois) and Sidney Street opposite of St. Francis de Sales has some interesting houses. The first house above has an explanation of why it sits at an angle. It was most likely built before the addition it now sits in was platted, and actually is not crooked when you consider it lies in one of the angled common fields, in this case the Lami Tract, which comes up from the river. So it is extremely old, and when it was built, it was actually at a right angle to the farm field!
The rest of the block has some beautiful homes on it, as well, dating from the final decades of the Nineteenth Century.
What is interesting is that despite being fairly deep inside the city, they seem to have been built relatively late; for whatever reason this block developed later than usual.
Most likely it was the large number of sinkholes and caves that pockmarked this part of the city and made building difficult.
Many of the buildings with the aqua doors were renovated and are still managed by DeSales Community Development, which was founded in the basement of the church of the same name to redevelop housing in the neighborhood.
On the corner is a storefront, with some interesting renovations over the years that closed in the windows and the first floor.
