Update: The school had further deteriorated when I checked up on it in August of 2022.

Mark Twain Elementary School is so trashed, that it is not even listed on the St. Louis Public Schools’ surplus property page (feel free to look and see if you can find it–I couldn’t). This school was paid for with tax dollars, maintained with tax dollars, and tax dollars are being wasted as it is stripped and decimated. It was once so beautiful, as you can see below.

See pictures at Built St. Louis from about a decade ago to see how much it’s deteriorated in the last ten years.

It’s located in the Mark Twain neighborhood, though I consider it part of the greater Walnut Park area. It was an anchor for the community, and now look at it.

It’s really a beautiful design, showing the influence of Tudor England with its elaborate brickwork and turrets. The terracotta roundels above the arcade on the first floor are a nice touch.

The roofline reminds me of merchants’ houses in a Hanseatic city.

I wonder what causes an entire bay of windows to be completely blown out of their frame. The weather? Vandals or scrappers?