Heading up Merchant Street, we first hit the Felix Vallé House, which is state historic site. He lived in one half and operated a store in the other half.

Oftentimes referred to the Fedderal Style, which I more commonly heard used when I lived on the East Coast, the 1818 house is really an expression of classical style, even if it doesn’t have columns or a portico. It’s about the philosophy behind the proportions and massing of the building.

You can see more of that Greek Revival and Neo-Classical styling with the more obvious dormer in this auxiliary building below. Plate glass had not been perfected yet, so windows were composed of smaller piece of glass, held together by muntins.

Much of St. Louis was once this dense, of course, but in many American cities this is now illegal to have so many buildings built on one lot.

Across the street is the Antoine Parfait DuFour House, also constructed circa 1818, functioned under various uses including a bank, office, warehouse and other uses. It shows just how sophisticated the town of Ste. Genevieve was becoming just a few years after annexation by the United States.

Here are a couple of other houses nearby.