Jumping around a bit, we’re back to the intersection of Morgan Ford and Gravois, and we’ll head south, starting at this replica of a famous landmark in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina. We looked at the intersection before, and saw there was once a row of buildings at the corner that is now a parking lot and vacant lot.

I have good news to report on that vacant lot; Tower Grove CDC is constructing senior housing on the site, which the first major construction project in decades in the Bevo commercial strip.

Heading south on Morgan Ford, I am intrigued at how the housing stock turns its fronts away from the major thoroughfare, which is a rarity in St. Louis.

And there are a ton of strange triangular lots, leaving the backs of garages facing Morgan Ford while the houses’ front doors open onto quiet sidestreets.

But I’m always intrigued how owners of these triangular lots adapt to their unique circumstances; obviously these properties are not for everyone!

Sometimes the solution is just a massive privacy fence.

The intersection of Morgan Ford and Gravois creates a series of fans, so as you travel further and further away, the side streets between the two get longer and longer.

And while the primary period of suburbanization was the early Twentieth Century, hence the abundance of Arts and Crafts houses, there are still some much earlier exurban housing stock.

Our tour of the Gravois corridor in Bevo comes full circle, as we arrive back at Bates Street just north of St. Matthew’s Cemetery, which we examined last week.

And like many intersections in St. Louis, the corners are anchored by storefronts. But with the rise of big box stores and even just what I might call “normal” grocery stores, there is no more need for every neighborhood to have a small butcher shop, dairy, etc.