As Charles Dickens said in one of my favorite books, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Let’s get the worst of times out of the way first up in Old North. This act of deprivation committed against what was and could be a beautiful building on Hebert Street (I last photographed it back in May of 2022) has been victimized by what is possibly a foreign group of property speculators whose calling card is slathering their buildings in a single, ugly color.
Red doors and placing windows that are far too small for fire code are par for their course, as well. And no, you can’t get an occupancy permit in the City of St. Louis for a house “rehabbed” like this. What their game plan is remains a mystery, but the damage to several dozen historic properties is obvious. The house next door is still safe, thankfully.
The good news is on the south side of Old North, where there have been fires. And lo and behold, buildings that I thought were goners instead are being repaired! So just when you think there is no hope, there can be. Here was the street back in August of 2018.
Hopefully help will come for the corner storefront, which I’ve looked at before, back in May of 2022.
My best guess is that the first speculator, having invested in a coat of paint on top of the cost of the property, hopes to find a bigger investor to recoup their original investment and turn a quick profit. They aren’t in the landlord business as that word is regularly used.
I enjoyed your old North pictures. This neighborhood is the ancestral home of my maternal relatives, most of whom were baptized at old Zion Church. I understand the building is still there.
We learned in the 1970s that the corners were the key to saving the fabric of entire blocks of districts / neighborhoods. soulard was a prime example of the importance of corner stores which had to be nurtured and repaired .