The rehab of the old Shriners’ Hospital is complete, and it is now open as apartments. It won one of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis annual most improved awards for 2019.
A Blog detailing the beauty of St. Louis architecture and the buildup of residue-or character-that accumulates over the course of time.
The rehab of the old Shriners’ Hospital is complete, and it is now open as apartments. It won one of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis annual most improved awards for 2019.
Those windows really look terrible. Black, metal, commercial windows were not the right design choice. Bad windows or not, I imagine that the Landmarks Association wanted to highlight the project, since the complex was in danger of demolition a decade ago. A project like this shows “the powers that be” (for the umpteenth time) that renovating historic buildings is a far better option than demolishing them for vacant lots or cheap development.
I definitely see your point, but my attitude has always been that the building is safe from demolition now for decades, and better windows can always be installed in the future (and hopefully they will!).
What would have been a better window style for that building? Personally I think they look nice.
They probably would have the original window design that was more in keeping with its Spanish and Moorish Revival style, but it is a small quibble. Here is a postcard of what it looked more like originally:
https://nextstl.com/2015/01/historic-shriners-hospital-may-avoid-wrecking-ball/