I was digging around in the vaults when I came across some twenty year old photographs of Philadelphia. They’re so old that they pre-exist my move back to St. Louis from the East Coast and the founding of St. Louis Patina. This is about five cameras back and lots of growth in my picture-taking abilities….
Old North, January 2026
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…
Minerva Avenue Between Hamilton Avenue and Goodfellow Boulevard, Revisited Yet Again
After checking out the West End, I realized I was close to that block of Minerva Avenue I liked so much, so I thought it was time to see how it was doing. The answer: not good. Compared to the first time I saw the block, which is now eleven(!) years ago in January of…
Oakherst and Oakley Places, West End
I thought I would take some more photographs of the Oakherst Concrete Block National Historic District while I was up in the West End. Platted in 1906 as the Woodland Park Addition, as we’ve seen before back in October of 2017, concrete blocks were manufactured on site for what was considered a new exciting building…
Bartmer Avenue Between Goodfellow Boulevard and Clara Avenue, West End
Crossing Goodfellow Boulevard, we first pass the former Cabanne Methodist Episcopal Church, which was located at this intersection from 1902 to 2003; it was previously several blocks to the south at Vernon Avenue. This is a long block, and its Sanborn map can be seen in this post for Chamberlain Avenue. As we saw to…
Bartmer Avenue Between Hamilton Avenue and Goodfellow Boulevard, West End
Heading east of Hamilton Avenue, Bartmer Avenue is north of not a parallel east-west street, but actually two, one-block north-south streets which are now blocked off, Parkland and Thornby places. I’ve looked at Thornby Place back in October of 2017. A synagogue once was located where there is now a parking lot on the northeast…
Bartmer Avenue Between Hodiamont and Hamilton Avenues, West End
I’ve looked at Bartmer Avenue in the Chamberlain Addition several times over the years, starting all the way back in April of 2012. This is Gamble’s Second Subdivision of Rose Hill, from 1871, which shows just how early this area was originally platted. We’re going to start at close to the city limits at Hodiamont…
Horton Place, West End
The Horton Place Addition was platted in 1887; city records do not preserve the name of the surveyor, though Julius Pitzman was active in the area at the time period. Sanborn maps split the one block (but very long) street into two maps. Above is the west end, and below is the east end. It…
Enright Avenue Between Goodfellow Boulevard and Porter Mall, West End
Crossing over Goodfellow Boulevard we reach the short stretch of Enright Avenue before we get to the Ruth Porter Mall, which the Sanborn Map shows the aforementioned Cabanne Way. We looked at the east side of the roadblock back in December of 2025. As is typical of Enright, the houses tend to be smaller and…
Enright Avenue Between Hamilton Avenue and Goodfellow Boulevard, West End
I somehow missed this block of Enright, the former Von Versen Avenue, back when I looked at the street west of Hamilton Avenue back in December of 2025. There’s been massive amounts of demolition, and when you look at the Sanborn map above, imagine that most of that brick you see is in a landfill….