Passing White Castle, and what is now the vacant lot where this house once stood, we come across this grand house. It turns out this house was at one point the home of Fifth Ward Alderman Louis Ford. It must have been really impressive inside back in the day before it was abandoned. North of…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Hebert Street Between Nineteenth Street and North Florissant Avenue
Walking west on Hebert, I realized I had never really looked at the houses down this stretch of street. The views on the gently rolling terrain can sometimes be wonderful, as we spot Most Holy Trinity off in the distance. There are more well-preserved Second Empire houses, many with their original slate Mansard roofs. And…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Hebert Street Between North Fourteenth and Nineteenth Streets
I could have sworn I’d posted all of these buildings before, but apparently not. The house above was actually originally a school, sitting on the northeast corner of the intersection of Fourteenth and Hebert. Heading west, we encounter one of the most intact blocks in all of Old North. There is a wall of Second…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Sullivan Avenue Between Blair Avenue and North Fourteenth Street
I’ve apparently never photographed this section of Sullivan Avenue between Blair Avenue and North Fourteenth Street. There’s a wide variety of architectural styles, and for the most part, while there are some vacant lots allowing long views to the backs of other buildings, the street wall is intact. But the Second Empire architecture is really…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Dodier and Wright Street Between North Fourteenth Street and North Florissant Avenue
I remember when there used to be buildings here. They were not in good shape, but they were still salvageable. I photographed them back in March of 2014 and mere weeks or only days of their destruction in January of 2020. (last photo). They were demolished by later that month. Their neighbor on Dodier to…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Fourteenth Street Between Warren and Wright Streets
Over the next two weeks, leading up to the Fifteenth anniversary of St. Louis Patina, I’m going to be looking at the Old North St. Louis neighborhood. In many ways, it’s the area of the city that first got me interested in the preservation of St. Louis way back in the fall of 2006 when…
Bumper Plating, Cleaned Up
The northern end of Texas Avenue between Sidney and Victor streets on the west side has possessed a fascinating and strange history since the 1870s. Originally, the house above, a Greek Revival duplex, sat on an isthmus flanked by a lake to the south and a pond to the north in the southeast corner of…
The Beauty of Dutchtown, 64: Louisiana Avenue Between Osceola Street and Taft Avenues
The Beauty of Dutchtown Series left off with No. 63. South on Cleveland High School, we proceed southbound on Louisiana Avenue, first looking at the east side of the street. There are your standard middle class Second Empire houses, along with the transitional modes of that style. But there are also houses where brickwork dominates,…
St. Francis de Sales Parish School
I’ve often regarded Roman Catholic parishes as much more than simply a church, but rather campuses of multiple buildings, including but not limited to a rectory, convent, school and even other buildings. St. Francis De Sales originally had a building on the southeast corner of Sidney and Iowa that housed a musical corps. The parish…
Odds and Ends from the Winter of 2022
Occasionally I build up some photos that don’t really go with anything else, and I present them to you here. Above is a nice house on Lemp Avenue across from the brewery that is now an AirBnB. For the longest time, it was a band practice space. Moving across the old St. Louis Commons to…