At first, I was flabbergasted to find the site of the Joseph Sappington House to be an empty lot, but some quick Google research led me to discover that the log cabin has been disassembled and is going to be (has already been?) moved to a new location next to the Thomas Sappington House. I’ll…
Kassebaum House and Environs
The August Kassebaum House sits on Lemay Ferry Road just north of Butler Hill Road; it was built in 1907 at the unincorporated village of Mattese. Designed by William Wedemeyer, its advanced ornament and design shows just how wealthy Kassebaum had become as a merchant out in this isolated corner of South County. His storefronts,…
St. Paul’s Church and Cemetery, Oakville, and Environs
Let’s head south, deep into South St. Louis County and check out some very old historic sites. Our first stop is St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Oakville, which was probably originally a German Evangelisch church. There are multiple expansions here, including a Modernist sanctuary as well as an English Gothic Revival church building facing…
Lakeshire
I know an acquaintance who lives in the small South County city of Lakeshire, so I finally made it out there after becoming intrigued by its appearance through Google Street View. Apparently the town has restrictions that only ranch houses can be built, but that is only partially true as there is a belt of…
J. Milton Turner School, Meacham Park
Named after a freed slave, the J. Milton Turner School was built as part of the Kirkwood School district in Meacham Park, a predominantly African American area that was only later annexed into the City of Kirkwood (many of us know how that turned out). Of course, the school was segregated at the time of…
Grantwood Village
In the late 1920s, the R. Mederacke Realty and Investment Company began the development of what was originally known as Grantwood Terrace, just to the east of Grant’s Farm on Gravois Road. Lots were at least 100 feet wide and ranged from 240 to 350 feet deep. Architectural styles were typical of the time period…
Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church
Sited on a prominent stretch of Loughborough Avenue in St. Louis Hills, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, designed by famed Modernist architect Harris Armstrong, was completed in 1960. See interior views at Built St. Louis; I agree with Rob’s appraisal that the clerestory was surely not originally painted sky blue, but was probably gray. The church…
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Tucked away on a quiet side street in St. Louis Hills, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church might very well be one of the first expressions of Modernist ecclesiastic architecture in St. Louis. The church, constructed in 1939, created quite the stir when it opened, and was featured in a glowing review article in the Globe-Democrat by…
St. Louis Hills, November 2024
I was in St. Louis Hills so I thought I would see if I could find as many Spanish Revival houses as possible. I ran out of ones to find after awhile. The house above was probably not painted white originally. The houses and apartment buildings of St. Louis Hills represent an interesting transition from…
Former Klondike Silica Quarry
Heading out towards to Augusta, there is an amazing St. Charles County park that encompasses the old Klondike Sandstone or Silica Quarry. Originally owned by German immigrant Wilhelm Engelage, the property was purchased by the Tavern Rock Sand Company in 1898, which first had to blow off the top 85 feet of bedrock before the…