Update: At some point by mid-December of 2018, the western side wall suffered a catastrophic collapse, threatening the structural integrity of the house. It was finally demolished in April of 2019.
Your tax dollars at work! The State of Missouri has jealously owned a group of historic houses on Samuel Shepard Drive for a couple of decades, and now the SaLees Kennard House has suffered a collapse of its back service wing.
It is still salvageable, it the State would have it.
We’ll keep monitoring it, and see what is done to save this valuable piece of history.
It’s confederate history, so let it collapse. Net positive.
Ben,
I can see that perspective, but man, it’s such as cool house! It was probably not SaLee’s house longer than it was.
Chris,
Perhaps you should de-emphasize the Confederate and VP history of the Kennard House. Neither one of those things engenders much love from me (and I am a historic preservationist). Its architecture alone is reason enough to preserve the house as a rare surviving example of an ashlar-fronted post-Civil War Italianate townhouse, a typology once common in the area but which is now the last of its type in the immediate vicinity (putting things in Section 106 Review-type language always helps the cause when dealing with bureaucracy). Of course, if you or a motivated group could convince Harry Bozoian (who I believe qualifies as the Missouri state historic preservation officer in his role as head of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources) to convey the property to another group for restoration in accordance with Section 253.405.1 (assuming Historic Preservation Revolving Fund has been spent by the state), that would likely satisfy the state (since it would spend no money) and those interested in preserving this house. Of course that would be a big undertaking and would have to happen very quickly.