Update: See more of Salena Street to the north in November of 2019, and more extensively in the spring of 2020. 

The back streets of Benton Park have some of the best preserved Second Empire houses in the city. But some nice examples of half-flounders sneak in as well.

Below is one of the most stupendous Mansard roods in the city, with an articulated roofline behind the classical pediment. I had seen this house once before, and I stumbled upon it again.

Later houses then came and filled in the remaining lots. In classic St. Louis fashion, this two family flat tried to camouflage itself as a single family.