Despite the drought, nature has once again returned to St. Louis Place to slowly swallow up houses and storefronts long sitting vacant.
Update: The Winckelmann mansions was demolished after suffering further collapse due to brick theft. The buildings below were demolished for the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in 2017. The City of St. Louis cut ties with Paul McKee’s Northside in June of 2018.
The Winckelmann mansion sits partially demolished, as efforts continue to salvage the front façade.
Other, less famous houses sit in derelict obscurity, probably not long for this world despite their architectural significance to the city.
Hopefully the rest of St. Louis Place will not go the way of the southern portion, where just about the entire fabric of the city has been annihilated.
I attempted to use census reports to find the houses my family lived in during the first half of the 20th Century in the St. Louis Place, JeffVanderLou and Near North Side neighborhoods. Every one of them is now an empty lot surrounded by a lot of other empty lots. It is a appalling that huge swaths of our city’s history have been wiped off the map while other once charming yet still-standing neighborhoods are infested with crime the likes of which I thought I would never see in my home town. It makes me angry that I can’t visit my family members who are buried in Resurrection Cemetery because police have warned me that it’s too dangerous. I don’t have an answer. St. Louis is such an amazing and beautiful city and I just wish everyone would take better care of it.
Debbie, who told you that Resurrection Cemetery on Gravois in Afton is too dangerous? You should contact the Archdiocese if you do not feel safe there.
I believe that was an early-onset senior moment. I meant to say Calvary Cemetery. Resurrection Cemetery, as far as I know, is perfectly safe.
Debbie, the neighborhood to the south of the cemeteries, Walnut Park, is indeed not a particularly safe area of the city. However, I have been to Calvary cemetery numerous times and have always felt safe. There is a security guard, and I have never seen random people wandering around the grounds. I would encourage you to visit. Florissant Ave is a safe street as well, and the entrance is only a mile from I-70.
St. Louis Place interests me as well. when you look down the line of urban parks you are almost taken back to a better time when the neighborhood around it was full of houses and families. A time when young children would have been allowed to roam this park freely without the fear of crime. It is truly sad that this is the state of St. Louis, and St. Louis place in particular. Also what in the world is that thing in the middle of the park with water and jungle gym around it.
Mentioning Walnut Park…one of my ’58 HS mates grew up there. Flash forward 50+ years and one of his daughters is a Sgt. with the SLPD; she has emphatically forbidden Dear Old Dad from visiting his old neighborhood, whether on a Sunday morning (almost as bad as Fri-Sat nights) or even weekdays when school is in session.