Disclaimer: This post is not an attack at homeowners, who due to economic hardship have painted their house, or who inherited a painted brick house. St. Louis Patina legal disclaimer: In no way is St. Louis Patina accusing or insinuating that the current owner of the building depicted in the above and below photos is guilty of the broad generalizations made in this post.
Driving west down Meramec in early September, everything looks fine at the former Feasting Fox, which closed during the pandemic, right?
Wrong. It’s not illegal, and in fact, you can do whatever you want outside of special historic districts in most of St. Louis, where the materials and colors of paint (if at all) are not regulated at all.
This is where I bash out-of-town investors again, who live in other parts of the United State, where I say with all due respect, just don’t have the same high quality of historic architecture that the august city of St. Louis possesses. I know that many people in the City and myself included are sick of people who possibly have never set foot in Missouri, let alone St. Louis, who order local contractors to paint our beautiful red (and brown and tan) brick, without any consideration of how it affects the aesthetic quality of our community.
And on a more simple, practical level, it’s a really great way to conceal bad or deteriorated tuckpointing or masonry. Buyer beware: if someone is callow enough to paint brick, what other poor decisions have they done inside with the wiring, plumbing or HVAC systems?
“Tell the truth, and Shame the devil”….
As a child in St.Louis, from age 8-16, I detested seeing brick homes and businesses painted the red color. As a young person, it literally was disturbing to my soul. This is the first time I shared the personal discomfort ….✌🏽
Yes, painting red brick red is a major pet peeve of mine.
I’m with you 100%. It’s a trend that destroys so much of the original quality of materials. people also don’t realize it can prevent the brick from breathing, retaining moisture that needs to evaporate outward, not inward.
Exactly, it can damage the brick longterm.
Now that’s some “what the heck,” choice of color for repainting an old restaurant building’s exterior. The old paint scheme looked allot better in my eyes. Plus I do like your “out of town” description for this post beyond the anonymous investors being out of state, especially when it comes to the domains of any long term civil responsibility and unurbanized land conservation, a “metro west” with more census labeled counties than the metro east
What the heck is right!