One of the most important bridges in the history of architecture and engineering spans the Ohio River in between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. Opened in 1866, years before the revolutionary Eads Bridge in St. Louis, it served as the important prototypical step for the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Construction faced the same challenges:…
Tag: Apartment Towers
The Optimist International Building
Update: On August 23, 2021, the Optimist building’s demolition received another denial from the Preservation Board. No word on what the Optimists will do with their building in the future. The Engineers Club, further down Lindell to the east, is now threatened with demolition for a similar conversion to an apartment building. As of this…
West Pine Boulevard Between Newstead and Taylor Avenues, South Side
Heading west then from Newstead to Boyle Avenue on the south side of West Pine Boulevard, we see some more Romanesque Revival and related houses that survived later development. I particularly liked the house below, with its massive rounded tower out front. Then there’s this forgettable 1960s apartment building; I have a friend who lived…
Hawthorne Apartments, West Pine Boulevard
I looked at the Hawthorne Apartments a long, long time ago, and I was walking down West Pine Boulevard recently, realizing again what a beautiful building it was. It’s typical in that it has a heavily ornamented base, much like a classical Greek or Roman column, then a less decorated shaft, and the finally a…
Views of Central St. Louis from St. Louis University Hospital’s Parking Garage
I was checking out the beautiful Emil Frei & Associates stained glass windows in the chapel of the new St. Louis University Hospital, and when I looked out from my perch in the parking garage, I captured the stunning view of the skyline of the central corridor of St. Louis. Above is the Central West…
Maryland Plaza Between Euclid and Kingshighway, North Side
Now known as Maryland Plaza, the stretch of street between Euclid Avenue and Kingshighway was originally just Maryland Avenue. But it was platted with wide setbacks, and fire insurance maps show that it was known as Maryland Place. The apartment building above and below sits far back from Maryland, following the setback rule. But of…
Maryland Avenue Between North Taylor and Euclid Avenues, North Side
Next up is the long block from North Taylor to Euclid avenues, which starts with a double apartment building, which included a storefront on the corner, which could be supported due to the density of the neighborhood. Indeed, at the height of the Central West End, many of the apartment buildings in the area had…
McPherson Avenue Between North Newstead and Boyle Avenues, North Side
At the northeast corner of North Newstead and McPherson avenues, we see something surprising: an apartment building. It makes me wonder what would have happened to the rest of the block if the population of the Central West End had continued to become denser. Would more houses have been knocked down and replaced with similar…
Kingshighway, Fall 2019
Kingshighway south of Lindell is dominated by apartment buildings, but most importantly by the hospitals which have come to symbolize the east end of Forest Park. The Park Plaza tower to the north will always be a landmark, above, but below the “ABCD” buildings are still iconic examples of the high style of the early…
100 Above the Park, Under Construction
They sure do stack ’em high, as sometimes contributor to this website, Jeff Phillips, once famously said back when we were in college.