Clocking in at 47 stories, the Leveque Tower in downtown Columbus, Ohio, is a standout example of an Art-Deco skyscraper that opened in 1927 as the American Insurance Union Citadel. It was built as a 600 room hotel with an attached theater. The architect was Charles Howard Crane, who was actually active mainly in Detroit….
Tag: Art-Deco
Spires, Skyscrapers and American Skylines
I was thinking recently about how Western Civilization cities are defined by their skylines. In Europe, major cities were dominated by the spires of their churches and in their cathedrals. Take the city of Cologne; if you look above there is sort of a gentle pyramid shape formed if you follow the lines over the…
Lightwell, Carnahan Courthouse
I was in the Carnahan Courthouse recently on some unrelated business and I spotted an open window that looked into one of two lightwells for the building. I took these photos blindly, sticking my camera out the window. It’s interesting to see how the HVAC systems have been installed in the lightwell since there was…
Botanical Avenue from South Spring Avenue to South Grand Boulevard
Crossing South Spring Avenue, we reach the final block in our survey of Botanical Avenue in the Shaw neighborhood. The first house on the corner is an impressive example of what I might call almost Tudor Revival or Jacobethan in style. Interestingly, it also appears to have been originally built as a two-family flat. The…
Wagner Electric
I wrote an article about the tragic end of the manufacturing giant Wagner Electric in Wellston, just west of the St. Louis City limits back in May of 2019 in St. Louis Magazine, but I found some cool diagrams of the plant so I thought I would revisit the buildings on Plymouth Avenue. I always…
J. Milton Turner School, Meacham Park
Named after a freed slave, the J. Milton Turner School was built as part of the Kirkwood School district in Meacham Park, a predominantly African American area that was only later annexed into the City of Kirkwood (many of us know how that turned out). Of course, the school was segregated at the time of…
Demolition, Federal Cold Storage Warehouse
I went by on Saturday to check on the demolition of the Federal Cold Storage Warehouse on North Broadway in the Near North Riverfront neighborhood. The fire at this point was now extinguished as far as I could tell and only North Broadway was closed, and will be for a several more weeks while demolition…
A Second and Final Fire, Federal Cold Storage Company
Demolition began less than a week after the last fire was extinguished. Back in May of this year, I commented on the little-noticed fire at the former Federal Cold Storage Warehouse on North Broadway. I had remarked that a fire in such warm weather was suspicious. While the weather was cold the last couple of…
Lincoln Mausoleum, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield
I made a pitstop in Springfield, Illinois during a rainstorm and stopped by the Lincoln Mausoleum, which some people insist on calling a tomb. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Under reconstruction on the exterior, I focused on the interior. Its history is convoluted, so I will defer to other websites for the mausoleum’s…
Washington Boulevard Between North Compton and Garrison Avenues
Stretching out to the west of Jefferson Avenue was the massive Daniel D. Page Addition, which encompassed thousands of parcels, largely platted between 1858 and 1871. Page was the second mayor of St. Louis and he also was heavily involved in real estate. A substantial portion of what we now call Midtown was once owned…