Looking into a tip a reader provided me, I went and looked at a burned out hulk of a house down in Carondelet. It’s never good when a house sits in this state for any amount of time. I then headed around the corner and went up Virginia Avenue, which is a mixed bag of…
Tag: Carondelet
Former Carondelet YMCA
Designed by Study and Farrar, the former Carondelet YMCA, which has now moved across the interstate, opened in 1926. It’s a great example of architecture based off Hanseatic cities merchant houses of the Sixteenth Century as the Italian Renaissance finally began to work its way north of the Alps with the idiosyncratic style of the…
Fire, Vulcan Street, February 2024
Bad news from the 7700 Block of Vulcan Street in the Patch neighborhood of Carondelet. While several homes are still occupied and maintained, fire broke out in the early evening on January 31, gutting the two stone houses and spreading to the brick house next door. I even think this house below might be occupied…
South Broadway from Schirmer to Loughborough Avenue
With the old South Public Market on our right, we turn left onto South Broadway from Schirmer Street. Before we get to Steins Street, there is this impressive row of commercial spaces. Many of them were probably built as Greek Revival houses that were then converted into stores with long cast iron beams holding up…
Schirmer Street East of St. Boniface
The houses east of St. Boniface are very old, including these two above. Sadly, their neighbor to the east didn’t make it. It was a very old two-story half-flounder, and while it had some structural issues, I wonder how bad it had gotten. Development is slow in this neighborhood, unfortunately. There’s some nice wood frame…
Former St. Boniface, Winter 2024
The former St. Boniface, and now the former Ivory Theatre, has seen some theft of the metal on the upper portions of the two towers in the last couple of years. But I’m told that there are new owners who are taking care of it now, and hopefully they’ll have it back open soon. For…
The Closure of Nursing Homes
The last decade or so has been rough on nursing homes in St. Louis. While readers at first might find the link tenuous to history, they must be reminded that many are in historic buildings, and likewise, neighborhoods are kept healthy when members of society are able to “age in place,” meaning they do not…
Fire Ravages South Broadway Row
Update: Damaged by another fire on March 6, 2025. Sadly, last week on April 26, this stunning row of buildings on South Broadway in the heart of Carondelet was heavily damaged by fire. The damage didn’t look too terribly bad from the front of these abandoned buildings, which I featured in a post back in…
Pennsylvania Avenue Between Hurck and Tesson Streets
Crossing Hurck Street, I’m intrigued by this first building. I suspect that it was originally built as a house, converted into a storefront, and then the retail space was then reconverted to living quarters and the display windows and front door bricked up. It is very unique. These are interesting blocks, with small bungalows that…
Pennsylvania Avenue Between Marceau and Hurck Streets
Crossing over Marceau Street, there are many houses that date from the late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century, with a few earlier houses mixed in. Very early wood frame houses are still standing, but they are rare on this block. I strongly suspect the house below was originally an Italianate style building, with a typical…