I thought it would be interesting to check in on one of my favorite places in St. Louis, those narrow ancient streets of the old rural village at the northern end of the intersection of Jefferson and Gravois that is now the southern tip of McKinley Heights. I looked at Charless Street in June and…
Tag: Early Vernacular
Gumbo
Where there is now a Walgreen’s, a McDonald’s, a gas station and an entrance ramp onto Interstate 64/Highway 40, there was once a small town named Gumbo, which lay in the larger area known as Gumbo Flats, rechristened Chesterfield Valley nowadays. Settlement occurred out here early with the Long Family being prominent; Chesterfield Airport Road…
Museum Hill, Part Two, St. Joseph
Not all of Museum Hill is so elaborate. This portion of the neighborhood is down near the Patee House, which we already looked at. There are many more duplexes in what was clearly a more working class part of town. Also, it was built very early. There is more abandonment. But then we ascend back…
North Twelfth Street, Cathedral Hill, St. Joseph
Over on the east side of Cathedral Hill, north of Frederick Street, is just another street full of amazing houses, just giving an impression of the architectural richness of St. Joseph.
St. Joseph Roman Catholic Cathedral
Sitting on a ridge that gives its name to Cathedral Hill, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Joseph dominates the eastern end of the slope. Surrounded by intact urban fabric, the cathedral’s brick exterior blends in well with the neighborhood. The building below functions as the offices for the cathedral as well as a food…
North Up Blair Avenue, College Hill, March 2024
We cross into College Hill and look down Obear Avenue, which I looked at back in the snow of the winter of 2019. Below is the wood frame half flounder I’ve photographed many times over the years. Further north I came across that pocket of wood frame houses, which must be very, very old. Sadly,…
North Up Blair Avenue, North of Penrose Street, Hyde Park, March 2024
Heading north from Penrose Street and continuing our tour in Hyde Park, we see that Ferry Street is blocked off again, no doubt due to another problem with the sewer underneath in what was originally a deep chasm in the natural topography of the earth before the neighborhood’s development. We detour to the east down…
North Up Blair Avenue, South of Penrose Street, Hyde Park, March 2024
Heading north up Blair into Hyde Park, we pass by those streets with little bungalows built in the early Twentieth Century. I know there are many more that are abandoned now than when I first came up this way in 2008. The house below hasn’t changed for the better since I photographed it in January…
North Up Blair Avenue, North of St. Louis Avenue, Old North, March 2024
North of St. Louis Avenue, things were quiet, and little has changed. There aren’t really any new collapses, or demolitions to speak of. We reach Branch Avenue, which is the border with Hyde Park.
The Houses Around the County Hospitals
Having just looked at all those “county” institutions, I want to briefly look at this interesting cluster of very old wood frame houses that sit on the streets to the north of the former Lunatic Asylum. As mentioned before, in 1875, Pictorial St. Louis shows few if any houses around. But clearly right after that,…