Heading east of Oregon Avenue, we continue on Osage Street in Dutchtown. There are rows of bungalows in a sort of Arts and Crafts style with jerkinhead roofs. Then there’s this interesting building, which at first glance looks like a ranch house but is actually an apartment building that is L-shaped, with two units on…
Tag: Gothic Revival
Avenue F, Fort Madison, Iowa
We then cut down one block to Avenue F on 8th Street, where there are still a plethora of beautiful Nineteenth Century houses. In particular, there are many Second Empire and Italianate houses. Then there’s this massive church. Union Presbyterian Church was founded in 1838, and is one of the oldest of its kind in…
Avenue E, Fort Madison, Iowa
We walked up two blocks to Avenue E, past Central Park, where there is a miniature Statue of Liberty. They even got the little fort at the base correct. Below is the Fort Madison United Methodist; it seems to have had two earlier buildings before this and even purchased their bell from Montgomery Ward. This…
After the Tornado: Wydown Boulevard, Clayton
I had just looked at this stretch of Wydown Boulevard back in January of 2024 in Clayton in between Big Bend and Skinker boulevards, and it has now been transformed due to the tornado of May 16. The trees and windows of the houses along here have been savaged. There are also signs of damage…
Evangelist Center, Former Grace and Eden-Immanuel Lutheran Church
Grace Lutheran Church first appears in records in 1926 at 6404 Easton Avenue, modern day MLK Dr. in Wellston. I’m a little torn in wondering if there was an earlier congregation in this church, as the architecture seems to suggest an earlier construction date than the 1920s, but I can’t be sure. By 1960, the…
Residential Neighborhood West of Dowtown, Keokuk, Iowa
“The town has a population of fifteen thousand now, and is progressing with a healthy growth. It was night, and we could not see details, for which we were sorry, for Keokuk has the reputation of being a beautiful city. It was a pleasant one to live in long ago, and doubtless has advanced, not…
After the Tornado: Around the Ville and Greater Ville
Fountain Park, which has been in the news a bunch already, was crowded with disaster relief efforts so I continued on, not wanting to get in the way. I headed up North Taylor Avenue, taking a quick look at the Lewis Place neighborhood before heading into The Ville. I’ve looked at the building above before,…
After the Tornado: Union Boulevard
Heading north on Union Boulevard, we see the damage to Waterman Place; normally the house above and below are largely shielded from view but with the trees destroyed, they are exposed. Many of the windows on the Chesterfield, below, have been blown out; I have been told that throughout the area affected by the tornado,…
After the Tornado: Photographing Destruction
I grappled with whether I should take or post any photographs of the tornado damage that struck St. Louis on May 16, 2025, which a reader noted will now be indelibly linked with the anniversary of the founding of this website on the same day. Is it ethical to photograph destruction, and in particular people’s…
Interior, Former Immaculate Conception, St. Henry’s
Just about everyone in St. Louis has heard now that the new pope, Leo XIV, served his novitiate to become an Augustinian here in St. Louis at the now closed St. Henry’s/Immaculate Conception at the intersection of Longfellow Boulevard and Lafayette Avenue. I’ve looked at the church twice, once back in February of 2011, then…