Heading north from Romaine Place, I traveled north on Hamilton Avenue towards Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. I could have sworn I’ve been up this section of Hamilton Avenue, but I guess not. This stately building was the Franke Motor Car Company, constructed for $25,000 in 1925 and designed by Otto J. Kriegg, whose offices…
Tag: Historic Buildings
Demolition, Wellston
They seem to be demolishing one of the landmark buildings in the Wellston Loop, on the County side of the strip. The sign high up on the tower says Plumbing Supply Wholesale Distributors, but I don’t think that’s the original tenant. Anyone remember what this building was?
North Up Blair Avenue, Hyde Park, May 2026, Part Two
At Salisbury, we continue on past the fire station, which has been there for over a century, though the one below is not the original. The park is probably the original topography of the land. It starts to get very leafy north of the park as we continue up Blair Avenue. There have been many…
South Seventh Boulevard Between Barton Street and Shenandoah Avenue, West Side
I looked at a segment of the west side of South Seventh Boulevard (remember, the east side was annihilated for the widening of the major traffic artery back in the mid Twentieth Century) in November of 2025, so I thought I would photograph more of the surviving and reconstructed urban fabric to the south, heading…
Convent of the Sacred Heart
It was hiding in plain view. This old photograph of the French Market, which I had posted way back in October of 2020, featured a very prominent gable roof with windows that are obviously that of a church or chapel. Digging deeper, I discovered that the block of South Broadway, Hickory, 6th and LaSalle streets…
Kaskaskia, West Side of the Mississippi
We visited Illinois recently without having to cross the Mississippi River. Yes, it’s possible, in what of the stranger parts of the greater St. Louis region south down Interstate 55. Back in November of 2010, we saw the remnants of the colonial town of Kaskaskia, that once sat along the banks of the Kaskaskia River,…
Yahn Dam, Weldon Spring
That strange concrete structure we saw two days ago is the spillway that Theodore Yahn built for what was going to be an earthen dam, which would have filled in a valley. It was never completed, so this stairstepped monolith remains in the woods.
From the Vault: The Roof of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, October 2006
It’s hard to believe that just under twenty years ago I was allowed to run around on the roof of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and take these photographs. Above is looking west down Constitution Avenue NW and the National Archives and Federal Triangle. Above, this is looking east at the U.S….
End of Autumn 2025 Odds and Ends
Here are some leftover photos from the last six months. Above is a Falstaff sign in Benton Park. Above, looking down a street in what I think is Kingsway East towards the Chase Park Plaza, but I can’t be sure. Above is the Missouri Athletic Club, which I snapped while sitting at the light at…
High Street, Revisited, Jefferson City
Starting at Broadway Street and heading east or more southeast on High Street, we first see the Roman Catholic Proto Cathedral of St. Peter, just across the street from the Missouri Capitol. A proto cathedral is a former cathedral; the present church dates from 1883, and it was the seat, or cathedra of the diocese…