I’ll be honest; a lot of the Loire Valley featured run-down barns and beaten up farm implements interspersed with mostly new houses built in the last thirty years. But occasionally there were awe-inspiring châteaux and stunning towns that have preserved their historic architecture. One such place is the city of Blois, which sits on the…
Tag: Houses
Hameau de la Reine
Easily our favorite stop in the grounds of the Trianon was the Hameau de la Reine, or Queen’s Hamlet, constructed on the order of Queen Marie Antoinette. Despite centuries of slander, Marie Antoinette was not a clueless ditz who pretended to be a peasant girl in her Barbie hovel playset. In reality, the Queen’s Hamlet…
End of Summer Odds and Ends
I first would like to invite readers out to my free lecture on the history of the Lemp Brewery tomorrow, at 11:00 AM, September 20, 2022 at the Missouri History Museum. Its architecture was born out of the designs of highly influential architects Edmund Jungenfeld; Theodore Krausch; Widman, Walsh and Boisselier; and Guy Tyler Norton. I will be…
The Beauty of Dutchtown, 69: South Grand Boulevard Between Liermann Avenue and Keokuk Street, West Side
I’m usually white-knuckling my steering wheel as I’m driving north or south on South Grand Boulevard, having picked up my carryout at Banh Mi So #1. But recently I finally decided to take a closer look at the buildings on the west side of the street of the major thoroughfare that cuts through the heart…
The Beauty of Dutchtown, 68: South Broadway Between Osceola and Meramec Streets
The Beauty of Dutchtown Series left off with No. 67. South Broadway through Dutchtown is an interesting street. It is sort of a mess. There are houses facing it, but for the most part, the neighborhood turns away from it south of the intersection of South Broadway and South Jefferson, which I looked at back…
Two Churches in the Land Between the Rivers
We looked at two churches in that flat bottomland sandwiched between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers that forms an almost peninsula-like eastern tail of St. Charles County. The first one, Trinity Lutheran Church at the intersection of Highway 94 and Church Road, dates from 1876, when it was calved off from Emmanuel Lutheran. The church…
Union Boulevard Between Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Wabada, West Side
Passing by MLK Dr., we see increasing abandonment to the west in Wells-Goodfellow. The houses are also more modest. Judging from the brick patterns on above the doorway and the two upper windows of this four-family, I suspect this buildings front façade was once far more ornamented. Storefront churches often fill the old corner spaces….
Union Boulevard Between Minerva Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, West Side
Not every major street in the city is lined with stores, and particularly some of the most trafficked in North St. Louis, such as Page and Union are mostly residential along much of their paths. North of Page on Union, there are some interesting surprises. We start at Minerva Avenue. Crossing over Ridge Avenue, many…
The Edge of Tower Grove East, Nebraska Avenue Between Sidney Street and Shenandoah Avenue
Passing over Sidney Street, the street grid switches from long north-south blocks to longer east-west grids, so there are more utilitarian structures such as garages facing Nebraska Avenue. I don’t remember this store ever being open, but that vending machine has always been in operation. This alley house looks to be occupied. Then there’s this…
The Edge of Tower Grove East, Nebraska Avenue Between Magnolia Avenue and Sidney Street
Crossing Magnolia Avenue, former Rappahannock Street, we see the side of one of my favorite houses in St. Louis. It’s interesting as there is really sort of just a stock housing mass in this city, and then builders would simply add different fronts. It’s illustrated perfectly here. I’ve photographed the Magnolia elevation here (fourth photo)….