Update: More like $500,000 to $1,000,000. They’re coming along on building the $300,000 houses on West Olive Street in Grand Center, and the lake I had photographed before is now gone. The new houses actually have some panache, and are turning out better than I expected. However, what was demolished could have easily been saved….
Tag: Libraries
Revisiting Carondelet: Michigan Avenue Between Haven Street and Loughborough Avenue
Heading south of Haven on the west side are a row of house from a wide age range, including many old wood frame buildings. But first there are two brick houses, both of which look to be apartments now. Below, this wood frame house with a hipped roof is very old, perhaps before or just…
Third Street, Louisiana, Missouri
Third Street is the main north-south corridor in Louisiana, Missouri, heading up to the bridge that crosses over the Mississippi River. The bridge was actually just replaced in the last year or so, and recently removed. Third Street rises dramatically up the hill towards the bridge (which has no western approaches since the bluff is…
Highland, Illinois and the Schott Brewery
Highland, Illinois is an interesting town, located east of St. Louis in a part of the state that was settled early and Chicago was still a small town. It is around 10,000 people, and sits right on major rail lines and Interstate 70. Settled by Germans originally, there is still a strong influence in the…
Greenville, Illinois
Greenville, Illinois is an interesting small town located at the furthest reaches of my Metro East category. There’s a small college there, and some nice buildings. The house above is now a funeral home, while the Carnegie library below is one of the most unique I have ever seen. The reading room below the dome…
Redevelopment on Broadway
Update: Renovation of the LaSalle Building into a Hotel Indigo is now complete. A long-forgotten stretch of Broadway is finally seeing redevelopment. First up is the LaSalle Building, which I have photographed in the past, but that Built St. Louis has covered with much better images. Korte Construction has a great page explaining its renovation…
Baden in Winter #32, Halls Ferry Road
Halls Ferry Road is a major commercial artery in North County, but it has a residential feel along its path through Baden. It has many of the same problems as back on the side streets. The Baden Library is in a strangely renovated building, that looks like it was gutted and rebuilt completely within its…
Hyde Park in the Morning Light #3, Old Divoli Library
Years ago, when I photographed this old library before, it was the “Library Service Center,” whatever that is. There were not the piles of stone lying around the fenced in yard. I like this corner with “History” and “Travel” as well as “Art” and “Music” on the other side. Look at the thought put into…
Light Posts and Flag Poles, Central Library
A Beaux-Arts architect left nothing to chance, assiduously designing every aspect of a commission. Even the lamppost, such as the one above, received first class treatment, and was not purchased on-line from Home Depot. The flag pole, above and below, also has a wealth of ornamentation and symbolism. Griffins and other allegorical figures that probably…
Main Portal, Central Library
The main portal, with archways inspired by the Barberini Palace, possesses important names from literature. The largest names: Goethe, Milton and Racine, represent the major languages of St. Louis, German, English and French. In the roundels below those three names, in between the arches, are Homer, Dante Alighieri, Virgil and William Shakespeare, representing the languages…