I started this website fifteen years ago today, and we’ve come a long ways since then. Three reboots, two crashes, and hopefully now it looks better than ever due to the hard work of around twenty WordPress technicians back in January and February of this year. Thankfully, there are still plenty of new things to…
Tag: Storefronts
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, North Market Between Jackson Place and North Florissant Avenue
I could have sworn I’ve photographed North Market Street west of Jackson Place before, but apparently not. There are all sorts of interesting buildings, including some in-fill. There are still some abandoned houses, as well. My friend Matt renovated the house on the right below. It is still not completely done yet, but looks great…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, North Eleventh Street Between Montgomery and Monroe Streets
I’ve long been intrigued by this corner storefront sitting right by the interstate. The black paint is the from the never-ending efforts of Operation Brightside to cover up graffiti. The city agency is currently winning at this address, but the tide of battle will probably turn the other way sometime this summer, and so on….
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Hadley Street Between Wright and Montgomery Streets
Heading south on Hadley Street, we pass by some houses that we’ve looked at before, back in September of 2019. The problem with this street is that it is a major cut-through to get over to the on-ramp onto southbound Interstate 70, so cars fly down this stretch. Who wants to listen to people revving…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Branch Street Between North Twentieth and Nineteenth Streets
Branch Street forms the nebulous boundary between Old North and Hyde Park, and there is much vacant land in this border region. Also, there are many more wood frame houses that speak to the old age of the buildings. On neighboring streets such as Knapp Street and other nearby streets, Paul McKee’s ownership has furthered…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Hebert Street Between Nineteenth Street and North Florissant Avenue
Walking west on Hebert, I realized I had never really looked at the houses down this stretch of street. The views on the gently rolling terrain can sometimes be wonderful, as we spot Most Holy Trinity off in the distance. There are more well-preserved Second Empire houses, many with their original slate Mansard roofs. And…
Old North, Revisited Winter 2022, Fourteenth Street Between Warren and Wright Streets
Over the next two weeks, leading up to the Fifteenth anniversary of St. Louis Patina, I’m going to be looking at the Old North St. Louis neighborhood. In many ways, it’s the area of the city that first got me interested in the preservation of St. Louis way back in the fall of 2006 when…
The Beauty of Dutchtown, 64: Louisiana Avenue Between Osceola Street and Taft Avenues
The Beauty of Dutchtown Series left off with No. 63. South on Cleveland High School, we proceed southbound on Louisiana Avenue, first looking at the east side of the street. There are your standard middle class Second Empire houses, along with the transitional modes of that style. But there are also houses where brickwork dominates,…
Renovation of the Old Bavarian Inn
There’s some great news at the long dormant and abandoned, and frequently vandalized former Bavarian Inn restaurant at the southeastern corner of Arsenal Street and Minnesota Avenue. The rehabilitation will return a restaurant space and outdoor patio to the old storefront facing Arsenal, and the house facing Minnesota will become a rental property. A later…
Jerseyville, Jersey County, Illinois
Jerseyville, the county seat of Jersey County, is out in the country north of St. Louis, but I still lumped it in with the Metro East due to its proximity to the city. The courthouse, the third one on the site, was designed by Henry Elliott of Chicago. Erected in 1893, which the front façade…