I was sitting at the light at South Spring Avenue and Gravois Avenue and caught these buildings lying along the north side of the latter. It’s a reminder that Gravois used to be a pedestrian oriented street, before houses were torn down and replaced with parking lots for fast-food restaurants. Unfortunately, due to the noise…
Tag: Storefronts
Hamilton Avenue Between Romaine Place and MLK Dr Drive, Hamilton Heights
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…
Progress in LaSalle Park
I have some good news to report about the Second Empire corner storefront at 1000 Morrison Avenue in the LaSalle Park neighborhood which I looked at in June of 2019. Due to the efforts of Landmarks Association of St. Louis and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, control of the building has been wrested away from…
Birthplace of Venerable Fulton Sheen and Good News at The Pines, El Paso, Illinois
First of all, there’s great news for the old Elms Restaurant in El Paso, Illinois. I spotted two people working on the roof, so it seems its long-awaited rehabilitation has begun. I first looked at the historic house and restaurant back in July of 2012 and then again in December of 2019. But I had…
Northeast Adams Street, Northeast Peoria, Late June 2026
The primaries for the 2026 midterm elections are coming up, so it’s time to see how Peoria is doing, and in particular, I like to look at Northeast Peoria. I drove up Northeast Adams Street, which is one-way to the northeast through much of downtown and northeast of the central business district, paired with Northeast…
Grafton, Jersey County, Illinois
Founded in 1832, Grafton is the oldest town in Jersey County. There were once large numbers of limestone quarries in the area very early on in the town’s history, and it reflects in the building materials of Grafton. Above is the Slaten LaMarsh House, dating from 1840 and the home of the first mayor of…
Washington Boulevard, Revisited June 2026
I’ve looked at Washington Boulevard before west of North Jefferson Avenue, but I took another look a few weeks ago. Nothing has happened at the Jamison Memorial Church since the fire. Above is Central Baptist Church, an African American congregation which is over 180 years old, and I’ve always like its current Modernist home. This…
End of Spring 2026 Odds and Ends
It’s that time of year, so it’s time for odds and ends! Above is a spandrel from a storefront in downtown Belleville, looking suspiciously like something Louis Sullivan would design. Below is just another house we found while driving around town. Cleveland High School is looking really, really bad compared to earlier visits; I first…
Elvis Presley Birthplace, Tupelo, Mississippi
On my way back to St. Louis from Birmingham, I passed through Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. The house is now a museum. Tupelo is a beautiful town that has successfully parlayed its major tourist attraction into a boon for the local economy. Instead of massive parking lots, the downtown has embraced new-urbanism,…
Redmont Park, Birmingham, Alabama
South of downtown is Redmont Park, and a host of other exclusive neighborhoods and I’ll admit that we probably wandered into other areas as well. I can say without a doubt that it is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the United States, and these photographs do not do justice showing that. It got…