In case readers living outside of a metropolitan region where there is currently no TopGolf, I thought I would take a couple of photos to show what such facilities look like. This is the one out in Chesterfield. Perhaps the most prominent feature is the giant net which wraps around the field where players seek…
Tag: Theaters
Neoclassicism and Beyond, Paris
Moving along now so we can get back to St. Louis, here is a smorgasbord of Paris buildings that have broader implications on world architectural history, including here in the Gateway City. First up is the Madeleine, which was originally built by Napoleon to glorify his reign, but was then converted into a church. It’s…
Mount Airy Missionary Baptist Church
I learned an interesting story about this church and its parking lot at the southwest corner of Marcus and Maffitt in the Greater Ville neighborhood. If you look closely, it becomes obvious that the large white rectangle on the brick wall is in fact an old movie screen, and the parking lot is a former…
Central Park, Downtown Jacksonville, Illinois
Jacksonville was founded by groups of “Yankees,” from New England, many of whom were graduates of Yale University. I can’t help but think the influence of the large town commons and greens of cities such as New Haven played a part in the design of Central Park, the outsized town square of Jacksonville. The center…
Second Avenue Northeast, Independence, Iowa
Praise the Lord for Frederick J. Bandholtz and his panoramic photos of several towns around northeastern Iowa, including the downtown of Independence. Above you can see straight ahead Second Avenue Northeast, which looks much the same now as it did then. We’ll start up at the north end of the block at Second Street Northeast…
Ivory Theater, Former St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church
Founded in 1860, though the building is clearly from later in the 19th Century, St. Boniface closed in 2005 and was sold to developers who turned it into the Ivory Theater. It’s Romanesque Revival in many ways, but not compeletely. The towers have more of a Baroque Revival feel to them, and the pediment reminds…
The Vanished Theaters of Gravois Avenue
There used to be so many more theaters in St. Louis, and they’ve mostly been demolished. Take the Granada, seen above, and then look below, where the theater and its entrance have been removed and turned into a parking lot for the apartment building that originally attached to the theater. It was fairly common for…
The Beauty of Dutchtown, Part 40: Virginia Avenue Between Walsh and Delor Streets
I’ve looked at this stretch of Virginia Avenue between Walsh and Delor many times before; the Virginia Theater sits on a triangle of land where Vermont Avenue comes up from the left, and there’s a row of little 1950s in-fills houses. But turning around and heading back south from Delor, there are several amazing apartment…
North Side of Washington Park, Downtown Quincy, Illinois
Hampshire Street in between 4th and 5th street contains an exceptional row of Italianate buildings that are more or less well-preserved since the Nineteenth Century. Some are missing their cornices or their first floors have been altered, but for the most part, they look the same as when they were built. The Italianate style, like…
Former West Belleville Township High School
Update: The City of Belleville bought the high school campus back from the university and is converting it into an training center and office complex. Originally opened in 1916, the old West Belleville Township High School served the entire community, before the size of the population necessitated the breaking off and creation of the East…