Let me tell you a story about a creek. It was called the Gingrass Creek, and some geniuses thought it would be a good idea to bury it under a large section of the Baden neighborhood. I looked at this area back on that freezing cold morning back in the winter of 2018. You can…
Tag: In-Fill
Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa
Buddy Holly played the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis on April 15, 1958. Less than a year later, he, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens would be crisscrossing the Upper Midwest in the dead of winter, hitting small ballrooms such as the Surf Ballroom in the small town of Clear Lake on the shore of…
Maplecrest
You maybe noticed I ignored the little house above yesterday when I talked about the western half of Bartmer Avenue. There’s a reason why: it’s the last remnant–the carriage house–of a long lost estate known as Maplecrest, or sometimes written Maple Crest. Back around 1960, Union Memorial was moving out from its previous location, and…
West End of Chamberlain Place
I’ve looked at the Chamberlin Addition (Bartmer Avenue between Union and Clara) numerous times over the years, first when Toby Weiss of BeltSTL and I discovered it way back in April of 2012.and found the amazing Union Memorial United Methodist Church, which was then featured in this post by Toby. I also revisited the street…
Main Street, St. Charles, Revisited
We were wandering down Main Street in St. Charles and realized I hadn’t really taken very good photos of these buildings, which are primarily in the Greek Revival style. I’ve photographed some of them before in September of 2014. These are some very old houses, and their backsides are of interest, too. Most are built…
Grandview Drive, Peoria Heights
Straddling the city of Peoria and suburb of Peoria Heights, Grandview Drive offers panoramic views of Lake Peoria, a widening of the Illinois River as its wends its way through the prairie, buffeted by bluffs to the west. Originally envisioned in 1894, construction began in 1903 and was completed several years later. Laid out like…
The Little Office Building, McKinley Heights
I have always been intrigued by this little building, sitting on a trapezoid of land at the northwest corner of Gravois and Victor. What is now a doctor’s office was originally the offices of attorney Paul J. Simon, who also served as a state representative in the 1970s. But there was a two-story building here…
Around Hall Street, Cathedral Hill, St. Joseph
There’s more amazing architecture to the west on the slopes of Cathedral Hill, which we examined at different times of the day and dates. There has been some recent in-fill on what had been a recently cleared area of several blocks. There was an abandoned school, and I had to wonder if it was an…
North Up Blair Avenue, South of Penrose Street, Hyde Park, March 2024
Heading north up Blair into Hyde Park, we pass by those streets with little bungalows built in the early Twentieth Century. I know there are many more that are abandoned now than when I first came up this way in 2008. The house below hasn’t changed for the better since I photographed it in January…
Around Saint Louis University Hospital
The heights around the intersection of Chouteau and Grand have long been the location of healing institutions going back over one hundred years. The Bethesda Hospital group still exists, and this was actually its second location. It was located right around here just west of Grand on Vista. The landscape has definitely changed, with the…