Church of the Annunziata

Founded in 1929, the Great Depression and then World War II held up the building of the church of the Annunziata out on Clayton Road at Cella Road in Ladue. It’s in what I would call the French Romanesque Revival, and it cut a beautiful profile on a snow-covered Saturday when I visited. The church…

Ladue Middle School

Originally built as a junior high school for grades seven through nine, the gymnasium and lunchroom for Ladue Middle School has always impressed me. Designed by Murphy and Mackey, a notable St. Louis architecture firm, it opened in 1958 at a cost of $1,523,618. Designed for 1,000 students, the building has been altered over the…

Salem United Methodist Church

I’d long spotted Salem United Methodist Church just north of Highway 40 at the Lindbergh Boulevard exit, so I decided to look more in depth about its history. It turns out its story goes way back to the first decades of the Nineteenth Century in St. Louis. Founded by Dr. Ludwig Jacoby in 1841, its…

Ethical Society of St. Louis

Speaking of ethics, I had the opportunity to visit the Ethical Society of St. Louis a couple of weeks ago, just after heavy rains had roared through the metro area, leaving dramatic skies in the background of my photos. Designed by famed local architect Harris Armstrong, the building presented the designer with a conundrum: the…

Times Changing in Frontenac and Ladue

We made it out too late to document the trailer park in Frontenac, which had once housed workers who had processed uranium for nuclear weapons at Weldon Springs. I’m not being facetious when I say that this trailer park had a lot of history behind it. Below, we also viewed the site of the controversial…

La Hacienda

La Hacienda subdivision was laid out in the early 1930s, and the housing stock ranges from then to the 1950s. It is a unique blend of many different types of houses, from the Spanish Revival, like its gates, to the Tudor Revival. The Prado is the main boulevard entrance off of Ladue Road, just west…

Carmelite Monastery, Ladue

I made it out to the Carmelite Monastery in Ladue last Sunday and was pleasantly surprised. Here is their website. their original location was in Soulard. The church is a beautiful example of Italian Romanesque Revival, and the door is welcoming. I like the use of terracotta, which gives off a warm glow even on…

Old Railroad Right-of-Way, Ladue

Update: Thanks to readers, corrected on the actual use of this right-of-way; it was a railroad line. Disclaimer: Yes, I know this is a horrible photograph. Yes, Ladue once had mass transit passing through it, as this right-of-way, just off of Litzsinger Road demonstrates. Here is a picture of the track in use at the…