We walked up two blocks to Avenue E, past Central Park, where there is a miniature Statue of Liberty. They even got the little fort at the base correct. Below is the Fort Madison United Methodist; it seems to have had two earlier buildings before this and even purchased their bell from Montgomery Ward. This…
Tag: Mannerist Revival
After the Tornado: Around the Ville and Greater Ville
Fountain Park, which has been in the news a bunch already, was crowded with disaster relief efforts so I continued on, not wanting to get in the way. I headed up North Taylor Avenue, taking a quick look at the Lewis Place neighborhood before heading into The Ville. I’ve looked at the building above before,…
After the Tornado: Photographing Destruction
I grappled with whether I should take or post any photographs of the tornado damage that struck St. Louis on May 16, 2025, which a reader noted will now be indelibly linked with the anniversary of the founding of this website on the same day. Is it ethical to photograph destruction, and in particular people’s…
Two Unique Buildings, Indianapolis
The former Deutsches Haus, renamed the Athenæum during World War I due to anti-German sentiment remains a landmark in the Lockerbie or Germantown neighborhood of Indianapolis. There was some major restoration going on around the front of the building when I visited, so these historic photos show what it looks like overall. It’s perhaps a…
Former Carondelet YMCA
Designed by Study and Farrar, the former Carondelet YMCA, which has now moved across the interstate, opened in 1926. It’s a great example of architecture based off Hanseatic cities merchant houses of the Sixteenth Century as the Italian Renaissance finally began to work its way north of the Alps with the idiosyncratic style of the…
St. Joseph Roman Catholic Cathedral
Sitting on a ridge that gives its name to Cathedral Hill, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Joseph dominates the eastern end of the slope. Surrounded by intact urban fabric, the cathedral’s brick exterior blends in well with the neighborhood. The building below functions as the offices for the cathedral as well as a food…
Oak Hill Elementary School
Named after the heights that were owned by the Russell family and contained their clay and coal mines (their estate was to the north), Oak Hill was designed by William B. Ittner and opened in 1907. As is typical of many of Ittner’s schools, the building has a Northern European Sixteenth Century influence to it,…
Emmaus Homes, Fall 2022
Update: Hoffman put the property up for sale in October of 2023. It was purchased by a local couple that is now restoring the property. We swung by Emmaus Homes, which is now Chateau Hoffman, to see what was going on. It looks like there is a pause in renovation after the clearance of trees…
Emmaus Homes, New Lease on Life
Update: We went back in the fall of 2022 to see if there had been more construction. The site had been mothballed. Hoffman put the property up for sale in October of 2023. It was purchased by a local couple that is now restoring the property. Bonjour mesdames et messieurs! Bienvenue au Château Hoffman! OK,…
Alexander Hamilton Elementary School
Alexander Hamilton Elementary School is tucked away in the neighborhoods north of Forest Park, only two blocks south of Delmar. It’s surrounded by a park and quiet residential streets, and to the northeast a major Metro depot. It was designed by Rockwell Milligan, of the famous firm of Ittner Milligan, and it looks like many…