The dense neighborhoods just north of downtown are almost completely gone, where people once lived in a density that most Americans would find surprising–though it’s still common in most of the world. There are a couple of those old rowhouses left, and I stumbled across this beauty whose elegance has been only slightly marred by…
Tag: Old North St. Louis
Fourth Baptist, Days Numbered, Winter 2016
Update, February 17, 2016: In what is easily the earliest update I have ever posted, the church was completely demolished this week. Poor Fourth Baptist is now under demolition, with the focus primarily on the older portions of the complex: the row house on Sullivan, and the old sanctuary to the north of the new…
Back in Business
Hey all, after a couple of weeks of St. Louis Patina being down, my good friend from college, Keith Aumiller, was able to rescue my blog from a bad hosting situation. The great news: the vast majority, as in upper 90% of the site was saved; the bad news: here and there, images were lost,…
Looking Through the Windows, Fourth Baptist
Update: Demolished in February of 2016. The interior of Fourth Baptist is destroyed, and in much worse shape than right after the fire. I shot these photographs by sticking my camera through windows and taking pictures blindly. What a shame.
Fourth Baptist, Weeks Away from Demolition
I’m starting to forget ever seeing Fourth Baptist before the fire in 2008. I know I saw it, walked by it, took pictures, but now I can’t seem to find them. It’s being torn down now, after sitting in this state of increasingly precarious ruin for closing in on a decade. ?? Update: Demolished in…
Back Wing, Old North
Update: This house has now been torn down and is a vacant lot. I had stopped for a quick snack at White Castle on North Florissant Avenue when I spotted this intriguing house on the other side of the fence. It possesses a huge addition on the back. Around the front, you might never notice…
Wood Frames Houses, Revisited, Old North
Update: See the house above in the winter of 2022. Chances are, unless the house was built before the city annexed the neighborhood, if you see a wood frame house, it is very old, as in Civil War or older. Old North is a very old neighborhood, and was even a separate town, and I…
1700 Block of Palm, Old North
These Second Empire houses are holding up well; they could easily be rehabbed despite being abandoned. This one could probably be, too, if Paul McKee would sell it to a rehabber. I’ve asked this question numerous times, but it still has never been answered. Why does he still own it?