One of the more popular former Catholic parishes that I’ve posted about before is the former St. Engelbert’s on Shreve Avenue in the Penrose neighborhood. It might also win the informal award of “Largest Catholic church building most people have never heard of in St. Louis,” as well. It’s huge. I was poking around on…
Tag: Penrose
Shreve Avenue Between Kossuth and Anderson Avenues
Continuing north on Shreve Avenue, there are more four-family apartment buildings, many of which are in great condition. But sadly there is starting to be a lot of abandonment. When you hear on the news about the US Census issuing new estimates about population loss, particularly among the Black middle class in St. Louis, it…
Shreve Avenue Between Natural Bridge and Kossuth Avenues
I find Penrose to be an interesting neighborhood, and as I was heading back north after seeing the despoliation of the Western Lutheran Cemetery, I snapped some photos of the architectural variety along Shreve Avenue. Yikes, this house has some problems! But they’re not structural, as I always remind people, in these houses the side…
Lee Avenue Between Marcus and North Newstead Avenues
Things continue to look great crossing over Marcus Avenue as we remain in the Penrose neighborhood heading east on Lee Avenue. A first appears, which is multi-family housing, as seen above. But then some really fascinating and unique Gingerbread houses reappear, and they show designs that I haven’t seen anywhere in the city. There’s even…
Lee Avenue Between North Kingshighway and Marcus Avenue
I had some time to kill, so I decided to explore the entire length of Lee Avenue from North Kingshighway to North Grand Boulevard. While there’s technically four blocks east of Grand, there are not any houses facing the street. At Kingshighway, Lee technically turns to Brown Avenue and enters the Mark Twain Industrial Park….
Penrose, July 2022, Part Three, Anderson Avenue and Environs
Like St. Louis Hills or North Pointe, the housing styles continue to vary from Cape Cods to even very simple versions of the Colonial Revival. The streets are quiet and there were only people mowing and tending their garden when I went by in the morning. And of course, there are large number of Gingerbread…
Penrose, July 2022, Part Two, Penrose Avenue and Environs
Continuing on Penrose Avenue, more or less, we see more housing stock that reminds me of the Greater Ville, which of course is not very far away, just south of Natural Bridge Avenue. I’ve always been intrigued by these little one-story houses with the false roof on the front façade. But then, we see a…
Penrose, July 2022, Part One, North Newstead Avenue and Environs
I’ll be honest; I got totally lost in the Penrose on Saturday. I really love the neighborhood because it’s so hidden away and so few people know about. I wanted to get back and see how it was doing, and show off more of its great, well-kept streets and tidy streets. But I don’t know…
The Forgotten Bircher Boulevard
I thought I would look into greater depth regarding the former Bircher Boulevard, which while still preserved as a highway exit off Interstate 70, has largely been destroyed. I looked at the houses on the south side of the former boulevard back in April of 2019, and I can only imagine what happened to the…
North Newstead Avenue, Penrose
I’ve long been interested in the diagonal streets and rugged terrain of the northeastern corner of the Penrose neighborhood. At the intersection of North Newstead and Carter avenues is the old Christian Hospital, which is now the Prince Hall Senior Services Center. Like many hospitals, Christian moved out to the suburbs. Heading north up Newstead,…