Corner stores rarely exist in St. Louis anymore, as larger chains have taken over. If you own a car, it’s no big deal to go to your favorite store. If you’re on foot, it’s a different story. That being said, I don’t resent places such as Family Dollar; at least they are willing to invest…
Tag: Penrose
Penrose in the Snow #6, St. Peter’s AME Church
Update: See the church again in the fall of the same year. Originally constructed in 1898 as the Salem Evangelisch Lutheran and Reformed Church, this stately Gothic edifice is now the St. Peter’s AME Methodist Church, the second oldest African-American congregation from 1847, moving into this building in 1962.
Penrose in the Snow #5, Arts and Crafts Apartment Buildings
Continuing St. Louis’s tradition of hiding apartment buildings in the guise of a single-family house, these wonderful Arts and Crafts two-family flats exist in whole streets around Penrose. They are smart investments, as the owner can live on one floor and pay the mortgage with a tenant on the other. I know several people who…
Penrose in the Snow #4, Arts and Crafts Bungalows
I love Arts and Crafts houses; they have a cool, almost modern perspective, but yet still using historic craftsmanship combined with woodwork and rustic stonework. There are whole streets of them in Penrose. And of course, the break with the red brick monopoly, at least on front facades, continues with this style.
Penrose in the Snow #3, Modernist Houses
Due to the late development of the Penrose neighborhood, there are also some interesting pockets of Modernist ranches and Cape Cods. They are all from after World War II, so they are ahead of the “obsolescence” curve that so often dooms houses in St. Louis from securing mortgages and home repair loans.
Penrose in the Snow #2, Gingerbread Houses
The Penrose neighborhood has whole streets lined with Gingerbread style houses, even though most people associate these houses with the St. Louis Hills area of South City. And they’re all well maintained, and the heart of the middle class community of North St. Louis. It’s pictures of houses such as these that I enjoy showing…
Penrose in the Snow #1, Anderson Avenue
Can we quit spreading the myth that the entire North Side is a disaster? It’s not. While there are clearly neighborhoods, such as Wells-Goodfellow that are severely depressed, other parts of the upper half of the city, such as the Penrose neighborhood, are doing perfectly fine, with high home ownership and community pride. But they…
Modernist Pocket
Update: I revisited the area in the early fall of 2021 around North Newstead Avenue and again in July of 2022. I’ve been up this way before, several years ago, and I’ve always been fascinated with this downright rugged part of the city, just south of I-70 and west of West Florissant Avenue. I suspect…
Around St. Engelbert’s, Penrose
The neighborhood around St. Engelbert’s is mostly from the early Twentieth Century, but some older houses are scattered throughout. These businesses above probably served parishioners coming out of Mass, or school children at the nearby school. But then there are these older houses, such as the Second Empire duplex below. But most houses and apartments…
Old St. Engelbert’s Roman Catholic Church
Update: I looked at the rest of the St. Engelbert campus, and the streets nearby. Rechristened St. Elizabeth, Mother of John (the Baptist) when several North Side parishes were closed, including Most Holy Rosary, St. Engelbert was a German national church. I usually associate the English Gothic Revival with Presbyterian or Lutheran churches, and it’s…