Update: This is Euclid Avenue, just north of Lee Avenue. See more of this street and the neighborhood in this post from August of 2023.
Tag: Penrose
Somewhere Around Penrose or Fairgrounds Neighborhood
I always find it fascinating how a row of houses born together begin to die and transform as the decades go by.
Former Quarry, Back from the Dead, Penrose
Oops, someone didn’t fill in the old Union Quarry well enough and the houses have all settled! And now they’re being torn down one at a time. Essex Court, as it was called, was a common occurrence after the quarries were closed after World War II. Unfortunately, they’re now collapsing. Here you can see it…
Penrose, Revisited
Tucked away in between I-70 and Natural Bridge Avenue, the Penrose neighborhood seems both isolated and heavily populated at the same time. Yes, there is abandonment, but along the strangely narrow streets, there is a lot of life. There are no major institutions per se, so it is a place probably not familiar to most…
Carousel Motel
Years ago, I asked some of my students who live in North St. Louis about that intriguing Modernist hotel on Kingshighway just north of Natural Bridge Avenue. In response, one of my students replied, “That’s not a hotel, that’s a motel; that place is so sleazy they charge by the minute, not by the hour.”
Ashland School
Update: I went back and revisited the school in January of 2021. Built in 1909 according to plans by William Ittner, the Ashland School is still occupied, which is a pleasant surprise when so many are going empty.
Penrose and Fairgrounds, Tucked Up By the Interstate
Update: I revisited the area in the late summer of 2021 around North Newstead Avenue. Tucked up in the bend of I-70 that now leaves most of its streets truncated to the north, I found the most interesting, quiet part of the Northside. The area still has a fair amount of wood frame houses, indicating…
Lee Avenue
Update: I returned in the summer of 2023. Lee Avenue is for some reason a broad, open street, with a fascinating mix of architectural styles. You can almost see the development of the city decade by decade as you drive along it.
San Francisco Court
We discovered another amazing Modernist enclave in North St. Louis, just to the northeast of Natural Bridge and Kinghsighway. Originally a victory garden during World War II, it was purchased by a developer and turned into ranch houses in the 1960’s. The western portion of the tract became the Carousel Motel, facing Kingshighway.