A tree fell in the forest and I wasn’t around to hear it, so to speak. As a couple of my readers know, I lived in Baltimore, Maryland, from 2004 to 2005 in the Hampden neighborhood, a former mill town north of downtown along the Jones Falls. One of the most prominent landmarks in the…
Tag: Redevelopment
The End of Rock Alva
Thanks to a tip, I learned that Rock Alva’s last central portion (the majority of the estate had already been sold off) was recently sold and subdivided off into a small housing development. The only building to survive is the stable, where the Griesediecks used to skeet shoot. I do not know what its future…
Old Cervantes Convention Center
So I didn’t know this, but America’s Center is actually four distinct entities, with the old Cervantes Convention Center being one component. Originally opened in 1977 on Convention Plaza (ever wondered why there was a street named that nowhere near the entrance?), Cervantes took up much of the old Columbia Square neighborhood. Designed by HOK,…
Around Hall Street, Cathedral Hill, St. Joseph
There’s more amazing architecture to the west on the slopes of Cathedral Hill, which we examined at different times of the day and dates. There has been some recent in-fill on what had been a recently cleared area of several blocks. There was an abandoned school, and I had to wonder if it was an…
Downtown St. Joseph
Downtown St. Joseph is quite nice, with minimal amount of land turned over to pointless parking lots. There are many buildings being renovated, and there are many interesting businesses. There is this huge mural on the side of a wall where there is a parking lot. If there is cause for concern is that there…
The Stockyards and Industry Today, St. Joseph
Opening in 1887, the St. Joseph Stockyards was just one indication of the importance of the city to the burgeoning trade in the West. It once stretched to 413 acres and moved a half million animals a year in the 1920s. A beautiful exchange building sat at the front door, and according to my research,…
North Up Blair Avenue, South of Penrose Street, Hyde Park, March 2024
Heading north up Blair into Hyde Park, we pass by those streets with little bungalows built in the early Twentieth Century. I know there are many more that are abandoned now than when I first came up this way in 2008. The house below hasn’t changed for the better since I photographed it in January…
Former Frisco Hospital
As we discussed yesterday, St. Louis as a railroad hub featured two railroad hospitals, which was fairly unheard of compared to other cities. The second one was operated by the Frisco Railroad, and was located on Laclede Avenue just east of Kingshighway. It is now a retirement home with a severely altered front door, which…
The Former Poor House Chronic Hospital
Color me shocked when I figured out that there are still buildings standing from the old County Poor House and Chronic Hospital just south of Arsenal and east of Hampton. The oldest building has its back to 59th Street, seen above. The building below looks to have originally faced Arsenal Street and attaches to the…
Around Saint Louis University Hospital
The heights around the intersection of Chouteau and Grand have long been the location of healing institutions going back over one hundred years. The Bethesda Hospital group still exists, and this was actually its second location. It was located right around here just west of Grand on Vista. The landscape has definitely changed, with the…