Russell Boulevard Between California and Ohio Avenues

I’ve looked at the stunning block of Russell Boulevard numerous times over the years since it’s one of my favorite stretches of houses in the city. Following the street naming convention of “Indian tribes,” this section was originally known as Pontiac Street. One time was back in March of 2015 when I focused on the…

Ann Avenue Between Ohio and South Jefferson Avenues

I actually looked at Ann Avenue back in November of 2017 in two parts, here and here, in between Ohio and South Jefferson Avenues. Back then, the storefront that would become the restaurant Savage was yet to be renovated; the windows are now covered again. You either got a chance to eat there or you…

Armand Place Between California and Ohio Avenues

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be looking at the east-west streets in Fox Park and Compton Hill in between California and South Jefferson Avenues. We’ll start in the south with Armand Place and work our way north, ending with Hickory Avenue in the north. This first block is the Sarpy’s Subdivision…

South Seventh Boulevard Between Shenandoah and Geyer Avenues

Crossing Shenandoah Avenue and heading north, we see this house standing by itself. It’s obvious that the front facade has been relaid, and judging from the tagging, it’s been sitting like this for a while. But moving north, we see tow examples of houses where there has been successful relaying of brick and occupancy. These…

The Second SLU Medical School

The founding of the second Saint Louis University Medical School is quite the convoluted story, and if I make any errors, please let me know in the comments! It is the story of two earlier schools, the Beaumont Medical School and the Marion Sims Medical School and their eventual uniting under the SLU aegis. There…

Some Unique Vanished Churches

I think one of the more interesting aspects of the built environment in St. Louis is the number of churches we have lost not due to neglect and disinvestment but rather due to rapid growth. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the earliest churches in St. Louis that…

Twenty-Three Years of Paul McKee: Old North

Old North was originally going to be in the footprint of the Northside TIF (Blairmont, one of the shell LLCs, takes its name from a property McKee bought at the intersection of Blair and Montgomery in the neighborhood). But neighborhood opposition caused the McKee to withdraw Old North from his plan. The only problem is…