Update: The seminary buildings were demolished in 2023. The former Holy Family Seminary in Overland is now Wild Acres Park, but the buildings are still well-preserved and the grounds well-maintained. They have sort of a 1940s proto-Modernist interpretation of the Spanish Revival, which I sort of like. Like St. Stanislaus Seminary in the Florissant area,…
Tag: Spanish Revival
Fanning Elementary School
What’s now Fanning Middle School, and what will soon be a vacant building, was originally an elementary school. It’s one of the most interesting and architecturally rich of the schools designed by William B. Ittner in 1907. Clear views of the school are now blocked by some strange looking trees, but it’s a mix of…
The Vanished Theaters of Gravois Avenue
There used to be so many more theaters in St. Louis, and they’ve mostly been demolished. Take the Granada, seen above, and then look below, where the theater and its entrance have been removed and turned into a parking lot for the apartment building that originally attached to the theater. It was fairly common for…
The Beauty of Dutchtown, Part 33: Iowa Avenue Between Keokuk and Chippewa Streets
I could have sworn I’ve photographed these beauties on the west side of Iowa Avenue just north of Keokuk Street. They were clearly built at the same time, but each one is unique in their decoration (though probably largely the same on the inside). Only one, above on the right, is abandoned, which is too…
Forest Park Visitors’ Center, Revisited
I photographed the Forest Park Visitors’ Center way back in September of 2012, on what was a cloudy day. I went back on a sunny day and captured these pictures. There were more beautiful flowers out front here, as well. This is an interesting building, which started as a streetcar shelter, suffered a fire, and…
Parkdale Avenue Between Westwood and Audubon Drives, Clayton
Update: I went back to the area in January of 2024. For some unknown reason, I found myself heading east down Parkdale Avenue in Clayton a couple weeks ago. In many ways, it is sort of the perfect urban. First, there is a block of apartment buildings, for those who need or want a small…
Tennessee Avenue Between Magnolia and Shenandoah Avenues, East Side
Heading north up Tennessee Avenue, there are more houses that come in pairs or in triplets. And again, most are actually two-families disguised to look like single-family houses. The architecture reflects the more linear and stern forms of early Twentieth Century building trends in the areas around Tower Grove Park. But there are also houses,…
Walbridge Elementary School
Walbridge Elementary, in Walnut Park, has some pesky trees in the way that make taking clear shots of its entire front facade difficult. Luckily a photograph from the 1950s shows just what a beautiful composition the school is. It was designed by Rockwell Milligan and opened in 1922. It continues the Ittner/Milligan firm’s tradition of…
Fredericktown and Mine La Motte, Madison County
Fredericktown is the picturesque county seat of Madison County, Missouri, south of St. Louis quite a ways in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It was the site of a Civil War battle due to the nearby lead mines needed to create bullets during the conflict. The courthouse sits in the middle of the town…
Old Shriners’ Hospital, Complete
The rehab of the old Shriners’ Hospital is complete, and it is now open as apartments. It won one of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis annual most improved awards for 2019.