Examining the Damage, St. Augustine’s

I think by now most of my readers know about the serious fire that struck the former St. Augustine’s on the night of December 8th on the western edge of the St. Louis Place neighborhood. I went out early on Saturday to take a look at the church and assess the seriousness of the structural…

Fire at Former St. Augustine’s

Update: I went back and surveyed the damage to St. Augustine’s in this post from December 20, 2022. The unthinkable finally happened. A fire broke out in the former St. Augustine’s which had finally been taken under the wing of Project Augustine, who were working to save the mighty church. Despite the (misogynistic) naysayers, Brittany…

St. Augustine’s, Sunset, Early May, 2020

I no longer worry about St. Augustine’s like I did in the past, now that young and energetic people are working to save it. But I realized that I can still continue to come by at sunset and photograph the edifice in all its glory. And I’m no longer going to use the tag “Abandoned…

Checking In On St. Augustine’s

Elves have a long history in Western Civilization, going all the way back to Norse mythology. They are often tricksters, causing trouble for humans, but they also sometimes surreptitiously provide help to them, as well. Working in the mists and outside the view of human eyes, their labor is often done beyond the temporal plane…

The Resurrection of St. Augustine’s

As I wrote this Monday in St. Louis Magazine, the long suffering St. Augustine has been purchased by Brittany Breeden and is going to be rehabbed as a community center. No, it’s not going to be returned back to an immaculate copy of what it looked like in 1900, but rather it will be stabilized,…

North St. Louis, Late Summer, 2019

I met new people all over North St. Louis this summer, including members of the congregation of the Original Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in the Ville neighborhood, on St. Louis Avenue. Better Family Life had organized dozens of churches to host barbecues all summer long, and the Church had been one of the participants. I…

St. Augustine’s, Late December, 2018

I’m not sure if much has changed since the last time I photographed St. Augustine’s, but it is still in a state of deterioration that does not bode well for its future.