Northwest of the old LeTourneau works, we pick up Northeast Madison Street again, no doubt looking at the former workers’ homes of that once massive factory that helped win World War II. Houses are built close together, and there is a rhythm to their placement and massing. There are very few abandoned houses in this…
Tag: Streamline Moderne
Casa de Salud, Former Pinkley Motors
I figured there was more to the building at the southwest corner of Chouteau and South Compton avenues. From around 1950 to 1961, this was Pinkley Motors. I couldn’t find much information on the company, but the Bob and Tom Show had a skit on their radio show with the same name. Anyone know the…
TUMS Factory
I realized I had never photographed the TUMS factory in downtown St. Louis. It is noteworthy for many different reasons. Rob Power of Built St. Louis calls it the first major industrial building in the Modernist style in St. Louis, and I also feel like it has the stylistic underpinnings of the Art-Deco and Streamline…
Demolition, Wellston
They seem to be demolishing one of the landmark buildings in the Wellston Loop, on the County side of the strip. The sign high up on the tower says Plumbing Supply Wholesale Distributors, but I don’t think that’s the original tenant. Anyone remember what this building was?
Peabody Elementary School
Peabody Elementary School is another institution with a long history in the neighborhood just south of downtown that can be traced back to at least the 1870s if not earlier. At one point it became known as Clinton-Peabody, and as some readers might remember, it shared the name of the housing projects nearby. A new…
Washington Boulevard, Revisited June 2026
I’ve looked at Washington Boulevard before west of North Jefferson Avenue, but I took another look a few weeks ago. Nothing has happened at the Jamison Memorial Church since the fire. Above is Central Baptist Church, an African American congregation which is over 180 years old, and I’ve always like its current Modernist home. This…
Balson Avenue East of University City High School
I never give University City enough of its due. I headed down Balson Avenue east of University City High School, itself a work of art, and checked out some of the amazing single family, two family and four family houses a look. The architecture of these houses are just stunning, at a time, from my…
Cafe Florentine and Other Sights, Downtown, Birmingham, Alabama
Much like St. Louis and its Woolworth Building in Grand Center, Birmingham also has a two story base that was designed with the intention of later having an upper office building added. The Florentine, which is not surprisingly in the Renaissance Revival Style, was built in 1925-27 according to designs by the architect, David O….
Neosho Street Between Hampton and January Avenues, Part One
We’ll look at Neosho Street over the next several days, starting in the west at Hampton Avenue and going east and back in time, so to speak. Of course, first we seen rows and rows of Gingergbread style houses, which is what we sort of describe as Neo-Gothic Revival architecture, and is very special and…
Avenue G, Part One, Fort Madison, Iowa
As part of our continued series of looking at Iowa river towns north up the Mississippi River from St. Louis at the end of the month this summer, we next head to Fort Madison, crossing over a massive bridge combining both rail and road. Fort Madison’s street grid is laid out with numbered streets starting…