North Broadway never ceases to fascinate me. As usual, I refer to it as a street, and also an area. For example, the above and following two photos are on or around Holly Avenue. The image of east of Broadway, if you have one, is usually one of warehouses, factories, or sadly, abandonment. It is…
Tag: Streamline Moderne
Under the Viaducts in the Mill Creek Valley, Part 3
Update: The building above was demolished in the fall of 2022. There are still some buildings just south of Highway 40 that were designed when Market Street still passed by their northern facades, such as the one above. But when the highway was built after World War II, they suddenly found themselves in limbo. See…
Under the Viaducts in the Mill Creek Valley
Update: See the second post in this series here and third post here. Historic photographs prove the valley between Chouteau and Forest Park Avenue was never some Lafayette Square-type neighborhood full of beautiful houses that deteriorated into a wasteland. No, it was always a gritty, industrial, traintrack-laced warren where coal dust and smoke scarred the…
The Factories on Etzel Avenue, Wellston
Update: The GE factory was demolished by December of 2022. The old General Electric Consumer & Industrial Lighting factory was closed in 2007, after being in business for over one hundred years. 175 employees lost their jobs. The giant buildings are now either completely abandoned or at the most, underutilized. Despite the famous riverfront in…
5300-5400 Blocks of Cabanne Avenue
Out in the suburbs of the West End, I think the long block of 5300-5400 Cabanne Avenue, in between Union and Belt Avenues stands out as one of the most interesting. It is just to the north of Windermere Place, and the Hodiamont “Suburban Track” Streetcar line right-of-way runs on the north. There has been…
A Depressing Block
I’ve long said that this website is about breaking down prejudices and showing people that there are many great things about all parts of this city, but man, sometimes there is just nothing good to say about some isolated forgotten pockets of St. Louis. Let’s take the 4100 block of 21st Street, for example. There…
Chris Christen Pontiac
Update: Thanks to longtime and valued reader Tom Maher, this was identified as Chris Christen Pontiac. The identification was corroborated by old advertisements in the Post-Dispatch. I found this old building, just east of Kienlen Avenue at 6171 Natural Bridge in Pine Lawn. Does anyone remember what this was? It looks like an old car…
16,000 Sq Ft For Lease
This building sits in a sort of no-man’s land, right next to N. Florissant, on a street that doesn’t look like it’s been paved in decades. It has 16,000 square feet if you’re looking for that much space.
Streamline Modern Apartment Building
Obscured by tress, but yet still a striking building, this group of apartments feature streamline modern details such as glass block windows, buff brick and a simplified ornamental profile. The curved windows anchor the corner of the building, which is really just a group of six-family flats built right next to each other.