Is this actually legal?
Tag: They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To
They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To, An Update
One of the first features of my series of They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To was this horribly settled section of concrete in Hermann. I am pleased to report that the concrete has been fixed, as you can see below. But what the heck? This bridge support below is now floating in thin…
They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To #7: Landslide!
St. Albans had some problems with roads washing out recently.
Bosley Estates, Revisited, Hyde Park
Bosley Estates is still looking a little rough around the edges…But, there has been some attempts at finishing, as Tyvek or one of its equivalent competitors had been installed on the side of the house. Unfortunately, they did not finish.
They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To #6: The New Entry to Downtown, More of the Same
The new entry into downtown St. Louis, through the newly configured Tucker Boulevard from the Stan Musial Veterans’ Bridge, could be a great opportunity to spread urban development northward from downtown. St. Louis is hamstrung by having interstates, dead zones and housing projects ringing its downtown like a noose, and unlike other major cities where…
Bosley Estates, Hyde Park, Fall 2013
Something has been happening at the site of the abandoned Bosley Estates, but it is not the type of activity I would want. One of the houses’ back door was kicked in, and I can only imagine they have all been stripped of valuables long ago.
They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To #5
I came across these burned out public housing buildings on the Near North Side. The vinyl siding is melted and collapsing off of the building. Why are they left like this? They look worse than many of the abandoned historic buildings nearby.
They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To #4
Update: Rebuilt with much of the same construction materials. I once read an article in the Washington Post years ago about how cities in the suburbs of Washington, DC were learning that non-brick construction allowed fires to spread quickly, and they were revising codes to require brick on sides of houses. Didn’t people already discover…
They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To #3: The Poplar Street Bridge
Update: I wrote an article about the Poplar Street Bridge at St. Louis Magazine years later. The proposed RV park under the bridge was mercifully never built. The bridge is still under construction. The Poplar Street Bridge was the last of the four great bridges over the Mississippi in downtown St. Louis, and the sixth…
They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To #2
I came across this bizarre sight while on my survey of Hyde Park last weekend: a row of unfinished buildings lining a street cleared of all historic structures. All the houses are unfinished, unsecured, falling apart, and cheaply built, but the one on the end is the most shocking. I constantly rant and rave about…