Hamilton Heights, Early Summer 2023

We dive into the Hamilton Heights neighborhood at the corner of Hamilton and Minerva avenues, where on the northwestern corner “New” St. Augustine’s stands. I next headed east on Minerva down the hill, where there is that extraordinary row of four-family apartment buildings. I’ve documented them before in January of 2015, September of 2019 and…

The West End, Early Summer 2023

The West End neighborhood is one of my favorite parts of the city, and I recently went back to explore some more. I discovered that while many streets are seeing revitalization, there are others just east of the border with St. Louis County that are struggling with abandonment. These houses are off of streets such…

Cabanne Castle, August of 2022

I had been concerned back in November of 2021 that the Cabanne Castle, which had been gutted back in April of 2021 for redevelopment, was no longer going to be rehabbed. But when I went back two Saturdays ago, the construction site looked active again, so that is good news. There was evidence of tuckpointing…

St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church, May 2022

A friend and I were talking about this church recently, so I thought I would drive by and see how it was doing. The old St. Mark’s is not doing well, completely open to the elements and shorn of all of its copper gutters and roofing. I looked at it back in July of 2018….

Lewis Place to the West End, Winter 2022

I had some old photos I hadn’t gotten around to posting from what I think are the Lewis Place area, and I thought they are worth sharing. It’s such a beautiful neighborhood, full of some truly amazing houses. Moving further west, on streets of the West End, there are more houses and apartment buildings that…

Julian-Goodfellow Concrete Block Houses

Well, I’ll be darned! There’s another cluster of concrete block houses just a short distance away from the more heavily documented Oakherst Concrete Block House Distrct (I’ve looked at that area back in November of 2012, and September of 2019, but most extensively in October of 2017). While Oakherst seemed to be more of a…

5100 Block of Cabanne Avenue

I’ve looked at a little bit of Cabanne Avenue in between Union and Kingshighway boulevards before, but I decided to take a look at another section of the street between Clarendon and Academy avenues one Saturday morning. The housing stock is in great condition, with just a few abandoned buildings. It is more ornate than…

5300-5400 Block of Maple Avenue

I’ve actually photographed the houses above and below before, back when I looked at Maple Avenue in April of this year (last photo), but they were on the other side of a street closure, which are common throughout this part of the city. I’d looked at Maple another time, way back in December of 2015,…

Cabanne Castle and Vernon Avenue, West of Union Boulevard

Update: Renovation had continued in August of 2022 when I went by again. As I noticed back in April of this year, the Cabanne Castle was undergoing a gutting and presumed rehab. A building permit for $2,000,000 had been pulled in February, and hopes were high. When I drove by recently, it seemed like work…