Toby Weiss of B.E.L.T. St. Louis brought my attention back down to the block of houses across from the old St. Anthony’s Hospital site on South Grand Boulevard. The three houses are typical of the area, and remind us that originally major arteries were desirable (or not undesirable) building sites for upper middle to upper class houses.

The first house above seems to be an office now, but the second house below seems to still be a residence.

Update: The fire damage has been repaired, as of the winter of 2022.

Finally, and how my attention was brought back to these exceptional houses, is the former Wingbermuehle Funeral Home, which operated here from 1942 to 1982. The cool Mid Century Modern addition was built out the front in 1959, and the fire which damaged the building has shown how there was actually some very cool colored glass patterns in the front window.

It looks like the owner is trying to save the building as there’s a blue tarp covering the roof. City records say the house was built in 1928, but that can’t be right stylistically nor because the Sanborn map from 1909 shows it having been built already.

There were many funeral homes in the area, including right around the corner to the west on Chippewa–with a florist in between, certainly not coincidentally. I photographed the building back in March of 2012 in slightly better times.