Walnut Grove Hills sits in that little wedge of land just south of Interstate 270, still in Florissant but sort of a world away from the main part of the city. McCluer High School keeps it company to the north. Regardless, it is an immaculately cared-for subdivision, with beautiful lawns and houses, representing a piece of post-World War II housing development.
Interestingly, unlike some subdivisions, there seems to be no easily identifiable naming pattern: Zurich Drive sits near Argo Drive.
These amazing promotional photos, shot by Henry T. Mizuki for House and Home, show how a brave new world of residential architecture and interior design had arrived in the suburbs.
Of course, Fischer and Frichtel is still a major player in the home construction industry in St. Louis, though their designs have changed.
Most of the houses are similar, with changes limited to different color brick or simply flipping the house in a mirror image.
And of course, it’s interesting to see how each house has changed since they were constructed in the 1950s.
Thanks for the great articles about Florissant. I’ve always considered Florissant to be St. Louis’ version of Levittown, but with many different builders instead of just one.
Those pics from the Missouri Historical Society are mislabeled. Walnut Grove Hills was not built by Fisher & Frichtel. It was developed by Schuermann Construction Company. Norman Schuermann was probably the most prolific builder in St. Louis County, responsible for the construction of almost 14,000 homes from 1925 to 1960, 98% of them in North County, a few in Brentwood, and few in the city off West Park Avenue that were built right after the end of WWII. Schuermann built Velda City and Velda Village, Hanley Hills, Country Club Hills, Bissell Hills, Flordel Hills, Berdel Hills, Nordel Hills and Northland Hills., among others. Northland Hills and Walnut Grove Hills were his last developments. He retired in 1964 and moved to Santa Barbara CA and died in 1981. He is buried in Valhalla Cemetery.
Check out the Post Dispatch Archives from 1925 to 1964 and you get numerous articles about Schuermann, his family and his developments, including ads for his developments, including one from August 24, 1958 for Walnut Grove Hills where it indicates Schuermann was the builder/developer.
Fisher and Frichtel developed Frostwood Village off Frost Avenue in Berkeley and completed it in 1956. Then it immediately opened Carrollton off Natural Bridge Road in Bridgeton, a 2000 home development that took several years to complete. It was completely destroyed for the airport runway. You can see its remains from Google Maps by the vast empty acreage on both sides of I270 and the curved streets with no houses on them.
After Paddock Hills was completed, Mayer Raisher Mayer split up, with son Alfred H Mayer continuing to be a prolific builder in Florissant/Black Jack, while his father and brother-in-law moved west to develop Claymont and Mayfair subdivisions in Ballwin.
Own his own, Alfred H. Mayer built Paddock Meadows, Paddock Estates, Paddock Woods, Paddock Forest, Wedgwood, Wedgwood Green and High Meadows. Mayer used noted St. Louis architect Ralph Fournier, so I hope future articles will include some or all of these developments. These developments are beautiful and do not get the credit they deserve for the very stylish homes and good land planning that Mayer used in his developments. A Mayer home selling in 2022 for $180-250K in North County would fetch 300K to 450K in West County.
Unfortunately, Mayer was sued for housing discrimination, and was involved in a landmark Supreme Court case which was the basis for housing discrimination laws. And worse, he went bankrupt in 1972 and moved to Houston shortly thereafter. He died in 2002.
Everything I’ve sent is this email is easily verifiable in the PD Archives.
Thanks for letting me share this trivia with someone who may care about it.
Wow, that is really interesting!
Steve Schulte, Thanks for your comment. I found it fascinating to read this.