Moving past this building above which has a bit of some panache, we reach the Grand Wig House, 2911, which is a bit of an institution in St. Louis. It was a cork insulation company at one point, as well as a sausage shop. Interestingly, before it was a commercial concern, a house on the site was the residence of a general named Andrew Jackson Smith. He led Union armies to victory at the Battle of Tupelo. He was also a postmaster in St. Louis and like so many other prominent citizens, he is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
The building below functioned as a wing of the cork and sausage companies, but also housed a vermiculite company, as well. The classical architecture is trompe l’oeil decoration.
Now comes a row of houses demolished for parking and a vacant lot.
That house on the right below is important; you can see it in this post about the church further down. It was torn down a couple of years later.
Of course, the church as sat abandoned for years, after having been damaged in a fire last year in May. I didn’t bother photographing it again because it looks the same–like crap.
Update: Due to reader request, I went back and photographed the church; it seems to be well-secured overall.
Crossing Leffingwell and temporarily going to the south side of Washington, these houses once graced the streetscape.
Crossing back over Washington is this gem of a building, at 2727, which was the G.C. Kirn Advertising Sign Company in the 1930s.
The building’s architecture seems to date itself to a few decades before that.
This last cube-like building is now the Bureau of Veterans’ Affairs.
The parking lot of that business was held these houses.
These two houses sat further to the east on the south side of Washington.
Beyond Beaumont Street (the doctor owned property in the vicinity), I looked at the buildings below back in September of 2016, and further to the east, I looked at the multicolor ones at the corner with Jefferson twice, once in June of 2011 and the other time in September of 2009.
William Greenleaf Eliot’s house was built after the Civil War, and survived into the Twentieth Century.
This photo is simply labeled “Washington and Beaumont” and may have been the northeast or southwest corner.
“I didn’t bother photographing it again because it looks the same–like crap.”
I am on the same page as you as to your feelings, but please reconsider not taking photographs. Even if you don’t publish them, someone may come to you and ask if you have any,
I do not ask you make a return trip, but if you get back into the neighborhood, and can spare a moment of your time . . .
Please.
Mark Preston
William G. Eliot lived on the former Beaumont estate during the Civil War, and built his home on Washington AFTER the war in 1870 according to his diaries.
Oh interesting! Thanks for the info.
Based on your note, I assume that means that Wm G Eliot left the 2635 Locust/Beaumont house to his son, Henry Ware Eliot, after the Civil War and moved a block north to 2660 Washington? The Locust house is where Henry’s son TS Eliot was born in 1888 and raised.
2825/27 Washington photo looks like a Brooklyn Brownstone. I can’t even imagine this area as residential based on what it looks like today. Especially since most of those commercial buildings are so old, and appear to have been original structures. Very interesting to imagine what it once looked like. Thanks Chris!