While St. Louis is famous for its rich red brick, much of the city once possessed large numbers of wood frame houses, which were grandfathered in after the city passed ordinances requiring brick construction after the Great Fire.
But in particular, in Carondelet and other neighborhoods that didn’t see widespread redevelopment in the early Twentieth Century, many of these wood houses lie camouflaged behind vinyl siding and other more modern sidings, sitting next door to their stone and brick neighbors.
This block of Schirmer now actually has more wood frames houses left on it than stone or brick. I particularly love the strange staggering of building fronts and their distances from the street line, reflecting different attitudes from different eras.
That top house has such an odd and high pitched roof I wonder if it might not be older than most. Know anything else about it?
I agree, it’s a strange one.
Chris, I love your blog and learn so much about history and architecture.
I just bought 215 Schirmer (and the lot that is shown as 217, now sans house). 215 is now only 25′ wide and there is a much newer house on the lot. It’s neat to see how it looked long ago!
That’s great, Cat! I’m glad to hear people are moving into that block; it’s so historic but needs residents.