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Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Green House in St. Louis Place

The Rehabbers' Club hosted a tour on Saturday of a very interesting green rehab at 1871 Madison Street in St. Louis Place. The rehabbers are spending around $35,000 total and using their own labor and recycled materials to transform a strange, dilapidated house into one of the most unique living spaces in the city.

Here are photographs from Saturday's tour.

This project joins the Catholic Workers' Karen House, the restored Columbia Brewery complex, the Black World History Wax Museum and New Roots Farm as a reason not to discount the cultural future of St. Louis Place. While the architectural context on many of its blocks has been totally destroyed through demolition and horribly anti-urban infill housing, some people are using this devastation to experiment and transform in ways not possible in more intact neighborhoods. Of course, most people are using the devastation to build vinyl monsters, but the works of those people leave only an immediate wound. Projects like the house at 1871 Madison make their mark on the city's history.

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