This morning, the Building Division issued a demolition permit to St. Louis University for the historic livery stable at 3401 Locust Street. By mid-day, a wrecking crew from Bellon Wrecking & Salvage was at work stripping the building's roof decking and guttering. Oddly, the crew did not have an on-site dumpster and did not have a copy of the demolition permit on display as is required by city law. The site is not secured, with several window and door openings easily accessible and not even so much as caution tape keeping pedestrians off of the sidewalks. Perhaps there was some haste on the university's part to get work started.
At the end of the day, about one-third of the roof deck appeared to be removed, and there was minor damage to the top of the western wall where the gutter was located. Obviously, fatal damage will not come from a crew of six men -- especially given how sound this building is.
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6 comments:
like everything else you've been cvering, this is all happening so fast. what can we do about it?
At this late moment, a public demonstration could send a strong message that people did care about the building.
SLU is posed to tear down two buildings on the block to the east of here.
If we let this issue go, those buidlings could meet the same end as the livery stable.
Perhaps a public demonstration should occur?
I don't think there will be any influencing SLU to stop this. I've found that when they get their mind set on something, it happens. There's no reconsidering once a decision is made. I guess this can be good in some aspects because they do get things done, but when the decision may not be right there is no way to stop it. And I quote:
"Thank you for your thoughts. A lot of time and exploration of many
options occurred before our parking plan was finalized. If you know of
anyone wanting to open a restaurant or a retail gallery of some sort in
one of SLU's historic buildings in the area, please refer them to our
Property Manager in my office, Mike Lucido at 977-3199.
Thank you,
Kathleen Brady"
SLU's vision for midtown is larger than thinking about one building here or another building there.
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To call SLU's philistine vision larger than thinking about one building is a joke. SLU's vision for midtown has nothing to do with design, society or even faith. It's all about money -- how to make the area look attractive to city-hating rich people so they will send big gifts to the university. That's a far cry from the Jesuit mission the university is supposed to uphold.
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