Ecology of Absence

Update Your Links and Feeds, This Blog Has Moved

2010-08-04T14:54:00.002-05:00

Since June 21, Ecology of Absence has had a new home, at www.preservationresearch.com.

Please update your links and feeds and keep reading. I appreciate your support!

Apartment Therapy Looks at a Ridgewood Ranch

2010-06-21T12:12:00.003-05:00

Now Apartment Therapy casts its keen eye toward St. Louis' Ridgewood subdivision, located in suburban Crestwood. The specific subject is the delightfully rejuvenated ranch home of Nathan and Hannah Wilber, which I had the pleasure of seeing myself last week. Nathan is co-author of the Modern Ridgewood blog and devoted to helping others learn about and appreciate St. Louis' wealth of mid-century modern architecture. Yet Nathan and Hannah's house is no museum -- rather, like the best rehabs we may more often associate with 19th century town houses, it is an effort that balances reverence and the demands of daily life beautifully.

See the Apartment Therapy house tour here.

Villain Plots to Melt All of the Brick in St. Louis

2010-06-19T16:33:00.007-05:00

The annual frenzy of the 48 Hour Film Project is over, and I am catching up on submissions. One of interest to readers is the Thomas Crone-directed Tales of Templar, in which a villain plots to melt all of the brick in St. Louis. Tales of Templar includes scenes filmed at the fire-damaged Fourth Baptist Church in Old North St. Louis and the Nord St. Louis Turnverein in Hyde Park. If only Templar had been around to stop the blazes that struck those buildings!

Old Stix Baer & Fuller Building Re-Emerging

2010-06-15T18:07:00.007-05:00

The spirit of John Mauran might be pleased to float down Washington Avenue nowadays. With demolition of the St. Louis Centre skybridge comes the first clear view of the Washington Avenue elevation of the building that originally housed Stix Baer and Fuller Company's Grand-Leader Department Store. Mauran's firm of Mauran, Russell & Garden designed the eight-story eastern section, built in 1906. The successor firm Mauran Russell & Crowell designed the nearly-identically-articulated ten-story western section, completed in 1919.

Photograph by Landmarks Association of St. Louis, 1982.
The firm's later incarnation of Russell, Mullgardt & Schwartz designed a contrasting modern rooftop addition on the eight-story section that was built in 1949, but otherwise the department store building stood unsullied until the start of construction of the St. Louis Centre skybridge in 1984. Fortunately, the bridge has not taken nearly as long to destroy as it did to build, and 25 years of an occluded Stix facade are over. The Washington elevation looks decent underneath, too. The damage is minimal and shall be easily overcome when the building is rehabilitated starting this year.

One of the small joys of the skybridge demolition is the revelation that one of the eastern section's iron balconies has been intact under the bridge all this time. The use of the balconies remains undocumented, but they are an original feature of the building.

The view of the old Stix building gets better every day.

'27 Tornado Survivors on Montgomery Street

2010-06-15T10:29:00.006-05:00

I have long admired the group of four narrow-faced, one-story houses on the 3000 block of Montgomery Street. Located on a little wedge between Garrison and Coleman streets, the four houses seem to comprise a coherent group of small shaped-parapet dwellings. The western two, 3005 and 3007 Montgomery (left), have front entrances. The other two, 3001 and 3003 Montgomery (right), have side entrances and paired windows on their faces. All are clad in machine-rolled, rough-faced brown brick with abundant white bakery brick patterns. Raised basements provide well-lit potential additional living space.

The setting is enhanced by the placement of the houses not parallel to Montgomery Street, but parallel to the side lines of the irregular lots on which they sit. Thus the houses roughly step out from east to west, creating visual interest from the side.

These houses have always been architecturally compatible, but there is a twist -- or twister, if you will. These houses began their days as stone-faced homes built around the turn of the twentieth century. One block west stood the massive Mullanphy Hospital. In 1927, the great tornado ran northeast across the city and struck this block. Like most buildings that survived the disaster, the buildings were rebuilt using contemporary masonry rather than restored. While the repairs are within a common range, the grouping and the deliberate effort to match all four houses is unusual.

While not stone-clad, the three one-story, flat-roofed houses one block to the east on the south face of Montgomery Street give some indication of the form of the re-clad homes. The decorated wooden cornices were common on these small raised-basement houses built across north city roughly from 1880 through 1905. Often the high porches sheltered stairwells that led to basement apartments. The three houses pictured above are now so decimated by brick thieves that their demolition is inevitable.

Alas, the four houses to the west are also vacant -- three owned by Northside Regeneration and one by the Land Reutilization Authority -- and unprotected by landmarks status or demolition review. However, they are not sitting alone.

The four tornado survivor, marked by a yellow asterisk on the map above, are adjacent to blocks built up again by Habitat for Humanity. The four small historic houses could some day sit amid a rebuilt neighborhood, reminding people of a time when the city had the fortune and foresight to rebuild even small one-story houses. The brick-rustled neighbors here bear a strange resemblance to houses depicted in photographs of 1927 tornado damage. Houses that went through the tornado and back remind us that even the worst disaster is not the end of the world -- not even necessarily the end of a building.

Friends of the San Luis Not Appealing Ruling; Legislative Change Needed

2010-06-14T09:54:00.002-05:00

Today's press release from the Friends of the San Luis (for which I serve as president):

While the Friends of the San Luis had hoped for a ruling by the Court of Appeals that would have affirmed the public interest rights of the community, we accept the ruling issued last week. We will not appeal the cause further, but instead will rededicate ourselves to the outreach and education needed to prevent future losses.

At the start, we sought remedy to a loophole in the St. Louis preservation ordinance (Ordinance 64689) that requires a stay of demolition to appeal meaningfully an action by the Preservation Board. We have always maintained that stakeholders should not have to undertake extraordinary legal measures to assert a right of standing implicit in the ordinance.

However, we appealed the circuit court ruling expressly to clarify that right for future preservation battles – even after we lost the building that united us. Our hope has been that no other citizens would have to go to the troubles that we have. Unfortunately, they probably will. While the aldermen who passed the ordinance apparently intended for there to be a legitimate right to appeal – a necessary check and balance system -- the Court has found that the wording is insufficient to explicitly endorse that right.

The Court of Appeals ruling suggests that the ultimate remedy is not judicial but legislative. The city preservation law is a wonderful example of government recognition of the public interest in historic preservation and urban planning, but it has a major weakness in leaving the public right to appeal as clear as red brick. That should change.

While we are disappointed, we are at least encouraged that the ruling has unequivocally identified an aspect of the city's preservation ordinance that needs to be clarified by our representatives in order to ensure due process in the fair and transparent mediation of disputes.

###

Murphy Residence Listed in National Register

2010-06-10T12:52:00.003-05:00

On May 10, the National Park Service listed in the Joseph and Ann Murphy Residence at 7901 Stanford Avenue in University City in the National Register of Historic Places. The Murphy Residence, owned by Joseph Murphy's daughter Caroline and her husband Vincent DeForest, is one of St. Louis' first truly modern residential designs. Completed in 1939 and expanded in 1950 and 1962, the home was key in introducing International Style-inspired modernist design to the St. Louis region. While Murphy became best known for his later work, including the Climatron and Olin Library at Washington University, this house represented an early accomplishment in his career and in the story of modern architecture in St. Louis.

Read the full text of my National Register of Historic Places nomination here.

Park Service Offering Bike Tours of the North Riverfront Trail

2010-06-08T14:11:00.002-05:00

Via the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the The National Park Service is offering free ranger-led bike tours of the North Riverfront Trail this summer. The North Riverfront Trail passes through or near many historic sites ranging from still-active industry to the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing.

The Untold Story of the Gateway Arch

2010-06-05T08:25:00.005-05:00

by Rick Rosen

Over the course of a century a community took shape on the riverfront in St. Louis. At the same time, what happened in that community shaped the history of the nation. Finally, as those years of destiny unfolded, St. Louis came to see itself as a capital, as the great center of the Midwest.

But then, the currents of history changed. The river of history shifted its course and bypassed that community. Chicago, not St. Louis, became the capital of the Midwest.

Ever so gradually, the riverfront was forgotten. Then it decayed. Finally, it became an embarrassment to the still thriving but less influential community that had grown up around it following its century of greatness.

In that larger community, the humiliation of having lost out to Chicago lingered on. The embarrassment ran deep and it was accompanied by amnesia -- a defense mechanism to cope with humiliation. The amnesia masqueraded as conventional wisdom: the riverfront is economically obsolete with regard to its building stock; the riverfront is obsolete in relation to advances in transportation technology; the riverfront is out of date in comparison to current styles of architecture.

All this conventional wisdom was, of course, true. However, it took hold not because it was true, but because it addressed a psychic need to mask the profound sense of loss that ate at the community’s identity, a loss for which the decaying riverfront was a constant reminder.

And then the great depression arrived. Luther Ely Smith, a man of great vision and a respected leader in his deeply embarrassed community, remembered that first century of greatness -- and was appalled by its decadent reflection in the mirror of the nearly abandoned riverfront. He dreamed of something to replace the decadence, something that would bring back to life that lost century of greatness. Smith prevailed on the federal government -- in response to the depression—to build a national park on the riverfront. Then he organized a design competition to create a new vision for the site.

And of course he succeeded -- beyond his wildest dreams -- with the Gateway Arch and its surrounding park grounds. But there was a cost.

A city's built environment is nothing less than the accretion of its history. Whenever elements of that environment are wiped away, the material record of that history is lost. When the riverfront was cleared after 1939, the elements that were lost were the very elements Luther Ely Smith sought so hard to recover.

Any built environment tells the story of its history. But it’s also true that it tells that story in a special language, an arcane language that only people who are drawn to history, and those whose personal memories are embedded in its buildings, can easily understand. Still, despite its weaknesses, it is by far the best language for telling a community’s story. When it's silenced, other languages must be found if the story is to be remembered at all.

Today, a second design competition for the riverfront is in progress. This competition presents a magnificent opportunity for St. Louis and it has already generated widespread excitement. Most of the excitement focuses on possibilities for new connections between the arch grounds and the rest of the city. However, with the original built environment of the riverfront long since gone and forgotten, the hidden challenge of the competition is to find the next best language to tell that lost story. Then, and only then, can the amnesia that has prevailed for so long in St. Louis finally be healed.

Rick Rosen is an architectural historian and downtown resident. Contact him at RARstl2@aol.com.

Saint Louis is Ready for This

2010-06-02T20:31:00.024-05:00

by Jeff Vines

While your editor is traveling, I turn over the blog to my dear friend Jeff Vines of STL-Style.com to keep the conversation going. Jeff and I were in Philadelphia together for the inspiring Next American Vanguard. Philadelphia left us inspired by practices that we saw there and the ideas shared among the Vanguard participants.

Fresh back from the Next American Vanguard conference in Philadelphia, and what an incredible experience it was! The conference included an extensive bus tour of gritty North Philly neighborhoods, and I couldn't help but feel slightly envious. Not because Saint Louis' historic urban fabric can't stand with the greatest cities in America (Philly included)-- it certainly can. But in terms of contemporary residential architecture, Saint Louis falls painfully short. The City of Brotherly Love-- a town that celebrates its history perhaps more proudly than any other in America-- also manages to embrace bold modern design, and such a contrast of new and old is striking, refreshing and inspiring.
One particularly fine development in the Northern Liberties section knocked my socks off.

The Piazza!

This sleek, modern development incorporates apartments, dining, retail and public gathering spaces, and it does it beautifully.

Balancing contemporary urban design with the dense, historic neighborhood that surrounds it, The Piazza is more than a complex of buildings, it's a community.

Philly gets it right!

Enough with the faux-historic clocktowers and phony brick facades that St. Louis developers seem preoccupied with-- it's not 1915 anymore. The proposed City Walk development on the former Doctors Building site at Euclid and West Pine could be and should be a truly transformative project, yet the renderings are contrived, underwhelming and overdone. It's time we aim higher.

Saint Louis deserves it.

Tour Southwest Garden by Bike

2010-06-02T17:37:00.002-05:00

Saturday, June 5, 10 am to 12 noon, Architectural Tour by Bicycle of Southwest Garden Neighborhood, led by architectural historian Lynn Josse.

Meet at the Southwest Garden office, 4950 Southwest Ave, at 10 am. Bring a water bottle and wear a helmet.

We’ll have coffee available. The ride is free but small donations to help cover the cost of insurance are gladly accepted.

Organized in partnership with the St. Louis Bicycle Federation

Why Save This Building?

2010-05-31T17:45:00.005-05:00

This two-story reinforced concrete industrial building stands on N. 25th Street just north of Sullivan Avenue in St. Louis Place. It is owned by Northside Regeneration LLC. Beyond some concrete block infill of first floor window openings and a painted southern elevation, the building does not look much different than it did when built some 90 years ago. In the parlance of the National Register for Historic Places, the building substantially retains its integrity.

Of course, the building is more isolated than ever, and across 25th Street is the hulking Sullivan Place building with its gated grounds. No one could claim that the building is essential to preserving a historic built landscape. So why would anyone preserve it?

The first reason would be moral imperative. One version of that is tracing the building's use to a significant company or product. That is unlikely. Another moral imperative, which all good people now claim to endorse, is the mantra of "sustainability": demolition is like driving an Escalade to work every day. Right? A tangential moral imperative is that with each demolition, we lose more of St. Louis itself, thus diminishing the physical city itself. Readers know that I meditate on this idea frequently, and sometimes inconclusively.

The other reason that this building would be saved is economic. Someone may find a new purpose, or resurrect an old purpose, for the building. Reuse of this building might reduce capital needs of start-up. That's the kind of reuse that I would love to see envisioned for a relic like this. More likely, though, redevelopment here will be incentive-driven. In fact, it already is.

The irony is that not long ago this building was still in continuous use, despite loss of context, age and general neighborhood decline. It was just an industrial building in a neighborhood. Now, due to conjoined acts of government and capital, its existence is in question. Many prettier buildings are in the same situation, but advocacy is far easier for them. Who sees the potential here? Well, the potential was already realized. Don't forget that. Jobs were located here. Taxes generated. Not much is required to return the building to taxable production. Perhaps in our political economy those facts justify preservation better than any other.

Interview: Why Residents Want the Fox Park Local Historic District Expanded

2010-05-28T16:53:00.006-05:00

On Monday the Preservation Board granted preliminary approval to a proposed expansion of the Fox Park Local Historic District (local historic districts explained here) in south city. The proposal was strongly supported by the Fox Park Neighborhood Association. The Preservation Board considers local historic district petitions twice on an advisory basis before they are introduced in ordinance form at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, where the Housing Urban Development and Zoning Committee again holds a public hearing.

After preliminary approval this week, I interviewed Fox Park Neighborhood Association President Ian Simmons about the ins and outs of the proposal.

The proposed boundaries of the expanded Fox Park Local Historic District. Courtesy of the Fox Park Neighborhood Association.
Why do people in Fox Park want to expand the local historic district?

Ian Simmons: We want a cohesive neighborhood. All of the homes in our neighborhood are basically of the same stock and are all equally part of Fox Park, so there is no good reason why they should not be part of the district. Neighbors, who have lived in Fox Park for longer than I, have seen tremendous growth and prosperity enrich the neighborhood, but at a far greater pace and scale in the northern half that is within the historic district. We believe that distinction is related to the presence of historic standards guiding rehabilitation and restoration, as well as, of course, the availability of historic tax credits. While the expansion of the local historic district will not directly make those tax credits available (that will take a National Historic Register nomination), there is a danger that, in the absence of historic standards in the proposed expansion area, we may lose our historic structures, features, and value.

This landmark corner commercial building at the northwest corner of Magnolia and California is inside of the district expansion.

What outreach has the Fox Park Neighborhood Association done to build support for the expansion?

Simmons: During the early stages of this process, I reached out to just about every neighbor I knew or ran into that lived in the proposed expansion area and asked them if they would support the initiative; everyone was positive and enthusiastic about the idea. Once our Board formed an ad hoc committee to handle the exploration and initial steps, we added some of those supporters to our committee, and also reached out to and obtained the support of the DeSales Housing Corporation (which owns and/or manages over ten percent of the homes in the expansion area). Then we reached out to our elected officials about writing the petition. At the request and direction of Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett, we held three informal community meetings to reach and inform the neighbors that we had not run into, who are not members of the Association, and/or who do not attend Association meetings.

These meetings were prior to the drafting of any petition, and were held on different days and different times, so as to allow neighbors who wanted to attend the opportunity. We mailed postcard notices to all the recorded owners of the properties in the proposed expansion area. I also wrote about the meetings and the proposed expansion in our spring newsletter, a copy of which was posted on the doorstep of every home in our neighborhood weeks before the first meeting. The meetings gave the neighbors a chance to have their questions answered about how the expansion would affect them, and to express any opposition. Besides at the one which was held during our March Association Meeting, attendance at the community meeting was lighter than expected, but supportive -- there was no showing of opposition.

This lovely residential row is on the north side of Russell Boulevard just east of California Avenue within the existing local historic district.
Can you talk a little bit about the boundaries and why the current boundaries are proposed?

Simmons: The route we are taking expands the boundaries of an existing district. This approach was chosen instead of creating a new district next to the existing one. For the same rationale as described above, we felt it would be better to have the same historic standards apply throughout the whole neighborhood. Also, this way, if we want to change our standards, we only have to change one ordinance. So, the boundaries of the expanded district will be Highway 44 (to the North), Nebraska Avenue (to the West), Jefferson Avenue (to the East), and Gravois Ave. (to the South). Those boundaries are proposed because they are also the boundaries of the Fox Park neighborhood. The expanded district basically moves the existing Southern boundary from the alley South of Shenandoah Avenue and Victor Street, to Gravois.

What, if anything, are you changing in the existing standards? Have you found that some of those standards are now out-dated?

Simmons: At this time, no changes are proposed to the existing standards; if signed into law, they would apply as they stand now to the proposed extension area. The only instance of "out-dated" standards, which was identified by one of our Board members, is that the existing standards do not allow the use of "green" roofing materials. It is possible that changes to the standards may be made at a later date, once the district is extended; of course, any changes would come at the request of neighbors, and only after much discussion and input from them.

If you could advise another neighborhood looking to enact a local historic district ordinance, what would you say?

Simmons: Don't be discouraged and don't give up! If the membership is supportive, the neighborhood association has a few people who are willing to step up, do a little footwork, and be patient, and the alderperson(s) in the proposed district are hard-working and in favor, it can be done! Even if rejected the first time, or the steps along the way take what seems like forever, at least the conversation has been started and you have moved this important process forward.

Have You Seen These Interior Pediments?

2010-05-25T00:37:00.004-05:00

Photograph by Landmarks Association of St. Louis, 1982.
Have you seen this lovely dentillated pediment? It once was the crown of a door casing inside of the first floor hall of the James Clemens, Jr. House at 1849 Cass Avenue in St. Louis.

The four pediments from the center hall door openings are now missing, as these photographs show.

However, the pediments were in place in the following photographs taken by this author on May 13, 2007.

If you have any information about these stolen pediments, please drop a line. Architects at Klitzing Welsch (314-772-8073) are looking for them. It's urgent, too -- they are preparing plans for rehabilitation and need them back! Even one would be very helpful.

Soulard Stable Hootenanny Boosts Preservation Efforts

2010-05-23T13:03:00.011-05:00

Last night's historic preservation benefit, the Anti-Wrecking Ball's Soulard Stable Hootenanny, was a success -- at least judging from the money raised and the good time had by all. There's something about rock 'n' roll, red brick and the early summer heat that makes a warehouse party just plain logical.

The show's proceeds were split evenly between the Friends of the San Luis' remaining legal costs and the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation's capital campaign for its conservatory in Sauget, Illinois.

The event was held at the Foundation's former warehouse in Soulard. Most people had never been inside of the historic former livery stable and its amazing space. The space, it turns out, was the perfect setting for a show.

One of the highlights of the evening was Bill Streeter's unveiling of the trailer for Brick by Chance and Fortune -- I can't wait to see more!

The Union Electric, pictured above, Leadville and Pretty Little Empire rocked the house. These bands gave the gig their all. The brick and wood of the stable made the sound echo loud and clear throughout the building.

Galen Gondolfi and Dabney Frake donated a wide array of mid-century items for the raffle, which also included prizes from STL Style, St. Louis Cinemas and Schlafly. (And, yes, the pink lamp went first with winner's choice!)

Who says preservation isn't fun?

Bill Streeter has more photographs here.

St. Louis Centre Skybridge Coming Down

2010-05-21T23:17:00.004-05:00

At about 5:05 p.m., wreckers from Environmental Operations Incorporated made first contact between the wrecking ball and the Washington Avenue skybridge between the old St. Louis Centre mall and the former Stix, Baer and Fuller building. Wreckers used the ball to knock out some glass for a few minutes, but stopped short of inflicting major damage. Heavy wrecking has already begun, with the roof already removed before today's ceremonial demolition.

Long forgotten, it seems, are the proclamations of urban renewal made in 1985 when St. Louis Centre opened. In a 1985 Fortune article on St. Louis' supposed rebound, Edmund Faltermeyer wrote:

Amid great hoopla -- appearances by Bob Hope and child actor Ricky Schroder and thousands of balloons -- the glittering $150-million St. Louis Centre opened in August after 16 years of gestation. It is the largest enclosed downtown shopping mall in the U.S., with 1.4 million square feet.

At least Ricky Schroeder is still around.

Scenes from Downtown, 1988 and 1989

2010-05-20T19:07:00.005-05:00

Here are photographs of downtown St. Louis taken in 1988 and 1989 by Philip Schroth (1913-2001). Schroth's son David kindly shared these with me. Philip Schroth captured downtown at a period of both grit and active street life, reminding us that downtown before recent redevelopment efforts was far from dead.

Here is a view looking west down St. Charles Avenue from east of Ninth Street. The loggia of the Orpheum Theater -- then named the American -- is at left. The Roberts Brothers just completed restoration of the loggia. The view forward shows the old Statler Hotel garage in the foreground and on of the Merchandise Mart bridges in the background. Both are now gone, and St. Charles no longer runs between Ninth and Tenth streets because that is where the Renaissance Grand Hotel parking garage, completed in 2003, stands. The legendary Jimmie's restaurant was in a small building wedged between the Statler garage and Ninth Street.

Here is the A. Amitin Bookshop at 711 Washington Avenue. The store would move by the end of 1989 to 1205 Washington Avenue in the Lesser-Goldman Building. In 2003, the store closed and eventually the Lesser-Goldman Building was rehabilitated for condominiums dubbed the "Bogen." Ironically, most of the retail spaces are vacant.

Here are two shots of the 700 block of Washington, which would be demolished one year later to make way for the new entrance to the America's Center. The building at left is the lobby of the old Loew's State Theater. None of the storefronts in sight here are vacant.

These old buildings were underutilized, certainly, with upper floors vacant or used for storage. Still, the first floors offered cheap rents to small retailers whose likes are all but extinct in today's downtown.

View from St. Louis Centre's Washington Avenue Skybridge, 1988

2010-05-20T12:53:00.002-05:00

Reader David Schroth sent me this photographs taken by his father, Philip Schroth, on September 1, 1988. The photograph was taken from the Washington Avenue skybridge at St. Louis Centre, and shows a Washington west of Seventh street before the Convention Center expansion and hotel were built.

The skybridge is under demolition now, and will receive the first blow of the wrecking ball on Friday at 5:00 p.m. (or, 5:10 p.m. so that television news can pick it up live).

Sneak Peak at St. Louis Brick Film Saturday

2010-05-20T12:33:00.003-05:00

This Just In: Bill Streeter will be screening a two-minute clip from his anticipated upcoming film Brick by Chance and Fortune this Saturday at the "Anti-Wrecking Ball: Soulard Stable Hootenanny."

Streeter's film will examine the history of brick in St. Louis as well as what happens to brick buildings in their lifespans.

More information about the event here.

What: Anti-Wrecking Ball: Soulard Stable Hootenanny
Where: Stahl Stable, 2412 Menard Street
When: 8:00 p.m. this Saturday, May 22
Cost: $10 benefits the Friends of the San Luis and the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation

Fairfax House, Rock Hill Presbyterian Church, Route 66 Bridge Make Statewide Endangered List

2010-05-19T13:19:00.003-05:00

This week, Missouri Preservation announced its 2010 Most Endangered Properties list. St. Louis area listings are the Route 66 Bridge over the Meramec River as well as the adjacent Fairfax House and Rock Hill Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill.

Rock Hill Presbyterian Church is in urgent need of a preservation plan. From Missouri Preservation's announcement:

After being moved several times because of increasing commercial and residential development, the Fairfax House has ended up on another former Marshall property. In February 2010, it was discovered that the Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery was seeking to sell the Rock Hill Presbyterian Church, presenting a threat to the historic church building and an additional threat to Fairfax House. This property is now situated at the intersection of two busy St. Louis county roads. It is a target for commercial development as the City of Rock Hill, which does its own zoning and has no current historic preservation ordinance, has zoned this property “commercial.”

Some Frame Houses in the Ville

2010-05-18T17:35:00.005-05:00

The Ville has lost plenty of buildings in the last fifty years, but remarkably many frame houses remain from early development. Still, the frame houses don't last long when abandoned. The photograph above shows three similar frame houses in the 2500 block of Whittier (across from the old Homer G. Phillips Hospital) back in 2004.

The house at 2420 Whittier dated to 1885 and was built by James Chadwick, an active developer in what was then known as Elleardsville. This house was for sale in 2004. The original clapboard siding was still in place under later asbestos tile siding. Now it is a burned out pile of building debris. The fire revealed that the original wooden shingles were still present under layers of newer roofing!

The only house remaining from the group of three that I photographed in 2004 is the house in the middle at 2518 Whittier. The date of construction is unknown, but it was probably built around 1885 too. In 1906, it was moved to this site. Today it is well-kept (although the original siding is either missing or covered) and occupied. The house at 2518 Whittier is included in an architectural survey of the Ville neighborhood conducted by Lynn Josse and myself under the supervision of the city's Cultural Resources Office.

A (Legitimate) Look Inside of the Clemens House

2010-05-17T20:56:00.007-05:00

On Sunday, Landmarks Association of St. Louis wrapped up its annual Preservation Week with a tour of the James Clemens, Jr. House at 1849 Cass Avenue in St. Louis Place. That's right -- Landmarks offered a tour of a vacant building! While there have been many "before" tours of historic St. Louis buildings, none has offered a look at such an early phase of a rehabilitation project.

Landmarks Association Executive Director Jeff Mansell welcomes the crowd along with Dan Holak of Robert Wood Realty and David Lorentz of Klitzing Welsh.

Developers Robert Wood Realty and McEagle along with architects Klitzing Welsh Associates bravely threw open the door (okay, unscrewed the plywood) to the James Clemens House to the public for Landmarks. There was a small charge, a limited number of tour spots and a mandatory liability waiver, but all of those were necessary to make the tour work. Hopefully it can be offered again!

The developers started the tour by explaining the redevelopment plan, which calls for senior apartments in the mansion, dormitory and first floor of the chapel with an educational use in the chapel space. Nothing has been firmed up about the chapel use yet, but the original volume of the space will be restored for the first time in generations. The use of the chapel will allow for public access to the grounds, which will be opened up by removing the brick wall (built in 1887 and somewhat removed now) and building an iron fence similar to the original long lost fence on Cass Avenue. The Clemens House complex will again be easy to locate, and will open up a relationship with its neighborhood once more.

The apartment use precludes public access to the mansion and its lavish interior, and will entail some tricky accommodations like kitchenettes and bathrooms in the first floor parlors. (The dormitory is a perfect fit.) However, the project will follow the Secretary of the Interior's standards for historic rehabilitation, and all original fabric will be retained. The extensive cast iron work will be refurbished and missing parts replicated (albeit probably in a fiberglass-based casts). I have yet to thoroughly study the details of the rehabilitation, and will continue to observe.

The tour offered a very limited view inside. Visitors entered at the rear of the dormitory and proceeded about fifteen feet from the front door. Structural problems in the partly-collapsed chapel and the house itself precluded further adventure. Still, what was open was lit up brightly than ever. This photographer was able to re-do some old clandestine photography!

Paul J. McKee, Jr. was prominent in the group, and was freely talking with guests. There is a long road ahead for the developer's Northside Regeneration project, and many unanswered questions. (This post is not about them.) Yet the one certain fact is that McKee is starting the project with rescuing the James Clemens House, and that has become the early symbol of the project. It's easy to point out how much this move benefits McKee -- but easy to guess that it's not necessarily the first move he wanted to make.

The truth is that those who benefit the most from the rehabilitation of the Clemens House, however, are residents of surrounding St. Louis Place who have long suffered from the abandonment in the heart of a largely stable area. Oh -- and everyone who wants St. Louis to have an indelible, storied historic character benefits from saving this city's most architecturally significant pre-Civil War mansion. There are eternal essences that make this city what it is, and their defense should be more fiercely and continually waged than momentary battles. After all, brick walls last longer than fleeting political maneuvers.

As an aside, Landmarks Association of St. Louis is at its best when it offers the community the chance to directly interact with historic architecture in unexpected ways. While its board has spent considerable time, effort and money on the Architecture St. Louis space downtown, the organization's most unique strength remains the ability to forge connections out in the places where we live. Kudos to current Executive Director Jeff Mansell for doing just that with this tour!

Saturday: Preservation Month Party

2010-05-17T11:19:00.003-05:00

As this year's Historic Preservation Month winds down, it's time to celebrate!
What: Anti-Wrecking Ball: Soulard Stable Hootenanny
Where: Stahl Stable, 2412 Menard Street
When: 8:00 p.m. this Saturday, May 22
Cost: $10 benefits the Friends of the San Luis and the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation

What's this all about? Well, for those new to the story, the Friends of the San Luis went to court to try to stop the demolition of the mid-century San Luis Apartments on Lindell Boulevard. The effort was slapped down by a circuit court judge who ruled not only to allow demolition to proceed but that no citizen has a right to appeal a St. Louis Preservation Board decision without a direct financial interest in a property.

The Friends could have stopped right there, since they lost their beloved space-age building. Instead, they filed an appeal to challenge the basis of the judge's ruling for the benefit of all future preservation efforts. On May 5, the Missouri Court of Appeals heard the case. During arguments that day, we received more favorable consideration than expected, so we are confident that the ruling will benefit future preservation efforts.

This effort was not free, and attorneys Jonathan Beck and Ian Simmons have shown themselves well worth our expenses. With the matter past us, it's time to toast preservation efforts past, present and future and make a little money to pay off those legal bills. (If you cannot attend but want to help that cause, send me a note at michael@preservationresearch.com).

The St. Louis Building Arts Foundation is on the bill as well, for providing an amazing historic space for the event and for efforts to preserve our architectural heritage more enduring than the soon-to-sunset Friends of the San Luis. There is a link between the long-term visionary efforts of the Foundation and the take-action single-mission Friends of the San Luis. We need both levels of action to make historic preservation matter in St. Louis. (This is not to slight all of the other worthy organizations that compose the effort here -- these two are far from the only organizations in town doing this hard work well.)

On Saturday, let's celebrate a strong preservation effort and look toward the future!

Free Screening of "Beyond the Motor City" on Monday

2010-05-13T15:28:00.003-05:00

"The old system hasn't died, and the new system hasn't been born yet," says one of the subjects in Beyond the Motor City. He's talking about urban transportation.

Beyond the Motor City is a critical look at the intersection between mass transit and the renewal of post-industrial Detroit. Director Aaron Wolf is best known for his documentary King Corn, which examined the terrible impact of federal agricultural policy on the American diet and on the small farm.

Thanks to the sponsorship of Citizens for Modern Transit, St. Louis is fortunate to be one of eight cities where Beyond the Motor City is being screened free -- Monday, May 17th at 7:00 p.m. at the Tivoli. Appropriately, this event falls in Historic Preservation Month. The role of public transportation in cities is often left out of the historic preservation discussion.

From the film's website:

Beyond the Motor City examines how Detroit, a grim symbol of America’s diminishing status in the world, may come to represent the future of transportation and progress in this country. The film explores Detroit’s historic investments in infrastructure—from early 19th-century canals to the urban freeways that gave The Motor City its name and made America’s transportation system the envy of the world. But it also reveals that over the last 30 years, much of the world has left Detroit—and America—behind, choosing faster, cleaner, more modern transportation.

In a journey that takes us into the neighborhoods of Detroit and then beyond to Spain, California, and our nation’s capital, Beyond the Motor City urges us to ask how a symbol of America’s urban decay might transform itself into a model of urban revitalization. Can we finally push America’s transit system into the 21st century?

Immediately following the film, there will be a panel discussion moderated by KETC’s Patrick Murphy with Congressman Russ Carnahan, director Woolf, and Citizen for Modern Transit’s Tom Shrout.

Tax Credit Battle Almost Over -- For Now

2010-05-13T13:54:00.003-05:00

The Missouri General Assembly's session ends on Friday. So far, no proposals to change tax credit programs have been taken up this week in the Senate or House. There may be a last-minute push in the Senate to pass a bill that would include the following changes:

Capping historic tax credits at $75 million per year but retaining the exemption for projects with under $1.1 million in qualified rehabilitation expenditures (the "small deal" exemption);

Create legislative appropriation of funding in future years.

Observers do not expect this measure to make it out of the Senate. If it does, the House Republican leadership has pledged to kill it.

There is no doubt, however, that the reprieve is momentary. Next session Governor Jay Nixon and his allies will get an earlier start on pushing reform, in the sense that they started next session's fight in this session.

Bert's Chuck Wagon in Collinsville to Fall for Highway Widening

2010-05-12T18:05:00.002-05:00

The Madison County Journal reports that Collinsville mid-century landmark Bert's Chuck Wagon Bar-B-Q (see "Heavenly Bar-B-Q" will be demolished soon for widening of Illinois Highway 159. Bert's Chuck Wagon will relocate to a nearby location on Main Street and move the fine conestoga sign to the new location. The A-frame building with the vivid religious scenes painted in its gable end windows, however, will be history.

The widening of Illinois 159 costs the state $56 million, and the sites of several tax-paying small businesses -- not to mention at least one landmark mid-century building. Such an expensive project in recession may very well take away more economic activity over the long run than it generates.

See also "Mid-Century Modernism in Collinsville" (August 8, 2008).

Bye-Bye, Corner Commercial

2010-05-12T00:46:00.004-05:00

Today I saw that the two-story brick corner commercial building at Page and Walton avenues in Fountain Park was mostly gone, and I snapped this sad scene. The heartbeat of the city always grows a little more faint whenever a corner store gets wrecked. Gone is a point of exchange -- a point for drawing people together, for employment, for tax revenue generation and for provision of goods near people's houses.

St. Louis remains far outside of the relevance of the recently-publicized writings by economist Edward Glaeser. In the New York Times yesterday, Glaeser argued against hard-line preservation: "[i]f a successful city doesn't build, its prices will skyrocket and it can turn into an exclusive, elite enclave."

Perhaps true, but too often in St. Louis we never get to that conundrum. We take down a building and leave its site empty for generations. Not only are we not building, but we are not preserving. Often, physical condition of buildings demands demolition, and I can assent to protecting public safety. Yet the building at Page and Walton was in fine shape. Located in the 18th ward outside of preservation review, however, there was not even a moment's deliberation once the owner applied to take it down. And I don't know the circumstances -- perhaps there is a good reason for demolition.

Yet as I passed the largely intact residential block to the east -- the 4700 block of Page Boulevard -- I thought about how many people would be able to walk to that corner storefront easily. I also thought about how there are no storefronts on the other end of that block. This has been the case for some time, of course, since the corner building was vacant for over 20 years. Yet the past could have been rendered future with rehabilitation. A blocked network of social relations, between residents of Page and that corner store, is now effectively dead.

Preservation here would not have raised prices, but maintained the potential for recreating a beneficial pedestrian experience. The lost building reinforces the high prices in other neighborhood, like the nearby Central West End, that retain their density, walkability and their commercial activity. Also reinforced are prices in other cities where preservation has indeed led to excessively high real estate prices -- but you can read about those in the New York Times.

Harvey Noble Buys Again

2010-05-11T16:47:00.005-05:00

The house at 1352-4 Bayard Avenue on May 11, 2010.

Harvey Noble, Vice President of Eagle Realty Company and agent for many of the holding companies used by Paul J. McKee Jr. for his Northside Regeneration project, is back in action. On May 4th, Noble used his shell company Feasible Projects LLC to acquire the house pictured above, located at 1352-4 Bayard Avenue in Fountain Park (18th Ward). After McKee went public with his project, Noble emerged again as the agent for a holding company called Urban Assets LLC as well as six new companies incorporated in February 2009. Those companies are Diligent Property LLC, Feasible Projects LLC, Incentive Properties LLC, Marketable Property LLC, Premises Property LLC and Prudent Investor LLC.

As of last July, Urban Assets owned 230 properties, Diligent Property owned three properties and Prudent Investor owned one. No purchased had been made since then until last week. The properties owned by these companies are located in a wide swath of north city that includes wards 1, 3, 4, 5, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 26. McKee as well as Michael Roberts have denied to reporters having any involvement with the operation fronted by Noble.

The most recent deed reveals little information except that one of the dormant shell company names is now being used. Here's a look at the top of the first page:

And here is Noble's signature on the last page:

The signature line states that Noble personally is the sole member of Feasible Projects LLC. That could be true. Although Eagle Realty is best known as a broker/agent and appraiser used by city development agencies, its officers -- Noble and President Steve Goldman -- have owned property in north St. Louis since the 1950s under various company names. On deeds for McKee's holding companies, Noble signed as "Manager" rather than "Member" of the shell companies.

People's Joy Parade

2010-05-10T11:45:00.003-05:00

I missed much of the People's Joy Parade on Saturday by driving in the Cinco de Volvo contingent. Yet finding myself on a Monday morning wanting the parade to be never-ending, I am going to share a few photographs that I managed to take during the amazing event.

One of the best things about the People's Joy Parade was the route. We started on Cherokee, but with two blocks closed for the Cinco de Mayo program, we had to head north on Nebraska to Utah and then came back down Iowa. That means we went straight in front of the houses of many people who simply came out to the front porch with neighbors and friends to watch the madness. If only thsi could happen every weekend, all over the city!

There are more photographs here and I am sure more will be posted. But if all you have are photographs to show you what happened, you need to find a stoop or a curb next year and see the People's Joy Parade for yourself.

Last Chance for 3244 Iowa Street

2010-05-08T21:03:00.006-05:00

This week I received an e-mail about 3244 Iowa Avenue (pictured above) from JoAnn Vatcha, Housing Analyst for the Community Development Administration. The email stated that the city was issuing a "last chance" call to respond to a Request for Proposals issued last year for the beleaguered property.

The diminutive 19th century alley house -- 600 square feet -- in Benton Park West is owned by the city's Land Reutilization Authority and has been considered a vacant building by the Building Division since 2003. The citizen complaints on the house keep coming, and the front wall has suffered spalling. Still, the house is in sound shape and is just a block off of Cherokee Street. This block is intact with historic buildings lining both sides of the street, and its loss would create a hole. The small size is perfect for a single person or couple wanting to be close to the buzz of Cherokee.

Hopefully a developer will answer the call. Meanwhile, some cities have historic preservation organizations that buy, rehab and sell houses that are facing the "last chance." Should St. Louis follow suit?

(The city has posted all residential building RFPs here.)

A New Flounder House in Old North

2010-05-08T19:04:00.005-05:00

After nearly 120 years since the last documented flounder house was built in the city of St. Louis -- and so many have gone undocumented, so who knows when the last was built -- the flounder house is back! A new flounder house is under construction in Old North St. Louis on Hebert Street just west of 19th Street. Habitat for Humanity is building the house, continuing its commitment to both green construction and smart modern design. The rendering above shows what the house will look like when completed.

The house prominently displays the characteristic that makes a flounder house a unique building type: a roof that slopes from one side of the building to the other with no offset. Many flounders display this plain, simple slope, a roof form that has been traced back to southern European architecture of the Renaissance. Other flounders have a front hip with part of the roof sloping down toward the front. In the United States, the flounder form has been found mostly in the south. New Orleans, Savannah and Alexandria all have documented flounders. Philadelphia has flounders. St. Louis has as many as 160, but probably had many more at the end of the 19th century. All surviving local examples are brick, but there are frame flounders remaining in New Orleans. For a long time, architectural historians studied the flounder as a phenomenon but recent study has found traceable historic roots and has turned up more examples in a diverse range of cities. Still unknown is why flounders are found some places but not others, and why St. Louis has so many.

Here is what the flounder looked like under construction last week. The juxtaposition with the stately Second Empire home to the west is provocative. Cities need such diversity of forms.

Here's the view of the back. The finish will be a concrete board, so this house will be one of the only frame flounder houses in the city when completed.

There are other flounder houses remaining in Old North. This selection leaves a few out, so go take a look around for yourself to see more.

The one-and-a half-story flounder at 1422 Hebert Street is owned by Paul J. McKee's Northside Regeneration LLC, as is the small side-gabled home next door and a larger brick house at the alley behind 1422. The future of all three sadly remains uncertain.

At 1115 Tyler is a flounder house with a front hip. The roof overhangs an intact two-story gallery porch on the east elevation. The house sits back from the street.

This tall flounder sits on the alley at 1455 Clinton Street. The brown-painted area at top is mortar parging (or covering) over the brick.

The owner of the flounder house at 1905 Dodier applied for a demolition permit last year, but agreed to defer an appeal to the Preservation Board to work on a preservation solution.

This flounder house at 1453 Monroe Street is not long for this world. The south elevation is largely missing and the north elevation has several large holes. The joists have started descending.

House-Turned-Bank in Daisy, Missouri to be Auctioned on Memorial Day

2010-05-05T18:25:00.002-05:00

The so-called Daisy Bank House in Daisy, Missouri (located not far south of Perryville) will be auctioned on Memorial Day. From the website advertising the site:

This historic structure in the tiny town of Daisy, Missouri was built in 1918 as the new home of the Farmers' Bank of Daisy (1913-1924). After the bank closed, the building was vacant until 1939 when Delos Sebaugh purchased it and converted it into Sebaugh's Store selling groceries and other supplies. In 1947 an addition was built on the north side of the building. The original portion of the building was remodeled (modified to allow second floor and dormers added) and converted into a living space for the Sebaugh family. The store closed in 1956, but the commercial space remained open as home of the Delos Sebaugh Insurance Agency for Citizens Mutual Insurance through the late 1970s. Since then the building has functioned as home to the Sebaugh family.

Check out the website for more information and photographs.

House Committee Does Not Take Up Tax Credit Bill; Action in the Senate?

2010-05-05T09:57:00.003-05:00

Yesterday evening the Missouri House Jobs and Economic Development Committee did not take up the substitute to the "economic development" bill HR 2399. Chairman Tim Flook (R) mentioned the bill at the committee meeting but did not call it. Apparently Flook is still working with members of the Senate on getting the Senate to pass a bill that changes the tax credit policies.

One version of reform said to be favored by Flook is capping the historic tax credit program at $100 million and lowering its reimbursement percentage from 25% to 20%. This proposal would be combined with a provision forbidding use of both historic tax credits and low income housing tax credits on the same project.

Expect a version of this proposal to be debated in the Senate before the end of the session.

Missouri Court of Appeals to Hear San Luis Appeal Tomorrow

2010-05-04T11:47:00.006-05:00

Demonstrating against the San Luis demolition, June 2009.
Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in Friends of the San Luis v. the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The court meets on the third floor of the Old Post Office downtown, and supporters of the Friends of the San Luis are invited to attend. The Court of Appeals will issue its ruling later.

What is happening? After the Preservation Board approved by a thin 3-2 margin a preliminary application for demolition in June 2009, the Friends of the San Luis (disclaimer: I serve as the organization's president) filed a petition for injunction to halt the demolition of the mid-century modern San Luis Apartments (originally the DeVille Motor Hotel) 1t 4483 Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End. Under city preservation law, a preliminary grant of demolition cannot be appealed until a demolition permit is issued. That stipulation makes appeals moot, at least beyond procedural review.

Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker, Jr. dismissed the Friends' petition with prejudice. Dierker opined that preservation laws were an encumbrance on private property rights, and that only persons with direct financial interest -- essentially, adjacent property owners -- have standing under the city's preservation ordinance. (Dierker's forthcoming ruling in the Northside Regeneration suit should be interesting given that he must choose between the divergent interests of private property owners.) The ruling cut against city government's own interpretation of the ordinance by granting only narrow right to redress.

Given Dierker's conservative judicial activism, the Friends could have let the matter go. Yet we appealed to ensure that Dierker's ruling does not stand as precedent in the future. Who knows when and why citizens will need rights to appeal the Preservation Board's decisions? All we know is that the right to appeal should apply to any citizen of the city of St. Louis. After all, the ordinance states that "[t]he intent of this ordinance is to promote the prosperity and general welfare of the public, including particularly the educational and cultural welfare."

Farm House Facing Death In Belleville

2010-05-02T23:11:00.004-05:00

I have been conducting an architectural survey at Scott Air Force Base and passing back through Belleville. Last week, just east of town I came across this 19th century brick farmhouse on Highway 161 east of town. The rest of the farm -- a clay tile silo and some outbuildings -- are well under demolition, but work has yet to really start on the house. A porch and the roofing have been removed, but the old building is painfully still able to be saved. The demolition set me to thinking.

I know, I know. Illinois is full of these one-story brick center-hall houses, with their two-over-two wooden windows and simple brick cornices. Yet that's really the point: these vernacular houses give the state's rural areas unique architectural character compatible with the rich and lovely landscape upon which they reside.

Besides, this house has an interesting hipped roof, and lovely cast stone porch columns (definitely not original, but certainly a historic alteration). With a new Wal-Mart and strip retail in this vicinity, I think I know what happens next to this farm. Even if one does not see the folly of the wasted building, what about thinking through losing soil that has fed people for over 100 years?

St. Louisans should think about these things too. What happens in Belleville matters to St. Louis. The loss of good farm land and usable farm building stock within 100 miles weakens our renewing regional food economy. We lost much of the good farm land in St. Louis and St. Charles counties, but we still have a lot left across the river. Some talk about "balancing" the region's sprawl, but without regional growth that is tantamount to doubling the waste: settled and unsettled areas, wasted. When do we stop?

Busy Saturday: Open Streets and the 21st Ward Home Repair Blitz

2010-05-01T13:44:00.005-05:00

It's an exciting busy day in the city, and an appropriate start to this year's Historic Preservation Month. Open Streets has just wrapped up, and while giving a walking tour on Lindell with Toby Weiss I saw dozens of pedestrians and cyclists taking advantage of the street closure. Can't wait for it to happen again!

Up in the 21st Ward, today is a big blitz of home repair by Rebuilding Together. Alderman Antonio French already has posted a video.

While big rehab projects garner most headlines, most homeowners in the city don't need or can't afford expensive projects. Neighborhood stabilization requires many showcase projects but many more efforts to retain existing residents. Kudos to the volunteers working today in the 21st ward!

Peter Kinder and Historic Tax Credits

2010-04-30T12:54:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder convened a press conference on tax credits on Old Post Office Plaza in downtown St. Louis. (Coverage: St. Louis Business Journal, KWMU, St. Louis Globe-Democrat and St. Louis Beacon.) The location was ironic given that Old Post Office developer Steve Stogel has close ties to Governor Jay Nixon.

The scene was set as if this were an official response to Governor Nixon's tax credit proposal, with Kinder citing statistics between statements of strong support for the state's redevelopment incentives, especially the historic rehabilitation tax credit. Of course, the spate of press conferences by Nixon and Kinder are more prelude to the 2012 governor's race than official actions. Both are shoring up bases, with a twist: Democrat Nixon is pandering to the perceived "Missourah" base that abhors the state's urban areas, and Kinder is aiming to gain support in the urban areas that helped propel Nixon into the governor's mansion.

Kinder was surrounded by St. Louis Democrats, including aldermanic President Lewis Reed, Aldermen Antonio French (D-21st) and Jeffrey Boyd (D-22nd), State Representative Tishaura Jones (D-63rd) and former Carnahan adminstration Director of Revenue Janette Lohman. Also on hand were Reverend Ken McKoy, developers Paul J. McKee, Jr. and Peter George, Landmarks Association of St. Louis Executive Director Jeff Mansell, RHCDA President Stephen Acree, Association of General Contractors of America President Leonard P. Toenjes and others. These people have different reasons for supporting the historic rehabilitation tax credit, but most talked about the importance of using the credits in distressed neighborhoods.

Kinder's words resonated in St. Louis. The press has picked up on his jab about Blagojevich-style politics, but he mostly stuck to reasons why tax credit programs build the state economy. Kinder stated emphatically that Missouri should be proud of how much money it spends on historic preservation. Missouri leads all states in historic preservation-related development due to the tax credit. That's not a bad thing, Kinder said.

Kinder questioned Nixon's recent attempt to tie tax credit expenditures to loss of revenue for public education. According to Kinder, "he leaves out one simple part of the equation in that tax credits create jobs and without jobs there will be no place for our educated workforce to earn a living." Missouri has indeed long suffered from lack of economic opportunity, and the historic rehabilitation tax credit has spurred job creation for skilled labor. Of course, public education should not be underfunded to spur job creation.

Kinder pointed out that leading the country in one type of development has created jobs that Missouri otherwise may not have had. “Nixon’s plan to cut tax credits is a boon to states like Kansas and Tennessee, which are courting our businesses away and taking their hundreds of millions of investment and jobs with them," Kinder said.

Aldermen French and Boyd talked about the difference that the historic tax credit could make in north St. Louis, where use has not been as widespread as in other areas. Boyd talked about the upcoming renovation of Arlington School, which would not have happened without credits. French talked about plans to get most of his ward eligible for use of the credits. Each acknowledged that the credits alone are not the answer, but essential parts of larger strategies.

Surprisingly, Kinder was candid about his support for last year's cap on the historic tax credit, which many who stood behind him opposed. Kinder stated that he might support a lower cap, but not "gutting" the program as proposed by the Nixon administration. While Kinder avoided any specific ideas for changes -- not a good thing to do, I guess, with developers standing behind him -- he did suggest that some changes have to happen. The end of the press conference was a sober reminder that, while there is wide recognition of the benefits of the Missouri rehabilitation tax credit, supporters have to face Missouri's budget reality. After all, Governor Nixon is as right about that point as he is wrong about the solution.

Preservation Board Spares Chouteau Avenue Buildings; Now What?

2010-04-30T00:22:00.003-05:00

On Monday, the St. Louis Preservation Board unanimously voted to uphold the Cultural Resources Office's denial of an application to demolish the commercial buildings at 2612-30 Chouteau Avenue. The applicant, Crown 40, Inc., was represented in testimony by Charles Mace of Chuck's Brick and Demo and John Zumwalt of Crown 40. Speaking against demolition -- briefly, because the Board already seemed ready to reject the appeal -- were Andrew Weil of Landmarks Association, Lafayette Square resident Jason Stokes and myself.

Zumwalt testified that Crown 40 purchased the properties to prevent a competitor from purchasing the buildings and opening a gas station that might compete with Crown 40's new Crown Mart gas station near I-44 and Jefferson Avenue. Crown 40 has no intention of building a gas station on the site but -- and this gets weird -- wants to buy the two buildings to the east, demolish all of them and some day build something new there. This desire is odd because the corner building is occupied by a dental clinic that was not represented in Monday's proceedings. The other building is for sale.

Perhaps 2626-30 Chouteau (the large wagon company warehouse at right in the photograph above) is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. In my professional opinion, the other buildings are not -- not even as a district. The alterations have damaged historic integrity, and there is not sufficient context for a larger listing.

Of course, many buildings are preserved without official landmark designation and without tax credits. Can these be? Sure, but the owner doesn't seem interested. What can change his mind?

Illinois Historic Tax Credit Bill Not Down or Out

2010-04-29T23:31:00.004-05:00

Illinois may yet pass a state historic rehabilitation tax credit this year. On March 18, the Illinois Senate passed SB 2559, which is now heading through the House committee process in the final days of this year's legislative session.

Apparently Governor Pat Quinn (D) is favorable to the bill. Supporters wisely have crafted a substitute that lowers the per-county cap from $25 million to $5 million, requires each project pass a "but for" test and subjects projects to a per-project issuance cap. These are provisions that make the bill -- and the dream that downstate communities like East St. Louis and Alton gain a powerful tool for neighborhood development -- alive. There may be one particular county that generated the per-county cap, and the per-project cap as well, but those are excellent ideas to ensure that the credit gets used where it is most needed -- where development actually needs a stimulus.

Built Environment / Blog Ecosystem / Media Landscape: May 5th

2010-04-29T19:34:00.001-05:00

I am pleased to be part of this event:

Built Environment / Blog Ecosystem / Media Landscape

A conversation about the opportunities and complexities of blogs and websites pertaining to architecture, urbanism, preservation, and politics in St. Louis

Wednesday, May 5th
7 PM
1310 South 18th Street (Lafayette Square)
St. Louis, MO 63104.

Speakers:

Alex Ihnen (urbanSTL)

Antonio D. French (Pub Def, 21st Ward Alderman)

Jami Schoeneweis (56 House Left)

Michael Allen (Ecology of Absence)

Rick Bonasch (STL Rising)

Toby Weiss (BELT)

(This event is part of the week-long Chautauqua Art Lab 2010. For more information, see http://infleshwebuild.blogspot.com/)

Preservation Month Calendar Posted

2010-04-29T00:25:00.004-05:00

I have posted a calendar of Preservation Month events in May 2010, which the National Trust for Historic Preservation recognizes as the national month for historic preservation. Check out the wide range of events, which range from walking tours of mid-century modern buildings to a used book sale benefiting the Chatillon-DeMenil House to a historic St. Louis County farm tour to a liability-waiver tour of the James Clemens House. There are also tours of Harris Armstrong houses, an exhibit on lost riverfront architecture, a rock 'n' roll show later in the month and a Pecha Kucha night (head-scratchers, check the calendar).

I'm sure that I have left a few events out, so please point those out to me via email or in the comments section here.

Also, when earlier today I went to reserve my spot in Landmarks Association of St. Louis' tour of the Beaux Arts Building on Tuesday, May 11, I received a response stating that the tour already was full and that I would be put on a wait list. The tour announcement set no attendance limit, while other Landmarks tours has specific limits. I'd recommend making reservations as soon as possible for these popular tours!

Nixon's Tax Credit Explanation

2010-04-28T09:34:00.010-05:00

This morning in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch I read the worst-ever explanation of how the Missouri historic rehabilitation tax credit works:

"Right now, if a building is old and somebody in essence wants to develop that, they automatically get certain amounts of these credits,” [Governor Jay] Nixon said. “We want to have an ability to cap that."

Does that sort of knowing oversimplification even play well out-state any more?

This is no the correct way to describe a program that:

1. Requires buildings to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places -- either individually or in historic districts -- before a tax credit application can be approved. The National Register has strict criteria for listing and many buildings do not make the cut;

2. Requires owners to submit up-front through preliminary application itemized expenditures and detailed work descriptions, and then subjects the developers to review by design professionals working for the State Historic Preservation Office;

3. Has rules that reimburse only for "qualified rehabilitation expenses";

4. That last year was capped at $140 million for projects of $1.1 million or more in qualified rehabilitation expenditures (a cap that Nixon supported without stating that he wanted a more drastic cut);

5. Governor Nixon has supported in previous years, including the year he ran for governor.

Nixon also does not mention that last year he signed the economic development bill that increased Missouri's annual obligation in Distressed Areas Land Assemblage tax credits from $10 to $20 million to allow developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. to receive over $19 million in those credits before the end of 2009. Nixon remains silent on the merits of that particular program while attacking a program used mostly for small-scale neighborhood redevelopment.

Nixon's push to make tax credits available for the most politically connected is problematic, because that's a continuation of the worst aspects of Missouri's tax credit policy. There are other ideas for reform that have merit, such as placing caps on existing programs -- including the special-interest programs -- or independent study of the economic impact of all existing programs and the courage to eliminate the bad programs.

White Roof Coating, Ahead of Summer

2010-04-25T23:28:00.007-05:00

After completing major tuckpointing and chimney rebuilding, we decided to apply a white elastomeric coat to our flat roof this month. This roof was a three-ply modified bitumen roof with a black, heat-trapping emulsion overcoat. The roof was old enough to coat but certainly not getting younger under the toll of ultraviolet rays. A mod-bit roof needs about one year to leech out oils before coating, and ours was well past that mark. Time to coat!

Now why would we go through the trouble of applying a white coat? There are two major reasons:

Energy efficiency and global warming. A white coat can reflect up to 80 percent of solar radiation, reducing overall planet temperature but more immediately reducing building, neighborhood and city temperature. One white roof is small local block against the urban "heat island" effect and many of them can have wide impact. The white roof will reduce the internal temperature and the need for air conditioning, which in turn reduces the electricity usage and so forth. (There is some question about possible heat loss effect of a white roof in winter. At St. Louis' latitude the sun's rays are vertical in the summer and at a low slant in the winter, so the available winter solar heat is much less than the summer heat. At other latitudes, a white roof might not be of such benefit as here and points southward.)

Longevity of the roof. An elastomeric coat will block ultraviolet rays that slowly break down asphalt roofing. Coats should be reapplied every 10 years or sooner if needed. With timely reapplication, the coverage can extend the life of the roof to 40-50 years, reducing cost as well as waste of nonrenewable roofing materials.

While the mason had the scaffolding set up, we used his pulley to hoist up the 5 gallon buckets of coating. We used five $72 buckets of Henry Solarflex 287, which completely covered our 1300 square foot roof. When the scaffolding was down, we used a tall ladder for travel to the roof.

Working with a friend, we spent about eight hours washing the roof and applying the coat. Since we had just had masonry work, the roof was dirty and required over two hours of scrubbing. The mod-bit roof dried quickly, however. We applied the coat with a 4" brush on the parapet sides and 9" rough rollers on the roof. We avoided a few new flashing repairs made around the rebuilt chimneys.

Most of the roof was covered with two coats, but some areas required three coats. (a one year old roof won't take this much work). We left a spot near the ladder for exit and came back to finish in a half-hour a day later. Now the roof is too bright to look at, just in time for summer. We're not big air conditioning users -- it's expensive and not very sustainable, although certainly necessary for a few weeks -- so we definitely look forward to the building heat reduction.

Lindell Mid-Century Modern Walking Tour, May 1

2010-04-25T11:17:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, May 1, the City of St. Louis presents its first Open Streets 2010 event. From 8:00 a.m. through 1:00 p.m., a route through the city including most of Lindell Boulevard will be closed to vehicular traffic.

The St. Louis Building Arts Foundation is pleased to join the city's effort by sponsoring an architectural walking tour showcasing the city's modern architecture.

Lindell Mid-Century Modern Walking Tour

When: 10:00 a.m. (lasts approximately 90 minutes)

Where: Meet at the statue in front of Pius XII Memorial Library, 3650 Lindell Boulevard

What: A narrated tour of Lindell's unusual array of modern architecture led by Michael Allen and Toby Weiss. From the somber International Style to New Brutalism to playful Googie, this tour has it all!

FREE

Let's Save What's Left on Chouteau

2010-04-23T10:01:00.004-05:00

So much of Chouteau Avenue has been cleared of street-facing historic buildings that the character remaining is hard to find. The mention of Chouteau is more likely to conjure suburban-style industrial buildings with front lawns and parking lots than a measured urban environment. I hold no complaint against the presence of businesses like Villa Lighting and Andy's Seasoning, since they provide jobs in a centrally-located part of the city within easy travel of city residents. However, I do lament that the influx of larger uses has meant destruction of the character of the street. Chouteau used to be very different, even just a few decades ago.

But all is not lost -- yet.

The three-story building housing Preston Art Glass Studio is a reminder of the historic density of Chouteau Avenue. Although the front wall was once relaid, the building retains historic features including a lovely cast iron storefront. The difference between walking past this building and the newer buildings on Chouteau could not be more stark.

Across the street is a row of six historic buildings, two of which are occupied and four of which are now endangered. Right at the corner of Jefferson and Chouteau is a two-story brick building (barely visible here) housing a dental office. There is a Chinese restaurant in the building to the west. There are two gaps in the street face, but this group provides a welcome transition between the residential streets of the Gate District and Lafayette Square, with front gardens and street trees, and the harsh contemporary industrial environment on Chouteau to the west and, to a lesser extent, on the east.

Gas station operator Crown 40 Inc. applied to demolish the four buildings from 2612-2630 Chouteau, and had its application denied last month by the city's Cultural Resources Office. Crown 40's appeal is on Monday's agenda of the St. Louis Preservation Board.

Perhaps the showiest of the buildings is the two-story building at 2612 Chouteau, with a fine cast iron storefront.

No matter how shabby the buildings of the row are, they sure are easier on the eyes -- and on the pedestrian -- than newer outposts of commerce on Chouteau.

The end building once housed a crude industrial use -- it was a print shop for the Lindstrom Wagon Company around the turn of the 20th century. The graceful transition to the street kept the use from oppressing its surroundings. I wish that the same could be said about what is getting built on Chouteau a century later.

The potential for a higher use is strong. There is a lot of consumer power in the vicinity of Jefferson and Chouteau, and the Gate District is woefully under served by neighborhood business -- because planners tore down most of the corner storefronts inside of the Duane Plater Zyberk-planned urban experiment. Well, some old urbanism exists here and could serve both the neighborhood and the hundreds of workers employed on Chouteau and the nearby LaSalle Street floral row. A gas station might be handy -- of course, there already is a new Crown Mart just north at I-40 and Jefferson -- but how about a deli or a neighborhood bar and grille?

The Preservation Board meets at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, April 26 at 4:00 p.m. in the 12th floor conference room at 1015 Locust Street downtown. Send written testimony to Adona Buford at BufordA@stlouiscity.com.

What is Governor Nixon Thinking?

2010-04-22T15:31:00.005-05:00

One has to wonder what is the point of Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (Democrat)'s tax credit reform proposal and why he is going to such great lengths to push it. The House Republican leadership is stonewalling any changes to tax credits this year, so even if Nixon could get reform passed in the Senate it will never make it to his desk. That fact did not stop Nixon from showboating at a press conference yesterday, where he pitched his tax credit proposal flanked by 75 educators whose presence underscored his point that a dollar toward tax credits is a dollar taken from education.

This is a talking point now being used in debate in the General Assembly by Senator Brad Lager (R-Savannah) and his conservative allies, whose commitment to public education has never been so strongly stated. Strange that Lager, Nixon and company have aimed their strongest attack at the historic tax credit, one of the few tax credits in Missouri that does not require expensive consultants and lawyers to understand and use. The low income housing tax credit is second on the list, although its appropriation system is continually politicized along the lines that Nixon is proposing for all tax credits in the state.

I keep wondering if this Jay Nixon is the same man that I met at a fundraiser hosted by Steven Fitzpatrick Smith back in 2008. That Nixon talked a lot about the importance of education, too, but he also emphasized his commitment to the historic rehabilitation tax credit and urban development. Nixon proclaimed to understand that the historic rehab credit creates jobs. That night nearly two years ago, Nixon told a room of us that he was proud of his days living around Tower Grove Park and being a city resident.

Flash forward and now he's aiming at the state's only citizen's tax credit, knowing he won't hit, because taking aim wins alliances with people who wish that Missouri had no cities larger than Chillicothe. He's doing this at the same time that Lt. Governor Peter Kinder (R) is building up his urban support to unseat Nixon. He's doing this at the same time that House Speaker Ron Richard (R) is calling for independent evaluation of all tax credit programs before making cuts -- a sensible and needed study that could help Missouri get rid of the bad programs. What could Jay Nixon possibly be thinking? Why let Republicans who know very well how to use the opportunity sound urban-minded and reasonable to St. Louis voters?

I'd like Governor Nixon to embrace real tax credit reform, not a gubernatorial power grab that makes tax credits the sole province of the politically connected who can wheedle part of the annual appropriation. All Nixon needs to do is look at the programs and propose getting rid of the ones that aren't creating jobs and spurring revenue returns. He needs to drop his current reform proposal fast. After all, every dollar spent in campaign contributions is a dollar not spent on creating jobs or improving neighborhoods. You don't have to be a teacher to do that math.

Shiloh House With a Cool Brick Chimney

2010-04-22T14:33:00.005-05:00

Suburban place-making can be difficult when builders rely on the build-by-the-material approach through which home designs are derived from dimensions of common materials. That's why we see so many woefully under-fenestrated tract houses, with wide rear faces of tiny white vinyl windows amid siding that seem to defeat the point of suburban life. Why face the back of the house onto an expansive view and then put puny little windows on that side?

I digress. I was meandering from a job at Scott Air Force Base to lunch in Belleville when I spotted this new house -- workers seemed to be applying finishing touches -- on Indian Ridge right off of Main Street in Shiloh, Illinois. By and large the houses in Indian Ridge showed modest originality, especially in chimney design. For one thing, the chimneys here are all brick -- not vinyl-covered boxes of questionable fireproofing or graceless exposed sheet metal stacks. No, here the chimneys are solid masonry, and one really makes the most of that fact.

Check it out -- a turned chimney in buff brick, with a more traditional cousin behind. the cap is even brick around a genuine clay pot. Should it be said that the suburbs are architecturally lifeless, remove this little house in Shiloh from the observation.

Free Tour of Paradowski's New Digs

2010-04-21T17:53:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, April 24, Landmarks Association of St. Louis offers a free tour of the impressive new home of Paradowski Creative. Paradowski is located in the former Missouri Electric Light and Power Company plant at the southeast corner of 20th and Locust streets. Details are available in the organization's latest newsletter. RSVP requested; 314-421-6474 or landmark@stlouis.missouri.org.

2010 Illinois Ten Most Endangered Places

2010-04-20T12:13:00.003-05:00

Today Landmarks Illinois announced its 2010 Ten Most Endangered Historic Places. More information is online here.

The list includes:

1. Bass-Mollett House -- Greenville
2. Chanute Headquarters and Mess Hall - Rantoul
3. Illinois Main Street Program
4. Manske-Niemann Farm - Litchfield
5. Massac Theater - Metropolis
6. North Pullman - Chicago
7. Prentice Women's Hospital - Chicago
8. Red Cliff - Moline
9. St. Laurence Complex - Chicago
10. Uptown Theatre - Chicago

This is an assortment indicative of the state's current preservation problems: there's a mid-century modern building (Prentice Women's Hospital), a farm, two theaters and a large church (always hard to adapt) and a popular state preservation program.

I previously wrote about the plight of the Massac Theater: "Massac Theater Crumbles in Metropolis, Illinois" (November 13, 2007).

Arts Center Proposal for Belleville YMCA Gaining Momentum

2010-04-20T00:26:00.003-05:00

Over the weekend, the Belleville News-Democrat carried a story by Laura Girresch entitled "The old YMCA building: Is it worth saving or will it be a money pit?". Title aside, the article reports that St. Clair County Historical Society member Larry Betz' proposal to turn the former Belleville YMCA into the Belleville Arts and Cultural Center is gaining traction.

Belleville officials are hopeful that Betz' plan can come to fruition. A lot of work lies ahead but the city government's attitude now seems firmly supportive of preservation. One of the issues ahead: how to fund mothballing the building as Betz raises money for the center.

14th Street Mall: Almost History

2010-04-19T13:24:00.003-05:00

Here's the current view from St. Louis Avenue looking south down the two commercial blocks of 14th Street that once composed the "14th Street Mall." Sidewalks nearly done: check. Street under construction: check. Reopening of 14th Street by the fall: check and double check.

16th Street: Open for Business

2010-04-18T23:14:00.004-05:00

Here is 16th Street looking south across Delmar Boulevard. This may seem a mundane site to serve as a subject for a short article, but it is noteworthy for one reason: the stupid gates that blocked 16th Street are gone. The gates have been gone for a few years now, but for a long time gates blocked the sidewalks and street here, cutting off through traffic of all kinds between Delmar and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Residents of Carr Square couldn't pass through walking to downtown, downtown residents could not pass through walking north. Cars couldn't pass from Washington up to MLK or vice versa. Parking spots on this block were ridiculous on weekends, when they sat unused while City Museum patrons circles the block looking for spaces. Street grids are systems, and no disruption is casual to users. Like most closures in St. Louis, this closure had no apparent reason, other than to serve some whim of a tenant in one of the warehouses.

No doubt some well-meaning alderman put forth a bill to vacate the right-of way here, and no doubt that alderman was wrong to do so. Streets, sidewalks and alleys are public spaces that should be closed only in rare circumstances -- and business loading, parking and "security" are insufficient reasons to alter the flow of the life-blood of pedestrians and motorists across the city. Another alderman reversed the closure, and the life of the grid has returned.

If there's such a closure in your ward, call your alderman and get it taken out! Gates and blockades can be removed as easily as they are installed.

Olivette Tear-Down

2010-04-18T11:21:00.004-05:00

Last week I spotted this tear-down on Dielman Road at Engel Lane just south of Olive Boulevard. Another fine postwar ranch house, built sturdy of brick and concrete, will meet its death. Oh, recession, you were supposed to bring calm to the troubled waters of suburban real estate!

Adams Recommends Closing Six School Buildings

2010-04-16T12:35:00.006-05:00

At last night's meeting of the Special Administrative Board of the St. Louis Public Schools, Superintendent Kelvin Adams recommended closing the following six school buildings:

Gallaudet School for the Hearing Impaired, 1616 S. Grand; built in 1925; Rockwell Milligan, architect.

Alternative South at Lyon School; 7417 Vermont; built in 1909; William B. Ittner, architect.

Ford Branch School; 1383 Clara Avenue; built around 1960.

Fresh Start at Turner Middle School; 2615 Billups Avenue; built in 1939; George Sanger, architect.

Bunche at Madison School, 1118 S. Seventh; built in 1910; William B. Ittner, architect.

Pruitt Middle School (Cleveland Junior Naval Academy), 1212 N. 22nd; built in 1954.

Lyon School And Turner Middle School (formerly Stowe Teachers College) are already listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Gallaudet, Madison and Pruitt are eligible for such designation. Ford Branch might contribute to a historic district listing.

Six schools that Adams once suggested closing, including Mann Elementary School at 4047 Juniata Avenue in Tower Grove South (built in 1901-16 and designed by William B. Ittner; listed in the National Register), will be placed on a new "turnaround model" with new principals and at least 50% new teaching staff.

Four schools are going to be placed on "restart" -- closed as public schools and reopened as chartered schools. One of these is the venerable -- but academically failing -- Sumner High School at 4248 Cottage Avenue in the Ville (built in 1908-9 and designed by William B. Ittner; listed in the National Register).

More St. Louis Public Schools to Close

2010-04-15T11:13:00.004-05:00

On Tuesday, the St. Louis Beacon published an article by Dale Singer covering a presentation by Superintendent Kelvin Adams on the state of the troubled St. Louis Public Schools. Not surprising, perhaps, is the prediction by Adams that more school closings are ahead. Singer writes:

Of the district's buildings -- 74 currently in use, 39 decommissioned -- the average age is 75 years, he said, ranging from six years to 132. Last year more than a dozen schools were closed, down from the 29 closings that a consulting firm had recommended, but more are certain to be on the closing list this time around.

Mann School in Tower Grove South, previously considered for demolition and replacement or closure, likely will again be threatened with closure. Given the district's financial state, however, demolition and construction of new school buildings seems unlikely.

That the average age of a city school building is 75 years means that the average city school student attends class in a historic neighborhood school. While that fact alone does not produce desired educational outcome, it is reassuring. Our students are interacting with their city's heritage and most are attending class in humane buildings with ample natural light, ventilation and classroom space. Imagine if the troubled district was mostly housed in the bleak, low-ceiling, fluorescent-lit educational hot-houses being built today. Performance could be much worse.

DeMenil Mansion Hosts Fourth Annual Book Sale

2010-04-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

Books and Crannies: our fourth annual used book sale
Benefits the Chatillon-DeMenil House Foundation
Located at the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion, 3352 DeMenil Place, Saint Louis, 63118
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 15 (preview: 8 a. m. – 10 a. m., $5)
Noon – 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 16

DeMenil Place (April 14, 2010) - The Chatillon-DeMenil House Foundation will hold its fourth annual Used Book Sale at the House on May 15 – 16, 2010. This year’s theme will be “Books and Crannies.” Bigger and better than ever, the sale has outgrown our gift shop: for one weekend, patrons will have access to parts of the house usually off-limits to visitors, including our staff-only kitchen (for cookbooks, of course!) and the basement “tunnel.”

Free tours will be offered throughout the sale weekend.

The Used Book Sale is one of the year’s biggest fundraisers, providing capital for ongoing operations and restoration projects. Books are accepted at the House from 10 AM – 3PM, Wednesday through Saturday until May.

The Chatillon-DeMenil House was saved from the path of Interstate 55 construction by concerned citizens. A remarkable community effort resulted in its careful restoration. In 1966 the House opened as a museum interpreting the lives of the French-American families who lived there from the 1840s into the 1920s, and as a rare survivor interpreting the tastes and architectural preferences of the Victorian upper class. For more information on the Chatillon-DeMenil House, please visit www.demenil.org or call (314) 771-5828.

"Saving" a Chicago Church

2010-04-13T11:47:00.004-05:00

Over at ArchitectureChicago PLUS, Lynn Becker has posted renderings of a bizarre plan to "save" Chicago's St. Boniface Church by retaining the front elevation and the street face of the crossing, demolishing the rest and constructing a massive six-story apartment building for senior citizens. This has to be one of the ugliest designs that I've seen lately.

There is some grace in retaining parts of a neighborhood landmark on site where those whose lives connected with the church can still have a physical connection. that could be better than total demolition or relocation. The Buffalo, New York archdiocese is preparing to relocate an entire historic church to suburban Atlanta -- another form of preservation that robs the church of a meaningful historic site. Many Buffalo residents oppose the move. The plan for St. Boniface in Chicago seems to be an odd compromise, and one that mocks the parts of the church that will remain.

Who do you think?

It's Just One Building...Right?

2010-04-12T19:39:00.004-05:00

The 2002 short video ...it's just one building created by Alan Brunettin and produced by Margie Newman is now available on YouTube. ...it's just one building remains a powerful and moving piece, and the downtown focus is relevant in light of renewed interest in the riverfront. (Not to mention the fact that we still have threatened downtown buildings.) The haunting score by Dan Rubright and the images selected by Lynn Josse from the archive of Landmarks Association of St. Louis are as a poignant a combination now as they were eight years ago in the thick of the battle to save the Century Building.

Historic Tax Credits at Work Near the Missouri Capitol

2010-04-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

This is how the building at 105-7 East High Street in downtown Jefferson City looked in 2006.

Here's what it looked like on a recent visit. While mid-century slipcovers should not always be removed, here the half-covering was ugly and covered operable windows. Windows allow for light and ventilation and significantly reduce the energy usage of a building -- not to mention the spirits of the people who work or live inside. Underneath, the ornate cast iron lintels are intact. The facade will be restored gracing a block very near our state Capitol.

This project is utilizing Missouri's state historic rehabilitation tax credit, a national model that returns up to 25% of qualified rehabilitation costs back to an owner in transferable credits. This building was in sound condition before, but its street face was not becoming a location right by the seat of state government. Without the tax credit, the owner might have left well enough alone -- and visitors to our capital might have found this block a bit unbecoming.

Operation Brightside Blitz Days

2010-04-10T16:19:00.007-05:00

Juniata Street looking east toward Roosevelt High School in Tower Grove East.

Dodier Street west of Leffingwell Avenue in St. Louis Place.

The two blocks pictured here both were part of today's Operation Brightside Blitz Day. My neighbors and I were out working on our block this morning. Since there is no such thing as a self-cleaning city, citizen cleaning is essential to keeping blocks looking lovely. Government provides the basic services, but citizens create quality of life. We have to be active stewards of our houses and our blocks. No one is going to clean our alleys and sidewalks for us, even in the most ideal world. There are Blitz days coming up in other areas of the city and you should do your part. There's nothing more rewarding than working with neighbors to make St. Louis look beautiful!

Minnesota Passes Historic Tax Credit as Stimulus

2010-04-09T19:58:00.000-05:00

From Preservation Action

Last week, on April 1, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed into law the Minnesota Jobs Stimulus Bill which, of note to preservationists, includes a State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit designed to stimulate green job growth, increase local tax bases, and revitalize urban and main street communities through reinvestment in historic properties. Approximately 1,500 to 3,000 construction jobs are projected to be added annually because of the measure.

The new state historic preservation tax credit, like the federal rehabilitation tax credit, will make available a state income tax credit equal to 20 percent of the cost of rehabilitating a qualifying income-producing historic property. Projects are eligible to claim the state credit if they qualify for the federal credit, which requires properties to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Minnesota currently has 1,600 listings in the National Register representing almost 7,000 individual properties.

An innovative component of the tax credit allows developers to choose either a certificated, refundable credit or a grant, which will stimulate nonprofit use of the incentive, and also can be used against the insurance premium tax widening the investor pool. There is no cap for the program.

Minnesota joins thirty other states that have similar tax credit programs.

Mullanphy Emigrant Home, Four Years Later

2010-04-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

The fact that this city still has the Mullanphy Emigrant Home is testament to the amazing mobilization of dedicated Old North St. Louis residents, preservationists and civic leaders across the city. This week's victory for Proposition A in St. Louis County brought much jubilation to advocates for sustainable urban development, and its close coincidence with the anniversaries of the dates that the venerable north side landmark was struck by storms crossed my mind.

The tale of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, located at 1609 N. 14th Street at the south end of Old North, is no less remarkable than the overwhelming passage of Proposition A. In the dark days after the storm wrecked the south wall in April 2006, many observers conceded its loss. The Building Division pushed for emergency demolition, the owner was not certain that he wanted to preserve it or even sell it and the neighborhood had so many other pressing needs that taking on a possible lost cause seemed unlikely. Yet residents of Old North rallied around the battered landmark, which defines the south entrance to the neighborhood and has great historic significance. While only used as a transitional home for westward-moving immigrants for ten years after its 1867 construction date, the Emigrant Home was pivotal in that period. Its Italianate masonry design, by celebrated architects George I. Barnett and Alfred Piquenard, is one of the city's finest surviving 19th century examples of the style.

Cultural Resources Office Director Kathleen Shea helped fend off demolition to buy time. Swift mobilization of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group allowed for a building sale. Then the hard part: raising money for stabilization and repair. Of course, things would get worse before getting better when a storm inflicted more damage almost one year later in 2007. Still, the preservation effort proceeded against daunting odds and with the generosity of E.M. Harris Construction Company and the Masonry Contractors Association, not to mention countless individual donors. Now, the building is effectively mothballed awaiting reuse as a hostel planned by the Hostelling International Gateway Council.

Here's a look back at the building's plight.

On March 31, 2007, the Mullanphy Emigrant Home suffered a second collapse due to heavy winds. The south wall already had a gaping hole, but then the east side and north wall were also partly collapsed. Bracing installed after the first damage held the building together although the open southern end created a wind tunnel effect that probably caused the blow-out damage.

The building was already in rough shape following the south end collapse on April 2, 2006.

From 1900 through the 1980s, the Absorene Company occupied the building and used it to manufacture wallpaper adhesives, cleaners and removers. Absorene altered the building considerable, adding the bump-out stairwell in 1927, removing the cupola and main entrance, and changing the original profile of the front gable. The photograph above was taken by Landmarks Association of St. Louis in 1982 as part of the documentation for the Mullanphy Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district.

Artist Pat Baer's drawing presents the original appearance of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. The outpouring of civic good will and hard work that saved the building -- twice, no less -- will hopefully restore this appearance some day.

A Hub is Born: UrbanSTL

2010-04-09T00:20:00.004-05:00

With today's publication of Toby Weiss' excellent essay "Crying Over Spilt Milk: The Suburbs Happened, Get Over It!", urbanSTL now has become the web hub for St. Louis region built environment news and commentary. Okay, this guest article goes along with regular blogging by Alex Ihnen, a blog aggregate feed, a rejuvenated Urban St. Louis Forum, a local urban Wiki, videos and many other features. The weaving, not the strands, make urbanSTL a central source.

Alex is the real spark behind this effort, and his dedication is such that he ceased publishing his own excellent St. Louis Urban Workshop to provide steady content for a new hub site. Last year, Alex sent out a call to bloggers for creating a portal into the ever-expanding sea of online content on development and architecture in the region. This blogger was too time-strapped to join the cause, but Toby and others have helped Alex bring the project to life. Bravo!

Doctors Building Site: Still Empty

2010-04-08T23:08:00.003-05:00

In April 2008, Mills Group demolished the mid-century Doctors Building at Euclid and West Pine the Central West End. An under-appreciated modernist gem fell for a supposed "Citywalk" -- a mixed-use building with residential condominiums and street-level retail. Although located in a preservation review district, the building's demolition was approved by the Cultural Resources Office without a Preservation Board hearing. Fans of urban infill like the Park East Tower and Nine North Euclid down the street rejoiced.

Now, two years later, the site is a vacant lot with a pre-Softball Village condition. Crushed pieces of the Doctors Building are still strewn about the site. In September 2009, Mills announced that a part of Department of Housing and Urban Development financing had fallen into place, but there has been no news since then.

In some instances, the call for preservation may rightly be called an impediment to some developer's ready-to-build plan. In the case of the Doctor's Building, it was not so.

Storefront/Commercial Addition: Ted Foster & Sons Funeral Home

2010-04-08T14:20:00.001-05:00

People often ask me about the history of the old, boarded-up funeral home at 1221 N. Grand near Page. This is indeed a curious old building, and it wears clearly its layers of construction history. There is the old house, built in 1895 and tucked away behind the later kinda-sorta Colonial Revival front. The front itself shows its seams, so to speak: there is the 1930s-era first floor, with the scrolled broken pediment entrance and prominent keystones. Then there is the second floor, with slightly different tapestry brick and flat-arch window openings with unmistakable post-World War II metal windows. There is a boxy northern wing and the graceful gated archway on the south, from which a funeral procession would once begin. Tying the whole thing together is a projecting gabled portico, replete with columns topped by authentic Ionic capitals with genuine volutes. There are terra cotta urns on each side of the portico up top.

This is a pretty classy hybrid building, and its history is likewise dignified. This is the former home of Ted Foster and Sons Funeral Home, which had passed its 75th year of business here when it abruptly closed in 2008. When the African-American Foster family took over the old house around 1933, this neighborhood had changed a lot. Now known as JeffVanderLou, this was then called Yeatman or Grand Prairie and the residential population had shifted to being largely African-American. As African Americans migrated to the city, the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood was overwhelmed and African-Americans began moving farther north up toward Cass Avenue.

The Foster family were entrepreneurs and ran a strong business until foreclosure in 2008. the circumstances of the closure remain vague, and the building is now empty awaiting its next life. Perhaps renewed interest in developing this part of time will be a rising tide for this curious dry-docked vessel.

Arts Center Proposed for Belleville YMCA

2010-04-07T17:38:00.003-05:00

Today the Belleville News-Democrat reported on an effort to turn the old YMCA building in Belleville, Illinois -- originally the Belleville Turner Hall -- into an arts center.

The story included some good news in the saga: members of a city committee charged with selling the city-owned building are impressed with the plan. After a lackluster response to a city-issued Request for Proposals (RFP) last year, Belleville officials have began mentioning demolition as a possible outcome. In February, I joined Belleville preservationists in urging the city to re-issue the RFP, which lacked important information on the building and mostly consisted of a report and asbestos in the building.

Proponents of the arts center have launched a Facebook group for supporters.

Proposition A

2010-04-05T23:45:00.004-05:00

This United Railways streetcar line map from 1903 reminds us of what is possible with mass transit. The red lines mark streetcar lines, which augment the street grid with a separate network of traffic. In 1903, that separate network was primary to many people. The streets where the street car lines ran gave rise to commerce and pedestrian traffic. The streets around them saw secondary benefits.

Now, 107 years later, county residents are faced with a choice on whether to approve Proposition A to fund the region's public transit system, now doing business as Metro. That the funding comes through a sales tax increase that triggers an already-approved sales-tax increase in the city has generated concern. A sales tax increase is not desirable, but neither is the funneling of tax revenues to a state infrastructure agency, the Missouri Department of Transportation, that exclusively fund roadway construction. The money raised for state highways ought to stay in the region to begin with, to fund the transportation that best serves an urban area -- just as Chillicothe's transportation dollars are probably best spent on roads. If the money must go to the state, then it should return in the form of funding for mass transit operations in addition to highway funding. There is a board political goal from which our leaders cannot shirk after tomorrow, no matter what outcome.

Back to the 1903 map: density of transit lines created and sustained commercial districts at the turn of the last century. The map here shows midtown St. Louis, which soon afterward would be dubbed the "second downtown." This is entirely due to the placement and density of mass transit street car lines. Today, we don't have such stark benefit but we have a regional core where bus and MetroLink service is sufficient to support the location of major employment.

In 1903, mass transit made Midtown more desirable than other parts of the city of St. Louis. Today, mass transit makes the core more desirable for major employers than exurban locations. County voters are not voting to build up the city, but to sustain their own place in the regional economy -- a place staked by relative density of population and transit lines. Without the sustaining the Metro system, what gives a county municipality like Brentwood a distinct business advantage over St. Peters? Or, for that matter, Chesterfield over Wentzville?

When we lost the street car lines, we found out what would happen when Midtown had to compete with the county in the absence of a strong mass transit system. Midtown faded away. So it could go with St. Louis County. Whether the city or St. Charles County ultimately benefits from the decline of Metro is a gamble of unknown odds. Somehow I doubt that defeat of funding for mass transit will benefit the urbanization of an already too-dispersed region. Yes, if Proposition A fails, the system is not dead -- but it will shrink immediately and the prospect of service restoration will diminish. Passage of Proposition A allows time to build a better funding system without regional havoc or further economic dispersal.

Missouri House Committee to Consider Tax Credit-Busting Bill Tomorrow

2010-04-05T14:36:00.005-05:00

What's Happening

Tomorrow (April 6th) the Job Creation and Economic Development Committee of the Missouri House of Representatives will consider HB 2399, the bill that would gut Missouri's successful historic preservation tax credit program. The committee will meet at 1:00 p.m. in Hearing Room 6 of the capitol.

Why It's Bad

The bill, introduced by Representatives Steve Hobbs (D) and Sam Komo (R), would rescind most of the state's current tax credit authorizations and institute a new set of provisions. The bill would implement the policy proposed by Governor Jay Nixon (D) and would turn over much discretionary power to the Department of Economic Development, whose director is always a political appointment.

HB 2399's worst aspects:

Eliminates tax credit provisions of all programs except the circuit breaker and homestead preservation credits, and would create six new programs;

Place a global credit cap of $314 million on all modified credits with annual fluctuation.

Cap "redevelopment" credit issuance at $78.5 million, which is 35% of FY 2009's level. The historic rehabilitation, low income and land assemblage programs would compete for issuance.

Potential eliminate standards and review for the historic rehabilitation credit. There is no provision to continue the current review by the State Historic Preservation Office and no mention of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation.

Give the DED director full discretion on whether to issue credits: "The decision of whether to authorize a tax credit under this section and the amount of any credit to be authorized is committed to the discretion of the director of the department of economic development…" (135.841.1)

Give DED full discretion to award 20% of all state tax credits to which ever program they choose. (135.840.7)

The net result will be a highly politicized tax credit environment where one person -- the DED director -- will have broad discretionary power. The potential for special interest domination of Missouri's tax credits -- now simply a legislative problem -- will be realized. Instead of rewarding incentivized economic activity, tax credits will reward personal political connections. Homeowners and small businesses will have hard time using the historic rehabilitation tax credit competing against large companies -- and large companies the get the credits won't be subject to the current level of oversight!

What You Can Do

Please contact members of the committee and let them know you oppose HB 2399.

Flook, Timothy, Chair-Liberty R, Tim.Flook@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-1218

Brandom, Ellen, Vice Chair-Sikeston R, Ellen.Brandom@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-5471

Brown, Michael R. Kansas City D, Michael.Brown@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-7639

Corcoran, Michael George St. Louis County (St. Ann) D, Michael.Corcoran@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-0855

Diehl, John St Louis County (Town and Country) R, John.Diehl@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-1544

Jones, Tishaura St. Louis City D, Tishaura.Jones@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-6800

Komo, Sam Jefferson County (House Springs) D, Sam.Komo@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-6625

Kratky, Michele St. Louis City D, Michele.Kratky@house.mo.gov --573-751-4220

Kraus, Will Lee's Summit R, Will.Kraus@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-1459

McGhee, Michael Odessa R, Mike.McGhee@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-1462

Riddle, Jeanie Fulton R, Jeanie.Riddle@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-5226

Scharnhorst, Dwight St. Louis County (Fenton) R, Dwight.Scharnhorst@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-4392

Schoeller, Shane Springfield R, Shane.Schoeller@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-2948

Spreng, Michael St. Louis County (Florissant) R, Michael.Spreng@house.mo.gov --573-751-9628

Webber, Stephen Columbia D, Stephen.Webber@house.mo.gov -- 573-751-9753

Zerr, Anne St. Charles R, Anne.Zerr@house.mo.gov --573-751-3717

To find your Representative go to http://www.house.mo.gov/ and enter your nine digit zip code

Pot Pies for Preservation

2010-04-04T11:34:00.001-05:00

From Jeanette Mott Oxford:

Epiphany United Church of Christ at 2911 McNair in Benton Park will host a Chicken and Vegetarian Pot Pie Dinner on Saturday, April 10, from 5-7:30 p.m. Reservations may be made by calling 314-772-0263. We had had quite a bit of building repair and maintenance lately and want to preserve our beautiful church as a resource for the community. Please help us meet our expenses while enjoying wonderful food and conversation with others who are committed to the City.

Tickets for adults and children over 12 are $8. Children under 12 may have a reduced price ticket at $5, and children under five eat free. We are a Just Peace, Open and Affirming, Whole Earth congregation. For more information, visit www.epiphanyucc.org.

Neighborhood Involvement and Two Preservation Board Decisions

2010-04-03T17:12:00.003-05:00

Among other things, the Preservation Board of the city of St. Louis hears appeals from property owners who have their demolition permits denied by the professional preservation planning staff of the Cultural Resources Office (CRO). However, use of that power to do the right thing does not always lead to preservation of historic buildings. In the past, this writer has covered the impact of the city Planning Commission's statutory power to overturn Preservation Board decisions on appeal. That's a route used by owners bent on wrecking their old buildings. Make no mistake: The appellate power of the Planning Commission and the power of the "emergency" demolition permit remain substantial obstacles to smart preservation policy in the city.

However, in this country, private owners have broad and legally-defensible property rights. Even with the best policy, owners can still take down sound, significant buildings. Hence, there are other paths taken by property owners in the wake of the Preservation Board's upholding denials of CRO appeals. Here are two divergent outcomes.

2217 Olive Street (Downtown West)

The old two-story commercial building at 2217 Olive Street in western downtown is best known for its last tenant, the Original Restaurant. Built as a house in 1888 and converted to commercial use in 1929 following the widening of Olive Street, the building was vacated in the mid-1990s. The owners sought a demolition permit that was denied by CRO. In September 2007, the Preservation Board upheld denial on appeal. In January 2008, the Preservation Board rejected a new application for demolition, despite a growing hole in the roof. The building was still sound under the definition established by city preservation law.

The owners put a small for-sale sign on the building, but gravity took its course. The hole grew until most of the building's wooden roof and floor structures collapsed. The walls started failing. In September 2009, the owners again applied for a demolition permit. This time, CRO approved the demolition permit application due to the severe deterioration of the building.

The site is now paved as a parking lot, while a vacant lot next door (where a 19th century residential stone retaining wall and steps remain) is being seeded with grass. One notable aspect to the loss of 2217 Olive Street is that there was no objection -- or indication of support -- by downtown organizations, property owners or residents. The only forces working against demolition were the Preservation Board and CRO, joined by preservationists including this writer who testified at the two public meetings. Neighborhood investment in the decision would have strengthened the preservationist case and helped facilitate a sale of the building. Alas, downtown lost another retail storefront -- for now.

1624 Dolman Street (Lafayette Square)

In August 2009, the Preservation Board considered the appeal of the CRO denial of a demolition permit application for the house at 1624 Dolman Street in Lafayette Square. The Zumwalt Corporation, erstwhile seller of overhead doors located to the south facing Lafayette Avenue, owns the row of which this house is a part. Zumwalt attempted to rehabilitate the row before, but abandoned the project.

Early last year, the front wall of the house collapsed. There was no serious structural failure to the building since like most every bearing-wall building this one had its joists running between the side walls. The front, unanchored to the building, bowed out until it lost the compressive strength needed to remain standing. No big deal -- this happens a lot in the city, and our masons know how to close such wounds.

Yet Zumwalt decided to see if demolition would be possible. The company was met with fierce neighborhood opposition, and a half-dozen residents testified against the demolition at the August 2009 Preservation Board meeting. The Board upheld denial with no votes to the contrary.

The Zumwalt Corporation, which apparently is a good neighbor, then proceeded to rebuild the front wall. Now the row is intact and sound, and someday will be rehabilitated. Those who think that every Preservation Board denial will be met with a continued press for demolition should take note, but those who would infer that all's well that ends well with a Board denial are misled by this example. What is apparent is that strong neighborhood support for preservation is key to actually saving buildings.

Street and Sidewalk Work Started on 14th Street

2010-03-31T14:17:00.005-05:00

Looking north on 14th Street from Warren Street.
On Friday, after long-awaited approval from the Missouri Department of Transportation, street and sidewalk work began on the two blocks of 14th Street once known as the 14th Street Mall. Work should be completed by the fall. Building rehabilitation is nearly complete. Read more on What's New in Old North.

Missouri House Bill Would Cap Tax Credits

2010-03-30T22:51:00.004-05:00

Today Missouri State Representative Steve Hobbs (D) and Sam Komo (R) introduced HR 2399, a bill which would implement Democratic Governor Jay Nixon's proposal to limit issuance of all economic development tax credits to not exceed seventy percent of the total dollar amount of all state tax credits redeemed during the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2009 and hand over discretionary allocation power to the Department of Economic Development. The bill would implement the policy effective July 1, 2010 and would greatly limit usage of the state historic rehabilitation tax credit as well as the low income and brownfields credits.

The bill is referred to the Job Creation and Economic Development Committee chaired by Representative Tim Flook (R).

Support for Historic Tax Credits from North Side -- Of Minneapolis

2010-03-30T11:08:00.003-05:00

On March 28th, the blog The Adventures of Johnny Northside carried the post "Historic Rehab Tax Credit Means JOBS!". Fine, but is another blog calling for saving the Missouri historic rehab tax credit worth mentioning?

Well, the The Adventures of Johnny Northside blog is published by a resident of Minneapolis, and he is calling for Minnesota to enact a historic rehabilitation tax credit. And Missouri's 25% credit is cited as a model.

Study on Missouri Historic Tax Credit: 43,150 Jobs, Most Tax Credit Projects Small

2010-03-30T10:29:00.005-05:00

The Missouri Growth Association has released An Evaluation of the Missouri Historic Preservation Tax Credit's Program's Impact on Job Creation and Economic Activity Across the State, a 34-page report by Dr. Sarah Coffin, Rob Ryan and Ben McCall of St. Louis University.

According to the report, the tax credit is responsible for 43,150 new or retained jobs with an average salary of $42,732 as well as $669.8 million in new sales/use and income tax revenues to state and local government.

The report confirms advocates' assertions that the credit enjoys wide usage and largely benefits small developers. Coffin and company found that, as of 2009, the range of historic rehab tax credits issued goes from $399 to $20.1 million.

About 33% of the projects that have received Missouri historic rehab tax credits have used less than $50,000 in credits. Taking the number up to usage of $100,000 or less, there is a majority of 57% of projects. Less than 13% of projects used more than $1 million in credits.

Video Tour of St. Louis Equity Fund Projects

2010-03-28T21:08:00.004-05:00

In January, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis posted this video of a bus tour of affordable housing developed by the St. Louis Equity Fund (SLEFI). SLEFI President John Wuest led a tour that included south city, the Loop, Hillsdale, north St. Louis and downtown. The majority of the projects included are rehabilitation of historic buildings that leveraged state and federal low income housing tax credits with state historic rehabilitation tax credits.

At one point during the tour, Wuest said that after several projects in one area there can start to be serious impact. That's a realistic approach that differs from the large-scale urban renewal projects that have failed again and again. Yet the project-by-project effort to create a community impact is difficult to finance, especially if the end product is affordable housing. The recession has made the work even harder, but changes to the tax credit programs that make this work possible would be disastrous.

Update on Preservation-Related Legal Cases

2010-03-28T14:45:00.005-05:00

San Luis Apartments

On May 5, the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals will hear the Friends of San Luis, Inc. v. The Archdiocese of St. Louis. (Disclosure: This writer is president of the Friends of the San Luis.) The Friends of the San Luis sought an injunction against demolition of the mid-century modern San Luis Apartments so that it could appeal Preservation Board approval of the demolition.

The San Luis Apartments (originally the DeVille Motor Hotel) in 2007.
Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker, Jr. dismissed the case with prejudice, claiming that citizens who cannot demonstrate financial grievance have no right to appeal actions by the Preservation Board! The building was subsequently demolished but the Friends decided to appeal Dierker's anti-citizen ruling. The city's preservation ordinance, after all, was enacted by the Board Aldermen for the general benefit of all citizens.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals will consider oral arguments from both sides on May 5 and issue a ruling at a later date. Jonathan Beck and Ian Simmons represent the Friends of the San Luis, while Edward Goldenhersh and David Niemeier of Greensfelder, Hemke and Gale represent the Archdiocese.

Century Building

A case now five years old, Missouri Development Finance Board vs. Marcia Behrendt and Roger Plackemeier, just took a predictable turn. The cause was set to commence trial on March 15, but the plaintiffs again requested a continuance. Judge Mark Neill granted a continuance, and trial is now set for August 9, 2010.

Vintage postcard view of the Century Building, c. 1910
The plaintiffs -- and this writer himself needed a refresher after such a long time -- are the Missouri Development Finance Board, Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, NSG Developers LLC, St. Louis Custom and Post Office Building and Associates. Their cause? Even a refresher won't quite make that clear. The allegation is that by being willing to file suit against the Old Post Office project to stop the Century Building demolition -- a Dierkerian filing predicated on injury to personal property value -- Marcia Behrendt and Roger Plackemeier somehow were being malicious. Never mind that Behrendt and Plackemeier's suit was dismissed and had no effect on the outcome of the Old Post Office project (although shoddy construction work did).

The seriousness of the plaintiff's allegation keeps getting undermined by constant requests for continuance. Is the goal to be vindicated by a jury or to harass citizens for exercising their legal rights? And why are our city and state governmental bodies still enjoined as plaintiffs, wasting taxpayer money at a time when both levels of government need every cent they can get? Time to drop the suit.

NorthSide

Last week Judge Dierker -- one tie that binds all three cases -- issued the following order extending for one week the deadlines for brief in the suit against the city over the NorthSide redevelopment ordinances:

Upon the request of defendant Northside Regeneration, LLC, and with the consent of the parties, the post-trial briefing schedule is hereby amended to provide as follows: Brief Due Plaintiffs'/Intervenors' briefs 3/26/10 Defendants' briefs 4/12/10 Plaintiffs'/Intervenors' reply briefs 4/22/10.

Plaintiffs can expect a lengthy, colorful ruling from Dierker. Otherwise, speculation is useless. Dierker has a narrow view of citizen rights under development law, so his basis will be whether the plaintiff have proven that their real estate is harmed or devalued under the blighting enacted by the redevelopment ordinance. Dierker has stated in trial that he is not prepared to consider condemnation that has yet to be authorized, and the ordinance avoids explicit authorization.

More St. Louis Carnival Supply Demolition Photographs

2010-03-28T12:47:00.002-05:00

Reader Anthony A. sent me these photographs of the St. Louis Carnival Supply Company buildings being demolished. These photographs date to March 22nd and show some of the painted signs underneath the metal cladding. Since the wreckers did not remove the cladding first, the signs were never fully revealed. The buildings are now reduced to rubble piles.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Dubious Policy Based on False Urgency"

2010-03-26T11:54:00.003-05:00

Today the Post-Dispatch has an excellently-titled editorial on Governor Jay Nixon's tax credit proposal: "Tax credit plan advances dubious policy based on false urgency".

The editorial writer makes many good points, but a key observation is the timing of the proposal:

The tax credit debate hardly is new; the Legislature has been debating it for at least two years. Mr. Nixon has had ample time for an orderly, informed public debate on how best to proceed. But he chose to drop this complicated proposal out of the blue, with just six weeks remaining in an otherwise busy and contentious legislative session.

The timing of the proposal has led some observers to view it as a red herring designed to get the legislature to act. However, the resonance of Nixon's views with those of Republican Senators like Jason Crowell and Matt Bartle cannot be underestimated. In past years -- including last year -- the governor stood on the side lines of the tax credit debates in the legislature, frustrating many urban Democrats who has enthusiastically supported his election.

This year, Nixon has aligned with those who view tax credits as "welfare" and who view welfare -- and most government spending -- as stealing. Some tax credits are dubious, but a true overhaul would evaluate the net economic benefit of each program before making cuts. The Rutgers study of state historic rehabilitation tax credits is a model of careful analysis that should guide decision-makers. This writer doubts that every program would show a net benefit if analyzed carefully. In the absence of such study, we are left with the prospect of continued contest of interests. Nixon's proposal would amp up that contest, and create a wholly political tax credit system. Nixon is playing politics, not making policy. And Missouri's legislators should reject his proposal.

Governor Nixon can be reached at:

Office of Governor Jay Nixon
P.O. Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102
(573) 751-3222

May Is Preservation Month

2010-03-25T18:59:00.004-05:00

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced the slogan for this year's Preservation Month of May: Old is the New Green. That catchy theme fits the strong focus on environmental stewardship that preservation advocates have embraced as well as the necessity of thrift amid ongoing recession.

While historic preservation is a year-round pursuit, having 31 whole days to celebrate and educate offers wonderful opportunities to showcase historic buildings endangered or rejuvenated, spread information and skills, share photographs and ideas and engage the broad theme of "old is the new green."

What can St. Louis do to celebrate Preservation Month? Will you and your neighbors help organize a walking tour, street fair, art walk, house tour or other event to showcase your historic architecture? Can transit advocates and urban farmers find ways to plug in?

We'll find out!

Please send your Preservation Month event announcements to me via email (michael@preservationresearch.com) or via the comments section and I will post them here in late April.

Americans for Tax Reform: "Governor Nixon is Not a Crook, but His Tax Policy Sure is Criminal"

2010-03-25T12:06:00.003-05:00

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's tax credit proposal is taking heat from the national conservative organization Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). Yesterday, ATR's blog carried the story "Missouri Governor Nixon is Not a Crook, but His Tax Policy Sure is Criminal", which blasted the hypocrisy of Nixon's anti-tax rhetoric and his plan to cut tax credit programs that return money to citizens and create jobs.

ATR even notes the Rutgers study on the economic benefits of historic tax credits:

Yet, according to a study by Rutgers University, at least some of these supposed "hand-outs" are in fact legitimate job-creating policies. The study shows the positive impact of historic tax credits and further notes that Missouri is one of the largest beneficiaries of these credits in terms of jobs and income. This makes sense: putting money back into the hands of the people likely produces jobs…and guess what? Nixon proposes cutting and capping these credits more than any other!

Nixon's move to court the right wing of the Missouri Senate has generated at least one right wing opponent. No wonder -- Nixon's position is already costing him allies on his own side of the political fence. Why shouldn't he also be losing allies on the side that he's trying to placate? In politics, pleasing everyone is impossible, but making everyone upset with you certainly is not.

Architect Discusses Crown Square Project Tomorrow Night

2010-03-24T17:59:00.004-05:00

14th Street rehabilitation underway in May 2009.

What: Discussion on the Crown Square Redevelopment
When: Thursday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: St. Louis Artists Guild, 2 Oak Knoll Park (directions/map)

The new Architecture Section of the St. Louis Artists' Guild hosts its next meeting tomorrow night.

The featured speaker is architect Rob Wagstaff of Rosemann Associates, who will speak about the challenges faced in the Crown Square project (better known as the 14th Street Mall).

14th Street rehabilitation underway in May 2009.

Another Chance for the South Grand YMCA?

2010-03-23T18:07:00.005-05:00

In August 2006, the St. Louis Preservation Board approved demolition of the former YMCA building at 2232 S. Grand Avenue (built in 1936 and designed by Study & Farrar). Yet in March 2010, the building stands alive and well. This recession has led some owners to preservation by default as financing for new commercial construction is difficult to obtain. Meanwhile, the consistency of historic tax credits and the state and federal level provide a reliable financing component. The YMCA building is a contributing resource to the Compton Hill Historic District.

Perhaps the current owner of the YMCA will rethink the past plan to demolish the building and construct a new three-story mixed-use building in its place. The owner is trying to develop a large area that includes a significant parking lot and the old Pelican's restaurant building at Shenandoah and Grand. There certainly is ample room in this larger site for a smaller new building, parking and retention of both historic buildings. Advocacy failed to save the YMCA in 2006, but economy may do the trick. We'll see.

Light Post in Winfield

2010-03-21T20:22:00.005-05:00

Winfield, Missouri occupies the far end of a flood plain ravaged in 1993 and many other years. On Highway N, behind an athletic field stands this inexplicable two-headed light post -- the last vestige of a phantom gas station.

A City Neighborhood Can Never Have Too Many Storefronts

2010-03-20T16:28:00.007-05:00

UPDATE Monday, March 22 at 7:21 p.m.: The Preservation Board voted to uphold staff denials for both 414-18 N. Boyle and 6102 Michigan.

The little storefront row at 414-18 N. Boyle in the Central West End is one of a few commercial buildings left in the area once known as "Gaslight Square" -- but not for much longer. Owner Core Holdings LLC applied for a demolition permit in January. The Cultural Resources Office denied the permit, and the owner has appealed to the city's Preservation Board. The appeal is on the agenda for the Monday, March 22 meeting of the Preservation Board. The proposed reuse for the site? None.

At first glance, the row seems easily forgettable and somewhat damaged. Yet the little row is both a reminder of the past streetcar-fueled development of the Central West End and an asset for the surrounding area, which is full of rehabbed existing buildings and the new houses that now occupy Olive Street to the east. The neighborhood could use a few retail outlets. Anyone who has been to the strip around the Gaslight Theater one block south and around the bend knows that the neighborhood can support commerce.

The little row was built behind a large house that once stood facing Westminster. The first section was a small one-room brick carpenter's shop built at the alley in 1910; the row expanded at some point in the next decade. The Maryland Avenue streetcar line went north along Boyle to connect to the Olive Street line; this little backyard was too valuable not to build up. In fact, the owner of the house to the south built a similar row at 408-10-12 N. Boyle across the alley -- now long gone.

Sculptor Sheila Burlingame (1895-1969), whose works include the sculpture on the front of Nagle and Dunn's St. Mark's Episcopal Church (1939) at 4714 Clifton, maintained a studio in the storefront at 412 N. Boyle. The existing row's tenants were less glamorous but also indicative of a vibrant urban fabric. The 1940 city directory shows Jacob Shaikewitz offering shoe repair at 414, barber Frand Bond at 416 and Georgia Gunn's beauty shop at 418. By 1959, at the onset of the Gaslight Square heyday, 414 N. Boyle was home of the Handy Shopperdeli, 416 housed the Boyle Avenue Barber Shop (Frank Bond still around?) and 418 was now Dorothy's Beauty Shop. The row would be vacant within a few years, and later used as a church before going vacant again.

It would not take much to bring back the commercial bustle to this stretch of Boyle. The streetcar is gone, but residential density remains. Yet the demolition of the Olive Street commercial buildings renders remaining storefronts as precious resources. Judging from recent decisions, the Preservation Board is unlikely to approve a permit for an out-of-town owner with no redevelopment plan. Common sense suggests a different course of action: Preservation Board denial and a for-sale sign.

Also on Monday's Preservation Board agenda is the appeal of a Cultural Resources denial of a demolition permit for 6102 Michigan Avenue in the Central Carondelet Historic District. I'd be very surprised if any Board member votes to overturn the appeal.

The Preservation Board meets at 4:00 p.m. Monday on the 12th floor of the building at 1015 Locust Street downtown. Written comments may be submitted to the Board via Adona Buford, Secretary, at BufordA@stlouiscity.com.

St. Louis Centre

2010-03-19T15:54:00.005-05:00

With work starting on the conversion of St. Louis Centre into a parking garage, I thought that it would be fitting to publish this vintage postcard from the mall's glory days. I purchased the postcard at St. Louis Centre around 1994. Back then, the light-bathed white atrium seemed pretty darn cool!

In the too infrequently-quoted guide Seeing St. Louis (1989) -- a sheer joy to read, especially for the lovely contrarian swipes -- Barringer Fifield compared the mall to an ocean liner after delightfully dismissing the green and light gray panels with one word, "infelicitous." "Nautical white, with ship's railings and prowlike balconies, it even has a blue-green body of water below," wrote Fifield. Fifield concluded: "Everything is shipshape, and a certain carefully crafted artificiality adds to the luxury-liner effect." For all of the flaws in design -- ranging from the terrible exterior design, the bizarre sloping first floor areas and the obscenely thin floor plates -- the mall had a distinct charm because of the interior. Soon it shall be gone forever.

Broadview Hotel Rehabilitation Underway

2010-03-19T12:18:00.005-05:00

The seven-story Broadview Hotel at 5th and Broadway in East St. Louis is one of several tall buildings that anchor downtown. The 13-story Spivey Building is the tallest, the adjance Murphy Building and Majestic Theater are wonderfully ornate and the First National Bank Building is a solid red-brick corner building that is still occupied. Through demolition, the Broadview sits away from the concentration of other large downtown buildings. Through placement of the 4th Street exit ramp from Interstate 55/64/70, is the first major building greeting motorists entering East St. Louis.

Built in 1927, the Broadview has the characteristic elegance of pre-crash 1920s hotel design. The symmetrical brown brick body contrasts with buff terra cotta forming two bays and providing other ornament. Unlike some of the exuberant foliate terra cotta seen on contemporary St. Louis hotels like the Chase and Coronado, the design here is a rather sober interpretation of Renaissance Revival themes. Still, the hotel is powerful, especially through the rise of the terra cotta bays to form a temple-like top story that towers over the city.

For many years, this temple was the crown of a palace of night life, conventions, dinners and even a radio station (WTMV 1490 AM was located here). As East St. Louis' fortunes drowned in a powerful current of American industrial reorganization, so did the those of the Broadview. The Broadview ended up housing a branch of Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville (SIUE) until 2004. The first floor's storefronts, once open to a bustling business district, have long been clad in forbidding granite blocks.

In 2006, SIUE ceded the Broadview to the City of East St. Louis. The city has long been dealing with the other big vacant downtown buildings, but lacked clear title to the others. The Broadview was not boarded up for long. In 2009, East St. Louis awarded development rights to CDC Development Corporation, headed by Donald J. Johnson. CDC plans a $35 million renovation ofthe hotel into 88 loft-style apartments. Work is now underway, and many of the hotel's windows are again unboarded. East St. Louis now greets the visitor with a building under rehabilitation instead of another big vacant building.

ReStore Offers $1 Wooden Window Sashes

2010-03-18T13:01:00.002-05:00

For the next few days the ReStore is selling all wooden window sashes (including screen window sash) for $1 each. There is quite a lot of stock right now. In fact, the store frequently receives more in donations than it can sell. That's why the cost is low. Take advantage of the sale for your project!

The ReStore is located at 3763 Forest Park Avenue (between Vandeventer & Spring). The hours are Tuesday: 8am - 5pm; Wednesday-Friday: 8am - 4pm; Saturday: 8am - 5pm.

Carnival Supply Building Demolition Underway

2010-03-16T12:17:00.009-05:00

The weary old St. Louis Carnival Supply building -- or, rather, buildings since two buildings comprise the structure -- is being pushed into the Big Sleep. The south St. Louis landmark, located at 3928 S. Broadway in Marine Villa, is being demolished this month to make way for expansion of a parking lot serving a strip retail center next door. In December 2009, the St. Louis Preservation Board unanimously approved demolition on the condition that the owner, KOBA LP, first obtain a building permit to make facade improvements to the three-story commercial building to the north, which was originally proposed for demolition.

At this point, readers would learn very little from any further complaint about the demolition. How easy is it to take a stand against something that already happened? Oh, easier than tying your shoes -- but not as useful. There is a bigger lesson to be learned for ever-wired local preservationists: politics is still local.

When I spoke on historic preservation matters at a meeting of the Chippewa-Broadway Business Association (CBBA) in August 2009, the proposed demolition was a hot topic. Nearly all local parties were opposed to the demolition, although not simply on the basis of architectural merit or urban character. There was considerable concern that the proposed Grace Hill clinic slated to move into the retail strip center will draw patients away from St. Alexius Hospital across the street. St. Alexius has been a neighborhood fixture for over a century, and active in local affairs, including the Business Association.

The community rallied around the hospital, and the first attempt by KOBA LP to secure a demolition permit from the Preservation Board in August -- for both buildings -- was denied. Aldermen Ken Ortmann (D-9th) and Craig Schmid (D-20th) as well as the CBBA were opposed. Things changed, though, and agreements were reached. The opposition withered. the Preservation Board's action made it clear that KOBA LP would not be able to get a permit for the building at 3928 S. Broadway, so they withdrew plans to wreck it. By the time of the December Preservation Board meeting, I was the only person to speak against demolition. The game had changed, at the community level.

The demolition contractors did not remove the 1960s metal panels from the 1890s-era commercial building, so the only glimpses of the colorful older signs on the facade come through big holes. The old signs look playful and fun; hopefully there is a photograph of the building before cladding somewhere.

Of course, the buildings are both sound and without the later concrete block addition at the rear of the property, there is now plenty of space for extra parking behind the historic buildings.

Alberta Street runs between the building under demolition and the building being preserved. This intact street is typical of Marine Villa. Vernacular brick houses of varied form, height and setback create a delightfully organic streetscape. Alas, the solid frame of two corner commercial buildings will soon be gone, and a parking lot exit will spill out onto this quiet residential street.

Play on Sunday Tells the Story of the St. Louis Riverfront

2010-03-16T12:12:00.000-05:00

Plate showing central riverfront from Pictorial St. Louis, 1875.

What: "Voices of the Riverfront"
When: Sunday, March 21, 2:00 p.m.
Where: Old Courthouse
Cost: Free

Voices of the Riverfront will bring to life some of the characters who shaped and chronicled the development of St. Louis' riverfront -- from Auguste Chouteau to Ernst Kargau to Hubert Humphrey. Written by sisters Nini and Sheila Harris, the play will be performed as a radio-style reading. The cast includes Jennifer Clark, Charlie Clark, Bill Hart, Doug Dunphy, Bob Officer, Jennifer Halla Sindelar, Craig Schmid, Jenny Heim and Michael Allen. Jim Mayhew will provide instrumental accompaniment.

The play lasts about one hour. Refreshments to follow.

L-G-L-CO

2010-03-11T17:49:00.004-06:00

From its founding in 1857 -- just a few days ahead of the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott Case -- through 1950, Laclede Gas Company was named Laclede Gas Light Company. A few sidewalk service entries, like this one in Tower Grove South, retain metal covers with the old company's initials. Bill Beck's volume Laclede Gas and St. Louis: 150 Years of Working Together, 1857-2007 (St. Louis: Laclede Gas Company, 2007) is an invaluable source of Laclede Gas' corporate history.

Say What, Mr. Governor?

2010-03-11T17:30:00.003-06:00

Tim Logan at the Post-Dispatch reports that Governor Jay Nixon (Democrat) is ready to put tax credit programs under the budget axe. That's not all bad, of course, but here's the shocker:

When pressed on what programs he might go after, the governor mentioned historic and low income housing tax credits, both of which are widely used to fund development in the City of St. Louis and its older suburbs. But any specifics would likely need to be negotiated with lawmakers, some of whom have been targeting the historic tax credits program for years.

Of all of the tax credit programs in Missouri, Governor Nixon singles out the two most used in urban areas and one -- the historic rehab tax credit -- that average people can actually use. Hello?

21st Ward Real Estate

2010-03-08T17:42:00.003-06:00

Citizens often complain that St. Louis aldermen are in impediment to selling Land Reutilization Authority (LRA), but Alderman Antonio French (D-21st) is actually trying to help. French has launched a 21st Ward Real Estate website with information about available LRA-owned property in his ward.

Why do people complain? LRA requires a letter of aldermanic support before selling a parcel to an interested buyer, and aldermen often have parcels removed from the sale list when they are needed for community development corporation or private development projects.

LRA also has maintained a rather old-fashioned website with only a handful of properties having photographs. With no dedicated funding for marketing, LRA cannot do more.

That's fine. Alderman French is showing us that LRA marketing is possible without additional appropriation to LRA. Other aldermen or community groups can -- and should -- do what French is doing.

Talk on Missouri Barns This Friday

2010-03-08T16:18:00.003-06:00

Barn Again: Efforts to Document and Save Elements of the Rural Missouri Landscape

Noon, Friday, March 12 / Lecture Room / Architecture St. Louis / 911 Washington Avenue, Suite 170

Since joining Missouri Preservation as its Field Representative a little over a year ago, Bill Hart has been advocating for Missouri’s endangered historic resources. His position as Field Representative, a first for Missouri Preservation, is assisted by a Partners in the Field Challenge Grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. One of Bill’s outreach activities has included calling attention to the plight of the barn. Realizing that this is one of the most endangered building types not just in Missouri but throughout the nation, Bill has been photographing barns throughout the state (several hundred so far), keeping an eye toward at least providing quick photographic documentation of those that tenuously cling to the rural landscape. Bill has also been instrumental in organizing our state’s first barn alliance, which recently held its first meeting in conjunction with Missouri Preservation’s annual conference in Independence.

Next Wave of NorthSide Ordinances Delayed

2010-03-07T13:44:00.005-06:00

While the thunder of a showy trial on McEagle's NorthSide project has marched along, the next round of redevelopment ordinances specific to the four phases of the project apparently have not. The Board of Aldermen was supposed to consider those ordinances before April 1, but they may not come for some time longer. At least, that's what Jerry Berger tells us:

Most City Hall observers expect McKee and his partners will let the date slip by while the McEagle team continues to acquire properties and wait for answers to his requests for federal and state assistance.

Dale Singer has a sold analysis of the trial in the Beacon. Read it here.

On the matter of federal and state assistance, the city lost its bid for a federal TIGER grant to reconfigure the Jefferson/22nd Street exits downtown. McEagle needs that reconfiguration and a land swap with the Missouri Department of Transportation to start one of the first-phase components of the project.

Brick Thieves and Brick Dealers

2010-03-06T11:10:00.007-06:00

After this week's spate of fires in JeffVanderLou, Alderman Sam Moore (D-4th) proposes changing city ordinances to force brick thieves to pay back the amount of damage that they cause, instead of the current maximum of $500. Moore's proposal makes sense.

The commercial building at 2538 St. Louis Avenue in St. Louis Place, destroyed by brick thieves in August 2007.

Yet a new ordinance should go further. The thieves are only the first -- and least compensated -- beneficiaries of the money generated by the stolen brick. Penalties for dealers who buy stolen brick are the same as for the thieves. Those should be increased too.

The commercial building at 2538 St. Louis Avenue in St. Louis Place, destroyed by brick thieves in August 2007.

What if dealers caught buying stolen brick permanently lost their business licenses?

Fires Plague JeffVanderLou

2010-03-05T13:09:00.006-06:00

Last week, on the way to a meeting in JeffVanderLou, I noticed a recently -- judging by scent -- fire-ravaged house on Bacon Street, shown here.

Then, early this week, I learned of a two-night wave of four fires. These fires hit vacant buildings in a small area. The buildings lost to the firebug share two characteristics: all were historic buildings in decent repair and all were vacant and unboarded. Since the location of all but one of these houses is within the footprint of McEagle's NorthSide project, the press has been quick to report these fires, and the loose tongues of conspiracy have been wagging.

The sad fact is that arson claims vacant buildings across north St. Louis every month, and mostly the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and its cloaked comments-section pundits take no notice. The culprits in many of these cases are never caught, let alone charged. Neighborhood residents, who know best, generally suspect brick thieves.

Arson on the near north side also is an old problem. In the 1960s, some white property owners fleeing the near north side torched their own homes to collect insurance money. As time moved on, and buildings went vacant, assorted firebugs, vandals, bored teenagers, firework-launching revelers and brick thieves have done more damage. In 1997, Old North St. Louis suffered a rash of arsons that included a massive fire at the five-story former Peters Shoe Company factory just south of Jackson Park (since demolished).

A building on the 1800 block of Bacon Street lost this week. I could not find a pre-fire photograph.

Then there are the fires that never happened. Neighborhood patrols, starting in the evening and sometimes going to the early morning, have kept many buildings standing. Rarely do neighborhoods get the assistance of owners of the vacant buildings, or the busy police department. Still, many people have taken action to prevent senseless destruction of their neighborhood fabric.

What gets lost through arson are indelible parts of city neighborhoods. The brick piles and half-collapsed buildings are easy picking for brick thieves, and not enticing enough to those who enjoy arson. Most targets are buildings in sound condition, that are stores of community wealth. Negligent ownership is definitely a root cause that must be addressed systematically, but the arsonists aren't going to be affected by scorn heaped upon McEagle or the Land Reutilization Authority.

Robbing neighborhoods of community wealth is a base crime. The police and the circuit attorney need to step up efforts to send neighborhood arsonists away for as long as statues allow.

Two houses on the 1900 block of Bacon Street before last week.

Two houses on the 1900 block of Bacon Street this week.

The house at 1721 N. Grand Avenue last week.

The house at 1721 N. Grand Avenue this week.

Two row houses at 3508-10 Cozens Avenue in 2007. The configuration is unique -- the two houses adjoin at the back with a center gangway leading to secondary entrances.

The two row houses this week. The house hit by fire is owned by McEagle.

RFT Looks at Bloggers; Happy Hour Today

2010-03-05T12:01:00.003-06:00

The Riverfront Times was gracious to include me in this week's feature article "Blogger's Baker's Dozen: a sampler of St. Louis' must-read contributors to the blogosphere". This is not a predictable list, either -- there were bloggers included whose work I had never read.

As part of the feature, the RFT asked me to select my three favorite posts. Selecting three -- a more padded number like five would have worked -- was a difficult task. What do you think about my selections? I tried to choose something poetic, something short and something deeply critical.

The other fun part of the feature gets underway in a few hours -- a happy hour at Blueberry Hill starting at 5:00 p.m. I will be there, and hope to meet a few readers there.

Kiel Opera House Looks Good Inside

2010-03-04T18:49:00.001-06:00

Landmarks Association of St. Louis sponsored a tour of Kiel Opera House on February 27. This rare peak inside of the old opera house -- which I once took without being allowed to take photographs -- is captured through photographs found here. The photographs reveal the remarkable degree of integrity Kiel has maintained despite nearly two decades of vacancy.

1967, 1974 and 2010

2010-03-03T00:09:00.006-06:00

Whenever the Roberts Tower on Eighth Street downtown is completed, it will have been a long time since any new residential buildings have been built downtown. There is no need to state the obvious, that no tall residential buildings have been built, because there have simply been none. The last new residential building to be built downtown was any one of the three towers of the Mansion House Center on Fourth Street, completed in 1967. Over forty years later, we await the next installment in the very limited and erratic story of downtown apartment building construction. (Our last tall building, the maligned Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse, arrived in 1997.)

The Roberts Tower's architects are unheralded, and I cannot draw any name when asked who she or he is, or who they are. All I know is that the design is a suitable modern building, disgraced only slightly by the oh-too-silvery reflective glass being used to clad it. While I appreciate the break from the minimalist humdrum that inhibits contemporary architects, I am not impressed with the awkward reference to 1980s postmodern glazing trends. I'll admit that the greenish reflective glass shown in early renderings of the Roberts Tower would have been no better. At least views of the rear elevation of the Old Post Office will be enshrined in the wall as well as -- unfortunately, for the most part -- any elements of Old Post Office Plaza that catch the mirrored surface.

On the matter of Old Post Office Plaza, there is no denying that the block is playing out very much like the vision shown in the 1974 Downtown Plan produced by PGAV for the Downtown Partnership. While we did not get the sunken plaza shown in the rendering, we did get a plaza and a narrow concrete tower in line with the south elevation of the Orpheum Theater. Alas, the 1974 plaza looks to be far more humane than what was built. Hopefully the Roberts Tower outshines the tepid hulk envisioned by planners back in the day. Architecture, supposedly the realm of innovation, is more often the repetition of concepts through new expression. That is, it may have been 1967 when downtown's last high-rise residential building was completed, but forty-three years later have seem to have progressed to 1974. That's not terrible -- Mansion House is still lovely despite some recent muddling.

That "G" Word

2010-03-02T23:32:00.003-06:00

This Thursday, I will moderate what should be a provocative City Affair panel discussion on the "g" word: gentrification. I volunteered to moderate because I lack a hard and fast definition of the word, and have been challenged and amazed at the wide range of connotations the word has attained. I'm eager to learn more about the cultural definition of the word, and look forward to the discussion.

Here's the event description:

What is meant by gentrification and whether that word is a positive or negative can vary depending on who uses it. Panelists will talk about the dynamics that they perceive as contributing to gentrification: real estate purchasing, property improvement, demographic change, perception of inclusion and other forces of city life.

The panel consists of:
Steven Smith - Owner of the Royale and activist

Minerva Lopez - Past President of the Cherokee Station Business Association

Alex Ihnen - Regional Director of Development at Washington University, blogger at St. Louis Urban Workshop

Alycia Green - Advocate at The People's Advocate St. Louis

Michael Allen will moderate the panel discussion.

Following forty five minutes of panel discussion we will open the floor to audience questions.

CITY AFFAIR XIV: GENTRIFICATION

MARCH 4, 2010
7:30-9:00 PM
STYLEhouse (STL-Style)
3155 Cherokee Street
Saint Louis, Mo. 63118