Storefront Addition With Grain Elevator

To me, the contrast between the house with storefront addition at 4052 Forest Park Boulevard (house, c. 1890; addition, 1917) and the towering grain elevator is beautiful. Both buildings are testament to the results of flexible zoning and the spirit of commerce. No subsidy or master plan could produce any architectural contrast like this -- this is the work of people shaping the built environment to their needs.

Old Printing Building Slated for Demolition as Part of CORTEX

Washington University recently purchased this building, located at 4340 Duncan Avenue in the central corridor. The university's master plan for the Medical Center calls for demolition as part of the CORTEX redevelopment project. Although unadorned, and perhaps a bit sepulchral, the brick industrial building possesses several unique architectural features. Built in 1936 for a printing company, the building is the work of the noted firm Mauran, Russell and Crowell. The firm employed its characteristic genius here. While the concrete-framed fireproof building appears as a four story building, the second and third floors are actually a second floor and mezzanine. This arrangement allowed for production using machinery with overhead components on the second floor and distribution on the first floor, with loading bays lining the east wall (see the photo above). The floor arrangement allowed for the building to have a smaller footprint, saving room and creating a more urban form. The mezzanine arrangement is reflected in tall exterior windows that call to mind the same firm's earlier Federal Reserve Bank Building (1924) at Broadway and Locust downtown.

In 1946, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch acquired the building and put it to use printing its popular Sunday lifestyle magazines. The Post expanded the building in 1959. In recent years, the building housed Crescent Electrical Supply. The former owner recently began clearing the building in preparation of its impending demolition. The loss is a shame. The lack of lavish ornament no doubt seals the fate, but that same quality gives the building an appearance consistent with its original use. While not a masterpiece, the building is a handsome modern industrial composition that is an important part of the character of Duncan Avenue. Besides, the building is almost built with adaptation in mind. All we need is a little imagination -- the sort of big thinking that led our leaders to envision CORTEX in the first place.

Demolition of Morse Shoe Company Building Starting Soon

The city's Building Division granted a demolition permit for the Morse Shoe Company Building (better known as the SKH Paper Company Building) on September 19. Demolition should begin soon.

There was no preservation review of the demolition permit, because the building was within the boundaries of a blighted redevelopment area created via an ordinance approved unanimously by the Board of Aldermen. Once again, the aldermanic system thwarts genuine urban planning review.

CORTEX Claims Another Historic Building

The O. Morse Shoe Company Building at 235 Boyle Avenue in the Central West End, better known as the SKH Paper Company Building, is likely to fall soon for part of the CORTEX biotech development project. Full story here.

USA Today Touts St. Louis

More say, 'Meet me in St. Louis' as city shows signs of renewal - Charisse Jones (USA Today, May 10)

USA Today came to town, and didn't quite get everything right -- although it's good to get good press from a paper read at airports, motels and chain restaurants everywhere.

Here are a few problematic sentences:

"The old post office, for years a relic surrounded by other vacant buildings, has been refurbished, its space fully rented."

This project is the worst representative of downtown renovation. The OPO is fully rented by government agencies and institutions invited (or cajoled) into taking space. The only entrepreneurial tenants are the Pasta House Pronto and the St. Louis Business Journal, and those both have ties to the developers of the project. Yawn!

"Lambert-St. Louis International Airport unveiled a $1 billion expansion April 13."

This is evidence of renaissance? All I have read about the expansion so far has been bad news: cost overruns, limited efficiency, lack of use of new runways and so forth. Plus, the airport is far away fom the city and has little to do with the quality of life for St. Louisans -- although I guess it's a bellwether for USA Today readers.

"McCree Town, a violent southside neighborhood that was filled with dilapidated housing, has been rechristened Botanical Heights, and people are lining up to buy new homes."

Not only did the paper get the McRee Town name wrong, it readily accepted force-fed facts to paint a rosy picture.

"After losing some corporate headquarters in recent years, the city hopes the presence of local institutions such as Washington University will help nurture new industries."

Huh? Perhaps the reporter skim-read a packet from CORTEX.