Published on Monday, 21 March 2011 15:50
What was once to be the historic centerpiece of several significant developments on the north side of Forest Park Southeast is now threatened with demolition. Jerry Hochman of the Chouteau Building Group is the owner of the property which was until recently in the hands of developer Jerry King. The Geo St. Louis site has no recorded sales for the property. Hochman proposes to demolish the Station G building to build a three-story condo building. The proposed demolition is simply an awful idea and the neighborhood and city should loudly say "no".
The Station G building is worth saving on its own merit. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in February, 2007 (application below). Station G is the only remaining building standing on the north side of the 4400 and 4300 blocks of Chouteau and its facade contributes well to the streetscape.
Published on Monday, 06 December 2010 07:43
The list of St. Louis "firsts" and items of national cultural significance is a long one, even if you leave out the endless "first ____ west of the Mississippi" claims. St. Louis is an old city by American standards and has been witness to everything from the first structural steel bridge (and first crossing of the Mississippi River), to a raucous welcome home celebration for Charles Lindbergh. The Blues flourished here, Ulysses S. Grant lived here, Mark Twain is very nearly a native son... In fact, it's Mark Twain that got me thinking about our unclaimed heritage.Tiny Elmira College in upstate New York is home to the Center for Mark Twain Studies. It's not without reason, Twain spent years in Elmira, wrote many of his works and raised a family there. So as the autobiography of Mark Twain was released earlier this month, it was Elmira College in the spotlight. Researchers appeared on TV, were interviewed on NPR and were quoted in dozens of articles. The Center was established in 1982 at Elmira. Why not at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, why not Truman State, why not St. Louis University or Washington University?
Published on Wednesday, 20 October 2010 07:35
{a Mid-Century Modern home consumed by a McMansion (via B.E.L.T.)}
The effort to save the San Luis ultimately could not prevent a parking lot from taking up residence on a prominent corner of the city's Central West End neighborhood. But the energy and passion that went into the effort has brought together those who love our city's modern architecture heritage. As could be said of several eras of architecture, St. Louis has destroyed much, but much remains to appreciate.
Published on Sunday, 07 February 2010 00:00
{The S. Pfieffer Manufacturing Company Headquarters Building}
The industrial architectural legacy of the eastern-most Central West End appears one step closer to being preserved and repurposed. The S. Pfieffer Manufacturing Company Headquarters Building at 3965 Laclede Avenue is being recommended to join the National Register of Historic Places, an important step to future reuse. Specifically, the city's Planning and Urban Design Agency is recommending that the Preservation Board should direct staff to prepare a report for the state Historic Preservation Office endorsing the nomination.
The 3900 block of Laclede Avenue is all that stands between the joining of a still revitalizing Central West End and the campus of St. Louis University. The block provides very little historic context. A sprawling post office, vacant lots, etc. line the long street. The Six North development sits at the west end and several remarkable buildings occupy lots nearest Vandeventer Avenue.
There are two threats to buildings such as the Pfieffer headquarters. First, the nearing-completion Central West End form-based planning code may not provide any protection for buildings east of Sarah Avenue. While I'm very much in favor of a new development code, it was suggested at a planning meeting that buildings such as those near and on Vandeventer (see photos below) would not be protected. In part, this is because they supposedly lack "context".
Second, for those who appreciate the commercial storefronts on Vandeventer and other historic buildings in the area, industrial architecture sometimes doesn't fit their ideal of historic preservation. For many reasons, preserving remaining context, celebrating heritage, reusing buildings, maintaining and creating visual interest...the Pfieffer building, and others in the area are important to preserve.
The future of the block between SLU and the CWE is still uncertain, but it should be apparent that enough available land exists to build substantial new infill and preserve existing buildings and the in the end create a unique and vibrant neighborhood. With luck this could also set a precedent for the preservation of select industrial buildings in the Cortex area and elsewhere in the city.
Published on Sunday, 07 February 2010 00:00
{St. Louis Mounted Patrol at Forest Park headquarters c.1902 - image courtesy of Missouri History Museum}
I imagine that most people didn't notice the couple paragraphs by the Post-Dispatch on-line that mentioned the St. Louis Police Department's Mounted Patrol Unit. We'll they've moved out at their stable in the southeast corner of Forest Park due to lead contamination at the existing building. Where did they move? Well, were does anyone (or anything) in St. Louis City move? To Chesterfield of course. But seriously, the horses will be temporarily housed in a separate building in Forest park.
If you're on the pedestrian path between Hampton Avenue and the Jewel Box/athletic field area you might see the horses in a new fenced area. The accommodation by the Parks Department will save the Police Department more than $500,000 according to the Post-Dispatch. The savings will be used for new roof and lead abatement at the traditional stable. Why is this important? Mounted patrols were a very urban answer to crime and crowd control.
{another view of Mounted Patrol headquarters, now the site of the McDonnell Planetarium (St. Louis Science Center) in Forest Park}
Mounted police have a long history in St. Louis. The unit was created in 1867 by an act of the Missouri Legislature and began with 16 officers. They moved to Forest Park in 1893 and consisted of more than 50 horses. As automobiles were introduced horses were considered by some to be "too slow to combat modern crime" and in 1948 the Mounted Patrol was disbanded.
Mayor Cervantes brought the patrol back to St. Louis in 1971 and found a home in an airplane hanger just a few hundred feet from where their original Forest Park headquarters had been. The hanger has always appeared to me to be a simple barn likely erected not long ago to be used as a horse stable. In fact the hanger was built in 1919 and served to house airplanes for adjacent Aviation Field, now athletic fields.
Personally, I love seeing the mounted patrol in Forest Park. Besides being an effective patrol mechanism appropriate for a very large city park, the mounted patrol attracts people and connects officers to the public in a way that cruising the park in a patrol car does not. Mounted police are still used in many places for crowd control and urban policing. It's good to see that the police and parks are working together to keep an active mounted patrol.
{the mounted patrol stable today, originally built in 1919 as an airplane hanger}
Although the imposing headquarters in Forest Park has long been demolished, there are several remnants of the mounted patrol around St. Louis. Once is a building that served as a substation of the Forest Park headquarters at 2720 Clifton Avenue, very near where Clifton meets Southwest Avenue and crosses Magnolia.
{the St. Louis mounted patrol substation at 2720 Clifton Avenue}
More Articles...
- Forest Park Southeast National Register of Historic Places Neighborhood Survey
- Toronto Celebrates Mid-Century High-rise Residential Retrofit: Can St. Louis Do the Same?
- (Decision) Friends of the San Luis, Inc., Plaintiff v. Archdiocese of St. Louis, etc., et al., Defendants
- One Last Day for the San Luis?