What Should Be: 4100 Detonty – Shaw

What’s there: A really big hole. A fairly astonishing scene from the high vantage of eastbound I-44, to be sure, and it’s a wonder that an expectedly intact neighborhood like Shaw would be home to such a sizable gash in the otherwise dense fabric. A sole two-family home, at the southwest corner of De Tonty Street and Thurman Avenue, is left to bookend the 600 foot-long absence between the far eastern end of the barren half-block, and what remains of the 1920s era historic street wall at the western end of De Tonty. The five houses anchoring the southeastern corner of De Tonty and Klemm Streets offer clues as to what was recently lost on the 4100 block of De Tonty between Klemm Street and Thurman Avenue but the decrepit stature of the rather young ruin, standing alone at the southwest corner of De Tonty and Thurman, reminds us of what could become of some great St. Louis neighborhoods and has already become of so many others. Though any presumption that this really big hole signals sustained and reckless trends in attempted speculative real estate projects is misplaced, the removal of structures to make way only for options or promises is of questionable wisdom.