Cabanne Demolitions Pulled from Preservation Board Agenda

The final agenda for Monday's Preservation Board meeting was put online today, and the proposed demolitions of 5305-07 and 5309 Cabanne have been removed from consideration.  In recent months there has been what seems to be a reoccurring pattern of demolition proposals showing up on the initial agenda posted by the Cultural Resources Office (usually about 2 weeks out from the meeting) only to be pulled when the final agenda appears online, which usually occurs the Friday prior to the meeting.  While pulling demolition proposals almost always come as a relief to me, I have been wondering why this is occurring?  Is it just a fluke that this has happened several months in a row now, or is it something else?  Are applicants realizing that they might face a fire storm of protest when they see their proposals show up on sites like this?  I am not convinced of this, but one can dream.

On the flip side, a completely asinine proposal to demolish a former St. Louis Carnival Supply building, a modified but still quite intact corner building, for expansion of an adjacent strip mall parking lot is still on the agenda for Monday.  Please read more about this at Ecology of Absence.

Preservation Board to Consider Cabanne Demolition a Second Time

Next Monday the St. Louis Preservation Board will consider the demolition of 5309 Cabanne for the second time in three years.  In August 2006 the Preservation Board turned town a request by Greg Vatterott to demolish the three story 2,800 s.f. single family home built in 1902.  As the detailed agenda from that meeting shows, the house has suffered some partial collapse of the rear masonry wall.  However, the rest of the home remains in relatively good shape.  In 2006, the Board felt that the minor damage at he rear wall did not warrant demolition.  Let's hope they come to the same conclusion next Monday.

The applicant this time is Tap In Properties, LLC, a Leesburg, Virgina company that provides "Janitorial and Post-Construction Cleaning for the Washington, Maryland and Virginia area", which acquired the home in August 2007.  "We are locally owned and operated so you can be assured you will receive quality dependable and honest service every time", states their website.  So what business do they have in tearing down historic homes in St. Louis, Missouri!??  

The same applicant has also applied to demolish a neighboring two-family townhouse building at 5305-07 Cabanne.  Unlike 5309, this building shows no signs of deterioration from the exterior.  The faded sign in the front lawn that has been up for some time reads "Coming Spring of 2008: 3-Bedroom Townhouse Units"  When I first saw the sign, I assumed that a renovation was going to occur.  The buildings are located in the Visitation Park Historic District, and are therefore eligible for Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits.  I'm tempted to call the number and ask when the renovated units will be ready.  A matching building at 5301-03 is occupied.  The detailed agenda for the upcoming meeting has yet to be posted, so there is no information as to the details of the proposal, if any for use of the site.

5307-07 Cabanne and its well-kept neighboring twin at 5301-03

Also on Monday's agenda is a proposal to demolish a 3 story corner building at 3924 S. Broadway.  As always, I encourage readers to attend the Preservation Board meeting on Monday, December 21st at 4:00 PM at 1015 Locust Street, Suite 1200 and testify to the Preservation Board their concerns or send your comments in before the meeting. Comments should be sent to:

St. Louis Preservation Board c/o
Adonna Buford, Secretary
1015 Locust Street, Suite 1100
St. Louis, MO 63101

Or email: BufordA@stlouiscity.com

What will be the next threatened landmark?

Will it be the former Shriners Hospital Building (above)?  Will it be the Sun Theater?  Will it be Mann Elementary School?  Will you have a right to say anything about it?

Please join the Friends of the San Luis Friday night for the Anti-Wrecking Ball Holiday Kegger.  The Friends of the San Luis are presently appealing a ruling by Circuit Court Judge Dierker that stripped the right of citizens to appeal a Preservation Board ruling on the basis that they do not have legal standing to question any Preservation board action.  Come check out Old North St. Louis Restoration Group's newly renovated Community Gallery (one block south of Crown Candy), have some beer and support your right to fight for historic preservation in St. Louis.  All proceeds will go to the court ruling appeal fund.

A Cause For Celebration?

St. Louis or Berlin?  Construction of Interstate 70 in 1964.

Yesterday and today were days of celebration for many St. Louisans as re-construction of Highway 40 (Interstate 64) came to a close and the highway re-opened to uninterrupted traffic from 270 to Kingshighway for the first time in almost two years.  

I couldn't help but think: Is the opening of a new highway really cause for celebration?  Since their inception in the late 1930's, highways have reeked havoc on cities, requiring mass demolitions, dividing neighborhoods, ruining parks and more all in the name of getting from A to point B a little bit faster.
Construction of Interstate 70 (then also known as the Third Street Highway) cut off Downtown St. Louis from the Gateway Arch two years before its completion in 1966. To this day the highway remains a physical and psychological barrier as well as major source of noise pollution. Photos from UMSL's Western Historical Manuscript Collection.

A relatively intact streetscape with buildings and park cars.  This is Third Street in 1962, prior to the construction of the Interstate 70.  All building in this photo with the exception of the Peabody Building (at center with the corner entrance) were demolished to make way for the Mansion House complex.  Like Mansion House, most of the buildings in this row front Fourth street and turn their back to the Arch grounds and riverfront beyond.  Can you blame them?  Who would want their new building to front a noisy ugly highway?

Two years later in 1964, the interstate cuts a gash in the landscape cutting off everything from the yet to be completed Arch and grounds.  Beyond the Peabody Building the Bel Air Hotel can be seen in the distance.

City interrupted - the Interstate 44-55 interchange in the mid 60's.

Construction of Interstate 44 and 55 destroyed block after block of fully intact South Side neighborhoods.  Early plans for 44 even threatened Tower Grove Park by the highway's path.  While the south edge of Forest Park was given a lobotomy, this treatment of Tower Grove would have completely destroyed the narrow park and would have devastated the adjacent neighborhoods. 

Back to Highway 40, another casualty of the re-opening is transit demand. This morning as I got on the MetroLink train at Skinker to head Downtown I noticed that the crowd on the train was much lighter than normal.  I was not completely surprised by this.  There was a noticeable increase in Metro rider-ship last January when the east half of Highway 40 closed for the year, and since Metro made service cuts in March, it has been standing room only on the trains at least until the Central West End where many BJC workers exit.  Has everyone gotten back in their cars to take the new Highway 40? 

Maybe I am unusual, but when I made the decision several years ago to start riding Metro, it was one of the most liberating things I have ever experienced, leaving behind the traffic, dealing with other drivers on the road, parking garages, more frequent trips to the gas station and maintenance shops, etc. in exchange for some relaxing time to read a book.  You can call me crazy if you want, but I actually liked standing on the train when is was packed with people.  Somehow it made it feel like I was living in a real City.

Random Scenes along Euclid Avenue

Less than a block north of the Central West End MetroLink Station some work is being done in the pedestrian mall that replaced Euclid Avenue south of Parkview Place several years ago at the BJC-WU Medical Center.  Below the sidewalk pavement tracks form the long gone streetcar have been temporarily revealed.

At the northwest corner Forest Park Boulevard and Euclid, sewer and foundation work has begun on the new 12 story BJC clinic building that will replace the demolished Ettrick and another building to the north.

Farther north at 901 Euclid, is yet another example of a building that did not need to be demolished.  This corner storefront building was not at the intersection of two streets, but at the intersection of Euclid and the Hodiamont streetcar line, which ran in its own right-of-way that was not part of a street.  Located just two lots south of the homes that front Fountain Park, the building unfortunately was outside the boundary of the Aubert Place-Fountain Park Historic District. The surrounding area is part of the 18th Ward, which has been held back from Preservation Review by Alderman Terry Kennedy.

The photo above (from Geo St. Louis) tells the story of this building's demise.  Like so many similar buildings, the back wall suffered a partial collapse likely due to continual water damage from a missing gutter. The building was condemned by the City Building Division in September 2005 and demolished in June 2007.  The issue with this building is that the damage was reparable and since the floor and roof joists in these types of buildings almost always run side to side, the remaining structure was in no danger of collapse.  So as is typical in a case like this, the building is needlessly destroyed.

Holiday Party for Preservation!

This awesome flyer compliments of Kara Clark Holland (original photo of the Arcade by Rob Powers of Built St. Louis).  It's like a dream come true: my favorite building with the worlds largest keg on the roof.  Here is some info form the Old North Restoration Group about their newly rehabbed space where the party will be held.

St. Louis Centre - Part One: Life on the Streets of Downtown Before St. Louis Centre

Throngs of holiday shoppers fill the intersection of 7th & Washington in front of Stix Baer & Fuller.  60's era photo from the archives of the now defunct Pyramid Companies

With recent announcements about the latest "future" of St. Louis Centre, I am starting a series of posts about its history and impact on Downtown St. Louis.  First though, I think we should take a look back to what life was like before the Malling of Downtown.

It is hard to believe today that Downtown was once the center of retail life in St. Louis with three highrise department stores: Famous Barr, Stix Baer & Fuller and Scruggs Vandervoort Barney each with half a million square feet of floor space or more, and hundreds of street level retail stores in between.

Even while malls and suburban branches of the big three department stores rose in the 1950's and 60's, Downtown continued to attract shoppers and retained a thriving retail scene through the 1970's and even the early 1980's.

Shoppers and a Bi-State bus cross the intersection of 6th & Locust in the late 1970's or early 1980's.  The Woolworths occupied the corner that would become one of the main entrances to the St. Louis Centre mall.  Photo from Randy Vines of STL Style.

the intersection of 6th & Washington in 1959 looking south.  Kresge's occupied the southeast corner.  The gap between buildings next to the Lerner Shops is St. Charles Street, which at the time ran continuous through this part of Downtown.  This photo and all below are from the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at UMSL's Thomas Jefferson Library.

The intersection of 7th & Olive in the 1976 with Florsheim Shoe's at the northwest corner.

A mounted patrol officer take a break at the corner of 7th & Olive in front of Famous Barr in 1976.  Looking north on 7th Street, Stix Bear & Fuller can be seen in the distance. 

The intersection of 6th and Washington in 1976.  Stix Baer and Fuller built a special Bicentennial Candy Shop at the corner of their store.

Another view of 7th and Washington crowded with

shoppers in front of Stix Baer & Fuller

In this post-St. Louis Centre era, the streets of Downtown have once again become a destination for shopping with over 80 unique retail stores, restaurants and service businesses opening since 2000.  So this Black Friday stay in bed, skip the 3am big box madness sales and head Downtown for your holiday shopping fix.  Macy's Downtown store does open at 5am for you early birds, however most stores run normal hours. This year the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis has come up with an easy way to give with the Downtown St. Louis Gift Card, which can be used at over 100 Downtown retail stores and restaurants.  Happy Thanksgiving!