Loop Demolitions Underway

Demolitions are underway for phase 1 of the Loop Living development at Delmar and Eastgate. 


The buildings at 609 Eastgate and 6236 Enright are gone as well as several townhome blocks of the University Terrace Apartments.


On Delmar the six family building at 6263 is slowly coming down.


Fortunately it appears that the decorative terra cotta entrance surrounds of both buildings have been salvaged.


Anticipating the new multi-story construction, protective scaffold has been erected along the entire frontage to keep a pedestrian path along Delmar open.


Sifting through the pages of the Delmar Loop Photograph Project available online through Missouri Digital Heritage, I came across a few photos of the Standard service station that preceded the building that had been occupied for many years by Meineke. The building was almost identical to the station at Newstead & Laclede that according to City property records was built in 1933. What isn't obvious in the photo above is that when the older station was replaced the gas station site was enlarged.


A narrow six family apartment building at 6251 Delmar, at the right in the photo above, was demolished when the newer station was built sometime around 1967.


Around the same time several buildings west, two buildings were demolished to create a surface parking lot directly across from the entrance to the Tivoli Theater. The east building at 6319 Delmar appears to have had it's storefronts added later as was the case with many buildings along this row.


The building at 6321 Delmar had storefronts integral to the construction of the building. 


By 1967, when this photo montage was created, the site had been cleared. The parking lot, which would remain for three decades, was part of a larger overall urban renewal plan enacted in the Loop in the late 1960's. This site is now occupied by the University City public parking garage, which is also home to Good Works furniture, constructed in 1998.


A matching lot had been created across the street between the Tivoli and the one story building that housed Streetside Records for many years. Both lots had masonry screen walls along the sidewalk punctuated by terra cotta lions that had been salvaged presumably from a demolished building. This past Friday evening I noticed that the wall is gone and the lot appears to be under re-construction. According to the Green Practices Commission page of U-City's website, the lot will be re-paved with permeable pavement. No word as to whether the wall will be rebuilt.




A closeup of one of the now missing lions by Flickr member MBK.