Lessons from Fort Wayne

Downtown Fort Wayne in 1960

Earlier this week I traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana to look at buildings in their downtown for possible conversion to residential lofts. Downtown Fort Wayne has several new developments that are breathing much needed life into the the city's core including a new baseball stadium for the minor league Tin Caps (who previously played in a suburban location), a new convention center and a new hotel going up nearby. What downtown Fort Wayne lacks though is downtown residents, but the current mayor Tom Henry is trying to change that. As part of the stadium project, a developer promised to build a new condo and retail development overlooking the new field, but has failed to start the project. Hmmm, sound familiar?

Somehow this smaller city managed to completely miss the nation wide housing boom that started around the millennium and came to a crashing halt last year, leaving the downtown area with almost no housing except two 60's modern apartment highrises in the northeast edge. With new stadium condo deal dead for now, the mayor is trying to get developers to convert older buildings with the use of historic tax credits, like St. Louis has been so successful in doing. The problem: there aren't many buildings left downtown! Previous administrations allowed Fort Wayne's downtown to be turned into an almost un-ending sea of asphalt. Driving into downtown (and Googleing beforehand) I was absolutely stunned at the amount of surface parking permeating the majority of the blocks. Of the actual built structures, that do exist, the percentage of either stand alone parking garages or buildings with large integral garages also seemed high. The number of existing buildings ripe for residential conversion is very small.

Downtown Fort Wayne today. The red areas are all surface parking,
parking garages, lawns (non-park space) or vacant land.

The lessons from Fort Wayne are that we should continue to fight to prevent the loss of our built environment for lesser uses like parking lots. The other lesson is that we have more here in St. Louis than we sometimes realize. Sometimes we here in St. Louis have a tendency to beat ourselves up, especially when we experience a loss...I know I am guilty of this, and occasionally some even threaten to move away. We should to remember that although we have lost many great buildings, we would be hard pressed to find what we have left in any comparable city in the US. We need to keep fighting to keep what makes St. Louis unique. We will never be New York, San Francisco or Chicago, but they will never have our affordability, quality of life or our buildings.

Further Info. about the Unrecognizable Block

The Walker Estate Building, 1823 Washington Avenue - 1899-1970s

Further study of the Washington Avenue photograph in my last post has revealed that not everything in the photo is gone... just most of it. The large loft building in the right portion of the photo is in fact the King Bee Lofts located at 17th and Washington. The building is in use today as residential lofts, but the pedimented terra cotta entrances have been removed. I discovered this after Larry Giles of the Building Arts Foundation sent me the photo above of the Walker Estate Building, which was located at 1823 Washington. According to Larry, the Walker Estate Building, which was faced with grey speckled terra cotta was demolished in the mid-1970s. More photos of the salvaged terra cotta ornament can be seen here.


After studying a 1909 Sanborn Map, a portion of which is shown above, I realized that there were too many buildings in the photo to be on one block, and that the photo actually shows the blocks of Washington from 17th to 19th Streets and beyond. The Walker Estate Building is the building with the photo below with the panted sign: "FABRICIUS". The photograph was likely taken from The White House, an eight story white terra cotta faced building that once occupied the full block of the south side of Washington between 16th and 17th Streets. The building was demolished in 1975 for surface parking, and remains so today. For a vintage postcard view, click here and scroll down past Ely Walker.

An Unrecognizable Block of Washington Ave

Washington Avenue in 1927.  Original photo from Artega Photos LTD.

Last Monday night after the St. Louis Demolition Board meeting finally ended with the vote to destroy the San Luis, a group of us who testified headed to the Side Bar on Washington for much needed food and beers. On the long wall opposite the bar there are several oversized photographs of Washington Avenue from the early 1900s

Most of the photos contain readily recognizable landmark buildings such the former International Shoe and nearby loft buildings or the former Stix Baer & Fuller Building (Dillards) which still awaits transformation into The Laurel by Spinnaker. One of the photographs however still had me stumped after the 3rd or 4th time seeing it. The photo above shows a streetscape in transition from a once fashionable residential area to one filled with commercial loft buildings.

I asked one of my friends who is an expert on historic St. Louis buildings and she did not recognize anything either. We both continued to be without an answer as to the photos location. Is it in Midtown, close to Compton or Grand?... or maybe its farther east? Finally, after standing on a bar stool for a closer look, I recognized the fuzzy outline of the Tudor Building in the distance near the upper left of the photo, and realized that the photo was the north side of Washington from 18th to 19th Street. The reason the photo was unrecognizable?... because nothing is left. The entire block is an asphalt surface parking lot.

This dead block plus two more surface lots on the east corners at 18th creates a huge physical separation between the good things that have happened west of 19th Street and the greater loft district east of 18th. Hopefully one of Bob Wood's projects under construction across the street will help bridge this divide. 

Detroit wins this weeks urban destruction contest - Lafayette Building to be demolished

A vintage shot photo of the Lafayette Building that I found on City Bird Detroit.
Original photo source and the building's history is on Buildings of Detroit.

As if not to be outdone by Monday's vote by St. Louis' Preservation Board to demolish the San Luis, yesterday the Detroit Downtown Development Authority voted unanimously to demolish the historic but vacant Lafayette Building. One would think that with its location literally in the shadow of the beautifully restored Westin Book-Cadillac and nearby Fort Shelby Hotel & Apartments both recently opened after years of abandonment and decay, that the DDA would see the natural potential of the Lafayette?

Sometimes people here wonder if St. Louis is striving to be like Detroit with our seemingly never ending wanton destruction of urban fabric. Unfortunately this week it seems that Detroit is striving to be like St. Louis.

Krewson Fails the Central West End and the City, Leads Preservation Board to Condemn San Luis

Last night after more that three hours of testimony including about 30 citizens, organizations and a developer speaking out against demolition of the San Luis, 28th Ward Alderman Lyda Krewson stood before the Preservation Board and gave her blessing for a parking lot. While Lyda acknowledged that a parking lot is not the highest and best use of the prime site at Lindell and Taylor, she stated that because the Archdiocese does not want to sell the San Luis that she would rather not see it standing vacant.

Instead of asking the full board if a motion could be heard, Preservation Board Chairman Richard Callow (a friend of Krewson) asked board member and 7th Ward Alderman Phyllis Young for a motion. Young of course following the tradition of aldermanic courtesy, presented a motion to support the request for demolition. David Richardson seconded the motion and argued that the outdated ordinance for the Central West End historic district excluded the San Luis. When the vote was called, Anthony Robinson and Melanie Fathman voted against the motion. Chairman Richard Callow broke the tie with a yes vote for demolition. John Burse and Michael Killeen, two board members who are architects and typically vote for preservation were unfortunately absent, as was vice chair Mary Johnson.

Ultimately this battle is not simply about a building. It is about a City's willingness to stand up and exert control over it's built environment, promoting a vibrant urbanity that will attract and retain residents or to allow an unrestrained free for all in land use and development like so many faceless suburban waste lands. It is likely that a citizen appeal to last nights decision will be filed by the Friends of the San Luis.

One Day until Preservation Board considers fate of San Luis

original graphic by Kara Clark Holland

The Preservation Board meets TOMORROW, June 22nd to consider the Archdiocese request to demolish the San Luis at Lindell & Taylor.

If you have not done so already, please email your letter or comments to the Preservation Board Secretary Adonna Buford. Please copy your letter/comments to 28th Ward Alderman Lyda Krewson, and Monsingor Gardin at the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

For more information check out: noparkinglotonlindell.com, the official blog of the Friends of the San Luis.

A Central West End Parking Lot for 36 Years & Counting

The northwest corner of Kingshighway and West Pine is empty except for some trees and parked cars, contributing little to the urban environment fronting Forest Park. Starting at BJC's Queeny Tower at Barnes Hospital Plaza just north of Highway 40, substantial buildings march up Kingshighway culminating with the iconic Park Plaza at Maryland Avenue, giving that stretch of the boulevard a kind of Central Park West feel. The notable gap in this row lies between West Pine and Lindell with surface parking lots occupying two prime park front parcels.

The Buckingham Hotel - photo from Landmarks collection

This was not always so, at least at the northwest corner at West Pine. This site was once occupied by the Buckingham Hotel, also known as the Ambassador Hotel. The U-shaped hotel rose seven stories above Kingshighway with repeating bay windows around the wings to take advantage of great park views.

Thank you Lindsey Derrington for the Sanborn source and photos above.

I am unsure of the Buckingham's date of construction, but it shows up on a 1909 Sanborn map, along with the nearby St. Regis. Construction of the nine story Chase Hotel, Chase and Chester Apartments on Lindell was still 13 years in the future. The Buckingham was likely unable to compete against the opulent Chase Park Plaza to the north and was converted to small apartments. The Ambassador as it was known in later years was demolished sometime around 1973 after a fire.

The Buckingham in context with the Chase to the north and the taller
Parc Frontenac immediately south. Photo from "This is Our St. Louis".

I'm, not sure if the land was immediately turned over to surface parking, but 36 years later, that is all we are left with. The property is now owned by the Parc Frontenac apartment tower, which fronts Forest Park across West Pine. I know that in the 80's there was a proposal to develop this lot and the Koplar Properties lot on Lindell with a large mixed use complex, but this never came to fruition.

The rear of the Buckingham/Ambassador with the Park Plaza beyond. The modern
City Bank branch has also been demolished for surface parking for the St. Regis.

Both photos from the Globe Democrat Collection at the Mercantile Library

As the Archdiocese of St. Louis now contemplates demolishing the San Luis at Lindell and Taylor, creating a large gap in the urban streetscape of Lindell Boulevard we must ask ourselves as a City: Is this acceptable? Will we still be stuck with another surface parking lot 36 years from now?