3654 - 3660 Cook

In 1895 the four 3 story townhomes pictured above were built a few lots east of Scruggs Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, which was built in the previous decade at the corner of Cook & Spring. The highway like Spring Avenue we know today existed only as a series of two lane side streets. Grouped in two pairs to give the appearance of two large mansions, the townhomes were connected in the center to form one building. Each pair though was one property.

3654-56, boarded at left was most recently owned by LRA and had obviously been abandoned for many years, while 3658-60 was in private ownership was in relatively good shape when I first discovered these gems about 7 years ago.
The floor plan of each was essentially the same in each unit, with variations in fenestration and certain details such as the entrances.
The entrance of 3654 stood out a bit more lavish than the others with its columned recessed entry complete with marble wainscot and wood panels above.
Here the connection between the two pairs is visible. The fact that the 3rd story did not have a masonry party wall as the floors below did would later prove as a fatal design flaw for the group.

A beautiful detail above the entrance to 3660.

Inside, although not overly large, the townhomes were well appointed with wood paneling, arched entry's with fretwork, and heavy crown moldings in all the public rooms (living room of 3660 above). Beyond the front living room and entry hall, each townhome had a grand three story stair hall with a large (at least 6'x8') skylight which poured natural light down through the home and into the interior rooms.

A photo montage of the stair hall in 3656

The skylight above

As I mentioned it was obvious that the east pair had been abandoned for many years, and unfortunately, skylights can let water pour inside as well. When I first entered 3654, the skylight was already long gone and most of what had been the stairs and landings were in a pile in the basement... so was everything in the two story rear wing which would have contained the kitchen, rear stair and rear bedrooms. 3656 was in slightly better shape, although many areas of floor were obviously near collapse, such as that above the large central dining room.

Even with these conditions on the interior, I was convinced that the exceptional exterior warranted re-building the inside of the east pair. The west pair although un-occupied appeared from peeking in the windows to be in exceptional shape, with no water damage visible inside.

In the early morning of August 29 of last year fire struck the building. Its unclear where it started, but the result was that the remaining rear portions of 3654-56 were gutted throughout and the 3rd floor and the roofs of 3658-60 were completely destroyed. Photo at left from KSDK Channel 5's website.

The front of the townhomes after the fire

Damage in the stair hall of 3656

Everything beyond the stair hall of 3656 was completely gutted

Not long after the fire, the City commenced demolition of the east pair of townhomes, and on August 30, 2006 the west pair were condemned for demolition, which would be left up to the owners.

The turret of 3654 stood like a giant tomb stone as the
last remaining portion of the east half of the building

The remaining pairs last stand, marked for
destruction recently by the wreckers sign

Inside the front room of 3658. Although this potion of the exterior is
flat, the interior of the window wall was given a graceful curve

The fireplace on the first floor of the stair hall in 3658. Below looking up at the 3rd floor stair balcony and the open sky above. The Skylight frame had crash landed at the 2nd floor level over the opening to the first floor below. Further account of the impending demolition can be found on the Ecology of Absence Blog.

Demolition of 4011-21 Washington Proceeds

Demolition is began this week of the three homes on Washington that first caught my attention almost exactly a year ago. 4011 & 4021 had been bought by Saaman Corporation in late 2005 and 4019 in February 2006. All three had demolition permits applied for when I checked City records in early April 2006. When Alderman Terry Kennedy found out that the homes were to be demolished there were reports that he initially expressed a desire to have the homes rehabbed instead of demolished. Apparently Saaman was able to convince Kennedy that renovation was not feasible, and thus demolition moves forward.

This is an argument that would not be out of the realm of reality for Kennedy to believe, for as I mentioned in a post about the homes last year by Steve Patterson, two of the three were in pretty rough shape, and without historic tax credits, it could be tough to make the numbers work.

Here is the catch 22 though: Kennedy generally has not supported new historic districts or expansion of existing ones in his ward, because he claims that people on fixed incomes would be forced into spending more money to do improvements or renovations to their homes. What Kennedy fails to realize is that with historic district status, home owners can install better and more appropriate materials than they would ordinarily be able to afford because of the subsidy provided by the tax credit. Also, more historic districts would spur more rehabilitation of abandoned homes (such as the 3 on Washington) by developers because with the tax credits, the projects become profitable and desirable to do. It should be noted that according to City records, the estimated cost to demolish the three homes totals $72,500.00

Below are photos of the homes as they are being demolished taken yesterday morning and this evening. The scene of the three homes in a row in various stages of destruction reminds me of photos of areas near this block that were hit by a massive tornado in 1927.

4021 Washington

4019 Washington

4011 Washington

4011 was reduced to a rubble pile by this evening

Will the Switzer Building meet the same fate as the Bronson Hide?

The Switzer Building at 612-624 N. 1st Street was built in 1874, the same year that its neighbor the Ead's Bridge was completed. For most of the building's life it housed the Switzer Candy company, and as the landmark sign painted on the south side of the building touted, it was home to the famous Switzer Licorice and Cherry Red candy. Empty since the late 1970's, the building's roof and interior suffered from exposure to the elements resulting in the collapse of the floors of the rear portion of the building into the basement. Front of the Switzer Building (photo from Laclede's Landing Merchants website)

The interior collapse left the rear portion of the building's masonry walls unbraced, and during the major wind storm last summer, resulted in the collapse of the rear and part of the south exterior walls of the building. Now eight months later, as reported recently in the Post, the developers who had intended to restore the building are considering demolishing the majority of the structure. More photos of the Switzer may be found on Built St. Louis

Storm Damage (photo from the National Weather Service website)

With the exception of Chouteau's Landing, Laclede's Landing is the only surviving portion of street grid remaining from the original settlement of St. Louis (about 40 blocks were demolished in 1940 to clear the site that would become the Arch grounds). The surviving buildings were constructed between 1844 and 1905, when commerce in St. Louis was still firmly based along the river. As the graphic below show though, about half of the buildings of Laclede's Landing have been lost and are now parking lots, a garage and vacant lots.
The most recent building demolished (shown in orange above) was the Bronson Hide Building at 806-808 N. 1st Street in 1997. A small portion of the rear wall had collapsed a few years prior to its demolition
Progressive photos of the demolition of the Bronson Hide can be seen on Ecology of Absence

As mentioned in my last post, there are many examples of buildings in the condition of the Switzer that have been successfully rehabbed. Below are a few more photos of the Lister Building as it's interior was reconstructed. Note in the first photo clear sky visible through the 4th floor windows, new floor joists looking in 2 & 3, and the massive debris pile from the collapsed floors in the first floor retail space.

Another building that had suffered what would appear to be catastrophic damage and was resurrected is the M-Lofts. in 1999, the former factory building of the International Shoe Company had seen better days. Almost 30% of the floors of the building were collapsed in the basement, and about 80% of the roof structure had fallen to the floor below, meaning that the remaining floors would not last much longer.

The west elevation of the building - before

looking into the debris pit

Floors bending down into the hole

Much of the roof and clerestories on the floor below

Re-building begins from the first floor up after debris removal

Massive new timbers imported from CanadaThe completed building

All of work was eligible for historic tax credits because it involved re-building the original fabric of the building. An alternate to re-building the original structure of a building that could be considered in an extreme case as the Switzer is the concept of preserving the front facade or a portion of the front of the building and building a larger new construction behind. This concept has occurred in many cities across the country (often with buildings in perfectly good shape) as a compromise between preservation and the pressures of denser development. Below is an example in Washington DC (center of image). Apparently this was also considered by another developer for the Switzer as seen posted last year on Urban St. Louis. This type of approach however would not qualify for historic tax credits.

Lister Building Annex - Olive & Taylor

The Lister Building Annex was built in 1914 as an expansion of the Lister Building next door that had been built in 1905. Both were designed by architect John L. Wees and housed medical offices until they were abandoned many years ago. In 1999, gusty winds caused the front parapet of the Annex to tumble off the building onto the sidewalk below along Olive. At the time, the buildings were owned by the City of St. Louis, and the Annex although having suffered only minor damage was declared a public hazard and demolished. The site is currently occupied by a dog park and community garden, but will likely be developed in the future.Fortunately the larger Lister Building at the intersection of Taylor and Olive was spared. In 2001, Uan and Sue Nguyen of Central West End Builders bought the building and embarked on the challenging task of re-building.

The Lister Building prior to restoration

This was no small task, considering that when the Nguyen's bought the building, over half the floors and roof were already in the basement, and what remained was not salvageable due to rot. As the photo below from the building's website dramatically shows, the building was literally a shell with four walls and some interior columns and beams. The floor at the top of the photo is all new construction.
The project endured another setback during construction, when the fourth floor of the east wall collapsed, but the they simply re-built the wall and moved on with completion. The building now houses well appointed apartments as well as a furniture store and coffee house on the first floor. The building received a most enhanced award from Landmarks in 2004.

It's no accident that I happen to be showing this example of extreme re-building, since as Eco-Absence first reported on Sunday, Pete Rothschild has applied for a permit to demolish the Switzer building on Laclede's Landing, which is in similar condition to the Lister Building prior to renovation. More on this in the next post...

Update - from a comment by Michael Allen on the Urban St. Louis site: "Metro wants the building demolished, because they are afraid it will collapse onto the MetroLink station in the Eads Bridge.

The federal reviewers are not allowing tax credits for the building's rehab, effectively killing the project. Rothschild would prefer to rebuild, but without credits can't make it work."