Last week I learned that what remains of the Winkelmann House at 1930 St. Louis Avenue is being demolished. According to the City's property database, a demolition permit was applied for on June 22nd. Demolition of the remains of the one story west wing, added when the home was converted to a funeral parlor, has mostly been completed, leaving only the beautiful circa 1873 stone facade of the original home standing. Michael Allen of the Preservation Research Office told me that Paul McKee, the buildings owner had given the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation two weeks to come up with a plan to salvage the facade, without chipping in any funding, of course! There have been discussions of producing measured drawings to market the facade for re-use.
Below is a photo from January 2, 2007, just after the cancer of brick theft, which would consume most of the structure, had first attacked the funeral home rear garage addition. Coincidentally, one of Paul McKee's many shell companies had taken ownership in 2006. No attempts were made over the five years of slow degradation to secure the home or prevent further attack on the structure. After the stone facade is salvaged, crated and taken away, nothing will be left but a vacant plot of land and an asphalt lot. So much for Regeneration!
Last night around 3 am, the Grand Livery & Boarding Stable at 3441 Juniata, just east of Arkansas Avenue, was destroyed by fire. The Post-Dispatch reported that the three alarm blaze spread to an adjacent four family building, gutting one apartment, at least two garages an several nearby cars. By the time the fire was put out, there was nothing left but piles of rubble.
The faded painted sign from the building's early days was barely visible on the parapet. For a livery stable, the buildings construction date of 1908 was comparatively late considering that automobiles had become fairly commonplace by the 1920s. According to a 1903 Sanborn map, the block where the livery stable was located had not yet seen any building construction, nor had several other nearby blocks of this area of Tower Grove East. In recent years the building had been used as an auto repair shop.
At one time livery stables were a fairly common sight in the City, although not many are left today. Jest a few years ago you might remember that SLU demolished a livery stable at 3401 Locust for an enlarged surface parking lot. The City's oldest livery stable was located at 310-314 Walnut and had been converted to a parking garage by the time it was demolished. There was even a livery stable at the corner of 9th & Pine Streets, where south half of the Paul Brown building is located.
The Grand Livery & Boarding Stable was located on a block that is now all residential and had great potential for conversion to lofts, offices, or both. Now it will likely sit a vacant lot until there is demand for infill construction.
Next Monday, July 23rd, the Preservation Board will consider the proposed demolition of Saints Mary and Joseph School located at Holly Hills and Minnesota in Carondelet. The building is located in the Central Carondelet National Register Historic District, which would make the building eligible for both Missouri and Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits. The Archdiocese must be chomping at the bit to proceed with demolition, since window removal was already well underway a few weeks ago (the windows were not original). Photo above by Angelo Olegna.
The building is located just across the street from the historic Sisters of St. Joseph complex. As far as I know there is no proposal for any new structure on the site.
The elevation of the school building is such that the Mississippi River could clearly be seen from the building (visible in lower right corner of the photo above). This would be a nice amenity for if the building was converted to housing, as many old schools have been successfully. More images of the school and church (which is not proposed for demolition) can be found on the Geo St. Louis. If you plan to attend the Preservation Board meeting (starts at 4:00 pm), please remember that the Cultural Resources offices and Preservation Board meetings are now located in 1520 Market Street. Comments can be emailed to Adona Buford: buforda@stlouiscity.com
The stretch of Taylor Avenue between Delmar & Page is a stark wasteland of mostly vacant lots and surface parking lots. Compared to other nearby north-south streets and the east west residential streets, Taylor is especially desolate. Seven Twenty Five Liquor, a small drive-up store at Taylor & Enright is one of the few surviving businesses.
At Taylor and the old Hodiamont streetcar right-of-way a suburban style church is set back behind a deep lawn on the large property that was once the location of Missouri Baptist Sanitarium, the precursor of today's Missouri Baptist Hospital.
The intersection of Taylor and Lewis Place to the west & Finney to the east is one of the few bright spots along this stretch. Like a miniature Arc de Triomphe, the 1894 gate by Barnett, Haynes & Barnett stands guard at the east end of historic Lewis Place. Across the street is an attractive small historic building that houses a neighborhood tavern but sits isolated as an island at the corner of a large surface parking lot of Ranken Technical College. While it seems to have lost its cornice the building, the building appears relatively well maintained.
One block further north at the intersection of Taylor & Newberry Terrace was a lovely large stone residence with a corner turret. The home was later converted to a funeral home with a rear wing, entrance and circle drive off Taylor. Several years ago a small section of the front masonry wall between two second floor windows collapsed. As you can see, while creating a large opening, the collapse did not pose major structural issues for the rest of the building and was easily repairable. A bearing wall running down the middle of the second floor supported the third floor and roof structure.
The building held the corner of a fairly solid block that is a mix of historic homes and recent infills, many built by Ranken students. The front wall was apparently not the first exterior masonry issue for the home. A building permit was applied for in October 2002 to repair an exterior masonry (presumably the area of unpainted brick just behind the turret) wall at the cost of $4,000.00. A few electrical permits were also applied for through June 2004. In 2007 ownership changed from private hands to the City's LRA. On 4.28.11 the owner became Ranken Technical College, and in June 2011, a demolition permit for the entire building was applied for with an estimated cost of $38,500.00.
A close-up of the turret with the date of the home's construction: 1892
Today the corner is another vacant lot on this dreary stretch of Taylor.
This afternoon the Cultural Resources Office uploaded the final agenda for next Mondays Preservation Board meeting. The agenda shows the proposed site plan proposed by CVS and AAA to replace the current AAA facility. The graphic below (also from the agenda) shows the proposed CVS in relation to the existing AAA building.
The site plan completely disregards the planned Central West End-Midtown Sustainable Form Based Zoning overlay district that has been in development for two years and is scheduled to be adopted as an ordinance this fall. Board Bill #79, which is enabling legislation that will allow the adoption of form based zoning overlay districts throughout the City of St. Louis was introduced by 17th Ward Alderman Joe Roddy on June 1st.
The page above is from the Draft Regulating Plan of the planned overlay district. The area included in the overlay includes both sides of Lindell from Vandeventer to Kingshighway, and the three blocks south of Lindell to Forest Park Boulevard. The AAA site is outlined in red. While the plan is not yet law, some recent developments have taken the plan into account, including the mixed use 3949 Lindell building that has apartments over retail built right up to the sidewalk of Lindell Boulevard. I'm sure they would love to have AAA as a long term tenant in one of the remaining retail spaces since they seem to be unhappy with their present building. You may recall that the planned form based overlay plan was a factor in the downfall of the previous plan from CVS to demolish the former Housing Authority Building at Sarah to build a store.
You have likely heard that the Preservation Board will consider the proposed demolition of the AAA building on Lindell next Monday. Your opinions and comments are needed!
The developer of the proposed new CVS and adjoining strip retail center will no doubt argue that the AAA building is inefficient and outmoded for its use and must come down for the new building. Contrary to this argument, a new prototypical CVS store complete with drive through can be accommodated on the western portion of the AAA site where the repair garage (which is no longer used) is located. Demolition of the beautiful modern colonnaded AAA is completely unnecessary!
We could hope that the architect for the new CVS could come up with something better than the standard beige fake stucco with some brick trim, but any plan that preserves the existing AAA building would be welcomed. What Should Be also posted an attractive alternative.
You will also likely hear that "AAA no longer wants to be in their current building". Fine. They can move out any time they like and put their existing building up for sale or lease. There are several retail spaces for lease in the adjacent 3949 Lindell mixed use development which was completed a few years ago that could accommodate the AAA office. There are also spaces available in the Lindell Marketplace center to the west and several other nearby buildings on Lindell. Additional new strip retail space is not needed on on Lindell.
If you have strong opinions about preserving the unique AAA building by renowned architect Wence Sarmiento, please consider attending the Preservation Board meeting next Monday, June 25th at 4:00 pm. Please note that the Cultural Resources Office along with all other City offices that were located in the 1015 Locust Building have moved to 1520 Market Street. The Preservation Board meetings will be held in the board room on the second floor at the new location. Public comments regarding any of the meetings agenda items, including the AAA proposal, are encouraged. If you cannot attend, please email your statement to the Adona Buford, the Board Secretary at buforda@stlouiscity.com
Landmarks Association has more information about the AAA's architect Wence Sarmiento, including an interview, on their News page.
If 1520 Market Street sounds unfamiliar to you, it is the former Abrams Federal Building just west of the Peabody Opera House (photo above from Geo St. Louis). This is the building that Larry Rice attempted to buy several years ago to turn into a homeless warehouse.
Eliot Hall, the remaining half of a pair of concrete brutalist style buildings completed in 1972 on Washington University's Danforth Campus is currently being demolished to make way for a pair of new buildings. The demolition of a small connector to McMillan Hall began in mid-May, about a week before graduation. As of last weekend about a quarter of the structure had been demolished.
Windows and interior partitions have been cleared from the north wing in preparation to bring down the structure.
A view of the north wing of Eliot in mid-May.
The building straddled the north face of the campus hill with two stories facing south to the center of campus and five stories cascading down the hill to the north. Much of the lower portion of the building had odd tall open spaces underneath which didn't seem to serve any purpose.
Out with the "old", in with the "new". Just west of Eliot is the Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center, which will be expanded as part of the new construction. Mudd Hall, which was the other half of the 1972 complex had been demolished in 1998 for construction of the Knight Center. Information about Mudd, which had formerly housed the School of Law can be found in a recent issue of Washington University Law Magazine, which was dedicated to remembering the years in Mudd.
The architecture of the new Knight Hall will be similar to the existing building.
Across from the Knight building, as part of the project a portion of the Millbrook parking garage has been taken down to create a staging area for the construction of the new complex. After construction, the area will apparently be landscaped.
A view of the demolition from the center of campus and a the building prior to demolition below. The rendering at right shows the south side of the new complex which will be named Bauer Hall, and house an expansion of the Olin School of Business.
While peering through the fence last weekend I was shocked to see that not only is Eliot being demolished, but also a wing of the historic McMillin hall, which was originally a women's dormitory built in 1906. The one story wing that extended west of the main structure likely housed a lounge or other large public space in the building.
Slate is being stripped from the wing, which will be cut back to a short bump-out with the a bay window re-created at the west wall. Below is a view of the wing prior to the start of demolition.
This photo shows the difference in scale between the existing Knight Center and Eliot Hall now under demolition. I should be clear that I am not mourning the loss of Eliot, but the west wing of McMillin is an unfortunate casualty. While I found some architectural elements of the building to be interesting, I understand that Eliot and Mudd Halls were hated by many and I also understand that the university has growth needs that must be met with additional square footage of buildings. Here is a good essay though from an architectural student titled In Defense of Eliot Hall.
It should be noted that over the last 10-15 years that Washington University has built about a dozen large new buildings on its main campus without increasing its footprint by expanding classrooms into surrounding areas or the loss of a single private residential structure. Wash U instead has taken to urbanizing the hilltop as well as land east of Brookings, which is good. This cannot be said about another local university, who's demolition antics on and off campus have managed to keep preservationists in St. Louis in a constant frenzy.
