South St. Louis, Then & Now

Posted on 03/22/2010 by Toby Weiss

Bates Street & Morgan Ford
South St. Louis, MO

FILE PHOTO This venerable “gasoline service station” opened in 1931, back when 2 gas pumps in front of a tiny garage was all that was needed to handle vehicular volume in this section of Bevo Mill. We are fortunate to have such historical remnants of the city’s past still standing and operating today.

OK, this is actually a lame Photoshop gag.
I took this photo just the other day. With the vintage pickup truck parked in front, the place was an endearing warp in the space/time continuum. This brief, anachronistic moment is Reason #1,238 why I love the City of St. Louis.

3rd Time’s A Charm?

Posted on 03/18/2010 by Toby Weiss

3600 block of Morgan Ford Road
South St. Louis MO

The preposterously named Morganford Manor apartments are 4 separate buildings; 3 are on the west side of the street, and one is half a block down on the east side. All of these identical building went up in 1963, so there’s something wonky about that faux colonial entry under the bank of glass block.

Eh, this one is a tad bit better.

And here you go – much more appropriate. Now, about those shutters…

Valentine to a South City Apartment Building

Posted on 02/14/2010 by Toby Weiss

Chippewa & Lindenwood Place
South St. Louis City, MO

I’m sending a Valentine to the Crystal Tower Apartments in the Lindenwood Park neighborhood because it deserves some lovin’. Though it never pops to mind when someone asks me about my favorite St. Louis City buildings, my heart beats a little faster each time I pass this art deco charmer. So on this day of cupids, chocolates and roses, I’m leaving a cyber Valentine in the Crystal Towers lobby ‘cos I’m sweet on it!

The apartment building went up in 1940, so its art deco flair is authentic. It has 12 one bedroom apartments, and 6 two bedroom units. So often with St. Louis City apartments of this vintage, the exterior is all handsome come on, while inside, the apartments are vanilla bland. But courtesy of Craigslist, turns out Crystal Towers apartments are plaster cove ceilings and arches and gleaming wood floors and trim. In short, it looks like it has been shown constant and loving care through all of its decades, which is a rare trait in apartments for rent.

While working on this Valentine, I found that my crush on Crystal Towers goes back as far as 2001, when I used its outdoor entry patio as an example of texture for a black & white photo class assignment.

Note that some 9 years later, the same concrete globe has been scrubbed of 2001 grunge, and someone keeps up on patching the cracks. The entry has the subdued drama of a Hollywood movie set; maybe an exterior for Nick and Nora Charles in one of the movies from The Thin Man series? The building is also slightly nautical, and even writes its name in cursive above the front door.

Shall we assume it took its fanciful name for this pillar of glass block? Which, if so, just adds to its harmless and charming allusion of swellegance. This is why I want it to Be My Valentine!

What Vintage Is This Lindell Bank?

Posted on 12/22/2009 by Toby Weiss

Hampton Avenue & Chippewa
South St. Louis, MO

If you had to guess what year this building is from, what would you say?

You could look up the history of Lindell Bank, or know a little about the South St. Louis neighborhood it’s part of to make a guess.

Folks are very familiar with this building because it’s on such a prominent, busy intersection. I’ve heard people refer to it as “the statue bank,” or “the art bank,” because of the two sculptures flanking the Hampton Avenue entrance. You could peek at the base of these pieces by Richard H. Ellis to get an important clue as to how old this building is, since the building doesn’t have a corner stone telling you its age.

I’ve polled a whole lot of people about how old they think this building is, and everyone – including myself – places the design and construction somewhere in the early 1960s. The details are what make this a solid guess. 5 different kinds of travertine creating visual language over a simple rectangle punctuated by mirror-images of entry cubes. Above, note how the 2 bands of pink travertine – which is also used on the entry cubes – follow the bump-out of the drive up window, a subtle little detail not at all unusual on mid-century modern buildings of this vintage. The scale, massing and materials of this building clearly make it a product of an architectural era long gone.

Except that this building went up in 1986.
Yes, 1986.

Here’s proof from a 1971 aerial map, which shows what some people remember to be an auto parts store that sat back on the property. A 1958 aerial shot shows an even smaller building sitting diagonal even further back on the same property. I’ve yet to run into anyone that knows what that older building was.

That means that the neighborhood had to wait until 1986 to get a building that moved up to the sidewalks and owned that corner in a formal way. Previously, that important corner was a parking lot. Along with Lindell Bank, who are the people responsible for such a thoughtful and handsome building so late in the post-modern architectural malaise?

If you have any information about the buildings previously on this site, and the design and construction of this Lindell Bank location, please do share with the rest of us, OK?

An MCM Light Bulb Moment

Posted on 11/22/2009 by Toby Weiss

5230 Hampton Avenue, South St. Louis City, MO

While yet again photographing the former Buder branch of the St. Louis Public Library, I had a literal “light bulb went off over my head” cartoon moment of realization. All of the original pole light fixtures of this 1961 building (which still work, courtesy of the great up-keep from the Record Exchange), look like the ones that are now missing from…

…this 1959 church in Black Jack which I covered here, previously. Checking my photo archives verified that, yes, it is the exact same light fixtures. Vandals killed off the light poles in the church parking lot, so it’s a relief to have some representation of them still in existence.

I love how the same light fixture was used on two different ultra-modern mid-century buildings, and how diverse the two locations are. One is South St. Louis City and the other is deep North St. Louis County. And I wonder if the Buder Building architect (still unknown to me) may have seen the light poles at the Independent Congregational Church and did a direct copycat? Or was this just a popular lighting choice for MCM architects during this 3-year period, thanks to the hustle of some lighting vendor?

Little Things Mean A Lot

Posted on 10/20/2009 by Toby Weiss

Morgan Ford at Poepping Street
South St. Louis City, MO

Subdivision entrance monuments, like the one shown above, are always interesting to observe. They are often the first thing to go up when a new subdivision is developed, and the design and materials chosen either reflect the aesthetic of the subdivision or wind up at great odds with what resulted. But mainly, entrance monuments are about place-marking, a means of declaring to passers-by (and in the early days of development, potential buyers) that “we are a proud and unique community.”

One morning at the end of July, I pass by the entrance to Al-Clare Meadows and see one of the signs down and scattered. I’m assuming it was a car because of the extent of the destruction, and how suddenly it occurred: Tuesday it was standing, Wednesday it was splattered in the neighbor’s yard.

Based on current costs of masonry repair and labor, I naturally assumed this entry marker was eternal toast, that the pieces would be carted off, the homeowners lawn repaired, and Al-Clare would continue unperturbed with a lopsided entry.

I made this assumption because of where it’s located and its age. The small-to-modest size tract homes of Al-Clare Meadows (the name came from combining Alberta and Clarence Dalton, the subdivision developers) are a bit south of the River Des Peres, and a scootch away from the St. Louis City/County line. So it’s in that nebulous part of town that’s not quite city, not quite county; not quite old, not quite new; not really distinct but certainly unoffensive. Honestly, people tend to overlook this unassuming part of town unless they – or someone they know – live there.

It took a couple of months of waiting, but there it is, rebuilt!

(SIDE BAR How odd that the pile of rubble remained undisturbed that entire time… I assumed outsiders would just help themselves to some masonry because that’s what tends to happen in some of the older city neighborhoods. Hell, they even purposely yank down walls to get at it… but that’s another story, right?)

When considering everything that had to transpire for that marker to be rebuilt (patience, funding, protection, masonry craft, etc.), my heart swelled with gratitude for this neighborhood’s pride of place that made it possible. And I was embarrassed by my rash assumptions about the neighborhood and the fate of the sign because it was snobbism, plain and simple. I am humbled by what I don’t know, and I’m thankful that – within the big picture – something so comparatively small really did matter to the people it represented.

So every time City Hall pulls another WTF? out of their trick bag, I think about the resurrected Al-Clare entry monument, because it is things like this that truly reflect and represent what makes St. Louis City so special – the people and their love of place.

Harris Armstrong Halloween

Posted on 10/13/2009 by Toby Weiss

True Story:
Today, I passed by two different Harris Armstrong houses and both were totally decked out for Halloween.

The one above is part of a Kirkwood cul-de-sac wherein every house is from the architectural office of Armstrong. I got a peek inside this house when it was for sale, and you can take the tour here.

And this one is in South St. Louis City. Loves the skeleton climbing down the ladder on the 2nd-story chimney. If you’d like to see the inside of this home, take the tour here. And have a Happy Harris Halloween!

The South Grand Driving Test

Posted on 09/18/2009 by Toby Weiss

I usually avoid driving through Grand Boulevard between Arsenal and Chippewa because it’s sluggish and congested. News of the Great Streets Initiative taking it down to 2 lanes with a center turn lane from Arsenal to Utah caused instinctive cringe and a double-down on “must to avoid.”

Steve Patterson’s thoughts on the Grand Test made sense; why do it for only 6 blocks? I only use South Grand south of Chippewa, which is 2 lanes all the way with no center turn lane. Then again, it’s an even mix of residential and commercial, so not the same kind of traffic nightmares as in Grand Loop, proper.

But what’s the point of conjecture when I could just test drive the test lanes? And so I did on Thursday afternoon, at 4:30-ish. I exited Hwy 44 at Grand, headed south towards home, and began filming at 4-lane Magnolia Avenue, ending just past Chippewa Street, where it remains 2-lanes until it ends at Carondelet Park:

I like it! It took only 3:58 minutes (or 1.5 Beatles tunes) to get from Magnolia to Chippewa during the start of rush hour traffic. The center turn lane in the heart of the South Grand Loop eliminated the obstacles that stop traffic or have us swinging fast, erratic lane changes to avoid stopping. Other than the one red light I ran, it was my smoothest and most care-free tool down this stretch that I have ever experienced.

It was actually rather distracting when it resumed 4-lanes past Utah, especially since I knew the wonky change back to 2 lanes at Chippewa was imminent. If they’re serious about enacting real change, I want them to commit to 2-lanes all the way from Arsenal to where Grand ends at Carondelet Park.

I took their survey, which has interesting questions, but sometimes seems manipulative to a forgone conclusion. And they do not allow for comments like, “commit to 2-lanes all the way from Arsenal to where Grand ends at Carondelet Park.” But I applaud their effort, look forward to the results, and urge you to experiment with it while it lasts.

South City Modern In-Fill House

Posted on 08/15/2009 by Toby Weiss

Miami Street
South St. Louis, MO

“One of these things is not like the others/Tell me can you guess which one?”

In 1996, a house was demolished in this South Side neighborhood west of Kingshighway. A tad over 10 years later, someone bought the vacant lot and erected this striking, thoroughly-modern replacement.

In-fill housing in St. Louis City doesn’t happen as often as it should, and then when it does it is too often inappropriate for the area. Technically, this house is stylistically inappropriate for the neighborhood. Then again, this part of town has residential styles easily spanning a 60-year period, and this stretch of the street is the perfect example of that. So, in essence, this new home is following the tradition of this North Hampton neighborhood.

The newest member of this block respects the scale and set-back of its neighbors and is designed in the 21st century casual manner I call “Dwell Magazine Modern.” It is certainly different, but it’s not startling, and I think it’s a very handsome addition to the streetscape.

I love how they carried the materials and aesthetic to the alley; this garage is amazing! And it brings up a dozen questions, including: how do the neighbors feel about it? how hard was it to get a loan for such a different design in this neighborhood? who is the architect? how cool is the interior?

If anyone knows the story of this new house, please do share! And thank you to architect Geoff Crowley who discovered the house while driving around and let me know about it.

South Broadway Illusion & Ghost

Posted on 06/02/2009 by Toby Weiss

8700 Block of South Broadway
South St. Louis City, MO

I was driving north on South Broadway on a brilliantly sunny day when I saw the sight, above, and couldn’t tell if it was an optical illusion, a painted mural or 3D real-life fantastically lit. So I pulled in to investigate.

It’s real-life 3D with some fresh coats of paint. The whole building was recently painted in many bright colors, with signs trumpeting the grand opening of Tequila Wyld, a “party bar.” From the look of all the broken beer bottles in the parking lot, they ain’t lying.

This place keeps opening and closing at a rapid pace. I was in there once long ago in the mid-90s to see Too Much Joy. Both the band and myself missed the place the first two times by, and once inside it still felt like the middle of nowhere. This part of South Broadway always feels that way, in general.

While reminiscing about that night, I glanced over my shoulder and what is that?

Is it a Courtesy Diner?

Closer inspection revealed it couldn’t have been anything but. But my memory bank was drawing a blank.

A little research confirms that 8701 S. Broadway was, indeed the Courtesy Chili Shop, opened in 1965, and city records tell the tale of its demise:

Complaint Date: January 1996, Hamburger and bacon at the Courtesy Rest.taste and smells bad
Complaint Date: June 1996, No hot water to the Courtsey (sp) Chili Shop
Complaint Date: may 1997, Restaurant at this address is operating on expired business license. Please inspect.
Complaint Date: June 1997, Too many extension cordes and wiring in disrepair. Courtesy Restaurant.
Complaint Date: July 1998, Business at this address is selling cars on parking lot.
Complaint Date: February 1999, New owner of restaurant has not applid (sp) for C of I
Complaint Date: March 1999, food smelled bad, cheese burgers and fries Courtesy, half cooked

By July 1999, it was clearly a car lot, though an illegal one. And this amusing string of events triggered a memory of driving by this place in the mid-90s with a veteran South Sider, who told us, “Never ever eat there unless you’re suicidal.” He was referring to only this site, because thousands of us have eaten at the remaining two Courtesy Diners and lived to see another day, though perhaps through a drunken fog.

As of April 2009 it’s listed as “Condemned for Occupancy; Can’t Demolish.” Really, why not?

Did any of you ever eat at this defunct Courtesy Diner? Please, do tell.

B.E.L.T.

Built Environment in Layman's Terms

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