Marina City, Chicago, IL
This site just never gets old.

And it even works at night. Well, except for the House of Blues building, whose cornice outline reminds me of strands of rolled-out Play-Doh applied by a sugar-jittery toddler. Here’s why we were at The House Of Rules.

Someday, I’ll get in an extensive photographic tour of all eras of Chicago’s architecture, a legacy of which its citizens are rightly proud. So proud, they have a foundation that hosts tours that bring in yards of money, respect and awe.

Has anyone in St. Louis has thought of doing something similar? Just asking…

4352 Louisiana Avenue
South St. Louis, MO
The Board of Education quickly dismissed Cleveland High, and the neighborhood surrounding it refuses to accept such cavalier declarations.

This issue is inspiring because it’s about so much more than preserving a worthy building; it’s about education, health, safety and preserving the fiber of a community. A neighborhood that knows its strengths has got in the face of an institution that shuns intuitive understanding for facts and figures. The Alliance understands their foe and counterattacks with calm and considered data, alternate plans and requests for proof of accurate accountability.

This issue does highlight the need for an all-encompassing understanding of STL city oversights, but I also see the first steps of a sound template for Smart Activism. The Alliance is working in an organized and media-savvy manner, and if this form of fight-back can be sustained, it will go much further toward preserving our buildings and communities than does resignation, incredulity or aldermanic recalls.

The titles of activities for the figures depicted in the tableau above, from left to right: Chemist, Glass Blower, Blacksmith, Stone Cutter, Carpenter, Churning, Brickmaker, Spinning & Printer.

The main entrance to the building is truly breathtaking, and perfectly maintained.

When you join the Alliance To Save Cleveland High, you get e-mail updates about what’s happening.

Good news from the most recent update:
“On Tuesday 6/13/06, the Board of Education of St. Louis Public School formally passed the resolution to support the community’s effort to save Cleveland High School. It directs and authorizes the Superintendent and the School District staff to work with the Alliance and the community to develop solutions that would save the building and return students back as soon as possible, among other positive measures.”

I can’t help but think about St. Aloysius when looking at Cleveland High. Much like the former church on The Hill, this complex of buildings shapes and defines an immediate neighborhood. In both cases, the building existed first, and the neighborhood was built around it. Erasing the buildings would alter the surroundings in a most unattractive and distracting manner.

But I feel better knowing the Alliance is on this, and hope that it becomes a model for how to conserve neighborhoods and their important institutions.

Motions have been made to get rid of a modern master’s building to replace it with something smaller and more technologically modern.

I love how D.C. Mayor Williams declares this “a social issue,” and ends with “Form must follow function.” Very pithy speech-making, that.

The Ludwig Mies van der Rohe building was completed in 1972, so it doesn’t meet the 50-year criteria for historic designation. But witness the historical status granted to St. Louis’ Pet Building, just a few years older than the D.C. building, and know that special allowances can be made. The miles of paperwork needed to get that designation should have been started months ago, but it’s not yet a lost cause.

Thank you to Dominic for the heads up on this item.

South Side, St. Louis, MO
Earlier this evening, I was pedaling through a series of quiet little streets right behind Resurrection Church. I pass through there somewhat regularly because it’s a good short cut for avoiding Meramec Avenue (too much broken glass on that street), but it never caught my camera eye.

But today the light was so perfect, all the brick sparkled like diamonds, and the shortcut became a long distraction. The spell was broken when I overheard a lady, chatting on the phone on her front porch, make comment about a person on a bike “ridin’ in circles, takin’ pictures.” Figured that was my cue to pedal off.

The above photo is borrowed from Eichler Homes of Southern California.

I got a wonderful note from Barry, who is part of a team that cultivates and sells houses designed by Joseph Eichler. Check them out here.

The proactive culture that has sprung up around Eichler is heartwarming, to say the least. Since trends start on the coasts and spread inward, is St. Louis just a few years away from cultivating and cherishing Harris Armstrong houses?

And since the shout out to enlightened realtors, it’s only proper to recommend my genius friend, Marla Griffin and her firm The BuyerSide.

Along with Mike Blake, Marla was the heart and soul of the Cicero’s Basement Bar. Today, she is a buyer’s agent, and is on her way to rethinking, re-conceptualizing and re-establishing real estate in a way that makes logical sense.

We need firms like BuyerSide and Eichler Homes to re-contextualize how we buy homes in general, and how to preserve and recycle modern architecture, specifically.

RELATED
Harris Armstrong For Sale
Harris Armstrong, South Side

Carondelet Park
St. Louis, MO
I’ve always loved the shape of this restroom building, especially how the front pillars end atop the benches. There’s a pair of them in the park; the one above is on the far eastern end, near the giant mulch piles, the other at the tennis courts. Both are closed.

Considering all the improvements that continue at the park (the new walk/bike path is excellent, and thank you for reactivating all of the drinking fountains), maybe they’ll revive the mid-century mod bathrooms.

Mod baths in old city parks is a common sight, especially on the North Side. Wonder if there was a major Parks Beautification bill that went through City Hall sometime in the late 1950s? I’ve thought about documenting all of them, but hanging around city park johns with a camera doesn’t seem the wisest thing to do, know what I mean?

2600 Block Washington Avenue
St. Louis MO
The westward evolution of downtown St. Louis is a precise architectural timeline, with the oldest buildings closest to the river, the youngest peering earnestly over the city/county line.

In the heart of downtown St. Louis they’ve destroyed too many historical skyscrapers to create modern skyscrapers. In Mid-Town, mid-century was about tearing down chunks of less old buildings to inject some modern into the industrial and entertainment area.

Guth Lighting has been in business since 1902. They moved into this building (above) when it was brand new in 1948. They moved out sometime in the very early 2000’s, and permits show that in 2006, someone intends “60 units” in the future.

3504 Washington Blvd.
Heading west towards Grand, this building (above) appears to both soar and hover among low-slung industrial buildings. Just one block east of The Fabulous Fox Theater, it sprang to life in 1969, and could someone please recall what it was originally? Please.

In defiance of the expiring streetcar lines, this building was part of Mid-Town’s late 1960s stab at accepting the permanence of car culture. The other Automobile Outreach building is our UFO at Grand Blvd. & Hwy 40. Built in 1968 as a Phillips 66, it became a Naugles before morphing into Del Taco. Both of these buildings are freakishly cool, and how they’ve managed to survive the never-ending development upheavals of the area is a mystery.

This Googie specimen is now Sunrise Chinese Restaurant. That it looks like a cross between a bird in flight and a dead bug on its back is not the best mix of imagery for a fast food joint. But the building really does overshadow its function, and the restaurant did get an A rating from the food inspectors.

The salad bowl with a chevron lid is in real good condition, and the kind of building that was designed for people to gawk at. So, I was a little dismayed when the owners asked why I was photographing it. You think they’d be used to it.

Pulitzer Arts
3716 Washington Blvd.
Come the dawn of the 21st century, Mid-Town is still taking gutsy steps towards continuing St. Louis’ (not as celebrated as it should be) modern innovations. See the “making of” of the Tadao Ando-designed art museum (above) on their website, for more on the innovation tip. This and the Contemporary Art museum prove that modern still has a place in our city, and most certainly in mid-town…

3800 Block Washington
…since in 1957 half the block between Sarah and Vandeventer went Modern Village.

This is a fascinating chain of buildings, like a sample board of mid-century styles to choose from. The building above is part of the Loyola Academy, a Jesuit boys’ school, and has some wonderful textures and colors.

Next door, the varigated brick continues the theme before dropping off into limestone screens. This section belongs to the Celestial Temple of Peace.

Above, a miniature version of Suburban High School Modern…

…melds into Suburban Modern Church, which also belongs to Loyola Academy.

And the chain ends with a 1964 addition I call Kroger Modern, which now houses the Fortitude Foundation. The entire complex is now so low-key that it’s easy to overlook it. First glance reveals a level of dishelvement, but all the buildings are in use, and have aged well. I wonder how people reacted to this modern string of buildings back in the day; it’s such a novel concept to tear down existing buildings to put up a theme park of modern facades. But that it’s still here and functioning is a testament to a good idea.