Litzinger & South Hanley Rd.
Brentwood, MO
Until they recently removed the sign, the above building was used as the distribution office for Panera Bread. Surely many companies have occupied the building since it was built in 1954, but the graphics Panera uses to project their image jibed well with the simple, angular entrance canopy. It gives this building its sole bit of personality.
Other than some plaster shredding from water damage (above) on the underside of the canopy, the entrance is in great shape, modestly modern and the only inviting sight within the Hanley Industrial Complex.
Then the Panera sign came down, the windows were boarded up (above) and some work was done to the roof. They’ve been working rather slowly, but on my last pass by, they had finally installed new windows along the Litzinger-facing side. But what I haven’t seen is work crews touching that canopy.

Does that mean the easiest item to repair is being saved for last? Or are they getting everything in place before they hack it off? Considering the wholesale upset of the entire stretch of Hanley between Hwy 40 and Manchester, odds are it’s getting whacked, because nothing with any design merit is no longer allowed in that area. So just in case I drive by again to see it gone, I wanted record of it before it was too late.

Shaw’s Garden Neighborhood
South St. Louis, MO
I was driving down one of the streets bordering the Missouri Botanical Garden, when I spotted the signs outside the house above.

Unlike, say, Webster Groves, this neighborhood is not known for its political activism. Sure, all areas of town still have left over, sun-faded signs protesting the Iraq Invasion. But to see this kind of effort in this old-fashioned part of South City, on the lawn of an old-fashioned 4-square Craftsman-esque house was a delightful surprise.

Note that the sign even has holiday lights wrapped around it so it – and the flag – can be seen at night.
Note that they even tacked the same sentiment high up on the light pole on the side of their house, just in case you missed the yard sign. And it’s front and back so you can see it from either direction.
Know that it’s the corner house on a fairly visible street due to Botanical Garden traffic.
Note that it has yet to be defaced or – unlike a Cheney crony – sprayed with buckshot.

RELATED: Missouri Botanical Garden

Last night in Hollywood, Diane Keaton MCed a farewell party to the Ambassador Hotel, home of the legendary Coconut Grove.

It’s destruction has been fully documented by the Franklin Ave. family, on their blog The Ambassador’s Last Stand.

Skyrocketing property values will forever destroy buildings that should be saved as stops on history’s timeline. But as long as there’s a few well-meaning obsessives who will take the time to properly document the life and death of a beloved building, that building will at least remain a chapter in history.
Here’s a hearty thank you to all the bloggers who share their pieces of architectural history with us. And here’s a single red rose on the grave of classic Hollywood. R.I.P.

2006 is off to a wobbly start…
My computer went completely, utterly dead and it just now returned from the repair shop.
There’s still plenty to talk about. I shall return shortly.

Bates Street
South St. Louis City, click MO
Amid all the excessive fluffery of Christmas decorations in my neighborhood, purchase this simple peace sign stood out. Made only of blue garland, remedy it only came alive when the early morning sun hit it, when it shined like a beacon of heart-felt desire. It spoke gracious volumes about America and peace, much more so than any gaudy, inappropriate displays of Santa and American flags as seen on many a lawn in the city and county.

Come night, all the lights and animatronics that now comprise holiday decorations drowned the peace sign out. But it became a special, secret moment on sunny mornings as I drove to work: Peace On Earth and Good Will Toward Man.

By the time I was able to capture a sunny morning photo of my favorite public Christmas decoration, the peace sign garland was haggard (above). It has lost its shape, and all too accurately conveys the state our country is in, as regards to peace. It’s a bit like a mood ring, in that sense.

Yet, it still hangs for a few more days, and gives me hope for the new year. May 2006 be better than 2005 for you, in both a public and personal manner.

St. Louis Hills
South St. Louis, MO
This house (above) is rather ornamentally robust all year long. The front yard is a maze of decorative touches, capped off with a giant, functioning clock! So, I looked forward to the holiday bizarre that would surely explode in their front yard for Christmas.
They did not disappoint. Well, except for one major flaw: Shouldn’t the lions be wearing Santa hats!?
Within one short block, all on the same street, the beloved inflatables were going down, like they were picked off by The Grinch overnight. Snowmen melting…
Drunken Santas toppling… Oh, the humanity!
Maplewood, MO
But the most sobering site of all was when Mary, Joseph & the Baby Jesus took a pin to 2 inflatables. At that moment, the true meaning of the holiday was finally understood.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Big Bend & Elm
Webster Groves, MO
An art gallery moves out, and a high-end appliance store moves in.
At one point, this storefront was obviously goregous. But time speeds forward, remodeling happens. For some reason, every owner has decided to keep the vertical columns of varigated purple art glass, maybe as a reminder of former aesthetic glory.

The new owners were smart to pick gloss black paint for all the tacked-on wood cover-up. It certainly does look much better than the previous color (above) that somehow tried to both coordinate with, and minimize, the art glass. But there truly isn’t much anyone can do with that barn plank marquee. Considering that the new tenant is selling uber-expensive appliances to people constructing Just For Show kitchens, maybe they will make enough profit to properly resurface the storefront.

And on the topic of surface treatments, lets move just one block away to…
Hwy 44’s Elm Exit Underpass

B.E.L.T. Rule #1: Always Carry The Camera.
B.E.L.T. Rule #2: Violate Rule #1 and suffer the consequences.
So I missed a shot of the road crews actually installing the “rock walls” around the overpass concrete columns. I only have this shot (days later) of a grift-in-progress.

It’s not rock. It’s sheets of white plastic molded to look like rock that is then sprayed with a chalky grey paint that perfectly simulates rock in that theme park kind of way.

The site of a construction crew staple-gunning sheets of fake white rock shocked me so that I nearly crashed into it. But luckily, crashing into a Frisbee would not hurt my car. Is this the highway safety rationale behind this dubious finish choice?

There is no shame in a material being what it is; there is a certain majesty to material honesty. But it’s maddening when a material is forced into a life of deceptive servitude, pretending to “be” wood, plaster or rock. Any material that’s been molded to look like something else automatically implies “the budget’s too tight for integrity.”

I imagine MoDot and Webster Groves City Hall at a meeting about the look of the new underpass. City Hall saying that Webster Groves is a classy place deserving of a classy looking underpass. Concrete ain’t classy. We want stately solidity, but without the expense of stately solidity. What do you have for us?

MoDot suggests the fake brick bibs (scroll down to the last letter) it trotted out for the Hwy 70 overpass reconstruction in North City.
Nah, brick is sooo Downtown St. Louis. Got anything classier?
Why yes! Plastic!
Ah, yes, plastic. Nothing says class better than a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Let’s do it!

America’s muscular interstate system is built of blacktop, steel and concrete. To beautify any portion of such a utilitarian means to an end is thoughtful, but not necessary. But to gussy it up with Leggo Limestone is just pretentious and flat out silly.

South Kingshighway @ Murdoch
South St. Louis, MO
Tom, of Pretty War STL, got an ultimate shot of this place back in July. And I agree with his assesment that it was once a gas station, based on left over concrete fixtures on the lot, and what looks like an enamel porcelain facade that’s been painted over a gazillion times.

As of late fall, someone is redeveloping the building. Sheets of foam insulation in preparation for a new facade, fresh plywood in the windows, and a small handful of trucks in the parking lot are all sure signs of renewal.

I hung out in the artic freeze for quite a bit, hoping a member of the crew would poke their head out so I could pepper them with questions. I’m fearless about pumping folks for information, but only if they appear before me. I will not (usually) go out of the way to bother someone, especially if they’re working. But I am burning with curiosity…

Until the story reveals itself, I leave you with a miniature art exhibit entitled: Blue Renewal Abstracts.

South Side St. Louis
Esley Hamilton, the ultra-busy, ultra-informed and ultra-sweet Preservation Historian for St. Louis County, sent me a message.

“I just was looking at B.E.L.T. and noticed two pieces about properties that we included in our 1987 Art Deco study. “
Oh, I love that study! In the past, a friend and I have spent time picking an area and tracking down and photographing as many on those lists as was possible in an afternoon.

He continues:
“The South Side Streamline at 4679 South Grand was built in 1947 for Alvin and Gertrude Mueller. He was an optometrist and had his office and residence in the building. The architect was Adolph L. Struebig, the same architect who designed the Coral Court Motel. At this time he had his office in the South Side National Bank Building. A year or two later he went to work for the State of Illinois and stopped designing buildings like these.”

“The Vedder was built in 1938 for and possibly by Gus Sturmfels, who was primarily a builder. I knew his widow and son in the 1980s, when the construction of Highway 141 went right through their property in Town & Country. Elements of the design of the Vedder are picked up in other buildings along Nottingham, but as they are all by different architects, it’s difficult to attribute this design. But see 6202 Nottingham, 1940, Cay Weinel; 6263 Nottingham, 1941, A.F. & Arthur Stauder; and 6475 Nottingham, 1939, Frank G. Avis. The Vedder was recently remodeled and I believe turned into a condo, and the original metal-frame windows were removed, which makes the building look hollow-eyed now.”

I wish there was a pocket-size version of him – and Micheal & Claire – to carry around with me as I roam the area. Preservationist Palm Pilots, as it were…
Thank you, Esley.

Busch Stadium
Not once during the demolition did I roam downtown to take pictures of the rapidly dwindling Busch Stadium. I’ve swallowed more than enough concrete dust this year, photographed far too much demolition debris.
Plus, I work in a camera store, so I’ve seen plenty of others snapshots.
Besides, it’s been really frickin’ cold!
And, this man did a brilliant job capturing the destruction. Simply gorgeous work.
Plus, the Post-Dispatch has that “all access” angle. There’s some wonderful images in their Busch Photo Galleries.
And, as always, Urban Review St. Louis – and his readers – have it covered on every level.

No more Lowe’sville.
The third week of November found Ms. Thompson finally selling her home to DESCO. They were the last house standing in the way of, ahem, progress. She really had no choice, but she gets a red badge of courage for having lived in such desolation while fighting a losing battle against eminent domain.
And in short order, the house was stripped.

On December 5th, guys worked until well after dark loading fixtures into a U-Haul. On December 6th, workers began dismantling the garage. Surely, the house will be dust in the wind before Friday rolls around. And crushing the Lone Holdout won’t be near as noisy and harmful as the new buildings going up.

I hope the Thompsons got enough money to buy a worthy new home. And even as the last remnants of this battle are disappearing, the fight wants to go a few more rounds.
From the December 7th “Town Talk” in the Suburban Journals:

“Boycott Loughborough Commons
PEOPLE OF SOUTH St. Louis and South County do you feel powerless about eminent domain? Now is our chance to show people that we don’t want houses torn down for shopping centers when we have enough places to shop. I urge people to draw up petitions in your neighborhood for people to sign that they will not shop at the Loughborough Commons Shopping Center at Loughborough and I-55. Send those to the DESCO Group Developers. Let’s finally do something. Let us show that we still can control this type of situation. We deserve to be able to keep our homes and feel safe about situations like this. This is not what eminent domain was for.”