Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on 03/16/2009 by Toby Weiss

Bates & Virgina Intersection
South St. Louis, MO

May the luck of the Irish be with you today.

At this intersection is an old building – built in 1912 – that can easily go unnoticed. The ground floor has been remuddled into a mute brown wooden shadow, and over the years it has been hard to discern if Raymond J. Skosky Family Dentistry was still actually open for business.

But he most certainly is, and I’m guessing that last year he got a new employee that noticed the three display windows facing out onto Bates, and decided to embrace the opportunity.

This past Christmas was when I first noticed an elaborate display in each window, and they have yet to miss a major holiday.

I had completely overlooked that St. Pat’s was coming up until I passed by the Skosky windows the other night. So, not only have they made a majorily positive difference within their small section of the South Side, they are the most enchanting and reliable holiday calendar one could ask for. Thank you for doing this!

Barbie’s Malibu Dream House

Posted on 03/12/2009 by Toby Weiss

In honor of Barbie’s 50th birthday, they created a real-life Barbie Dream House on the Malibu beach. Click here to see a photo gallery of this fantabulous place.

I’m getting all 3rd grade on ya, and sayin’ I love every single thing about this house. Everything! I would not change a pillow or wall hanging. I thought Elle Wood’s apartment in Legally Blonde 2 was the ultimate, but nope! It’s gotta be Barbie’s Malibu Dream House.

You gotta check out the shoe closet, and don’t be drinkin’ or there’s gonna be a spit take. For reals. Seriously, this is the ultimate pad for the girl on the go. No, seriously. It is!

North County MCM: Halls Ferry Road

Posted on 03/11/2009 by Toby Weiss

Head north on Halls Ferry Road, and on the western side of the unincorporated portion between Jennings and Dellwood, Missouri you will find a large stash of choice mid-century modern homes tucked into the rolling hills. But stay on Halls Ferry, and pay attention to three homes that straddle Hudson Road, like this one, above.

Built in 1958, the 1,607 s.f. home sits on nearly an acre of land. It is unabashedly modern with its multi-levels of flat roofs and large expanses of glass to peer down the steep hill in the front yard. Every time I pass by with a camera, the newest owner is out on his riding mower, and I’m working up the courage to ask him if I can get closer, maybe take some pictures inside.

Two houses down, the original owners are still on the books for this place. Built in 1953, it is the definition of sprawling, clocking in at 2,438 s.f.

The last time I happened by, there was a large dumpster in the driveway, lending the impression of kids clearing out decades of living, though no for sale sign has yet popped up. Recent real estate transactions show that homes in this very immediate area go for insanely cheap rates of $90 – $115,000.

Right next door is a light blue ranch with a full butterfly roof. It went up in 1955 with 1,924 s.f. of space, and again, it appears the original owners may still be in residence.

All of the homes along this stretch have gigantic yards, so many mature trees that I’d worry in a wind storm, and exteriors that show little remuddling damage. While growing up in this part of town, we considered these to be the homes of “rich people.” I’m thinking it was a psychological reaction to the houses sitting so far up from the street atop steep hills. But even today, they are rather luxurious examples of suburban mid-century modern architecture.

This Crappy Economy

Posted on 03/05/2009 by Toby Weiss

Photo taken March 2, 2009

Tucker Blvd. & Washington Avenue
Downtown St. Louis, MO

The sales center for the Jacob Development Group closed up shop last year. When Downtown loft development took a nosedive, they didn’t even have time to remove the Christmas tree from the window of The Bogen.

Urban vs. Rural

Posted on 03/01/2009 by Toby Weiss

Double-click to see this picture in more detail.

While digging through piles of personal history, I found another relic of my built environment past. It’s a 2-sided World Book Encyclopedia Cyclo-Teacher Learning Aid poster from 1972. The side shown above is titled “City Picture,” the side shown below is titled “Farm Picture.”

Double-click to see this picture in more detail.

I got this poster in 2nd grade through the Scholastic Book Club, and it stayed on my wall until junior high, which is, of course, when everything became instantly uncool.

I dutifully flipped sides depending on which scenario was more pertinent, because my life was pretty much divided between urban and rural. Post-divorce, my mother and I lived in Black Jack, MO with frequent trips to see her mother who lived in North St. Louis until she died in 1992. My father moved to a 10-acre ranch outside Alton, Illinois, and the last weekend of every month found me playing farm girl with my own horse and dogs and cows. I understood the details of the different settings, had appropriate wardrobes for each, and thought it perfectly natural to live this city/country duality.

I always thought the Farm Picture was a bit fantastical. Life on my Dad’s farm was not this crowded. Squirrels did not run down the tree toward a dog, puppies and kitties did not peacefully coexist in such close proximity, and farm animals did not walk loose in the front yard.

Look how much is going on in the top right quadrant: farming a field, a rural highway, a train, the Big City across the valley and a heinous storm rapidly rolling in.

Those storm clouds always bothered me. I was never afraid of storms until seeing them in the unprotected fields of Illinois. And I knew firsthand that if a storm of that intensity was that close, all those animals would not be casually meandering around the front yard. They’d all be under trees in the lowest spot of the property.

So, the Farm Picture was way busier and far more surreal than the reality of rural life. Which is why I preferred the City Picture.

We had a stadium that looked like that one, and similar looking skyscrapers pretty much positioned in the same place. So did a lot of other cities; this was real life.

There is so much going on within the City Picture; the more you look at it the more you see. Within the bottom left quadrant are the following places: movie theater, medical building, garden shop, newsstand, record shop, dress shop, post office, grocery store, cleaners, cafe, barber shop and sporting goods shop. There are lots of people, both men and women (rather than the token female in hot pants on the Farm side) and it’s a natural bustle rather than manufactured.

By 1972, this view of a city was already idealistic and nostalgic, but it’s such a compelling idea that we can’t let go of it. Urbanistas are always wanting to return to that place, and now that I have the poster back up on the wall, it is the only side showing.

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Dork Art & The Board of Education Building

Richard Baron on Missed Opportunities

Posted on 02/28/2009 by Toby Weiss

The St. Louis Beacon recently published a conversation with developer Richard Baron, full of illuminating opinions and something I didn’t know previously: Lambert Airport could have been in Waterloo, Illinois.

I am elated he brought up and elaborated on one ultra important item: Metro Link Stations:

“There was the situation with Metro. When all of that started back in the ’80s there was no plan to take advantage of these transit stations — to build housing around them, retail around them. To use them as an economic driver, as was done in many other cities around the U.S. when light rail went in. Here was this enormous investment that was made, and look at the stations, and they’re bleak.

“You reach a point where you get terribly frustrated because the lack of leadership in this town is palpable — both on the public side and the private side. Go to Atlanta or Minneapolis, and the energy level and the effort on the part of the public-private side — partnerships, foundations — everybody is pulling together and have had a much better success than in St. Louis. We’ve had passive leadership, a watering down of the executives of corporations that have left. We have had executives who have no real identification with the city — who came in from out of town and live in the county and don’t relate to the city much. And it’s just a lot of little things that have exacerbated the problem.”

Read the rest of the article here.

And if you haven’t already, The Beacon is a must for followers of the STL built environment, along with Building Blocks at the Post-Dispatch.

North St. Louis MCM: Norwood Square

Posted on 02/24/2009 by Toby Weiss

Guess where the picture above was taken: Ballwin? Florissant? Mehlville?

When faced with low-slung, stylish 1960s ranch houses casually strewn amongst profuse greenery, these would be valid guesses. But instead, we are exploring Norwood Square in North St. Louis City.

Norwood Square is actually a court (as shown in the aerial photo above), a half block northeast of the intersection of Union Boulevard and St. Louis Avenue in the Arlington neighborhood. And it doesn’t take a bird’s eye view to get the feeling that a giant scoop of the city grid was whisked away by a mega melon baller.

On the ground, it is rather dramatic to see rows of deeply urban, 2-story brick residential buildings built between the 1890s – 1920s abruptly bisected by a swirl of deeply suburban, mid-century modern frosted sugar cookies. As you fleetingly catch glimpses of the original natives from inside Norwood Square, it feels like the ranch homes are circling the wagons ’round to protect their fabulousness from hostile forces.

This mirage of displaced MCM sweetness is cited as the last new housing built in this part of North St. Louis. City record show that these 40-odd homes were built between 1961 – 1974, with the bulk of them going up between 1961 – 1966. They range from 982 – 1,888 square feet, with a median square footage of 1,450.

The circle that is Norwood Square is divided into East, West, North and South Norwood, which puts 4 of the houses (like the one above – which cleverly wraps its footprint around the curve) in the odd position of not knowing exactly which street they are on! Is their mailing address North Norwood or East Norwood, and how confusing is it to new mailmen on this beat?

So what’s the story with Norwood? Why was this exotic dollop dropped here, and what was torn down to make that so?

Having been told stories of Public Schools Stadium, I wondered if Norwood Square is what popped up in its place. But the stadium was a block east of here, on Kingshighway, and when it was demolished in the late 1960s, most of Norwood Square was built and firmly inhabited.

Noticing that a few of the homes have some serious sink issues, I wondered if it was built atop the quarry that was supposedly shut down sometime in the 1940s because some kids accidentally died while playing there. But no. The memories of some old school North St. Louisans’ remember the quarry at Kingshighway and Lexington, a good 2 blocks north east of here.

So, for now, the why it appeared and what disappeared to make it so remains a mystery. Please do share any historical information you may have in exchange for the details I share with you here. Like the snazzy tile work that graces this split-level, above.

Or the swanky pendant light fixture and concrete block screen of this entrance.

From quick visual inspections over the course of several years, most all of the homes are still in good condition, always the sign of well-liked buildings. Many of them (see above) are meticulously preserved and cared for, a heart-warming sign of intense pride in their ranch house alien. Only rarely have I seen for sale signs on the yards, so I wonder if there might still be a hefty amount of original owners in tow, or a lot of kids inheriting them from the folks.

This home is the equivalent of the half man/half woman Halloween costume!

To see more photos and details of Norwood Square, please visit the B.E.L.T. supplement at Flickr.

Facing out onto St. Louis Avenue, like sentries protecting their MCM turf, is a short row of 2-family versions.

The chalk and cheese concept of Norwood Square is not wholly unique. Something similar was done in South St. Louis with Marla Court. Or there’s Darla Court in the inner-ring ‘burb of Jennings. So, it’s not uncommon, but it’s always a pleasant surprise, yes?

UPDATE

Steve Patterson – who first told me about the subdivision several years ago – sent along this aerial map from 1958. Seems the street grid was long interrupted in this part of town, and look at all those mature trees! This would also bear out the info Rick Bonasch shared about the original site being a dump.

For a Change, Some Good News

Posted on 02/21/2009 by Toby Weiss

Wilmington & Leona Avenues
South St. Louis City, MO

This warms the cockles of my heart, it really does. In the middle of a depression, with people losing jobs and properties sitting vacant and anxiety growing every day, these people start a new business venture and have a grand opening!

Panache Plus soft-opened in my neighborhood last week. Their grand opening is this weekend. I do not know these people, and I won’t be able to shop here (though I certainly would if I could), so this isn’t an advertisement. It’s simply a big hug of happiness for these people denying the anxiety, ignoring the odds, and adding a bit of color and, well, panache to the neighborhood.

This charming little building was previously a day care, and it didn’t sit vacant for too long. I watched the place getting fixed up by new tenants, and prayed real hard for a coffeehouse. But plus size retail, resale and altering is just as good, and actually more unique and practical than a coffeehouse, especially the resale aspect in a crap economy. So, here’s wishing the best of luck to this small spot of optimism in our neighborhood!

Eero Saarinen: Shaping The Future

Posted on 02/18/2009 by Toby Weiss

The Kemper Art Museum is my new favorite place for wallowing in mid-century splendor. Their new exhibit on Eero Saarinen is even better than Birth of the Cool, and it is an embarrassment of riches to be able to say that.

As always, taking pictures (or leaning) in the Kemper is strictly forbidden and studiously enforced, so I can only share with you these crappy cell phone shots. Shown above are architectural models of the TWA Terminal and Dulles International airports! Below, a color rendering Eero did of one of the TWA lounges!! And this is what is in just one corner of one room!!!

The exhibit is very thorough without being ponderous, and displayed so that one can skim lightly and take away useful tidbits (Eero could write with both hands at the same time and write backwards) or really dig in and start to feel what it was like to work with him as he created and refined an idea.

Everything the man touched conjured a new design reality, and this energy reverberated well past him to affect and elevate those who brought his creations to life. Look at the photos of the TWA Terminal or the Ingalls Hockey Rink during construction and be blown away by the intricate wood forms the men built to mold the concrete. Marvel at new fabrication tricks invented to create structural panels for the IBM Research Center building.

There are original sketches of his iconic tulip chairs within one room dedicated solely to his furniture designs. There’s an 18-minute documentary about Eero’s life and work created just for the exhibit. It is easy to get lost for hours in this exhibit, but luckily it is in residence until April 27, so there’s plenty of opportunities to do it piecemeal, or just keep gorging on this architectural buffet. Kemper is open most all times you need them to be open, so there’s no excuse to miss it.

Need more convincing?

Here’s a quick blast of photos from the exhibit.

Here’s a short video about the exhibit.

My Favorite Walgreens

Posted on 02/08/2009 by Toby Weiss

My favorite Walgreens no longer exists, and this is a highly ironic story.

In South St. Louis City, we’re used to them tearing down bowling alleys so they can build a Walgreens. But in this case, in 2003, they tore down a Walgreens to build another Walgreens! It’s all true.

This mid-century fabulous Walgreens was on Watson, just a scootch east of the intersection of Rock Hill/Elm. This one stayed open while they built a brand new one right at the intersection proper. Once it opened, they tore this one down, and now a short strip mall with a Blockbuster Video stands in its place.

To this day, I still see a phantom image of it as I pass by. It’s roof reminded me of the Flying Nun’s head gear as she was airborn. And it’s still a weird feeling to miss a Walgreens… know what I mean?