Preservation Research Officeby Michael R. Allen
Demolition of the three houses at 4011-21 Washington Boulevard owned by Saaman Development is well underway. See my April 9 post for details and, better yet, see the destruction in person.
On April 11 Paul Hohmann posted photographs of the demolition and insightful commentary to Vanishing STL: Demolition of 4011-21 Washington Proceeds
by Michael R. Allen
Word on the street is that demolition is proceeding on the three houses owned by Saaman Development on the 4000 block of Washington Avenue. Read more on Urban Review here in a blog entry from April 2006.
The houses are located in the city’s Eighteenth Ward, represented by Alderman Terry Kennedy, who is also a member of the Preservation Board. Kennedy has opted not to include his ward in the voluntary ward-by-ward preservation review program that ensures that buildings like these receive review for reuse potential.
The houses are also located in the Central West End neighborhood, renowned for its historic architecture and high residential density.
by Michael R. Allen
By March 22, Haven of Grace had demolished the house at 2605 Hadley Street in Old North St. Louis — a building counted as a contributing resource to the Murphy-Blair Historic District. Last month, the Preservation Board approved the demolition permit for the house at its February meeting. (Read more here.)
Haven of Grace originally had applied to demolish that house and another one at 2619-21 Hadley Street that is also a contributing resource to the district. At the Preservation Board meeting, Haven of Grace announced its withdrawal of that application and its intention to rehabilitate the building for use as offices.
The demolition of 2605 Hadley makes way for a three-story addition designed by architect Tom Cohen, who is also preparing plans for the rehabilitation of the remaining historic house. The addition will create apartments that will allow Haven of Grace to expand its social services to homeless pregnant women and their children by offering more substantial transitional housing. Haven of Grace is a part of the Grace Hill Settlement House.
The expansion plan increases building density on the block, even though it entailed demolition of a historic house that was not beyond repair. On the whole, this is a good project for an important institution that does difficult work. Many neighborhoods would likely turn Haven of Grace away.
However, Old North St. Louis cannot afford to lose another historic building. This is an exception brought about through compromise — not a precedent.
by Michael R. Allen
According to records on Geo St. Louis, on Clarinet LLC applied for a demolition permit for the Switzer Building on March 6. The Switzer Building, located at 612 N. 1st Street on Laclede’s Landing, sustained major damage, including the collapse of its eastern wall, during a fierce storm on July 21, 2006. Emergency stabilization work commenced after the storm, but rehabilitation work in progress at the time never resumed.
The Brecht Butcher Supply Company Buildings on February 26.
by Michael R. Allen
Every morning comes one of the many internal negotiations of the day: Do I pass by the Brecht Butcher Supply Company buildings on my way to work?
I have a few choices for routes to work, so passing by the buildings is not necessary. However, as wrecking work progresses, I have to deal with the innate curiosity. How much further have the wreckers progressed? What does the column on that floor of that section look like now that it’s exposed? And so forth. These are questions that I consider not only for my own curiosity but because I’m bound to get a few (and I mean very few in this case, given what side of Delmar these buildings are on) questions.
Most days, I take the hard route and pass by. Sometimes, I linger for awhile. The smiling workers are busy putting bricks up on pallets, knocking wall sections down. I watch, but only once have I photographed the scene. Usually, I am compelled to take a few photographs of demolitions, because the recorded details are useful for later research. This time, I have been slow to record what has to be one of the greatest buildings to be demolished in St. Louis since the Century Building.
Perhaps my lack of urgency comes from my deep personal disgust at this senseless loss — one I haven’t felt much before. Perhaps it comes from the fact that these buildings never received the preservation battle that they deserved. (Has any building in recent years?) Most likely, both. In the face of business as usual, investment in observing great loss alone can seem pointless. I suppose that I will take the camera with me tomorrow, though.
by Michael R. Allen
The built environment tends to absorb trauma. Buildings, after all, endure countless abuses and serve as the settings for every possible pain a human being can endure. They keep standing through small fires and murders, gaining some new store of anguish with each event. When they are torn apart, their stored energies do not rapidly dissipate but become a part of whatever replaces them. This energy is no supernatural force, but rather is the inscribed force of historical and semiotic memory. People keep this energy alive through their responses to changes in the built environment. People remember changes in facades, storefronts, and so forth. People also strongly remember things that eventually disappear. Nothing so powerfully invokes the iconic recollection of a building than a visit to its site when it is gone. The mind projects the building as more than just a structure then; the building’s placement in the web of the individual memory is evident and gives the site continued power to terrify, astound or sadden. Yet the empty space itself cannot be said to embody any of the memories or to signify any of the history.
– Excerpt from my essay “From 0 to 1,776” (Omnitectural Forum, October 9, 2004)
by Michael R. Allen
The house at 2605 Hadley Street (Michael R. Allen, October 31, 2006).
Two houses in Old North St. Louis are proposed for demolition by Haven of Grace, an outstanding social service provider. The conflict could not be any more difficult for residents of Old North — past and future are colliding, and a decision must be made.
Background
Sometimes, preservation questions come in the most difficult form possible. While we are often faced with David versus Goliath struggles of both the hopeful and hopeless kind, less often we have thornier affairs by which we test our consistency. Such is the situation in Old North St. Louis, where the Haven of Grace is seeking to expand its facility by demolishing two vacant historic houses in the 2600 block of Hadley Street.
An affiliate of Grace Hill Settlement House, Haven of Grace does amazing work that many others won’t: the organization provides transitional housing for pregnant homeless women. Director Diane Berry has tremendous drive to raise community support for this important work, and has served as an important member of the Board of Directors of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group. The dormitory building that the organization recently built on 13th Street between Warren and Montgomery is a good example of thoughtful infill construction, blending historic massing and forms with modern materials like contemporary brick, metal siding and metal roofing. Some will fault the building’s design for a prominent parking lot, but generally it harmonizes with its setting amid nineteenth century buildings.
In a neighborhood steeped in exquisite, subtle architecture and a high concentration of residents committed to social justice, Haven of Grace is a perfect institution. The match between it and the neighborhood could not be greater.
That is why the issue of the demolition of the houses on Hadley Street to the east of the existing buildings creates a strange conflict. Haven of Grace has been a successful organization in part because of its relationship with its neighborhood. However, that neighborhood’s identity and future hinge on its historic architecture. With over sixty percent of its architectural stock lost in the last twenty-five years, Old North St. Louis must seriously consider the impact of the loss of two houses.
Furthermore, the houses are contributing resources to the Murphy-Blair Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The listing has enabled the use of much-needed Missouri rehab tax credits in the neighborhood. Further damage to the historic integrity of the official historic district seems needless.
The two houses are rather modest and, despite years of vacancy, in fairly good condition for their ages (both probably date to c. 1870-1880). The narrow Greek Revival home at 2605 Hadley is adjacent to a newly-rehabbed building, and sports one of the brick dentillated cornices typical of the oldest buildings in the neighborhood. The wider Italianate-style building, at 2619-21 Hadley, is modest save its unusual wooden cornice, which has exaggerated rounded brackets that are unmatched in the neighborhood — and perhaps on the whole north side. This house sites near the corner and through its presence helps define the character of the intersection of Hadley and Montgomery. Both houses would make excellent historic rehabilitation projects, and the wider house may be suitable for use by Haven of Grace.
The house at 2619-21 Hadley Street (Michael R. Allen, October 31, 2006).
Ultimately, the best resolution seems to be deferring to a precautionary principle against demolition. Old North St. Louis needs both its architectural and social resources in balance, but the architectural balance is difficult to achieve given the intensive demolition that has struck the neighborhood. Even last year, three contributing buildings to the Murphy-Blair Historic District were wrecked (2025 Palm, 1306 Monroe and 1929 Hebert) Preservation of all remaining historic buildings in any condition close to saving seems the only route to truly keeping the growth of the neighborhood in balance with its past. Given community support, Haven of Grace will surely be able to create an alternate expansion plan. After all, there is plenty of available space here in Old North — and an indomitable community spirit that always finds creative solutions to thorny issues like this one.
Preservation Board Meeting Ahead
The matter will be considered by the Preservation Board at its meeting on Monday. Staff of the city’s Cultural Resources Office have denied the demolition permit, and Haven of Grace has appealed. Staff is now recommending demolition of one of the buildings and preservation of the other.
Read the staff recommendation here.
Meeting details:
When: Monday, February 26 at 4:00 p.m.
Where: Conference Room, 1015 Locust Street, 12th Floor
How to Testify: Attend and sign up, or submit written testimony to Preservation Board Secretary Adonna Buford at BufordA(at)stlouiscity.com
by Michael R. Allen
Two weeks ago, the A.G. Mack Contracting Company began wrecking the Brecht Butcher Supply Company Buildings at the northeast corner of Cass and Florissant avenues in Old North St. Louis. The historic buildings, owned by Blairmont Associates LC (30% owned by developer Paul J. McKee, Jr.), have sat empty since their purchase by the current owner in 2005. On October 6, 2006, a large fire struck the buildings and caused extensive but not insurmountable damage.
On October 31, 2006, the city’s Building Division issued an emergency demolition permit for the eastern two buildings of the three-building group. According to demolition inspectors, the two-story western building was to be spared while the other buildings would be wrecked with city money.
Then, suddenly, salvagers removed the cornice from the two-story section beginning January 8. Demolition started on the two-story section, and a complaint to the city led to information from Demolition Supervisor Sheila Livers stating that all three building would be wrecked.
The city’s Geo St. Louis website shows that the original wrecking permit issued October 31, 2006 was replaced by a new one issued January 12, 1007.
The reason for the change is unknown. Obviously, the loss of the two larger buildings would have diminished the visual impact of the two-story building. Yet leaving some part — a part not at all damaged by the fire — of the historic row would have been better than nothing.
(Photograph from February 8, 2007. Most of the two-story section is demolished now.)
by Michael R. Allen
Under demolition this month: The sturdy commercial building at 4416-22 Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard that we profiled last summer after a fire.
“Who knows what will become of the two-story building?” I asked last year. Well, in fact I had a pretty good idea what would transpire. And I was right.