Preservation Research Officeby Michael R. Allen
Demolition of the St. Louis Bus Maintenance Center (originally the Anderson Motor Service Company) has commenced. The block will be cleared of buildings now. No word on progress on the Fire Department’s investigation of the cause of the blaze that heavily damaged the building on September 15.
From Roger Plackemeier:
A number of people recently have been asking me how my lawsuit of the Century is going, so I want to give all who are interested a quick update. I disclaim upfront that I am not an attorney and so my legal vocabulary might not be perfect.
First a sentence or two of background. In 2004 Marcia Behrendt, Marti Frumhoff and I took legal action regarding the demolition of the Century Building. The Century Building is gone. Earlier this year the defendants in our lawsuits….MDFB (state), LCRA (city) and the two development firms (Stogel and Schnuck)….filed a malicious prosecution suit against Marcia and me (Marti’s case is still a live one so she was not included). They’re suing us for $1.5M+.
Two hearings have been held in front of Judge Steve Ohmer of the 22nd Judicial Circuit. The first was a month or so ago. The plaintiffs in the malicious prosecution case filed a motion to have our attorney, Matt Ghio, disqualified from the case. Judge Ohmer has not yet ruled on this hearing.
The second hearing was this morning. Marcia and I filed a motion for summary judgement. My non-legal explanation is that if the judge rules in favor of our motion, he is saying the case should go no further. I don’t know when he’ll rule on this hearing, but I can’t imagine it’ll be quickly given the amount of work he has in front of him.
If anyone is interested in my opinion on how the case is going, feel free to contact me privately. If you’re interested in how the plaintiffs think this case is going, read the Business Journal. In the meantime, I presume your tax dollars are paying for some rather hefty legal fees for the state and city.
[Roger can be reached at placker@excite.com.]
by Michael R. Allen
Demolition of the Century Building at the behest of a determined group of polical actors began one year ago today. At least, the ceremonial wrecking began. The developers of the Old Post Office project that claimed the Century ordered their wreckers to gouge out parts of the building’s corners the night prior to a hearing on a restraining order against a demolition.
I’m sure readers know the story, but the loss of the Century Building and the ongoing attack on civic participation, tacitly endorsed by the Slay administration, still hurts pretty badly. Although I have to say that many good people opposed to the demolition met each other and made lasting and creative relationships through it. The opposition has taken the death and made life from it, while the some players on the other side seems to be mired in the quicksand of destruction. We have celebrations and friendships, and they have that hideous sinking parking garage with the cheap, cheap stucco and granite cladding so offensively displayed at Ninth and Olive. To say that they “won” would be very difficult indeed.
I should also note that our blog is one year old this week, as more testament to the fact that very good things were emerging when demolition began.
by Michael R. Allen
Some people look at the red-dyed water in downtown’s fountains this week and see the color of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, currently ending its last season is lovely old Busch Stadium.
Others swear that the red in the fountains comes from deep within the city, and that it may be the blood of the wrecked buildings that once stood where the fountains now jet. Does that red water in the US Bank plaza at Seventh and Locust not look like the life-stuff of the fallen Ambassador Building?
by Michael R. Allen
In June 2005, we received an email from John Merchant about 1423 N. Leavitt (see “Lost on Leavitt in Wicker Park”, November 6, 2004):
“I used to live in the quaint building you describe on your website (1423 N. Leavitt). I lived their for five years, finally leaving in the spring of 1999. I no longer live in Chicago, but on a recent visit a friend who still lives in the area asked me if I had seen the old place and upon driving by I could not believe what I saw. Those have to be some of the ugliest condos I have ever seen.
“It is hard to describe in an e-mail, but the swath of destruction that ended with the annihilation of my old building was owned by my landlord. Behind my place was a slightly rickety but really nice coach house. Next to my building was a long, nicely tended yard. And then my landlord had 2-3 empty lots’ worth of space for a yard, all of which was cared for and decorated with funky artwork. Her building was on the corner, a former storefront from the looks of it with two apartments upstairs. One entire wall of her building was glass brick and the ceiling was one of those beautiful tin jobs. Janet, landlord, was an artist who had bought all of that land in 1980s, when the neighborhood was neglected, run down, and rather sketchy. She received offers to sell all the time, but refused. I don’t know what happened that made her change her mind and all her compound to go under the bulldozer…”
He added in a later email:
“The one thing I was thinking might still be there is a plaque remembering this old Polish man, Michal, who lived in the upstairs apartment in my landlord’s building overlooking Leavitt. She planted a pear tree, I think, and put in a memorial to him… maybe even his ashes, I can’t recall. It is sad to think that those hideous condos will loom over him for eternity. He lived the Nelson Algren age of Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village, playing accordian in the bars, etc.”
Fortunately, John sent us the following photographs so that we could see what the buildings and yard looked like under Janet’s care. With his permission, we are sharing them here.
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by Michael R. Allen
The dwelling at 914 Madison Street on August 1, 2005.
LOCATION: 914 Madison Street; Near Old North St. Louis; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1895
DATE OF DEMOLITION: October 2005
CURRENT OWNER: Carlos A. Johnson
Will any old residential buildings east of Interstate 70 east of Old North St. Louis be standing at the end of my life?
The answer causes me to shudder, because I see them all falling. There could be a period of industrial sprawl on these cleared lots followed by a boom in construction of condominiums spurred by developments on North Broadway. This area could give rise to towers that would block the sun’s rays from Old North St. Louis and the eyes of the neighborhood from the river.
At any rate, there were few of these buildings left east of I-70 before 914 Madison fell and now there is one less. Several others are in the path of the proposed new interchange at St. Louis Avenue. How odd that the neighborhood named for the village of North St. Louis does not include most of the village, which originally started at the river and developed westward to what is now Hadley Street. In 1816, when North St. Louis was platted, the parcel at 914 Madison lay on the village’s western frontier. Now the parcel is on the eastern frontier, one not of expansion but dissipation.
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 6914 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1905
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
BUILDER & ARCHITECT: Leo Naert
ORIGINAL OWNER: Joseph Hasjoki
This house is the one on the left. Photograph taken by Toby Weiss on May 29, 2005.
LOCATION: 6916 South Grand Avenue; Holly Hills; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1881
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 6922 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1955
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 6924 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1890
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
ORIGINAL OWNER: Mrs. C. Ellenger
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 7000 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1960
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 7002 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1935
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 7006-8 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1938
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
ORIGINAL OWNER: Emma Laine
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 7016 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1914
DATE OF DEMOLITION: November 2005 (The lone holdout.)
BUILDER & ARCHITECT: Theodore Degenhardt
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 7020 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1908
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
ARCHITECT & BUILDER: Theodore Degenhardt
ORIGINAL OWNER: Mrs. Mary McCabe
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 7022 South Grand Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1930
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
Photograph taken by Toby Weiss on May 29, 2005.
LOCATION: 1029 Blow Street
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1909
DATE OF DEMOLITION: June 2005
BUILDER: Henry Gamache
LOCATION: 1031 Blow Street
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1910
DATE OF DEMOLITION: June 2005
BUILDER: Swafford Construction Company
Photograph taken by Toby Weiss on April 12, 2005.
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
NAME: Carondelet Sunday Morning Athletic Club
LOCATION: 1012-14 Loughborough Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1952
DATE OF DEMOLITION: June 2005
Photograph taken by Toby Weiss on April 12, 2005.
LOCATION: 1020 Loughborough Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1900
DATE OF DEMOLITION: June 2005
LOCATION: 1024 Loughborough Avenue; Holly Hills; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1900
DATE OF DEMOLITION: June 2005
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 1026 Loughborough Avenue; Holly Hills; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1905
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
BUILDER & ARCHITECT: William Degenhardt (attributed)
LOCATION: 1032 Loughborough Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1906
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
BUILDER & ARCHITECT: William Degenhardt
ORIGINAL OWNER: A. Brown
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 1036 Loughborough Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1906; 1922 (additional story and porch)
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
ARCHITECT & BUILDER: John Bornemann
ORIGINAL OWNER: Mary Hase
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 1040 Loughborough Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1907
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
BUILDER: Thilker Brothers
ORIGINAL OWNER: F. Rathert
Photograph taken by Michael R. Allen on July 27, 2005.
LOCATION: 1042 Loughborough Avenue
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1913
DATE OF DEMOLITION: July 2005
ORIGINAL OWNER: H. Thielker
