Category: Historic Preservation

Categories
Central West End Historic Preservation Mid-Century Modern

Love-In Raises Awareness of San Luis’ Plight

by Michael R. Allen

Yesterday’s San Luis Love-In was a huge success, with over 75 people in attendance to show their love for the mid-century gem. There was no protesting anything, just a strong stand in favor of restoring the retro-fabulous motel, preserving the integrity of the elegant Lindell Boulevard street-scape and in favor of keeping the major corners of the Central West End anchored by great buildings. True to the spirit of Valentine’s Day, those who attended kept the focus on love — for great architecture, great urban neighborhoods like the CWE and the great power of groups of people to effect change in St. Louis.

Perhaps the best part about the love-in was the media bounce for the San Luis issue. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch provided coverage on Saturday and Sunday, with substantial articles on both days.

Categories
Historic Preservation Schools SLPS

AIA Chapter Issues Response to SLPS Facilities Plan

The American Institute of Architects – St. Louis Chapter has issued the following response to the St. Louis Public Schools’ draft Facilities Management Plan, one that is consistent with the statement earlier published by Landmarks Association of St. Louis:

AIA St. Louis Response to the Comprehensive Facilities Review:

The members of the American Institute of Architects St. Louis Chapter, of whom approximately forty percent reside or work in the City of St. Louis, commend the St. Louis Public Schools for undertaking the Comprehensive Facilities Review. We are pleased that a local architectural firm, David Mason & Associates participated in the study.

We believe, however, that the study focuses on creating a more effective 20th century school system, rather than a visionary 21st century school system to graduate students ready to lead our community into the future. We need to think differently, envision bolder and ponder a different kind of future.

We believe that the MGT plan falls far short of its goal as a “visionary plan” that considers “all options” and strives to find “ways to revitalize St. Louis neighborhoods.” Those statements are noble and deserve to be brought front and center in the SLPS plan. We challenge the St. Louis Public Schools and the Special Administrative Board to envision an urban school system that can be a model of efficiency and the keystone to the redevelopment of languishing St. Louis neighborhoods.

– We encourage community-based schools

Neighborhood schools are the anchors to Livable Communities: The local school, with its athletic and cultural resources, stabilizes the community and provides a place of pride that unites generations of residents. A livable community is one where residents can live, learn, work, and play without using an interstate highway, one where children can walk to their school and learn alongside their neighbors.

– We encourage the pursuit of mixed-use partnerships

Mixed-use occupancy is another hallmark of livable communities. Private-public partnerships could bring significant investment resources to the district while serving community needs. We encourage the pursuit of creative mixed-use partnerships to renovate portions of the buildings with venues for social services, senior housing, government offices, or other functions perhaps through innovative lease or land-lease agreements. Creative partnerships can assist in the funding and maintenance of schools. We believe that cross generational uses of school buildings benefits both generations and provides a synergy otherwise left untapped.

– We encourage sustainability through renovation vs. new construction

The best way to limit our environmental footprint is to continue to use and maintain the resources we have already accumulated. Sustainability begins with re-use and the old recycling adage “re-use, reduce, and recycle” starts with re-use with good reason. High-performance energy efficient buildings do not have to be new. Many of today’s emerging green building technologies can be easily adapted to the existing, historic, architecturally-significant buildings in the St. Louis Public Schools portfolio.

Exposure to sustainable design solutions within schools offers an incredible teaching opportunity and aids in the development of young stewards for the environment and transforms the buildings themselves into learning opportunities. Schools across the country are developing ways for schools to manufacture energy that is then used by the schools and even sold on the market. We see no innovative thinking along these lines.

– We support protection of the historic legacy of the schools

In cases of resale, we support the current contract terms which require renovation of historic school properties in accordance with the standards set forth by the Department of the Interior, and encourage the use of design and construction professionals trained in these standards. We do not support the deed restrictions placed on the property.

We suggest re-visiting the current restrictions to allow new approaches which help St. Louis Public Schools continue their legacy of innovation and show bolder leadership.

The St. Louis Public Schools are challenged to play a key role in revitalizing and rebuilding St. Louis neighborhoods, and its stewardship responsibility must go well beyond its students. We believe that the students’ needs are best met when their schools meet that long range responsibility.

The American Institute of Architects St. Louis chapter does not just wish to comment and leave. In years gone by, a close collaborative relationship with AIA St. Louis and the St. Louis School Board was forged and we suggest that once again, we work closely with you to view the plan with sustainable vision.

Categories
Historic Preservation Missouri Missouri Legislature Public Policy

Missouri Historic Rehab Tax Credits May Be Modified

by Michael R. Allen

In this time of Missouri state budget crunching, the state historic rehabilitation tax credits are again under fire. While the threat to cap, eliminate or modify the credits returns every year and is usually soundly defeated, this year is different. Missouri has hard choices to make about the state budget, and Governor Jay Nixon is under pressure from members of both parties to overcome a massive revenue shortfall.

An Associated Press article published February 12 details the renewed hostility toward the tax credits from Republican Senators Brad Lager, a perennial foe of the credits, and Jason Crowell. This week, Lager placed a $150 million cap on the program in a substitute version of economic development bill SB 45, but the substitute seems defeated after lobbying from developers and legislators who understand the benefits of the tax credit. The big threat now seems to be a counter-proposal to reduce the coverage of the credits from 25% of qualified costs to 20%, the percentage of federal historic rehab tax credit. That change would be disastrous to projects already underway that have not yet collected credits, and it is needless.

Of all of the state’s many tax credit programs, the historic rehab tax credit is one of the most successful and most popular. The best part about it is that its use is wide — from big developers to homeowners in north St. Louis to inn keepers in Augusta, the users are a diverse group. The other undeniable good is that the credit is a sure bet for continuing to create skilled, well-paid construction jobs in Missouri. Historic rehab work requires specialized labor that does not come cheaply, and the stimulus for such work in Missouri has not only kept many tradesmen employed but has created new jobs in fields like plastering, masonry and finish carpentry. Workers who were paid entry-level wages to hang drywall have gone on to work on tax credit-financed projects where they gain skills that land them solid pay. In this downturn, we can’t afford to let these skilled workers out of a job.

Meanwhile, the National Trust for Historic Preservation lauds the Missouri rehab tax credit as a model in stimulating small development projects and in creating skilled construction jobs. (The Trust’s page inexplicably features a photograph of the James Clemens, Jr. House in St. Louis in a line-up of otherwise rehabbed Missouri buildings.)

Keep up on the latest news in the Missouri historic rehab tax credit struggle at the Save the Historic Tax Credit website. Contact your legislators immediately and urge them to support the historic rehab tax credit the way it is now — working for Missouri!

Categories
Central West End DeVille Motor Hotel Historic Preservation Mid-Century Modern

Stories from the DeVille Motor Hotel

by Michael R. Allen

Photograph of the DeVille Motor Hotel in context by Jeff Vines.

There’s nothing quite like a posh urban hotel. A fine hotel has long been the ultimate urban meeting place. From big convergences of finely-dressed party-goers to small groups of martini-lunch businessmen to encounters even more discreet — the hotel is the place. The hotel is a fashionable but not ostentatious place for all manner of meetings, dining and drinks.

Hotels like the Chase, Park Plaza, the Mayfair and the Coronado are the legendary settings. How do we know this? The stories people tell. People talk about the restaurants, the dances, the political meetings, the bars, the music, the celebrities and all the things that made these more than just pretty buildings. we know that these buildings connected a lot of lives, and became part of thousands of memories.

The mid-century DeVille Motor Hotel at 4483 Lindell Boulevard, later the Holiday Inn Midtown, is not as old as the stalwarts of St. Louis’ golden age of hotels, but it was the cream of the crop for the modern era. The DeVille definitely was a social hub in the 1960s and early 1970s. Perhaps we don’t think of stories from that recent past as part of our history, but we should. The DeVille was the meeting spot for a different generation — one that shaped contemporary St. Louis and breathed life into a city struggling with depopulation and sprawl. At the DeVille, the Central West End extended its glory days long enough to survive, and thousands of St. Louisans passed through its doors in the process.

What are their stories?

At B.E.L.T, Toby Weiss is collecting those tales from our recent past. Submit one of of your own here. This is a great project! Too often, we don’t know how much a role a place has played in our lives until its lost. That’s a shame, because we have the power to keep history alive in our own time simply by saving our own stories for future generations.

Categories
Historic Preservation Schools SLPS

SLPS to Open Its Own Charter Schools?

by Michael R. Allen

The Slay for Mayor website posted an interesting item today. The writer mentions a Suburban Journals article that featured quotes from St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams:

According to the Sub Journal reporter, Dr. Adams said the public school district could open five charter schools of its own next year. He said that these charters, like the public charter schools currently attended by about 9,000 of the City’s children, would have autonomy in their administration and governing board and more flexibility in their school days and types of curriculum.

Does this possibility merely coincide with the current facilities management planning process and its potential to generate massive school closures?

Read more here.

Categories
Central West End Historic Preservation Mid-Century Modern

Lovin’ the San Luis

Preservationists will make love, not war at this event. No protest, just appreciation!

WHAT: Valentine’s Day San Luis Love-In

WHEN: Saturday, February 14, 2009 @ 12:00 noon

WHERE: Northeast corner of Lindell & Taylor in the Central West End

WHO: Lovers everywhere – and anyone who is outraged by the notion of replacing unique, interesting buildings with parking lots.

WHY: Because we believe that St. Louis’s distinctive architecture is an asset, not a liability, and we love the San Luis!

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For more information, go to http://www.noparkinglotonlindell.com/, e-mail colbert@noparkinglotonlindell.com, or call (314) 761-4469.

Categories
Historic Preservation Schools SLPS South St. Louis

Deferred Maintenance at McKinley Indicative of Larger Problem

by Michael R. Allen

The recommended facilities management plan for the St. Louis Public Schools prepared by MGT of America does not address one of the district’s main problems — the cycle of deferred maintenance. While the consultants have acknowledged the need for an aggressive maintenance plan in public statements, the recommendations revolve around closures, new construction and extensive rehabilitation. In reality, many of the district’s buildings do not need extensive work, but rather need long-delayed maintenance work. The District famously allows $10,000 problems to grow into $100,000 problems, and there is little indication that pattern will not happen again.

The media reports many myths about historic schools perpetuated by District staff and the consultants. Foremost is the notion that many schools have major lead paint problems. The consultants’ own report actually gives most of the historic schools very high HealthySEAT ratings, those ratings developed by the EPA that measure abatement of environmental toxins.

These high ratings are no coincidence. After all, betweem 1989 and 1991, the District spent $200 million on a Capital Improvement Program. That program included extensive window replacement, lead abatement and asbestos removal. In fact, the work was so thorough that preservationists became alarmed at potential threats to historic features, and forged a wonderful working partnership with the District and its architects, McCarthy-Fleming. The resulting work elevated the conditions of dozens of school buildings while ensuring that new windows were historically accurate. In many cases, new wooden windows were placed on the front and side elevations with aluminum windows on the rear elevation.

Hence, the windows one sees on the District’s historic schools are actually less than twenty years old. The wooden windows are replicas, not lead-painted old ones. The trouble is that the District has not done a good job of upkeep, leaving paint to flake. With the Capital Improvement Program a distant memory, the flaking paint alarms those who do not know the truth.

The windows — and some doors — of McKinley Classical Junior Academy sat 2156 Russell Boulevard in McKinley-Fox are a great example of the problem. Built in 1902 as a high school and designed by William B. Ittner, the school’s windows were completely replaced during the Capital Improvement Program. That is not very obvious now. Not only are the sashes, sills and brick molds in need of paint, some entire sashes are missing and replaced by plywood!



Additionally, limestone on a front window bay is spalling, probably due to inappropriate mortar used to repoint its joints.


MGT of America recommends moving McKinley CJA to the current Bunche Middle School (originally Madison School), and relocating Gateway IT High School here. This move involves millions of dollars in rehabilitation. What McKinley really needs is a smaller repair program.

Perception can become reality. If the District does not maintain its investments in school repairs, the image of the schools will lead to public support for massive capital programs. Obviously, with budget deficits, the District can more easily float a bond issue for major work than find money for minor work. However, back when the District had a professional in-house maintenance staff, work was much more consistent and one did not see boarded-up windows on our fine schools. Furthermore, a facilities plan that does not include more than a promise of aggressive maintenance will lead us right back to where we keep ending up.

Categories
Historic Preservation Schools SLPS

SLPS Facilities Recommendations Lack Strong Historic Preservation Component

by Michael R. Allen

In my capacity as Assistant Director of Landmarks Association of St. Louis, I delivered a version of this statement at Wednesday’s public meeting on the St. Louis Public Schools Facilities Management Plan. Please submit your own comments online at www.slps.org or at the next public meeting, tomorrow (Saturday, February 7) at 10:00 a.m. at Vashon High School, 3035 Cass Avenue.

Among the findings of the November public meetings on this plan was that 74% of respondents consider historic preservation to be a somewhat to very important component of a facilities plan. That position is not well represented in the recommendations from MGT of America.

Of the 29 schools recommended for closure, 18 are identified as historically significant in a 1988 survey of District buildings built before 1938. Landmarks Association completed this survey working with the District and using funds from the State of Missouri, and this survey often has been the basis for wise decision-making for the District’s numerous historic buildings. We are blessed to have so many wonderful public school buildings, although that blessing may come into question when schools need to be closed.

The 1988 survey identified as historically significant not only the celebrated buildings designed by William B. Ittner but also those designed by his predecessors and his successors, Rockwell Milligan and George Sanger. Make no mistake — the architectural achievements of other district architects are as worth preservation as those of Ittner. Unfortunately, the closure list places this legacy in jeopardy, not to mention the buildings built since 1938 that have not been surveyed, including Nottingham and Gateway schools.

Currently, the District has an inventory of ten closed historic pre-1938 schools. The closure list adds 18 schools for a total of 28 historic schools at risk. Nineteen of these would have protection after sale against demolition under state and federal landmark designations, but nine would have no protection at all. And none have any protection under landmark laws if the Board of Education itself seeks demolition. The District needs to provide that protection in policy and by sales contract, but the draft facilities plan offers no recommendation for adopting these protections.

In fact, the recommended principles for repurposing would seem to condemn some schools to demolition. Nowhere in these principles is the policy that the Board of Education adopted in 2003, after Theresa School was nearly sold to a developer who planned to replace it with a Walgreens. The Board forbade sale of any historic schools to owners who planned demolition. Thanks to that policy, we have kept all of the historic schools closed in the 2003-4 and 2007 rounds standing, and many of these have found reuse using state and federal historic rehabilitation programs, including Theresa School.

The Special Administrative Board must adopt the past policy forbidding sales that would cause demolition as well as adopting a policy against demolition of historic district facilities. Neighborhoods that have enjoyed the architectural anchor a grand public school provides do not need park space, open space, parking or outdoor labs where the schools stand. The neighborhoods deserve to retain their irreplaceable landmarks. Thus, the facilities plan recommendations regarding demolition are troubling and should not be adopted.

Another provision of the facilities plan that is questionable is the recommendation to cluster three elementary school closures each in north and south city in order to build new elementary schools. Besides being costly, this recommendation maximizes the number of school closures in a plan that recommends a large number. Why not close two of each group and remodel and possibly expand the third? In the areas where a new school is recommended, assembling a large site might entail demolition of one of the three buildings, making this recommendation even worse. Cote Brilliante and Hickey have notably high combined scores, for instance. Given the short duration of preparation of this plan, I doubt that there has been full examination of use of an existing school in these combined groups.

Our historic schools are public buildings, cultural assets and neighborhood anchors. As the district’s needs change, the buildings should not be lost. One never knows when they will need to be called back into service, or when a new use will arise. Neighborhoods across the city need these buildings for their future.

Categories
Central West End Demolition Historic Preservation Midtown North St. Louis

Commercial Rows Fall On Vandeventer

by Michael R. Allen

Once upon a time, on April 21, 1886, the city government issued a building permit for a continuous row of seven adjacent stores with flats above at 1121-33 N. Vandeventer. P.G. Gerhart was the developer of the $12,000 project. The result was a graceful building in the Italianate style. Striking cast iron columns supported the spans of each wide storefront opening. A wooden cornice capped the stone-clad front wall, and decorative brick corbelling continued the cornice line to a side entrance on Enright, above which the parapet wall formed a pediment to mirror the surround of the entrance. The handsome commercial row was located at a prime corner in the sought-after Midtown neighborhood, home of the city’s wealthy and middle class movers and shakers.


This was not the only such endeavor on Vandeventer, a major north-south artery here. Nor was it the Gerhart family’s only commercial row on the street. The presence of a street car line on Vandeventer along with the residential population of the area drew developers to an intensive building boom that lasted between 1875 and 1900. During that time, at least sixteen rows of adjacent stores like the Gerhart row went up. Most of these were two stories. Vandeventer must have had an urban character like no other street in the city, what with the effect of so many well-designed rows of shops.

Flash forward over 120 years, and the row is facing its demise in December 2008. After sitting vacant for a half-decade, the old row had ended up owned by someone who wanted it gone. The condition at the time of demolition was good, with no structural failures and all of the character-defining pieces still in place. The rise and fall and rising-again of Midtown had taken its toll on Vandeventer, depleting the stock of such rows to a handful by the dawn of the 21st century. Now the oldest survivor met its demise, and the street is poorer for it. Vandeventer north of Lindell Boulevard is marked by vacant lots and low-density new construction, with a handful of surviving historic buildings. This row was keeping its block on the good side of architectural wasteland status. Today, the site is yet another muddy lot adorned by spindly grass blades and blowing debris.


During demolition, wreckers from Bellon Wrecking staged work in accordance with the building’s party walls, leaving isolated sections standing untouched between areas that were demolished.

Photograph by Paul Hohmann.

Architect Paul Hohmann photographed the demolition while it was underway, and has posted an extensive number of photographs here.

The loss of the row at Vandeventer and Enright delivered a sharp blow, but it was not the only one in 2008. In July, demolition commenced at the third of the surviving rows on Vandeventer, located at 1121 N. Vandeventer. The Guardian Angels purchased the site for construction of a new facility earlier in the year.


This row contained six storefronts arranged symmetrically along Vandeventer. The storefronts also had fine cast iron columns with Ionic capitals, and the second floor had arrangements of Roman-arched windows as book ends. This row dates to a permit issued on October 18, 1895 to Mrs. L.A. Crosswhite for six adjacent stores and flats. A.M. Baker served as architect, and Thomas Kelly was contractor. The row was totally vacant when I photographed it in 2006, but its loss was still jarring. Again, this stretch has lost its landmarks, and the site of this row is now another vacant lot with a sign promising new construction in the future.

Now the only remaining commercial row on Vandeventer is the Gerhart Block, developed by another Gerhart, at the southwest intersection of Vandeventer and Laclede. The Gerhart Block dates to 1896 and was designed by August Beinke. Its French Renaissance style has strongly eclectic traits and its historic integrity is stunning. The Gerhart Block and an adjacent building on Laclede Avenue were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003; read the nomination by Lynn Josse here.


The sad fact is that this all that remains of the commercial rows of Vandeventer. There is some solace in that what survives is one of the most exquisite and well-preserved rows on the street, with landmark designation, demolition protection and tenants.

Categories
Architecture Central West End DeVille Motor Hotel Historic Preservation Mid-Century Modern

The DeVille as the Holiday Inn

by Michael R. Allen

In 1966, the DeVille Motor Hotel became a Holiday Inn after the Vatterott family purchased the building. The modernist motel had opened in 1963 as part of the New Orleans-based DeVille chain, and was designed by renowned architect Charles Colbert. Although the motor hotel enjoyed a swanky reputation as the DeVille, its years as the Holiday Inn are its most famous among St. Louisans who recall dances and social events held in the public spaces. The postcard shown above dates to the time of the change in ownership.

The rear of the postcard shows the new name: The Holiday Inn Midtown. Midtown was St. Louis’ Uptown, where the high-rollers mixed with the young professionals at the new lounges and restaurants of reborn Central West End. The spirit of optimism was high, and distinctly urban place names like “Midtown” were embraced as strongly as the idea that the city would rebound. The new Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium were signs of downtown’s new life, and the DeVille was a sign that the Central West End was as posh as ever for social life.

The end of the era was abrupt; the Holiday Inn Midtown closed in 1977, and was purchased by the Archdiocese for conversion to the San Luis Apartments (senior housing). Still, by 1977, Lindell Boulevard had attracted many new modernist buildings from Grand west to Kingshighway and the Central West End’s renewal was in full force. The DeVille was as sleek as ever, even with its less glamorous new use. Now that the San Luis Apartments are closed and the neighborhood’s stability is a sure bet, what better time is there to return the DeVille to its earlier glory? The old Bel Air Motel to the west, the city’s first motel dating to 1958, is posed to become a Hotel Indigo. The optimism about the city and the Central West End embodied by these buildings has paid off, and these mid-century landmarks have much to offer the present age as reminders of the power of architecture to convey the hope of an era.

(Postcard courtesy of Sheila Findall’s family collection.)