Category: Historic Preservation

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Central West End Demolition Historic Preservation Preservation Board

Same Old Story?

by Michael R. Allen

Same old story: the owner of the lovely building at 4477 Olive Street pictured here is applying for a demolition permit. The city’s Preservation Board will consider the demolition on preliminary review at its regular meeting on Monday; the city’s Cultural Resources Office is recommending that the board deny the application.

Next-door neighbor Youth Technology Education Center wants to demolish the building immediately for green space, but anticipates eventual expansion. (Again, same old story.) While Alderman Terry Kennedy (D-18th) supports demolition in deference to the center’s laudable accomplishments, the Central West End Association is opposed to the demolition.

The Craftsman style storefront building was built in 1917 and designed by architect Edward H.A. Volkmann, who designed several other buildings in this vicinity. Several unusual elements, like the finials atop the raised parapet sections, the balcony and the former arched center display window have led to all sorts of guesses about the building’s origin. One story had the building as a fire station. The truth is a bit more mundane — the building was built for the St. Louis Cleaning Company and used as by the clothing cleaners at least through the 1930s. Cleaners were an important new business type in the early twentieth century, catering to the city’s newly-mobile middle and upper classes. The Central West End has several old cleaners’ buildings, with the most resplendent being the Anderson Laundry on Washington Boulevard west of Euclid.

Last year, the commercial district on Olive Street between Pendleton and Walton was added to the city’s Central West End Historic District. With historic rehabilitation tax credits now available, the street is being remarkably transformed. Before that, Central West End Builders had already obtained National Register of Historic Places designation for and rehabbed the Lister Building, Taylor-Olive Building and Eugene Field School (directly across the street) around the intersection of Taylor and Olive. (The following photograph shows the Lister and Taylor-Olive buildings’ proximity to the building at 4477 Olive.)

Apparently there is a developer interested in rehabbing the building, which until recently was used as storefront church. (Same old story, huh?) In the last two years, developers have rehabbed or are rehabbing almost all of the other buildings on this block, and there is even new construction including the Center. Good things aren’t just coming — they are here, and this finely-detailed building should be a part of them.

The Preservation Board meets Monday at 4:00 p.m. in the 12th floor conference room at 1015 Locust Street downtown. The full meeting agenda is available here.

Categories
Churches Demolition Historic Preservation North St. Louis

Demolition of St. Stanislaus Kostka School Underway

by Michael R. Allen

Demolition of the St. Stanislaus Kostka School at 1413 N. 20th Street is now underway (see “St. Stanislaus Kostka School Deserves a Reprieve,” April 6). Aalco Wrecking is the demolition contractor and Bruce Gerrie has salvage rights.

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

DeVille Motor Hotel in the News This Week

by Michael R. Allen

Today’s “Inside the Metropolis” column in the Vital Voice features a guest writer, my colleague Lindsey Derrington. Lindsey has written an eloquent and impassioned plea: “Recoup DeVille Motor Hotel: No Need to Demolish Historic Building”. The article is a perfect summary of why we can’t afford to lose the DeVille Motor Hotel (a.k.a. San Luis Apartments).

Earlier this week, Preservation Online also covered the issue; read that article here.

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Events Historic Preservation Media

Your Community’s History, Your Community’s Future: Free Workshops

Lynn Josse, Andrew Hurley, Esley Hamilton, Andrew Weil, Kris Zapalac and Michael Allen will be presenters at two upcoming free neighborhood history workshops described below.

This morning, St. Louis on the Air featured a discussion about neighborhood history with host Don Marsh, Lynn Josse, Andrew Weil and myself. Listen to that show here.

Your Community’s History, Your Community’s Future

Join your neighbors to learn about tools to explore the history of your neighborhood, and how to use that history to strengthen your community. Local experts will share their experiences in using neighborhood history to promote involvement and investment in St. Louis communities. The workshop will include a discussion of successful history projects developed by St. Louis area communities, resources available to research your neighborhood’s history, and government programs and incentives to encourage preservation. Neighborhood history workshops will be offered on two dates, with slightly different information targeted towards residents of St. Louis City and St. Louis County. These workshops are free and open to the public. For more information, call (314) 516-4748 or e-mail lubischerk@umsl.edu

To download a flyer visit this page.

St. Louis City
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
6:30-9:00 p.m.
St. Louis Public Library Carpenter Branch (3309 S. Grand Ave.)

St. Louis County
Thursday, May 8, 2008
6:30-9:00p.m.
126 J.C. Penney Conference Center, University of Missouri–St. Louis (One
University Blvd.)

Neighborhood History Workshops are sponsored by the Community Partnership Project of UM–St. Louis, working in cooperation with University of Missouri Extension, and by Landmarks Association of St. Louis Inc. This project is funded, in part, by the Urban Extension Program, a joint project of the University of Missouri Extension and the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Categories
Demolition Historic Preservation North St. Louis Old North Preservation Board

Haven of Grace Applies for Demolition Permit for House It Promised to Save

by Michael R. Allen

Haven of Grace has again applied for a demolition permit for the house at 2619-21 Hadley Street in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood. On April 9, the non-profit provider of housing for pregnant homeless women took out a demolition permit application to machine or hand wreck the venerable house that it has sought to demolish before.

The rear wall of the 1880s-era Italianate house mysteriously collapsed in February, and Haven of Grace has neither stabilized the wall nor covered the opening created by the collapse. The collapsed wall is not load bearing, however, and the roof and other walls of the house are intact.

In February 2007, Haven of Grace proposed demolishing this house and another older house at 2605 Hadley Street. Haven of Grace wanted to build three new apartment buildings on the sites to expand their ability to offer intermediate-term housing. Since the houses were contributing resources to the Murphy-Blair National Historic District, the demolition permit applications went to the city’s Cultural Resources Office, which denied the permits. The Preservation Board considered the matter on appeal. The Old North St. Louis neighborhood was forced to contemplate a difficult balance between its heritage and one of its best neighbors. At the meeting hearing the appeal, Haven of Grace Executive Director Diane Berry and her architect Tom Cohen announced a compromise plan in which Haven of Grace would agree to mothball the house at 2619-21 Hadley if the board would grant the demolition application for 2605 Hadley. The board unanimously voted for the compromise proposal, and construction proceeded.

Neighbors noticed something strange this fall. Instead of three new buildings, only two were built. The house at 2619-21 Hadley was not mothballed, but left to sit. The new buildings were as sensitive to the neighborhood’s fabric as their renderings suggested, and neighbors were pleased both with the design and the density. Best of all, the buildings carried the street face on that side established by the vacant house at one corner and another occupied building at the other. With just one more new building and a rehabilitation of Haven of Grace’s old house, the block would be complete.

Alas, that scenario did not come to pass. Haven of Grace claims that the house is beyond rehabilitation. The third building is not under construction because the old house is viewed as a risk that could collapse onto or against the new building.

Haven of Grace decided to back away from its compromise proposal. This is despite rancorous discussion that led to Berry leaving the board of directors of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group. This is despite soul-searching among the neighborhood’s committed preservationists, who had vowed never again on demolition only to be faced with a terrible choice. Most of these people went against their own principles out of respect for Haven of Grace, and either endorsed or condoned the demolition of the house at 2605 Hadley Street, which had not been as far gone as many buildings that have been saved in Old North.

Meanwhile, the house is in no immediate danger of collapse. Due to the Preservation Board denial of the permit last year, the matter will have to be appealed to the Circuit Court. If last year’s contest was exhausting, this one could be worse.

Is there any room for compromise this time? The only compromise would seem to be some situation in which haven of Grace would not be responsible for rehabbing the house but could also be assured that the house would be rehabbed in a timely manner. Unless Haven of Grace would sell the house, though, the matter is up to that organization — and its wishes are clear.

Categories
Architecture Central West End DeVille Motor Hotel Historic Preservation Media

DeVille Still Shines

by Michael R. Allen

My latest commentary for radio station KWMU aired this morning and is available in transcript form on the station website: DeVille Still Shines

Categories
Demolition Historic Preservation National Register North St. Louis Preservation Board

Demolition Comes Twofold to Page Boulevard

by Michael R. Allen


On March 19, the Building Division issued an emergency demolition order for the corner commercial building at 5100-02 Page Boulevard, owned by Rosie Love. Love had applied for a permit late last year, and the city’s Preservation Board denied her permit in February. The building is a contributing resource to the Mt. Cabanne-Raymond Place National Historic District, hence review by the Preservation Board. Apparently, the Preservation Board made the matter only a trifle harder for Love, an investor who owns properties across Missouri. Demolition is well underway.

Eastward, at the southeast corner of Page and Kingshighway, demolition will soon commence on a large three-story building owned by Roberts Brothers Properties. A motorist struck the corner column in the notched-out storeftont entrance, leaving the upper two floors unsupported. Rather than repair the damage, the owners let gravity do the work. Brick began falling last week, and now the Building Division has granted a demolition order. A wrecker’s signs adorn the plywood fence around the site, including sections in front of two adjacent buildings that have no structural damage.

More wealth drained from north St. Louis…

Categories
Churches Demolition Historic Preservation North St. Louis

St. Stanislaus Kostka School Deserves a Reprieve

by Michael R. Allen


I suggest reading my previous post, St. Stanislaus Kostka: A Preface, before reading this one.

On March 18, the St. Stanislaus Kostka parish applied for a demolition permit for its historic school building adjacent to the church on North 20th Street. Since neither the City Landmark nor the National Register of Historic Places designations for the church include the school, the building falls outside of demolition review. The school is in the Fifth Ward, in which the Cultural Resources Office only has preservation review of official landmarks. Hence, the parish demolition application need only clear the Building Division before work can commence.

The sudden news shocked preservationists who had stood behind the church in its dispute with the St. Louis Archdiocese. How could a parish who had dared tell the archdiocese that it could better tend its buildings and people wish to demolish a historic building under its care?

Although the permit was a sudden development, the parish actually voted to demolish the school two years ago. And the vote was anything but unanimous, as some parishioners still have misgivings.

The trouble for the parish is that the school closed in 1964, and the parish has never found a use for the building. The first floor is still used occasionally, while the second floor is full of debris and pigeons. The parish has no plans to resume its school, and the building seems outmoded for the social functions that the parish still hosts regularly.

According to the board of the parish, repairs would cost $1 million. Board members say that schools have looked at the building, and declined interest. One wonders if the use of federal and state historic rehabilitation tax credits was explored. Since state credits recoup up to 25% of rehabilitation costs and federal credits 20%, together the programs could knock $1 million down to a more reasonable $550,000.

Of course, in order to claim the credits, ownership of the school would have to be transferred to a for-profit entity. Either a new owner or a parish-led development entity could rehab the building and get tax credits, should the building get listed on the National Register.

As the photographs show, the building is entirely sound. Sure, the building has extensive interior deterioration. There are holes in walls and ceilings, the systems are shot and the second floor needs extensive cleaning. However, the structure is sound, the roof is good and historic features like millwork and even original windows are in place. Most tax credit rehab projects start off in worse shape than this.

The school building actually dates to 1896; examine the side elevations and the blind arcade running along the roof line and one sees the congruity between the school, the rectory and the church, all built in the 1890s. The school received major alterations in 1923, when the first floor windows were expanded into wide, tall modern windows and in 1930, when the stairwells were added at each end. The front stairwell gives the building its distinctive and almost foreboding Art Deco Gothic entrance.

Although this is the last minute, one hopes that the publicity surrounding the demolition might lead to some reconsideration. The parish might look outside itself and consult with preservation professionals, city officials and developers to find creative solutions to the problem of the old school building — which might look more like an opportunity to others.

Another troubling prospect is the future of the rectory that stands between the school and the church. Already down to one priest occupant, the building faces maintenance and utility issues similar to the school. How long before the parish starts thinking that it no longer needs its own rectory? Dialogue about the school would prevent a similar crisis in the near future.

The spirit that has kept St. Stanislaus Kostka alive (and on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) is one big enough to allow for a better fate for the school building than demolition. Finding a new future for the school isn’t a battle — it’s doing the right thing with resources the parish already owns.

(All photographs used here by Douglas Duckworth.)

More photographs on Flickr: Thomas Crone, Douglas Duckworth and Susan Sheppard.

Categories
Historic Preservation Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North

Mullanphy Emigrant Home Stabilization Work Making Progress

by Michael R. Allen

The photograph above shows the state of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home today. Workers resumed masonry work yesterday and today will likely have the roof resting on a solid east supporting wall for the first time since last April.

After the south and east walls are laid in block, workers from John Smith Masonry will move to the building’s north end, where another collapsed wall section remains. After that work is finished, further work — including laying face brick and replicating limestone ornament — will come either through a development plan or further donations.

The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group still needs donations to cover expenses related to the stabilization project. While the masons have kindly donated labor and materials, the Restoration Group continues to pay builder’s risk insurance on what has been a lengthy (and risky) wall rebuilding project. Please visit SaveMullanphy.org for information on making a donation.

Categories
Historic Preservation Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North

A Good Day for the Mullanphy Emigrant Home

by Michael R. Allen

I just received this note in my inbox from Karen Heet, Development Coordinator for the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group:

On your way home tonight, be sure to drive by the Mullanphy Emigrant Home where John Smith Masonry had a crew and a crane working to install CMU block on the south wall. They’re almost to the third floor now!

This is great news. This winter’s cycle was so erratic that masonry work was almost impossible to schedule. Since John Smith Masonry is donating their labor on the side from paid work, getting a good day for work has been difficult. This is in contrast to last winter, with the warm streak from November through January.