Category: JeffVanderLou

In 1966, City Demolished 150 Buildings on Near North Side

Post author By Michael R. Allen
Post date June 26, 2007

by Michael R. Allen

According to an article that appeared in the November 26, 1966 issue of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat with the prosaic title “$151,000 Demolition Job,” the city of St. Louis was embarking upon a large-scale scattered-site clearance project on the near north side. In an area bounded by Jefferson on the east, Delmar of the south, Grand on the west and St. Louis on the north, the city was planning to demolish 150 buildings identified as substandard. This area at the time was known as Grand Prairie or Mid-City, but today is better known as the eastern half of JeffVanderLou. $101,000 of the $151,000 cost of the project came from federal funds.

This project started six years ahead of the introduction of the Team Four Plan for the wholesale deprivation of the near north side. This came ahead of widespread organized architectural surveys conducted by Landmarks Association of St. Louis and city government. This came thirty years before Paul J. McKee, Jr. set his sights on this area.

This part of the city has been long betrayed by many people. McKee’s plans are simply the endgame of decades of deprivation, demolition and neglect. However, knowing what we know now about the lack of sustainability of large-scale urban renewal projects, we should be in a better position to avoid further destroying the near north side. We don’t have the density of physical and social resources that should remain on the near north side, but we now know the value of what’s left, if only due to its scarcity.

JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North St. Louis Place

Plywood and Public Policy

Post author By Michael R. Allen
Post date June 5, 2007

by Michael R. Allen

Tonight, I was part of a group of three Old North St. Louis residents and one other city resident who undertook securing a building owned by a holding company controlled by Paul J. McKee, Jr. This particular house sits on a block McKee’s agents have worked hard to bust, and in just a few months since purchase has been stripped of new aluminum windows exposing other more historic features intact inside.

We in Old North are a vigilant bunch, and we don’t let our heritage get plundered. Upon spotting the empty window openings, my neighbor Barbara Manzara spread word and gathered an impromptu board-up crew. Now, the building is secure before irreplaceable parts are gone. Of course, boards won’t protect against brick rustlers who have destroyed many other vacant north side buildings owned by McKee’s companies, the city’s Land Reutilization Authority and other private parties. These boards can — and will — be removed. But residents will probably return to keep the boards on.

On the larger scale, though, we face hundreds of vacant buildings owned by McKee. Four people can’t get to them all, and most of the buildings don’t have even one person in close proximity to keep watch. Many are already so damaged by theft and weather that they may be lost forever.

Vigilante board-ups are no substitute for a public policy that would protect historic community resources and make them part of the burgeoning revitalization of the north side. Until there are assurances from city officials that they are interested in preservation planning as well as code enforcement for the area that McKee has targeted, residents will continue to take action — and be suspicious of those who are charged with safeguarding their rights as city residents to participatory government.

Crime JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North St. Louis Place

Brick Rustlers and Other Hustlers

Post author By Michael R. Allen
Post date May 9, 2007

by Michael R. Allen

Built St. Louis documents a slow crime that residents of the near north side have watched unfold in the last several weeks: the destruction on five buildings on the 1900 block of Montgomery by brick rustlers. Need I add that these are the only five buildings on this block?

Apathy breeds neglect, and neglect of whole areas of a city is fatal. When our cultural leaders have had the chance to safeguard St. Louis Place and other near north side neighborhoods, they have chosen otherwise. When our leaders have seen dozens of buildings fall, they have offered apologies or ignored the destruction. When they have watched residents loose their sense of place…well, they haven’t. Apparently a “sense of place” is germane only to the central corridor and the south side. North St. Louis gets fucked.

North St. Louis the region’s shameful embarrassment, and the “Blairmont” solution will help us forget about some of it without having to do any real work for change. While we can’t preserve a building whose walls have fallen to thieves and their eager fences, we can look back and see decades where we had the chance to prevent this tragedy from unfolding and instead we silently let it happen.

Of course, the reality is very disconcerting east of Grand: blocks with much vacancy also contain well-kept homes and apartments, smiling children and strong churches. Middle-class mythology renders the people who live here politically and culturally nonexistent, and that helps us to cope with our end of the problem. The harsh reality is that there is enough social fabric left to rebuild this area without wholesale clearance or mass relocation.

But the myths are easier: Oh, they don’t care. Most of those buildings are past saving. Parts of that areas have places where you can’t see a building for blocks around. Old North St. Louis is the only part of that area worth saving. No one wants to live there.

The reality is that despite fifty years of degradation and neglect the near north side retains its character and its sense of place. Thoughtful public policy for this area was impossible in the urban renewal age, but in our historic-tax-credit era seems equally impossible. The brick rustlers are committing a small crime with their own hands. Other more powerful parties have committed larger crimes with those of others. Sadly, it seems that the near north side will not fend off either assault, which seems likely to spread west of Grand after the “Blairmont” model is proven and embraced politically.

What then becomes of the character of the rest of the city? Are our self-serving myths worth the loss of a large part of the city’s culture?

Demolition JeffVanderLou North St. Louis

The Cook Avenue Survivor Falls

Post author By Michael R. Allen
Post date April 20, 2007

by Michael R. Allen

The Romanesque Revival house at 3658-60 Cook Avenue, the subject of an article on Ecology of Absence last year, is slated for demolition. The house and a connected house to the east were architecturally similar and jointly made a strong impact on the streetscape. I can think of few interconnected buildings in the city that were so compatible and whose existences seemed so deeply intertwined.

In late August 2006, a fire struck both houses and led to the demolition of the city-owned half of the pair. The other house remained in place, against the odds of reason, time and condition. Brick rustlers made quick work of the rear elevation, leaving gaping holes and revealing whole rooms. That uncertain state is now over.

The Building Division has apparently issued a permit (Geo St. Louis shows a permit application), and a wrecker’s sign now hangs on the front elevation.

While photographing the doomed house this week, I met a neighborhood resident who asked me why I was photographing the building.Â I offered that the building was special, and he asked me again why I was there and whether or not I would buy it and fix it up. I told him about the demolition, and he was amazed. A house like this won’t ever be built again, I said and he nodded.

The other, newer ballon-frame houses on the block will blow over in the next tornado, according to this man. Seeing how beautiful and sturdy this house was even after a fire underscored his point well.

JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North St. Louis Place

McKee’s Acquisitions Slowed in March

Post author By Michael R. Allen
Post date April 5, 2007

by Michael R. Allen

In March, companies controlled by developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. slowed their acquisitions of north St. Louis real estate, spending $716,850 to acquire 13 parcels in the Old North St. Louis, St. Louis Place and JeffVanderLou neighborhoods.

Among the properties are owner-occupied houses in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood on 20th Street as well as three buildings counted as contributing resources in the Murphy-Blair national historic district. While a public statement by McKee issued in February claimed that his assembly activity had stopped due to backlash from critics, and several of the properties closed in March had earlier contract dates, several had contract dates as recently as March 20.

The companies buying property are Dodier Investors LLC, MLK 3000 LLC and Sheridan Place LC. Sale prices ranged from $5,000 for a sheriff’s sale to $149,500 for the houses on 20th Street.

JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North St. Louis Place

Three Neighborhoods, Thousands of People

Post author By Michael R. Allen
Post date February 11, 2007

by Michael R. Allen

If anyone tuned into last night’s excellent program on the 6:00 p.m. news program of KMOV Channel 4, you would have seen a compelling, tightly-edited report from Russell Kinsaul.

Just don’t get the wrong idea. More is at stake here than Old North St. Louis with its eager young middle-class white rehabbers. The “Blairmont” project encompasses the lives of thousands of people, and the biggest impact is on a largely poor, African-American population. This population may not survive the development apparently envisioned by Paul McKee’s McEagle Properties. (That project is in line to receive a large subsidy from the state of Missouri should a proposed bill amendment go through this week.)

The concerns of renters in JeffVanderLou are as politically important as those raised by homeowners in Old North St. Louis. In fact, the fact that both share the same concerns show that the near north side already enjoys incredible diversity — and an unfortunate deep bond in fear over the possible changes to come.

In the future, that bond and that diversity could be improved by thoughtful, careful redevelopment efforts. Clearance would erase the potential for retaining the existing population that has maintained the cultural fabric of the area despite incredible obstacles posed by decades of disinvestment.

Instead of viewing the area as a potential blank slate, would-be developers should see an area already possessing a great array of architectural, cultural and social resources. The focus needs to be on filling the gaps harmoniously to create a strong urban fabric for three very cool neighborhoods.

These neighborhoods already are rebuilding block by block, neighbor by neighbor, house by house. While Claire and I are a part of this effort, so are many other people. We look forward to many others joining us in the next decade, and to seeing our fellow near north siders stick around for the good future we share.

JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Blairmont: 2900 Block of Montgomery Street

Post author By Michael R. Allen
Post date January 24, 2007

Part of the Photographic Survey of Blairmont Buildings.

Date of photograph: January 21, 2007.

LOCATION: 2933 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou; Saint Louis, Missouri
CURRENT OWNER: Sheridan Place LC

The building is at right The building at left is owned by the city’s Land Reutilization Authority. Date of photograph: January 21, 2007.

LOCATION (LEFT): 2949 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: Private Citizen

LOCATION (CENTER): 2947 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: Sheridan Place LC

LOCATION (RIGHT): 2945 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: N & G Ventures LC

Date of photograph: January 21, 2007.

LOCATION (LEFT): 2946 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: Sheridan Place LC

LOCATION (RIGHT): 2948 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: VHS Partners LLC

JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Blairmont: 2629 St. Louis Avenue

Post author By Michael R. Allen
Post date January 24, 2007
1 Comment on Blairmont: 2629 St. Louis Avenue

Part of the Photographic Survey of Blairmont Buildings.

Date of photograph: January 21, 2007.

LOCATION: 2629 St. Louis Avenue; JeffVanderLou; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1880
CURRENT OWNER: VHS Partners LLC

The first block on St. Louis west of Jefferson is fairly barren. There are some homes on the south side, but on the north side there is only this building at the northeast corner of Elliott and St. Louis. It’s a predictable landmark that is so quintessentially a north side building. The side gables, wide front elevation, brick corbelling, cast iron storefront and tall plain chimneys are all typical of the common commercial and residential buildings of the 1860s and 1870s before the local vernacular was heavily laden with Italianate and Second Empire references. Of course, buildings like this are pretty rare on the north side today, especially here between Jefferson and Grand.

This landmark is a welcome marker on my way home from points westward in the city. When I spot this building, I know that home is near and I am back to the older northside where the blocks are shorter and the buildings very old. Seeing that it survived a whole block worth’s of other buildings only strengthens my appreciation of its hardy body.

Will this landmark be a marker for the next generation, or will I be among the last to see it stand?Â I hesitate to discover, but know that I must.Â ~ Michael R. Allen