Category: Mid-Century Modern

Categories
Downtown Mid-Century Modern National Register

Farm & Home Building’s Modern Slipcover Now Historic

by Michael R. Allen

Downtown development may be crawling along right now, but one stand-out project is leaping ahead. LoftWorks is redeveloping the Farm and Home Building (to be known by its 10th Street address as the “411”) at the northwest corner of 10th and Locust streets. Several things are notable about the project, which is well underway and due for completion next year. For one thing, the end use will be the original — office space with ground-floor retail. For another, the 60,000 square-foot building will get a green rehab, with a vegetation roof and gray- and rainwater recycling systems. The $12.7 million project shows that LoftWorks is downtown’s Little Engine That Will. LoftWorks just completed rehabilitation of the Syndicate Trust Building, opened Left Bank Books across the street from the Farm and Home.

What is most astounding to me, however, is that the rehabilitation will preserve the existing exterior appearance of the building. In most cases, that’s a given, but the Farm and Home Building is actually a morphed version of the Kinloch Building. In 1954, the owners of the Classical Revival building designed by Widmann, Walsh and Boisselier decided to join the downtown modernization trend. With construction materials scarce and expensive after World War II, many owners tried inexpensive projects to give their buildings a mid-century vibe. Some simply removed cornices. Others reclad just the ground floors so that the sidewalk views were clean and modern. Others went all-out and completely clad historic buildings in modern materials.

The Farm and Home Building is one of the most extensive of these projects — not only was the masonry building reclad, but its terra cotta ornament ground off to accept the new granite, concrete and metal panels. (Other notable projects from this period include the Dorsa Building, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Building and the Mercantile Library Building.)

While the Farm and Home is not a knock-out work of mid-century slipcover design, it’s handsome. Other recladding jobs, like the garish work that covered the Post-Dispatch Building at 1139 Olive Street, dated rather quickly and raised the question of whether or not they were actually an improvement. Many developers have chosen to remove their cladding, like at the Post-Dispatch Building, and mostly the recladding work has proven reversible. Not so at Farm and Home.

In order to qualify for the National Register of Historic Places and thus for state historic rehabilitation tax credits, a building must exhibit integrity of historic design. To nominate the Farm and Home Building as the Kinloch Building would have required extensive reconstruction work — not eligible for credits — before a nomination could even take place. Hence, LoftWorks successfully explored a different strategy: list the Farm and Home for what it now is, an early example of extensive mid-century modernization design. The National Park Service listed the Farm and Home Building on the National Register on October 29, 2008. The Farm and Home Building now is officially historic because of its slipcover.

Categories
Historic Preservation Mid-Century Modern North St. Louis Old North Schools SLPS

Adams Recommends Keeping Ames School Open

by Michael R. Allen

St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams is recommending that Ames Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) Elementary School at 2900 Hadley Street in Old North St. Louis remain open. On Thursday, February 26, Adams recommended to the Special Administrative Board (SAB) that the Board reject the proposal from consultants MGT of America that Ames combine with Shaw VPA Elementary School at the Blewett Middle School on Cass Avenue, and the two schools’ buildings close.

While the SAB will not approve Adams’ recommendations until March 12, the shift from the consultants’ recommendations is welcome in Old North, a neighborhood that remains beset by an earlier school closure. In 2007, the Board of Education closed Webster Middle School at 2127 N. 11th Street. Webster is a large historic school whose site encompasses an entire city block. Since its closure, which came after the opening of charter school Confluence Academy in Old North, the district has not placed Webster for sale nor determined its future use. The building sits vacant in a neighborhood saddled with many large, vacant historic buildings, including the partly-stabilized Mullanphy Emigrant Home, the Meier and Pohlmann factory and the burned-out Fourth Baptist Church. The neighborhood did not need another building added to that list.

Opened in 1956, Ames is a fine mid-century building that provides a pleasant contrast with its 19th-century red-brick surroundings. Ames closes eastward views down both Wright and Sullivan streets. In 1992 under the Capital Improvement Program, Ames was expanded with a substantial addition. Later, in 2006, Ames closed for a period to be fully air-conditioned. Ames is a polling place, community meeting space and has been a source for student volunteers in neighborhood garden programs.

Categories
Downtown Historic Preservation Mid-Century Modern

Gentry’s Landing Remodeling Mars Modern Buildings

by Michael R. Allen

What’s wrong with this picture?

If you answered “two perfectly fine mid-century buildings have been given ugly pink brick socks,” you are right. This is a view looking northwest across Fourth Street at the Gentry’s Landing apartment tower and the three-story office building to the north. These buildings are part of the Mansion House Center, whose three nearly-identical towers and three nearly-identical office buildings are part of an urban renewal project completed in 1966 and designed by renowned St. Louis architects Schwarz & Van Hoefen. The Mansion House Center is a solid work of mid-century architecture, although like many of its contemporaries is somewhat hostile to its urban setting. The buildings are a homespun working of Mies van der Rohe, replacing the sleekness of pure glass and steel compositions with a more pedestrian mix of glass, steel and concrete.

The Mansion House Center is connected by a large parking garage on the east with a delightful upper garden deck. The garage blocks Olive, Locust and St. Charles streets to form a super-block, and is interrupted only by the already-extant Peabody Coal Company Building (1958, Ralph Cole Hall) and a former Washington University alumni club building built as part of Mansion House Center. The garage causes the project to present a public face to Fourth Street and a dull, mostly-utilitarian wall to the Arch grounds on the east.

However, the towers and office buildings were meant to harmonize with the new monument. Schwarz & Van Hoefen designed the Mansion House buildings to frame view of the Arch through downtown with equally-modern architecture. The architects wisely avoided upstaging the Arch with innovative design, instead providing an architectural supporting player. The garage’s monotony belies the fact that its garden roof was supposed to extend the lushness of the Arch grounds into downtown via a unique vantage point. Architecturally, Mansion House does well, although functionally its garage is a barrier between downtown and the Arch grounds that could stand some alteration. (Read Steve Patterson’s ideas for changes here at Urban Review.)

Yet none of the needed alteration involves changing the architectural vocabulary of the Mansion House buildings, whose minimal modern lines evoke the mid-century optimism of St. Louis and only enhance the presence of the Arch. The pink brick applied to the column bases at Gentry’s Landing and its neighbor undermine the grace of the original architectural gesture by making the buildings stick out. Perhaps this gesture is good for leasing apartments, but it is not good for the street scape on Fourth Street.

Up close, the brickwork reveals itself to be thin applied rough-faced brick sandwiched between fake stone. The contrast between these bases and the straight lines of the pale concrete columns could not be stronger. Additionally, the columns have been given little concrete bump-outs above these bases.


The photograph above shows the original appearance of the column bases of the next office building south of Gentry’s Landing, which falls under different ownership. One can see how the straight lines of the columns accentuate the projecting window surrounds of the upper two floors.

The restrained modern entrance to Gentry’s Landing is now ablaze with the pink brick bases, a yellow paint on the concrete and green signage. Yes, times change, and developers need to be profitable, but there are many ways to make changes and make money without making bad design decisions. In fact, bad decisions might turn out to be less profitable in the long turn as applied materials age and appear dated while original materials — even mid-century concrete, I submit — retains a sobriety that is attractive.

The entrance of the south tower at Mansion House Center retains its original appearance despite changes of use (apartment to hotel) and addition of awnings (which can be removed). The curved concrete canopy and hotel lobby have been extended through replication of form and material. Changes here have retained the modern lines of the building.

Alas, the Gentry’s Landing project is not the only remodeling project to mar a mid-century building on Fourth Street. Just to the north across Washington Avenue is one of the worst architectural slipcover jobs to hit downtown St. Louis, the 2003 conversion of the former Bel Air East into a Hampton Inn.

Opened in 1964 replete with a Trader Vic’s tiki lounge, the Bel Air East was also a complementary modern building that embraced its location near the Gateway Arch. While the Bel Air East was imperfect, none of its flaws justified the complete covering of the building in pink EIFS. The result of the cladding project is reminiscent of the works of the 1980’s American postmodern classical movement — that is, dull and pretentious.

Of course, one could take the retroactive view further back in time and look at the Adam’s Mark Hotel, whose 1985 construction entailed the complete covering of the Pierce Building (1906, Frederick Bonsack) with flat gray granite and unarticulated brown brick. That disaster destroyed an earlier office building in favor of a work of architecture that doesn’t even deserve the descriptor “mediocre.” Who knew that what happened to the Pierce would happen again to the street’s mid-century buildings?

Categories
Central West End Historic Preservation Mid-Century Modern

Scenes from the San Louis Love-In

by Michael R. Allen

Jeremy Clagett captured the following videos at Saturday’s San Luis Love-In that honored the Central West End mid-century motel now known as the San Luis Apartments, threated with demolition for a parking lot by the St. Louis Archdiocese.

In the first video, Jeff Vines offers a rousing poem and I read two “proclamations” in support of the Love-In.

In the second video, Randy Vines talks to reporter Joe Crawford from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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
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
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
Benton Park Mid-Century Modern Neon Signs South St. Louis Storefront Addition

Storefront Addition: California Do-Nut Company

by Michael R. Allen

Yes, the much-mourned California Do-Nut Co. at 2924 S. Jefferson in Benton Park sports a storefront addition. The 1909 Sanborn fire insurance map shows the two-story building as a black smith shop, and building permits suggest that the addition dates to 1920. Here the addition seems to become part of a larger, mid-twentieth-century remodel. The parent building received a coat of stucco, the addition is clad in a Permastone-type material and the enameled neon sign board has an unmistakable modern swagger. The white and green color scheme is also sporty and simple, the hallmark of good mid-century design.

If the donut stands are doing well on Hampton and Watson road, why not Jefferson? Obviously, a little remodeling of that old store is needed, but the end result is an urban version of the roadside snack stand. Alas, a fabled reopening only led to plywood being hung on the storefront.

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.)

Categories
Historic Preservation Ladue Mid-Century Modern St. Louis County

More Mid-Century Modern Rehabbing Ahead?

by Michael R. Allen

At a swinging party on Sunday, architect and rehab trend-setter Ray Simon celebrated completion of the rehabilitation of the Harry Hammerman House in Ladue. Guests enjoyed a look at the amazing realized potential that small mid-century homes offer. While the Hammerman House, a Usonian-inspired gem from 1952, is quite unique, its plight before Ray’s purchase was not. Designer, builder and occupant Hammerman passed away in 2001, and the house sat vacant until Simon’s purchase. Meanwhile, it was considered for a tear-down by an intervening owner. During this time, Ladue lost the Morton May House, the Louis Zorensky House and countless other mid-century modern houses large and small. On Graybridge Road, where the Hammerman House is located, one other modern home has fallen to the tear-down trend.

The rehab of the Harry Hammerman House breathes new life into a fine mid-century home, uses historic rehabilitation tax credits and allows a unique street to retain its character. What Ray Simon did can and should be done elsewhere across St. Louis County. The sobriety of the current housing market may help convince homeowners that conservation, retro-cool design, energy economy and modest scale are better for long-term investment than the super-sized, vinyl-clad villas that fed on the abundant east credit. St. Louis County is a treasure trove of opportunities for getting the most out of the new market!

Read more about the Harry Hammerman House here.