Category: North St. Louis

Categories
Hyde Park North St. Louis Severe Weather

Nord St. Louis Turneverein Damaged by Strong Winds

by Michael R. Allen

On April 2, 2006, a wall of severe weather struck St. Louis, causing tornadoes to form in several areas. The near north side was hit very hard, and one of the most notable buildings sustaining damage was the Nord St. Louis Turnverein. Unfortunately, winds ravaged the most vulnerable part of the abandoned landmark: the original portion, dating to 1872, that had suffered a roof collapse two years earlier. The roof of the gymnasium fell inside during heavy winter snows in 2004, leaving the brick walls unanchored. As water continued to enter the brick walls, it created major bulges in the east and west walls. During the strong winds on April 2, these bulges led to extensive wall failure because the walls had no structural anchor.

Historian and preservation consultant Karen Bode Baxter and engineer Alan Scott toured the building on April 5. Baxter reports: “Without a roof, it was bound to start having wall problems, it was an opportunity just waiting for a strong wind.
The good news appears to be that the damage was isolated to one section of this larger complex and the remainder of the building does not appear to be insurmountable. Most of the complex does not appear to have major structural problems, at least according to the initial inspection by the structural engineer.”

Without urgent action, the building could be demolished and lost forever. Also hit on April 2 was the Mullanphy Emigrant Home just south in Old North St. Louis.

Photographs taken immediately after the storm struck.

Categories
North St. Louis Old North

Another Brick Story

by Michael R. Allen

Some neighbors excavated paving bricks from brick sidewalks in Old North in the construction zone — 41 new homes are being built and nine buildings are being rehabbed as part of the North Market Place project — that are being paved with concrete. They stored them alongside of our house. Then they dug more and stored those alongside of our house.

Now that we are anticipating building scaffolding along the length of our house, the bricks need to be moved. I have been moving them by hand to a new stack in the middle of the yard. First, I moved them in two’s — one in each hand. Then, I moved them in fours, arranged in alternating directions so they stayed a manageable square unit. I graduated to groups of six before triumphing at carrying stacks of eight this past weekend. I have completely moved the newest accumulation and have gotten about 20% of the first pile gone.

There are easily 500 bricks between the two piles. They appear to date to the 1870s or 1880s. Our neighbors may use some of them, but as part of storing them we are using them to build beds and fill in missing areas in our paved area (we have extensive original brick paving around our house).

There are thousands more of the bricks in the neighborhood, under grass and weeds or being uncovered as the new homes are built. I hope that neighbors continue to save them, because we are glad to store them in our yard (actually four fenced city lots) and have plenty of room. What we lack is the time to dig pavers ourselves.

Categories
Abandonment Historic Preservation Hyde Park North St. Louis

New Photographs of the Nord St. Louis Turnverein

Photographs from February 5, 2006 (Michael R. Allen)

Exterior Photographs from March 11 and 14, 2006 (Michael R. Allen)

Interior Photographs from March 14, 2006 (Michael R. Allen)

Categories
Ghost Signs Hyde Park North St. Louis

International Protection

Does anyone know where one can find this sign?

Hint: It’s in St. Louis, north of Delmar Boulevard.

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

Valuable Historic Sites

by Michael R. Allen

Just the other day, I saw new boards on the three-story brick commercial building at 1508 St. Louis Avenue. The for-sale sign that had graced the vacant building as long as I could remember was gone. There is a new owner, I guessed.

And, I am right: VHS Partners LLC purchased the building in November. They sure know how to pick buildings to board up, I’ll tell you. From 1508, one can almost see the vacant lots at 1314, 1321 and 1414 St. Louis and the boarded two-story commercial building at 1311 St. Louis that their shared-address allies at Blairmont Associates LC own.

Their plans and identity are uncertain. The condition of these properties is pretty bad by any standards this side of St. Louis Centre.

Categories
Demolition JeffVanderLou Martin Luther King Drive North St. Louis South St. Louis Southampton Theaters

Coming Down This Week

by Michael R. Allen

Urban Review St. Louis reports that the Doering Mansion is almost gone. Demolition began last week.

Also nearly gone this week is the art deco Regal Theater on Martin Luther King Boulevard. I have been following the saga there and hope to post more information and photographs on our website soon. In the meantime, the other endangered art deco movie house in town, the

Categories
James Clemens House North St. Louis Northside Regeneration St. Louis Place

James Clemens, Jr. House: Stabilization?

by Michael R. Allen

On February 10, 2006, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Lisa Van Amburg approval a motion to dismiss, without prejudice, the case of The City of St. Louis Building Division vs. Blairmont Associates LC. This case concerns Blairmont’s inability to stabilize and repair the Clemens House property, which it purchased in 2004. The reason for dismissal is that the City Counselor’s office was successful in getting Blairmont to agree to sell the house within 90 days; if the effort is unsuccessful the city may refile its suit.

While the dismissal stems more from the agreement than Blairmont’s bringing the buildings’ conditions in line with the demands of the Building Division, before the dismissal Blairmont made an attempt to stabilize the porch and cast iron on the main house. This effort was limited to removal of iron, draping of tarps and placement of temporary fencing around the porch. The massive holes in the chapel’s roof remain uncovered, and no masonry stabilization seems to have been performed.

These photographs — from February 18 — show the current state of the Clemens House.

Blairmont seems very committed to the sale, since they are trying to prevent their real identities from being revealed. What they are hiding is not known; we only know that they have done little to safeguard the cultural heritage that is in their legal possession.

Categories
Demolition Mid-Century Modern North St. Louis Theaters

Regal Theater Demolished

by Michael R. Allen

Franchon and Marco (later Arthur Theatres) built the Regal Theater on Easton Avenue (later named for Martin Luther King) in 1937, with their regular architect Arthur Stauder as the likely designer. Stauder designed the same chain’s Avalon Theater on South Kingshighway, which opened just two years earlier. The 846-seat theater cost $15,000.00 to build, and was an impressive three-story buff-brick Art Deco composition. The first floor was clad in lovely blue marble, enhancing the dreamy atmosphere of the movies, while the upper two floors emphasized the linear geometry of the brickwork. End bays carries alternating vertical bands of two brick tones, while the central section carried zig-zag bands above and below a central checkerboard-patterned area. Inside, the finish was not as exciting. A balcony contained 200 of the theater’s seats, and the restrooms were oddly located on the balcony level.

The theater closed in 1986. A photograph of the theater circa 2002, when it still had its vertical sign, appears in Eric Post’s book of nighttime photographs, Ghost Town.

Sadly, the theater never found a new life, and fell into the hands of the city government’s real estate agency, which proved to be a neglectful steward. While the area declined, new development spurred by the demolition of federally-subsidized high-rise housing never included this grand movie theater, which could have provided an excellent community space in a neighborhood lacking many ties to its past. In early 2006, the city had the Regal Theater demolished to make way for a church parking lot expansion.

Coincidentally, Chicago also had a Regal Theater, albeit one more famous than the one in St. Louis. The Regal Theater in Chicago was also located on a street named for Martin Luther King, but met its demise in 1973.

Categories
Carr Square North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Pruitt Igoe

Redeveloping the Pruitt-Igoe Site

by Michael R. Allen

The Mayor’s office is talking with a pharmaceutical company about building a plant on the site of the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects.

First question: How many full-time jobs with benefits would the plant create? The article states that the plant might create up to 850 jobs, but we all know how big companies use part-time waged labor positions to keep profits high and workers from having a decent life. If these would be 850 honest-to-goodness real jobs, that would be great for the north side.

Second question: Can we please build the plant in a way that allows the street grid to be re-established and allows for other uses along Jefferson and Cass? I would prefer mixed use of the site, but I don’t necessarily think that it has to include residential components — there is ample space for that all over the near north side. Using the Pruitt-Igoe site for retail, office tenants and manufacturing would be a great for the near north side. But the site should not remain an inaccessible super-block — that’s kind of the historical problem with the site. It should be dense, urban and connected no matter what use is found. A factory may need a larger space, but it could still be build up rather than out and leave space for other new construction on the site.

Categories
LRA North St. Louis

Greyhound on the Move

by Michael R. Allen

Word is that Greyhound has signed a lease for the proposed multi-modal transportation center planned in downtown St. Louis just south of Kiel Center.

What is going to happen to the lovely Cass Bank Building at 13th and Cass now occupied by Greyhound? It is located in a nether zone between downtown and the near north side’s residential areas, and will be uncomfortably close to a noisy and congested off-ramp from the proposed Mississippi River bridge. Will the Beaux Arts building and its lobby of marble and gilt plaster be another casualty? Or can we figure out a new use for it before Greyhound vacates?

What would you like to see there?