Categories
Abandonment Housing LRA North St. Louis Old North

2917-23 N. 13th Street

by Michael R. Allen


Photograph by Michael R. Allen; December 21, 2005.

A lovely row of late 19th-century houses at 2917-23 N. 13th Street creates a very urban setting in Old North. Too bad that the back walls have fallen off and the owner is the city government.  I wonder how much time this lovely group has left. There is nothing stopping anyone from coming in, removing damaged sections and rebuilding the row with modern materials. This could be the site for a demonstration of historic-modern stylistic blending, but fate likely is a strong counterweight to that dream.

Once upon a time, people cared for this row. (Source: National Register of Historic Places Inventory Form: Murphy-Blair Historic District, Prepared by Landmarks Association of St. Louis, 1984.)


Around back. Photograph by Michael R. Allen; December 21, 2005.

Categories
North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North

Over on Hadley Street

<strong>by Michael R. Allen</strong>

The lot at 2805 Hadley Street in Old North St. Louis may be fenced but sports an incredible amount of debris. One can find broken PVC pipes, old furniture, solid fill and scraps of wood lying around its confines. That is, during the winter. In the warm months, the grass grows so tall on this lot that passers-by would not be startled if someone told them that a house was on the lot.

Next door, a lovely late 1870’s townhouse is undergoing and ambitious rehab from an owner who is rehabbing other buildings in the neighborhood. Across Hadley Street is Ames School, one of the city’s finest elementary schools.

The owner of the lot?

Blairmont Associates LC, one of the near north side’s most active collectors of vacant lots and buildings. Where the owner of the house next door sees a need to restore his building, Blairmont sees nothing but the future value of the land and is willing to hurt its neighbors today so that its owners can profit tomorrow.

Categories
Historic Preservation James Clemens House North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North

Blairmont: Rook to QB4

by Michael R. Allen

Word on the snow-covered street is that Blairmont Associates LC was not pleased with the attention it received from a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch article on its abusive ownership of the Clemens House and the resulting speculation on the identity of the deep pockets behind Blairmont. Sources say that Blairmont had no idea that the property at 1849 Clemens was a historic mansion; they were only interested in the large lot the home and chapel sit on. Thus, to avoid more publicity they will sell the house by January 6 (not sure why this date is being floated).

Of course, if they want to avoid attention they will need to do more than sell the Clemens House. We will continue to monitor their abuse of other historic buildings (such as the Brecht Butcher Supply Company buildings at 1201 Cass, if Blairmont is reading) and many northsiders are actively working to uncover the identity of Blairmont. People who are investing their time, labor and money in rehabbing homes on the near north side have a right to know who is behind Blairmont Associates LC and VHS Partners LLC. Some people think that they know, as the comments section on this blog shows.

For the record, we have no evidence that isn’t already public record. Our guess is as good as yours — probably worse, since we have neighbors who know a lot more than we do about them.

Categories
Old North People Rehabbing Urbanism

The Spirit of Old North St. Louis

by Michael R. Allen

Since our stove won’t work until Saturday (needs a new ignition, a part that was hard to locate for a 1950’s Roper), we are still eating out most every night. Last night, with the slushy roads populated by speeding drivers, we did not want to take our chances with driving anywhere. We walked the block between our Sullivan Street home and Crown Candy Kitchen on St. Louis Avenue, taking in the beautiful sight of our neighborhood covered in a blanket of snow.

Crown’s was deserted, save for Mike Karandzieff and three staffers holding down the place. Mike himself waited on us, and we chatted with him before ordering our usual order. It’s great that this place is so dependable and near. Earlier in the day, Claire had walked down to Marx Hardware on 14th Street to take back some wrong-sized cornerbead and to buy a miter box; the Marx brothers took back the cornerbead even though they operate on a cash-only basis and don’t have a refund system. However, we have been regular customers of theirs since before we even moved into our place, and they reward our return trips with generosity.

After we ate — and after we decided to splurge for delicious sundaes as cold as the air outside — we walked back home. Light streamed out of a small storefront on 14th Street behind Crown’s. Inside, a crew of twentysomethings was scraping paint off of a wall while listening to music. This is the future home of The Urban Studio, a community space that our neighbor and fellow twentysomething Old North St. Louisan Phil Valko has created.

We returned home full of hope and good cheer. I was so inspired by the spirit of the neighborhood that I finally found the strength to remove the broken old faucet from our sink so that we could replace it.

Anyone wanting to partake of the Old North community spirit is welcome to join residents for the neighborhood New Village Brewing Company’s holiday beer-tasting tonight at 7:30 p.m.

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

Who is Blairmont Associates?

by Michael R. Allen

Today I discovered that the beautiful former Brecht Butcher Supply Company warehouses between Hadley and Florissant along Cass Avenue, immediately north of the Greyhound Station, are owned by none other than Blairmont Associates. Readers may recall that Blairmont Associates is a troublesome and largely anonymous group of speculators that has purchased hundreds of acres in the city’s Fifth Ward, mostly in the Old North St. Louis and St. Louis Place neighborhoods.

Blairmont owns the James Clemens House, the scene of an unfortunate robbery last week. (More on that soon!)

No one has found much about them, as their corporate registration was done through a third party and their mailing address was at Eagle Realty Company.

The city Assessor’s database record for the Brecht buildings gives a new address, however.

According to the record, Blairmont Associates’ address is 4131 Davis Street in Boulevard Heights. 4131 Davis Street is a private residence owned by Roberta M. Defiore, Ph.D., who is employed by St. Louis University and assists the St. Louis Archdiocesan Office of Urban and Community Affairs, the strategic planning arm of the Church.

Interesting. But I still don’t know who Blairmont is. For all that I know, this record is in error and the address is wrong. The record leaves out the customary “LC” behind the name of Blairmont, but that’s probably one of those danged old typos Claire mentioned.

Word is circulating that the city’s Building Division is suing Blairmont over the condition of the Clemens House.

Whatever is going on, Blairmont may want to come forward and tell Fifth Ward residents the who, what and why they want to know — before suspicions run too deep.

Categories
Demolition LRA North St. Louis Old North

2013-15 and 2021-23 Palm Avenue

by Michael R. Allen

The buildings still standing on June 8, 2005. Photograph by Michael R. Allen.

Built in the period of 1893-1895 by Clemens Eckhoff, the buildings at 2013-15, 2017-19 and 2023-25 Palm Avenue in Old North were sturdy Mansard-style four-flat buildings. Eckhoff owned the Eckhoff (later Valley) Furniture Company operating across the alley from these buildings at 21st and Branch and developed much of the area around his factory. In addition to these buildings, he also built two buildings on 21st Street in the same period.

Sadly, these three buildings fell empty in the 1970s and 1980s and sustained the usual structural problems brought to old buildings by water and stupid people. Vandalism came quickly, followed by collapsing rear walls. Unpaid taxes led the ownership of 2013-15 and 2023-25 as well as the buildings on 21st Street to the hands of the city’s Land Reutilization Authority. In the 1990s, the owner of 2017-19 Palm wrecked the building and recently sold the cleared lot to a suspicious group of speculators organized as Blairmont Associates LC.

2023-25 Palm Street on June 8, 2005.

2033-15 Palm Street on June 8, 2005.

In summer 2004, I suspected that demolition may be on the way. Palm Avenue is not enjoying as much reinvestment as the rest of Old North St. Louis and that reinvestment is a fragile things itself. Buildings in more desirable neighborhood locations have fallen in the last three years, too. We visited the buildings and took photographs. We saw a hopeful sign: Someone was working on a gut rehab across Palm that is now nearing completion. The buildings slipped out of active recall as I progressed on purchasing and rehabbing a home in the neighborhood, until we learned from a resident on Palm that demolition had commenced.

According to this resident, demolition of 2013-15 Palm began on Saturday, November 5, 2005 and was complete within a week. The lot has already been graded and a new sidewalk poured. Our neighbor says that demolition of 2023-25 Palm began on Monday, November 7. Much of the building still stands, although wreckers have been working steadily at taking it down.

The specifics of the demolition of these buildings are distressing. First of all, neither building’s demolition went through demolition review by the city’s Cultural Resources Office. Such review is mandatory for all buildings considered contributing resources in a National Register of Historic Places district. The buildings on Palm Avenue are indeed contributing resources to the Murphy-Blair Historic District (listed in 1984). Secondly, no one in the neighborhood received notice of the forthcoming demolition. Lastly, on the day of the demolition, a representative of a private development company visited the site and observed the proceedings while talking on a cellular phone. Could this person be connected to Blairmont?

Also distressing is that this unlawful demolition cannot be stopped. The city government enforces its own laws, so its actions occur largely outside of the scope of law enforcement. The only recourse in this case would have been a lawsuit seeking a restraining injunction, and that recourse is meaningless once work has already commenced (as painfully learned in the Century Building case).

The only good news is that the city government stopped an illegal demolition by a private owner at 1501 Palm Avenue recently, and intervened before much damage had been done. For some reason, however, fortune was set against the buildings down the block.

Categories
Brecht Butcher Buildings North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North

Brecht Butcher Supply Company Buildings

The Brecht Butcher Supply Company buildings stand at 1201-19 Cass Avenue at the very south end of Old North. Built from 1890 to 1917, the complex is a robust landmark awaiting an uncertain future. The complex is now owned by the mysterious Blairmont Associates LC.

Categories
Brick Theft Historic Preservation North St. Louis Old North

Brick Thieves Strike 914 Madison Street

by Michael R. Allen

Over at 914 Madison Street in the eastern reaches of Old North St. Louis (which the city officially considers the “North Riverfront” neighborhood), a crew of brick scavengers recently pulled down the exterior walls of the last remaining residence on the block, a building recent damaged by fire. The interior walls and floors are collapsing slowly, forming a shape reminiscent of a pine tree burdened by heavy snowfall. The building is owned by Carlos Johnson. Thankfully, I photographed the building over the summer.

Categories
Fire North St. Louis Old North St. Louis Place

Old Garage at 14th & Cass Burns

by Michael R. Allen

LOCATION: 1516 E. 14th Street; Old North St. Louis; Saint Louis, Missouri
EARLIER NAME: Anderson Motor Service Company
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1930
DATE OF FIRE: September 15, 2005
OWNER: Khaled Salameh

The former Anderson Motor Service Company building at 14th and Cass — last named the St. Louis Bus Maintenance Center — is now ruined by fire. Here is a not very extraordinary building brought down through extraordinary circumstances: a spectacular and mysterious early morning blaze detected at 7:30 a.m. on September 15, just weeks after the covert demolition of its beautiful next-door neighbor, the former Crunden Branch Library. The St. Louis Fire Department calls the fire, which took two hours to douse and seemed concentrated in the south end of the building, “suspicious.” The long-vacant building, originally a service garage for trucks and finally a bus maintenance center, contained asbestos as well as residue from various vehicle fuels and fluids, all of which made for a long-lived and smoky fire.

We were shocked that the building would go up in flames after the surprise demolition of the Crunden Branch, news of which was very distressing. With various players in Ward 5 pushing redevelopment of the entire block through demolition, no one expected either building to survive much longer. Few would have predicted that each would come down so abruptly after rumors began, and in such proximity to each other. Once the fire-damaged remains are cleared, the entire block will be clear of buildings.

Alas, fortune is a clumsy and unscrupulous planner.

Categories
Demolition North St. Louis Old North

914 Madison Street

by Michael R. Allen

The dwelling at 914 Madison Street on August 1, 2005.

LOCATION: 914 Madison Street; Near Old North St. Louis; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1895
DATE OF DEMOLITION: October 2005
CURRENT OWNER: Carlos A. Johnson

Will any old residential buildings east of Interstate 70 east of Old North St. Louis be standing at the end of my life?

The answer causes me to shudder, because I see them all falling. There could be a period of industrial sprawl on these cleared lots followed by a boom in construction of condominiums spurred by developments on North Broadway. This area could give rise to towers that would block the sun’s rays from Old North St. Louis and the eyes of the neighborhood from the river.

At any rate, there were few of these buildings left east of I-70 before 914 Madison fell and now there is one less. Several others are in the path of the proposed new interchange at St. Louis Avenue. How odd that the neighborhood named for the village of North St. Louis does not include most of the village, which originally started at the river and developed westward to what is now Hadley Street. In 1816, when North St. Louis was platted, the parcel at 914 Madison lay on the village’s western frontier. Now the parcel is on the eastern frontier, one not of expansion but dissipation.