Categories
Documentation Historic Preservation People Salvage

Richard Nickel, Thirty Five Years After Death

by Michael R. Allen

Chicago salvager, photographer, historian and activist Richard Nickel was killed thirty-five years ago on April 13, 1972 while salvaging at the Chicago Stock Exchange Building. Thirty-five years later, Nickel’s legacy is evident in the contemporary preservation movement. Today architectural salvage, systematic photographic documentation, appreciation of commercial and industrial buildings and concern for the effects of widespread demolition are widely understood as important components of historic preservation — even if not as widely implemented as they should be.

Edward Lifson, himself an interesting interpreter of architectural history, commemorates the anniversary of Nickel’s death and celebrates the new book Richard Nickel’s Chicago in a segment from NPR that ran earlier this week.

Although not as famous as many contemporaries, Nickel sparks an intensity in people as they consider his haunting images, fiercely-argued writings and the awareness he kindled in people still alive today. Years later, for American historic preservation, Nickel stands as a pioneer whose accomplishments have not been fully considered (or even recorded) and whose ideas will provoke our minds for generations.

Categories
Events Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North

Mullanphy Effort Hits the Royale on Thursday

The Historic Mullanphy Alliance raised over $12,000 at its fundraiser on Saturday at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. Keep the momentum going — here’s your next chance:

Steven Fitzpatrick Smith, Claire Nowak-Boyd and Michael Allen and the Historic Mullanphy Alliance

invite you to the MULLANPHY SALOON

to benefit the effort to rebuild the historic Mullanphy Emigrant Home and for informal conversation on urban issues

featuring music by DJ Akita San

Thursday, April 197:00 – 9:00 PM
The Royale, 3132 S. Kingshighway

What?

The Historic Mullanphy Alliance will be collecting donations toward stabilization of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, and the Royale is graciouslydonating $1 from every purchase of a Schlafly product to the effort. Cometogether with fellow citizens to help an important effort and for informaldiscussion on architecture, history, politics and anything else on your mind.

Why?

The historic Mullanphy Emigrant Home in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood endured more storm damage on March 31. The building wasbuilt in 1867 as a home for newly-arrived immigrants who settled in St.Louis and points westward. The building is an important part of ourcity’s immigrant heritage, and architecturally-significant landmark and an important part of the future of the Old North St. Louis neighborhood. Thebuilding is owned by the nonprofit Old North St. Louis Restoration Group,which is trying to raise funds needed to repair the storm damage.

More information is online at SaveMullanphy.org.

If you can’t attend, send a donation of any amount to:
Mullanphy c/o
Old North St. Louis Restoration Group
2800 N. 14th StreetSt. Louis, MO 63107

If you have questions, contact Michael Allen at 314-920-5680.

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

Creating a Preservation Fund

by Michael R. Allen

In a post entitled “A Dedicated Fund For Historic Preservation In STL?” at STL Rising, Rick Bonsach raises the point that St. Louis lacks a dedicated emergency historic preservation fund. The existence of such a fund would have aided Old North St. Louis with stabilizing the storm-damaged Mullanphy Emigrant Home (pictured above in the “better” days of December 2006).

Bonasch suggests that the topic be discussed among those who attend tonight’s fundraiser for the Mullanphy (at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood from 5-7:30 p.m.; details here).

The discussion should continue past tonight. With rising interest in historic preservation in north side neighborhoods hampered by strong weather, arson and metal thieves, such a fund could establish a sustainable effort to ensure that some funds are available for emergency stabilization. Such a fund could empower neighborhoods who might otherwise consider demolition as the only practical option. Many neighborhoods on the north side are far from having strong markets for historic buildings, but with assistance will undoubtedly reach that point.

The first response to Bonasch in his comments section is dismissive and seems to presuppose government footing the bill for the fund. Bonasch replies that he envisions the private sector administering the fund. After all, the Mullanphy effort has yet to collect a dollar of city money — and probably will not. The momentum is building regardless.

(Some have joked that instead of a preservation fund what is most urgently needed is an advocacy group against our new forms of severe weather.)

Bonasch’s post raises interesting questions:

Does St. Louis have the energy and vision to continue working for emergency stabilization efforts after the Mullanphy is rebuilt?

Can we sustain the effort foe years to come?

Can we successfully collect money for the effort in the absence of a targeted project like the Mullanphy?

Are there existing organizations or people who may have established a suitable foundation for such work?

Should city government be involved?

Would St. Louisans be willing to have any tax money go into the creation of such a fund?

Are their existing municipal funds that could be used for stabilization instead of demolition?

Categories
Missouri Legislature North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Landbanking Bill Also Pending in the House

by Michael R. Allen

Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton is the sponsor of HB 991, the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act. The bill is identical the Senate Committee Substitute section of the same name in SB 282 introduced Senator John Griesheimer (R-26th). The bill has been scheduled for a hearing by the House Special Committee on Job Creation and Economic Development. (SB 282 awaits a vote by the full Seanate.)

Read the full text here.

Recall that the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act creates a $100 million tax credit program for redevelopment projects of at least 75 acres in federally-certified distressed areas, administered by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The program was first proposed in February by Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, who stated to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that sections of north St. Louis resembled Berlin after Word War II and needed such a credit for urgent revitalization. Both Kinder and Griesheimer have admitted that developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. wants to use the credit in conjunction with his controversial north St. Louis project commonly known by the name “Blairmont.”

As with the senate version, the credits are available to any applicant who is appointed redeveloper by a municipal authority or any applicant who has already incurred expenses and assembled parcels meeting the requirements of the bill. McKee almost definitely would qualify for the credits even if St. Louis city government does not appoint him redeveloper of the area in the St. Louis Place, Old North St. Louis and JeffVanderLou neighborhoods where he owns at least 637 parcels through holding companies. Also note that the tax credit application does not require any redevelopment plan beyond site assembly, meaning that even if a parcel remains vacant in ten years an applicant will be able to get the tax credit up front.

Among the co-sponsors of HB 991 is Representatives Rodney Hubbard (D-58th), whose district includes most of McKee’s holdings. Other city Representatives listed as co-sponsors are Thomas Villa (D-108th), Connie Johnson (D-61st), Robin Wright-Jones (D-63rd), Rachel Storch (D-64th), Fred Kratky (D-65th), and T.D. El-Amin (D-57th). Kratky and Hubbard are the only St. Louis representatives on the Special Committee on Job Creation and Economic Development.

Four city representatives are not co-sponsors: Jamilah Nasheed (D-60th), whose district includes the remainder of McKee’s holdings, Jeanette Mott-Oxford (D-59th), Mike Daus (D-67th) and Michael Vogt (D-66th).

Contact information for state representatives can be found here.

Categories
Downtown education People

This Week in Architectural Education

by Michael R. Allen

On Wednesday, Landmarks Association of St. Louis presented a version of its What Are Buildings Made Of? (WABMO) program to 25 students of Ranken Technical College.

After an introduction from co-worker Susan Tschetter, I gave a 20-minute slideshow talk with short histories of common local historic and modern building materials as well as some discussion of how the use of each material influenced and enabled different common building forms. Landmarks staffer Doug Johnson followed with a presentation of actual building materials, and finally we screened the ever-relevant …It’s Just One Building to make its subtle and effective case for sound preservation planning.

The highlight of any WABMO program is the walking tour, and despite windy weather the tours went well. Richard Mueller, Karen Halla, Susan and I served as guides for one-hour walking tours of the eastern section of downtown. The Ranken students were lively, engaging and attentive — an ideal group. I knew I was in for a good time when one of them pointed at the Arch and shouted “Look, there’s Union Station” but then proceeded to listen attentively to my explanation of the role of the Old Courthouse and the long-gone Merchant’s Exchange in pulling commercial St. Louis westward.

My tour’s stops ranged from the Adam’s Mark Hotel (the epitome of bad 1980’s architecture and an example of a terrible re-cladding of an older building) to the Old Post Office, and included spirited conversation. When I offered the students the chance of leaving the tour at the designated end time or continuing to see a few more things, they all stayed on the tour.

The challenge with architectural education again seems not to be finding a convincing message and compelling information but rather getting the message to the public. Our city’s great architecture is an “easy sell” in many ways. People can’t help but notice the wonders of the built environment here, even if they have not yet encountered encouragement and explanation. The more we provide that encouragement and explanation, the stronger our cultural appreciation for architecture will become.

Categories
Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North

Media Recognizing Mullanphy Effort

Yesterday, KMOV Channel 4 ran a lengthy segment on its 6:00 p.m. news report. Watch it here: Group hopes to restore historic building, revive declining neighborhood.

In the last week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has published both a news story and a commentary:

Efforts to save 1867 building are dealt extra blow by recent storm – Tim O’Neil (April 9)

Mullanphy Emigrant Home welcomed and helped our ancestors – Sean Thomas (April 10)

Categories
Rehabbing

Done Gutting for Now

On Saturday came the last anticipated removal of a plaster ceiling at our house. We have long decided not to extensively gut the house. For one thing, the plaster is remarkably intact and has escaped the major water infiltration that typically dooms it to to the wrecking bar. For another thing, the amount of waste created by gutting gives us pause. Without a clear need for gutting save perfection, the whole deal seems wasteful. Hence, we have only removed three historic plaster ceilings. Season rehabbers can probably guess where these three ceilings are located: under each staircase.

With staircases, gutting is necessity. The bowing of masonry walls leads to the movement of stair stringers tied into those walls. Inevitably, the shims keeping treads and risers tight in their pockets fall and the stairs begin to creak, moan and slip. The only option decades later is to remove the ceilings below and undertake extensive staircase repairs involving shimming the stringers to tighten up the pockets, and then fitting the treads and risers with new shims to keep them snug.

With the first staircase, we had to remove every tread and every riser to rebuild. With the other two, we anticipate easier jobs without as much work. Later, I will post details of the work. For now, rest assured that part of me is ecstatic to have done the final gutting of a plaster ceiling here. Gone are the inevitable scrapes of skin quickly filled with stinging lime; gone are the particles that get past even the best respirator. Gone too is the quick swig of beer to force dust into the digestive system and out of the respiratory.

At least, such moments are gone at this building. With every pry of a lath comes the maddening delusion that the work isn’t so bad and that one can do it again and agian until the whole city is rehabbed.

Categories
Central West End Demolition Preservation Board

Demolition Likely to Proceed on Three Houses on Washington

by Michael R. Allen

Word on the street is that demolition is proceeding on the three houses owned by Saaman Development on the 4000 block of Washington Avenue. Read more on Urban Review here in a blog entry from April 2006.

The houses are located in the city’s Eighteenth Ward, represented by Alderman Terry Kennedy, who is also a member of the Preservation Board. Kennedy has opted not to include his ward in the voluntary ward-by-ward preservation review program that ensures that buildings like these receive review for reuse potential.

The houses are also located in the Central West End neighborhood, renowned for its historic architecture and high residential density.

Categories
Mullanphy Emigrant Home Old North

Historic Mullanphy Alliance Forging Ahead

by Michael R. Allen

Since the Mullanphy Emigrant Home in Old North St. Louis endured further storm damage Saturday, its supporters in the Historic Mullanphy Alliance have intensified their fund raising and awareness drive.

Despite overwhelming difficulties and the lack of a model for dealing with emergency building stabilization, the alliance is not shying away from the daunting task of securing an estimated $350,000 for stabilization.

The Alliance announced today an emergency fundraiser next Saturday, April 14, at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. (Details at the new SaveMullanphy.org site.)

Also in the works are a fundraiser at the Royale on April 19 and a benefit concert at Christ Church Cathedral sponsored by Landmarks Association of St. Louis on May 16.

Yesterday, KWMU radio’s Matt Sepic noted the damage and fundraising effort in a story summarized online.

The Historic Mullanphy Alliance is chaired by Old North residents John Burse and Claire Nowak-Boyd.

Categories
SLPS

District Closing and Selling Five Schools, Selling Six More

The St. Louis Public Schools will be closing and selling five more schools and selling six others. (Post-Dispatch coverage is here.) These are the first closings since 2003, when the district closed 17 schools.

Schools to be closed and sold:
Ashland Branch, 4415 Margaretta Avenue
Euclid Montessori, 1131 North Euclid Avenue
Lafayette, 815 Ann Avenue
Turner Branch, 4235 West Kennerly Avenue
Webster Middle, 2127 North 11th Street

Additional buildings to be sold:
Central High, 3616 North Garrison Avenue
DeAndreis, 4275 Clarence Avenue
Gardenville, 6651 Gravois Avenue
Lexington, 5020 Lexington Avenue
Marshall, 4342 Aldine Avenue
Marshall Branch, 4322 Aldine Avenue