Categories
Art Downtown Events

Farewell: The Last Opening at Gallery Urbis Orbis

by Michael R. Allen

Friday marks the final First Friday opening at downtown’s Gallery Urbis Orbis. While the art scene is constantly changing in every city and there are little certainties in terms of gallery spaces, Urbis Orbis could not be confused with your ordinary art gallery. Yes, Gallery Urbis Orbis sold art. Yes, it had exhibits and openings with wine and such. But its more significant function was civic in nature.

During its run of over two years, Gallery Urbis Orbis has provided a foundation for progressive cultural life. The gallery has cleverly used the traditional opening to create a monthly night in which some of the city’s smartest people get together and chat. Ideas have been shared and big plans have been made on even the least-attended First Friday opening here. The gallery has mixed these dependable, almost salon-like evenings with other programming that falls outside of the realm of the “art gallery”: a meetup of political activists and artists; a meet-and-greet with aldermanic candidate and urbanist Steve Patterson; a memorial service for a well-loved city booster; countless planning meetings for cultural efforts large and small; and many other things. Much like the late, lamented Commonspace, Gallery Urbis Orbis served as a civic space with a citywide audience. Creating another space like it — and I do hope that someone does — will be a challenge.

Gallery co-owner and painter Alan Brunettin, whose work will be featured at this final opening, has often graced the gallery window on Tenth Street as he works on a painting. As far as I know, Alan has been the only artist to consistently work in a street-level, visible space. His presence has been encouraging to pedestrians, suggesting a liveliness that complements the solid old buildings around the space well (and draws one’s eye away from the hideous hulk of the Renaissance Grand parking garage across the street).

Alas, the gallery closes. Alan and Margie Newman, his partner and gallery co-owner, will depart for Chicago in January. Things change, of course, but this one is truly bittersweet.

We will be serving the complimentary wine, one last time, this Friday at Gallery Urbis Orbis (419 N. 10th Street) from 5:00 – 10:00 p.m. I hope the turnout is large and spirits high despite the loss, because this fine space and its creators deserve no less.

Categories
Historic Preservation James Clemens House Northside Regeneration St. Louis Place

Over at the Clemens House

by Michael R. Allen

Our latest site update covers a recent theft of cast iron from the James Clemens, Jr. House (also known as the Clemens Mansion).

UPDATE: The hearing of the City of St. Louis vs. Blairmont Associates Limited Company will he heard tomorrow, Thursday December 1 at 1:30 p.m. in the City Circuit Court’s Division 5 in the Civil Courts Building at Tucker and Market. Judge David Dowd will preside. The case number is #054-2163 and the court phone number is 314-622-4342.

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

James Clemens, Jr. House: Theft

by Michael R. Allen

On Wednesday, November 16, the editors of this site spotted three men and a pickup truck in the front yard of the Clemens House. The men were loading cast iron from the porch of the main house, including the intact pediment. Much of this ornament had fallen off of the porch in the last six months, and the men simply had to lift pieces off of the ground and into their truck. In fact, it appears as if they did not attempt to remove any parts from the porch.

We alerted the police, but nothing came of our call.

Here is what the thieves took with them:

Keep an eye out at antique shops, museums and scrap yards for this unique piece of St. Louis history. While it may turn up locally, the more likely scenario is that it was either scrapped or sold through an intermediary to a dealer in a place where no one will recognize the stolen parts.

Here is what the Clemens House looks like before and after the porch collapse and theft:

The porch on October 31, 2004

The porch on November 25, 2005

Abandonment, speculation and architectural theft — the fate of the Clemens House is very familiar in this city. But how can we send such an exceptional building to an unexceptional death? Our city needs no more architectural bloodletting; we are ready to heal. The Clemens House should be preserved.

Categories
North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Northside Speculators by Any Other Name…

by Michael R. Allen

There is a company called VHS Partners, LLC that may be ran by the same people behind Blairmont Associates LC.

Both have the same addresses for tax bills (those of Eagle Realty Company and Roberta DeFiore), the same agent (Harvey Noble) and only invest in north side neighborhoods in the 63106 and 63107 zip codes. The only difference is that most of the VHS Partners’ properties are west of Florissant and east of Grand between Delmar and Natural Bridge, while Blairmont Associates sticks to areas east of Jefferson and west of Broadway between Cass and Branch. Oddly, neither Blairmont or VHS has many properties in depressed Hyde Park. At least not under these names.

Categories
Century Building Downtown Parking

Channel 5 Covered Bad Piers on Ninth Street Garage

by Michael R. Allen

Piers Being Re-Worked on Snakebit Site – Mike Owens of TV station KSDK Channel 5 reported on the delays in the Ninth Street Garage on the Wednesday, November 23, newscast. Watch the report on the KSDK website.

Here’s a story that broke first in the blogs and was picked up on television news. I feel good about helping get the story to the attention of news organizations with wider audiences. (Note that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has yet to report the problems with the parking garage gone wrong.)

Categories
Downtown

Shopping is a Feeling

by Michael R. Allen

A quick survey of the downtown Famous-Barr store earlier today showed that it was far from being crowded. There were no lines at any registers, and plenty of space to walk around the store at a fast clip. I was very disappointed, as I always have been in the ten years that I’ve been doing holiday shopping at the store.

St. Louis Centre, of course, was a ghost town. A windowpane in the skywalk over Locust Street near a Famous-Barr entrance was missing and covered with plywood. The tile floors are caked in more grime than many abandoned houses I’ve been inside. Gold’s Gym will be opening inside the mall at the corner or 7th and Locust, but will wisely have its only entrance off of the street.

At least Papa Fabarre’s, the lovely cafe inside of Famous-Barr, was bustling on Wednesday when we joined a friend for lunch there. Federated would do well to leave Fabarre’s alone, unless they want to completely kill off the store. Fabarre’s has been a consistent and largely unchanged part of Famous-Barr for many decades, and has not lost any of its charm. Its menu is broad and simple, with low prices that only a department store could afford to get away with. (I frequently get a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato and fried there for $4.64 including tax.)

Anything unique about the store is departing next year, except for Fabarre’s. Right?

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

James Clemens, Jr. House Today

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
Century Building Downtown Parking

Bad Piers

From the minutes of the October 4 meeting of the Missouri Development Finance Board:

“Mr. Miserez asked Ms. Kathleen Barney to give a project status update on the Ninth Street Garage construction issues. Ms. Barney reported there were deficiencies in many of the piers poured and that with a total of 56 piers, 16 of the poured 37 piers were discovered to be substandard. The Office of Administration monitors the construction for MDFB and is considering that all the piers are bad. The developers of the project have hired experts to evaluate the piers, which has caused a delay to the project. Ms. Barney reported that the problem is the developer’s responsibility and there will be no additional costs to MDFB.”

We reported the news about the concrete pouring on August 16.

(Thanks to Arch City Chronicle for the link.)

Categories
Century Building Downtown People

Update on the Century Building Legal Battle

From Roger Plackemeier:

To the curious and interested…..

awhile back I sent out an update message on the Century Building malicious prosecution suit. At the time I reported that we had had a hearing on the motion made by the plaintiffs to disqualify Matt Ghio as our attorney. During a hearing on Friday for another matter we learned that Judge Ohmer had denied the disqualification motion back on September 30th, but neither side had been notified. Chalk one up for the good guys!

Thanks to all who sent messages of inquiry and support.