Categories
Fire Midtown

National Memorial Church of God in Christ

by Michael R. Allen

The church in 1972. (Source: Heritage/St. Louis Collection, Landmarks Association of St. Louis)

LOCATION: 460 N. Spring Avenue; Midtown; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1884
OWNER: Grand Center, Inc.

A bolt of lightning struck the National Memorial Church of God in Christ in March 2001, and the church burned. The church building was built in 1884 by the Garrison Avenue Baptist Church, which reconstituted itself here as the Delmar Baptist Church. The congregation followed its upper-middle-class and wealthy members by moving to Delmar and Pendleton avenues in 1892. A Swedenborgian congregation, the Church of the New Jerusalem, was the next occupant. In the 1950s, the Pentecostal, African-American National Memorial Church of God in Christ purchased the building and began services.

After the fire, the church shell sat in Midtown containing the charred debris of the church roof, pews and altar. Eventually, Grand Center, Incorporated bought the building for conversion to an urban sculpture garden. In late 2003, construction crews removed the debris and began renovation. Yet after initially filling the basement with gravel in spring 2004, the crews stopped work.

Categories
Clearance McRee Town South St. Louis

The Destruction of McRee Town: September 2004

by Michael R. Allen

By September 2004, McBride & Sons Homes had opened their first two display homes on McRee Avenue and had built foreboding fencing along 39th Street to mark their subdivision’s boundary. The company had also placed sod around their fences after grass seed did not grow in the hot Missouri summer. One young worker had to water the sod lawn each day, dragging a large hose around the former site of St. Louis’ worst south side slum. Wreckers had completed nearly all of the demolition work on the eastern three blocks, including the demolition of the Regal Foods store (see third photo). The last remaining structure in this area, a handsome 1910’s-era four-flat at 3919-21 Lafayette, was half gone. We detail the wrecking of that building in photos below.

September 24, 2004

September 26, 2004

Categories
Chicago Schools

Jacob Riis Elementary School

by Michael R. Allen

LOCATION: 1018 S. Lytle Street; Chicago, Illinois
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1915
DATE OF CLOSURE: 2001
ARCHITECT: Arthur F. Hussander
OWNER: Chicago Public Schools

The Chicago city government plans to demolish shuttered Jacob Riis Elementary School as part of rebuilding of the ABLA Homes project, despite the school building’s excellent physical condition. The Chicago Public Schools closed Riis in 2001. Riis School is a sturdy and remarkable example of early Chicago Public Schools architecture, which diverges dramatically from St. Louis’ school styles set forth by architect William B. Ittner. Riis is rather boxy and strictly symmetrical, but is nonetheless a striking visual anchor in the Taylor Street area.

Why is Riis being demolished? To make way for a residential development that will replace the ABLA Homes, one of Chicago’s oldest public housing projects. The projected rise in enrollment from the surrounding neighborhoods — which will experience population boosts from the ABLA development project — will necessitate opening a new school in the area.

Maxwell and Taylor Streets once were the scene of economic diversity and use diversity. People can still see some of that world remaining on Taylor, where add-on storefronts abut row houses next door to apartment buildings and the public library. This mixed-use area is vital and active, but for how much longer will depend on the whims of the city development agencies as they import the suburban single-use zones under the guise of New Urbanist styles. The nearby University of Illinois at Chicago has already decimated the historic African-American Maxwell Street area for a bland world of one-brick-thick boxes.

Categories
SLPS South St. Louis St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Nouveau Rousseau

Southwest High School after mural cover-up, September 1, 2004. Photo by Michael R. Allen.

by Susan Turk

The businesslike efficiency, which now typifies the management of the Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS), was demonstrated August 23 by the speedy obliteration of Nouveau Rousseau, a landmark mural which had graced the façade of Southwest High School at Arsenal and Kingshighway for the past 20 years. Painted by Southwest students, Nouveau Rousseau, transformed an otherwise unremarkable building into a tropical jungle, giving passing motorists, Metro riders and pedestrians a glimpse of paradise reminiscent of French painter Henri Rousseau’s landscapes. In its place we are left with newly painted plain brown brick walls which the administration considers to be a more appropriate representation of the future of a building soon to house Bunche International Studies Middle School and Central VPA HS.

Photo by Frank Szofran.

Much like that icon of American business, Henry Ford, who considered history to be “bunk”, SLPS COO Manny Silva explained in the Post-Dispatch that obliterating was important to symbolize that this was a new school. Since the mural symbolized the old, now defunct Southwest HS, it had to go. And so, a work of art that had become part of our cultural heritage had to be sacrificed.

Nevermind that it was quite possibly illegal. Nevermind that federal law recognizes the moral right of artists to protect their work from alteration or destruction. Nevermind that federal copyright law requires that if the owner of a building wishes to destroy a work of art painted on it, he is obligated to either get written permission from the artist or artists who created it, or first give the artists the opportunity to try to remove and preserve it.

So much for respect to the former students who created Nouveau Rousseau. So much for their legacy, a testament to the quality of fine arts education in the SLPS. All gone within a matter of hours.

Photo by Frank Szofran.

It is a sad commentary on the current outlook of the district’s administration that some small economy could not be found to preserve Nouveau Rousseau in some way. It could have been photographed and displayed elsewhere.

From the destruction of historic buildings that housed public schools, to the scattering of the historical treasures that were housed in the districts archives, to the obliteration of the landmark Nouveau Roussea, one can only surmise that to the business men running St. Louis Public Schools, history IS bunk. But while there may not be much room for history and art in the rarified business climate that now governs the SLPS, history and art are important components of an educated mind.

Somehow, the brave new evangelists who have brought the gospel of efficiency to the SLPS are going to have to reconcile academic and business cultures if they are going to be successful in improving the outcomes for our students. Hopefully, they will not often find it more efficient to destroy the proud products of our students’ labors in the process.

From the August 30, 2004 issue of the electronic newsletter version of Saint Louis Schools Watch. To subscribe, email editor Peter Downs.

Categories
Clearance McRee Town South St. Louis

The Destruction of McRee Town: August 2004, Part Two

August 19, 2004

The first photograph shows that brick salvage and demolition at the Regal Foods Store has progressed quickly. Other photographs in the row show views around the corner of Lawrence and Blaine. The last two rows of photographs show a lone bungalow and a row of attached two-flats — a rare arrangement in St. Louis — under demolition on the south side of the 3900 block of Folsom Avenue, between 39th and Lawrence.

August 31, 2004

These photos show the 4000 block of McRee Avenue between Lawrence and Thurman Avenues, except for the last photograph, which shows the ongoing demolition of the Regal Foods store at McRee and Lawrence.

Categories
Abandonment Demolition North St. Louis Old North

What the 14th Street Mall Could Be

by Michael R. Allen

On St. Louis Avenue in Old North St. Louis, a one-story storefront building just bit the dust. Located at 1315 St. Louis Avenue, the modest narrow building was once a productive part of neighborhood commerce, and was part of a connected group of three buildings. Such groups have allowed the neighborhood to evince strong historic character despite the fact that over half of its 20th century built environment is gone.

Across St. Louis Avenue and a half-block to the west is the two block “14th Street Mall,” a section of the commercial district turned into a pedestrian mall in 1977. The buildings on the mall are largely abandoned and some have been lost.  However, this is the most dense and intact group of commercial buildings left in Old North, or anywhere on the near north side between downtown and Salisbury Avenue.

A remnant of 1970’s era urban planning, the closure of 14th Street from St. Louis Avenue southward to Warren Avenue left a once-bustling shopping district in decline. The shop buildings gradually became vacant, and only a few businesses on the fringes remain open — notably the venerable Crown Candy Kitchen at 14th and St. Louis. With some renewed attention to the surrounding Old North St. Louis area in the last two years, though, the 14th Street Mall could enjoy some form of rejuvenation soon. Hopefully, rejuvenation will not consist of massive demolition; the two blocks suffered from much demolition when the mall was built to accommodate parking behind the stores on 14th Street.

The scale of this shopping district is as intimately urban as that of the Cherokee Street district. Buildings here are small and close together, and within walking district of beautiful and remarkably intact — by northside standards — 19th century row and town houses. It could be instrumental in developing a multi-racial, mixed-income district of housing and shopping north of downtown, which is priced out of range for most of Saint Louis and is woefully lacking in diversity in its emergent population.

This area could anchor a near-north belt of family-friendly housing, cooperatively managed rental units, urban gardens, live-work spaces (Neighborhood Gardens, anyone?), and neighborhood schools. Imagine: affordable, restored historic living space in the inner city in the 21st century!

Categories
Clearance McRee Town South St. Louis

The Destruction of McRee Town: August 2004

Destroying the 3900 block of McRee Avenue

By August, the last remaining building on this block was the Regal Foods Store building located at the northeast corner of McRee and Lawrence avenues. This sturdy 1910’s storefront building was ripe for renovation but instead was headed toward demolition. During demolition, wreckers salvaged nearly every piece of masonry and lumber because all of it was in great shape.

Destroying the 4000 block of McRee Avenue

This was another block of mostly-sturdy residential buildings. The 4000 block contained some ecclectic juxtaposition of common 19th and early 20th century St. Louis vernacular housing, as the photograph below of the 1910’s four-flat, 1890’s two-flat and 1900’s four-square single-family home demonstrates.

Destroying the 4000 block of Blaine Avenue

Note the obvious physical integrity of most of the buildings scheduled for demolition. Here is one general shot and photos of buildings on the north side of the block:

  

These were the buildings on the south side of the block:

Displaying the 3900 block of Blaine Avenue

McBride and Sons continued to construct the display units in the 3900 block of Blaine Avenue in Botanical Heights. Along with the homes came fencing along 39th Street, sod lawns (after an unsuccessful seeding effort) around the intersection of McRee and Blaine. Only two older buildings, one shown below, remained standing in this block.

Categories
Abandonment Carr Square North St. Louis Schools

Carr School

by Michael R. Allen

Located on Carr Street between 14th and 15th streets, the Carr School has stood as a forlorn reminder that the downtown renovation boom has left many buildings behind. The Carr School, an elementary school designed in 1908 by the celebrated school district architect William B. Ittner, was abandoned by the St. Louis Public Schools in 1983. Sitting on a block of mostly vacant lots surrounded by the Carr Square Village low-rise public housing project, the school seems precariously posed between death and life; the mostly-occupied apartments are in reasonable shape and of a mediocre (as opposed to awful) design, but the missing buildings on the block and others along 14th Street point to a different future altogether. The Carr Square Tenants’ Association owns the building and has struggled for two decades to renovate the building for elderly housing with no success. Consequently, the building has slid toward dereliction — even a short glance at the roof is saddening — and has been listed on the Landmarks’ Association’s Most Endangered Buildings List for many years running. The interior is in particularly bad shape, with plaster falling from most walls and many floors less than intact. Nevertheless, the brick walls and their ornamental tile work are in very good shape and retain their beauty.

Recall a time when such craftsmanship was common in elementary school design, and then attempt to imagine one of today’s new school buildings surviving 21 years of abandonment this gracefully. The difference in quality is staggering.

See more photos at Built St. Louis.

Categories
Abandonment Carondelet Industrial Buildings South St. Louis

Carondelet Coke Loader

The loader at Carondelet Coke, which dates to after 1950, stands to the east of the plan on the river. Its conveyor arm was a two-way device that could be lowered into a barge to unload coal and be raised to deposit coke into barges. The loader’s conveyor arm connects to a conveyor belt that runs underground in a tunnel connected to the coal and coke piles between the river and the railroad tracks.
Categories
Hospitals Peoria

Bartonville State Hospital

by Michael R. Allen

LOCATION: Bartonville, Illinois (directly south of Peoria)
OTHER NAMES: Peoria State Hospital for the Incurable Insane; Illinois General Hospital for the Insane; Peoria State Asylum/Hospital
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: Existing buildings, 1902 – 1948
DATE OF CLOSURE: 1974

Aside from some well-told ghost stories, the history of the shuttered Bartonville State Hospital (BSH) near Peoria, Illinois has not attracted much research. This is a shame, because BSH has a significant role in the development of the Illinois state mental health system. The State of Illinois built the original mental hospital here, the Peoria State Hospital for the Incurable Insane, in 1887. The first building — which resembled a castle and was built on the Kirkbride model — ended up never being used. Built over a mine shaft, the building began sinking upon completion and eventually collapsed. The state cleared the land in 1897 and, under the direction of Superintendent George Zeller, began construction of a new hospital that opened in 1902. Zeller called for a radical re-dedication of the hospital plan: housing patients in 33 individual “cottage” buildings with administrative, medical and kitchen services centrally located. This “cottage plan” (also called the “segregate plan”) replaced the old ideal of the singular, self-contained asylum championed by Dr. Thomas Kirkbride in the nineteenth century with a campus that suggested free and open living for the patients.

Whether or not Bartonville lived up to Zeller’s ideal is uncertain. While Zeller refused to use restraints at Bartonville, there are numerous tales of abuse of patients. Yet the state was convinced of the success of the new form of mental hospital and later employed it in design of the Alton State Hospital, which opened in 1914 and the Manteno State Hospital (located south of Chicago in Manteno), which opened in 1929.

Bartonville’s own campus contains diverse architectural styles and sits on hilly ground, so it avoids the linearity of Manteno and other hospitals. The centerpiece of BSH is the severe Bowen Building, designed in a rare Italianate style that is executed in rusticated limestone. The Bowen Building housed the nursing staff quarters and administrative offices. Nearby stand the tile-roofed, Arts-and-Crafts kitchen and dining buildings. Farther behind these is a later powerhouse. Surrounding all of these large structures were the many Georgian Revival, one-story patient housing buildings and lots of open land. There was a farm and four cemeteries for patients, which are still extant on the grounds today.

The state of Illinois closed Bartonville in 1973 and auctioned its grounds to local developer Winsley Durand, Jr., who failed to do anything with the property. The city of Bartonville acquired the hospital land in 1986 and began redeveloping it as the “Bartonville Industrial Park.” While a few of the former cottage buildings saw reuse as warehouse and office space, most ended up demolished and replaced by new, bland one-story metal frame buildings. Fortunately, the city has never torn down the landmark Bowen Building or the nearby dilapidated dining and kitchen buildings. Thus the ground retain some invocation of mystery and historical dignity with the presence of these buildings, which were the most unique at BSH. Yet the kitchen and dining buildings are in various states of collapse and the Bowen Building has suffered decay recently and the loss of many dormers and cupolas as well as its three-story porch structure in an earlier remodeling.

More information (Note: While we don’t share the conclusions of the ghost sites on this list, they over invaluable anecdotal history of BSH.):
Historic Peoria: Bartonville State Hospital
Illinois Trails History and Genealogy: Bartonville State Hospital
Bartonville State Hospital
Illinois EPA: Former State Hospital Site Sealed, Secured
Prairie Ghosts: Bartonville (Peoria) State Asylum
The Shadowlands: Famous Hauntings

Images from May 2004: