Categories
Preservation Board Soulard South St. Louis

"Rehab Girls" Seek Soulard Demolition

by Michael R. Allen

The most troubling item on the October 26 agenda for the St. Louis Preservation Board is the only actual demolition permit on the agenda, for a house at 1927-9 S. 10th Street in Soulard. While any demolition permit for a perfectly sound historic building is troubling, this one is egregious. For one thing, the two-and-a-half brick house is located in a dense and stable part of one of the city’s most dense and stable historic districts. For another, the house at 1927-9 S. 10th Street is one of the number of remaining St. Louis buildings that appear in the pages of Pictorial St. Louis, the 1875 atlas by Richard Compton and Camille Dry. The simple brick dentils on the cornice indicate an age even earlier than the atlas — perhaps in the 1850s or 1860s, before wooden cornices began appearing on modest housing like this. Such buildings are rare enough that the Preservation Board should never permit their demolition.

What this writer knows about the back story here provides little clue as to why the owner, Rehab Girls LLC, is pushing demolition. In its fictitious registration of the name Rehab Girls, Rehab Girls LLC — registered through a third-party registrar — reported that Peggy Sheffold is Vice President and that the company office is the same as Rothschild Development Ltd., Sheffold’s employer. Rothschild owns a lot of Soulard property, including a corner mixed-use building directly north of this house.

Rehab Girls LLC purchased the house on South 10th for $50,000 on December 19, 2006. Recently, the house was listed for sale by Red Brick Management, a Rothschild company, with a $136,000 asking price. Since the purchase, there are no recorded building permits despite a full recent reconstruction of the cornice.

The work performed on the cornice indicates that the building’s brick work is fully repairable. Why Rehab Girls aborted the work and decided to pursue demolition is unfathomable. Soulard is a neighborhood that long has moved past dark days of demolition and on to significant infill construction. The “Rehab Girls” should stick to their name or sell this fine building. Meanwhile, the Preservation Board should deny the demolition request.

The Preservation Board meets at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, October 26 in the offices of the St. Louis Development Corporation, 1015 Locust Street, 12th floor.

However, citizens need not be present to submit written testimony. Testimony can be sent to the board via its secretary, Adona Buford, at BufordA@stlouiscity.com or care of the Cultural Resources Office, 1015 Locust Street, Suite 1200, St. Louis MO 63101.

Categories
Midtown Planning

Laclede Town Remembered

by Michael R. Allen

Photograph from the Place and Memory Project.

Byron Kerman altered me to the fact that Laclede Town now has its own page in the Space and Memory Project database. The abandoned vestige of Laclede Town stood long enough to muddy the history of what was a noble and thriving community development experiment in Midtown.

The Laclede Town page includes an essay by Dominic Schaeffer that addresses the later perception and the early reality of Laclede Town. Here’s an excerpt:

Unfortunately, the abandoned, boarded-up houses stood far too long, leaving the impression to those passing by that it must have been a failure, “the end of an error.” But to those of us who were there, it was by no means a failure. Far from it.

Laclede Town’s success came as much from its social architecture as its physical design. In fact, architecturally Laclede Town was fairly middling for the 1960s. What distinguished Laclede Town from other urban renewal projects was that its layout accommodated gathering places — a coffee house, pub and small businesses. Laclede Town had a “town circle” that may not have mimicked the organically-occurring retail hubs of old city neighborhoods at least provided the sorts of uses found in them. Thus, Laclede Town mixed uses, and had a gathering place inside of its boundaries. On top of that, the legendary manager of the project, Jerome Berger, spent more time working with residents than on cutting ribbons.

The result of the arrangement was that Laclede Town’s residents could actually create community — not “community” epitomized by sterile award-winning housing towers, or community enshrined in a pretty rendering on a developer’s wall, but community that was happening within the development itself. That’s the type of social life that makes urban places livable. That’s something that must be able to happen architecturally as well as socially. Clearly, the architecture was not the only factor, because after Berger departed Laclede Town hit its decline and eventually fell abandoned.

Categories
People St. Louis County

RFT Throws Spotlight on Esley Hamilton, Preservationist

by Michael R. Allen

Esley Hamilton discussed Greek Revival architecture in America at the Chatillon-DeMenil House on September 27.

This week’s issue of the Riverfront Times carries a feature article by Aimee Levitt on the inimitable Esley Hamilton, Historian for the St. Louis County Department of Parks and Recreation. The article, entitled “To Preserve and Protect: Esley Hamilton has a boundless passion for St. Louis’ architectural past”, provides a good overview of Esley’s career and contributions to preservation efforts in St. Louis. Esley probably would rather see a feature article on an endangered building, but he’s earned the attention.

Categories
Downtown Historic Preservation Mid-Century Modern

Farm and Home Building Looking Spiffy

by Michael R. Allen

Here’s a brief follow-up on the ongoing renovation of the Farm and Home Building — now dubbed the “411” after its north 10th Street address — at 10th and Locust streets downtown (see “Farm & Home Building’s Modern Slipcover Now Historic”, March 9). The building looks great! Once again, Craig Heller and his LoftWorks company has accomplished a sensitive rehabilitation of a difficult building.

Now, work on the exterior is almost totally done. The 1954 slip-cover, once a dingy mask that even Heller wanted to remove, again radiates modern optimism. The message is the same as ever: what is old is new again, downtown is back in action and we’ll beat the darned Soviets through our superior modern architecture. Okay, I jest, but the point is that few would have thought the Farm and Home could ever look this great. I can’t wait to raise a martini (but of course!) at the grand opening, and to see what mid-century modern building will be the next to catch a clever developer’s eye.

Categories
Downtown Historic Preservation JNEM

Moving Ahead on South Fourth Street

by Michael R. Allen

The on-again, off-again rehab of the elegant commercial building at 904 S. Fourth Street just south of downtown is definitely “on” again. That’s a good sign in this slow market, and hopefully a good sign for the larger but slow-moving Chouteau’s Landing project of which this building is part. The “other” Landing’s developer, Chivvis, has succeeded in rehabbing two other commercial buildings on Fourth Street, and is planning a major rehab of the Powell Square into studio space with a photography museum as an anchor.

Located just a stone’s throw from Busch Stadium, the South Fourth area is ripe for redevelopment. One of the problems, of course, is that are retains few historic buildings, having lost many to the construction of surface parking for the old stadium and downtown workers. What’s left is scattered, but that provides interesting opportunities for new construction.

The building at 904 S. Fourth Street is part of a more intact section on the east side of the street north of the MacArthur Bridge. That area is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the South Fourth Street Commercial Historic District (nomination by Karen Bode Baxter, Tim Maloney and others.) According to the nomination, the building at 904 S. Fourth dates to between the publication of Pictorial St. Louis in 1875 and the Hopkins Fire Insurance Map in 1883. Since St. Louis building permit records from before 1876 no longer exist and permits from the next decade are often incomplete, those two references are invaluable at assigning dates to buildings without permit records.

There are two noteworthy features of the Italianate-style building. First, its cast iron storefront carries the maker’s mark “Christopher & Company” rather than Christoper & Simpson, which was the maker’s name after 1874 and is more commonly seen. However, the building does not appear on the 1875 atlas. The second oddity here is that the south bays of the building were lopped off around 1917 to make way for the railroad approach to the Municipal (later MacArthur) Bridge. Originally, this building was symmetrical. The nomination states that the Eberle & Keyes Undertaking Company — as in bodies — was an early tenant.

Across a parking lot to the north is an intriguing building with a tower-style rounded corner. This building dates to 1887 and housed many doctor’s offices over the years. The back drop here is stunning — the majestic bridge approach still active with rail traffic, the rising masses of the industrial buildings closer to the river, and the downtown street canyon to the north. South Fourth might lack an intact built environment, but it has an urban scenic quality that is very attractive. Imagining the potential is not difficult.

There are some connectivity problems. The rail bridges are visual barriers, but they add to the charm. The barrier here is to the east, where I-55 walls off Fourth Street from Chouteau’s Landing proper. Something has to be done there before this area will really “pop” with development. The likely major design competition surrounding the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial next year provides a great opportunity to examine the connection between this south end of downtown and the river. Removal of I-55 is not possible, but removal of I-70 on the other side of the Poplar Street Bridge could open up an easy walk to the river from South Fourth. Whatever happens, the design competition ought to be open to big-picture thinking that would benefit the development efforts on South Fourth as much as the downtown tourist experience.

Categories
Media North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Topic A Tonight

by Michael R. Allen

Tonight, I will be a guest on KDHX’s Topic A program. Host Amanda Doyle will interview me on a range of topics, including new federal preservation legislation, a St. Louis museum project located in Illinois and, of course, the status of the NorthSide project.

Readers should already be tuned into to Topic A this month because it’s Built Environment Month on the program. Last week’s guest was Sarah Susanka, author of the Not So Big House series of books; listen online here.

Topic A broadcasts each Monday at 7:30 p.m. on KDHX, 88.1 FM.

Categories
Historic Preservation SLPS

Adams Warns of More School Closings Ahead

An article that appeared this week in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “St. Louis schools must cut $18 million more” (by David Hunn, October 9) quoted St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent predicting more school closings next year:

In addition, Adams said the district will almost certainly have to close more schools next summer. Some schools have feverishly hunted for students and are now enrolled over capacity. But 14 of the district’s 74 schools are below 50 percent full.

Categories
DALATC Historic Preservation Missouri Public Policy

New Federal Bills Would Help Neighborhood Preservation Efforts

by Michael R. Allen

Public policy has a tremendous impact on the chance that historic buildings have for survival. St. Louisans know well how many buildings are still standing, gloriously rehabilitated, because of the Missouri historic rehabilitation tax credit adopted in 1998. Many remember what happened to rehab efforts here when the 1986 federal tax act removed the major federal rehabilitation tax credit. Some of us have concerns about the impact of the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, which was passed in 2007 to encourage large-scale urban development without any preservation safeguards.

Two bills recently introduced in the U.S. Congress offer smart policy changes that could help us save thousands of historic buildings in St. Louis and communities across the nation. In Missouri, we have had an inverted policy situation where our state’s laws are more helpful to preservation efforts than the federal laws. In most states, however, it’s the other way around — and the federal laws are very restrictive, with no practical use to homeowners and small developers. That could change if we work to pass these bills.

Historic Homeowners Revitalization Act (HR 3670)

U.S. Representative Russ Carnahan (D-MO) has long been a supporter of changing federal laws to adopt preservation policies that benefit homeowners instead of just developers. On September 29, our hometown Congressman introduced the Historic Homeowners Revitalization Act (HR 3670), which has already gained 28 co-sponsors. Here’s a run-down of the changes it would make to the existing federal historic rehabilitation tax credit:

  • The bill would create a 20% tax credit — capped at $60,000 — for qualified expenses rehabbing primary residences that are certified historic buildings; currently, only income-producing properties are eligible for this credit.
  • The bill would allow buyers of rehabilitated homes to capture the credits for which sellers are eligible, thus creating a useful form of transfer.
  • The bill would allow federal historic rehabilitation tax credits to be transferable for homeowners. Without this feature, homeowners would have a tough time trying to use the new credits. Many small developers can’t use the existing federal historic rehabilitation credits because they cannot be transferred.
  • The bill changes the existing tax credit to allow issuance of credits totaling 130% of eligible rehabilitation costs on residential rental buildings in distressed census tracts. Thus, the bill widens the incentive for retention and enhancement of rental housing where it is needed. If an owner can get 100% for a condo conversion or 130% for retaining rental units, that owner just might go with the higher credit amount — and help neighborhoods retain quality affordable housing.

    Representatives William Clay (D-MO) and Ike Skelton (D-MO) are among the co-sponsors, which include a few Republicans. We need to get all of Missouri and Illinois’ representatives on board!

    Community Restoration and Revitalization Act (H.R. 3715 and S. 1743)

    On October 1, Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Olympia Snow (R-ME) introduced the Senate version of the Community Restoration and Revitalization Act (S. 1743) and Representative Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and Pat Tiberi (R-OH) introduced the House companion (H.R. 3715). This bill provides a nice companion to Carnahan’s measure.

    The Community Restoration and Revitalization Act would amend Section 47 of the U.S. Tax Code to do the following:

  • The bill would raise from 20% to 30% the percentage of qualified rehabilitation costs that can be returned in credits for projects of $5 million or less. These credits would become transferable under the bill.
  • The 10% rehabilitation tax credit for non-historic buildings — the federal rehab tax credit not often mentioned locally — would be able to be used for residential rental properties. This would allow for mixed-use and apartment buildings to use this credit, instead of only all-commercial buildings.
  • Very important among the bill’s changes is removing the 1986 tax law’s provision that set 1936 in place as the cut-off date for buildings eligible for that 10% federal credit. That year marks 50 years back from 1986, but the year itself is codified so now buildings must be 73 years old to use the credit Instead, this bill would change it to a floating 50-year mark.
  • Energy efficiency would be rewarded, with up to $5 per square foot in extra credits for projects that increase efficiency of historic buildings by 30% of more.
  • State historic rehabilitation tax credits would no longer be treated as income for federal tax purposes.
  • The bill would remove restrictions on “disqualified leases” that currently prevent user of the credit from leasing space in rehabilitated buildings to non-profit or civic organizations.

    The Community Restoration and Revitalization Act has only one Senate co-sponsor (Snowe, since only one senator can be a sponsor) but 44 House co-sponsors. The Missouri and Illinois delegations need to sign on to this one too — only Representative Carnahan and Illinois Representatives Jerry Costello (D) and Danny Davis (D) have signed on.

    Time to make calls and send letters to your representatives and our senators. Forget bailouts and giant projects. In this recession, the real economic stimulus we need is to widen the amount of money accessible to every citizen that stays at work renewing our homes, shops and communities.

    More information on both bills, including full text, is available on the Preservation Action website.

    • Categories
    JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Public Policy

    Vacant McEagle Houses Next to New Habitat for Humanity Homes

    by Michael R. Allen

    What’s wrong with this picture of Bacon Street in JeffVanderLou?

    I think that the problem is obvious: There are brand-new houses next door to vacant buildings. However, in this strange case, the new houses were built before the houses next door went vacant.

    There are three vacant houses at 2731, 2733 and 2735 Bacon Street adjacent to the three new houses built lovingly by Habitat for Humanity. Across the street are more new homes by Habitat. This block has turned around from a drug-infested, vacant-lot-strewn area into a stable place.

    However, in the midst of this uplift came a company called Sheridan Place LC, controlled by McEagle Properties. In 2006 and 2007, Sheridan Place bought up dozens of houses like these, making sure the residents moved out before closing the sales. That’s right — all three of the houses on Bacon were occupied before being purchased by McEagle.

    Why did McEagle need to buy these houses at all? By the time the purchases happened, the Habitat for Humanity development was completed, and new residents had moved in. The three well-kept homes next door were a sign of stability to newcomers on Bacon, but not for long.

    On the other side of the new houses on this side of Bacon is another Sheridan Place special at 2745 Bacon Street, missing its windows and wearing the red boards put on it by the Building Division. The Habitat for Humanity homes are book-ended by vacant buildings that were purchased for a large-scale project that has little to do with this block. Because of Habitat’s fine work, which should be honored and not insulted by crass speculation, this block can’t be subsumed by development. But its vacant homes can be held hostage in a phased development where JeffVanderLou is the last phase scheduled to be completed. These houses still could be vacant in 2025 or later.

    McEagle has no business owning these houses. The city should not follow good money with bad by letting the developer hoard houses around areas that have been successfully redeveloped. The city’s redevelopment agreement with McEagle should require the sale of houses like these on Bacon. If McEagle receives 50% of the purchase prices back in Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credits, as is expected, then the developer should be able to quickly sell off houses like these at affordable prices. After all, the NorthSide project is supposed to fill in the gaps, not create more.

    Categories
    College Hill Housing JeffVanderLou North St. Louis

    Bay Front Houses in North City

    by Michael R. Allen

    The single-family house at 2441 Laflin Street in JeffVanderLou (1893) bears a resemblance to a house that I wrote about recently (see “Architectural Creativity on Prairie Avenue”, August 18). That duplex at 2111 East Prairie Avenue in College Hill (1884) appears below.

    Both have a projecting trapezoidal bay and a brick cornice as defining architectural features. However, the house on Laflin is a single house of only 660 square feet with the entrance to the left of the bay. There may be more houses like this across the city — post their addresses in the comments section.