Joseph Lacroix House, ca. 1870 and 1888

The caption for the photograph suggests the house was the oldest in St. Louis at that time; the Joseph Lacroix house was the only home built during the 18th century at the corner of Olive and Third streets. According to the National Park Service, Lacroix built the home himself as a vertical log house sometime around 1797. The photograph itself was from Boehl and Koenig photographers (ca. 1870), and it is the original for the sketch seen below. The full resolution scan of the above image is located on Wikimedia:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Oldest_House,_St._Louis,_Missouri,_by_Boehl_%26_Koenig.png

From Commercial and Architectural St. Louis by George Washington Orear (1888). This scene depicts an "old stockade house" in the oldest portion of St. Louis, at Third and Olive streets.

Eads Bridge and Riverfront, ca. 1870

From an eBay listing of a stereographic print originally from the photographers Boehl and Koenig (ca. 1870s). A lovely image of the riverfront with passerby.

St. Louis School Library, 1878

From Camille Dry's Pictorial Guide to St. Louis (1878). Here is a sketch of the St. Louis Public School Library (later, in 1884, the St. Louis Public Library) located in the Polytechnic Building of the St. Louis schools at the corner of Seventh and Chestnut streets.

The library had some 55,000 volumes and various works of art; the main library building was replaced in 1912 with Cass Gilbert's Central Library (now itself the target of a renovation and expansion plan).

St. Louis Morgue, 1878

From Camille Dry's Pictorial Guide to St. Louis (1878). Although it's unclear why a guide to St. Louis would include a trip to the local morgue, Dry dutifully shows the reader what sort of morgue the great city had. According to Dry, "The house of the dead stands just back of the Jail at the corner of Spruce and 12th streets. Here behind a glass partition are three marble slabs, on which are deposited the unknown dead, awaiting identification and burial." I'm sure the marble was quite lovely. The morgue is still located at 12th and Spruce, more than 130 years later.

Vandeventer Place in Google Earth

To help visualize Vandeventer Place as it was, I created a Google Earth overlay file for it.

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=833653&filename=VandeventerPlace.kmz

Included are a plat map created using Sanborn Fire Maps (adjusted for color, spliced together, and cleaned up) and individual plat polygons with placemarks and images for individual houses. Included are:

7 Vandeventer Place (Charles H. Peck House)
27 Vandeventer Place (John R. Lionberger House)
40 Vandeventer Place (Henry C. Pierce House)
51 Vandeventer Place (John D. Davis House)
64 Vandeventer Place (Henry C. Scott House)
72 Vandeventer Place (Dexter P. Tiffany Sr. House)
Vandeventer Place Gates

Vandeventer Place Gates at Grand Avenue

87 Vandeventer Place, ca. 1900

This view of Vandeventer Place (and, at the foreground, 87 Vandeventer) comes from the St. Louis City Development Corporation history site online. The end of Vandeventer on the west often showcased much smaller homes than on the east; this also was the last portion of the private street to be demolished in the 1950s by the city. 87 Vandeventer Place, the house at the corner of Vandeventer Place and Vandeventer Avenue, was built for Irwin Z. Smith, a local investor and real estate tycoon. Smith fathered a veritable tribe of children who went on to do good things in their community; according to various sources, he liked raquetball, hunting, and fishing.

7 Vandeventer Place

This image of the Charles Henry Peck house is of unknown origin. It depicts 7 Vandeventer Place, a lovely Second Empire located on the north side of Vandeventer Place with its east boundary at Grand Avenue. 7 Vandeventer Place was built in 1872 for Charles Henry Peck, a capitalist in the sash, woodwork and door business. Peck was a charter trustee of Vandeventer Place, retired in 1875, and upon his death in 1899, he willed the home to his son Stephen, a real estate investor, who was not only a Presbyterian but also a Democrat (according to the Book of St. Louisans, 1906). More importantly, upon Charles Henry Peck's death, the trust governing Vandeventer Place dissolved.

By 1911, Stephen had passed away, and the only living son of Charles dwelled in Westminster Place, far away from the hustle, bustle, and hoopla of Vandeventer Place. The mansion passed to other hands (specifically, the hands of Max Mueller Bryant and his family, who were entangled legally in some ways). The mansion itself passed away sometime in the 1940s.

51 Vandeventer Place, 1899

From the Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club (1899). Here is the first mansion of John D. Davis, patriarch of the St. Louis Davis family (and father of John T. Davis, builder of 17 Westmoreland Place). John D. Davis had the home at 51 Vandeventer designed by the renowned Henry Hobson Richardson (it being only one of three residences Richardson actually designed for St. Louis). Richardson's penchant for massing along the lower level is apparent in this design. This particular Richardson met its end in 1958 with the city's plan for the juvenile detention center now occupying the block.

For the Google Earth Vandeventer Place Pack:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=833653&filename=VandeventerPlace.kmz

64 Vandeventer Place, 1899

From the Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architecture Club (1899). This two-and-a-half story Elizabethan-style mansion was designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge in 1898 for Henry C. Scott, a Confederate war veteran and St. Louis capitalist. The H.C. Scott mansion stood at 64 Vandeventer until the 1950s city acquisition.

For the Google Earth Vandeventer Place pack:

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=833637&filename=VandeventerPlace.kmz

72 Vandeventer Place, 1899

From the Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club (1899). This photograph is a record of the richly decorated home of Dexter Pardon Tiffany, Sr., a St. Louis lawyer. The home, a splendid mixture of Romanesque, Tudor, and other styles, was designed by Grable, Weber and Groves. Tiffany came from a wealthy St. Louis family; his father was a real estate investor who committed suicide in 1861 after complaining about the bad economy in St. Louis resulting from the Civil War (leaving a $1,000,000 estate to his widow, and subsequently Tiffany).

Tiffany graduated from Harvard in 1868 and Harvard Law in 1870, marrying that year and taking up residence in Vandeventer sometime after. His two sons were also quite successful - one serving in the Spanish-American War as a naval officer, the other becoming an executive for Anheuser-Busch and living at 14 Lenox Place in his later years. Tiffany held a government position during World War One, but died shortly afterward in 1921 in Boston.

http://www.mohistory.org/files/archives_guides/TiffanyCollection.pdf

72 Vandeventer was demolished some time in the late 1950s.

For the Google Earth Vandeventer Place Pack:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=833637&filename=VandeventerPlace.kmz

Crunden Branch Library on Cass Avenue, 1909

From the Washington University Eames and Young Architectural Photographs Collection. Several images of the then-newly opened Crunden Library of the Saint Louis Public Library at 1406 North 14th Street (or 1317 Cass Avenue). According to a variety of sources, the Crunden Branch was opened in 1909 using monies of the late Andrew Carnegie, steel magnate and proponent of the Gospel of Wealth, which suggested that the successful capitalists ought to provide for the success of the underprivileged via philanthropy. Carnegie endowed thousands of libraries, from St. Louis to small towns across the nation.

The Crunden branch was a gorgeous beaux-arts building with a reading room that uplifted patrons' minds with its chandeliers and intricate molding. Costing in excess of $51,000, the branch was the first of its kind on the north side of St. Louis. While the library was in residence at the building, the Draft Board for World War One held hearings there, and the local Red Cross had meetings. It was not simply a center for learning, not just a "third place" for north side residents, but was a valuable asset to community life.

The library moved in the early 1950s and the building was sold to the Pulaski Bank (then Pulaski Savings Assocation), which vacated in the 1990s. The ubiquitous LRA demolished the building, glorious even in its decay, in August 2005.

Mr. Carnegie's dreams denied, the north side now has neither a bank nor a library, but a vacant lot at 1317 Cass.

http://www.eco-absence.org/stl/crunden/

http://www.builtstlouis.net/pulaski1.html

Frisco Building at 906 Olive Street, 1906

From the Washington University Eames and Young Architectural Photographs Collection. Two photographs of the Frisco Building; the exterior depicts the Frisco as it was in 1906, complete with Frisco System signage. The second depicts the well-appointed lobby of the Frisco, including what appear to be either flower pots or spittoons near the elevators.

Mermod-Jaccard Building at Fifth and Olive, 1880

From the Washington University Eames and Young Architectural Photographs Collection. Here is another view of the marvelous Mermod-Jaccard Building at Fifth and Olive streets. See post from October 2nd for more information about the structure.

Bee Hat Building at 1021 Washington Avenue, 1899

From Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club (1899). In this splendid photograph, we see the 11th Street Realty Company Building at 1021 Washington Avenue immediately after being finished out. The building, designed by Isaac Taylor, is now known as the Bee Hat Building from its use by a hat company from the 1940s through the late 1990s. It was renovated in the early 2000s to become part of the vibrant loft district on Washington Avenue. From the St. Louis Business Journal in 2005:

The sale of the Bee Hat building, which has been vacant for several years, took place at about the time the newspaper was going to press.

BHat Development, formed for the purpose of developing the building, plans to convert the second through seventh floors into 36 one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartments, ranging in size from 900 to 1,300 square feet and renting from $990 to $1,430 a month, said real estate appraiser Matt Burghoff, one of two partners in BHat Development. Burghoff said his partner prefers to remain anonymous. There will be space for about 30 residents' cars in the basement.

A restaurant will occupy 7,500 square feet of the building's 9,000-square-foot first-floor commercial space, with a boutique retail store in 900 feet. The restaurant owner is a well-established and respected St. Louis restaurateur, Burghoff said, but he declined to name either of the tenants, who have signed letters of intent to occupy the space.

Eleven terra cotta lion heads on the outside of the building are a signature feature of the structure. The heads were attached to the gutters and drained water to the street. BHat wants to link them up to steam lines and have each lion roar every half-hour or so, Burghoff said.

The building now does sport steam roaring lions, by the way. A fitting addition to the lovely terra cotta on the building.

http://www.stlouislofts.com/1021washington.html

http://www.builtstlouis.net/washington/5d.html

Christ Church Cathedral, ca. 1867

From an eBay listing comes this fine photograph of the Christ Church Cathedral at 1210 Locust Street, sometime in the late 1860s. Remarkably, it depicts the church while under construction; the building was designed by Leopold Eidlitz in the mid-1860s and is listed as a National Historic Landmark (as of October 1994). For more information, visit the St. Louis Historic Preservation article about the church:

http://stlcin.missouri.org/history/structdetail.cfm?Master_ID=1761

1700s House at 4th and Poplar, 1899

From the Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club (1899). The architectural club not only provided images of late 19th century architecture, but also an absolutely marvelous retrospective on St. Louis architecture of the previous century. In one photograph, the club shows the oldest extant structure in St. Louis in 1899 -- what they described as a frame house, built in the late 1700s, located on 4th Street north of Poplar. Imagine, for a moment, what St. Louis might look like with historic structures from the 1700s tucked within an awe-inspiring downtown of terracotta and steel and glass skyscrapers.

The location of the house is now the intersection of I-64 and the Poplar Street Bridge.

Eads Bridge and Riverfront, 1903

From an eBay listing, a photograph of the riverfront, lovely as it was. Here is the view from the levee looking toward the Eads Bridge, published by H.T. Coates in 1903.

Mullanphy Savings Bank, 1893

From the St. Louis County Directory (1893). This image is the first advertisement in the directory, depicting the Mullanphy Savings Bank, which operated at the corner of Broadway and Cass Avenue (near the Broadway exit on I-70 today). The bank failed on February 27, 1897, after only 24 years in operation. Having only $100,000 in capital and nearly $650,000 in deposits listed, the local banking association did not support the bank and depositors lost almost everything after a bank run ended the Mullanphy.

According to the New York Times, the bank was the first failure in St. Louis in a decade; some of the stories of depositors were quite tragic. One elderly woman who had lost $400 "wept bitterly as she hobbled down the front steps, railing against all bankers as robbers," while another man who had only $100 in deposits was the most angry. He had "recently turned over a new leaf and commenced to save money. He cursed like a pirate, and swore that he would never save another cent." The local postman lost his life savings of some $200. The Times suggested that the Mullanphy never fully recovered (as much of the nation also did not) from the Panic of1893, brought on by the failure of the Reading Railroad and the shaky currency value.

Clayton Road and Tamm Avenue, 1893

From the St. Louis County Directory (1893). Here is Fourney's Beer Depot, serving ice cold Anheuser-Busch and Culmbacher bottled beers. Fourney's was located at the corner of Tamm and Clayton Roads, far out in the reaches of the county at the time. Coincidentally, Tamm and Clayton still sports bars, likely still serving ice cold Anheuser-Busch bottled beers.

300 Washington Avenue, 1893

From the St. Louis County Directory (1893). The image is derived from an advertisement for a city business, the A.F. Shepleigh Hardware Company. The building was located at the northwest corner of Washington Avenue and 4th Street, which is now occupied by a Hampton Inn parking garage. Interestingly, Shepleigh Hardware carried not only the usual tools, but also guns, pistols, ammunition and sporting goods.

Mermod-Jaccard Building at Fifth and Olive, 1880

From an eBay listing comes a photograph of the earlier Mermod and Jaccard Building at Fifth and Olive Streets. Tragically, the building shown burned in December 1897, destroying $350,000 worth of merchandise, the store, and 40-some other tenants. Within three days, the jewelers had moved across the street to temporary quarters, and within two years they had a new, larger building at Broadway and Locust.

Broadway and Locust, 1899

From the Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club (1899). The lovely Mermod and Jaccard Building at the northwest corner of Broadway and Locust, shown here in a photograph. Mermod-Jaccard was among the oldest jewelers in the city in the late 1890s; shown above is their building, after a destructive fire demolished their long-time home at Fifth and Olive Streets (see next post).

1711 Cole Street, ca. 1890

From the Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club (1899). This is the home of General D.M. Frost, built in 1859 at 1711 Wash Street (now Cole Street). The architect, per the listing in the Catalogue, was George I. Barnett. The story of Cole Street is quite interesting; it began as North J Street, then was renamed in 1826 as Hickory Street (per the city's naming conventions). In 1842, the street was changed to Wash Street for the local landowner Robert Wash, who served on the Missouri Supreme Court. A century later, Wash became Cole, so named for Richard Cole, local educator and long-time principal.

Nothing stands on the site of General Frost's manse.

Studio of J.C. Strauss at 3514 Franklin Avenue, 1899

From the Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club (1899). In this image, we see the castle of Mr. J.C. Strauss, St. Louis photographer. He had this building custom designed as his studio, located at 3514 Franklin Avenue (near enough to Vandeventer Place to be the darling of the city's elites). Although it burned in the first year of the 20th century (after being built in 1896), the building was lovingly rebuilt in much the same style. Today, the site is a parking lot.

17 Westmoreland Place, 1902

From "Palaces of St. Louis," National Magazine (Volume 17, October 1902). The home of John T. Davis at 17 Westmoreland was described as a "red granite chateau" by Mr. Hoch in the National Magazine. 17 Westmoreland was more than a mere chateau, however. It boasted of being the first Missouri home to be landscaped by Frederick Law Olmstead when built in 1894. The home was and remained the most expensive ever built on the street, and possibly was the most expensive home ever built in St. Louis. Julius Hunter et al in Westmoreland and Portland Places note that the "cutting of the pink granite alone would have cost a fortune."

Update: In 1894, 17 Westmoreland's construction costs exceeded $800,000. In the spirit of determining the price of the home in today's dollars, I found that using the GDP deflator, the cost of the building would have slightly exceeded $18.5 million. Using the Consumer Price Index, the home would cost approximately $21 million. Only one home is on the market in the St. Louis metropolitan area that exceeds a $10 million price; no other homes have sold in the last 60 days for greater than $10 million. The current estimated value of 17 Westmoreland is around $1.3 million, which is, considering construction costs, quite the bargain.

Later, the home was inhabited by Dwight Davis, the namesake for the Davis Cup tennis championship. In a stroke of tragedy, the masterwork was not seen or long inhabited by designer or patron - original homeowner John Davis died of Bright's disease in 1894, while the architect died the previous year. However, the home is now in the capable hands of Mrs. Mary Strauss, the owner and restorer of the Fox Theatre.

Lionberger Building (Warehouse), ca. 1890

From the Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club (1899). The Architectural Club sponsored a yearly exhibit in which architects from across the country were invited to display their most prominent subjects or recent buildings. St. Louis buildings featured prominently in the catalog. Above is the Lionberger Building (Warehouse), designed by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge from designs by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1887-1888.

The building was executed quite nicely from Richardson's plans, and fronted Washington Avenue, but extended down 8th Street to St. Charles Avenue; the warehouse extended west along Washington to about midblock. Tragically, this masterwork was gutted by fire in 1896, too late for another Richardsonian Romanesque temple of commerce to be erected in its place. It was one of only a handful of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge or Richardson commercial buildings to be built in St. Louis. Within decades, the site was occupied by the building that now serves as the Renaissance Grand Hotel.

A description of the fire from the Middleville Sun (Mich.) in 1896:

FIRE VISITS ST. LOUIS.
Ely-Walker Dry Goods Co. Burned Out
Loss $1,500,000.

Fire Monday gutted the mammoth seven-story granite building at the southwest corner of 8th street and Washington avenue, St. Louis, Mo., occupied by the Ely-Walker Dry Goods Company. The loss will be close to $1,500,000. One human life was sacrificed and several people were hurt.

The fire was one of the worst the St.Louis department has had to cope withfor a long time, and for a while it looked as though the Washington Avenue wholesale business district would be wiped out.

The building burned was known as the Lionberger Building. It fronted on Washington Avenue, running north along 8th Street to St. Charles, and extended west on Washington Avenue to the middle of the block. The firm's enormous stock of goods was recently increased by immense purchases from the East, and consequently every inch of available floor space was occupied by great piles of dry goods of every description for the spring trade.

The insurance on the stock is about $1,000,000. The building was insured for $200,000. It was owned by the John Lionberger estate and was built about eight years ago at a cost of $500,000. Before the blaze was mastered one fireman, George Gaultwald, was killed by a falling wall at the 8th Street end of the building, and during the fire several other firemen were more or less seriously injured.

Bell Telephone Building, 1889

From American Architect and Building News (January 1889). The American Architect was a marvelous trade magazine that included multitudes of sketches of buildings then under construction, in planning, or recently built. This sketch depicts the Bell Telephone Building (also known as the S.G. Adams Building) in a heliotype print from its designers, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge. According to Built St. Louis, this firm was a successor to the recently deceased Henry Hobson Richardson, noted in earlier posts. The Bell Telephone Building has survived and thrived in recent years as the home of City Gourmet (City Grocer) and as a loft residential building.

For recent photographs, visit Built St. Louis:

http://www.builtstlouis.net/opos/sgadams.html

5065 Lindell Boulevard, 1902

From "Palaces of St. Louis," National Magazine (Volume 17, October 1902). The caption reads, "A Marble Palace in Forest Park Terrace, the Residence of Mr. C.S. Hills." So far I have not yet found the location for the home, excepting that Forest Park Terrace was at times another name for Lindell Boulevard facing Forest Park. Another photograph of the home is in American Architect and Building News (May 1900), which lists C.S. Hills as Colonel Charles S. Hills. The Missouri Historical Society has a photograph of the home, ca. 1899. Civil War records show that Colonel Hills was a commander of Iowan regiments during that terrible conflict.

Update: I have located Colonel Hills' house. It was located at 5065 Lindell Boulevard, and has been demolished and is now a vacant lot. It appears that Colonel Hills' garage is now part of 16 Westmoreland Place, as 5065 was absorbed into an expanded Westmoreland plot and an extant building remains on what would have been the site. See the St. Louis Assessor's records for the plot.

Portland Place, 1900

From "Palaces of St. Louis," National Magazine (Volume 17, October 1902). This expansive view of Portland Place shows Frederick Wellington Ruckstuhl's Mercure s'amuse (Mercury Amusing Himself) in the center median.

27 Vandeventer Place, 1890

From Whitehall Buick's Photostream (2009). The image depicts the home of John R. Lionberger at 27 Vandeventer Place, since demolished. The home was designed by the famous Henry Hobson Richardson of Boston in 1886, and the home was finished by 1888. The Lionberger family was related to Richardson via marriage. Richardson's designs are renowned; however, the home of John Lionberger was among his final designs. Tragically for St. Louis, Richardson designed only three homes in the area, and only one remains (the Issac H. Lionberger house at 3630 Grandel Square). Interestingly, the home at 3630 Grandel Square was of an unfinished design; Richardson passed away from a kidney disorder while working on the plans.

For more information on Henry Hobson Richardson:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hobson_Richardson

For a Bing Bird's Eye View of the only extant Richardson home in St. Louis:
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qf629c7gdkbq&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=20477445&encType=1

For the Google Earth Vandeventer Place Pack:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=833637&filename=VandeventerPlace.kmz

40 Vandeventer Place, 1887 and 1902

From "Palaces of St. Louis," National Magazine (Volume 17, October 1902). The home of Mr. Henry Clay Pierce on Vandeventer Place, now lost to demolition. The home was said to have cost in excess of $800,000 when built for the oil magnate in the mid-1880s. Pierce fought a losing battle against Standard Oil for control of both the Mexican Fuel Company and the Waters-Pierce Oil Company in the early 1900s. Another view of the home in sketch form from The American Architect and Building News (July 1887):

A colorized original version of the above sketch from 1887 is available for viewing or purchase on St. Croix Architecture at http://www.stcroixarchitecture.com/plan.php?id=2271.

4510 Lindell Boulevard, 1902

From "Palaces of St. Louis," National Magazine (Volume 17, October 1902). The home of Mr. William F. Nolker at 4510 Lindell Boulevard was listed as "A Rhine Inspiration on Lindell Boulevard" according to Mr. Hoch; it currently serves as the home for the archbishop of St. Louis. Nolker built the home in 1891, died in 1906, and the home was sold to a new family in 1917. Shortly after buying the home, Mr. and Mrs. Julius Walsh created -- wait for it -- the cocktail party. Mrs. Walsh hired a professional drink mixer to provide cocktails in the backyard and lower levels to entertain her and some 50 guests before dinner. Yet, however socially successful the Walsh family might have been, they eventually sold the mansion to none other than the archdiocese in 1923. It has served since then in the capacity as the home of the archbishop of St. Louis, and even played host to Pope John Paul II in 1999.

For more information, see http://www.westendword.com/NC/0/1241.html

1 Westmoreland Place, 1902

From "Palaces of St. Louis," National Magazine (Volume 17, October 1902). The above photograph is of 1 Westmoreland Place, with the caption of "An Italian Palace; the residence of Mr. J.C. Van Blarcom, 1 Westmoreland Place". Other homes in subsequent posts rely on the following information: A certain Mr. Edmund Hoch with photography by Mr. George Stark produced a fabulous trove of information about the residential masterpieces of early 20th century St. Louis. As Mr. Hoch explained, "St. Louis has, as stated, palaces -- palaces of a kind that would enrich and beautify the world -- palaces with palace grounds and palace surroundings -- the like of which, in number and richness and beauty of setting, the country outside St. Louis has little idea of." Although not every home was identified with its address, I have attempted to track down those which were not listed. Each home in the article included its owner, which often assists in finding the location.

Wydown Boulevard, 1917

From Problems of St. Louis (1917). Double streetcar tracks lined by trees down the center of the boulevard on Wydown. Currently the center strip is a walking path.

Lindell and Locust, 1917

From Problems of St. Louis (1917), a report from the City Plan Association. The "Lindell Cut Off", as it was called, was a street connection made from Locust Street (shown above) to Lindell Boulevard (apparently "quite popular" according to the CPA). In the photograph above, Locust Street continues west on the right, while the Lindell Cut Off is the street at left. The Cut Off was created in 1915, but has subsequently been in-filled with parking for the building at the diagonal. The building with the signage and towers in the center (at the diagonal) still stands, but lacks its ornamentation. Here is a current view via Bing Maps:

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qf5h7q7gdyn8&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=8503989&encType=1

On Rapid Growth of St. Louis, 1907

From A City Plan for St. Louis (1907), "[By 1937], the city will contain a population of a million and three-quarter inhabitants, and the limits of the city will no doubt include Webster, Kirkwood, Clayton, University City, and a number of other suburban towns." City planners should avoid having no doubts about the future, it seems.

River Des Peres Plans, 1907

From A City Plan for St. Louis (1907). This cross-section of the River Des Peres included roadways and streetcar lines, with lovely shrubbery and trees. The Civic League also advocated purchasing hundreds of acres of low-lying land near the River Des Peres, both to facilitate landscaping but also to avoid flood damage. How prescient.

Views of Kingshighway, 1907

From A City Plan for St. Louis (1907). The top image depicts the southern terminus of Kingshighway, near Caldwell Street, along the Mississippi River. The lower image is Kingshighway as it looked along Forest Park (on the left) with its characteristic boulevard landscaping already in place by 1907. The absence of gridlock, dozens of traffic signals, and the skyline of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital is stark.

A few interesting points about the image at top: first, Kingshighway Boulevard no longer exists at this location. The initial plan for the city suggested that Kingshighway would extend from its current roadway, then jog southeast at what is now Bellerive Boulevard. Bellerive for many years was known as Kingshighway South, or some variant of that name. However, with the building of Interstate 55 and other issues, the linking of Bellerive as an integral portion of Kingshighway faltered and then disappeared.

Cabanne Neighborhood, 1907

From A City Plan for St. Louis (1907). A lovely photograph of the final days before the automobile dominated St. Louis neighborhoods. Here, a horse-drawn carriage moves down tree-lined streets in the Cabanne neighborhood. The Civic League was emphasizing the beauty of narrow roadways, ample trees, and wide sidewalks. For a photograph tour, visit:

http://www.builtstlouis.net/northside/map-cabanne.html

Mullanphy Park, 1907

From A City Plan for St. Louis (1907). The two photographs depict dozens, if not hundreds, of children playing at the Mullanphy Park Playground and Garden, then being leased by the city from the Mullanphy family. Later purchased by the city for a public park, it no longer seems quite as vibrant, but soon might in light of recent developments in the area. The park is extant at 10th and Mullanphy in Old North St. Louis.

Franklin and Grand Avenues, 1908

From Comfort Stations for St. Louis (1908). Again from the Civic League, a view of what might have been. Here is the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Franklin Avenue, slightly north of Grand Center. The Civic League suggested a mighty monument to St. Ange (Captain Louis St. Ange de Bellerive), the first French commandant of St. Louis. St. Ange established a proper government at St. Louis in 1766 when he arrived, and he created the first official system of land grants for the area. Interestingly, underneath the monument to St. Ange would have been a system of lavatories. The message being sent by putting St. Ange atop a large public toilet is, at the very least, intriguing.


View Larger Map

Post Office Building, 1908

From Public Comfort Stations for St. Louis (1908), a report from the Civic League of St. Louis. This depicts proposed public toilets in underground areas next to the Post Office Building at 815 Olive Street. The Civic League was a great proponent of public restroom facilities, and, as stated in the caption, it believed that the ample sidewalk space provided room for stairwells into underground toilet areas.

Deville Motor Hotel, 2009

A view of the Deville Motor Hotel, host of swanky parties and loving apartments for the elderly, from Postmodern Sleaze's Photostream (2009). Goodbye, beautiful. You did your best. I'll miss you.