Valentine to a South City Apartment Building

Chippewa & Lindenwood Place
South St. Louis City, MO

I’m sending a Valentine to the Crystal Tower Apartments in the Lindenwood Park neighborhood because it deserves some lovin’.   Though it never pops to mind when someone asks me about my favorite St. Louis City buildings, my heart beats a little faster each time I pass this art deco charmer.  So on this day of cupids, chocolates and roses, I’m leaving a cyber Valentine in the Crystal Towers lobby ‘cos I’m sweet on it!

The apartment building went up in 1940, so its art deco flair is authentic.  It has 12 one bedroom apartments, and 6 two bedroom units.   So often with St. Louis City apartments of this vintage, the exterior is all handsome come on, while inside, the apartments are vanilla bland.  But courtesy of Craigslist, turns out Crystal Towers apartments are plaster cove ceilings and arches and gleaming wood floors and trim.  In short, it looks like it has been shown constant and loving care through all of its decades, which is a rare trait in apartments for rent.

While working on this Valentine, I found that my crush on Crystal Towers goes back as far as 2001, when I used its outdoor entry patio as an example of texture for a black & white photo class assignment.

Note that some 9 years later, the same concrete globe has been scrubbed of 2001 grunge, and someone keeps up on patching the cracks.   The entry has the subdued drama of a Hollywood movie set; maybe an exterior for Nick and Nora Charles in one of the movies from The Thin Man series?  The building is also slightly nautical, and even writes its name in cursive above the front door.

Shall we assume it took its fanciful name for this pillar of glass block?  Which, if so, just adds to its harmless and charming allusion of swellegance.  This is why I want it to Be My Valentine!

What Vintage Is This Lindell Bank?

Hampton Avenue & Chippewa
South St. Louis, MO

If you had to guess what year this building is from, what would you say?

You could look up the history of Lindell Bank, or know a little about the South St. Louis neighborhood it’s part of to make a guess.

Folks are very familiar with this building because it’s on such a prominent, busy intersection.  I’ve heard people refer to it as “the statue bank,” or “the art bank,” because of the two sculptures flanking the Hampton Avenue entrance.   You could peek at the base of these pieces by Richard H. Ellis to get an important clue as to how old this building is, since the building doesn’t have a corner stone telling you its age.

I’ve polled a whole lot of people about how old they think this building is, and everyone - including myself - places the design and construction somewhere in the early 1960s.  The details are what make this a solid guess.  5 different kinds of travertine creating visual language over a simple rectangle punctuated by mirror-images of entry cubes.  Above, note how the 2 bands of pink travertine - which is also used on the entry cubes - follow the bump-out of the drive up window, a subtle little detail not at all unusual on mid-century modern buildings of this vintage.  The scale, massing and materials of this building clearly make it a product of an architectural era long gone.

Except that this building went up in 1986.
Yes, 1986.

Here’s proof from a 1971 aerial map, which shows what some people remember to be an auto parts store that sat back on the property.  A 1958 aerial shot shows an even smaller building sitting diagonal even further back on the same property.  I’ve yet to run into anyone that knows what that older building was.

That means that the neighborhood had to wait until 1986 to get a building that moved up to the sidewalks and owned that corner in a formal way. Previously, that important corner was a parking lot.  Along with Lindell Bank, who are the people responsible for such a thoughtful and handsome building so late in the post-modern architectural malaise?

If you have any information about the buildings previously on this site, and the design and construction of this Lindell Bank location, please do share with the rest of us, OK?

Touring Nine North

On November 5th, 2009,  City Affair took a tour of Nine North, the modern new condos on Euclid Avenue in the Central West End.

Rather than gush on about how much I truly loved the 4 models they graciously opened up for us to romp around in, I’ll share the video. This way, you can decide for yourself.

Because it was nighttime, I was not able to properly film the exterior aspects of Nine North.  Some of the balcony configurations create sublime spaces that I’m longing to see at different times of day and seasons.  And the way all of the condos face onto a swanky pool/hot tub outdoor courtyard is very Melrose Place, in the best possible way.

StL City Q&A

In late September, UrbanNexus came to St. Louis for a look see.   Prior to a round-table luncheon discussion, they asked a diverse group of us questions about our city like:

What is St. Louis doing right?

Why do you stay?

What is our biggest impediment to progress?

Read our answers here.

I was proud to be a part of this discussion, but even more rewarding was finally being introduced to the magazine Next American City.   From content to writing to layout, it is an exceptionally professional and fascinating publication.  I look forward to it landing in my mailbox.

Little Things Mean A Lot

Morgan Ford at Poepping Street
South St. Louis City, MO

Subdivision entrance monuments, like the one shown above,  are always interesting to observe.  They are often the first thing to go up when a new subdivision is developed, and the design and materials chosen either reflect the aesthetic of the subdivision or wind up at great odds with what resulted.  But mainly, entrance monuments are about place-marking, a means of declaring to passers-by (and in the early days of development, potential buyers) that “we are a proud and unique community.”

One morning at the end of July, I pass by the entrance to Al-Clare Meadows and see one of the signs down and scattered.  I’m assuming it was a car because of the extent of the destruction, and how suddenly it occurred:   Tuesday it was standing, Wednesday it was splattered in the neighbor’s yard.

Based on current costs of masonry repair and labor, I naturally assumed this entry marker was eternal toast, that the pieces would be carted off, the homeowners lawn repaired, and Al-Clare would continue unperturbed with a lopsided entry.

I made this assumption because of where it’s located and its age.  The small-to-modest size tract homes of Al-Clare Meadows (the name came from combining Alberta and Clarence Dalton, the subdivision developers) are a bit south of the River Des Peres, and a scootch away from the St. Louis City/County line.  So it’s in that nebulous part of town that’s not quite city, not quite county; not quite old, not quite new; not really distinct but certainly unoffensive.  Honestly, people tend to overlook this unassuming part of town unless they - or someone they know - live there.

It took a couple of months of waiting, but there it is, rebuilt!

(SIDE BAR How odd that the pile of rubble remained undisturbed that entire time… I assumed outsiders would just help themselves to some masonry because that’s what tends to happen in some of the older city neighborhoods.  Hell, they even purposely yank down walls to get at it… but that’s another story, right?)

When considering everything that had to transpire for that marker to be rebuilt (patience, funding, protection, masonry craft, etc.), my heart swelled with gratitude for this neighborhood’s pride of place that made it possible.  And I was embarrassed by my rash assumptions about the neighborhood and the fate of the sign because it was snobbism, plain and simple.  I am humbled by what I don’t know, and I’m thankful that - within the big picture - something so comparatively small really did matter to the people it represented.

So every time City Hall pulls another WTF? out of their trick bag, I think about the resurrected Al-Clare entry monument, because it is things like this that truly reflect and represent what makes St. Louis City so special - the people and their love of place.

2 More Gasometers Coming Down

Interstate 44 near Shrewsbury Exit
St. Louis, MO

As reported by the Webster-Kirkwood Times, the two gasometers that mark the boundary between St. Louis City and County are currently being demolished.

The natural gas storage tanks owned by Laclede Gas were erected in 1925 and 1941, and have been inactive since 1995.  They sit on just under 6-acres of land, which was purchased by a development firm that plans to grade and seed the soon-to-be-vacant property so it looks “nice” while trying to attract a new owner to build on the site.

I’d like to know if the property developers even considered selling the property as-is, just in case there’s an entity out there that would like to re-use these iconic and impressive structures for other purposes.   Considering the current commercial real estate market, they may be sitting on this property for a bit, so they have some time play with, and could possibly save themselves demolition fees if a buyer wanted the gasometers to remain.

Are there other uses for such unusual structures?  Vanishing STL covered the demolition of another gasometer in St. Louis City, and in another post about its history, he shares information about how Vienna, Austria re-purposed four of theirs.

Granted, the highway has locked these gasometers into a remote location surrounded by industrial, so that could limit the scope of new use, but limitations are what inspire some of the most compelling ideas.   It’s depressing that, yet again, there is a willful lack of imagination and possibility about high-profile structures that are part of the Greater St. Louis history.  And there is one more opportunity to squander our last remaining gasometer near Goodfellow, in North St. Louis City.

I wanted to document how most of us experience these twin towers: sturdy yet delicate-looking guide posts along the highway that change size, color and texture with the distance, time of day or weather.  Their absence will matter, and they will be missed.

The South Grand Driving Test

I usually avoid driving through Grand Boulevard between Arsenal and Chippewa because it’s sluggish and congested.  News of the Great Streets Initiative taking it down to 2 lanes with a center turn lane from Arsenal to Utah caused instinctive cringe and a double-down on “must to avoid.”

Steve Patterson’s thoughts on the Grand Test made sense; why do it for only 6 blocks?  I only use South Grand south of Chippewa, which is 2 lanes all the way with no center turn lane. Then again, it’s an even mix of residential and commercial, so not the same kind of traffic nightmares as in Grand Loop, proper.

But what’s the point of conjecture when I could just test drive the test lanes?  And so I did on Thursday afternoon, at 4:30-ish.  I exited Hwy 44 at Grand, headed south towards home, and began filming at 4-lane Magnolia Avenue, ending just past Chippewa Street, where it remains 2-lanes until it ends at Carondelet Park:

I like it! It took only 3:58 minutes (or 1.5 Beatles tunes) to get from Magnolia to Chippewa during the start of rush hour traffic.  The center turn lane in the heart of the South Grand Loop eliminated the obstacles that stop traffic or have us swinging fast, erratic lane changes to avoid stopping.  Other than the one red light I ran, it was my smoothest and most care-free tool down this stretch that I have ever experienced.

It was actually rather distracting when it resumed 4-lanes past Utah, especially since I knew the wonky change back to 2 lanes at Chippewa was imminent.  If they’re serious about enacting real change, I want them to commit to 2-lanes all the way from Arsenal to where Grand ends at Carondelet Park.

I took their survey, which has interesting questions, but sometimes seems manipulative to a forgone conclusion.  And they do not allow for comments like, “commit to 2-lanes all the way from Arsenal to where Grand ends at Carondelet Park.”  But I applaud their effort, look forward to the results, and urge you to experiment with it while it lasts.

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Tiny Medical Buildings

As a kid, I was always fascinated by this building because it was just my size.  It was like a little doll house plopped onto the black top parking lots of the buildings surrounding it on West Florissant in Country Club Hills.   When I went back to visit it in 2002 to take the photo above, I was struck by how antiquated the notion of a single doctor working out of a cracker box seems today.  For at least the last 30 years, our doctors are bunched together in large office buildings built for just that purpose, and the care within can be just as impersonal and confusing as those buildings.

This 1,152 s.f. building from 1956 was the office of Dr. Hubert S. Pruett (who once played with the St. Louis Browns!). In 1963,  the space was labeled The Sheldon Medical Building, as if it were to house more doctors, but it remained the private practice of Dr. Pruett until Dr. Samuel G. Ramirez took over in 1975.

With the Sheldon back in my consciousness, I started noticing the plethora of tiny medical buildings dotting St. Louis.  Like the one above, at 9717 Manchester, in Rock Hill.  In 1953 it was the office of  dentist Albert Thomas.  By 1963, chiropractor Elizabeth J. Lochner took over, and took care of patients well into the early 1990s.

There are many intriguing things about these tiny medical buildings. For instance,  they tend to be at the far limits of St. Louis City and the inner-ring suburbs, so were built in the mid-century with cars in mind.  Private practice doctors followed the population out to St. Louis County, and while their patients were buying bigger homes, the doctors were content with less than 2,000 s.f.

Most interesting of all is that even in the midst of our square foot gluttony, most of these match boxes are still used today, and quite often the use stays in the health care realm.

This office at 9846 Manchester in Rock Hill fits the Tiny Medical Building M.O., but actually opened in 1952 as Woodard Rug Cleaners.  But by 1963, the true nature of this building was realized when Alfred W. Moller opened his veterinarian practice.  Hey, human or animal, it’s still medical care, right?  It became West Side Animal Clinic in 1972, and as you can see, they are still there to this very day.

An early example of what would become the standard of group physicians is shown above, at 2730 Watson in the Clifton Heights neighborhood of South St. Louis City.  From 1958 - 1980 it housed multiple physicians and optometrists (for humans), then it became a veterinary clinical laboratory until the mid-1990s.  Today, the office facing onto Southwest Avenue belongs to a chiropractor, so it went full circle back to the humans.

These medical offices also highlight the rapidly changing nature of 20th century American medical practice, which is really more the story of health insurance.  Up to the 1930s, doctors made house-calls, but with the advent of Blue Cross & Blue Shield insurance from 1930-1940, companies could buy into tax-free policies for their employees, and the need for more doctors increased.  With this growth of supply and demand, commercial insurance companies were finally ready to join in, increasing the number of insured from 20,662,000 in 1940 to nearly 142,334,000 in 1950.

These tiny medical offices were built for general practitioners who finally had a chance to make real money and care for their patients with total autonomy.  But by 1964, the numbers of doctors going into general practice were dwindling, with the focus moving over to medical specialists.  A solution for both general and specialized medicine to financially prosper was enacted in 1973 as the Health Maintenance Organization, and became the large HMO buildings so many of us visit today.

This huge shift in the medical industry to group health care made these tiny medical buildings obsolete for private practice.  It’s a deep irony that some of these buildings now house medical specialists, like the office (above)  at 3185 Hampton in South St. Louis City.  But here’s a spin on this type of building: it was built in 1962 for American National Insurance, who used the building until 1990, when it became the City Spinal Center.  So even when the contents start off differently, these mid-century modern cubes just broadcast a medical nature.  Or actually, it would be merely a snapshot, as this medical period only lasted roughly 15 years.

I am continually impressed with the adaptive re-use of these tiny buildings; most don’t stay vacant for too long.  Then again, depending on where they are, they are also highly vulnerable to demolition.  This little gem of concrete, cubist mid-century modernism (above) at 7810 Natural Bridge Road was being prepped for demo when I took this photo in 2005.  It started life as a doctor’s office, and by the end of its run, it held a carpenter’s shop and a travel agency.  So, the building was still useful, but it was in the area surrounding the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and was taken down for some vague reason still unresolved.

But the majority of tiny medical buildings remain to this day.  Shown above is the place built for dentist Conrad J. Zoeller in 1954, at 9300 Gravois Road in Afton, MO.  He worked from this 748 s.f. office until the mid-1990s, and it was recently a hearing center until it  - or rather its parking lot - found a whole new use as a produce stand!

Today, because of the health insurance industry, the medical profession is in worse shape than its former buildings.  Doctors can’t practice as responsibly and freely as they did when in these little stand-alone buildings, while their buildings keep finding a way to help humans and their pets.

Even the little building on West Florissant that first opened my eyes to this short chapter of medical architecture still has a healthy, beating heart.  It is now a hair care center, ingeniously divided up as a barber shop through one entrance and a beauty salon through the other.  Here’s hoping that in the next couple of years, our health care system can transition into adaptive re-use as flexibly as its former buildings do.

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Come to the Anti-Wrecking Ball, August 27th

See photos of the event!

The San Luis is toast, but what about the next building?

Our quest to clarify St. Louis City preservation laws - and assure that those laws apply to everyone - continues.   As we move this legal argument to the Missouri Court of Appeals, our tenacious lawyers need to get paid.   So we’re putting on a show to raise money.

Why We Continue

And here are the wonderful folks joining us on this fundraising journey:

Off Broadway (thanks to Kit Kellison for supporting the effort and donating the club for the night) opens its doors at 7:30, and it all begins at 8 PM with Elle Adorabelle and Greta Garter performing before and after each band set.

Leadville kicks off the music, followed by The Red-Headed Strangers and Rough Shop.  While the stage is popping, enter a raffle to win from a fine selection of  StL - Style merchandise.

It’s $10 at the door, and every cent collected that night goes to the Friends of the San Luis, LLC legal fund.

We would much rather you come and party in person, but if you can’t and still support the effort, we gratefully accept donations through Pay Pal.

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“The Law Enjoins Us To Become Stewards of Our Architectural History”

Friends of the San Luis Seek Demolition Halt,
Right to Appeal Preservation Board Action

On July 17, the Friends of the San Luis, Inc. filed a petition in Circuit Court to obtain a temporary injunction that would prohibit the Archdiocese of St. Louis from proceeding with any demolition work at the San Luis Apartments until our organization has exhausted its legal appeal of the approval of the demolition permit.  While we do not have a final judgment, Judge Robert Dierker, Jr. has denied our motion for a temporary restraining order.  The Building Division issued a demolition permit on Monday, July 20, and preliminary demolition work is now underway.

Our mission is to preserve the San Luis Apartments, and at this eleventh hour we press onward with that basic mission but also a larger one.  After the Preservation Board granted preliminary approval to the demolition by a narrow vote, we intended to appeal that decision through our right under the city’s preservation ordinance.  We think that the Preservation Board’s action was made through incorrect application of the law.  Furthermore, we think that that the Cultural Resources Office report on the issue misled citizens and Preservation Board members through imprecise legal reasoning that made it unclear what laws were in play.  Since the Preservation Board acts only to enforce city ordinances, without clarity of which laws are being enforced there is no due process.

Under the preservation ordinance, however, we have only the right to appeal an approved demolition permit.  We filed the injunction petition to ensure that we were still fighting for an actual building rather than a rubble pile.  Unfortunately, Judge Dierker is not stopping demolition as well as challenging our legal standing to bring forth an appeal of the Preservation Board decision.  Thus begins our larger cause.

Our preservation ordinance allows an aggrieved party to bring forth an appeal.  The preservation ordinance was passed by the Board of Aldermen for the benefit of the entire city, and its stakeholders are all citizens who share the duty of protecting the city’s heritage.  The law enjoins us to become stewards of our architectural heritage, and the Friends of the San Luis gladly step forward to answer that call.

We contend that citizen right to appeal the decision of the Preservation Board is a fundamental part of due process and essential to the enforcement of the preservation review ordinance.  Without the right to appeal, citizen participation has severely limited impact.  Citizens must have the right to act when they feel that the preservation review ordinance has been violated by its own custodians.  The right to appeal is a basic legal principle, and it must be part of St. Louis’ preservation law.

While we hold out weary hope of preserving the San Luis, we must assert the right of the citizen to bring forth an appeal under preservation law.   We believe that future efforts will benefit from legal protection of that right, and that its fundamental sanctity is worth pursuing no matter what happens to the San Luis.

No Parking Lot On Lindell

UPDATE

The San Luis is coming down.
Read the 5-page court decision here.
See photos of the demolition here.
And here’s the summary of why the court battle will continue.