We covered this building in an earlier post. It’s a mid-century modern building in Florissant that – according to the comments – unnerved just about everyone who had to use it.
At the time of the post, the building was for sale and the cornice was ratty and rotting from water damage, like in the photo above. But come August 2009, the For Sale signs are gone and the entire cornice is being properly repaired and painted, as evidenced below.
A property owner in deep North County sees the merit of recycling a late mid-century modern building that strikes some as unattractive. At the exact same moment in St. Louis City, the San Luis is coming down for a parking lot. My world view goes wonky when Florissant is smarter than the Central West End.
This building is not, repeat NOT Mid-Century Modernist. It IS the subset of 70s Cubism known, aptly, as BRUTALISM. It sucks… as evidenced by the overwhelmingly negative reviews from locals in the related thread on this site.
To their credit, few of the MCM maestros were guilty of veering off into this Cubist schlock… but was it perhaps their students, who gleaned the wrong elements from MCM, and were just trying to be different, and “updated”?… hmmmm… if so, they missed the mark… pity. ;’)
While we’re at it, lets tear down Lindell Terrace and that round thing next to the Basilica. If we didn’t need the San Luis, then we don’t need any other modern buildings in that general vicinity, right?
There was a building that looked very similiar to this in South County as well, it was a “Medical Arts” building. It was located on South Lindbergh and Concord, I believe a La-z-boy furniture store is there now.
Why is it that so often the neighborhoods that seem more progressive, are more likely to tear down a piece of history? Where those that don’t have as much funding, keep what they have. It’s always good to see an owner taking care of their MCM property!
i noticed they were doing work on this building months ago. i took some pictures and kept meaning to uploading them…
Go Flo!
Makes me incredibly pleased to know when a building such as this is saved while others,such as the San Luis, are still being demolished. Shame on them!
Florissant is underrated… some great things came from there… 😉 i have vivid memories of this building. one of my doctors was there for a while. i also sat in that parking lot in a police car after an accident that i was falsely accused of causing.