Month: December 2006

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Wondering About Boulevard Heights

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch tells of a new subdivision coming to South St. Louis city.

I’ve long been fascinated with this gigantic plot of land plop in the middle of a sleepy neighborhood. This whole area of town is rather off the radar, as it’s a bit on the newer side as far as city neighborhoods go; lots of 1950s tract and ranch homes that stopped short of crossing the county/city line. Then there was this bucolic oasis in the middle of it all (above).

The above photos were taken in April 2005, because just as they started messing around Grand & Loughborough to make a Lowesville, buildings in this fenced in “city park” started slowly disappearing.

By December 2005 (above) only a few of the buildings in the small village remained.

Seems many people know this place was a nursery that served city public schools. Seems people also knew about the first proposal of what to do with this large tract of land. I wasn’t one of them. I never did any research; guess I preferred the mystery over facts coming to an end. And luckily, that plan was nixed.

I’m going to miss my private park. I always enjoyed pedaling around this compound because it felt so Leave It To Beaver, so civic, so optimistic. Greenhouses, smoke stacks and round-roof metal buildings tend to make me feel that way.

The view along Field Street (the eastern boundary of the property, above) was especially nice. Even though long abandoned, you could still see the stone paths and concrete benches, and the remnants of what had been rather elaborate and loving landscaping.

So, when reading the news of Rowles Homes inserting a new subdivision onto this land, my first thought was, “Please leave the mature trees. Please leave the miniature park.”


On the company website, they don’t yet have drawings of the homes that will grace the area. You can look at their Gaslight Square offerings and get a close idea of what they’ll offer: brick equals city appropriate; city equals vertical rather than horizontal. These models are far from compelling, yet they are not overtly offensive.

They offer a site plan drawing of what the subdivision will look like, but since they didn’t bother to include any identifying street names, I did that for you (above). I sure hope those north & south streets adhere to the street grid already in place. Kind of looks like it in the drawing, but by excluding the context of the neighborhood it’s moving into, can’t be certain.

From what I’ve read and (barely) seen, I’m down with this plan. Yes, it leaves a lot to be desired, but getting what we desire seldom happens. When thoughtless crap is what gets developed in this general area, a plan that appears to be causing no harm is an acceptable solution. Right now, I remain cautiously optimistic as I watch it with a jaundiced eye.

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Merriest Christmas in St. Louis Hills

It’s too easy to get sarcastic and nit-picky at Christmas time. There is no sport in shooting fish in barrels or lobbing darts at NASCAR Santa…

And it’s useless to let the continued proliferation of Inflatables get me down.

Spending well over $500 to cram 5 large objects onto a lawn the size of a bread box may actually be less harmful then spending that much on Christmas toys for one child.

Yes, it’s too easy to bag on Christmas, and fighting it brings you no victory. Or to paraphrase a character on The Wire: We try to duck a punch or two rather than lean into every last one. Rather than sulking about it like a 13-year old goth girl hibernating in her bedroom, I’ve learned that making an effort and stepping up to embrace the holiday is much more rewarding than fighting it.

St. Louis Hills has become the Must See Christmas Lights destination, with Candy Cane Lane (above) being the center point. Just behind Ted Drewes, Murdoch Avenue has perfected how to take advantage of old fashioned urban density to create a holiday city within a block. There is music and movement, and on weekends, the residents of the block come out to play Welcome Wagon to the steady line of cars floating through. They roast treats over an open fire, pass out candy canes and…

…dance the hoochie koochie! Light Suit Man (above) graces Candy Cane Lane every weekend in December, and because of his unflagging goodwill and genuine joy, I consider him the Ambassador of It’s Christmas Time in the City.

But right before entering the CCL, a glance to the south, across the schoolyard fence, reveals another festive block, Neosho Avenue.

While certainly attracted to the bodacious charms (and free candy) of The CCL, I prefer this block for both its quiet magic and its “less is more” aesthetic. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles here (the Inflatables content is rather low), just a lot of lights artfully placed. One of the more striking homes is the one above; by opting for subdued, darker lights they become the comma in a sentence.

My very favorite Neosho home is above. I swear an art director must live in this house, because the toned-down, fine-tuned attention to the placement, palette and mood of the lights just reeks of a Metropolitan Home layout. If this block had their own Light Suit Man, he’d stand in front of this house in an Armani suit with just a single key light on the mistletoe pinned to his lapel.

So, these are some of the things that have made my season bright. If you have a moment, venture over to St. Louis Hills, but as you travel, pay attention to the beauty all around you, and have yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

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Webster Groves Mid-Century Mod

West Glendale & Brightside Place
Webster Groves, MO
In order to avoid the highway, I take a shortcut through a Webster Groves neighborhood, and run into this little gem. If not for the surviving winter greenery, this cubist stucco dandy could easily be mistaken as sitting among the desert lushness of Palm Springs.

I especially love the handling of the garage; how the mass of the door fits artfully into the ground floor fenestration scheme, and that the space above the garage has been turned into a spacious outdoor terrace. Neutra would approve.

Sure would like to know the name of the architect that designed this home.


County records show this 1,727 s.f. house was built in 1946, with a remodel in 1950 and additions in 1960. The houses that surround it are the typical mixed bag of goodies one pictures when thinking of Webster Groves homes, which is why it sticks out from the crowd. But it also blends beautifully with the neighborhood and its greenery, because it was designed with context and scale in mind. And that’s all that’s required of any architecture, whatever the style.

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Brad Pitt & The Fountainhead

Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie visit Falling Water on Thursday, and by Friday afternoon, we’re told about it, and given the classic photo op (above). They took a two-hour tour which ended with a private birthday (his) celebration afterward in the living room.

This isn’t a case of the media finding out and letting us know. This is clearly a case of Brad and His People making a concerted effort to get this photo and press release out. There are two points that Brad wants in the public consciousness.

#1: “Brad said he had a visual sense of Falling Water but experiencing it in person, hearing the sound of the waterfall cascading under the house and smelling the wood from the fireplace, was better than anything he could have imagined.”

#2: “Brad said he had wanted to experience Falling Water ever since he took an architectural history course in college,” said curator Cara Armstrong. “He and I talked quite a bit about design and art. He was incredibly well-informed about architecture.”

Point # 1 amuses me. How nice of Brad to share poetic thoughts on his Falling Water experience. It’s almost like enjoying his vacation photos over a glass of cabernet, isn’t it? Such a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Point # 2 slightly disturbs me. It’s that bit about wanting to see Falling Water ever since he took an architectural history course in college, which was well over 20 years ago.

Mr. Pitt has spent the last several years making sure that we know he loves architecture. We’ve heard details of how he personally re-designed the interior of a Hollywood home (and how it left Jennifer Aniston so unimpressed that she didn’t even want the place in the divorce). He’s gone out of his way to repeatedly insert his name into the star glow surrounding his favorite architect, Frank Gehry. And he’s been so successful at representing himself as a design-driven creature that what clothing accessories he prefers bears mentioning.

At first, I was enamored with Brad’s architectural bent. “Gee, he’s such a huge and handsome star, yet he spends his spare time immersed in architecture… he’s so smart.” But in reality, I know that stars of his magnitude only release that kind of information for precise purposes. And that’s what disturbs me.

He’s spent years rolling out this architectural image of himself, but other than the remodeled house that Aniston hated, nothing’s come of it. So, when he makes this latest concerted effort to share his Falling Water experience, I get concerned because it could indicate that his architectural id will finally manifest into the physical.

I picture him financing a public building that he designed himself, or donating money to expand an architectural wing of a university in his name, or designing and building an entire village in one of those countries that his girlfriend adopts children from. I also know I’m lending him way more architectural gravitas than he actually has. He’s a movie star, an actor who enjoys acting like an architect…

Then the mailman delivers my current Netflix selection, The Fountainhead. Gary Cooper as a barely-disguised Frank Lloyd Wright antagonized by his secret patron/love interest Patricia Neal. The movie was just finally released on DVD, which I consider a big deal. Brad Pitt probably does, too.

And then it hits me!
Mr. Pitt wants a Fountainhead remake with him and Jolie!
Rather than having to make good on all his publicly-declared architectural aspirations, he can just act like the ultimate architect. So, he trots his girlfriend/co-star out into the snowy woods across from Falling Water for the photo op, sends out the press release, and in a few weeks he’ll be in the executive office of a major movie studio getting the financial green light for this project.

This idea would be the perfect resolution to his “I want to be an architect” desires, as well as a brilliant career move. Plus, I’d much rather he re-do The Fountainhead than actually foist upon the world a building he designed. So, here’s hoping for the win/win.