The once stately Doering Mansion is nearly gone. Today only a few walls remain standing as the machinery tears away at the structure.
It its place will be some vaguely interesting condos on an artificial bluff sited much closer to Broadway than people realize. Sadly this will be one of those projects where after it is completed people will be remorseful for the old lady that was razed.
Nobody is going to miss the nursing home on the majority of the site. But it is still standing for the moment — demo crews started with the house.
I don’t want to save every old building in the city. Many have been remodeled beyond belief, had the brick painted or other such irrevocable horrors. But not the Doering Mansion. Its only crime was having years of neglect, an alleged odd floor plan and highly valuable land.
We are too careless with our architecture and streetscapes. Many are too quick to assume demolition rather than approaching with an open mind. The local paper recently quoted SLU President Biondi regarding a church the university had just purchased. His comments were basically that he assumed they’d tear it down until he actually saw the building in person. It saddens me deeply that our “leaders” first assume demolition. Does destruction equal power?
What a difference! Today I drove the full length of Locust Street from 14th west to Teresa (just shy of Grand). For the first time since I’ve lived in St. Louis, I was able to drive eastbound on Locust. It was like a totally different street!
Heading westbound from downtown you see new markings on the street when you are approaching 14th Street behind the library. The right lane becomes a right-turn only lane while the left lane is forward or a left turn. Ahead you can see temporary two-way signs that will likely stay around until people have adjusted to the change.
Driving down the street I noticed myself not wanting to drive as fast. With only a single lane in my direction and cars coming the other way in their lane it just didn’t seem like a high-speed escape route anymore. I knew if would feel different but it was more profound than I had anticipated.
I can’t remember the last time I participated in a “The Walk” organized by Metropolis St. Louis. However, I do recall one Walk along the Manchester St. gay bars that I was inspired by two friends with shaved heads — I went home that night and shaved mine. That was probably a good 4 years ago and as I shave my head I still think of that night. Good times…
Next week former Metropolis President, Brian Marston, is leading The Walk in an area I’ve personally spent too little time, The Ville. The date is Thursday February 9, 2006. From Brian’s email:
The Ville is St. Louis’ Harlem, a close-knit black community that has made prodigious cultural contributions to the life of our city. The small, nine-by-five-block neighborhood is home to the former Homer G. Phillips Hospital and Sumner High School, the first school west of the Mississippi to provide secondary education for black students. Annie Malone, one of the country’s first African-American millionaires, made her fortune while living in The Ville. Among Sumner’s famous alumni are rock-and-roll legend Chuck Berry, singer Tina Turner, tennis great Arthur Ashe, comedian and activist Dick Gregory, actor Robert Guillaume, opera diva Grace Bumbry, opera’s first black male soloist (and Bobby McFerrin’s dad) Robert McFerrin, former local newscaster Julius Hunter and the American League’s first black MVP Elston Howard.
Here’s The Walk lineup:
6:30 – 8 p.m.
J’s Hideout Cocktail Lounge
4257 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr.
This cozy, laid-back establishment features two big-screen TVs, a fish tank full of oversized goldfish, and plastic Clydesdales in a Plexiglas case over the bar. The dapper gentleman wearing a suit behind the bar is the proprietor, J.D. Bratcher. A big glass of Crown on the rocks is $5.
8 – 9:30 p.m.
Harlem Tap Room
4161 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr.
Established in 1946, this club sees the most traffic of the three stops on our itinerary. It features an enticingly backlit liquor display that is well-stocked with premium brands. A waitress delivers drinks to the tables. The canned beer is ice cold (literally).
9:30 – 11 p.m.
Zack’s Lounge
1904 Whittier St.
Ah, Zack’s — my home away from home. A tiny shotgun bar that’s a bit off the beaten path (and, amusingly, right next-door to a church), the home of the curiously punctuated “Zackaroo’s and Zackaretts” has the most straight-up neighborhood flavor of any Ville bar I know of. Some of the regulars have been going to Zack’s for 20 years. Family photos and Christmas decorations line the wall behind the bar. Gracie, Zack’s wife, works Thursday nights. In her words, “We all family here.”
I recommend parking on the street, near the corner of MLK and Whittier. If you want to travel en masse, meet up at that corner at 6:20. Bring cash; your plastic is no good here. All three bars have jukeboxes and dart machines. You must be at least 21 to Walk this way. Please drink responsibly, and tip your bartenders and barmaids. They take care of you, you take care of them — it’s the circle that makes life go ’round.
The area is served by Metro Bus. The most direct routes are the #32 Wellston/MLK bus which comes out of downtown (and points further west) and the #42 Sarah (from the CWE and parts North). Click here for a list of routes.
My recent post on Martin Luther King Drive sparked some interesting discussion about this area and how to revitalize it. Patronizing local businesses is certainly a good way to start.
I often spend considerable time writing about projects gone bad. The last week was consumed with the possible destruction of a historic church. It is the holidays and I needed relief from the negative. I needed something positive to write about.
The Roberts Brothers delivered, big time.
They will soon embark on a major task — turning this long vacant public school building into apartments. Why not condos you ask? To utilize federal historic tax credits the project must be investment property, not owner occupied. I can imagine these going condo after the minimum requirement has been met.
The Enright school is located on Enright just West of Union (google map). For years people have told newcomers to St. Louis not to live North of Delmar. Until recently this ‘advice’ was also included in a guide to students at Saint Louis University Medical School (click here). This was and is about race and class.
But if we wish to grow our city we must get over this old way of thinking. North St. Louis neighborhoods must become increasingly racially and economically diverse. This project by the Roberts Brothers will do wonders to that end.
The Doering Mansion has clearly seen better days. Like thousands of nice but ordinary buildings all over the city this one has been allowed to slowly decay over a period of decades. Sadly, the ordinary building has no champion. We have the Landmarks Association which speaks up when… well… a landmark building is threatened. But we are a city of ordinary buildings. It is the streetscape of ordinary accented by the occasional landmark structure that gives our city its character and appeal. Raze enough of the normal, everyday buildings and the attraction of the city is lost.
My interest in saving the Doering Mansion is not that as a single structure it is historic, although by many standards it is. No, my belief is that we have lost all the ordinary run of the mill buildings we can afford to lose. In some areas, such as parts of North St. Louis and mid-town, we’ve razed too many buildings to have much appeal at all. Yet, we continue to raze buildings that are individually insignificant in the name of that old standby reason, progress. St. Louis has a preservation review ordinance for a reason, to examine the value of buildings before granting a demolition permit. Later today we’ll know the fate of the Doering Mansion.
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Built St. Louis
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The once stately Doering Mansion is nearly gone. Today only a few walls remain standing as the machinery tears away at the structure.
What a difference! Today I drove the full length of Locust Street from 14th west to Teresa (just shy of Grand). For the first time since I’ve lived in St. Louis, I was able to drive eastbound on Locust. It was like a totally different street!
