Consider Restoring Old Windows Rather Than Replace

Windows and doors are very important to the front facade of our many old St. Louis homes. Attend a meeting of the Preservation Board and you will likely hear a situation where a homeowner replaced original windows with completely different windows, often jarringly different.  Back in July the New York Times had a great article (recommended) on windows, starting with an example of Barbara Jones who decided to restore her windows:

Old windows have acquired a bad reputation over the last few decades as drafty, inefficient and ecologically suspect: fixtures that should be replaced rather than refurbished.

But over the last decade or so, homeowners like Ms. Jones are becoming more common. Many people are keeping their old windows, fixing what they have in the name of appearance, history and, for some, cost savings, according to architects, preservationists and window restorers.

Your typical window replacement company would have tossed out the 125+ year old windows of my friends house shown above and put in bright white vinyl with a flat top and fake divisions.  There was a time when large panes of glass meant wealth, the poor couldn’t afford large pieces of glass.

The process of window restoration isn’t for everyone but if you are handy in the shop doing so might save the appearance of your home as well as save you some money over a high quality replacement. Cheap windows won’t last 10 years much less more than 125 years.

Storm windows can be added on the exterior or interior to increase efficiency. Interior storm units are great for front facades where aesthetics are important.

Odds are you don’t have windows that are 8 feet tall, but no matter the height considering retaining at least the front windows is a good idea. Here are a few resources for further reading:

• How To Restore Sash Windows, Old-House Online
• How to Repair Sash Windows, This Old House
• Hard Decisions to Make When Old Windows Need Lots of Help, This Old House
• Repair, Don’t Replace Old Windows, Old House Authority
• The Truth about Windows - Historic Wood Windows & Storm Windows vs Replacement Windows, The Old House Guy
• What Replacement Windows Can’t Replace: The Real Cost of Removing Historic Windows, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
• Preserving Historic Windows: Shattering the Myths of Replacement Windows, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation

Thanks to Bill Hannegan for staying on me to do this post and thanks to Susan & Tom T. for allowing me to photograph your windows.

– Steve Patterson

Readers Don’t Think the 2011 World Series Win Will Help Get Ballpark Village Built Sooner

Before I get to the poll results from last week I want to ask local TV stations to stop saying they are broadcasting “live from Ballpark Village.” BPV doesn’t exist yet! The vacant site where BPV is proposed to be built certainly exists — but at this point no village exists. Cut it out, I got tired yelling at my television recently. Okay, not that I have that off my chest I can share the poll results from last  week.

1. No 78 [56.12%]
2. Hopefully 38 [27.34%]
3. Maybe 12 [8.63%]
4. Yes 7 [5.04%]
5. Unsure/No Opinion 2 [1.44%]
6. Other: 2 [1.44%]

The two other answers were:

1. Yes, but at a much reduced scale
2. It’s a nice spot for a park/gathering place. Do we need more buildings?

We need buildings because they define urban space in a downtown, we have an excess of open space.

– Steve Patterson

Updated Street Lighting on Taylor

In July new lighting was turned on along a short stretch of Taylor, a description from June:

The Taylor Pedestrian Lighting project is nearly complete. When finished, Taylor Ave between Forest Park Parkway and Lindell Ave will be illuminated by pedestrian lights rather than cobra-head lights. The pedestrian lights will make that stretch of Taylor Ave more attractive and safer for pedestrians at night, and will better connect Taylor south of Lindell to Taylor north of Lindell, which already has pedestrian lighting installed. Pedestrian lighting is another initiative to make the Central West End and the 17th Ward a more walkable, pedestrian-friendly, and vibrant community.

The $330,000 project was funded by various sources, including $60,000 from Washington University Medical Center, $30,000 from Central West End South Business District, and $100,000 from block grant. The remaining funding came from the 17th Ward Infrastructure Funds allocated by Alderman Joseph Roddy. (Source)

It seemed bright at first but the night I was out taking pictures I noticed it was about the same as some areas north of Lindell. These lights aren’t as tall as the cobra head lights that are common throughout the city. These lights equally light the street and sidewalk.

The cobrahead fixtures are taller, spaced further apart and directed toward the road rather than the sidewalk. I’m glad to see this change, but I’m disturbed these types of changes happen only within a single ward. Corridors involving more than one ward are probably out of luck.

– Steve Patterson

Ordering Food at a Walk-Up Window…in Ladue?

Recently I was in Frontenac and decided to stop for lunch on my way back downtown. I was already on Clayton Road so I decided to visit Red L Pizza owned by my friend John Rice.  Rice previously operated Colorado’s on Laclede & Restaurant Space on The Hill. Red L Pizza is located in the wealthy suburb of Ladue.

The above isn’t the entrance to the dinning room — this is it. You order at a window.

Rice explained:

“We have no food, nor do we prepare any food in our ordering booth. The window is merely an vehicle for controlling our food delivery to the automobiles or the patio. 95 % of our orders come via the telephone.”

I sat on the patio to wait for my food and sure enough a guy came around the corner from the kitchen to deliver my order to me.

My visit was on a picture perfect day so as soon as I was done there were other customers ready for my table. Now that the weather has changed I suspect you won’t have any trouble finding a seat.

I’d like to see this model used more often. It’s not a full restaurant but it’s more than a food truck. It livens up this corner of this strip shopping center in Ladue (map).

– Steve Patterson

Pretty Paver Sidewalk Not Functional

Clayton Missouri is the upscale county seat for St. Louis County. Being upscale it has enjoyed new development and has infrastructure other cities can’t afford — such as paver sidewalks around the Ritz-Carlton hotel (map).

I’m sure from the back of a Town Car the sidewalks look nice enough but the short walk from the hotel to the Forsyth MetroLink light rail station is anything but pleasant. When I came upon the lamppost shown above I thought about going to the left but I was afraid my wheelchair would go off the curb, tossing me into the street. Instead I pushed my way past the shrubs that have grown over and narrowing the sidewalk.

Both sides of the street the pavers are uneven, greatly so in places. But it looks pretty driving by in a car — that’s all that really matters, right?

– Steve Patterson