Poll: Thoughts on the former Sportsman’s Park

Sportsman’s Park had two addresses: 3623 Dodier St. (Cardinals) & 2911 N Grand Blvd (Browns). Yes, St. Louis’ two major league teams played at the same ballpark on North Grand until the Browns became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.  The last game at the ballpark was played 45 years ago today, May 8, 1966. That day the Cardinals lost to the San Francisco Giants 10-5 (source).

Many in St. Louis enjoyed games from the Grand Stand for decades, others not as long:

[Dateline: May 4] 1944 – Blacks were allowed to buy grandstand seats for the first time in St. Louis history. St. Louis was the last of the major league clubs to integrate seating. Blacks had been restricted to the bleachers. (Source)

The last to integrate? Hmm, not surprised.

I personally feel it was a mistake to relocate what had been renamed Busch Stadium to a razed section of downtown (see Urban Renewal Destroyed St. Louis’ Early Chinatown, Hop Alley). Baseball was first played on this site in 1866! A field does remain as part of the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club.  I wonder what Grand & St. Louis Ave would be like today if the Cardinals had remained on the site of Sportsman’s Park. Would it be a diverse & bustling neighborhood or would the surrounding neighborhoods have been razed for surface parking?

I realize the 1960s were a turbulent decade. The 8th Inning of Ken Burns’ Baseball series looked at this period. It starts with the razing of Ebbets Field, vacant after the Brooklyn Dodgers became the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Ballpark after ballpark was razed in this decade as baseball fought for fans, many interested in football.

The poll this week, upper right of blog, is about Sportsman’s Park.

– Steve Patterson

Happy 45th Birthday to the Mansion House Complex

Forty-five years ago today the three towers of the Mansion House complex on North 4th Street opened, representing the latest in urban planning in an era of Urban Renewal. Unfortunately, the architects didn’t read The Death and Life of Great American Cities by the late Jane Jacobs.

The buildings turn their back side to the Arch. Sure the towers have great views but sidewalk life was destroyed facing east.

A 2nd floor outdoor “promenade” level was designed as a retail area removed from the street, the vision was people could leisurely stroll between all three towers. Ended up being too removed from regular pedestrians to succeed.

But the buildings have changed and evolved over the last 45 years. One example is at the corner of 4th & Pine, the lobby for the Crowne Plaza hotel.

This modern box is not original to the complex.  No, this corner was vastly different in 1966. Planners & architects at the time loved the notion of developments trying to incorporate everything. They knew they had destroyed blocks of authentic (but messy) urban life so they wanted to recreate it, just in an orderly fashion. So what was on this corner in 1966?

A filling station! The above Sanborn map from 1968 shows this, with a small structure at the corner. Interesting the drawing labeled Memorial Drive simply as “outer road.”

Thanks to Andrew Weil of Landmarks Association for finding & scanning this Sanborn map. Also. thanks to architects Fred Powers & Bill Bowersox of Powers Bowersox Associates, who told me of the former gas station.

– Steve Patterson

Chouteau Crossing Will Have Minimum Required Pedestrian Access Route

Chouteau Crossing is a green renovation of an old industrial structure at 2301 Chouteau Ave:

“Chouteau Crossing features wind turbines, geothermal heating and cooling, and a graywater system that handles the irrigation. The parking lots are illuminated by power stored from the rooftop PV array. It will be completed at the end of 2009, and 33,000 square feet have been taken already for lab space. The project is being developed by Green Street Properties.” (Jetson Green)

As I saw the work progress at the site I was concerned if provisions had been made for pedestrian access from Chouteau as all too often they are not (example).  My concern is twofold, 1) accessibility for disabled pedestrians and 2) increasing the walkability of the city for all.

St. Louis zoning and building codes don’t require any connection to the adjacent public sidewalk which is a horrible oversight on the part of the Board of Aldermen.  Walkable communities are appealing to most everyone, including those who always drive.  The city is naturally the most walkable part of the region based on the 19th century street grid, transit service and population density.  Shouldn’t we require new & renovated buildings to connect to the public sidewalk?

So I looked up Chouteau Crossing’s website to try to determine if a pedestrian route was planned.  I thought I saw a possibility but the site plan was so tiny I couldn’t be sure. I made an email inquiry to developer Green Street Properties.  I got a quick response from VP Brian Pratt saying they weren’t sure but they would check with their architect, Trenor Architects. A few days later I had my answer  – yes — and a detailed drawing of the route.

I’m glad one pedestrian access route has been planned, but this development is on a large site bounded by three public streets, has four auto entrances (three on Chouteau) and multiple tenant entrances. I’d like to see the zoning or building code require a pedestrian route from each public street and equal to the number of auto drives provided.

– Steve Patterson

Sidewalks Reopened Around Former St. Louis Centre

St. Louis Centre, the former failed downtown enclosed mall, was an assault on the sidewalk and the pedestrians that use them.  In typical mall fashion, retail was turned inward rather than facing the sidewalk.  The walkways over Washington & Locust blocked views on both streets in both directions. 1980s thinking at it’s worst!

In the last year the structure has been transformed ground level retail and enclosed parking.  The work is nearly complete.

Storefronts now face the public sidewalks on all sides of the building which occupies the city block bounded by Washington Ave on the north, 6th on the east, Locust on the south and 7th on the west.  During the last year the sidewalks were closed during construction.

Thursday evening I was able to do a complete circle around the building. The only sidewalk not open is the raised part, shown above. Usually you don’t want to place steps between the main sidewalk and retail businesses because that can cut down on foot traffic, but sometimes you have no choice given the grades.

– Steve Patterson

The Backs Are Interesting Too

The back facade of our older building stock is often more interesting than the front facade of newer our buildings. The building detailing and functional fire escapes are beautiful to my eyes. New balconies on the back of Ely Walker

Hopefully the upper floors of the YMCA, vacant for a few years, will get renovated soon. Most recently those floors were senior apartments.  The YMCA space is a separate condo unit from the rest of the building, with separate ownership.  Work began on creating rental units in the Leather Trades building earlier this year.

I see the wonderful fronts of these buildings daily, but it the backs I really enjoying seeing.

– Steve Patterson