Board of Education Power House

Decades ago basic industrial buildings had a sense a sense of design I find very appealing today. For example, the Board of Education Power House at 3614 School Dr:

ABOVE: While not the most ornate building, it has a distinctive look.

ABOVE: I’m a huge fan of steel industrial windows

ABOVE: The sign & entry, even rusted, is visually appealing

ABOVE: I like easily knowing the date a building was built

This makes me wonder if people 80+ years from now will find our current industrial structures charming. Doubtful.

– Steve Patterson

Construction Vehicles Break Up Bleak Area

Walking next to One Memorial Drive/Gateway Tower is about as bleak as it gets in St. Louis. Look to the east and you can see the Old Cathedral and Arch, but right next to you is rock and a tall blank wall. The other day at least a few vehicles parked on the beige rock added some visual interest.

ABOVE: Construction workers parking between the Memorial Drive sidewalk and the blank wall of One Memorial Drive

I’m an advocate of on-street parking because it creates a nice fixed barrier between traffic and pedestrians. Conversely, I generally oppose parking between sidewalk and building because  it creates a fixed barrier limiting pedestrian access. Here the area nearest our big national monument is so dismal the vehicles were a welcomed sight. The contempt  for the pedestrian in 1966 is clearly evident. Pathetic!

– Steve Patterson

Old Gas Station, New Use

Nearly two years ago, March 18, 2011, ground was broken on a rehab & new construction project called Botanical Grove, west of Botanical Heights and part of the area once known as McRee Town. The main focus that day was residential — rehab of existing buildings and new modern infill. I was there and thrilled by the ambitious plans of the developers. The work continues but many of the residential units are occupied by homeowners. I was also skeptical about the future of a tiny little former gas station at the corner of McRee & Tower Grove Ave.

ABOVE: The gas station I saw on March 18, 2011

I could see the appeal and potential but I knew the lending climate that existed, would anything come of the idea to remake the gas station? In a word, yes!

ABOVE: On February 16, 2013 I visited Olio with friends. Olio had been open a few months at this point. Click image for Olio’s website.

ABOVE: Interior of Olio retains & exposes much of the old structure

ABOVE: Baked yogurt with honey & compote dessert

Some will say gentrification, the affluent are pushing out the poor. I see a once decrepit structure brought back to live bringing in tax revenue for the city and employing people. Botanical Heights to the east employed the cleared earth strategy of urban renewal but Botanical Grove kept and rehabbed many existing structures and infilled on vacant lots. Many housing types were offered as a result.

– Steve Patterson

Readers: Over One-Third Atheist/Agnostic/Secular

The headline could’ve been “nearly two-thirds religious” but that wouldn’t surprise anyone.

ABOVE: Summary of the results show religious at 65% and non-religious at 34%.

Here are the detailed poll results in the order the answers were presented (see original post):

Q: I identify myself as a:

• Christian-Protestant 37 [18.23%]
• Christian-Catholic 67 [33%]
• Christian-Morman 1 [0.49%]
• Christian-Jehovah’s Witness 1 [0.49%]
• Christian-Other 6 [2.96%]
• Jewish 8 [3.94%]
• Buddhist 1 [0.49%]
• Muslim 3 [1.48%]
• Hindu 1 [0.49%]
• Other 4 [1.97%]
• Unaffiliated-Atheist 44 [21.67%]
• Unaffiliated-Agnostic 16 [7.88%]
• Unaffiliated-Secular 9 [4.43%]
• Unaffiliated-Religious 4 [1.97%]
• Don’t Know/Rather Not Say 1 [0.49%]

No surprise that “Christian-Catholic” was the top answer but “Unaffiliated-Atheist” as the second answer may be a shock some. If we combine atheist/agnostic/secular the total is 69 — two more than the 67 that selected Catholic. Still, those who identify with a religion/belief were nearly two-thirds of those who voted.

ABOVE: Interior of Tower Grove Abbey, the former “German Evangelical Saint Lukas Church of St. Louis”, turned performance space. Click image to view website.

Tower Grove Abbey is a shared space used by Stray Dog Theater, SDT’s Arts in Mind education project , and Tower Grove East Neighborhood Association. South City Church used to meet in the Abbey but they have a new meeting space now for their services.

I’d like to see an additional use in this and other former churches:

Not many sermons include the message that we are all going to die and there is no afterlife.

But the Sunday Assembly is no ordinary church service.

Launched last month, as a gathering for non-believers, it is, in the words of master of ceremonies Sanderson Jones, “part foot-stomping show, part atheist church, all celebration of life”. (BBC News)

Atheist church? Well, not exactly — none of that talk of a creator.

According to the Independent, about 200 worshippers showed up to the service, held on Jan. 6. The congregation focused on the theme of “Beginnings,” deliberating over ways that success can be achieved by letting go of past failures and avoiding “mental booby traps.” Instead of a sermon, the church invited Andy Stanton, a popular children’s book author, to talk about overcoming the odds and achieving success; and instead of praying together, those gathered were encouraged at one point to close their eyes and meditate on their fears of inadequacy and failure. With Jones taking the stage as MC, the congregation was also treated to some stand-up comedy. A rendition of Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back In Anger” was even sung during the gathering. (Huffington Post)

It’ll be interesting to see if this once a month experiment in positive energy for those of us who don’t buy into the idea of a creator will succeed. Comedy and uplifting stories on a Sunday morning sounds good to me. And no, atheism is not a religion.

– Steve Patterson

St. Louis Municipal Primary Just Two Weeks Away

In two weeks voters will decide the winner in some hotly contested primary races, including mayoral. Haven’t seen any independent candidates or competitive third-party candidates so the Democratic primary will likely decide these races. Remember independent Scott Ogilvie won a seat on the Board of Aldermen in the April general election, defeating the winner of the Democratic primary.

ABOVE: One Republican has filed. If he gets one vote in the March 5th primary he’ll face Democrat Joe Vaccaro in the April general election. Vaccaro will win the Democratic primary because he has no challenger.

Four years ago seven candidates ran in the 23rd Ward Democratic primary, it was an open seat then. Now with an incumbent running for reelection nobody is interested. This is how incumbents become entrenched, nobody challenges them.

At least the local Green Party has a number of candidates on the ballet but here the primary is costly. Since there are candidates for two citywide seats (mayor & comptroller) ballots must be printed for availability at all precincts.

ABOVE: The Greens are holding a primary to select their candidates in five races. All five will get the nomination of their party

Of the 17 races in the Democratic primary only 8 have a challenger. As I’ve said before, St. Louis should consider dropping partisan primary elections. Put all the candidates in one election with instant-runoff voting when you have more than two candidates seeking the seat.  Hopefully we can get this change passed in the next decade so it can become active at the time the reduction of the Board of Aldermen happens.

Tomorrow night is a chance to hear from some of these candidates.

The Amazing Candidate Race, Wed, February 20, 7:00pm – 8:30pm

How much do the candidates really know about multimodal transportation and sustainable development? Do they have special skills that distinguish them from other candidates? You’ll find these answers and more at The Amazing Candidate Race. Civic participation has never been so fun!

Trailnet and the Livable St. Louis Network are proud to present the first St. Louis candidate forum focused on livability issues of land use and transportation.

Contemporary Art Museum 3750 Washington Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63108

Who: Mayoral candidates (in ballot order) Francis Slay, Jimmie Matthews, Lewis Reed and Aldermanic candidates Michelle Hutchings-Medina (5th Ward), Damon Jones, Christine Ingrassia, Michelle Witthaus (6th Ward), Jennifer Florida and Lisa Miller (15th Ward) (see flyer)

Glad to see Trailnet hosting such an event.

– Steve Patterson

Narrowing The List of Mid-Century Modernism

Mid-century modern buildings in St. Louis have gained a new audience recently as some of these structures have been threatened with demolition. As a result he city decided to take a closer look at buildings built between 1945-75.

The City of St. Louis received a grant in early 2012 for the completion of a thematic survey of non-residential Modern Movement architecture built between 1945 and 1975. The term Modern Movement in used for this project to encompass various styles of the mid?century Modern era, but does not include the Art Deco, Modernistic, Streamline, and Moderne styles that were widely used before 1940. The project will identify a group of properties that are eligible for listing in the National Register and that may be designated as City Landmarks. The grant is from the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service. Peter Meijer Architect, PC, a firm experienced in assessing Modern architecture, was selected as consultant for the project. The survey will be completed by September 2013.  (PDF)

The process would first start with a massive list and work down to 20-25.

ABOVE: The project is now at the point of narrowing down to the top 20-25

Right now the city and consultants are at the “Defining the Era 40″ stage and their looking for public input to help narrow the list to the final 20-25 for further research and documentation.  The 40 are decided into two parts (Part 1: 1-20 Part 2: 21-40).

Below is all 40 in the order listed on the two PDF files along with a link to each to find them on Google Maps.

1. Wendell Oliver Pruitt Public School | 1954 | 1212 N. 22nd Street
2. Mansion House Development | 1965 | 200 N. 4th Street
3. Millenium Hotel | 1968 | 200 S. 4th Street
4. Laclede Gas Building | 1968 | 200-12 N. 8th Street
5. St. Philip’s Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1966 | 2422-4 Annie Malone Drive  
6. The Pavilion, Barnes Hospital | 1971/1978 | 4949-69 Barnes Hospital Plaza
7. Queeny Tower, Barnes Hospital | 1964 | 4989 Barnes Hospital Plaza
8. MHDCHC, Inc. | 1974 | 5443-71 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive
9. Bishop DuBourg High School | 1955 | 5850 Eichelberger Street
10. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Hall | 1959 | 5850 Elizabeth Avenue
11. James S. McDonnell Planetarium | 1963 | 1 Faulkner Drive
12. Steinberg Hall, Washington University | 1963 | 6201-53 Forsyth Boulevard
13. Former Buder Branch, St. Louis Public Library | 1961 | 5320 Hampton Avenue
14. St. Louis Harvest Church | 1957 | 3201-23 Itaska Street 
15. Marc C. Steinberg Memorial Skating Park and Recreation Building | 1957 | 400 Jefferson Drive
16. David P. Wohl Community Center | 1959 | 1515 N. Kingshighway Boulevard 
17. New Age Federal Savings & Loan | 1958 | 1401 N. Kingshighway Boulevard
18. Oak Hill Chapel | 1953 | 6100 Leona Street
19. AAA Building | 1974 | 3917 Lindell Boulevard
20. Optimist Building | 1978 | 4490-4 Lindell Boulevard
21. Engineer’s Club | 1961 | 4359 Lindell Boulevard 
22. Archdiocese of St. Louis | 1962 | 4445-67 Lindell Boulevard
23. St. Nicholas Parish Center | 1960 | 1801-27 Lucas Avenue
24. Society of American Gardens | 1957 | 4401 Magnolia Avenue
25. Gateway Tower | 1966 | 1-99 S. Memorial Drive
26. Fairground Park Swimming Facility | 1959 | 3715 Natural Bridge Avenue
27. St. Louis Community College, Forest Park | 1965 | 5600 Oakland Avenue
28. St. Joan of Arc Church | 1958 | 5800 Oleatha Avenue
29. Machacek Branch Library | 1974 | 6426-34 Scanlan Avenue
30. McDonnell Medical Science Building | 1970 | 4550-6 Scott Avenue
31. Missouri Division of Employment Building | 1959 | 601 N. Broadway
32. Pius Memorial Library, St. Louis University | 1958, renovated 1986, 2012 | 3655 West Pine Boulevard
33. Carpenter’s Union Hall | 1956 | 1401-21 Hampton Avenue
34. The Post Office Annex | 1969 | 1600-98 Market Street
35. Hamiltonian Federal Savings and Loan Association | 1967 | 3150-6 S. Grand Boulevard 
36. St. Louis Public Library Jacob Mark Lashley Branch | 1967 | 4531-7 West Pine Boulevard
37. Paraquad | 1969 | 5200-40 Oakland Avenue (Horner & Shifrin headquarters)
38. Langston Elementary Public School | 1964 | 5501 Wabada Avenue 
39. Juvenile Division Circuit Court | 1965 | 910-30 N. Vandeventer Avenue
40. Lambert International St. Louis Airport | 1957 | 10701 Lambert International Boulevard

Don’t see a favorite? View buildings already recognized via the National register or local Landmark status here (PDF).  The 200 “worthy” list of addresses  can be viewed here (PDF).

The following are the ones I’d cut to reduce the list:

1. Millenium Hotel (3)
2. The Pavilion (5)
3. Queeny Tower (6)
4. New Age Federal Savings & Loan (17)
5. Oak Hill Chapel (18)
6. Gateway Tower (25)
7. St. Louis Community College (27)
8. St. Joan of Arc Church (28)
9. Machacek Library (29)
10. McDonnell Building (30)
11. Pius Library (32)
12. Carpenter’s Hall (33)
13. Post Office Annex (34)
14. Hamiltonian Federal Savings & Loan (35)
15. Juvenile Court (39)

Which 15-20 would you cut from the above?

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Do You Think St. Louis Was Founded On February 14th or 15th in 1764?

Last week St. Louis turned 249 years old but some celebrated on the 14th while others noted the occasion on the 15th. Others celebrated both days rather than taking sides.

February 14, 1764 has been the accepted date for many years but some are saying Auguste Chouteau’s notes indicate the 15th:

The party was premature, says a history professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who has studied Chouteau’s original manuscript for a new book on the city’s founding. Fred Fausz, a professor at UMSL since 1991, says Chouteau’s “5″ isn’t the best example of penmanship but is clear enough. Fausz says the 15 in Chouteau’s manuscript has a 5 that looks just like other 5s elsewhere in the paper, and nothing like the 4 that marks Page 4. Fausz also says Chouteau cited Feb. 15 in transcribed testimony for a land case in 1825, four years before he died. (recommended —  stltoday)

Chouteau was just 14 or 15 when St. Louis was founded. The above article from 2/14/2010 also presents evidence the date is the 14th.

The poll question is which date do you think St. Louis was founded? Or maybe we should just make next year’s 250th anniversary a two-day affair, embracing the controversy. The poll is located in the right sidebar.

– Steve Patterson

Progress At 1010 Locust Street (aka Bride’s House)

The economy isn’t prefect but it is slowly improving. Smaller developers are still working on manageable sized projects such as the 4-story building at 1008-10 Locust St., known by many as Bride’s House.  In August 2011 I posted about the building (see What a Handsome Bride).  The 1886 building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, read the application here.

ABOVE: View of Bride’s House from Trailnet’s new offices. August 2011

In November 2012 the good news came that a local couple bought the building to rehab:

The biggest exterior change will be restoration of the street-level facade with separate entrances for a first-floor store and offices on the upper floors. The work will involve removing green granite panels installed in 1950. Cook hopes to reuse the panels in new shower stalls built for office tenants. He also plans to sell the two large “Bride’s House” signs over the current entrance.

The second floor remains available, but a retailer plans to occupy the street-level space and a marketing firm will lease the top two floors, said Patrick McKay, the Hilliker Corp. broker who represented P&F in the building’s purchase. (stltoday.com)

Earlier in the week I was passing the building and spotted workers removing those bland granite panels.

ABnOVE: On the 12th workers were removing those granite panels exposing beautiful detailing.

ABOVE: Detailing that was covered over for decades.

ABOVE: Full view of the facade

This project has me more excited than Ballpark Village phase one.

– Steve Patterson

Chronicle Coffee Now Open, Grand Opening Soon

Last July I posted about a New Coffeehouse Opening Soon on Page Blvd Just East of Grand Ave. It took a white while to open but last month it finally did. A few days ago I met someone there and returned for lunch.  The concept is simple, a nice neighborhood coffeehouse that hires employees from the area.

ABOVE: Chronicle Coffee is located in the corner of a building that also houses the St. Louis Public Housing Authority and a PNG Bank branch. Click for Google Maps.

But how do you make such an enterprise financially viable? During my visit I was able to chat with the owner, turns out the answer is through acquisition!

Rick Milton, owner of Northwest Coffee Roasting Co., has sold his company to Jason Wilson, the owner of Chronicle Coffee. Chronicle is located just north of Grand Center at 1235 Blumeyer Ave. The sale, completed in December, includes both the Northwest Coffee roasting operation as well as Northwest Coffee cafes in Clayton and the Central West End. (Sauce Magazine)

By buying the well established Northwest Coffee Wilson has quality coffee for Chronicle and a good place to train new employees.

ABOVE: Owner Jason Wilson sat down with us to talk about Chronicle, Northwest, and creating jobs in a community in need of more employment opportunities.

ABOVE: Tables & chairs will arrive next month

One wall of Chronicle Coffee includes enlarged black & white prints of the former Blumeyer public housing project that once  occupied the immediate area.I know I’ll return when I’m nearby. Wilson is finalizing plans for their grand opening later this month.

– Steve Patterson

20th Anniversary of the Julia Davis Library Branch

Twenty years ago the Julia Davis branch of the St. Louis Public Library opened at 4415 Natural Bridge Ave. At the time I lived to the east on Hebert Street in Old North St. Louis.

ABOVE: The modern building was new construction

ABOVE: Plaque inside the library notes the date of dedication.

Julia Davis was still living when the branch was dedicated — she was 101 years old.

Born in 1891, Davis graduated from Dumas Elementary, Sumner High and Normal Schools and Stowe Teacher College. She received an M.A. in Education from the State University of Iowa and continued graduate study at Lincoln, Boston, Northwestern, St Louis, Syracuse and New York Universities. From 1913 until her retirement in 1961, she taught in the St. Louis Public Schools. Thirty-five of those years were spent at Simmons Elementary. Among her lifelong interests, Davis pursued research in African-American history. She served actively at Central Baptist church and in national, state, and local Baptist educational programs with the Metropolitan Church Federation. She also served with other civic and cultural groups.

In an effort to raise public awareness of the contributions of African-Americans to American culture, Davis initiated, in 1941, a series of annual exhibits at the St. Louis Public Library. She also published many notable works on African-American history, including a calendar of African-American achievements and a compilation of biographical notes on twenty African-Americans for whom St Louis schools were named.

On November 20, 1961, the day of her retirement from teaching, she established the Julia Davis Fund at the St Louis Public Library. The fund was designed for the purchase of books, manuscripts and other materials related to the African-American contribution to world culture. Thus was initiated the Julia Davis Research Collection on African-American History and Culture. It has grown into a major research collection on the subject. The collection is public and serves a lasting tribute to African-American cultural contributions.

She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1981 and celebrated her 100th birthday in November 1991 with a ceremony at Central Library. She died on April 26, 1993. (Wikipedia)

A remarkable life dedicated to education.  The Wikipedia article goes on to say she donated $2,500 to the library at her retirement in 1961 to begin the “Julia Davis Collection of Negro and African Literature and Culture.”  In 2011 dollars that’s over $18,500!!

Thank you Ms. Davis for setting such a great example.

– Steve Patterson