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 structureABOVE: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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: 1-20Part 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.
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:
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.
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