Monday, June 25, 2007

Orphaned Houses

I came across these two houses in the so-called McKinley Heights neighborhood of south St. Louis. On the left, the traffic from I-44 rushes past, while across the street--where I'm taking the picture--is the parking lot of an old warehouse turned upscale liquor store. The challenge of reviving some parts of the city is that planners in the past made no effort to keep some neighborhoods as desirable as possible. Perhaps, however, these houses demonstrate the cost of living on the edge of a neighborhood; further in the streetscape is very well preserved and humanly scaled.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Chris,
    I'm enjoying the new blog.
    Caleb

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello. Just found a photo of my house on your blog and thought you might like to know how it changed my perception of my home.
    When I saw the photo, I was stunned to see how awful it looked with the drapes drawn and the screens mismatched.
    You'll be happy to know that I have since removed the screens and I open the drapes to give the house a much more friendly look. I would have never noticed these errors without your help.
    As for being orphaned...well, that's a major reason we chose this house. A short dead-end street makes it very easy to know when something, or someone is out of place. Easier to keep the street clean too.
    Come by during the holidays when the Christmas lights are up!

    ReplyDelete

A Blog detailing the beauty of St. Louis architecture and the buildup of residue-or character-that accumulates over the course of time.