Friday, March 7, 2008

St. Louis Place Blockbusting

The rest of Wright Street west of Florissant Ave is similarly as devastated as Montgomery Street. What is more troubling is that the houses on Wright seem to have been purposefully sabotaged, and not for the purpose of brick theft.The house below, painted baby blue, was NOT some abandoned house that needed to be torn down to protect children. It was occupied before being bought by real estate kingpin Paul McKee. Of course he doesn't buy it in his name, but rather uses shell companies. Read about Blairmont here at Ecology of Absence and Built St. Louis.The wall of this house seems to have been demolished with the sole purpose of undermining its use as a habitable domicile. There is little market for baby blue painted brick, and the large quantity of bricks left on the ground makes me suspect that the people who did this didn't even want the bricks.I don't normally believe in conspiracy theories, but something sinister is going on in St. Louis Place, and I'm not talking about the normal street crimes.

5 comments:

  1. From the EofA website, I recognize 2845 St. Louis Ave!

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  2. Unfortunately, 2845 is now a pile of rubble too. Check out the link at Random Talk

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  3. Whoa, I just found out you're tackling this issue at the same time I am. Excellent.

    I am so, so saddened to see the long block on Wright come down. I really loved that building. I'll be covering the houses on Wright eventually as well.

    And the turreted flatiron is gone too? Unbelievable. Such an incredible waste.

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  4. Chris, if you're looking for some unphotogrpahed Blairmont houses, I recommend:

    * 3237, 3239, 3236, and 3238 N. 20th
    * 3240, 3242, 3248, and 3261 Knapp
    * 1913 Dodier
    * 3249 N. 19th
    * 1311 St. Louis Avenue
    * 1415 Benton
    * 1445 Clinton
    * 1449 Madison
    * 1124 Tyler

    There's also a heavy swath of properties in the blocks between Sheridan and Dayton, due east of Pruitt-Igoe. I haven't looked them up yet to see if they're vacant or occupied and get the exact addresses, however, as I've hardly ever photographed in that area.

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  5. ...erm. Due WEST of Pruitt-Igoe, that should read.

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