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As I first discovered on the
Built St. Louis website, the strange, half timber building across the from the Syndicate Trust seems to hold much older secrets.
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The building, on closer examination, is really a faux half-timber house, and hides old brick construction behind. I remember when this restaurant was open; it looked like a dump so I never went in.
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As the above two photos show, there are actually cast iron columns on the ground floor; Built St. Louis reports that the building might be from the Civil War.
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As it is, it sits rotting and in limbo; the Roberts Brothers apparently want to tear it down, but considering they'll be trying to sell units in their tower nearby, I have a feeling it will not be going anywhere anytime soon. An examination of the brick on the alley wall gives few clues to the original purpose of this property; you can often "read" a building by looking at its irregularities and patchwork, but not this building.
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The old fire insurance maps from show the building
here. From close examination of the 1909 map, it appears the building, at the northeast corner of Locust and Tenth, had a series of small rooms in the back.
These corner building originally was a tenement with the storefront added later. There is abuilding permit from 1877 that seems to correspond to the rear section. Apparently the demolition could be in the works soon.
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