An Interesting Apartment Building in the Central West End

Grain Elevator, Hermann, Missouri

Adding My Own Patina to This T-Bone

I went to the coolest restaurant this weekend in Champaign. They let you cook your own steaks! Warning: Do not watch if you are a vegetarian.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Giant Cross, Effingham, Illinois

Metropolitan Square

Syndicate Trust Building

Orpheum Theater

I remember the Orpheum Theater as the American Theater, the place where heavy metal acts used to play downtown. Those days are apparently long gone, as much of downtown strives for a more upscale clientele. The Roberts Brothers fully dominate the block; adding their stamp to one portion of downtown.It's funny, I remember waiting in line outside the Orpheum and looking up at the forlorn hulk of the Statler Hotel, with pigeons coming and going from its shattered upper windows.

Railroad Exchange Building

I have always had a soft spot for the Railroad Exchange Building, that hulking, terracotta covered edifice rising right in the heart of downtown. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I learned through satellite images that the top floors of the office building portion of the structure has a large donut light well in the center. You can see it here.




Originally planned to be the headquarters of St. Louis's railroads, it became the center for May Department Stores.I long for the day when the skybridge is removed and the terracotta carefully replaced from the old St. Louis Centre.

Laclede Gas Building

I'm sure that Mies van der Rohe guy would be pleased by the Laclede Gas Building seemingly rising out of a park of lush trees. Too bad the trees anchor one of the deadest areas of downtown, the Gateway Mall.

Marquette Building

It's amazing the transformation that the Marquette Building has taken over the last few years from the first time I photographed it several years ago.The television antenna, once rather sadly the tallest point in the St. Louis skyline, has been removed from the top penthouse of the building. If you look closely at the backdrops of local news shows, the mast is still in most of them--as well as on tourist mugs.Sadly, as has become commonplace in St. Louis, one historic building "had" to be demolished to allow for the rehabbing of another. The last thing I want to see in St. Louis's downtown future is a world made up of 50% parking garages.

Ballpark Village, August 2008

Tucker Tunnel

The Tucker Tunnel is one of those places in St. Louis that older residents might remember, but as the city progresses, fewer and fewer people remember its existence. It has been in the news more lately, as the city has had to shut down several lanes of Tucker Blvd up above the tunnel because it's starting to collapse. It used to provide access for a passenger railroad that went to Alton. Also, the Post-Dispatch used to have its paper delivered down in the tunnel; you can still see the loading dock for the newspaper in the tunnel. Also evident are the supports that have hopefully temporarily been put in place to support the road deck up above. Basically the tunnel is a cut and cover design; in a way, all of Tucker through much of downtown sits on top of one long bridge.