Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Power Plant, Lemp Brewery

It's a little confusing to know exactly where I was in the brewery when I went in the building along Broadway with the smokestack. It does not appear on the Insurance Map, so I am wondering if it was a more recent addition. A ramp connects the two buildings that are along Broadway; one building is clearly older and has a railroad access tunnel through it.The interior is a massive space, with huge open floor plans that allow for any number of uses, including art exhibits.I would like to know more about these two buildings that sit right next to each other, but am not sure how to proceed.See it from the air here. I suspect the building on the right may have been built by the International Shoe Company when it bought the complex during Prohibition.

5 comments:

  1. Wow, I remember attending a "art happening" in the ISCO building, and walking through this space. It was night, and had rained that day, and the roof on this building leaked badly. The floor reflected this state as it was rotting away, and large and dangerous gaps were interspersed with somewhat solid, intact flooring. Seems it has been improved. A little. What a place that was, with all of that natural light from the clerestory flooding the floor and the room. I think that's why I loathe modern warehouse/industrial spaces: blank walls of concrete, and no windows. Like a tomb.

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  2. Are those the missus and the wee ones over there in the lower left hand corner? Reminds me of the guy who took all of those great pix of streetcars, etc. the last century. His wife (GF?) is often seen in his pictures, standing there patiently, often in the cold, as he snaps off a few more pix.

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  3. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to tag along with me. Those are fellow visitors to the art show occurring in the space.

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  4. I wish my Grandfather was still alive so I could ask him details about the buildings, he worked there for many years. I do remember them saying that the complex worked hand-in-hand, when he worked for ISCO and they went on strike the Brewery workers would not cross the line and they supported the ISCO workers and vice-versa a few years before that, I think this was before WWII.

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  5. Growing up Grandma used to still curse the brewery workers because their strike lasted much longer than ISCOs and Grandfather was out of work for about 3 weeks in support of them...

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