St. Anthony of Padua, from Gravois and Michigan Avenues

I love how St. Anthony of Padua serves as a landmark all over the south side of Gravois Avenue.

Dutchtown: Good and Bad

There are a lot of beautiful houses in Dutchtown, such as the well-kept one above. Below, I low this little detail of what was once a storefront, but apparently they also included an arched doorway through the front. I'm not sure about the story behind it.This Italianate house also is amazing on Chippewa; it just keep going out the back. I wonder if this was a smaller building that was built out over the years after it became an apartment building.All is not well in Dutchtown, as this building attests. It looks like it's in an advanced state of collapse on the upper floors.Likewise, this sturdy rowhouse is now boarded up, despite being well-built. It looks like something you might see in Hyde Park or St. Louis Place. I hope these abandoned buildings aren't harbingers for the future.

Varied Housing Stock, Dutchtown

I love the varied different types of housing in Dutchtown; while the neighborhood was first built in the first decades of the Twentieth Century, it has styles reaching all the way to the present day.Four family flats abound, but the Mansard roofed houses are some of the more unique.Three story houses stand next to one story houses, and the interesting mix makes the neighborhoods one of the most interesting in the city.

The Importance of the Street Wall, Dutchtown

I'm concerned about the future of Dutchtown; it has been wracked with some of the worst violence in the city this last year, and it is also the most dense neighborhood in the city. I've often said, so goes Dutchtown, so goes the rest of the South Side.The rowhouses create such a wonderful sense of being in a real neighborhood; the houses, often built in a row of identical or slightly different houses, create a rhythm that is pleasing to the eye.Whether it's one story shotguns with their crenelated tops, or two family flats with their facades of red brick, quality of construction always pervades.I am always amazed at the houses I see every time I'm down south of Chippewa and north of Meramec. It seems there are countless streets to be discovered in the huge area.

Virginia Theater, Still Sitting Empty

Marquette Park Pool Building

A Bit of Northwest Dutchtown

I think Dutchtown, however you define its boundaries, is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the city. Set amongst the rolling hills southwest of downtown, I often feel like I'm in Germany as I come down a hill and see a Gothic spire off in the distance.The architecture is varied as well, from solid brick houses with gingerbread accents to four family flats.And just when you think you've seen too much brick, the beautiful, Modernist Resuurection Church pops out at you on a quiet corner on Meramec Street.

Virginia Avenue, Dutchtown

I recently discovered the Virginia Avenue business district in my exploring, anchored by the old Virginia Theater above, and the Stork Inn, one of Anheuser Busch's restaurants.What I love about this neighborhood is how the residential and commercial properties segue seamlessly, without any evidence of massive parking lots that so often litter even the most stable neighborhoods in St. Louis.The Stork Inn is a gem, and is the perfect focal point for the strip of businesses.The houses above look at the Inn across the street. While more or less identical, they each have taken on a life of their own over the years.

Virginia Theater

I had always heard about this theater, but had never been by. In fact, Virginia Avenue is really amazing along this stretch, featuring some amazing architecture and still prosperous businesses.Originally built by Anheuser Busch, it was bought by Wehrenberg and operated as a theater for years. Supposedly several churches occupied the space as well, but I saw no evidence of occupation when I drove by in early February. Read about the theater here.If you look closely, you can see the back stage rising above the rest of the building.

Lost Quarries of the South Side

Toby Weiss has done an excellent job of documenting quarries in the Cote Brilliante area of North St. Louis, but it turns out that such quarries were not limited to just the northern half of the city. And just as has happened up north, problems of subsidence of the fill dumped into these quarries seems to have claimed victims on the south side as well. At the intersection of Virigina and Delor, far south in Dutchtown, at least two former quarries sit abandoned and filled in with rubble.Looking at old Sanborn maps, you can see that the Eyermann Quarry once operated in a large pit in what should have been Compton Avenue. The street still doesn't go through. According to a website I found that talks about St. Louis quarries, the Eyermann Quarry was known for high quality stone. Nothing remains of the quarry except for flat, rolling terrain. Looking at a satellite image, you can see what appear to be streets or concrete paths through the site. I suspect that in-fill was built on the site, and has since been torn down due to subsidence. Interestingly, Anheuser Busch owns the quarry's strange-shaped plot of land with the address of 5100 Virginia.Up on the hill, along Minnesota, the old Haller Quarry shows why the upper portion of the site sits abandoned.The apartment building below, I suspect, would give us a clue about what once sat on the site before demolition. The 1950's saw many of the old quarries closed, and Modernist apartment buildings replaced many of the holes in the grid, along with single family houses elsewhere in the city.A quick look on the map below confirms these were quarries; in fact, it looks like there were once at least five quarries in southern Dutchtown. Is your house sitting on top of one?

Sinclair Dinosaur Sighting, Dutchtown

Just as I was about to snap a picture of a rare sighting of a Sinclair green dinosaur, the jerk in front of me had to go and turn in front, ruining my shot.

Dutchtown, Part 5

I love this Dutchtown streetscape, lined with what have been labeled "cyclops houses."Laclede Park is a fantastic little park, surrounded by homes that alternately turn their backs or turn toward the park.The architectural unity is not boring, but rather it is comforting, like a symphony of brick.

A Little Bit of Dutchtown, Part 4

I love the variety of housing stock in the largest neighborhood in South St. Louis, Dutchtown. It is a huge area, and seems to have developed over a long period of time. Most of the building stock is intact, even if it is partially abandoned.I've always been fascinated by how close I-55 comes to the street grid; newer interstates seem to cut a much wider swath of right-of-way.Dutchtown has great things going on it, and not so great things as well. Will time only tell which direction this neighborhood goes?

St. Anthony of Padua

An Interesting House in Dutchtown

I'm intrigued by this house; it looks like it predates the rest of the houses nearby. Perhaps it originally was a farmhouse on the edge of the city.

A Little Bit of Dutchtown