Missouri Pacific Roundhouses in Between Compton and Cardinal North of Chouteau

I also determined that there was a large brick roundhouse right in the middle of the Mill Creek Valley just east of Compton Ave. The two Sanborn maps show the whole complex; for a sense of place, the little wood roundhouse is the same structure in both maps.

No traces of the roundhouses remain, and the entire area is now occupied by what I think was the Villa Lighting Warehouse.

Immaculate Conception Church

The old Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, on Longfellow at Lafayette. St. Kevin's and St. Henry's were apparently rolled into the parish, before the parish was closed due to lack of attendance. It is now home to the Compton Heights Concert Band.It is a beautiful Gothic Revival Church, and I imagine nearby industrial barons from the Compton Heights neighborhood walking over here on Sundays, before I-44 cut off this short stretch of Longfellow from the main portion south of the interstate. It is an idiosyncratic Gothic church, though. For starters, and perhaps not too strange, I am certain the church originally was planned to have a steeple or spire, but either it was destroyed or it was never built in the first place. The right side of the facade clearly shows a lack of symmetry, and the right side looks to be designed for a spire to rise out of its foundations.A quattrefoil surmounts the pointed arch doorway, with the original name of the parish still inscribed above.A rose window crowns not only the facade of the church, but on the transepts as well. The windows now feature protective glass to protect them.The oddest part of this church are its relatively tiny clerestory windows, which are supposed to be anathema to the Gothic style. Of course, the church is also missing flying buttresses, that critical element which allows for the windows to grow larger than they had been during the more heavy-set Romanesque style. I wish I could speak to the architect about his unconventional expression of the Gothic style.

Hodgen Elementary Demolition Pending

Much of the Gate District, formerly the Compton Hill neighborhood, has been obliterated. But much to my delight, much of it still survives. If the St. Louis Public Schools system has its way, it will lose a critical component of the area that has stood since the late Nineteenth Century. Hodgen School, a simple, but stout Italianate school building that I've heard is the oldest school building left in the city of St. Louis, is slated for demolition in order to provide a parking lot for the new Hodgen School. A parking lot? Are they kidding?!So the Hodgen School might not make it into architectural history books, but its restrained style, with Tuscan pilasters and architrave cut an elegant profile in this corner of the city that so needs a sense of real style.The school's sign shows that the pediment was most likely not originally painted.The circular niche, an interesting oddity, seems to be awaiting the return of the bust that once sat on its plinth.On the facade, cut-stone rosettes accent the red brick walls. The detail might be a little rough after one hundred years, but they are still well-preserved.These windows must bring huge amounts of light into the classrooms. Speaking as someone who went to a high school that resembled a dungeon, I wish I could have attended school at such a light-filled space.The back side of the school, visible from I-44 (how I'm most familiar with the building) is an interesting mix of curved stairwells and what might be the curved back of the library.Below is what presumably is the outside of a staircase.I like this picture of the back of the building; what is the large, semi-circular structure sticking out of the back?Rather conveniently, a window has been left open, exposing the interior of the building to the elements.I include a picture of the new Hodgen Elementary: a boring, bland building that is so typical of the 1990's in American architecture. Where are the Michelangelos, Berninis and Sullivans of the past? I know, they're dead, but do we have to have such antagonism to solid, elegant and timeless architecture?Below, I have included a Sanborn map showing how dense the neighborhood once was, and how the elementary school fit in so perfectly into the fabric of the area.So you don't care about historical architecture? That's fine, but realize that Proposition S, passed by voters in November, specifically mentions only upgrades to public schools. Read the text here. As you can read at the Post-Dispatch website, Hodgen will be torn down in the wave of new repairs made with the money from Prop S. While it does say specifically if the District will use Prop S money to tear down Hodgen, but if they do, I believe they are violating at least the spirit, if not the law, of Prop S, and its purported use of taxpayers' dollars.

St. Louis Flower Market

Who realized that the wholesale flower market is on LaSalle Street just southwest of the intersection of Jefferson and Chouteau?Despite most of the area around it being demolished for the Gate District, the street is almost completely intact.One can only imagine how amazing it was when all the houses around this street were still standing, and this wasn't some weird isolated pocket of occupied buildings.I wish I could have seen Compton Hill, as the area was called before urban clearance. Instead of dense urban fabric, we are now treated to generic suburbia in the heart of the city.Feel free to send me hate mail for criticizing the Gate District.

Return of the Superblock

Oh great, what is SLU up to now? Closing streets near large blocks of their land is not a good sign. I'm sure a surface parking lot will be coming soon.

Gate District Re-examination

I decided to re-examine the Gate District in response to the impassioned arguments of one of the neighborhood's residents that the area does have life in it, despite its reputation among local preservationists and others.What I found were several streets of very beautiful houses along Lafayette Avenue, with some abandonment and some new in-fill construction.I still think there is a major problem of a lack of nearby restaurants or other "hang-outs," which I presume were planned but never materialized.Time will tell if this area retains its dichotomic nature, or fuses into a cogent neighborhood.

Abandoned Grocery Store

It never amazes me that a grocery store at the corner of Jefferson and I-44 could not stay in business. Was it because they offered crappy, expired products to the locals? Was it shoplifted blind? Who knows, but I find it bizarre that no one can think of a use for such prime real estate across from the Lafayette Square neighborhood.

The Gate District

The Gate District, or as some people call it now, Lafayette Square West is one of those areas that doesn't quite fit into North or South St. Louis. Sandwiched between two major interstates, the area saw intense demolition decades ago, and now is a strange pastiche of new-urbanist and historic housing. A surprisingly large number of original buildings survive in the area.Below is a corner store, with a distinctive sign still attached to the outside.Below is an interesting asymmetrical double archway.The house below has been for sale for a long time, probably because it needs a complete overhaul.Here is another great example of the storefront architecture in the area.Is the Gate District a great example of urban renewal, or a complete disaster? Emotions seem to run high over the debate of whether the Gate District is legitimate urbanist renewal, or merely an impostor. The bird's eye view gives a great view of the contrasting centuries of construction.