Italianate Farmhouse, Wildwood

Just east of Pond is this rustic, but beautiful Italianate farmhouse. The paint is faded, but the intricate details remain. Will someone save it before it is demolished? I hope so.

The Italianate and Second Empire Legacy of Grand Center

While Grand Center and the surrounding neighborhoods are now well-known respectively for being the theater district of St. Louis and acres of parking lots and desolation, the area first saw life as a wealthy residential section of the city. While photographs commemorate the 1880-1900 housing stock of the area, very little of it remains, replaced by newer historic houses, skyscrapers and theaters.

But if you look closely, there are survivors of that earlier, more tranquil era of the neighborhood. On nearby Belle Place, a couple of houses scattered amongst later houses and vacant lots remind still stand.

This amazing Italianate country house sticks out on its block, several decades older than the surrounding building stock, and out of fashion by the Twentieth Century.

Nearby, a stately house with a Mansard roof represents the Second Empire history of the neighborhood. Interestingly, its newer neighbors have not survived.

Looking at the Sanborn Map for the street, it looks like there were probably numerous other Italianate and Second Empire houses on the block; the newer houses are four-squares but the map shows slender houses, more reminiscent of the older architectural styles.

If you look closely, you can see these first houses built on these streets all over the area west and east of Grand.

Recent Photography in Hyde Park #1

I made it up to Hyde Park about a month ago around sunset, and I was rewarded with rich, warm hues on the brick of the houses.The neighborhood is surprisingly intact, if abandoned in many areas.What is most fascinating is to see how dense this neighborhood was at one point.Looking closely, you can see what was most likely a outside staircase that accessed the top floor apartment of this building. It looks pretty rickety now, but it demonstrates how people lived on top of each other in many St. Louis neighborhoods.

Metamorah, Illinois

Famous for being one of the venues of the Lincoln-Douglass debates, Metamorah is also a quaint, if relatively small town.Dominated by the original courthouse, where Lincoln practiced law, it looks almost a little like New England; most courthouses in Illinois that I've seen are in the middle of the town square, not facing it.I was also impressed to see that most, if not all of the square's storefronts are filled--a welcome sight when so many town centers have been devastated by Wal-Mart or that ugly, ubiquitous strip of stores along the nearby highway.Adlai Stevenson's house is in town as well; it is actually quite old and indicative of architecture of the early town.

Downtown Delavan, Illinois

Inspired by Philadelphia, and similar to downtown St. Louis, the streets of Delavan are named after trees; the main street of the town is Locust Street.What a stunning downtown Delavan has, complete with several National Register storefronts. The level of occupancy is high as well, with few empty buildings.This street has some of the best preserved Italianate storefronts I've ever seen, and many of them have been painted in accurate 19th Century color schemes.The south side of downtown is dominated by the large grain elevator, a landmark in many small towns.

Carondelet

Punctuated by churches throughout the neighborhood, Carondelet remains one of the most intact and stable areas of the city.Churches range in style, from simple Gothic Revival to more elaborate styles.It's cliche, but Carondelet really does feel like its own separate city, with the obvious note that it once was until I believe the 1870's.It seems like every architectural style in the city can be found on every block, unlike the rest of the city where you tend to find a more homogeneous, if still beautiful, streetscape.The Italianate house above sits just down the street from the more sturdy and square shotgun house below.The street wall undulates back and forth, as different eras and attitudes about the proper distance from the street mix together in a strangely harmonious manner.

Midtown, Just West of Jefferson Avenue

Once one of the densest parts of the city just west of downtown, and lined with row after row of houses, the area west of Jefferson is now one of the most desolate areas of the city.I did find three buildings clinging to life on Lucas Avenue just west of Beaumont, and despite being abandoned, they still show their strong workmanship and quality materials.I've never seen this before, but when they knocked down the house next door, they left a fireplace hole unsealed, along with two flues.The stately houses next door look like they're in mint condition; I thought the slate roof tiles were actually new.Looking closer, they look original, but they're still in such great shape. These houses could be the centerpiece of a new neighborhood of in-fill, but I'm afraid they'll be torn down before that, despite their prime location.The sturdy Italiante rowhouse below still exudes a sense of class and quality.The cornice is still intact, revealing the high quality of the original carpenter work.

Nothing's Sacred Anymore

This church was hit by the brick thieves, which baffles me as the brick is a buff color, which would not seem to be very popular with the local black market.Shards of brick litter the parking lot across the street, where the word "pastor" can still be seen in the respective parking space.The rest of the buildings are beautiful as well; these two twin apartment buildings are stunning.I love these little Italianate shotgun houses; they're not huge but the perfect residence for a small family or retiree. Chances are it will be a pile of rubble in a few years.

Even More Ste. Genevieve