Northwest Plaza Exterior

When will these walls coming crashing down, the victim of demolition?

Will there be any memory of what was here fifty years from now?

How could such a thriving place decline so rapidly? Was its hold on the retail market so tenuous?

Sears, Northwest Plaza

I have a sentimental soft spot for the Northwest Plaza Sears, as its architecture is very similar to the mall I went to as a child in Saginaw, Michigan, Fashion Square Mall.

I also realized that in some ways the architecture reminds me of Jabba the Hutt's palace from third Star Wars movie.

Perhaps a serious problem for Northwest Plaza was that while the interior received a face-lift, the outside did not.

Yes, that is a hawk sitting on the roof of the canopy in front of the store.

Lava rock abounds in this building, and it adds a nice touch to the decoration.

Northwest Plaza Famous Barr

Besides the Fairview Heights and South County stores, the Northwest Plaza Famous Barr is the third of the remaining signature domed departments stores.

Much ado has been made of the enclosure of the original outdoor mall, but it is interesting to see that the anchors at the mall changed very little on the exterior.

I'm fascinated by the concrete forms on the side of the store. Was it always painted white, and there was bare concrete originally?

Sadly, very few pictures seem to exist of the mall in its heyday, which is a shame, because I have fond memories of walking around in its courtyards.

Halsey C. Ives Mansion, 1905

Grade School, Castle Point

I was actually impressed with the Castle Point neighborhood; it has stunning mature trees and overall well-maintained properties.

Unfortunately, the travails of the River Gardens School District is still always present.

This school was a religious school until last year, when it apparently when out of business.

Chinese Restaurant, Hazelwood.

Back in the day, this splendid restaurant was the place to get Chinese food in Hazelwood. Nowadays, it sells granite sculpture imported from China.

Former Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, Jennings

Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, built as the wave of migration to the suburbs picked up in the 1950's, is now a victim to that same migration that has continued further west. It is now closed, and converted into a senior center.

Unfortunately, as can be seen in these older photos of the church's interior, it is a unique building, and many of its original features are now gone.

As can be seen below, the owners have still not definitively fixed the ongoing roof problems, present since the time this was still a Catholic parish. Shingles have impaled themselves on the chain link fence below.

Likewise, this stone could use a good powerwash.

But from what I've seen from pictures, the stained glass must be truly wonderful to see from the inside.

Sadly, the parish house seen in the Built St. Louis photo has been demolished, and the school is closed, boarded up with now weathered plywood.

Upon closer inspection, the copper gutter was ripped back from its mooring along the roof. Was it just the weather, or has someone begun to scavenge for copper on this neglected building? The results are immediate, as the water is now running down the side of the building.

Across the street, a house sits abandoned. Did the owners once walk across the street to mass? Why is this house in this shape now?

Old Harrison Elementary School, Vinita Park

Now the home of Maranatha Ministries.

Historic Photos of Oak Grove Cemetery and Mausoleum

I returned to Oak Grove Cemetery recently and met with the staff, learning many interesting facts about the mausoleum and grounds.

They were also kind enough to give me an original promotional brochure from shortly after the mausoleum's opening.

Above is the upper floor of the central rotunda, and below is the lower floor of the majestic space.

I get the impression that the marketing was geared toward making the act of burial and visiting of graves a cleaner and more scientific method compared to the old, muddy graveyards of the past.

I love the stained glass window in this chapel below; it is clearly based off of the Sistine Madonna by Raphael in Dresden, Germany.

Here are some of the other chapels and hallways in the mausoleum, showing the nice white Carrara marble that adorns the walls.

I'm creeped out by mausolea; I'm used to the old fashioned cemetery burials where all of my relatives are buried. It's interesting to see how different people react to different burial methods.

The owners are in the process of raising donations to repair the building back to its original state; on the day I was there construction workers were already at work repairing portions of the central dome. Please consider donating to their cause; I can vouch that the money is actually going to repairs, as the scaffolding was not there the first time I visited. Let's not let it turn into the type of cemetery the brochure railed against decades ago.

St. Vincent's Hospital

I spotted the roofline of what looked to be a Romanesque and Gothic castle recently, and after a search on Google Maps, I found out what this large, majestic building was.Closed decades ago, it is now low-income apartments. I had trouble getting a good shot, but you can see a more proficient view of the entire building here.Owned by the Daughters of Charity, the asylum began downtown and moved out to what was then the country in the 1890's. Read more about the building from its National Register nomination.The Daughters of Charity also ran nearby Marillac College, which I featured earlier this year, which is due north of the old hospital, across what is now St. Vincent's Park, which I suspect was owned by the Sisters as well.I found it interesting that there is the 1930 Census on file for the hospital, or as they called it back then, a sanitarium.I was saddened about the current condition of the building, which is beginning to show the age of its renovation in the early 1980's.Likewise, it is isolated, up a narrow suburban street, and I wonder about its long term viability. We talked to a couple of residents, and they were not happy with their living conditions.