Sloppy Repairs, Tower Grove East

Forced by the city, the owner of a historic storefront that has begun to collapse due to the owner's neglect, has begun repairs on the facade. He's doing such a great job, isn't he?

Merry Christmas from Saint Louis Patina!

After three years of waging war on the crack dealers and other criminals on my block, for the first time I felt comfortable placing Christmas lights on the front of my house without fearing they'd be vandalized.

I particularly like how I ran an extension cord out of a broken window in my basement door, down the side of my house and then hooked up my strings of lights. Don't judge me.

My House

Back when the Compton and Dry aerial print of the city of St. Louis was published, my street wasn't even cut through yet, but you could see how the small farmhouse that once sat just south of my house had a fence on the property line. I wonder if my neighbors north of me want to know that their houses are built on an filled-in sinkhole...My house appears on the Sanborn Map sometime after 1910, when my house was built along with five other shotguns houses on my block. The farmhouse seems to have been torn down shortly after that time, and two four-family apartments went up in the void.I never realized it, but my old garage, torn down before I bought the house, had its own address: Rear 2928 S. Compton, which is interesting because my house is 2929.

Southern Tower Grove East

I've always been a little confused about Tower Grove East; it seems like it developed relatively late compared to other neighborhoods just across major avenues like Gravois.But I love all the different textures and surfaces in this neighborhood, whether it's just different colored glazes or different shapes of red brick.I suspect a lot of the customization was finalized a couple of days or even hours before the individual bricks were laid, probably the decision of the bricklayer himself sometimes.It results in truly unique architecture, and no two buildings in the city are perfectly alike, if seemingly homogeneous at a quick glance.

Jason Gray

St. Francis de Sales from Magnolia Avenue in Tower Grove East

I caught this view of the spire of St. Francis de Sales from ten blocks away, almost to Grand Boulevard.

Keep Up the Bad Work!

As the Preservation Research Office reported recently, an out-of-city absentee landlord is busily letting a neighborhood anchor deteriorate, with little or no effort at trying to repair the building. And why should he care? There are no legal consequences to not caring in this city. As you can see from my recent photo, the building continues to collapse.

Unshoveled Sidewalks

Hey, kids, can you guess which houses on my block are owned by out of town (and state) slumlords?

Sunset, End of Fall 2010

Tower Grove East Summer Nights

Over My Dead Body

Garden, Tower Grove East

My garden has really taken off, with my cannas and sunflowers towering over me.I think the sunflowers are at least nine feet tall, and I actually hit my head on this one sunflower; it is heavy!The wild rose continues to bloom, with its second round of flowers.I didn't realize my cannas would get so big, otherwise I would have put my Indian cone flower in another location.
The hydrangea is still clinging to life, though it is a sensitive little guy.Here is the pile of weeds, originally around two feet tall, that I pulled out of my garden last Friday; the rain coupled with all the sunshine caused some sort of vine to go crazy in my backyard. I was pulling on it like crazy and it still wouldn't come out.

Caught in the Act, Tower Grove East

Slummin' It in Tower Grove East

My dearly departed neighbors in this long suffering house left behind quite the mess. It seems they didn't like getting evicted, and trashed the place on their way out.Why can't the slumlord who owns this place realize he's in the wrong line of business, and sell this poor house to someone who cares? Even in this economy, I know someone who wants to buy it who is also a responsible owner. Instead, our neighborhood is dragged down by a slumlord who has made such wonderful cosmetic changes as ripping out the stone lintels above the second floor windows, and placing a too small window in what was once a larger one.The greatest threat to the future and well-being of the City of St. Louis comes not from drug dealers or criminals, but from the "investors" who sweep into our city to make a quick buck and then hit the road, leaving a damaged neighborhood in its wake.Conversely, this last house, the first house's neighbor, is in the process of being converted into a single family house, waiting for a responsible, caring homeowner. The current owner, the rehabber, is putting hundreds of hours of work and tens of thousands of dollars into this house. Thanks for improving the neighborhood.

Backyard Maple Before Trimming, Tower Grove East

Rose Bush, Backyard, Tower Grove East

I featured my old wild rose in a post last year, and it has bloomed again beautifully.I didn't realize it, but it seems like it was larger last year. I remember one branch falling off, but not this much.I trimmed off lots of dead branches a couple of weeks ago, and I'm wondering if it's doing as well as it was before. It's hilarious to see the old white back of my house, which has now been painted to match the original brick color under the crumby white paint.

Tower Grove East Porches

I realized I have very little of my own neighborhood on this website, so I think I might try and change that.In particular, I've been interested in the porches that grace the front of many of my neighbors' houses.They all seem to capture a reserved, simplified Neo-Classicism in their form. with dentilated cornices and square Corinthian columns.I like the porches with the more exotic paint schemes.

Tower Grove East and Fox Park Area

I don't spend enough time in my own neighborhood, so I drove around Tower Grove East and Fox Park recently to see a bit of the area.It's amazing the variety of housing stock in such a relatively confined area.