Some More Downtown East St. Louis

I'm always amazed by some of the beautiful storefronts on Collinsville Avenue, many featuring terracotta decorative elements that are still in good condition after decades of neglect.

Sadly, the back sides of many of the most elegant buildings in downtown are beginning to fail, and are slowing falling down into piles of concrete and rebar.

Grass lots are replacing what were once businesses, leaving the long sides of building exposed to view.

This house looks like it caught on fire at some point; despite the vinyl siding, I suspect this house is much older.

Also, I will be presenting about the exciting future of St. Louis Patina at 7:00 PM at the Contemporary Art Museum on July 12th, in conjunction with PechaKucha St. Louis. I hope to see you there.

Spivey Building, Revisited

I had the opportunity to photograph the long-suffering Spivey Building, supposedly the tallest building in southern Illinois. You can see previous pictures of the exterior and interior.

I was concerned that there was some new damage to the pediment of the building, but I looked back at old pictures and realized that it has been like that for a while.

The city wants to tear it down, but it has no money to do it. In many ways, it's sort of an awkward building; individual floors don't have much square footage, and there's plenty of room to build new buildings in downtown East St. Louis.

Bank Drive-In, East St. Louis

East St. Louis was still thriving in the 50's and 60's, and these really cool drive-up bank teller windows are evidence of that.

Built along an alley behind the bank, you can imagine cars swinging into these spots, and then heading out into the traffic of a bustling downtown.

Some More East St. Louis

I find East St. Louis sad but interesting; between the vacant lots are often times very beautiful buildings.

Churches are just as high quality as across the river, and they stand out amongst the landscape.

There are also lots of well-maintained houses, standing proud amongst the weeds of nearby vacant lots.

These two commercial buildings still have remnants of their signs; what were their original purposes, I wonder?

Armour Meat Packing Plant's End Coming Soon

Armour Meat Packing Plant, June 23, 2012

A couple of years ago, the new Mississippi River Bridge website published the following satellite image of the path of the Illinois approaches to the new bridge. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that only a portion of the historic stockyards around the old mule pens were in the way of the new road. My favorite ruin in the St. Louis area, Armour Meat Packing, sat uncomfortably close, but nonetheless safe for the time being.

You can understand my chagrin when I recently visited the site and found this new satellite image had been uploaded. If you look closely, you can see that new access road planned to be perpendicular to the new I-70 ends right in front of the main buildings of Armour. I would assume they plan on extending that road further, which of course would go right through the plant. Perhaps it's time for you to see it before it's gone.

Abandoned Factory, Walnut Park #2

What was once probably a machine room for the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Co. sits open to the elements, hosting everything from the remnants of the resale business to the remainder of a game of bowling.

Abandoned Factory, Walnut Park #1

Situated on a quiet backstreet near West Florissant Avenue, the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Co. sits in a state of increasing ruin.

Later taken over in the 1990's by a wholesale industrial product resale concern, it now sits abandoned, and filled with "stuff."

See an article here about the interior of the factory.

Owned by the City's Land Reutilization Authority, it most likely is polluted and hazardous for use. One can only imagine in 1912, when the factory opened, the sounds of boots on the streets as workers walked down the street from their homes in Walnut Park.

Warehouse District, Kansas City, Missouri

The area southeast of downtown Kansas City is filled with warehouses, junkyards and other scattered buildings; you might not notice if you're speeding by on one of the city's many parkways.

Every city seems like it has to have this functional part of town, the equivalent of east of Broadway in St. Louis.

The interesting building materials and signs, however, always make these parts of town interesting.

There always seems to be a couple of diners, a few bars and a scattered of other businesses that supply local workers with lunch and after work entertainment.

Holy Name Catholic Church, East Central Kansas City

I have no idea why Holy Name Catholic Church is being torn down, except that shortsighted leaders see more value in the cut stone than in the stunning work of Gothic Revival structure they're destroying.

Nominated for the National Register of Historic Places, it is now being torn down, one stone at a time, until what you see here is all that is left of the church.

You would think this is in some completely bombed out neighborhood, but in reality the neighboring blocks are relatively stable, with beautiful rehabs and new, seemingly expensive houses.

I guess they thought that an historic church was a detriment to their property values? More so than a vacant, weed-choked lot?

As I always say, just because you lack the imagination to see this church restored to its former glory instead of demolished, doesn't mean you should get in the way of someone, maybe not even born yet, who has the vision and drive to find a new use for the church.

Read about the history behind the church in the 1960's here.

The images remind me of pictures of post-war Germany after it had been bombed at the end of World War II.

See it from the air here, before most of the church was demolished.

In just a few short months, the entire church will be gone, and its striking presence will be gone as well.

As you can see, the stone is being carefully stacked and hauled off to another location. How stupid and short-sighted...