Transitions: New and Old

As is common in many urban environments, buildings often rub up against each other in a sometimes awkward fashion. The Syndicate Trust and Century Buildings used to seamlessly flow together; now the newly erected and banally named "9th Street Garage", which took the Century's place, now clashes with the more historic Syndicate Trust.

There's something annoying about an historic building being torn down for a parking garage--especially when they re-erect the parking garage to have the same dimensions as the old building. What is even more idiotic is that the Century Building almost certainly would be undergoing a renovation into condos as we speak just like its neighbor on the block--the two buildings were connected for decades--if it hadn't been demolished for more parking.

But don't we need more parking downtown? No, we don't quite frankly. I was recently downtown the same day as the NRA convention--the largest in the city's history--and there were half empty parking garages within two blocks of the convention center. Weekdays are similar; I can always find a spot in any number of conveniently located parking garages. Downtown doesn't need more parking, it needs more businesses and people!

Around the corner at the old Statler Hotel, they did manage to neatly and somewhat effectively add a mirror image addition to the venerable old hotel, as can be seen along the one block stretch of St. Charles on the south side of the hotel.

Can you tell which side is the original?

Switzer Building

I made it down to the Switzer Licorice Building this weekend to see what was left after demolition work started earlier this week. There's still a quite a bit left, with the majority of the building near the Eads Bridge gone so the roadway can reopen. There's increasingly less of Laclede's Landing left, considering that St. Louis markets the area as some sort of time capsule of the Nineteenth Century.

Ironically, this building came within months of being renovated; while there's no way of knowing whether the first part of the rehabbing would have allowed the building to survive last July's infamous storm, one can only wonder if it would still be standing if those storms had come four months later.

Apparently, the Switzer factory was several buildings combined together on the same block, much like the famous Tums factory across downtown.

Nevertheless, the building is left in a precarious state of demolition, totally beyond saving now but still standing in a dizzyingly precarious state.