Benton Park

The setting of Benton Park is one of the most beautiful in the city, with intact streets surrounding it on all sides except for Jefferson on the west.

Set as a typical Victorian park, with long winding trails that snake around the park, it was designed for strolls, and not as a formal space.

Interestingly, I just learned the massive and well-preserved English Cave complex is still hidden deep under much of the park.

Preserved because the park never massive development, it was sealed in the Twentieth Century, but there may still be entrances in some of the houses in the area.

As can be seen from the high point in the park, which commands stunning views over the area, the nearby Lemp Brewery took advantage of its own branch of caves under South City.

Oh, and there's this obelisk, dedicated to some German guy. It sits resplendently alone, on top of the ridge of a hill on the south side of the park.

Clifton Heights Streetscapes

The gently curving streets of Clifton Heights offer a panorama of vistas as one walks down its streets.

While walking past some houses, you might see a break in the trees and glimpse Barnes Hospital off in the distance.Below, a couple of gingerbread houses have crept into the neighborhood, adding another dimension of architectural style.

The wide variety of housing stock, from different generations certainly adds to the character of the neighborhood, including a wide variety of sizes, as this street of bungalows attest.

This church, wedged in between two streets, is a great example of the walkable church, where the people on surrounding streets would attend.

I love how the red brick stands out from the clapboards of the nearby houses.

Clifton Heights Park

I don't know why it took so long to get out to the Clifton Heights neighborhood, but I'm glad I did.

It is a stunning example of a Victorian suburban development, complete with ducks and winding paths that snake around the pond.

Even more interesting, it has a large collection of wood frame houses from the turn of the century, which is rare in much of the city.

Mineral Springs Park, Pekin, Illinois

Mineral Sprinhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifgs Park in downtown Pekin is one of the most stunning Victorian era parks I have ever seen. At the center, the elaborate, restored pavillion is a jewel.

Marquette Park Pool Building

World War II Memorial

I think this is the World War II Memorial, from 1948. Interestingly, almost sixty years before the memorial in Washington, DC.

Johnson Shut-Ins

Years after the giant failure of the AmerenUE reservoir on Profitt Mountain, nature is just starting to take root again, amidst the giant pink boulders carried down the hill by the water.Remember, if you hear sirens, start running.

Villa Borghese, Rome

The Villa Borghese, now really the largest park in Rome, was once the country estate of the Borghese family.Like many powerful Italian families, they blew all of their money and had to sell off large portions of their collections and property to the state.Much like St. Louis's Forest Park, you can see great art in the park. There's nothing better than a stroll through a park to an art Museum.The actually country house in the Villa Borghese now features an amazing collection of paintings and sculpture from antiquity up through the 18th Century.

Caserta, Campania, Italy

Every once and a while, I like to go back to the sources of much of St. Louis's architecture. Usually, that means Europe. The palace at Caserta, built outside Naples in the Campania region of Italy, sits right on the edge of the mountains that rise dramatically from the plains around the port city.A giant esplanade heads up into the mountain, terminating with a sculptural depiction of "Diana and Acteon" before heading up a steep cascade of water.It is easily one of the most beautiful places I've traveled to in the world. St. Louis has several parks that use elements common throughout palace grounds such as Caserta.The English Garden, to the southeast of the dramatic cascade, is what we in America call a park.Arranged around carefully contrived vistas that are supposed to look "natural," our own Forest Park or Tower Grove Park are the direct descendants of the English Gardens of the 18th Century.

Tyler-Coleman Cemetery

I found an old cemetery out in Babler State Park; dating from the early 19th Century to the mid 20th, it represents a broad cross-section of different types of grave markers over the last two centuries. It also reminds us that the area has been settled for much longer than it sometimes seems.

Greensfelder Center, Queeny Park

I literally had not visited Queeny since my high school graduation in 1996. Little had changed, though they have painted the bad mansards a weird forest green. I know nothing about this building, but it looks to be from the early 1970's. Here's all sorts of great information on the park.

Benton Park

English Garden, Caserta