Engine House, Elephants Rocks State Park

On my recent trip to Elephant Rocks State Park, I spotted a sign for a trail spur that lead to an old engine house, built to house the train locomotives that hauled the distinctive pink granite from the quarry nearby to St. Louis and points beyond.I guess I assumed it would be red brick, like so much of Missouri's construction, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it built from the same pink granite quarried nearby.In hindsight, I guess that is pretty obvious, but it is a unique structure nonetheless. Inside, the train tracks still lead away from its front door.

Run-Down Building, Dillard, Missouri

I couldn't figure out what this building was; perhaps it was a general store or something.

Dillard Cemetery

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.

Dillard Mill, Interior

The interior of the Dillard Mill is perfectly preserved, and still runs as it had for over one hundred years.Tours are offered year-round where you can watch the machinery operate.Looking out the window, the water of the river pours over the dam with a roar.

Dillard Mill

Dillard Mill, approximately two hours southwest of St. Louis, sits amongst the rolling foothills of the Ozarks.Famed for its setting amongst fields and the Huzzah Creek, it is one of the most photogenic sites in Missouri.The roar of water dominates this part of Missouri, whether it is crashing through a shut-in, onto a waterwheel or over a dam.The Dillard Mill is actually the second mill on the site, and was active until 1956; the first mill, the Wisdom Mill, burned down in the late 19th Century.The exterior is actually made up of sheets of tin pressed to look like bricks, which has then been painted red.The replacement features a turbine, and not a waterwheel like most people are used to seeing at a grist mill.
The mill is deep in the woods near Davisville, Missouri; you can see a satellite image here.

Taum Sauk Mountain

My parents, aunt and I took a trip down to the Arcadia Valley, and ascended Taum Sauk Mountain, the tallest mountain in the state of Missouri. As we wound up Route CC, the road that leads to the top of the peak, we were confused. No tall mountain loomed in front of us; only trees and rusted cars on cement blocks stretched out to the left and right. Finally we made it to the top of the mountain, and I remarked,

"This is the lamest tall mountain I've ever been on."

The forest fire spotting tour, which protrudes vertiginously above the tree line, rose in front of us. It was pouring down rain and only my father climbed the tower, only to be turned back by a locked door at the top. I commented that my father was the highest person in Missouri at 1772 feet at that moment, as the tower was unmanned at the time. I guess there's not many fires to worry about when it's raining.

Floating Labs

Chemical Building #2

I never get tired of the Chemical Building, with its thousand windows. I hope someday it will find an owner who has the money to renovate it.At least we can hopefully not have to worry if the building will be torn down. I hope we're over that failed policy in downtown St. Louis.

Union Trust

I know in the past I've complained that there aren't more tall buildings in St. Louis, but when you're standing at the base of the Union Trust, you realize that the buildings in St. Louis are tall enough. Humanely scaled and full of wonderful ornament.

Arcade Building Doors

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.

Interior, Brew House, Anheuser Busch Brewery

After posting yesterday's pictures of the A-B Brewery, I started thinking about the other brewery buildings still standing throughout the city.While I consider all of the breweries in St. Louis to be beautiful, they all are largely functional in style, and lack an abundance of ornamentation.The Anheuser Busch Brewery is totally different; it is exuberantly decorated, both inside and out.There seems to have been a conscious effort to make the workers feel like they were working somewhere special, and not just some humdrum factory. In the present day, where so many people work in cubicles in windowless office buildings, we could learn a few lessons from the past.

Brew House, Anheuser Busch Brewery

They sure don't build industrial buildings like this anymore. Even though it doesn't need to be ornamented to brew beer, the brew house makes a statement about the solid basis on which this company was founded.Harkening back to the Old Country, the Romanesque Revival architecture reminds customers of the brewery's German roots.I like how they have kept this building; it would have been easy to knock it down and build a new one, but they kept it, stressing the continuity of the brand.The dramatic smoke billowing out of the brewery on the day I was photographing was impressive. I love how if the wind is blowing right, I can step out my front door and smell beer being brewed, or coffee being roasted.