architectural ruminations

Untouched MCM Harris Armstrong Home for Sale

2025-10-31T20:56:00.006-05:00

Armstrong designed this largely unknown home for the Phillips family in 1959. The clients understood the notoriety his homes would draw, so they asked that no photographs of it be published.

Four photographs of the house.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

Armstrong published drawings of the house with a short description in Arts + Architecture magazine's August 1959 issue without disclosing its location. The house is now available for sale for the first time. You have the opportunity to purchase it from the second family to own the property.

Photographs of the main living space, front
entry hall, and rear porch overlooking
the expansive property.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

The house is located at the end of a private street, and its property is heavily wooded. At the rear, the south facade overlooks land that slopes away from the suspended porches, which offer gorgeous year-round views. To the rear of the property is a protected greenway that can never be developed. Armstrong designed the house, with a focus on admitting controlled natural light to the interior and on making the indoor and outdoor spaces interconnected.

Photographs of the screened porch, covered deck
outside the bedroom wing, and doors
opening onto the porch from the great room.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

The house’s design is stridently modernist with flat roofs, large glass walls, substantial cantilevers, and wide open interior space. Nevertheless, it is constructed of local vernacular materials, including solid stone walls and a chimney with heavy timber beams spanning the interior spaces and extending beyond the exterior walls. The bedroom wing uses the vocabulary and construction of historic wooden bridges found throughout the countryside.

Photographs from the rear property looking upward
toward house, interior of the great room with
stone masonry fireplace with a copper hood,
and detail view looking south from the rear porch.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

The house is virtually unaltered from its original construction. It has had only two owners over more than six decades. The original owners who commissioned Armstrong’s design operated a lighting business, so some unique period fixtures are integral to the home.

Photographs of stone masonry north facade looking
toward the main entry, Armstrong's perspective sketch
of the north facade showing the cantilevered bedroom
wing at right, and bedroom wing constructured in the
form of a wooden bridge with a rock-filled
depression below.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

The house is located in Columbia, Missouri, home to the University of Missouri. The area offers big-city activities with a small-town atmosphere. Quality hospitals, schools, and shopping are nearby.

Photographs of stone column supporting cantilevered
bedroom wing, Armstrong's perspective sketch of the
south facade showing floating porches, and detail of
the main porch with cantilevered overhang.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

To find out more about the house, its specifications, asking price, etc., click this link to view the listing online. If you're interested, contact the Realtor Brent Gardner.

Images from August 1959 issue of Arts + Architecture
magazine of the "Hillside House" designed
by Armstrong for an undisclosed location. The
text block above describes the project while the
image below is Armstrong's sketch of the first floor
plan with color amendations. The magazine promoted
modern design in the midcentury period and
was owned by publisher John Entenza. The magazine was
esponsible for establishing the Case Study House program.

It's Charles Eames' Birthday!

2025-06-17T23:57:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday, Charlie!
Charlie’s birthday is June 17, 1907!

I’m continuing my research and writing on Eames work and life. This newsletter includes a link to an article discussing his focus on molding plywood, relating details of his work with Eero Saarinen and details of their competition entry to the Organic Design in Home Furnishings. Many of these images are not well known and I point out several issues they dealt with that remained unresolved for years, but were ultimately addressed by Charles and Ray.
Your birthday PDF
Click the link at right to download the illustrated PDF. I’m very interested to hear you thoughts on this piece.
Download PDF

Design Agendas, 1: overview

2024-12-27T20:12:00.013-06:00

I attended the exhibition opening on Friday, September 13, when Michael E. Willis and Eric P. Mumford discussed the origins and background for mounting “Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s–1970s.” I couldn’t take in everything on display with the crowd of friends and colleagues present. Recently, I’ve spent several afternoons at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum examining the show before its final day, Monday, January 6. If you’re interested in St. Louis architecture and urbanism, seeing this show is a must.

Entry to the exhibit from the main hall displays a timeline of modernist buildings of note, bracketing the period with Adler & Sullivan’s Wainwright Building (1891) to Edward Larrabee Barnes’s 1010 Market Street (1981). (Photograph by Andrew Raimist)

The exhibition catalog will be available early in 2025. It can be pre-ordered online here: https://a.co/d/iQsx8X8.

The exhibition catalog can be pre-ordered online.

I was fortunate to join a tour of the exhibit led by Mumford last week for a sizable group of interested visitors. Hearing his comments on preparing the content helped me better understand the ideas behind its organization and content.

Initial impressions on entering the first gallery include a gorgeous model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kraus House (1950–1960) and monumental photographs of the St. Louis riverfront before and after the area was cleared for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. On the far wall, you see three of Eero Saarinen’s competition design boards (1947–1948). (Photograph by Andrew Raimist)

Much thought and judgment went into conceiving the exhibit, selecting its contents, and organizing its presentation. Special credit goes to Michael Willis for bringing his lived experience, architectural studies, practice, and research to this excellent show. Without the social, economic, planning, and governmental lenses offered, examining St. Louis’s modern architecture would be incomplete. A previous publication, Mumford’s excellent book Modern Architecture in St. Louis: Washington University and Postwar American Architecture, 1948-1973, published in 2004, offers a focused examination of postwar architectural modernism. Although out of print, it can be ordered online here: https://a.co/d/5Kf4dMG.

Mumford previously addressed late 20th-century modernism in St. Louis and its connections with Washington University in St. Louis. The book can be ordered online.

If possible, I recommend reviewing Mumford’s book before visiting the exhibition to familiarize yourself with the buildings and architects you will encounter. Many works appear in both the book and the exhibition. In a certain respect, Mumford’s book could be considered an alternate exhibition catalog that provides added narrative and background context for the projects through its thematic essays.

This exhibit would ring hollow if it focused solely on design, form, and construction to the exclusion of the political, social, and economic contexts in which those projects were produced. This would be true particularly if it presented them as singular achievements of modernism and technology without the larger cultural context. Together, Mumford and Willis worked to present a compelling narrative of the simultaneous destruction and construction of the modern city.

Another notable exhibition addressing this period, St. Louis Modern, was held at the Saint Louis Art Museum in the winter of 2015–2016. It focused on design, interiors, and the decorative arts, with many superlative examples of works produced in the city’s milieu. The enlightening color catalog for that show can be obtained online at https://a.co/d/6v5QLYB.

The Saint Louis Art Museum’s catalog for the “St. Louis Modern” exhibit can be purchased online.

The galleries are logically divided into left and right walls as you proceed through the exhibit. The left walls are white and rectangular and present many of the large-scale community-level interventions in the city. This was an excellent decision. The right, angular blue walls generally display works of individual architects and particular projects that should be considered canonical for lovers of St. Louis architecture. We may quibble with the choices of architects and projects based on personal preferences. However, the selections are overwhelmingly convincing demonstrations of excellent works of architectural modernism.

On the left side, as you enter the Barney A. Ebsworth Gallery, you will see monumental iconic aerial photographs of the city, specifically of the riverfront depicted before and after its clearance for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in the 1930s and 1940s. It’s generally thought that few people were concerned about the loss of historic architectural fabric the district represented. In 1939, architectural historian and theorist Siegfried Gideon traveled to St. Louis to urge that examples of its historic collection of cast-iron front buildings be preserved. He argued their destruction would constitute the loss of a national treasure.

The Ivy Club was organized to preserve structures on the riverfront from demolition. This article on the organization of the Ivy Club was published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday, March 23, 1936. Alexander von Wuthenau authored several books on Pre-Columbian Art including Unexpected Faces in Ancient America: 1500 B.C.–A.D. 1500, The Historical Testimony of Pre-Columbian Artists. You can view this book on Archive.org.

Today, it is generally accepted that the destruction of the riverfront was considered an inevitability at the time. Nevertheless, several people worked to preserve these outstanding examples of 19th-century buildings. In late 1935, St. Louis passed a bond initiative toward erecting a monument to Thomas Jefferson, and FDR signed a bill authorizing it. The following year, Alexander von Wuthenau, a German art historian and diplomat, developed plans to preserve select riverfront buildings slated for demolition. He organized a group called The Ivy Club, established to preserve early American buildings in St. Louis in the riverfront area. He provided copies of his plans to the Municipal Art Commission in February 1936 and left another set at the Central West End architectural office of Eames & Walsh Architects. Presumably, the firm agreed with the group’s desire to preserve historic structures. A question to be considered is whether Wuthenau, as secretary of the German Embassy in Washington, might have shared his concerns with Gideon and others in the mid-1930s.

At left is a massive aerial photograph of mid-1950s public housing projects: Wendell O. Pruitt Homes, William Igoe Apartments (1951–1955), and George L. Vaughn Family Apartments, designed by Hellmuth, Yamasaki & Leinweber Architects of Detroit. (Photograph by Andrew Raimist)

The gallery documents much destruction for the riverfront memorial, for public housing projects, of Mill Creek Valley, for highways, and other parts of the city’s urban fabric. These monumental gashes through the urban fabric became the sites for some examples of modern architecture on display. The uneasy hand-in-glove destruction by governmental entities enabled architects to develop immense projects like Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch (constructed 1962–1965) and Hellmuth Yamasaki & Lienweber’s Pruitt-Igoe Housing (1951–1955). To learn more about the Pruitt-Igoe project, consult Bob Hansman's Pruitt–Igoe and the documentary film The Pruitt–Igoe Myth. The books and movies referenced here should be available to borrow from your local St. Louis public library. The film can also be streamed through online services like Netflix, Prime Video, Kanopy, and CivL.

Site plan diagram of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing development. Initially, the Igoe Apartments were set aside for whites, and the Pruitt Homes were for Blacks only. The buildings were soon integrated following the precedent Brown v. Board of Education established, and the white residents generally moved out.

The conclusion of the Ebsworth Galley frames the view of the public housing projects between Fumihiko Maki’s Steinberg Hall (1960s) on the left and the construction of the Gateway Arch on the right. Also on the white wall beyond are black and white aerial photographs of Midtown showing images before and after demolishing the thriving historic African American community in Mill Creek Valley. The newly created Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority approved the demolition of Mill Creek in 1954. The land was acquired through eminent domain in July 1958. Demolition of the targeted 465-acre structures began in February 1959. The before aerial photograph dates from 1959 and depicts an intact, well-ordered, self-contained community with homes, churches, shops, banks, theaters, and many other services often denied to residents of the segregated neighborhood. The justification for its demolition was to eliminate blight, but many have referred to the idea of “urban renewal” as merely another name for “negro removal.” Clearing this part of Midtown opened up opportunities for developers and St. Louis University to expand into the “virgin territory” left. Many residents of this community had few choices as the city remained segregated. Relocating to areas in The Ville and the recently completed public housing projects were a few of the remaining places where they would be welcomed.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, floor plan, with blue tones representing Design Agendas galleries. Enter first at #1 (Barney A. Ebsworth Gallery), then cross the main hall to enter at #2 (Garen Gallery). The main hall features a photographic timeline of buildings of this period. The informative, emotive documentary film “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth” is presented in the video gallery on the lower level. (Facade photograph by Andrew Raimist)

The exhibition continues across the main hall diagonally to the Garen Gallery, where the exhibit’s presentation concludes. This portion of the show is divided between left and right walls, just like the Ebsworth Gallery. The folded plate nature of the blue walls is particularly striking here with its presentation of groundbreaking works like the Climatron, significant contributions of the little-known Charles Fleming, the city’s first African American architect, and R. Buckminster Fuller’s concepts for the unbuilt “Old Man River’s City” proposed for East St. Louis is coordination with Katherine Dunham in 1971. The monumental structure could have housed more than 100,000 residents beneath an umbrella intended to allow for climate control. His proposal met with skepticism from local citizens and wasn’t ultimately realized.

View of Garen Gallery looking back toward the entry. To the left (blue wall) are sections devoted to R. Buckminster Fuller’s Old Man River’s City, Charles Fleming, and the Climatron. (Photograph by Andrew Raimist)

The exhibit concludes with an Epilogue on the rear wall of the Garen Gallery with a large image of the Gateway Arch, the Forest Park Forever Masterplan, and commentary on current planning challenges. Patty Heyda presents analytical drawings of the area around Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, including Kinloch. At the opposite end of the Garen Gallery are images of the original Minoru Yamasaki design of 1965 for Lambert’s modern thin-shell concrete vaulted terminal.

The Epilogue offers a cautionary lesson about the potential for destruction and revitalization of the city. It reminds us that the erection of visionary monuments can come at the expense of families, neighborhoods, history, and continuity. (Photograph by Andrew Raimist)

A series of small images highlights the conditions of Fountain Park, a beautifully designed urban center located a few blocks north of Delmar and centered on North Euclid Avenue. The neighborhood is ripe for reinvestment and invigoration. It is an intrinsically well-designed, humanely proportioned neighborhood with businesses, churches, and residences around the oval-shaped park. Its form and layout could be favorably compared to Flora Place in South St. Louis and become just as vibrant, beautiful, and well-loved. Meaningfully, the exhibit’s conclusion raises questions about the future of our city and modernism’s role in it. Places like Fountain Park and Kinloch deserve our community’s attention just as much as popular destinations like the riverfront and Forest Park. In this way, Design Agendas offers a challenge to the community to continue the quality work displayed while giving proper attention to local communities and their residents and enhancing their attributes.

Plat map of Fountain Place with a photograph of the Martin Luther King, Jr. bronze statue in a lovely setting deserving attention, enhancement, and investment. (Photograph of MLK monument by Andrew Raimist)

Arthur B. Gallion, FAIA

2024-08-05T20:17:00.026-05:00

Arthur B. Gallion (1902–1978) was the inaugural recipient of the James Harrison Steedman Fellowship in Architecture in 1926. His selection was unique because nearly all the early winners were students of the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. Gallion had studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning a B.S. in Architecture in 1924.

Arthur B. Gallion, portrait (Gallion Collection).

After graduating, Gallion moved to California to work for Richard Neutra. Between 1924 and 1926, he contributed to his monumental urban design proposal, Rush City Reformed.

His Steedman travels took place between 1927 and 1928, when he visited essential European sites akin to the "Grand Tour" during the 17th to 19th centuries. It was a longstanding tradition for elite education. For years, it was considered essential for American architects to travel and study in Europe before the advent of modernism. While in Europe, Gallion attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, obtaining a certificate.

Gallion was an excellent researcher and talented draftsman. He took the fellowship seriously, documenting his travels through extensive drawings and photographs. Eight albums of his sketches are in the Gallion Collection at the University of California at Berkeley. He produced beautifully rendered maps depicting his travels, showing the locations, modes of travel, and surrounding geography.

He traveled with his wife by automobile for portions of his travels in Europe. He had a remarkable ability to sketch and draw, capturing the essence of street scenes like this one from Nuremberg.

Nuremberg Sketch., c. 1927–1928 (Gallion Collection).

Arthur B. Gallion with his wife, c. 1927–1928 (Gallion Collection).

In 1930, he proposed a modernist chapter house for the Delta Zeta sorority at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, revealing the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian period. It remained unrealized.

Proposed Delta Zeta Chapter House, 1930.

Gallion practiced architecture in California and Hawaii. He taught at the University of Southern California and was Dean of the USC School of Architecture for fifteen years, from 1945 to 1960. He established the school's Industrial Design program, headed by Raymond Loewy. Deborah Howell-Ardila's thesis, Writing out own program: The USC experiment in modern architectural pedagogy, 1930 to 1960, discusses his tenure at the school.

In 1951, Gallion co-authored a book on urban design, The Urban Pattern: City Planning and Design. Eisner, Simon; Gallion, Arthur (1951). The 450+ page book became a dominant textbook on the subject. Five editions have been published, the most recent being published in 2019.

The Urban Pattern: City Planning and Design.

One of his notable project was the Raymond Joseph Sedlachek House on a hillside in Los Angeles. Sedlachek was both the client and contractor for the house. The project was photographed by Julius Shulman and featured in LA Times Home Magazine in November 1949 and House and Home in April 1952.

Raymond Joseph Sedlachek House, Los Angeles, 1949.

In 1957, he was elevated to Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. When he died in 1978, his obituary was published in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

The epigraph of the Fifth Edition of The Urban Pattern.

~ ~ ~

The primary research for this material was gathered by Carlos Cepeda Gómez, Special Researcher, Steedman Centennial Committee in July 2024.

Eames Talk update

2023-12-01T16:27:00.001-06:00

Thanks to everyone who took the time to come out to hear my Eames talk on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.

For anyone who hasn’t been able to download the detailed PDF I prepared regarding one of his most important St. Louis projects, here’s the link to download the document.

Detail of sign designed by Charles Eames for Pilgrim Congregational Church, St. Louis, Missouri, 1937.

You’ll also have the option to sign up for my monthly newsletter, EAMES.stl which gives updates, new details, stories, and more I’m discovering on my journey toward completing my book, Becoming Charles Eames.

In addition, I want to provide the link to the YouTube video of my talk, which has been posted to the St. Louis Public Library channel. Click on this image:

Title slide for my Eames Ecclesiastical talk on 11/28/2023.

Please feel free to reach out to me with questions or suggestions. I’ve already learned much this week from those who attended my talk and shared memories, stories, documents, and other material. If you want to share things, you can contact me through the contact form on my photography website, RaimistPhotos.com.

Thank you to everyone who checked out my Eames talk!

2023-11-29T00:39:00.001-06:00

Thank you to everyone who took the time to check out my Eames talk this evening. It was a thrill to present it as part of my journey toward publishing Becoming Charles Eames. My focused is his early life and career in St. Louis, beginning with his birth in 1907.

The talk was well-attended both in person, in the Auditorium of St. Louis Public Library’s Central Branch, as well as live-streamed, via YouTube and Zoom. I couldn’t address everyone’s questions during the Q & A, but I'll be happy to chat with anyone who went away with unanswered questions.

I promised to provide my detailed PDF of one of Eames’s critical projects during the 1930s. If you any of the images on this page, you’ll be able to download it. You’ll also have the option to sign up for my monthly newsletter, Eames.stl. I’ll share photographs and nuggets I’m uncovering during my ongoing research.

Eames.STL talk – Tuesday, November 28, 2023

2023-11-24T11:53:00.000-06:00

“The Details are Not the Details” #CharlesEames

I invite you to my special talk on Charles Eames and his career in the 1930s. Just as we find value in examining the early work of other modern masters such as Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright, we ought to study Eames’s early work for signs of his many later successes.

My focus is examining his work in the context of his motto, “The details are not the details.” I’m applying this principle to his work on churches in the 1930s. There are two churches in St. Louis for which he created additions and alterations. The other two churches, which are Catholic churches designed from the ground up, are located in Arkansas.

I’ve photographed these works in detail and will present a multi-sensory presentation illuminating his design process and its results and linking them to particular details of his later work, evince similar obsessions with form, symmetry, symmetry, structure, and symbols.

I will present my illustrated talk this Tuesday, November 28, 2023, at 6:30 pm. You can attend in person at the St. Louis Public Library’s Central Branch or in the live stream. Everyone who registers for my talk will have the opportunity to receive my recent essay studying one of these projects in great detail, which held particular meaning personally and within the context of his family, the Pilgrim Congregational Church, where he married Catherine Woermann on Friday, June 7, 1929, just ten days before his 22nd birthday. He became the church’s in-house architect and designer for the next nine years.

Everyone who registers via this link will be eligible to receive my 4,000-word illustrated essay on Pilgrim Church as a PDF. You’ll also have the chance to receive my monthly newsletter, “Eames.STL.” Sign up for the limited seats before they run out!

You can either use this QR code or the link below to register quickly:

https://bit.ly/EamesEcclessiastical

Arts & Architecture, August 1956 issue: Harris Armstrong design

2023-11-17T22:36:00.002-06:00

In August 1956, Arts & Architecture magazine published the house design by St. Louis architect Harris Armstrong, FAIA. The article was given a double-page spread, across pages 22 and 23. The project was illustrated with two perspective line drawings and a floor plan. The location of the house and the client were not identified. In many ways, this structure remained one of his "secret" houses that was not publicized apart from this article. There's no indication that the home was to be constructed in Missouri.

Entry hall (Photograph © Andrew Raimist).

The stone used on the exterior continues on the interior blending inside and outside organically.

View of primary facade looking west toward the main entry (Photograph © Andrew Raimist).

The description of the house is matter-of-fact. The drawings speak for the architect's intentions. You can find a full PDF of this issue here.

Cover, August 1956 issue, Arts & Architecture magazine.

"Hillside House, by Harris Armstrong, Architect" (Arts & Architecture, August 1956, p. 22).

When approached from the street, the house presents itself horizontally, yet retains an air of mystery with eight square punched openings in the solid limestone wall and a continuous clerestory window directly below the roofline.

Perspective of the north facade.

The stone slab of the masonry chimney anchors the central pavilion. Its roof rises and cantilevers to the south protecting the fully glazed walls. To the east and west of the main pavilion are horizontal volumes, forming a baseline for height within the house. To the right side, extending eastward is the screened-in porch. The house continues to the west with the bedroom wing at the left side which leaves the ground, bridging over a depression in the landscape. Exterior decks and outdoor spaces open the house to the forested property. Below the house, there are guest's quarters.

Perspective from the southeast (Arts & Architecture, August 1956, p. 22–23).

The line drawings suggest the house's character but don't capture the atmosphere. The landscape, settings, materials, and human touch lend to the feeling of being there.

View looking up toward the house from the property (Photograph © Andrew Raimist).

The spacious interior is filled with natural light from the window wall on the left (south). Armstrong proposed a screen with various objects suspended in space on steel wires from the ceiling beam above to the built-in shelving unit below. This portion of the original design remained unrealized.

Floor plan (Arts & Architecture, August 1956, p. 23). Colors added to distinguish interior from exterior spaces.

The interior perspective features Eames chairs, a Noguchi Akari lamp, plants, and an assemblage of ornament hung on unevenly spaced wires. They were meant to hold enameled butterflies, cork balls, and lead beads. This section suggests the influence of Noguchi's lunars and Calder's mobiles.

Interior view of the main room (Arts & Architecture, August 1956, p. 22)

The house was built for the family of Perry Philips on secluded land in Columbia, Missouri, about one mile from the University of Missouri, Columbia. The Philips family had twin daughters. For them, Armstrong created a shared bedroom with a folded screen to divide the room when desired. The master bedroom is located at the west end of the house. Each bedroom opened onto a covered deck connecting back to the main deck at the center of the house.

View from the deck (Photograph © Andrew Raimist).

Anyone interested in the house should contact the realtor, Brent Gardner of Brent Gardner Homes in Columbia. His telephone number is (573) 489-1900. He has been showing the house privately. Contact him to schedule a tour.

Pre-listing notice: 1956 MCM home designed by Harris Armstrong

2023-11-16T22:01:00.001-06:00

A magnificent mid-century modern home from 1956 will soon be available for sale. It was designed by St. Louis modernist Harris Armstrong, FAIA, for Perry Philips, the owner of a lighting company. The project was published in the August 1956 edition of Arts & Architecture magazine with renderings before its construction.

The main house is on one level with a flat roof, clerestory windows, locally-sourced limestone masonry walls, significant expanses of glass, and outdoor spaces overlooking a private wooded landscape. The property is forested and backs up against the MKT Trail. It’s located at 711 Thilly Avenue in Columbia, Missouri, at the end of a cul-de-sac.

The sellers are only the second property owners and have maintained the design’s integrity. The house sits atop a slope facing south. The focus of the interior spaces are oriented around the views of nature with fully glazed walls, screened-in-porch, and decks raised above the forest below. The landscape leads downward toward a creek running in the valley below.

I recently visited and photographed the house with the owner’s permission. The facade facing the street toward the north is largely stone and offers privacy from vantage point. A band of clerestory windows admits diffused north light along the entire facade. The bedroom wing extends westward over a ravine. It has been constructed like a wood and steel bridge which is open toward the south and private to the north.

The interior is spacious, with natural materials, including limestone, heavy timber, copper, and custom hardwood built-ins. The floor-to-ceiling glazing on the south wall is protected by a cantilevered roof safeguarding the interior from heat gain from the summer sun but admits sunlight during winter months.

The quality of the materials used and attention to detail in its construction make it a one-of-a-kind opportunity.

This remarkable home was designed with open-plan living in mind. It’s spacious enough to allow for various approaches to furnishing. The entire south face of the house is lined with decks and porches, which allow for outdoor living and communing with nature.

The lower level features a self-contained unit to house a guest or support staff.

What Can Color Mean?

2022-08-31T21:00:00.009-05:00

Color chips of green and yellow at Coloring STL.

What happens when you examine the world through the lens of color instead of form? Is there cultural meaning that adheres to specific colors? Do colors transcend place and time? When you look for yellow, just yellow, and you cast aside what neighborhood you're in, does that change your understanding of the place? Can we go on a treasure hunt for particular colors in our city and appreciate them for their own sake? How do colors change our understanding of architecture and the city?

The diversity of places and structures referenced in the color chips in the Coloring STL exhibition raises questions of this sort for those with a keen sense of aesthetic perception. Colors indeed elicit emotions in us, just as smells do. Can we learn new things about the city by viewing it strictly through the lens of color? The series of grids with color swatches named for specific locales suggests a cross-pollination between our cultural associations with a place that color our understanding.

Some visitors may not be familiar with Lewis Place, but the yellow hue embedded in the triumphal arch marking it contains is striking. You will always realize you're approaching a passing by this monumental feature in the urban landscape, and it becomes a spatial landmark. How many people know the story of the battle over land ownership in Lewis Place and its importance in St. Louis history?

You can get a sense of the story of Lewis Place by reading the article "Opening the Gates: Segregation, Desegregation, and The Story of Lewis Place" by Elizabeth A. Pickard, published in Gateway Magazine, Fall 2005, Vol. 26, No. 2 (© copyright 2005 Missouri Historical Society).

The opening pages of the article on Lewis Place suggest its importance in St. Louis history.

Once we comprehend the significance of the word "color" concerning Lewis Place, can we appreciate the beauty of its yellow separate from the people and the history it embodies?

Note: I will be presenting a concise, entertaining slide talk on Thursday, September 1, 2022 as part of "Mid-Century Mania" festivities including music, art, food, drink, and hands-on experiences. The event takes place from 5:30 to 8 pm.

"Mid-Century Mania."

Coloring STL at the Missouri History Museum

2022-08-31T02:06:00.000-05:00

Coloring STL title logo.

The new exhibition at the Missouri History Museum, Coloring STL, is an accessible, entertaining show. A visitor can approach it as a fun romp through blown-up drawings of St. Louis architecture that invite you to contribute your colors, ideas, remarks, and more. There’s even an accompanying coloring book you can take home. The show features a great depth and breadth, covering all eras of architecture, from early structures like August Chouteau’s 1764 Mansion through recent high-rises like 100 Above. The show displays considerable thought in its conception and execution. If you prefer a particular era, style, or construction type, chances are good it’s represented here.

Dinks Parrish Laundry, Yeatman, and McKinley High Schools are starting to be filled in.

Visitors can choose dry-erase markers to color the buildings as they wish. The Pantone-inspired color palette suggests connections across ages, styles, neighborhoods, and materials. These “color chips” surround you on entering. Some details and places will undoubtedly elicit emotional reactions and tactile memories.

Pantone-like color chips offer a panoply of architectural references to spur your creativity.

The show has a decidedly egalitarian air. Elaborate Victorian Renaissance Revival structures are set cheek-by-jowl with gas stations and graffiti walls. The oversized color chips surrounding the entry provide wonderful juxtapositions focused on the quality of the colors rather than the pedigree of its architect or the social context of its historical importance.

By traversing from yellow to orange to red, you are encouraged to travel in time and space.

The clever use of striking photographs of close details emphasizing colors was a great way to reach people where they live. You don’t have to have read any books or watched certain documentaries to recognize and react to these vibrant, abstract details. This approach helps visitors connect with the visible rainbow St. Louis’s environment offers. One hopes that combining these color samples, drawn representations, physical objects, film, and texts will encourage visitors to look again at the buildings surrounding them each day. This exhibit is an excellent antidote to the closed-in lives many of us have lived during the Covid-19 years. At a minimum, the show encourages us to interact with the drawings on the walls and includes actual materials, which you are encouraged to “Please touch!”

In addition to representations of architecture in line drawings on the walls, we have sample reproductions of drawings by architects and artists as varied as Louis Sullivan, Hugh Ferriss, and Emil Frei. Their drawings and reproduction sketchbooks are inspiring indeed.

Door pulls salvaged from Baker's Shoes by Rob Powers.

Mid-century modern architecture and design are given their due without being overly sentimental or fetishizing. These structures are presented as built, referencing the economic and social contexts from which they emerged. Custom-designed homes and presented alongside subdivisions of repeated builder homes. Of particular note are fragments rescued from Northland and River Roads Shopping Centers by Toby Weiss. Aspects of her wisdom are legible in several displays.

An excerpt from Toby Weiss's "Northland Demolition Part 5" sets the mood for readers and thinkers.

Upon entering and reading the exhibition's foundational quotation, I saw had to consider another perspective on architecture culture. Quoting Goethe is de rigeur for architectural exhibitions, making the analogy between architecture and "frozen music." It's a high-minded view of architectural form as akin to the best symphonies humankind has produced. But this quotation was something else, remarking instead on the loss of architectural fabric and the resulting cultural degradation resulting from such wanton destruction. Such structures have defined aspects of our lives as "thawing music" like a "sorrowful, minor key symphony."

Facade fragments of Stix, Baer & Fuller at River Roads Shopping Center collected by Toby Weiss.

I looked for the source of this wry commentary on our throwaway society and realized it was the irrepressible Toby Weiss; I knew right away this exhibit would not be standard-fare. And to my delight, physical remnants of enchanting demolished mid-century structures collected by Weiss feature prominently in the display. Her foresight in collecting and documenting these discarded structures devoted to commerce has resulted in a powerful representation of the optimistic world in which they were imagined and fabricated.

Facade fragments of Stix, Baer & Fuller at River Roads Shopping Center collected by Toby Weiss.

The materials she collected from the Northlands and River Roads Shopping Centers are particularly striking. We're entering an era where decidedly modernist, forward-looking structures are represented in museums by building fragments. Seeing the actual terracotta remnants mounted to the wall expresses the physicality of these structures in ways that bring the photographs to life in terms of color, texture, shade, and shadows. The abstract, geometrical qualities of these fragments lend themselves to this kind of display. The museum is to be commended for the thought and effort invested in presenting these materials. The sculptural forms of these pieces create a vigorous, visceral impact particularly when viewed close up.

You'll want to bring your friends and family to this show. It repays each visit with more delight and satisfaction. I trust some enterprising folks will curate their own online version of the show by using #ColoringSTL.

Note: I will be presenting a concise, entertaining slide talk on Thursday, September 1, 2022 as part of "Mid-Century Mania" festivities including music, art, food, drink, and hands-on experiences.

"Mid-Century Mania"

Authentic Midcentury Home by Harris Armstrong Available

2022-06-03T16:25:00.004-05:00

Harris Armstrong designed this home at 616 Hickory Hollow Lane, Kirkwood, Missouri. Street view. (Photograph: © Andrew Raimist 2022)

A beautiful example of a single-story, post-and-beam home has come on the market. The house was designed by Harris Armstrong, FAIA, for Ernest K. Newmann. It was constructed in 1963 as a simple, elegant volume with high ceilings and large glass walls facing out onto a rear patio.

While the size of the house is relatively modest, 1,200 sq. ft., it includes everything a functional home in Kirkwood requires. The features include a living room with a classic Armstrong corner fireplace, a dining area, a kitchen that opens to the main living space, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a two-car garage.

Its L-shape composition is divided into two intersecting rectilinear volumes. The covered porch welcomes you; the lovely solid wood door makes the entry stand out visually and formally. To the left, screened from view, is the two-car garage. The layout couldn’t be more straightforward. The contrasting exterior textures of the horizontally aligned cedar shingles and vertically separated panels that suggest the structural system make for a rational, aesthetically pleasing composition.

Harris Armstrong designed this home at 616 Hickory Hollow Lane, Kirkwood, Missouri. Detail of entry porch. (Photograph: © Andrew Raimist 2022)

Previously, the house was painted in contrasting colors and tones that drew your eye to its elements. The current color scheme successfully unites the exterior. Given the relatively small size of the house, it makes for a harmonious, attractive home.

The home has been thoughtfully, lovingly restored to a coherent, aesthetically pleasing whole in sync with recent midcentury modern trends on the interior and exterior. The new landscaping is striking, making the house particularly impressive from the street.

It’s located at the end of a cul-de-sac off Craig Drive, near West Woodbine Avenue. It is a walkable residential area with nearby local businesses offering amazing croissants, drinks, dinner, child care, auto repair, convenience store, and more. This area of southwest Kirkwood is well-developed and maintained. There has been reasonably-sized in-fill housing built in the area in recent years that don’t overwhelm the neighborhood’s scale and eclectic styles. Other parts of Kirkwood have been entirely transformed by inserting oversized new homes out of scale with the original residential fabric.

Harris Armstrong designed this home at 616 Hickory Hollow Lane, Kirkwood, Missouri. View of rear. (Photograph: © Andrew Raimist 2022)

This design is the most compact of Armstrong’s 1960s work. In that era, many of his residential commissions were for large-scale custom homes for corporate executives in Ladue, Hilton Head, upstate New York, and beyond. This project is roughly contemporary with Armstrong’s celebrated Ethical Society of St. Louis on Clayton Road, by far, his best work of the decade. Armstrong essentially retired from active practice in 1965 and did only a handful of projects after that. His architectural office was located in Oakland on Singlepath Lane within the 63122 zip code, and he used “Kirkwood 22, Missouri” on his letterhead. He always identified his practice as located in Kirkwood, Missouri, and he identified personally and professionally with the community.

In past decades, I was concerned that the property might be targeted as a teardown like so many modestly scaled homes in Kirkwood. The improvements make that prospect unlikely as lovers of midcentury modern architecture are plentiful today. Its market value has risen steadily as appreciation for this home style has penetrated the St. Louis real estate market.

This part of southwest Kirkwood is quite desirable and sought after. Children walk to Robinson Elementary School, housed in a lovely William B. Ittner historic brick and stone structure. The location is roughly equidistant from Kirkwood Park to the north and St. Louis Community College, Meramec to the south. Kirkwood Park still features two Armstrong works from this era: the Amphitheater and the Community Center, which have been modified and improved over the years. The Amphitheater is particularly noteworthy and has been kept in excellent condition with repairs and upgrades to keep it fully functional for outdoor spring, summer, and fall events. Its design was donated to the City of Kirkwood by Armstrong in 1963.

Harris Armstrong's published sketch of the Kirkwood Park Amphitheater.

To find out more about this house which will undoubtedly sell quickly, see the listing on Zillow, which includes many more photographs and reveals the sound judgment of the current owners in updating the interiors. I have to offer kudos to them for taking a house with great potential and turning it into a leading example of restoring an Armstrong home consistently, thoughtfully, and beautifully. It will undoubtedly attract interested buyers who will appreciate its aesthetic simplicity. Even if you’re not in the market to purchase a house right now, this is an excellent opportunity to see a well-appointed example if you’re interested in Armstrong’s design work.

Photographs from real estate webpage Zillow.com.

Becoming Charles Eames: St. Louis (1930–1938)

2022-04-22T16:11:00.000-05:00

I'll be presenting "Becoming Charles Eames: St. Louis (1930–1938)" on Tuesday 26 April 2022 at 6:30 p.m. as part of the online lecture series sponsored by the Steedman Architectural Library and the Society of Architectural Historians, St. Louis Chapter.

This presentation challenges the accepted narrative of Charles Eames's career and life in St. Louis. Preregister for the Zoom presentation by clicking REGISTER on the St. Louis Public Library page.

Emil Frei Studio talk tonight on Zoom webinar! (Tues. 11.16.2021 @ 6:30 pm)

2021-11-16T15:30:00.000-06:00

Friends,

If you’re at all interested in 20th Century religious architecture and exceptional stained glass design, you must make time for this evening’s talk by Aaron Frei, President of the Emil Frei Studio (https://www.emilfrei.com/).

He will be giving a Zoom webinar today at 6:30 pm Central Time in our “Architecture Around the World” series sponsored by the Steedman Architectural Library of the St. Louis Public Library. Please join us at the link below!

~ ~ ~ ~

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.

When: Nov 16, 2021 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Topic: SAH-St. Louis Chapter/Steedman Architectural Library- Aaron Frei - The Art and History of Stained Glass

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/96558484610

Or One tap mobile :

US: +13126266799,,96558484610# or +16465588656,,96558484610#

Or Telephone:

Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

US: +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 720 707 2699 or +1 253 215 8782

Webinar ID: 965 5848 4610

International numbers available: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/ko4khBEQJ

If you have any last minute questions, we will be monitoring this email to address last minute issues: finearts@slpl.org.

~ ~ ~ ~

I’m sharing photographs from two modest sized churches they worked on back in the 1930s. One was designed by the firm Eames & Walsh (yes, Charles Eames when he practiced architecture in St. Louis) for St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Paragould, Arkansas in 1935-36. Emil Frei worked to create impressive stained glass following a modernist compositional approach in most of the church.

The other church by Nagel & Dunn is St. Mark’s Episcopal church of 1939 here in St. Louis which is magnificent in every way. The stained glass designed by Robert Harmon and produced by Emil Frei is one of the masterpieces of socially conscious religious art in St. Louis, perhaps in the country. This talk will motivate you to go back to visit St. Mark’s and see it again with fresh eyes. If you’ve never seen it in person before, then you are in for a feast for the eyes and the soul.

Andrew Raimist, Architect

Saint Louis, Missouri 63122

ALWRaimist@me.com

314 640 6878

1951 Armstrong-designed Kirkwood Home for Sale

2021-06-19T21:09:00.001-05:00

A 1951 Harris Armstrong-designed home is now on the market in Kirkwood. It's located in a special neighborhood, a cul-de-sac with 10 Armstrong-designed homes of the same overall design with exposed heavy timber beams supporting low-sloped roofs. The neighborhood is compact and the homes are coordinated in scale, design, and detail. The series of floor plans vary according to their location (north or south side of the street) and other requirements of the original owners. The street was recently given a Neighborhood of Distinction award by the City of Kirkwood. The ensemble is well-preserved with a consistent mid-century charm.

501 Woodleaf Court, Kirkwood (Harris Armstrong, 1951), Photo: Raimist.

The property for sale is 501 Woodleaf Court located on the corner where it joins Woodlawn Avenue. The house is typical for developments of that era with a compact floor plan (1,354 sq. ft.), three bedrooms, and 1-1/2 baths. The neighborhood was developed by Marshall Berry with whom Armstrong collaborated on many projects in the 1950s. He designed Berry's own home on Danfield Road in Ladue in 1949 and his real estate office in Brentwood the year before that. The Berry home had a floor plan following the same principles as the Solar House and these homes on Woodleaf Court. Subsequently, they collaborated on many commercial projects along Manchester Road and several residential subdivisions. The Woodleaf Court development is unique in that every home was of Armstrong's design.

Woodleaf Court Subdivision, Site Plan (Armstrong, 1951), Base image by Susan Halla.

The overall design of these homes fit into the concept for a Missouri Solar Home that Armstrong published in 1947. The overhanging eaves and glazing are coordinated to keep out direct sun in the summer months and to allow direct sunlight to warm and brighten the interior during winter. Each house is a split level with a garage tucked under the upper level, the main level with living, dining, and kitchen, and the bedrooms located on the topmost level. The public spaces of each house feature tall ceilings and glazing facing toward both the street and backyard. The continuous heavy timber beams span from front to back and are exposed within and on each elevation.

513 Woodleaf Court, Kirkwood (Armstrong, 1951), Photo: Raimist.

The floor plans vary according to their position on the north or south side of the street. The small, compact functional rooms and closets of the house are grouped on the north side of each plan. For the houses on the north side of the street, that means these rooms are grouped facing the backyard. For the houses on the south side of the street, these smaller rooms are grouped on the north side, appearing on the street facade. For the houses along the south side, pairs of small windows on the main facade indicate the bathroom and kitchen. (Note: the floor plan shown below is for Armstrong's 1949 house for the developer Marshall Berry.)

Berry Residence, Ladue (Armstrong, 1949)

Each house is unique in its materials, colors, and finishes. The volumetric shape of each structure is generally consistent but the openings and cladding of each vary. The functions of each interior spaces are telegraphed by the fenestration. Large, fully glazed walls indicate the public gathering spaces each one with a masonry fireplace. The bedrooms have mid-sized windows and the bathrooms and kitchens have the smallest openings. The plans are predictably skewed by the gender roles common in the period. The kitchens are quite small and divided visually and spatially from the main living spaces. Fortunately, the houses allow for expanding the kitchen to meet late 20th Century needs and desires. Many of the homes have been renovated in just this way.

500 Woodleaf Court, Kirkwood (Armstrong, 1951), Photo: Raimist.

The families in the neighborhood have been good caretakers of their homes and properties. They typically are long-term residents with a strong commitment to Kirkwood and their unique piece of 1950s mid-century modern design. As I've been photographing and documenting these homes this year, I've learned that each has a story to tell of its succession of owners and the ways they've adjusted the spaces to fit their own needs.

519 Woodleaf Court, Kirkwood (Armstrong, 1951), Photo: Raimist.

From a planning perspective, Armstrong chose to design each home so its main entry door was directly visible to those driving in from Woodlawn Avenue. Each entry is surrounded by glazing and marked by a tilted column rising from a modest front porch. The entries are set back from the front wall of the house to provide additional protection from the elements. The deeper shadows create an inviting spot next to the center of each facade. The garages are recessed in elevation and located on the east end of each home so it is not the first thing one encounters. Instead, landscaped, gentle slopes frame the formal entry and the two-car garages are deemphasized.

533 Woodleaf Court, Kirkwood (Armstrong, 1951), Photo: Raimist.

The Open House for 501 Woodleaf Court is being held on Sunday, June 20 from 1 to 3 pm. I anticipate this will be the only open house showing. Houses in Kirkwood sell very quickly. You can see the complete listing by Coldwell-Banker Premier Group here.

Danna House: Kirkwood Case Study

2018-05-07T21:15:00.001-05:00

Danna House (1960) –– Front Elevation facing East

The Danna House will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 9 at Kirkwood City Hall at its Favorite Building Awards. The event begins at 7pm. Please join us to honor this historic Mid-Century Modern home! The event is free and open to the public. Doris Danna and members of her family will be in attendance. Many other homes will receive awards!

This architectural gem is a classic mid-century modern home drawing upon Case Study houses and Bauhaus precedents. The home is efficient and economical in its design and construction. Its structure is clearly expressed, yet the form is restrained and disciplined. This modernist structure thoughtfully respects its landscape, climate, and solar orientation. The house has maintained its essence over more than five decades.

Charlie and Doris Danna met in 1952 at Washington University in St. Louis while attending the School of Architecture. They married soon after and began searching for a natural site on which to build their family home. In 1953, they were fortunate to befriend Russell and Ruth Kraus who were building their Frank Lloyd Wright designed home on a wooded lot near Ballas and Dougherty Ferry Roads. Wright had designed a proposed subdivision of architect-designed homes on the eastern portion of their property. The Danna's were the first to realize their home in this neighborhood.

Doris Danna had been working as a site planner for architect, landscape architect and planner Emmett Layton. She took on the job of redesigning the proposed subdivision which builders were unwilling to undertake. Initially, Charlie had begun working for William B. Ittner before moving to the newly founded architectural practice of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum.

Danna House –– Living Room with continuous window wall on the South (right side)

The Danna's were inspired by the Case Study Homes published in Arts & Architecture magazine. They drew inspiration from the work of Richard Neutra, Charles & Ray Eames, and Craig Ellwood. The philosophies of architectural modernism expressed by Bauhaus architects Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer were clearly informed their approach to the design.

Danna House –– The floor plan clearly delineates the four cardinal directions: passage at the East and West, protected openness toward the South, and protection and privacy to the North.

With an eye toward practicality, efficiency, and simplicity, they kept their design minimal, logical, and economical. The plan is thoughtfully oriented to the four cardinal directions. You enter the house from the East crossing over a porch that doubles as a bridge over a gravel drainage path. A porch with a matching width extends out toward the West.

Danna House –– West Elevation with projecting above-grade porch

Toward the South, a balcony extending the full depth of the house admits sunlight, while providing an overhang which helps to keep direct sun out on the hottest summer days. Deciduous trees were thoughtfully deployed to provide additional summer shade while admitting the warming ray of the low winter light. The views from the house are breathtaking. The extensive glazing brings the changing seasons into the home as an integral aspect of its atmosphere.

Danna House –– South Elevation with continuous cantilevered balcony

The house is compact and efficient. The first floor space is open with entry, living room, dining room, kitchen, flowing around a central hearth. Three compact bedrooms and two bathrooms are arrayed along the North Elevation which is more enclosed with narrow windows.

Danna House –– Living Room features clerestory windows at East and West ends

Plants and musical instruments (like the grand piano and modernist harp) become sculptural elements in the open, light-filled interior. A massive masonry hearth fills the wall opposite the view South. The fireplace, together with the Kitchen and Utility Room anchor the center of the house leaving the exterior walls free of intervening elements. The Danna's later commissioned the neighbor Russell Kraus to design stained glass for the clerestory windows at the East and West ends of the main living space.

Danna House –– Looking from the Dining Room to the East

The home's design is particularly expressive of the structure within its walls. White bands at the top and bottom of the exterior walls express the horizontal floor and roof structures while the vertical white accents highlight the locations of structural wood columns. In this way, the home has the classical grace and clarity of the much more expensive, elaborate Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois fashioned of steel and glass.

Danna House –– Balcony cantilevers to the South protecting the openings at the lower level

The house declares its presence as unapologetically modern with fieldstone walls highlighting its geometrical simplicity and marking its separation from the natural environment within which it stands proudly.

Danna House –– Site Plan reveals original driveway accessing Dougherty Ferry Road

The house is intelligently oriented on site to capture the most compelling natural views toward the South and West. Their property abuts the land that is now a part of The Frank Lloyd Wright House in Ebsworth Park which is a modernist house museum of the highest quality surrounded by the natural landscape intended by Wright's design. The rolling hillside connects to the nearby Sugar Creek Nature Preserve along Ballas and Adams.

Danna House –– Original Treehouse mirrors the geometry and logic of the home

The raised porch employs the same structural forms as the Treehouse. These structures make explicit what the cladding of the house suggests. Vertical and horizontal structural elements predominate. Elegant and efficient structural design reveals the home's profound and clear design conception and realization.

Danna House –– Protected Porch extends toward the West

The design of the Porch and Treehouse allow the children to appreciate how special their elevated preserve up in a massive elm tree truly is. They can look down on the adults at the house and understand the formal and structural elements which support each house.

Armstrong's Schwarz Residence in Oakland

2017-07-09T16:41:00.002-05:00

The home Harris Armstrong designed for Egon Schwarz and his family in Oakland, Missouri is now on the market and available for the first time. It's for sale by the original owner who commissioned the house.

The photographs here are taken from this recent article on Curbed.

The light-filled home boasts glass expanses, skylights, and clerestory windows.

Photos courtesy of Circa Properties

Now the Oakland Historic Landmark home, which was completed in 1961, is on the market for the first time. Photos courtesy of Circa Properties

Links to additional information about this 1961 mid-century modern house can be found below:

Wellston Loop Design Charrette –– Remarks, Part 1

2016-10-24T19:50:00.015-05:00

The City of St. Louis and the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council of Governments recently sponsored a “Great Streets Initiative” for Dr. Martin Luther King Drive from Union Boulevard west to the City Limits. The attention being paid to this part of our city is commendable and needs to be followed up by actual improvements on the ground. Deterioration in the Wellston Loop area has reached a critical point: without substantial efforts to shore up historic structures very soon, an important part of our city’s history and culture will be erased and the opportunity to revitalize a vibrant, diverse community will have been lost.

My comments below are based on a series of events which took place the week of Monday, April 11, 2016, over four days. The meetings took place at 5736 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, a historic building being renovated by Ward 22 Alderman Jeffrey Boyd. Consultants met with business owners and residents with the goal of developing meaningful plans to spur the area’s revitalization.

Figure 1, Title Slide. The introductory slide for the “Public Wrap Up & Next Steps” session held on Thursday, April 14, 2016.

It’s important that attention is paid to this neighborhood which has been in dire need of reinvestment and support to counteract decades of disinvestment and flight. I applaud the cooperation of Don Roe, the city’s Planning and Urban Design Agency, East-West Gateway Council of Governments and Ward 22 Alderman Jeffrey Boyd for co-sponsoring this public design process.

The consultants conducting the focus sessions and design charrette were CBB Transportation Engineers & Planners, RDg Planning & Design, PDS Environmental, and Development Strategies. See Figure 1 for the title slide from their final presentation from the evening of Thursday, April 14. (Images bounded by thick black frames are taken from the consultant presentation.)

My criticisms are intended to be constructive and are based on my understanding of the neighborhood, its history, and its capacity for becoming once again a vital center of commerce and culture. Continuing the planning process in regular consultation with the community is essential to developing a plan the neighborhood accepts and supports. Imposing “top down” developments can alienate current residents and dampen their positive impact.

Figure 2, Base Map. This slide of the “Wellston Loop Area” by RDg Planning & Design was presented as part of the proposed master plan for Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. My annotations include the blue text (top) beginning with “Base map by RDg”, the RDg logo, north arrow, and remarks in orange (lower right hand corner).

The overall study covers Dr. Martin Luther King Drive from Union Boulevard west to the City Limits (almost to Kienlen Avenue). The planning team divided the study area into a series of smaller sections. My focus here is on the section called the “Wellston Loop Area” as depicted in Figure 2. This particular section extends from Laurel Avenue on east (at right side) west to the City Limits on the west (left side). Figure 3 includes the street names and indicates the border between the city and county.

From a logical perspective, the study area should extend at least to Kienlen Avenue rather than stopping at the City Limits. The bureaucratic reasons behind stopping the study at this essentially arbitrary dividing line reflects the kinds of disconnect and lack of coordination between the City of St. Louis, the City of Wellston, and St. Louis County. The East-West Gateway Council should help bridge these kinds of gaps in supporting the plans implementation.

My remarks are largely based on the "Wellston Loop Area” slide in Figure 2. The two subsequent figures replicate this plan with the addition of street names and the city/county border in Figure 3 and a numbered key indicating specific locations in Figure 4.

Figure 3, Street Names. This diagram replicates Figure 2 with the addition of street names (in orange) and the city/county boundary line (in green).

There was a good deal of discussion between the presenters (consultants) and the audience (stakeholders) about various aspects of the plan. Public comments ranged from complimentary to quite critical. My comments here are based on my experiences working in the community. I’ve had the opportunity to know the people and the place over the past five years while co-teaching the course "Community Building, Building Community" in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

Many people in this community have expressed their frustration with being the subject of academic studies and planning recommendations. They long for desperately needed investments which generally fail to materialize.

In any redevelopment project of a struggling neighborhood, there’s a danger that too much emphasis will be placed on economic development without adequate attention paid to the real needs the existing residents. Gentrification displaces people and relocates problems from one area to another without addressing the underlying issues. To some extent such effects are inevitable, but if considered properly, they should be minimized. People who have committed themselves to the community over the long term deserve particular attention when improvements are being made.

Figure 4, Key Map. This illustration uses the same base as Figure 3 with the addition of a numbered key (in yellow) highlighting specific locations (both proposed and existing).

My remarks begin with the community’s symbolic center––the historic 1909 Wellston Station (Figure 4, Key #1)––and proceed counterclockwise around the drawing. Securing and restoring Wellston Station is absolutely critical to the revitalization of this part of Dr. MLK. The plan reflects this necessity, making it the centerpiece of a "town square / marketplace" development featuring storefront businesses, open green space and limited parking. Reestablishing a takeaway type restaurant at Wellston Station is crucial to the viability of this concept. Until recently Bus Loop Burgers was located here (see Figure 5). Similar food service businesses, like The White Mill, operated there throughout the 20th Century. The tradition of such food service businesses in this location goes back decades and to critical to establishing even the potential for revitalization.

Presently, the structure is vacant. Presumably, the tenant was asked to leave in order to allow for rehabilitation work to proceed. If this building remains shuttered and no takeaway restaurant is reestablished, then the viability of sustainably reviving Dr. MLK in the Wellston Loop will be threatened.

The plan suggests symbolically representing the position of the former Hodiamont rail lines through the use of pavers, a potentially fruitful idea. Locating a reconditioned PCC street car and positioning it under the building's canopy could be a wonderful opportunity to visually reestablish a vibrant aspect of the neighborhood's history as a transit hub. Currently, the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis County has an actual Hodiamont streetcar in its collection.

Carrying out such a plan would require a significant investment. However, such a renovation would substantially improve the public's perception of the immediate surroundings. It’s important that the building not become an empty monument to history. It needs to remain a center of daily activity.

Wellston Station’s revitalization should be accomplished so as to reinforce the positive nature of existing social interactions while discouraging negative behaviors. This is a delicate balance to strike. The restored building should NOT be an immaculate cleaned up, sanitized relic of the past, but instead, should retain its function as a well-known gathering place.

Plans for the surrounding area should encourage people to sit and gather, expanding on the building’s role as a transit hub. Improvements should not discriminate amongst people with regard to race, class, home or other factors. It should NOT be policed in such a way as to drive out the “undesirable homeless people" who presently use the shelter. It should be clean, well-lit and made safe and secure to the greatest extent possible. It needs to remain an authentic hang-out spot and not become a sanitized memorial. The building needs to continue operating as an authentic social collector.

Figure 5, Wellston Station. A recent photograph of Wellston Station (#1) when Bus Loop Burgers was still operating and a rendering depicting the proposed improvements to the structure which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Photograph © Andrew Raimist 2015; drawing by Jeffrey A. Brambila, AIA Architects & Planners with edits and colors by Raimist.)

Programming public events to take place here will be critical to reestablishing the perception of the area as one that’s agreeable and desirable. How this is handled will be critical for the success of any redevelopment effort. Simply fixing up the building and the immediate surroundings from a physical standpoint will not be sufficient.

The proposed mechanism for Wellston Station’s revitalization relies on encouraging a wider community of interested people to invest in it based on positive collective memories of its significance. This notion is a creative approach to the difficulties relating to financing its restoration. It's unlikely to be restored by private developers due to the high cost involved to preserve its craftsmanship and details. Its tiny footprint together with the area’s economic challenges makes it generally unattractive for commercial redevelopment. Relying solely on public funding seems similarly unrealistic.

Making this project a reality will require establishing a nonprofit organization with the mission of restoring and revitalizing the building and its surroundings. The overall goal would extend beyond the structure and its immediate surroundings to make it an integral part of a functioning commercial district. The project would be a philanthropic effort founded on gaining the support of people with positive collective memories. Grants are available to support such a project. Citizens and businesses would need to come together to invest in bringing it back to life after being stabilized by the City of St. Louis, which owns it through the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA).

This effort will rely on people who once lived, worked or shopped here in years past and have fond recollections of the area’s position as the city's "second downtown." It will be no small undertaking but will nevertheless be essential to the revitalization of this part of Dr. MLK. Stabilizing the building needs to be commenced immediately, as portions of the building are presently in danger of collapse. Not only is it in a fragile state, it’s potentially dangerous to the public.

Building stabilization should include ensuring its structural integrity, including its columns, beams, and roof structure. All of the existing roofing should be removed, new plywood and roofing felt installed and the roofing slates completely reinstalled after being properly flashed using copper. New copper gutters and downspouts should be provided. Rotted wood should be replaced. Exterior wood surfaces that are sound should be cleaned, primed and painted. Ideally, the first floor should be sufficiently updated so another small restaurant could operate in that space with minimal investment infrastructure required. That is, the utility service connections should be brought up to code (electric, plumbing, gas, telephone) so they’re prepared for a new tenant to move in.

Although its enclosed footprint is small, the significance of the social interactions taking place at this structure is vital to the area. Leaving the building without a tenant would be disastrous for the structure and surrounding area. The social, economic and symbolic implications of this tiny restaurant cannot be overstated. Whenever I speak with people about the neighborhood who knew it from the past, they invariably ask me whether Wellston Station is still standing. There is a persistent rumor in some circles that the building has been condemned and is slated for imminent demolition.

The master plan suggests creating a new series of small structures (#2), highlighted in red, across the north side of the Wellston Station property where it backs up to Hope House (#3). The plan proposes extending Theodosia Avenue west for one block past Hodiamont Avenue to Irving Avenue. The necessity of formally extending this street is questionable. Creating an access drive or alleyway here may be sufficient to provide service entries for the proposed new structures as well as allowing vehicular access to Hope House. Extending the street would necessarily be a part of the planning for the construction of these new buildings.

The purpose of this series of new buildings (#2) is providing small-scale, pedestrian-oriented retail space. Potentially, they could offer outdoor dining in a protected area. This kind of business located around Wellston Station would help to reinforce the welcoming nature of this public square. Having accessible, engaging storefronts here would help animate the space where the side of Hope House (#3) overlooks mostly unused deteriorated pavement. The existing restroom facility constructed by Metro should either be demolished as part of the redevelopment or redesigned to work as a public facility.

(continued in next post, "Wellston Loop Design Charrette –– Remarks, Part 2")

Wellston Loop Design Charrette –– Remarks, Part 2

2016-10-24T19:48:00.002-05:00

(continued from prior post, "Wellston Loop Design Charrette –– Remarks, Part 1")

On the south side of Dr. MLK, the proposal relies on speculation about a future that's unlikely to materialize without substantial investment from outside parties. The red toned blocks (see Figure 4, Key Map, #5) indicate rehabs and new construction that seem desirable but relatively unlikely given present deteriorated circumstances. This approach relies on a revitalization of the Kresge Building (#4) as a nucleus for new surrounding businesses with a new small parking area off Hodiamont Avenue to its south.

In isolation this idea for reviving the south side of the Wellston Loop seems reasonable: however, without a comprehensive redevelopment of the blocks between by Hodiamont Avenue (on the east), Kienlen Avenue (on the west) and Dr. MLK (on the north) and Page (on the south), anything of this sort is unlikely to materialize due to vacancy, vagrancy and other issues with problem properties in this area. The conditions of the vacant buildings here are certainly a concern.

The Kresge Building (Figure 6) has a multipart facade reflecting the changing architectural styles from the area’s heyday (modernism at the corner and Renaissance next to the Hodiamont streetcar right-of-way). For deteriorated structures with facades worth preserving for their urban and visual contributions, it might be more cost-effective to retain its façade while completely reconstructing the building enclosure behind it.

Figure 6, Kresge Building. Recent photographs of the Kresge Building (#4) on the south side of Dr. MLK Drive facing Wellston Station. The overhangs protecting the sidewalk and bus stop offer a meeting spot for folks to congregate especially in inclement weather. (Photographs © Andrew Raimist 2015.)

The master plan suggests the addition of one multifamily housing building (#6) just south of this new commercial nucleus. This part of Hodiamont Avenue is, unfortunately, rife with streetwalkers and drug dealers. It’s sometimes referred to locally as “Prostitute Row.” The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s “hot spot” policing practices certainly help to displace these kinds of activities, however, the problems seem to simply reappear in another neighborhood. Addressing the root causes of the social ills plaguing these individuals (such as the lack of job opportunities, education, healthcare, and other social services) is the only practical, sustainable solution.

East of Hodiamont Avenue, either community gardens or agricultural crops are indicated (#7). This kind of urban agriculture has the potential to be a positive source of income, jobs, and environmental improvement. However, it’s questionable whether bringing such agricultural land use all the way up to Dr. MLK makes sense unless it were part of an overall strategy to market and sell fresh produce at the new "town center.”

Figure 7, Hodiamont Avenue. Views of properties along Hodiamont Avenue south of Dr. MLK, from left to right: a vacant home, a community garden where buildings had been demolished, a storefront child care center and a vacant building facade. (Photographs © Andrew Raimist 2015.)

One approach to dealing with vacant land that should be considered is creating opportunities for home ownership on larger plots of ground than typically available in an urban context. Combining agricultural land with adjacent homes would be a way to reoccupy some of the vacant land in the community around Wells Avenue. This approach to removing vacant land from LRA rolls and placing it in the hands of motivated families who would cultivate the land, or simply enjoy a larger yard, should be part of a comprehensive redevelopment strategy, particularly north of MLK where the existence of multiple vacant sections of residential blocks is an impediment to new investment.

Offering this kind of "homesteading" opportunity on currently vacant land could help to increase the area’s population, address problems of land and building vacancy, and improve safety and security. Similarly, there are currently calls to create new policies which would make it easier for someone to acquire vacant land adjacent to their full-time residence by mowing and caring for the land for a specified period of time. This approach would give residents an incentive to improve the condition of the properties on their street and would likely result in more cooperation amongst neighbors. It could address many of the concerns relating to safety, overgrown weeds and other nuisances associated with vacant lots.

Reducing the funds required to maintain empty parcels––by mowing, applying weed killer and correcting safety issues––would free up resources for more productive projects. Giving adjacent residents the potential to expand their homes, build garages, create gardens, and enlarge their yards, and places for would offer vitality and return control of this unproductive land to the people with the greatest interest in improving it. Giving residents the chance to further invest in their communities––rather than give up and move out––would be the best thing the city could do to activate untapped resources.

Presently, neighbors can improve empty lots by leasing the land from the LRA for community gardens. There are many examples of such gardens in the Hamilton Heights and Wells/Goodfellow neighborhoods. Recently the city has begun requiring these citizens––who are volunteering their time and energy to improve their community––to pay for liability insurance. For some people struggling to stay afloat, even $100 per year can be sufficient discouragement for them to abandon their efforts to beautify their street. A program addressing the financial hardships faced by the elderly citizens on fixed incomes who maintain these gardens should be enacted to provide relief for this added expense. Even better would be finding a way to put this land permanently into the hands of people who care about their neighborhoods and want to improve it. This is the right way to empower grassroots neighborhood improvement.

The city’s practice of land banking for hypothetical future redevelopments, unfortunately, contributes to further deterioration in our neighborhoods. The LRA program may be useful in certain instances where it is difficult to assemble large parcels of land for redevelopment projects, however, the policy of simply holding onto thousands of parcels with little hope of them ever becoming part of a large-scale redevelopment is bad public policy. Essentially, this practice results in the de facto enactment of the worst aspects of the so-called “Team Four Plan” from the 1970s which was never formally enacted (although many believe it has been the de facto plan for the north side).. North St. Louis has suffered from sustained disinvestment for decades. Let’s give communities control over their own destiny and empower them to improve them one lot at a time in places where it makes sense to do so.

Figure 8, Wells Avenue. Views of properties along Wells Avenue from left to right: a vacant decaying home, vacant buildings next to the parking lot of the former J.C. Penney Department Store, well-kept homes surrounded by decay and a beautifully restored Craftsman style home. (Photographs © Andrew Raimist 2015.)

On the south side of Dr. MLK between Hodiamont and Hamilton Avenues, there's a patchwork quilt of proposed uses including residences, agriculture, green space, fruit stand, memorial plaza, commercial structures, and parking. This part of the plan is unrealistic, fragmented and not well considered. Why would a series of homes (#8) be located in the midst of agricultural land along Wells Avenue (aside from the fact that the open lots already exist)?

A more realistic scenario might be creating enlarged lots associated with new single family homes. In this way, homeowners would be responsible for keeping their land secure rather than exacerbating the sense of a dangerous "no man's land" which presently exists. For those looking to own a home on a larger lot than typically available in the city, this could be an incentive encouraging new investment.

The former J.C. Penney parking lot on Wells Avenue (#9) is proposed to be converted for agricultural use. Larger plots of land set aside for agricultural production could be problematic from a safety and security standpoint, not unlike the existing open grassy areas, potentially even worse. Depending on the crops under cultivation, such agricultural plots potentially offer increased cover for unscrupulous people, thus reducing the perception of safety along the street. In general terms, private, well-defined fenced gardens would be preferable to larger agricultural expanses.

Figure 9, Panorama from J.C. Penney Rooftop. Panoramic photograph from the rooftop of the J.C. Penney Department Store Building (#12) looking west toward the concrete frame building at the center which holds Club ‘E’/The Venue (#10). The open green space (#11) between the two building occupies the center foreground of the image. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive is at right. Houses visible in the distance at right are located on Hodiamont Avenue. The J.C. Penney parking lot (#13) is visible at left with nearby homes surrounded by trees located on Wells Avenue. (Photograph © Andrew Raimist 2015.)

Several well-maintained homes with established adjacent gardens already exist on Wells. Reinforcing and enhancing the residential character of this street would be preferable to continuing open, common land uses. Multifamily housing could help anchor the exposed areas at each end of the block while emphasizing the area's fundamentally residential character.

Right now the existing parking lot (#13) behind the historic International Style J.C. Penney Building (#12) creates a large unused void at the center of the block, destabilizing its viability as a safe residential street. This largely unused parking area is visible at far left in rooftop panorama in Figure 9. Converting the rear section of that parking lot to productive green space (#9) makes more sense environmentally as compared to the present cracked asphalt lot which generates increased runoff and heat island effects. Replacing this barren landscape with new homes on lots up to a half acre in size would reinforce the street's existing residential character and beautiful community gardens.

Figure 10, Dr. MLK Drive at J.C. Penney Building. North-facing facade of the J.C. Penney Department Store Building (#12) at left. The center image is an annotated aerial photograph from Google Earth with labels corresponding to the keyed map in Figure 4. The north-facing facade of Club ‘E’ (#10) at right. (Left and right photographs © Andrew Raimist 2015.)

An orchard and fruit stand fronting on Dr. MLK (#11) is proposed for the open lot between the J.C. Penney Building (#12) and “Club E" aka "The Venue” (#10). This notion seems romantic and unrealistic despite the existence of a handful of fruit trees. It poses several potential problems with respect to maintenance and upkeep, dealing with falling, rotting fruit, associated odors, and related environmental concerns. The construction of a fruit stand at MLK, surrounded by a fruit orchard, might offer a wonderfully pastoral ambiance; however, it’s based more on fantasy than reality.

An open green space would be more practical than the orchard, but having appropriate, supportive adjacent uses would be critical for such a park’s success. For example, if job and vocational training, co-working facilities, a maker's center and childcare services were offered at the J.C. Penney Building, and the building could be opened up with windows and doors facing onto such a park, it could substantially benefit the neighborhood. Providing vehicular access at this location to the rear parking areas behind the J.C. Penney Building might be important to such a project's success. Safety, ongoing activity and clear orientation for drivers would play a critical role.

If fresh fruits and vegetables are to be offered for sale to the public in this area, it would preferable to do so using the storefront of the adjacent J.C. Penney Building or another nearby structure. Presently, there’s an excess of vacant buildings the 5900 block of Dr. MLK including some historic structures worth saving. We need to encourage and support new uses to the greatest extent possible. New structures should be built in this area only where truly needed and when adapting existing structures is impractical.

(continued in final post, "Wellston Loop Design Charrette –– Remarks, Part 3")

Wellston Loop Design Charrette –– Remarks, Part 3

2016-10-24T19:30:00.024-05:00

(continued from prior post: "Wellston Loop Design Charrette –– Remarks, Part 2")

The proposed realignment of Hamilton Avenue (see Figures 4, 11 and 12) would be beneficial from the standpoint of vehicular and pedestrian safety. It has the benefit of creating more green space and parking. To accomplish this, however, the three existing buildings at the northeast and southeast corners will have to be sacrificed (#15, #22, #23). While these buildings are in poor condition, their facades much to the streetscape (see Figure 11). In addition, the expense involved in this kind of rebuilding of infrastructure, especially in light of the recently upgraded sidewalks and street lights, wouldn’t make sense.

Figure 11, Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Hamilton Avenue. At left, view from the rooftop J.C. Penney Department Store Building (#12) looking northeast toward the intersection of MLK and Hamilton Avenue. The center image is an annotated aerial photograph from Bing Maps with labels corresponding to those in Figure 4. At right is a detail of the 1906 era building by Nicholas Pelligreen (#15) at southeast corner of intersection. Note initials and date in shield. (Left and right photographs © Andrew Raimist 2015.)

While the reconfigured intersection offers several benefits to the neighborhood, the reality is that it would be highly unlikely that such a reconfiguration would be achieved in the absence of a major new tenant or significant private investment in this block. If a major institution or nonprofit organization were to invest substantially in this area, then such an investment in improving public infrastructure could be justified. Otherwise, it seems that improved signage, upgraded signals, expanded curbs and improved pedestrian safety would be the most likely and realistic improvements which could occur at this important intersection. See Figure 12 for an overall diagram of the proposed neighborhood transportation plan.

To reconfigure this intersection in a way that might be more feasible would be to actually take some land from the proposed Legacy Park by extending Hamilton Avenue directly south through the intersection with Dr. MLK Drive. The street’s realignment can then take place adjacent to Legacy Park (i.e., between #14 and #15). This design would allow for the facades of the buildings on the northeast and southeast corners to be maintained, reinforcing the definition of the urban fabric and making the open space afforded by Legacy Park as something actually notable and unique. If the other corners of the intersection are leveled and/or made into parking and landscaped, it creates a less urban condition, diluting the Park's special character.

In fact, the National Register nomination for the Wellston Loop Commercial Historic District calls for the southwest corner of Hamilton and MLK to remain as open space in that this feature is an important contributing aspect of the neighborhood. Its legibility depends on the other surrounding buildings remaining in place to define it spatially and experientially.

Just east of this intersection is the Ali Market (#16)––which provides some basic services but is lacking when it comes to offering much need healthy, fresh food. The proposal suggests expanding the market itself and providing a larger parking lot for it by eliminating the existing structures at the southeast corner of MLK and Hamilton. At a minimum, the corner building's facade (beautifully articulated with stone Classical Revival ornament) should be retained. See the carved stone detail of the Nicholas Pelligreen building (#15) in Figure 11 at right which includes his initials, “N.P.” and the date, “1906.”

Immediately south of this block paved land is presently available for parking. Arrangements between property owners could help secure its use for the common benefit of all local users eliminating the need for demolition of contributing historic structures with strong character. While these historic structures (#15 and #22) are presently in poor condition, they are worth saving if only for their facades. These would be excellent candidates for shoring up and protecting until renovations come to fruition. Funds for demolition otherwise should be used to protect these structures from further deterioration and damage.

Along Theodosia Avenue, particularly east of Hamilton Avenue, the most lots are vacant. The plan suggests creating a landscaped roundabout (#20) in the center of the block to break up its great length. This is a good suggestion in general, accompanied by other improvements intended to create the atmosphere of a protected, mini-neighborhood. The concept: private developers will build new homes on lots (#21) which are reconfigured wider than were previously existing.

This change offers the potential for people to have relatively spacious lots, including driveways, garages, and yards which would be a unique opportunity for new homes in the city. While the reconfigured layout would offer some of the amenities and characteristics of a suburban community, it would also offer a close-knit, walkable neighborhood that many millennials seek. If combined with effective public transportation, basic services, and amenities families need, it could become an attractive new neighborhood though doing so would require subsidies to kickstart a substantive revitalization effort.

The consultant’s presentation noted there’s a gap between the property values for single-family homes in this part of the city (often under $50,000) and the actual cost of constructing a new home ($150,000 or more). To make such a development feasible, mechanisms for closing the gap would need to be offered to developers and/or homeowners. A good start would be for the LRA (Land Reutilization Authority) to prepare the property for ease of development by re-subdividing the lots to provide larger parcels in addition to creating the roundabout (#20) and new vehicular link to Cote Brilliante one block north (see Figure 4, upper right corner).

To make this scheme marketable, it might be desirable for the two ends of Theodosia to be blocked to vehicular through-traffic as a way to create a sense of increased safety by essentially providing cul-de-sacs east and west of the new roundabout. With this configuration, a kind of "gated district" could be created that might help make the project appealing to private investors by convincing potential new residents it’s a defended enclave.

One concern expressed by residents with regard to traffic was the extent to which drivers will shift a block north or south of Dr. MLK Drive as a way to speed through the neighborhood (while speeding through stop signs, endangering pedestrians in the process). This kind of "gated district" design (with cul-de-sacs breaking up Theodosia) would have the added benefit of reducing the hazards associated with this kind of through traffic.

While I'm not generally in favor of breaking up city blocks with barricades and cul-de-sacs, I recognize the value such features offer by allowing for redevelopment to occur. These kinds of interruptions of street grids may be necessary in cases like this where the length of the block is much greater than the ideal. Introducing a roundabout and creating cul-de-sacs at each end of this block of Theodosia may be the only practical way to meaningfully repopulate this mostly vacant area. Without breaking down the length of the block and giving people a sense of security, the long stretch of vacant residential lots represents a hazardous zone that residents will avoid altogether thereby attracting undesirable activity.

On the south side of Dr. MLK Drive, this same expanse (from Hamilton Avenue east to Goodfellow Boulevard) is divided into three blocks with Rowan Avenue and Laurel Street as intervening (Figure 12). These blocks south of Dr. MLK are more stable and remain dense with residences. This is a preferable structure for a sustainable neighborhood and provides added justification for breaking up the excessively long blocks north of Dr. MLK Drive where vacancy is a significant problem.

In connection with new single family residences north of Dr. MLK Drive, existing mixed-use structures facing MLK (#18) are proposed to be revitalized. New garages for these units are to be added facing the alley. Such reinvestment would help stabilize this area that currently has the feeling of a “no man's land.”

A new landscaped pocket park and associated parking lot (#24) is proposed for the open land between Dorothy's TV on the east and the Premiere Lounge on the west (see Figure 9 far right and Figure 10 center). This area is presently a combination of lawn and pavement. The proposal appears to offer a green space with a vertical element as a marker directing people to the parking available there.

In addition, a proposed pedestrian crosswalk (see Figure 12) is proposed in this area to connect parking and green spaces north and south of MLK. Such a crosswalk would help people feel comfortable when attending events or patronizing businesses in the area.

Figure 12, Traffic Control. Slide presented as part of the Great Streets Initiative presentation by CBB Transportation Engineers & Planners. The diagram shows the locations of present signals to be improved through interconnecting their control systems, stop signs and a new pedestrian crosswalk proposed mid-block between Hodiamont and Hamilton.

A revitalized parking area with surface improvements (#25) is proposed for the existing unused parking lot north of this area. An alley separates this larger existing section of pavement fronting onto Theodosia Avenue. Improvements for this paved section are based on ideas of "tactical urbanism" which rely on low-cost, largely temporary improvements without the need for significant infrastructure investments. These upgrades can enliven the space to make it a place where kids and others will enjoy spending time.

Using paint, movable planters, and similar upgrades this pavement can be improved to serve multiple functions. When needed for parking for large events, it can be used for overflow parking from nearby lots. Otherwise, it can be a place where kids can play, ride bikes and engage in other constructive activities. Making these improvements in connection with the proposed new housing to be built along Theodosia Avenue would be particularly important to provide a communal gathering spot. A centrally located, safe, fenced playground will go a long way toward encouraging families to relocate to this largely vacant area.

New residential construction infill north of Dr. MLK Drive is essential for the successful revitalization of this area. Farther to the north and south, residential neighborhoods are generally more stable. If these vacancies remain and continue to spread, they’ll engender further decay, crime while heightening residents’ fears. Attempting to save this open land as parcels for a hoped for large scale mixed redevelopment in the future (like Arlington Grove) would be misguided. Waiting decades for such major investments in this community would result in more decaying buildings to be demolished. This kind of development by attrition erodes the quality of life and viability of the neighborhood creating a cycle which can be very difficult to reverse. The area needs small-scale grassroots level improvements in addition to larger developments which only come when the market is ready for them. Both kinds of redevelopment are needed to rebuild this community.

New attached housing (#26) is proposed to be constructed along Theodosia Avenue where it reaches Hodiamont. The series of attached residential units appear to take the form of townhouses with attached garages. This seems like a reasonable approach to dealing with land that fills in the gaps between sections of existing single family housing and commercial or institutional structures (like nearby Hope House, #3).

The plan calls for new residential construction north of Dr. MLK Drive where there’s the greatest amount of vacant land, however, new homes do not appear to be proposed south of Dr. MLK. The basis for this decision likely relates to higher vacancy rates on wider stretches of land on the north side which some will argue can be developed more economically than infill construction. Larger tracts of open land north of Dr. MLK would be more attractive to home developers who can achieve some economies of scale.

Revitalizing the Wellston Loop area is crucial to the entire corridor. Working solely from the center outward––i.e., growing from the nucleus begun at Arlington Grove and Friendly Temple––will be largely destructive of the existing urban fabric and its residents. Although the rehabilitation of the historic Arlington School ultimately became part of the Arlington Grove project, it was not included in the developer’s initial proposal. Rather it was slated to be demolished and replaced. Too often that is the standard position of developers, especially in economically stressed communities. Typically they prefer greenfield or brownfield sites that can be cleared entirely. There’s no question large scale development projects will be necessary for the Dr. MLK corridor to once again become a Great Street, however, without grassroots, small-scale redevelopment the ultimate victory will be hollow since the community will end up being demolished in order to save it (cf. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency site).

There's no reason why infill housing can't be attempted in the open areas along Hodiamont Avenue and Wells Avenue (#7, #8 and #9) south of Dr. MLK only on a smaller scale. A key distinction may be whether the property is controlled by LRA or by third parties. Contiguous blocks of land controlled by LRA should be marketed to suitable developers who can take advantage of financial incentives, tax credits and other programs bridging the gap between the actual cost of construction and the present day value homes here.

With no program to span this gap and/or no mechanism for putting vacant land into the hands of current residents, no new construction will occur. Deterioration, demolition, and vacancy will continue unabated. This path seems to be what has been occurring in many parts of north St. Louis where property values are depressed, buildings are abandoned and city services are limited. In these areas of de facto implementation of the so-called “Team Four Plan” is being carried out (whether intentionally or due to unintended consequences of the individual actions and collective policies).

If we don't act soon to stabilize, and eventually to restore, historic buildings in this area, they will fall one by one to abandonment, demolition by neglect, fire, brick thieves, and will ultimately disappear from the landscape entirely. The result of such passive land clearance will, unfortunately, result in the lowest common denominator our economy offers: the kind of suburban, automobile-oriented businesses we see at the intersection of Kienlen Avenue and MLK. The result will be the loss of the particular character and history the Wellston Loop still retains and the area will become simply one more street with gas stations, convenience stores, franchise restaurants and strip malls like any other suburban corridor. The urban character of this place as qualitatively unique will be lost.

Figure 13, Facades West of Hamilton Avenue. Building facades on the north side of Dr. MLK Drive west of Hamilton Avenue (from left to right): Dorothy’s TV & Appliance, ACE Furniture and Beloved Streets of America. (Photographs © Andrew Raimist 2015.)

It's not hard to imagine that in five or ten years, the land along both sides of MLK will be essentially cleared and the area will finally be considered "developable" for new commercial retail projects with a sizable anchor. Will the neighborhood simply wither through attrition and decay until such time as it is considered worthy of reinvestment?

Will North St. Louis City residents be offered compensation for their property like residents of the new NGA West site? The pattern of replacing struggling African American neighborhoods in the St. Louis region is clearly worthy of consideration and is the subject of a book-length study in St. Louis: Disappearing Black Communities by John A. Wright, Sr.

I believe such projects have their place, but when there is a sufficient amount of the historic fabric still in existence, then it is incumbent upon us to encourage grassroots level reinvestment in the community like the work that's been accomplished in Old North St. Louis. Retaining historic structures, businesses and residents rather than displacing them results in a stronger, more equitable, better-integrated neighborhood. Although it may take more time, the investment is worth it to maintain a sense of culture, history, and continuity. Otherwise, what will the Wellston Loop have to offer that another strip mall along St. Charles Rock Road, Page Boulevard, Natural Bridge Boulevard doesn't have? Will there be anything to distinguish the experience of visiting and shopping in the Wellston Loop area from any other middle of the road suburban retail shopping center?

To the greatest extent possible, we need to think beyond the arbitrary boundaries that divide city from city, county from county, neighborhood from neighbor. That line, established in 1876, has come to haunt our region. In recent years this division, along with the multiplicity of municipalities in St. Louis County, has been identified as one of the biggest structural obstacles to progress.

Physical improvements alone cannot solve the entrenched social and economic problems of a neighborhood like the Wellston Loop. To revitalize portions of North St. Louis, investments are needed in programs which address joblessness, homelessness, mental & physical healthcare and quality education to positive social interaction. A holistic approach addressing not just economic development, tax revenue and infrastructure upgrades are necessary to rebuild the deeply damaged social and family structures which are reflected in the outward decay visible.

Are we prepared to leave behind archaic political divisions which pit one community against another? Can we develop a truly progressive, optimistic approach that reimagines North St. Louis drawing upon green strategies that build on the potential that open land and vacant buildings offer for building in our new frontier, abandoned urban core, without bulldozing our way toward repeating the mistakes of past decades of urban renewal which erased Mill Creek Valley, Chestnut Valley, DeSoto-Carr Neighborhood and so many others.

References

Beloved Streets of America.

CBB Transportation Engineers & Planners (transportation consultant).

Development Strategies (market analysis consultant).

East-West Gateway Coordinating Council of Governments.

"NGA West St. Louis Briefing Book," by NextSTL.

PDS Planning Design Studio (environmental consultant).

RDg Planning & Design (urban design consultant).

St. Louis Disappearing Black Communities, by John A. Wright, Sr.

St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority (LRA).

St. Louis Planning and Urban Design Agency.

“Team Four Plan,” by Antonio French.

Ward 22 Alderman Jeffrey Boyd.

“Wellston Loop Commercial Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places.

“Wellston J.C. Penney Building," National Register of Historic Places.

“Wellston Station," National Register of Historic Places.

Wellston Loop Family Reunion

2016-08-03T16:55:00.000-05:00

This past school year, we held an event in the Wellston Loop neighborhood that we called the Wellston Loop Family Reunion. The idea was to highlight the area's strengths, its history, its people and its potential. We had a variety of speakers, food, music, videos and an exhibition of photographs.

Since the event itself is ephemeral and was held on the coldest November day in recent history (Saturday, November 21, 2015), I've compiled a book of essays, photographs and other materials offering a more in-depth view of what people attending the event experienced. The book is available for viewing here online and may be downloaded to keep for yourself and/or print out to share with others.

The book may be downloaded in its entirety as a PDF here.

Harris Armstrong's Graham Residence

2015-07-15T01:34:00.002-05:00

This mid-century modern home designed by Harris Armstrong for Dr. and Mrs. Evarts Graham in 1941 is now for sale. This example of Armstrong's maturing style combining stone, brick, wood and glass creates a modern vernacular in consonance with the natural Missouri landscape.

View of entrance from southeast.

Click here for real estate information.

Armstrong’s 1941 design for the Graham Residence is architecturally striking in its variety of formal references, contrasting materials and attention to craftsmanship. The home’s overall simplicity in form and massing, especially when viewed from a distance, contrasts with a masterful attention to detail, manipulation of shade & shadow and use of natural materials. Textures, colors and forms interweave creating a natural palette with the intricacies of an ancient masonry structure almost on the verge of being overtaken by vegetation. The house is an Armstrong masterpiece epitomizing his ideas on creating a modern vernacular appropriate to Missouri’s climate and culture.

Armstrong's interior perspective.

From afar, the house is minimal to the extreme, but as one approaches, its richness gradually reveals itself. The choreographed circulation sequence offers layers of anticipation, wonder and surprise as one enters and passes through its variety of spaces.

The main body of the house is regular and rectangular with shallowly pitched overhanging roofs. The lines emphasize the horizontal reflecting and reinforcing the dominance of the surrounding prairie. The structure extends to the east and west with its main elevations facing toward the south (addressing the road) and the north (overlooking the Missouri River). The composition is strongly horizontal and solidly anchored in the landscape. The site offers the benefits of bluffs high above the river which overlook the low-lying areas of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri in the distance.

South elevation facing Jamestown Road.

The primary exception to the home’s rectilinear form is the large angled stone wall leading to the main entrance and screening the garage and service yard. This heavily rusticated limestone wall screens the “service” areas of the house from view as one experiences the house from the standpoint of its long driveway. This solid mass is relieved only by the introduction of climbing plants and vegetation. A narrow vertical slot offers access to the linear service yard situated between the hidden five car garage and the massive limestone masonry wall. While the wall offers monumental facade, it is no veneer of stone set out just to impress the public; it is a full thickness stone masonry exposed on both faces.

Carefully composed entrance below organic canopy.

The entry canopy is a significant departure from the unsupported cantilevered roof which had been a signature element of Armstrong’s work during the 1930s. Here the entrance canopy is organic and emerges from the body of the house as a living appendage. Its pair of wooden supports are tilted and have vines trained to climb them. This wooden projecting canopy may have been inspired by the work of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. In particular it seems inspired by his design for the Villa Mairea of 1937–39. This ground breaking house blended elements of modernism with traditional Finnish construction and other vernacular formal references.

In Armstrong’s design, the roof and the overall house massing is emphatically horizontal and expansive. The most pronounced aspects of the fenestration are long bands of glazing. These horizontal bands wrap the corners offering the house a floating open aspect that functions from the interior as well as the exterior.

Floor plan as published in the 1940s.

The surprisingly spacious garage (for that time) is concealed visually from the drive, yet emphasized by its flat roof which contrasts the shallow pitched roofs over the home’s living spaces. The rugged limestone stone with irregular coursing simultaneously conceals and announces the presence of this portion of the house. The blank wall’s angle guides the visitor toward the main entry.

Dr. and Mrs. Graham at their home.

The construction of the house is relatively unusual altogether based on the home’s date. There was little construction going on at the time because a great deal of materials and labor was being diverted to the war effort. Dr. Evarts Graham’s position at the Washington University School of Medicine was as the head of the Department of Surgery from 1919 through 1951. His career as a surgeon and researcher was without parallel. He performed the first successful removal of a cancerous lung in 1933 and proven correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer in 1950.

Dr. Evarts Graham as depicted in LIFE magazine.

Many of Armstrong’s early clients were prominent in medicine. His Shanley Building of 1935 for Dr. Leo Shanley was the first International Style building constructed in St. Louis. His cubic modernist brick home for Nobel Prize winning couple Carl and Gerti Cori was designed in the same year. The Cori’s were associates of Dr. Graham at the School of Medicine. These works and associations lead to his commission to design the school’s Cancer Research Center in 1950.

Armstrong's award-winning Shanley Building of 1935.

The house’s front elevation which faces south presents a striking image. The contrast of dark and light surfaces is most prominent. The brickwork of the main volume contrasts significantly with the whiteness of the angled stone wall. A massive brick plane at right encompasses the main chimney and acts as a visual foil to the rest of the house. It beyond the limits of the interior space and was designed to standout from the body of the house. This wall divides the smaller spaces at the front of the house from its rear where floor-to-ceiling glazing wraps the living room opening the house to the impressive view of the river beyond.

Interior view looking north toward the Missouri River.

The home’s rear elevation is simpler than the front being composed almost exclusively of brick and glass. Sharply extending roofs hover over the two story portions of the house. The body of the house zig-zags from east to west and the roof follows suit. The view of the garage is largely concealed and minimized except for visual hint offered by the cantilevered roof extending west.

North elevation overlooks Missouri River.

The horizontal glazing is dramatic without clear expression of structural support for the brick masses except upon closer inspection. Steel columns supporting the concealed lintels which are wrapped with four wood cylinders in a bundle not unlike columns at Aalto’s Villa Mairea.

Greenhouse interior.

The attached greenhouse interior is striking its complexity and attention to natural lighting. His playful use of brick, stone and plants is evident. Armstrong focused a great deal attention on angle light would strike his buildings. He would have them photographed at particular times of day to emphasize the shadow lines which had been carefully conceived.
The design of the open framed pavilion beyond the screened porch at the east offers a dynamic outward thrust with commanding views of the landscape to the north, south and east. The photograph of Dr. Graham with his accomplished wife, Helen Tredway Graham, is touching in the way it shows the two of them ensconced by the timber wood pavilion framing them in the natural landscape. They were each major forces in the development of 20th century medical research and health advocacy.

Evarts Ambrose Graham and Helen Tredway Graham.

Kinloch & Ferguson

2015-06-03T22:29:00.001-05:00

I'll be presenting the largely unknown story of the long segregated communities Kinloch and Ferguson this Friday in Grand Center. My piece is part of the Artists' Showcase being held at the Public Media Commons located between Channel Nine and St. Louis Public Radio. The program will feature a series of live and multimedia pieces created just for this event. Check out the Facebook Event page for more details.

Advertisement for new suburban development, 1895.

Many of the white families who built homes in the "beautiful highland suburb" of Kinloch Park in the late 19th Century brought their Black servants with them and set aside a portion of the community for them to live with their families. Separate schools were set up for white and black students. The first school for Black children was a one-room frame structure, the Vernon School, built in 1885 which suggests there must have been a critical mass of families living there at the time.

The Vernon School was the first school built for Black children in St. Louis County.

In the early decades of the 20th Century, realtors devised a way to create a suburb for Blacks. Land just West of Ferguson was marketed to Black families by the Olive Street Terrace Realty Company.

Here's an excerpt from an advertisement they placed in the St. Louis Argus dating from 1917 which suggests the mechanism for financing the transactions with the blessing of a bank.

Excerpt from an advertisement in the St. Louis Argus newspaper.

This practice was apparently seen as a legitimate means for investing in land development and profiting from laws which prohibited Black from buying property or obtaining loans.


Headline of an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about unique investment opportunity.

This practice was apparently common knowledge. It was known as the "Brooklyn Method" having been first developed as a means of selling land to Blacks across the river in Brooklyn, Illinois. A similar use of "straw buyers" was often used in St. Louis to circumvent restrictive covenants and similar limitations.

To find out more, please come to hear the rest of the remarkable story of this community.

Is Kinloch Disappearing?

2015-05-24T00:29:00.001-05:00

This presentation addresses the city's fascinating history, it's present status and its future potential.

This multimedia presentation created by Andrew Raimist will take place in Grand Center on the next First Friday: Friday, June 5, 2015 at 9pm. It addresses the fascinating history of the city, it's present status and its future potential.

Please invite anyone you know who would find this presentation interesting. It's part of an Artists' Showcase at the Public Media Commons. Please check it out!

My piece will be one of many unique, creative features including dance, poetry, live action and other forms of performance that must be seen to be believed. Contributors to this event include: Diana Barrios, Leverage Dance Theater, DJ Raven Fox, Sarah Bernhardt, Caitlin Funston, Libby Reuter, Joss Barton, Alessio Summerfield, Mark Albrecht, Damien Johnson, Daniel Shown and others.

The Public Media Commons is located between Channel Nine, Sheldon Concert Hall and St. Louis Public Radio on Olive in Grand Center.

Image courtesy of Julia Christensen of ohjuliaann.com (also apologies to).

Ethical Society: 50th Anniversary Lecture & Exhibit

2015-04-17T14:39:00.000-05:00

You are invited to the Ethical Society's 50th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, April 25 at 2pm.

I will present “Ethical Society Building 50th Anniversary Celebration: Reflections on Harris Armstrong’s Design” shedding light on the architect’s creative process and the Society’s journey from its original St. Louis City home in the Sheldon Memorial to the current iconic mid-century modern structure on Clayton Road in 1965.

Preliminary design and models will be presented as well as the evolution toward its ultimate form. Armstrong's other designs for religious structures will be discussed as well as significant modernist religious structures designed by his contemporaries.

A reception will follow the presentation which is free and open to all.

project: Ethical Society

architect: Harris Armstrong

date: 1965

location: 9001 Clayton Road, Ladue, Missouri