I am wondering was there one or a series of catalytic developments that caused the re-emergence of Washington Avenue? Is this information documented anywhere? Are there specific people I should get in contact with?
Also, is there a website, book or other source that has a really well documented history of Washington Avenue?
Final question, do you thing the re-emergence of Washington Avenue was spurred or spurred development on another street in the surrounding area?
Over the years, numerous studies focused on Washington Avenue with a vision of bringing it back to life with a vital neighborhood of residential lofts, galleries, nightclubs and other attractions.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, plans were set in motion again for improvements to enhance Washington Avenue's appearance. The Washington Avenue Streetscape Project became one of the first phases of the Downtown Now! Development Action Plan to be implemented. Funded was provided by $4 million from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, and $13 million from the Missouri Dept. of Transportation enhancement program.
The design plan was created by a consultant design team led by Wallace Robert & Todd, a Philadelphia-based planning and design firm, working with five St. Louis companies including Kiku Obata & Company and David Mason and Associates Inc. In addition to the new lights, the design plan included a plaza, trees, and widened sidewalks along Washington Avenue from Tucker Blvd. to 18th Street and the connecting side streets to Lucas and St. Charles streets.
I will say that the re-emergence of Washington Avenue goes back before the streetscape improvement project. That project and others like it, like the one one Cherokee, South Grand, and Manchester are public side infrastructure investments in response to private-side investments. On Washington, it was the nightclub, bar scene, and artist lofts. On Manchester, it was the gay bars, Guy Slay's Mangrove, the Gills' clever marketing of The Grove, and WUMC's supplemental leadership in the district's CID. On Cherokee, it is part Mexican enclave and social justice activists, artists. Basically, it's very rare, if ever, that a top down investment like a streetscape project is the catalyst. It's a quid pro quo to match the private investment, to help solidify, enhance, and accelerate momentum started by a pioneering few.
I'll say it started with Mossa.
I remember when they opened in the mid/late 80s. It was the first cool thing there on what were then empty/dead blocks. IIRC, the nightclubs (1227) came shortly thereafter.
Maybe the owner of Mossa can share his/her saga.
Just to clarify here is what I mean by catalytic...
This is from a book by Attoe and Logan called "American Urban Architecture: Catalysts in the Design of Cities".
Attoe and Logan define urban catalysts as:
“an urban element that is shaped by the city and then, in turn shapes its context. Its purpose is the incremental, continuous regeneration of the urban fabric. The important point is that the catalyst is not a single end product but an element that impels and guides subsequent development.” They are “smaller elements – a building, a fragment of a building, a complex of buildings, or even a report or set of guidelines” (Attoe and Logan 1989).
They then go on to define the characteristics of urban catalysts, which include:
1. Catalysts are the installation of a new agent that causes modification to other pre-existing urban components.
2. The effected surrounding elements gain positive value (though not necessarily limited to economic gain).
3. The reactionary effects occur in a particular locale, but do not destroy or harm the context. These reactions are endemic, rather than widespread.
4. The reaction is determined by the response of elements in a particular context, so no one catalytic effect may be replicated in the exact same way anywhere else.
5. The catalyst is sensitive to the context. It builds on the positive aspects of a place, not reinvent its character.
6. “Catalytic design is strategic…strategic design is a web of opportunities that are created and seized upon rather than linear”.
7. The sum of the reactive parts equals a greater whole.
8. The catalyst can remain easily identifiable, though it does not have to.
In Ernest Sternberg’s article What Makes Buildings Catalytic”, he builds upon Attoe and Logan’s work, seeking to fine-tune their definition and characteristics of urban catalysts. Sternberg believes buildings can be catalytic in five ways. First, catalytic buildings increase pedestrian and vehicular traffic, which generate opportunities for new entrepreneurs and development. Second, they help shape the visions of planners, architects, developers and landowners concerning the potential of future development. Third, they “may serve as an amenity, affecting passers-by and attracting them”(Sternberg 2002). Fourth, they can provide hope and assure in the future of the locale. Lastly, they can “reinforce or detract” from negative surrounds (Sternberg 2002).
Attoe, Wayne, and Donn Logan. American Urban Architecture: Catalysts in the Design of Cities. Californa: University of California Press, 1989.
Sternberg, Ernest E. “What makes buildings catalytic?: how cultural facilities can be designed to spur surrounding development.” Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 1 (2002): 30-43.
