urbanSTL

Okay, that walkabout with sc4 . . .

We actually started out in my own general area. Towards the north of Carondelet are several stately Victorians. There are other houses in the neighborhood of similar size and age, but this trio certainly seems to be the only group that combines both aspects so completely. Per the city's property records, which aren't always quite correct, the three were built between 1895 and 1900. The easternmost two, with the rounded corners, are particularly stately homes.



(I am a sucker for old cast iron railings.)

This is what my wife calls her "favorite garage."


Nearby on Bellerieve is a string of Arts and Crafts gems. Incidentally, the one picture below is apparently for sale. 

It's a sleeper of a house. It doesn't remotely look so large from the street frontage, but it's quite deep, and the lot is wide. So it's apparently among the largest homes on a block of grand houses. (I've seen listings putting it at both 3K and 4K square feet. The larger figure might be a typo. (It probably has two rooms more than my own house, but the larger figure would give it nearly double the square footage. I'll grant that it's larger. But double does seem a stretch.) All that said, it's a gorgeous house on a beautiful street with one heck of an interior. Check out the listing. (Seriously. And move in and invite me over.)

Nearby there's a short strip of mini-mansards:

They're dainty little things that do a nice job of showing what I think is the real potential of the area.


They need some TLC, but you can see what they could be easily enough.

Of course sc4 decided that I needed to see some actual and not just potential, so we sought out some fully restored mini-mansards in Benton Park:




And since we were in the area we chased down some rowhouses he's had on his to-do list for a good while:


My own shots are a little more free-form as I don't specifically chase row houses, but . . .




















I have an odd fascination with the simple little workers cottages you sometimes find. They have interesting stories to tell if you listen just right. I have an odd feeling this was once two cottages since combined into one. It's just possible it might even have been three, though that's more of a stretch.

Some recent developments:

Okay, take II. Tried to post all this up last night, but as I was finishing an inadvertent keystroke flushed the whole thing down the toilet. So with more saving away from the browser this time, let's do this again.

Big photo weekend. Friday I took a cruise up the river sponsored by the freightways people, so lots of transportation, but it's not really a planes, or trains specific shoot, so I'll put it in the general category. (Mostly boats, honestly. Initially typed moistly, which seems apt somehow.)

We were aboard Becky Thatcher, so I got a good shot of Tom Sawyer  as we were getting ready to cast off. American Heritage is in the background. (Nice to see a little extra activity on the wharf. We could use more of that.)


I do like my plane spotting, so I bagged the tour-copter.


C. Michael Reeves was working hard on a hard working river.


Tried to get artsy with the Stan




Plenty of interesting dock facilities. Lots of good industrial texture.


These were at the site of the old Venice power station, which makes me wonder if they might be lines of some kind diving down under the river. Definitely interesting, whatever they are.


Not at all sure what this is. Looks like it's got some kind of intake grate on it, but the river's reasonably full right now and it's still above water, so . . . probably not an intake? Maybe the grate was for ventilation? Open to suggestions. Thought it looked neat, anyway.


A fellow cruiser suggested this looked like a Chevy commercial. I don't expect I'm winning any commercial photography awards, but in their honor I made the attempt. I can definitely see the logic.


Okay, yeah, once in a while you have to . . .


The point to the trip was a railroad bridge, so here's the old Merchants west span quietly awaiting its fate. (With another truck commercial posing in the background.)


Jackie Sue was heading downriver. Maybe from the worksite? Not really sure, but she's got a crane, so it seems possible.


Tried to get the pilot when  I noticed him peeking out, but he started to duck back in just as I got the thing in focus.


Here's the quite handsome new span waiting to be lifted up.


And here's part of the lifting rig you need when you plan to lift something the size of a WWII destroyer. (Nine million pounds, they said. That's more than a couple.)


It takes a few horses to fight the old man and hold something in place. This six thousand horse towboat, Michael Luhr, is apparently the largest member of the flotilla supporting the project.


The flotilla also included boats like Terry D. Bangert, Atlas, and doubtless tons of nameless small boats serving as water taxis and work boats.






On the way back downstream we saw some more ordinary river work. Learned a bit about barge loading. Saw plenty of interesting cranes.