^ Oooo I love that car in the second picture.
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^ i love that building near the bottom. forget its name. the adjacent parking lot needs some damned infill, though.
Don't forget the Sky House lot just a short walk up from there.urban_dilettante wrote: ↑Apr 20, 2021^ i love that building near the bottom. forget its name. the adjacent parking lot needs some damned infill, though.
At least a block sized one is going away with 1801 Washingtonurban_dilettante wrote: ↑Apr 21, 2021^ all the lots.
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I recall the deaf church, but I did not realize there'd been a round tower out there. Huh!
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^^ and what was that brutalist-looking complex just to the right of the round tower?
I also did not know about this round tower! Would like to know more if anyone does.
Most of the background stuff (especially) in the distance were the “new and fresh” developments that replaced Mill Creek, I think. Aka, Hiroshima Flats.
Also, maybe it’s because I have a mild case of OCD, but is anyone else super bothered by the siting of MSD’s HQ? For the life of me, I can’t figure out why they wouldn’t have rotated that to fit into the corner of Market and Jefferson. Poor street activation aside...it wouldn’t be the worst corner building in this part of St. Louis had they done it right.
Most of the background stuff (especially) in the distance were the “new and fresh” developments that replaced Mill Creek, I think. Aka, Hiroshima Flats.
Also, maybe it’s because I have a mild case of OCD, but is anyone else super bothered by the siting of MSD’s HQ? For the life of me, I can’t figure out why they wouldn’t have rotated that to fit into the corner of Market and Jefferson. Poor street activation aside...it wouldn’t be the worst corner building in this part of St. Louis had they done it right.
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^ yeah i was thinking it might be part of the Mill Creek urban renewal. apparently part of it involved "projects" style housing that was pretty short-lived.
I thought that building was previously discussed on one of the other threads. It was a Rodeway Inn.
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https://www.emporis.com/buildings/10313 ... uis-mo-usa
https://www.emporis.com/buildings/10313 ... uis-mo-usa
Ha, I remember that demo. That was part of the wholesale Downtown West "renewal" that happened when Union Station was restored and A.G. Edwards built/expanded their campus. A whole lot of buildings in that area came down. Downtown too, of course.chriss752 wrote: ↑Apr 25, 2021I thought that building was previously discussed on one of the other threads. It was a Rodeway Inn.
https://www.emporis.com/buildings/10313 ... uis-mo-usa
I don't remember the 4-story building complex with the courtyard at all though. Those are really interesting. I've never seen a housing project like it if that's what it is. Looks more like a hotel or condo complex.
The tower on the northernmost 4-story residential building at the top, looks very much like the tower on the office building in the bottom right corner. Maybe those were part of A.G. Edwards' campus?
The development you’re referring to was called Laclede Park (almost certain), It wasn’t officially part of Laclede Town. The highrise portion of that development was torn down in the ‘90s- I remember the building very well and was pissed when it was unceremoniously demolished. It was very visible when heading east on Hwy 40 as you descend into the depressed section next to The Foundry. It was an old gritty big city tower and had a real presence on the urban landscape of midtown.
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The 12 story and 4 story brutalist buildings were built as part of Operation Breakthrough. It was called Laclede East and was most definitely a part of Laclede Town. In fact, Laclede Town Company's leasing office was on the ground floor of the 12 story building with the address 60 North Ewing Avenue. I was one of the first tenants in the entire complex in April of 1973, getting a studio apartment on the 7th floor, apartment 703 to be exact. I was tickled to get the apartment as it was brand new and certainly a lot better than the dump apartment I had on Lindell and Boyle (now the Greenwich Condos) or living with a crazy ass roommate on Fullerton Westminster Place between Boyle and Newstead. The apartment had its own furnace/air conditioning unit, a built in kitchen with range, refrigerator, garbage disposal and trash compactor, no wax vinyl floors (a new development at the time) and a nice bathroom. My apartment faced east, but the view was blocked by the A G Edwards building. I paid $98.00/month rent, not including electricity. Rent went up to $108/month my second year there.
Laclede East had its own pool and there was a six level building that had a drug store, take-out place, and restaurant/cocktail lounge called "Gregory" on the ground floor. Peacock Alley Community Center was right across the street. As a student at SLU and a part time employee of IBM which was at 3800 LIndell Blvd. at the time, I walked and biked around this area at all hours of the day and night and never had any problems whatsoever. It truly was a wonderful neighborhood at the time. There was a small supermarket at Grandel Square that was built as part of the Blumeyer Housing Project and it was certainly better and cleaner than the crummy Kroger store at Lindell and Sarah. Pope's Cafeteria was still open on Washington Avenue, Woolworth's was open on North Grand, and there was a great record store called Music City right next to the Fox, not to mention the stores on Lawton Place in Laclede Town. Just about everything a 21 year old student could want and need was nearby.
Floors 2 through 11 of the 12 story building had 8 apartments: 4 2-bedroom units, 2 1-bedroom units and 2 studio units. The 12th floor contained 4 penthouse apartments that featured an outdoor space. One of the units was rented by Jerry Berger, emperor of Laclede Town, and his side piece. You knew Jerry was around when you saw his Rolls Royce parked in the lot. You could only access the 12th floor by inserting a key in the elevator so I have no idea what the apartments up there looked like.
The low rise buildings were called "stacked" townhouses. Floors one and two were a conventional 3 bedroom 1 and 1/2 bath townhouse, with living room/dining area/kitchen, laundry room and 1/2 bath on the first floor. Interior stairs led up to the second floor with 3 bedrooms and bath. The third and fourth floors were accessed by an exterior stairwell. The third floor of the building contained an entrance hall for the upper unit, 2 bedrooms and one bathroom. An interior stairway led up to the fourth floor that had the kitchen, dining area with a balcony and living room. For apartments, the rooms were quite large, bright and airy. Other four story buildings in the complex had a similar configuration with 2 bedroom units on the first two floors, and a one bedroom unit on the third and fourth floors. As mentioned previously, there was a 6 story midrise building with shops on the ground floor, two 2-bedroom town houses "stacked" on top each other and studio apartments on the top floor.
Laclede East was just one part of Operation Breakthrough. Laclede West was also part of Operation Breakthrough, and was located west of the original Laclede Town, between Compton and Channing. There were 75 conventional 2, 3 and 4 bedroom town houses (with full basements) and a 10 story high rise at 210 North Channing that also had a low rise, L shaped section that also featured stacked townhouses. Laclede West also had its own pool. Combined with Laclede Park and Laclede Town, there were over 1200 apartments in the area between Channing Avenue and Beaumont Streets, not counting Grand Towers or Grand Forest apartments. Millstone Construction Company, which built all of Laclede Town, Laclede Park and East and West (as well as Pruitt-Igoe) sold it's interest in the development to Jerry Berger approximately 1974 or 1975. I still have a rental brochure for the town houses at Compton and Laclede in Laclede West.
I was really saddened to see this development go into a very steep decline. The two years I spent there were some of the happiest years of my life.
Laclede East had its own pool and there was a six level building that had a drug store, take-out place, and restaurant/cocktail lounge called "Gregory" on the ground floor. Peacock Alley Community Center was right across the street. As a student at SLU and a part time employee of IBM which was at 3800 LIndell Blvd. at the time, I walked and biked around this area at all hours of the day and night and never had any problems whatsoever. It truly was a wonderful neighborhood at the time. There was a small supermarket at Grandel Square that was built as part of the Blumeyer Housing Project and it was certainly better and cleaner than the crummy Kroger store at Lindell and Sarah. Pope's Cafeteria was still open on Washington Avenue, Woolworth's was open on North Grand, and there was a great record store called Music City right next to the Fox, not to mention the stores on Lawton Place in Laclede Town. Just about everything a 21 year old student could want and need was nearby.
Floors 2 through 11 of the 12 story building had 8 apartments: 4 2-bedroom units, 2 1-bedroom units and 2 studio units. The 12th floor contained 4 penthouse apartments that featured an outdoor space. One of the units was rented by Jerry Berger, emperor of Laclede Town, and his side piece. You knew Jerry was around when you saw his Rolls Royce parked in the lot. You could only access the 12th floor by inserting a key in the elevator so I have no idea what the apartments up there looked like.
The low rise buildings were called "stacked" townhouses. Floors one and two were a conventional 3 bedroom 1 and 1/2 bath townhouse, with living room/dining area/kitchen, laundry room and 1/2 bath on the first floor. Interior stairs led up to the second floor with 3 bedrooms and bath. The third and fourth floors were accessed by an exterior stairwell. The third floor of the building contained an entrance hall for the upper unit, 2 bedrooms and one bathroom. An interior stairway led up to the fourth floor that had the kitchen, dining area with a balcony and living room. For apartments, the rooms were quite large, bright and airy. Other four story buildings in the complex had a similar configuration with 2 bedroom units on the first two floors, and a one bedroom unit on the third and fourth floors. As mentioned previously, there was a 6 story midrise building with shops on the ground floor, two 2-bedroom town houses "stacked" on top each other and studio apartments on the top floor.
Laclede East was just one part of Operation Breakthrough. Laclede West was also part of Operation Breakthrough, and was located west of the original Laclede Town, between Compton and Channing. There were 75 conventional 2, 3 and 4 bedroom town houses (with full basements) and a 10 story high rise at 210 North Channing that also had a low rise, L shaped section that also featured stacked townhouses. Laclede West also had its own pool. Combined with Laclede Park and Laclede Town, there were over 1200 apartments in the area between Channing Avenue and Beaumont Streets, not counting Grand Towers or Grand Forest apartments. Millstone Construction Company, which built all of Laclede Town, Laclede Park and East and West (as well as Pruitt-Igoe) sold it's interest in the development to Jerry Berger approximately 1974 or 1975. I still have a rental brochure for the town houses at Compton and Laclede in Laclede West.
I was really saddened to see this development go into a very steep decline. The two years I spent there were some of the happiest years of my life.
^It sounds like you have great memories of living there. It's a shame the neighborhood doesn't exist anymore but it lives on in the memories of those who once lived there (same goes for people who lived at Pruitt Igoe during the glory days).