Where
What
Why
When
Who
Are the oldest buildings in Stl?
I am looking for a top 5.
The reason for this question is I was having been with some folks near Cherokee. They said the old building off of Arsenal that is closed to the public holds the oldest buildings in stl.
City records online are not accurate with older structures. The Old Cathedral is among the oldest, as are two originally rural houses: the DeHodiamont House and the Bissell House. Most older structures were replaced as the city grew.
I don't think the Jeff Arms would make be in the top 50. Most of (what's left in) Laclede's Landing, Soulard, and LaSalle Park is older than it. There are some little stone hovels in S'lard and Benton Park the could go way back.
In the city proper, the top five oldest are...
Bissell Mansion (early and late 1820s; original house built in 1823, extensively added onto)
DeHodiamont House (early 1830s; original stone house built in 1829, extensively added onto)
Old Cathedral (completed in 1834; original foundations laid in 1820s)
Old Courthouse (early 1840s, original East Wing started in 1839 was torn down)
Carondelet stone houses, east of Broadway on Steins Street (early 1840s)
Campbell House (1851) comes in a close top tenner for oldest. There's also quite a few dating to the 1850s and 1860s, mostly in Soulard and Laclede's Landing (most constructed before 1874).
Florissant actually has some of the oldest in the county, including an 18th century home.
If there are any buildings older than 1820 in the city of St. Louis, I would be shocked. Only about 4,500 people lived in the town in 1820, and the handful of non-wooden houses from that time were built of stone and were located where the Arch is today.
There's a nice row of houses on Kosciusko Street and Cahokia Street that probably date to the 1850s or so, maybe even one from the 1840s. I also have a suspicion there's several near the Carondelet Library that date to the 1840s/1850s.
To discuss the oldest buildings around STL, you really should go outside of the city. There are some in Kirkwood built before 1850. And others dotting the area.
Old town St. Charles has lots of buildings from the 1830s.
A map today connecting the oldest remaining buildings around the STL area would be a fun guide for tourists and locals alike.
Real estate listings (and a plaque on the wall) claim that this house at 7843 Gannon in U City was built in 1832. County historian Esley Hamilton has his doubts, though.
Here's the Sutter-Meyer house at 6826 Chamberlain Court, which is generally considered to be the oldest house in U City, having been built circa 1873.
This actually isn’t a very straightforward question. There are a number of buildings in St. Louis County from the early 19th century, but let’s focus on St. Louis City for the sake of discussion.
A small outbuilding in Lafayette Square was constructed around 1780, on the property of Joseph Motard. The building is located at 1231 Mackay Place. This is possibly the only surviving building in the city from the colonial period.
A front wall from the Old Rock House was reconstructed in the arch museum. It was built in 1818 and dismantled for the Arch grounds.
The oldest confirmed age brick structure is the Bissell mansion, built in 1823. It was recently put up for sale.
The Emmanuel DeHodiamont house was built as a stone structure in 1829, and had a Carpenter Gothic Revival addition put on around 1875.
The St. Louis Arsenal opened in 1830, and several of the original buildings still stand. The buildings were constructed by the firm of LaVeille and Morton.
The same firm also constructed the Old Cathedral between 1831 and 1834. This is the only piece of land in Missouri that was never bought or sold. This is for sure the oldest church in the city.
A small cottage in the Hyde Park neighborhood was built around the 1830s, but the exact date is unknown.
The old courthouse was built in 1828, but the original section was demolished in 1850, so the oldest remaining portion is from 1839. LaVeile and Morton designed the original building, but the 1839 part was designed by Henry Singleton. The dome was completed in 1862, replacing the 1839 dome.
Carondelet has a number of buildings dating to 1840 or around that time. A house on Ohio Street near Meramec Street was constructed around 1841, in present day Dutchtown. The Lyle House in Carondelet Park was constructed in 1842. There are other frame buildings and a few brick and stone ones that likely date from the same period.
The Grace Church in old north St. Louis was originally built around 1841, but has had several additions.
Beginning in 1838, the current sections of Soulard not cleared for urban renewal were subdivided by Julia C. Soulard. The earliest buildings I have verified were built in 1842. This includes one row house at 1713-19 S. 8th Street, the building that houses Protagonist Cafe, and 1827 S. 9th Street. I’ve done a lot of research in Soulard, and several other buildings had been constructed in the area prior to 1847.
St. Mary of Victories Church was completed in 1843, and St. Vincent DePaul was completed in 1844. The Sisters of St. Joseph Convent is also from 1843.
911 North Tucker was built sometime in the 1840s, as listed by the city.
A Gothic Revival townhouse in Laclede’s Landing was built in 1844 or 1845, next to the Witte Hardware Store Building.
The Eugene Field House and Broadway Oyster Bar buildings were also both constructed in 1845.
The LaSalle Park neighborhood has at least four buildings from the 1840s in addition to the church. The Missouri Candle and Wax Company buildings, a building at 11th and Lafayette, and two buildings on Menard at Marion Street.
The Châtillon DeMenil mansion was built in 1848, and had an addition made in 1863.
Two buildings on Geyer Ave in Soulard were built for Newton L. Payne, and were constructed at some point between 1837 and 1851.
The building at 1225 Macksy Place appears on the 1850 census. However, the city claims it was built by 1838 on their website for the history of the city.
Henry Shaw had his city and country homes both constructed in 1849. Both are still standing in the gardens.
This should cover most of the extant buildings in the city from before 1850. There are numerous buildings from the 1850s that still stand, and almost 100 of them are in Soulard. The Campbell House Museum might be in the top 50 oldest buildings, but it definitely isn’t in the top 25.
Thanks for posting here, Nathan (love your posts on other media).
I understand that the pieces of the Old Rock House were "mishandled" after it was dismantled, so how sure are we that the current reconstruction is even authentic?
This actually isn’t a very straightforward question. There are a number of buildings in St. Louis County from the early 19th century, but let’s focus on St. Louis City for the sake of discussion.
Carondelet has a number of buildings dating to 1840 or around that time. A house on Ohio Street near Meramec Street was constructed around 1841, in present day Dutchtown. The Lyle House in Carondelet Park was constructed in 1842. There are other frame buildings and a few brick and stone ones that likely date from the same period.
St. Louis Fire Capt. Garon Mosby said the house, considered one of the oldest surviving frame buildings in the city, sustained "moderate to extensive" damage.
What a bummer, I suspect squatters, but we'll see. This is a known hot spot for drug addicts. Inaction on historic buildings like this and Lemp are just a constant frustration of living here.
