Founded as a retreat from the city, Pasadena Hills remains a shady refuge.
By Traci Angel
Pasadena Hills was built with St. Louis weather in mind. Its lush, vibrant landscape blocks a blazing summer day so that streets running through this North County enclave receive only a few bright rays through the foliage. During a winter snowfall, the tree limbs, now bare, arch into a white canopy.
A quiet, gated neighborhood, Pasadena Hills tucks inside surrounding Normandy. The entrance is a little hard to find, but, once inside, you feel the aura of peace. Island parkways are lined so thickly with trees that the other side of the street is invisible.
“Pasadena Hills was designed to be a getaway summer retreat for those who lived and worked in the city, to get away from the hustle and bustle,” says building commissioner and resident Lee LeBoeuf, explaining that the homes and streets are laid out in parklike settings that follow the lay of the land.
LeBoeuf moved from Vermont 10 years ago because his wife is from St. Louis. “One of her real-estate agent friends suggested the location. I fell in love with it because it reminded me of home,” he says. “There are these huge pine trees, and when I smelled the pine trees, I just knew.”
Space is limited on the narrow streets, and parked cars are a rare sight. Landscaping is so well kept that it almost seems mandated. Gentle ravines and a pond with a fountain offer a picturesque setting for brick houses of all sizes. They seem to belong together, yet each is built with individual charm. Contractors and architects paid close attention to details: terrazzo and marble floors, columns, plaster crown moldings.
“It’s such a beautiful community—and a representation of good planning,” says St. Louis County historian Esley Hamilton. “It incorporates the parks right into the design and provides for a wide range of income levels.” Apartments are mixed in among small homes and mansions. “That is a big contrast to how communities were planned after World War II, all for the same income level,” notes Hamilton, who helped the city push for a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. Many details, such as the rainbow of brick, stained glass, wrought iron, terra cotta and slate, set the neighborhood apart, Hamilton says. The community’s gate follows the St. Louis tradition of huge monuments at the entrances to affluent neighborhoods. Pasadena Hills’ gate, the tallest in the metropolitan area, can be seen from Clayton.
Last year was a big one for the community, which has no land to develop and little home-ownership turnover: In December, the City of Pasadena Hills was placed on the National Register as a historic district. The city also passed a bond to restore the original wrought-iron streetlights and the historic fountain and tower.
The preservation campaign began in 2000 when the Board of Aldermen approved the hiring of a consultant and became a certified local government, one of the register’s requirements. LeBoeuf and others tracked down information for the architectural survey and sifted through historical data.
“There are homes for sale, but now that we have become a historic district, the importance of that is heightened among our residents,” LeBoeuf says. He describes Pasadena Hills as a mixed community with different ethnicities and professional levels, with a number of second-generation families and a small-town feel.
What this small residential city lacks in the way of restaurants and attractions, it makes up for in parties. Pasadena Hills holds street dances, an annual holiday festival complete with carriage rides, and garden and house tours. “A lot of people have a misconception that the Normandy area has gone to pot,” says Hamilton. “That is far from true. There are people working hard to keep these communities together.”
Did you know? Population: 1,147, according to the 2000 U.S. Census
A strange numerical coincidence: Pasadena has 38 median/green spaces, 38 apartment buildings and 380 houses
