Janet and Gary Neuhaus are undeniably fun people. On Halloween, they motor around their Soulard neighborhood in a festively decorated golf cart. On weekend evenings, they often host impromptu potlucks around their outdoor fire pit. Come Mardi Gras, their Ninth Street home is a merry hub for party-going friends.
This house is known for its joie de vivre—and if you want tangible proof, it’s in the walls.
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For 23 years, Janet and Gary have been meticulously renovating the 3,000-square-foot home, room by room. Beneath the drywall, between the studs, is a dizzying array of artifacts from their lives: pictures of friends and neighbors who helped with the renovations; playbills from decades of shows at the Fox Theatre; posters from Mardi Gras and The Shanti, their favorite corner “hippie hang,” which closed in 2014.
And ticket stubs—lots of ticket stubs: World Series tickets and stubs from the last game in the old ballpark. Ticket stubs from the last two Grateful Dead concerts ever held in St. Louis, just weeks before Jerry Garcia’s death.
“It’s stuff you want to keep but don’t really need,” Janet says.
The inspiration came as they began tearing up the old house, back in 1993. They expected to find buried treasures and nuggets of insight into the previous owners’ lives. But all that turned up were a few pickup sticks, a swizzle stick, and a postcard featuring polka musician Frank Yankovic—dated April 16, 1955.
The postcard is now framed in a picture carousel, along with other snapshots from the renovations. Bit by bit, Janet and Gary have pieced together a history of the home—they figure they’re the third family to occupy it. A few years back, they got a heartfelt letter from the granddaughter of the previous owner, nostalgic for the old home. They invited her over and soaked up the stories.
Other grandchildren, children, and neighbors have come back to visit as well, sharing colorful tales about the antics on 18th Street. This, after all, is what the house is about: good friends, good laughs, and good memories.
“That’s why we’re on year 23 of the 10-year plan,” Janet says of the renovation. They could have worked nonstop to get it done sooner, she says, “but I bet we wouldn’t have such warm fuzzy feelings over it.”
The extensive renovations are almost complete, with finishing touches in place. The kitchen now boasts a granite island big enough for 20 or so friends to gather around. The walk-in closets are neatly shelved, the bathroom floors heated.
All that’s left are the stairwell and a tiny hallway closet. That’s where the final time capsule will go—a last chance to embed memories in the house that they’ve poured years of labor and love into, a final chapter in the storybook they’ll leave for future generations.
“When I’m dead and gone and somebody else 100 years from now is updating this house again, they’re going to have so much fun,” says Janet.
