Photography by Isaac Sievers, courtesy of the Missouri History Museum
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So much about Huntleigh seems Old World—the sturdy stands of trees, the stables, even the name (which is an old English word meaning “meadow of the hunter”). It’s an entirely modern creation, though: Edward Bakewell bought the first 125 acres in 1925, and in 1929, when Huntleigh incorporated, he served as its mayor. That year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Bakewell had built stocks and gallows on what was then the grounds of the Bridlespur Hunt, “atmosphere stocks,” as it were, for horses to jump. One year later, Bakewell built a much more enduring structure: this mansion, photographed in May 1931, built in the style of a French chateau.
In September, the Post reported the house was nearly ready to occupy and described its scale as “pretentious” (though not as a slight—it used the same word for Percy Orthwein’s Maritz & Young chateau-style mansion, also in Huntleigh.) “The house stands on a knoll in the center of nine acres, surrounded by beautiful estates,” the paper wrote. “Maritz & Young were the architects, the landscape work was done by Peter Selzer’s Studio Gardens. The house is being decorated by Pokorny Galleries. A feature is a terrace connected with a rock garden. A gardening expert has been brought from California to develop this property. The house has 11 rooms. The living room is 2232 and all other rooms in proportion.”
The Post added that the village itself would soon be obscured by “500,000 honeysuckle vines,” and “climbing rose bushes of uniform color…planted every 10 feet along the road.” That botanical fairytale magic worked. Denny Road, Huntleigh’s only through street, eventually became Lindbergh, despite the objections of residents. But, largely, Huntleigh has stayed timelessly Huntleigh.
