Photo courtesy of Re/Max Tyler's Homes
Ronda Wright learned about the historic provenance of her house in the Gate District the same way a lot of folks did—through the news. She had no idea that poet and activist Maya Angelou, whose work Wright grew up reciting and adoring, lived there for the first three years of her life.
Now, Wright has put the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath house on the market, and the house’s history is a clear selling point. In fact, it’s already under contract.
Wright moved into the house in 2005. She moved out in 2010, but retained it as a rental property.
“I really liked that it represents something that was older and different,” she says. “You have this mix of housing that’s 100 years old next to houses that are maybe 12 years old. The frame, the structure is all original. On the inside, there are quite a bit of exposed bricks. It’s really nice; it continues to have the feel of something that’s less modern.”
When Angelou died in 2014, news stations and reporters showed up at the 3130 Hickory Street home. Wright's tenants were living there at the time.
“It was a shock, first of all, that I lived in this property, I bought it, I had no idea,” Wright says by telephone from her current home in Minneapolis. “I’m not even sure the person who sold it to me was aware. I felt a bit of responsibility in making sure that the home was able to be cemented in history.”
She sought city landmark status for the home, originally built in 1888, with the assistance of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis. After a lot of paperwork and records verification, her district alderperson brought the issue up for a vote and the status was granted.
Take a photo tour through the two-story house below. Realtor Tyler Olsen is handling the sale.
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