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Courtesy of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group
Some of the properties on this year's tour.
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Photograph by Chris Naffziger
The Fourteenth Street Mall today.
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Photograph by Chris Naffziger
The Fourteenth Street Mall before its restoration.
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Courtesy of the Old North Restoration Group
The former charcoal warehouse, prior to rehab.
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Courtesy of the Old North Restoration Group
Interior of the warehouse, after rehab.
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Courtesy of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group
Home on North Market prior to rehab.
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Courtesy of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group
Market Street home after storm damage, and after rehab
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Courtesy of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group
2817 North Market, before rehab.
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Courtesy of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group
2817 North Market today.
There is no such thing as a “obsolete” building. I’m so tired of hearing that as a justification to tear down a structurally stable building, usually to build a parking lot or cheap, poorly built replacement. The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group’s annual house tour this last weekend hammered home that message, that obsolescence is arbitrary, by featuring a whole range of houses and other buildings that have now taken on new life in a manner different to their original purpose. As cities mature, and certain types of buildings are no longer needed, creative vision is needed to give new life to abandoned buildings.
The Old North St. Louis neighborhood serves as a laboratory for the possibility the city’s building stock provides for adaptive reuse. I thought about the dismissive attitude so many “movers and shakers” in St. Louis have against the historic built environment, believing the bulldozing “obsolete” buildings is the only way to save the city. As if St. Louis, with all of its strengths, could ever do suburbia better than Chesterfield of Fairview Heights. It’s laughable, and aggravating, to see St. Louis leaders attempt to beat the suburbs at their own game.
Old North does not attempt to replicate the ephemeral success of suburbia, but is seeking to rebuild an urban community, reusing “obsolete” buildings that often seem well past their prime to the casual observer. I’ve always enjoyed the Old North House Tour every May, but I realized it had been eight years since the last time I’ve taken the tour. I was not disappointed, and the neighborhood shows how even the most unlikely buildings can see new life.
First, take the example of 1303 N Market Street, a former charcoal warehouse used by the Ford Motor Company. Abandoned and left empty, it was completely renovated into a large, spacious loft-style home for a family. A brand new concrete floor replaced the cracked, uneven asphalt of the old warehouse, and skylights shine natural light down into the living space. Salvaged elements, such as a bookcase ladder, accent the living room. Outside, what had once been a weed-choked lot is now a lush garden, hiding geothermal wells that heat and cool the home using the Earth’s ambient temperature. The broad, flat roof provides room for solar panels, reducing the family’s electricity bill to almost nothing in the summer. Pretty good for a formerly abandoned warehouse.
Down the street at 1227 Market Street, a house from 1873 shows how far a house can go and still be salvaged due to the determination of its owner. The house had sat empty, exposed to the elements for years, and much of its historic fabric was lost to rain and deterioration. But nonetheless, the owner began a full gut rehab, returning the house to a single-family dwelling after years of being carved up into apartments. Even when disaster struck, and the top floor of the house was destroyed in high winds, the owner chose to rebuild, and use the remaining strong walls as a foundation for the replacement of the damaged portions. A house that most people would have given up on is now occupied, with stunning views of the Arch and downtown skyline from the now-repaired third floor.
The Fourteenth Street Mall, just south of famed Crown Candy Kitchen, is also a testament to how even an almost completely abandoned commercial strip can come back to life. In the early 2010s, only one business, Head Hunters barber shop, remained in what had been the shopping hub of the Old North neighborhood until it was decimated by an ill-advised pedestrian mall, which choked off customers to the businesses lining the now-closed street. But the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group and RISE saw potential, and despite naysayers doubting them, rebuilt the street, opening it to automobile traffic and customers. Several buildings which were in a state of collapse are now completely restored, along with all of the storefronts along the street. What had been a hopeless case of “obsolescence” boasted huge crowds last Friday before the House Tour, as the art galleries that moved into the new storefronts teamed with visitors well into the evening.
Up the street, a house restored by the Old North Restoration Group and RISE proves that even the most hopeless case of obsolescence can still be fixed. The house was literally a giant pile of bricks, with only the party wall surviving against Crown Candy’s building, plates and cups hanging on against gravity in kitchen cupboards on the former second floor. Today, the house has been completely rebuilt from the ground up, and is occupied. If even a pile of bricks can be resurrected with determination, no one has an excuse to not save a structurally stable building, regardless of its former use. As St. Louis moves forward, demolition is looking backward. Let’s look forward and see that every historic building in the city represents promise, regardless of its past. Old North proves it can be done.
Chris Naffziger writes about architecture at St. Louis Patina. Contact him via email at naffziger@gmail.com.
