North of Whittemore Place is Albion Place, named after the archaic appellation for Britain, was nothing but open land and a sinkhole in 1876; even Park Avenue remained to be developed. An allee of trees may delineate the future alley, but I am not sure. Like its neighbor to the south, it was fully developed by 1908.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, St. Louis, Missouri, 1908 December, sheet 110
The architecture is much more varied than the typical Italianate and Second Empire of Lafayette Square fame, however, and this might be one of my new favorite streets in St. Louis.
2334 Albion Place, April 1897, Missouri History Museum, P0967-01-001-01
Houses such as the one above show a love of both the Romanesque and Renaissance Revival, with some other eclectic elements thrown in. It was built in 1892 by Anna Krause, the widow of Emil Krause. She lived on the first floor with her youngest daughter while her second daughter, Hattie, lived upstairs with her husband Albert Stocker. Below, this house is Second Empire with the influence of German Mannerist Revival architecture, as you would expect to see in old burghers’ houses in cities such as Bremen or Hamburg.
The houses may be of different sizes, but they have a rhythm that creates a harmonious composition even though they were built at different times.
Moving along east away from South Jefferson, there are more houses that buck the normal trend of houses in Lafayette Square, with more detailing that is more akin to the 16th or 17th Centuries than the Second Empire.
This house below is spectacular, and again shows the influence of northern European architecture, with the move away from wooden decorative elements toward cast iron and terracotta instead.
The bay window is perhaps one of the best in St. Louis, but I also want to draw attention to the scars on the brick, which could mean there was additional ornament that has been removed.
The house also owns the lot next door, allowing for a solarium to the east.
Then there is a more “normal” Italianate house next door.
At the end of the block is the former Lafayette Park Presbyterian Church, which was heavily damaged by the Great Cyclone in 1896. They repaired the church, and it was eventually converted into condominiums.
Lafayette Park Presbyterian Church after 1896 Tornado, Albion Place and Missouri Avenue, May 1896, Missouri History Museum, P0245-S03-00064-6g