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St. Augustine’s, January 1, 2016
After showing a visitor St. Augustine’s, he asked what was wrong with St. Louisans to allow this to happen. I told him I wished I knew. The copper theft and other despoliation continues. The plywood...
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Immaculate Conception, Dardenne Prairie
Founded in 1880, Immaculate Conception was a quiet, rural parish for over a century. But that changed as St. Charles County exploded in population, and while the old church is too small and has been...
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Gate District, Revisited
I’m still suspicious of the Gate District, a redevelopment in the 1980s where most of the existing housing stock was leveled and replaced with wood frame houses typical of that decade. There is still...
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First Baptist Church, Bloomington, Illinois
I find a lot of Romanesque Revival churches a bit interesting, in that while they possess the decorative and stylistic elements of the Romanesque, they frequently possess the massing of a Gothic church.
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Shelbyville, Shelby County
The road heading north from Shelbina into Shelbyville, the county seat, is lined with abandoned houses. An elevator dominates the east side of the road. Relatively isolated away from major highways,...
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Bethel, Shelby County
Frozen in time, it seems, Bethel, north of Shelbyville, is one of the more interesting towns I have visited, and is a must-see for those interested in Antebellum Missouri. One of the largest...
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Edina, Revisited Late March 2016
I have always been impressed by the architecture of the “double square” in Edina, lined with some of the best ornamentation and form in Missouri. Ironically, I have photographs from 2012 that I may...
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St. Augustine, Sunset, Early April 2016
“How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!” Lamentations 1:1
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The Sun is Setting on St. Louis Place
Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Lamentations 5:20
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Eastern Central West End Revisited, and North
The eastern end of the Central West End, on streets such as Enright, are lined with just as beautiful houses as the western half. The lack of development is surprising considering its location in the...
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Disgraceful Vandalism at St. Augustine’s
What the scrappers haven’t gotten (see the ladder lying on the roof of the church, and the rope they were using to climb up and steal the copper is still hanging there), the hipster graffiti “artists”...
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The Delmar Loop and its Environs, Revisited
The Loop still has some great architecture, and the street is still busy with the construction of the trolley moving further east. Narrowing the street to encourage pedestrian traffic is a winning...
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St. Liborius High Altar Reredos, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Eureka
We finally got into Sacred Heart out in Eureka, which has long been known for being the new home of many of the sculptures from the old St. Liborius in St. Louis Place. The new priest graciously let...
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A Side Altar from St. Liborius, Calvary Cemetery
The sculpture group I found long ago in Calvary Cemetery’s mausoleum came from one of the transept altars, as can be seen below. Sadly, that altar, or what is left of it, is largely destroyed as of...
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North Grand Boulevard
North Grand Boulevard’s speeds are too fast to encourage business and pedestrian traffic, though there are a fair number of people on foot dodging cars on the sad blocks north of Grand Center....
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Memorial Presbyterian Church
I am not normally the biggest fan of English Gothic, which so predominates the western side of St. Louis into the county. The original French and its German iteration, always draw my eye to a greater...
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Dinks Parrish Laundry
In a style I would best describe as a mix of Venetian Gothic combined with various eclectic elements, the Dinks Parrish Laundry building is one of the most striking use of textured terracotta in the...
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Jamison Memorial Church, Formerly Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion
One of the august churches that gave this portion of Midtown the nickname “Piety Hill,” Jamison Memorial Church is the second congregation to occupy this church. Originally, this was the Episcopal...
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