hello my name is nathan jackson and youre watching this house
today well be featuring the eastern part of the lafayette square neighborhood
this row of houses here was built in about 1885 by a famed architect named ernst c jannsen
in general ernst c jannsen built very ornate and elaborate buildings and most all of his
designs would have been for wealthy clients he later on designed several homes in the
lafayette square and compton heights neighborhood hes most noted for his design of the magic
chef mansion on russell blvd in the compton heights neighborhood
it features a lot of ornate detailing through out the entire structure with many different
stone work features very elaborate bracketed cornice several different ornamentations in
the mansard roof line such as the pediments above each of the windows and bracketed cornice
you also have a secondary cornice overlooking the first floor and you have these various
different window arches as well as several different cast iron features through out the
building this are of lafayette square was part of the 4th city subdivision which was
plotted in 1854 the 4th city subdivision was one of the areas of the st louis commons which
was a common pasture in st louis set up during the french colonial era in 1854 they decided
to subdivide several different sections of the st louis commons with in a few years the
st louis mutual house building company built a row of greek revival style row houses right
here on lafayette ave these were probably built around the late 1850s or early 1860s
and they feature limestone lintels above each of the windows which you typically see with
the greek revival style So this is one of the rarer examples of a
3 story greek revival style house here in the city of st louis.
due to the urban renewal projects that destroyed much of the inner areas of the city just north
and just south of downtown only a few examples remain a little bit further out from the city
this particular 3 story greek revival house was built in 1865 for a Virginia lumber baron
named james luthy and at the time this was thought to be a very conservatively built
house as the second empire style and italianate style were becoming very popular and the greek
revival style was on its way out, having been popular between 1825-1865
so across the street from the row house on lafayette ave that were built in the greek
revival style there was actually a brewery which was also built in the greek revival
style and this brewery was known as Christian Staelins Phoenix brewery this was likely originally
an ale brewery as it was founded in 1838 the same year that adam lemp introduced lager
beer to the unites states for the first time.
before that most all of the brewerys around were actually ale brewerys this brewery continued
to grow and expand through out the mid 19th century with some buildings be built in 1864
and some buildings being built in the 1880s and this brewery taking up the 1700 block
of lafayette ave on its south side.
by 1964 they decided to demolish the phoenix brewery which had closed during prohibition.
after the brewery closed it sat empty and had other industrial uses for a while but
in 1964 they the plans in place to build and develop highway 44 and made it have an intersection
with highway 55.
the phoenix brewery was one of those buildings that was demolished for the highway.
another interesting building just east of lafayette square was Jonathon o pierces Cracker
Castles this building was built at the intersection of dylan street and st ann it was built in
the second empire style in 1868 Johnathon o pierce made his fortune during the civil
war by selling hardtack crackers hardtack crackers were a very dry sort of flour based
cracker they were able to be eaten without going stale by soldiers and they proved very
useful during the long months of the civil war when the soldiers were fighting at different
battle fields around the country.
Because Jonathon o pierce was one of the major manufactures of these crackers he became extremely
wealthy in 1868 following the civil war he built this 5 story mansion just a couple of
blocks away from Chouteau ave and just east of Lafayette square there is a photo you can
see of the cracker castle from about 1870 where a horse draw street car is being pulled
directly by the mansion. in 1896 the devastating tornado that tore through south st louis destroyed
the cracker castles and it was subsequently demolished.in 1942 the peabody housing project
was built directly on the former site of the cracker castle.
Though many of those housing projects still stand today as they replace a lot of the contemporaries
of the cracker castle which were built all around that area just to the east of Lafayette
square.
So this street just off mississippi ave next to lafayette park was laid out as kennet place
after st louis mayor luther martin kennett in 1868 the developer of this area was named
Stephen D Barlow.
2 of the first house that were built in the neighborhood were these 2 second empire style
townhouses that were built right here in 1871.
they were owned by two guys that were partners in the millinery industry.
We had Leopold Lowenstein who was an immigrant form bohemia.
His partner simon straus lived on the house on the right.
Both of these men were 2 of the few jewish residents of the lafeyette square area. and
at the time st louis had a significant jewish population in both the soulard and lafayette
square areas.
the first synagogue west of the mississippi the B Nai El synagogue was located down on
south 3rd street and was constructed in 1855.
In 1896 the 2nd empire house on the right was heavily damaged during the 1896 tornado
and so the roof was completely ripped off.
That is why it no longer looked identical to its neighbor here at 1838 kennett place
that was owned by Leopold Lowenstein.
So these 3 houses here were originally built in 1879 by the polish brothers cast iron manufacturing
company.
originally when the houses were built they were constructed in the 2nd empire style each
one was built with these large bay windows.
that had the elaborate decoration as you can see here.
Bay windows allowed for the best possible natural lighting as the light bulb was invest
the same year these houses were constructed.
today these house have more of an Italianate style to them as during the 1896 tornado the
3rd floor mansard roofs were heavily damage.
after the tornado they decided to remove the 3rd floor mansard roof.
so this house at the corner of 18th and kennett place originally 2nd carondelet ave. was built
sometime in the early 1870s as a duel mansion and it is one of the houses on the street
that appears on the 1875 compton and dry map. it would have been a two family residents
with 2 very large townhomes on either side.
in the 1950s it had formstone added onto the front of it.
which is that concrete material that you can see on the front of the home.
So this particular house here is a great example of middle class architecture from the 1870s.
This particular house here on carroll street was built sometime around 1870 and is very
indictive of the types of buildings that were constructed in the areas just east of the
lafayette square neighborhood this would of been a multifamily residents.
most of the neighborhood just the east lafayette square around city hospital was filled with
these vernacular and Italianate style homes the houses much closer to the park are where
the much wealthier residents lived.
this row of houses is often refered to as dolman row. this particular row of house was
built in mid 19th century vernacular style as it has these arched brick windows and then
up at the top at the cornice level it has those dentalations in the cornice.
Up top it features a hipped roof with multiple dormer windows.
Its thought that these houses were built sometime around 1877 as they dont appear on the compton
and dry map but they appeared in later 1870s city directory's.
these would of been yet another example of the more middle class type of housing that
was located in the area east of Lafayette square.
fast forward almost a century to about 1972 when lafayette square was made into a national
register historic district and this area was thought to of been just a little to far outside
of that area and it was not originally included in the Lafayette square neighborhood.
in 1986 however they thought this row of houses to be historically significant despite this
section of the neighborhood having pronged out houses and being fairly rough condition.
these were added to the national register of historic places in an effort to preserve
the homes.
During the 1990s and 2000s, that revitalization from the Lafayette square neighborhood expanded
a bit eastward and was successfully able to preserve and restore these particular homes
which are still listed as dolman row on national register of historical places and today are
now part of the Lafayette square historic district which had its bounderies expanded
in the 1980s and 1990s.
Thank you for watching this house.
To learn more about the Lafayette Square neighborhood please book a tour with st louis history and
architecture on facebook.
we also feature various profiles of different historic homes that are located on this side
of the neighborhood as well as all around the neighborhood.
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