many great houses have come and gone over the years but the fate of the lost cracker castle
is a story that deserves to be told in detail hi everyone my name is ken welcome to this house
in 1863 jonathan pierce hired the controversial and conspicuous architect charles b clark to
design his dream home clark responded with possibly the oddest residence in st louis
history a second empire-style castle that would tower above the lafayette square neighborhood
clark arrived in st louis in 1859 after allegedly studying architecture in new york he would go on
to design 33 large buildings such as schools courthouses and churches he was known to have
had an eye for aesthetics and grandiose ambitions but lacked a fundamental understanding of physics
this would later become abundantly apparent as all of the buildings that he designed throughout
his lifetime would either collapse or be subject to demolition because they weren't stable none of
his buildings survived the present day of course hindsight is 2020. mr pierce did not suspect
anything foul when he hired clark to design his mansion on the west side of saint ang along
chateau avenue pierce and his partner cornelia purchased the lot for 13 500 in 1863. clark
proposed an oversized italian villa to have towers placed symmetrically above the arch cornices
at the building's height it would be five stories tall and capped off with mansard roofs the facade
would contain detailed terracotta brickwork and oversized cornices with incredibly ornate brackets
and trim pieces there would also be a large variety of windows of all different sizes
and shapes to create rhythm across the massive building the mansion would be finished by 1864
just one year after clark was hired to design it the total cost of the mansion was a whopping 115
000 or the modern equivalent of over two million dollars the solid mahogany front door alone cost
over twenty five hundred dollars or the modern equivalent of over forty four thousand dollars
this monstrosity was an amalgamation of various styles and drew critique from the local residents
one of which was the architect john albury bryan who publicly expressed his disdain for the design
pierce made his money by selling hardtack crackers during the civil war his crackers would stay good
for a long time which made them perfect for soldiers to eat them while away at battle
of course the war would not last forever and neither would pierce's income with no one to
sell his crackers to he desperately wished that he hadn't spent such an exorbitant sum of money on
creating his castle in 1867 he took out a mortgage on his house just so he could survive while trying
to find a buyer unfortunately for him nobody wanted to buy the monstrous castle for anywhere
near what he paid for it he ended up selling it to fidelio c sharp for the bargain price of
fifty thousand dollars or the modern equivalent of eight hundred and eighty five thousand dollars
pierce then sold his companies filed for bankruptcy and moved to boston to start a new life
fidelio sharp lived out the rest of his years in the cracker castle until he passed away in 1878
after sharp passed the house went to auction where an attorney by the name of charles pierce
would submit the highest bid for 13 950 or the modern equivalent of only 246 thousand dollars
charles pierce would enjoy this castle until the structure was finally put to the test
in 1896 a massive tornado tore through lafayette's square neighborhood ripping off the roofs of many
houses and causing severe damage to many others the cracker castle was no match for the strong
winds as the massive 90-foot tower collapsed into the dining room demolishing the house
charles pierce was not able to manage the repairs and decided to simply abandon the castle's ruins
it was said that what remained of the only standing tower became a home for pigeons
no buyers could be found for the remains of the cracker castle in 1902 a strong windstorm
swept through the area and stirred up the debris plaster and bricks began lifting from the site
and were hurdled around the block the city deemed the ruins a hazard and so began the
demolition and cleanup process thank you all for watching i really hope that you enjoyed this video
please make sure to like comment share and subscribe i'll see you next time on this house