ONCE AGAIN, 3460 OAK HILL - RESPONSE FROM THE MAYOR'S OFFICE

I recently wrote an open letter to Mayor Slay about one of my favorite buildings, 3460 Oak Hill http://stlouisbricks.blogspot.com/2007/07/3460-oak-hill-redux.htm

I sent the above link via email and received a letter dated August 4 from Barbara Geisman:

Dear Ms. Herman:

Thank you for your email of August 1, 2007, advising Mayor Slay that you had posted a letter to him on your blog. The Mayor asked me to respond to your email in my capacity as his Executive Director of Development. I have accessed your blog and read your letter, and have printed it out as an attachment to this letter...In the future, if you have questions or comments that you wish to direct to Mayor Slay and his staff, it would be helpful if you could send them directly to the Mayor - there are a lot of wonderful communications on the Internet that concern issues in the City but unfortunately we do not have the time to search the web and find them all.

By copy of this letter, I am asking LRA and CDA staff to take the following actions in response to the concerns raised in the letter that was posted on your blog.

Marian, I would appreciate it if you could provide me with a narrative on the actions CDA has taken to date to find a qualified developer for the property.

Laura, I would appreciate it if you could take a close look at this property and arrange for LRA's maintenance staff to secure it to the maximum extent possible, recognizing that we want this building to be saved and restored. I would also appreciate it if you can give me a report on the condition of this property and what LRA has done to restore it.

Ms Herman, once I receive the above-requested responses from Marian and Laura I will share them with you. I believe CDA has been attempting to find a qualified developer for this property for some time. I hope Marian's response will shed some light on why this has been so difficult.

Thank you for taking the time to write and thank you, most of all, for choosing to be a city resident. You and other like you are Mayor Slay's very important partners in his drive to make St. Louis City a great place to work and play once again.

Sincerely yours,

Barbara A. Greisman

Copies: Mayor Francis G. Slay; Honorable Jennifer Florida, Alderwoman 15th ward; Jeff Rainford, Chief of Staff; Jill Claybour and Marian Miller, CDA administration; Rodney Crim, Otis Williams, and Laura Costello, SLDC


It was great to have a quick response from the Mayor's office although I'm puzzled by 'Make St. Louis City a great place to work and play once again.' Yikes! What am I missing?

I do understand that Mayor Slay can't be expected to read every blog. The reason I had emailed him a link to my blog article was to provide text and photo illustrations.

I waited two weeks and stopped by 3460 Oak Hill on Sunday.

The shrubs along the side of the building have been removed! Please go after that tree also, the roots could be infiltrating the building foundation.



Rows of mortar popping out and a section where a group of bricks is about to jettison. I didn't notice this a few months ago....new? Life safety issue?



Holy stinkola! Missing bricks in the parapet, rows of disappearing mortar and new graffiti on the inside of the windows.



Many more broken windows on the second and third floors. I didn't check the back door to see if it was secured since I was off to meet Bad Tim for dinner. The back door board up was hanging open last fall (which was how I took those interior photos and photos from the roof)



One remaining intact window. Will the others be secured from winter storm damage?



The neglected shrubs that have previously obscured the front of the building have been removed, thanks! I've been wanting a photo of the doorway for years.



As of today, I haven't heard back from LRA or CDA. I have heard a rumor that Sam Mellen had submitted a plan to redevelop the building.

Further reading on this building: http://www.15thwardstl.org/taxonomy/term/31

Steve Wilke-Sharipo Bon Voyage Soiree at The Royale

How depressing.

Steve Wilke-Sharipo (one of my neighborhood heroes) is leaving St. Louis so I organized a party at The Royale but it just wasn't fun. Sure, it's always great to see neighbors and friends but the event underscored another loss of dazzling brilliance.

As I was leaving, Royale owner (and the coolest Daddy-o I know) slipped me a 100.00 donation for Marti's Memorial garden.

LOVES me some Steve's!

TEA with CLAUDIA & RICH - UTAH - TGH

During the Tower Grove South Architecture Walk last spring, Rich invited us to tour the first floor of the house he shares with his wife, Claudia. It's an Arts and Crafts palace on Utah St.

At the time, I didn't take any photos being overwhelmed by its magnificence so I invited myself over for tea.

Rich and Claudia are the curators of this building in Tower Grove Heights, a house that owns them instead of the reverse. They were more interested in restoring the building as opposed to rehabbing. They told me tales of covered stained glass windows -- some had been covered with large mirrors or plaster and one was found in the basement.

Each room has a different theme to the windows: the living room is roses, the dining room peaches and grapes. An upstairs bedroom has two windows with iris and a bathroom has lily pads.






Living room: fireplace, colonnades and stained glass with roses.



Rookwood tiles










Iris





Dining room with peaches in the stained glass window.







Lily pads






This painted stain glass with Mermen window is on the landing to the second floor.

4000 BLOCK OF PARKER

This block is loaded with homes that look as if they've popped off the pages of a fairy tale book. Whimsical facades with some outrageous gothic arch doors.

Parker and Bent
Barrel tiles on the roof











Gothic arch
Triple bricks
I'm betting the original storm doors were wood. The replacement doors had to have been custom built.





White stones



Limestone lintel



Black grout (around the stones)

CAT PAW PRINT

Last week was harsh.
The heat (flaunting the ability to vault over 100 degrees), another brutal biopsy and Chris leaving for the north west.

Chris missed his departure deadline last Sunday, he'd fallen behind rebuilding the BMW. Time had compressed for him and my intended time with him was threatened. I drove over to the garage.

I caught him referring to the motorcycle manual and expressed surprise: I thought you had been born with the blue prints to everything in your head!




The garage was a blistering environment with a tin roof, filtered and hesitant light and a fan that rattled and coughed the heat of hell at us. The air took on weight. Taking it in was an effort, as though it was wrapped inside layers of wet wool. The heat was like standing inside of dense fact.



I hung around for two hours. 105 degrees. I edged towards the garage door desperate for a breeze, glanced down and saw a cat print in the cement.

Look Chris, I said, pointing the print and showing off that I could see through sweat.

We stood shoulder to shoulder for a few moments staring at the paw print.



Chris is the best human being I've ever known.

FAMOUS-BARR SOUTHTOWN (RIP)

What a building!

Streamlined, brushed steel, rounded front, three floors of retail and a cafeteria on the mezzanine.

Once located on Route 66 (Chippewa and Kingshighway) and was razed over a decade ago.

See that FB on the top? I once asked my Mom what the letters meant and she replied, Funny Bones. I was seven years old, suspected she was fibbing and displayed my first stink eye.

Thanks to Kevin for changing this into a JPEG for me.

ISLAND ON MGF & UTAH - FUTURE SITE OF MARTI FRUMHOFF GARDEN

This small 'island' on the corner of Morgan Ford Road and Utah in TGS is the future site of a memorial garden for Marti Frumhoff, friend and neighbor.

Marti was a FORCE in our city, a talented woman with an astonishing ability to ideate and implement her plans. You can read more about her at my personal online fundraiser:http://gems4agarden.blogspot.com/. I'm working on this project with Christopher Thiemet and Peggy Hoelting.

Shortly after Marti's death in May I realized that I just couldn't let her go without a physical space dedicated to her memory.

I still can't believe she's gone because her presence and actions were SO immense.

WITH YOUR HELP WE WILL BUILD IT!
http://www.martifrumhoffmemorial.org/

DUCK HEAD DRAIN 'PIPE'

I've only encountered two of these open mouth duck head copper spouts in TGS and one is on my block.

MAD FOR MORTAR?

Yikes! Presto, destructo.

When bad repointing ruins a historic home...what's next, stucco?