The 2008 Most Endangered Historic Places List Announcement will take place at a press conference at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at Fairfax (the James Collier Marshall House) at 9407 Manchester Road in Rock Hill, MO. This property is located at the corner of Manchester and McKnight Roads in Rock Hill, in the St. Louis area. Missouri Preservation Board President Jeff Brambila will make the announcement.
PubDef.net is told that one of the buildings on this year’s list is the San Luis Apartments on Lindell Blvd, which the St. Louis Archdiocese is threatening to demolish to build a surface parking lot.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:46 pm
St. Louis suffers from halcyonitis. We are longing for the days when we were a powerhouse, so we feel like we have to protect another era’s greatness so we can feel great vicariously. Some of these old buildings are historic and should be saved. Others are just old, worn out and need to go. Everyone knows one of the big reasons St. Louis isn’t attracting quality developers is the interference from these hysterical-historicals. I posted this on another blog earlier, but its true. I had a friend who developed a new building in North St. Louis some years back and some historical preservationist complained that it detracted from the character of the neighborhood. He asked her, “so you want me to put plywood in the windows?”True story. When do we focus on realizing our own potential for greatness and stop living in the distant past?
May 24th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
“When do we focus on realizing our own potential for greatness and stop living in the distant past?”
So a surface parking lot is symbolic of our “potential”?? I’m just trying to understand your ridiculous argument. Overall you make a good point about how overzealous some historic guidelines can be, but the San Luis is a completely different story. This cotroversy less about a building and more about urban land use.