- 1915 Montgomery Street (N & G Ventures LLC, May 2006, $100,000 - multiple properties)
March 2003
This was one of two Blairmont houses on the St. Louis Place site which I used for my thesis project several years ago; hence I've kept close track of its changes. And change it has:
May 2006
November 2007
December 2007
May 2008
It had been vacant for over 15 years... yet somehow, the brick rustlers struck only a year after Blairmont purchased it.
While the city finished demolition of the two neighboring LRA houses that were also brick rustled, Blairmont couldn't even be bothered to clear away the pitiful pile of debris that remained after the brick rustlers had passed through.
- Links:
- 1915 Montgomery at the city's Geo St Louis database
- Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
- More on Blairmont:
Built St. Louis || Ecology of Absence || What Can I Do?
1 comment:
Sad that no one besides a few people really care about this. I've mentioned Blairmont to people in conversation. City people, like me, who never go beyond the inner belt unless we're leaving the state. None of them are aware of this. They are now because I pull it up right here on this site. What better way to paint a picture for us Missouri folk than to show us actual pictures?
To us North St. Louis is a foreign country. One of us lives on Maple in Raymond Place, definitely the furthest north of any of us. Blairmont really gets his undies in knot. When he first purchased there three or four years ago, everyone except me thought he was crazy. He was certain the neighborhood would thrive again at some point. He was right. Things are slowly shaping up there! Many beautiful homes have been restored.
The rest of us don't have the same vision. We all live in our little Fox Park, Tower Grove, Soulard, Central West End and Shaw neighborhoods. But we all moved there years ago. Everyone thought we were crazy then too. Remember!? But we don't!!! We've gotten spoiled. We were the pioneers and for some reason we can't remember that most of those areas were frightening places to call home. Half of us live in homes that were once crack houses, the other half in homes that were in utter decay. You could see daylight through my roof from the first floor seven years ago. Its both comical and refreshing that now we have nothing better to complain about than the couple houses on the block that need attention. We are outraged at the rare occurence of demolition. We think nothing of a several hundred thousand dollar restoration. My how things have changed in ten years! Those areas are proof that change can happen.
Its alarming that right up Grand, just a few minutes away, homes exactly like the ones we have worked so hard to preserve are being destroyed for no reason and with no apparent plan for redevelopment. Sickening.
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