Washington Avenue revisited

It's been several months in the making: the Washington Avenue tour is now completely revitalized and up to date.



So much has happened on the Avenue, and my own standards for page and image format have risen so much, that a complete revamp was the only option. I've re-scanned all the old photographs, in many cases setting them alongside new ones taken on my most recent St. Louis trip or in the intervening years. Huge amounts of information about many of these buildings is now available online, and I've pulled some of that together as well. I even snuck in the Tudor Building, which featured on a very early version of Built St. Louis but had since fallen off the radar.



The transformations are amazing. Dingy, battered storefronts have been reworked all up and down the Avenue. Dirty facades have been cleaned and repaired. The 2004 streetscape improvements have transformed the area's vibe.



The last fragments of the street's old life, its gritty urban and garment district days, are fading away. Of all the storefront operations visible from the street, only a handful predate the 1990s (Levin's, Levine Hat Company, Mankofsky Shoe Company, possibly the relocated Erlich's Cleaners). Most are less than five years old, and almost none of the businesses I photographed in 2001 remain today.



But the new generation of businesses has brought new life to the street, people and light, neon signs and sidewalk dining. Rising from its threadbare state of ten years ago, Washington Avenue has become the most urbane street in St. Louis.

Washington Avenue aglow

It's no secret that the Built St. Louis section on Washington Avenue is woefully out of date, almost to the point of being more of a historical document than a current one. The photos date from around 2001, which is practically a different century as far as the condition of the street's buildings. The photos show one empty, boarded up, underutilized building after another... when the reality today is quite different.







The reality today is one of renovated buildings, restaurants and clubs and shops, lofts galore, a renovated streetscape, and neon signs galore. It's a spectacular change, and the signage in particular has breathed new life into the district.

More of the avenue's neon signs can be seen here.

On Washington Avenue, a remarkable transformation

St. Louis has a long and not-so-proud tradition of bad Modern architecture.



Bad Modernism is so pervasive, in fact, that I blame St. Louis for making me hate Modernism for many years. It took a trip to Europe, and the roadside enthusiasm of several friends and acquaintances, to make me change my attitude.

And even after re-evaluation, much of St. Louis's more prominent Modernism doesn't hold up. Washington University has so much bad Modernism (Busch Labs, Monsanto, Mudd Hall, Compton Hall) that it's no wonder they've opted to scrap the idea entirely. It's enough to drive a body to Postmodernism.

What a shock it was, then, to drive past the old Days Inn at Washington and Tucker.



From a kitschy bit of weak 60s roadside Modern, an elegant and classy building has emerged... and with only a minimal bit of aesthetic tweaking. The basic form is still there, the angled window panels that distinctly dated it to the 1960s. But now, with a few simple wise choices in materials, the once-tired building steps into synch with its many renovated neighbors, while still not hiding its heritage. The ground floor is opened up a bit with partial glass facades, and a garage entrance on Washington has been eliminated, making a more pedestrian-friendly environment at the sidewalk.

The renovated building looks fantastic. Kudos to the owners for not tearing it down!