Lafayette Square is a productive place for taking stock of various architectural styles that cycled through America between 1860 and the present. Walking around this compact district reveals meticulously restored examples of French Second Empire, Italianate, Greek Revival, Federal, and even Flounder styles.
One type of exterior trend, Art Deco, has only one example I’m aware of in the Square, but it’s a beauty. It presides from along Chouteau at the foot of Dolman Street. Here is home to the Eden Lofts apartments.
Further adoption of French building arts
Art Deco was a short-lived movement that spread from France with its 1925 Paris Arts Exposition. The style quickly caught on, fed by the enthusiastic speculation of the late 1920s. It finally gave way to the next trend, Air Moderne design, with the onset of World War II.
While it lasted, signature buildings incorporating Art Deco elements went up in major American cities. Key characteristics included verticality with terraced setbacks, the use of chrome, glass and steel, and ornamentation in geometric patterns.
This (over the top) example is the roofline of Detroit’s Guardian Building:
Publisher for a specific and Germanic sort
The Eden Publishing Company in St. Louis produced German language religious texts, catechisms, and hymnals between 1869 and 1979. Its presence spoke to the degree of German assimilation within this area, and complemented the three major German language newspapers that called St. Louis home.
The original home of Eden’s printing works was established at 1712-1724 Chouteau Avenue in 1896. Subsequent major revisions were made to the building in 1902, 1911, 1916, 1930 and 1955.
Business is sehr gut indeed
In 1928, Eden Publishing boasted a circulation of 275,000 for its two dozen periodical publications. These were mainly on behalf of the Evangelical Synod of North America and United Church of Christ.
By 1930, efforts to stem the Great Depression allowed for partial funding and quick approval for a reimagining of the Chouteau site.
The existing building was absorbed into a new larger Deco shell, through the efforts of Ewall Froese. He was a noted architect of many Lutheran and Methodist churches in the St. Louis area.
The photo below shows how close to Froese’s design the final product came. This four floor iteration cost $200,000 to build, and featured a night time beacon on the roof. The combination of verticality and lighting couldn’t have hurt the chances for design acceptance by the religious board of Eden Publishing.
Take the money and run
Although the 1930’s were also a time of financial desperation. Bank and store robberies grew common, far in excess of similar crimes in the 1920s. Eden Publishing wasn’t immune to the temptation of a payday heist:
The business, however, continued to thrive. A fifth floor was added to the building in 1955. Within a year, the Eden operation employed 101 St. Louisans and listed $940,000 in assets.
The end of an era for Eden
As generations changed and the use of German language diminished, Eden published in English and marketed more widely. It even advertised in the neighborhood newspaper, the Lafayette Square Meter, in 1973:
By the late 1970s, Eden’s staff shrank to fewer than seventy. Parts of the building lay empty. Management attempted a merger and a sale of the facility, with no luck. Lacking a taker and bleeding money spent on the upkeep of the five story behemoth, a trustee’s auction sale by Selkirk’s dispersed Eden’s bindery equipment, furnishings, shelving, business machines, and fixtures.
With low demand for printing services, Eden Publishing subcontracted what remained through the Pilgrim Press. A bookstore is currently about all that remains. It’s on the campus of Eden Seminary in Webster Groves.
So 1712-1724 Chouteau sat from 1979 through 2005. These photos show some of the toll taken through a quarter century of disuse.
I’m reminded of one of the few stories about Jesus that appears in all four gospels; that of the moneychangers in the temple. In the bottom photo above (1997), this sign appears on the corner of the building:
A miraculous recovery
Chris Goodson and his development company Gilded Age performed an extensive restoration, and debuted the Eden Lofts in 2006. This represents what is truly great about restoration. A classic, historically and architecturally significant building is saved and repurposed, to the benefit of the entire neighborhood.
After all, they’re not making them like this anymore.
Resources
Some American examples and descriptions are in Elle Decor, here: https://www.elledecor.com/life-culture/travel/g12242834/art-deco-architecture/
https://www.archivinci.com/blogs/what-is-art-deco-architecture
An earlier essay deals with an overview of several other architectural styles found in Lafayette Square. https://lafayettesquarearchives.com/1880-building-styles-of-lafayette-square/
