It’s entertaining and ever evolving to put an ear to the discussion about properties in Lafayette Square. Over the past two years, I’ve seen several posts and memos about a classic three story building at 2051 Park Avenue. It’s currently a set of four upscale condominiums, but has a busy back history – residential, educational, and religious.
A Little 19th Century History
According to local authority Michael Boyd, the house at 2051 Park Ave was designed by John H. Maurice (1818 – 1884) for John S. Cavender in 1869. Maurice was also responsible for the look of 21 Benton Place, also for Cavender, in addition to 30 and 35 Benton Place, 1425, 1427, 1431, 1505 Missouri Avenue, 2107 and 2115 Park Avenue. All were designed between 1870 and 1875.
Today we’re zeroing in on 2051 Park Avenue. It’s a three story building that General Cavender sold in 1870 to former St. Louis Mayor James H. Britton, who held it for eight years.
The Compton and Dry map of 1875 shows the building as #18, with most of Benton Place already established.
2051 went through other owners: Andrew Harper bought it in 1878, Turner Smith in 1881, and Charles Orthwein, past president of the Merchants Exchange and Director of the German-English Bank, in 1882. Orthwein’s wealth originated with success selling grain to the Union Army during the Civil War.
Into the 20th Century; First a College
In 1909, the Orthwein family sold the home to the Walter College Association. Dr. Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (1811-1887) was referred to as the “Martin Luther of America.” He founded the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, which is the second largest Lutheran denomination today. When he died, he was given four separate funerals and a two-mile long procession to Concordia Cemetery, where he is buried in a splendid mausoleum.
Walther College was an associated school begun in 1887, and moved into 2051 Park Avenue around 1911. Tuition was $2.00 per month, and accommodations for out-of-area students were provided by private Lutheran families. It was actually a co-ed high school by then, offering teaching, commercial, classical, shorthand, typing, domestic science and fine arts coursework.
As early as 1921, there was at least one private apartment in the building, as its the given address for a Washington University librarian.
Then a Bible School/Seminary
Following its new role, 2051 Park Avenue became the St. Louis Bible Training School for Lay Workers in 1916. It later became the Brookes Bible Institute of St. Louis. It was during this phase that the large rear wing and three story building (as a Presbyterian seminary) attached to 2051 Park Avenue were built. Brookes had some tenure here, as it appears they stayed until moving to South Grand in 1949. It’s still active today, out on St. Charles Rock Road.
The 1950’s represent a kind of hole in the Lafayette Square timeline. In fact, from the end of World War II to 1968 remains sketchy at best. A lot of boarding houses and abandoned properties constituted this faded neighborhood. Wealthy people are easy to document, but the working poor lived more obscurely.
I can document that the building in the late 1960s was the Calvary Assembly of God Church. In 1970, a Reverend White listed 2051 Park Avenue for $10,000.
Finally, a home on Park Avenue
David Kruel and Catherine Miano bought the building in 1981 and rehabbed it into four condominiums and a townhouse. The condos range from 1,200 to 2,400 square feet. The three story building attached to the back is a large private residence.
Today, 2051 occupies a prominent spot in the neighborhood. That is, one of the end properties of Benton Place, facing the middle Park Avenue gates of Lafayette Park. It has never looked better.
Thanks to Research Sources
This was fun to research, and contributions to this were made, knowingly or otherwise, by Michael Boyd, Tom Keay, Carolyn McAvoy, Jerry Ferrell and Larry Sidwell.
Walther College detail from Patterson’s American Educational Directory; 1923, and The Lutheran Cyclopedia of 1899.
Detail on CFW Walther from The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia, edited by A.R. Cayton, Richard Sisson, Chris Zache; Indiana University Press; 2007.
Death of Walther from The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature Volume 2; edited by George T. Kurian and James Smith III; Scarecrow Press; 2010
Seminary roots of 6 Benton Place from Nathan Jackson for St. Louis HIstory and Architecture Facebook page, June 5, 2019
James Hall Brooks was a Presbyterian version of Lutheran CFW Walther. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._F._W._Walther. More on Brooks and his work in St. Louis at Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hall_Brookes
Citation of private apartment in 1921 from Washington University catalog; January 1, 1921.
Just noticed the 1875 Balloon drawings show 2051 Park as a three bay wide house – not the wider structure centered on the elaborate 3rd Fl. engaged dormer . The bay does show . Could it be that it was enlarged to the west after 1875 ? If so, it may have been the addition erroneously attributed to the next door Blair House . The Dry & Compton work is very accurate for the most part.
Thanks for your comments, Tom. A small group of us debated the history, placement, and even existence of the house on the Compton Dry map. As noted, the origins of 2051 Park is history by consensus, and otherwise hard to be definitive about.The almost total lack of pre-tornado photos from the area is a drawback to researching it. I often thank our lucky stars for the William Swekosky and Dick Lemen collection.