Lafayette Square lost one of its best restorationist pioneers and ambassadors on June 27th. Tom Keay died following a long illness. He is survived by his wife, Lynne and a son and grandson in Chicago.
The Keays were originals; the type who could look at a brick pile and imagine a mansion waiting to be reclaimed from that rubble. They weren’t of fabulous means. Tom was a history teacher at Roosevelt High School and Lynne was a computer programmer. They saw 1532 Mississippi Avenue in 1970, and spent the next nine years in reclaiming it.
Tom and Lynne picked up the two story wreck for $6,000. The giant 1896 tornado sheared off its third floor, which went unreplaced. Tom related that, “my mother, usually a garrulous lady, was speechless for thirty minutes after first seeing the house.”
It wasn’t just the parents, either. Those were times when there were few kindred spirits in the Square. Realtors ignored houses there, insurers wouldn’t cover them, and banks wouldn’t finance them. Residents worked day jobs, then filled their evenings and weekends with hard and dirty effort. Much work was co-op’ed, with new rehabbers helping each other out with various acquired skills. Overcoming shared adversities forged bonds that still tie the old-timers of the area to each other.
Tom and Lynne spent their first six weeks simply trying to clear the parlor; an initial area from which to work. The place was most recently a five unit boarding house, so a multitude of fixtures were carted away. Much of the millwork was missing and required resourcing. Being period specific, it was difficult to find suitable materials, and the Keays either salvaged or custom made much of it. A multitude of wallpaper layers were steamed and scraped away. They estimated that the result involved 75% of their individual sweat equity.
And yet, by 1971, the time of the second Lafayette Square house tour, Tom and Lynne enthusiastically volunteered to show their work in progress. They were eager to demonstrate the potential of this neighborhood to visitors who might “catch the rehabbing bug.” They later got around to rebuilding a third floor onto their home.
This experience might satisfy anyone’s desire to restore an old home, but the Keays would often look out the back of 1532 at a run-down pair of properties on Vail Place. In 2001, they made their move, buying one, then the other, and setting out to connect them into a new home. They pulled that off, too, winning a city award for restoration.
Tom became the de-facto historian of Lafayette Square. He wrote tour booklets for Lafayette Park and Benton Place, happily sharing the deep wealth of time that the Square holds. He and Lynne remained consistent champions of both Lafayette Park and the downtown Campbell House, in addition to the Lafayette Park Methodist Church.
You can count their friends by counting the residents of the Square. As Tom put it, “our closest friends are here and even our church. We can’t imagine living any other place.”
And they never did. Fifty-four years takes in a lot; Tom was a vital resource for others, and an inspiration for all those in the area who thought they might do a little restoration themselves. He is already missed. The Square is here today through the efforts of people like Tom and Lynne. They swam upstream all the way, creating a revitalized neighborhood in the process.
Note
For a look at 1532 Mississippi today, the fruit of all the effort Tom and Lynne, followed by equally intrepid Larry and Andrea Heugatter put in, check out the photos in this link: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1532-Mississippi-Ave-Saint-Louis-MO-63104/2945672_zpid/
Here is an article from the Daily Journal of Flat River, MO; May 21, 1971, with some detail about the Keay’s on home tour that year. The headline errantly credits Tom’s parents for the home, but we know better.
A service will be announced soon, to be held at Lafayette Park Methodist Church. Donations can be sent to the church, in addition to Lafayette Park Conservancy and Campbell House.
What a beautiful tribute to Tom. I will love and miss him forever.
Mike, that is lovely. Thank you for sharing.
News of Tom’s passing on is a source of sadness but also of kind memory . I was a resident of 1903 Rutger for a time and have always tried to keep contact with the Square. During all those decades, I have never heard an unkind remark about Tom nor Lynne . They were such natural partners , so hospitable even to Tim Delahanty’s happy Irish parade troupe designing floats in their nice garage . Hope Lynne will reach out if we can in any way be of help, God love both of them.
Judge Tom Grady …. aging raconteur.
Thanks to Tom and Lynne, and others who acquire culturally significant homes and have them meticulously restored. We need architectural preservationists nowadays more than ever. May Tom rest in peace. – Kevin
Please let me know of Mr Keay’s celebration. He was the class sponsor for my Roosevelt graduating class of 1971. I also knew him and Lynn as an adult and always felt “wrong” addressing him as “Tom”. What a wonderful human being.
He will be missed but not forgotten.
Tom took us in hand when we came to Lafayette Square in 1971 looking to buy a place to live. He drove us around with a running commentary on available houses and provided a mimeographed list of properties with prices. We bought a house on Rutger that year and are still there. Tom was definitely a salesman! He will be sorely missed.
Great tribute to Tom and also to Lynn. All of us in the Square owe them a debt of gratitude. Rest in peace, good sir.
Thank you Mike. A wonderful tribute to Tom.
Tom was a really nice guy. I got to have a nice long conversation with him one year during the Lafayette Square House tour. The mansard roof on 1532 Mississippi will always serve as a testament to the hard work he put into preserving the neighborhood.
I met Tom and Lynn when Patty Pringle and I attended Peter Wunderlich’s celebration party at his home, the former Jaccard Mansion ,on Waverly Place in March 1971. Peter had passed the Missouri Bar exam and thus became a licensed attorney. As Tom and Lynne did for us, as they did for many second generation early pioneers, provided the mimeograph list of available houses. Patty and I purchased 2156 Lafayette Avenue, an active rooming house, 2 months later for $8,000.
Lynn , I will never forget the House tour planning , political and social meetings and parties at your home. Do you remember the monthly LSRC meeting at your home when Paul Simon the then 7th ward political power, who had friends that assumed their parcels that they had assembled would be bought out, a when a proposed interstate highway would take half of our neighborhood. The leaders of LSRC had quietly coordinated the the placement of our historic district on the National Registry of Historic Districts .
Tom and Lynne , along with the other initial pioneers, saved this wonderful neighborhood though their tireless efforts over 55 years.
I will forever cherish the joint celebration of Tom’s 82nd birthday and my 81st birthday at the Park house on March 19, 2021
Lynne, God bliss Tom, you and you wonder son
So very, very sad.
He was a good man and a great friend 🧡 .
Helen Lynch
Tom was a special guy indeed. A intregal part of the Square.
It is awful to contemplate Lafayette Square without him.