2026: Tom Keay – A Tribute

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. 

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1936: Eden Publishing and Lofts

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. 

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