Forward, Into The Past
1935 was well over 80 years ago. Lafayette Square had regressed from mansions to boarding and rooming houses, as the nation around it sank firmly into its fifth year of economic depression. FDR attempted to prime the pump with federal funds by creating both the Social Security Administration and National Recovery Administration (NRA) that year.
This essay is about the Treemonisha sculpture, but to get there, let’s journey back 50 years to visit Lafayette Square in March 1971. A quick look around, and we’d understand why properties sold for the cost of their back taxes. The housing stock was dilapidated and no banks would finance the buying of a vacant shell. No realtors listed the properties.
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.
Happy Halloween! This is a particularly weird one in any number of ways, but to keep from trying to list all the forms of dysfunction we’re probably feeling, let’s check in with the celestial and supernatural worlds.
Continue reading “2020: Halloween Once In A Blue Moon”What’s in a building? It’s entire history, for one; and in Lafayette Square, that can be considerable.
2001 Park Avenue has been holding down the Northeast corner of Mississippi and Park Avenue for a long time. It appears in the Compton and Dry map of 1876, looking much like itself, but for today’s first floor windows and the long single story extension down Mississippi Avenue:
Continue reading “1951: An Anchor On The Corner In Lafayette Square”The photo at top, left is of 1926 Hickory Street in April, 1970. It is a ‘before’ example of the kind of property recognized and restored in Lafayette Square back in the brave days. This story is about these empty hulks, and about what you can lose when you trust that your government works always in the public interest.
Continue reading “1975: A Felonious Bldg. Commissioner”Deciding where to start in a story can be challenging. The Lafayette Square saga provides several options. Perhaps 1836, when the St Louis Commons was set aside as an area for the public to graze livestock. Or 1851, when the 30 acres of Lafayette Park were formalized. Maybe 1896, when the whole place was upended by a definitive cyclone, or 1923, when zoning laws changed to allow commercial development in this residential area.
Continue reading “1949: John Albury Bryan Reboots Lafayette Square”
