× 1 of 3 Expand Russell Boulevard, Fox Park. Photograph by Chris Naffziger × 2 of 3 Expand St. Louis Avenue. Photograph by Chris Naffziger × 3 of 3 Expand Lindell, North of Forest Park. Photograph by Chris Naffziger Prev Next

St. Louis was built for walking. From the broad sidewalks of downtown, to the tree-lined paths of Tower Grove Park, early St. Louisans realized the benefits of strolling their neighborhoods, spotting their friends, or stopping into a business that’s just opened. Somewhere along the line, people have forgotten how to do that, and it’s a shame. The overly wide, bloated avenues that now split our neighborhoods instead of uniting them certainly haven’t helped. The city of two-lane streets, where the traffic slows down, is where the real St. Louis is. Here are some suggestions from this author’s favorite parts of St. Louis, where you can get out and see the best of St. Louis architecture.

Russell Boulevard from the Riverfront to Tower Grove Avenue

Starting all the way down on the South Riverfront, a walk down Russell reveals the 19th and early 20th Century unfolding before you. Down by Broadway and up to Gravois, the street cuts through the Soulard neighborhood, where Second Empire and Italianate houses predominate, along with the half-flounder, an architecture style often incorporated as a back wing along the alley. Several Gothic Revival churches are a testament to the strong role the Church held in early St. Louis. Next, Russell passes through the McKinley Heights neighborhood, where you can spot one of Ittner and Milligan designed schools, McKinley High.

Crossing over Jefferson, the Fox Park neighborhood has a wealth of Romanesque Revival houses, as well as some of the most beautiful Second Empire and Italianate rowhouses in the city. Next, Russell skirts along Compton Heights, where the most important German-American businessmen built houses in a new subdivision laid out by Julius Pitzman. Passing by Reservoir Hill, the locus of the city’s water supply for the South Side in the 19th Century, one crosses over Grand into the Shaw neighborhood, where the stately houses built on the former property of Henry Shaw surround the Missouri Botanical Garden, at whose wall Russell dead-ends.

St. Louis Avenue from Fourteenth Street to Parnell Avenue

St. Louis Avenue was once one of the most exclusive streets in North St. Louis, beginning down by the levee, heading west through Old North St. Louis, St. Louis Place and all of the way to the city limits. Starting around Crown Candy Kitchen at St. Louis and Fourteenth , take a walk around the increasingly renovated and revitalized neighborhood of Old North St. Louis. Originally laid out as a suburb a mile or two north of the original St. Louis, Old North had its own Market Street (now North Market) and three circular public spaces: one for a church, a park, and a school. The housing stock reflects the early years of St. Louis’ history, with some houses dating back to before the Civil War. But the Fourteenth Street redevelopment showcases the bustling commercial district that once served the neighborhood.

Proceeding west across North Florissant Avenue, one enters the St. Louis Place neighborhood. On the right, an old mansion damaged by fire is now occupied by the Polish Falcons, reflecting that immigrant group’s presence in the neighborhood. St. Louis Place Park, an elongated open space, once possessed a pond and still retains its original form. Moving west, the north and south side of the street are lined with well-maintained mansions in the Romanesque Revival, Second Empire and Italianate styles, with some small early vernacular architecture. The houses easily compete in beauty and condition to the houses of Lafayette Square. Once owned by prominent local businessmen, the houses show that there is still plenty of great architecture located in the St. Louis Place neighborhood. Further west of Jefferson, the JeffVanderLou neighborhood has been ravaged by brick thieves.

Forest Park Neighborhoods

Unfortunately, the crown jewel of St. Louis is ringed by a maelstrom of four- to eight-lane avenues that bracket the edges of Forest Park. Starting at the corner of Forest Park Avenue and Kingshighway, head north to view some of the most lavish apartment buildings from the early 20th Century in the Central West End. At the corner of Lindell and Kingshighway, the Chase Park Plaza features the towering Art Deco masterpiece of the Park Plaza. Heading west on Lindell, view some of the best examples of Gilded Age mansions in what was once part of the Lindell Tract. Finally, at Skinker, admire the beautiful Cambridge and Oxford influenced buildings of Washington University before walking south. To the west are some of the first early automobile suburbs of St. Louis, featuring the houses of the famous architects Maritz and Young in the Norman Revival and Tudor Revival styles. Also, the building boom of high-rises in the 1920s is well represented further south in apartment buildings. Head back to the Planetarium through Forest Park, enjoying the peaceful respite from the traffic buffeting the park.

Chris Naffziger writes about architecture at St. Louis Patina. Contact him via e-mail at naffziger@gmail.com.