The 1904 World's Fair-the Louisiana Purchase Exposition-signaled the end of the Victorian period. The first two decades of the 20th century were the zenith of St. Louis's national prominence: the City hosted both the largest World's Fair to date, and the 1904 Olympic Games. The 1910 census showed St. Louis to be the fourth largest city in the country, behind New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Evolutionary factors in society brought great changes to the character of civic life, and the built environment as well. The period after the turn of the century is known as the Progressive Era, because of the widespread social movement to enhance the quality of American life, in the face of mass immigration, and industrialization. The Progressive Era had its most important impact upon St. Louis in the rise of city planning. Beginning with the Civic Improvement League, founded in 1901, and continuing with the City Plan after 1910, efforts were made to enhance the quality of housing; to beautify downtown and City parks; and to improve public transportation, recreation and cultural life. The most long-ranging effect of the Civic League and the Plan Commission was the 1918 zoning plan, which attempted to isolate industrial uses outside residential areas. St. Louis was second only to New York among the major American cities to adopt industrial/residential zoning.
The popularity of the automobile had an immense impact upon the character of St. Louis and its buildings. Aside from the development of new property types relating specifically to the automobile (filling stations, garages, parking lots), streets were widened, driveways became common, and houses and apartment buildings were constructed with internal garages.
By 1900, the decline of the major Victorian architectural styles became apparent. Italianate, Second Empire and Romanesque Revival models were replaced by the rise of Beaux-Arts, Arts and Crafts, Tudor, and Georgian Revival styles, and by the streamlined forms of Art Deco and Moderne.
Chateauesque Style Chateauesque architecture, which was based on French Renaissance models, appeared in St. Louis during the first decade of the 20th century, although it was popular in other parts of the United States a good twenty years before. Chateauesque houses are characterized by steeply pitched roofs with ornate dormers and chimneys; projecting bays and turrets are common. The Chateauesque was the last of the flamboyant, dramatic styles of the Victorian period.
The Charles Stockstrom House, at 3400 Russell Boulevard in Compton Hill, was designed by German-born Ernst C. Janssen in 1907. It is a dramatic Chateauesque design, built of tan brick, with pink terra cotta used liberally for string courses, door and window surrounds and dormers. The house is symmetrical, with an elaborate projecting central bay and wall dormer, forming the predominant stylistic element of the house. Chateauesque houses are found in the Central West End, and the Compton Hill neighborhood.
Beaux-Arts Classicism
The vision of the City Beautiful movement was born at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World's Fair), and reinforced at the 1904 Fair in St. Louis. Many prominent American architects were trained in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, France's Academy of Fine Arts. They returned imbued with the Academy's architectural philosophy, which came to be known as the Beaux-Arts Classicism. It was composed of symmetrically-placed classical elements of columns, balustrades, pediments and entablatures, combined in non-classical ways to create imposing palatial designs. Many early 20th century public buildings throughout the United States were completed in the Beaux-Arts style, and it appeared in finer residential buildings as well. Residences in the Beaux-Arts style can be found principally in the Central West End private places.
No. 9 Portland Place is an example of Beaux-Arts residential design, by Shepley, Rutan, Coolidge and Mauran in 1897. The three-story limestone building has a rusticated first story and projecting bays flanking a central entry. Above, a bank of three second story windows carries a classical pediment, and a small decorative balustrade. The large projecting cornice has an elaborate frieze.
Tudor Revival Style
The Tudor Revival style was based heavily on English architecture of the 16th century. These houses are typically brick, with a prominent front gable roof, dormers and casement windows. The obvious identifying element of Tudor Revival buildings is the decorative half-timbering, which mimics Medieval heavy timber framing. The spaces between the timbers are filled with stucco. The use of false half-timbers, especially to cover gables and bay windows, became widespread in the early 20th century, and could be found on residential buildings of all sizes. Many four-family flats throughout St. Louis have a half-timbered gable on the front facade, even though the rest of the building may have no definable architectural style. Examples of Tudor Revival architecture can be found in the Central West End and Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhoods, and on Holly Hills Boulevard, north of Carondelet Park.
No. 1 Hortense Place exemplifies the Tudor Revival style. The house has a first story of brown brick, with limestone window surrounds. False half-timbering covers the second story, front gable and dormers.
Jacobethan Revival Style
The Jacobethan Revival style derives from the architecture of the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I of Great Britain in the 16th century. Unlike other Revival styles, it is in fact a combination of elements from Elizabethan and Jacobean buildings. Brick walls with stone trim are standard materials; windows, gables and chimneys have distinctive shapes; arches, where they appear, are generally Tudor arches, a form of flattened pointed arch. Windows may be casements, and generally have stone mullions and transoms, often with small decorative stone tabs projecting into the surrounding brick. Many residential buildings after the turn of the century adopted the Jacobethan style, but it had its major impact on educational architecture. Houses of this style can be found in the private streets of the Central and North West End.
No. 28 Portland Place, designed by James P. Jamieson in 1919, exhibits almost every characteristic of the Jacobethan building: a dominant, sharply-pitched front gable; stone tabbed window and door surrounds; massive chimney; and a projecting two-story bay capped by a battlement. Note the Tudor arches of the recessed entry porch and second story windows.
Prairie Style
The Prairie style and the Arts and Crafts style are closely aligned. Both arose out of a reaction, early in the 20th century, against the highly decorative and ornate architecture of the Victorian period. The Prairie house was pioneered by architect Frank Lloyd Wright between 1890 and 1910. Houses are distinguished by low pitched roofs with projecting eaves, banked windows and a strong horizontal emphasis. There are virtually no examples of stylistically pure Prairie buildings in the City. When Prairie style elements appear in St. Louis houses, they are usually seen in combination with Arts and Crafts motives.
The house at 3011 Longfellow, constructed in 1909, exhibits primarily Prairie style design. It is a story and a half brick residence with a cross gable roof and overhanging eaves. The main entry is deeply recessed beneath an extensive porch with a low roof and flared eaves, supported by brick piers. Although Arts and Crafts detailing is present on the twin front gables, the horizontality of the Prairie style is the house's dominant characteristic, emphasized by a low brick patio wall which extends around the house.
Arts And Crafts Style
Like the Prairie style, Arts and Crafts design (sometimes called Craftsman style) featured low-pitched roofs with wide, extended eaves. In addition, there was an emphasis on the use of natural materials, particularly wood and stone in simplified forms. Exposed roof rafters, simple brackets, false half-timbering and decorative multi-light windows are all hallmarks of the style. The movement was heavily influenced by furniture manufacturer Gustav Stickley, whose Craftsman magazine was immensely popular in the early twentieth century. Stickley sought to revive the importance of craftsmanship - the superiority of things made by hand to things made by machine.
The house at 6029 Cabanne, designed by Edward Christopher and constructed in 1929, is an unusual example of the Arts and Crafts style. The dominant elements of the house's design are the massive walls and chimney of uncoursed rubble stone. The door is deeply recessed under an entry porch with a steeply-pitched roof. To the left, a projecting bay of rough-sawn wood has three multi-light windows.
Colonial Revival Style
The Colonial Revival style came to prominence in the United States at the turn of the century, and has remained a popular source of residential design ever since. Colonial Revival buildings were especially common in the 1920's, when the restoration of Williamsburg fueled American interest in 18th century architecture. The Colonial Revival buildings replicate, on a larger scale, the architecture of early America. Houses are strictly symmetrical and carry classical cornices. Hipped roofs, topped with a balustrade or a cupola, are common. Often a portico with columns is centered on the front facade; doors have fanlight transoms, sidelights and sometimes tabernacle frames.
The house at 47 Portland Place was designed by Weber and Groves, in 1903. The symmetrical house has a central, two-story portico with a modified Doric entablature and fluted columns. Beneath the portico is a paneled entry door with fanlight and tabernacle frame. Above, a Palladian window is set beneath a large round arch. Six-over-six windows have shaped lintels. Four roof dormers, also with pediments, have round-headed windows with decorative muntins. Double chimneys at each end are joined by brick arches. When constructed, the house had a balustrade that extended the length of the roof.
Mission Style
The Mission style was modeled on 17th century Spanish Colonial missions of the southwest, and was the Californian version of the Colonial Revival style, reflecting the same disillusionment with earlier 19th century architecture, and rejecting foreign styles in favor of native models. It soon spread throughout the United States. The most prominent features of this style are low-pitched, red tile roofs with curvilinear shaped parapets, and stuccoed wall surfaces, with an absence of sculptural ornament.
The house at 4272 Flora Place, was constructed in the Shaw neighborhood in 1913. The symmetrical three bay house has a central entry under a tiled hood with large brackets. Triple windows on the first floor give way to paired windows on the second. Above the entry is set a triple casement window under a segmental arch, with false balcony. A shaped ornamental parapet rises from the center of the hipped roof.
Art Deco Style
The Art Deco style appeared from 1920-1940. It was a modern style, in that it discarded classical form and decoration; it was characterized by smooth wall surfaces, flat roofs, horizontal belt courses and asymmetrical facades. Ornament, where used, was geometric and in low relief. In St. Louis, the Art Deco style was rarely used in single-family buildings, and then only in details. The style was more popular in multi-family residences, particularly in the St. Louis Hills neighborhood.
Built in the late 1930's, the single-family house at 6362 Devonshire is Art Deco only in its front facade. The building itself is a traditional, two-story brick builder's design, with low-pitched gable roof. The front facade, however, is pure Art Deco, and presents an asymmetrical entry, whose stone surround rises nearly a story and a half in flat geometric ornament. Windows are irregularly-sized, including a large round window centered between stories to the right. The yellow brick facade has minimal decoration.
Eclectic Style
As in Victorian house design, architects in the twentieth century often combine elements of several current architectural styles. The house at 2950 Julian by Edward Nolte in 1906, exemplifies this trend. Recalling the earlier Italian Palazzo style, a central tower is flanked by projecting two-story wings. House and tower have low-pitched hipped roofs with wide overhangs. The house is an example of concrete block construction; an experiment in the use of modern material which failed to find a permanent place in St. Louis building design.
Foursquare Houses
The Foursquare house appeared just before the turn of the 20th century. These two or two and a half story houses were constructed in both frame and masonry; have square plans, and pyramidal roofs. Usually the entry is placed to one side under a small porch, although front verandahs were not uncommon. Foursquares may possess the detailing of any architectural style current at the time of construction; but Arts and Crafts influence was by far the most prevalent. The Foursquare interior has an open floor plan with rooms leading directly into one another-a departure from the multiple rooms connected by hallways that was characteristic of Victorian houses. Foursquare houses were built in outlying urban neighborhoods, as well as rural areas across the United States.
The house at 6163 McPherson is representative of the Foursquare house type. The two and a half story house has a entry with sidelights and transom under a small pedimented porch. Windows are large and paired on the second story; a large hipped dormer projects above the pyramidal roof. The house is particularly distinctive with a heavy ornamental frieze broken by the heads of the second story windows. This particular detailing, which can be found on many houses in the central and northwest areas of the City, may be a St. Louis original.
Central Passage Foursquare Houses
A subtype of the Foursquare house, these early 20th century buildings are similar in form but the entry is centered on the front facade, and opens into a central hall. Central passage houses are usually constructed in brick or stone.
The house at 6128 Kingsbury, in Skinker-DeBaliviere, was built in 1909. The stone house is two and a half stories tall, with its entry flanked by large, one-over-one windows. A decorative one-story porch extends across the front facade. Four one-over-one windows are spaced symmetrically on the second story.
Gable Front Foursquare Houses
This is another foursquare variant, of which numerous examples were built in St. Louis in the first two decades of the 20th century. Gable Front Foursquares generally borrowed their decorative detail from the Arts and Crafts style: their characteristic front gable was covered with false half-timbering or heavy fascia boards with pronounced brackets.
The house at 5931 Waterman, built in 1914, has a projecting front gable roof supported by brackets. The entry is at the right with a multi-light door and sidelights. Windows are paired nine-over-one sash. Arts and Crafts influence is present in the half-timbered gables of both houses and porch, and the decorative brickwork.
Bungalow Houses
The word bungalow is derived from the Hindustani word bangla, or "belonging to Bengal," and was the term used by the British in India for a low house with verandah. By the time most American bungalows were being built, about 1900-20, their design owed far more to the influence of Japanese building than to any Indian type. The bungalow was especially prevalent in California, and it spread across the country through illustrations in architectural and interior design journals. It was thought that the bungalow plan, with large open rooms contributed to a healthier family life. Bungalows are always one-story in height, with two broad front facing gables, that of the house behind and slightly to the side of the porch. Houses could be frame or masonry; the porch often had tapered posts. Most bungalows expressed Arts and Crafts detailing, with elaborate door and window trim.
The house at 4745 Lewis Place is a good representation of a St. Louis bungalow. Constructed of brick, it has a rubble stone foundation and porch with tapered posts. False half-timbering delineates both gables and the front bay window.
Bungaloid Houses
The Bungaloid house type is a generic term applied to a variety of house forms which exhibit Bungalow elements without possessing the true double front gable.
The one and a half story brick house at 700 Bellerive Boulevard is an example of a bungaloid house with a side gable. The house has a low-pitched roof punctuated by dormers with the characteristic broad bungalow gable, which appears again on the porch.
Shaped Parapet Single Family Houses
The Shaped Parapet Single-Family is a brick one-story house type with a front shaped parapet. Popular between 1900 and 1920, it has a narrow two or three bay front facade. The earliest examples have recessed entries and Romanesque Revival detail; later houses had a small one-story porch. A distinctive feature of these houses is the use of decorative or glazed bricks to enliven the front facade.
The house at 5355 Tennessee, in the Dutchtown neighborhood, is characteristic of the Shaped Parapet, Single-Family house. The one-story house has a brown brick front facade that is three bays wide, with foundation and porch posts of glazed white brick. The entry is on the right, under a hipped roof porch, and has multi-light transom and sidelights. The decorative three-over-one windows are a detail from the Arts and Crafts style.
Front Gambrel Colonial Houses
A vernacular variant to the Colonial Revival style is the Front Gambrel Colonial, a one and a half story house, with a gambrel (a double-sloped gable) roof. Generally these houses had a two-bay front facade, small front porch and decorative details taken from the Colonial Revival style. The height of the gambrel roof provided nearly a full second floor. Gambrel Colonials can be found many early 20th century St. Louis neighborhoods; particularly Penrose, Tower Grove South and Bevo Mill.
The house at 5835 Lotus is a front gambrel colonial house, constructed of brick in a Flemish bond. Its gambrel roof has a boxed cornice with returns. The porch, which is a major design element of the house, has brick piers supporting two short columns and a decorative handrail.
Neo-Tudor Revival Style
Neo-Tudor Revival refers to a one-story vernacular house type, constructed in the 1930's and 40's, that has certain elements of Tudor Revival houses, combined with the hand-crafted look of Arts and Crafts design. These houses are usually one, or one and a half stories, with a front, steeply-pitched gable roof. They combine a variety of stone and brick detail, and usually display a high, catslide roof over the entry with a decorative false chimney at one side.
The house at 5450 Walsh Street, in St. Louis Hills is characteristic of Neo-Tudor houses. The entry, which is surrounded by rough-cut stone, is placed within a slightly off-center, steeply-pitched catslide gable. To the left of the entry is an overscaled chimney.
The use of concrete as a structural material was developed towards the end of the 19th century. Although there are isolated examples of concrete houses in the United States dating from the 1870's, very few concrete buildings were constructed before this century.
Concrete Block Houses
Concrete block was used as an affordable alternative to stone construction in the early 20th century. All types of vernacular buildings appeared in concrete block, although its use in residential design was short-lived. A variety of houses in this construction material are located in the Concrete Block Historic District, at Julian and Goodfellow; but isolated examples are also found in Baden.
The Prairie Style house at 1243 Oakley Street, built 1906 in the Academy neighborhood, appears to be rough-faced ashlar stone but in fact is constructed of cast concrete blocks. The house is very similar to the earliest Prairie Style houses built by Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago. Despite the fact that it is square rather than rectangular, and concrete block rather than brick, the building displays the same horizontal emphasis, broad wall surfaces, extended eaves and square window openings.
Reinforced Concrete Houses
Reinforced concrete as a material for residential construction is rare in St. Louis. The structural support of the building may be load-bearing concrete walls, or a skeleton formed from concrete columns and beams; the concrete itself, reinforced with metal rods or grids, is cast in place using wood forms, or precast into the required elements and installed on the site.
The house at No. 35 Westmoreland Place, from 1911 by Mauran, Russell and Crowell, is an early example of poured reinforced concrete with precast concrete details; exterior walls have a coat of rough-faced stucco. The house has a horizontal emphasis, its low-hipped roof sheathed with red tiles, and a strong intermediate cornice at the second floor level. Multi-light openings have classical enframements and the second story is highlighted by a loggia with tapered posts. A concrete carriage house is also on the property.
Two-family Flats
A popular house type during the late 19th, and early 20th century was the two-family flat. A flat is defined as a residential building with more than one dwelling unit, each having a separate individual entry. In most buildings, a door on the front facade opens directly into the first floor apartment, while a separate door on the same facade accesses the upper floor unit by an interior stair.
The building at 6037-39 Waterman is a two-family flat, with a dwelling unit on each floor. The Arts and Crafts accents appear in its bi-colored brick facades, bracketed cornice of the pyramidal roof, and multi-light entry doors. A one-story entry porch carries a balcony for the second floor unit, which is reached through French doors centered in a projecting bay.
Multi-family Walk-Ups
Walk-up apartment buildings were ubiquitous in St. Louis during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Usually two or three stories in height, a walk-up apartment has a main entry door to a stair hall; individual apartments open off this common hall. The three-family version has a single unit per floor, while in larger buildings, apartments are arranged on either side of a central hallway. Walk-up apartments often feature a balcony or porch for each unit.
The building at 6104 Pershing, in Skinker-DeBaliviere, is a three-family walk-up constructed in 1914. The main entry is on the left side of the front facade, and the apartments are stacked above each other. This is another building that displays Arts and Crafts influence: the entry is sheltered by a low tile-sheathed hood with brackets, which also appear beneath the projecting eaves of the building's false mansard roof, and the facade has a variety of terra cotta detailing. Each apartment has a sun porch, which was originally open.
The building at 6124 Pershing, also in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood, is a six-family walk-up, constructed in 1912. The building has three stacked apartments flanking each side of the central entry and stair hall. Each apartment has an open brick sun porch, its brick railing inserted with a decorative stone balustrade. The building has Arts and Crafts detailing similar to 6106 Pershing, but with a touch of Prairie style as well in the porch and entry gables, which are of extremely low pitch and have exposed rafter ends.
Multi-family Flats
This is a residential building type which appears primarily in the Skinker-DeBaliviere and Academy neighborhoods in northwest St. Louis. Generally, the exteriors of these buildings are rich in detailing, often exhibiting Arts and Crafts influence, but examples of Colonial Revival and Jacobethan style have also been found. Usually situated on a corner lot, the buildings may be of several different configurations, but all have separate entrances for each unit.
The building at 6103 Waterman, constructed in 1908, is a characteristic example. Although its primary facade faces Waterman, the side elevation is equally articulated. This four-unit building has two entry doors on each facade. A mixture of several styles, the front is predominantly Arts and Crafts, with decorative half-timbered gable and brick tile-roofed porch. The secondary facade has a recessed central porch containing the entrances, and a sleeping porch above. Flanking the porch are openings trimmed with Colonial Revival terra cotta detailing, including two Palladian windows. This elaborately decorated building also displays Flemish bond brick, heavy terra cotta quoins and brackets, and shed dormers.
Low-Rise Apartment Buildings
Low-rise apartment buildings are five stories or less in height. There can be several common entrances to the building, and apartments are accessed off a long, double-loaded corridor. These buildings tend to be larger in scale than walk-up apartments.
The building at the corner of 736-44 Walton, built in the West End in 1903, is a typical low-rise apartment building. The four-story, buff brick building has two symmetrically-placed entrances on the Walton Street elevation. The building's exterior decoration is restrained, and lies primarily in a series of projecting window bays, topped by crenelated parapets.
An Art Deco style low-rise apartment building is at 5845 Nottingham, in St. Louis Hills, constructed in 1939. The building features a short semi-circular tower containing the entrance and stair at the center of projecting wings. The entry has a stone surround, with a large leaded glass window above. The variegated brick of the building's facades is broken by shallow projecting bays, containing corner windows with multi-light metal casements. Horizontal emphasis is created by a series of stepped brick courses beneath each window, and two circular cupolas pierce the roof at the end of each wing.
High-Rise Apartment Buildings
High rise apartment buildings have more than five stories. These buildings usually have a single entry, opening into an elevator lobby. Each floor has double-loaded corridors. High-rise apartment buildings became popular in major cities throughout the United States during the early 20th century. In St. Louis, they were generally luxury apartments, many providing a range of services, including dining, to their wealthy tenants.
Hampden Hall, at Newstead and McPherson, is a high-rise apartment building constructed in 1925, and designed by George Barnett. Sited on a corner, the structure has an extensive raised entry plaza with balustrade. The building is constructed in a V-shape: two wings extend from the central block. The base of the building is veneered in stone, and has a two-story blind arcade; windows are a combination of single, paired and triple banks of one-over-one sash. Stone string courses and false balconies ornament the upper stories, and the building is capped with a shallow projecting cornice and shaped parapet.
A major goal of Progressive Era proponents was the creation of quality housing to replace deteriorated tenement buildings, which were seen as unsightly as well as unhealthy. Public housing, however, was slow to develop until the Depression forced the issue of public housing to the forefront of political agendas.
Neighborhood Gardens, a complex of twelve three-story brick buildings, was constructed between 7th, 8th, Biddle and O'Fallon Streets in 1935, and was the only low-income housing complex completed in St. Louis before World War II. St. Louis architects Hoener, Baum and Froese produced the complex for private developers, in an attempt to demonstrate that public housing could be attractive and financially sound. Using Moderne style elements, the building presents flat wall surfaces; openings, including windows with multi-light metal casement sash, are detailed with horizontal string courses. Projecting stair towers containing the entrances are regularly-spaced on each facade, and are flanked by apartment balconies. The complex had 252 residential units, with courtyard gardens landscaped under direction of the Missouri Botanical Garden.