Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Mon dieu!



Nothing going on here.  Just another typical building in Soulard-- look at the lovely brick and well proportioned windows.  That's interesting!  Condo's for sale.  I wonder what the front of the building looks like?  Holy Mary Mother of Mansards!  Could that really be the front?  I swear the bad Mansard really is part of the building.  Blessed is NOT the fruit of a deranged rehabber.

I know a little bit about this building.  My minivan was rear ende
d at Sublette and Arsenal.  The insurance company had me take my car to Neibling Auto Body (great shop by the way) at Grand and Meramec. On the wall is a photo of the original Neibling shop, which used to be a stable/buggy mechanic in the 1880's.  The photo shows a lovely brick building, stable doors, good mansard.  Same address, same building.

When we moved here in 2002, the building was already ugly.  It was a distribution point for Mittendorf Meat.  Since then, the building went "condo".   Some "improvements":  the windows and doors got smaller and  someone even re-tarpapered the mansard.  Note-  The doors are clearly not adherent to code.  The historical groupies around here will bitch over whether my iron fence has a matte or gloss sheen, but these fools were permitted to put those (many) doors on an 1880's building.

To spruce the place up, the developer even installed four small grass patches and walkways for each unit.  And if that weren't enough to increase the curb appeal, there's now one (1) dwarf Alberta spruce under one of the windows.  I'm no realtor, but I'd guess that "hey, let's rip off this terrible facade..." would be a start to improving the overall look of the place.   So, faithful, pray for this mansard now and at the hour of its (hopeful) death.  Amen.   




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