From the coeur

Frequently for my job I am dispatched to the outstate of Missouri.  Thursday was Union.  I combed the downtown area for bad mansards and this permastone log cabin mansard was all I could find.  Sorry for the shadows on the picture.  I have asked for a decent point and click camera for Mother's Day so I am hopeful the photo quality will improve.  

I don't know much about signage, city code and the like, but I am quite sure this size sign exceeds most design and zoning guidelines for proper sign size and placement.  

If "Heartland" is a bad sign, the Budweiser lettering at the brewery is a good one.  It's also big but proportional to the size of the brewery.  

I took the picture while jogging with the dog around the Anheuser Busch brewery which I consider a good substitution for a park.  It has a 1.25 mile perimeter, no cross streets to worry about (other than the entrance gates), security, even sidewalks and landscaping.  If you cross Broadway you can add some miles by looping Lyon Park (or Rollercoaster park as my kids call it due to the hills).

I'm not the only Soulardois running around the brewery.  On any given evening there are many of us circling the brewery.  Hey, in Soulard we take what we can get.  Some city folk have lovely parks like Lafayette and Tower Grove and Francis for exercise, we make due with our beer brewery.

Fave mansard, beer and what I'm doing this weekend

This mansard on the Anehuser Busch (ok- fine - inBev- whatever) campus is one of my favorites. The mansard roof and widow's walk almost appear decorative. It works for me. Love this building.

Speaking of beer, the school picnic is tomorrow and the question for me is what to put in my cooler. The years where I pack nothing I'm stuck in a line for a half-tapped keg full of warm foam. The years when I plan and pack a cooler, there are troughs of decent beer everywhere. Or maybe I mix it up and bring vodka and lemonade.

Another busy weekend: dance recital, niece's graduation, birthday party, hockey, 2 soccer games and a sorority ladies brunch. My challenge will be to have a picture of a really bad mansard by the end of the weekend. ETA: I am also packing SVDP pantry baskets on Sunday and I hope John can take the kids to the Budrovich Meet the Machines event on Saturday.

My favorite intersection: Douzième et Treizième

I love the intersection of 12th and 13th near the Anheuser Busch brewery visitor's center.

1. Where 12th splits off from 13th is a one-of-a-kind stop sign where drivers are instructed they "need not stop" if turning right. I challenge you: is there another sign like this? My challenge to the Streets department: how about a needn't turn right sign. It's also a 3-way.

2. I also would assert the alley between 12th and

13th may be the shortest in St. Louis

3. And these cool Clydesdales live near the intersection of 12th and 13th.

dans l'ombre de la brasserie

In the shadow of the Anheuser-Busch brewery is a permastoned, purple-doored, satellite-dished nast-tard.

This place is wedged between the brewery and St. Agatha church. St. Agatha was an old German parish, then it was Latin Mass and now it's the temporary Polish parish. Took the kids to the Polish fish fry- good fish, strong beer.

Un autre que j'adore!

My husband was complaining that a mansard this lovely has no place in badmansard.  I disagree with John (frequently, I might add, but about lots of other things like laundry, politics and technology).  He was actually mad I made him stop the car so I could take a picture.  John almost left me there, but that would have been ok because we live about 100 yards from this house.  

A perfect mansard like this gives us proper perspective.  This is on 12th Street in Soulard near the Anheuser-Busch tour center.  I believe this is a beer baron house.  

Happy Memorial Day. Have a bier pour moi a la Anheuser Busch Mansard

This is newish construction.  The mansard is a little awkward, but note the copper trim on the top and bottom of the roof.  I find this commitment to detail:

• Impressive because the copper hasn't been stolen yet
• Strange because this is an office on a truck lot
• Not entirely surprising:  A-B is an ideal corporate neighbor and maintains amazing architecture, landscaping, safety and lighting. 

Brewers and Mansards

This is a good picture. My 3 yo son G. is in the forefront pulling a sled. That's a serious mansard behind him, the home of Max Feuerbacher, proprietor of the Green Tree Brewery. The smoke in the background is steam from the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Learn more about Feuerbacher and his brewery here.