Boxy but good

I saw this little guy on 9th Street in Soulard across from 9th Street Abbey.  I can't decide if it's infill or a rehab.  I guess that's the sign of either a good rehab or good infill if you can't tell the difference between the two.  I thought to myself, "boxy but good."  That comes from Crazy People.  Dudley Moore rebrands Volvo as boxy but good.

But the neighbor to the south?  Condemned.  You don't see that much anymore in Soulard.  I'm guessing because the course of bricks above the door appears to be falling in front of the entryway.

Washington

I go to Washington, MO about 4 times a year. This is a public works building built a few years ago. I think it is attractive and blends in well with the downtown Washington area.

ce qui est ceci? En anglais: WTF?

I've been staring at this one for a while.  What is it?  Does it even qualify as a mansard?  This recently constructed 2-family is on Flad near Klemm and its owners live in Chicago.  

As best I can tell, it's like a concrete pre-form mansard.  Here's what I hate about it in no particular order:  

• roof
• stairs
• balcony
• where are the curtains?
• hate the windows
• shrimpy immature landscaping
• putty color
• no window sills
• doors- brown, ugly, teeny tiny window with teeny, tiny light fixtures

Say, that reminds me- when you live in these Big Old House Neighborhoods (BOHN's), please adjust your landscaping, lighting, pots, etc to scale!  Otherwise your accessories get swallowed up.

Flad is French for bad mansard, Pt. 1

I could say a lot, but I won't.  Even though I hate the mansard roof, someone spent good money to live in St. Louis city and now calls this mansard home; for that reason I must show respect.  Here's what I'd say to the homeowner at a hypothetical cocktail party:

"They mansard is a little awkward with the turret.  I wish the foundation weren't poured concrete; it would be nice if it were masonry like the rest of Shaw. Wow- that's an interesting bay window."

The concrete bunker mansard to the left is a 2-family with an out of town landlord, so we'll be mansard snarky (word blend= mansnarky) on Flad later.

C'est trop grand et trop noir

I feel bad deeming this development a bad mansard but since it gets in my face daily, I have no choice.  It's asking for it.

Here we have the newly built Union Club by Gilded Age at Jefferson and Lafayette on the site of an old Aldi. When I lived in Lafayette Square I actually used to shop there on occasion- it was too cheap to pass up.  And I am nothing if not cheap.  5 cans for $1.00.  Cannot beat that with a stick, but this mansard deserves a beating.

The Bad Union Mansard (BUM) started off well.  The neighbors were happy to replace the Aldi. The developers originally promised "mixed street level retail and residential."  blah blah blah.  Everyone says that.  This usually means residential over some retail- sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

Here's what the plans look like, and specifically the front elevation- link here.  Unfortunately, I seldom drive that part of Lafayette.  I usually see the back side of the Union Club about 5 times a day, as does anyone who travels on highway 44 or Jefferson.  This mansard always has its exophthalmic eyes boring into the back of you skull.  It's such a shockingly large mansard that it's easy to lose focus and drive off the road.

I appreciate the brick facade (although I bet it's just veneer) and the effort made with the turrets. I sense that the developer cared at street level, but clearly checked out early on the mansard.  Such a huge bad mansard is certainly ironic given Lafayette Square's stock of gorgeous 2nd Empire Victorians with flawless mansard roofs.

This roof looks like it was fabricated in a giant's workshop and shoved on top of an unsuspecting dollhouse with Super 77 and shoo-goo.  There's no variety in color, texture or tile. No windows- in fact, there are more windows on one wall of the single family "printemps" mansard below than the ENTIRE southern elevation of this 39-unit development.  Like its subsidized public housing mansard fail neighbors to the east at Lafayette and Tucker, this giant, hulking mansard looks like the Stay Puff marshmallow man and charcoal briquet cross-breed; the unibrow of mansards.

Bad Union Mansard (BUM) does look decent at street level, assuming you don't look all the way to the top of the building.   Get used to this bad mansard- there's no escaping its bulky gaze.  

Close, not quite though

This is recent Lafayette Square infill on Park Ave.  Decent looking for a new Mansard, but still stands out as a little odd looking.  I don't think the Mansard is part of a third floor, thereby making it a Faux-sard.  I like to be able to get all up in my Mansard and walk around (the original point of a Mansard- it's a functioning level of the house).  At least these 3 units looks proportionate and attractive.  I like the paint colors too.  Notice the cool Richardsonian Queen Anne to the left of the nouveau Mansard.