Holly Hills

A mansard topped home in St. Louis Holly Hills (*how could I have thought this was St. Louis Hills v. Holly Hills?  have I lost my mind??) as seen while I was running kids to volleyball camp.  It's been a weird summer for kids.  Almost all the camps canceled but I have to say the camps that have been open are definitely well organized and socially distant.  It's good training for these kids before they head back to school - wearing masks, staying 6 feet apart, answering screening questions before they enter campus, having temps taken. 

Another damaged bad mansard

Following up on our fire-damaged Granite City apartment building, here is a mansard roofed home with hail damage on the roof.  At least the roof is flat!

newsworthy mansard

This mansard apartment building in Illinois caught fire back in February. 

Athens (Georgia)

If you are my age (late 40's), Athens, GA means one thing.  Even more than the University of Georgia, Athens is the birthplace of REM* and the B-52's.  I remember visiting my grandparents in the early 1980's and seeing flyers for the band REM playing at the DePauw university auditorium in Indiana.  What was the REM?, I wondered.  A few months later, I had the EP Chronic Town and played Boxcars constantly (it made sense for a teen in Webster Groves- so many boxcars to see on the two rail tracks that cross WG).  By the late 1980's, REM exploded and I kind of lost interest.  "Anything after Fables is a sell-out," I said because I was cool like that.

Anyway, when my friend Richard moved to Athens, I thought REM's birthplace!  But, Richard also found this sweet and sad mansard.  Thanks Richard!

Footnote:  I interviewed a lovely man from Athens for a  family WW2 football project I was working on. He was charming and helpful.  He was a press assistant to a 508th AB officer who had a great memory of some historic WW2 occupation football game.  Anyway, he reminded me in his smooth accent that Athens was the home of REM, the B-52's and Widespread Panic, LOL. 

Mansards in the 63124

63124 is the zip code for St. Louis' wealthiest suburb.  Lots of pretty old houses.  I grew up on the wrong end of Litzinger Avenue over in Brentwood - 63144.  Litzinger has giant horse farm houses in the Ladue part, but once you pass the quarry, you're in Brentwood and the houses get smaller as you head east. 

Where can you find the best mansards in St. Louis?  In zip code 63104, of course, home to Soulard, Lafayette Square, Lasalle and Benton Park.  see what I did there with the zip codes.  63104, 63144, 63124.