Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Some Progress

Luther Ely Smith Plaza 2015-12-05 1

The renovations around the Arch have made quite a mess. One little bit of it is finished and reopened. This is Luther Ely Smith Square, where the city streets end at an expressway in a trench below street level, followed by the Arch itself. The old square was, um, rather plain. The new plan has made it more attractive. A deck was built over the road so pedestrians can walk directly from downtown onto the Arch grounds. That's an improvement.

Mr. Smith was a prominent citizen of St. Louis some decades ago. He was instrumental in creating the civic effort that led to the Arch's construction. I bet you couldn't find one local resident in ten thousand today who could identify him. I had to look him up on Wikipedia.

There will be more of this type of post as the overall plan moves forward. Some time I'll write one of my occasional rants about the awful things the project is doing to downtown traffic patterns.       

Luther Ely Smith Plaza 2015-12-05 2

9 comments:

Halcyon said...

I love these cityscapes in black and white. Architecture just looks better that way to me.

Luis Gomez said...

Looks really beautiful. I have seen ads advertising Saint Louis as a destination around DC.

Pat said...

Very nicely composed and edited BWs. :)

Sharon said...

I'm going to have to make a trip to St. Louis to see all these changes.

Norma said...

I used to work in the Gateway Tower, many years ago. 18th floor. D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles Advertising.

Unknown said...

So sharp and perfectly composed! Well done, Bob.

William Kendall said...

Beautifully rendered in black and white!

Jack said...

Two very special images in crisp-and-sharp-as-a-tack black and white. Nicely done, Mr. Crowe. (And take a deep breath and suppress the rants.)

Stefan Jansson said...

That first photo is superb and needs to be framed.