SUSPENDED REHAB

 

This building is immediately next to the one seen in yesterday’s post. I think it was originally a small firehouse. Someone turned it into a night club. The logos in the lower corners of the center door are for liquor brands, but the last owners went to the trouble of installing a wheelchair ramp. It is empty again. Another handsome building in need of an angel.                  

A.D. 1901

In many other cities, say, in the Northeastern US or in Europe, a building of this age might be rehabbed as needed, well cared-for and in vibrant use. Well, this is the American rust belt. I'm happy to report, though, that people were going back and forth inside with construction materials. This part of the South Side is in flux, part in complete decay and part the beneficiary of urban pioneering.                     

Urban Oasis

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This building at 23rd Street and Washington appears to be rehabbed but empty. (Unfortunately, I know some people like that.) If this is an urban oasis, the water has all dried up and the date trees have withered. And oases are located in the middle of a desert. What does this say about the surrounding neighborhood? Perhaps the developers could have chosen a better metaphor.

Downtown St. Louis 365 has decided to use a lifeline.