[HN Gopher] St. Louis Brick by Brick (2023)
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St. Louis Brick by Brick (2023)
Author : Caiero
Score : 34 points
Date : 2024-04-03 19:08 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (beltmag.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (beltmag.com)
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| The number of brick buildings in St. Louis (and St. Charles,
| etc.) is remarkable. I did not, until today, know of St. Louis's
| (storied) history with bricks but it was clearly evident to me
| when passing through or spending any time in the area.
|
| They are fortunate to still have so many old buildings/houses
| compared to most of the rest of the Midwaste where I see the
| older places quickly disappearing, being torn down and replaced
| by modern structures.
|
| Also, the discussion of the Indians reminded me too that just
| next door to St. Louis are the remnants of the Cahokia mounds, a
| UNESCO World Heritage site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia
|
| (Also, couldn't help but be reminded of _Settlers of Catan_
| reading about their brick empire, ha ha.)
| tylerflick wrote:
| It's not just the buildings, even then shoreline of the
| Mississippi in StL is paved with bricks. All of this gives it
| such a much older feel than KC.
| michaelsbradley wrote:
| I'll need to read the rest of the article, but it is amazing how
| many brick homes and buildings are in St. Louis.
|
| The brick house in St. Louis I rented previously was built in the
| late 1800s and has a brick walkway in the back yard that was put
| down at the same time, so nearly every day I was walking on
| bricks that had been walked on for nearly every day for more than
| a century.
|
| The brick house in St. Louis my wife and I purchased a couple of
| years ago was likewise built in the late 1800s. If you don't know
| what tuckpointing[+] is, and the cost involved, you definitely
| will after purchasing a brick house! Thankfully, it doesn't have
| to be performed every decade, and you don't necessarily need to
| have it done to the entire exterior in one go.
|
| [+] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckpointing
| aaronax wrote:
| From the context, it seems you mean repointing, not
| tuckpointing. (As described in the Wikipedia article you link,
| which admittedly does make an allowance for some regions using
| the terms interchangeably.)
|
| But, the true meaning of tuckpointing (two-toned bands of grout
| to give the appearance of finer grout lines) is something I did
| not know about and found pretty interesting. Thank you for the
| comment.
| jimberlage wrote:
| It seems everyone uses the term wrong around here - I live in
| the area and when I had my home repointed, every tradesman
| called it tuckpointing. Probably a regional thing.
| geerlingguy wrote:
| Yeah, even the ads on the radio talk about tuckpointing,
| when they just mean repointing.
| jimberlage wrote:
| I live in one of these red brick homes! It's amazing how well
| they hold up. The architecture is pretty desirable too, St Louis
| has a really dense style that makes lots of city neighborhoods
| extremely walkable.
| geerlingguy wrote:
| There are tons of beautiful brick buildings in North St. Louis
| (one of the areas highlighted in the article), which are blighted
| over time, as they start crumbling after decades of no
| maintenance.
|
| One such building is this an old victorian mansion that's slowly
| and meticulously being restored by a local:
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuteYo4Kgm1t1DqkUV33BcQ
|
| I've visited the area a few times (and used to drive through it
| on the way into the city), and it's a little depressing how every
| time I drive through I see another couple of buildings gone.
|
| Just last month, one of the historic church buildings (mostly
| brick) burned down [1], while last year another historic church
| building that was converted into an indoor skate park (Sk8
| Liborius) also burned down [2].
|
| The tough thing is, the developers in that area are happy to let
| all the buildings rot and fall over, and eventually they can sell
| larger plots of land to projects like the NGA, who are building a
| new $2 billion HQ [3]
|
| [1] https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/crews-battle-fire-
| at...
|
| [2] https://spectrumlocalnews.com/mo/st-
| louis/news/2023/06/29/fl...
|
| [3] https://www.stlpr.org/economy-business/2022-12-20/ngas-
| nearl...
| fdsjh2jfa wrote:
| > The tough thing is, the developers in that area are happy to
| let all the buildings rot and fall over, and eventually they
| can sell larger plots of land to projects like the NGA, who are
| building a new $2 billion HQ [3]
|
| You're being awfully unfair to "developers." NGA was built on
| the former Pruitt-Igoe site. It was simply a demolished
| wasteland since 1976 and is now a functioning area with
| economic activity.
|
| As for the rest of it, "developers" won't even touch these
| buildings, many are abandoned and worth less than free
| considering the tax liens.
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