NEIGHBORHOOD [OPEN] [GEMS HOUSES
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COMPTON HEIGHTS
[ 63017 ]
805 FAIRFIELD LAKE DRIVE | $369,900 | NOON-2 P.M. | 314.721.4755 GLADYSMANION.COM 14429 PEMBURY DRIVE | $314,900 | 2-4 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
[ 63040 ]
17119 CAMBURY LANE | $249,900 | NOON-2 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
[ 63104 ]
2026 ANN AVE. | $284,500 | 1:30-3:30 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM 2903 ACCOMAC ST. | $159,900 | 2-4 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
[ 63105 ]
NO. 1N, 30 BRIGHTON WAY | $549,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.997.4800 | JANETMCAFEE.COM 46 CRESTWOOD DRIVE | $815,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.997.4800 | JANETMCAFEE.COM 733 MIDDLE POLO DRIVE | $1,269,000 | NOON-2 P.M. | 314.997.4800 JANETMCAFEE.COM NO. 905, 155 CARONDELET PLAZA | $2,725,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM NO. 17C, 8025 MARYLAND AVE. | $2,795,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM NO. 201, 709 S. SKINKER BLVD. | $219,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
[ 63117 ]
7363 GOFF AVE. | $329,900 | 2-4 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
[ 63122 ]
750 HAVENWOOD CIRCLE COURT | $675,000 | NOON-2 P.M. | 314.721.4755 GLADYSMANION.COM 1809 BACH AVE. | $975,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
[ 63124 ]
8 MAYFAIR ROAD | $2.9 MILLION | 1-3 P.M. | 314.721.4755 | GLADYSMANION.COM 408 S. WARSON ROAD | $2,499,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.721.4755 | GLADYSMANION.COM 26 CLERMONT LANE | $2,399,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.721.4755 | GLADYSMANION.COM
[ 63128 ]
10822 KENNERLY ROAD | $1.49 MILLION | 1-3 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
[ 63130 ]
523 NORTH AND SOUTH ROAD | $489,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.725.0009 DIELMANNSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
[ 63131 ]
8 LONG MEADOWS LANE | $2.22 MILLION | 1-4 P.M. | 314.997.4800 JANETMCAFEE.COM 2158 EAST DRIVE | $487,500 | 1-2 P.M. | 314.997.4800 | JANETMCAFEE.COM 51 FRONTENAC ESTATES | $570,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.997.4800 | JANETMCAFEE.COM
[ 63141 ]
301 CHASSELLE AVE. | $649,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.997.4800 | JANETMCAFEE.COM 24 MUIRFIELD LANE | $799,000 | 2:30-4:30 P.M. | 314.721.4755 | GLADYSMANION.COM 121 LADUEMONT DRIVE | $475,000 | 1-3 P.M. | 314.721.4755 | GLADYSMANION.COM
COMPTON HILL WATER TOWER >>
The glow of the full moon falls softly through the open window of the Compton Hill Water Tower. Visitors who climb the 198 stairs to the pinnacle find a panoramic view of the city, quiet in the darkness but unmistakably St. Louis, with the Arch’s limbs falling to earth like moonbeams. Of the seven standpipe water towers still extant in the U.S., two are in St. Louis. This one, built in 1898 to equalize water pressure and prevent powerful surges, looks down from Reservoir Park, the city’s highest point. Built of rusticated limestone, brick and terra cotta in the French Romanesque style, the exterior suited the Victorian decorative demands of the day by concealing the unattractive piping. A bare woman cast in bronze stands guard at the tower’s flank. She is The Naked Truth, a tribute to three German-American editors of the St. Louis Westliche Post, which gave Joseph Pulitzer his first byline. Adolphus Busch was the major donor of the statue, which was to be a gift to the city from the German-American Alliance. Busch balked when he saw sculptor Wilhelm Wandschneider’s nude figure design, but the artist refused to drape her. As a compromise, the commissioning jury asked that she not be carved from white marble to minimize the appearance of bare skin. The statue was unveiled in 1914, two months before the outbreak of World War I. Improved technology rendered the water tower obsolete in 1929. It fell into disrepair, despite being named to the National Registry of Historic Places, and was threatened with demolition until a preservation society organized its renovation in 1999. Now, passersby intrigued by the minaret may climb its iron stairs the first Saturday of the month and on evenings when the moon is full.
COMPTON HEIGHTS CONCERT BAND >>
The giant rose windows aren’t the first features newcomers to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church notice. Neither is the grand altar, nor the vaulted ceiling. It’s the reverberating sounds of Sousa that really draw attention. The 1908 church at 3120 Lafayette Ave. now serves as the rehearsal hall for the Compton Heights Concert Band, a community ensemble that spends its summers playing American standards. Formed in 1976 by neighborhood resident and bassoonist Harry Swanger, the band is composed of players of all ages and professions, from high school students to retirees—and even includes T&S staffer/clarinetist Rebecca Koenig. Picnickers gather in Francis Park on Sundays and Tower Grove Park on Mondays for evening concerts of marches, show tunes and classical repertoire, supplemented by performances by guest artists. Recent December holiday concerts at Powell Symphony Hall and Peabody Opera House featured internationally known musicians, such as organist rock star Cameron Carpenter and The Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano band. The ensemble has an unlikely source of income: It runs weekend bingo games at Bandwagon Hall.
THE FLEUR-DE-LYS MANSION >>
26 CLERMONT LANE
8 MAYFAIR ROAD
56 |
TOWN&style
|
JUNE 26, 2013
408 S. WARSON ROAD
805 FAIRFIELD LAKE DRIVE
by rebecca koenig | photos by bill barrett
A red-brick residence on Russell Boulevard has seen the comings and goings of Compton Heights for exactly 100 years. Now a bed-and-breakfast, the Fleur-de-Lys Mansion was not unique in its day its exterior symmetry, but for its mirror-image interior. William Beckman of the W.E. Beckman Bakers and Confectioners Supply Company had the 17-room home built in 1913 for him and his wife to live on one side and his grown daughter’s family to occupy the other. Forecasting the modern duplex, each wing had a complete parlor, dining room, kitchen, butler’s pantry, bathroom and two bedrooms. Servants lived on the top floor beside a ballroom. The house was abandoned and vandalized in the ’70s, but a young couple bought and repaired it in 1989. The B&B, operating since 1996, takes its name from the unconventional fleur-de-lys endcap on one of the chimney supports (and, of course, from the city’s French heritage).