Built St. Louis: Vanished Buildings
St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church

5629 South Magnolia Ave. (the Hill)
Built: 1925-26 (main church)
Demolished: May 2006

April 2007:
The new houses are rising.

Photos from November 2006.

They're brick, with the usual slathering of vinyl siding in "neo-traditional" style. I do rather like the one on the corner, or at least I like the wrap-around columnaded porch. Serious porches are a true rarity in new home construction.

Don't get me wrong, though -- no amount of new construction can make up for the lost of the beautiful church, the unique streetscape, and the handsome accessory buildings that once stood here.

Notice in particular how surreal and odd the photographs here are -- they aren't really of any particular subject. It's hard to photograph a non-place, which is what this once-distinctive urban oasis has become.

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