Home..........

My dear friend has just been named the Editor-in-Chief of a new magazine for architecture and design in St. Louis. I personally have yet to experience a more beautiful, eclectic, and wonderful city in the United States.

Home.

Many things to many people.

Evocative of security, happiness, trauma, and life.........

Home is often thought of as a refuge.
A place of contentment.
A place of belonging.

St. Louis is this place.
St. Louis is home.

It is very easy to list the many things about this city that make it wonderful. It is very easy to see the beauty in the structures. The grandeur of downtown. The "urban" appeal of the Central West End and Washington Avenue. The "bawdiness" of Soulard and Dogtown. The peacefulness of Forest Park.

Eye candy for the imagination and the soul.

The real "home" in St. Louis is the people. The real architecture of this city is and was built on the hard work and never ending dreams of every last soul who has become entranced with her spell.

We are an "odd" bunch of people in St. Louis.

Embracing the old. Welcoming the new. Yet, in this quest to become "better" and more progressive in the landscape of the "world", we are not taking the time to embrace what St. Louis has to offer. Over the last 10 years, St. Louis has taken on a revitalization of epic proportions. But with progress, comes destruction.
Who would have thought in 2008 Washington avenue would be the showcase it has become? Who would have thought Busch Stadium would be torn down and rebuilt-in a minimal amount of time?
Who could have ever imagined the Riverfront with "live" action billboards and multi-million dollar casinos to distract you on Highway 70?


And WHO could have imagined St. Louis with "rehab" fever?

Remember when Downtown, Tower Grove, Compton Heights, McKinley Heights, and Soulard were NOT the place to live!

I love and admire the many people who sink their souls and savings into their "home". I anticipate the arrival of a new rehab. A true rehab. I love the glean of refinished wood. I love the smell of the earth in an old basement. I love the excitement of homeowners as they tell, in detail, the discovery of an old fireplace mantle or turn of the century tile work under a beat up wooden floor.

I despise the builders and contractors out to make a quick buck. The destruction of beautiful brick work. Exposed beams and dormers covered quickly with drywall. The digging up of a 150 year old tree to make space for a hot tub and in ground pool.

Rehab fever. Buy it, flip it, get out of town.

But, in this eagerness to "rehab" are we forgetting the real roots of St. Louis?
Do we forget the trees that are lost?
Do we ever "rediscover" the cobblestone and bricks of the streets that are paved with asphalt?
What will be the trend once we "rehab" the last building in St. Louis?

Progress and economic stimuli are extremely important to any economy. But as our ever expanding world grows when will the destruction of the old be considered sinful?
Do you think Rome said "Screw the Collesium" put in a Casino!
Do you think China said "Knock down that wall-we need another Walgreens and Walmart!" (The deadly W's as I like to call them!)

In the last 20 years of my life I have lived in many places.
I have lived on a beach in Florida.
I tried the "glamorous" life of California.
I have lived where the "stars at night are big and bright".
I flew the friendly skies of the US Air Force to many bases.

Each of the cities were wonderful. Each experience unique.

None were home.
None compare to St. Louis.

Time and attitudes change constantly.

I am just glad that I live in a city that is not a barometer for the rest of the country's attitude.
I am proud to be St. Louis.