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LOCATION: 1854 S. 39th Street; Shaw; Saint Louis, Missouri Between the hours of 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. on October 26, 2004, the St. Louis Fire Department responded to three alarms within a four-block radius. Three buildings -- all owned by the Garden District Commission -- were ablaze: a two-flat in the 4000 block of Folsom Avenue, a house in the 4000 block of McRee Avenue and the three-story Arts-and-Crafts style apartment building at 1854 South 39th Street. The splendid apartment building had been occupied until right after the Garden District Commission had acquired it, fast becoming a drag on a section of Shaw that is largely improving. The Garden District Commission, erstwhile clearers of the McRee Town neighborhood, had not announced any plans for the building. We had difficulty imagining them doing anything but demolishing this building -- which may have been their plan all along. Needless to stay, the Garden District Commission had the apartment building demolished in November. The other apartment building that shared the lot with this one, located at 3867 Shaw, was built from the same plans and still stands, although it is also owned by the Garden District Commission.
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