LOCATION: 2347 Sullivan Avenue; St. Louis Place; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1874
DATE OF DEMOLITION: May 2005
CURRENT OWNER: 25th Street Elderly LP

Awaiting demolition, March 18, 2005.

Posted August 16, 2005

Small and simple, this church was a fine expression of the faith its builder had for continuity and humility. Unfortunately, times have changed and such values have become almost marginal. There is absolutely no humility in wholesale clearance of several blocks of 19th-century buildings and there shall be no permanence of replacement given the cheapness of the new construction here. The Starlight Missionary Baptist Church fell in May for construction of a huge multi-block housing developed by the Pyramid Companies. The history of the building, which may date to the late 1860s, and its small size made it a prime candidate for adaptive resuse. Instead it fell at the hands of wreckers.