Abandoned Police Station Saint Louis MO
Page Boulevard Police Station, St. Louis Missouri
The Page Boulevard Police Station holds a significant position among St. Louis public buildings for its architectural merit and as an exemplary product of a new political era in municipal government. Mayor Rolla Wells' progressive, reform administration (1901-1909) initiated a civic beautification crusade with a particular focus on improvements near Forest Park in West End residential areas where the Mayor and his elite constituency lived. The creation in 1907 of a new police district to serve the growing West End population resulted in a police station design of unusual quality and sensitivity to architectural symbolism. The station's Colonial Revival style proved a unique solution to demands for a functional building with imagery of both civic authority and domestic intimacy achieved through the skillful blend of quotations from Independence Hall, Philadelphia, and familiar American house forms such as the gambrel roof.
The first transit line west from Grand Avenue on Lindell Boulevard reached the eastern edge of Forest Park in 1885. In 1888, a syndicate purchased a seventy-five-acre tract of land stretching from Kings Highway to Union and the West End experienced rapid speculation and residential development enhanced by the successful 1890's drive to bring a World's Fair to the St. Louis Forest Park site. By 1910, what had been farmland_and orchards in the 1870s was described as the "bon ton district of the city."
The Board of Police Commissioners decided in 1907 to create the Twelfth (and last) Police District in the city with boundaries running from Lindell on the south, Kingsnighway on the east, Natural Bridge Road on the north and the City Limits on the west. The location proposed for the new station, however, aroused a storm of protests from immediate residents. The daily St. Louis Republic reported that concerned citizens "appeared before the Police Board on several occasions to oppose the location." The Sisters at St. Ann's Orphanage located a block west on Page were particularly vocal in asserting that a police station with barred windows would have an adverse influence on their young wards. To reassure citizens of the area, the man responsible for the design of the new station, Building Commissioner James A. Smith, took great care to give the neighborhood a design that was sure to win approval by virtue of its potent nationalistic symbolism and its accommodation to the residential character of the neighborhood.
The Colonial Revival style was well established in St. Louis house design traditions by the turn of the century and undoubtedly carried with it some of the patriotic sentiments ascribed to the "true American" style. (The gambrel roof, dormers, Palladian windows, quoining and wooden detailing of the police station were popular features found in abundance in St. Louis West End homes of the time.) That the building was also intended to conjure up ennobling thoughts of a specific historic landmark is suggested by the report in 1910 that it was "a complete replica of Liberty Hall, Philadelphia, as far as architecture was concerned." While the station does not support such an unqualified claim, the prominent cupola (originally designed with a clock that was never installed) provided a sufficient link to the venerated shrine of American liberty. The success of Smith's efforts to transform utilitarian requirements into civic beauty was acknowledged by neighborhood lobbyists who had opposed the station when they agreed that the new station would be "an ornament to the neighborhood and a protection to the neighborhood."
Smith's years as Building Commissioner for the city (1905-1911) were ones of considerable achievement. His administrative talents were already publicly recognized by the press in 1907 when he was considered as a replacement for the Street Commissioner:
Smith's combination of abilities were precisely those needed by reforming Mayor Wells who had pledged the twofold goal of a more efficient government and a beautiful city. A loyal Democrat, Smith was an active member of the Jefferson Club which had promoted Well's nomination and election. Smith's continued support of Wells' administration was also reported by the press:
Smith's organizational strengths were complemented by a highly competent grasp of architecture, evidenced by a fine collection of buildings produced by his office. Born in Chicago, James A. Smith (1874-1934) grew up in St. Louis and was educated at Christian Brothers' College and St. Louis University. During the 1880's he was a partner in contracting firms with his brother, Phillip A. Smith, Jr., and later with Richard H. Little. His career in the Building Commission's office began as a draftsman in 1902. Several city buildings credited to Smith were illustrated in the Brickbuilder between 1906 and 1908 including Engine House #44 (1906), Public Bath House (1907), City Hospital Administration Building (1908) and the First District Police Court and Patrol Wagon House (1908). Those buildings were all brick trimmed with white terra cotta in a Georgian/Italian Renaissance Revival style which Smith no doubt mastered working as a contractor in the 1890s for St. Louis architects par excellence of the Classical mode; Barnett, Haynes & Barnett. Upon completion in 1908, the new station served a district with a population of about 65,000. The twelfth District population peaked at 100,000 in 1921; the 1920 U. S. Census reported 772,879 city-wide.
Today, St. Louis' population is estimated at less than 500,000 and the urban problems of those intervening years have taken a toll on the neighborhood and station. Reorganization into fewer police districts first closed the Page Boulevard Station in 1963 but a high crime rate and petitions signed by more than 1,862 citizens created enough public pressure to reopen the station in 1966. The doors shut again in 1973 and no plans were announced for any future use of the building. In 1976, the Academy-Sherman Park community organization approached the City's Community Development Agency about possible reuse of the building as well as consideration for City Landmark designation. Landmark status was achieved in September of that year but, to date, all attempts to lease or buy the building from the City have been unsuccessful. While there are many positive signs of neighborhood rejuvenation, the Page Boulevard Station shows signs of continuing physical deterioration. Fearing the loss of a strategic neighborhood landmark, the Academy-Sherman Park Neighborhood Association has interested several St. Louis area universities in a proposal to use the building for extension courses in conjunction with a Black Studies outreach program.
Building Description
Prominently located at the intersection of two major thoroughfares, the Page Boulevard Police Station has been an important neighborhood symbol. The building's bold, formal facades lend dignity and order to the corner site while its close resemblance to domestic models tempers any sense of imposing institutional character.
On May 4th, 1908, a building permit was issued to the Police Department, City of St. Louis, for a three-story brick police station with iron girders, estimated to cost $35,959. J. A. Smith and W. R. Faulkner were recorded as architects for the building and McCully Construction Co. the contractor. Since it is known from city records that Faulkner was General Manager of Police Property and Smith was Building Commissioner, the design of the station has been attributed to Smith.
Constructed of warm, light brown speckled brick of variegated tones, the main body of the building is a rectangular block, seventy-seven feet by forty-feet, with walls sixteen inches thick. The symmetrical five-bay principal (western) elevation is dominated by a wooden Doric order portico with a gambrel-roofed pediment faced with narrow clapboard. The doorway is framed by columns and entablature of the Doric order (recalling the south doorway to the tower of Independence Hall) and is surmounted by a balcony where ornate brackets flank the doorway. A modillioned and dentilled wooden cornice surrounds the building. First and second-story windows are wooden framed and have a single pivoting twelve-light central panel with side lights below a fixed transom; window sills are stone. Terra cotta (now painted white) quoining and trim on the flat radiating arches enliven the facade. Four dormers with Gothic sash windows punctuate the gray slate roof. The climax to the composition is a graceful thirty-foot-octagonal wooden cupola rising from a square platform and capped with an iron flag pole.
The southern elevation (fronting Page Boulevard) is given appropriate emphasis by a handsome Palladian window and three small oculi in the gable. Fenestration is identical to the principal elevation and the Doric order entrance is repeated. The rear (eastern) elevation maintains the five-bay formal symmetry of the front facade and features a projecting two-story brick central pavilion with a gambrel roof and terra cotta quoining. Windows and dormers are detailed as those on the principal elevation.
The one-story flat-roofed stable (twenty-six by seventy feet) attached to the north end of the station is treated as a subordinate building with a rusticated brick facade of simpler design. The stable, however, is thoughtfully related to the main structure by vertical and horizontal bands of terra cotta which echo lines of the station's more elaborate membering. Inside, the stable is faced with glazed white brick.
The station today remains structurally sound but shows signs of neglect where wooden trim needs repair and paint; areas of the roof are missing slate. The fine proportions, detailing, and materials of the building have rarely been used to better effect in similar city building types, thus placing the Page Boulevard Police Station among St. Louis' finest contributions to the Colonial Revival style.
Southern elevation (1979)
