Mullanphy Emigrant Home Wins "Best Of" Award

The Mullanphy Emigrant Home has won the Best Lost Cause in the annual Best of St. Louis edition of the Riverfront Times.

While far from an actual lost cause, here is what the RFT had to say.

The Mullanphy Emigrant Home

www.savemullanphy.org

Built in 1867 to house the Mullanphy Traveller’s Aid Fund, the Mullanphy Emigrant Home has played many roles during its 140-year history: schoolhouse, warehouse, motorcycle repair shop, cause célebre. The building’s most recent turn came on April 2, 2006, when a fierce storm collapsed its south wall. The landmark’s imminent demise prompted a small knot of historic preservationists to launch a campaign to try to save it. But on March 31 of this year, a second storm further damaged the building, sinking portions of the north and east walls. Still, the preservationists have, well, persevered. They now estimate that it will cost $350,000 to repair the walls. Fundraising efforts had raised $57,000 at last check. The good news: The west wall appears to be holding up. For now.

Now we will just wait for our award check. Oh, that’s right, there is no award check. Well, we certainly could use a few checks for Mullanphy (although the RFT article is already out-of-date, since our contributions now total $63,000). If you would like to make a donation to the cause, or just learn a little more, head over to http://www.savemullanphy.org/. And every dollar we collect for the cause will make it that much more likely that the Mullanphy building will be recognized as the “Best Comeback” in the RFT’s 2008 “Best of” awards.

By the way, we would argue about the winner of the Best View of Downtown, but we won’t hold any grudges.

Congratulations also go’s out to Old North’s Michael Allen.

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Crown Square Update

Plenty of action in the last week on the Crown Square project. Mechanical rough ins, framing, and even several new sewer lines have made good progress. Buildings in the commercial portion of the project will be under construction soon as well. Check out the sign below as well. This was found in one of the buildings on the Mall and is from when it was being built in the 1970’s.

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Mullanphy Building Foundation Starts Construction

Construction has started on the new foundation for the south side of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. The unstable stone foundation is being removed, and a new concrete foundation is being poured where necessary. This will allow masons to lay a concrete block wall to close up the openings on the south and north sides.

As a reminder, we are very much still in need of your donations to help stabilize and rebuild the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. Visit www.savemullanphy.org anytime to make a tax deductible contribution through PayPal, or just click the link on the right column. To see more pictures from today and the past year, visit our Flickr Set.

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Crown Square Update

Work on Crown Square has made great progress in the past week. Three buildings now have rough framing going in. Some mechanical work is starting including the first of the new sewer lines. Two roofs are being put on. More buildings are undergoing interior demolition, as well. Work is very noticeable on the pedestrian mall itself with dumpsters and equipment in view of the patrons of Crown Candy.

Photos from 9-18-07 showing several interiors.

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Crown Square on KWMU

KWMU ran a short story on the 14th St. Mall redevelopment yesterday.

Project underway to redevelop 14th Street Mall
Tom Weber, KWMU

ST. LOUIS, MO (2007-09-17) Work has begun in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood that will see the 14th Street Mall made into new apartments and retail.

Visitors to the famed Crown Candy Kitchen know the mall as that deserted, ghost-town-like area across the street from the eatery.

But the mall’s second life will be as converted apartments and retail space.

…

“People are thrilled to see something happening, finally,” added Thomas. “After many years of community planning, visioning sessions, many years of other ideas and proposals that have been floated, they haven’t seen anything real happening.”

Read the full story here.

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Crown Square Construction Progress

Construction work on Crown Square continues to move at a quick rate. One building is nearly finished with rough framing, and the masonry work on several buildings is moving along. Interior demolition is also progressing on more buildings.

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Crown Square Construction Update

Construction work on Crown Square continues in full swing in spite of the recent rains. Several more buildings are now being gutted including 2828 N. 14th, and 2712 N. 14th, which is one of the buildings actually on the pedestrian mall. There is plenty of building up going on as well, with carpentry and masonry work now in full swing on several buildings.

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Crown Village Construction Update

Plenty of progress on the Crown Village Redevelopment over the last few days. Buildings continue to be cleared out in preparation for rebuilding, masonry work continues, and the first carpentry work has now begun. Work has finally expanded to the pedestrian mall itself, with interior demolition work commencing on the rear building at 2605 N. 14th.

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