2805 Arsenal Street
Built:1875
Style: Second Empire
Neighborhood: Benton Park West
City Block: 2059
On 1875 Compton and Dry Map: yes
On 1883 Hopkins Atlas: yes
Historical significance. This house was built in 1875 on Arsenal Street near California Ave. The house was built by and for Heinrich Krah, a bricklayer, who moved to this area from the Kosciusko neighborhood. Krah lived here for roughly 30 years, and appears in city directories until about 1905. Other people boarded at the house during this time, such as Peter Schiltz, a brewer, who was living here in 1883 and 1884. Heinrich’s sons, August and Herman, also lived at the house and worked as bricklayers as well. Over the next several years m, the residents of the house changed multiple times. From 1906-1907, the house was home to the Szevery family. Adolph Szevery and his son Edward were both carpenters, his son Emil was a painter, and his son Adolph Jr. was a baker. In 1910, a bartender named Frank Buergler was living at the house. In 1913, an ice man named Edmund Burlis was living here. By 1916, it was home to Philip Arand, a porter. Over the years since, this area has had its ups and downs, with the streetcar bringing lots of traffic to the area, and suburban flight in the late 20th century causing the area to decline. However, the area has made somewhat of a comeback in recent years, especially with the revitalization of the Cherokee Street district.
Architectural significance: Originally, when this home was built in 1875, it was a flounder house, with a flounder roof, as seen on the 1875 Compton and Dry map. It was updated with a mansard roof at some point in the 1880s, likely in 1884, when the city tax assessors office lists its construction date. Many working class German families in St. Louis built small two story mansarded houses in the 1880s and 1890s, and these can be seen across many neighborhoods in both north and South St. Louis.
On the 1875 Compton and Dry map, you can see how the house originally had a flounder roof, and was only a single story.
The area on the 1883 Hopkins Atlas