Thomas C. Higgins Mansion (4389 West Pine)

This mansion at 4389 West Pine Boulevard is another Thomas C. Higgins design in the Central West End. Just like his other design a block down the street, this Queen Anne mansion was designed in 1892, and features a prominent octagonal turret. The mansion also takes some stylistic cues from the Richardsonian Romanesque style with its first floor that has a sandstone facade built into the brick from which the rest of the house was made. The Central West End was just beginning its time as one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in St. Louis at the time the mansion was built, so it remained as a relatively expensive house for at least 40 years. As the wealthy people in the neighborhood began to move to St. Louis County in neighborhoods like Clayton, a number of mansions on West Pine were replaced by high rise apartment buildings and offices, but the area remained largely intact despite this. By the 1980s, people began to reinvest in the area, and the neighborhood once again has become the most expensive in the city of St. Louis as a result. Many of the mansions which had become rooming houses have been converted back to single family houses, including this mansion.