This house in the Tower Grove East Neighborhood is one of the oldest surviving structures in the neighborhood, dating to about 1860. It is a flounder house, although it features an unusual design even for a flounder house. Not only does it feature a side facing wall that has the flounder design, but it also has a rear facing wall in the same style. Perhaps it was shaped like this because it was intended to have two houses developed on each wall, and it was supposed to be the corner structure. However, nothing was developed around it until the 1880s, as seen on the Compton and Dry map, and when the structure was built, it was not built in close proximity, as was initially intended. The neighborhood surrounding it was developed relatively early, as it was located only a block off Gravois Road, which saw some of the first settlements in the area west of Jefferson. By 1900, most of the older structures had been replaced by newer ones, as the neighborhood became more densely populated in the 1890s and early 1900s. Unlike many city neighborhoods in the urban core, this area didn’t experience a very significant decline in the mid 20th century, and remained mostly occupied and intact while neighborhoods like Soulard fell into disrepair. Today, the area remains stable, as many of the surrounding areas have seen revitalization. In a neighborhood mostly filled with turn of the century houses, this flounder stands out as a unique example of pre Civil War architecture.
