Lipphardt House

This Federal style house on South 11th Street in Soulard is one of the earlier houses built in the hills of Soulard, dating to around 1850. It was likely built as a farm house originally, when this part of the neighborhood was beyond the edges of urban development. Among the features that suggest its age are the large two story porch on the front, as well as the height above the street which the house sits at, as well as its distance from the street. Other houses built around it in the 1860s sit much closer to the street and are right up to the sidewalk, suggesting that this house was built before the street was graded. By 1875, the house was home to a German grocer named Fred Lipphardt. Lipphardt was listed as a grocer withal shop on Russell throughout the 1880s and even as late as 1912. At some point in the mid 20th century, prior to 1940, the elaborate porch on the front of the house, which was a typical feature of Antebellum Era architecture was replaced with a small entryway, likely when the neighborhood began to decline in the years following the Great Depression. By the 1960s, the area was in danger of demolition, like Kosciusko to its east, but due to the efforts of preservationists in the 1970s, it was saved. At some point during the restoration of the neighborhood, the Antebellum Era porch was rebuilt on the front of the house.