This large Italianate house in the LaSalle Park neighborhood was built in 1866 for Charles F. Hauck, one of the first German doctors to immigrate to St. Louis. Hauck had moved to St. Louis in 1849, at a time when only a few of the area’s doctors were German. He had this large Italianate house built at Ninth and Morrison, and operated his doctors office out of the back of the house, where patients would enter through a side door. One thing that can be determined about Hauck based on the size and shape of the house is that he was fairly wealthy, and made quite a bit of money as a doctor. The house is five bays wide, indicating that the owner had enough money to build a wide house, as houses were taxed in the 19th century based on how much street frontage they had. After Hauck died in 1882, two of his sons, Louis and Eugene continued to live in the house until at least 1906, and continued to operate the medical practice started by their father. Both sons were also very prominent social figures in St. Louis society, and were members of lots of organizations including the Liederkranz Club and the South St. Louis Turnverein, which was located a few blocks further south in the same neighborhood. The house and the blocks surrounding it have survived in excellent shape, and provide a look into one of the oldest surviving wealthy neighborhoods in St. Louis, predating Lafayette Square by about a decade. The area was in disrepair by the 1970s, and many of the houses at the western edge of the neighborhood were lost to the urban renewal projects of the mid 20th century, but investment by Ralston Purina in the 1980s restored most of the surviving houses. Today, this section of St. Louis is not heavily visited, but it holds a significant place in the city’s early history.
1940s photo of the mansion by William G. Swekosky