LaSalle Park Italianate Row (South 10th Street)

This row of houses in the LaSalle Park neighborhood were built in the Italianate style by the St. Louis Mutual House Building Company, one of the first house construction companies in St. Louis. These houses were built as middle class residences, and upon their completion, were occupied mostly by German immigrants to the city. The Italianate cornices and semicircular lintels make these Row houses unique among the vast number of row houses across the city, and this particular group is the only row of its kind in the entire state of Missouri. Some of the early residents included George Schlosstein, who imported fine wines and liquor, Leopold R. Strauss, the owner of a wholesale tobacco firm, who had a partner, Nathan Falk, who lived next door. Some of the buildings were given mansard roofs between 1876 and 1885, although most remained with a pitched roof. This area continued as a wealthy and middle class neighborhood until the mid 20th century, when a number of the surrounding buildings were demolished for urban renewal and housing projects. Despite a large portion of the neighborhood being lost, a number of blocks were spared, and remain intact today. Thanks to an effort in the 1980s by Ralston Purina, many of the buildings that had fallen into disrepair were restored, and the area was made into a historic district.