Lafayette Square today

Story and photos by Lisa A. Johnston

Parts of this story: Introduction ~~ Historicalbeginnings ~~ The Great Cyclone of 1896 ~~ The age of blight ~~ Lafayette Square today ~~ Tour Lafayette Square

In 2000, thirty years after theLafayette Square Restoration Committee formed, ninety percentof the historic homes in the St. Louis neighborhood are being worked on or are fullyrestored.

Historic reproduction houses have provided seamless infill to the Victorianlandscape. Oaks and maples once again form a canopy over the 30-acre park, whichis enclosed by an original cast iron fence. Swans grace the lake.

Architecture magazine has featured the neighborhood, and Better Homes & Gardensnamed Lafayette Square "one of the ten most beautiful painted ladies neighborhoods in the nation."

Still,a handful of historic structures in the neighborhood need to be saved. One such house is the large,three-story Judge family house along Chouteau Avenue.The Second French Empire home was built by a Judge who did iron work for JamesEads, designer of St. Louis's famous Eads Bridge. The bridge is the first solidspan bridge across the Mississippi River.

These links can provide further in-depth information about LafayetteSquare:

• Lafayette Square Restoration Committee / Lafayette Square Web site.
• Information about the annual Holiday Parlor Tour on December 10, 2000.
• Lafayette Square historic building code.
• Lafayette Square properties for sale/rehabilitation.
• See the August Blanke house (series author Lisa Johnston's house).
• D.C. Jaccard house Web site.