Clemens House collapsed!

[SubLunar]

The news just reported that the Clemens house just collapsed. They showed a huge portion of the main part of the church from one end to the other just fell down. Goddamnit! That place was f'n cool...one of my favorites.

sorry if the images are too big...

back in the day (1908)


this is the area which collapsed (taken march 2008)


facing opposite direction


It's a shame that such an AWESOME historic building would be so neglected. :(

The owner was a fuckin douche and did nothing to take care of this place. You can see where the idiot put up a new ceiling below the damaged ceiling instead of fixing it. WTF?! What good is putting up a fake ceiling?!

I hope this makes someone (with alot of money) realize this place deserves a restoration.

[Willard]

I hate to say this but it's most likely going to get demolished now. A partial structure collapse is a bad omen for what is to come for a structure's future.

[lolabelle]

Wow, this place looks like it used to be something amazing. Too bad another great site is probably about to see its last days.

What was this place anyway? It looks familiar, maybe I've read about it on here...

[Willard]

It was in Memory Machine's Blog. The house itself was originally built and owned by Mark Twain's uncle in the 1850's and it was added onto in the back by the son in the 1880's. In 1897 it was sold to a Catholic order who added the chapel addition on. They used it until the 1970's or 80's and then sold it to which different tenents used the place until 2000 which it's been abandoned to this day.

And actually looking at the collapsed area, I think the original house could be saved (which is the actual historic part) and the rest could be demoed.

[thechariot]

that part has been like that for awhile, unless now you mean its completely collapsed?

[Chris]

I haven't been in many buildings that were in such a poor state of repair.

The roof was rotted away (read: mosty gone) throughout much of the place. This, of course, lets water in and causes the floors below to rot. You REALLY had to watch your step, even on parts of the first floor due to the building's structural problems and rotting floors.

The lowered ceiling was likely done decades ago, as part of a remodel, not so much as a quick fix to keep rain from entering.

[SubLunar]

yeah I know I was trying to be optimistic. The news guy said "it looks like they can finally tear it down".

Damn stupid historic/beautiful/awesome buildings getting in the way of progress.

They could've put up a parking lot there a long time ago!

This is why America has no real soul. No tangible evidence of the past. Europe has all this shit that's centuries old. We have brand new Walmart's where cool shit used to be...

If you haven't been to this house, you're really missing out. Hopefully I can make it back there before it's gone.

[crazydrummerdude]

this is the area which collapsed (taken march 2008)

I was glancing through my SLSO 08/09 schedule, and what did I see on p20? An ad for the Elgar Cello Concerto with Daniel Lee playing a cello in the middle of this room.

You'd theorize that with the kind of money the SLSO brings in, someone somewhere would have put some money towards the preservation of this place.

But, no.

[thechariot]

went by there today, all the entrances are pretty much fenced off but there are ways in...

[Willard]

went by there today, all the entrances are pretty much fenced off but there are ways in...

If this is the area that collapsed then it's the second addition to the original house. The main house is still salvagable and even without this addition and the church, it would still qualify for the national register.

[SubLunar]

As far as I'm concerned it would be GREAT if they salvaged it and locked it up so tight I could never get in again. I would just be glad that this piece of STL history was not lost forever. That's my biggest concern. This building is amazing and to lose it would be a great loss for St Louis.

It's sad to think how much of our city has already been torn down that we'll never know about.

For example: the Saint Louis Collisseum (!) torn down in 1953... I don't even want to think about it.

[Willard]

As far as I'm concerned it would be GREAT if they salvaged it and locked it up so tight I could never get in again. I would just be glad that this piece of STL history was not lost forever. That's my biggest concern. This building is amazing and to lose it would be a great loss for St Louis.

It's sad to think how much of our city has already been torn down that we'll never know about.

For example: the Saint Louis Collisseum (!) torn down in 1953... I don't even want to think about it.

How about the old 1840's businesses that used to be at 8th and Franklin (now where the 'insert random new company owner name here" Center is downtown). I was actually reading any autobiography written by one of Springfield's leading businessmen and he talks (with conciderable detail) about that general area and how it was a new neighborhood in the 1840's.

[ropingk]

well just think we had to tead down (implode) the old Checkerdoom..Arena... The old Barn to make way for some new office building that are only about 60% rented but hey the great mayor said it wa PROGRESS he should ahev been left inside

[thechariot]

went today..




winter pic


summer pics





the rest are here..
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg29 ... 0round%202

[SubLunar]

Finally had the chance to go back: (Images too big?)