The History and traditions of Saint Louis are a fascinating, complex subject. This book and lecture is one element in the story which, until now, has evaded a full telling.
To most St. Louisans of long presence in the town, the mention of Vandeventer Place conjures up a mixture of amazement and mystery. The finest book published which details the Street’s architecture in part is “Architecture of the Private Streets of St. Louis, the Architects and the Houses They Designed,” by Charles C. Savage. That work offers the serious student of turn of the Nineteenth Century architecture a professionally outlined, detailed description of the many featured homes of Vandeventer Place, as well as many others from the numerous old private streets of St. Louis. It is a masterpiece of architectural erudition we commend to the serious student and enthusiast.
In this work, and for the first time, authors Michael Boyd and Thomas C. Grady offer a look all 50 homes in Vandeventer Place, with biographical detail of the owners and the source of their considerable Gilded Age wealth, not as gossip but as a study of how wealth was gained and held in the time just after the Civil War.
Free, reservations not required. Limited parking on the Museum lot, free street parking on Sunday. Books will be available for sale ($32.95 each).
