(Picture from http://www.defensiblespace.com/book/illustrations.htm).
The project was completed in 1955, and was so horrible, it was torn down in 1972. here is what the space it occupied looks like now:
It is the green space in the middle. 27 years ago, 2870 apartments were torn down. Nothing has replaced it.
Given St. Louis' economic struggles, such emptiness is perhaps inevitable. Nevertheless, it is also striking.
Oddly enough, the destruction of the Cabrini-Green public housing project in Chicago has not led to a similar hole in the center of the city. Perhaps this is because CG was not torn down (and was torn down only in pieces--some of it remains--when it was clear that there would be something built--market-rate housing, mostly--to replace it.
ReplyDeleteNow, the Robert Taylor Homes, on the south side, might not be as quickly replaced, should they disappear.