A Surreal Walk Down Lafayette Street Pt. 1

My recent walk down St. Louis's Lafayette Street, between Jefferson and Grand, was a rather surreal experience. The most striking aspect is the number of empty lots between buildings, like this one:

These new buildings have been added on what were presumably empty lots. While infilling is almost always a good thing, and the buildings at least were brought into harmony with the area with brick facades, I'm not a huge fan of their architecture, which is out of step with the neighborhood.

(More after the jump.)

Cool Buildings in Need of TLC

I plan to have a regular feature called "Cool Buildings in Need of TLC" - examples of beautiful, quirky, or otherwise notable old buildings that are in a state of disrepair or abandonment but that look redeemable from the outside (and, if they are, ought to be saved). Here are two from Lafayette Street in St. Louis:

One of these things is not like the other

(Lafayette Street, St. Louis)