Westmoreland Place Historic District

Westmoreland Place Historic District
Name	Westmoreland Place Historic District
Nrhp type	hd
Location	St. Louis, Missouri
Built	1890–1920
Architect	Various
Architecture	Colonial Revival; Tudor Revival; Classical Revival; Arts and Crafts; Beaux-Arts
Added	1974

Westmoreland Place Historic District Westmoreland Place Historic District is a residential enclave in St. Louis, Missouri noted for its cohesive late 19th- and early 20th-century planning and high-style domestic architecture. The district illustrates the influence of national movements such as City Beautiful movement, Colonial Revival architecture, and Tudor Revival architecture on urban neighborhoods developed during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Its development involved local developers, immigrant craftsmen, and national architects associated with trends found in Boston, New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

History

The development began in the 1890s under the auspices of private speculators and was influenced by municipal reforms tied to the Progressive Era and civic initiatives from the Board of Aldermen (St. Louis) and the St. Louis Park Commission. Early plats and lot sales were contemporaneous with projects in Soulard (St. Louis), Lafayette Square (St. Louis), and the expansion of streetcar suburbs promoted by companies like the St. Louis Street Railway Company. Financing and investment drew on capital from institutions such as the First National Bank of St. Louis and firms tied to the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Builders and architects working in the district included practitioners influenced by design sources from McKim, Mead & White precedents and pattern-books circulating in Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalogs. The neighborhood was home to professionals associated with the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, the Barnes Hospital administration, and merchants integrated into trade networks linking St. Louis Union Station and the Mississippi River shipping industry.

Architecture and landscape

Streetscapes display a cross-section of stylistic references, including Beaux-Arts architecture, Arts and Crafts movement, Classical Revival architecture, and vernacular interpretations of Tudor Revival architecture and Colonial Revival architecture. Many houses feature masonry work by masons trained in immigrant workshops tied to German American and Irish American craft traditions prominent in St. Louis. Landscaped lots reflect principles from the Olmsted Brothers and echo parkway ideas used in Forest Park (St. Louis), with canopy trees of species found in contemporaneous plantings in Missouri Botanical Garden. Original features include wrought-iron gates, carriage houses, cobblestone alleys, and granite curbing sourced from quarries supplying projects like the Eads Bridge foundations. The district's urban design exhibits influences similar to planned enclaves in Brookline, Massachusetts and Shadyside, Pittsburgh.

Notable properties

Several residences exemplify architectural trends and associations with prominent figures. Mansions with façades referencing McKim, Mead & White detailing and entries recalling Beaux-Arts motifs sit near houses inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced Prairie aesthetics and Greene and Greene Arts and Crafts detailing. Specific properties include homes once occupied by executives from Anheuser-Busch, physicians affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, and jurists from the Eastern District of Missouri. The district contains examples of works by local architects who trained with firms connected to Harvard University Graduate School of Design alumni and practitioners educated at the École des Beaux-Arts. Ancillary buildings—carriage houses converted to garages—reflect technological transitions similar to adaptations seen around St. Louis University and Washington University in St. Louis neighborhoods.

Preservation and designation

Recognition of the district’s architectural and historic significance involved coordination among preservation entities including the National Park Service, the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, local preservationists associated with Landmarks Association of St. Louis, and neighborhood associations comparable to those in Central West End (St. Louis). Nomination efforts drew on comparative studies referencing National Register listings such as Lafayette Square Historic District, Soulard Historic District, and the Skinker-DeBaliviere Historic District. Legal protections and design review procedures echo frameworks in St. Louis County ordinances and mirror preservation approaches used in New Orleans and Savannah, Georgia. Funding for restoration projects has come from tax-credit programs administered through state and federal incentives for rehabilitation of historic properties.

Significant residents and events

Over time the enclave housed industrialists connected to Anheuser-Busch, civic leaders who served on the St. Louis Board of Education, physicians linked to Barnes-Jewish Hospital predecessors, and legal professionals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The neighborhood hosted social events, charitable fundraisers, and private receptions tied to institutions such as Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum, and philanthropic initiatives led by families with ties to the Pruitt–Igoe-era urban debates. Period gatherings reflected broader cultural patterns seen in the social calendars of elites in Kansas City, Missouri and Cincinnati.

Geographic boundaries and context

Located within the city grid of St. Louis, the district occupies a compact area bounded by streets historically linked to the expansion of streetcar lines and arterial routes leading to Forest Park (St. Louis) and downtown near Grand Boulevard (St. Louis). Its proximity to institutions such as Washington University in St. Louis and transportation hubs like Union Station (St. Louis) situates the district within a matrix of residential, institutional, and commercial zones comparable to adjacent neighborhoods including Central West End (St. Louis), Skinker-DeBaliviere, and DeBaliviere Place. The urban fabric shows continuity with citywide patterns of residential subdivision and reflects the spatial logic of streetcar-era development evident across Midwestern United States cities.

Category:Historic districts in St. Louis Category:National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis