April’s History Talks were incredible! We welcomed Meg Lousteau, the Director of the St. Louis Cultural Resources Office and Michael Allen, the Director of the National Building Arts Center and a member of the city’s Preservation Board, who talked about many of the challenges of saving structures in St. Louis, along with significant input from the audience.
Meg and Michael led us through a deep dive into the challenges and complexities of maintaining our cultural heritage. The conversation touched on several buildings at risk, highlighting the ongoing struggle between preservation efforts and modern development pressures. For example, cases like the Culver House, torn down by the St. Louis Symphony, illustrate how development interests often clash with efforts to preserve historical structures.
They explained how community involvement can sometimes tip the scales toward preservation and how public pressure can influence decisions. Both the speakers and audience also discussed the economic and political challenges associated with preservation and highlighted the importance of laws to protect historic structures and the need for enforcement.
On a positive note, we discussed several success stories of historic buildings being successfully repurposed, proving that preservation can be both appealing and economically viable.
Meg also discussed the Cultural Resources Office Areas of Review map, while Michael talked about the St. Louis Vacancy Data map. Both are useful resources when researching preservation districts and areas of greatest need.
You can view the slides from the talk below:
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Unseen STL History Talks: Historic Preservation