I was scooting around the Covenant Blu/Grand Center neighborhood recently and took some time to walk Park-Like, “a garden for people, plants, and wildlife”, that was installed by the Pulitzer Arts Foundation.
The site was designed and built by local artist and landscape designer Chris Carl, founder of Studio Land Arts in Granite City, IL.
It is located at 3713 Washington Boulevard, across from the Contemporary Arts Museum and the Sheldon.
The spot is a welcomed break from the scads of surface parking lots and vacant/undeveloped properties that exist in this part of our city.
Park-Like is well done and a great place to wander the network of paths that range from lumber bridges to mowed turf that lead you through a maze of plants, watersheds and architectural ruins. The space was designed to mitigate storm water runoff from the large surface parking lot immediately to the east. There are also benches and other areas to sit and relax.
During excavation to establish the water runoff sinks, architectural remnants and debris were discovered including materials from the former Victorian Club at 3719 Washington Boulevard (source). This once popular place was supposedly a gambling parlor, restaurant and bar. Notable jazz musicians like former river boat musician, Fate Marable, who served as their solo pianist at the Victorian Club up to 1947 when he died. Marable worked with Louis Armstrong and other notable jazz musicians in and around St. Louis (source).
The Victorian Club was in financial trouble and the last owner, Salvatore LoPiccolo, a suburban guy from Richmond Heights, MO owed back taxes and much more. It was closed in the 1960s, later destroyed and partially buried on site.
Americans destroy so much, especially the buildings that housed “clandestine activity”. Look no further than Gas Light Square or DeBaliviere Avenue. If something gets too “seedy” or clientele is deemed “undesirable”, they close it down and destroy it. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose.
Luckily, Park-Like serves as a bit of a reminder of what was here and what we continue to lose through demolition vs. rehabilitation.
The park space works and is quite successful in creating a calming place right in the heart of the city.
Adding interest, there is currently an installation by New York City artist Chloë Bass called “Wayfinding”.
Per the Pulitzer Arts Foundation:
“Chloë Bass (b. 1984) created Wayfinding, an installation of sculptures inspired by public wayfinding signage. Bass designed a set of more than thirty signs placed throughout the Pulitzer’s outdoor spaces. These works are organized into four sections. Each is anchored by a billboard posing a question that explores human emotions ranging from compassion and desire to anxiety and loss. Accompanying sculptures include archival images and statements written by the artist that encourage private reflection in public space, intensifying everyday moments.
Wayfinding also includes a site-specific audio artwork narrated by the artist and local collaborators. This component of the exhibition draws from several sources: quotes from the City of St. Louis’s Mow to Own Program (a program where citizens can acquire properties adjacent to their own by caring for the site for two years), Google and Yelp reviews of the Pulitzer, reports on aging and disorientation from the National Institutes of Health, landscape architecture teaching guides, and the artist’s personal narrative. It also incorporates many of the phrases written on the sculptures. Alongside Bass, the audio artwork is read by artist Damon Davis; poet, storyteller, and podcaster Cheeraz Gormon; and theater artist Ron Himes.”
The installation is thought provoking and works. I highly recommend checking it out and if you are a fan of photography, there are some interesting reflections of the surrounding city that change with your angle and time of visit…for this reason alone, repeat visits are warranted.
Thanks to the Pulitzer Arts Foundation for making use of a under-utilized city space. I hold out hope for the nearby surface parking lots succumbing to higher uses in the future.
