Central West End Neighborhood Fact Sheet

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	Central West End Neighborhood DESCRIPTION: A little New York, a little European and totally St. Louis, the Central West End (CWE) is St. Louis' most cosmopolitan neighborhood. Long known as an affluent residential area and once the most fashionable place in the city to shop, today it is an architectural treasure and a hub of culinary delights - an exhilarating mix of stunning 19th century mansions on elegant, tree-lined private streets; modern apartment buildings; exciting restaurants; colorful outdoor cafes and intriguing shops and galleries. Best visited on foot, this vibrant neighborhood has been described as an eclectic place where tradition meets the avant-garde, and diversity rules. The CWE stretches from midtown's western edge to the city's western border and includes Forest Park, the third largest urban park in the country with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions, and the stunning Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (the New Cathedral) which houses the largest collection of mosaics in the world. The CWE's commercial district is mainly along Euclid and stretches from Forest Park to Delmar. Restaurants are primarily clustered in the Euclid/McPherson area, the Euclid/Laclede area and in Maryland Plaza. The Central West End's delightful outdoor cafes are the perfect place to enjoy a cup of coffee or an iced tea (invented in St. Louis during the 1904 World's Fair) and indulge in some people watching. Unusual, elaborate turn-of-the-century lamp posts and cobblestone streets add to the atmosphere of this neighborhood which first grew in popularity with the coming of the 1904 World's Fair which was held in nearby Forest Park. At the neighborhood's western border is Washington University and St. Louis University is near its eastern border. LOCATION: The Central West End is just four miles west of downtown and adjacent to Forest Park. It is bounded by I-64/40, Skinker, Delmar and Vandeventer. ADDRESS: Central West End Association, 403 N. Euclid, St. Louis, MO 63108 PHONE NUMBER: 314-367-2220 WEB SITE: http://stlouis.missouri.org/cwe and www.centralwestend.org GETTING THERE: From downtown St. Louis, take I-64/40 west to the Kingshighway North exit. Turn right onto Kingshighway and follow it to Lindell. Turn right on Lindell and follow it to Euclid. Turn right or left on Euclid depending on which part of the neighborhood you want to visit. METROLINK: The Central West End has two MetroLink light rail stops. The Forest Park stop is on DeBaliviere near the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park about a mile west of the main business area. The Central West End station is just east of Euclid near Barnes Hospital Plaza and Audubon. From there it is a short walk north to the shops and restaurants along Euclid. BEST KNOWN FOR: The Central West End is known for its exciting array of shops, galleries and restaurants, its proximity to Forest Park and the architecture of the mansions on its private streets. It is home to the Barnes-Jewish Hospital complex and the Washington University Medical School. The CWE also borders Forest Park with its major cultural institution and is the home of the "New Cathedral," (formally known as the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis) a magnificent Romanesque cathedral with an unusual Byzantine interior. WHAT'S NEW: The Central West End is full of construction activity with several projects scheduled to come online. A new Marriott Hotel is being built at Euclid and Forest Park Parkway with a three-building "residential village" going in across the street. Barnes-Jewish Hospital is spending more than $1 billion to expand and upgrade its medical campus. In an effort to consolidate its outpatient services together, the hospital opened its new Siteman Cancer Center and its Wellness Center in the Central West End recently. It has also opened a new emergency room replacing its old one. New additions and renovations have also been made to Children's Hospital. The Washington University campus on the CWE's western border continues to grow eastward with new buildings and parking garages being built in the Central West End, and on the main campus, new buildings for the engineering school are being added, and the art and architecture schools are being extended at Skinker and Forsyth. A new MetroLink station at Forest Park Parkway and Skinker is scheduled to open in 2005. In early 2000, a new parking garage with a public library branch on the main floor opened at Euclid and Lindell, and the Chase Park Plaza Hotel was rehabbed and opened the year before with 251 luxurious suites, movie theatres, restaurants and a new conference center which opened in mid-2002. The Central West End offers a variety of shops, restaurants and galleries mainly along the Euclid corridor. The Chase-Park Plaza, for many years the major hotel in the Central West End, was built in the 1920s as two separate buildings. The Chase, built in 1922 and the Park Plaza Hotel, built in 1929, were two of St. Louis' premier hotels. The two hotels were combined into one in 1961 and within a few years, the Chase-Park Plaza was a major convention hotel hosting thousands of conventioneers each year and employing more than 1,000 people. A favorite nightspot in the hotel, the Chase Club, offered the best of national entertainers. But in 1989, losing out to downtown hotels, the Chase closed and the Park Plaza was turned into offices and luxury apartments. The Chase-Park Plaza underwent extensive renovations and was reopened as a hotel in 2000. HIGHLIGHTS: The Central West End is also home to Karl Bissinger's French Confections, a company that produces fine chocolates. The family's first store was opened in the 1600s in Paris where Bissinger confections were prized by Louis XIV and Napoleon. Some years ago the company moved to St. Louis. City engineer Julius Pitzman planned two of St. Louis' private places - Portland Place and Westmoreland Place - in the late 1880s as the area's first private streets, an exclusive residential area for St. Louis' elite. Washington Terrace and Kingsbury Place were developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Both private streets have elegant entries. Harvey Ellis designed the clock tower at the Union entrance to Washington Terrace, and leading architect Thomas P. Barnett designed the beaux-arts entrance from the same street to Kingsbury Place. Hortense Place, between Pershing and McPherson Avenues, was named for the daughter of Jacob Goldman, a Jewish manufacturer who created the private place in 1900 after he was prohibited from moving into Portland and Westmoreland Places because of his religion. Lenox Place, also between Pershing and McPherson Avenues, was developed in 1903, and the homes were owned by many of the children of the original homeowners in Westmoreland and Portland Places. The Washington University Medical Center along Kingshighway Boulevard from Forest Park Avenue to I-64/40 has been an anchor of the Central West End for many decades. During World War I, the Medical School and St. Louis Children's Hospital moved to the Central West End from other locations, and Barnes Hospital opened there as well. In the late 1920s, Jewish Hospital moved to the complex from its previous location at Delmar and Union Boulevards. During the 1970s, the Washington University Medical Center decided to remain at its Central West End location instead of moving to St. Louis County. In the early 1990s, Barnes and Jewish Hospitals merged and in recent years the new Barnes-Jewish and Children's Hospitals have expanded greatly. Barnes-Jewish and several of its specialties regularly make U. S. News & World Report's list of top medical facilities in the country. The churches of the Central West End are also noted for their fascinating architecture. "Holy Corners," at the intersection of Kingshighway, Washington, McPherson and Westminster was so dubbed because of the number of churches and temples located there. They include St. John's Methodist Church on Washington designed by noted architect Theodore Link who also designed St. Louis' Union Station; the former Second Baptist Church on McPherson; the former Temple Israel, also on McPherson, and First Church of Christ, built in 1904 for the first Christian Science congregation west of the Mississippi. Also here is Tuscan Temple, built in 1907-8 on Westminster Place for Tuscan Lodge No. 360 A.F. & A. Other historic churches in the CWE include Trinity Episcopal Church at Euclid and Washington, built in 1910, and Second Presbyterian Church at Westminster and Taylor. Second Presbyterian, organized in 1838, relocated to the CWE at the turn of the last century after being in two other locations. The main sanctuary in the Romanesque Revival church at its present location was also designed by Link. The Byzantine and Romanesque Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis with its 227-foot green dome is the crowning jewel of the Central West End. The Cathedral's origins go back to 1896 when Archbishop John Kain purchased the site at Newstead and Lindell with the idea of moving the congregation of what is now known as the Old Cathedral to the Central West End. A new parish was organized, but construction of the building did not begin until 1907. Barnett, Haynes and Barnett, a noted architectural firm, did the design. The cathedral was completed in 1914 although installation of the Cathedral's mosaic collection, considered the largest in the world, continued into the 1980s. Central Reform Temple, at southwest corner of Kingshighway and Waterman, a building constructed in 2001, is the first new Jewish temple built in the city in 50 years. It was built with money raised by congregation members who were committed to staying in the Central West End. Several famous people have called the Central West End home. Playwright Tennessee Williams lived in an apartment in the 4600 block of Westminster Place and it is said that the time his family spent living there inspired him to write The Glass Menagerie. Writer Kate Chopin, best known for the early feminist work "The Awakening," lived at 4297 McPherson Avenue. Writer William Burroughs owned a house in the 4600 block of Pershing Place, poet T. S. Eliot's family lived at 4446 Westminster Place (Eliot's grandfather founded Washington University) and writer Vachel Lindsay is said to have courted poet Sara Teasdale in the house on Kingsbury Place where she lived with her family. Pharmaceutical manufacturer Albert Bond Lambert, a pioneering pilot and backer of Charles Lindbergh in his famous trans-Atlantic flight, lived on Hortense Place. His name lives on at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The founders of A. G. Edwards and Ralston Purina lived on Kingsbury Place. Dwight Davis, donor and founder of the Davis Cup, lived on Portland Place. HISTORY: As the city increased in population during the mid to late 1800s, wealthy neighborhoods clustered around Chouteau's Pond, Lucas Place, Lafayette Park and Vandeventer Place. But the affluent soon sought to move themselves away from the noise, pollution and other urban problems the Industrial Age brought. They found the answer to their problems in the city's final western border, what we now call the Central West End. Turning the area into an upper class enclave did not take long. "Where We Live, A Guide To St. Louis Communities," published by the Missouri Historical Society, says that as early as 1885 real estate ads touted the area east of Forest Park as land that "never depreciates" because of its location close to the park, major streetcar lines and adjacent wealthy neighborhoods. So wealthy entrepreneurs built palatial homes on a new group of private streets, which included Portland, Westmoreland, Westminster, Kingsbury, Hortense and Lenox Places, Washington Terrace and Pershing Avenue. To protect their lifestyle, restrictive covenants were enacted and annual fees assessed to cover private maintenance of the private streets. The landowners even sought to control their surrounding environment. Since there were no zoning codes at the time, they bought an adjacent railroad yard on which to build luxury apartments and hotels to prevent the railroad from building above ground tracks nearby or locating related industries in the area. The development of Washington University and the coming of the World's Fair in 1904 helped turn the area into prime real estate. But by World War I, things were changing. The advent of streetcars and commuter railroads brought people of more modest means to the area and soon smaller, single-family homes and apartment buildings fringed the neighborhood. Still, the Central West End remained a middle class neighborhood into the 1950s. But change continued. The neighborhood suffered the effects of the Great Depression and World War II and soon began a downward slide. A deadly tornado struck the Central West End in February of 1959, hastening flight to the suburbs. As the wealthy continued its flight to suburbia, the Central West End evolved into what some called the Greenwich Village of St. Louis -- a place filled with artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, coffee houses, bistros, nightclubs, art galleries, theatres, antique shops and boutiques. Playing on St. Louis's riverboat and gaslight era, the area around Olive and Boyle was dubbed Gaslight Square, and by 1959 was becoming known as an entertainment district. Soon it was attracting the best of avante garde entertainers as well as visitors from around the world. During its heyday entertainers such as Lenny Bruce, the Smothers Brothers, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Miles Davis, Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg and Woody Allen performed in Gaslight Square as did a little-known 18-year-old singer named Barbra Streisand. Others who performed there included Chuck Berry, Johnny Johnson, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, the Allman Brothers, Phyllis Diller, Ike and Tina Turner, Singleton Palmer and Oliver Sain. But as the beatniks and bohemians gave way to hippies and flower children, the area further fell into decline, and before long, both Gaslight Square and the Central West End had seen better days. But in the 1970s came a resurgence of interest in the area as entrepreneurs saw opportunity in this neighborhood steeped with history. As rehabbers discovered the Central West End and new businesses opened, the area experienced a rebirth. By the 1980s, property values had climbed to 10 times what they had been just a few years earlier, and the Central West End emerged what it is today - a vibrant, lively area known for its restaurants, shops and galleries. In 1974, a portion of the CWE was designated as a historic district, one of several in St. Louis created to maintain the historic architecture and heritage of the neighborhood. Today the Central West End is an economically and racially diverse environment where people of all types mingle, live, work and visit. FESTIVALS AND OTHER EVENTS: The annual Central West End House and Garden tour, a self-guided walking tour of premiere homes along the streets of the Central West End, is held each May, the Central West End Art Fair & Taste, a juried art show, live bands and samplings from neighborhood restaurants is held each June. Each Labor Day weekend, the Central West End goes Greek at the annual St. Nicholas Church's Greek Festival featuring Greek foods, live music and crafts. Glow in the Park, a fundraiser for the Central West End Association and Forest Park, is held the night before the Great Forest Park Balloon race each September. The CWE celebrates the Saturday before Halloween with a dog costume parade and that Sunday with a children's costume parade. Plans are also underway to hold a holiday walk in December. A new CWE Business Association is planning to revive the "adults only" Halloween street party on Halloween night, 2003. DINING: The Central West End is noted for its exciting array of diverse restaurants. The restaurants are primarily clustered in the Euclid/McPherson area, the Euclid/Laclede area and in Maryland Plaza. SHOPPING: The Central West End is filled with interesting shops, antique stores and art galleries. NEARBY ATTRACTIONS: Within Forest Park are four of St. Louis' leading cultural institutions - the world famous Saint Louis Zoo, the Missouri History Museum, the Science Center and the Saint Louis Art Museum. Also located in the Central West End is the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, also known as the New Cathedral, with the largest collection of mosaic art in the world. PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACT: Tricia Roland-Hamilton, Interim Director, Central West End Association, 314-367-2220, cwea@thecwe.com
	Readers should call 1-800-916-0040 to request a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitor Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis at www.explorestlouis.com