Mullanphy Emigrant Home Far From Lost Cause

Last September, the Riverfront Times gave the Mullanphy Emigrant Home in Old North St. Louis the title of 2007’s “Best Lost Cause.” The historic building suffered the collapse of much of its south wall in a storm in April 2006 and had barely been saved from the brink of demolition when a March 2007 storm caused masonry on parts of the east and north walls to collapse. The building’s repair bill skyrocketed from $150,000 to $350,000. However, thanks to the efforts of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group (ONSLRG) to purchase and stabilize the building, today the building is well along in the process of being rebuilt and becoming a vital addition to a renewing neighborhood.

Just north of Downtown, the Mullanphy Emigrant Home rises majestically above its surroundings. If you turn from Mullanphy Street onto 14th to get a better view of the building’s front façade, you’ll notice the partially boarded-up brick rowhouses across the way, their bright red paint peeling and a faded black and orange sign over one doorway admonishing ne’er-do-wells to “Keep Out!” Ten blocks away you’ll find the former site of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe public housing project, which today consists of nothing but massive concrete foundations overgrown by the area’s natural flora and strewn with litter. Vacant land and crumbling buildings are common sights in the neighborhood.

If the area surrounding the Mullanphy building is so run down, what difference does it make if this massive, badly storm-damaged building is restored?

Plenty. The Mullanphy Emigrant Home in Old North St. Louis was once a vital part of St. Louis’s infrastructure as a haven for the large number of European immigrants who literally helped build the city. Constructed by the city in 1867, the home was the service point of the Mullanphy Traveler’s Aid Fund, which provided a room and other needed services to immigrants arriving in St. Louis, some of whom continued west and some of whom made St. Louis their permanent new home. Our famous Gateway Arch commemorates that migration, but completed in 1965, it did not have any role in the process. Revitalizing a building of such grand stature and historic importance in a neighborhood that many have forgotten sends an important message: Old North St. Louis has not given up. Rather, it is a neighborhood with an uncanny dedication to beating the odds.

The Mullanphy building helps hold the immediate area together as a contributing structure in the Mullanphy National Historic District. The building is also strategically located between two areas that have been undergoing a dramatic rebirth: to the north, the area around Crown Candy Kitchen, and to the south, downtown’s Washington Avenue. John Burse, Vice President of ONSLRG and member of the St. Louis Preservation Board, believes that reviving the Mullanphy building will have a dramatic effect on the surrounding area: “We’ve had this experience numerous times in Old North, when the lights go on in a building that has been vacant for a very long time . . . emotional charge that comes from that that is really very exciting.”

The primary source of funds for the repair has been grassroots fundraising efforts such as a community event at Schlafly Bottleworks and a benefit concert at downtown’s historic Christ Church Cathedral. Jim Shrewsbury, former president of the Board of Alderman of the City of St. Louis, wrote a letter to his support base that generated thousands of dollars in donations. A presentation by Burse inspired members of the Masonry Contractors Association to donate labor to the project. General contractor E.M. Harris, a company who has played a vital role in many of the city’s historic rehabs, has donated its services as well.

By October 2007, enough money and donations had been raised to start rebuilding in earnest. According to Karen Heet, Real Estate Development Coordinator of ONSLRG, funds raised for the project so far include $66,634 in donations and $30,000 in the form of two interest-free loans.

Stabilization work that has been completed on the building to date includes the installation of wooden shoring, the removal of the original, unstable stone foundation and its replacement with a new concrete foundation on the building’s south side. In addition, concrete block is going up to quickly patch gaping holes created by the 2007 storm. Recently, a series of winter storms and weather too frigid to set mortar have delayed the work, but Smith Masonry and the Masonry Contractors Association recently continued rebuilding during a break in the cold, wet weather. Until the building is completely secured, Sean Thomas, executive director of ONSLRG, says, “One of my greatest concerns is the danger of continued deterioration from additional storms.”

While ONSLRG has deliberately not designated how the building should be used in the future, they do currently have a potential buyer lined up whose “plan for reusing the building would be very simpatico with the original history of the building in terms of welcoming visitors from other places to St. Louis and providing a roof over their head,” says Burse. “They’re completing their due diligence at this point and we look forward to a decision from them this spring.”

There are many possible reactions one can experience when driving through the neighborhoods of North St. Louis: fear, anger, and helplessness are probably some of the most common. With so many buildings in various states of disrepair, there is good reason to experience all of these emotions. Get to know the neighborhood a little better, though, and you’ll begin to see what members of the existing community and ONSLRG see: opportunity. In an area so downtrodden, there are endless opportunities to contribute, and the momentum to pitch in has increased dramatically in recent years. If you’ve been wondering how a single person could possibly help solve the problems of North City, here’s an easy way: purchase a brick for the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. If St. Louis City, with its reputation blemished by high crime statistics and large-scale depopulation, is going to make a comeback, we must undertake that challenge together, one building at a time.

If you would like to contribute to the ongoing effort to complete the stabilization work on the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, visit www.savemullanphy.org to make a donation. Any amount will be much appreciated.