Does my private place have its own approval process?

Several of the private places here are governed by trustees under recorded indentures, and those can set their own requirements for exterior work on top of anything the city asks for. If your street has gates and trustees, check with them before you sign anything. We are happy to provide the written scope and mortar specification they will want to see.

Why is a Central West End quote higher per square foot?

Height and access, mostly. A three story elevation with a parapet needs scaffold erected, sometimes a sidewalk permit, and often protection over a slate roof below. Add carved stone that has to be treated differently from the brick, and historic district standards that may specify the mortar and the tooling, and the square foot rate sits above a one story garage wall.

Can you repair carved stone rather than replace it?

Often yes, and it is usually the right answer on a significant elevation. Spalled or eroded limestone can be built back with a stone repair mortar matched to the color and texture of the original, or a damaged unit can be cut out and replaced with matching stone. Patching carved detail with ordinary cement is what we get called in to undo.

Masonry and Tuckpointing in the Central West End

Central West End masonry is bigger, taller and more detailed than anywhere else we work: cut limestone trim, carved sills, terra cotta, corbelled cornices and stacks running three and four stories. That height sets the price, because most of the work needs scaffold rather than ladders, and much of the district carries historic review.

Bigger buildings, more detail, more exposure

The Central West End was built for money and it was built with stone. Along Westminster, Kingsbury, Waterman, Lindell and the gated private places you find large brick houses trimmed in cut limestone, with carved sills and door surrounds, stone bands, corbelled brick cornices, slate and tile roofs, and chimney stacks that rise well above everything around them. Between and behind them sit courtyard apartment blocks and four and six family buildings from the same era, flat roofed, with parapets that face weather on both sides.

All of that detail is a water management system, and every projecting course, sill and band was designed to throw water clear of the wall below it. A century later many of them no longer do. Slopes have flattened, drips have been filled with paint or cement, and the water they used to shed now runs down the face and into the wall.

What we are usually called for

Tall chimney stacks lead the list. A stack running four stories on an exposed corner takes weather on every side, and when the crown goes the top courses follow quickly. Parapets on the apartment buildings come second, especially where the original stone or terra cotta coping has been replaced with a flat cement cap that cracked within a few years.

Then there is the stone. Limestone sills and bands that have eroded, spalled or lost their drip. Some of it can be repaired with a matched stone mortar, some has to be cut out and replaced with matching material, and some has been patched with grey cement by somebody in a hurry, which then has to come off without taking more of the original with it.

Approvals, access and scheduling

Two layers of permission can apply here. City historic district review through the Cultural Resources Office covers exterior work in the local districts, and several private places add their own trustee approval under recorded indentures. Both are worth resolving before the scaffold is booked.

Access is the other half. These are tall buildings on streets with real traffic, mature trees and, on the avenues, a sidewalk that cannot simply be blocked. Scaffold erection on Euclid or Lindell is a different exercise from standing a tower in a back garden in Kirkwood, and we price it as one.

What matters locally

Historic review and private place rules both apply

Much of the Central West End sits in City of St. Louis local historic district territory, where the Cultural Resources Office reviews exterior work. Several of the private places also have their own trustees and indentures with their own standards for exterior alterations.

Height is the cost driver

Three and four story elevations with parapets and tall stacks mean scaffold rather than ladders. Scaffold erection, permits for sidewalk footprint on the avenues, and working above a slate roof all sit in the price before a single joint is cut.

Stone and terra cotta alongside the brick

Carved limestone sills, bands, lintels and terra cotta detail need different handling from brick. Stone repointing uses a softer mix again, and damaged carved units get repaired with a matched stone repair mortar or cut replacement rather than patched with cement.

Apartment buildings need a staged scope

On a four or six family building the whole envelope rarely needs doing at once. We price by elevation and by item so a board or an owner can approve the parapet and the stacks this year and the north wall next.

Jobs we do most often in Central West End

Repointing three and four story elevations from scaffold

Rebuilding tall chimney stacks and recasting crowns

Repairing carved limestone sills, bands and door surrounds

Parapet rebuilding and new coping on flat roofed apartment blocks

Replacing rusted lintels over bay and transom openings

Breathable repellent on exposed west and south elevations