NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
The Comfort of Home WHITNEY KENTER FINDS A FRESH START IN A DREAM HOUSE THAT PERFECTLY SUITS HER ST YLE. p.56
WHAT WE’RE WEARING NOW
8 St. Louisans dress up for the camera. p.38
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THE POWER OF NEIGHBORS
Get to know the people next door. p.48
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NOV/DEC
C ON T EN TS DISCOVER 17 A PAINTER OF PEOPLE AND PLACES
Anne Molasky is drawn to nature and light.
20 PRETTY PLEASURES
Hand soaps wrapped in style 22 VACATION DREAMIN’
How a couple turned a stay-at-home summer into a small business
48 THE POWER OF NEIGHBORS
Seek friendship and community from the people next door.
DESIGN 25 THE HOUSE THAT CHARISMA BUILT
In Webster Groves, a photographer makes her studio her home. 28 FOR THE RECORD
The latest social media craze isn’t just for teens. 30 COZY OUTDOORS
Heat up your patio for the cooler temps.
PROPERTY PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER
33 WELCOME TO WONDERLLAND
Page Pardo left a career in law to live the rustic life. 36 MOVING UP
ON THE COVER
Why some who want an addition choose to lift and move their homes instead
Photography by Alise O’Brien
INDEX
62 NEIGHBORLY ACTS
Small gestures make a big difference. D E S IG N CR US H
64 DAILY DELIGHTS
Tom Brackman, the unofficial mayor of Waterman, on beautifying his neighborhood
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FEATURES
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WHAT WE’RE WEARING NOW
Eight men and women discuss style and shopping habits in a new era.
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A FRESH START
Whitney Kenter finds Zen in a remodeled Midcentury ranch.
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DESIGN STL
P.O. BOX 191606 ST. LOUIS, MO 63119 314-918-3000 | FAX 314-918-3099 STLMAG.COM
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Veronica Theodoro DEPUT Y EDITOR Amanda Woytus CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jarrett Medlin SENIOR EDITOR Nicholas Phillips DINING EDITOR George Mahe ASSOCIATE EDITOR Samantha Stevenson COPY EDITOR Kerry Bailey CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Amy Burger, Cara Downs, Kim Hill, Megan Mertz, Chris Naffziger, Charlene Oldham, Jen Roberts, Sydney Loughran Wolf INTERN Kenya Rosabal
ART & PRODUCTION
DESIGN DIRECTOR Tom White ART DIRECTOR Emily Cramsey SALES & MARKETING DESIGNER Monica Lazalier PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Kylie Green STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Kevin A. Roberts CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATORS
Judd Demaline, Alise O’Brien, Jennifer Silverberg, Carmen Troesser
ADVERTISING
Virtual Events
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EVENTS
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EVENTS Jawana Reid
CIRCULATION
CIRCUL ATION MANAGER Dede Dierkes CIRCUL ATION COORDINATOR Teresa Foss
BUSINESS
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Carrie Mayer
From live food demos with top restaurateurs to informational webinars with experts in health and wellness, SLM Media Group is offering creative ways to keep us all connected and informed. For more information on virtual events, visit stlmag.com/virtual-events.
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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Six issues of Design STL and two issues of St. Louis Family are included with a paid subscription to St. Louis Magazine ($19.95 for 20 issues). Call 314-918-3000 to place an order or to inform us of a change of address, or visit stlmag.com/subscribe. For corporate and group subscription rates, contact Teresa Foss at 314-918-3030.
ONLINE CALENDAR
Email Amanda Woytus at awoytus@stlmag .com. (Please include “Online Calendar” in subject line.) Or submit events at stlmag.com/ events/submit.html.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Send letters to the editor to vtheodoro@stlmag.com.
EVENTS
For information about special events, call Jawana Reid at 314-918-3026.
ADVERTISING
To place an ad, contact Elaine Krull at 314-918-3002 or ekrull@stlmag.com.
DISTRIBUTION
Call Dede Dierkes at 314-918-3006.
Subscription Rates: $19.95 for one year. Call for foreign subscription rates. Frequency: Monthly. Single Copies in Office: $5.46. Back Issues: $7.50 by mail (prepaid). Copyright 2020 by St. Louis Magazine, LLC. All rights are reserved. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the publisher. Unsolicited manuscripts may be submitted but must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. ©2020 by St. Louis Magazine. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED P.O. BOX 191606 St. Louis, MO 63119 314-918-3000 | Fax 314-918-3099 stlmag.com
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LETTER
FROM THE EDITOR
I DECIDED TO build this issue around the con-
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response to the challenges brought on by the pandemic and a need to make this difficult time more bearable and less isolating (see “Strength in Numbers,” p. 51). But neighborhoods aren’t utopias. People can be fussy and difficult. From time to time, sharing property lines can cause neighbors to unintentionally ruffle one another’s feathers. We talked to St. Louis–based etiquette specialist Sarah Broyles for some insights into maintaining neighborly relations and managing communication when the topics turn tough. In her interview, she reminds us that most of us live in shared communities and it’s up to everyone to create the best possible culture. Turn to page 54 for more thought-provoking advice. Finally, I wouldn’t want to pass up this chance to draw attention to the home we photographed for the cover (on page 56). I loved Whitney Kenter’s house from the moment I walked into it this past summer. The interiors, with their mix of brass and wood accents, bring to mind the easy elegance of coastal living. It’s just the kind of place you’d want to invite a neighbor to for socially distanced conversation and cocktails.
vtheodoro@stlmag.com
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER
cept of neighbors one night after a neighbor of mine—her name is Lee—dropped off a box of mixed lettuces and tomatoes, a bag of locally milled flour, and an assortment of blue cheeses at my front door. Lee and I have been buying from the Fair Shares online grocery service since March. And every week, despite my best efforts to share delivery duties, she grabs my order and brings it to me. On many occasions, Lee will tuck an extra goodie into the bin. This is typically something fragrant and wonderfully green—a bunch of basil, a container of freshly potted cilantro—from her backyard garden, which she nurtures like one of her own children. Over the past six months, my neighbors—next door, across the street, down the road—have become walking partners (Carolyn, Dianne), dinner guests (Chonda, Yadira), and some of my favorite people to chat with (David, Lee). The days of my bolting out of the front door and away from the neighborhood for the day have waned somewhat, leaving me open to unexpected encounters that have led to new friendships closer to home. Community building is taking place across St. Louis, as I found out while editing the stories for our main feature, “The Power of Neighbors,” which begins on page 48. This isn’t a new reality for many of you (see “Delivering Joy,” p. 50), but other neighbors have come together as a
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PRODUCTS AND PLACES
CONNECT
@annemolaskyibur annemolaskyibur.faso.com
A Painter of People and Places
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS
Artist Anne Molasky is inspired by the outdoors and its many shades of light. Anne Molasky’s latest series, “Goddess,” combines her loves of nature, light, and portraiture in its depiction of women. In Renewal, Molasky introduces the viewer to her daughter Lily (Molasky has a second daughter, Bella). Lily’s dark hair is fashioned into a loose braid with a simple crown of leaves. Shadows dance across her face, and small white flowers twine up her left arm. “It’s representative of the fact that we can conquer anything,” explains the artist, who says she created the series to “elevate, respect, and honor women.” From a distance, the subject appears to be rendered with a soft touch, but on closer inspection, the variety of paint applications is evident— from thin washes to bold brushstrokes and detailed palette knife work. —JEN ROBERTS
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BY HAND
abstractly and assess it objectively. Painting is a process that keeps me in the now. It’s meditative. I work from a combination of sources, directly from life, studies from life, photos that I take, or a combination of all of those. I like to work in the daylight, so I wake up early. Sometimes I’m so obsessed with what I’m doing that I’ll work until night. I took my easel outside a few days last week, and the colors were so vivid. I’ve got to move somewhere where I can be outside all the time. I often paint smaller versions outdoors to capture the colors so I can paint the larger landscapes back home. WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION?
Inspiration is everywhere. Life inspires me. I’m inspired by artists. If I had to make a list, I wouldn’t know where to start. Things like texture, atmosphere, transitions, integrations, layers, words also inspire me. It goes on and on. HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC CHANGED YOUR WORK OR YOUR APPROACH?
AS A YOUNG GIRL, St.
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HOW DO YOU CHOOSE YOUR SUBJECTS?
What I paint is really not as much about the subject as it is about the light on the subject. I’ve always been drawn to the human form and to nature, but it is the lighting, the shadows, and the change in colors that gets me excited. I love being out in nature and painting the landscape plein air. I also love painting portraits, but I want to do it in a way that represents the person. I interview people to find out what they’re like and what they like to do so I can incorporate that to create a narrative about the person. TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROCESS. Even
though my paintings represent reality, I approach my work in an abstract way. I begin with a thin wash of oil paint. While the paint is wet, I use a cloth to wipe it off and move it around to form the lightest parts of my image. This allows me to see the image
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS, MOVING FORWARD? My goal for the near
future is to focus on my personal work, my “Goddess” series, and for it to create awareness of my work. I want to help propel the women’s movement and support women of all races and cultures by painting what makes people unique. –J.R.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS
Louis native Molasky searched for images everywhere, in puffy white clouds and in the condensation forming on window glass. Inspired by her grandmother, who was also an artist, Molasky created make-believe worlds using rocks, sticks, and dandelions where she let her imagination go. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t consider myself an artist,” she says. Molasky began private art lessons when she was 15. At 20, she earned her first commission. She studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and received her MFA from Washington University. Specializing in portraits and landscapes, Molasky continues to be inspired by nature. In her work, she is drawn to capturing a subject’s personality and the way light falls on them. “I believe that being an artist is more about the way one observes and reflects on the world than what they produce,” she says.
Honestly, while being an artist is isolating enough, it was great to have nothing to do except work on my paintings. I had a few commissions, but for the most part, my art business has been interrupted. I was juried into great art fairs and several plein-air competitions that were canceled, and a couple large commissions that I had lined up for the spring backed out. People like meeting artists and seeing art in person, and art openings are so fun and a great place to network. I really miss that.
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SEEN AROUND TOWN
Pretty Pleasures Hand soaps wrapped in color, pattern, and texture
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1. KIND soap sampler, $31. KIND Soap Co., kindsoap.com. 2. Monogram spring bar soap, $8. Anthropologie, anthropo logie.com. 3. Eau Des Baux soap, $5. L’Occitane Homme, loccitane.com. 4. British Rose exfoliating soap, $6. The Body Shop, bodyshop.com. 5. Malachite mistral luxury bar soap, $8. Anthropologie. 6. Mango mistral tie-dye soap, $5.95. Anthropologie. 7. Earth Essentials pure castile soap, $3. CVS, cvs.com. 8. Solidarity soap, $5. L’Occitane.
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Looking for design inspiration? INTERIORS | ARCHITECTURE REAL E STATE | SHOPPING ART | DE SIGN
Visit stlmag.com/design for Design STL’s latest.
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BRILLIANT IDEAS
Vacation Dreamin’ How a St. Louis couple turned a stay-at-home summer into a thriving small business
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PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF TAYLORED TENTS
AS OTHER PARENTS were daydreaming of all the places they’d go once it was safer to travel, Kirkwood resident Gwendolyn Taylor was thinking about how to make life more fulfilling close to home. Taylor, who works full time as compliance counsel at Edward Jones, began considering alternative options for getaways after the pandemic forced her family to cancel a trip to Jackson Hole, in Wyoming. “Glamping was a constant suggestion on Facebook traveling groups so I started looking into the idea locally,” she says. “With no options available, I invested in a tent for my crew and delved into an untapped local market.” The choice was an unusual one for Taylor, a self-proclaimed city girl who doesn’t camp, but her husband, Ray Taylor, quickly jumped on board. “He thought the worst-case scenario is that we own a tent,” she says, laughing. Taylor initially considered only what her daughters, ages 12 and 9, might like but soon realized that the concept could be expanded to include families, friends, and couples’ date nights. She got to work on research, ordering a first tent at the end of June from a United States–based company and shopping for furniture, décor, and add-ons: “I didn’t want our tents to just be for tween-girl sleepovers.” In addition to Target and HomeGoods, she sourced products from such Kirkwood-based companies as The ReFill Effect (detergent) and Knollwood Lane (decorative pillows and signs). “We want to include St. Louis businesses in the experience. It’s a mission we hold true to as St. Louis natives,” she says. Each tent rental is equipped with a memory foam mattress, linens, rugs, and décor. A projector, dining table, s’mores kit, games, and seating can be added on. Taylor says: “We wanted to make sure that it’s an experience and not just a tent that you rent.” She’s been surprised by the response since the couple’s first booking, July 17. A month later, she was on invoice No. 45. Small tents rent for $175 a night, the larger ones for $300; add-ons range from $25, for the s’mores kit, to $40 for a movie projector. Trina Ingram and her husband, John Ingram, celebrated their first anniversary by renting a tent after learning about the service on Facebook. “The bohemian décor really boosted our mood, and the outdoor dining setup was perfect for a date night,”
she says. The Belleville couple has already made a second booking, this one for late fall. During the pandemic, Angela Prada and her family have maintained contact with a small circle of friends. Prada hired Taylored Tents to celebrate her son Jackson’s 15th birthday after learning about the service from a Kirkwood moms group on Facebook. The family added the projector to the experience, and Taylor included complimentary popcorn and balloons. Taylor notes that every safety measure is taken: Tents, linens, and add-ons are sani-
tized after pickup and wiped down again after setup. “When I travel, I like to travel well,” she says. “This is an experience, and we want our clients to be confident that the dollars they’re spending with us are worth their while.” —JEN ROBERTS stlmag.com
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LIVING WITH DESIGN
The House That Charisma Built In Webster Groves, a photographer makes her studio her home.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SILVERBERG, ST YLING BY BECKY MCFARL AND-COX
Walk along Marshall Avenue in Webster Groves and, among the neighborhood’s Victorians and Craftsmen, you’ll spot Jennifer Silverberg’s new photography studio. The modern structure is an ultrahip rectangle sheathed in corrugated black metal. The terrace carved from the second story looks like the notch in a Lincoln Log, if the sets were sold in CAM’s gift shop. You might even wonder whether you’ve wandered into one of the artsier neighborhoods of Los Angeles. —AMANDA WOYTUS
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HOME & OFFICE
“THIS IS MY happy place,” says Silverberg, a commercial food, farm, and lifestyle photographer. She’s effervescent even in a pandemic as she gives a tour of the first-floor studio. It’s a study in functionality and beauty. A garage door on the west wall, directly opposite the shoot wall, makes moving equipment in and out a breeze. Silverberg can gain an extra 10 feet of shooting distance by opening it and stepping outside. But it also lends a cool industrial vibe. The kitchen, toward the back, is a showpiece. Black granite countertops are finished to look like suede, Silverberg’s preference over polished. White hexagonal tile by Daltile adds interest to the backsplash behind the Wolf range, outfitted with six burners and a grill that a food stylist can employ to get the perfect char on a cut of meat. Even the hardware has been chosen with careful consideration. Silverberg selected the sleek cabinet pulls because they wouldn’t snag aprons and slow down work. “I don’t think anything just happened in this space,” she says. Silverberg envisioned the design as bright, airy, and inviting—fitting, because the building pulls double duty as Silverberg’s home, which she shares with her husband, Joe Merlone, and their cat, Claire. Officially, the house was designed by Nick Adams of Mademan Design, with Silverberg and Merlone’s input. Unofficially, this is the home that charisma built. Silverberg and Merlone had been fans of Mademan after peeping a house Adams designed in Richmond Heights, so when the couple was considering a live/work situation, they called Adams—who politely declined. When Silverberg was offered the chance to shoot Adams’ portrait for a 2018 issue of DesignSTL, she rearranged her schedule. “I thought, If I could just get in front of this guy, and he could sense my enthusiasm, he’ll agree to work with us,” Silverberg says. “I think I spent 20 minutes doing the photo and another hour sitting in the conference room with Nick, talking his ear off about our dream space and home.” It worked. For his part, Adams says: “I love modern architecture that can be represented by a child’s sketch. From the front, it was a box with a box cut out of the bottom. From the side, it was a rectangle with a rectangle cut out of the top right. It seems so simple, but when you build something like that, it becomes really bold when you make a single or a couple of simple gestures.” For a creative whose business is also a passion, the line between work and play blurs sometimes. So though Silverberg has an upstairs kitchen, she’s quick to offer it as an option for her clients as well. “I designed
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the kitchens to look different on purpose,” she says, “not only for me, because I wanted this to feel a little homier and warmer, but I wanted two different visual aesthetics.” Shaker cabinets, a fireclay farmhouse sink, rose gold hardware, and open ash shelves read feminine in contrast to the more industrial kitchen downstairs. The 12-foot ceilings in the studio drop to 10 on the first level, making the outdoor space off the second-level kitchen and living room truly terraced. The living space transitions from indoor to outdoor seamlessly: A grill sits outside on the same wall as the oven. Food can be taken out of the oven, finished on the grill, and served alfresco. On the terrace, Silverberg reflects: “This lower deck/upper deck situation wasn’t necessarily the intent—it was just a design that happened on the basis of the needs of the downstairs space, but I love it so much. When you’re sitting out here, it feels so private.” In the home that didn’t just “happen,” it’s a happy coincidence. —A.W. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SILVERBERG, ST YLING BY BECKY MCFARL AND-COX
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TECHNOLOGY
For the Record The latest social media craze isn’t just for teens. It’s also an opportunity for design professionals.
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page. The page recommends videos on the basis of an algorithm that considers the types of videos users have previously interacted with, other accounts they follow, and comments they’ve posted. For people trying to build a following on home content, the For You page serves as an aggregator, loading videos to users who
are likely already interested in the topic. Whereas Pinterest is chock-full of home aspiration, TikTok’s fast-paced and informational videos help make projects attainable by even the most inexperienced homeowner. This can, however, be a pitfall, notes Erlinger. “I’ve seen videos like ‘I redid my whole bathroom for $500,’” he says. “Then people will call me, saying, ‘Hey, I want to redo my bathroom,’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, it starts at $25,000...’ I’m constantly talking to my followers about the realities of home renovation. It takes time, and it is costly.” It’s why he hopes that more industry professionals will begin posting content and educating the masses. His advice: Keep the videos under 30 seconds, save the fancy camera, and add a trendy song. —SAMANTHA STEVENSON
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF @STLRENOVATORS
WHEN YOU HEAR the word “TikTok,” images of teens huddled around a cell phone and trying out the latest dance trend may come to mind. But Gen Z doesn’t account for all of the app’s users. People of all ages have gone gaga over TikTok, posting healthy recipes, life hacks, and makeup tutorials for their hundreds or thousands of followers. Design enthusiasts can also find plenty of inspo on TikTok, where pros dole out advice and adventures in home renovation. Through 15-60–second video recordings, TikTok users share home improvement ideas, from how to decorate on a budget to techniques for tweaking antique furniture. Hashtags such as #homeimprovement, #hgtv, and #interiordesign help viewers refine their searches. James Erlinger of St. Louis Renovators joined TikTok a year ago, and his following has grown to more than 2,000 fans. A recent video of Erlinger installing wood trim as a tune played in the background garnered more than 2 million views. Other posts show his progress on a historic home renovation and his work patching a hole in a wall. Erlinger says his followers respond to the simplest projects: “People want to see really satisfying little bites.” Even as Erlinger uses TikTok to share his creative output, he’s also posting projects as a means of drumming up business. Though the app hasn’t yielded as many business opportunities for him as his Instagram profile, Erlinger thinks the app’s marketing opportunities are just beginning. “Growth on TikTok is exponential right now,” he says. “I’m getting 10 times as more views on TikTok than I am on Instagram. The reach is ridiculous.” Other local TikTokers include Josh Koehnemann and the employees of St. Peters–based K-Build, a custom homebuilder with more than 90,000 followers. They mix videos of their favorite projects with comedic shorts. Farm owner Rebecca Pyle (a.k.a. mommyfarmer) has more than 100,000 followers who watch her life unfold on a historic farm in Grain Valley, Missouri. Video-centric social media apps aren’t new (R.I.P. Vine), so what makes TikTok a phenomenon? For starters, users can edit videos and add text, audio, and visual effects. Videos with the hashtag #oddlysatisfying have grown into their own genre, with posts showing the most tedious of tasks—one video, of a homeowner painting a wall in slow-mo, amassed a half million views. But what truly sets TikTok apart from other social media is its For You
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EVERYDAY LIVING
Cozy Outdoors Heat up your patio style in time for the cooler temps. —CHARLENE OLDHAM TRADITIONAL DESIGN
MODERN DESIGN
KAREN KORN, KAREN KORN INTERIORS
JENNIFER RAPP, JCR DESIGN GROUP
JESSICA SENNE, STUDIO LARK
Luxeve smokeless fire pit from Breeo, $1,425
Grand terrace (gas) fire pit from Gensun, price available upon request
Solstice fire pit table from Brown Jordan, price available upon request
Kosmos heated chair from Galanter and Jones, $1,700
Patio comfort stainless steel (gas) portable heater, price available upon request
Heatsail dome bow modern electric patio heater, price available upon request
Outdoor/indoor decorative pillows from Annie Selke, $84
Citrus 18-inch garden pillow from Schumacher, price available upon request
Color block throw from Design Within Reach, $360
Net bench from Nardi, price available upon request
Archipelago sofa bench seat from Century, to the trade
1966 Double rocker from Knoll, $2,246
Macadam 9 ½-inch pendant from Rejuvenation, $849
Mariana two light outdoor lantern from Wilson Lighting, $460
Louis Poulsen Flindt, price available upon request
Modern industrial courtyard with corrugated plastic roof by Monticello Custom Homes and Remodeling
Patio and screened-in porch with retractable screen installed by Green Guys
Outdoor terrace design with custom wood floor and glass wall details
SHELTER
LIGHTING
SEATING
TEXTILES
HEAT
CENTERPIECES
ECLECTIC DESIGN
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REAL ESTATE, CONTRACTORS, ARCHITECTS
Welcome to Wonderlland
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS
Page Pardo left a career in law to live the rustic life with 200 animals.
South of Pacific, there’s a farm called Wonderlland—spelled with two Ls in honor of the llamas who call the estate home. Owner Page Pardo, 40, is a corporate attorney–turned–farmer who now singlehandedly cares for 200 animals, including goats, pigs, cattle, turkeys, and peafowl. The Chesterfield native calls Wonderlland a dream come true. Years ago, Pardo began taking an interest in ethically sourced food just as she was feeling less and less inspired by her career in law. She’d also always had a fascination with animals, which in turn morphed into an idea: What if one day she bought a small farm or brought home a dairy cow or two to live in her backyard? —SAMANTHA STEVENSON stlmag.com
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NEW BEGINNINGS
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“I just trusted these magical relationships and let the animals figure it out themselves,” she says with a shrug. It’s trial and error, Pardo says—often the animal she’s most worried will be bullied is the one to start trouble. Once it’s safe to host events, Pardo plans to welcome guests and share the interactions that puzzle even her. Recently one of her llamas insisted on watching over a sickly hen. “There’s a lot of debate about whether animals have emotions or whether we can even determine if they do or don’t,” she says. “I’ve read the books, but in my mind the animals here most definitely do.” —S.S.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS
“I BECAME DEPRESSED as a lawyer—just doing the wrong thing that did not fit me,” says Pardo. She consulted her parents, did some soul-searching, and “finally got the guts to just do it.” It turned out to be an apprenticeship at EarthDance Organic Farm School, in Ferguson. By 2015, she saw an escape route from her law career. She called her mother, who was on vacation in Italy, and asked: “What are you doing the weekend you get back? Do you want to ride to central Illinois and pick up the two cows I just bought?” Birds of all kinds hold a special place in Pardo’s heart. They—including a flock of baby ostriches, her most recent additions— account for the majority of the inhabitants of Wonderlland. “I became an absolute bird nut… I never thought of them as super cuddly, but they really are,” she says with a laugh. (She’s just picked up the turkey, Thomas Jefferson, who has a leg injury. Pardo’s spent much of the week driving him to veterinary appointments.) Pardo originally intended to produce and sell dairy products and eggs to local restaurants and host farm-to-table dinners, but as she found more animals in need of adoption, including Clydesdale Eddy, whom she rescued from a kill pen in Iowa, the family kept growing. Most animals—for example, the goats, who help maintain the property by eating brush—serve a practical purpose. Others, Pardo says, she just needed. “I adopted my first peacock and he didn’t want to hang out with any of the other birds, which is common, so I got him friends,” she says. It wasn’t the first time Pardo’s addressed an animal’s need for companionship. She purchased a mini mule and then found a mini horse to be her friend. Until a couple of years ago, Pardo was renting a backyard in Wildwood to keep her animals. When she discovered Wonderlland, then an overgrown and nearly fenceless pasture that’d sat vacant for 10 years, she decided to buy it. She got to work renovating one of the two farmhouses on the property to live in and transforming the other into a retail store and educational center. Teaching others what she’s learned from animals is Pardo’s new mission. This year, TikTok invited her to post educational videos about her furry friends through its “Learn on TikTok” initiative. And after featuring pictures of some of her animals in a book years back, National Geographic now wants to document how Pardo fostered those interspecies friendships.
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FOUNDATIONS
Moving Up Why some who want an addition choose to lift and move their homes instead JOHN MATYIKO AND his wife, Mary Matyiko,
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Kirkwood. Riggs says that in general, homeowners need to find another place to live while the work is underway, because the utilities are cut off. The work is sequential, too, so a delay in any one phase—caused, say, by an unusually rainy season—runs the risk of postponing the completion date. Riggs points out that some costs are hard to predict: If an older home has a stucco exterior, there’s no telling whether some portion might fall off. Also, the heavy machinery of a structural move may require repairs to the yard or driveway afterward. Finally, Riggs jokes, dealing with utility companies to disconnect and then reconnect service is “always interesting.” But for some homeowners, structural moves make perfect sense. Take
Riggs’ clients, Nick and Joanie Van Rees in Kirkwood. Their house dates back to roughly 1908 and is built on top of a crawl space. The Van Reeses wanted more “elbow room,” Joanie says, but calculated that they could get more square-footage from a new basement than from an above-ground addition—and for the same price. Plus, with their four kids at or near college-age, they knew a new basement would be cheaper to heat and cool once the nest is empty. Furthermore, a new basement wouldn’t change the aesthetic integrity of the house. “It looks exactly the same and feels exactly the same from the inside,” Joanie says. At EHM, Mary Matyiko tells her clients that structural moves are usually at least two-thirds less than the cost of new construction—and often a historic house will get preserved in the process: “We like to say we’re the biggest recyclers of all time!” —NICHOLAS PHILLIPS
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF EXPERT HOUSE MOVERS
move houses. Whole houses. They pick them up and transport them, all in one piece. Sometimes they’ll move a house just yards away: This year, for example, they took a 7,000-square-foot house on East Monroe in Kirkwood and shifted it to the edge of the property, freeing up two empty lots that the homeowner can now sell. At other times, the Matyikos’ company, Expert House Movers, will move a house miles down the road. Often they’ll do no more than lift a house upward so workers can lay down a brandnew basement below—a crucial option in St. Louis, where century-old homes may be perched atop shaky foundations and where it’s sometimes cheaper to make an addition by building down instead of out. “We usually get clients who think outside the box,” says Mary. “Every day is different. That’s part of what’s fun.” In the years after John’s grandfather launched the family business on the East Coast in the 1950s, three generations of Matyikos have moved all kinds of structures: a sphinx head in Egypt, a lighthouse in North Carolina, an airport hangar in New Jersey, a historic mill in Ozark, Missouri. During the ruinous floods of 1993, the company came to the Midwest and moved three entire towns, including Rhineland, on the Missouri River near Hermann. After the floods, the couple decided to stay in St. Louis. Since then, they’ve performed several prominent moves here, including a brick home that had been sitting in the footprint of the soon-to-be-built National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency facility just west of Downtown. That house weighed 480 tons, the equivalent of six fully loaded tractor-trailers. They rolled it several blocks to the southwest. To lift houses, the Matyikos first dig around the foundation and disconnect the electric, gas, and plumbing lines. Then they use a unified hydraulic jacking system to simultaneously lift every edge of the structure. This level motion means homeowners don’t have to strap down their furniture, or, for that matter, anything else. “We joke that you could put a glass of water on the kitchen table when we start and it’ll still be there when we’re done,” says Mary. Structural moves require that homeowners remain flexible, says Amie Riggs of Riggs Company, which is serving as general contractor for a different structural move in
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WHAT WE’RE WEARING NOW EDITED BY VERONICA THEODORO
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JUDD DEMALINE
The coronavirus pandemic has influenced how people think about getting dressed for the day. For many, relaxed comfortable clothes have taken on greater importance, whereas others have maintained preCOVID wardrobes in an effort to foster a sense of normalcy and hope. We photographed eight men and women from a variety of backgrounds and spoke to them about their style and shopping habits. For each, clothes provide a sense of continuity in unsettled times.
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Colin Bruns, 27 DIRECTOR OF SALES, KIENSTRA
“I’ve really leaned into routine. I try to be mindful of the fact that with everything that’s going on that we can’t control, I can only control myself and the socks that I put on my own two feet.”
S H I R T G R E Y S O N C L O T H I E R S PA N T S L U L U L E M O N S N E A K E R S N I K E A I R M A X 1 / 9 7 S E A N W O T H E R S P O O N
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WHAT WE’RE WEARING NOW
Maddie Bert, 24 V I N TA G E S E L L E R, M AY ’S P L A C E
“These days I value comfort over everything, but comfort can still look really good and really cool.”
J U M P S U I T H A N D M A D E 1 9 4 0 S V I N TA G E , T H E R U S T Y B O LT M U L E S V I N TA G E ( M AY ’ S P L A C E ) J E W E L R Y V I N TA G E ( M AY ’ S P L A C E )
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Richard Tao, 70 RETIRED ARCHITECT AND FASHION DESIGNER
“I realized that if I go through the day and I don’t dress like I want to focus on something, I’m not in a work mindset. I’m not as productive because I didn’t really prepare myself mentally.”
JACKET EVERYONE WINS CHINOS BONOBOS SHIRT BANANA REPUBLIC
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WHAT WE’RE WEARING NOW
David Alexander, 28 CO-OWNER, SOCIAL ORIGIN
“If I’m wearing something that’s more relaxed, it still has to make me feel good.”
S P O R T C O AT S T. L O U I S S U I T C O. T-S H I R T W E S T L O U I S J E A N S H & M S H O E S G . H . B A S S & C O. G L A S S E S F U T U R I S T I C S U N G L A S S E S
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WHAT WE’RE WEARING NOW
Khalia Collier, 32 VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNIT Y REL ATIONS, ST. LOUIS CIT Y SC; OWNER, ST. LOUIS SURGE
“I can go from basketball shorts and a backwards hat to heels and a blazer in the same day.”
BL AZER VERONICA BEARD JOGGERS DOLCE & GABBANA SNEAKERS CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
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Kathy Pietoso RESTAURATEUR, CAFÉ NAPOLI, NAPOLI 2, A N D S O O N-TO-B E N A P O L I I I I
“My personal style is lots of variety because I’m an emotional dresser. Of course everything has been much more lax… But I miss dressing up, and so I do dress up quite a bit when we meet friends for dinner or if I have business meetings.”
H AT YA S M I N A G R O E N S T E I N S T U D I O F U R J A C K E T C U A D R A T R O U S E R S & B L O U S E V I N C E B E LT R O B E R T O C AVA L L I
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WHAT WE’RE WEARING NOW
Glenn MacDonald, 68 JOHN M. OLIN DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND S T R AT E G Y, WA S H I N G TO N U N I V E R S I T Y
“I’m a real minimalist. I have a minimalist home. My clothes tend to be very simple. Everything I do I try to make clean, simple, and minimal. You can’t hide the mistakes with a lot of little things.”
T-S H I R T N E X T L E V E L A P PA R E L J E A N S T H E O R Y F I T B I T A LTA P R E S T I G E S TA I N L E S S S T E E L B A N D
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HAIR & MAKEUP
Leigh Kreft
P H OTO A S S I S TA N T
Wil Driscoll
P H OTO R E TO U C H E R
Meg Hensley
G O TO S T L M A G.C O M
to read our complete interviews.
Laura K. Sawyier, 32 FASHION ST YLIST/ CONSULTANT
“Shopping brings, for many of us, a sense of distraction and delight. I want to feel good! I’m excited to have a package arrive. I think there’s a baseline human emotion that goes into shopping. I do not deny that I’m seeking that.”
S W E AT E R A U T U M N C A S H M E R E ( B Y R D D E S I G N E R C O N S I G N M E N T ) S K I R T A U D R A J E W E L R Y R E S A L E , V I N TA G E
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The Power of Neighbors In a year that’s brought life-altering challenges at home and abroad, community is the bright spot in our everyday lives.
DAVE VASBINDER AND NANCY MOORKAMP
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER
9/29/20 3:27 PM
A SHARED DRIVEWAY UNITES TWO FAMILIES A friendship built on living only 13 feet apart. BY MEGAN MERTZ
Robert Frost once wrote that good fences make good neighbors—but in the case of the Vasbinder and Moorkamp families, sharing a common space brought them closer together. Their Webster Groves homes share a driveway, and “being only 13 feet apart…you witness how a family is on a very personal level,” says Dave Vasbinder. Jim and Nancy Moorkamp had lived in their house for about 14 years when Dave and Emily Vasbinder moved in next door in 2006. Dave says his house was a bit of a fixerupper, and he was frequently outside working in the yard. When Jim came home from work at PGAV Architects, he often wandered over to see what Dave was up to. “It was not too long that he had the work gloves on and we were both up to our waist in a trench digging a ditch and installing drain tile or something like that,” recalls Dave. Jim was always there, offering suggestions, tools, and sometimes manpower. Their families grew close as well. The Vasbinders were a young couple new to the area and learning about homeownership for the first time, with children still a few years away. But the Moorkamps already had two children, as well as years of experience with home renovation. “It is interesting and extraordinary how much, if you choose to, you can embrace the other side of the driveway into your life,” Dave says. “Walking out the door and seeing kids up and down the driveway—before we even had kids— was really a window into the future for us.” Now the Moorkamps’ children have grown up and moved away, and the Vasbinders’ twins are the ones playing in the driveway. Jim died in 2013, and the families’ friendship has adapted to this new stage. Over the last few years, Dave has cut down a dead maple tree in Nancy’s yard, rebuilt her stone retaining wall, and helped pump out the water in her basement when it flooded. He also clears the snow from the families’ driveway—as well as about half a dozen other driveways in the neighborhood. “He reminds me of us when we first moved into the house,” Nancy says. “My husband had that kind of energy.” But it isn’t just the neighbor on the other side of the driveway who makes this quiet street a great place to live, say Dave and Nancy. The neighbors around them often get together for happy hours, barbecues, and impromptu gatherings. If two neighbors stop to chat on a nice day, others will soon join in. Looking back, Dave says, it didn’t even occur to him and Emily at the time that sharing a driveway could be a gamble, but he’s so thankful for the “extraordinary circumstance” they’ve found themselves in: “We can’t imagine anywhere else we’d want to be.” stlmag.com
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10/5/20 8:49 AM
JULIE AND NONI MURPHY
DELIVERING JOY Community building runs in the family. BY CARA DOWNS
In March, as the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting the St. Louis area, Noni Murphy decided to publish a newspaper, and her mother, Julie Murphy, took on a role as the street’s outdoor social events organizer. Together, the Westmoreland Weekly and Julie’s socially distanced events have helped connect the residents of their Clayton neighborhood. “I find my connection to this earth through people,” says Julie, who grew up in a tight-knit Italian family. “For our street, the pandemic strengthened a root system that was already there.” Noni, a seventh-grader at Wydown Middle School, delivered her paper to more than 20 residents on Sunday mornings. Designed with Google Slides and printed at home, the weekly featured a profile of a young neighbor learning to ride a bike and a story about another neighbor’s beloved pet fish, among others. It was filled with riddles and crossword puzzles. “I got to thinking one day how the paper could be a cool way of keeping people in the loop,” says Noni. “I was missing the support system that COVID took away from us,”
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says Julie. “Yes, we could Zoom, but it just isn’t the same.” The street, with its houses built close together, lends itself to community building. Hanley House, a park and city-owned historic home in the middle of the block, is a natural meeting ground. “Our location makes it easy to get together and be safe,” says Bridget McAndrew, an alderwoman representing the city of Clayton who lives on the street. “It didn’t put the burden on [any one family] to host.” As time marched on, gatherings grew to include a pizza dinner to celebrate Mother’s Day, fireworks on the Fourth of July, and a puzzle exchange. On Saturday mornings, a yoga instructor leads classes. “Everyone has been so incredibly kind, sharing groceries and checking in on one another,” says Andrea Rosenblum, a 10-year resident. While the Westmoreland Weekly is now on hiatus, Noni hasn’t stopped working. She’s replaced the paper with a breadmaking business. “Since we can’t really go anywhere,” she says, “I’ve gotten to know more about my neighbors. It’s nice to walk outside and always see someone.” PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER
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STRENGTH IN NUMBERS United by a shared devotion to their neighborhood, four women discover that they have more in common than a shared ZIP code. BY CHARLENE OLDHAM
FROM LEFT: ERIN HUGEBACK, TERESA DUNN (STANDING), NATALIA IVENOV, AND GIGI LOMBRANO
It took the threat of more housing construction in their Chesterfield subdivision to bring four neighbors together for the first time. Four years ago, the thought of losing a shared golf course and common green space galvanized a large group of neighbors to try to block that development. Although some of the residents recognized one another from their street, others hadn’t interacted beyond a cursory hello. Four of them became fast friends. “I would say it’s a friendship forged in fire,” says interior designer Gigi Lombrano, one of the four. When the stay-at-home orders took effect this past spring, the friends once again turned to one another for support. Accustomed to their get-togethers at such spots as Spiro’s and Bishop’s Post, the women moved their dinner dates to Zoom but felt that something was missing. “It was being together that we missed the most,” Lombrano recalls. They decided that a front porch was the best place to meet. Teresa Dunn, whom the friends have dubbed the matriarch and ringleader, hosts the gatherings at her house. “Some of us bring snacks, and I tell them to bring their own bottle— orange juice, tomato juice,” she says, laughing. Armed with appetizers and their beverages of choice, they share stories and inside jokes late into the night. Taking time in their own neighborhood is a rare treat, says Erin Hugeback.
“I never get a chance to sit on my porch,” she says. “You don’t know what’s going on until you sit down and relax.” Although the women are all different ages and at various stages of their professional and personal lives, there’s always plenty of chatter. At a time when COVID-19 has limited interactions with family or friends elsewhere, the group is grateful for their camaraderie. “There’s no judgment,” says Lombrano. “Sometimes we have good advice to share, but that’s not really the point of it. It’s knowing that you’re connected with somebody.” The pandemic has encouraged the friends to cultivate their connection in unforeseen ways, says Dunn. She recently attended a virtual service at Lombrano and Hugeback’s church, tuning in to hear Hugeback serve as cantor before flipping over to her own church’s virtual service. The friends also know that they can pick up the phone and call. “It’s kind of like having sisters,” says Dunn, who moved to the St. Louis area from Kansas 20 years ago. “I have no family here.” The Pew Research Center has found that 58 percent of Americans who know at least some of their neighbors never get together with them. The same survey indicates that 23 percent of people ages 18 to 29, and 15 percent of people ages 30 to 49, don’t know their neighbors at all. But creating connections can be as easy as crossing the street, Lombrano says. “Start with the person next door.” stlmag.com
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Rolling Out the Welcome Mat WELCOME NEIGHBOR STL IS HELPING REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS M A K E A N E W H O M E I N S T. L O U I S . BY MEGAN MERTZ
“Hi, I hear you’re a friend of the Syrian people. Can you help?” Jessica Bueler often hears that question spoken from the other end of the telephone line. In 2016, she founded Welcome Neighbor, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting refugees and immigrants in the St. Louis area, in response to the news that four Syrian teenagers had been attacked near their apartment on Hodiamont. “It was less than a mile from where I worked,” says Bueler, who at the time was marketing director for the Delmar Loop. “I felt compelled to do something.” She reached out to a Syrian business owner, who connected her with a Syrian pediatrician. From there, she started meeting refugee families and listening to their stories. Many of the refugees did not speak English, so Bueler relied on Google Translate. She soon realized that English was a prerequisite to fulfilling many of the refugees’ requests, so she organized English classes and arranged for transportation and child care. “That changed everything,” she recalls. The refugees’ English improved rapidly, opening
up opportunities to take driving lessons, get better jobs, and start making friends in the wider community. They also started the organization’s nowpopular Supper Club. During an event, refugee chefs—many of them women—are paid to prepare traditional foods. They then introduce themselves to attendees and answer questions about themselves and their cultures. Bueler says it helps the women build confidence speaking a new language, and locals get to learn about their new neighbors. As of March, 111 Supper Club events had raised more than $171,000 for the families. Every refugee chef who participates is ServSafe certified. Bueler worked with Christy Schlafly of Ford Hotel Supply and STL Foodworks to offer ServSafe certifications in Arabic. So far, they’ve held seven ServSafe classes, with 37 people taking the class for food handlers and 42 taking the class for managers. Mawda Altayan completed both certification classes. She and her husband, Mohi Aldeen Alhamowi, eventually started their own catering business, Damascus Food, which is named after the Syrian city they fled
during the war. But Altayan wasn’t always a good cook. When she got married at 16, she didn’t know anything about preparing meals. She spent hours learning from her mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law, and now she enjoys sharing those traditional recipes with her customers in St. Louis. The family arrived in St. Louis four years ago. “It was very difficult life in the beginning without car, without job, without language,” Altayan recalls. “Before Welcome Neighbor, I didn’t have any American friends. They bring for me the community: friends, customers, people who want to help support,” she says. “My life before I know Welcome Neighbor was 100 percent different.” The organization currently works with 54 refugee families. Bueler sees her job as connecting each family with the resources that they need, whether that’s help setting up an LLC, navigating the school system, or even just acquiring a specific appliance. With the coronavirus pandemic, the organization has had to adapt quickly. Dine-in Supper Clubs became drive-thru events, and in-person cooking classes moved to Zoom. As schooling went online, the organization also scrambled to help provide tutoring and guidance for families making the switch. “There’s no cookie-cutter approach,” Bueler says. “Every family is at a different place in terms of language, where they are with trauma, where they are with finances, where they are with education. We try to create the most meaningful partnerships in the community.”
JESSICA BUELER (LEFT) AND MUNA ALFALAH
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER, KEVIN A. ROBERTS
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Taking the Long View Neighborhoods whose bylaws prohibit the building of fences offer more than unimpeded vistas. BY CHRIS NAFFZIGER
Located between Spoede and Mosley roads on land that was once the site of a dairy farm, Ladue Estates is a neighborhood known for its Midcentury Modern architecture and green spaces that run unobstructed from one property to another. The development’s homeowners embrace the open countryside atmosphere intended by designer Cay F. Weinel and builder Goldberg & Co. “They wanted the neighborhood to look like the country,” says Mario Conte, a resident and trustee of Ladue Estates, during a recent walking tour of the area. “They didn’t want it to look like a city environment.” In some St. Louis neighborhoods, subdivision indentures prohibit the building of fences, except in cases where there is a swimming pool on the property. In addition to imparting an open feel, the lack of barriers makes it easier for residents to build community and friendship.
Homeowner Becca Medler lives in Richmond Heights. The bylaws in her neighborhood, off Lay Road, forbid hedges and other shrubbery extending beyond the front building line of homes, yielding a park-like feel that enables neighbors to easily socialize. “We are so fortunate to live in a community where neighbors wave to one another from their backyards and patios,” she says. “Children run and ride their bikes from yard to yard, friends meet to walk, older kids babysit younger kids, and many pets are known by name.” The development of suburban neighborhoods with yards that flow from one to another continued well after World War II, says Michael Allen, a senior lecturer of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design at Washington University. “Landscape design was as critical to postwar suburban neighborhoods as the houses
themselves,” he says. “To ensure open views and complementary elements, many subdivision developers inserted strong deed covenants restricting fencing or stating where trees could be planted.” In Ladue Estates, located in Creve Coeur, stately pin oaks grace front yards and the absence of sidewalks allow for the continuity of greenspace. Most important, the lack of fences that could block views provides unspoiled vistas across hundreds of feet of ground. The concept of leaving the natural environment unimpeded even continues into the design of the houses. “The windows are floor-to-ceiling, completely open to the outside,” says Conte. Although most of the houses in Ladue Estates are ranch homes, even the more traditional designs of the later houses, from the 1960s, possess tall windows that allow unbroken views of the expansive 1-acre lots. “As trustees, we always encourage homeowners to build living fences. It’s a little more difficult, but the end result is always better,” says Conte. These “living fences” are made up of native plants and flowers planted in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy, all the while maintaining the subdivision’s views and openness. Conte references Robert Frost’s famous line about fences making good neighbors. “I don’t subscribe to that,” he says. “You’re more likely to interact with your neighbor [when there isn’t a physical barrier in place]. You’re more likely to protect your neighbor. You could wave to a neighbor on another street. It’s good to know your neighbors.” stlmag.com
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JULIA WOODARD (SEATED) AND LEE CAGLE
Habits of a Good Neighbor Being on friendly terms with your neighbors is always a good idea, but in this time of social distancing, it’s perhaps even more important to create a strong community close to home. Sarah Broyles of Etiquette St. Louis offers practical and thoughtful ways to build relationships. BY SYDNEY LOUGHRAN WOLF
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1. SAVE THE SCREEN FOR LATER
When you’re out and about in your neighborhood, leave your phone at home or put it in your pocket in an effort to meet your neighbors. “You don’t have to be best friends, but by knowing your neighbors and offering the occasional helping hand, you can cultivate a better culture and closer community,” says Broyles. Familiarity also imparts a greater sense of security. If at some point you need help from someone within the immediate vicinity, you can’t comfortably ask for it if you haven’t first fostered some semblance of a relationship.
2. MIND YOUR PETS
Pet owners are routinely out and about in the neighborhood. “Be courteous towards others by making sure you know where your pet is at all times,” says Broyles. Bring [your barking dog] indoors, know when a leash is required, and don’t leave home without a bag, she says. And know your pet’s boundaries: Walk a pet who’s anxious and can’t go out without charging another person or pet early or late in the day, when you’re unlikely to encounter neighbors.
3. KEEP NEIGHBORS IN THE LOOP
Mutual respect and proactive communication are crucial to a peaceful and positive relationship with neighbors. If you’re planning a home or landscaping project that’s close to your property line, inform your neighbor in advance and share the date and time that the crew will be arriving. “The benefits are twofold,” Broyles explains. “Your neighbor can take the additional noise and activity into consideration when planning their day, and they’ll feel they’ve been treated respectfully.”
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER
9/29/20 3:27 PM
Food Share
At the Central West End Farm, neighbors help neighbors one fresh veggie at a time. BY KIM HILL
On his frequent walks to work, Arthur Culbert, passed a large vacant lot on Waterman. He often thought to himself, What a great place for a community garden. After he mentioned the idea to his staff one day, an intrepid intern located the name of the lot’s owner. Within minutes, Culbert had called him with a pitch. “There was complete silence on the other end,” he recalls, but the next day, the lot’s owner called back. Not only did he agree to loan the land, but he also offered to provide water for the farm. Within weeks, Culbert and his wife, Nancy Culbert, along with a small crew of volunteers, got to work digging in the soil and building garden beds. Their goal was to grow fresh fruits and vegetables for neighbors who wouldn’t otherwise have access to them. In 10 growing seasons, the CWE Farm, in partnership with Second Presbyterian’s Good Ground Pantry, has provided more than 20,000 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables to more than 10,000 families. Last year, however, when the Culberts decided to move to Florida, it looked as if the farm’s mission might come to an end. “I couldn’t let that happen,” says Lee Cagle, another CWE resident. She recruited neighbor and friend Julia Woodard, and together they managed their first growing season in the midst of a global pandemic.
4. AVOID “KEYBOARD COURAGE”
Neighborhood apps like Nextdoor and Facebook are popular and efficient ways for neighbors to share information and receive updates from homeowners’ associations, but don’t rely solely on virtual communications intended for large groups. When a neighborspecific issue arises, handle it directly. If that approach is unsuccessful, call an HOA member for mediation. “Don’t be passive-aggressive and post something negative online. You can’t foresee or control the consequences of unkind posts,” Broyles says.
As the farm’s co-managers, how do you divide your responsibilities? CAGLE: In March, when we got started, the pandemic had just hit St. Louis and we didn’t know what was safe, so Julia and I, and our kids, did the bulk of the work. Julia’s super organized and a more experienced gardener than I am. I just get in there and do it. How do you decide what to grow? CAGLE: We ask our food pantry clients what they want. Everybody loves tomatoes. Mustard greens, okra, eggplant, onions. Collard greens are really nutritious and such good growers; we can harvest those all season. Peaches, apples, Asian pears, plums are other favorites. We found out people don’t want radishes, so no radishes next year. What makes the farm so special? CAGLE: The many ways that the neighborhood looks after it. One woman who lives across the street [from the farm] refinishes the benches and picnic tables every spring without ever being asked. The neighbor who provides us with unlimited water from his nearby building also mows around the perimeter of the garden and keeps an eye on things. WOODARD: The farm is a gathering place for the community. Families have picnics in the garden and wander through the beds to get
5. WATCH YOUR SPEED
This one may seem obvious, but it’s one of the easiest rules to bend and therefore mend. Maintain the speed limit in your neighborhood and familiarize yourself with the location of speed bumps or sawhorses that will require reduced speed to navigate. “Be on the lookout for children playing or people walking, and slow down while you’re passing them. It can make a neighbor skittish if a car comes up behind them quickly,” says Broyles. If you have teenage drivers in the house, make them aware of these rules of the road, too.
6. BE INCLUSIVE
If you’re organizing a neighborhood party, don’t exclude families because of past grievances. Broyles calls this “middle school bully” behavior. She warns that this type of behavior could result in an awkward situation between families and cause neighbors pressure to pick sides. “Remember that you live in proximity to one another in a shared community,” says Broyles. “Make sure you’re contributing to creating the best possible culture.”
some outdoor time. One man who lives nearby can get Wi-Fi from his house, so on nice days he sits at our picnic tables and works. Tell us about the kids who volunteer. CAGLE: In New City School’s fourth-grade citizenship class, the kids learn about inequalities in St. Louis and why having fresh produce is so important to people who live in a food desert. The kids plant, weed, harvest, and deliver food to the pantry. We grow popcorn and the kids shuck, pop, and bag it. They learn what making a difference really looks like. WOODARD: A lot of people in our city go to bed hungry. The food pantries we support are physically close to the garden, and when the kids walk to the pantry, it’s very clear: These are our neighbors we are serving and working with. What is the most rewarding part of working at the garden? WOODARD: Working with my hands feels good to me, but on the farm, that same work helps to care for people in the community. Arthur and Nancy used to organize big work days with volunteers, but I’m not sure when we will get back to those. Serving people with fresh produce is absolutely our mission, but another part is bringing people together. I can’t wait for that to happen again.
7. VOLUME MATTERS
Apartment dwellers should be mindful of volume. “You’re living in much closer quarters, so turn your music down a few notches, get to your pet a little sooner in the morning, and keep social gatherings to a manageable size.” Of utmost importance: Do your part to keep hallways clean and odorless. Common spaces aren’t storage lockers.
8. BE SOCIAL AT A DISTANCE
During times of challenge, it’s important to find ways to connect with others to help combat feelings of isolation. “Organize a driveway gettogether where neighbors bring their own chairs and drinks and spread out,” says Broyles. “If you’re heading to the store, offer to pick up supplies or carry-out.” Simply going on more walks and taking the time to chat from a few feet apart can be restorative, Broyles notes: “In the midst of the craziness of 2020, getting to know your neighbors better can be an unexpected upside.”
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FRESH START Whitney Kenter finds Zen in a remodeled Midcentury ranch. 56
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WRITTEN BY
AMY BURGER PHOTOGRAPHY BY
ALISE O’BRIEN
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W
hen Whitney Kenter finally moved into her remodeled 1950s brick ranch in the heart of Glendale, last December, she couldn’t have foreseen just how much time she’d be spending there in the coming year. Kenter purchased the home in November 2018 and in January 2019 embarked on a complete remodel and addition with friend and interior designer Annie Brahler of Euro Trash. The house has become a serene haven for the single mother of three during this challenging time. With two teenage sons and a preteen daughter, Kenter needed a house that gave her family room to both gather and escape. Most of all, she wanted a space that really suited her personality. “The house I moved into after I got divorced didn’t really reflect me,” Kenter says. “It was new construction, and it just didn’t feel right. It was a good lesson in figuring out what I like as a person. This house was me coming into me.” Collaborating with a close friend with whom she had experience on past projects made the process much easier. Kenter mostly stepped back and let Brahler do her thing. “She knows me and gets me,” Kenter says. “It was kind of special for both of us because I would come over and I would say, ‘This is amazing,’ and she’d get giddy because she was surprising me.” Finding the house was itself an achievement. Kenter was convinced she’d never find what she wanted in the Kirkwood/Glendale area, where she was hoping to live. She dreamed of a house with a large lot that was also secluded, surrounded by nature and up on a hill. It seemed too good to be true when she stumbled upon the home’s listing online. Then she and Brahler went to see it. Kenter was immediately drawn to the acre lot on a hill, with a creek running through the front yard and woods on three sides. It was in a neighborhood, yet felt tucked away. She loved the brick and Midcentury look. The next step was figuring out how to make the house work for her family. “I have to give Annie all the credit for the vision,” Kenter says. “She immediately saw how we could add on and have it look like it blends in.” Brahler and her team at Euro Trash drew up plans for a renovation plus an addition, working with NJL Custom Homes and MooreHouse Development on the construction. Rather than building up, they bumped out the existing footprint, designing a two-story glass staircase leading to a new lower level, which allowed them to create 10-foot ceilings and an outdoor courtyard. They removed the interior walls and drop ceilings in the original house and installed vaulted ceilings. A new wall of windows in the combined living and dining rooms overlooks a new deck and brings the beauty of the surrounding woods inside.
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The addition more than doubled the square footage of the house, from 1,780 to 5,600. “I wanted to make sure we integrated the outdoor and indoor spaces,” says Brahler. “There’s a creek that runs through the property—so we nicknamed the property Queen’s Creek.” Indoors, Brahler married rusticity with glamour. It’s a look, she says, that is “absolutely Whitney.” “I have an earthy hippie vibe but also a classy, simple Audrey Hepburn style,” Kenter concurs. Using sustainable materials was of utmost importance to Kenter. Brahler incorporated reclaimed lumber into every carpentry surface, including the herringbone wood floors by Willow Architectural Salvage and the custom kitchen cabinetry and custom range hood by Woodhaven Woodworks. Even the kitchen’s main appliances were salvaged and refurbished. The old appliances they replaced were donated. “It felt good that while I was getting rid of stuff, it wasn’t going into a landfill,” says Kenter, “and with this house, I love the idea that these appliances are 20 years old but still relevant.” An avid cook, Kenter took a keen interest in the design of the
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kitchen, whose oversized island has become the heart of the home. Topped in Imperial Danby marble with a waterfall edge, it seats four while providing plenty of work space for the chef. “It’s so functional,” Brahler says. “She can be cooking this huge meal and one of her kids can be working on a science project at the other end.” Reclaimed floating wood shelves by MooreHouse are mounted on a wall of brass, which matches the statement fireplace wall in the nearby living room. Covering walls with brass was new even to Brahler; Kenter was hesitant at first but now loves the finished product, created by Architectural Elements. “I wanted to keep going with natural materials but wanted to put a glamorous spin on them,” says the designer. “Using it in this way, I was able to keep that natural vibe but make it sexy.” The cozy conversation pit facing that brass fireplace wall is complemented by an elegantly curved sofa from Restoration Hardware that surrounds a Swirled Drum coffee table from Anthropologie. Kenter prefers neutral tones to bold swaths of color, so Brahler drew a thread of deep emerald green, in homage to the outdoors, throughout the house. The color is seen in velvet kitchen barstools by Everly
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Quinn and the velvet-upholstered platform bed by Mercer41 in the main bedroom. In the suite, Brahler also adorned a wall of built-in shelves with Buddha statues of varying sizes and materials to make a statement and, she says, “give the whole room a really pronounced sense of calm.” The room’s accompanying bath, with a freestanding Aqua Eden tub by Kingston Brass and a separate shower, is a sanctuary, lined in white matte beveled tile from Kirkwood Flooring. Fanciful mirrors flanked by floral sconces lend a feminine touch, as does the framed photo of Hepburn, Kenter’s style inspiration. Then, there’s the home office, a must-have for Kenter, who is a consultant. Brahler selected a premade mural of trees and birds for one wall, layering it with a taxidermy peacock and a vintage lioness table lamp found at Cool Stuff Period. A pair of bold custom leopard print armchairs add another punch of excitement. “My office has been an absolute haven, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it really suits me and my transition,” says Kenter. She says the remodel and design exceeded her expectations, from the creative mix of materials used to the raised beds and crushed oyster shells on the garden surface outside. “A lot of it is letting go of that fear or need to control,” says Kenter, “and seeing what happens as a result of [hiring] someone who is an expert and someone you trust.” stlmag.com
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INDEX
NEIGHBORLY ACTS Small gestures make a big difference.
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“Because of the pandemic, our parents and relatives weren’t able to visit us right away after we welcomed our third child this past April. Neighbors to the rescue! Our family was the recipient of countless meals in the days and weeks after we returned home from the hospital: fruit, soup, chili, homemade bread, desserts, and an amazing chicken casserole that I won’t soon forget.” –TOM WHITE, DESIGN DIRECTOR
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“Just last Sunday evening, I was grilling vegetable skewers and venison backstraps in the backyard when my new neighbors walked out onto their back porch to have cocktails. We introduced ourselves. Soon after, a third new neighbor walked over and introduced himself. It was like an impromptu new-neighbors party. It was easy to forget for a moment, spontaneously chatting with strangers, that we were in the middle of a pandemic.” –NICHOLAS PHILLIPS, SENIOR EDITOR
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“One of my neighbors has organized a ‘grab-and-go’ table on her front lawn that is available for anyone to come and get what they need. She’s stocked it with non-perishables and fresh produce and other necessities, like diapers and school supplies. The truly amazing part is that she’s been able to keep it up daily since April—with the help of her family and donations from the community. It’s inspiring to see how the vision of one person can bring so many people together in an effort to help others who are going through a difficult time.” –EMILY CRAMSEY, ART DIRECTOR
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“When I was in the seventh grade, a new family moved into my neighborhood. I met the family’s eldest daughter, Brooke, when she rode her scooter past my driveway. We discovered that we were the same age, then that we’d be attending the same school. A mutual crush on Nick Jonas sealed the friendship. We were inseparable for a decade and then some.” –SAMANTHA STEVENSON, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
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“The first time I met Jim, we talked about hobbies. His included golf and grandkids. Mine are too many to count, but when I mentioned woodworking, he motioned to follow him across the street to his garage. There sat a 175-pound cast-ironand-steel drill press from the 1970s. He said it was his father’s, a former engineer at Emerson who helped in the engineering of this exact model. Jim offered it to me, free of charge, the first time we met. Can’t get much nicer than that.” –KEVIN A. ROBERTS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SISOJE / E+ / VIA GETT Y IMAGES
“When we moved into our house, I was 36 weeks pregnant, which meant my neighbors saw me walking around a few times trying to jump-start labor. I met one couple while I was doubled over from a contraction. Then, I disappeared to have my baby and basically never re-entered society because... pandemic. But right after our son was born, one neighbor dropped off dinner from the Art of Entertaining, another brought us baby wash, and a third stopped by to invite me to a local mom’s group.” –AMANDA WOYTUS, DEPUTY EDITOR
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DESIGN CRUSH
DAILY DELIGHTS Tom Brackman, the unofficial mayor of Waterman, on beautifying his neighborhood WHAT’S THE SCOPE OF YOUR DUTIES? I’m in charge of planning and maintaining the flower beds and planters on our street. I do it along with my assistant, Lisa Wells. She is really the one who does the manual labor— planting the beds and watering them—so [she] deserves a lot of recognition as well. WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT LIVING IN THE CWE? I just love the city living and
the diversity of the people on the street. We have townhomes, apartments, million-dollar single-family homes, group homes, and condominiums. We have St. Louis natives and a lot of international residents. We are also fortunate to have the First Unitarian Church, Central Reform Congregation, and New City School all on this stretch of Waterman. Together, those draw [people] from more than 30 ZIP codes. I also always like the old houses and historic buildings and of course the proximity to Forest Park.
YOUR WORK IS DONE ON A VOLUNTEER BASIS. WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO? I
love the neighborhood, and I genuinely enjoy the work—but then again, I also have financial reasons to do what I do. I own seven buildings on this street, and at the end of the day, the nicer the street is, the more people that want to move in. It’s funny—when I first moved to this street, in 1985, people were reluctant to move in because they weren’t sure if this was a safe neighborhood. Now, when people come to see an apartment, they say “I’ve always wanted to live here.” The perception of our neighborhood has changed, I think in part because of the improvements we made.
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YOU’VE BEEN REFERRED TO AS THE MAYOR OF WATERMAN. HOW DID THAT NICKNAME COME TO BE? That term came from a West
End Word article in the ’90s. They did an article about the neighborhood because we had just formed the Waterman-Lake Special Business District. As part of the business district, we did a big public improvement project with the aim of slowing down traffic on the street. We put in the circle where the fountain is and a few bump-outs in the 5100 block where there are now planters. The project was done in 1995–96. At the time, I was the chairman of the district and chairman of the Waterman Association.
social. Everyone is home. Whenever we’re outside eating, people stop to talk. COVID doubled the amount of people who were walking on the street during the day. The appreciation for the beauty we’ve created on Waterman has doubled, too.
IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, WHAT MAKES A GOOD NEIGHBOR? I think a good neighbor is
someone who always has a smile on their face, someone who wants to volunteer to make the neighborhood better—and a good neighbor is someone who maintains a good attitude, especially in times like these. —CARA DOWNS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER
The three blocks of Waterman from Kingshighway to Union in the Central West End stand apart from the others. A roundabout, centered on a garden decorated seasonally with flowers and plants surrounding a large iron fountain, serves to slow traffic. Beautifully designed planters, brimming with canna and marigold mark street corners. These pretty tableaux are the handiwork of retired attorney Tom Brackman, who’s made it his mission to beautify this stretch of Waterman for more than 30 years. Why does he do it? Brackman says it’s out of love for the neighborhood and a personal desire to see it improved.
WHAT IS LIFE LIKE IN THE WEST END DURING THE PANDEMIC? People are much more
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