All Entries in the "Real Estate" Category
Think Pink: a FloTown landmark now for sale
You know you've seen it - the old pink farmhouse with a big ol' barn, just steps from North New Florissant Road. Here's the story on this unique local landmark...
In the early 1970s, Frank and Sandy Tricamo went looking for adventure. The parents of five children, they wanted to do something that involved the entire family, so they purchased a condemned house on New Florissant Road and proceeded to launch a major renovation.
Built around 1844 by Sidney Harris and later occupied by Joseph Stroer, one of Florissant’s early mayors, the home was originally just one room measuring 18 square feet. But over the years, it had grown to a seven-room, two-story structure, much of which was in very poor condition by the time the Tricamos got involved.
Frank and his sons replaced the rotting lumber, shored up the stone foundation and removed the old mud and straw insulation from behind the walls, but their plan was not to remodel. It was to restore the home’s historical integrity and capture a glimpse of life in early Florissant.
They used wood to heat the house and pumped water into large pots in the kitchen. They also installed a Charter Oak cast-iron stove, which runs on wood and natural gas, and has no temperature gauges. It took a while, but Sandy eventually learned to cook by sight, touch and instinct.
The Tricamos still love their rustic kitchen, adorned with numerous antiques.
Elsewhere in the house, Frank used materials salvaged from other buildings to complete the renovation – tin ceilings, wide-plank floors, colorful stained glass windows. At one point, he even installed an inground pool and laid huge stone slabs to create a tranquil patio space.
With most of the major work completed, the Tricamos continued to collect antique furniture and other items, sometimes hauling treasures home on their Harleys. Over time, that resulted in the incredible masterpiece you see today – a truly unique, artistic home that feels like a place lost in history.
Frank and Sandy have lived there nearly 40 years now, so it should come as no surprise that these brave pioneers are finally ready for a new adventure. They put their house on the market last week, and they’re hoping to find a new owner who loves it as much as they do.
Here’s a peek at their gorgeous yard and a pic of the house in its early days. Follow this link to see dozens of additional photos showing inside and out….
1089 North New Florissant is currently listed by Jane Quartuccio of Circa Properties for $286,500. It has 3 bedrooms & 2 baths in 2,050 square feet.
A NoCo mystery: the Legend of Capitol Hill
Near Hudson & Old Halls Ferry in unincorporated NoCo, you'll find #3 Capitol Hill, a grand pre-Civil War mansion with an intriguing history.
I remember the first time I saw it, catching just a glimpse as my mom drove by. Even at 12 years old, I knew that the old house on Capitol Hill had a great story to tell.
Perched on a huge corner lot overlooking Halls Ferry Road, it stuck out like a rose among daisies, the only antebellum mansion in a neighborhood full of 1950s ranches. I didn’t know who built it, or when, but as soon as I started asking around, the rumors poured in: That house is haunted. It was built by slaves. It was almost the state capitol.
I tried to research further, poring over library books and microfiche, but never really got anywhere. Then 27 years later, a man named Glenn Smith moved in across the street from me, and guess where he grew up? The old house on Capitol Hill.
Glenn and I traded stories, and I learned that his childhood home was built in 1842 by a farmer named French something-or-other. It was not haunted, as far as he remembered, but he and his brother did enjoy scaring guests in their “ghost sheets.” They also played ping-pong on the roof and indoor soccer in the massive 50-foot living room. And Glenn recalled three legends about the house:
- It was once considered for the state capitol.
- It’s sometimes called Heartbreak Hill for the grieving mother who lived there and accidentally started a huge fire.
- It might have been a stop on the Underground Railroad.
That piqued my curiosity, of course, but I still didn’t dive into the research. Then out of the blue, #3 Capitol Hill went into foreclosure, hitting the market about a month ago. It was selling for $42,000 – which is pretty amazing considering it’s a 3,800-square-foot home on nearly an acre – and I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity to explore further. What I didn’t expect is the mysterious and, yes, sometimes heartbreaking story that would unravel.
I might as well start at the beginning…
This is French Rayburn.
In 1834, he moved to St. Louis from Nashville, Tennessee, to help manage a branch of the Cumberland Iron Works, a huge iron manufacturing company owned by his family. Just 19 at the time, he later married Catherine Stacker, whose father had also amassed a large fortune in the iron industry, and by 27, French was a “retired” gentleman farmer overseeing hundreds of acres in what’s now North County.
His largest parcel was near the Halls Ferry wedge, on the wooden plank road that ran from Baden all the way to Edward Hall’s ferry on the Missouri River. It was here that he (or more likely, his slaves) built a sprawling brick mansion in 1842, reportedly an exact replica of a house that once stood near his wife’s hometown in Lafayette, Tennessee.
French and Catherine Rayburn had four children while living on their farm: Samuel, Cora, Mary Elsie and Catherine French. Unfortunately, two of the girls died as teenagers, “just as they were budding into beautiful womanhood,” and legend has it that Mrs. Rayburn never recovered from the grief.
While pacing the hallway late one night, she allegedly dropped her oil lamp down the back staircase, setting one whole wing of the mansion ablaze. Her servants were able to pull her to safety but a significant portion of the 5,000-square-foot house was destroyed, including most of the second floor and an observation tower on the third floor.
Mrs. Rayburn died a few years later, on April 26, 1881, following what was publicly referred to as a “lingering illness,” and privately a “situation.” She was 57. According to some accounts, neighbors began to see strange lights flickering in and around the mansion soon after. One witness also claimed to hear crying sounds.
The identical headstones of Cora & Mary Elsie Rayburn at Bellefontaine Cemetery. Each is topped with a broken vase of flowers, carved in stone.
Five years after Mrs. Rayburn died, her daughter Catherine followed. She was 25 and passed away suddenly at the Lindell Hotel – a grand St. Louis landmark that burned down the next month. (Salvaged limestone from the Lindell was used to create the “ruins” at Tower Grove Park.)
Catherine’s funeral was held at the farm on Capitol Hill, where her father, French Rayburn, would die two years later in 1888. He was 73 at the time and had outlived every single member of his immediate family, except his son, Samuel, who would also die a few months later at the age of 45.
The Rayburns in happier days, at their mansion on Capitol Hill.
As of 1909, Samuel’s wife and two daughters still owned much of the Rayburn farm, though some of the acreage had been sold off. By the 1910 census, they had all moved away and were living in the city of St. Louis.
Perhaps that’s when they sold the mansion, or perhaps they held on a little longer, as the “Missouri Historical Research Record” suggests:
“The lovely home had a reputation for sadness and trouble, and the owners, reluctant to see the house deteriorate, offered free rent to anyone who would live there and take care of the place. The free-rent offers had no takers, and the house stood lonely and bare, save for its melancholy memories and spectres of sadness.”
I haven’t researched the property’s full deed history yet but I do know that in the 1950s, a family named DeLargy owned #3 Capitol Hill. They reportedly altered the interior of the house, removing old door knobs and other original details, and there may have been a second fire under their watch. Also around the same time, a Rayburn descendent by the name of Mrs. DeCamp was said to have the mansion’s original rosewood furniture at her home in Dayton, Ohio.
My neighbor Glenn Smith didn’t move to Capitol Hill until 1972 or so, when he remembers the house being in “atrocious” condition, with vandalism and spray paint everywhere. His family cleaned things up and stayed until the early 80s, frequently heating the huge dwelling with a wood stove in the living room.
Here’s what the mansion looked like back then, in this 1984 photo from the Bellefontaine Cemetery collection….
And here’s what it looks like today… Click image #1 to start the tour.
OK, so now we’ve seen the house. How about those legends? Are they actually true? Here’s what I know….
I visited Capitol Hill recently with my neighbor Glenn and his dad, Gene, who told me about a large brick cistern that used to collect water on the northwest side of the property. Glenn and his brother climbed down into it once, finding the remains of an old brick tunnel that had collapsed in on itself, and they always wondered if maybe the tunnel was a slave escape route leading to the nearby creek.
French Rayburn did own slaves. I’m almost certain of that. I haven’t found them on any recorded documents so far (other than the old photo above), but nearly all of the wealthy land owners in pre-war North County were slaveholders at some point.
James Bissell, the son of General Daniel Bissell and a close friend of French Rayburn, was known to buy and sell numerous slaves throughout Missouri. In 1854, he and Rayburn even used slaves to help build the church they founded, Bellefontaine Methodist, which still stands today.
Beyond that, both Rayburn and his wife hailed from families that made their fortunes in iron ore production – an industry that relied heavily on slave labor. Catherine Rayburn’s father, Samuel Stacker, personally owned dozens of slaves in Tennessee, and was said to be strongly pro-Confederacy during the Civil War.
French Rayburn also sided with the South, to the extent that he made the 1866 “List of Disloyal and Disenfranchised Persons in St. Louis County,” a roster of 8,500 local men who refused to sign a loyalty oath after the war.
Does that mean he definitely owned slaves? Or prove that his house was connected to the Underground Railroad? No, certainly not. But it does raise another interesting question….
Legend has it that Capitol Hill got its name after being considered as a location for the Missouri state capitol, that it even lost in a tight vote to St. Charles. But I can find zero evidence of that.
What I did discover is that Missouri actually had two capitol buildings during the Civil War – one for the Union and one for the Confederacy. And I’m wondering if maybe French Rayburn, who served in the Missouri legislature in 1858, proposed his home as a potential rebel headquarters?
I have no firm proof of this, but it does seem to be a better explanation. Rayburn was a “pronounced Democrat,” after all, with strong southern ties and a powerful, politically connected brother who could’ve pulled plenty of strings. But for now, I’m just speculating.
As for the ghost of Catherine Rayburn, who supposedly haunts Capitol Hill, I hate to say it but the evidence is also pretty thin.
Around 1968, visitors did heard the rustle of crinoline skirts on the staircase, despite the property being vacant. And sometime during the 1950s, rumors circulated that ethereal blue lights could be seen dancing all around the mansion and surrounding yard.
More recently, maybe 10-12 years ago, there was also some unusual activity during renovations, when a contractor apparently saw a woman dressed in “old-fashioned clothes” watching him through the living room window. As he moved closer for a better look, she simply vanished, and he was so spooked, he picked up his tools and never came back.
That’s the story anyway. But whether it’s true is anyone’s guess. All I know is that I’ve been to #3 Capitol Hill several times now, including once at night, and there’s no doubt that it has a lot of….atmosphere.
While standing alone in the foyer a few weeks ago, I am certain that I heard a faint female voice in the front parlor. I walked over to investigate, only to hear the same voice 30 feet away in the living room. I also felt an overwhelming sense of sadness on the back half of the second floor, days before I knew anything about the fire that had taken place there.
Was it my mind playing tricks on me? Maybe. Or perhaps 170 years of history, compounded by the heartbreak of a grieving mother, really does linger at the Rayburn mansion…
Thanks to the Smith family and the folks at Historic Florissant, Bellefontaine Cemetery and the Missouri History Museum Library for providing assistance with this article! If anyone has anything to add to the story, please leave a comment below or contact me at shannon@NOCOstl.com. By the way, #3 Capitol Hill is currently under contract.
UPDATE: Reader Laura Birmingham has confirmed that French Rayburn actually owned 10 slaves in 1850, according to the U.S. Census slave schedules, and 17 slaves & 2 slave houses in 1860. Here’s the record from 1850, with the last three columns representing age, gender and race.
Rooms with a View: 9756 E Lookout Court
Among the rich tapestry of unique homes lining the Riverview bluff, this 1920s Spanish-style cottage just might be the coolest of them all.
In 1917, when Riverview Drive was nothing but a dirt road hugging the banks of the Mississippi, St. Louis real estate developers R.W. Sikking & Robert Beckwith hatched an ambitious plan. Eyeing the vast stretch of wooded hillside overlooking the river, they purchased 255 acres of prime bluff property and proceeded to sell off individual lots at a brisk pace.
Many of the buyers were well-heeled city dwellers like lumber magnate Ben Fry, who built a lavish 10-room residence with formal gardens and a grand pergola. But most of the homes constructed in the Riverview Gardens subdivision were actually summer cottages, chicken ranches and what the developers called “little city farms,” where men of modest means could work in the city, live in the country and grow their own food.
“The interest in Riverview Gardens,” said Sikking in a 1917 Post-Dispatch article, “is due to the fact that the home sites overlook the river and have the most attractive surroundings, including the magnificent Chain of Rocks Park and the long stretch of drive along the top of the towering bluff. The sites are in the country, in the sense that the homeowners can own their automobiles and raise enough [food] to pay the equivalent of rent; and they are in the city in the sense that they are right at the city limits, with street car service and other city conveniences.”
By 1919, Sikking & Beckwith were selling a “little city farm” every single day, at prices ranging from $250 to $500. But around the same time, others were flocking to the bluff for entirely different reasons, including the owners of Peabody Coal, who decided to build a tiny rustic cottage at 9756 E. Lookout Court. It was here, at this secluded half-acre hideaway with sweeping river views, that company higher-ups would escape to play cards, entertain women and sneak a drink during Prohibition.
A few years later, in 1926, legend has it that CEO Francis Peabody’s mother (or perhaps grandmother) wanted to use the cottage as a summer residence. But finding it a bit too small and rustic for her needs, she oversaw the construction of an addition, bringing the house to its current size of 1,000 square feet. She added two bedrooms, an indoor bathroom and a small basement, and reportedly lived there with a maid. She was also responsible for the Spanish Revival details on the exterior facade.
In 1951, after 30 years of ownership, the Peabody family sold the property to a couple who lived on Riverview Drive below. Unfortunately, the husband died soon after, leaving his widow to live alone in the cottage for another 40 years. She finally sold the home in 1991 to its third owner, Gena Scott, who has lovingly cared for it ever since.
Scott is an artist, a former antique store owner and an all-around free spirit, just like many of her neighbors on the bluff. And now that her health is declining, she is committed to finding the next owner and caretaker for this fantastic little rustic cottage.
During her time in the house, she often rose before dawn to paint, capturing the river’s changing colors in the sunlight. Her goal now is to share this one-of-a-kind haven with another creative soul, someone who will cherish the unique energy of the property and use the magnificent landscape for inspiration. Perhaps that person is you…
9756 E. Lookout Court is currently on the market for $98,000, including a half-acre of land. More photos and info available here.
If you’d like a buyer’s agent to show you this delightful vintage home on the most spectacular lot, I would be more than happy. Contact me at (314) 359-5927 or shannon@STLhomeswithsoul.com.
1480 Alicia: your own private NoCo wonderland
Just a few years ago, this wonderfully unique Ferguson estate was listed for nearly $700,000. Today, it can be yours for a small fraction of that...
If you’re a regular NOCO reader, you know that I love to highlight North County’s many hidden gems. Well, this one is certainly very well hidden, and there’s absolutely no doubt that it’s a diamond in the rough. In fact, this sprawling house at 1480 Alicia Avenue may be one of the coolest places I’ve ever come across in NoCo.
For one, it sits on ten acres! And that’s ten lush, wooded acres with a natural creek and a horse pasture, all tucked away on a private road in the heart of Ferguson. As if that’s not awesome enough, the property also has a horse stable, a huge workshop building and a massive, one-of-a-kind house……a 4,700-square-foot executive home that offers all kinds of great possibilities.
Back in 2006, when the city of Ferguson considered developing this land into a new subdivision, the asking price was a whopping $695,000. But now, thanks to our lackluster economy, you can snag this incredible suburban wonderland for just $199,900!
So what’s the catch? I have to be honest, it’s a pretty big one.
Cosmetically, this place is a mess. Seriously. There isn’t a single room that doesn’t need work, and there are many, many rooms to deal with. But, if you’re willing to get your hands dirty and spend a decent chunk of change on renovations, you just might wind up with one of the sweetest private retreats in all of St. Louis.
And did I mention that 1480 Alicia is historical as well? Click on pic #1 for the full story….
OK, so now that you’ve seen the property, you’re probably thinking, “Holy cow, that place is huge!” And I agree. It is a little too much for most families. But here are some out-of-the-box ideas to consider…
Given the size and nature of the lot and the duplex-like layout of the house, 1480 Alicia could be uniquely suited for a number of uses. In my mind, I totally see it as a bed & breakfast, a mini farm, a corporate retreat center, even a spiritual/wellness/yoga destination. It could also make an ideal site for a work-at-home artist, a homeschooling family, or even two families seeking self-sufficiency and a co-housing arrangement, though a zoning variance might be necessary.
Whichever way you look at it, this property is bursting with potential. And I really want to find someone who will appreciate and love this place and make it the very best it can be. So if you’re interested in taking a closer look, give me a call at (314) 359-5927. My broker, Pearce Neikirk, has the official listing on this property, and I would be happy to show it to you…
That’s right. In case you missed my big announcement, I recently became a licensed real estate agent, specializing in vintage, historical and unique homes just like this!
Are you getting ready for the big day? NOCO is a proud sponsor of the 3rd annual Live Well Ferguson 5K