Built St. Louis: Vanished Buildings
Cochran Gardens

Location: 1228 N. 9th Street
Built: 1952 and later
Architect: Hellmuth, Yamasaki & Leinweber
Status: demolition underway, November 2007

Built in the early 1950s next door to Neighorhood Gardens, these public housing units weren't quite the terrifying spectacle that places like Pruitt-Igoe and Darste-Webb were. In fact, they were rather attractive, with bold massing and rhythmic balconies that provided a sense of human scale, even on the high-rises.

Nearly all of the complex is being demolished as of early 2008.

Links:
- Cochran Gardens at Ecology of Absence
- City of St. Louis Five-Year Strategy for the Columbus Square neighborhood
- From Squalor to Showcase - 1988 New York Times article about the project's tenant-run management system.

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