3931 North 20th Street
Built: 1882
Style: Italianate
Neighborhood: Hyde Park
City Block: 1239
Former address: 3931 North 14th Street
On 1875 Compton and Dry Map: no
On 1883 Hopkins Atlas: yes
Historical significance: This house was built around 1882 in Mallinckrodt’s Second Addition. Emil Mallinckrodt was one of the original founders of the town of Bremen in 1844, and likely subdivided this area in 1854, around the time that the city of St. Louis purchased land for Hyde Park. One of the original residents of this house was Christian Fischer, a carpenter. Around 1884, the streets of St. Louis were all aligned with downtown and 14th Street was changed to 20th in Hyde Park. Fischer was still living here until 1902. This would have been a multi family home, as Frank Lewis, an engineer, also lived at the house from 1884 until 1887. Lowell M. Carson, a salesman for F. W. Rosenthal, then William Barr Dry Goods, and at another point, Scruggs, Vandervoort, and Barney, lived at the house in 1888 through the early 1890s. During the early 20th century, Charles Metz, a carrier for the Post Office, was living here in 1904 through 1908. William Gilsdorf, an electrician, was living here in 1905. From 1908 through 1912, Frederick W. Bauer, a brewer at one of the local breweries in Hyde Park, lived here with Amanda and Clara Bauer, who were both telephone operators. By 1923, it was home to William Suedemeyer, and his sons Ralph and Herbert, who ran Suedemeyer and Sons Undertaking Co. Today this stretch of North 20th Street is among the best preserved blocks of homes in the Hyde Park neighborhood, which has a number of very intact blocks, as well as others with high vacancy.
Architectural significance: This house was built in 1882 in the Italianate style. It is a later example of an Italianate townhouse with a pitched roof, and it also sports a large 3 bay dormer window, modeled somewhat after the cupolas seen on Italianate country villas and other large Italianate mansions that were built earlier. At one time, many of the buildings on this block were Italianate style as well, but were later updated with mansard roofs.