125-127 East Argonne Drive - Downtown Kirkwood Historic District - Kirkwood, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 34.875 W 090° 24.304
15S E 726035 N 4273502
This district does not number buildings, uses address number
Waymark Code: WMZ42E
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 09/07/2018
Views: 0
County of building: St. Louis County
Location of building: E. Argonne Dr., center of block, north side, Kirkwood
Built: 1945
Style: Commercial
Original Occupant: Kirkwood Auto Supply
Current Occupant: CHristopher's
"125-127 E. Argonne. Kirkwood Auto Supply Building. 1945; rear addition, 1961. Architect,
unknown , Contractor, unknown. Contributing.
The Kirkwood Auto Supply Building is a one story, flat roofed, commercial building with two
entrances on either end of the facade, display windows on either side of the doors and a three
paned central display window. The building has a cream colored, glazed block façade capped by
a dark brown glazed block parapet tile. The rest of the building is red brick." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"125-127 E. Argonne. Kirkwood Auto Supply Building. 1945; rear addition, 1961. Architect,
unknown , Contractor, unknown, Contributing.
There apparently was an earlier building on this property, addressed as 127 E. Argonne that
housed a series of commercial businesses and the American Legion Post at times dating back to
at least 1910 in city directories (and not shown on the 1909 plat map), but the Kirkwood Auto
Supply Building was constructed in 1945, documented by a building permit issued October 19,
1945 to Kirkwood Auto Supply. Kirkwood Auto Supply shared the building with L. Schmitz, a
wholesale jeweler in 1949 and H. Schall’s machine shop. By 1953 Russ Nixon Auto Parts
occupied the entire building and was listed again in 1958’s directory. In 1961, a rear addition
was completed and in 2000 the interior was remodeled. Today, it is the home of Christopher’s." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Technology affected the designs of mid-twentieth century buildings, whether that was through
the development of new façade materials (such as glazed tiles or stacked brick) or through
improvements to display window technology that minimized framing or increased the size of
plate glass. Cream colored glazed brick was used on the 1945 storefront at 125-127 E. Argonne
with a simple change to dark brown to define the parapet cap and small ceramic tiles form an
abstract design...." ~ NRHP Nomination Form