County of building: St. Louis County
Location of building: W. Argonne Dr., middle of block, north side, Kirkwood
Built: 1893 - remodel 1920
Style: Commercial
Original Occupant: Bopp Funeral Home
Current Occupant: Billy G's
"131 W. Argonne. Bopp Funeral Home. ca. 1893; 1920s chapel addition; 1926-45 garage addition. Architect, unknown. Contractor, unknown. Contributing.
The Bopp Funeral Home building was constructed around 1893 but address changes make it difficult to ascertain the early occupants. At the time, the property only consisted of the front section of the current building and even by the time of the 1903 fire insurance map, the back half of the property only had a couple of small wooden outbuildings. As such, this was one of the earliest masonry buildings on the block. It is likely that the 1910 listing for C. Walker’s barbershop was in this building. By 1922 L. Bopp had his undertaking business in the building and remained in the location through the 1950s. Modifications were made to the building (according to city hall records) in 1964, probably associated with the transition in use from a funeral home to other commercial uses. Today it serves as a large restaurant. Sometime after 1909, probably in the 1920s, the chapel was added to the rear of the undertaker’s establishment and a large “private garage” built across the rear of the entire lot, which includes the lot that was
previously addressed as 127 W. Argonne, creating a single L-shaped funeral home complex. It is likely that the address for the parking area/driveway east of the building (that is associated with 131 W. Argonne now and numbered as 127 W. Argonne at the time) housed J. Watson’s restaurant in 1910 and an individual, T. D. Kimball, in 1917, but by 1922 this address number had disappeared from the directories and sometime between the publication of the 1926 fire insurance map and its correction in 1945, the lot was cleared and had become access for the funeral home’s garage. Today this complex is used for Massa’s Restaurant." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"The property owners in the district have had a long tradition of updating their buildings, beginning with the 1899 update of the 1875 Heinzelmann Bakery, but especially epitomized by the stucco coatings popularized in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of these were frame buildings
with balconies that covered the sidewalks, ... , that then were “modernized” by removing the balconies and applying stucco. In some cases, they were early brick buildings that were stuccoed, .... In at least two cases, it was simpler brick facades of buildings that were used as liveries that had to be converted to new uses... as carriages fell out of popularity ... both had their plain brick walls modified, not only with stucco, but also with entire new storefronts on the first floor and rows of windows on the second floor so that the
buildings could now be used for residential apartments over commercial storefronts. Even the Bopp Funeral Home at 131 W. Argonne was stuccoed in the early twentieth century." ~ NRHP Nomination Form, PDF page 51
"131 W. Argonne. Bopp Funeral Home. ca. 1893; 1920s chapel addition; 1926-45 garage addition. Architect, unknown. Contractor, unknown. Contributing.
The 131 W. Argonne Commercial Building is a two story stucco building. There is a wood cornice below the parapet and four one over one sashed windows on the second floor, with four more windows on the first floor. The entrance to the side of the façade has a transom above the
door. In the 1920s the chapel was added to the rear of the undertaker’s establishment (the rectangular building abutting the sidewalk) and by 1945 a large “private garage” was built across the rear of the entire lot, which includes the lot that was previously addressed as 127 W. Argonne, creating a single L-shaped funeral home complex. The front building appears to have originally been brick, but historic photos show the entire funeral home complex as a painted
stucco complex by the 1940s, and it was probably stuccoed when the additions were completed." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"The entire facade was covered with vertical wood siding and perma stone in 1965. The original window and door openings have been obscured. .A one story addition extends to the east at the rear. There are three one story additions at the rear: a one story concrete block addition joins a one story brick outbuilding to the main building; a one story concrete building is attached to the east of this outbuilding." ~ Kirkwood Historic Survey Phase II, pages 202-207