Skate park within former church burns down in St. Louis

2023-07-04T10:00:00-04:00

A four-alarm fire late Wednesday engulfed a towering historic church that had been converted into an indoor skatepark north of downtown St. Louis. No injuries were reported in the blaze at S, near Hogan and North Market streets. The cause of the fire remained under investigation as of 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

The fire is believed to have started in the church rectory before it spread to where the skatepark is. The German Gothic church at the St. Liborius Parish Complex in the city’s St. Louis Place neighborhood was originally constructed in 1889. The building was declared a city landmark in 1975 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 before it closed in 1992. The current owner of the church, Dave Blum, purchased it in 2012, which was followed by its renovation into a skate park named Sk8 Liborius in 2016.

Video courtesy SK8 Liborius/YouTube

The former church had become a sanctuary for St. Louis’ skater community as one of the few dedicated skating locations in the city. Skate ramps, notably a 40-foot miniature ramp in the center, graffiti, and murals replaced what were once pews.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sk8 Liborius / The LUAS 501c3 (@sk8liborius)

It remains unclear what the cause of the blaze was. Blum is working with fir...

KieranTimberlake's transformative addition to Washington University of St. Louis Sam Fox School to debut this fall

2019-09-09T19:04:00-04:00

Transformative additions to the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts campus designed by architects KieranTimberlake are set to make their public debut this fall.

Located on the Washington University in St. Louis Danforth Campus, the project includes the addition of a new academic building, Weil Hall, as well as extensive expansions and renovations to the existing Fumihiko Maki-designed Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. These projects represent part of a much larger $280 million effort to rework the university's East End, and include replacing a series of disjointed surface parking lots and lawns with a grassy expanse dotted with trees. Master planning for the East End was led by landscape architect Michael Vergason.

Work on the remaining structures included in the larger East End plan is set to continue into 2021.

The new architecture building is marked a central commons containing seating areas and a multi-story grow wall. Image courtesy of ©KieranTimberlake/studioAMD

The newly c...

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Skate park within former church burns down in St. Louis

KieranTimberlake's transformative addition to Washington University of St. Louis Sam Fox School to debut this fall