In this blog’s previous post, “Lot next to church gets a makeover,” we didn’t yet know what used to be on the site next to the burnt-out church. One of our scholarly readers, Gary Tetley, who has been researching Theodore C. Link for the last two years, commented that the spot once held the prominent architect’s 1905 townhouse. Tetley agreed to elaborate on this in a post:

Theodore C. Link’s Midtown Residence

Gary R. Tetley, AIA
 
One of the most prominent St. Louis architects at the turn of the Twentieth Century was Theodore C. Link. In addition to the usual successful architect’s portfolio of churches, schools, galleries and residences, Link also built on a monumental scale. By 1903 he had completed the St. Louis Union Station and the Mississippi State Capital. During the next twenty years he would complete the massive Barnes Hospital – Washington University School of Medicine Complex and the entire campus of Louisiana State University.

Less known is his personal residence located in midtown St. Louis and completed in 1905.  Link designed and built a brick two story L-shaped apartment house on the southeast corner of Delmar Avenue and North Spring. The building actually contained three separate units and was in a style similar to his Barr Branch Library completed around the same time.

One of the units faced Delmar with the address of 3746 and was occupied by Link’s son Edwin, his wife Virginia and their children. The corner unit at 628 Spring and was occupied by Theodore and Annie Link.  The third unit at 626 Spring and was occupied by Link’s son Karl, his wife Catherine and their children.

This was Link’s permanent residence until his death in 1923. Annie Link was still listed in the St. Louis Social Register 1925 at the same address. She died in April1943. Sometime between then and now the building was demolished.