2901-2903 Michigan

Townhome Gut Rehab–Two Units

Tower Grove East Neighborhood

2005 Homer Award Winner for
Outstanding Adaptive/Historic Renovation

HISTORY: The Severin Family Home and Store
In July of 1909 a building permit was issued to Joseph Severin to build a two-story brick store and tenement at a cost of $8,000. The structures were designed by architect Wenzel J. Janisch and the iron storefront was manufactured by The Union Iron and Foundry Company. In September of that same year another building permit was issued to add a one-story brick bake shop at a cost of $1,000 and in July of 1910 there was an addition to the tenement. The Severin family lived at 2901 Michigan and rented out 2903 to two different families.

This corner storefront, the part that was originally a bake shop, was also a butcher shop and from 1930 through the mid-1970s, a grocery store. The shop proprietor usually lived above the business. The living quarters next door at 2903, housed several different working-class residents over the years including bartenders, factory workers, laborers and sales people.

This project is funded in part by a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Community Development Agency under the Provisions of Title 1 of the Housing and Community Development Act 1974 (P.L. 93-838).