During our 2025 Honor Awards ceremony, Missouri Preservation honored Mangrove and the A. A. Fischer Home in St. Louis with a Preserve Missouri Award. This award recognizes outstanding historic preservation efforts and projects across the state. While searching for examples of architect A. A. Fischer’s work for another rehab project being completed by Mangrove in 2018, Karen Bode Baxter and Guy Slay came across the home at 5256 Vernon. Positioned across the street from several of his designs, it was soon discovered that this was the residence A. A. Fischer designed for himself. Less than two months later, the home was devastated by a fire that destroyed the roof and most of the interior. Mangrove immediately went to work to acquire the property. The building’s condition had to be assessed and documented to ensure it was possible to rebuild. The scope of work was extensive and the team battled not just a fire-ravaged building, but the impact of the COVID shutdown. Much of the interior framing and floor and roof joists had to be replaced, though most of the original layout was kept. The central stairs were rebuilt, carefully matching what remained of the original, and the original interior trim and door designs were replicated throughout. Historic images were used extensively in the repair and reconstruction of exterior elements, like the porch columns, and the roof which was refinished in slate tile. New wood windows, matched to the existing sightlines and measurements of what remained of the original, were installed. The brick and limestone walls were repointed. In 2024, in conjunction with A.A. Fischer’s St. Louis Streetscapes by Nancy Moore Hamilton receiving an Osmund Overby Award, Mangrove arranged for the grandchildren of A. A. Fischer to visit the project as it neared completion. With this successful rehab, the home of A. A. Fischer stands proudly once again at the entry into the neighborhood off of Union. Mangrove would like to dedicate this award to the late David Mastin of St. Louis Design Alliance. #missouripreservation #preservemo #missourihistory #festusmissouri #jeffersoncounty #missouriarchitecture #oldbarn (fb)

This weekend we were in Monroe City for their May Market Preservation Celebration! Executive Director, Riley Price, presented on some of the basics of historic preservation including the "Why's of Historic Preservation" and dispelling myths associated with being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (fb)