The Steedman Library is again pleased to be co- hosting this year's series of talks by the St. Louis Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians.  The first one will be held on the evening of Tuesday, February 23, at Central Library.  The Steedman Room will be open for viewing from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm, followed by the lecture in the Carnegie Room.  Jesse Francis and Marie Taylor will be discussing "Propping Up the Past:  Restoring Early Midwest Structures".  

Jesse Francis, Museum Curator, St. Louis County Parks & Recreation, has become widely recognized as an authority on pioneer architecture, particularly timber frame, French vertical log, and American horizontal log construction.  With Jack Luer, he recently published Vanishing French Heritage: A Complete Study of the Vertical Log Homes of the Illinois Country.  In 2015 he received special awards from the St. Louis County Historic Buildings Commission and the St. Louis County Council.   Among the buildings to be discussed in this talk are the Pierre Martin House in Dupo (Prairie du Pont), Illinois; Zumwalt’s Fort in O’Fallon, Missouri; the two-story log Davis House; and the Brightfield Smokehouse at Faust Park in Chesterfield.  Marie Taylor, Preservation Technician with the National Archives in St. Louis, has worked with Jesse on many of these projects .

** For the list of all six lectures, see the post on this blog dated January 14, 2016.