This historic house is over 135 years old. Referred to as the Dr. George Ashe Bronson House, it was built in 1885 in St. Louis, Missouri on the corner of Washington and Compton Avenues. Dr. Bronson was a prominent dentist.
The dwelling served as a residence and office for Dr. Bronson and his mother who was widowed. He lived in the house until he died in 1932. In 2015, the home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This two and a half stories brick home was built by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Sterns, and St. Louis developer, Pierce Furber, in 1885. There are several different Late Victorian elements of architectural style used on the house: Romanesque, Eastlake, Chateauesque, and Queen Anne.
George Ashe Bronson
Aside from practicing dentistry from home, Dr. Bronson also had two patents associated with dentistry, a dental napkin, and a holder in the later 1890s.
There's not a lot of information about Dr. Bronson. He was born in 1853 and his family arrived in St. Louis from Omaha, Nebraska where his parents had been earlier settlers.
Dr. Bronson worked from his home office and invested over 40 years in dentistry. In around 1896, Dr. Bronson retired and started focusing on his landscaping hobby. When he turned 72, he started painting. He also started making sculptures for his garden and home.
Even though he had retired from dentistry, he still saw his life-long patients. In 1909 and 1912, his Japanese garden was featured in local newspapers. The article published in 1909 discussed how Bronson had help from a Japanese man named Dr. Shiro Miyake who was also a dentist, and who lived with Bronson since the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. Bronson credited Miyaki with the garden design.
Unfortunately the garden has long since eroded and all of the rock sculptures destroyed with the exception of a portion of a wall at the west property line in the rear of the back yard. (Source.)
In October 1932, Dr. Bronson died at age 79 of a heart attack. After Dr. Bronson died, the home was put into a trust and the property was transferred much later by Bronson’s estate Dr. and Mrs. Fred W. Teiber in December 1939. After Mrs. Teiber died in 1940, Fred Teiber remarried and sold the property to Ester R. Frazier who kept the property until selling it in 1974. The property ended up in trust until being sold to a developer.
In 2014, Acree-Kelley LLC purchased the building and put $1.1 million into renovations. (Click here for photos.) In 2017, the Hicor Group established its commercial offices in the building.
What used to be the beautiful Japanese Garden was converted into an outdoor event space.
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