Back in time, this building must have been a fabulous home. It's located at 17 Lockwood Avenue in Webster Groves, Missouri. This is the historic Charles W. Ferguson House which was later known as the Lockwood Group building is now the Sugar Creek Capital building.
This building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1984. It is privately owned. It's too bad the historic home couldn't have been converted into a museum.
The Ferguson House is located on the north side of Lockwood Avenue which is a main commercial thoroughfare in Webster Groves. It was constructed in 1888.
This large house sits away from the sidewalk and has attractive landscaping. The Ferguson House is two and a half story Colonial Revival-styled home. What stands out on this home are the two-story Tuscan columns. The original front of the house only had three bays. The center bay contains the front door and transom (window above door). Above the transom is a Palladian windoww that opens onto a small balcony.
The outstanding two-story semi-circular portico has a balustrade on top. All of this projects in front of the centery bay and its very attractive.
In 1922, a two-story sunroom was added to the west side of the main building. A one-story chapel was added to the east side of the building in 1937. There are leaded, colored glass windows on the chapel. An original stained glass window with an iris pattern was saved and its design was copied for a second stained glass window.
The Ferguson House is significant because of its unique style of Colonial Revival architecture. When it was built, imagine it being the most grand building on the street in Webster Groves which is an inner-circle suburb of St. Louis.
In the 1920's, when it was decided that Lockwood Avenue was going to be a main thoroughfare, some large houses were razed to make room for commercial buildings.
Charles W. Ferguson was the vice president of the Collier White Lead Company. In 1920, his mansion was purchased by the Webster Groves YWCA. The YWCA had a tea room on the first floor and rooms on the second floor were rented to women. Because the tea room couldn't support the facility, it had to close after a year.
Laura Parker purchased to the building for her undertaking establishment and converted the second floor into an apartment for herself and her daughter. In 1913, her husband's livery and undertaking company burned to the ground. Shortly after that, her husband, Will Parker, died. Laura rebuilt the business excluding the livery. She ran a successful business until it was purchased by the Lockwood Group.
Thanks for reading.
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