An unforgettable event venue
HISTORY
1843
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Charles Loveland Tucker acquired the land at 4708 South Broadway. The property consists of a 1½ acre parcel that sits seven stories above the Mississippi River on a limestone bluff. Tucker later gave a right of way to the railroad to cross his land at the foot of his limestone bluff between the bluff and the river where they laid train tracks. These tracks were later used to transport hundreds of workmen to the docks in the southeastern part of Carondelet where they built gunboats and steamboats for use in the Civil War. These tracks are still active today.
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St. Amant Michau constructed a shot tower on the furthest protruding point of this very bluff edge. The shot tower is a concrete structure from which molten lead would be dropped in small quantities. As the lead fell, it would turn into a small sphere and begin cooling before dropping into a barrel of water at the base of the bluff wall. These hardened lead spheres would then be extracted and used as lead shot (bullets) for the guns of that period. The shot tower still exists on the properties’ bluff edge today.
1849
Charles Loveland Tucker built the first portion of a house on the property that was modified and added to for years.
1858
Charles Loveland Tucker gave a right of way to the Iron Mountain Railroad to hang a train station on the side of his bluff. In a pictorial review of American railroad stations from 1831 to 1920, the author nominates Tucker’s station “as the most unusual of all suburban stations.” A picture of the station was used in an advertisement for the American National Bank accompanying the picture were the statements - “this must be the most unusual station ever built” and “the south St. Louis bluff side station was unlike any other – before or since!”)
1907
Fredrick and Emile Hoffman purchased the property from Charles Loveland Tucker
At the Hoffman’s death the property was willed to their daughter, Eleanor Walz and her husband Herman.
The Tucker, then Hoffman, then Walz home was the largest riverboat gothic mansion on mansion row. The Home stood 5 stories to the east (facing the Mississippi river) and 3 stories to the west (facing Broadway).
1979 – late summer
Fire destroyed the then vacant Walz home beyond reasonable financial repair.
1982
The Walz mansion was razed.
2000
Mark Widmann bought the property from the Walz Family.
CURRENT TIMES
On October 9, 2000, Mark Widmann bought the 1 ½ acre parcel of land from the Walz Family. Mark did the initial design of his home in his computer using a home design software program. Mark then hired one of the top architects; custom homebuilders; lighting, landscape and interior designers in the area to bring his initial design to life.
Over the 25 year period between the razing of the burnt Walz home and the purchase of the land by Mark, more than 100 trees intertwined with vines and poison ivy had grown on the site of the old home. (picture 1) These trees were cleared to make way for the new home that was placed in almost the exact location as the Walz home, which was built more than a century and a half before.
After Mark’s home was complete, Mike Miller - landscape designer, horticulturist and radio celebrity, selected more than 15,000 trees, shrubs and plants that were added to the property. These new plantings, along with the old growth trees that were saved, create an acre and a half of beautiful landscape without 1 blade of grass to cut.
Ken McKelvie, a top lighting designer, spun his magic by selecting lighting fixtures that beautifully illuminate the house as well as the homes’ extensive artwork collection. Some fixtures are works of art themselves while others add whimsy. Dangling from cables in many parts of the home one can find light fixtures consisting of planes, parachutes, acrobats, and fireflies all adding their own style of light.
The home has tall glass doors across both levels of the back of the house which face the river. This allows each room to have an incredible view of the river as well as the neighboring state of Illinois. It also gives each room access to the more than 4000 square feet of decks and patios that terrace from the house to the bluff’s edge. A portion of the upper deck cantilevers over the support system
below and reaches toward the river with a V shaped point. From this location on the deck one has the feeling of being on the bow of a ship, a design feature of architect Tom Cohen. The deck railings were custom designed and built by the artist Mark Bunch. The zigzag pattern of the steel spindles, with their points aiming down river, gives a sense that the railings are flowing in the same direction as the river.
The largest of the patios was built along the bluff’s edge and is more than 1100 square feet. The patio follows the contour of the bluff and ends at one of the only shot towers left in St. Louis. The new patio was poured of exposed aggregate concrete and placed in the exact same configuration as the flag stone patio that was laid more than 100 years before. With the river to the east, the 150-foot long patio extends to a serpentine wall to the west that was also laid more than 100 years before. This
original limestone wall stands on the average 3-½ feet tall – a perfect height for sitting and enjoying the view. In the center of the length of the more than 175-foot long wall is a grill built into a limestone chimney. The original grill had long ago rusted away, its remnants removed and a custom stainless grill was constructed and fitted back in the same space as its predecessor.
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Amenities
