Monday, June 30, 2008

Question Of The Day: What Happened To The McJunkin?

Here is a quick question for all of you Uptown history buffs. In all of the old photos of the McJunkin Building at Broadway and Wilson we have seen, there was always a "McJunkin" in large letters on the corner of the building near the top. This was covered up in recent years. Does anyone know why? Inquiring minds want to know. Notice how the building looked in the 1970s in the photo below. (Image courtesy Haargis)

3 comments:

  1. It does not appear that the letters were covered up: if you look closely, you'll see quite a bit of terra cotta has been removed. The entire panel that contained the buildings name is now just bare stone. My guess is that there was a damaged portion that could not be easily repaired or replaced, and so it was easier to remove the entire portion of the facade.

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  2. But look at the bottom and top picture again Buena Boy. There is a larger white piece that was placed over the top of where the "McJunkin" once was. Wonder if it is simply hidden like the "Uptown Station" on the Wilson El was for so many years.

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  3. Yeah, maybe both ideas are right. There does appear to be something added. But there is also a lot of original detail missing (an entire curved portion of original brick/tile ABOVE the panel in question).

    Does the Uptown History blogger (compass rose) have other photos perhaps?

    I'm always curious to know what the cornices of so many of our six flats once looked like. So many have been removed, alas.

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