Video of House Flattened For New Fire Station

Demolition on a residential house across the boulevard from Lindbergh High School began Monday morning for the construction of a new Fire House No. 3 of the Mehlville Fire Protection District.

J.E. Foster Building Company got the go-ahead Thursday to begin the work after a groundbreaking ceremony March 21.

Working with a tractor or excavator, Gateway Excavating started taking big bites out of the roof of the house at 4811 S. Lindbergh Blvd. at just about 8:45am Monday. By about noon, it was down.

The brick ranch house was about 50 years old and sold to the district after the elderly resident moved out about a year before her death.

Tuesday, the excavator was expected to smash the materials repeatedly into the basement foundations—to make it smaller, and then load it into dump trucks to cart it away. Materials were sorted into metal, bricks and other.

Project site manager for J.E. Foster, Rich Connor, said the excavation would remove all the concrete foundation and sidewalks from the site, as well.

Typically, next would be removal of all the vegetation and a re-grading of the lot—a lot which tends to have standing water.

The new fire house will cost $2.3 million to build—including a $58,000 add-on to enlarge the basement and upgrade the cooling and heating system. Included here is a photo of the architect's drawings for the new building.

A taller tower on the back of the new building is said to be the residential quarters for firefighters. The grade of the property allows for an extra walk-out level to the rear, and the front has three bays for fire and rescue equipment.

The contractor was aiming to have the work done by Thanksgiving, but the two-month wait right at the start to begin bulldozing the house may change things.

The lot is between a house and a parking lot for St. Catherine Labore school.

Patch will be add more images and information as work progresses.