3322 DeMenil Place

3322 DeMenil Place. The Lemp Mansion. , The mysterious Lemp Mansion seems to haunt this street as the house itself is purported to be haunted. The story of this house is inextricably tied to the evocative history of the Lemp Family. In three generations the Lemp family rose from immigrants brewing a kettle of beer in the back of their grocery store, to operating a massive brewery that produced fabulous wealth, to self-destruction., It was another German, however, who built this mansion in 1868. Jacob Feickert first appears in the St. Louis directories in 1838. The early directories list his profession as a baker. Later he is listed as a partner of saloonkeeper Frederick Jacoby. By the 1850's, the Jacoby House saloon had a prime location on the bustling riverfront, about a block from the Old Cathedral., In 1861, Feickert's daughter Julia married brewer William Lemp. William nurtured the brewery business, working side by side with employees, considering both their complains and suggestions. With his guidance and the dedication of family members of friends, the brewery developed a national market., At the height of the Lemp Family's success, the brewery hummed with the work of a thousand employees, producing half a million barrels of beer annually. The Lemp family celebrated their wealth, and built a three story vault onto the back of their house to store their art and treasures., Depressed over the death of his son and of a dear friend , Milwaukee brewer Captain Frederick Pabst , William Lemp committed suicide in the mansion that had been built by his father-in-law. Years later, two more family members committed suicide in this mansion., After Prohibition, the shuttered Lemp Brewery, at the south end of this street, echoed like a ghost town., Eventually the Lemp Mansion was subdivided into apartments. As it deteriorated, it became a notorious flop house., In 1975 the Pointer Family saved the Lemp Mansion from further decay. After buying the mansion, they began its restoration, and transformation into a restaurant and inn. The Lemp Mansion Restaurant hosts parties, gatherings and civic events , serving history and mystery with lunch and dinner.