2818-2820 Cherokee Street

2818-2820 Cherokee Street. . On this site in 1891 John B. Westermeyer built five, one-story brick houses, identical to the houses he built across the street in 1892 and just to the west of here on Cherokee Street the same year. Most of the houses on this side of the block were demolished in the 1920s as the street became increasingly more commercial. In 1927 Pearl Goldstein sold one of the last single-family houses on this block of Cherokee Street to real estate investors Nellie and Joseph Liebowitz. The house was immediately demolished to build this two-story commercial building. The property was then sold to Lenore Realty, who in turn sold the property to Frank and Francis Biermann. The Biermann's owned the building for over three decades, eventually selling the property in 1962., Although commercial tenants in this building changed frequently, some of the earliest tenants in the last 1920s and 1930s were the Victor Creamery Company and the Mound City Neckwear Company. In 1937 Irving Midman Shoes moved in, and remained in this building until 1952. Other tenants included the Radio Buffet Tavern from 1956 until around 1966 and the Southside Music Shop from 1960 until 2004., Above the third bay opening on the second door is a terra cotta shield that exhibits both the fleur-de-lis and the swastika symbols. Constructed in 1927, the building predates the swastika with Nazi Germany, and was generally used throughout the United States during this time as a symbol of prosperity and good luck. The fleur-de-lis is often seen in St. Louis as a representation of our French history and ties to our name sake, King Louis the IX.