Douglas House Showcases 19th Century Architecture

The Douglas House at 801 rue St. Francois adds a different sense to the Old Town Florissant area as its gone from residence to businesses.

This stately Missouri German building, built prior to 1860, was originally a private residence. The Historic Florissant Archives show that the Michael Powers family it owned the property from 1869 until 1894, and the yard encompassed all of Block 22 of the city.

It’s best known as the Douglas House, partly due to the picturesque memoir written in 1968 by Antoinette Douglas Schmitz. Mrs. Schmitz’s parents, Walter and Fannie Kimball Douglas, bought the property in 1903 to use as a summer home for their family.

Their primary residence was in the City of St. Louis at the time when the summer heat made the dirty air of the city almost intolerable. During these hot months, Mr. Douglas commuted to the city on the electric trolley line.

Because the house is built on a sloping lot, it is actually three stories tall when viewed from the back. The main floor consisted of one large room on the left and two rooms on the right. The kitchen, dining room and utility rooms were all on the lower level and five bedrooms were on the top floor.

There were several out-buildings behind the house, including a stable for horses, a chicken house and a smoke house. The smoke house is still standing. The Douglas family planted a large vegetable garden each year and had many fruit trees on the property.  

Years later, the house was used as a boarding house and now has several small businesses sharing the space.

Historical Florissant provided all of the history and documentation on this home. For more information, contact Historical Florissant at 314-921-7055.