A private place is a self-governing

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

whose common areas (e.g. streets) are owned by the residents, and whose services are provided by the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

. The history of

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and its near suburbs is significant in the development of private places. Most were laid out by Prussian-born surveyor and planner Julius Pitzman, who conceived the idea around 1868 as a way for residential landowners to control real estate speculation and maintain property standards, in an era before the protections of

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

. Pitzman designed 47 of these developments over a 50-year period. The first of these, Lucas Place, dates from 1851 and no longer exists as such. But the growth of these developments began in earnest with Benton Place, in 1868, a 12-house development adjacent to Lafayette Square, St. Louis, and is in more-or-less original condition today. Vandeventer Place, opened in 1870 and included a house design by H.H. Richardson. Vandeventer Place has been replaced by urban development, with the exception of the east gate, which was removed to Forest Park. In the 1920s, the idea was extended west into the county, particularly

Ladue Ladue is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 8,989. Ladue has the highest median household income of any city in Missouri with a population over 1,000. Ge ...

, by developers such as Meier and Comfort. These privately controlled single-family housing communities in the midst of the city are legally organized somewhat similarly to

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

s or

homeowners association A homeowner association (or homeowners' association ''HOA sometimes referred to as a property owners' association ''POA common interest development ''CID or homeowner community) is a private, legally-incorporated organization that governs a h ...

s. In 1982, the St. Louis metropolitan area had more than 427 street associations administering private places. Although often associated with high-end communities, neighborhoods of various socio-economic natures have been structured as private places.

Private places in the City of St. Louis

* Clifton Heights (1885) * Westmoreland Place and adjacent Portland Place (1888) - Portland gates designed by

Theodore Link Theodore C. Link, FAIA, (March 17, 1850 – November 12, 1923) was a German-born American architect and newspaper publisher. He designed buildings for the 1904 World's Fair, Louisiana State University, and the Mississippi State Capitol. His ...

* Compton Heights (1889) * Lewis Place (1890) * Washington Terrace (1892) * Hortense Place (1900) * Kingsbury Place (1902) - the gates #3, #7, and #11, designed by Thomas P. Barnett * Lenox Place (1903) * Parkview Place (1905), Pitzman's final development File:Hortense Place.jpg, Hortense Place File:Kingsbury Place.jpg, Kingsbury Place File:Portland Place.jpg, Portland Place File:Westmoreland Place.jpg, Westmoreland Place

Private places in St. Louis County

*Brentmoor Park ( Clayton) *Carrswold (Clayton) *Lake Forest ( Richmond Heights) *Hampton Park (Richmond Heights) *Scarsdale (Richmond Heights) * Fair Oaks (

) *Dromara (Ladue) *La Hacienda (Ladue) *Briarcliff (Ladue) * Picardy Lane (Ladue) *Chevy Chase ( Olivette) File:Brentmoor Park.jpg, Brentmoor Park File:Carrswold.jpg, Carrswold File:Dromara.jpg, Dromara File:Fair Oaks Estates.jpg, Fair Oaks

References

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External links

Online history of Lucas Place

Property law in the United States Gated communities in Missouri History of St. Louis