At home: 20-year restoration project brings Lafayette Square home back to life | Home & Garden

John Herlihy and James Kristof’s house, painted blue, was built in 1870 for John Jackson, President of the Pacific Railway, and designed by architect George Ingham Barnett.

The first floor salon off the foyer has a bay window overlooking Lafayette Park. Bay windows are a feature found on all three floors of the residence. The 10 foot high windows have pocket shutters that fold flush with the side panels so no curtains are required.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

A light yellow painted guest room on the second floor with a four-poster bed contains one of the three bay windows at the front of the residence. The view goes into the shady Lafayette Park.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

The arched entrance to the dining room has pocket doors (hidden in the wall in the photo) with arched tops that match the shape of the opening.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

One of the six fireplaces is in one of the bedrooms on the second floor of the home of John Herlihy and James Kristof in Lafayette Square.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

An in-house drawing room contains one of six marble fireplaces that originally date from when the residence was built in 1870.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

The bay window in the front living room is one of three in the house and overlooks Lafayette Park. The molding over the windows is a feature of every room in the 7,500-square-foot house and was once covered by a false ceiling. In addition to the 3 m high windows, there are hardly any pocket shops that fold flush with the side walls and do not have curtains.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

Editor’s note: Updated the caption to name the correct park.

In the kitchen, the couple painted an oversized diamond pattern on a wall that gives the room a sense of sophistication. They also added a Dutch door (partially seen on the left) that leads to an outside porch and garden that was laid out last spring. The plan is to replace the wooden kitchen cabinets with white fronts and to convert the dark formica kitchen island top into marble.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

A small bathtub fits perfectly in a bathtub on the second floor.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

Garden furniture and plants stand on a terrace overlooking the back yard of John Herlihy and James Kristof’s house in Lafayette Square.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

A tunnel nearly 50 feet long leads under the home of John Herlihy and James Kristof in Lafayette Square to a 10×10 room. John plans to turn the space into a wine cellar and tasting room once he and James are busy with other projects around the house.

Daniel Shular, Post-Dispatch

From Jim Winnerman Special to Post-Dispatch

Stepping into the foyer of John Herlihy and James Kristof’s house is like stepping back in time 15 decades back to when the house was completed in 1870 for John Jackson, President of the Pacific Railway. The main hallway has large Greek architectural murals highlighted by accompanying paneling and a border on the ceiling, as well as large, decorative consoles that add a touch of opulence to the room.

“We tried to set it up as it could look when it was new,” says Herlihy. “Even our framed family portraits are muted or black and white.”

The stately residence was designed by George Ingham Barnett (1815–1898), an architect known as the “Dean of Architecture of St. Louis”. In addition to the private mansions he designed, Barnett worked on renovations to the Old Courthouse, the Missouri Governor’s mansion, and several buildings on the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Gardens and Tower Grove Park.

The residence has extensive woodwork. Two arched entrances into the living and dining room have pocket doors with arched tops that match the shape of the opening. One of the doors on the left is partially closed.

Daniel Shular

Despite its impressive origins, the residence did not always look as original as it does today. It was converted into a dormitory around the 1930s and served as a women’s refuge from the 1970s to 1999. In 1999 it was bought by a property developer who completely renovated the house and converted it into a single-family home.

“In the first year after we moved in, the police dropped people on our doorstep without knowing that they had returned to a private house,” recalls Herlihy.