Flounder House Survey

The Flounder House

The Cultural Resources Office of the St. Louis Planning and Urban Design Agency recently completed an intensive inventory of the City's flounder houses, built between about 1840 and 1900. The project was funded in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

We expected to find 80-100 of these rare house forms. We found nearly 300. While there are scattered flounders in a few other cities, St. Louis seems by far to have the most. They range from simple 19th century vernacular or "folk" constructed houses to 19th century multi-family buildings to fine turn-of-the-20th-century houses boasting fine Victorian-style details. 

The final survey report, "Not an Accidental Form: the Flounder House as a Vernacular Building Type in St. Louis City" and the survey map showing the location of each identified flounder are available for download below.

For additional information, please contact the Cultural Resources Office.

A small German flounder with raised basement

Two semi-detached frame flounder houses 

A flounder with an unusual half-gambrel roof.

The Project

About the Survey

The Final Map

City Map with Identified Flounders

 The Final Report

"Not an Accidental Form"