Ellen Clark Sculpture Park Finally has Sculptures
December 15, 2010While visiting The Best Steak House this past weekend, I noticed some activity on the former site of the Marina Building at Lindell and Grand, a fenced-in grass lot that was recently bestowed with a sign identifying it as the Ellen Clark Sculpture Park. It was finally getting sculptures!
Ellen Clark Sculpture Garden is Under Construction
This lot has been informally used as a dog park for several years and I am glad to see it made into a more attractive place. Although I am disappointed to see a permanent use for the land that doesn’t add to the density of the neighborhood, the fact that something is happening is a releif. What I really hope is that the black fence (ubiquitous on SLU’s campus) surrounding the lot is removed.
Not the Entrance - A Fenced in Sculpture Park
This corner is very important in linking SLU’s campus to Grand Center and while it is fenced-in it will remain underused, something that is particularly important to avoid in a place where neither of the two adjacent corners attract much activity. Midtown is one of the coolest neighborhoods in St. Louis already; with more seamless connectivity between the University’s, Grand Center and Midtown Alley, the neighborhood could truly reach its potential.
Exploring St. Louis 
“This lot has been informally used as a dog park for several years… What I really hope is that the black fence (ubiquitous on SLU’s campus) surrounding the lot is removed.”
If the fence were to be removed, it couldn’t be a dog park because people couldn’t let their dogs run around off-leash, which is the whole point of a dog park. And since it appears that the dog park is here to stay (see link, below), I’m guessing the fence is, as well.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/dogs-commingle-with-sculptures-at-st-louis-university-dog-park/article_0fbdeed3-4d36-5549-b03d-e6d3def4a829.html
Thanks for sharing the link. I wasn’t very clear in my original entry, but I think that this corner is too prominent to be a dog park and would be better as a people park. Of course that is just my opinion and since it seems like dog owners are getting a lot of use out of the park there isn’t much to complain about.