Trinity Methodist Church & Barrington Place Apartments (by LOC/HABS & BS)

Today, the towering Barrington Place Apartments sit on the northeast corner of Third and Guthrie Streets, but long ago the site was occupied by the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church (aka Trinity Temple Methodist Church).  The old photo was taken in 1940 for the Historic American Building Survey.

After the church was demolished (anyone know when?), a 17-story tower originally named Trinity Towers was built in 1962 by the church and included apartments and a chapel.  By 2002, only 45 of the building’s 218 units were leased when Kohner, Inc., a St. Louis company, purchased the building for $1.3 million and renovated the interiors, renaming it Barrington Place.

The tower was an experimental mixed-use project in the 1960s and unique in combining a church with over 200 residential units.  Despite its generally ugly appearance, it’s at least heartening that the church wasn’t replaced with another surface level parking lot and instead contains over 200 apartments.

In fact, the property contains no parking, a fact attributed with lower occupancy, but great for the car-free urbanite.  As a measure that Downtown is improving, back in 2002, even 4th Street Live hadn’t opened and Kohner officials were “shocked at how dead it gets” Downtown without any nightlife.

So what do you think?  Better, worse, a tolerable replacement?