'Castle house' on Kingsway demolished

A house with a distinctive tower and stone-and-brick facing, which stood since 1935 in Cape Girardeau, was demolished Tuesday to make way for a green space on the lawn at St. Andrew Lutheran Church.

According to Southeast Missourian archives, the house was built in 1935, with an address given simply as Highway 61.

In the intervening years, Cape Girardeau grew up around the house, which faced Kingsway Drive.

The house changed hands several times over the years, most recently bought by the church, in 1998, said director of operations Jared Tanz.

This undated photo shows the intersection of Kingshighway and Broadway, looking generally north. The big white building at left is the Colonial Tavern, which opened in 1932. It stood where Regions Bank is now. On the northeast corner of that intersection is the Alvarado service station. The Alvarado was constructed in 1929. It underwent extensive remodeling in 1956, during which the canopy extending from the front of the building was removed. On the hill behind and north of the Alvarado is the two-story stone house built by Byron F. Dormeyer in 1935. At the center at the very top of the photo, on the east side of the highway, is Wimpy’s drive-in.G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian file

�Typically, with everything we have, we always try to keep in mind the community around us,� Tanz said of the church�s leadership.

Tanz said the plan is to demolish the structure, level off the grounds, but keep power and water access to the point.

�We do some different events here from time to time,� Tanz said, and noted the church owns a large tent that likely will be rolled out for different events in the green space.

The church leadership and board held a lot of discussions over the best plan for the house, Tanz said.

The "castle house" at 2404 Kingsway Drive is seen during demolition Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Some businesses have occupied the building, Tanz said, and at other times, the house was used for transitional housing for staff members moving into the area.

And between those stints, the house was vacant and used for storage, he said.

�It is an older home, built in the 1930s � of course there were a lot of old pipes and wiring, things like that,� Tanz said.

The "castle house" at 2404 Kingsway Drive is seen during demolition Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

The church leadership board talked with several other community groups, and came up with several ideas for usage, Tanz said, but feasibility studies revealed problems with code requirements and federal Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility.

And some black mold was found in the basement, he said.

�It was just at a point where the cost it would have required to make usable, we felt the money could be used much better in other ways,� Tanz said, including community outreach.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Landgraf and Son excavator operator Andrew Kirkpatrick demolishes the "castle house" at 2404 Kingsway Drive on Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS