Meier and Comfort
 |
|
| Corporation | |
| Industry | Real estate development |
| Headquarters | Clayton, Missouri |
|
Key people
|
Norman B. Comfort, Gunther Meier, Daniel H. Mullen |
Meier and Comfort (originally called Hawke and Comfort) was a real estate development firm active in the 1920s in the St. Louis suburbs of Clayton and Ladue, Missouri. The firm was the first to develop private place neighborhoods in Ladue, and their work was influential in establishing the architectural character of the city.
The partners of the firm were Norman B. Comfort and Gunther Meier. Both men were World War I veterans with Major Comfort receiving distinction for his combat service in France. While in Europe during the war, the men became interested in the native architecture and particularly with Tudor design. As a result, the firm, who frequently partnered with architect Daniel H. Mullen, favored Tudor Revival designs.
In the 19th century, Ladue (then unincorporated and simply known as Township 45) was a primarily agricultural area consisting of farms and modest dwellings. At the turn of the 20th century, several private clubs were built on former farmland such as The Log Cabin Club (1899), The Bogey Club (1902), and the St. Louis Country Club (1914). Wealthy St. Louisans, like Joseph Pulitzer, then built sprawling country estates in Ladue to be near the clubs and to escape the heat and pollution of the city.
Recognizing the growing prominence of the area in the 1920s, Meier and Comfort bought several tracts of land in the district and subdivided them into private place neighborhoods. Their development plans were unique in that they sought to strike a balance between the urban sense of community, typical of the city's private places, with the aura of landed gentry that was characterizing then-rural Ladue.
In order to foster community, their developments were established as resident-governing private places. Additionally, unlike many other real estate developments of the time, all the houses faced inwards (towards each other) with their backyards bordering the surrounding streets. At the time, it was considered preferable to have one's address on a major street due to the better accessibility, but Meier and Comfort envisioned a self-contained community that was inclusive of all the residents, but somewhat exclusive of the outside world.
...
Wikipedia