During the mid 19th century, German pioneers settling the open land south of St. Louis built homes in this style, often as farmhouses. As the farmland evolved into the urban neighborhoods that now make up South St. Louis City, rows of later homes were built between and among these scattered early homes. This pair is atypical of the German settlers' homes built in the 1840's, 1850's, and 1860's because the gables face the street and the pair is connected by a breezeway. These and other early buildings used brick with a soft texture.
