A historic property on the 91st block of Clayton Road in Ladue is breathing fresh air thanks to its new owner who has dedicated his renovation business to the project both as the contractor and a future user of the building.
Randy Renner, owner of Period Restoration in St. Louis, now owns what is considered Ladue’s oldest store. Known today as the Ladue Market, the building was built in 1928 as Meyer’s Market and owned and operated by four generations of the Meyers family for 91 years before closing in early 2020.
Renner is investing $2.5 million to bring back what a preservation historian called its “distinctive Tudor Revival structure,” which received recognition for “excellent continuing use” from the St. Louis County Historic Building Commission in 1985.
“We don’t do a ton of commercial work, but we do some,” Renner noted. The company also recently purchased the Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria building on Clayton Road and is converting it into a 10-unit apartment building.
In its new incarnation, not only will the Ladue Market building return to its architectural roots, but it will house a business showroom for a premier new entity, Stonehall Cabinet Company, on the first floor and Period Restoration’s company offices on the second floor.
“We went to great lengths to put the building back to its original look,” Renner said. “We took off the overhang, which blocked the windows; went back to the mahogany storefront-style windows — there was absolutely no natural light into the interior; put on a new, multicolored slate roof; and brought back the full 14-ft.-tall ceilings.” Demolition of the interior took about two months.
Period Restoration self-performed the new roof, along with framing and millwork on the property, and is using contractors for plumbing and electrical work, as well as landscape architecture and design.
Challenges have been similar to what the entire construction industry has experienced in the past couple of years, Renner said.
“We’re suffering from a labor shortage and it takes longer to get materials, supplies and appliances, so jobs take longer.
Nevertheless, this historical transformation has been moving quickly: Renner started renovations on the property in November 2021 and expects to be finished in November of this year.
Rather than give it a new name, Renner expects to continue referring to the building as the Ladue Market, even though it will no longer retain its historic function as a grocery store, because “that gives credence to the building’s history in the community.”