Ladue Style

“Amagraja” (Mahlon B. Wallace House), 601 S. Price Rd., Ladue, c. 1908

“Amagraja” is notable as a reminder of the Neoclassical Colonial Revival style used by most of the state pavilions at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Its four- column portico of Renaissance Ionic columns is unique to the area. Mahon B. Wallace Sr. (1871-1936) was the son of Asa A. Wallace, and officer of the Cupples Corporation, of which Mahlon later served as president. His mother, the former Mary Jane Brookings, was the sister of Robert Brookings, another Cupples official who guided Washington University through great expansion and founded the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Denny House, 10041 Conway Rd., Ladue, c. 18765 (demolished)

The land which the Andrew Denny house once sat on was obtained by Samuel Denny in 1819 as a portion of 167.10 acres granted by President James Monroe. Samuel gave a twelve acre tract to Elizabeth Anne Hardin sometime after her 1860 marriage to his son Andrew Jackson Denny. By tradition, A.J. Denny built the present enclosed dog trot log house in 1865 on his return from the Confederate army. Samuel Denny died in 1879.

Andrew Jackson Denny died in 1910, at the age of 74. In his will he acknowledged his wife’s ownership of the 12-acre tract. She survived until 1920, making provisions for her property to be held in trust during the life of her daughter Daisy. The property was then purchased by Roy Jackson Denny, another of their seven children.

Roy Denny made additions to the house, as did Robert Denny, an architect and A.J.’s grandson. The latter changes showed a Greek Revival influence and were completed after 1929. Robert Denny sold the house the Ethan Allen Hitchcock Shepley, the chancellor or Washington University, in 1937. Frederick Dunn, an outstanding St. Louis architect, remodeled the house, which Shepley called “Pepper Hill,” in 1940. In 1947 it was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Johnson.

Information from stlouisco.com