Restored glory: Touring the historic carriage house on Capitol Avenue

Before the state’s Capitol building fire of 1911, East Capitol Avenue was a flourishing street where business leaders and influential Missourians lived, worked, and played. Strolling down the avenue was a visual feast of architecture, manicured lawns, and carefully cared-for homes backdropped by the Capitol building. This scene may feel like a fantasy when compared to its modern reality of abandoned mansions.

After much of Capitol Avenue was damaged during the devastating tornado of 2019, community members like business partners Jason Jett and Kevin Callaway rallied to bring East Capitol Avenue back to its former glory. Over the past three years, Jason and Kevin have restored Parker Place, located near the Missouri State Penitentiary, to its former charm and influence. Parker Place’s original owner, Lester Parker, was not a man who liked to lollygag. He was a poet, a painter, a shoemaker, and an entrepreneur. He led his church and composed music. He herded sheep, practiced law in Kansas, and farmed cotton in southern Missouri. He owned a telephone company and a shoe manufacturing company inside the Missouri State Penitentiary and later oversaw the prison. Somehow, amidst all of this, he traveled the world. He did not dabble in pursuits; instead, he excelled at seemingly anything he tried. Lester and his family settled in Jefferson City around

The main house, located at 624 E. Capitol Avenue, was constructed around 1903. The carriage house behind the main home followed within the decade. Both neo-classical structures were designed by architect Ernest John Russell, whose work includes the Railway Exchange Building, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Southwestern Bell Building, and the Globe Building, among other buildings in St. Louis.

Describing Parker as a man of means is an understatement; he drove a Cadillac sedan before the state’s governor even had an automobile. The carriage house was not so much for horses as it was a high-end garage.

With the help of historian Bob Priddy, former news director of the Missourinet and past president of the State Historical Society of Missouri, Jason and Kevin have pieced together the property’s history. Their clues have included newspaper clippings glued to the floorboards and oil deposits in the carriage house’s concrete flooring.

Jason and Kevin let the carriage house’s history guide every renovation decision. Renovating a historical property is peeling back another layer of surprise each day, such as failing sewer lines and upstairs flooring falling in due to termite damage.

The pair did their best to put all the items pulled out of the house back into the property. While most of the original wood floors could not be saved, the suitable wood was reused as shelving above the kitchen sink, constructed into a door concealing the modern luxury of a utility closet, and as an overhang on the side of the carriage house.

The carriage house kitchen was designed around a 1923 farmhouse sink found in the home’s basement. The main house’s old boiler lines were repurposed as the carriage house’s stair railing. The boiler once heated the house through lines of running hot water serpentined throughout the walls and then woven into radiators.

The carriage house now has a warm, clean industrial feel. The industrial concrete floors are warmed by leather seats, a lot of wood, and pops of brick from intentionally broken plaster. Jason and Kevin’s meticulous historcal detailing led them to recreate the garage floor’s cuts when the concrete flooring was sealed with epoxy. A few Easter eggs are hidden throughout the house, paying homage to Lester and his life. For example, the plaster put in place when the carriage house was divided into two residences in the 1940s was chipped into the two states of Lester’s origins.

When the Capitol building burned in 1911, the flames reflected off the windows of the main house. Watching the building burn disheartened Lester, who was passionate about art and aesthetics. He later served as an adviser to the Capitol Decoration Commission, tasked with coordinating the artwork for the new Capitol building. Parker Place was often overflowing with neighbors and colleagues alike. Lester invited the artists who were painting the Capitol to his home for dinner and conversations on artistic techniques. Today, a print of Lester Parker’s original painting of the Capitol hangs on the main floor of the carriage house.

An unexpected joy for Jason and Kevin has been connecting to the extended Parker family. Some travel from as far as Montreal, Canada, to visit the renovated property. Recently, a granddaughter of the Parkers living in the St. Charles area visited for lunch and a tour. She gifted Jason and Kevin a few of Lester’s effects, including sheet music and books he had written.

Parker Place, including the carriage house and main house, are now available as short-term rentals. Jason and Kevin hope to uplift the historic neighborhood and share the history of not only Parker Place but of Jefferson City.