The new owner of an 1867 structure built to provide housing for new immigrants to St. Louis is an immigrant himself.
Local physician Dr. Wahied Gendi purchased the Mullanphy Emigrant Home at 1609 North 14th Street for $130,000 late last year. It had been owned by an affiliate of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, which cared for the property and kept it from being demolished in 2006. Gendi estimates the structure needs $4 million in repairs, and he’s taking feedback from the neighborhood on how the building could be used.
“I will do everything I can to preserve the history of this iconic building so that we can bring something valuable to this community,†Gendi said in a statement. “Whether it serves as a health facility or as residential housing, I will work hard to restore it back to its original glory in a way that best serves the residents of this area.â€
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An undated drawing shows the Mullanphy Emigrant Home after its completion in 1867.
The home was built because of the generosity of Bryan Mullanphy, the son of St. Louis’s first Irish millionaire and a mayor of the city in the late 1840s. When Bryan Mullanphy died in 1851, his will stipulated that one third of his property be left to the city to establish “a fund to furnish relief to all poor emigrants and travelers coming to St. Louis.†Just over 15 years later, the Mullanphy House opened, adhering to the former mayor’s will that insisted it be open to people of all nationalities and faiths.Â
John Mullanphy, an Irish immigrant who arrived in St. Louis in 1804 and became one of the city's wealthiest businessmen. He donated generously to the Catholic church, financed the city's first hospital and invited the Daughters of Charity to run it. His son, Bryan Mullanphy, was elected mayor of the city in 1847 (Missouri History Museum).
However, its life as a refuge for poor immigrants coming to the city was short-lived. By 1877, it closed and the commissioners of the Mullanphy fund began a policy of paying for the food and lodging of immigrant families elsewhere. Until 1899, the building was leased to the St. Louis School Board. For much of the mid 20th century, it was a factory for Absorene Manufacturing Co., which still makes cleaning sponges from a building on Cass Avenue.Â
The Absorene company was housed in this building at 1609 North 14th Street for decades before they moved in 1996. The building had previously been the Mullanphy Emigrant home, serving as a temporary shelter for immigrants coming to St. Louis.
After the company moved, the Mullanphy House fell into disrepair. In 2006, the south wall collapsed after a storm, and the Old North restoration group purchased the building and began raising money to stabilize it. In 2007, another storm toppled the east and north walls. Donations and volunteer time from masonry and other tradesmen saved the building from total collapse.Â
The former Mullanphy Emigrant Home, at 14th Street and Mullanphy, was damaged by storms in 2006 and 2007. The damage can be seen here in this April 6, 200, photograph.
“Mr. Gendi is the perfect buyer for this unique building,†Gendi’s agent, Emilian Taranu of Terra Realty, said in a statement. “Coming from a country with one of the richest and oldest history on Earth — Egypt — Dr. Gendi understands the importance of preserving cultural history better than most of us, and this is what he intends to do right here, in St. Louis, with this building. We are both immigrants ourselves, so we connect with this property and its noble purpose.â€
