Edward J. Schuster Mansion

1801 Hickory Street

Built: 1880

Style: Second Empire

Neighborhood: Lafayette Square

City Block: 2280

On 1875 Compton and Dry Map: No

On 1883 Hopkins Atlas: Yes

Historical significance: This house was built in 1881 for Edward J. Schuster, who was the head of the Edward J. Schuster Printing Company.  Schuster’s father Moritz had been a fine wine dealer, with a shop on the riverfront, and a residence on South 4th Street for many years. Edward grew up in the downtown south neighborhood, and attended a German school in the area.  In 1875, at the age of 14, he ran away from home with another boy, son of another wine dealer in the area.  The two were caught in Carondelet when they tried to board a ferry and cross the river, and start out on their own.  By 1877, Edward had started his printing company, and continued to live at home on fourth street.  By 1880, Moritz Schuster had gotten into legal predicaments, and lost all his real estate holdings.

Edward took ownership of the lot at the corner of Hickory and Second Carondelet, later South 18th, and had the home built on the site. The permit was issued on January 19, 1880, for $5,000 , and the home was occupied by the Schuster family by 1881.  Moritz moved in as well, and he had gotten a new job as a clerk at the tax assessor’s office.  The home suffered a fire in 1894, but the $500 in damages to the structure were able to be repaired.  Moritz passed away in 1894 at the age of 73, leaving his wife and Edward behind. Edward was married the following year, and had two children, Roy, and Edmee, named after her grandmother, by the 1900 census.  The Schusters lost their third child, Forrest, in infancy in 1904.  They had a fourth child, Marguerite, in 1906.  Edward’s printing company continued to be successful, and by 1913, the family moved to Magnolia Place in the Shaw neighborhood.

Edward later moved to a home on Pershing in the Parkview neighborhood, and also had a country home in the Ozarks, near Robertsville.  He passed away in 1934, at age 73, while taking a walk at his country home.  The house would later become a boarding house, as most of the neighborhood did in the early 20th century, although it was still in decent condition by the 1940s.  The house was later purchased by Bob Cassilly, the founder of the City Museum, who lived here during the early restoration period in the neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s.  He later moved into a loft above the City Museum.

Architectural significance: This house was built in 1880, in the Second Empire style, with the permit being issued on January 19th of that year, with newspapers incorrectly listing Edward as Edwin Schuster.  The home occupies a corner lot, and has stone fronts on both the Hickory Street and Eighteenth Street facades. The home also has a two story gallery porch in the rear, and was built with a protruding side bay, and a protruding front entrance, mimicking the appearance of a tower, though it is really just a slight protrusion and elevation of the western part of the facade.  This house is an exceptional example of a corner residence for a wealthy individual in the 19th century, and rein excellent condition.

Photo of the Schuster Mansion in 1939 by William G. Swekosky