Andrew Weil has long been fascinated by history. By 2007, Weil, a trained archeologist, had already spent years studying the earliest movements of Europeans and Africans to North America. But he realized he needed a change.
A friend suggested he look at an open position with the Landmarks Association of St. Louis.
At the time, “I was exhausted after multiple, I don't know how many, years of field seasons,” Weil recalled. “A friend of mine was interning with Landmarks at the time. She said, ‘You're doing a lot of this original, primary document research for archeology. You'd be really good at the National Register nominations.'”
Weil had only one question: Did the position come with air conditioning? It did.
“I decided to apply for the job, and I got it,” he added.
Weil eventually became the nonprofit’s executive director in 2011, serving in that role for the next 14 years. The organization announced his retirement in October with an announcement thanking him for his years of “dedicated leadership.”
Weil was indeed good at researching and writing nominations for historic buildings to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. He authored 28 himself, adding to the 14,000 St. Louis entries submitted by the Landmarks Association.
“The organization made a concerted effort, an ongoing effort, to list as many buildings as possible in the National Register so that they would be eligible for tax incentives for rehabilitating the properties,” Weil told St. Louis on the Air.
Those tax credits can mean the difference between critical repairs and demolition. Weil called the credits “the most effective economic development tool that we have in terms of the billions of dollars of private investment that it's leveraged for St Louis city alone.”
On St. Louis on the Air, Weil looked back on his long career at the Landmarks Association and discussed examples of how preservationists have tried, and sometimes failed, to save St. Louis’ physical heritage over the past two decades.
In addition to a discussion of the success and setbacks of preservation, Weil also talked about the successful effort to save Sugarloaf Mound, as well as the ongoing risk of “catastrophic fires” that pose particular danger to St. Louis’ historic churches.
“Our historic buildings, and our historic neighborhoods, are an incredible economic resource and something that we have that no other city has,” he said. “It's unique to our community, it's unique in the region, and it's an asset that we can and should be capitalizing upon more.”
To hear the full conversation with Andrew Weil, including details about his upcoming book on the history of fortifications in the St. Louis region, listen to “St. Louis on the Air” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The production intern is Darrious Varner. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
