The houses
| Era | Share of City housing | What you are looking at |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 57.9% | Brick flats, four-families, rowhouses and bungalows; weight-and-pulley wood double-hungs; segmental-arch heads; stone or rowlock sills |
| 1940–1979 | 28.3% | South City and Northwest brick ranches and bungalows; some steel casements, mostly wood double-hungs with spring balances |
| 1980 and later | 13.8% | Infill, rehabs, newer construction near downtown and in redeveloped corridors |
U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024 5-year, B25034; median year built 1938 (B25035).
The practical consequences, in order:
- Masonry openings. No nailing fin, a brickmould in plain view, a lintel to check. Insert and full-frame are both possible; many pre-war frames turn out to want full-frame once the sill paint is scraped. See replacing windows in a brick house.
- Original sash worth keeping. Where the frames are sound, a restored or sash-kit window is cheaper and, in a district, preferred. See window repair.
- Lead-safe work on nearly every job. Window replacement is never exempt from the RRP rule on a pre-1978 house. Containment and cleaning verification are on every City quote. See lead-safe window replacement.
The eighteen historic districts
Benton Park, Central West End, Cherokee-Lemp Brewery, Compton Hill, Fox Park, Hyde Park and the Hyde Park Extension, Kingsbury-Washington Terrace, Lafayette Square, McKinley Heights, North I-44, Shaw Neighborhood, Skinker DeBaliviere, Soulard, The Ville, Tower Grove East, Union Station and Visitation Park are ordinance-designated City Historic Districts. In them, the Cultural Resources Office must approve replacement windows before a permit can be issued; the office's approved list has no vinyl product; and every district standard we have read requires wood, clad wood, composite or color-finished aluminum on street-facing façades, replicating the original configuration. Tower Grove South, Old North and the "Compton Heights" name are not local districts. The full table is in the historic district window rules guide; historic district windows is the service that handles the review.
The permit rule
The City's own residential permit criteria say no permit is required for "replacement or repair of existing windows and frames, whenever no modification is made to the opening," nor for storm windows or glass replacement. Enlarging an opening or cutting structural members needs a permit. In a historic district, CRO approval "is usually required … even though it is not required by the Building Code." The City is on the 2018 IRC, IBC, IEBC and IECC (adopted August 1, 2018). Permit fees, where a permit applies, are a $25 application fee plus $19 for the first $1,000 of work and $10 per $1,000 above $3,000. Contractors working in the City hold a Construction Industry Contractor Graduated Business License from the License Collector. See the permits guide.
The 2025 tornado
On May 16, 2025, an EF-3 tornado touched down in Clayton and crossed the City's central and north-side neighborhoods — published damage accounts run from Skinker DeBaliviere and the Central West End's edge through Fountain Park, The Ville and O'Fallon to the North Riverfront — before crossing the river (National Weather Service: St. Louis County → City → Madison County). Its path was 3,168 yards wide, the widest the National Weather Service has recorded in the St. Louis forecast area since 1950, with more than 10,000 damage points logged in the Service's one-year reassessment. By May 2026 Missouri insurers had paid more than $475 million on over 10,000 claims from the storm, about 90% residential.
Two of the neighborhoods along that path — Skinker DeBaliviere and The Ville — are City Historic Districts, and most of the rest is pre-war brick. A storm-damaged window there is a like-kind replacement from the approved list, a lead-safe job, and a claim all at once. Storm damage window replacement covers documentation and the matching question.
Neighborhood notes
- Soulard, Benton Park, Lafayette Square (and neighboring McKinley Heights and Fox Park, whose standards we have not yet read): 1870s–1910s brick; Soulard, Benton Park and Lafayette Square have the strictest street-façade rules we have read, with private façades unregulated in Soulard and Benton Park — use the alley side for the budget.
- Shaw, Tower Grove East, Compton Hill, Tower Grove South: 1890s–1920s brick; Shaw and Compton Hill require wood or color-finished aluminum; TGE's adopted standards cover new construction only; TGS is not a local district.
- Central West End, Skinker DeBaliviere, Kingsbury-Washington Terrace, Visitation Park: larger houses, more variety in sash (casements, leaded transoms); CWE allows clad wood and composite on the street and any material at the rear; Skinker DeBaliviere ties replacements to the CRO list and bans coil stock over brickmould.
- Hyde Park, Old North, The Ville, North I-44: 1880s–1920s brick on the North Side; Hyde Park's color code and wood/finished-aluminum rule apply; The Ville and parts of the North Side were in the tornado path.
- South City west of Grand (St. Louis Hills, Lindenwood, Princeton Heights, Southampton): 1920s–50s brick bungalows and "gingerbread" houses, mostly outside the local districts; wood double-hungs and some steel casements; standard brick full-frame or insert work.
- Carondelet, Dutchtown, Gravois Park, Bevo: 1890s–1920s brick flats and four-families, largely outside the local districts; the four-family mixed-method quote (street side replica or kit, alley side composite) is the common one.
What it costs here
| Job | Typical installed (2026) |
|---|---|
| Vinyl insert, brick, outside a district | $700 – $1,200 per opening |
| Full-frame composite or fiberglass, brick | $1,100 – $1,900 |
| Historic replica, street façade, in a district | $1,500 – $2,800 |
| Wood sash kit in a sound original frame | $1,100 – $1,900 |
| 1905 brick flat, 12 openings, replica front (4) / composite full-frame rear (8) | $14,800 – $26,300 |
See the cost guide and the instant estimate, which has settings for brick, era and historic district.
Not ready to talk yet?
Start with the complete St. Louis replacement window guide. It is written around houses like these.
Frequently asked questions
Is my house in a historic district? The Cultural Resources Office publishes the district boundaries and offers a free preliminary review; we check the address before quoting.
Can I replace the alley-side windows in vinyl? In Soulard and Benton Park, private façades are unregulated as to material; in the Central West End, rear elevations may be any material. Other districts vary — we check.
Does the City inspect window replacement? Not when no permit is required. In a district, the CRO reviews the application before, not the work after.