The Central West End is the most successful pre-war neighbourhood in St Louis — a stretch of red-brick mansions, mansion blocks, and townhouses developed between 1890 and 1920 as the city expanded west towards Forest Park. The commercial spine along Euclid Avenue and Maryland Plaza has emerged as one of the city's best dining and shopping districts.
T S Eliot grew up here; the New Cathedral towers over the south end; private gated streets — locally called "private places" — hide some of the most spectacular Gilded Age mansions in the country, accessible to the public on rare house-tour weekends. A good day starts at the Cathedral, walks the gated places to the south, then ends with dinner along Euclid.