St. Charles Fire Stations 2 & 3

Architect: JEMA
Construction Manager: LCS Construction
Location: St. Charles, MO

St. Charles replaced two outmoded 1960s fire stations with a matched pair, both drawn from a single prototype plan so their differences read as responses to their sites. The earlier stations suffered flooding, electrical hazards, and bays too small for modern apparatus. Fire Station No. 3, hemmed in by its lot on the north end, makes do with two drive-through bays; its mid-century-modern influenced exterior settles easily into a neighborhood of the same vintage. Fire Station No. 2, the city's busiest, sits larger on the south end on the former St. Charles Golf Club, with three bays, bunk rooms, offices, and a kitchen. The same mid-century face there is a deliberate gesture against a newer subdivision that doesn't quite return it.