The Kaiser Family
The Kaiser family once occupied the three-story Victorian-style building, now known as the Dielmann-Kaiser House.
According to St. Louis city records, the original structure was built in 1873, just inside the St. Louis City limits at Keokuk. An addition to the house was built at the turn of the 19th century.
The Kaiser House was a wedding present to Antoinette T. Kaiser. It was built by her father, Eugene Amor, who came to the United States from France. Her mother, Elizabeth Amor, immigrated from Germany and was married to Eugene in 1863. The Amor family lived next door in the rock house at 3835 South Broadway.
Antoinette married Felix Kaiser, who was employed as a bookkeeper for the railroads at the Saint Louis Union Station. They enjoyed entertaining guests with lavish parties with live entertainment.
Dielmann purchased the property, which was condemned, from a church in the 1970s for $4000 in cash and began the extensive restoration. His vision was to provide a living example of the lifestyle of a typical working class family during the Victorian era in St. Louis. Dielmann taught himself how to make the Victorian style lamp shades, the stained glass windows and the faux marbling throughout the house. Many of the fixtures and decorations had been taken down and stored in the basement.
He has spent years researching and documenting the history of the Kaiser family. Dielmann has also collected many of the original household furnishings, clothes and even toys once enjoyed by their children.
Kaiser Family
Portrait of three generation of the women in the Kaiser family is shown as left with Antoinette T. Kaiser on the right.
South Broadway, circa 1890s
View looking north from Keokuk Street of the thriving business district along South Broadway with horse-drawn streetcars and buggies. The Kaiser house, featuring a billboard for a dry goods store painted on the south brick wall, can be seen on the left side of the photo, circa 1890s. Image courtesy Missouri History Museum
Kaiser Rock House
The Amor family lived next door in the rock house at 3835 South Broadway.
Marine Villa Hospital
Dielmann discovered his house on South Broadway in the Marine Villa neighborhood during a visit to the Marine Villa Hospital where he enlisted in the Army. He came back in the seventies and brought the house and began the extensive restoration.
Old South Broadway Business District
South Broadway was once a thriving business district in the Marine Villa and Dutchtown neighborhoods.
South Broadway and Keokuk
An unidentified young boy stands in front of a neighborhood restaurant at the corner of South Broadway and Keokuk.