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Penrose, St. Louis — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Penrose is a residential district on the north side of St. Louis, held between Kingshighway Boulevard and Pope Avenue just south of Interstate 70.
About Penrose
Where to stay in Penrose
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
No hotel row runs along Natural Bridge Avenue. The blocks between that street and Florissant Avenue were laid out for houses, churches, and schools, so anyone hunting a front desk inside the district will turn up ball fields and front yards instead. Interstate 70 runs the north edge.
Rooms cluster downtown, a short drive southeast. Come out to Penrose Park for the velodrome if you want the reason to be here at all.
About Penrose
What are the main landmarks in Penrose?
Penrose Park spreads across the northwest corner. Its fifty-odd acres carry ball fields, tennis and handball courts, a pavilion, and a concrete cycling track built in 1962, one of the few outdoor velodromes in the United States. Ashland Elementary School stands at 3921 North Newstead Avenue, a Jacobethan design by the school architect William B. Ittner.
The St. Louis Public Library keeps its Julia Davis Library at 4415 Natural Bridge Avenue. Shreve Avenue holds St. Elizabeth Mother of John the Baptist Catholic Church.
What is the history of Penrose?
Schools tell most of the story. Ashland Elementary went up to a design by William B. Ittner, who served as Commissioner of School Buildings for the St. Louis Public School District from 1897 to 1910 and shaped several hundred schoolhouses. Rockwell M. Milligan drew Scullin School, which closed in 2003 and passed onto the district's surplus list.
Ashland Branch School began as a receiving home for the Children's Home Society of Missouri, ran later as a preschool and kindergarten, and shut in 2009. St. Peter African Methodist Episcopal Church moved onto Margaretta Avenue in 1962.
Where is Penrose?
Kingshighway Boulevard closes Penrose on the west and Natural Bridge Avenue on the south, with Interstate 70 and O'Fallon Park off the north and east edges.
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Updated September 2026