St. Louis is nicknamed Brick City, and one of its quintessential brick buildings is a hundred-year-old three-story walk-up that in recent years has served as transitional housing for women rebuilding their lives after domestic violence.  Owned by the nonprofit Lydia's House, a member ministry of the Council for Health and Human Service Ministries of the United Church of Christ, it was one of their several buildings that provide an affordable home for up to two years for women and children affected by domestic abuse referred from St. Louis' emergency shelters. That is, until the need for major renovations forced it to close in October. 