DeSoto Avenue also has some surprises, such as this Tudor Revival latecomer to the neighborhood, which sits on a corner. The architect factored the corner lot into the composition, and the house works from different elevations. But moving west, more vacant lots appear, punctuated by the occasional house. I was surprised that this two-family below…
Month: March 2019
College Hill in the Snow #17: 1500-1900 Block of DeSoto Avenue
Moving west on DeSoto Avenue, there is not much to say beyond the first house above, which is well-maintained and occupied. The blocks moving west are empty, vacant and deteriorating. It is deeply sad. A few of the houses are occupied, but most are not. Please join me today, March 20, 2019 at 10:30 AM…
College Hill in the Snow #16: 1400 Block of DeSoto Avenue
DeSoto Avenue used to be completely hidden from the rest of the world by the thick underbrush the blanketed the hill north of East Prairie Avenue. It has now been cleared, and the feeling is one of exposed openness. This street has a weird feeling now, one that I suspect the residents are still getting…
College Hill in the Snow #15: Bottles, DeSoto Avenue
DeSoto Avenue is a place that many people would like to pretend doesn’t exist, but it does. Shrouded from view for decades by a thick tree cover, it now sits out in the wide open due to the recent clearing of foliage on the hillside in between DeSoto and East Prairie avenues. A young man,…
College Hill in the Snow #14: Grand Water Tower, 9:15 AM
Update: The Grand Water was repainted in the summer of 2020. I once wrote that George I. Barnett designed the Grand Water Tower to look like it was the relic of a long-gone civilization, and with the way that the city has disappeared around it, his wish has ironically come true.
College Hill in the Snow #13: Grand Water Tower, 7:15 AM
Update: The Grand Water was repainted in the summer of 2020. I almost wonder if the Grand Water Tower (yes, I know it’s technically a standpipe) would look better as a red brick Corinthian column. It’s almost there.
College Hill in the Snow #12: East Prairie Avenue Valley, Revisited
A gentle blanket of snow had covered up the gash of demolition on the north side of the East Prairie Avenue Valley, which I photographed a month ago. Update: The two four-family flats seen in the distance below have been demolished. Before the clearing of what was essentially a forest, this area was wild, unkempt…
College Hill in the Snow #11: Ice Capades
It is a shame that the good, law-abiding people of College Hill have to put up with the fools that were driving like this the night before I photographed these tire tracks in the snow. That is a four-way stop in the photos above and below, and there is no way someone could lose control…
College Hill in the Snow #10: Gano Avenue #4
You could see the houses above and below in this post from 2012 (fourth photo), and they are still occupied and well-maintained. In fact, this little stretch of Gano Avenue is mostly occupied, and is dense. It shows how eclectic the housing stock is, and how many people once lived in the neighborhood. But what…
College Hill in the Snow #9: Gano Avenue #3
This little house, which is still occupied, sits right next to three two-family houses, which have now fallen into abandonment. I had seen them in the past, like this shot from February of 2017 (third photo), but now I had a chance to look at them up close. Battered by the weather, the front parapet…