I made it back out by the Henry Watson House, this time with the sun out, but now with a pesky overhead wire in the way!
I had photographed it way back in January of 2009 on a cloudy day.
Apparently the house was damaged by fire. Watson owned two quarries; I wonder if one of them was this one that I photographed back in October of 2014.
Heading up Alby Street, there is a wide variety of housing stock.
While there’s this really long Arts and Crafts house…
…most of the other houses are Italianate or Queen Anne in style.
Many are in the process of being rehabbed.
While many are already done.
Don’t know if you’re actually up in Alton today or tomorrow, Chris — you may be posting photos you’ve taken a few days ago — but if you’re going to be there today, or sometime in the future, you must photograph the houses on Forest Street. It’s an extraordinary neighborhood, the back side of which abuts the western cliffs overlooking the Mississippi, of which it offers truly spectacular views. Superb examples of residential architecture abound, many dating back to first third of the 20th c.
I’m planning on going back and I can definitely check it out!
Danforth St, from State St, will take you straight into the neighborhood. It presents as a “gated community,” but it isn’t. There’s a gatehouse, but in all the times I’ve been by I’ve never seen a guard of any kind. You can see on GoogleMaps how close to the river the lots on the western portion of the neighborhood are. Winter’s actually a good time to visit; with the foliage largely absent, the houses as well as the bottomlands across the river are in full view.