I thought I would check in on the Cabanne Castle, which during my last visit in August of 2022 was back at being renovated after a lull in construction. I don’t know what the heck is going on now. There are new windows and it looks like there has been some tuckpointing, but now it…
Tag: Beaux-Arts
Civic Buildings, St. Joseph
The Buchanan County Courthouse in downtown St. Joseph is perhaps one of the most public impressive buildings I’ve seen in America. Constructed in 1873 and still largely identical in appearance other than its cupola (which now looks similar to the one in Lancaster, Wisconsin). Its sheer size, particularly in 1873 and second only to the…
Shelbina, February 2024
It seems like I visit Shelbina every eight years. The first time, in 2008, I photographed a beautiful building that was sadly destroyed by fire. In 2016, I went deeper, seeing more of the gorgeous houses back on some of the side streets. Our first stop revealed the Vesper House was resplendent as ever; I…
Macon, Sixteen Years Later
Fast forward to February, and I was back in Macon for the first time in sixteen years, and this is what I saw. There were some fresh coats of paint, here and there. The former bank building has a new business in it, which I learned was originally the Macon Building and Loan Association, later…
From the Vault: Macon, Sixteen Years Ago
We found ourselves in Macon, in Northeast Missouri recently, and I wanted to check up on the downtown area. It had been sixteen years since my first and last visit to downtown Macon, and I only posted a few pictures: some pealing lead paint, and a Beaux-Arts and a Modernist bank. I dug these photos…
Norvell-Shapleigh, The Saturday After the Fire
I went back out the Saturday after the fire to check on the state of the demolition of the Norvell-Shapleigh warehouse after I had viewed it on Monday. A substantial amount of the building had been removed, particularly the former J. Kennard and Sons Carpet Co. portion on the north, including the part that had…
The Closure of Nursing Homes
The last decade or so has been rough on nursing homes in St. Louis. While readers at first might find the link tenuous to history, they must be reminded that many are in historic buildings, and likewise, neighborhoods are kept healthy when members of society are able to “age in place,” meaning they do not…
Reading Road, Avondale and the Riots, Cincinnati
I’ve looked at Fourteenth Street NW before in Washington, DC, and probably elsewhere, so I was interested in what had become of Reading Road in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati. High up in the hills, there were two riots, one in 1967 and then less than a year later in 1968. The first one revolved…
Downtown, Youngstown
Downtown Youngstown is really nice! Now, I’m defining it as the area enclosed by Highway 422, which surrounds it to the northeast, effectively cutting it off from the rest of the city; on the southwest, the Mahoning River forms the other border. Youngstown State University clearly breathes much of the life into the area northeast…
Wick Park, Youngstown
My first stop off the interstate in Youngstown was Wick Park, which is a historic district up on a plateau of sorts just north of the downtown area. The outstanding focal point of the neighborhood and sitting at the end of Park Avenue where it t-bones with 5th Avenue is the Stambaugh Auditorium. I think…