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.
Tag: College Hill
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…
College Hill in the Snow #8: Gano Avenue #2, The Rare Half Flounder
Update: I looked at this house again in February of 2021. Update: I revisited the house in the winter of 2023. I know it might seem strange to get excited about this sad, abandoned house, but it is really a rare, exceptionally unique example of a wood frame half flounder with Italianate detailing. As I’ve mentioned…
College Hill in the Snow #7: Gano Avenue #1, Modernist In-Fill
So what is going on here? The only homogeneous blocks in all of College Hill are the Modernist bungalows and duplexes, and in they fill 80% of the 1500 block of Gano Avenue. What was here? Compton and Dry and fire insurance maps do not help us, as they appear as vacant lots. You can…
College Hill in the Snow #5, John Avenue #2
John Avenue continues to have a wide range of houses, many in the Second Empire style and also some Italianate influences mixed in. Many houses are abandoned, but there is a fair amount of well-maintained houses with their owners holding on. Then there are the small Modernist tracts mixed in, which is pretty much the…