Demolition, Memory and Baltimore

A tree fell in the forest and I wasn’t around to hear it, so to speak. As a couple of my readers know, I lived in Baltimore, Maryland, from 2004 to 2005 in the Hampden neighborhood, a former mill town north of downtown along the Jones Falls. One of the most prominent landmarks in the…

Three Year Anniversary of Saint Louis Patina: Favorite Photos

All this week, Saint Louis Patina is looking back over the last three years, revisiting the highlights of dozens of expeditions and thousands of photographs. 1) Highway 40, Closed to Traffic 2) Abandoned Diner, Goodfield, Illinois. Update: Demolished on March 9, 2011. 3) Doric Temple, Paestum, Italy 4) Lafayette Square Rowhouses 5) Armour Meatpacking Plant,…

A Rowhouse in Bolton Hill, Baltimore

I stayed at my friend Rachel’s house in Bolton Hill while in Baltimore. Even just one row house seems to tell the story of hundreds of lives. Above, a strange cement-like covering has begun to fall off the front of the house’s original bricks, worn away from the dripping water of window air conditioner units…

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore

Druid Hill Park sits on the near northwest side of central Baltimore, with its large reservoir dominating the landscape. According to a friend whose grandparents grew up in Baltimore, tens of thousands of families used to sleep in the park on hot summer nights to get away from the heat of the rowhouses. Can anyone…

West Downtown Baltimore

The west side of Baltimore has not seen the rehabbing that the heart of Baltimore’s downtown has. It still sits largely abandoned, or featuring low-class cell phone stores and the like. Once the premiere place to shop in Baltimore, it sits awaiting redevelopment.