I found myself drawn to these house along the north side of Wyoming, on the old grounds of the English Cave beer garden. I have not been photographing as much during the “golden hour” and these buildings were glowing in the late light of the unseasonably cold autumn.

More than a few people have been mentioning to me the ghastly trend of flippers painting brick in this city, just not “getting it.” Don’t give me lectures about the “free market,” or any of that crap.

So much of America is so ugly now, and my community does not want it to turn into those parts of the country where there is nothing of the past preserved, where nothing of quality survives or exists, and cheap latex paint is slathered on to hide the fact that the flipper didn’t want to spend money on tuckpointing. I’ll never forget the time when I contractor friend of mine spotted a flipper filling a seam between bricks on the front façade of a house just north of here on Arsenal with regular caulk instead of mortar. And you guessed it, then they painted over it to hide the crime.

And increasingly, little gems like the house below…

Which could easily date to before the Civil War, are deemed to not be “marketable,” and are turned into giant boats with massive additions out the back, with $400,000 price tags.

That’s why I’m still so impressed that this old house below, which could have so easily met the trash heap of some flipper’s whims, has been saved. It was worth it.