I like this thread idea. More photos!
Here's one, this is The Crescent in Lowndes County, built in 1898. I don't remember any details (shot this 4 years ago) except it was taken with my Nikkor 90mm f/8, likely on T-Max 100:
It might be Butler Square. I'm in what was a warehouse district - older buildings here with wood beams up to 2 feet square. But in the downtown office area, many historic buildings were demolished in the name of progress. Tall buildings here started using steel frames around 1900, so I suspect an 8 story wood beam building would have been built earlier. You'd probably find it here.
Logging of pine along the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers in the mid-1800s drove much of the settlement of this area. Much of that logging was out-and-out illegal as it was on land owned by Ojibwe and Dakota. The logging that was not out-and-out illegal relied on treaties that were, most of the time, deceptive and/or reneged upon. Not our finest moment.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled thread:
This building started life in the 1880s as a hotel. In 1915, it became the Commutator Brass Foundry (rear section and smokestack not in photograph) and that name - Commutator Foundry building - continues on. I don't know when it stopped being used as a foundry, but in the post-WWI period was used as offices. Currently a home good "boutique" is on the main level. Nice stuff but expensive.
This shot taken with my Travelwide.
It must have been Butler Square. This is an edit. I read everything else first.
I looked at the sad old destroyed buildings and read the droll commentary, but my building was not here.
The building I am thinking of was still there in the 80's at least and I think an upscale fashion hub. Exposed wood beam. You could touch it. You could look straight up at a high center courtyard. I have searched many times, never find it and my source, my father has passed.
Perhaps some emails to relatives still there will find it.
Thanks for the history. I love old buildings, the odder the better.
Last edited by Tin Can; 29-Mar-2016 at 20:18. Reason: Yes, Butler Square!
The Spokane Public Bath, 1912. changing house for the first public swimming pools in Spokane. Too many kids were dying in the river in the hot summers and behind the camera two pools were built outdoors. The original pools are long gone. I shot this in the early 90's with an Eastman 2d 8X10 with a Protar VII in a B&L compound shutter. Still a sweet lens and shutter today. Presently the building is on the Historic Register, but filled with lawn bowling supplies behind the modern Witter Pool.
The Central School building has a bronze emblem attached to the front saying it is on the National Historic register as a 19th century school for what was once a thriving farming community served by more than one railroad line, all of which have disappeared or hidden by overgrowth. We found this accidentally just exploring and I did a Walker Evans thing as seemed appropriate at the time with a 4X5 and a 210 Symmar.
I really like the detail and history behind the "Spokane Public Bath", and appreciate the Walker Evans approach to the school building as well...
Here's one the the Rockefeller-built "Gatehouses" in Acadia National Park, whose stone and wood exteriors
evoke medieval French architecture...
this is with a 110mm lens on a 4x5
Nice idea for a thread! I'm a historian by trade, not a photographer, so this is a treat to see.
Lately I've been donating my time on behalf of the Preservation League of NY State to do some photographs of the most threatened historic sites around the state, which they've identified as their Seven to Save (http://www.preservenys.org/seven-to-save---2016-17.html). I've done a few of the sites so far, including this building, the Dutch Reformed Church in Newburgh, a small city in the Hudson River Valley. It is a Greek Revival masterpiece designed by A.J. Davis and completed in 1835, and is now in rough shape. It remains water-tight, though, and has had some restoration work done to stabilize the structure. The hope is that it can find a new use, and remain in place.
It is now surrounded by modern buildings, with parking very nearly up to the portico. I did this view in the early evening, after the employees of the school district had left work and opened up just enough space in front of the building for a clean view of the portico.
4x5, Shen Hao, 150mm Fujinon, TMY.
Bruce
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