To update how the demise of the building has been going:
Here was the original picture I took:
I published the demolition here and here and today you can see the view minus any building.
It’s always a little strange taking a picture of a negative, i.e. where a building isn’t anymore. When sorting pictures for the blog my first reaction was “What is this supposed to be a picture of?” It took a few seconds before I realized it was a picture of where a building isn’t.
This house is down the street from where I live and I love it. Big porch, huge back yard, right on the Max line. So why does no one live here? When I moved to this street in 2007 I assumed that the absentee owners were getting ready to put it on the market. The house was painted, it got new windows and a new roof. Someone comes once per week to keep the yard up. I waited for the “for sale” sign to go up, but it never did and the house has remained empty.
The building is getting smaller and smaller. In the previous post, this was the angle you could see the Zell Brothers sign.
I like how it looks like someone took a bite out of this one.
It’s not too long until there is nothing left.
Though I love old buildings pretty much unequivocally, there is some part of me that feels a thrill when I see them being demolished. Demolition work is probably pretty satisfying–especially if you can’t hear the clarion call of history whispering to you as you wield your heavy machinery. You come to work in the morning, you pull down a roof or a wall and at the end of the day, there is less building. This continues until there is no building and you move on to the next soon-to-be-gone building.
Progress continues on the tearing down of the Dental Arts Building and block. I took a “before” picture and posted it here.
One of my favorite things in cities is to read the old, painted advertisements on the sides of buildings. On the east side of the Dental Arts building is a very large ad for Zell Brothers, the store that was on the other end of the block.
Amazing Internet discovery! Someone else in Portland loves building ads too. They have a whole blog devoted to it.
A view uninterrupted by trees.
It was a windy day and the strips of detritus hanging from the ceiling were blowing in the wind.
And the wind rustled through the blinds in this window.
That part of me that loves destruction thrills at the Mercantile awning crumpled on the sidewalk in this picture.
See wind invade the building:
And watch it blowing the blinds:
On my way to my acupuncture appointment, I captured these images.
The lovely doors of St Mary’s.
I love finding signs with outdated language and/or customs. “You tradesmen, you enter over here. Not through the front door.”
This looks like a pretty typical multi-family residence in Northwest. But wait! What is that sign in the lower left? (I actually crossed the street to find out.)
Ah! My place for orthodox church on Sundays.
Who needs sleep when there is coffee? Who needs a recycle bin, when there is a truck bed?
I mean really, who?
My walk to work has uncovered this rivalry in my favorite building:
Walking back to the house, I snapped a picture of these two girls.
They are clearly wearing their unofficial high school uniform of the moment: Uggs, skinny jeans, plain white long sleeved t-shirts, long hair, worn down.
When I was in high school my unofficial uniform was: converse high tops–laced up to the second grommet from the top–baggy jeans, baggy t-shirt with funny sayings and hair either worn down or up in a scrunchie.
What was your unofficial uniform?
The quote on the frieze of this building cracks me up: “Do vnto others as yov wovld they shovld do vnto yov”
The “v” as a fancy “u” and the funny syntax lend a sort of Russian Jewish immigrant flavor to the golden rule.
Zachary, Samuel John, Anna Elena, Miles Lincoln, Connor, Wren, M. Mackenzie, Sage Aradia, Sorrell, JanCarlos, Jamison, Ava, Nigel, John Alan, Karynne, August “Gus”, Maggie, Hyden, Krisandra, Oscar Matthew, Milo, Porter Jay, Elijah,Samuel, Jackson, Silas, Eleni, Alejandra, Leah, Ace, Carson E., Pasha, Mariella, Hazel, Sullivan, Ten, Cleo, Arden, Zoe M., Valen, Mason, Jackson Lee, Tuesday Louise, Carte, Jasper, Olivia, Gabriel, Violet, Maha Hanna, Zoe, Delilah Rose, Skyler, Rhionne, C.T., Jasper “Jack”, Tapley, Alexandra, Madeline, Mia, Grace, Kassia, Karla, Hazel, Coen, Elawyn L., Natalie, Uma, Ezra A., Benjamin, Alexandra, Tobias, Cole, Aidan, Selah, Edme, Isabella, Ezra, David,Maya, Alice, Hudson, Joseph Dodge, Chiara, Dhruva Krishna, Rachel, Orion, Sam, Nicolas, Zoe, Zora, Lily, Nora, Evan, Lucy, Landon, Maya, Molly Donyale, Phoenix, Aiden Theo, Simona, Joran, Justice, Alec, Emmett, Jasmine Nicole, Rose Helen, Coleman, Tenzin, Jackson Green, Max, Lily Ann Mason, Colin Foley, Zachary W., Isabella, Charlie, Lucian, Umoya, Jibril, Anika Jaz, Helena Rose, Nicholas Richard, Jeremy Palmer, Ukiah, Ira “Bird”, Lyla R., Jude, Cole “Spike”, Prashant, Milena R., Gabriel, Soren, Clara D. C., Isaac, Brendon
I stand at the Max stop across from this building a lot. It took me awhile, but I eventually noticed that each of the upper floors of this building has different windows. I wonder how that came about?
