Jeff

(dive right in) Portland and Butchertown and to some extent Phoenix Hill have some of the oldest surviving structures in Louisville. Portland I think I posted on before (and is sort of a special case as it used to be a separate town and competitor of Louisville). Butchertown, however, is a true extension of Louisville. Butchertown is also interesting from a urban sociology/politics POV as it is an example of the grassroots “fight the system” ethos of the 1960s, where neighborhood activists took on the planner/bureaucrats who wanted to destroy the neighborhood. During the 1960s this neighborhood was slated for removal and replacement by industry via down-zoning, very similar to what happened to a few Dayton neighborhoods I know. Unlike the Dayton neighborhoods, Butchertown was saved by a local working class folks working with with some “young professional” (probably very young at that time) urban pioneers, who defeated the planners and retained the neighborhood as residential. The stated intention of the activists at that time was not to gentrify the neighborhood, but to save it as a viable community and as a representative of some very old Louisville architecture…community and historic preservation was the goal, not gentrification. At least that was the story until now, as the neighborhood is changing. Butchertown today. The neighborhood is more or less bounded by the big Spaghetti Junction interstate interchange to the north , Main Street, and Beargrass Creek. Butchertown through time. This neighborhood is a good place to investigate the development of Louisville through the last 200 years, from the Virginia surveys of Lord Dunmore’s’ time to today. This is sort of a genesis map of Butchertown, an enlargement of an inset on a larger map of Louisville around 1829 or 30. The rapids of the Falls of the Ohio show on the left, as does a growing Louisville and Beargrass Creek with it’s forks, modern Louisville’s urban stream. The roads east into the Bluegrass country also appear, the main routes into Louisville from inland. The modern area of Butchertown outlined in red, and the 1778 land surveys in black dashes. This area was surveyed as land grants for Virginia soldiers in the French and Indian War, and Louisville first started as town plat by a Pittsburgh trader and ally of Lord Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia (apparently Virginia had claimed the Pittsburgh area by right of conquest during the French and Indian War). These surveys ran perpendicular to the river, well inland, and govern street arrangements in Louisville to this day… The larger 1830 map. ..showing the Revolutionary War fort at Louisville, Corn Island (the original sight of the fort, and at low water a rock ledge that formed a harbor for river traffic at Louisville’s landing), the original plat of Louisville, the commons, and the outlots running south to what is now Broadway. At this time Louisville was expanding beyond its original town plat, west and east along the river. The old Preston patent has become Preston’s Addition, and the first streets in what is now Butchertown appear. The area between Beargrass Creek and the river became known as “The Point”, an extension of the wharf. After 1830, and particularly in the 1840s and 50s, the area that is now Butchertown begins to be settled by mostly German butchers, as this area convenient to the main turnpikes in from the Bluegrass. The neighborhood, from the start, was a live-work concept, where people worked where they lived. Beargrass Creek, literally running through the backyards of the butchers, becomes a convenient dump for waste and offal from the killing floors. As the creek, no more than a disgusting open sewer filled with blood and guts and grease, empties into the Ohio right at the public wharf it becomes a nuisance and is rerouted (also to provide more wharf space). The drained course of Beargrass Creek north of Butchertown is still noticeable to this day. The Point had been a summer retreat for wealthy New Orleans families (Louisville had trade connections with NOLA), but also the site of rope walks making rope from hemp for the Southern markets. Eventually the Point becomes more industrialized and working class. One house remains from the era when this was a retreat for Southerners. A close-up of an 1850s map of Louisville showing the built up areas in Butchertown…. Another 1850s map showing the railroad coming in from Lexington and Frankfort, entering Louisville down Jefferson Street and ending at a depot located at today’s Haymarket. A 1865 military map of the Louisville fortifications clearly showing Butchertown. At around this time the local landmark St Joseph parish is founded,. Louisville undergoes a period of industrialization during the era of the New South, after the Civil War and Reconstruction, serving Southern markets. The meatpacking industry here becomes more industrialized, and the Bourbon Stockyards is established (in 1868), claimed to be the “largest in the South”. This stockyards was the outgrowth of a drovers inn established in the 1830s, that had stock pens in the rear, which became the site of informal buying, selling, and trading. During the postbellum era the railroad to Lexington (and Cincinnati) is rerouted through Butchertown, partly on the course of the old Beargrass Creek, to a depot on the river. The Louisville & Jeffersonville Bridge, later the Big Four Bridge, is built, with the elevated bridge approaches also cutting through the neighborhood. The Point has become a site of wharfs and shipyards. (1898 map) Also, at this time, some other nearby neighborhoods take shape and identity. This is also the era of the beer garden, of which there was one near Butchertown. Butchertown even had its own brewery, which survived Prohibition to become one of Louisvilles local postwar beers, Oertels ’92 (closed in the 60s). The 1937 flood hit Louisville hard, flooding most of the built-up area of the city at the time…everything in orange and blue on this modern flood control map was flooded: The ’37 flood even reached Churchill Downs..if you are familiar with the city you will know it is pretty far in from the river Butchertown, in a vulnerable location right on the river, between the river and Beargrass Creek was flooded pretty bad. The Point was pretty much wiped out by this flood. The landmark St Josephs church steeples can be seen here, and the wide expanse of the stockyards flooded by Beargrass Creek backwaters is visible in the lower part of the pix: The ’37 flood led to the construction of the floodwall, which is mostly that in Butchertown...nearly no levee here, just a concrete wall. The floodwall snakes its way through the neighborhood, sometimes running down the middle of streets, with floodgates every so often. …meaning there are areas with and without flood protection. As the floodwall was built when this neighborhood was rezoned industrial it really didn’t matter that residential streets where chopped up by the wall…. One of the local landmarks is the big Beargrass Creek pumping station, which takes the creek over the top of the levee when the Ohio is in flood. By the 1960s about 50% of the housing in the neighborhood had been replaced by industrial/commercial use or demolished. The construction of the I-64, 65, and 71 interstates and their interchange also impacted the neighborhood, particularly I-64 as it split the neighborhood in two. The remaining residential areas were saved, though, and declared historic districts. Butchertown in the 1970s became a popular place to go for the Oktoberfest, which was a big fund raiser for the neighborhood group, and a good place to hear German music and drink beer. One of the old factories was converted into a small shopping center, too. The stockyards remained in business until the 1990s, though, and brought in a big rural trade, so there where country music places for nightlife, as well as feed and seed type farmer business in the area. Nowadays, though, there is more gentrification and infill going on, it seems (including the big project shown in this map). This part of the pix tour will take you mostly along Washington Street & side streets, from the St Joes area into the “Buckeye” section, getting as close to downtown as we can, with a walk back taking looks at Story Avenue, East Main and the Stockyards area. Starting at the 1880s St Joseph church. The church roof has those nice crosses worked into the late. The former Butchertown Pub. This was a popular place for folksy/singer songwriter/bluegrass stuff way back in the 1970s, and sort of a symbol of the neighborhood revival here…. Businesses on Story Ave, with some new infill/additions An old house from the 1840s or 30s, when this neighborhood began to develop NIMBYism or a visionary proposal or a bit of both? You decide (google the site): it’s the subtle things that often make a neighborhood in Louisville, such as the little stone curb before you get to the yard, and the iron fences. More nice old shotgun houses, though these are not the oldest housing type in the neighborhood. Bakery Square. This was for a few years, when it was open as a retail place, a centerpiece of the neighborhood for outsiders. This factory dates to 1870, and was built as a furniture factory. Its more recent incarnation as a bakery is what led to the name (the bake ovens were preserved as part of the renovation. This was a bakery that served little corner stores around the city, so they had their own delivery wagons (later vans) The place was originally set up for shops, but now small offices… The little building in the courtyard was originally the stable, later a restaurant called The Stable, and now home to the Lebowskifest (one of those quirky/funky Louisville things) Heading on down the line on Washington, peeking at the railroad lines running through the neighborhood and old factories I’m thinking this might have been a lead into one of the Big Four Bridge approaches Moving into the “Buckeye” sub-neighborhood, closer in to downtown now, some side streets off Washington. Interesting old double there, next to the tall brick house… Corner store building…. Butchertown was not 100% German as there where also Irish and African Americans living here. The Irish had their own parish, St Columba, and the African Americans had a church and school..the Benjamin Banneker Elementary School (this was during the Jim Crow era). I think when this area was being torn down for industry after the 1937 flood, these little pockets where destroyed. Enough remains, though, to make this a somewhat viable residential area. Some of the newer infill housing going in…. The closer you get to downtown the less residential and the more industrial/commercial it gets… one of the last houses on Washington Street before you hit I –65 and the street ends. Industrial stuff for farmers & meat packers..this is a feed mill. Some of the industry here was related to meatpacking…leather work (like saddles and tack stuff), tanneries, etc. This is the new skate park..they call it the “extreme park”. This skate park has led to some spin off businesses locating in the area, like this energy drink /juice bar place …and this skate shop Taking a peak south, out of the neighborhood toward the churches on Market Street….this would have been the area labeled “Prestons Addition” on that map upthread, but I think its called “Phoenix Hill” today, or maybe not…neighborhood names can be sort of tricky here…but a good illustration of how quickly the character of the city can change in Louisville…. Looking from Washington south to Main. Another one of the last (perhaps one of the first, chronologically) houses n Butchertown, before hitting I-65 and downtown. And downtown skyscrapers from under I-65. The old RR freight house, now ball field, is visible. This stretch of town, Main and Market between I-65 west into downtown proper, is getting really hot with redevelopment and adaptive reuse. Again, looking south into the city. The building on the corner is Billy Goat Strut Alley (the real name of a street, behind it), and is an old factory turned into offices and stuff. An early (1980s?) adaptive reuse on East Main. Opposite direction, north toward The Point and the old course of Beargrass Creek. Big Four Bridge in the distance. The Ohio bridges at Louisville are real presences in the city as they and the river hit Louisville at an angle, so they are more visible from their sides as glimpses down side streets…always reminders that one is near a big river. Old antebellum double house…this was probably one of the local vernacular house types for the working class prior to the arrival of the shotgun house. This house is reminiscent of ones in Lexington and Dayton. The Edison House, now a museum. Thomas Edison worked here for the telegraph company but was fired for spending time on experiments. Tree shaded street…. …leading to a corner store And some nice old houses on Washington and Buchanan streets And this wonderful camelback with the elaborate front façade…a bit of Old Louisville-esque flavor… And a little corner store, where the grid shifts between “Buckeye” and the St Josephs parts of Butchertown Taking a look at the more commercial parts of the neighborhood on East Main and Story Avenues East Main buildings East Main ends at the Bourbon Stockyards. The headshed is pretty massive, with lots of nice terra-cotta detail. I remember it pretty grungy when it was still a stockyards, but also pretty busy…lots of pickups and guys in overalls…Now it’s the Stockyards Bank (which has been around for years, but just recently moved into this building) The gate to the yards themselves. Meat lockers? This green expanse was filled with cattle & hog pens and sheds and runs and mud, and also railroad sidings. It stank to high heaven. In the distance the line of trees marks Beargrass Creek (L&N transfer line also ran along the creek with a local station on a viaduct..Baxter Station..that’s another thread). Now this is an orphanage, The Home of the Innocents. Looking back down Main toward downtown, from the Stockyards Turning the corner to Story Avenue Story Avenue runs into Main at an angle, and was one of those places that had little things or big things for country people coming into the city to trade… One of the places frequented by country folk was the Doo Drop Inn. It was famous across the state as a good place for dancing, live music and having a good time when in town. As a sign of the changing times this apparently is now a homosexual or lesbian establishment. Another view of the former Stockyards from Story Avenue This great old building was, during my time in Louisville, a seed company/wholesaler, I think, but now it’s a furniture/decorators place + other things like graphic designers and such.…The Butchertown Market. ….for all the “creative class” things going down here, there is still meatpacking going. The tanks belong to the Swift plant tanks (formerly Amour) ..but the big local meatpacker, Fishers, (known for Fishers Mellwood Bacon and Ham) is out of business, and their big plant is now the Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center,…sort of a giant art colony. Unfortunately somewhat isolated out on Mellwood Avenue on the fringes of the neighborhood. They did have this fun event, though…. @@@@@@@@@@ The above was the part of Butchertown west of I-64. There is also a bit of the neighborhood east of I-64, with maybe some better vintage housing. This was the part of the neighborhood that the turnpikes first entered, so it developed maybe a bit earlier than some of what we’ve seen. Beargrass Creek, which forks quite a bit here. This looks nice & rustic but in the old days there was a wood boom floating on the surface every 50 feet to catch grease that floated on the surface, run off from the slaughterhouses. The women and older children would wade out into the creek with buckets to skim off the grease to use to make soap, candles, etc, as cottage industry for them. Overlooking the creek, the oldest house in Butchertown, a pioneer farmhouse from the 1780s.. Entering into Butchertown on Frankfort Avenue, across the creek …or via Brownsboro Road, which turns into Story Avenue. Story Avenue. This part of the neighborhood is just one street wide, running between a fork and the main stem of Beargrass Creek, with slaughterhouses in the backyards. This was also the part of the creek that was relocated....the creek bed eventually became a town and private dump, with scavengers living in shacks on the garbage piles, as well as the usual hogs and vermin I really like this old townhouse These rents seem a bit high to me, but perhaps cheaper than The Highlands or Clifton (the hip neighborhoods in Louisville) Art! Just some streetscape stuff to give you the feel of this neighborhood. I’ve driven through here any number of times but never really picked up on how pleasant this block was. Always something a bit quirky going on here…. This was, I think, originally a Lutheran congregation but is now UCC. Intersection of Frankfort & Story…looking north into The Point Floodwall and a century house. Shotguns on the river side of the floodwall Antebellum double from the 1840s or 50s, probably Intersection of Frankfort & Story. Note the smoker on the side..there is still a bit of the old school going on here Hadley Pottery. This factory dates to 1855 and was a candle company, saddle and girth factory, and cordage works. Now it’s a pottery (since 1945) Mrs. Hadley…the style here is sort of primitive, we’re not talking Rookwood. Hadley Pottery online And the freeway, I-64. West under this overpass is the St Joseph part of Butchertown. In order to make passage under this not as stark they did this whimsical mural, except I’ve seen old photos from the 30s and 40s that still showed pigs being driven down the streets of Butchertown to the meatpackers… Newspaper headline reads ‘Butchertown Renaissance Heading back east on Story Great old neighborhood commercial bldg. I am wondering if this was the old Min’s East End Café? It was a local landmark coming in to town from the East End… …and some great old houses. I think the Hadleys might have lived here…I knew they lived in one of these big houses on this block… Double shotgun, but note the blue bldg in the back..this was one of the small factories on premises…. And a very typical older shotgun for Louisville, with a very nice paint job on that trim, iron fence, etc… …simply exquisite! And the old antebellum double with its shotgun neighbor Butchertown remains in the news, particularly due to the reworking of the interstates downtown and the new bridge across the river…..with concerns that the neighborhood will again be negatively impacted by freeway construction: And then there is that growing arts scene in the area. This was never a really “arty” area, but so this is something new…. The Butchertown Artists have a web site …entertainment at one of their events… …and a farewell image of Butchertown, from one of the Butchertown artists:

I dont know why they didnt extend the park to the Water Tower over at Zorn Avneue, and relocate some of the river-terminal stuff thats still on River Road out to Riverport, or across to the Clark Maritime Center.

yeah, they still have burgers, but you can get mexican stuff too. This is a new thing, I think.

1898, the near east end of Louisville, showing Butchertown, The Point, and some other nearby neighborhoods. Note the Big Four Bridge crossing the Ohio.... Flood-prone Butchertown and The Point, during the 1937 flood. The open water at the bottom of the pix is the course of Beargrass Creek and the Stockyards. Also note the Big Four Bridge crossing the Ohio..The Point is totally under water (from Views of Louisville...) Washed away by the flood, The Point, along with Shippingport on the West End, is not rebuilt. Modern day flooding on The Point: (From this site on the 1997 Flood) Looking down into the Point from Butchertown Butchertown sits on a sort of ridge between branches of Beargrass Creek, one that is filled in now, more or less. Its also protected by a floodwall, though there are parts on the wrong side of the floodwall. Butchertown from the old creek bottoms. Butchertown from around St Josephs. Parish dates from the 1860s, this church was built in 1883. The Ohio connection is that the main and side altars where carved at the Josephinum orphanage in Columbus. The tallest steeples in Louisville, one is supposed to be higher than another, or that just may be an urban legend... 1840 house with later trim. This neighborhood has some of the oldest housing in Louisville. Also some early shotgun houses. Firehouse, later antique shop This camelback shotgun house is for sale for $138,000 Camelbacks and St Joes Floodwall down the middle of Quincy Street River side of the floodwall, streets fuzz out into low grade industrial scruff and just plain brush (I -71 and 64 aslo cut through behind the brush) City side of the floodwall. House is probably antebellum Cobblestone alley. Personal anecdote: I first heard of this neighborhood in the early 1970s when one of the preservationsist here either saved or uncovered an old stone or brick alley. I wonder if this was it. Anyway, the paper did a sunday feature about this, and on the preservation activities in Butchertown. That will be on a later thread...(I dont feel like posting that tonight) The high iron of the Big Four. 50 to 60 people where killed building it (or the first version, it was rebuilt in 1928-29) The last remaining houses, or parts of houses on The Point Patriotic German stonemason built the Heigold House in reaction to the Know-Nothing Riots of the 1850s....bust is of James Buchanen Paget House, built by a New Orleans family who used to spend the summer in Lousiville (this house is just above the first bottom on the riverbank)...apparently there was a small community of New Orleans merchants who used to summer at The Point during the antebellum era. More on Butchertown later (maps, pix, history, diagrams, some arty stuff).

For me, for "seperate entity-ness", there is Ohio, and then there is the lost state of New Connecticut. ;-)

Louisville has a pretty good track record when it comes to execution. Which is why its so disappointing to live in Dayton as everything is so half-assed here...of course if we were the largest city in the state we'd maybe get more state support for local redevelopement projects. I like this pix a lot as it shows how big a change has occured over time in Louisville, Believe it or not as late as the 1930s this area was mostly houses and industry....

Did I miss something? The Freedom Center is on the Cincinnati riverfront & this is a Louisville thread?

The Riverfront Park was published in LA journals as it was from this high-concept firm, Hargreaves Assocates (sort of the LA version of a "starchitect"), but for me it is a bit too clunky...I like what Cincy did at Sawyer Point better...prefer the more trad forms of landscaping that this deconstructivist version. (and I wasnt aware there was that much surface parkiing next to the ballpark).

Yeah, the neat thing about that building and 5th street is that 5th runs at an angle through the Oregon District, and back before they planted trees down it you had a straight shot vista down 5th right to that buildings corner w the tower. From some old pix I've seen 5th looked a lot more dense and "big city" without the trees and with that building blocking the view at the end. The upper floor of the building was a meeting and rental hall, home to the Societa di Mutuo Soccorso Italiana, an Italian mutual aid society. ...apparently the area in the aeriel photos of Third Street @ Wayne..that row of shops along Third... was Dayton's "Little Italy": The John Pirelli Lodge was originally organized as Societa di Mutuo Soccorso Italiana, Dayton, Ohio and had a meeting place on Wayne Avenue in the East End of Dayton where the early Italian immigrants settled, along First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Streets. They shared St. Joseph Catholic Church with Irish immigrants and Holy Trinity Church with German immigrants. Third Street became the hub of activity. There were Italian restaurants and grocery stores in the area, and an Italian gelataria (Malted Milk Shop) that everyone patronized.

^ Wympees now has a Mexican menue.

I am glad to see them doing something with these small farm towns that become suburbs, rather than replace them with modern auto-strip stuff. I've seen that too often down in Lousiville, where what used to be coutnry crossroads villages get hit by suburbia and totally bastardized and literally detroyed by auto-oriented suburban commercial junk...to the point that they are no longer recognizable as places. One of the great strenths of SW Ohio is the large number of country villages that are still pretty intact. They should be conserved and new development made to fit, rather than "sprawlized" into auto-oriented commerical junk.

^ Given the complexities of this job I can see them using Gehrys CMs. I see the structurals have worked with OMA before: Magnusson Klemencic Associates, which formerly collaborated with the OMA team on the striking Seattle Central Library project, will serve as structural and civil engineers. The company is located in Seattle. Hope they have high rise experience. If they are from Seattle they are familiar with seismic stuff, too.

^ More like the Dennys menu. Slidertown. Because people who lived there where on the slide down? Thats one explanaton I've read..that it was where the down-and-outers lived, or that was the preception. There might be other more obsecure and now lost origins for the name, too.

Itchy trigger finger, eh?

Wasn't it you who was making the negative comments about rural Kentucky in that thread on Owenton? Or was that someone else?

The question is how they will get people from the parking garage to the museum piece. If the concept is to conduct pedestrian traffic on to Main Street it could activate Main Street more. From what Ive seen it seems the parking in the plinth directly under the towers is going to be for tenants or hotel guests, so this project could be pretty good for generating foot traffic on Main...one parks in the garage to the west, or elsehwere downtown, and walks down city streets. The plaza concept is not that well developed, though it could be one of the better parts of the design. People wont be using the plaza to get to the Museum part as the angled escalator will take them up there..but it works more as a connector to the Ali Center and the Riverfront Plaza (if they build the bridge across across 6th Street).

A bit suprising to me, too...though the Kentucky Derby brings in a lot of visitors, thats just one day, or one week, if one counts the festivities around it..t.but apparently there is a convention buisiness that brings people in, and the state fair (though fairgoers are not going to be staying here). The hotel part will be the easiest to market, Ill bet. My question is who the corporate tenant is going to be, if any? The thing that I like about this is that Louisville is getting another art museum..particularly one geared to exhibiting contemporary/modernism. This means three good modern art kunsthalle the region...Wexner, CAC, and now this one. Yet therin is a bit of program issue...the art museum is going to be a in a big glass box...so does come for the art and stay for the view, or vice versa. It seems this sweeping panorama laid out before one would be a bit, shall we say, distracting from what's being exhibited?

The fog shots.....definetly. My favorite is the first one, with the hotel and the lamps on Public Square. That could almost be a poster or postcard.

The more I see of this neighborhood the more I like it. I mentioned before how it seemed sort of "Chicagoesque" to me. One or two of these shots could be right out of Chicago. Two more things I see similar...the use of that burnt, blackened, unpainted common brick on the sidewalls and face brick on the street fronts is like in Chicago, inlcuding the type of common brick being used. The elevated railroads through the neighborhood, with the plate girder bridges, also like Chicago. Just a neat place, though, with the old factorys, churches, and storefronts. The asian thing is nice, but I also like the look and feel of the neighborhood as a represntation of urban vernacular architecture.

That is really unfortunate if this is the opinions of Cincinnatians on the Carew Tower as the building is so iconic and such an excellent urban set-piece. Also getting to the observation deck is half the fun, plus it really is a great obersvation deck as it is outdoors, which is now very rare for skyscrapers (at leas the ones that are open). Yeah, good comments. I know the arrangement of the lower towers was predicated in part to permit a big mosaic mural of Muhammed Ali on the Ali Center to be seen by cars on eastbound I-64, and there may be other considerations on the massing. The blockiness is based on program..they where playing with blocks of repetitious program, which probably imposed some uniformity for the differnt blocks. The more specific and public program elements; the museum, restaurant, health club, etc, are in the big 234rd floor horizontal piece with the cross bracing. So form is somewhat following, or expressing, function here. There were a large number of preliminary designs generated, different partis, some more organic, one that looked like the Death Star (no kidding)...so there was a process of elimination going on as they settled on the form. I think cost considerations also played a role in that the surface is pretty generic curtain wall..they are not doing something agressive or high-concept with cladding. The balance issue is actually pretty serious as there are some seismic considerations that have to be addressed in the structural engineering....but yeah, they are trying to make it look "different", but also maybe a bit more dramatic and barouque, too...if the massing was more symettric or lined-up I wonder if it would look less dynamic and more lumpy and overwhelming than it does now...the irregular composition sort of activates the space around the towers coming up from the plaza area, making for a more visually interesting and active composition. Hmm..the more I think about this building the more interesting it gets.

Take a look at the pix of Santa Monica beach, and those old busses on it...those are really vintage vehicles. You'll see that more in California...old vehicles that would have rusted out by now here in the Midwest due to the weather and road salt, but still on the road in California.

Yeah, there is a big VA hospital there. And you live in a dingbat...the courtyard version. Seriously...google "Los Angeles Dingbat"... The Big Blue Bus...yeah I remember those. I wonder if thats where Morrison got inspired for those lines from "The End"... The blue bus is callin us The blue bus is callin us Driver, where you taken us... ...Cmon baby, take a chance with us Cmon baby, take a chance with us Cmon baby, take a chance with us And meet me at the back of the blue bus Doin a blue rock On a blue bus Doin a blue rock Cmon, yeah well...they reminded me of that lyric anyway. ....nice part of the LA area there, Santa Monica and Venice.... and nice set of pix overall (esp Albuquerque...OKC was not my cup...). It looks like y'all followed part of my route to Ohio, in reverse! I will be taking that road again in a few years...though I will be relocating to Northern California, not LA (nothing against LA, just more familiar with NorCa. although I am thinking about LA too....I like LA alot). If you want to see some nice scenary go past Malibu to Zuma Beach and Point Dume. Drive to on the Pacific Coast Hwy, and back via Mulholland Drive up in the Santa Monicas. Scenery is spectacular.

yeah, one of the first modern skyscrapers in the US. It was built in the late 40s, which means its contemporary with Gordon Bunshafts Lever House in NYC, the Lake Shore Drive apts by Mies, and Pietro Belluscis' Equitable Buiding in Portland. In fact, given the age, this could by the first modern skyscraper in Ohio. (BTW, that blocy base used to house a department store, don't recall the name).

well...it has that other totally awfull building from 1984 (or not). Too late, Berlin did it with the Einsteinturm, back in the 1920s or early 30s. ....it is a skyscraper, which by definition are out of human scale. Pretty cool if one rides a glass enclosed escalator or elevator to the 20th floor art musuem with panoramic views over the city and river. Quite different. More Miesian than Khanian, I think...though I can see the Charles Scheeler thing going on there... That is correct, architecture is a form of art, but not environmental scultpure. Which is what makes architecture interesting as there is always that tension between the constraints of program (the "use" part of architecture) and form, or program generating form, but also context as a constraint...which is pretty much whats happening with this building, as it is very program-driven, but on the ground floor, with the entry and in the arrangement of the towers, it is driven by context to some extent. As for the Main Street/facade aspect that is one of the interesting parts of the design, which I am interested to see how it is developed. Here are some pix of another set of buildings on Main Street, a block away, which where used as a test design in 1983 as part of a series of adapative resuse proposals generated by the local preservation group at that time. This example illustrates that these builidings dont really read as three-dimensional buildings from the street, but as a set of facades, with the "architecture" coming from variations in detail, height, fenestration, etc. It is more a street of fronts rather than a street of buildings. The interiors really have minimal articulation, perhaps via skylights and lightwells (which, in the case of the pix, wouldnt meet fire code). Also, old freight elevators would be a technological feature of historic note The proposal was to pretty much really rework the interiors, so what is behind the facade is not that relevant to the facade..the long thin lots between the bearing walls are really what are generating the form of these designs...in fact the buildings are pulled back from the facade, creating a sort of courtyard. There are a few real-life examples of this on Main already. The Musuem Plaza and Ali Center sites in relation to Main Street, on a 1983 map of Main Street. The proposal here is not to tear down the entire block but use the interiors of these buildings as an entrance to the MP and Ali Center. This is a lot different than the Rennaissance center, which really doesnt have any mediation between itself and the surrounding city. In this case entrance to MP is via a traditional urban street scape and the facades become a sort of proplyaeum. Agreed. This is a real good observation, and the ironic joke here is that the clients wanted a "name brand" building, 'Koolhaas/OMA', but got something by Price-Ramus instead...not "The OMA New York Office", as Ramus split with Koolhaas and OMA shortly after this building was unveiled. So! Does this devalue the building as it is not by a starchitect? It is not "name brand" anymore... Interesting question about this whole culture of "name brand" (which goes beyond design) and 'trophy buildings'...just becuase a city has "a Ghery", or "a Caltrava", or "a Eisenman", or "a Koolhaas", does that make these buildings that good? Are they all equally of high quality? To be honest this deconstructivist school leaves me a cold. There are some individual buildings I like from this school, but they are ones that have constraints imposed by the site, or are really clever ways of addressing issues with program. I'm not sure I really like MP yet, but I am more appreciative of it, since I tend to like the Koolhaas/Hadid approach more than the Eisenman/Ghery approach to decon. (though two of Eisenmans Ohio buildings are his best & I really like those..Wexner Center and the Columbus Convention Center...I really get a kick out of the Convention Center)

There was a pretty good example of saving the facade and gutting out and pretty much reconstrcuting the building behind it, further west on Main Street..the Lousiville Science Center (its a kids musuem). I think that won an honor award from the AIA. The buildings on Main Street really don't have much spatial value once one gets behind the facade, as they are just large, deep open floor plan spaces. Yes, thanks, but I don't see why you bother posting here as its just flamebait for this online community...the people on this board neither like this building, nor really care if it goes up or not.