Just a quick two-ish days in Columbus - hope you enjoy:

 

After the mind-numbing drive down I-71, downtown Columbus comes into view:

 

 

 

A quick stop in German Village:

 

 

 

 

Got a million to spare? THIS could be yours! :-)

http://www2.herrealtors.com/vutech.ruff/MyListingsDetails.asp?mls=2729738&prop=7006336

 

A fanf#cking fabulous dessert bar, Pistacia Vera http://www.pistachiosweets.com/contact.html

 

New and old mix near Rich Street:

 

Views from a rooftop deck:

 

 

 

Tower cranes for the Nationwide Children's Hospital expansion:

 

Off we go to the Columbus Museum of Art - there's the Vern Riffe Center:

 

Old and ornate, newer and brutal:

 

Entrance to the Columbus Museum of Art:

 

Gorgeous ceiling in the museum lobby:

 

Dale Chihuly sculpture in the atrium:

 

Old and ornate, newer and brutal redux:

 

Over to the topiary of the Deaf School Park (the topiaries depict Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte"):

 

The Deaf School:

 

If I lived in Columbus, I've found my new compound ;-)

 

But, back to Cleveland we go with all the amazing scenery  :-P

 

 

Pardon the smudge on the windshield, lots of kamikaze bugs on the way back:

 

Hope you enjoyed!

 

 

 

Excellent photos Mayday!  As a Clevelander, I'm the first to admit that I didn't expect to like much in C-Bus... but i came away impressed with the city and it's neighborhoods.  In fact, I LOVE German Village!  I visited that same bookstore... great stuff in there. 

 

We've got some great cities in Ohio, and Columbus is no doubt one of them.  Thanks Mayday!

Whenever I look at photos of Columbus, it seems like they've done a much better job at preserving some of their more historical buildings, especially housing. Would you say that's true? Or is that because people only show beauty in these photo threads? :)

Very nice; Columbus is looking good here!

ahh very nice tour. rich st looks a lot different than when i lived there. not to mention, that prominent million dollar house was long a wreck and could be had for a song.

 

i wish you would have went to the main library instead of the museum, i would have liked to see your pics and hear your take on it vs cleveland's. maybe next time!

 

hey i didn't spot any uo billboards, what gives columbus?!  :whip:  :laugh:

Looks like a pretty nice town. It should get more publicity.

 

 

 

 

 

:wink:

:clap:

Great shots!... Used to live there. Much family there. <-----<< Ha!  Reads like broken Eng-rish! On the way back...on some of the side roads off the side roads... There is amazing scenery.

Awesome pics, while the downtown is severely lacking compared to the other 'Cs', the neighborhoods more then make up for it.

Well done.

eehhh

Mayday, first of all, I love the shot of the Vern Riffe. Dude, I've seen enough of your bad ass photos of C-town to know that you my friend do possess mad talent. If only I could use some of your talent to show off some of my favorite angles of downtown C-bus, peeps here would be flippin' their wigs on how awesome downtown Columbus really is. Mayday, you rock and you have my respect.

 

On a side note, can you give us some shots of Cleveland from an angle that we never see? I'd like to see what you can do from the airport side of the lake. I never see that side of downtown.

Outstanding photos MayDay!  German Village never fails to impress.  Beautiful interior shots at the art museum.  Thanks also for the photos of the green stone church that is across the street from the museum as well.  That reminded me of a story related to that church. 

 

That church is the Broad Street United Methodist Church.  The green stone on the exterior is not the original stone on the building.  It originally had a green serpentine stone facing.  Anyone in the preservation field is familar with serpentine stone as a beautiful greenish building material used in the late 1800's.  Its only problem was that it weathers very poorly.  After 10-20 years the stone starts to deteriorate and flake off into pieces.  NPS tech note on serpentine stone is here.

 

About four years ago, the Broad Street Church's stone was badly flaking off.  You could actually pull off large chunks by hand.  After many years of trying to repair and patch the stone, the church decided to replace all the serpentine stone with new pre-cast stone.  And you can see the results.  The church did a great job keeping the green stone look of the old stone with the new material.  While also keeping and cleaning all of the limestone trim on the church.

 

Cool info - a little more google work and I found this:

 

Broad St. facade before/after:

 

More photos:

http://www.rogerskrajnak.com/worship-13.htm

 

I know pretty much when you too this photo (Saturday, 3-4PM), because I was standing on my front porch, cursing the mist, wanting it to stop so me and Mrs. Kingfish could go on a bike date. (It cleared up completely by 4:30PM and the rest of the day into evening was sunny and clear, and we covered 17 miles of city with stops for beer, Ethiopian food, beer, cheese cake and beer).

 

Survey says:

 

That was around 7:30am when a monsoon rolled in.

I'll be happy with the parting gifts, except for the home version: it's crap!

Nice to see the Town-Franklin hood get noticed by non-Columbusites. German Village is always photogenic, but while Downtown is good, I will reserve the term "awesome" for when they reverse those one-ways, slow those roads down, and see some more interesting spots open up. Next time you're down here you'll have to do Old North Columbus. Definitely more lively than bucolic German Village.

I know pretty much when you too this photo (Saturday, 3-4PM), because I was standing on my front porch, cursing the mist, wanting it to stop so me and Mrs. Kingfish could go on a bike date. (It cleared up completely by 4:30PM and the rest of the day into evening was sunny and clear, and we covered 17 miles of city with stops for beer, Ethiopian food, beer, cheese cake and beer).

 

 

yet somehow i wasn't worried about your kids...!  :wink2:

 

 

 

We did have a babysitter, though according to the kids they played by themselves while  she talked on the phone the whole time. Only marginally better than leaving them home alone. Lesson learned.

hehe, kidding. i know you did  :wink: -- congrats on getting a rare night out!

Great photos! I hope the art museum wasn't too incredibly disappointing. The museum will undergo a pretty dramatic renovation starting in August, followed by the demolition and replacement of the grotesque 1970s-era addition on the north side of the building. Hopefully when all is said and done the museum will actually have adequate exhibit space for the collection.

Whenever I look at photos of Columbus, it seems like they've done a much better job at preserving some of their more historical buildings, especially housing. Would you say that's true? Or is that because people only show beauty in these photo threads? :)

 

One of the greatest, if unheralded, assets of Columbus is that so much of the historic housing stock in old neighborhoods near downtown remains, with limited gaps but almost no wholesale destruction. Everyone knows German Village; Vic and Italian Villages also are  acclaimed; East Side neighborhoods less so. But all those areas have amazing housing stock. The Bottoms on the West Side is less grand, less intact, but has its gems.

 

On the other hand, historic commercial building stock is almost decimated. Suburban-style zoning codes adopted 50-60 years ago mandated ridiculous amounts of parking and led to wide demolition especially downtown, but also up and down much of High Street and other commercial corridors.