While putting together my recent post (How The 21st Century Is Replacing the 20th), I found a number of other photos that I was thinking of including, but they didn’t seem to fit. So I decided to create this second post, which shows many interesting old scenes that I have collected over the years. And thanks to that wondrous bit of technology known as Google Street Views, we can now see how things have (and haven’t) changed over the decades.
When I was growing up, highway scenes like the one above were quite common, and widely regarded as ugly, tasteless, tacky–a blight on the landscape. Muckraker books like God’s Own Junkyard were written telling us how bad all this was. Well, there’s an eternal saying, “This too shall pass”, and passed it has, much of it. Almost to the point where someone might miss seeing this 1950s-60s “grubble” (as New York mayor Ed Koch used to refer to this kind of haphazard roadside development, with its accompanying vivid neon signage). It definitely had a character all its own, which may be appreciated now more than it was then.
Finding these “after” views is not as easy as you think. It’s amazing how much things have changed over the decades. Many photos of this type have no specific location or address listed, so you have to look for little clues and use your own knowledge and memories to guide you. I’m focusing on the New Jersey/New York area because I grew up here and it’s easier for me to orient myself to locations I’m somewhat familiar with. But I’ve also included some notable pictures from other areas of the country. You can join the fun by finding an old photo online or in a book and then looking up the street view on Google.
More “roadside squalor” as the caption describes it, this time on Route 46 in Saddle Brook NJ.
After “a clamor for legislation to save the landscape”, do things look any better after 60 years? The signage is more boring and plain, but that’s about it.
Route 22 in Union NJ was considered the ultimate “slob road”–a never-ending forest of signs, lights, traffic, and visual clutter.
Jean Shepherd claimed that driving down Route 22 was “a surreal experience”, and it kind of was–especially if you’re a little kid like me sitting in the back seat of a ’62 Mercury Comet. I remember going by this very spot at night, taking in the endless panorama of animated, colorful neon signs. Some flashed, others sparkled–gas stations, discount stores, fast food places, and everything else. It seemed to go on and on and on, into the night.
And talk about surreal–right across from Maxon, Dean, Force Tools, was THE FLAGSHIP! Yes, a building that looked just like an ocean liner!
The S.S. Flagship is still there, but it has lost a lot of its “ship-like” qualities, and looks more like a normal building.
Farther down was TWO GUYS . . .
. . . and then VALLEY FAIR:
Couldn’t do an “after” on these two. Things have changed so much I can’t be sure of the exact locations.
However, the last vintage VALLEY FAIR sign was still in place on Chancellor Avenue in Irvington NJ until 2016 . . .
The framework of the old sign remains, but it has been covered over with new lettering.
NEW YORK CITY:
So many photos I could include here, but here are a few favorites:
Looking as if it was built in heaven, Berenice Abbott beautifully photographs the cast iron facade of the Wanamaker Store in Manhattan.
The original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. This is what was torn down to build the Empire State Building. The Hotel, built to last the ages, stood for less than 30 years.
OUTER BOROUGHS–BRONX:
BROOKLYN:
PHILADELPHIA:
WASHINGTON, D.C.:
CHICAGO:
I’m having a little trouble with this one. It’s State Street in Chicago; the marquee looks to be the same, but in the older photo there’s no theatre building behind it. Is this the same view?
CHICAGO SUBURBS, NEAR ELGIN, IL:
On page 87 of the July 1960 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, there was this article on the new 1960 Plymouths. I thought I’d do an internet search to see if I could find the location of the Kenyon Brothers cattle barn.
Boy, was I surprised to see the Kenyon Brothers barn and cattle operations fully intact and virtually unchanged! Things don’t look quite as clean and sharp as they did in 1960, but still!
In the same article was this photo, with the Plymouth shown in front of a majestic Victorian mansion. I assume this was taken in the same area of Illinois as the Kenyon Brothers picture, but I haven’t been able to find this location. Does anyone have any clues?
What can we say about all these changes over time? I think it’s safe to say that if we were to travel 100 years into the future, we would see a lot of strange shapes and very little that we would recognize as familiar. Of course, a few places might be “frozen in time” and might look very much the way they do now, but these would likely be sparsely scattered exceptions.
Assuming that civilization does not destroy itself or lapse into a long period of stagnation and decay, future aesthetics created with the use of advanced technology could be quite remarkable and astounding to people of our time, just as skyscrapers and automobiles would definitely shock someone living in the Middle Ages. Time will never stop moving forward. The Earth will still be here, humans will still be here, and new generations will continue to make advancements and create new things as inspiration comes to them. Cultural improvement will result in aesthetic improvement.
Greetings from the year 3000:
Excellent article, Stephen. I find these kinds of before and after scenes fascinating.
Although I’m fairly sure that in the year 3000, flying cars will still be “just around the corner”. 🙂
I love these then-and-now comparisons, and the challenge of finding the present locations of old pictures.
The “majestic Victorian mansion” behind the 1960 Plymouth is Dunham Castle, located in Wayne, Illinois, 35 mi. west of Chicago and just about 5 mi. south of the Kenyon Brothers barn. The house was built by a man named Mark Dunham, who was a world-renowned breeder of Percheron draft horses. He and his father made their fortune breeding horses (the house looks like it would have belonged to a railroad magnate or something, but it was really horses that made all that money). The Dunhams imported Percherons from Europe during the late 1800s, when draft horses were the driving force behind Midwest agriculture – he imported well over a thousand horses during the 1870s and ’80s.
The area is still known as a “horse country,” and much of the Dunhams’ former property is now owned by a riding club. Amazingly, the house itself still stands – it was purchased several years ago and is being restored for use as a private residence. Below is a picture of Dunham Castle from its heyday:
Great pics, love the nostalgia… Must be your family’s comet parked by the Two guys sign…😉
Very close–ours was a ’62 and that one’s either a ’61 or a ’60.
Eric703: Thanks for solving another mystery!
I drive past this often, that whole area of army trail road is lovely
PAVE 🎵 Paradise 🎶to put up 🎵a parking 🎶LOT 🎵 . 😔. And we don’t even have 🎵BIG 🎶YELLOW 🎵taxis 🎶 anymore. This strikes so close to home. Grew up in a small town with many beautiful historic homes and public buildings which has now become a larger city. Actually the city is named for a South American city (name translates to Vale of Paradise). In the 60s city motto was A PROUD HERITAGE, A PROMINENT FUTURE. The heritage has long been forgotten since a two term mayor and rubber stamp City Council came to power, running on the platform NEW IDEAS, MORE ENERGY. So many beautiful historic buildings are now gone. Everything is UPSCALE. If you can’t afford to live here, go somewhere else. The RIGHT people with RIGHT names and RIGHT connections have destroyed the city in the name of $$Progress$$. Current one term mayor has taken a $$job elsewhere. Former mayor will likely be elected again 🙄 😒! City and local university own so much land (taken off tax rolls) for parks and similar purposes. Placing more burden on average tax payer. Thanks to our REDESTRUCTION commission we have lost so much beauty and history. Too many things to further ģo on! The wheels on city busses have taken over taxis and are greased $$ by the RIGHT forces. On another note Chicago, other çities,and my beloved San Francisco have changed so much. A friend told me not to return to San Francisco because I would not like what I found! 🎵I’ll be 🎶home 🎵for Christmas 🎶if only in🎵my dreams 🎶.
These shots are really fascinating to look at. As is said, nothing is as constant as change.
In my own area, I have done some research into housing and migration patterns of the city’s upper crust. The problem with those beautiful old mansions is that the people who built them grew bored with them or watched their neighbors (the Joneses?) grow bored with theirs and move to the hot new neighborhood. The only people who could afford to buy and maintain houses like that didn’t want a 20-40 year-old cast off so they either became white elephants that nobody wanted or were cut into apartments. That pattern more or less continued uninterrupted into the 1950s and 60s.
As for highway/roadway scenery, things have changed a lot. I guess ugly is a word that changes through the decades too.
As for Camden, NJ – I will admit that it’s been awhile since I have been there (maybe 1986 or so), but is there anything other than blight and parkland (made from former blight) there?
There is Adventure Aquarium located in the downtown area. We went there a few years ago (pre-pandemic). The challenge for Camden is that it’s not wise to venture too far from the aquarium, even during daylight hours.
The Great Depression also hurt inner cities badly, with old homes cut up into rooming houses, then by the 50’s/60’s were run down and blighted. Garfield Park in Chicago went through this.
And lately, office buildings as new as the 70s/80s getting torn down for warehouses, for online commerce. In Elmhurst IL, former HQ building for Keebler snacks, built in 1986, knocked down. Kellogg’s bought out Keebler and gradually moved them to their HQ.
I just spent the weekend in that area, much of it in Oak Park. It is endlessly fascinating to me how some areas seem to fall to blight much easier than others.
The blighted areas often leave behind them some beautiful old architecture that newer residents cannot afford. I am specifically thinking of the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago where St. Adalbert church has been decommissioned for lack of the Diocese’ willingness to support it despite a core of parishioners who fought hard to keep it as an active parish.
I see the same cycle in wealthy areas today. The houses dating from the 60s-70s architectural style are either remodeled beyond recognition or demolished completely. People with money won’t live with houses that are “out of style” the way people of lesser means would. They’re addicted to renovation.
Speaking of vintage photography, here’s a photo of the Montreal Forum who was the former home of the Montreal Canadiens, may 1971.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/archivesmontreal/16271670669/in/album-72157650662201622/
Same location on Google Streetview taken on August 2022. The Forum had became a big movie theater complex. https://goo.gl/maps/bw77YqKdzTcXQejXA
Should be laws prohibiting the destruction of beautiful old buildings
There are, and there have been long enough that if anything we’ve overcorrected and NIMBY weaponization of “historic” designations is a driver of runaway housing costs. Not the only one – professionalization of short-term rentals and private equity buying housing units at retail as investments all are factors – but one that prevents supply from growing with demand.
If there’s more of that then there’ll also be more asking you to pitch in to help maintain it and preserve it, i.e. taxes. Can’t have one without the other. No thanks. If you really want it, then buy it and pay to maintain it yourself. Charge admission for others to see it, but good luck with that…
Um, not always true. Among the most famous historic places are the 7 Sisters of San Francisco, privately owned and maintained. We can have both, aesthetically pleasing spaces AND private ownership.
There are literally thousands of ways, governments blow taxpayer money. Whether it is incompetence, mismanagement, wrong priorities, corruption, etc.
Turning historically important sites into money-making tourism destinations, and sources of jobs and pride for locals, should be pursued where a business case can be made. They can be excellence investments of public money.
I’m just glad these old photographs still exist as a historical reference to show us what life was like way back then. Thanks for sharing!
This kind of sleuthing is great fun, and you’ve served up an enjoyable sampling and writeup today, Stephen.
When automobiles are present, they sure help narrow down a photo’s date; movie marquees are useful, too. Internet tells me that “Bye Bye Birdie” opened at the Chicago Theater the last week of June 1963.
Those with the science knowledge get into angles of sun/shadow–but that’s all beyond me…thanks again for a nice read this morning!
Buildings become obsolete, either from poor original construction practices, poor and/or nonexistent maintenance, or simply through changes in time that no longer allow them to operate efficiently or be functional. Victorians for example are a nightmare to maintain, and that’s in a place with a hospitable climate, never mind some of the midwest. It’s the same as with cars, a random 1960 Chrysler or Ford or Mercedes will probably (hopefully) still get me to where I’m going and can be maintained well enough, yet for most voyages I’d likely choose a far newer, more modern and efficient vehicle, and often will find that newer one visually satisfying as well, perhaps even more so.
Roadside clutter through signage is a common sight and while looking at old pictures there can be a sense of nostalgia for certain signs or shapes or styles or brands, to most (the vast majority) it’s unattractive and more importantly, without a point beyond crass advertising. Get rid of it. As much as I can criticize my own town’s current government and its regulations, I am fully behind the ordinance that limits the height of signage within city limits. We simply don’t have those tall signs on stilts and it’s all for the better. A low marquee at the property edge does enough to advertise the business, you simply don’t need to see McD’s from two blocks away over the Honda dealer’s advertising and a Safeway sign. It’s a subtle difference but very apparent as soon as one drives into the next town to the south without such an ordinance.
But as with most things, there are also those that can appreciate new designs. The last picture illustrates this for me – I have nothing particularly against the 1915 building (or most of the other “brougham” buildings with fairly useless frippery and ornamentation shown in this series – well, maybe the wanna-be castles (in the US, really?), however I also like the modern style of the new one there. Neither is class-leading, yet neither offends, at least not me.
If all these old useless buildings were still around (such as the Palmer Mansion on Lakeshore) that would mean the current apartment or condo building wouldn’t be. The result would be either higher rents for every other apartment in the area or more sprawl outward at the city’s periphery and everyone railing against how the common man can’t afford live anywhere they want anymore while perhaps the mansion still sits there and is perhaps deteriorating and/or an abandoned eyesore. Or owned by Mr. Richie Rich and his family, and you’d better stay off the lawn. Pick your poison. The same goes for the likely crappy houses apparently demolished for a park. I don’t know if that’s the full story, cities don’t usually just buy up random houses by eminent domain to build a non-tax-producing park that they then have to maintain, but the houses were likely blighted eyesores already and perhaps mostly abandoned, I don’t know, more than likely the park is a welcomed improvement.
“Down with regulation!” (Except those I agree with.) Classic.
When you build at human level and speed, you don’t need lots of signs flagging you down. So when we started putting people in cars, the businesses had to alter their signage. At walking speed, a window script will suffice, but when tooling down the same road at 35 miles per hour – you need larger signage. After WWII, those older thoroghfares were too slow and dangerous for the increasing flow of traffic. This meant that as thoroughfares were upgraded with state and federal funds, that dated clutter needed to go. Since the Feds were financing those new replacements, their signage laws were heeded.
So we have much safer roads with less visual confusion. Yes, it is boring, but it is safer. Today’s downtowns no longer need to have neon signs hanging off their facades. Traffic is now rerouted and the human level has returned.
As to older buildings – common sense is the rule. You cannot have encrusted facades, towers, turrets and expect winter to be kind to them. The Victorian age was made possible thanks to mass production of ornamental decorations. You could have the look of having your own mason or sawyer customize your home or business, thanks to the mass production shipped in by railroad. Yet keeping that look was costly as well, and most of these painted ladies lost their luster every 20 years. After a century, they were no longer worth the cost.
Commerce changes things. When it arrives, it brings into communities rapid changes on the landscape. When it leaves, as it did in Camden New Jersey and hundreds of other communities – that landscape decays until it is swept away into parks and vacant lots. Citizens living in suburbs, or ex-urbs, drive past these urban parks and don’t see the losses upon the community that caused it. To them, it looks fine, as though the Founders wanted that empty space.
Vintage photography may make us nostalgic, and teach us about history, but photography should also stimulate us into researching how and why communities changed. Not merely “good” or “bad”, but the how and the why.
From this:
That remind me of a thread I saw on Skyscraperpage forum showing “before and after” on Streetview. Imagine what if Streetview arrived much more earlier, what might have been…
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249429&page=6
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249429
Great point about the size of signs relative to traffic speed.
And if your neighbour’s sign blocks approaching traffic from seeing your sign, I guess you put up a bigger sign and…..
Much as I hate the “forest of signs” nonsense, that resulted, I can see how this happened. There have been times when I’ve been annoyed by signs with writing too small to be visible at speed.
To this:
The path between preservation and redevelopment is a torturous one, with so many pitfalls on either side. Much that could have been preserved and reused effectively was often razed at a time when there was less appreciation of the possibilities, especially during the urban renewal boom of the ’50s – ’80s. This was a reflexive reaction to the massive flight to the suburbs, but in many/most cases, it was also futile, and the loss of some attractive urban core fabric was unfortunate.
On the other hand, it was precisely the mad rush to the suburbs and exurbs that created both the unsightly development as shown in the top picture, as well as creating urban blight and subsequent urban renewal.
The upshot: Americans were very quick to abandon cities for the suburbs, and the results and impacts were huge. The dynamic between cities and suburbs continues to this day. prior to the pandemic, urban cores had been thriving due to an increasing influx of younger professionals. But the pandemic changed that, and now cities are struggling again, with the loss of services and retail due to the low occupancy of commercial buildings. Another cycle of the ever changing dynamic.
These issues have not affected European cities to the same degree, and reflect Americans’ eagerness and willingness to keep moving and growing, for better or for worse.
There’s a very real limitation to articles like this: in each case, we don’t really know what the dynamics were that caused the resulting change. It’s easy to say that this change or that was bad or good, but without knowing much more about the circumstances, it’s impossible. One thing is certain: rich folks used to build mansions right in the cities, where everyone once lived. They moved out, along with so many others, and old mansions are just old piles, in many cases; in the way of better uses of the land.
With respect for your post, please see my post. Here it is all about the money $$$.Everything is UPSCALE with the express intention of creating a city of the rich, by the rich and for the rich, causing taxes to rise. TIF provides great benefits for the RIGHT people.
That’s of course your own personal viewpoint but whatever you consider “upscale”, there’s a whole ‘nother group of people that thinks it’s lowbrow and crappy and not to their even loftier standards, whatever they may be. The beauty of living in a democracy is you have the power to change things, of course sometimes you may find yourself the odd one out of the majority’s wishes.
The upshot: Americans were very quick to abandon cities for the suburbs, and the results and impacts were huge.
I skeptically read a polisci report thesis that stated that Americans have never liked cities – and then backed that up with some fascinating evidence.
I loved living in a 650 year old “new” city in Germany. Left untouched by most of the wars from the past 650 years, by paying off invader’s ransoms in Oldenburg horses, Oldenburg’s Pre-Columbian buildings remain. As a PoliSci grad student, I experienced the best of city planning. and came away impressed thoroughly.
Yet, America is not Montana-sized with 80,000,000 population. Commuting from Oldenburg from the NW, to Berlin in the East on the Autobahn is mere hours. There is a palpable appreciation to spatial limits. In Netherlands, it is even stronger + a realization that the North Sea owns most of the country if it had its way. We don’t find that same appreciation outside some of our densely populated cities that are hindered by physical barriers.
I have to admit that Americans prefer a garden to a city. Even before the automobile, Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and many other US cities already had suburbs connecting them with downtown via trains, trollies, and horse-drawn mass transit. As soon as we could, it seems that Americans left cities with their coal pollution, lack of sewage, crime and lack of nature for a yard and a bit of dirt to call their own.
That 1950s suburb boom is as much about finding homes for returning soldiers and their families, as it is about abandonment of cities. My stomping grounds is filled with planned Post-WWII suburbs designed to meet Veteran’s housing needs. Some cities, like St.Louis, has been struggling to keep residents for over a century, the proposal for the Jefferson Memorial, (a.k.a. – the Arch), began during the 1930s in order to help keep the population outflow from getting worse.
So suburban flight is actually over a century old and it seems to clearly indicate a cultural belief here in the US that cities aren’t better than than the yard with the garden, even before the invention of the automobile.
I absolutely loved this post and others like it. Lady Bird Johnson must be smiling down from heaven.
On the one hand, I love old signage and “regular”, every day views of the American roadside and urban areas. OTOH, the “now” pictures are also cleanly appealing and don’t give me a headache while searching among all the signage to find what I might be looking for.
In the case of the corner where Goldberg’s once stood, I liked the care the new architects took im designing something with an aesthetic that fit in with what it had replaced. If I hadn’t read it was a different building, I might not have paid attention to that detail.
It can sometimes be hard to fathom how such grand old buildings can fall into decay. There are any number of reasons why it happens but there are two movies that I know of that illustrate it perfectly, both of them about the same property. “Grey Gardens” is a documentary made back in the mid 70’s about a run down filthy mansion in East Hampton, On Long Island NY. It’s a riches to rags story about an elderly mother and her 50 something year old daughter. They were high society ladies in the 20’s and 30’s but when their money ran out they refused to leave their beloved mansion. They were cousins of Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, who helped them clean the place up to meet minimum health standards when they were faced with eviction. The second movie was an HBO movie of the same name that showed more of the story over time. Both are worth a look.
That sounds interesting and I’m curious to see it. I do wonder what solutions the respondents to this post that consider it such a shame to tear down some of these buildings would offer to prevent that. When the original owner no longer has the werewithal to maintain it, should the public pay for it via taxes? (Isn’t that socialism, oh no, that’s always terrible according to some TV, no?) Should everyone volunteer or be forced to volunteer their time and energy to pitch in and clean it up and maintain it forever? (isn’t that communism, also a no-no?) Should the owners get to still enjoy it and live in their magnificent house while the public (i.e. us) pays for it? (Isn’t that just wrong in general?) Of course nobody wants either of those options. It should be sold to the highest bidder (which any one of us could be either individually or as a group, i.e. embracing the concept of capitalism) and then done with as that winning bidder desires. Which is precisely what generally occurs. You want it? Then buy it and enjoy your giant new problem and the bills that go along with that. It’s like a boat but worse…
In the case of Grey Gardens, after the mother died, the daughter sold it to Ben Bradlee and his wife, Sally Quinn, of Washington Post fame, with the stipulation that it not be demolished.
They subsequently restored the house and grounds to their former glory. (In his autobiography, Bradlee said that the house was the worst he had ever seen in terms of condition – worse even than slum houses he had visited while working as a reporter.)
In 2017, they sold the house for $19+ million.
The Top 3 rules about real estate: location, location, location.
And it applies to pretty much everything in this post.
Yes, that house would not have sold for $19+million if it were in DesMoines, Iowa. And Ben Bradlee wouldn’t have paid the $200k he paid for it if it was there either, nor likely would anyone else.
For the “Flagship Show Boat” restaurant in Union NJ…I did as suggested and got a Street View of it. An appliance store now, it is somewhat hidden by the big PC Richards sign but happily is still standing.
With a nod to Fuzzyman, what could be of interest is applying Artificial Intelligence to “predict” what architecture and current neighborhoods might look like in the future. AI may not be able to sort out the various paths that society and development might take but it could be fascinating to follow how the various predictions might pan out according to current norms.
Actually I have not been all that impressed with AI’s “looking back” (the recent “Packards” are rather too grotesque) but perhaps it is better suited to “looking ahead.”
In the pic labelled “Main St. looking west from Bridge St., Somerville NJ”, anyone know what model is that 1959 Pontiac 2 dr post sedan? Just curious because it looks pretty long for a base(Catalina?).
I think that it’s a Star Chief.
Outstanding research and topics.
Florescent tube street lighting was one of those short-lived mid/late 1960s fads, that often badly clashed with the early 20th century architecture, still common at the time.
As a kid, I was always attracted to road, and construction sign, design.
The vertically written ‘CAUTION’ sign style below, dated from the mid 1960s. And was popular in Canada, until the early ’70s. Theses were some of the first construction signs I recall, with a battery-powered flashing beacon. And being made from steel, they rusted and dented, quite badly. Pic is approximately circa 1966.
Fascinating! I never knew that florescent tube street lighting was a thing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. As a person who really cannot abide by florescent lighting (just ask me what the WORST part of my public school experience was for about 12 years…), I’m glad I missed that fad.
Many examples throughout the US and Canada, from the early ’60s onward. For highways, interstates/freeways, and city, and town, streets.
Queen Elizabeth Way in Southern Ontario, from May 1964. Florescent tube lighting was maintained on this section of the QEW until the mid-1980s.
In Sherbrooke, Quebec some of them menaged to survive until the late 1970s/early 1980s like this one after the city tried to give a new look to its downtown with sidewalks protected by rain and snow in this photo taken circa 1976.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=595437939287986&set=a.549355690562878&type=3&theater
One more photo, circa 1978.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1987339131466505&set=a.207307842802985
I’m just amazed by the policeman in that kiosk, or whatever that’s called. Were those used during rush hour, assuming that an officer could do a better job of moving traffic than a traffic light?
The policeman in that kiosk stayed there until the trafic light was installed in the early 1980s.
Thanks for a very interesting article. I grew up in the East SF Bay Area, and I’ve noted the changes over the years. This area has changed a lot, but it never has suffered the extensive economic decline that hit many communities in the Midwest, and on the East Coast.
Very enjoyable post….thank you…
I love Area History! It can sometimes be quite a challenge to locate lost landscapes on todays maps. Great Job, again!
I’m fortunate enough to live on what is referred to as the longest avenue of Victorian homes in the country, and even still I have mixed feelings on the subject matter here. Summit Avenue is beautiful, make no mistake about it, but the vast majority of the property owners here are not just “upper middle class” wealthy, but seriously wealthy. You’d have to be to maintain the structures around here. I am only able to afford living in this neighborhood because it’s specifically one of the perks of my employment, full stop. The house is 138 years old, maintained to a very high standard, and things constantly require attention. The average nine to five family doesn’t have the kind of time or money required. Keeping all this old grandeur intact over the years seems to have been a minor miracle, partially due to the geographical lay of the land, partially because of construction projects like I-94 that spared this area in favor of demolishing established lower-income minority neighborhoods, partially because 55 odd years ago this area was in extreme neglect and prices were absurdly low… I’m glad it survived, but I also recognize how much compromise has been and is involved, and rational me thinks it all a kind of deliberate fairy tale.
You might like the book, “Once There Were Castles: Lost Mansions and Estates of the Twin Cities” by Larry Millett. Lots of great pictures and history!
Great job!
Modern architecture: identical, hulking towers of concrete and glass, completely out of touch with their historical surroundings. The epitome of ugliness.
Agreed. I get the absurdness of preserving a mansion in a downtown that grew around it, or restricting the sheer scale of signage, but it’s all been replaced with rectangles.
Las Vegas is a pretty weird example of this sort of thing. Funny seeing 1970s (my era there) photos of the Strip dotted with gas stations. No more.
This is one more post that has inspired me to make a purchase. I found a used copy of John Margolies’s “Roadside America” secondhand for relatively cheap, and it just arrived. CC has been the source of many things for me.
The signage is interesting as from a largely 21st century perspective it doesn’t look nearly as bad to me because .I’m conditioned to see huge invasive ads and pop ups on my PC and phone wherever I browse. I look at the first picture it looks quaint and charming in the sign’s neon lit static placement by comparison.
It’s probably nostalgia talking given it was my childhood decade but the 90s was the best of both worlds sweetspot, sort of the last chance period of time to get a glimpse of old architecture and infrastructure in person and also experience the merits of the modern architecture while it still had an air of freshness to it. Now a days the old Victorian stuff is pretty much gone, the stuff that was modern in the 50s-80s is now decaying, and the new modern stuff looking about as samey as the previous modern stuff but more pretentious, with a sprinkling of post-modern eyesores thrown in for good measure, which makes the urban landscape a lot blander than it was 30 years ago. There are a few neighborhoods in Chicago where you might as well be standing in Schaumburg
Many years ago there was a t.v. show called American castles. After the implementation of income taxes many were donated to state governments [Heart castle in San Simeon CA.] Others that were donated were allowed to go into disrepair by the states they were donated to. Some purchased by the wealthy and restored Mara Logo by Donald Trump. Sadly too many of theses grand buildings were demolished.
It took progressive thinking by governments and developers from the 1950s through 1970s, to preserve some of the best examples of 19th century architecture across North America. In the 1970s, Heritage Canada (a branch of the federal government), sought to preserve and restore some of the best examples of historically important neighbourhoods and main streets, across the country. Millions of dollars were spent returning many neighbourhoods, streets, and towns, to their 19th and early 20th century glory. The town I grew up in (Perth, Ontario), was made beautiful, and historically accurate, once again. Since that time, tourism has paid for the original investment, many times over. Sometimes, preserving the best examples, is realistically the best outcome you can hope for.
It is a beautiful town. In the last few years we have visited several times. There are some wonderful stone buildings throughout the region, from Kingston to Ottawa, but Perth is is particularly special.
I grew up in Perth before and after the Heritage Canada investment. It was easy to see the past beauty of the architecture, but it took a large cash investment to return many buildings to their former glory. Poverty and unemployment, used to be high in rural Eastern Ontario. The resulting boost in tourism to the entire region, is just one example of the government using their ability to invest in communities and people, to create long-term economic success. A model many cities and towns have pursued, across Canada and North America.
A former felt factory, rundown by the ’70s, became home to many shops and an event space. And a source of civic pride. This building would have been torn down by the 1980s, but it was restored by visionary people. I still recall the 12 noon steam whistle, when it was a working factory. As you felt the oppressive interior heat that poured out of every open window and door in summertime.
https://www.perth.ca/en/index.aspx
A marvellous example of the breadth of knowledge and interest that makes up the CC commentariat.
Much as I love old style architecture to look at, they’re not always pleasant to live in. Designed in an age when labour was cheap, they are often labour-intensive to maintain – and that’s before your typical Victorian filled them full of knick-knacks for the maids to dust. That was just normal in those days – at a certain ‘level’ in society it was taken for granted that you would employ ‘help’. Perhaps there was a stigma if you didn’t; it could have reflected adversely on your ability to provide.
We used to live in a sprawling 110 year old house. I was able to see the original builder’s plan, on which the back bedroom opposite the kitchen was labelled “Maid’s room”. Yes, a maid would have been handy at times. And a handyman…
Conversely, without the overdecoration of the Victorian age, how does one convey the impression of wealth and luxury? I have been decidedly underwhelmed several times by some modern hotels; if the driver taking me there hadn’t commented (“You’re staying THERE?”), I would have just thought they were average. Guess it was the location; as an out-of-towner I missed that.
Ah yes, Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Beginning not too long after the “before” picture was taken, Admiral Wilson began a slow slide into sleaze and decay, especially sleaze. The many new car dealers on the boulevard relocated to the suburbs, and their buildings were downgraded to low-end used car lots or just boarded up. The motels decayed and became havens for prostitution. Streetwalkers openly conducted business in broad daylight. And we can’t forget the notorious strip club in the middle of it all with a huge sign advertising “LIVE NUDE GIRLS.”
The impetus for bulldozing it all in 2000 and turning the south side of the boulevard into green space was to make the sleaze disappear in advance of the Republican National Convention held in Philadelphia. Admiral Wilson was a key approach road into Philly from hotels farther into the NJ suburbs where many convention delegates and other attenders were staying.
The “grubble” of Admiral Wilson Boulevard is made much more attractive/captivating by the foreshortening effect of a zoom lens. Seen in real life and from the usual viewpoint (a passing car or a pedestrian in a parking lot), they rarely captivated to the same extent.
We are a nation of semi-barbarians with not enough appreciation of the past, particularly it’s architecture. An incredible early 1960s “Googie” structure, a “folded roof” modernist building that was once an amazing Chevrolet dealer, was recently torn down here for a new Red Robin, a sad and pointless travesty.
Our daughter actually lived for several years at One Pierrepont, on the corner of Pierrepont and Columbia Heights, directly across from the building at 222 Columbia Heights that’s pictured. The original 222 is still intact, albeit with a new addition on it’s L side. Amazing location, as directly behind it is the water-side promenade.
Great to see these pictures Stephen. I had always liked the Roadside Squalor picture when I’d seen it in a book. I have an interest in Americana from the post war years and something about that pic chimed with me as it encapsulated urbanisation in US in the1960s. Years later in 2015, I was in the area and took some pics of the site which I post here in case they’re of interest. The drive through is long gone, replaced with a Walmart and a strip mall with the usual stores you find there.