COMMERCIAL BUILDING

OSCEOLA ARKANSAS

While touring the town and photographing Vestiges, I came upon this interesting sign support. I’m strangely fascinated by sign supports for hanging signs. Most downtowns have stopped the practice of using hanging signs in favor of those that are mounted flat on the façade of the building. I think this practice takes away from the charm of commercial districts as well as fails to advertise the businesses to those looking down the street, as is pictured here. I suppose it has to do with less walking traffic and more car traffic. Sigh. We should all walk more in our downtowns. Maybe then we’d keep the businesses there.

 

The changes to the façade on this particular building could have been done better to accent the historic nature of the structure, though. The muntins (window crossbars) are unnecessary and nonauthentic; the originals would have been plain plate glass. The doors are also modern steel units, though a six-panel design is closer to the mark than a flat panel. Likely both doors had a single long window when the building was a business; it has apparently been turned into a residence, if the curtains and screen door on the first floor are evidence. The door on the right accesses a staircase to the second floor, which originally had either living or office space for the business below.

A nice paint scheme is another way to enhance a façade with very little investment, as well as some historically designed light fixtures. Of course it would be nice to see the transom windows reinstalled, but, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, most transom windows in these buildings were blocked up when dropped ceilings were installed to save heating costs.

I personally like high ceilings, but I may not be the best to tout them; my own 1690 Cape Cod has seven and a half foot ceilings in some rooms and sevens in others.

UNKOWN BUILDING

OSCEOLA ARKANSAS

 

This unfortunate early twentieth century commercial structure looks to have been the victim of high winds. The roof, made of PVC sheets annealed together with either heat or chemicals at the seams, was lifted as a single unit and now hangs sadly over the side of the parapet. Must have been one hell of a storm. The area was hit hard by a tornado in the mid-oughts, with neighboring Marmaduke taking most of the damage. This might be a result of that storm.

Osceola, located in northeast Arkansas, is a city with a lot of interesting architecture but little going on to preserve it. Once a prosperous farming town that boomed with rice and cotton, it was also quite a bustling river port, though the river is actually a few miles outside of town. Presently the town is turning the direction of steel manufacturing, as is the entire area. Rail car wheels and rail tanker cars are made a little ways off in Marmaduke, and nearby Blytheville has made its mark as one of the most modern steel towns in the U.S.

I’ll be featuring a number of interesting Vestiges from this area in the next month. Thanks to everyone for being patient with my absence since my move to the Northeast; I just got phone and internet at The Standish Farm last week, so I’ll be posting more often now.

                    A LITTLE (ROCK) BIT OF PRAIRIE

   Others may argue that this is not officially Prairie Style Architecture, but the shallow roof, wide eaves, and vertical design to the windows yells Wrightesque to me. I need to get away from the 'esque' thing, I guess. Exposed rafter tails and divided columns lend it an Arts and Crafts note, but that's just the nose and not the total palette.
   Located somewhere on the south part of the Central High Historic District in Little Rock, Arkansas, it just grabbed me and wouldn't let me go until I took its picture and promised to make it famous. Or so it thinks.
   It's a beautiful house, nonetheless, and one of only a handful of Prairie houses in The Rock.