MANY-GABLED HOUSE

MT. CARMEL, SOUTH CAROLINA

 

I don't know when this thing was built; probably 1880 to 1890. It has gone through many changes in the succeeding years, and I'm going to blather about some of them.

The lines of the house appear to be original, with the numerous gables topped with five-vee metal roofing pointing to the sky on three sides. I doubt that the metal was the original roof; most homes this age and style had either cedar shakes or standing-seam terne metal roofs. I imagine the roof is less than sixty years old.

I especially like the huge front gable, which is supported by four bark-stripped pine tree trunks. The front windows in the gable suggest a large room up there, but the lack of dormers would make this east-facing window bank ineffective anywhere but directly in back of them. There is a tiny triangular vent on the south side, though; undoubtedly to keep the attic-dwelling children from asphyxiating.

I believe the tree-columns and porch are replacements of a more substantial tongue-in-groove deck and turned-column porch that disintegrated somewhere in the dim past; porches are the first architecture to suffer in old houses. The rear window on the south side is also a likely replacement, as it has nine-over-nine lites while the remainder are four-over-fours.

Keeping with Southern tradition, however, are the ubiquitous deepfreeze on the porch and asphalt roll that pretends to be stone as an exterior finish. I really like the lines of the house, though, especially the huge windows so close to the floor.

The front door is rather Craftsmanesque, with its three vertical lites. It is possible that the entire structure was cobbled together from other structures since demolished.

INTERESTING TEXTURES

BOTH LITHIC AND IN MASONRY

Atoka sandstone Morrilton Arkansas

Worn brick pavers Fort Smith Arkansas

 

Crack in brick veneer near Magazine Arkansas

 

Limestone and flat mortar joints Hardy Arkansas

 

Sandblasted brick with new mortar Paragould Arkansas

 

Stone veneer with raised mortar Anderson South Carolina

 

Weathered pegmatite near Anderson South Carolina

GLAZED BRICK HOME

CAMDEN, ARKANSAS

 

To paraphrase Jeff Lynne, I ain't never seen nothin' like this.

The house is made from a blindingly white glazed brick and seems to have Mission and Arts and Crafts elements to it; I tentatively date it to 1925 through 1933. It was unoccupied and for sale when I last saw it in 2012, and I immediately fell in love with it. That doesn't happen often. Its sits on a little hill, is in immaculate condition, and seems very proud. There are many nice old homes in this southern Arkansas burg, but this one takes the wedding cake. It looks like one to me. So there.

It also has a sweet little garage that can only fit compacts, but who'd want to wrestle with those doors anyway? I'd turn it into a music studio...

FORD SIGN

CONWAY, ARKANSAS

 

This Ford dealership is no longer being used for its former purpose, but is nearly intact in its original form. The sign is a relic from the days of people taking pride in craftsmanship that is seldom seen in commercial monikers today. It is composed from twenty-two individual pieces of carved limestone, likely from north central Arkansas.

 

 

SIGNS

CENTRAL AVENUE, HOT SPRINGS ARKANSAS

 

A collection of signs on the side of a turn-of-the-century commercial building in the Central Avenue Historic District in Hot Springs caught my eye while looking for Vestiges. A Coca-Cola sign is overlain by a 10 cent cigar sign, with an advert for a saloon gracing the upper right hand corner of the building. Huge letters starting with "S E" at the beginning appears between the windows and begs for a complete word that I couldn't decipher even after blowing up the photo. Just below the parapet is the simplest ad; "ROOMS."

SIGN

RUSSELLVILLE, ARKANSAS

I found this sign while looking for Vestiges last summer, and I must admit I've never seen another like it. Russellville has a number of old Pullman rail cars parked at its beautifully restored depot (now the Main Street Russellville office as well as a museum), but I admit I'm stumped.

"Pullman Accomodations?" Does that mean that riders on the Pullman coaches were put up for the night? Does it mean that the accomodations are similar to those on the rail cars? Or that your room came with a Black porter?

Maybe Leonard would know. He'd better plug it in if he wants customers to see it at night.

COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

DARDANELLE, ARKANSAS

 

In the vein of my last post, I thought I'd give some contrasting examples of storefront reuse, all found on South Front Street of the central-west Arkansas River town of Dardanelle, just south of Russellville.

 

This is another example of a turn-of-the-century storefront. The cast iron columns are still intact, as are the vents and the brickwork. The columns are quite elaborate, with fancy tops and bases and medallions between, but the original glass and wood panels of the removed fronts have been replaced with red brick, modern doors with security grates, and squidgy little awnings that look like they should be on tropical drinks.

The building was saved, but much of its character has been erased. At least they didn't paint the new brick, which they did on the original building. Painting brick, a no-no in my book, can lead to spalling, or delamination of the painted brickface. Rainwater gets to the unpainted mortar joints, which expand, and the brick can't move as it would if it was unpainted. This building seems to be avoiding that fate.

 

There is no evidence on the previous storefront of any brackets that might have supported the typical sidewalk overhang, such as are evidenced in these buildings just to the southeast of the modernized one. These buildings are more original, one with the transom windows still intact, though the another has steel instead of glass. The transoms allow much-needed light into a store whose overhang blocks it.

This lumber dealer covered over its transom windows with corrugated steel, though the overhang remains intact.

 

Just what influenced the rest of the downtown businesses to do this to the remaining storefronts in town, I can't imagine.

Yes I can. It was the seventies that did it.