Goose Walk

Codman Farm in Lincoln Ma is a community-owned farm that my mother-in-law is involved in. This more detailed than usual sketch is a gift to her, and is an illustration of the constant parade of geese, chickens, pigs, lambs and people that perambulate around the farmyard.

Arsenalia

A surprising military presence on Benefit Street, this 1840 gothicky fortress was home to the Providence Marine Corps of Artillery. The building looks great for pouring boiling oil and squeezing of shots through the gun slits, but not so great for firing off canons.

Slice 'o Steeple

Belonging to the First Baptist Church in America, founded in 1636 by that troublemaker Roger Williams, this particular church was built in 1775. It is based on an engraving of the Marylebone Chapel by James Gibbs. Topping out at 185 feet, the steeple seems quite happy to see me.

Nurture vs Nature

Home on the range in late fall, with the past-its-prime, guy-wired and cosseted birch tree giving up its leaves once more. Perhaps next year it will succumb to age and gravity.

Walking on Thanksgiving day in Great Meadow Nature Refuge (normally I would refuse to walk in a refuge), nature still required nurturing, as evidenced by the boardwalk, metal drain and invasive plants waiting for spring cleaning.

Chez Truck

My new favorite lunch place. Hetwin's Dogs Mobile is a free-range outpost of Chez Pascal in Providence - a wonderful local food restaurant. The metal casing of the truck is the holder of all types of house made tube-type products. The best sandwich is the pork belly sandwich with a very fresh over easy egg - my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Nice granite building across the street to rest my eyes on as I wait in high anticipation.

Farm Post

A lonely granite post, not living up to its potential as a supporter of rails.

Round Top Barn

We started our Damariscotta charrette out in this barn the first night, but cold weather drove us to the farmhouse for the rest. Sunny but cold end of October.

Red Caboose Diner

An escaped caboose whose resting place conveniently ended at the sidewalk of Main Street in Whitefish MT. Oddly enough named the Red Caboose Diner, it beckoned me with a lurid red sign shouting "Eat Here". Sadly, I did not.

All the News that Fits

The Depot stands resolutely against the infiltration of the Fourth Estate detritus, making the news line up for tickets like everyone else.

Glacial Bus

The old bus that used to take people from the Whitefish Train Depot to Glacier National Park. Streamline............

SwiftCreek Cafe

From a trip this summer to Kalispell MT. Classical meets the mountains.

Fox Point

On South Water Street in Providence, a random collection of buildings and detritus. The new bridge over the hurricane barrier is in the distance.

Pemaquid Point Ice Cream

Slightly to the right of the last view - ice cream!

Pemaquid Point

While a stunning view of the rocks and water of the Maine coast resides ninety degrees to the right, my eye rests on a more mundane, easier to capture, slice of Maine life.

CAV-a-leer

Entrance to the courtyard of the restaurant CAV as the sun goes down on Providence.

CAV Courtyard-a-rama

A late afternoon meal in the courtyard of CAV, located in Providence's Jewelry District, surrounded by Jerry's Art-a-rama.

Grain Silos 2

Another view of grain silos in Kalispell Montana.

Grain Silos

Concrete grain silos, metal quonset hut and brick warehouse in Kalispell Montana - utilitarian structures all and each beautiful in their own way.

Mid Coast Maine

Simple farmhouse in East Boothbay, with a bay (but no booth) out the back.

Whitefish Depot

The Great Northern Railway Passenger and Freight Depot and Division Office (or the Whitefish Depot) is a Tudor Revival station that wandered into the wilds of Montana. Designed in 1927 by Thomas D'Arcy McMahon (French-Irish?), it provided a certain visual weight to counterbalance the mountains around and matched the Swiss-ish chalets in Glacier Park nearby.

Whitefish House

A simple house in Whitefish Montana with interesting post capitals/brackets. Located on a one block 'boulevard', this is the best residential neighborhood DNA in Whitefish, and should be replicated.

Tug/Greek

In Boothbay Harbor Maine, this tug has apparently beached itself on the shore and has hundreds of diners pouring in and out of it. Must have been a lobster tug based on the color. Further east in East Boothbay (would be a problem if it was further west) , roofs, pediments, moldings, doors and windows are all crashing into each other flaunting their alignments and proportions, leaving us the beneficiaries of their wanton display.

Linden Place Garage

Or perhaps more elegantly, carriage house. A yellow-brick masterpiece of proportion and invention, this was designed in the early 1900's by Wallis Eastburn Howe of Providence & Bristol.

I envy the vehicles that were lucky enough to be ensconced in such an uplifting space.

Linden Place Conservatory

Octagonal conservatory with gothic windows and linear balls for trim. It would be a wonderful room in which to play music or read a book.

Summerhouse

This 18th century summerhouse at Linden Place in Bristol Rhode Island is just about the size summerhouse I could afford. It is also earlier than the house (1810) which was built by a privateer, General George DeWolf, whose descendants included United States Rubber founder Samuel Pomery Colt, nephew of the pistol packin' Samuel. Didn't see either tires or guns.

HOT L Providence

Four star boutique hotel developed by Stanley Weiss, it takes advantage of a new plaza carved out of the block, originally suggested in a charrette in the 90's sponsored by Cornish Associates.

Grace Church's steeple gives a nod to the fine space and work done.

Westminster Detail

A nice piece of terra cotta on the Lapham Building on Westminster Street in Downcity Providence.

Grace Church

The sandstone buttress of Richard Upjohn's 1845 Gothic Revival church anchors the Westminster Street retail promenade with a solid civic presence.

Outside Studio

View from my studio, which is an 1860 farmhouse next to Blackstone Park and spittin' distance to the Seekonk River. The house next door in the view is adapted from the original barn.

Brown Church

Couldn't afford the Brown Palace in Denver, so I Comfort-ed myself with the Inn across the street. Interestingly, it turned out to be connected to the Palace with a sky bridge. The Comfort Inn itself is an adapted 40's international style office building with acoustically nebulous walls. I was treated to a late night performance from the room next door involving someone named 'Rhino'.

Brown Palace

The classic atrium hotel in Denver. Enjoyed a stogie in the scotch and cigar bar - sometimes it is nice to drink and smoke indoors. The glass office building in the distance provides an ephemeral foil to the stolid stud of a structure that is the Palace.

Mallarama Panorama

Providence Mall is an almost downtown mall that has one of the world's worst parking structures (in terms of function). However, if you find yourself squeezed up to the top floor you will be rewarded with this panoramic view of old brick factories, and to the far right. out of the picture, the marble dome of the State House.

Alley Oop!

Providence does not have alleys. Except when it does. The area near the southern end of Benefit St has several, including Copley Lane, Neighbor's Lane and this one called Roome Lane. Charming and unexpected.

Back Bay Firehouse

By architect Arthur Vinal in Richardsonian Romanesque style (or is it Vinalian Romanesque?), this is still an active fire station. Half of it functioned as the Institute of Contemporary Arts until it moved into snazzier quarters.

Back Bay Parking

The sign from the automobile stable of the Danker and Donahue Garage floats like a dirigible into Newbury Street with the former equine stables peeking over to see what's up.

Graffiti To Go

Well-mannered historical buildings and fastidious maintenance on fashionable Newbury Street in Boston's Back Bay are no match for the raucous rolling graffiti of this sushi delivery truck.

I Hope It's Greek

Nice Greek Revival portico making its stand in the flowing sidewalk on Hope Street, Fox Point, Providence.

Dinner at Clio

At the excellent Clio in Back Bay Boston, the waiter appears to be studying which chapeaux on the poster he wants to place on his head.

Backyard Bistro

Enjoying a glass of wine in the side/back yard, illuminated by solar light sticks.

Rick's Roadhouse

Munchin' some ribs outside in the Jewelry District in Providence. The stacks are for a power plant, not the barbeque smoker.

Liberty Elm Diner

A pan-o-ramic view from the counter of the Liberty Elm Diner on Elmwood near Roger Williams Park in Providence. This diner was a Worchester model made in 1947 and resided downtown until it trundled south in 1954. Mighty fine pie.

Come Back to the Five and Dime

On the corner of Snow and Westminster, this former five-and-dime store (Kresge?Newberry?Kress?) now houses the Rhode Island State Archives. With inflation, ten cents from the 20's is now in the range of a dollar, making 99¢ stores the new Woolworths.

Satin Doll

Moving my gaze a little lower and to the right, the entrance to the the aforementioned Society for the Study of the Mobile Female Form is noted simply by a rigid granite post.

Satin Doll Church

In the foreground, the local establishment of lap dancing arts. Looming above, the spire of Grace Church on Westminster Street. Heaven or Hell, virtue or vice. I will let the viewer decide which is which.

Pienza Mi Amore

Another sketch from several years ago, this is from the perfect Renaissance town of Pienza. Only about 12 acres, it has a stunning town square defined by the Cathedral, Pope's Palace, Bishop's Palace, and Town Hall. The architect was Rossellino, another red-headed architect.

This view is on the wall around the town, looking to the Duomo.

Ahhhhh Lucca

From a trip several years ago, the Piazza dell"Anfitheatro is the echo of the original Roman amphitheater, which could hold 10,000 people and a few lions. Over time the inside was filled in and then cleared and the walls built upon and then removed and rebuilt into its present form. Rather like replacing the handle of a hammer, and then the head, but calling it the same hammer.

Old Stone Bank

On South Main in Providence, this former bank was owned for the last 16 years by Brown University and has just been sold to a biotech firm. This granite block crowned with a gilded skylit dome was erected in 1854 and expanded in 1898 to its present form. The company that was its long term resident, The Old Stone Bank, went bankrupt in 1992 after the federal government convinced it to take over two other troubled banks and then walked away from Old Stone after saying it would back it up.

The proportions of the portico are much too skinny in my sketch - it makes the bank look like it is breathing in.

Things are Looking Up

Same former firestation in Haverhill MA, this time reaching for the sky.

Haverhill MA Firehouse

After an urban design workshop in the historic mill town of Haverhill Massachusetts, this former firestation demanded that my pen take note of its presence. The mills produced shoes and hats, and Haverhill High was the inspiration for the comic Archie. Now it is producing condo lofts, bistros and boutiques, but that is fine to preserve this wonderful urban place.

Land 'o Lincoln

Lincoln Massachusetts, that is. Two view from the deck of a Deckhouse. The first is looking down to the pond, with the red UFO in the upper right identified as a hummingbird feeder. The second view is down to the yard and woods, with a wild turkey gobbling its food oblivious to humans who might find him tasty.