Corliss & The Highway

This view is to the left of the previous post and includes a glimpse of the soon-to-be demolished I-195 highway. This will allow this several block old industrial, maritime area to be wedded to the funk-o-fied Wickenden Street area. It will be interesting to see the offspring.

Wacky Angled Lofts

Down by the river again at Corliss Landing, this sketch reflects the quirky nature of Providence streets. The projecting one story section may look like the perspective is off, but it really is at that wanky angle. There is a tiny sandwich place in this section with a pass-thru where it joins the taller building. You can see the a smidgin of the new bridge on the far right.

Star Bowl

Funky sign (kinda like a surfboard for Robinson Crusoe) for the Bowl & Board store in Downcity Providence. The light to the right is at the patio of Starbucks in Wayland Square - city workers were ripping up the street, hence the presence of the yellow beast.

Sharon & Mary

A weekend road trip led us through Sharon, MA, where we sat outside a french bakery. Sharon has a small town center, but it has all the basics of good urbanism and enduring architecture. Then it was on to Ikea to buy shelf brackets, where we came upon these nice galvanized planters. Later, I measured the area that Ikea occupies and realized that it was larger than six blocks of the town center in Sharon. That's a lot of meatballs and umlauts.

Portsmouth LIght & Power

Outside of St. John's Parish Hall on Chapel Street (what are the chances of that!) proudly sprang forth this wrought iron lamp. We were in Portsmouth for a Congress for New Urbanism (New England Division) Sustainability Summit. This kind of beauty is what sustainability should look like.

The Dragon and the Garden

Outside Rue Bis is the large dragon marking the Providence Childrens' Museum, in this former factory building since 1997. Only a few children have been eaten.

After that it was back to work on the raised beds in our garden. Even tho our yard is the former farmyard of our 1860 farmhouse, the soil is pure sand with surface roots from Norway maple trees. So up we go, thwarting the thieving roots with weedblock, and scattering white pine needles for paths until we purloin enough bricks for paving.

Rue Bis

A new location for Rue Bis, a delicious breakfast and lunch place in the Jewelry District across from the Children's Museum. http://www.therue.com/ruebis.html

Wickenden Pole

The third drawing at the corner of Wickenden and Traverse focuses on one of the 'art poles' that line Wickenden. This pole hoists two unravelled tires in a spermatozoa pattern, surrounded by miscellaneous detritus.

Corner of Traverse & Wickenden

A rather odd building that reaches up from three stories to four, embracing the retail street of Wickenden. Apartments are on the ground floor, fulfilling the live part of live/work.

Wickenden Church

Actually on Traverse Street, both names seem a bit wrong for a place of worship. The telephone pole provides a third unintentional cross (....or is it?) between the spires of the church. The building to the left will be starring in the next post and the one to the right is Adler's Hardware (since 1919 - but was just Army/Navy goods until 1960), which used to be as tall as the building across the street.

Margaret's Cafe

After a nice day in New Bedford, we forded the Acushnet River to Fairhaven in hopes of running into friends. Fairhaven is a small town with extra-ordinary civic buildings due to the patron of the town, Henry Huttleston Rogers. Known as 'Hell Hound' Rogers on Wall Street, he was one of the last robber barons. He left wonderful buildings for Fairhaven, was friends with Mark Twain, Booker T Washington, Helen Keller and was nice to his dog as well, making up for his ruthlessness as a biz man.

We did find our friends, and were treated to a swimmingly seafood dinner at Margaret's. This sketch was done a bit more carefully than most, and done as a thank-you card.

New Bedford Book Depository

On our walk around New Bedford we paused across from this magnificent pile 'o granite that houses books in Greek Revival and Egyptian splendor. In the foreground was a line of police cars in front of headquarters that unfortunately looked more like a strip mall than a civic building worthy of the the men and women in blue.

Whalin' In New Bedford

Headquarters for the New Bedford Whaling National Park, this fine sandstone Greek Revival built in 1853 started as the New Bedford Institute of Savings, back when people did that sort of thing. Later it became the Third District Courthouse (located on Second St.). New Bedford was the richest city in the US during whaling days, and the blubber being converted to buildings is the legacy.

Peanut on Wheels

Strolling down William Street in New Bedford, we ran across this seemingly inquisitive peanut on wheels. It said that it was open - I assume it was really shilling for the antique store behind. It actually looked like it wanted to get the heck out of there.