A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
A beautiful Saturday morning walk around downtown Tucson included a stop at the Historic Pima County Courthouse, and the surrounding area.
Completed in 1930 the courthouse is a mix of Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial architecture.
With the invention of the production line for the automobile a few cities grew at a tremendous rate between 1910 and 1920. Akron, home of the rubber companies, was one of those. In 1910 there were less than 70,000 people in the city, by 1920 it had tripled to over 200,000, with an additional increase of 50,000 by the 1930 census.
As a result there is a plethora of architecture from the era.
Our first stop is a great apartment building in the Highland Square neighborhood, dating from 1927. The neighborhood is very eclectic, with a great collection of shops and cafes.
The Polsky Building was one of two major downtown department stores, serving shoppers from 1930 until it closed in 1978. This art deco masterpiece was famous for the Christmas displays in their windows.
Today the University of Akron owns the building, using it for classrooms, with the art students using those same windows for displays.
The Mayflower Hotel was for many years the place to be in downtown Akron. For it’s opening in 1931 roses were dropped from airships (blimps) onto the roof of the Zeppelin Observation on the roof of the hotel.
While the hotel itself was named after the famed ship that brought pilgrims to the new world, the restaurant was Hawaiian themed.
Not long after it opened it was the location of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935.
The Rubber Room paid homage to the primary industry of the city by having nearly all the fixtures made out of rubber. Note the ‘tire lights’ in this period photo (found on pintrest). Sadly the great murals were lost during a remodeling in the 1980s.
The hotel has for the last few decades been a senior citizen home. Today it is going through another remodel, but will remain affordable senior housing.
The ATT Building (Ohio Bell) continues the Art Deco trend as Akron boomed in the 1920s and 1930s. Much like the Cincinnati Bell building seen on our visit to the Queen City, this building was designed to support the massive switching equipment needed for the telephone service of a large city.
Examples of this design include enhanced ventilation to keep the equipment cool, and a four foot thick concrete pad as a floating foundation.
The vertical lines of the exterior make this 7 floor building seem much taller, while providing the traditional art deco attention to detail.
The Akron YMCA was founded in 1870, but didn’t have their own building until 1904. When that building was outgrown, they built this 200′ tall, 17 floor building.
It is unique in that is set a few blocks away from the rest of the downtown buildings, and it is in an orange-ish brick instead of the stone art deco look of it’s time, but does retain the art deco styling.
Akron is likely one of the few cities that the tallest building in town dating from the 1930s, the Huntington Tower. Opened in 1931 as the Central Depositors Bank and Trust Company Building, it has been renamed numerous times, always after a bank.
This classic limestone exterior rises 28 floors above the street now named for basketball star LeBron James (King James Way). This height allows it to serve as a falcon nesting space.
The Cleveland based architects of Walker & Weeks also designed Severance Hall and Cleveland Public Hall.
The sculpture that is above the main entrance is known as ‘Security’, emphasizing the banking background.
A look around the South Main Street historic district at a few of the other buildings in the neighborhood. While there are a few taller buildings dating from the 1960s and 1970s, the newest being from 1976, most are from the 1920s and 1930s, including 11 of the 18 buildings at least 100′ tall.
As previously noted Akron has been since the early days of automobiles the home of tire production. One of the four largest tire producers in the world, Goodyear, remains in the city.
One of their primary buildings is Goodyear Hall. Located about 2 miles east of downtown, this massive 7 floor structure takes up an entire block. Constructed over 3 years, it opened in 1920.
At one time this building housed an auditorium with over 1600 seats, gymnasium with 5000 seats, bowling alley, rifle range, and a cafeteria that served over 8000 people a day. Much of the building has been redeveloped into apartments, with the theater still in tact and in use, as well as the gymnasium (albeit with less seats).
Mill Street Bridge connects the main University of Akron campus to downtown. It is lined with some reliefs honoring Akron history, and from this vantage point offers a view of the aforementioned Huntington Tower.
Akron has a nice collection of government buildings including the historic post office, library and county building.
While Goodyear is the center of life on the east end of town, Firestone was the mainstay of the south end. While there is still some Bridgestone/Firetsone facilities in the area, it is a shell of what it once was as the headquarters relocated to Nashville years ago.
The Selle Generator Works building at the south end of downtown is also on the historic registry. One of the few structures dating prior to 1900, it is the remaining building of a much larger complex.
Today it is known as the Haunted Labratory, this great looking art deco building next to Fulton Airport, and the Airdock was the Guggenheim Airship Institute.
Founded in 1929 by Daniel Guggenheim was founded to aid in the study of improving all aspects of airship, including aerodynamics, meteorology, and others. The building also housed a vertical wind tunnel, capable of wind speeds of up to 125 mph.
The last photo is of a relief on the back of the building of an angel holding an airship (photo from Akron Beacon Journal – I failed to go the back of the building, but it is too cool to leave out – next time I will walk around the building!)
This art deco terminal was built for aviation, but not airplanes. This being Akron, it was built in anticipation of the expansion of airship passengers. Today it serves as an office building for a medical equipment company.
It was designed by the same person, Michel Konarski, that designed the Guggenheim Airship Institute just up the street.
Our final stop on the way home was in the small city of Wooster for a quick look at the very fine Wayne County Courthouse.
For more than 100 years Birmingham was the center of manufacturing for the southern United States. It was often referred to as Pittsburgh of the South in reference to all of the steel mills. As with Pittsburgh, the industry has for the most part left town.
As with the northern industrial cities there was significant investment in civic culture, and in Birmingham there is none better than the main library.
While the primary entrance is a modern building, across the street is the Linn-Henley Research Library. Built in 1927 it reflects the art deco style of the period.
The building is most known for the Ezra Winter murals. Most depict historic events such as below left – Dante and Virgil. On the right is Don Quixote.
In addition to the murals, the main reading room has a fantastic ceiling.
The west side of the room shows the interesting mix of the murals with the art deco balcony railings.
Ezra Winter was raised in Michigan, but spent his early adult years in Europe where he was classically trained in painting. Interestingly they were completed in New York City and applied to the Birmingham Library walls with white lead.
The Children’s Library has a mural depicting fairy tales.
A seemingly out of place modern art piece is also present.
The library, county courthouse and city hall all frame a public park. As they were all built about the same time all reflect the art deco style.
The courthouse was designed by the famed Chicago firm of Holabird & Root.
Reliefs high up on the building reflect local history.
Outside is the Statue of Liberty – well a small replica of the Statue of Liberty.
Murals depicting the history of the region are in the lobby of the courthouse. This mural, entitled Old South, has caused great controversy as it depicts slaves picking cotton. A multi racial committee of 16 reached a consensus that they would create a retractable cover that would obscure them except during educational tours.
They apparently haven’t yet decided to cover up their history as it was available for us to see.
The accompanying mural entitled ‘New South’ depicts the industrial work. As previously noted, the industry is gone, so I suppose they will have to come up with a ‘New New South’, depicting Birmingham’s current major employers including Education, Finance and Engineering firms.
As part of the agreement on the Old South mural, a new mural entitled Justice Is Blind was added with a modern collection of symbols that show, among others, a black lady justice along with a white lady justice.
Less controversial is the scales of justice relief as well as the art deco clock.
The final building in the area is Birmingham City Hall.
City Hall has a gallery of noteworthy city residents over the years.
While not a Birmingham resident, Martin Luther King was instrumental in bringing social justice to the city, and is honored with a portrait in the gallery.
Birmingham turned out to be far nicer than I was expecting. It is a city that is recognizing it’s past (good and bad), and moving forward into the future.
So many small towns in America are named after other places – and Paris is no different. According to Google there are 23 towns and cities in America called Paris, but the one in Kentucky is one of the nicer ones.
This town was originally called Bourbontown because it is the county seat of Bourbon County (more on that later), but was renamed to Paris as a thank you to France’s contribution during the Revolutionary War.
They have a small Eiffel Tower next to the Visitor Center/Farmers Market.
The town itself is very well preserved, as there is a lot of money in the area from the thoroughbred farms (more on this later as well).
Horse Racing is a recurring theme throughout all of Central Kentucky.
The pots along the street for flowers and bushes are re purposed horse troughs.
Hollywood has a walk of fame – but so does Paris – with horseshoes for the great ones – including the greatest – Secretariat.
Most of the downtown area buildings are 100 years old and in good condition.
The Duncan Tavern is the oldest building in town – dating from 1788.
The highlight though is the Bourbon County Courthouse. Completed in 1902 it is spectacular.
From the mosaics in the floors….
To another horse racing tribute.
The fantastic view of the dome from below.
Much of the ironwork came from nearby Maysville.
Great care has been given in the upkeep of the courthouse. We were lucky enough that on this Saturday morning it was open for absentee voting – and the Boubon County Clerk of Courts Richard Eads gave us a detailed history of the building, taking time out of his busy day for us.
The ceiling of the courtroom has a mural of Lady Justice.
But with that it was time to head out of town….
The city of Fort Wayne, Indiana is the 2nd largest in Indiana, behind Indianapolis. While not huge, it was large enough to have a few interesting things to see and do.
Easily the most architecturally interesting building is the Allen County Courthouse.
The building had numerous carvings and reliefs.
The carved tablet emphasizes the idea of justice for all.
While Lady Justice looks over the setting.
The Lincoln Tower was for 50 years the tallest building in town. There are a couple of ones taller now, but none more stylish.
Directly across the street from the classic architecture of the courthouse and the Lincoln Tower is this modern mid rise.
The main branch of the library.
Fort Wayne was surprisingly (to me) nice. There is some recent development downtown, the neighborhoods were pleasant and overall it didn’t feel like an old industrial city.
One of the more unusual local tourist attractions is the Hanson Quarry on the southeast side of town. Where else in the flat lands of Indiana can you find a giant 1000′ deep hole in the ground.
They have an observation deck built that is open during daylight hours where you can come check out the giant hole in the ground.
The next morning we made our way to Lakeside Park and Rose Gardens.
The gardens feature some sculptures.
But their 2000 rose plants are the highlight.
Late August heat has put stress on the roses.
Lakeside Park in Fort Wayne is worth a visit.
The small city of Delaware, Ohio is the county seat of a county of the same name. Located just north of Columbus it was for more than 150 years the center of a farming county, as well as the home of the small college, Ohio Wesleyan.
With Columbus suburbs fast approaching, most of the county to the south has been developed in tract housing and shopping centers, and it now has a population of over 200,000, and is recognized as having the highest per capita income in the state.
The town of Delaware however still feels like a small town, with many historic buildings.
First up is Beiber’s Mill which was was built in 1877 as a grist mill. Long abandoned, it sits directly on the Olentangy River – there were enough No Trespassing signs, and neighbors that looked like they would have shotguns that we took the photos from the road.
The next stop was Perkins Observatory. While in town there is an observatory that was built in 1896 that is still standing (barely), this building is about 3 miles south of town, next to a golf course.
Built in 1925 it has been in use ever since, but has over time reduced in scope as central Ohio is not very conducive to astrological observations – due to the low altitude, cloud cover and light pollution from the cities.
As we arrived on the small campus of the 1900 student Ohio Wesleyan University, we found Edwards Gymnasium. Built in 1905 it is a spectacular building with an amazing wood ceiling with skylights.
Just up the hill is Slocum Hall, which contains a library.
As well as a great skylight.
Next door is the University Hall and Chapel, although it appears to me very similar to most of the county court houses and jails around the state.
On the west side of the campus are a series of newer buildings.
Leaving campus we moved on to an area where all of the Delaware County Government buildings are located including what was a Carnegie Library – now the County Commissioners home.
Next door is the old courthouse.
Our last stop is what should be the main attraction of the town – the birthplace of a U.S. President – in this case Rutherford B. Hayes. However someone messed that one up long ago when the home was torn down, so now it is the Rutherford B Hayes Memorial BP Gas Station. But it is the only Presidential Gas Station in America, so Delaware, Ohio has that going for them.
Newark, Ohio is a city of 50,000 located 30 miles east of Columbus. While the entire Licking County area is growing in population thanks to the proximity of Columbus, downtown Newark has seen better days.
The town however, appears to be working hard to spruce up downtown, and as a result has some nice areas popping up.
The center of town is dominated by the 1876 Licking County Courthouse.
Just to the south of the courthouse is a farmers market area facing the backs of the buildings on the courthouse square. They have made good use of this area by painting a number of well done murals, although this one is marred by the unfortunate location of the garbage cans.
Apparently in the early 1900s farmers shipped their produce via Fedex.
The streetcar in the mural was built in Newark.
A well designed parking deck added symmetry to the scene.
While some buildings are awaiting restoration…
The train station has been restored and is used as offices by a local business.
But the highlight of the day is in the next post – the Historic Licking County Jail!
RDZ Photography 