Thursday, April 30, 2009

Friday "My Town Shoot Out" - Architecture

“Cites need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them. By old buildings I mean not museum-piece old buildings, not old buildings in an excellent and expensive state of rehabilitation - although these make fine ingredients - but also a good lot of plain, ordinary, low-value buildings, including some rundown old buildings.” - Jane Jacobs from her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

This week's assignment comes from Jen. Great subject, Jen.

I did not have a lot of time, and with the exception of one photo, I stuck to the older structures. Also, since I have not done a filtered photo assignment in awhile, I thought I would give you some extra eye candy. I did not filter one photo because I did not want to lose the detail in the ladder.

Crisfield is a small water town. We do not have big fancy buildings, but we have some old ones with a lot of history. And some of our churches go way back to the 1800's. We did churches several weeks ago, so I included just a few here because they are so historic.

We have some beautiful historical homes in Crisfield. I three that are no longer private residencies. I mostly pointed my camera at the small quaint homes that were likely once the homes of the successful wartermen and businessmen who gave Crisfield the title, "Seafood Capitol of the World." Enjoy!

This was the childhood home of Governor J. Millard Tawes. Construction began in 1887. The home is now owned by the Crisfield Heritage Foundation. It is available for weddings and other special events. Visit the foundation for more on its history.

I wish I had a date on this building. No one was at the shop when I took this photo, but I know it is a very old building with a lot of history. That does not sound very exciting, so I hope the filtered photo will add a little spice. Remember to click on photos to enlarge. If anyone wants to send me flowers call Barb. Hint, hint.

Immanuel United Methodist Church.

Many of the older homes have ornate work, indicating they once belonged to successful people.

My Fair Lady Bread and Breakfast, built in 1900. If you are coming to Crisfield, call ahead and make reservations. It is a beautiful place. They were also voted the 2008-2009 winner for the best Bed and Breakfast by an Internet site.

I love all this detail.

Condos on the bay. The new with the old. Great view from up there.

Bradshaw Funeral Home. I did a closeup of one section. This is gorgeous place.

The old Armory. I love the "castle" look.



All three of the above photos are of Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church, built in 1892.

A lot of the older homes have stained glass windows.

The history of the bay still lives in the old buildings.

Built in 1900, this used to be the Federal Office Building. The 1st floor housed the U.S Post Office and the 2nd floor was the U.S. Customs House for the Port of Crisfield. I am sure those were some exciting days.

I am not sure how long MeTompkin has been around, but the building, near the bay, is historic. MeTompkin works crabs and oysters. Oh, they have been around a long time, I am just not sure how long. I need to learn my history. Tim, I will trade you photography lessons for history lessons.



The above three photos are of the old Crisfield Bank.

I just liked this!

This is my friend's house. I think it is so different. It is a two-story all stone house. I honed in on one corner.

Remember when small towns had furniture stores?

A detail from the outside of Crisfield Masonic Lodge. The inside of the building is just beautiful.

The Baptist Church is doing a little sprucing up. I did not filter this photo.

St. Paul's Church, built in 1908, is just outside of Crisfield, in Marion. I saw it today for the first time when I was headed to an assignment. I had to stop and shoot it.

"Buildings, too, are children of Earth and Sun." - Frank Lloyd Wright

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Next week's assignment comes from Gigi in Brunswick, Georgia. She spelled it all out in detail: "For next weeks May 8th Friday's Shoot Out what about Gardens, you know, Vegetable Garden, Flower Garden, Butterfly Garden, Botanical Garden, Zen Garden, hey even the Olive Garden! Your own, your mama's, your neighbors, the city's. Garden supplies, Garden tools, Garden ornaments, Garden furniture. Remember "No Rules" your own interpretation!"

That sounds like fun, Gigi. if anyone has any questions about our Friday shoot outs, shoot me an email. All are welcome!

23 comments:

Patience-please said...

Wonderful! Chrisfield has a lot of architectural detail in common with my small city in western Kentucky.

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

Love the old buildings Patty. That's what I did a lot of this week. Old buildings, porches, doors, gates and arbors. There's something about old barns that intrigue me. I thre in a boat and our boatworks place just to represent. We have boats as well, lol :)
Gigi's subject sounds fantastic and I've already started a huge collection of shots......not when it comes to deciding which to post? that's always a problem for me as I love them all.
I love all the new participant's. What beauty and different angles they add don't you think?
Have an extreme weekend and........

Steady On
Reggie Girl

Robyn said...

Beautiful set of picturs you have here. I love the old in a town!

Unknown said...

Very Nice! impressive bunch of photos. love what you did with them also. nice look about your town.

Anonymous said...

Love the castle, love the towers on the houses, and LOVE the old Fed building. :)

All of your photos are stunning. I learn so much from your shots.

gigi said...

The Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church red brick is beautiful and I just love the little green house and the stained glass window. You were right about eye candy!! It was and is so much to look at, I'm just in awe. You sure are making it very hard not to book a trip to your home town, Patty. It is sure on my list.

Anonymous said...

What a great variety today. My favorite would have to be the Bed and Breakfast. What a truly magnificent place!
Nice to visit with you thru Friday Shoot-Outs. Have a great weekend.

Barry said...

I love the rich variety in your photos and the stunning details that you've captured.

Fantastic work Patty. A joy as always.

Bagman and Butler said...

In addition to the subject matter, I absolutely love what you did with this photos and after clicking to blow up a couple of them, I had to go back and blow up every single one of them to look at the Photoshop Artistry. And nobody can tell me that Photoshop isn't art just because it is computerized...how much of which filter to apply to each image, how much color to bring up or fade out...great stuff!

The Pink Birdhouse said...

Hi Patty, love the old buildings. That is what we have in all the towns here, OLD buildings, but some of them sure do have style. I did not have a chance to get around for snapping pics yet, still can't drive and hubby does not always have time to get me places. But, I sure loved what you showed from your town, I especially love the blue B & B. And that old red methodist church, how fabulous is that! I wish that the germans were not so scared to show off some color in their architecture, everything here is pretty much earth toned. Pretty, but I do miss the color one finds state-side!! Good photo shoot this week. ciao, Debby

Joanne said...

The detail in this architecture is just amazing. To me, that kind of detail shows a real passion, a real caring, for the design and the complete structure. What an art form.

Chef E said...

One of the things I love about the old homes are the ornate work! A true artisan feeling... I think next shoot we should have to go into some of the buildings and shoot the interior ornate works of these Victorian homes! Okay I know I just up the Annie, but hey, I am an artist at heart :)

I like the sudden bay building...reminds me of Miami, and all along northern coast line...

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

Awesome, Awesome and Awesome! I really like the stained glass.
Hope to be back in the shoot out soon. Way too much going on.
Have a lovely weekend!

J9 said...

Patty,
I love that you've made your photos look like paintings by using the filters. The watercolorness of some, and the acrylicness of others - thay are all very beautiful!

Girl Tornado said...

You have such neat history in your town, so many old buildings with awesome architecture. I also love your Coke sign and how you filtered it! ;)

Anonymous said...

I have always loved old archetecture. I live in a house that was built in 1865. It has been added onto a couple of times over the decades. We also have the old Railroad property & we have the 50' concrete circle that used to house the area that turned the engine around. I imagine the many lives that exhisted here... Some day I will do a post about our property.
Loved you post!! Happy May Day!!
Love,
Marilyn
xxoo

Missy said...

I love the armory, the "castle look," what a nice color :-) And I love all your details of the buildings very inspiring. Awesome pictures! I really learn and still learning from your shots.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I was fixated at your first house. So Governor J. Millard Tawes was born with a silver spoon? I used to admire beautiful houses, and wonder how people of "Upstairs and Downstairs" live.

Your city is similar to Auckland.

You have done such a good blog with the lovely old buildings. Old buildings have a great character. These watermen, are they all gone?

Gordon said...

Patty, thank you for spreading joy to all of the group. I think I enjoy reading your comments to others more than anything else in this shoot0out experience. Your photos are first class, also.
I tried to get a replacement squirrel from Jen, but she won't give me hers. Got any ideas?

Gordon said...

New Recruit: Judie (Philippines) Her link is on my blog. Give her a visit. She will post next Friday.

bARE-eYED sUN said...

lotsa fun viewing!

especially the first pic looking "up" of the Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church series. :-)

somewhere on this page are the prompts for the MY TOWN SHOOTOUTS right?

Unknown said...

Love the pics with the filters...very appealing! The Federal Office Building is my fav.

Next week's assignment is right up my alley...just came back from a girls weekend in Chicago and visited The Garfield Conservatory...absolutely glorious!

GigiSxm said...

great shots, thanks for sharing