Every historic building has a story to tell
My first Frank Lloyd Wright experience was shortly after college, when my mother and I visited Fallingwater, the iconic house he designed for Edgar Kaufmann, and Wright’s nearby Kentuck Knob, both in rural southwest Pennsylvania. I’ve since returned to both sites, my enchantment with the architecture, site development, and every intricacy that Wright controlled not (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Landscapes, Other Places, Tourism
Tags: Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright, Kentuck Knob, Prairie School, Taliesin, Wisconsin
Buildings, like people, evolve, grow, and even shrink. Of course, this cycle of change happens to buildings through the actions of people. Inaction, commonly referred to in its final phase as “demolition by neglect” also acts as an agent of change on a historic building. I’ve experienced my share of needless demolitions since entering the (read more)
Traveling, it seems, does not do much for my productivity. I enjoyed my time in Chicago tremendously, but my intention to publish a blog post a day for Preservation Month took a severe blow…forcing me to admit that committing to that lofty goal doesn’t actually make much sense, and drains the joy of this venture (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Kentucky architecture
Tags: Blogging, Preservation Month, Writing
I really should be moving on to the letter “C,’ but there are so many delicious architectural terms that begin with “B” that I wanted to talk about two more: bay windows and brackets. A bay window is a window that projects from the outside wall of a building. Unlike an oriel window, the bay (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Kentucky architecture
Tags: architectural terms, bay window, brackets
When the news media reports a winning lottery ticket, my imagination shifts into overdrive. My plans for my imaginary lottery spoils include buying up lots of farmland for preservation, endowing numerous non-profits, and buying my own country store (adjacent to my farm, of course). In the preface to Pills, Petticoats, and Plows, the late state (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Country Store, Crossroad communities, Historic Preservation, Kentucky architecture, Kentucky history, National Register of Historic Places, Vernacular, Warren County
Tags: Bowling Green Kentucky, Country stores, historic tax credits, Houchens, Thomas D. Clark, Warren County Kentucky
I have a confession to make. Although we are in a “new media” age, I remain dedicated to newspapers, and everyday, as I have for years, I read the comics – all of them. I was not expecting the melodramatic and long-running Rex Morgan, M.D. to contain a mention to my profession this morning. Yes, (read more)
The evocative nature of abandoned houses permeated my childhood. I spent countless hours exploring forgotten houses on our farm, spinning stories in my head, and brandishing a dust rag at the curtains of cobwebs. Cleaning, I suppose, was my way to bring order to rooms given over to hay bales and critters. The Internet has (read more)
A true vacation for me, one in which I completely relax, can only be at the beach. I find, though, that I prefer the lazy rhythm of days walking on the sand, swimming, and copious amounts of reading, to occasionally be peppered with a bit of sightseeing. Florida’s forgotten coast, a place I’d never visited (read more)
The American Revolution was not only a political liberation, but a cultural one too – and I think the best way to visualize that cultural revolution is to look at the architecture produced in this country during the 19th century. The classical world was put on a pedestal, and one of the styles to emerge (read more)
My mother remarked earlier this week that Kentucky was experiencing “locust winter.” The recent cold snap has caused me to fret over my tomatoes (safely in containers, so I can cover them up if need be) and wonder when the sun would return. According to the weather forecast, sunshine and warmer temperatures will bless the (read more)
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