El Pasaje

 "The Passage" was constructed from 1886 to 1888 by Vicente Martinez Ybor, and in 1895 became the Cherokee Club--a gathering spot for the elite.  Architects M. Leo Elliot and B. C. Bonfoey are credited with designing the Italian Renaissance Men's Club in 1917 (AIA Tampa Bay).  Elliot was born in 1886 (Social Security Death Index), the year construction started on the building, so it seems safe to say that perhaps Elliot and Bonfoey did some type of remodeling or renovation in 1917.  El Pasaje originally served as the offices for Ybor's companies.  Ybor developed the concept for Ybor City after cigar factories moved to Tampa from Key West.

 Located on the corner of Avenida Republica de Cuba and 9th Avenue, the imposing building is across the street from Ybor City's original cigar factory, and was the second brick building to be constructed in Ybor City.

 Over the years, several restaurants, a hotel, and other businesses have been located in the building.  Among the Cherokee Club's famous guests were Teddy Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, and Winston Churchill.

Original wrought iron balconies on the upper floor and iron finials on the roofline were removed sometime after the 1950s according to the NRHP nomination form for Ybor City Historic District (no author, no date).

Macon's Art Deco Guns and Ammo Store

The c. 1880 building that occupies the corner of S. Jefferson and E. Pulaski retains its original rectangular two-story form, and the front of the brick building has been stuccoed (Barrow, 2001, NRHP nomination form).  Simple Art Deco details have been applied to the front, including the green marble stepped surround on the entrance door, glass block windows on the upper floor, and a floriated pattern on the metal grill above the doorway.

The c. 1880 building to the right was originally retail space on the first floor, with paired display windows under three-light transoms.  The second entrance leads to the upper floor which served as a lodge meeting space (Barrow).  Brick dentil molding is featured over the arched windows, which has now been enclosed.  The building does not appear to be in use, and needs some sprucing up!

Visible to the rear of the building is the former Carter's Funeral Home, c. 1930.  Much of that building has been altered, but it still retains the plain brick pilasters and recessed tablet above the second floor windows.

The prominent corner location and style of the building lead me to believe this was originally a bank.

The corner of S. Jefferson and Pulaski in Macon

c. 1880 building at 300 S. Jefferson Street

Okay, really, ya'll down in Macon--and you know who you are--this should just not be this hard.  And, to spread the blame around, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and National Register of Historic Places, and Google maps, and City of Macon business search, and--oh, wait, this could take a long time.

I never know if it is a blessing or a curse that I am like a dog with a bone when I want to know something and cannot find it.  You see, the problem is that there is no consistency in the world.  Yes, that's right--No consistency!  Every logical rule you think might help you figure out blocks, street addresses, N, S, E, and W--all goes out the window depending on who laid out the town.  I do have to admit that I am far more skilled at it than I used to be, what with discovering how to use MDAH/HRI, newspaper archives for which I pay a pretty penny (that means one of the shiny new ones I guess) but has proved essential in my New Deal research, and has also boosted my hobby related to architectural history.  The ability to connect historical addresses and locations with current Google maps (yeah, another MDAH/HRI assist) has been especially helpful as well.

In desperation, I started looking at the zoom for clues, and that is when I discovered the actual address of the building--which is nothing close to what Google maps says, the address of the building next door says, ad infinitum.  With the correct address, though, it is a short leap to the rest of the story.

Which, really is not much of a story, even after all of this lead in.  I just love buildings with a canted entrance, or corner entrance, or beveled entrance, or whatever anyone elects to call an entrance on the angle.  I love the variation of the posts, pillars, columns, poles that support that corner overhang, whether brick, stone, iron, wood, round, square, or whatever.

This corner building is described in the NRHP nomination form by E. Pauline Barrow (2001):

A painted brick one-story commercial building with a decorative parapet of bricks laid on end vertically forming a denticulated cornice over an indented tablet.  Replacement corner double-leaf entrance doors (NE) having single glass transoms and sidelights, all set in metal and an iron column supporting the beveled corner.  Another engaged iron column separates two round-arched recessed windows, also set in metal.  Lunette windows pierce the north elevation, as well as a second side entrance to a separate business.

While I have no clue as to what they sell or display in that building that I would venture to guess was once a bank or drug store, if you find yourself in Macon, drive by, better yet, stop and look.  And, note to self, next time I am in a city, just make a note of the address while I am standing right there next to it.

Old DeKalb High School

 Sometimes, I have one of those "what were they thinking?" moments.  Like the day I finally located the 1936 DeKalb high school building--no easy thing to do.  R. C. Springer, who was the architect for the 1940 WPA Lynville school just up the road also designed the DeKalb school (Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Historic Resources Inventory).  If it was not annoying enough a covered arcade was erected in front of the building (and, hey, I can understand the need to protect children from the rain while walking between buildings), did they really have to locate two giant dumpsters right in front of the door?

So, here is this lovely venerable building, quite possibly a New Deal construction, with garbage bins blocking its face.  Rodney Dangerfield is not the only one who gets no respect.

The newspaper archives have so far revealed nothing about the school's construction.  The gymnasium for DeKalb was constructed by the National Youth Administration in 1938, and the vocational building, also built in 1936, give clues that the WPA might have been involved in construction. 

One might not realize the rear of the building as belonging to the school, unless you look at the perspective from google aerial maps.  It clearly shows the two rear wings of the one-story school, that jut out over the hill behind the school. 

Weatherford Public Market

 In another one of those structures built under the New Deal Administration still in use today is the Public Market in Weatherford, Texas.  Area farmers came to the courthouse square in Weatherford to sell produce, livestock, seeds, and hay.  Most public squares were used for that purpose, but apparently, it was starting to get congested around the area, and made for difficulty with traffic.

Russell Lee, 1939, Farm Security Administration, retrieved from Library of Congress

The 100 x 150 foot Mission Style open air market, constructed a couple of blocks from the square, was completed in 1940 with WPA funding.

The new market is entirely fireproof, constructed of heavy pipe welded in position with corrugated metal roof and tile stucco front...floor is concrete, the building is open on all sides, and roll awnings give sun protection. (Weatherford builds a $13,000 public market place, Wise County Messenger, September 19, 1940, p. 7)

 Yesterday, it was filled with fall produce, flowers, jams and jellies, and about any other food item and more.  It is still serving the same purpose as when it was constructed in 1940.  You just gotta love that.

Good Saturday morning from the Terrell, Texas Waldorf Astoria/Ritz/Plaza

No, this building is neither the Salvation Army nor any of the hotels mentioned above.  It is the other side of the Municipal Building in Tampa, Florida.  I, however, am in the Holdiay Inn Express in Terrell, Texas, awake--though not of my own free will--on Saturday morning since 6 a.m.  A few days ago while I was in Tampa, I spotted this intriguing building on my walk to dinner one evening.  I posted about the other side of the building on Red Shutters.  I did not realize when I was taking this picture, as it came first, that this was part of the municipal building--which looks different on the other side.

I noticed the little glass sculptures on the face of the wall, and thought they were just some type of abstract bird.

I confess to not being totally sure of their purpose as they were not particularly visible, and seemed small for the massive scale of the building. (Note, the massiveness of the scale of HIE here in Terrell pales in contrast, but I will get to that.)

The bits of marble in front of the building are all that is left from the "first sidewalk in Tampa."  Apparently, marble was more plentiful than other sidewalk materials, or perhaps just that we had not considered other materials at that time.  If one thinks about it, though, walking around on marble slabs does seem to be a bit elitist in the use of resources.  Archibald Ross, Scotland native, was on the Tampa City Council.  He paved the walk around his bakery located on this spot in 1888, with Georgia marble.  Interesting, Mr. Ross was know as "the poor man's friend" and as this was the first paved sidewalk in Tampa, perhaps that was true--and he also wanted folks to be able to walk into his bakery without muddy shoes would be my next guess. (Historic Marker, visible in the marble marker this side of the steps).

The City of Tampa and the Tampa Historical Society preserved the remains of the sidewalk on the corner of the location of Ross's business.

It was not until I was walking back to the hotel after dinner that I realized the significance of the little glass "birds" on the wall.  While almost non-existent by day, at dark, they reveal another picture.

Without a tripod, there was not any way to really capture the stunning display, and its evocative of releasing birds in flight--I'm think Bird of Paradise.

Now, about that unplanned stay last night at the Terrell WARP:  I left Jackson yesterday at noon, following giving a presentation on ethics.  I spent the night in Flowood, in the Holiday Inn Express, for the rate of $114 + tax.  It was a nice room, in a nice hotel in a nice area.  I left Flowood at noon, planning to drive to my folks home, which typically would be a 9 hour drive.

I forgot it was noon, and I had to have gas, was not on the Interstate, took the wrong exit, had to drive through Fondren to get back to the Interstate, get past downtown Jackson, and finally an hour later, was in Clinton and gassed up and stopped at Starbucks.  I stopped in Monroe for food, and while I normally just eat on the run while I am making that long trek, I was tired, stiff, in pain, and opted to sit down for a short break at the deli...only there is no sign when you enter Monroe that directs you to the fact that if you plan to go to the mall from the Interstate, you had best take that first exit, or otherwise, you are going to drive past the mall, exit, backtrack, go down a back road, probably make a couple of wrong turns, and eventually find yourself where you want to be in the event you have not gotten impatient and said forget it.

There went another hour.  Long before Shreveport, I needed a pit stop due to the quart of McAlister's unsweet tea, but I was determined to make Shreveport.  I did, gassed up the car, took a pit stop, and back on the road.  It's six hours from Shreveport to home, and I really thought I would be in Dallas by 6 pm and it is now 5:30 and I am 3 hours from Dallas.  I finally made it to Terrell where I opted to stop for the night.  Spotting the Holiday Inn Express, which is slightly off the Interstate, and an interior hotel, I pulled up to get a room...and find out it is $169 + tax.  I asked, "What in the world is going on in Terrell that the rooms are 169?"  Canton First Monday is this weekend...gigantic new mall opening this weekend...the Army is in town for something.  I did not care--I was tired, in pain, and I generally am confident that HIE, while not the Tampa Hilton in terms of luxury service (not that it is required for me, just noting the distinction), is a safe, clean, and adequate space in which to spend the night when I am traveling alone.

It was.  I slept like the proverbial "baby" or "log" and awoke this morning at 6.  I was not sleepy, but did not feel any urgency to arise.  It was comfortable, I wasn't in pain, and it was quiet and relaxing.  I laid there a while, trying to decide if I did want to doze off again, get up and get an early start, or just have coffee in bed.  Then the alarm on the room alarm clock began a piercing screech, I could not reach it or see the off button, and by the time I finally found it, I was wide awake.  I hate the sound of an alarm--which is why I use my harp alarm on my iPhone.  In the rare event that I do not awaken on time on my own, it at least does not jar me from sleep thinking the garbage truck is backing into my bed.  I wondered if it was a ploy by the hotel to get you up and out of the room so they could be cleaned.  Manager to housekeeping every Friday: "now don't forget to set the alarm for 6:30 so they won't lollygag all Saturday morning."

So, after coffee and scones, and watching the sun come up in the east outside my window, I am now both relaxed and wide awake, and ready to hit the shower and then the remaining 4 or so hours home.  Mom and Dad will probably still be asleep when I get there.

Poe Plaza

 William F. Poe Plaza, a bricked walkway that connects 2 blocks, is a pleasant and shaded walkway between highrises.  A fountain breaks the monotony of the brick walkway, and variations in terracing provide contrast.  Poe was mayor of Tampa from 1974 to 1979, and initiated improvements in downtown Tampa during his tenure.

 Although it was relatively quiet on Friday evening, Saturday it was filled with adolescents skateboarding, flipping off the walls enclosing the fountain and other spaces, and sliding down handrails.  I thought the fascination with that sort of "sport" ended years ago, but clearly not.

Apparently, McKay's contributions as mayor of Tampa may have sparked the impetus for Mayor Poe's namesake, Poe Plaza, being located on this site.