Losing hope

 Tampa will be a shining city on the sea with no visible history if our city leaders have anything to say about it.  It has been over two years since I have posted to this blog and over those two years I have seen a sharp increase in demolition throughout the city's urban core.  This trend is now branching out into the rest of the city. Let me tick off a few items.  After a prolonged fight that made me feel hopeful about the future of preservation in this city, we only have a few weeks until the Bro Bowl will be demolished.  Jeff Vinik's vision for the development of the South Downtown waterfront is moving forward at full speed.  This development led to the quiet and speedy demolition of the last remaining single family houses in downtown Tampa.  I will write about these houses more in a future post.  As developers tear down houses, sales skyrocket.  I fear, no I know, we are staring at another housing bubble in this market.  A friend of mine has meticulously started documenting all of the tear downs in the South Tampa area, where the tear down development bug has reached a fever pitch.  Perfectly good homes are being bought by developers with deep pockets days after listing or with no listing at all, only to be torn down within days for spec houses with sales prices almost three times that of the previous sales price.  It only costs $100 for a demolition permit and even if the house is over 50 years old the historic preservation permitting process is not slowing down developers.  And a new threat to our historic urban core, its historic building,s and affordable housing, has emerged in the form of FDOT's Tampa Express Lane's project.  The downtown portion of the project is estimated at over $1.8 BILLION, yes BILLION!  This is over half of the entire projected $3.3 Billion cost of the countywide express lane project.  So much to discuss, friends.  I'm back on the blogging scene!

The Bro Bowl is a preservation first in Tampa!

After almost 3 hours of passionate pleas and speeches from both sides of the Bro Bowl preservation battle, the City of Tampa's Historic Preservation Commission voted 4-2 to recommend the Bro Bowl for historic status!  Shannon Bruffett, the man who submitted the historic preservation application for the bowl made a powerful and fact heavy plea for the bowl that I believe resonated heavily with the commission.  You could see it in their faces that the commission was truly dealing with something unique here.  But something truly significant has been lost in the reporting of this story.  If the Bro Bowl receives historic designation it would be the first such structure in Tampa to do so before it reaches the 50 year threshold. This could open up a whole new dialog for the preservation of buildings and structures from the recent past.

Sign for the City's Parks "Department" office in Lowry Park (photo provided by Mr. Jake Tremper

After the end of the public comment portion there was almost dead silence as the commissioners looked at each other wondering what to do next.  Members of the commission openly discussed how he was conflicted with the task that was put before him.  Opposition came from both the City, the Tampa Housing Authority, the local skating community and historian Fred Hearns.  I was wondering why the individuals who fought so hard just to get a skating into the plans for the redeveloped Perry Harvey park were opposed to historic status for the bowl.  Is it because they are under the impression that if the bowl stays, then their newly designed skate park will be ripped from the plans?  Fred Hearns, who was a member of the original design committee, made it clear that if the Bro Bowl is designated historic then it is back to the drawing board to replan the park.  A representative from the City Parks Department showed plans from FDOT for a future widening of Orange Avenue that would cut into the bro bowl.  But a representative from FDOT was later called up and she explained that those plans were 15 years old and that there hasn't been any funding for the widening of Orange Ave and these changes are not slated for the future.  Shannon Bruffett and the other supporters of the historic designation made an impassioned case showing that the Bro Bowl was one of 3 bowls from the 1970s left in existence, with the Bro Bowl being the only one unaltered.  Ultimately the facts spoke for themselves, and there was no good reason why the Bro Bowl couldn't be recommended for historic status.  Now onto the next stage!

It's too late to bury the bowl

In St. Petersburg the battle over the Pier continues to boil, with the bumper stickers, yard signs and social media pages battling for the hearts and minds of the city and its politicians.  Over here, on the other side of the bay, its been years since we have seen any preservation fights as big or controversial as the Pier / Lens fight.  The fight to preserve the Tampa Gas Company tower in 1993 was one of Tampa's largest and bitterest preservation fights.  2006 was also a rather big year with citizens waging a similar battle to get the City Council to vote against demolition of the Maas Brothers building.  That same year marked start of a battle over a city park, more precisely a skate park.  Today the fight over the Perry Harvey, Sr. Park "skate park", more affectionately known as the Bro Bowl has been resurrected. 

Plans to redevelop Perry Harvey Park, where the bowl resides, have set on the shelf for almost 6 years until the City finally received the funding last year to go ahead with the redevelopment.  Back in 2005 / 2006 when the redevelopment of the former Central Park Village and the adjacent Perry Harvey Park first started taking shape, there were no plans for the skate bowl or a skate park.  Local skateboarders came out to park planning meetings in droves hoping to save the Bro Bowl and eventually winning a bigger and more modern park at the far Northern corner of the park, out of sight.  Tomorrow the Bro Bowl gets one last chance for life.  A group called the "Skateboarding Heritage Foundation", out of Delray Beach, FL, has put forth a request to get the Bro Bowl on the National Historic Register.  While not necessarily a saving grace, it is a necessary to step to achieving local landmark status which would preserve the bowl.

The Bro Bowl's only issue is age and desire.  Built in 1978, the bowl is only 34 years old (one year older than me).  It's 16 years shy of the National Historic Registers eligibility of 50 years old.  However, a structure can overcome this by conveying extraordinary historical significance. The bowl is one of the first original purpose built skate bowls in the country.  I posted a documentary that was made about the Bro Bowl a few years ago (http://tampaniatampa.blogspot.com/2011/11/bro-bowl-doc.html) it gives a pretty good overview of the history of the bowl.  While over a thousand people have signed the Skateboarding Heritage Foundation's petition on Change.org, https://www.change.org/organizations/skateboardingheritage.  Many others are happy to see the Bro Bowl die.  Rob Meronek of the Skatepark of Tampa posted this entry on the Skatepark's website today stating his desires, along with some pictures of the design of the new skatepark to built on the Northern end of the site: http://skateparkoftampa.com/spot/a.aspx?ID=1948.  I doubt members of the original park advisory are happy about this either.  The Pam Iorio appointed committee, which is made up of descendants and family members of the owners of businesses from the historic Central Avenue black business district, gave their opinion on the matter years ago.  I agree that this historic and tragically demolished district should get the full recognition it deserves.

The former Tampa Gas Company building, demolished amid controversy in 1993.

However, I cannot see any reason for the City to completely erase the one bright spot out of the tragic urban renewal program of the 1960s.  If it was a choice between the Bro Bowl and the new skate park, then I could see a reason to let the Bro Bowl go.  But, looking at some of the few published plans for the park redevelopment online (see picture at top), it seems to me that once the bowl is demolished the area will just become a plot of grass and bushes.  I know I'm coming to the fight pretty late in the game here, call it me a Monday morning (or late night) quarterback if you will.  But what is the harm of keeping the bowl?  Are we destined to keep falling into the same preservation trap, allowing something to be destroyed only to have nothing of value put back in its place.  The sites of the Tampa Gas Company building and Maas Brothers sat vacant for years after demolition.  The Maas Brothers site eventually became a parking lot. It would seem like a slap in the face for the city to demolish the Bro Bowl, claiming it as an eyesore that doesn't fit the historic context of the redeveloped park.  Only to have them sod over the site and erect a plaque.  Why waste more of our money?  Let the Bro Bowl stay.

How does Tampa stack in U.S. parking stats?

A recent infographic has been circulating the interwebs that clearly compares parking requirements across major US cities, http://graphingparking.wordpress.com/.  Tampa is unfortunately one of the few cities on the list to boast a minimum number of required spaces for offices built within the central business district.  No wonder our downtown is awash with surface parking lots.  It is nice to see all four of the major Florida metros represented for a intra-state comparison.  Tampa is the worst of the four in office vs. parking space, third in dining vs. parking, and shown as first in residential vs. parking.  However the residential space graphic makes it appear as though Miami has a flat across the board requirement for residential parking spaces, while Tampa sets different standards for spaces allotted based on the number of bedrooms.

 

The City of Tampa boasts on its website that it is responsible for "11,372 off-street spaces and 2,097 on-street spaces" (numbers vary depending on which part of the city website you land on).  Searching through the City's code (linked to through the graphing parking website) I see that the only entity not beholden to parking requirements are restaurants located within Downtown's central core.  How generous our City fathers are.  If our city is densify and become a more pedestrian friendly place it is time that we really start to examine our parking requirements and make some changes to reflect our ideals.

Looking from the top of one parking garage to another in downtown Tampa.  A rare scene.

Now, if someone could devote the time to creating a similar infographic that shows the proportion of surface parking to vertical parking in the city, that would be much appreciated.

Purity Springs

Literally a stones throw from Tampa's most ubiquitous spring, Sulphur Springs, is little Purity Springs. Unheralded, it sits in between a housing development and North River Shore Drive, the head is about 50 or 60 yards from the river.   The Spring pool is small, only about 7 or 8 yards across and about 3 feet deep, but its waters are still a clear, deep aquamarine blue.  The edge of the spring is lined with what appear to be limestone border rocks.  Its flow is directed to the river through a channel under the road.  It is perhaps one of the most accessible springs in the city.  On a warm afternoon you will undoubtedly see a few neighborhood children splashing around in its fairly clear waters, when it isn't occupied by ducks, chickens or other birds.

View North from River Shore Drive, the water flows right under me and the road down to the River.

The decline in quality of Florida's springs has become increasingly apparent over the past couple of years.  Many of the states wonders have either stopped flowing or have had their clear blue waters clouded by polluted run-off, see the Tampa Bay Times recent look at our vanishing springs.  Springs were the states first tourist attractions.  The neighborhood of Sulphur Springs, though now in decline, with its tower, gazebo and large dog track would not exist if it weren't for Sulphur Springs.

Help InVision Hillsborough and Nebraska Avenues

The InVision Tampa ideas page is now taking up suggestions for possible changes and tweeks to the Nebraska and Hillsborough Avenue corridors as the second phase of the InVision Tampa Study.  I've already added one idea to the Hillsborough Avenue ideas page.

Over two years ago now (wow time flies!) I did a post on the old Sears department store building at Hillsborough and 22nd Street, now the home of Hi-Tech Erwin Technical School.  The Sears building is just one of many mid-century modern commercial / retail buildings along Hillsborough Avenue, which was becoming a major shopping and commercial corridor in the 1950s and 1960s.  My idea is that these gems should be revitalized and highlighted to help promote a cleanup and redevelopment of the corridor.   The North Biscayne Boulevard in Miami looked similar to Hillsborough Avenue, full of run down mid-century travel motels and shopping strips.  But at the beginning of the century, local historians and citizens began to push for a revitilization of the blighted area, and the Biscayne Boulevard Historic District was born.  Many of the seedy rundown motor lodges were bought and refurbished to highlight their mid-century style, becoming boutique hotels.  And many of the run down and vacant strip centers now host new tenants, many catering to the history of the area.  I'm not saying Hillsborough Avenue should follow the same model, but I think Tampa can take a few pointers from the Biscayne Boulevard revival to help reshape the Hillsborough, Nebraska and Florida corridors.

Please visit my Hillsborough Avenue idea page and second the idea if you like it.  Or you can create an account for the InVision ideas site and post your own suggestions.  If you don't speak up, your ideas will never be heard.

The City of Tampa's "Out of the Archives"

I just have to highlight the new "Out of the Archives" show created by the City of Tampa's Archives  Department.  It's hosted and produced by Tampania's good friend Jennifer Dietz, the City of Tampa's Archives and Records Manager.  Jen helped facilitate a lot of the hard research done for this blog in her former post as Librarian at the Tampa Bay History Center's research library.  In the innaugural episode of "Out of the Archives", Jen highlights a 16mm, Tampa Chamber of Commerce produced film from the 1950's entitled "Flower of Tampa".  The film highlights the City's world renowned Cigar industry at a time when cigar smoking was on the decline due to the prevelance of the cheaper, machine-made cigarette.  The film also highlights the beauty of Tampa and the rich cultural assets of the area.  The main subject of the film is Rick, the prodigal nephew of long time Tampa cigar maker, Uncle Manuel.  Young Ricky is played by Tampa actor Joe Russo, whom Jen gets to interview for her show, looking good Joe!



The coolest thing about the "Out of the Archives" video is that it is a film that highlights a film which itself is highlighting another earlier film.  At the beginning of the movie Uncle Manuel lights up a cigar for young Ricky and then shows him a film entitled "From leaf to lip" about tobacco harvesting in Cuba.  And surprise, surprise, one of the stars of this documentary is none other than Uncle Manuel himself. 

I look forward to seeing what else comes out of the archives in future installments and hope you will too.  Great job, Jen!

100 West Kennedy

News came this week that the Mercantile Bank building in Tampa will be refurbished as an Aloft hotel.  The building at 100 West Kennedy has been abandoned since 2007, when it was slated for demolition to make way for an ambitious 50 story slender condo building.  The 9 story structure is a great example of international style modernism in Tampa.  The building is all right angles, when viewed from the East or West it almost looks like a rectangular building that swallowed a small square building.   The East and West facing sides of the building are made mostly of glass, with a metal and translucent panel sun screen.  Although, concrete still dominates the structure.  Brick vaneer covers the North and South facades of the building.

Rendering featured on the Tampa Bay Business Journal

The renderings of the hotel after renovation show very little change to the physical appearance.  The articles and news pieces of seen speak more to major renovations happening inside, as I'm sure it will take alot of change to turn this 1960s office building into a hotel.  It looks like the sun screens will be altered into a more playful mass of vertical rectangles and an addition will be added to the roof.  A modern portico will be added to the front and a pool will be added tot he back terrace.

Later I will be looking at how this building was part of Tampa's mid-century modern riverfront.

Sulphur Springs Tourist Club / Harbor Club

I don't know how I missed posting about this one!  I became obsessed with the run down Harbor Club building at the corner of Nebraska Avenue and the Hillsborough River about a year ago when a friend and I went exploring around the place.  I knew it was an old building.  I knew it had been a restaurant at one point.  And I also had some friends that said their bands had played there or that they had seen bands play there in the late 90s. While the building is in pretty poor shape, one thing really stood out to me... THERE ARE SHUFFLEBOARD COURTS HERE!
 

The pink streets of West Shore, or is it Westshore?

West Shore or Westshore?

As I mentioned in my previous post I recently bought a house, it is in Northeast Seminole Heights.  Around the same time my work also moved its headquarters from West Tampa to the Westshore area at the end of Cypress Street.  So my world and my commute have changed pretty drastically, considering that I had lived in Hyde Park and had an easy 2 mile commute to West Tampa for the past 5 years.  I never really spent much time in Westshore or Seminole Heights before this so even though I thought I knew the city pretty well, I'm still finding new and interesting things to investigate.

The first that comes to mind, is the proper spelling of the neighborhood really "Westshore"? even though the street that it is named after is really spelled as two seperate words "West Shore"?  Even Google Maps spells it as one word!  Could this be as contentious as the whole La Setima / La Septima Seventh Avenue debate?

Pink streets in Tampa? Corner of Trask and North A

The second thing I hope to look into is the possibility of the existence of pink streets in the Westshore area.  While driving through the neighborhood along North A and North B just East of the mall I noticed that many of the curbs and the shoulder of many of the roads and even some of the sidewalks were a faded pink color.  The street was probably originally concrete or slab formed.  The streets of the are have since been repaved with asphalt, but only about a foot to the curb.  The pink curbs and sidewalks are spotty, the area photographed above is probably one of the longer stretches, most areas are patched with regular colored concrete curbs.  I immediately thought of the pink streets of St. Petersburg's Pinellas Point neigborhood (shown below). 

Originally platted as Hanan Park, the area around Trask and North A and North B streets was developed during the boom of the early 1920s, although the area has changed drastically since then some of the original houses and buildings from the 20s are still standing.  Were pink streets a thing back then or was this just a local phenomenon?

The pink streets of St. Petersburg's Pinellas Point, courtesy Google Earth

 

In the near future I intend to highlight a few Seminole Height area features that have caught my eye.

Fall events / news

I'd apologize for the absence, but I bought a house so better things were afoot than tending to this blog!  Anyway thought I'd share some upcoming interesting-ness and things to look out for:

- Though not in Tampa, some alarming news on the preservation front in Tampa Bay this week.  The Belleview Biltmore future is looking shaky once again and hints that one of my favorite buildings in downtown St. Pete, the beautiful historic yet abandoned YMCA, may be facing a similar battle or worse fate.

- The Florida Conversations series will start up again at the Tampa Bay History Center on Thursday, October 18th at 6:30 p.m. with a look at Key West http://www.tampabayhistorycenter.org/flaconversations.html. (Don't worry next month they'll be back on a local topic - Hyde Park).  This is usually a monthly event that ceases for the summer.

Events

There are a few events coming up this month that may be of interest to Tampania followers:

May 6 - Tampa Library Road Show makes a stop at the Seminole Heights Library http://thplhistoryroadshow.blogspot.com/2012/04/seminole-heights-branch-library-history.html

May 10 - Bill Belleville closes out this years Florida Conversations series discussing his book "Salvaging the Real Florida: Lost and Found in the State of Dreams"  http://www.tampabayhistorycenter.org/flaconversations.html

May 12 - National Train Day at the Tampa Union Station http://floridacoalitionofrailpassengers.memberlodge.com/Default.aspx?pageId=315709&eventId=427120&EventViewMode=EventDetails


Starting June 3 - Tampa Theatre's Summer Classics Series - kicking off with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, this years summer classic series features Planet of the Apes, Shaft, Edward Scissorhands and Alfred Hitchcock's silent film Lodger.  http://tampatheatre.org/event-descriptions-and-coming-attractions/

I doubt I'll be able to catch them all, but you should.  If you know of any other history related events going on let me know!

Greetings from a Tampa Park

Postcard mailed May 1963, the back reads"Tony Jannus Park showing skyline of Tampa, Florida in background"

Two weeks ago, I managed to make some room in my Sunday for a visit to the Floridiana Festival and Highwayman Art Show at the Palladium in St. Petersburg.  I have never been before and had heard good things about it in the past.  I must admit I was a little disappointed; very few vendors, cramped space, and  don't get me started on the lectures about Hawaiian Shirts!  However, it was great to see that there is enough enthusiasm for vintage Florida ephemera that something like this can take place.   I did happen to walk away with a few small nick-knacks and the postcard shown above was one of them.  I was immediately drawn to it.  Postcards of skylines are commonplace, however this one focuses on Tony Jannus Park, located along the Hillsborough River at the Northeast corner of Platt and Bayshore.  You can see the beginnings of Platt Street bridge ballustrade in the lower right.  The sign in the middle says:

TONY JANNUS PARK

SPONSORED BY

City of Tampa

Tampa Federation of Garden Club Circles

Hillsborough County Aviation Authority

Dedicated July 4th, 1955

Tony Jannus Park remains the sad younger sister to Tampa's crown jewel, Bayshore Boulevard.  In the 60s the Borein bridge was built along the North end of park, increasing traffic flow and speed around the park, with very little thought to pedestrian flow and access.  Later on the Crosstown Expressway was built over the park, casting a shadow over the North half.

Tony Jannus Park aerial view 1957 (PALMM FCLA)

Tony Jannus Park today (Google Earth)

The (De?)Evolution of the Shuffle in Tampa

I was inspired by my recent first visit to the beautiful St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Courts and Visual Ephemera's recent postings on Florida's vanishing shuffleboard courts to go in search of Tampa's remaining public shuffleboard courts.  The only court I knew of in Tampa is a well-maintained set of courts at MacFarlane Park in West Tampa.

However, I found out that the reason these courts are so nice is due to the fact they were built around 2001 when the city built a new senior center at the park, furthering the stereotypical association is between senior citizens and shuffleboard is still going strong.

Trolling through the trusty ol' Burgert Bros. Collection I typed in "Shuffleboard" and found that a few more had existed.  The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Complex on Oregon was actually a municipal trailer park during the depression era.  The original administration building is still in use and behind it sits a set of 5 deteriorating courts, I can only assume that these were the original courts in the picture below.

A few blocks away over on Howard Avenue the scene at Rey park is very different.  With help from the WPA the city built a beautiful park complete with a small bandshell, tennis court and shuffleboard court.

Demolition of 1211 N. Tampa

Well, I am beginning to wonder if I should continue doing posts highlighting abandoned buildings.  Back in August I posted about a cute little 3-story building at 1211 N. Tampa Street.  It is my sad duty to report that after Thanksgiving crews rolled in and started slowly chipping away at the brick facade, it was truly a Black Friday.

Friday, November 25

Saturday, November 26

Saturday, November 26

Monday, November 28

Bro Bowl Doc

There is a documentary about the Bro Bowl that was made a year or two ago, it finally got posted on the You Tube's so I thought I would share it here.  The legendary skateboard "bowl", built by the City of Tampa's Parks & Rec Dept. at Perry Harvey Sr. Park.  The bowl is still standing, but for how long?  Good little doc. featuring historic footage, interviews with locals, celebs and featuring music from some awesome local bands!  Enjoy!

Re/Creating Tampa: 101 Ideas for a Better City

David Davisson over at Re/Creating Tampa has been diligently blogging for the past 2 years or so.  His blog is like a feed providing highlights from the Tampa blogosphere and sharing random thoughts, interestingness and ideas from non-Tampa media.  And yes, occasionally this blog makes the cut!  I have never seen a more thorough directory of Tampa related blogs, as the one provided on the margin of Re/Creating Tampa.  Well, now you can peruse Re/Creating Tampa, the book "Re/Creating Tampa: 101 Ideas for a Better City".  The book is chock full with ideas (101 to be exact) to help make Tampa a better place.  From the obvious (#8 Increase the population density) to the creative (#56 Human-Powered Carnival Rides in Public Parks) the list starts off strong addressing one of my favorite topics, the annoyance of overbearing Historic Districts (#1 Innovative Neighborhood Designations).  Another gem and the one that probably embodies the essence of the term "Re/Creating Tampa", #91 Return mutual aid societies.

Thank you David for giving us some food for thought!  

So, check it out already!

Kress building

Kress in late 2010 when the plywood came off the windows.

I recently did a post for Creative Loafing's Daily Loaf blog regarding the recent happenings, or non-happenings, at the Kress building in downtown Tampa.  You can read the post here.  While public safety is of the utmost importance in planning events and permitting events, bringing a long vacant early 20th century building up to today's fire and life safety codes is a long and expensive process.  The owners of the Kress building and the City of Tampa have been caught up in a preservation / development battle that is going on 5 years now.  The battle started after the loss of the historic Gary school to neglect.  After that event the city turned its eye to other threatened landmarks and the former Kress department store downtown was #1 on the list.  Below is a list of links that provides a rudimentary timeline of major events over the past 4 years:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/metro/2008/sep/11/me-city-urged-to-fix-kress-building-ar-125793/

http://www2.tbo.com/news/metro/2009/oct/08/na-repairs-being-made-at-kress-building-ar-66226/

http://www2.tbo.com/news/metro/2010/aug/23/na-the-cost-of-keeping-facades-ar-37501/ 

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/story/owners-of-woolworth-and-newberry-buildings-back-mulhern-challenger/

I should be providing a few more posts for Creative Loafing.  I'll be focusing on local architecture and related events, so stay tuned.

Davis Medical Building

When looking at Davis Islands it can seem a strange phenomena, part residential neighborhood and part medical complex with an airport at the tip.  I recently discovered that the islands were intended by the city in the 1920s to become parkland.  Then Davis came in with his million dollar idea to turn most of the island into a residential development.  The land at the North end of the islands, North of the bridge was set aside for Tampa's municipal hospital, the City took the Southern tip and land along the channel.  The development of Davis Islands really occured in 2 phases.  Phase 1 was the initial development that occurred in the 1920s.  Only the middle section of the island was used for this development with the building of numerous apartment buildings and a few commercial buildings.  But when the Florida real estate market collapsed in the late 20s development and property sales on the islands ground to a halt.  Phase 2 occured in the 1950s with the post-war boom.  During this time an annex was built at Tampa General Hospital.  Developers gobbled up the scores of lots that were left vacant after the bust and began building new homes.  Along with the hospital expansion in the 1950s medical offices were built on the island, mostly 1 Davis Boulevard and 17 Davis Boulevard.

1 Davis Boulevard is one of my favorite modern structures in Tampa.  You drive across the bridge and this building sits there greeting you.  It may seem outdated, but really it is a gem!  Designed by Tampa's own Mark Hampton, part of the Sarasota School of Architecture.  The Davis Medical Building, built in 1958, must have been an interesting sight for residents used to the Spanish Mediterranean style prevalent throughout the island.  The building is a box 7 stories tall, the 2nd through 7th floors appear as a perfect square elevated above the ground on concrete columns.  The 1960 edition of the Florida Architect mentions that the blue tiled "boxes" on the ground floor house the mechanical functions and operational offices for the building.  These elements do not extend the full height of the ground floor, but stop a few feet below the Second level.  Plates of glass fill the gap and enclose the lobby, furthering the feeling of an open area below the box.  One of the most interesting details is the fact that the East and West facades are covered in sand colored gravel the surrounding sidewalk area of the lot is also covered in the same material, although it has been heavily worn away.  Typical of the modern era the North and South walls are filled with windows that are shaded by concrete overhangs.  The East and West walls have fewer windows clustered towards the middle of the building, they also sport the same overhangs but sunshades are placed over them, these elements carry a distinctively mid-century pattern.

Burgert Bros. aerial view of Norther tip of Davis Island, Davis Medical Building is seen at the top left (1959)

Crane Co. Demolition

Demolition of the 1925 Crane Company building in Channelside began in mid-September.  I tried to photograph the progress, you can see my efforts below.  While the building was given a generous remodel in 2000, the fate of this building was sealed during the boom.  The site was designated for a development called the Martin.  It appears that much of the material from the building is going to be salvaged.

September 15, 2011