The second one has not pleased me as well as the first one. It has plopped over in this picture, and shows no signs of blooming. It has since stood back up, but will probably flop over again sometime soon. It has flopped over before and then risen again, so I am not sure what is wrong with it.
Yes, it's hard to believe, but Pumpkinland does exist. It's in Morton, Illinois, which is sadly succumbing to suburbanization.
Sliced off from its neighborhood, buffeted by an interstate, this Franciscan monastery continues on in the shadow of the massive government office buildings of Federal Center Southwest.
What is cool is how the church received a Modernist makeoever, with this stylish railing that leads around the property.
In back, this funky Modernist chapel completes the ensemble of buildings that still houses friars.
See it from the air here; the parking lot features "Thou Shalt Not Park Here."
Oddly enough, once all the historic 19th Century rowhouses had been swept aside, they proceeded to build these new ones in their place.
While I'm not a huge fan of the design, Southwest could have used more of these streets during the rebuilt, considering how much of the area is dominated by large apartment buildings.
The Southwest Freeway was one of the few legs of what would have been a giant, destructive double loop of interstates planned for Washington, DC. Thankfully, the interstates were stopped before any more damage could be done.
Sadly, it was too late to salvage the connectivity of Southwest to the rest of the city; the area remains isolated and largely out of the public consciousness of the city.
See its and its mate, the Southeast Freeway, from the air here.
This failed mall on the riverfront in Southwest appears to have been largely demolished for redevelopment.
It was a total failure, but what was cool is that it was suspended in the 1960's, complete with its sole remaining tenant, a cheap restaurant with harvest orange dining benches.
The Brutalist apartment blocks lining the area still survive.
The architects who rebuilt Southwest DC designed everything, including new churches.
The Arena Stage, so-named because
After the clearance of thousands of rowhouses and viable corner businesses, the modernists came in and built their apartment towers in the their place. Erasing the grid and creating superblocks, the oldest portion of DC, the waterfront of Southwest, began to transform into a whole other world. See the buildings, great examples of the many Modernist apartment buildings from the air here.
I have to admit, I hated Southwest when I lived in DC, but now it has a strange sort of mid-century funkiness to it that I now like. Now don't get me wrong, the area is still dead and lifeless 24/7, but the architecture has grown on me.
Imagine an entire neighborhood, strong but a little worn on the edges, completely demolished for what would become an outdoor Modernist architectural workshop. It exists, in the smallest and least explored quadrant of Washington, DC. We'll look at the vision of the 1960's and 1970's, when a blank slate became a real, new and totally different neighborhood.
Crossing underneath the railroad viaduct to the Southwest quadrant of Washington, DC, the visitor enters another world. See more of this huge example of urban renewal in the next week.
Many a time I would be looking for a cab out in front of Union Station and I would be accosted by gypsy cab drivers instead. Hey, they are cheaper, but you have to give them directions the whole way home.
I have more memories of this loggia shrouded in darkness, as I waited for the bus to take me home at 2:00 AM.
