Travel Postcards: Pittsburgh, Santa Barbara, and Catskills

In the last month, I went to Pittsburgh twice, zipped west to California, and drove up to the Catskill mountains. More on Philly soon. Meantime, here are some postcards from my travels.

Clayton, Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA. Photo by The Preservator

In Pittsburgh I visited Clayton, the centerpiece of the Frick Art & Historical Center - a Victorian jewel built for Henry Clay Frick.  History does not recall Frick kindly as an industrialist. (Recall the blood shed on his orders during the Homestead Steel strike in 1892.)  But, Frick is well-regarded for his vast art collection and as a museum benefactor. At home, Frick was a man of style. Clayton, is a delightful Victorian pile in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The house is a museum with original furnishings and objects intact and offers a portrait of how swells like the Fricks lived in Pittsburgh. Beautiful gardens, a really good cafe, and a free museum round out the five-acre complex.

Santa Barbara, California. Photo by The Preservator

 Oh, California. Land of my youth! It was a quick visit for a family occasion, but I still managed to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean and watch dolphins playing near the shore. I stand by my conviction that the Pacific is superior to the Atlantic. Sorry.

Photo by The Preservator

Palms to pines. This is the lake in the Catskills where my grandmother lives. It's the most beautiful place I know.

Hot Links - Weekend Edition

Repairing / Remodeling - Bainbridge and South Reese St, Philadelphia. Photo by The Preservator

Hot Links:
Philadelphia Inquirer building is up for sale (again). [Philly.com]
Bart Blatstein's trashy manners [DailyNews]
SEPTA launches TransitView, for real-time bus and trolley info [TechnicallyPhilly.com]
Changing Skyline History vs. Highrises: An Urban Debate [Inquirer]


This weekend:
Philly Beer Week kicks off today - some picks via PhillyHomegrown [HomegrownBlog]
The Roots Picnic 6/4 at Festival Pier[okayplayer]
Philadelphia Burger Brawl benefit for William M. Meredith Elementary School [facebook]
New farmers market opens this 6/5 in Pennsport's Dickenson Square Park [uwishunu]

Photo Friday: Race Street Pier

I popped over to the newly opened Race Street Pier yesterday. Despite the heat, there were several people there enjoying the new park: a couple of people camped out on the new wood benches in the shade of relatively mature swamp oak trees, a few parked on the steps, and two guys were fishing off the end of the pier.

Field Operations' design succeeds in creating a wide variety of spaces, heights, and textures that are a pleasure to discover along the length of the pier. The trees are already relatively mature, and with time will make the park a cool, leafy landscape along the water. Access to the new park space is easy, though it feels a little lonely in its current setting. Here's hoping it will be connected to more public improvements along the Delaware River in short order.

Maybe it was yesterday's heat, but I couldn't help but think that an ice cream stand would be an fantastic addition at the park's entry.

Enjoy the long weekend, everyone.

Photo Friday: Brooklyn City Hall + Goodbye to All That/Farewell to the Enchanted City*

Palen Postcard, Brooklyn City Hall.

Dear Brooklyn,

Thank you for being The Preservator's home base for the last couple of years. I know you won't take it personally when I tell you that we're leaving you for the friendly embrace of the great City of Philadelphia. You are a beautiful place to live and we will treasure memories of your gorgeous brownstones, awesome parks, and wild residents. We leave you in good hands. You won't even notice we're gone. Meantime, we are excited to get to know what's become of William Penn's Greene Country Towne.

Stay tuned for dispatches from a bit further south, maybe even a new format. Who knows what the move will inspire. We are all works in progress.

Yours,
The Preservator

*Goodbye To All That, by Joan Didion - not exactly my feelings, but worth the (re)visit
(also note - this is what the internet looked like in 1997!)

Photo Friday: Custom House Sunset

Cass Gilbert's U.S. Custom House, Bowling Green, NYC. Built c. 1900. Photo by The Preservator

Hot Links

Liquor Store Sign, DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene Brooklyn. March 3, 2011. Photo by The Preservator.

Queens Graffiti Mecca Faces Redevelopment - via WNYC Culture
If you've ridden the 7 train, you know this building in Long Island City. I can't see how planning more lux-y development in Long Island City is a good idea right now. Not well-timed.

The Old American Dream Is A Nightmare - via Grist
Jim Kunstler, an old favorite, chats with Grist, breaking down why the skyscraper won't save us, how the New Urbanists have won, with requisite smatterings about the national debt and - of course - peak oil. And - beware the photo - our man looked better sans mustache. (Also, I saw someone reading his peak-oil futurist novel, World Made By Hand, on the subway this morning.)

Hoping Gowanus Canal Cleanup Turns Up Old Treasures - via NYT

What is not to love about urban archaeology of the forgotten Gowanus landscape?! Superfund = superfun!

Loss: I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2

I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2, Philadelphia, 2006-2007. by The Preservator.

Meet an old friend of mine, the I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2.  Since the early 20th century, this building sat along Richmond Street, facing the Delaware River in the Fishtown neigborhood of Philadelphia. Its early history was spent as a manufacturing facility, creating iron machine parts for the internationally renowned William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company.

Fishtown was a major manufacturing area well into the 20th century.  There, along the Delaware River, Cramp grew into an industrial powerhouse over the course of a century. During the Second World War, Cramp's operations peaked, ultimately employing about 15,000 people (largely Fishtown/Kensington residents) on its 65-acre campus. Cramp shut its doors in 1946.

The long decline of industrial Philadelphia has meant that many large manufacturing facilities remain untouched, while others are demolished. The I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2 was the last vestige of Cramp's once enormous presence in Fishtown. This year, after years of planning, the Machine Shop is being demolished to make way for a new ramp for I-95 intended to handle traffic for the new Sugarhouse Casino a few blocks south.

In 1994 the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission had deemed the building eligible for listing in the State/National Registers of Historic Places. I always liked its raised monitor windows and the railroad tracks leading into the bays suggesting its industrial past. This is all that remained as of Wednesday:

via www.95revive.com

Want more? Peep this:
95 Revive: Cramp Building Coming Down
PlanPhilly: Cramp Shipyard Demo Proceeds
PlanPhilly: How One Shipbuilder Impacted Philadelphia and the World