Now that we’ve sprung forward to daylight savings time, I’m excited about a few things. Most of all, I’m exited for the cherry blossoms to come back. So today’s picture is just a teaser for what’s to come.
March, 2010
17
Mar 10
Pratt St. Looking West
Today’s post is pretty self explanatory. It’s a shot of Pratt Street in Baltimore looking west. I like it because it’s a part of pratt st. that doesn’t get much publicity, but as you can tell, it’s a part of pratt st. that is quite busy during the day.
15
Mar 10
All in this together
We’re going to end our short stay in Columbia with its most beloved sculpture, The Tree of Life. The sculpture, as you can see below, is placed prominently at the waterfront in the center of the town. It really gives you a sense of the way that Columbia was portrayed in the late 60′s and early 70′s as a futuristic ideally planned community. In fact, this same theme is shown on the town’s flag and the sculpture’s likeness is prominently featured on almost all of the community’s official buildings and publications.
15
Mar 10
Rouse Building 2
The Rouse company building, which was built in 1974 was originally intended to be a show piece. It was a symbol of the new modern idea that was Columbia. The building was placed across the plaza from the exhibition space, a less regaled Gehry work from nearly a decade earlier where the concept of Columbia was pitched to perspective new residents. Like the Exhibition space, a few other buildings with little popularity outside of the area were built by Gehry and his Baltimore based architecture firm in the late 60′s. Of these, Merriweather post pavilion is probably the most notable.
The Rouse building stands out from the rest. It keeps your interest as you try to understand its workings. It’s obvious that it was built in the 70′s, but it’s not a carbon copy concrete building like the rest of the area. The outside is stucco. (don’t sigh, it’s not bad) It’s many outdoor areas with wood overhangs and potted green plants all overlook the man-made lake which is the centerpiece (if you don’t call the mall the centerpiece) of downtown Columbia.
Outside of its coverage of Ellicott City, there have been times when this website has been pretty hard on Howard County, really just becasue of the poor job it does on snow removal and for their extremely snobby bumper stickers. I should also mention that it’s extremely difficult to find a gas station there. However, this building ranks up there with Centennial Park, with Merriweather, with the Indian food buffet to which I occasionally go for lunch, with the town of Savage, and with the more recent performance of it’s adopted son Willis McGahee, as some of the really good things Howard county has to offer.
12
Mar 10
The Rouse Company Building
This building is the former headquarters of the Rouse Company, which designed and developed the town of Columbia. It’s significance comes from the fact that it was designed by Frank Gehry. One of his earliest buildings, it is strikingly different from the works we know him for now. More pictures next week.
11
Mar 10
Timonium Fairgrounds
Near the light rail station I should have gone to is the Timonium Fairgrounds, actually called the Maryland State Fairgrounds, and home of the Maryland State Fair.
10
Mar 10
Light Rail
In doing some research for MDP pictures, or rather when brainstorming for subjects of MDP pictures, I’ll often look for historical markers in the vicinity of where I’ll be visiting. I’ll share a secret with you. One of my favorite places on the internet is actually a site that accumulates these markers. The historic marker database, whose website www.hmdb.org will take over your life if you let it.
On the site I discovered a marker next to the light rail lines in Timonium that claims there is a granite track bed from the railroad that originally ran in that spot, the right of way for which is now being used as the light rail line. This is a remnant of a time when railroading was so new that nobody realized it was better to put tracks on cheap wooden ties lodged in rocks, than it was to put them on a solid block of granite. However, today’s picture has nothing to do with that. This is because MDP went to the Timonium Business Park light rail stop, and not the Timonium light rail stop, where the granite is.
So today’s picture is a mirror and a pretty cool shot from the historically insignificant Timonium Business Park light rail stop.
9
Mar 10
Alms2
The scene looking out from the opposite direction of yesterday’s shot. The alms house is situated on top of a hill overlooking the valley and, though it’s impossible to make out from this distance, the quarry I mentioned in yesterday’s post is right in the middle of that valley.
8
Mar 10
Baltimore County Alms House
We’re moving out of Baltimore today and into Baltimore County. If you are from out of state, you should know that those are two completely distinct jurisdictions. The city of Baltimore is not a part of Baltimore county or of any other county. This building was originally built in 1872 as the third alms house for Baltimore county, the first two being just down the road a bit. Today it houses the county historical society.
I used to remember this place as where my mother would go when she needed to identify an unknown kind of plant. This sounds strange, but the reason why you would bring your plants here is because it was also home to the horticultural extension, (now just called the University of Maryland Extension) which is a community outreach program allowing citizens of the state to use the agricultural knowledge base of the school.
One more interesting piece of information about this building is that it was made from stone quarried on the premises. That sounds strange too. However, less than a mile from this place is a productive stone quarry that still operates to this day.
5
Mar 10
Lexington Market
Lexington market has been around in one form or another since 1782. This much you can gather from the sign on the door. In 1782 it was an open air market and it wasn’t until the 19th century that the vendors of Lexington Market would find themselves under one roof. The building you see today was built after a fire burned the market down in the 50′s. The giant building, which extends over a city block, may not see the same volume of customers as it did many years ago when, for most of the neighborhood and much of the city, it was a primary source of meals and of groceries. However, it still remains a popular place to buy foods of a common and of a unique nature.
In fact the neighborhood surrounding the market is next in line for a facelift. While much of it is owned and used by the University of Maryland Medical school and various other medical organizations, much of the neighborhood’s retail economy was shut down decades ago. It’s difficult to say what the result of new building in the area will be, but the odds are that Lexington Market will still be there at the end of it.