Sunday, June 29, 2008

Roof tops - layer by layer, house by house, "progress" and a particular

Working with the boys (Ralph, architect / Gordon, craftsman) restoring roofs in land marked Pullman.


Peeling back the layers of asphalt shingles... 1970's green... 1950's red... 1930's black... to the original crumbling 1881 slate fastened to one inch thick wood boards with square nails. Interesting juxtaposition with the DePaul archeology team digging in a backyard a few doors down... It's so odd what's held as history. I look around here and see myriad moments all interesting to me... of course the original industrialist's plan... the collapse of the idyllic... The ethnic ebb and flow… 20's deco... markers of the depression... sears home service... pristine care / pristine neglect and the much more interesting unidentified in-between... I notice a gain and a loss as everything gets more and more considered and restored to a particular.


And on to the next...



Sunday, June 22, 2008

What?


Only 2 hours for a landmark approved building permit! What stars had to align for that to happen?