Back to the Center

I personally think that these buildings present a front. They are the buildings along the street corners at the center of downtown. They include the City Health Club, a bank, and the skyscraper that is being worked on. They present a front to each section of downtown, which could be divided into 4 quadrants: government, art/history, business, and retail. This front is like many of the other ones that we have seen: a strong presentation from the buildings along an "edge" of an area.
Each of the 4 quadrants could be considered an epitome district because they are sections of the campus that are a small representation of what the entire city is like. They are small groups of similar things (like stores or government buildings) that are close together.


This alleyway is a beat. It seems small and dark, but there are a few businesses down here and it is a connector from a parking lot to the main roads. As we were standing there, people were coming through, picking up some breakfast and heading off to work. Many of the beats that students take from off-campus housing to get to campus involve alleyways or back roads like this. It creates a much shorter trip than sticking to a main road.


This store is part of a strip along one of the main roads. It is on what is known as the retail street, where most of the stores are. Other buildings along this strip are Woolworth's, a theater, and Kress. It reminded me a lot of what we saw on Tate Street, but on a much larger scale.


This alley is a sink because it is where water is running off of a building and nothing else can be put there. It is in between 2 buildings that are probably 3 feet apart. I think they put in the iron gate and the cool run-off in order to beautify the area more and even draw the eye to it as someone walks past. This sink is a lot more attractive than the sinks in College Hill. There were many alleys between streets that were eyesores. This kind of artwork is a neat idea to help mask the potential ugliness of a drain.


This whole area of buildings is a stack. They are all government buildings, with the county building, the courthouse, and the jail. They aren't very attractive buildings, but what can you do? These buildings aren't very decorated, but plain and industrial-looking. It is a stack because they are "stacks" of government activity and are somewhat on the outskirts of downtown. A stack that we've previously seen was the smokestack beside the building on campus. It was also on the edge of campus like these buildings are on the edge of downtown.


What a great way to claim your turf: a No Trespassing sign. They want your business during the day, but want you to not loiter at night. I guess that this is a good idea because of all the valuables inside the store. Having a crowd in front of the store at night is just asking for trouble. This reminded me a lot of the No Parking signs in College Hill. They are very quick to claim their territory and state who can do what and where.









Good ole Nathaniel Greene.

Blandwood

Today we went to the historic Blandwood Mansion, which was the home of former NC Governor, John Motley Morehead. It was expanded twice, once in the 1820s and again in 1844-1846. It is the oldest standing example of Italianate architecture in the United States and has elements like stucco exterior and a low roofline. The railroad runs through what used to be an edge of the property because Morehead thought that North Carolina needed to be more connected and was very influential in getting the railroad to pass through legislation.

One of the questions that we were asked to think about is: What are the implications of adding a new face twice to the original house?

First off, adding on/rebuilding anything costs a lot of money. The fact that they changed the house significantly twice in almost 30 years says that the family definitely had some money to throw around. That could give off feelings to the town population that the family living there is more concerned about how their house looks rather than the well-being of the town. Second, changing the face of the house would probably involve some serious reconstruction to update it to the modern style of the time, considering that the popular styles were so drastically different. A quirk that you can see on the outside of the house is the seam where the 2 parts of the house meet. You often run in to trouble like this when trying to add on/redo a house, because unless the work is perfect, things won't always match up exactly.

Some of the expensive things inside the house, like the silver set, the chandelier, and the ornate decorations on the ceiling.





Why do you think the family found it necessary to continue updating the structure?
The most obvious answer that I can think of for this is to continue to make it better. As more family members moved into the house, there were different needs and things were changed/added to accommodate those needs. Also, as new inventions were being rapidly produced, it made sense to update the house to make it easier to live in.

The bed and cradle in the children's room.



What do you think people said about this new-fangled, fancy house on the edge of town?
I imagine that people were very unsure about this house because it is foreboding and completely different than anything they would've seen before. Everything back then was probably mostly farmland with somewhat small houses, and then this mansion gets built. It also doesn't fit in with the style of the time and is very stark compared to the other houses back then.

I really enjoyed the tour of the Blandwood Mansion. I learned a lot about historic Greensboro and saw some really interesting things, like the original pieces of furniture and the law office outside. I wish that we hadn't been so short for time so that we could've talked more about the history and architecture of the time.

Some of the stuff out in the law office: a model of the house, a map of the trains running through NC and SC, and a smoking chair with a spot to store your tobacco paraphernalia.




The big tree outside.

The full blog is on Taylor's blog, http://hss105taylor.blogspot.com/














Observations about the commercial area in College Hill:

As you walk right across campus, it seems to look nice (around Jack's and Walgreens), but as you move further out, the appearance goes down some (around the apartments). Then once you move to the residential area, it looks well-kept and clean closer to Walker Ave.


There were 2 churches in the area that we saw, including Spring Garden Friends Meeting and Ebenezer Lutheran Church (on Walker Ave.)


On the edges of the neighborhood, we saw a lot of gas stations and convenience stores. There were also several smaller (probably local) stores along Spring Garden St. and Walker Ave., including Cheap-O-Video, Greensboro Electric Trains, and Spring Garden Bakery and Coffee House.


Turning on Elam St., the area was residential until we reached the intersection of Elam St. and Walker Ave. At this intersection, there was a bus stop with benches for waiting, a sign that said "Taxi Cab Parking", and several stores/restaurants such as Fishbones, The Property Source, Walker's Bar, and the Blind Tiger.


The College Hill neighborhood seems to be residential on the inside, and commercial along some of the edges.

Re-purpose : Re-use

Some of the previous reuse of industrial buildings:


One use for the industrial buildings at the edge of the College Hill neighborhood is to convert them into some type of entertainment area. My friends and I often have trouble figuring out what we want to do in the evenings and on the weekends, and there is really not that much close by. Maybe we just don’t know about the happening spots in Greensboro yet, but it seems almost deserted on the weekends. I think that something close to campus that provides entertainment for college students would be nice. I think that maybe a small movie theater or a pool.

Another option for the buildings would be to put some sort of grocery store in there. It would make a good profit because it would be close to the college students who don’t live on campus and probably don’t have a meal plan; therefore they cook their own meals. Even the students who live on campus would enjoy a grocery store close by, because who doesn’t need snacks every once in awhile? I’m not sure if the existing buildings could be converted into a grocery store with all of the building and safety codes in place now, but it would be a good use of what is already there if that were possible.


A third option would be to simply knock them down and build a parking lot. I know that this isn’t a very original idea, or something that would make the neighborhood look better, but parking is a serious problem in this neighborhood. For a more aesthetically pleasing idea, they could put stores in some of the buildings and convert the rest to parking.

I think that any of these 3 ideas would add to the neighborhood, because it all includes something that would be new to the area. I know that there are stores around the College Hill neighborhood, but they could add things that seem to be needed in the area, like a grocery store, or a movie store, or a post office. There are so many different stores that could go in here that would add to the neighborhood. We are all about wanting things to be accessible to us, and driving far away to get something we need is not a popular decision. It would also be to everyone’s benefit to do SOMETHING with these buildings because they are in walking distance of campus and the surrounding residences. Doing anything with these buildings would make the neighborhood better because they are a little creepy right now. Even in the daylight, I would not want to walk past them by myself because they are huge buildings with the doors open and a few people inside. They also pose a big safety concern for children. Children are naturally curious, and no instructions not to go there would stop them. They could be seriously injured or even killed if the doors are left open on these buildings and they wander in there. I also think that making the industrial buildings into stores would improve the area because in walking past them and under the bridge, I saw several broken bottles and other potentially hazardous things just lying around. If this area got more traffic, it would be a cleaner and safer area.
Potentially hazardous places around the industrial area.

Side Streets and Back Alleys

The difference between "main" streets and "side" streets:

Today we finished up in the College Hill neighborhood. We have ventured all around this area, starting with the main streets like Tate and Mendenhall, and then went to the smaller side streets. I noticed several differences in the 2 types of streets. One is that most of the houses seem to look similar on main streets. When we observed Tate St., we filled out a worksheet that showed us that most of the houses are of 2 specific styles. When walking along the side streets on Thursday, we saw more houses that stuck out and were different, like the house in the following picture.

To me, this house looks almost like the entrance to Circuit City, like the big plug in front. Maybe it's just me.

One of the first houses we saw on Thursday, and Andrew's head.


Another difference from the main streets was the presence of fences on the side streets. This shows how people are more protective of their turf and how personal space seems to be valued more than community and togetherness.


There also seems to be a lot more problems with parking back on the side streets, which seems strange because you would think that there would be more problems out on the busy road. However, back in the side streets and alleys, people seem more territorial about parking. In the picture below, there is a personal parking lot for the 3 houses surrounding it.

There is a sign at every parking spot specifying who can park there. This shows that there is a problem with parking in this back alley.

More no parking signs. Parking must really be an issue around here.

The funny thing is, we have an abundance of parking on campus.
The parking lot.



There also seem to be a lot of historical and unique things hidden back on the side streets, like the lamp, the fire hydrant, the brick in the road, and the small house.

Older lamps.

The brick along the road indicates that the streets used to be paved with brick.

Mature shade tree like one seen previously with sidewalk built around it.

The 2 room, 2 story house.



The side streets and back alleys seem to provide a sense of exclusivity, creating what Clay would probably call a turf.
The apartment complex that is only accessible through a side street.

Walking through an alley.

Another alley.



Another thing that we saw often on the side streets and alleys were side/additional buildings, like the one pictured below.



Side streets and back alleys provide a different view of campus than the main streets like Tate St. and Market St.
View from behind Tate St. Building is Eberhart.

View from behind Tate St. Building is Mexican restaurant/sushi restaurant.



Altogether, College Hill was an interesting experience. The name, College Hill, fits perfectly with it's location between Greensboro College and UNC-Greensboro. It has edges/fronts along Tate, Market, Mendenhall, and Spring Garden. Generally speaking, the buildings are commercial along these fronts, with the inside being residential homes. We looked at the different types of homes that are prevalent in this neighborhood, and they seem to be pretty much the same. We talked about infill, and what it meant to infill something with something else. We also saw buildings that were unique and stuck out in the neighborhood, like the firehouse-turned-home, the big apartment buildings, and the church. I think that the beats in the neighborhood seem to run along the fronts, because that is the way that most of the college students that live here get to campus. It seems like the things back on the side streets and back alleys were pushed away and almost hidden from sight. I don't think that we could've gotten this much out of the experience from just driving through the neighborhood. Overall, it seems to be an eclectic, yet well-pulled-together neighborhood full of a mixture of college students and long-term residents. This neighborhood seems to have a little bit of everything, and that's what one would expect from a place so close to not one, but two college campuses.