Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Eyesore Liberated From Hellish Existence

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Photo: This place has had many names, all of them less than memorable.

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Photo: There's just something about a crane tearing apart a horrible old building!

This motel is one of the most horrible eyesores in town. Just across the street from Saint John's Hospital on Ninth Street it never made much sense to me why it wasn't purchased by the hospital, and torn down long ago. Even a vacant parking lot would have been an improvement. I suspect that this space will eventually be developed, and join Saint John's ever expanding medical campus.

A word about the photos above

When I snapped the photos above I kept trying to figure out a way to tell the story of this building, of any hint of its former glory, of any beauty it may have had. Then when editing the photos I kept wondering how I was going to bring out that special something that I missed when I took the photos.

And to tell you the truth, perhaps I've failed, because I just couldn't see it. I guess if I'd waited until just the right moment with the sunrise reflecting off of - no, forget that!

You're u.g.l.y.
You ain't got no alibi.
You're just plain ugly.
You're ugly!

Good bye you disgustingly ugly building! Springfield, Illinois will be a better place without you - certainly the near north side of Springfield will be.

5 comments:

Dave said...

You know, visitors to your site who do not live in Spingfiled might get the idea that the whole town is being torn down and replaced with something new.

More on topic, that former motel has been a huge eyesore for years. I'm glad to see it go.

Hey, do a feature on other buildings that need to be torn down May I suggest starting with the buiding on the northwest corner of Fourth and Jefferson.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely!

There's one way to save that building.

The horrible orange bricks which were added over the older bricks, in an attempt to make the building look "modern" could be removed.

The bricked up windows could be reinstalled.

The loading bays could be bricked up.

In other words take the building back to the way it was.

It might not be worth is since we have no idea what condition the building is really in.

I imagine that it is in fairly good condition since there has been a business operating out of the building for years.

That space was once proposed for a downtown transportation hub, with a heliport to be located on top of a train-cab-bus terminal.

Can you imagine the trafic problems?

Glad that idea was shelved.

JP

Anonymous said...

Actually, that building has a lot of historical value. Well, even if the building doesn't, that corner definitely does. I have to think. If it's the one I'm thinking of, that building was Friendly Chevrolet up until the early 60's.

Anonymous said...

Oh. I meant the one at 4th & Jefferson.

JeromeProphet said...

Marie,

That explains the way the building looks.

Thanks.

JP

email jp

  • jeromeprophet@gmail.com

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