My Grandparents moved into our Baltimore house early in the 20th century. It was a big step up from the apartment above my Grandfather's tailor shop and served them for many years until my Grandmother's death in 1967. Many people lived in that house beyond the immediate family, and it included many relatives over the years. In my lifetime, it included my Aunt and Uncle and later my parents and me. It was a full two family house eventually, with the addition of an extra full bath done sometimes in the 50’s.
Everyone loved the Baltimore row house in Forest Park, and I have many photographs of happy family gathered on or in front of the front steps.
You can see my Grandparents and me sitting for the camera on the late 40’s and my Grandfather and my Uncle sitting out on a nice summer day.
Now, with the use of Google Earth I was able to go back and look at the house and to my horror, the lovely house is no more, just a boarded up shell, with the porch roof gone, and all family ties disappeared. My childhood memories are no less dim, but no more memories will be formed around this derelict property.
I am crushed.
My cousin says: The following is a quote from an article about the Chinese architect Robert Fan in the Washington Post, 2009:
"The history of a country changes, but often the buildings do not. They continue to stand, mute witnesses to the narrative around them. Those who control them, manage them or live in them fill them with meaning, and that's what they stand for, until history changes again and they represent something else."
No comments:
Post a Comment