Jul 7, 2008

A Historical Coincidence


There's something odd about this photograph, it's from the cover page of the Old Allentown Preservation Association website*. A few day's ago when I suggested association members should have been careful of what they wished for in regard to Cannon's Bar, my observation was received with righteous indignation. One center city blogger may well have deleted a link to this blog because of it. Another prominent member, insisting he has no political agenda, suggested I may be unwittingly driving them towards the mayor with my accusations. Old Allentown exists of over twenty five square blocks. Out of this large area, only one side of three blocks contain porch houses, those houses built with porches. I refer to the unit block of both 11th and 12th Streets, and the 300 block of 9th St. Most of the remaining townhouses had a porch added in the 1920's. Years ago I interacted with the Historical Board when I learned those porches must be removed to receive a facade grant. Built of concrete, usually with a curved overhang shingle roof with curved wooden brackets, I felt they added to the architecture. They also provided a buffer zone between the homeowner and the realities of sidewalk life. The historical purists felt differently, and according to their website over 80 such porches have been removed thus far. It is strange that the Association would choose for their cover photograph one of the few porch houses rows in Allentown, certainly not representative of the district. Stranger still, they picture two the few porch houses which had their porch's altered. The house in the foreground is completely bastardized. The porch was enclosed by brick probably in the 50's. For many years the property was a clock store. The next house also has the porch enclosed with glass panels. This treatment, meant for the winter months. is not uncommon with porch houses further west of the district, but again does not represent the Associations' historical standards. It must be a coincidence, that the house with the glass panels is where Mayor Pawlowski lives, because the Association certainly wouldn't be that political.

*http://www.oldallentown.org/index.html

9 comments:

  1. Mike,

    Did you notice as well that there are no people present in this shot.


    Scott Armstrong

    ReplyDelete
  2. By the way, neighbors of the mayor have told me that drugs can be purchased on this very street.

    Scott Armstrong

    ReplyDelete
  3. The crap continues with just about every entity / agency in the city....I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's frigging depressing.

    Great post MM. Please run for Mayor.

    The Banker

    ReplyDelete
  4. What kills me about this post is that just a few short days ago, Geoff Brace was piously proclaiming that the Old Allentown Preservation Ass'n is apolitical. This apolitical group has a picture of Pawlowski's home on every frickin' page of its website.

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is no mention that it is the mayor's house - so how is this political? This seems like a weird aggressive blog to me, born out of someone disagreeing with you.
    Is there anything you like about Allentown? I can't imagine why you would want to be mayor when the city and its residents, rich and poor, seem to bug the hell out of you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. anon 10:11, your comment seems pretty aggressive against me. the point of the posting was that OAPA was obviously patronizing and pandering to pawlowski, but in this town that has become normal, just like attacking the few of us who point things out.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mike,

    If this sap wants happy talk he/she should stick to the Morning Call, the rest of us are going to tell it like it is.We can at least do that.



    Scott Armstrong

    ReplyDelete
  8. Molovinsky for mayor!
    First order of business - chase out that awful OAPA group of homeowners that *claim* to like their city. They are obviously paid by mayor p to pretend they like where they live - HA! sappy yuppies! dragging the city down, down, down.

    ReplyDelete
  9. dear anon 6:25, i repeat again, allentown is enriched by those members of OAPA who have chosen to make center city their home, i just don't award the trophy or the pandering you've grow accustomed to. as far as molovinsky for something, please think of me as molovinsky for allentown. politically, i'm afraid you'll receive what you deserve

    ReplyDelete

ANONYMOUS COMMENTS SELECTIVELY PUBLISHED. SIGNED COMMENTS GIVEN MORE LEEWAY.