The Killers

I like it.

Lake Erie Sunsets

Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them

A salamander sort of thingummy, over the main door of the Wood County Courthouse, in Bowling Green.

Old South End, Toledo

This is on St. Clair Street, across from SS Peter and Paul Church.

Beauty and.....

The tower of St. John's Lutheran Church, in the Old South End
The mess, at the left, is a house that was demolished shortly before I took the picture.

A New Addition

The spire of St. Patrick's Church, in the Warehouse District, was destroyed by fire, in 1980. As part of an ongoing restoration project, a new one was put in place ( Everything's prefabricated, nowadays. ) last week.
Believe it, or not, this picture wasn't taken in the Warehouse District, but from the Old South End.

Lake Erie Sunsets

Marblehead Lighthouse, on Sandusky Bay

This was built in 1822.
(Photo Credit)

(Photo Credit)

Gibraltar Island

(Photo Credit)

Lake Erie, by NASA

Downtown Toledo

(Photo Credit)

Fantastic Beasts, and Where to Find Them

The Green Man, on the Wood County Courthouse, in Bowling Green.

Roulet Jewelers, 413 Madison

This may be my favorite downtown building. Perfect Jacobethan, as the British call it.
It was built, in 1934, for the George Crosby Realty firm, which also built the Regency gem I posted yesterday.
At the right, you can see the portico of a bank. You'll see it tomorrow.

Unfortunately, one side now faces another of Toledo's multitude of parking lots. ( Yet, everyone complains about the lack of parking, downtown. Cognitive dissonance, I suppose. )

The building, on the other side, is an Art Deco skyscraper.

Norwalk, Ohio

The former Episcopal rectory. I love that little window and gable, above the entrance. Don't think I've ever seen a dormer quite that shape, before.
This has to be one of the nicest houses I've seen in Ohio, and that's saying something. I believe there was talk of tearing it down, though. Damn fools.
Photo by Alex Fries.

The Spitzer Building, on Madison

A detail of the terra cotta decoration.

My Neighbor Gets Results

At least someone in Toledo does.

Note to my readers out in the real world: That's a Toledo joke. We have a mayor named Carleton S. "Carty" Finkbeiner ( Yes, that's what you read. You're not imagining it. ), whose motto is "Carty gets results". His most notable trait is a penchant for having temper tantrums that remind one of an enraged dachshund.

I've never seen salvias or marigolds grow this tall. Apparently, it's because he saves the seeds and never buys them from a store.

Rubén Simeó, trompeta. Trumpet Voluntary. Cesena, Italia.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I don't think Newt Scamander can help you with this one. It's on the Wood County Courthouse, at Bowling Green.

The Crosby Building, 717 Madison

This is the sort of architectural filler that makes a town worth living in. It was built, for George Crosby Realty, in 1940. The architect was Myron Hill.
You can't tell from the picture, but the doors have nice leaded glass fanlights.

Downtown Toledo

The water, in the foreground is Swan Creek, just before it flows into the Maumee.

Every building has a story. Some interesting. Some maddening. One, well, one's a bit risque.

These were taken from the grounds of the corporate headquarters of Owens-Corning. The landscaping is a recreation of the Oak Openings ecosystem, which covered the parts of the area that weren't swampland.

From the headquarters of Owens-Corning.

From near the Oliver House.

Frogtown?

Why was Toledo called Frogtown? Well, that's easier to explain than "holy Toledo". Practically the whole town was once a swamp. If you don't believe it, you should see the backyards in my, comparatively high ( That could be taken two ways. You should smell the neighborhood on a Saturday night. ), neighborhood.
Most of Northwest Ohio was part of the Great Black Swamp. There's a good introduction to the swamp , at Wikipedia. The Black Swamp Conservancy is working to preserve the few surviving patches, before they disappear under parking lots and housing developments.
The frog, in the picture, is a mosaic at the Lucas County Courthouse. It seems that, out of the thousands of courthouses in the US, Toledo's is the only one with a frog for a mascot.

Under Construction

This blog will be devoted to the art and architecture of Northwest Ohio, plus anything else I damn well please.

T'ell With It

Back to priorities, and religion bloody well isn't one of them.