Canary Court Gets Its Own Blog!

This is to let friends and family know that I am going to post updates on the Canary Court renovations here at a second blog. I want to keep Narrative Forces for publishing thoughts and information on art, literature and culture, with a little science and astronomy and some design and architecture thrown in. Canary Court has its own vivid life. Keeping it separate, also lets me keep the history and photos of its process all together.

So please bookmark both blogs. I will start publishing this weekend on the Canary Court blog. Thanks for all your support.

Urban Renovation - April 10, 2007

I am including the following link to my Flickr account that has pictures of today's demolition results.

The skeleton of the building reveals the dramatic difference in the house built for the rich and middle class, from the house built for the servant class, which is the kind of house I have. It is all in the details. It is in the way wall-meets-wall, and wall-meets-ceiling. It is in the care with which the bricks were laid and the quality of the lumber and flooring. Its in the quality of the beams and studs. The quality of the joists. The difference is dramatic. The walls are separating and crumbling. Some of the wood has deteriorated from termites, long gone, but still influential. This one hundred year old, little ten-foot wide gem, has some problems. All of which were neatly concealed beneath the drywall.

I am thinking that my one and only real estate adventure could be a catastrophe. But, then again, with Trudy and Paul, it could be totally solvable. Probably it will be somewhere in the middle. Paul said tonight, "We can build it to last for twenty years. Would that be enough?" Hmm. That might be a little short for my lifetime. Or, it could be just right. Who knows!

Let's see what tomorrow reveals.

At Last it Begins!

Today I met with the handsome fellow above, Steve Belis, and the magnificent Trudy McNair, who is next to him. Steve is the representative of the Dept of Housing and Community Development, the agency which is giving me a grant to get the lead out, so to speak. Trudy is the owner of New View Construction, LLC who is the builder on my project. Take a good look because all you see around them at the Canary Court house will begin to be demolished tomorrow April 10. I have also included, for you technical types...the much coveted building PERMIT. The entire panoply of permits (building, electrical, plumbing etc.), for my teeny 650/sf, will cost $900! Let the journey begin.