This post focuses on a familiar but mostly overlooked decorative accoutrement – window shutters. Before I get to the multiplicity of shutters I’ve laid eyes on while riding around St. Paul, here’s a bit of historical context. A Brief History of Shutters According to several websites, shutters first appeared in ancient Greece; constructed of marble […]
We tend to ignore ruins or look at them as failures, awaiting either a visionary creative reuse or the wrecking ball. What if we preserved them as they are instead?
As the 210-unit Snelling Yards development nears construction, a rare named alley appeared on site plans and city documents, leading the author down a rabbit hole to investigate this anomaly and double down on the need to apply names to even the most mundane public assets.
June 16, 2015 Highland Park, West End/West 7th, Downtown 16.2 miles It was fabulous to be back on my bike. First, it had been almost two months since my last ride due to a medley of out-of-town travel, bad weather and a non-biking related injury. Second, it got me out of work on a spectacular […]
An hour long Ramsey County production on the rebirth of the Union Depot. This full-length version of “Back on Track: The Rebirth of St. Paul’s Union Depot” chronicles the 23-month renovation journey as told in the voices of those who worked on the magnificent restoration of this multimodal transportation hub.
This year the Franklin Library celebrates its 100th year serving the East Phillips neighborhood in South Minneapolis. In preparation for the anniversary celebration last month I researched the library’s long history by making my way through the branch’s annual reports and other documents from 1914 to 2014; this research has revealed a fascinating and intimate bond between […]