The vinyl, wood awning, mismatched windows and missing windows (up top) aren’t cute. But……Form of: Hot Mess
Ever see some sort of personal ornamentation (makeup, clothing, hair, perfume) and think ‘Wow, it can’t get much worse than that,” to be quickly followed by a meal of just-spoken words and an “Oops, I spoke too soon”?
Such was the case in a recent wander above Fall Creek Boulevard. Squint, cock your head and scrutinize, the above vinyl clad double just looks a bit off. Not to a crash-your-car level of extreme, but still, you know it ain’t right.
Chancing upon the double’s long lost twin shows why the vinyl is such an unfriendly treatment, while also introducing new brow-wrinkling elements.
The first floor windows- ouch. What is that wood on either side of the window? Some shriveled up bead board? And are those mismatched doors even meant for an exterior purpose?
Check out the difference in the hand rails, too–well, not totally convinced there was supposed to be a hand rail. You? Which do you find better/ worse?
…whoa.
MUST stay with THIS one! No doubt there are others like this!
There ARE others like these “twins.” They have siblings! I can remember several of these two-story stucco doubles in the neighborhood, when I was growing up. Some are no longer standing.
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All of the ones still remaining have been modified in some way or another. The least offensive one is about five properties north and on the opposite side of the street from the second photo. I’d give the exact address, but I know you want to be discreet here to protect people’s privacy.
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When you’re in the area again, take a look at how the twins’ “triplet” looks. The two front doors have been enclosed, so that there is only one exterior door. The decorative roof and parapet above the entry have been removed, and the second-story windows directly above the front doors have been deleted.
It seems like “Mapleton Fall Creek” had several of these type houses at one time…although I grew up off East 21st Street and Emerson Avenue, we had a number of friends on the north Side, so we got “up there” fairly frequently…
I once read a book that called the kind of messing with historical details as in the first picture “remuddling”. Fits very well.