A Short Photo Essay.
- or -
Why I'm Bummed Right Now
.........................................................................
I live here.
Not actually in the dome you see here, but in the building for which this dome is a symbol. I live in the Colt Firearms Bulding where years ago the original Colt .45 pistol was manufactured, and the M-16 and all that stuff. As the cold war ended, the need for firearms reduced and the bulding was taken over by artists who turned the building into fantastic NYC loft style studio apartments. In it's heydey, the building was a mecca for the eclectic, the weird, the wonderful.
One of the most wonderful features of the building is the windows. I can't express enough how much I love the windows. I have 35 feet by 16 feet of southerly facing glass where I can easily see 75 miles worth of the south hartford area. pictured here is just one of the windows. I actually have two of these, but you can't fit them all in the frame of the camera.
The view's and the light and the things you can see from here are fantastic beyond description.
I could do an entire coffee table book on just the views from the windows alone. thunderstorms are incredible from here.
There is a very strong greenhouse effect. in the dead of winter it's over 80 degrees in my apartment all the time. as you can see, the windows are made up of lots of little panes of glass - each of which has a different age, a different type of glass, a different consistency, and as such they each transpart light differently. this create amazing patterns of light both daily and nightly...
and of course there's just the pure square footage of the place. I think I have 1200 square feet with 20 foot ceilings with heat electric and hot water all included in the rent. it's fantasy land I know. I finally installed curtains this week to block some of that light. as much as I love the light and the sun, sometimes it's just tooooo much.
However, artists don't produce much in the way of rental income and the building slowly delapitated until hundreds of millions of dollars would be needed to restore the building.
At any rate, along comes Homes For America and buys the property with the intent of spending the aforementioned hundreds of millions of dollars converting everything into high priced luxury apartments. for years the project was stalled by the historical commission, funding delays and what not.
but now, I just received notice that I have 30 days to relocate and that the home that I built from nearly bare walls, my 35x16' windows... will be demolished down to the cement walls in a few scant weeks. for a photographer and lover of sunlight.. it's devestating. I've shot more material here in this building over 3 years than I probably have shot in all my previous years shooting. (later I'll post more photos from around my home in the journal photos section in my photo area if you care to have a looksee...)
the only plus in all of this is that I can relocate to another unit in the building temprarily, and then I'll be able to take one of the new luxury apartments if I want. I"ll get a slightly reduced rate but in this case the rate will be double what I currently pay, minus 10% as a consolation prize. my temporary unit isn't anywhere as nice as my current unit is, but it does have some artistic funk all it's own. I'll take pictures to show you. I've also got some lines in the water regarding seeking a traditional apartment or house. which would fucking bore me to death. but perhaps it's all for the better. for now though, my perspective is sadness followed by the thought that perhaps it's just plain time for yet another new adventure.
I'll keep you posted...
- or -
Why I'm Bummed Right Now
.........................................................................
I live here.
Not actually in the dome you see here, but in the building for which this dome is a symbol. I live in the Colt Firearms Bulding where years ago the original Colt .45 pistol was manufactured, and the M-16 and all that stuff. As the cold war ended, the need for firearms reduced and the bulding was taken over by artists who turned the building into fantastic NYC loft style studio apartments. In it's heydey, the building was a mecca for the eclectic, the weird, the wonderful.
One of the most wonderful features of the building is the windows. I can't express enough how much I love the windows. I have 35 feet by 16 feet of southerly facing glass where I can easily see 75 miles worth of the south hartford area. pictured here is just one of the windows. I actually have two of these, but you can't fit them all in the frame of the camera.
The view's and the light and the things you can see from here are fantastic beyond description.
I could do an entire coffee table book on just the views from the windows alone. thunderstorms are incredible from here.
There is a very strong greenhouse effect. in the dead of winter it's over 80 degrees in my apartment all the time. as you can see, the windows are made up of lots of little panes of glass - each of which has a different age, a different type of glass, a different consistency, and as such they each transpart light differently. this create amazing patterns of light both daily and nightly...
and of course there's just the pure square footage of the place. I think I have 1200 square feet with 20 foot ceilings with heat electric and hot water all included in the rent. it's fantasy land I know. I finally installed curtains this week to block some of that light. as much as I love the light and the sun, sometimes it's just tooooo much.
However, artists don't produce much in the way of rental income and the building slowly delapitated until hundreds of millions of dollars would be needed to restore the building.
At any rate, along comes Homes For America and buys the property with the intent of spending the aforementioned hundreds of millions of dollars converting everything into high priced luxury apartments. for years the project was stalled by the historical commission, funding delays and what not.
but now, I just received notice that I have 30 days to relocate and that the home that I built from nearly bare walls, my 35x16' windows... will be demolished down to the cement walls in a few scant weeks. for a photographer and lover of sunlight.. it's devestating. I've shot more material here in this building over 3 years than I probably have shot in all my previous years shooting. (later I'll post more photos from around my home in the journal photos section in my photo area if you care to have a looksee...)
the only plus in all of this is that I can relocate to another unit in the building temprarily, and then I'll be able to take one of the new luxury apartments if I want. I"ll get a slightly reduced rate but in this case the rate will be double what I currently pay, minus 10% as a consolation prize. my temporary unit isn't anywhere as nice as my current unit is, but it does have some artistic funk all it's own. I'll take pictures to show you. I've also got some lines in the water regarding seeking a traditional apartment or house. which would fucking bore me to death. but perhaps it's all for the better. for now though, my perspective is sadness followed by the thought that perhaps it's just plain time for yet another new adventure.
I'll keep you posted...
_bettie_:
Wow, what a fantastic place! That really is too bad you have to leave it.
loola:
that is a beautiful place...i always wondered what was kept beneath that weird russian looking onion.