Arch failure (PiPs)

NOTE to the concerned: The above is the back of an abandoned Arcade Hotel, built around 1900-1910. Some interior work on it happens in fits and starts, but with no resolution. This pattern is repeated in probably a half-dozen downtown brick behemoths. Some have always been occupied, others simply rot away.

I feel compelled to explain this damaged building to those of you who are shocked, puzzled, or concerned for my safety. I'm amused by it, because it tells me how accustomed I've gotten to this town in the nine years since I moved back to it. (I grew up here and I, too, was shocked that it hadn't changed one bit - in fact was worse!) Also, I'm wondering if there are no such signs of dereliction in your own cities or countries!

Klamath Falls, Oregon, has been, for as long as I can remember, a source of derision by the rest of the state. It is unique, because for its size, pop. about 40,000, it is unusually isolated and backward. It (meaning about 70% of the pop., I would guess) is disinterested in the outside world, in aesthetics, property maintenance and the natural environment. There is enough unemployment to make for a very poor tax-base for the city/county coffers. There is almost no industry, anymore, and I don't sense any urgency about courting industries, or even small businesses, because those are "outsiders." Strangers are unwelcome. There is an undercurrent of hyper-masculinity and even paranoia. I don't know if the KF culture was the same before the 1950s, but I suspect it was due to the highly negative remarks I heard about the place when I was a child. However, when my family left (thankfully) in 1962, Main St. shops and other businesses around town were fairly thriving. There were still jobs in the logging industry.

So, what you see above is normal for the city. Building fronts are usually passable, but walk down the alleys and you see the above. Most business spaces on Main St. are vacant and too old for anyone to be interested in restoration. (Also, what in the world would they do with all that space when they're done? There is no demand for hotels, upscale bars, restaurants, other kinds of retail business, adorable boutiques or cute little apartments. There is little need for "affordable housing" outside what is already available - and developers don't pour money into restoring old buildings like this in order to charge residents a few hundred bucks a month rent.)

Another factor: There was an earthquake in 1996, which severely damaged a few brick buildings, including the courthouse. I am sure that the whole downtown area was thoroughly inspected afterward, but I believe only the courthouse was demolished. I also believe most of the rest are still unreinforced to earthquake standards - a bit of rebar doesn't count in an earthquake! When these were built between the late 1800s and the early 1930s, I doubt there was extensive "engineering" and "inspecting" going on. Those were boom times and construction was going on at a furious pace. They would have been designed, perhaps by a real architect, then the masons and other construction workers would have handled the rest.

The above could have happened during the earthquake, backed into by a delivery truck, or a result of bad masonry combined with repeated freezing/thawing. Oh well, if not for these things, I would have even less to photograph than I already do! I've become very fond of these old brick buildings, grunge and all! For more of that sort of thing, see my Architecture and Dereliction albums.