- 2415 Texas
Tag Archives: building
Quick post, Armour/Swift Plant in Fort Worth
I’m In Fort Worth and I had the opportunity to visit the abandoned Swift meat packing plant in the Stockyards area. Here’s a quick sample:
It was a very surreal experience, I’ll have some more to post soon.
Lost Foundations
El Paso’s downtown area is kind of unique. Many if its buildings have remained relatively unchanged since their initial construction. Sure, businesses have come and gone and some new buildings have replaced old dilapidated or damaged structures. For the most part though, we have retained in continual use many of the buildings and homes that date back to the early 1900’s.
The neighborhoods in central El Paso and in the Sunset heights area retain their older character as well. As they say, you can’t stop progress and with construction of the I-10 freeway, it would obliterate a few hundred homes and businesses that ran along its route.
- Downtown El Paso before I-10
On both sides of Prospect St. were it croses over the freeway there are 2 distinct areas were a few remnants of these buildings once sat.
Parking up on the north side of prospect, you find the first set of stairs to nowhere:
- Lost Prospect
What’s fascinating is that in addition to the stairs the foundations are largely intact. The walls may be long gone but somebody still resides here:
- Shirt Curtains
On the south end of Prospect St. there is a larger area that was once apartments. There may be some other reason that they are no longer standing as they seem to be situated closer to the historic San Francisco neighborhood and out of the range of the freeway.
- Let Love Enter
This plat of land had more of an archaeological dig feel to it. Large sections of sidewalk and wall foundations are easily identifiable.
- The dig site
And just like the other side there are various signs vagrant activity. Old shoes, mattresses and camp like sites were butted up against the few remaining walls.
- Dr. Jones! We found the throne room!
The tile entryway in one of the buildings was still intact, you don’t find build quality like that anymore:
- A little Swiffer wet-jet action and its good as new
I had to split as I was parked illegally on Prospect St. but I did get a few more interesting shots that can be found here: Lost Foundations
Sunset Grocery
If you are traveling west on I-10, one building that stands out in the Sunset Heights neighborhood is the Sunset Grocery.
The distinctive green and white color scheme make spotting the three story building from the freeway easy. The bottom store is filled with various antiques and other items but does not appear to be a real store. I “Googled” looking for any information about the building and came up empty with the exception of a dubious Facebook page. (Update 11/7/2012: I have come across a new Facebook Page that appears to be legitimate and is worth checking out for the history and other photos)
The painted signage that was once prominently displayed on the brick facade is almost completely faded away. The building sits at a off square intersection, so its footprint is kind of unique, I don’t think there are any right angles.
The apartment entrances are in the back with a few parking spots so if you want your next rental home to be in a historic neighborhood you can give them a call.
Full Flickr set here: Sunset Grocery