Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Baxter Library

The Baxter Library, the ornate building in the middle here, was a gift to the city from Mayor James Phinney Baxter way back when. It certainly is a beautiful structure. It has most recently been part of the Maine College of Art campus. According to news sources:

Now, the college is selling the property to Robert C.S. Monks and Rex Bell of Cape Elizabeth. They want to lease it to the VIA Group, a national marketing company now headquartered on Danforth Street.

Bell said the developers had a hard time finding tenants until the VIA Group showed interest. But VIA wants $2.5 million in renovations to bring the building up to modern standards.

That's an expensive endeavor in a historic building, Bell said, and the developers can't get financing without the tax break.

I would love to see the building stay open to the public, but it's great that they plan on doing some renovations and it is a local company that is planning on moving in. The thing about good architecture is that it can host many uses and be functional, whereas a strip-mall is usually only good for pharmacies and video stores.

Also in the article:

Mitchell said the project would make the building an "anchor" and attract more high-quality development to a part of Congress Street that has seen little investment.

The Baxter project would be the first major project in the city's new creative economy tax district along Congress Street. The program allows a portion of the value of new investment to be used to promote arts and cultural events, and to support innovative business initiatives.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Reader Photo - Long Wharf

We have an entrant! Thanks to Michael Sosnowski for this photo. Looks like it was taken on a beautiful summer day.
If you are in the market to buy or sell a home, check out Michael's site: www.mainehomeconnection.com/

Monday, September 28, 2009

Your Photo Here



I'm very open to guest posts. If you have a photo of Portland or something else that should be shared here, let me know and it can happen. You will retain all rights to your image/text and will be thoroughly credited. Mail to: coreytempleton@gmail.com

I'm on the Nightrain

Haven't shared a night shot in a while. Here is some Congress Square.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Modern West End Home


I'm no architecture buff, so I think this is style of home is considered modern, but do not quote me or hold it against me if I am completely wrong.


This house, whatever style it may be, is pretty unique and is on Clark Street in the West End. I dug around for some information such as who the architect is and whether it has been featured in any magazines (particularly Dwell), but no luck. Maybe it was built by the homeowner?




Site Announcement

No big news, just wanted to mention that I removed all of the advertisements from the site and the feed. It was a good experiment and was easy to set-up, but not the best option for me or you (the readers). This blog obviously isn't designed to be a big money maker, but I am switching to more of a content based revenue model, as in selling photographs (what a novel idea for a photography blog!) You may have noticed the link on the right to my Etsy shop and in the future I will get a nice looking CafePress site implemented as well. Not all of the photos here are postcard worthy (that would get boring) but occasionally I post one that looked nice printed.

And also on the topic of the blog's RSS feed, any comments or concerns there? I don't use the tool but provide it and the number of readers for the feed is larger than the number of hits to the site. Let me know how it can improve!



Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Maine Politician


According to wikipedia, William Pitt Fessenden was a member of the US House of Representatives, the Senate, and was Abraham Lincoln's treasury secretary. Equally as important:

"He is the only person to have three streets in Portland named for him: William, Pitt and Fessenden streets in the city's Oakdale neighborhood."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Home on the Sea

I will stop posting pictures of the cruise ships when the visiting season is over, so stay with me for a bit! This is from Sunday, as viewed from Bug Light in South Portland.







And the answer to yesterday's question... well played TheMaineView and Ethan V! The photo is a portion of St. Dominic's Church on State and Gray Streets. The building is now home of the Maine Irish Heritage Center and according to Munjoy Hill News, the Picnic arts + music festival will hold a winter festival in the building on December 13, 2009.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Where is this? #1


Where is this? I can tell you it is on the peninsula, and it is attached to the top of a building. Leave your answer in the form of a comment (but not in the form of a question like Jeopardy) and I will reveal the answer tomorrow, whether or not anyone gets it correct. Good luck!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Library Renovations - September 2009

I haven't posted an updated on this in a while, so here is the progress on the new entrance to the library. I think the color of the class will look nice and look forward to seeing what the inside looks like when it fully reopens in the spring.


Saturday, September 19, 2009

Maine Foliage


This is from the other weekend in Steep Falls, Maine. The state just recently started up the annual folaige watch website here.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Boothby Square


Boothby Square is in the middle of Fore Street, in the heart of the Old Port. The granite fountain was originally used by horses, but is mostly just for decoration these days.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Barber Shop

There are a few neat barber shops in the Old Port. Note the barber pole on the corner of the building. This one is on Gold Street. I think the black frames on the picture give it a dramatic and cinematic feel.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Monday, September 14, 2009

With a Brick


I was digging around for quotes about bricks and this was the best one I found...

“If a person offends you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.”
-Mark Twain via thinkexist.com

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Friday, September 11, 2009

295 Park Avenue


This neat old building is located on the corner of Park Avenue and St. John Street, right next to Hadlock Field. It's offices now, but it does appear to have been a fire station long ago.



Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Flashback: September 2008

A downside to running a daily blog is that a lot of posts go unnoticed and even the best of them fall off of the first page after a month. Here are a few of my favorite shots from a year ago this month, in no particular order...








Those were the days! Feel free to check out some other 'oldies' by scrolling through the 'Blog Archive' section on the right (after the listing of local blogs and websites).







Sunday, September 6, 2009

Friday, September 4, 2009

Yacht Rock


This was taken last weekend, but anyhow... the largest cruise ship that visits the city makes its first stop here tomorrow. I think it makes a couple more stops here later in the year. If I was on a ship with an ice rink, mini golf course, rock climbing wall, and restaurants then I would never come ashore!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Portland is the Food Bloggiest City in America


In light of a recent article in Bon Appétit which calls Portland the "America's foodiest small town of 2009," I would like to put forth a new statement that Portland also has the most blogs about local food and restaurants. Although some of the food blogs around here only post links to other articles calling Portland the best food city/most restaurants per capita/etc, I think I still have a valid point. (I would find it hilarious of some of those blogs link to this post!)

In addition to the often said and equally as unprovavle (so far to my knowlege) sayings that Portland has the most restaurants per capita in the states, or at least as many as San Francsico, the Bon Appétit article says that "...per capita more money is spent in Portland restaurants than in any other U.S. city except San Francisco and New York..." As expected, this news made the rounds on all the local food and restaurant blogs.

In order to back-up my asseration that Portland has the most local food/restaurant blogs in America, here's a list of the blogs I know of in no particular order (feel free to add more in the form of a comment!)

Portland Fodder
Portland Psst!
Type A Diversions
Portland food Coma
Portland Food Map
Commune Tested, City Approved
Cornucopasetic
Accidental Vegetables
The Breakfast Club
Edible Obsessions
Diet for a Small City
Portland Food Heads

Also, Blueberry Files

Ok, maybe some other cities have more local food and restaurant blogs, but Portland might be right up there based on per-capita rankings!