Exploring Montgomery

The storytelling continues… a collection of stories and photos from Exploring Montgomery!

Monthly Archives: March 2016

Eastbrook — Looking at the flea market image on Coliseum Boulevard, you would never suspect that long ago this modest strip-mall was East Montgomery’s answer to the mighty Normandale Shopping Center on the South side of town. Birmingham’s Loveman’s Department Store anchored Normandale, so the Montgomery Fair, our homegrown version, became the […]

Eastbrook Shopping Center

March 31, 2016 in Commercial tagged eastbrook / mall / shopping

Steiners-Lobman — …stands at the corner of Commerce and Tallapoosa. By 1900, lower Commerce had become the wholesale center of central Alabama. The wide street was paved with Belgian granite ballast blocks. It was an impressive street, and the most impressive building on it was the 1891 Steiner-Lobman wholesale dry goods building. […]

Steiner-Lobman Building

March 30, 2016 in Commercial tagged coffin / lobman / steiner

ASU Arch — …as viewed down Carter Hill Road toward the famous Acadome, of Joe Reed fame. When I moved here almost 60 years ago, ASU did not have any frontage on Carter Hill. I-85 came along and blocked its growth North, so the campus grew South on the wings of civil rights […]

Alabama State University (ASU)

March 29, 2016 in Education tagged acadome / arch / asu / state

…out along Chantilly Parkway, from wince the parkway took its name, built circa 1835. When speeding down the parkway, you can still see the old house if you know the exact instant to look. During the latter part of the previous century, the structure was often rented out as a […]

Chantilly Plantation House

March 28, 2016 in Residential tagged chantilly / house

William Britton — The attractive home of Dr. William Britton . . . at 3260 Bankhead Avenue out in the Edgemont District of Old Cloverdale. Dr Britton and his wife, Margaret Mead Britton, lived here when I moved to Montgomery in 1951. The house remained in that family for 50+ years. I enjoy […]

Dr. William Britton Residence

March 27, 2016 in Residential tagged britton / mead / william

Grove Court — now abandoned and forlorn, stands just North of I-85 at the corner of South Court and Grove Streets. It was a 1949 design of PT&N architect, Parker Narrows (my boss and mentor 1951-1955), which won an AIA national design award. Back then there were two such national design winners residing […]

Grove Court Apartment Complex

March 26, 2016 in Commercial tagged apartment / award / grove / historic registry

777 S Lawrence — is directly behind the ”Y” on Lawrence Street. It was built with great pride in 1964, back when it had only two floors and an open court at its center. The design won an AIA Regional Honor Award. It became the center of a 3-building complex that we grandly called […]

777 South Lawrence

March 25, 2016 in Commercial tagged 777 / lawrence

Downtown YMCA — on South Perry just South of I-85, was built in 1963 and represented a giant step for the Montgomery “Y”, which was then only 15 years old. Back then this was a neighborhood facility, male only, which also accommodated the business community. Today this center is adult only, and because […]

Downtown YMCA

March 24, 2016 in Commercial tagged downtown / ymca

Bldg 841 — one of the (formerly) historic hangers on the Base, built with WPA money during the depression years, and which, less than a decade later, met such a vital need for the flying school programs there just before and during World War II. Wonderfully constructed, probably under the supervision of Algenon […]

Maxwell’s Building 841

March 23, 2016 in Government tagged 841 / fitness / hanger / maxwell

All but the young will recognize this as the former St Margaret’s Hospital, which was turned to face Ripley Street in 1980, a decade before its demise. Today, thanks to the RSA, the property is the home of the State’s Departments of Corrections, Public Safety, and Pardons and Paroles. This […]

Criminal Justice Center (St. Margaret’s)

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged corrections / hospital / parole / public safety / rsa / st margaret

Turzillo Begins — Having gotten past the architect selection and with the design effort underway, Sister Susan and Tribrook set out to hire a construction manager. Nothing I could say served to persuade her to the contrary. My experience convinced me that Construction Management was a sham that would not be in the […]

St. Margaret’s – McBro And The Packages

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged mcbro / packages / st margaret

POB Under Construction — Months before Klein and PH&J were even introduced and interviewed, Sister Susan and her Order had employed the Pearce Corporation of St. Louis to design and construct a physician’s office building (POB) and parking deck. We were well into our design process for the hospital before we even knew that […]

St. Margaret’s – The Design Build Part

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged build / design / st margaret

Debakey — Chicago – Drinking Buddies Working out acceptable contract terms took so long, that Susan wanted us to start the design process even before any agreement was reached. Thus we began study trips long before we had a contract in hand. Sister Susan, Klein and Tribrook decided that we and key […]

St. Margaret’s – The Trips

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged chicago / houston / st margaret / trip

Construction Sign — St. Margaret’s demanded that we accept one of the lowest fees and some of the harshest contract provisions I have ever faced. Again I wanted to back out, but Bill and Renis counseled continued involvement. I considered the fee offered to be 25-percent below standard, and it was made even […]

St. Margaret’s – A Harsh Contract

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged contract / harsh / st margaret

St Margaret Front Wing — Montgomery’s St. Margaret’s Hospital was at a crossroads, and in Indianapolis the Order was most concerned. Around 1973 they retired our good friend Sister Scholastica and replaced her with a youngish, big boned, brusque administrator of Scandinavian descent. Her name was Sister Susan Radzke. She and I immediately developed an […]

St. Margaret’s – The Challenge

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged challenge / st margaret

St Margarets at End — A year or so after all the construction was complete, and the hospital had been virtually rebuilt, it became apparent that neither the patient occupancy rate nor the financial plight of St. Margaret’s had been improved. All that money had been spent to no avail. The neighborhood blight problem had […]

St. Margaret’s – The Last Gasp

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged last gasp / st margaret

PHJ Principals — Sister Susan called me to her office and shared the news sent down from Rome. She went on to say that PH&J could not be considered for the work. Following Tribrook’s lead, she declared that only architectural firms of national repute would be invited for an interview. To justify her […]

St. Margaret’s – Architect Selection

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged architect / st margaret

St. Margarets — In 1975, St. Margaret’s was, and had been for many years, the premier hospital and deliverer of health care services to Montgomery; it had filled that role since the hospital’s founding here in 1902. It was a Catholic institution, and was operated by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent […]

St. Margaret’s – Greatness and Decline

March 22, 2016 in Government / Religious tagged decline / greatness / st margaret

Ag and Industries — located on Federal Drive, appropriately enough, adjacent to the Coliseum. Old Federal Drive is now officially designated Congressman William L Dickinson Drive, nicknamed Cong Drive; I was in the Jay-Cees with Dickinson, but that name is too much. The building was dedicated in 1971, and is called the Richard Beard […]

Department of Agriculture and Industries

March 21, 2016 in Government tagged agriculture / industries

…at 307 South Decatur Street, where it has stood for 40+ years, but it has not been a happy four decades for the Board, or for education. For 40 years before that, this was the site of the Decatur Street Elementary School, which in its last decade was called Ledbetter […]

County Board of Education Offices

March 20, 2016 in Education tagged education / school

First Baptist — at 347 North Ripley, was organized in 1866 as an offspring of the First Baptist now located on South Perry Street, at which these founders worshiped as slaves. This church hosted the first baccalaureate service for Alabama State (then State Normal) in 1890. Fire destroyed their building ca 1910, and […]

“Brick a Day” First Baptist Church

March 19, 2016 in Religious tagged baptist / brick a day / church / first

VA Regional Office — Located off Perry Hill Road on the grounds of the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, was built in 1994. Let’s call it “VA Georgian”, a creation evolved and imposed by a VA staffer in Washington (he first imposed it on a project that PH&J had at the Tuscaloosa VA back in […]

VA Regional Office

March 18, 2016 in Government tagged georgian / office / va

Jeff Davis Hotel — Located on Montgomery Street, it was our convention center in 1969. That year the Gulf States Region of the A.I.A. met in Montgomery for its semiannual gathering. The hotel had recently added two stacked banquet halls by enclosing the space between itself and the adjacent Sheppard Building. Wonderful accommodations. At […]

Jefferson Davis Hotel

March 17, 2016 in Commercial tagged hotel / jefferson davis

Highland Avenue — Built in 1903, somewhat Romanesque in style. Still a school after 100-plus years. It fronts on a wide boulevard which originally had street car tracks in its median. The tracks were laid about 1890 when Montgomery’s streetcar system was electrified –the first in the world. My wife’s great grandfather, Robert […]

Highland Avenue School

March 16, 2016 in Education tagged highland / romanesque / school

Kahl Montgomery — …meaning Jewish Congregation of Montgomery, was chartered in 1852. The Kahl completed this Romanesque Revival structure on Catoma Street in 1862, even as the Civil War raged, using the design of a Philadelphia architect. The Lehman brothers, who had started a most successful store and cotton exchange in Montgomery, worshiped […]

Kahl Montgomery

March 15, 2016 in Religious tagged catoma / jewish / kahl / romanesque

Green Lantern — It’s at the corner of Carter Hill and McGehee Roads and where I banked. Back as far as the “Roaring 20s”, out on the outskirts of town, there was this notorious dive called the Green Lantern on this site. It was “gangster built”, dark inside, had a dance floor, served platter-sized steaks. […]

Green Lantern Branch Bank

March 14, 2016 in Commercial tagged bank / dining / green / lantern

2nd spencer longshore — This is the second Spencer Longshore House . . . and this one is at 3284 Bankhead Avenue. The first one, a standout two-story Federal Style at 3285 Bankhead, was posted earlier. Spencer liked Bankhead, but as he aged, the two-story climb became burdensome, so circa 1963 he built this long, […]

Second Spencer Longshore House

March 13, 2016 in Residential tagged coastal / longshore / spencer