Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Asheville Trolley

Most of you who read our blog know we try to take a tour when we first hit a city to get an overview of what the city has to offer and then we go back and spend time at places that peaked our interest.  Well, there was a lot we wanted to go back and see in Asheville.
As far back as 1795, records show that the Asheville area was regarded as a place to come heal oneself of ills.  The climate was regarded to be optimal - the components were actually measured by physicians who wanted to determine the best place for patients to recuperate.  From the late 1880's to the 1930's Asheville rose in prominence as a curative place for tuberculosis.  Boarding houses just for these patients were abundant.


House after


house,


house.


The First Baptist Church embodied the distinctive style of its architect, Douglas Ellington, who Incorporated traditional Beaux-Arts planning, the stark forms of early Christian church architecture, and fashionably modern Art Deco details in the new church.  Our tour guide said this was the only Baptist church with a Catholic dome.


The All Souls Church and Parish Hall, sanctified in 1896, is a powerfully composed and beautifully detailed
church, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt.


The Great Depression hit Asheville quite hard.  On November 20, 1930, eight local banks failed.  Because of the explosive growth of the previous decades, the 'per capita' debt owed by the city was the highest of any city in the nation. By 1929, both the city and county had incurred over $56 million in boned debt.  Rather than default, the city paid those debts over a period of 50 years.  During the time of financial stagnation, most of the buildings in the downtown district remained unaltered.  This resulted in one of the most impressive, comprehensive collections of Art Deco architecture in the United States.
These two buildings share an elevator.



Buncombe's County Courthouse on the left and on the right the Asheville City Hall both completed in 1928.




Pack square, in front of City Hall and the Courthouse is where this monument is found.




Next we headed on through beautiful neighborhoods, until we got to the Grove Park Inn.  This Inn was so astonishing that my next blog will highlight it.



No comments:

Post a Comment