Dan Antion

Going, Going – Gone – #ThursdayDoors

The details in this house are amazing. I’m not sure it fits in Mississippi, but I do like it.

Two weeks ago, I included a sad little house in the gallery of doors. I’ve been looking for a house for Teagan’s story that fits her general concept for Birdie Devovo’s house. Teagan mentioned that the house would “need some work” – which is harder to find than you might think. Well, that’s not entirely true. Finding houses that need work is actually pretty easy. Finding ones that can be adapted to Mississippi in the late 1950s-1960s is more difficult.

It’s all in the details.

Details like wheelie bins for recycling parked up against the side of the house. In the period in which Teagan is writing, we were still burning trash and putting everything that didn’t burn into metal garbage cans. Garbage was my job until the mid-60s when my parents finally considered me old enough to burn the trash.

Other details include the cars parked in the driveways of houses, the barbeque grills on the deck, the deck itself (porches were more popular in that era), and a host of decorative items like flags for pets, sports teams and colleges. Some of these can be removed with PhotoShop, others would take way more Photo-surgery skill than I have. Then, there’s the “needs work” element. Almost every house needs something, who am I to judge? Even the ones that are being put up for sale, walked away from and removed, could be a nice home to someone. I just needed to find one Birdie could call home.

Many of the houses that obviously need work are currently abandoned, like the sad house I featured in that earlier post. I would have used that house, but the snow plow driver had clipped the mailbox, and someone had placed it on the front step, leaning against the door. Other houses (in the gallery) fell into the “too far gone” category and, in fact, some are literally gone as I write this post. One of the newly missing is a house I featured several weeks ago. The shingles had been stripped and it appeared the house was on its way to a rich new life. Unfortunately, the shingles had been removed because they contained asbestos. The interior of the house also contained asbestos, and once all of that had been safely removed, the house was torn down.

It’s so sad to see a house being torn down. It’s one thing to tear a house down after a fire, in order to rebuild, but in this case, a developer appears to be turning the location into a parking lot for a new strip mall. In a town that has very little low-income housing available, I’d rather see a developer restore a multi-family house for its original intended purpose. At least the front door will live on in the archives of Thursday Doors.

Thursday Doors is a weekly adventure in photography and a celebration of all things hinged. Brought to us by Norm Frampton, the best host a blogfest could ever hope for. If you want to participate in this fun event, go get a picture of a door – remember, they won’t be around forever – and then head on up to Norm’s place. He will have instructions for you to add a link to your post for all the other door lovers to see. If you don’t have a door, but like seeing interesting doors, well, the same instructions will get you there.

PS: I think I found a house for Birdie. Teagan says she likes it and can work with it. It’s in today’s gallery, but you’ll have to guess, or wait for the episode where she uses it. It certainly needs work, and it needed work before I could hand it off to Teagan. I had to remove a modern car and a For Sale sign from view. I feel better about using a home that is for sale or unoccupied.

Today’s sad doors are hoping for a white knight to save them from the wrecking crew.

I hope this is boarded-up for safe-keeping
This will have to come down. I think there was a fire.
In many ways, it looks in pretty good shape.
This house is currently for sale. Just leads a little TLC.
That roof needs a helping hand.
It’s a nice looking view from across the street.
Unoccupied, I think it’s for sale.
Yeah, it needs work, but there’s a lot of good stuff in there.
This place goes on and on.
The bushes by the door are a little overgrown, but they have potential.
The details in this house are amazing. I’m not sure it fits in Mississippi, but I do like it.
Somebody is making this place home.
I really like this house, but there’s heavy equipment in the back yard, I don’t thing the prospects are good.
It would take a lot of work, but this place has (had) potential.
Cleaning up is all that’s left.
Top floors are gone, back is gone, soon this guy will be knocking on(down) the front door.
All this door needs is a house.
This door won’t last a week. The sign mentions the danger from the asbestos.
Not much left
It didn’t take this machine very long to turn the house into rubble.

128 comments

  3. Gosh, it’s sad to see a house destroyed, but nothing lasts forever. I wish we knew a little of the house’s history. Great tour, Dan.

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    • Thanks Gwen. I did a quick search to see if the local paper had any information, but I came up empty. The house had gone from multi-family to a few small businesses while we’ve been in our current offices. Beyond that, I don’t know. Today, there’s no sign a house was ever there.

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  5. All grat houses, once upon a time. You knoe you could edit those ‘oddities’ out of any great potential house. On my new editor the replace feature works really well.

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    • It’s definitely sad. This town wants a “thriving commercial district” in this area. A few years ago, they turned down an application to build apartments next to the building where I work. It would have been a good place, as shopping and transit are very close by. They’re going to allow a hotel to be built instead. There’s life here, during the day, but it rolls out in the evening.

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  8. I would be interested in buying that house for sale because it has no neighbours. However, I believe it needs plenty of renovation work. Great post and excellent images. Finally, I have managed to post mine as well this week. I believe I will be regular now as I took some time out and got some pictures on Sunday.

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    • I’ll be checking your post out soon. The house that’s for sale has no neighbors but sits in a notch between two main roads. It might have worked for Teagan’s story, but it’s boarded-up.

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  9. Beautiful photos. In some ways, considering you can’t stop the deterioration of these buildings, it’s touching that you’ve taken these pictures to allow the buildings to live on in a different way.

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  10. That first one could easily feature in a horror story/movie. Just make it nighttime, add a storm and some ominous music and you’re all set! It is sad to see a house get torn down, but if so much had to be removed, it probably wouldn’t be worth it to start over from what was left. At least a house can relatively easily be torn down. Empty businesses and large buildings tend to sit empty forever!

    janet

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  11. As dilapidated as these homes are, it’s still easy to see how beautiful they once were. And the stories those crumbling walls must hold of the families that lived in them. It is truly sad to see them demolished, but sometimes there’s no other recourse.

    The “asbestos” house with its beautiful front door proudly still standing through the demolition, well, that photo sums up the sadness of losing these homes.

    I never gave any thought to those details you have to consider in choosing what you photograph for Teagan’s story…..making sure that everything fits into Mississippi in the 50’s/60’s. That’s a job and a half, but clearly you’re loving it Dan. And we all get the benefit of the creativity of two very talented people!!

    🐾Ginger🐾

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    • Thanks Ginger. These houses have all seen better days. Although, that first one looks like it might have been home to a few horror shows, or the Adams Family. I wish they could all be saved, but I know that’s impractical, and I wouldn’t want the job of restoring them. Seeing the door, with nothing behind it was just sad.

      Teagan is very accepting of almost anything I give her. But, for some of the critical elements, I’m trying to fit the time frame. I thought the house was important, although she gave me great leeway on what to pick. It’ fun being part of the story.

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  12. I so love those houses that need a little TLC. But they can be a bit strange. People keep the outside looking as it should, but then you open the door and the inside is totally modern. A bit of culture shock to me. These fixer-uppers are so pretty, though. I hope they don’t get torn down.

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    • Thank Lois. The signs aren’t looking good, but I hope some of them get pulled out of the bin, as it were. The modern makeovers do feel strange, especially when the interiors were often as elaborate as the exteriors.

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    • That’s a good description, Maggie. I think I would feel weird spending a night in that house, if I didn’t know a lot more about it (and who’s buried in the basement – just kidding).

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  14. Maybe if I was 25 or 30 years younger I’d get excited by the idea of snatching up one of these fixer-uppers and going to town on an exciting reno project. Aside from the ones that are obvious lost causes, even the ones that have potential just leave me thinking, nah I’m waaay too old and tired for that :-D

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    • I know how you feel, Norm. I also agree with you. It would be a fun project for a much younger me. As the Obi Wan would say, “this is not the retirement project you’re looking for.”

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  16. Lots of older homes here that would definitely fit the bill. I also hate to see houses torn down. But some, well, the wiring can be dangerous. And the trash burning barrel. I had forgotten about that. Ours was rusty with a hole cut in the front to feed the flames.

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    • Thanks Maggie – Yep, that was the burning barrel. I watched my day cut that opening in a 55-gallon drum with a chisel. I remember being amazed :-)

      Fixing older homes is hard work. It needs to be a labor of love.

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  19. I hate to see old houses get knocked down. At the very least, I’m always surprised that more of the old fixtures, lumber (and those cool doors!) don’t get reused. Cool post!

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  21. I am thinking HGTV here…

    Your contractor calls you: “We found a problem…”

    Followed by, “We found a problem…”

    Followed by, “We found a problem…”

    Followed by, “We found a problem…”

    Followed by, “We found a problem…”

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  24. Ooo…I can’t decide. I’m guessing the yellow house with the porch that has plastic on it? The anticipation is killing me…! Nice photos for all of the works in progress!

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  26. I find boarded up houses really sad. They were once homes where lives were lived and now they’re unloved and abandoned.

    There are some real beauties in here and it’s a shame to see them boarded up. The yellow one reminds me of the house I grew up in. However, my favourite is the one with all the mini turrets/dormers on top. I can fantasize about a home like that!

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  27. Reblogged this on Teagan's Books and commented:
    Dan Antion gives a teaser for tomorrow’s chapter of Brother Love. I didn’t mean to give him such a big photo challenge — but he sure did a fabulous job. You’ll see tomorrow.
    Comments are closed here because I want you to visit Dan. Hugs on the wing!

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  28. Dan, you are an illustrator extraordinaire! Heartfelt thanks for all the amazing work you’ve done for “Brother Love.” This is a wonderful, mindful post. Other than the beautiful Gothic looking house, I would have been happy to use any of these. Yes, so sad to see them going to waste.
    Hugs!

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  29. Hi dan – seems a heme this week
    To see dilapidated and run down doors
    – and I like the term “photo surgery” and how sweet that the now forever gone house has this space on a social media site. Intrinsic parts of blogging – ;)
    And glad you found the right house for Birdie

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  30. It seems a shame to tear down some of these houses, Dan. Some of them still look so nice. A lot of people live in shacks in South Africa. I understand your comments about fitting a time zone. I sometimes have that same problem. Powerlines in the photographs.

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    • Thanks Roberta. Power lines are ubiquitous, I’d hate to have to get rid of them. Even for Thursday Doors, I try to shoot from under them, but sometimes, that would mean standing in traffic. There are lots of people around these houses who need a better place to live. It seems to make so much more sense to help someone fix one of these up and keep it on the tax rolls, but I don’t make these decisions, so…

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  33. I, too, admire old houses left for rescue. I love the first one so, so much. I can imagine, ya know? And the house that might work in The South circa 1950, yes, I think so, and Sassy said she would restore the eff outta that house, so if at least the three of us like it, maybe someone will save it. Also that green house that goes on forever — love how it’s green in the green.
    It’s so wonderful when people make the effort. And very nice you’re making the effort to help Teagan :)

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  37. I feel I just went to a funeral. The death of an old house is so sad. My brothers and I used to play in abandoned houses. As they explored, I set up house-keeping; sweeping and dusting, and re-arranging the furniture.

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  38. Sorry so late, but I a few days away from the computer – That house with the beautiful and mysterious look – wow! Generally feel the same way (sad) when a house is bulldozed down.
    Except for last year a huge tree split a mobile home (in mobile home park) that we always pass, down the middle, that was at least 6 months ago, till they finally cleaned up the mess. And a tree fell on the entire roof of another normal size home down the same street -that was even worse, because it was a family with little kids, and on everything one could just see they’re barely making it. The roof was repaired, but the family moved – can’t blame ’em.

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  42. Is that one house pink, or just seeming so due to the dogwood in the foreground? I do like it and perhaps it is the first pink house I’ve seen. A bold choice but it works!

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  44. It may sound a bit odd to say I like the look of a broken-down house (one that needs a little TLC, as you say), but I kinda do. I start imagining some back story for the place that might involve a haunting or some other strange occurrence. Anyway, cool pics today!

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    • Thanks Paul. You’re in good company. I, too look at those houses with an eye toward what they were and what they could be again. Others have mentioned having the same feelings. It’s amazing that we can feel sad for houses.

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  45. I know which house went to Teagan’s story as I’m in catch up mode reading top to bottom. It’s a great house for the story so far. I do like that mansion with all the turrets or whatever they’re called, and the brick and all those windows.

    Your images are really complimenting Teagan’s story which I’m enjoying very much!

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    • Thanks Deborah. I think structures around the edge would be considered dormers, but they are mysterious. I don’t know whether the structure in the center would be considered a Widow’s Walk (you would be able to see the CT River from there) or a turret or who knows what.

      I am enjoying working with Teagan on this story. It’s so fun to see where she takes these prompts.

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  46. Hi. My daughter is taking pictures of doors for me in Paris and Barcelona. She knows I love doors as much as you do. Everywhere she goes, a picture of a door or two finds my Facebook. Barcelona has great doors!

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