Dan Antion

Frog Hollow Wrap & Announcement

Welcome to Thursday Doors! This is a weekly challenge for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world. If you’d like to join us, simply create your own Thursday Doors post each (or any) week and then share a link to your post in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). If you like, you can add our badge to your post.

As the title suggests, today’s gallery is a collection of random doors from the Frog Hollow neighborhood, which lies south of Hartford, Connecticut’s downtown area. Some of the doors are from a neighborhood known as Barry Square, but I’m not going to make a distinction today. (I’ve tried to describe them in the captions. You might need to click on the lower case ‘i’ in the circle to see the complete caption).

My reason for moving quickly through the neighborhood is because I want to take care of the second thing the title suggests, an announcement.

During the month of May, No Facilities will sponsor the Second Annual Thursday Doors Writing Challenge – phew, that’s a mouthful. If you weren’t her for the challenge last year, or if you forgot, here’s how this works.

Thursday Doors participants offer one, two or (maximum) three of their door photos as inspiration for a writer. Writers can study the doors, pick one (or more) and craft a blog post, flash fiction, poem, short-story, play, musical, novel, screen play…well, you get the picture. The writing will be linked to a special page that I will set up on May 1st and leave open until May 31st.

In order to gather these doors, I need those of you who have joined us (recently or in the past) to provide them to me. You can do that one of two ways. You can send me an email (noFacilities at gmail.com) containing the image of the door(s) – it doesn’t have to be large, 600×800 is fine, or you can send me a link to the specific door you want to offer. Note: if you open your media library, click on an image, on the right-hand side will show you the URL of the image. Please don’t send me to a blog post and say “second row, third from left” because I will mess that up. Please include a little text that I can include with the image. If you want to also include the post in which the image appeared, I will link to it

This is the link you should send me

At the end of April, I will assemble the inspirational images into a gallery for writers to swoon over, and I will publish the full instructions for the writing challenge.

If you want to see examples of doors and writing, you can visit the last year’s Writing Challenge page. Note: I know some of the authors are chomping at the bit to get going. That’s fine, but we won’t be accepting entries until May 1st.

This former mill building has been transformed into office space.
Some of the houses that remain are juxtaposed in areas that were built up in support of government and business.
These 19th century apartments are a block away from high rise State office buildings.
No door on this side, but I love the detail in the brick
Three level apartment complex.
Industrial buildings now serving the insurance inductry
These streets are crowded and, apparently, it was trash day.
Brick, large overhang, iron fence, distinctive stairs and bay corners. I love it.
I really like the bays built into these buildings.
Templo Fe/AD-Hartford CT – Church services and religious instruction at various levels
Templo Fe/AD-Hartford CT – Church services and religious instruction at various levels
Reuse is possible
This is a functioning church. It needs a little TLC, but the main building looks in pretty good shape
Under construction – this house is being rebuilt.
I’m glad they have kept the front portico
I love that door!

If you are in a hurry and don’t wish to scroll through the comments, click to Jump to the comment form.

119 comments

  1. Great pictures, Dan, I also like the red door. Those 19th century apartments are lovely. I will take a look through my doors pictures and find a few for you. I’ll send an email over the weekend. I’m planning to participate this year provided the universe doesn’t throw anything (like another bout of covid) my way.

    Liked by 3 people

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  7. I love the combination of sturdy and fancy. I’m guessing that a lot of these need major upkeep, and that one house that’s being rebuilt must be a huge project, but I bet it will be a beauty when it’s done. Frog Hollow has been a lovely visit. Thanks!

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    • Driving around this area, you see a mix of houses that look pristine, houses that need some TLC and a few like that one. I wanted to give a good picture of the area – it’s not all roses, but it appears that people are making the effort to keep it a nice place to live. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the tour.

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  9. I absolutely love the 19 century apartment buildings. And that red door is a real eye catcher. All these buildings have beautiful brickwork, and neat bays, and intricate trim work. They were clearly built to last. Would love to see that house when it’s makeover is complete. Hint, hint!

    Touring Frog Hollow with you has been fun Dan. Especially since you do all the footwork and I get to relax in my recliner and enjoy the fruits of your effort! Yep, I definitely have touring down to a science! 🤗

    We’re due for some nasty rain and wind starting this afternoon. I imagine you’re getting the same. Hope Maddie enjoys her morning walk because curling up on the couch will be the sensible thing for this afternoon.
    Ginger

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    • I am happy to be your tour guide, Ginger. Discovering these gems in Hartford has been fun. Learning about the history has been very interesting for me. Sharing this all with others is the icing on the cake.

      The brick buildings have held up so well. I think it’s due to the effort they put into them. Those little details are hard to ignore.

      We will squeeze a walk in this morning, and then hunker down for the night. I’m guessing Maddie will want her Thundershirt. I hope you have a nice night and start the weekendsafe and dry.

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    • The brick buildings in the south end of the city are my favorites, and they’ve held up well over the years. The north end is made up of wooden buildings, and they haven’t fared as well.

      You have a nice collection this week.

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    • I am so glad that church has been preserved and is still operating. Others in this neighborhood have been lost.

      I really liked your photos from San Juan. Thursday Doors gets doors from all over the world, it’s like traveling.

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  24. I really like the last door, the portico and the “reuse is possible” house. And hurrah for the writing challenge. Looking forward to all the doors. I will send you mine in mail.

    Before I forget not to go into the new line, here is the third, last property in Tuscany that I visited on the open-door day last May and its doors, part one. https://manjameximexcessive6.wordpress.com/2022/03/31/thursday-doors-31-3-22-villa-di-radi-1/#Tuscany#Radi#villa#Siena#ADSI

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    • I knew people who attended daily services. I think it would have been common when this church was built. These were built within walking distance to a lot of people.

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    • I am looking forward to seeing the doors and reading the stories, Janis. I think I might be reusing your badge (I don’t have time to manage a contest, and you only got a couple weeks exposure last year.).

      Liked by 1 person

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  40. Oh, a red brick bonanza and those red doors in the last image are wonderful!!
    I hope we get see more of Frog Hollow some time down the road as I love its name and the doors and buildings.

    I’ll comb through my doors and find one to share for the writer’s to consider. 😀

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Thanks Deborah. There are areas in Frog Hollow I haven’t visited, but they are so hard to get to. Traffic is awful, construction is underway, and the city has blocked off a number of streets in such a way as to force turns onto one-way streets to avoid congestion. Maybe in the fall, after the road repair season, I’ll get back. There are other areas in the south end that I will be visiting.

      Thanks for any support you can provide.

      Liked by 1 person

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  42. Goodbye to Frog Hollow — I’ll miss it. Especially the name.
    Thanks for hosting the photo and writing challenge again, Dan. Heaven help me — I hope I’ve finished Dead of Winter by then, but… Whether or not I can participate in the writing, I’m sure I have a door I can send to inspire others. Now to choose. :) Hugs on the wing.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Teagan. I hope you’re in a position to join us, but I appreciate any support you can provide.

      I will be moving around the south end to some of the other neighborhoods. The south end is full of brick buildings, so I’m in heaven.

      Liked by 1 person

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    • The brick buildings have hung in there for over 150 years without too many issues, We see some that have be repointed (mortar replaced) but for the most part, they weather fairly well. We rarely have periods of sustained rain for more than a few days. Flashing and other features moves the water away from the buildings, and landscaping allows the bricks to dry. Those big overhangs help, too. I grew up in two different brick houses, One is over 100 years old now, and showing no signs of weather related problems.

      Thanks for the tour today. I liked it a lot.

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    • I’m glad you have enjoyed the look around Frog Hollow, Rebecca. The south end of Hartford has some of the best architecture in the city (IMO). I hope to feature more doors from this area in the coming weeks, not Frog Hollow, but nearby.

      The writing challenge was well received last year, even though I introduced it with little notice. I like the idea of giving people the chance to participate in Thursday Doors even if they are normally here to admire the doors. The stories that were shared last year were delightful.

      Speaking of delightful, your post today was such a joy. Thank you for sharing your experiences and your talent with us.

      Liked by 1 person

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  49. Hi Dan, I love the red door too! It stands out because of the brickwork around it. I’m looking forward to participating in the writing challenge. It will be my first time if I do. Thank you, for sharing the details so clearly. I’ll send you a picture of a door, and you can see if you’d like to use it for the challenge.
    My post for today is here. Cheers,

    https://smithavishwanathsblog.com/2022/04/01/thursday-doors-a-visit-to-sarnath-the-seat-of-buddhism/

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Churches and sacred buildings are such fertile ground for beautiful doors (as we see in your post). The craftsmen were always interested in making these buildings look good, but I think they brought their best effort to these buildings. I can imagine building doors like those last ones, and I am impressed by their work.

      I hope you will join us for the writing challenge. I know May comes on the heels of at least two other challenges, but it’s a whole month and you only have to write one entry (although you can write more). I like linking the writers’ talents to the photography of others. I think it’s a fun way to get to know each other.

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      • Now that you say so, I realize it to be true. Maybe it was a way to attract people to visit – by making sacred buildings beautiful.

        I will definitely give it a shot, Dan since like you say,it requires writing just one story. I’ll take a look at the last writing challenge to better understand how it works. It’s commendable how you make time to check each participant’s post and make a point to write back. Thank you again.

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  55. Your doors are so different than the ones out in the west. I love all the brick buildings. The only thing that makes the doors stand out are the openings around them, like porches. It’s a beautiful area. I will post my doors tomorrow just barely under the wire for this week.

    Liked by 1 person

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  61. Sorry Dan, this is totally in retrospect – so many things going on since Thurs. Love the red building, and the row or buildings below that are very attractive looking to me. The last church door is ingenious!

    Liked by 2 people

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