Tag: back porch

The Sunday porch: East Boston

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East Boston, c. 1973, via National ArchivesLaundry hanging from triple-decker porches in East Boston near Logan Airport, May 1973.

East Boston, c. 1973, via National Archives“From the rear porch of his home at the southern corner of Neptune and Lovell Streets, Larry Vienza watches jet take off from Runway 15r-33l. Once airborne, the jet will fly directly over his house, May 1973” (with photographer’s caption).

These photos* were taken by Michael Philip Manheim, for DOCUMERICA, a 1970’s photography project of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The East Boston neighborhood was devastated by the noise from Logan airport’s expansion in the 1960s and 70s. (See Friday’s post, “Neptune Road.”)

There are more pictures from DOCUMERICA here.

*Via the U.S. National Archives Commons on flickr.

The Sunday porch: behind Randolph Street

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Looking through a “slat screen” from the back porch of a house on Randolph Street (probably N.W.), Washington, D.C., May 1942, by John Ferrell, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

OK, it’s possible that I’m easily amused.

Also, I have holiday shopping to do. . . and it’s Bloom Day.  (So more later.)

John Ferrell was a photographer for the Farm Security Administration when he took these photos.

Randolph Street, N.W., runs east-west through the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

I’ve stayed in the front yard all my life.
I want a peek at the back.  .  .

— Gwendolyn Brooks, from “a song in the front yard“

 

 

The Sunday porch: Ellen Glasgow house, Richmond

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Preserve, within a wild sanctuary, an inaccessible valley of reveries.
— Ellen Glasgow

The Sunday porch/enclos*ure: Ellen Glasgow Hse., Richmond, ca. 1930s, F.B. johnston, Library of CongressView from the back porch of the home of novelist Ellen Glasgow, Richmond, Virginia, ca. 1930s, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.  (Click here for a larger view.)

Ellen Glasgow House, 1930s, Richmond, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Library of Congress

Glasgow published 19 novels and an autobiography — The Woman Within — about life in Virginia. Their realism “helped direct Southern literature away from sentimentality and nostalgia.”

Her books were selling briskly in the 1930s, when these pictures were taken, and she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1942.

Ellen Glasgow House, 1930s, Richmond, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Library of CongressHer home was built in 1841, and Glasgow lived there from the time her father bought it in 1887, when she was about 13, until her death in 1945.

Ellen Glasgow House, 1930s, Richmond, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Library of CongressIt is now owned by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities but is not open to the public.

The Sunday porch: Wiseman, Alaska

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Igloo No. 8 by Jet Lowe, Library of CongressFront porch near the Koyukuk River at Wiseman Creek, Wiseman, Alaska, July 1984. Photo by Jet Lowe for an Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

For over six decades, this little porch sheltered many hours of masculine leisure and conviviality. In 1913, it fronted the Siverly and Bowker Saloon.  The following year, the building was sold to the Pioneers of Alaska and used as one of its local chapters — an ‘Igloo;’ it was Igloo No. 8.   The Pioneers, a fraternal organization, was formed in 1907 “for social purposes to keep alive the memories of the early trailblazers.”

By 1972, the building had been sold again.  At the time of these photos, it was the home of the owner’s son.

Igloo No. 8, HABS, Library of CongressAbove is the back porch and entrance to the kitchen.

Igloo #8, HABS, Library of CongressAbove is the side view. The flowers and birch trees are so pretty; it’s a pity we don’t have a picture of the view from the front porch. All photos by Jet Lowe.