we finally had good weather for a First Friday!
lots of new ventures in downtown,
with tours, installations, and inspiration.
first, we toured the under renovation
have been watching this one for years.
they finally unblocked the lane of traffic
to reveal gorgeous, restored columns
along the south side of the building (not pictured).
they have a couple of tenants & a few residents
and continue to restore the larger retail spaces.
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| the west side of the Southeastern Building |
free food and drinks...never a bad offer. and, then, there was my drawing teacher, Tristin, working on an art installation on the first floor of the building! these are her neon lines...she had just started.
you can live in the upper half of the building.
beautifully restored halls, doors, and transoms.
ceilings were restored to original height, too!
original doorknobs!
we took a second tour
down to the basement
& up to the second floor
(which is suspended by thin steel rods
rather than by columns on the first floor).
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| the underbelly of the second floor |
the basement holds the old bank vault
AMAZINGLY COOL
and soooooo much potential
for an awesome restaurant - yes?
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| enter if you dare |
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| i dared & took a picture...all the old, rusted safety deposit boxes |
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| back door of the vault is equally secure |
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| two miles thick |
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| second, smaller secured space. they were unable to open the door so cored through the wall...alas, no forgotten treasures |
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| resembles the boiler room of a submarine (at least in the movies) |
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| not sure why SDD...it was the Southeastern Bank Building...but this is the gated entrance to the vault area |
they've been working on this renovation for about a decade.
here are copies of the original plans.
and the original second floor green terrazzo floor
and the original mail system -
glass panels, so you can see mail traveling
from the floors above.
in the back of the building,
the original 1926 staircase
(front half of building is 1909)
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| looking up |
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| looking down |
most views seem to be towards the south
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| escape route |
then
we meandered down towards south elm,
which has turned into the maker space of greensboro.
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| the gorgeous Kress building |
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| stormy weather |
once you cross to South Elm,
the happening starts to happen.
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| outside Scuppernong Books, a reading of Flannery O'Connor & a little music |
crossing the railroad tracks
the Forge has moved to a larger space
(the former Flying Anvil, a brief & before-its-time
attempt at hipness south of the railroad tracks)
and we got a tour ~
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| one of the maker spaces (and the facility manager) |
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| industrial sewing area |
lots of machines
i don't know how to use.
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| a Powermatic!?!? |
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| always good to know where the Stop button is |
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| Wheel of Fortune |
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| most machines were donated by local industries |
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| also good to know when speeds are approximate |
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| looking west |
the Forge shares a building with a UNCG
art space...portions of an exhibit were still up.
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| page 1 |
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| page 2 |
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| by him |
around the corner
is Gibbs Hundred,
and its pretty distillery.
and down this same very cool street
is HQ Greensboro,
where you can rent space or access
and do your techy creative thing.
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| HQ Gso office spaces |
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| HQ Gso open space with coffee bar |
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| from the other direction |
Elsewhere (my favorite place
and, really, what started all this Making
down on South Elm)
was having a garden party.
so we traipsed down the alley
to join it
a new garden space
in the courtyard
behind Elsewhere
also accessible from HQ Greensboro
and Gibbs Hundred's distillery
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| looks like Tristin's work to me |
we looped back around
and started back up Elm
little bit of ART
little bit of whereelse
other glowing things
back up on North Elm
nothing not to love
