(Above) A rare color photo from 1943! Click on this image for super high res view!CALLED “THE BANANA HOUSE” BY LOCALS IN THE YEAR 1943, this fruit stand was located at 1900 Franklin Street in Houston, TX. In May of that year, when FSA photographer Vachon snapped this image, the house was already nearly 100 years old.
4 x 5 Kodachrome transparency by John Vachon.
(Above) 1900 FRANKLIN STREET TODAY. The “Banana House” would have been located just about dead center in this photograph taken just months ago. Image courtesy of Virtual Earth technology. Click on this image for larger view!WELL, I DON’T THINK THERE IS ANY QUESTION ABOUT THESE TWO IMAGES. Houston got rid of a banana stinkin’ eyesore a long time ago for this big concrete improvement! Chalk up another victory for civic progress. Images sourced through shorpy.com.
7 comments:
There was a bit of a Grey Gardens thing going on there, but perhaps a coat of paint would have saved it.
Yea, I know Maureen, it was in bad shape even in 1943, but beautiful nonetheless. A Victorian mansion, if there ever was one.
This is wonderful, John. I cannot stop looking at the photo; so many little details to notice. Yesterday's was one of my favorite posts also.
Paved paradise, put up a parking lot...Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone...
Joni Mitchell, visionary
Ahhhh-hhh, thanks everyone. I appreciate your comments.
Or...chalk up another victory for the automobile.
They probably would've torn the house down anyway - if it didn't fall down on its own - but pavement alone has really degraded the landscape all over America, primarily because of damn cars.
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