First some resources:
- The Official Friends of the U.S. Marine Hospital page
- The Wikipage
- An Excellent collection of neighborhood pictures and history- Portland is a unique community because it’s one of the oldest in Louisville and yet because it became a “dumping place” for Irish immigrants, and now for the poorer Louisvillians. It’s a “between” neighborhood, not downtown, yet also not the West End so it often gets ignored both by developers and the city. (Portland’s zoning is complicated, which adds to the difficulty developing it.) Here you find people who take massive pride in their homes, many of which date back a hundred years or more, side by side with derelict abandoned properties and poorer families who simply cannot give the homes the care they need. (Keeping up with a home in good shape is a constant process, any homeowner will tell you. Keeping up with one fifty to a hundred years old can be significantly more trouble. Our own home was built in 1900, renovated in the 80s sometime and stood empty over 8 months before the mortgage company in California that took it in a foreclosure sold to us. I only mention all this because it’s a typical story in this area, which commonly overlooked by historical preservation and city rehabilitation programs, continues to struggle.)
Also, if you notice the gorgeous yellow two story house with white trim and black shudders in the street and home pictures. My friend Kube lives there.
Anyway, for effect I’ve borrowed the following picture of the Marine Hospital cira 2004.
Gorgeous, regal old beast. Well not long after this photo the city began restoring the building. This is what it looks like now.
I’m cutting the rest of this post so it doesn’t dominate my blog, but there is much more under the cut.
So now I’m pleased to give just a tiny taste of the interior.
And just for a bit of fun, let’s go face hunting in all those pretty windows.
(You’re free to disagree about the faces. I just think it’s fun to look for them.)
