One goes up, one comes down

Driving around Durham the last couple of days, it's hard to miss one visual landmark coming down even as a new one has taken shape.

Over at West Village, the "Quality Products, Quality People" bridge that overhangs West Main Street is coming down. The first image (borrowed from Gary's Endangered Durham blog) shows the bridge at the lower left-hand corner. The second image shows the artist's rendering of the proposed streetscape for West Village -- sans bridge.

I certainly won't miss the cigarette bridge crossing Main Street, which somehow brought to me at least a sense that I was somehow intruding on the factory landscape by passing through. If West Village is successful in drawing new life to the so-called "Warehouse District" (another piece of DDI nomenclature), the more open street will provide a much-needed pedestrian connection and space between Brightleaf and downtown.

Over at American Tobacco, on the other hand, what appears to be the structural framework for a billboard/sign has been erected on the Old Bull building (W.T. Blackwell's original factory, one of the last buildings still being renovated in Phase II of the American Tobacco project).  There had been talk in the papers last year that Struever Bros. wanted to do some form of signature sign or display on the roof of the Old Bull, a trademark characteristic of their projects, and it looks like that's coming to fruition here.

Comments

[GK]

It's an interesting piece of historicism that Streuver is putting the billboard back up. Although I know of a better shot somewhere, I can't pull it up right now.

But you can see it in this shot.

http://www.dclibrary.net/prod1/ncc/schelp/js020.htm

It was up during the 1950s-1960s, I believe - don't know when it came down. I'm not much on these sort of affectations (like the 7am & 3pm whistle.)

GK

[GK]

A better view of the old AT billboard, from 1962:

http://www.endangereddurham.org/Photos/at_sign.jpg

GK

[Bull City Rising]

Hey Gary,

Thanks for the comments and links. I'm kind of with you on being iffy at best on the restoration of such things. Ditto the whistles... even up in the northern edge of Trinity Park, I can hear the whistle go off in the early morning hour when I'm getting ready for work. It's like the darned place is mocking me, saying "time to go to the office!" I'm sure in the West End you get it even worse.

The close-up photo is nice to actually see the billboard's text. "Tobacco is our middle name," though? Groanworthy. Wonder if the new one will say, "[Capitol] Broadcasting [Co.] is our middle name."

[Blazer Manpurse, BFA]

Hmm, looking at the second version of the sign, this now makes sense--I bet they're gonna affix the cigarette bridge to that billboard! Recycling!

On a more serious note, it would be kinda cool if they recreated the "Durham, Renowned the World Around" sign...

[GK]

BM, BFA - check you out with the knowledge of Durham's extensive sloganistory! The "Durham Renowned the World Around" sign, once located on the corner of Church and E. Main, will be coming up on ED shortly.

Kevin - what will their middle name be? Sounds like a good online poll. Yeah, I'm about 2 blocks from AT, so the whistle is pretty loud.

GK

[Dave S.]

What, they're going to float giant balloons of cigarette boxes above ATC? (According to the postcard in GK's first comment)

Personally, Durham's best sign is the one you see as you enter the city/county on I-40 or I-85, the one that shows a schematic of I-40 and I-85 with a non-descript star of Durham in the middle. It always fills me with pride--Durham, we're in between two interstates!

[Bull City Rising]

Heh... everytime I pass that sign on the Interstates, I expect to see Becky Heron or Lewis Cheek out there with black spray paint, covering up the "City" on the sign. Given the uneasy historic relationship between our city and county government, I'm shocked they could agree on a roadsign that acknowledged both of them.

Blazer, I agree 100% that getting the Durham Progress image would be quite cool. Of course, I could imagine all the South Durhamites thinking the idea got stolen from Southpoint. Sigh....

[mike]

i really liked the Quality Products sign on West Village and I am sorry to see it go. I liked the feeling I had walking under it with the large buildings surrounding me on both sides.
You can't really be serious that it made you feel like you were intruding? And the whole opening up the street thing is overated. It is the empty buildings that have preventing people from going into downtown, which also has lots of empty buildings as well.

[Michael Bacon]

I'm with Mike on the bridge. I liked the gate-like effect it had on downtown.

Oh, well. I'm not going to lose huge amounts of sleep over it. The improvements to the Liggett campus look like they're going to be so huge, the bridge isn't really going to stay on my mind.

But all things considered, I think I'll miss it a bit.

[weege]

The bridge added to the character of the L&M complex. I find this very shortsighted of BDV, but not terribly surprising. I wonder if they will also take the one down over Morgan St.? If I recall correctly, you can see that one in "Bull Durham".