07 January 2011

1807 riverview st.



i have a thing for abandoned buildings. the stories behind them. who once lived there. how many generations lived there. what happened. why they are no longer there or what came about for the building to be completely forgotten. marisa and i had driven past this house multiple times on the way to her's in east austin. finally we stopped, so that i could take pictures. while we were walking around, we got to talking to the neighbor. he had just finished his brand new eco modern house next door and he told us that his looked very similar to this one before renovating it. all of these houses were built right after the war, back in the 1940s. but he said that a little old lady lived here by herself. that he would go over every so often and help her repair things or join her for dinner. i wonder if she was lonely. i wonder what type of art she had hanging on the walls. what nationality she was. if she had raised any children. if she had been married. there is so much one could imagine from solely looking at the floor tile in each room. we guessed at which room was which based on the pipes and stains left over. where the furniture might have been. if she ever imagined that her home would be open to the elements with 2 walls remaining. time past leaves us, in the future, with so few answers sometimes. its endearing though. to imagine. it made me happy and sad to stand here looking at this one.




1 comment:

Danielle said...

This place holds a hauntingly familiar feeling for me. It's as if I had a childhood there or like it (or the past owner) is somehow a part of my being. I understand why you are obsessed with it.