barn doors

 

Sometimes I am privileged to be asked to photograph some interesting places.  Such was the case on Thursday at the Texas Tech Dairy Barn. Despite the 95+ degree heat, Dr. John White of the TTU College of Architecture and I entered the dusty interior of the long empty building abandoned in 1966.  We even climbed the narrow stairs -- by flashlight -- to the hay loft. These interior doors separate the "milk room" from the feed rooms and office. The Dairy Barn, built in 1927,  has regained some status with its exterior renovations and new surrounding landscape.  Watch for more news about this building which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

 

Texas Tech Dairy Barn

Lubbock, Texas

through these door

 

These interior doors once led to the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons Of Texas Lodge #1023.  Now the location of the Mason Temple is an empty shell of the brick building built in 1929 which housed the Freemasons .   In March 1835 the first Masonic meeting held in Texas for the purpose of establishing a lodge in Texas was under an oak tree near the town of Brazoria.  Since then many notable and ornate edifices  around the world have been constructed by the fraternity for their meetings. The Spur 1929 lodge was probably fancy for its time; the new Mason Hall, constructed down the street in 1997, is a steel building with a plain brick façade--hardly befitting of the stonemasons who crafted King Solomon's Temple.

 

Spur, Texas

8.16.2014

church doors

 

The doors of this abandoned church in Littlefield have not welcomed a congregation in years.  If the doors opened, parishioners would find only rafters fallen from the collapsed roof.  I realized that the right-hand door was a replacement but I pondered, puzzled, for a moment.  The door leaning against the wall looked just liked the left-hand door--how could that have worked?  Then I realized it was placed backwards.  The door mechanism was the give-away!  I wondered what the name for that piece of gear might be, and a diligent search rewarded me with "door opener." Such a mundane word for that equipment.  If you want to buy a "door opener" be sure to specify hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, left-handed, right-handed, non-handed, heavy duty.  The descriptors are more interesting than the name of the device.

 

Church with no name

Hilbun and Basin Streets

Littlefield, Texas

4.11.2014

along the waterfront

 

Old Montreal, Canada

4.5.2013