The weather this weekend turned out to be really nice, and so much was happening downtown. We hope you had a chance to visit the Tabitha Brown event in Center City Park, as well as the many events in LeBauer Park. We are so lucky to live in a city where some weekends, there is almost too much to do. Today's photo captures a view of the 200 block of South Elm Street when all was quiet at about 5:50 on Friday afternoon. Daytime workers had headed home and many of the First Friday events were only just getting started. The piece (a street mural?) was painted a while ago and it is worn. It looks like the name of the artist is Ryan Carley. The proverb reads, "Not knowing is bad; Not wishing to know is worse." The painting of the child evokes Normal Rockwell's 1960 painting of Ruby Bridges. The school bus yellow paint is a stand out, contrasting perfectly with the red cars parked in front of the S. H. Kress & Co. Building. This restored, Art Deco building dates to 1930 when it opened as a department store.
The S.H. Kress & Co. department store may be long gone; however, the building is still standing strong. To give you an idea of what a center of commerce, Greensboro (The Gate City) was in 1930, see this list of Kress department stores. The above store was one of eight in North Carolina.* Currently, Greensboro's Kress Building is for sale. The price is just under four million dollars. There is so much potential here. It could have apartments, restaurants, and more. All the stores and items needed in downtown could be put in here. The basement alone is 10,000 square feet. It will be fun to see what the new owners do with the space. In the meantime, we'll sit here and admire this view of the first two floors. What do you think will go in here? Let's wish to know together!!!
Happy Monday!
*other locations included : Asheville, Durham, Fayetteville, New Bern, Rocky Mount, Salisbury, and Wilmington. Interesting they were not in Raleigh or Charlotte.
Oddly, the photo won't open up for me.
Posted by: William Kendall | Tuesday, May 09, 2023 at 08:08 PM