September 2014 Theme Day: Rust and Ruins

The first of every month is Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers. This month's theme is rust and ruins. Today's picture makes me sad, because my friend Todd grew up in this once proud Victorian on Uintah Street, and now look at it! When Todd's family lived in this home, it was lovingly restored and immaculately maintained. They sold it about 20 years ago, and the new owner immediately divided it up into apartments. I don't believe it's even seen a coat of paint since. I'm sure that, since it's located across the street from the Colorado College, its renters have been primarily students. This poor house is showing the signs of two decades of rowdy, careless renters and an even more careless, obviously absentee owner. The sign in the window says "For Rent", but would you want your college-aged kid living here? It looks like a crack house! (It's telling that school is starting at CC and all the students have arrived for the year, yet this house still has empty apartments to let.) Even this rainy summer cannot make up for the yellowed, weedy "lawn"; the shutters are utterly dilapidated, the paint is peeling off, the siding is missing large chunks, and the porch is sagging. What a pity. Sadly, many of our downtown rentals are starting to look just like this, including a few Victorians I lived in during my renting years, long ago. I'm sure Todd winces every time he drives past his old home. I know I do! I do wish there was a way to mandate that our downtown homeowners, whether they rent out their property or live in it, are good stewards of their historic houses. This kind of blight and decay should not be happening in our beautiful downtown and Old North End.

To see more images of rust and ruins from CDP bloggers all over the world, click HERE.