Preparations are underway to demolish the 1980s addition to 285 Farmington Avenue.  This section, added by TSKP Studio back when their offices were here, unfortunately suffered tremendous damage due to a huge hole in the roof.  The previous owner (ahem) never did anything to stave off further damage, and now the addition has to come down.  Note the precise cut along the seam between the original house and the addition, as it shows how well the addition had been constructed.

In one way, this is a good thing:  it will open up a side yard between 279 and 285, giving both houses room to breathe, and letting the bay window on the west side of 279 see direct sunlight for the first time in almost 40 years.

The car in the center of the photo, heading north, sticks out into the intersection.  The cars at the right, heading west, are trapped.  Still no plan from our esteemed Planning Division at the city.

Today was the fourth quarter convening of the Hartford Neighborhood Development Support Collaborative, hosted by our friends at LISC.  Every quarter they organize an event that brings together peer organizations working on housing in Hartford, and this quarter they shared with us the results of an in-depth analysis of the collaborative, conducted by JFM Consultants out of Detroit.

They followed the convening with lunch and then a tour of the work being done by the three non-profit community development corporations that are a part of the collaborative:  Sheldon Oak Central, Mutual Housing Association of Greater Hartford, and NINA.  We stopped by SOC’s major development down at Dutch Point (shown here), then pulled into Mutual’s project on York Street.  From there, we headed up to NINA’s current project at 102 Huntington Street.  Along the way, I pointed out the sites, including my house, the underground Park River, the summit of Asylum Hill, and anything else that occurred to me.  In other words, random stuff I saw at the bus window!

The other picture here is me on the back deck at 102, holding forth.  Sadly, I was in my element, and I was loving it!

Front porch, and patch work on the front bay.  Copper flashing and new shingles in the porch gable.  Patch work along the south side of the house.  The back deck.  Repairs to the garage.  Note the porch post in front of the garage, ready for replication and repair.

The Hat House is located at 213 Garden Street, which is one of the retail spaces at 207 Garden Street.  We were very excited to see this billboard go up at the intersection of Garden Street, Walnut Street, and Homestead Avenue, the gateway between Upper Albany and Asylum Hill.

There’s a close-up, and then a wider shot that shows the billboard with The Hartford in the background.  If you look very closely toward the lower right side of the photo, you can see the mural on north side of 207 Garden Street.

Jonathan Clark’s antique wagon.  Ramon and Ernie googled it, and apparently, if we clean it up and make modest repairs, we can sell it for $400.  Needless to say, it’s going back to the office, to join other historic artifacts in the “NINA Museum.”