Tuesday, July 09, 2013
Hidden beauty
Sort of following on these thoughts about order and beauty.
When I was writing about the fantastic Hypotenuse Tree [RIP], I tried to find it on Bing's birds-eye map. It wasn't obvious from that angle, and Google Street didn't do it justice either, so my own photo was probably the best view of it. However, just across the street from Hypotenuse an even more fantastic vision appeared on Bing:
A classic formal garden!
This is not your formal-garden-type neighborhood. Respectable and safe, but a long way from fancy.
Since then I've walked around that block trying to catch a glimpse of the garden from the street. No luck. It's absolutely hidden from all sides. Bing is the only public way to see it.
Wonder how long it's been there? The city's online property map includes a 1958 aerial photo aligned with the streets. [LATER NOTE: NO LONGER AVAILABLE.] It doesn't have the resolution of modern satmaps, but it seems to show a dark rectangle in the same spot behind the same house. (Overall, very little has changed around here since 1958. About 80% of the houses are unchanged in shape. The clearest difference is lots of casual paths running through the middle of blocks without regard to lot lines. Though fences wouldn't be visible, the paths imply that very few houses had fences in 1958, and kids had free range.)
A classic formal garden!
This is not your formal-garden-type neighborhood. Respectable and safe, but a long way from fancy.
Since then I've walked around that block trying to catch a glimpse of the garden from the street. No luck. It's absolutely hidden from all sides. Bing is the only public way to see it.
Wonder how long it's been there? The city's online property map includes a 1958 aerial photo aligned with the streets. [LATER NOTE: NO LONGER AVAILABLE.] It doesn't have the resolution of modern satmaps, but it seems to show a dark rectangle in the same spot behind the same house. (Overall, very little has changed around here since 1958. About 80% of the houses are unchanged in shape. The clearest difference is lots of casual paths running through the middle of blocks without regard to lot lines. Though fences wouldn't be visible, the paths imply that very few houses had fences in 1958, and kids had free range.)Labels: Heimatkunde
¶ 7:03 AM
