Approaching St. George's

Approaching St. George's
Originally uploaded by chacal la chaise.

The former St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, 915 N. Florence, was placed on Preservation Texas' list of historic properties in 2005.

Formerly known as St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, the 915 N. Florence property faces what the Austin-based organization Preservation Texas calls serious danger. According to an El Paso Times article dated March 28, 2005, its owners (St. Clement's Episcopal Church) want to turn the property into a parking lot. But for now, this mission revival building, constructed in 1910 by renowned El Paso architect Henry Trost, is currently being rented out to a Maronite Catholic Church congregation.

I post this now because the local historical society has applied for endangered status for another building, which is about a mile away. The group and the city met last week to discuss the condition of The Albert B. Hall mansion. All agree the mansion is suffering "demolition by neglect."

Across the street, a house is under renovation; probably conversion into a law office.

Scout and Interestingness

Inky-picasaFX
Originally uploaded by chacal la chaise.

Prediction :: A feature on Flickr will prove to be very addicting to me.

Scout, on the photo community's sidebar site called Flagrantdisregard, is a kind of barometric visual instrument that tracks how "interesting" any given photo on Flickr can turn out to be. Interestingness is the balance between several factors: how many views, how many comments, how many favorites. It is a popularity contest of the beautiful, the ironic, the surreal. Photoshopped or Picasa-manipulated images, such as this pix of Inky, are judged along side Holga shot prints, Nikon-shot scenics and models, and even camera-cell phones. All are equal under the law of numbers, comments, and eyeballs.