I kid myself that I never shoot for posterity but sometimes it ends up happening anyway.

If you've followed my blog you've no doubt seen photos of this complex of old, industrial buildings many times over the years. They occupy a couple acres of premium, downtown land and they have been there since before I moved to Austin in 1974. From what I can tell the buildings are or were part of an iron works and metal fabrication facility. The brick building, which adjoins the corrugated metal-clad buildings has been more or less vacant for as long as I've been aware of it and walking by it. About twenty years. 

On the other side of the fence, to the left of the building in the bottom frame, are railroad tracks and just on the other side of the railroad tracks is our small, quiet Amtrak station. The plot of real estate is just to the West of Lamar Blvd. and just north of Lady Bird Lake. It's in an area that used to be a quiet, close-in to the Capital, residential area but it's now a red hot development target. Four and five story "mixed use" projects are going up all around.

When I first started walking through this area with my camera it was sleepy quiet. The front of the brick building is located on a low traffic street that came to a stop at a dead end for two way traffic and maintained a bike lane and a little used, one way, car lane instead. I'd walk through this area on many business days without seeing a single person. And I don't know why, other than the fact that the buildings are so different from all the new, aimed at the affluent professionals, cookie cutter buildings. And the idea that, at least once upon a time, a thriving business existed here that was centered around skilled labor and craftsmanship but not high end retail sshopping.

I was happy enough to walk by and snap a few frames on my way from my favorite parking spot into the heart of Austin's downtown but about a month ago, when walking by, I found a sign on a small wooden post declaring that imminent demolition had been applied for. This piqued my interest as I somehow have convinced myself that the simplicity and tenor of the existing structures resonates with a collective memory of what Austin was like, what it was about, before our rush to excess affluence started to change everything. Now I am motivated to at least preserve it in photographs. As I did about a decade ago with the decommissioning of the Seaholm Power Plant that existed since the dawn of time in the middle of downtown. (Now a mixed use retail/residence project).

I've been in touch with the owners to gain legal access to the property and am awaiting a reply. I proposed spending a couple different days documenting every square inch of the exterior and then at least a day to wander through the guts of the space with a bag full of wide angle lenses, a stout tripod and a high resolution camera. We'll see what happens. I don't know all the particulars but I hope I not racing against some sort of unmovable deadline for the eradication of this little, out of the way and barely noticed piece of old Austin. 

The images shown here were done in passing with a Leica rangefinder camera and the 50mm f2.0 Zeiss ZM lens. Hardly the optimal choice for a wide-ranging architectural documentation. But something had to light the fire under my feet and get the process rolling and the shots done in passing, over time, seem to have had a cumulative effect. 

When (and if) I finish the project I'll also interview the owners to find the history and backstory of the business there and the evolution of it. I'll offer the whole package to the Austin History Center for their use. It's not the kind of content that I usually do for myself but I'm curious enough about the whole place to pursue this. And if parts are still functioning I might even be able to make some good portraits. 

That's what I'm working on between work and swimming. The schedule is filling up. 

Don't need any A.I. for this one....