It is one of those projects that seems so EASY! That is, until you try it yourself.
After coming across a neat collection of binders containing photos of
project sites for the Department of Transit and Traffic from 1954, I
decided to give this project a try. I picked 12 shots that showed
enough similarities to the present day, but still offered enough
differences to stand out from the present day scene. I'd print
out copies of the photos, take them along to the sites, and voila, snap
off a digital comparison of the present day scene, and stack them in
exact alignment in Black and White, for a "Then and Now" feature.
But it was not that easy. I had hoped to have complementing
scenes match in perspective, as well as lighting, season, and exposure,
but Mother Nature never quite cooperated. It seemed that the
shots that were sunny in the original were met by overcast conditions
on my own visits and vice versa. Even harder was trying to match
position and perspective from the large prints I made to the postage
stamp size of my digital's screen. One scene I visited to attempt
a match, only to have a pair of wino's slurping down 40 ounces right
where I needed to be. Irked as I was, I opted to postpone.
Still another two shots in my originals file are of an elevated
perspective that I can not hope to match - they must have been taken
from a Cherry Picker.
So in the meantime, I present to you my first 5 attempts at the
Baltimore 1954/2004 in Pictures, Then and Now. I only hope that
you are able to enjoy it more than the hassle it was to try to create.
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A LARGER, DETAILED IMAGE
|
My first attempt
at producing a "Then and Now" image was actually pretty
successful. It is taken from the Western curb of Howard Street
below Madison Street looking North on Howard. The main quirk is
that the original shot is overcast, while the new shot is taken in
afternoon winter sun.
In the original, Howard Street is a busy commercial area paved with red
brick (and buff spacers) and offers full vehicular movement. On
the left, a hanging neon sign for Hankins greets the scene, which is
dotted with period cars, and Novalux streetlamps. Electrical
Overhead can be spotted, to power the trackless trolley coaches of the
#10 and #27 lines, of which a coach can be seen speeding into the
distance.
Today, the scene is a good bit less busy. Though still commercial
on the East side of the street, the antique dealers see a far less
volume of traffic than their predecessors. Vehicular movement is
restricted to operating Northbound only behind the camera, the result
of light rail tracks infringing upon the scene, which result in a mixed
paving of asphalt, brick crosswalks, and stamped concrete for the
trackways.
|
|
My second
attempt is pretty successful, though it seems the perspective of the
building on the right trailing into the distance does not quite match
the original. The scene is Park Avenue looking South from Fayette Street.
Very little remains to match from the original scene, all of which that
does being from the right side of the photo. This area was
sometimes called the "Times Square of Baltimore," the result of the
busy commercial area and the acute diagonal crossing of the arteries of
Park Avenue (right foreground) and Liberty Street (left
foreground). Streetcar tracks carried the #25 and #32 lines.
Today, the area has changed greatly. The Times Square look is all
but gone, thanks in large part to the construction of the Baltimore
Arena, and the Charles Center and Hopkins Plaza projects. The
most prominent remaining building in the present scene that carries
from the past now houses State offices, as well as the Gage Menswear
shop, one of the few long standing examples of surviving Downtown
retail activity.
|
|
A challenging
one indeed, as my business carried me to the corner of Preston and
Howard in the late afternoon, leaving me to fight a strong backlight
while working to maintain the proper perspective. Though not
precise as it could be, it is still a commendable effort.
The original scene is marked by an abundance of wires, thanks to this
location being the home of the junction between the #10 and #21
trackless trolley lines, with the #27 taking the "switches" leading
from forground off to the left. Most prominent landmark is the
Fifth Regiment Armory. The space opposite the Armory was used as
the area's first "Park & Ride" Lot, seeking to solve parking woes
in Downtown as the automobile made rapid inroads in the postwar years.
Today, the Armory is generally all the remains of the original
scene. Preston Street no longer runs directly through into the
foreground, with development and a light rail station occupying its
site. Much of the area around the Armory in this scene had since
been redeveloped into the State Office Buildings shortly after the
original 1954 photo was taken.
|
|
Not too
diificult of a scene to replicate, though the varying elevations
possible from the hillside did requite a good bit of trial and error.
The house is still not quite centered true to the original, so I gather
I should have been a bit further inward. This scene looks south at
Charles Street and Cold Spring Lane from a hill on the East side of
Charles.
In the original, the intersection is guarded by a single 4-way signal,
painted black, and hung rather inconspicously upon the scene.
Other hardware in the scene includes Novalux lamps with translucent
street signs, as well as some of the city's first pedestrian crossing
signals, which take some squinting to make out.
Today, while much of the area outside the original scene has changed
through the constant development of the Loyola College campus, the
intersection itself looks largely unchanged. The 4-way signal is
long gone, and even its replacements have successors of their own
awaiting the call into service, shrouded for now in trash bags on the
suspension wires. The trees in the scene have matured, with some
having died off since. Perhaps the most interesting relic to
survive this 50 year stretch can be seen on the right edge of the
photos. The post for the Novalux lamp in the original still
stands, though listing somewhat askew.
|
|
A surprisingly
tricky shot to match, with few landmarks to correspond, and a difficult
to gauge perspective on the street trailing off into the
distance. I shot nearly 10 shots of this scene in Mount
Washington of Newberry Street looking South below SmithAvenue in aiming
for a sharp match, and it seems this one was just about right on.
In the original, Smith Avenue can be seen making up the crossing road
in the foreground, while Newberry Street trails off into the distance,
thanks to the tired looking bridge in the middle. A number of
small businesses can be spotted, built into houses on the small grid of
streets.
Today, not that much has changed. Smith Avenue no longer goes
through to Falls Road to the left, impeded by the construction of the
Jones Falls Expressway in 1959. The bridge over the Western Run
has been replaced by a more modern structure, while the charismatic
frame house in the center of the photo has been torn down and replaced
by a far more bland structure. The structure to the right
survives however, and is today home to the Mount Washington Tavern.
|
|
