Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Collection: Houses in the Av's

There is a neighborhood of Salt Lake City, referred to as "The Avenues", or "The Av's" for short. It was one of Salt Lake's first neighborhoods. Way back when, it was **THE** affluent area of Salt Lake, as it climbs the mountain. Unfortunately, some homes have not been kept up or have taken a bit of a beating as many college students from the "U" rent rooms there. A few years ago they started a revitalization project in the Av's and a lot of the homes are being renovated. Homes there still sell for quite a bit, regardless of their condition.

But it isn't just the gamut from dilapidated to luxury that piques my interest. I like that there is great diversity in styles. When Utah territory was settled in the late 1800's, many of it's settlers came from the East Coast or Midwest. But there were also many who took boats from several European countries, landed on Ellis Island in New York and THEN still made the Trek out West! I love seeing the cultures carried through the diverse architectural designs.

I get to drive the Av's often since one of the major area hospitals is up there, and it's where I go to do get testing done. I like driving different streets each time and will see anything from French Tudor, Victorian, A-Frames, Craftsmen Bungalows, and Large Contemporary newer homes too. I've even seen a few that look like haunted houses straight from Transylvania! lol!

Here is just a sampling of what you might find up in the Av's.

Many of the homes up in the Av's also have a view of our state's capital building, on the other side of City Creek Canyon. Funny, it looks like it is RIGHT.THERE. But you have to drive all the way down the Av's over a few blocks around the "basin" known as City Creek Park, and then back up the hill to Capitol Hill. Still, a great view though.
Do you have any eclectic neighborhoods like this where you live?

5 comments:

Puphigirl said...

There is a house here that has gargoyles and such. I'll have to get a picture and share.

Alice in Wonderland said...

How strange! When we were in America, we got to know this guy, (I'll leave his name out) and he lived in Salt Lake City in a place called "Cherry Tree Avenue". He was Mormon too, and he looked like a young Elvis! He DID play the trumpet though, which was a bit annoying!
We kept in touch for a while when we came back to England, but then I think that he joined the Forces at one point.
Gosh, Emma, this has brought back some memories!

Janet said...

You just brought some great memories flooding back. My grandmother lived in the Avenues from the 1940's until she died. How I loved that neighborhood! The house in the lower left corner of your photo collage is very similar to hers. She had an extra kitchen in the basement, a cherry tree in her side yard, and raspberry bushes in the back. The front windows were slender french doors with inlaid-glass vines that opened up onto what I always liked to call a veranda, bitty as it was. Thanks, Emma!

And, yes, there are some amazing neighborhoods to be found here in the midwest. Fabulous places with details and character. Maybe I should work on a collage of my own...

Tulsi said...

Many of our dear old homes here are college housing, which I think is so sad. Or restaurants. When we moved here I wanted to find an old kinda big pioneer house or Victorian. All were college housing. I'm not Victorian at all and it wouldn't look that way inside, but it was a nice idea. There are affluent areas here, but not of the nice older homes.

Megan said...

i LOVE the avenues! I've told Dan that some day I want to own one of those homes.