Friday, October 20, 2006

Challenge 41, a local landmark

This strange little building is actually in the shape of a triangel and is no more than 12' in any direction. It has been a Seabrook landmark for over 50 years and sits at the main intersection of our small city at the edge of Galveston Bay.
It began as "Curly's Corner", a bait shop and when we moved to the area over 40 years ago, it sold crab traps, crab nets, shrimp bait, and Coca-Colas out of an old metal cooler. I remember seeing straw hats and old-fashioned bonnets hanging around the small doorway. At that time Seabrook was a quaint fishing village lining the entrance to Clear Lake from Galveston Bay. Shrimp boats lined up along the wharves and Houstonians came down to buy shrimp off the boats. I paid 50 cents a pound for shrimp.
About 15 years ago or more a local lawyer bought the small property surrounded by Highway and Nasa Rd 1 and hired an imaginative architect to design an office from the standing structure. It is such a fun building to look it. The side away from the viewer in the sketch is mostly glass with some mosaic tile work to one side. So "Curly's Corner" has been preserved with imagination and is fully functional as a law office. I haven't never been inside but hope one day to get the view from the inside out. There is room only for one car to park by the entrance. Notice the amazing iron railing in the shape of dolphins.
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11 comments:

seesue said...

This is a delightful sketch you've treated us to! Thanks so much for the story that goes along with.

Ramesh Gandhi said...

That's a great building - I'd love to see it. It's wonderful when people recycle old buildings in such a way that their character is preserved, or even enhanced. Amazing stair rails - were they part of the original bait shop?

littlemithi said...

Whata lovely little building (and a lovely painting too!) Its so nice when people rebuild things whilst keeping their old essence.

Lin said...

kAY -- What a neat building and I LOVE LOVE LOVE how you've done it with ink and wash!!!! Thanks too for the history - it sure made the entry fun to read as well as see!! LOVE this style!!!

Margaret McCarthy Hunt said...

what fun and a great drawing

Linda said...

What a fun little building! I love your description of it, too.

Anonymous said...

Kay, I love your building and most of all the journaling that goes with it. The building has such a history. It's great that someone wanted to preserve its quaint look.

picklesandroses.blogspot.com said...

The current building looks nothing like the original. Somewhere under all that stucco is an old wooden shack...nothing but an open sort of door in the front...no dolphins, no second story. No resemblance of the original remains.

Jana Bouc said...

I love this one! It looks like the little building that could--it has such personality as you've drawn it. Beautiful painting--it just glows.

Lydia Velarde said...

not just a cool building.. a great drawing!
Lydia

guppyman said...

I miss the old place though...

I do have a decent shot of the building as it stands now:

Valentine Law

Not quite the same angle....