Centralville Update

You may remember a post from back in February, when we mentioned that a nearby landmark on Bridge street had been destroyed by a fire. This past Friday night, another terrible fire demolished another 4-story building just one block away. This fire, unlike the previous one, took two lives, and left a third man in critical condition. It was very, very bad, and we were very sad to hear this news. It was a building we pass every day.

The first floor of the building was a business called Guaranteed Aluminum, which made replacement windows, screens, and the like. It was a business that we had frequented on occasion, for instance, when our storm window shattered and we needed a replacement, and when we needed a screen for our front storm door. The picture below is from their website; I had never had a chance to take a photo of the place:

We walked down to Bridge street on our extended walk this afternoon and saw this:


That's the same corner as in the photo above.

Here's the Varnum Building that went down in February:


And here's what it looks like now:

These two buildings (and now empty lots) are just one block away from each other. Our friend Matt told me that there was actually a third 4-story building in the lot between the two of them that was condemned years ago and torn down by the city. I wish I could find some good historic photos of Bridge Street for comparison; the whole skyline -- not to mention street-level -- has changed so much just this year.