Asheville, North Carolina, part two (March 2018)

Written by ceddammit

And now…it’s time for the informative yet spine-tingling conclusion of…a self-guided walking tour of Asheville, North Carolina. Click here for the previous installment.

After lunch at the phenomenal example of Art Deco architecture that goes by the name of S&W Cafeteria, I found a few buildings with Art Deco that was a little more subdued than that of the S&W:

An old Woolworth store! I barely remember Woolworth from when I was a yung’n.
Detail of the Woolworth store
Earth Guild is currently in this bldg. I would guess the bldg has a name but I’m not sure.
They really wedged this little sucker in there.
I wonder if their furniture is as classically styled as their building. I should go back and find out.
Detail of Pearlman’s Super Furniture Store
Not Art Deco, but still interesting
New York isn’t the only city with a flatiron bldg.

Our next feature presentation is the Miles Building. According to the self-guided tour document I had printed out, this building looked very different upon its completion in 1901 than it does today. This is because the building was completely remodeled in 1925, to give it the Italianate style that remains to this very day. Well, THAT very day in March 2018 when I was there taking these pictures.

Full frontal Miles Bldg
Detail of the Miles Bldg
Side entrance to the Miles Bldg

Now, let us worship. Or at least look at a church. This is the Basilica St. Lawrence:

This next bad boy is quite a prominent building. Not only is it one of Asheville’s tallest buildings (by my count it has 13 floors), it also stands at the top of a hill at one end of downtown. Built as the Battery Park Hotel, it now serves as apartments for the elderly. More importantly (to me, anyway), the ground floor houses the Asheville Pinball Museum. Don’t let the word “Museum” steer you wrong – they have 35 pinball machines (and 35 video game machines) that you can actually play. I’ve been to multiple such museums over the past few years, but this was my first, and may still be my favorite. It’s definitely in my top 3. I took no pictures of or inside the pinball museum, but here’s the overall building:

Across the street, just down the hill from the Battery Park Hotel, we find the Grove Arcade. What? More pinball? Well, no. Completed in 1929, this is an indoor shopping arcade, essentially a shopping mall that was built before the term “shopping mall” had entered the language. Definitely the grooviest architecture I’ve ever seen on a shopping mall:

North entrance to the Grove Arcade. Note the ram heads flanking the arch.
North entrance to the Grove Arcade.
Flyin’ Lion
Exterior detail of Grove Arcade
Looking up at one of the rams. Go Colorado State!
Extreme close-up!
Torture device? Evil coat rack?
Grove Arcade logo in floor of entry way.
Interior detail of Grove Arcade
Interior detail of Grove Arcade
Interior detail of Grove Arcade
Spiral staircase say “You ain’t usin’ me!
This gargoyle was for sale at a shop inside Grove Arcade. I was afraid to buy it.
Another spiral staircase in Grove Arcade.
Battery Park Hotel looks down menacingly upon us through Grove Arcade’s skylight.
This clock has seen better days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
Interior detail of Grove Arcade
Interior detail of Grove Arcade
Interior detail of Grove Arcade
Ceiling of Grove Arcade
Interior detail of Grove Arcade
An additional floor of offices sits atop the center of Grove Arcade.
East side of Grove Arcade, showing the additional floor of offices atop the center
This guy’s been sniffin’ glue.

Coming out the south end of Grove Arcade, you are a mere block away from the next Art Deco display piece: Ye Olde Post Office and Federal Court House. Check this sucka out:

Main entrance to Federal Court House
Getting a little closer…
This old copper lamp…
…has little tiny feets!
Friezes above the entrance depict 1. Baby Jesus traveling by conestoga wagon,
2. The seal of the state of Colorado for some reason, and
3. The alien space ship returning for E.T.

All right, that’s enough o’ that! Let’s move on to our last ‘featured’ building of this day trip: the Public Service Building. This thing has loads of cool ornate stuff on the lower and upper floors, with a nondescript red brick section in between. See it now:

Bunny!
Coyote? Tasmanian Devil? Richard Simmons?
Pegasus

I will close this post as I did last week’s, by sharing a few pics I snapped in between the ‘featured’ buildings above:

Who says a fire escape can’t also be a party deck?
The Spicer Greene Jewelry store was originally a Shell gas station.
Detail of Spicer Greene Jewelry store
Like, yikes, man! It’s a g-g-g-ghost building!
First Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church
Trinity Episcopal Church
Trinity Episcopal Church
IOOF (Intentionally Out Of Focus) home for disgruntled movie projectionists
The Aston apartment bldg.
Very subdued Art Deco

Time to say good night. Shall I sing you a lullaby? No? OK, then I’ll just tell you that next week’s ThrowBack Thursday will likely feature a day trip to Moses H. Cone Memorial Park on (once again) the Blue Ridge Parkway (BuRP), followed by more architectural joy – this time in Roanoke, VA and Greensboro, NC. Until then, Farewell!

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