Time Out
Random image: Crescent Avenue "Painted Lady" at dusk.A quick bus trip to Westfield's Trader Joe's has mellowed me out to the point of not having a thought in my head. Those culinary treats will do that.
--Bernice
posted by Bernice at 4:11 AM
7 Comments:
I got nothing clever to say, I'm just chuckling.
Bernice, is that color typical of the outside of stucco dwellings of the turn of the last century? I do not remember any pre-depression home being such a vivid color.
I believe that after the Swanks converted this building into an Art Gallery they painted it a different color than the present one Prior to that it was "blah" grey..
Sounds wonderful. Thanks for the beautiful picture.
The picture is of the Swain home, which is wood construction. The gallery was once blue. I think this paint scheme is a fanciful tribute to the kind of decor found in Cape May and San Francisco. I might put up some close-ups of the trim.
When I worked at the Drake House, I put together a Halloween storytelling event with three original scary stories based on Plainfield, all authored by Plainfield writers (Taraka Gilbert, John Scipio, and myself). Mine was called "The Painted Ladies of Plainfield." I featured this same picture of Bernice's house--it looks a bit eerie at dusk, which is when I took the photo that accompanied the story. The story was sort of a play on fictional women who lived in the "painted ladies"--witches and actual ladies of a certain type.
Rebecca
P.S. meant Bernice Swain!
I don't know how Swain became "Swank". My apologies to the family. Are there any pictures of the store front on West Front. If I remember there was a wrought iron 'fencing" in front of the second floor. Gave it a New Orleans look. Or am i day dreaming?
If you have the book John Grady and Dorothe Pollard wrote (Plainfield, New Jersey's History & Architecture), turn to page 83 to see three Swain's locations. The fancy metalwork is a fire escape with curved bars on three balconies.
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