I'm a building hugger

I spent Thursday and Friday at a conference in Baltimore on historic preservation. There were talks about tax credits, "green" building and sustainability, and tours of local historic landmarks. Sometimes conferences are lame and a bore, this one wasn't spectacular, but it was great to be among other people who are as nerdy as I am when it comes to buildings. Most people don't understand why I love old buildings and that sometimes seeing a building being neglected or demolished almost makes me want to cry. Or that I can stare at a building for hours just trying to figure out why it looks the way it does, who built it and how it is a product of it's time, built a certain way for a specific purpose, and that they just don't put the effort into style these days- at least not in everyday buildings. When I dream about what my next house will look like- it will be historic and it will have character, and it will be almost like another person in the family. I can't wait to live in an older house again, I miss the quirks and personality an old building has. I like my home now but we're the same age and it's just not the same living in a duplex from the 1980's as opposed to a bungalow from the 1920's or Victorian from the 1890's or...who knows where we'll end up.

So, the conference was fun and it was great to be around like minds who don't think you are strange for staring at a replacement window in a building and wondering how the owner could have put that aluminum window with sandwich muntins in a building with historic double hung, wood windows and true divided lights! [:-D]

Here's some pictures from the tours I went on. This is the American Brewery in East Baltimore, rehabilitated by the Humanum company. Really an awesome place.