School Building Authority Of West Virginia Architect: Fill & Download for Free

The coolest thing about our state system—and the thing politicians often forget—is that citizens of every state has a distinct personality which can make it hospitable or inhospitable to visitors, based on attitude. I think ‎Rebecca Sealfon (חנה צפון)‎ said it best:It’s actually a really interesting measure of how far you’re willing to go outside your own political echo chamber. Because you have to go to states of very different political leanings to win…. Moral: Get out of your state!What’s encouraging about these answers is the lack of bias towards ‘flyover states’ and the South, which I see a lot on Quora. What I do see here is a lot of shit talk on Pennsylvania. So forgive me for opining on my home state a bit—a state with such geographic and demographic diversity that it’s been swinging for the past century.Pennsylvania is not just an interstate. It’s home to the Gettysburg Address, two hockey, football and baseball teams, the Carnegie Library system, Hershey Chocolate, and our U.S. Constitution. Ever used a computer, read a newspaper, listened to commercial radio, flicked a Zippo lighter, rode a Ferris wheel, visited a zoo or saluted our flag? ALL of those things came from Pennsylvania.[1] Pennsylvania literally built America as we know it.So if you drove through without stopping, you’re kinda missing out.Growing up in the Paris of Appalachia gave me countless historical sites, summer camps at local colleges, a deep intrinsic love of baseball, and an appreciation for smaller, walkable, livable cities.[2] Friends from actual suburbs are always shocked at the personality, beauty, and cultural richness of the onetime City of Champions.It’s called the Keystone State for a reason—living there means boundless access. Most of the states on my list come from my Dad’s interest in history, which he imparted to me from a young age. I’ve been to over fifteen Civil War battlefields and can name 10 generals on each side thanks to him. I can tell stories about people I’ve met and foods I’ve tasted. So the following are not airport hops or gas station bathrooms. Each of them are national treasures with local character. Each has something to offer if you’re willing to look.Alabama—visited Birmingham-Southern College for a scholarship competition. Marveled at how fast everyone talks. Will never forget the admissions counselor who told me in his lovely accent, “looks like you did better than you thought you did!” To this day if I’ve underestimated my abilities, Dad says I “Tyler Peterson’d” Fun Fact: home to an incredible music scene at Muscle Shoals—Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Etta James. The sound of America.Arizona—rode Western here at age 9. Horse cantered down the mountain because of drunk hikers and my Mom went berserk. Probably most fun I’ve ever had. Fun Fact: Sedona is home to Snoopy Rock, which looks like Peanuts’ Snoopy sleeping on his doghouse.Arkansas—my Alma Mater, Hendrix College, where annually a bunch of Southern kids file into a room the most famous student drag show in the country. Where we’d drive all night to eat at Whataburger or see a show across the river in Memphis. Where I learned to pee in meadows, ride a 4-wheeler, unpack relationship woes at the local Waffle House. Fun Fact: speaking of cross-dressing, Petit Jean State Park, pronounced Petty Jeen, was named after a French explorer who disguised herself as a male to join an expedition through the deep South. After a long illness, she died in the care of Native Americans there, and the mountain was named after her.California—sailed San Francisco bay with my cousins, one of which is the first female captain of the sailing team at UC Santa Cruz (go Slugs!) If you’re a twentysomething navigating urban life, definitely read Tales from the City, Armistead Maupin’s timeless series on San Francisco. Fun Fact: it’s been the only state to host the Summer and Winter Olympics.Colorado—home to 21 seasons South Park (and don’t forget Cannibal! the Musical.) Only been here to snowboard—you can’t beat that pow—but would love to visit my best friend in the desert someday. Fun Fact: The New Yorker recently named Grand Junction the most conservative locale in America. Guess where my buddy lives?Connecticut—visited for a field hockey game against Mount Holyoke in college. Below is a photo of us winning that game. I remember being really excited to visit where a season of The Office took place. Even though I’m from Pennsylvania…Fun Fact: women could enter golf tournaments in Connecticut before they could vote. Maybe that’s where Jordan, of Great Gatsby fame, became a champion?Delaware—my all time favorite drive-in, Dilly’s Corner, is right across the river. Been to the beach a couple times. Fun Fact: first—and now most rare—state quarter. Hold onto one if you find it!Florida—vacationed to West Palm a few times with my mom and college teammates. Somehow dressed nice enough to bike to the Breakers, crash their basketball courts, then have a drink at the Aquarium bar. Saw A Raisin in the Sun at Dramaworks, a favorite theater of WSJ critic Terry Teachout (and where he premiered Billy and Me) Fun Fact: Fort Jefferson on Dry Tortugas National Park was never finished, its 520-gun artillery never used.Georgia—many memories of visiting Savannah and Augusta with my parents, eating crab for the first time and looking for used bookstores. Not to mention Atlanta, home to festivals like Music Midtown, Shaky Knees, A3C (been to ’em all) the hit FX show, and one of the best rap duos of our time. Fun Fact: the original Waffle House opened in Avondale Estates in 1955. A museum is run in this location and to this day FEMA judges a state of emergency based on the number of Waffle Houses that have closed in that location.Idaho—a fairly recent visit, for Treefort music festival in 2015 (Boise) and a cross-West road trip with Dad in 2017 (Wallace.) To me, Idaho is a step into the past. The pace seems slower here, the restaurants fewer, as people pursue time with their families and home cooked meals. Here’s Dad with The Statesman, a vintage car from GM. Fun Fact: the state seal is the only tone to be designed by a woman, and it was the fourth state in the Union to grant women the right to vote.Illinois—not, contrary to popular belief, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright (that honor belongs to Wisconsin.) My Dad was a Chicago Maroon, so I’ve been to that city a few times and recently for a bachelorette party. Of course no Civil War education is complete without a trip to Springfield, which I found quaint and lovely even though I was pretty young. As it turns out Dad’s also a huge fan of Ronald Reagan, so I’ve been to his alma mater in Eureka. Fun Fact: Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are working on a movie version of Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City, about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. That’s also where the Ferris Wheel first made its appearance (designed by George Ferris, of Pittsburgh.)Indiana—attended a really fun scholarship competition at Hanover College and was offered really early admission (junior year of high school.) Didn’t take them up on it, but it was tempting to move to this idyllic river town. Driving through I spotted a town called Bland, IN which is funny no matter what state you’re in. Fun Fact: Gary, Indiana isn’t just the Jacksons’ hometown. It’s also a song in The Music Man.Kentucky—met a long-distance boyfriend halfway for an art walk and ice skating in Lexington. Stayed at an adorable historic bed and breakfast. Everyone’s really nice here and man do they like whiskey. Fun Fact: when we played Transylvania University in college their team bus had a huge ‘TRANSY’ flag flying atop it. To this day I don’t know what the LGBT movement had to say about it, but it gave us a chuckle at the time.Louisiana—when I was a music writer, one of the worst interviews of my life took place in Baton Rouge. Still, an exciting river town with brilliant food and lots of gambling options for some reason. Plan to have my bachelorette party in the Big Easy. Fun Fact: the 1st Louisiana Native guard was formed by free people of color in New Orleans during the Civil War. 1500 people signed up to fight for the Confederacy, and just ten percent would defect when the Union took the city. If you’d like to learn more about black Confederates, feel free to ask for my undergrad thesis.Maryland—been to Antietam battlefield and Monocacy. Next on my list is Fort McHenry, where Fun Fact: the Star Spangled Banner was written during the War of 1812!Massachusetts—grandma lives in this forested neck of the woods. I remember visiting her and watching our cardigan corgi splash in the local lakes. Last year I had the opportunity to visit Fenway Park, the Sam Adams brewery (free tour! Don’t miss it!) and a couple National Park sites in Salem. My favorite author, Henry James, had a house in Beacon Hill (though there’s no plaque or anything.) Fun Fact: Boston is home to America’s first subway system, opened in 1987. Can you imagine Henry James or Edith Wharton riding the subway? Because I can’t.Michigan—where my boyfriend, half the employees at Microsoft, and Bell’s beer comes from! Apple cider and doughnuts is a tradition here. Attended Hillsdale College for a semester and received the most hilarious parking ticket of my life when I parked on a rectangular patch of grass and the snow melted. Was also blacklisted at Sigma Chi for “two-timing” a couple pledges, but that’s a story for another answer. Later snuck in and stole their handbook. Scary stuff. Fun Fact: Corn Flakes were invented in Battle Creek, where Kellogg’s is still headquartered today.Minnesota—stayed here for a research conference in college, then drove through on the aforementioned trip with Dad. Safe to say I’ve learned more about this state from A Prairie Home Companion and Laura Ingalls Wilder than my own experience. But I like that they serve popcorn at bars. Fun Fact: Winona Ryder’s namesake is Winona, Minnesota.Mississippi—the food, the literature, Americana Music Triangle, what’s not to love about Mississippi?? Okay, lynchings. Lynchings were definitely a problem in Mississippi. Having bicycled the Natchez Trace and met Tom Franklin at Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi remains one of my all-time favorite states in the Union with some of my favorite people. That said, my experience is likely very different from others. Fun Fact: Mississippi didn’t abolish slavery until 2013.Missouri—played field hockey in St. Louis, saw Phoenix play at the beautiful Uptown Theater in Kansas City. Started the Oregon Trail in Independence (virtually, of course.) I guess the hyperloop is happening here and it’s got a state dinosaur. Fun Fact: Eight different states border Missouri but I’ve only been to half of them.Montana—people do not mess around here. What I mean is if you’re driving on 90 and you see an exit that might have a gas station, maybe, they will alleviate your hopes with a NO SERVICES sign. I just think that’s hilarious. It’s like saying don’t stop here. FOR LOCALS ONLY! Dad and I had a great time naming the visible mountain peaks and visiting Little Bighorn National Battlefield. Billings, Bozeman, Missoula are all cool cities with interesting stories and architecture. Plus the beer scene is hoppin. Fun Fact: according to Mental Floss, “Yellowstone National Park existed 20 years before Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming were officially granted statehood”New Jersey—lived here for the first six years of my life, specifically in Jersey City, when my Dad was Chief of Staff to Mayor Brett Schundler. Have vacationed in Ocean Grove many a time, enjoying the neon signs and roadside burgers, actually, Fun Fact: New Jersey boats the highest volume of diners in the WORLD and neon artist Kellie Talbot considers it her favorite place to paint:New York—the state that shaped me in so many ways, being where my parents met, where I was born, where my first schooling took place (in Greenwich Village) and where I learned to snowboard (Holiday Valley) and underage drink (Buffalo, duh.) But one of my favorite experiences was kayaking the Hudson with my Aunt, Mom, and boyfriend a couple years ago. There’s so many ways and reasons to leave the city. Get after it! Fun Fact: over 250 television shows have been set in New York City, and no, not all of them were created by Dick Wolf.North Carolina—for me it’s Southern-Lite. With lovely walkable towns like Davidson, Winston-Salem and Asheville it boats some hospitality but in between, it’s mostly suburbs, and many here have lost their accent. What’s really great about NC is its proximity to both mountains and ocean. Plus Mount Airy—the Andy Griffith town Mayberry is based off of—has a replica jail cell where you can pretend Barney Fife has locked you up. I guess that counts as a Fun Fact.Ohio—gets a lot of hate it doesn’t deserve. What other state has four respectable metro areas so close to each other, beautiful state parks in between? I’m partial since I went to summer camp at the College of Wooster, where I played violin 9 hours a day and air hockey the other two. Still, the Cleveland Tourism Video will always make me giggle. Fun Fact: Cedar Point’s Millennium Force in Sandusky broke six world records when it opened and reaches speeds of up to 93 miles an hour. It’s the third longest coaster in the nation (behind the Beast and Fury 325 cc: Sai Kiran Bhagavatula) and when I got stuck on it I fainted after riding four times.Oklahoma—home to a really sweet Native art collection in Tulsa and a wildlife preserve called Woolaroc, which was built by oil magnate Frank Philips and designed to preserve Oklahoma frontier culture. You guessed it, I went there with my Dad. Fun Fact: Frank Lloyd Wright’s only skyscraper, Price Tower, is located in Oklahoma. And no, it’s not worth the trip.Oregon—bikes, beers, bookstores. Everyone in Oregon is happy you’re there and can’t wait to feed you various farm-raised deliciousness. If you ever see Jacobsen Salt, Stumptown Coffee or Tillamook Cheese, BUY IT. Portland has some of the best public transit I’ve seen and is very, very friendly to cyclists. Been to Mount St. Helens and Crater Lake is on the list. Fun Fact: despite not being an official “Gold Rush” site, Oregon is home to more ghost towns than any other state. And no, that doesn’t include Rajneeshpuram, which is now a Young Life retreat.Pennsylvania—I highly doubt if you’ve read this far you want more facts on Pennsylvania.South Carolina—ah, South Carolina. Seat of Secession. Home of the Gamecocks. Droopy Spanish Moss trees abound. And of course Charleston, the scene of much of my early twenties shenanigans, including breaking into the Meeting Street Best Western pool at 2am and visiting seven karaoke bars in one week. Thunderstorms that look like Independence Day and balconies that look like exposed hallways. That can be the Fun Fact: what look like sideways balconies were actually a clever way for architects in the 19th century to ventilate outdoor parties in this city by the sea. Full disclosure, I was a park ranger at Fort Sumter National Monument, so my fun fact capacity knows no bounds when it comes to this state. But in many ways my feelings transcend words. So I’ll let the cast of Bravo’s Southern Charm take over:South Dakota—really, really upset I missed the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum here, but our afternoon in the Badlands and evening in Rapid City (plus a subsequent break-in to Mount Rushmore) will lodge South Dakota forever in my memory. Fun Fact: each street corner in Rapid City has a bronze statue of a U.S. President. Dad got real upset when he rushed up to who he thought was Ronald Reagan, only to realize it was Clinton.Tennessee—Shiloh National Battlefield is my favorite Civil War site, as I read Shelby Foote’s account of the battle in sixth grade. But Tennessee is so much more than just music, history, and interstates. There’s no shortage of fried chicken and friendly folks to share it with. The backcountry’s a melting pot of all kinds of people drawn to the forested seclusion—I once met a dude with a Mexican-Tennessee accent. Fun Fact: Elvis Presley may have made his name at Sun Record Studios in Memphis, but he actually hails from the small town of Tupelo, Mississippi, where his Mom bought him his first guitar at a hardware store.Texas—another state whose variant cultures don’t match its national or international perception. If I rattled off a list of my favorite people, most of them would come from Texas. Come for the delicious fusion foods in Austin, stay for the Western horseback riding south of Banderas. Fun Fact: Six Flags theme parks take their name from the six flags which flew over Texas—when it was an independent country, a territory of Spain/Mexico/France, a Confederate State, and finally a state of the Union.Virginia—I was waitlisted at Washington & Lee University after an interesting interview, during which the head of diversity and inclusion revealed to me she’d once held inner-city recruitment day on the weekend of Robert E. Lee’s birthday, which led to a ton of families getting right back in their cars and going home. Following the protests in Charlottesville and removal of Confederate statues, the environment is a little fraught, but I have only good memories of visiting the historic sites in this state. Fun Fact: West Virginia became a state after moving to secede from the seceding Virginia, in 1861.Washington—it’s where I live now! I think Washington has the inverse of the Texas problem. People think of Seattle and extrapolate it to the rest of the state, which is simply not the way things are. People who live here joke that if you cut the state in half the East would be part of Idaho, and it makes a lot of sense in terms of geography and political sensibility. Actually witnessed an active crime scene when we stayed in Walla Walla, somebody was literally murdered in the hotel room next to us. At that same hotel we were admonished for asking a couple little kids what they were going to be for Halloween. So yeah, very different from Seattle. Fun Fact: Washington was originally going to be called Columbia, but legislators didn’t want people to get it mixed up with the District of Columbia. Hmmmmm…West Virginia—if you do nothing else in West Virginia, visit Harper’s Ferry. This tiny town where John Brown led his famous armory raid in 1859 directly led to the Civil War, and his hanging was presided over by none other than Robert E. Lee, acting in his capacity as a Union Colonel. If you’re not a fan of dry history books, read James McBride’s The Good Lord Bird for a thrilling account of the battle. It’s shocking to see the size of the building Brown’s men defended for almost two days. It’s also just a beautiful place, like a mini-Pittsburgh between two rivers. Fun Fact: the concept of Mother’s Day comes from West Virginia.Wisconsin—Dad’s from Whitewater, and his Dad is buried in Madison Cemetery, next to his high school, Madison East. It’s an unexpectedly contentious place politically, and we grabbed happy hour at one bar that showed CNN on one side and Fox News on the other. Fun Fact: aside from Frank Lloyd Wright, Stephen Ambrose was considered Wisconsin’s foremost son, until it was revealed in 2002 he’d copied large passages from another work to complete his own.Wyoming—another home of Yellowstone National Park, John Steinbeck wrote in Travels with Charley his dog went absolutely mental once they entered the park, perhaps because he sighted or sniffed out a bear. My short time in the state was much less exciting, as I left a disposable camera at the Gillette Village Inn and had to send them a SASE to get it back. The Mustang Motel had a pretty cool sign, though. Fun Fact: Wyoming elected the United States’ first female governor in 1925, but hasn’t had one since.Well there you have it, folks. A tidbit of every state I’ve visited, plus reference materials. Speaking of which, the vast majority of the fun facts came either from my brain or Mental Floss, which published 2 awesome state series you all should read. The one about Kentucky is my personal favorite.TL;DR—Hell yeah I’d win the electoral college, thanks in large part to the efforts of my dear old Dad. And I’d connect with voters on a personal level. More than eating at the local McDonald’s ever could.Footnotes[1] Pennsylvania State Facts - 50States.com[2] The Economist names Pittsburgh the Most Livable City (on the mainland) again

As an architect what is the worst structural building you have ever seen?Well, I am not an architect. Since this question is in my feed I would love to answer it.I found this question super interesting! I did some research. Here is an article showing 50 EPIC architecture fails! Unbelievable! Enjoy:“introSince the potential for mistake from architectural blue print to completion of construction is infinite and the margin for error is infinitesimal, man-made structures inevitably fail from time to time. Bad design, faulty construction and unanticipated loads, often in combination with one another, are frequently the culprits of catastrophic collapse. Both breathtaking and terrifying, bridges, tunnels, dams and buildings can crumble in mere seconds. Our gallery contains the most astounding instances of architectural failure, from 27 A.D. to modern times and from rural China to the good old U.S. of A — click at your own risk.The 50 Worst Architectural Fails.lian yak50. Lian Yak Building (Hotel New World)Location: SingaporeYear of Fail: 1986In 1986 a six-story building occupied by a hotel, bank and nightclub crumbled to the ground in under 60 seconds, trapping 50 people beneath rubble, 33 of whom were killed. Inquiry revealed that the building’s original engineer had made a serious error. While he had calculated and considered the building’s live load (the weight of the building’s occupants, furniture, fixtures, etc.) he never found the building’s dead load (the weight of the building itself). Due to this slip-up, the building could not support its own weight and collapse was imminent.katowice49. Katowice Trade HallLocation: Chorzów, PolandYear of Fail: 2006During an international fair in 2006, the roof of Katowice Trade Hall collapsed atop roughly 700 people, killing 65 and injuring 170. The building’s management neglected to remove snow accumulation, resulting in an overload of over 100%. Moreover, the roof had buckled under snowfall in 2002 and the management did not perform the necessary repairs, obtain clearances or even run tests to ensure that the building was safe thereafter. Further investigation also revealed that the architect’s plans were changed during initial construction in order to cut building costs.POST CONTINUES BELOWbasmanny market48. Basmanny MarketLocation: Moscow, RussiaYear of Fail: 2006The snow-ladden roof of this vegetable market fell in 2006, killing 66 people. While snow-build up was a factor, corrosion caused by inadequate waterproofing and general maintenance negligence by the building’s management was primarily to blame. Design flaws may have also contributed to the failure: another building by the same architect experienced a similar roof collapse that killed 28 people two years prior.charing cross47. Charing Cross Subway SystemLocation: LondonYear of Fail: 1905Six people died and 27 were injured when the iron-and-glass arched roof of Charring Cross Station fell during a maintenance project in 1905. A flawed section of ironwork and the extra weight of construction materials caused two 70-foot sections of roof to fall onto the platforms and tracks. Along with the roof, an entire wall of the building came crashing down as well.fidenae46. Fidenae StadiumLocation: Rome, ItalyYear of Fail: 27 A.D.Roman emperor Tiberius had banned gladiatorial games. When the veto was lifted, stadiums were constructed extremely quickly and huge crowds flocked to the events. One such stadium, built with cheap materials and little to no architectural planning, collapsed in 27 A.D. killing and injuring 20,000 of the 50,000 spectators, making it the deadliest stadium disaster in history. In response, the Roman Senate banned builders below a certain income level from hosting gladiatorial shows and passed laws requiring stadium inspection and certification prior to occupancy.POST CONTINUES BELOWpetionville45. Pétionville SchoolLocation: Port-au-Prince, HaitiYear of Fail: 2008At least 93 people, mainly children, were killed and over 150 injured when the church-operated Collège La Promesse Évangélique collapsed in 2008. The owner of the school, a minister and preacher, was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter when he admitted that he had built the school himself without consulting an engineer and using very little structural steel or cement to hold the individual concrete blocks that composed the building together.hintze44. Hintze Ribeiro BridgeLocation: Castelo de Paiva, PortugalYear of Fail: 2001This 100-year-old bridge over the Duoro River collapsed in 2001, killing 59 people. Two decades of illegal sand extraction compromised the stability of t he bridge’s pillars. Authorities knew about the extraction and turned a blind eye, despite warnings from divers and technicians that the bridge was lacking support. The Minister of Transportation resigned hours after the collapse, while rescue efforts were still underway.silver43. The Silver BridgeLocation: Point Pleasant, West VirginiaYear of Fail: 1967A popular commuter route across the Ohio River, The Silver Bridge collapsed during rush hour traffic in 1967. 37 vehicles were crossing the bridge at the time and 31 fell into the river, resulting in 46 deaths and 9 serious injuries. When the suspension bridge was constructed in 1928, a typical car weighed about 1,500 lb and the structure’s load limits were calculated off this number. However, at the time of the failure in 1967 the average automobile was closer to 4,000 lb, putting far more stress on the bridge than intended. Corrosion had caused cracks to form over the years and it was only a matter of time before the weight was too much to bear.POST CONTINUES BELOWhangzhou42. Hangzhou Subway TunnelLocation: Zhejiang Province, ChinaYear of Fail: 2008In 2008 a section of subway tunnel under construction caved in creating a giant sinkhole that swallowed both construction staff working underground and passengers in cars from the road above. Buried underneath steel beams and rubble, 21 people were killed and 24 were injured. In addition to a flimsy system of supports and moldings, the tunnel had been built over unstable, swampy ground. Suggestions to build elsewhere were ignored due to the interests of real estate developers.bangiao41. Banqiao Reservoir DamLocation: Henan Province, ChinaYear of Fail: 1975Built in 1952, the government deemed Banqiao “unbreakable” despite early signs of poor construction and a leading hydrologist’s warning that there were too few water-regulating gates. While these errors certainly contributed to the dam failure in 1975, the super typhoon that preceded the break may have destroyed even a perfect dam. After a year’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours, a message was sent to open the dam gates. The information was never received and Banqiao’s walls ultimately gave way, precipitating the failure of 62 dams in total. The resulting flood caused a wave 6.2 miles wide to rush onto the plains below at over 30 miles per hour. Approximately 26,000 people died during the flooding and another 145,000 perished during ensuing famine and epidemics.cw40. C.W. Post College Dome AuditoriumLocation: Brookville, NYYear of Fail: 1978Built in 1970, this 3,500 person theater collapsed in 1978 following a blizzard. While piled up snow and ice were the ultimate cause of collapse, faulty design made the shallow dome particularly vulnerable. Though compliant with all codes, the architect that designed the building only considered uniform roof loads, ignoring the fact that snow often drifts, causing certain spots to bear more weight than others. Luckily, no one was in the building when the roof caved and fell, saving the college and the architect from a whole lot of lawsuits.pisa39. The Leaning Tower of PisaLocation: Pisa, ItalyYear of Fail: 1178Originally angled 5.5 degrees, the tower’s top is horizontally displaced almost thirteen feet from where it would be were the tower perfectly vertical. Constructed in three stages over 177 years, the tower began to sink in 1178 due to a major initial design flaw: a thin foundation set in unstable subsoil. To compensate for the fact that one side of the tower sunk lower, the engineers working on the structure in 1272 built upper floors with one side taller than the other. Though all floors were completed in 1372, strengthening of the structure to ensure the tower doesn’t topple has been a routine practice since.”To see the rest:The 50 Worst Architecture Fails cw

Here is some information adapted from one of my books on Asheville:>>Here are thumbnail sketches of neighborhoods in and around Asheville. If you’re scouting them out, some of these areas may be visited on foot, but also consider one of the hop-on, hop-off trolley services, ART (the public bus system) and sightseeing by car.Biltmore Forest (a residential area on the west side of Hendersonville Rd./US Hwy. 25 from Biltmore Village south to near the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance on Hendersonville Rd) was a creation of the Biltmore Estate. In 1920, Edith Vanderbilt, wife of Biltmore founder George Vanderbilt (he had died in 1914) sold 1,500 acres on the south side of the Biltmore Estate to a company set up to develop an upmarket residential area, with lots of 2 acres or more. Prominent local developers began building large houses, mostly in Tudor and Colonial Revival styles. Edith Vanderbilt herself in 1925 moved into one called The Firth, later the home of her son William A.V. Cecil, who reinvigorated and successfully ran the Biltmore House from the 1960s to 1990s.Biltmore Estate landscape architect Chauncey Beadle, an associate of the Frederick Law Olmsted firm, helped plan the community. Donald Ross designed the golf course for the Biltmore Forest Country Club. A number of beautiful homes were built around the golf course, which opened in 1922. William Dodge, a leading local architect, designed many of the homes.Today, Biltmore Forest remains one of Asheville’s most elite neighborhoods, home to many prominent business people, physicians and other professionals. Some homes in Biltmore Forest are valued at $2 million to $4 million or more.Biltmore Village (now predominantly a commercial area of small boutiques and restaurants directly east of the entrance to Biltmore Estate south of Downtown) was envisioned by George Vanderbilt as a manorial village, housing Biltmore workers and necessary business services. The streets were laid out by 1896, and the homes and other buildings in the original village were completed by around 1910. Most of the buildings, designed by Biltmore House chief architect Richard Morris Hunt, his son Richard Howland Hunt and Richard Sharp Smith were two- and three-story dwellings done in Tudoresque style with rough pebbledash exterior walls with half-timbering and red brick. The village also had shops, a post office, railroad depot, a small hospital and All Souls Episcopal Cathedral. Today, most of Biltmore Village is commercial, with boutique shops, art galleries, restaurants and a few offices.A number of the old pebbledash dwellings have been converted for business use, and the village, anchored by the stunning All Souls Cathedral, remains quaint and, at least in the original section, walkable. Many new structures were built over the years, including in recent times a large hotel, the Grand Bohemian, and a row of commercial shops, restaurants and condos along Sweeten Creek Road. Traffic often is heavy along Hendersonville Road, McDowell Street and Sweeten Creek Road, and it is sometimes backed up by trains at a railroad crossing on Hendersonville Road. Street parking is somewhat limited in the main part of Biltmore Village.Downtown Asheville The hub of Asheville’s fairly compact and highly walkable Downtown is Pack Square, and most of the city’s major streets radiate out from it: Patton Avenue to the west, Broadway Street to the north, Biltmore Avenue to the south and College Street to the east. The Pack Square area is home to a number of popular restaurants, the Asheville Art Museum (now closed for a major renovation and expansion) On the east side is the nicely planned and landscaped Pack Square Park, which faces the elegant Art Deco Asheville City Building designed by Douglas Ellington and the squat Buncombe County Courthouse. In warm weather the water fountains in the park are a favorite spot for kids to play. On the north side of the square the windows of the I.M. Pei company-designed Biltmore Building (now tagged the Merrill Lynch Building) reflects the images of older buildings on the square, including the elegant Jackson Building, one of Asheville’s first skyscrapers.Biltmore Avenue (the main north-south corridor from Pack Square south to Biltmore village) was originally called Main Street. Many of the buildings in the first few blocks south of Pack Square were built from 1900 to 1920, as low-rise commercial structures, and now are home to a thriving selection of art galleries, restaurants and bars. The Aloft Hotel (which debuted in late 2012) has brought new tourism traffic to Downtown and also a new public parking lot under the hotel, making dinner parking easier. Farther south is McCormick Field, home of the Asheville Tourists minor league baseball team, and the main campus of Mission Hospital, its St. Joseph campus. Mission is the largest private employer in the region. In addition to its 730-bed main campus facility it owns and operates many other medical support and physician offices along the Biltmore Avenue corridor and elsewhere. Closer to Biltmore Village are several lodging options catering to both hospital patient families and to visitors to the Biltmore Estate, including Residences at Biltmore, Marriot’s Residence Inn, Grand Bohemian, Cedar Crest Inn and others. Just to the west of Biltmore are Asheland Avenue and McDowell Street areas. Asheville High School, a wonderful Douglas Ellington Art Deco design, is one of the top public high schools in the state.Broadway Street Corridor (the northerly extension of Biltmore Avenue, which runs from Pack Square north to the UNC-Asheville area, connecting with I-26) is filled with restaurants, coffee houses, clubs and small shops. The new Marriott AC Hotel is just a block north of Pack Square, and across the street the former 18-story BB&T Building is undergoing a total re-do into luxury condos and hotel rooms. As it passes under I-240, Broadway becomes less retail-oriented, and the streetscape opens up. Broadway passes the east side of the Montford Historic District and the slightly funky but growing Five Points area before reaching the 360-acre University of North Carolina at Asheville campus and I-26.East End (a section just to the southeast of Pack Square and near the main Asheville police department and fire station) was an important African-American business and residential district, with many black-owned shops, restaurants, a theater and a hotel. It heart was Market and Eagle streets. The area contained at least 10 churches and Stephens-Lee High School (1924-64, the area’s only black high school). It also was home to the YMI Cultural Center, built by George Vanderbilt as a community center for the city’s black citizens, operating (somewhat tenuously) now as a museum of local black history. Today, the area is gentrifying, with new upscale restaurants, shops and condos.Southside (bounded roughly by the French Broad River, Biltmore Ave., Oakland Ave. and Aston Park) was one of Asheville’s premier African-American business districts, surrounded by a large residential neighborhood. At over 400 acres, the urban renewal project that began in the 1960s was one of the largest in the Southeast. One observer noted that more than 1,100 homes, 14 grocery stores, 11 beauty parlors and barber shops, five filling stations, eight apartment houses, seven churches, one hotel, five funeral homes, one hospital and three doctor’s offices were razed by urban renewal programs. Today the area is predominantly residential, a racially mixed neighborhood, although the expansion of Mission Hospitals and supporting medical offices continues to encroach on the area.In recent years, the term South Slope has come into use to describe the area generally bounded by Asheland Avenue, Biltmore Avenue and Buxton Street and Coxe Avenue. This is an up-and-coming area for restaurants and craft breweries.Lexington Avenue (a main north-south street that keeps the Lexington name as it crosses Patton Ave.) is as authentically Asheville as you can get. In 2012, the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association named it one of the state’s “Great Main Streets,” along with Charlotte’s Tryon Street, Hillsborough’s Churton Street and Edenton’s Broad Street. Lexington has some 40 small, local clothing and second-hand shops, clubs, restaurants, brewpubs, antique shops and street art installations. Eminently walkable and slightly funky, Lexington in many ways is an icon of the resurgence of Asheville’s Downtown since the 1980s, a street with character and full of life day and night. At the north end of Lexington is a mural on the I-240 overpass celebrating Asheville. Here, you can continue on to the northern section of Broadway or bear right onto Merrimon Avenue. Downtown After Five is a food and music festival on the third Friday of each month from May to September held at the foot of North Lexington Avenue at the site of the late, lamented Downtown farmer’s market. Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival (LAAFF) is an arts and music fest and pub-crawl held in early September on North Lexington (see Festivals).Patton Avenue Corridor (one of Asheville’s first east-west thoroughfares, a main access corridor from the west – where it is variously called U.S. Hwy. 19/23 or Smoky Park Hwy. to Downtown’s Pack Square) is one of Asheville’s bi-polar streets. It is both an ugly commercial thoroughfare through Candler and West Asheville -- high school kids still cruise some of the West Asheville strip on weekends -- and a business and banking street in town. As it enters the main Downtown area it passes the National Climatic Data Center in the Veach-Baley Federal Building, home to the world’s largest climate data archive; Pritchard Park, host to a Friday night drumming circle; and one of Asheville’s Art Deco highlights, the old S&W Building. There are a few crafts galleries and restaurants before Patton reaches Pack Square.Battery Park, Grove Arcade and Haywood Street (a commercial area between I-240 to the north, North French Broad St. to the west, South Lexington Ave. to the east and Patton Ave. to the south) in the early to mid-20th century was the heart of Asheville’s retail Downtown. The Grove Arcade, between Page and O. Henry streets, was originally built in the 1920s as an enclosed multi-use urban mall. Despite the Depression it functioned as such until it was taken over by the federal government during World War II. In the early 21st century, it returned to its roots as a mixed-used market, office and residential building. Along Battery Park Avenue and Haywood Street were most of Asheville’s original department stores, including Ivey’s, JC Penney and Bon Marché. Today this area has become a lively combination of residential condos, boutiques, crafts shops, restaurants and hotels including the all-suites Haywood Park Hotel and the hip Indigo Hotel. Even though there are three large city parking lots in the area -- one across from the Grove Arcade, one on Rankin Avenue and one behind the main Pack Library -- plus considerable street parking, finding a space can occasionally be difficult when there is a major concert or other functions at the Asheville Civic Center (now U.S. Cellular Center) and Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Asheville’s best independent bookstore, Malaprop’s, is located on Haywood Street.Wall Street (just north and above Patton Ave. with the main pedestrian entrance off Battery Park Ave.) is a short, picturesque side street with a number of restaurants and small boutiques. Parking is easy due to a large city parking garage on the west end of the street.East Asheville (from Town Mountain and Chunn’s Cove at the east edge of town past the Tunnel Road mega retail strip to Oteen) is a sprawling area that includes the major retail strip along and near Tunnel Road, anchored by the Asheville Mall, a regional mall that ranks as the eighth largest in the state, after malls in Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham and Winston-Salem (the largest in the state is Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem). But it also includes many well-established, middle-class subdivision and residential areas including Town Mountain, with wonderful views over Downtown, Chunn’s Cove, Haw Creek and Beverly Hills, with many of the homes built between the 1940s and 1970s, along with areas farther out including Oteen and Swannanoa. Then to the southeast are the fast-growing Buncombe areas of Reynolds and Fairview. Reynolds High School is considered one of the Buncombe County’s best public high schools.Enka-Candler (a non-incorporated area in southwest Buncombe County in what is called the Hominy Valley) is an amalgam of small farms, middle-class subdivisions, modest homes, condos, trailer parks, small businesses and a large upscale planned community around a lake.The main commercial spine of the Enka-Candler area is the Smoky Park Highway (U.S. Highway 19-23), housing an unruly collection of small businesses suffering from lack of zoning controls.Enka Village, off Sand Hill Road, was begun in 1928 as a planned company town developed by American Enka, a European-owned rayon-nylon factory that became one of the largest employers in the region. By 1930, about 100 homes, both small homes for workers and large brick homes with lake views for managers, had been constructed, but the village was never completed due to the impact of the Depression. In the late 1950s the homes were sold to individual owners. American Enka eventually was purchased by what is now BASF, an international conglomerate, and limited manufacturing continues at the Enka plant.Some 1,300 acres of Enka land was sold to Biltmore Farms, a development and hotel company owned by a branch of the Vanderbilt family but not directly affiliated with Biltmore Estate. In 2002, the company began building the upscale Biltmore Lake development, with homes in the $500,000 to $2 million range. There are now more than 600 homes in the development, with additional ones planned, along with condos and apartments.Enka-Candler has many different communities, including some located near the main public schools in the area -- Enka High School, Enka Middle School and Hominy Valley, Pisgah and Sand Hill primary schools – and others along a scenic rural stretch of the Pisgah Highway/NC Highway 151 that eventually winds it way through the Pisgah National Forest to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Mt. Pisgah.Kenilworth (southeast Asheville between Biltmore Ave. on the west and Tunnel Rd. on the east) was established in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It was named for the large resort hotel, the Kenilworth Inn -- completed in 1891 and destroyed by fire in 1909 -- that stood nearby. Many of the older homes in Kenilworth are in the Tudor Revival style, although the area also has Prairie, Bungalow and even Spanish Colonial homes, along with a number of newer homes built in the mid-20th century. According to the real estate website Trulia in early 2013 the average home for sale in Kenilworth was listed for $278,000.Leicester (in Buncombe County northwest of Asheville), locally pronounced “Lester” rather than “Lee-cester,” is a mix of suburban subdivisions, modest homes, trailer parks and rural areas, with a total population of about 12,000. The commercial spine is Leicester Highway, which can be heavily trafficked at rush hours. Erwin High School is the community’s public secondary school.Montford (just north of Downtown Asheville and I-240) is a 300-acre neighborhood historic district that dates from the late 19th century. It has some 600 homes, including a number designed by Richard Sharp Smith. Nearly all of the homes in the district were built before 1930. Homes in Montford are in Victorian, Queen Anne, Craftsman, Neoclassical and Colonial Revival styles.Plagued by crime and deteriorating properties in the mid-20th century, much of Montford was gentrified beginning in the 1970s. Part of its attraction is that most of Montford is within a short drive or walk of Downtown, yet the neighborhood is mostly single-family homes with porches, yards and sidewalked streets. Some larger homes in Montford now are valued at well over $1 million.The 87-acre Riverside Cemetery, where Thomas Wolfe, O. Henry, Richard Sharp Smith and Zebulon Vance are buried, is within the Montford Historic District. Montford is also Asheville’s “B&B District,” with more than a dozen licensed bed and breakfast inns.The main streets in Montford are Montford Avenue, the spine of the neighborhood, along with Cumberland Avenue and Flint Street, all running more or less north-south.Stumptown was a traditionally African-American neighborhood of around 30 acres near Riverside Cemetery that developed in the late 19th century, but by the 1970s urban renewal had changed the area, dispersing most of the 200 or so black families that had lived there.North Asheville is a group of different neighborhoods and districts, including the Merrimon Avenue corridor, Broadway corridor, Kimberly, Grove Park, Charlotte Street, Chestnut-Hill, Lakeview Park/Beaver Lake and, farther north, the new upscale development of Reynolds Mountain.Albemarle Park (off Charlotte St. across from Edwin Place) is a small but intriguing historic district comprised mainly of turn of the 20th century Manor and Cottages. The Manor, a resort with an English inn atmosphere conceived by Thomas Raoul and his father William Greene Raoul, was begun in 1898 on a 32-acre tract of land acquired by the elder Raoul, a railroad magnate. Working in collaboration with the Raouls, architect Bradford Gilbert designed cottages that each bears a distinctive motif reflecting the eclectic character of the Manor with various combinations of Shingle, Tudoresque and Colonial Revival styles.Chestnut-Hill (located north of Downtown, centered around East Chestnut and North Liberty streets.) Most of the 200 or dwellings in this historic district were built from 1880 to 1930, in the Craftsman, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. Two locally important architects' works are represented here: J.A. Tennent and Richard Sharp Smith. A number of medical, dental, legal and other professional offices have opened along East Chestnut.Grove Park (consisting of several blocks flanking the north end of Charlotte St.) was the creation, in the early 1900s, of E. W. Grove of Grove Park Inn and Grove Arcade fame. He developed the Grove Park residential area with the help of landscape architect Chauncey Beadle of the Biltmore Estate. The design used curving streets rather than a rectangular grid pattern. Most of the early homes in Grove Park were in the Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival and Bungalow styles. Many were designed by Richard Sharp Smith and his firm, Smith & Carrier.A landmark in the Grove Park and Proximity Park area (Proximity Park already existed when E. W. Grove began his development, but the park area is now considered a part of the Grove Park neighborhood) is the Dr. Carl V. Reynolds House, now the Albemarle Inn at 86 Edgemont Road, a bed and breakfast. The two-story 1909 Neoclassical building is charmingly restored. The most famous resident of the house was Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, who spent the winter of 1943-44 in Asheville and completed his “Third Concerto for Piano,” also known as the “Asheville Concerto,” here.Kimberly Avenue/Norwood Park (residential corridor from Charlotte St. to Beaverdam Rd.), sometimes considered as part of the Grove Park area, in effect begins at Edwin Place, which turns off Charlotte Street. Edwin Place becomes Kimberly Avenue, which then runs by the Grove Park Inn’s golf course on the east, with a row of upscale homes across Kimberly on the west. These homes, in the $500,000 to $1 million+ range, are an eclectic mix of Colonial Revival, Mediterranean and other styles, mostly built from the 1920s to 1940s. This part of Kimberly is lined with sugar maples, which usually are stunning in their fall gold colors. Farther on, some of the homes on Kimberly were built in the mid-20th century. Norwood Park is a 26-acre National Historic District on the west side of Kimberly, with many Craftsman bungalows, along with Colonial Revival and other home styles, built in the first half of the 20th century. Most of the Norwood Park lots are relatively small. Kimberly Avenue eventually intersects with Beaverdam Road, a long and winding residential road with attractive homes and a number of condominium developments. Beaverdam leads to Webb Cove Road, which winds up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Noted author Wilma Dykeman was born in and spent much of her life in the Beaverdam Valley of North Asheville.Lakeview Park/Beaver Lake (on both sides of Merrimon Ave./U.S. Hwy. 25 with Beaver Lake on the west and the Asheville Country Club on the east) is a 1920s-era residential subdivision. It curves around Beaver Lake and the Donald Ross golf course, now a part of the Asheville Country Club. Most of the original 100 or so homes, as in Biltmore Forest, are in Tudor Revival and Colonial Revival styles. Homes and condos built later are in a variety of styles. Lakeview Park was planned by Charlotte landscape architect John Nolen, a student of Frederick Law Olmsted. Beaver Lake is owned collectively by the residents of Lakeview Park. Part of the lake is a 10-acre bird sanctuary owned and managed by the local chapter of the Audubon Society, open free to the public.The Merrimon Avenue Corridor (along Merrimon Ave./US Hwy. 25 from Downtown north toward Weaverville) is primarily commercial, with offices, stores and restaurants lining the busy street (mostly two lanes each way). Merrimon is becoming known as Supermarket Row, with locations for GreenLife (owned by Whole Foods), Harris-Teeter, Trader Joe’s, Ingle’s, Fresh Market and others. On side streets east and west of Merrimon are many appealing homes, many dating from early 1900s to 1920s, some modest bungalows and others more substantial.Reynolds Mountain (on the east side of Merrimon Ave./US Hwy. 25 near I-26, in the Woodfin area) is part of a large, planned 250-acre community with some 200 expensive hillside homes, apartments, a “village” with shops and offices, a high-tech manufacturing plant and the Reynolds Mansion B&B. Lots on Reynolds Mountain start at around $100,000 and range up to $500,000.River Arts District (an area of about one mile by one-half mile bounded by the French Broad River on the west and Clingman Ave. and the Depot St. corridor on the east, with the north and south ends of the district somewhat fluid) was once one of the region’s main industrial zones. Anchored by the French Broad River and Southern Railway, the Riverside industrial area developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a center for tanneries, livestock sales, cotton and other mills, ice and coal houses, grain storage facilities and warehouses. Although in 1916 the worst flood in Asheville history damaged many buildings in the low-lying river plain, the area recovered. Riverside thrived for several decades, but with changing economic conditions by the 1950s and 1960s many of the warehouses and businesses in the district had closed and were abandoned.In the 1980s and 1990s, artists and craftspeople rediscovered the former industrial zone, drawn by inexpensive rents for large industrial and loft spaces, perfect for studios. Today the River Arts District is home to more than 160 art and craft studios, most of which are open to the public. There also are art and craft galleries and at least a dozen restaurants, coffee shops and bars. A number of creative businesses such as ad agencies and design studios also have relocated to the area. Residential apartments and condos also are in the district, and a large new apartment/lofts complex has been approved, but groundbreaking has been delayed several times.South Asheville (a hard-to-define area primarily along the I-26 corridor from the south edge of Asheville City limits to Skyland, Arden and Fletcher near the Asheville Regional Airport) has seen more growth in recent decades than any other area of Buncombe County. Large strip malls have sprung up here, turning rural pastureland into sites for Big Box stores and fast food chains. Biltmore Park, a large mixed-use residential, office and retail planned community, was developed by Biltmore Farms of Asheville and Crosland of Charlotte. The development has an 800,000 square-foot retail center, Biltmore Park Town Square, designed along New Urbanism principles, that includes a 15-screen movie theater, Biltmore Grande, and many restaurants and stores including Barnes & Noble and REI, plus a Hilton Hotel, YMCA and condos and apartments. In this area Biltmore Farms also developed the Biltmore Park residential subdivision, with more than 550 upscale homes and the 1,000-acre Ramble development, with homes mostly in the $500,000 to $1 million range.Weaverville (off I-26 about 15 minutes north of Asheville) is a small town and rural community with several sizeable manufacturing plants, a commercial area with many small businesses and a thriving arts community. The town has a population of about 2,500, but additional residents live in the rural areas around the town. North Carolina’s Civil War governor, Zebulon Vance, was born in the Reem’s Creek community nearby, and his family cabin is now a state historic site. Most homes in the Weaverville area are in the $200,000 to $500,000 range.West Asheville (bounded roughly by the French Broad River on the east, I-40 on the south, the Enka area on the west, with Patton Avenue on the north, although parts also lay north of Patton) has been a part of the City of Asheville since 1917, but it continues to be seen by locals as a separate area. It has always been considered as Asheville’s cheap date, with homes costing a fraction of what they do in some other areas of the city, such as North Asheville. Residents tended to be older and blue collar. In the 1980s, young people discovered the cheaper house prices and rents in Asheville and migrated here, creating an increasing vibrant and diverse restaurant, retail and bar scene. By the early 21st century, parts of West Asheville became known as hipster neighborhoods.Many of the homes here date from the early part of the 20th century, some in the late Queen Anne and bungalow style. Sizeable numbers of dwellings, mostly frame or red brick bungalows, were built in the post-World War II period. In the last couple of decades, small clusters of new construction have taken place in West Asheville, with the focus on moderately priced starter and second homes.Established neighborhoods such as Malvern Hills, along Brevard Road and Virginia Avenue, are solidly middle class, while some other areas, especially those near I-240, are still a little scruffy, but gentrifying.Haywood Road (as distinguished from Haywood Street Downtown) is a commercial spine of West Asheville. It connects the River Arts District and South French Broad areas with Patton Avenue. Many of the commercial buildings are two-story brick structures dating from 1900 through the 1920s. Shops, boutiques, second-hand stores, restaurants, coffee houses and bars have opened here.A prominent co-educational prep school, The Asheville School (founded 1900) is at the far west end of what is considered West Asheville.Prices have risen all over West Asheville, but it’s still possible to find attractive buys in the $200,000-$300,000 range.