This photo article was published a while back. It was a fun research project walking around my neighborhood taking photos of amazing old houses.
ABOVE – THE CUPOLA. The iconic image of the district of Magdalena del Mar will soon disappear. Well perhaps not totally disappear, but certainly from my vantage point a few blocks away and nine floors up, it will not exist much longer. Like much of old Magdalena, the view seems to melt away into the fog, making way for “progress.”
Some of the places I highlighted in the Living in Peru article follow:
UNEXPECTED ARBOR. The arbor of flowers seemed to be thriving on its own. Just another little old house, marked by graffiti, most likely soon to be razed to make way for yet another high rise apartment building. The charming old door and gate will probably soon see their last days. Each day, as I walk around our neighborhood, I discover another old home, sitting quietly in all its fading glory. This house at first seemed to be vacant. As I tried to peak in the windows, I realized it is indeed still occupied. A lovely surprise.
CLASSY BEAUTY. Already surrounded by high rise apartment buildings, we fear this classy beauty won’t last much longer. I pass it every day, and each day feel grateful that it is still standing, not yet the victim of the builders’ destruction crews.
MINIATURE JEWELS. Sometimes the houses with the most appeal are the simplest, or the most modest, or the smallest! This row of narrow houses sits on a very busy street, the doors opening directly to the sidewalk, as most in our area do. The different colors give a unique feel to each of the small fronts. Looking closer, they’re not as “simple” as first thought. The designs of the windows and doors, and the metal bars over them, unique to each house, are so much more interesting than anything found on today’s buildings. The fronts are narrow, but we are curious to know how far back these houses reach. They’re probably much bigger than they look from the street.
THE PURPLE WALL. Speaking of color, this one is delightfully playful and unexpected. We’re accustomed to seeing fanciful colors used on smaller buildings. This one is one of the larger homes in the neighborhood. We love the red doors against the purple walls. We’re guessing that creative people live within!
OUTDOOR READING ROOM. It’s really hard to walk past this one without stopping to relax and read a while. It appears to have been made just for that purpose although we’ve never caught anyone relaxing on the patio!
THE NEIGHBORHOOD. This is the kind of scene that originally made us realize that we wanted to live in Magdalena. Classic old buildings, aging walls, arched entryways with ornate iron gates. Mounds of flowers cascading over old walls. Children walking home from school laughing and holding hands. And the ever present electrical wires overhead!
Lauris Burns 