Archi-Ted-ture:The Cherry & Gay Garage

York City is filled with a lot of amazing old buildings that architects took great pains to make a permanent part of the city. This post isn't about one of those. But it is about architecture all the same. The building you see above is nothing more than a garage or perhaps utility building for storage in it's current life. It is located on the corner of West Gay Avenue and North Cherry lane and one look through it's windows tells you that it's an afterthought to who ever owns it now.

Whenever I walk through that part of town I always take notice of it none the less. The big windows with the rounded tops always look church-like to me. Then there's the clerestory which is the line of windows above the roofline of the outer portions of the building which is designed to bring lite and air into the interior. I also love the brickwork  around the windows and the artistic relief in the top center of the wall. I'm sure it is in horrendous shape but when I look at it I can't help but think how cool it could be as a reclamation project.

The city is filled with amazing old industrial brick buildings and some of them, like the Smyser-Royer Building have been brought back to life. This poor old utilitarian space deserves the same treatment. It would make amazing loft style apartments, an artists space or a restaurant or bar. I happen to think it's location at the corner of Gay and Cherry lends itself to some great names for an establishment.

If it wasn't against the law for stuffed panda's to play the lotto I'd be trying to win so I could buy the place and turn it into what it deserves to be. Until that time it will just be a forgotten structure across a parking lot.