The Masonic

The building with the tower is the Masonic building in Staunton. It is one of the tallest, most unfortunate spaces in town. I love this building. I worked on the fourth floor for around two years, and really like the structure. It's got a great deal of history. There's a door marked "Dungeon" leading to the cellar, and there's an ancient picture framed with marble. The fifth floor has a banquet hall and ritual room, the latter of which has three huge walls of stained glass. It's a really cool place to explore.

The problem with history is that it's so old. The problem with old buildings, they start being more expensive to maintain and operate than any investor will ever get out of them. It's hard to see in this picture, but there's a tree growing out of the fifth floor, you can just barely see it because it's turned yellow for autumn. Do you know what trees do the faces of buildings over time? Nothing good. There's a beautiful apartment on the very top floor... just one. The fourth floor houses the offices of the America Shakespeare Center, and then there isn't much else. It's a big, mostly vacant building. None of the windows really work, the air and heat are faulty, and I don't now how they're ever going to get tenants in the place.

What do you do with a rusty hood ornament that no one has the money to clean up?