122-126 Morgan Street

Moving west to east:

126 Morgan, 1966

122 Morgan, 1966

Today's post is a historic illustration of an architectural type that I've advocated many times before - the liner building.

The large Brick Star warehouse at Morgan and Rigsbee was 'square' to Rigsbee St., where Morgan St. curved to the south as it headed east away from Rigsbee. This formed a somewhat triangular piece of land between the warehouse and Morgan St. that was wider moving towards N. Mangum.

Rather than a blank wall with a disused piece of land, you can see in the above picture that the land was filled with buildings that created an active streetscape. This is the idea of the liner building - a not-so-deep structure that hides blank walls/noxious uses (such as parking decks) behind structures that interact with the street and the people on it.

106-108 Morgan, 1966

102-104 Morgan, 1966

These buildings were taken out by urban renewal, followed by the widening of Morgan St. for the loop (although I'm not completely sure which side this was taken out of, or if it was widened equally.)

Looking northeast, 2007.

This is mostly parking and wasted space between the Credit Financial Services building and the McDonald's. And, if you walk along this part of Morgan St. (an altogether soul-sapping experience) you feel the waste.