Thursday, June 10, 2010

An Interesting Historical Remnant In The Hawthorne Neighborhood Council Headquarters...


Photo and blog post by John Hoff

I actually took this picture several weeks ago, but there's one great thing about historical writing...

History isn't going anywhere. What's the hurry?

In the attic of the building Hawthorne Neighborhood Council uses as its headquarters (2944 Emerson Ave. N.) there are some words painted on the wall, apparently in German or some Scandinavian language.

The words--what's left of them--appear to be Bible verses. Naturally, we know this house is associated with the church next door and I assume at one time it was a rectory or a parsonage.

I figure at some point in the not-so-distant future the wall will get patched up, so I took pictures to make a record of what was up there.


16 comments:

la_vie_en_rose said...

Yay, I love history! And I love languages. It's Swedish.

There's an very old Swedish hymn which goes: "O Guds Lamm, som borttager världens synder" -- which means "O Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world". This seems to be in the same vein, if not from the same hymn. Cool find!

la_vie_en_rose said...

The first picture finally loaded for me. Stupid Qwest DSL. :P

That's obviously Luke 24:50 in old (possibly low?) Swedish. In modern Swedish, I think it would be "och lyfta händerna mot himlen (though that appears to be omitted from the quote; I know some Swedish Bibles do that), välsignade han dem".

Folwell Fox said...

At least Swedish "taggers" could spell and conjugate a sentence! Stay in school you troubled you'dz, and you too can write in calligraphy.

Unknown said...

Man, that should be saved for a Swedish History museum or for the Historical Society. Please contact someone that might be interested in preserving that. It's mighty awesome!

Johnny Northside! said...

We should do that, but maybe we'd like to preserve it ourselves and just keep it where it is. I'll have to bring this matter up to other folks, see what they think.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that's going to be an option. Anything historic should be preserved publically. The owner loses the right to determine it's fate when the item becomes historic. The public good outweighs the rights of the owner to hid the item away.

Anonymous said...

43,

You're exactly right. The public should be able to see something like this. The Hawthorne neighborhood offices are not handicapped accessible and it is offensive to thing that something as historic as this would be kept on display in a place that the handicapped could never see.

NoMi is supposed to be inclusive not exclusive.

Johnny Northside said...

Are you seriously suggesting that the ATTIC (which has a ceiling level of about 6 feet) should be made handicap accessible so that handicapped individuals can gaze upon this interesting old hunk of plaster?

Troll. Troll here to cause trouble. Not a legitimate voice, doesn't actually care about handicapped people. Just a troll.

Anonymous said...

(9) Reasonable accommodation

The term "reasonable accommodation" may include

(A) making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities


Sec. 12147. Alterations of existing facilities

(a) General rule

With respect to alterations of an existing facility or part thereof used in the provision of designated public transportation services that affect or could affect the usability of the facility or part thereof, it shall be considered discrimination, for purposes of section 12132 of this title and section 794 of title 29, for a public entity to fail to make such alterations (or to ensure that the alterations are made) in such a manner that, to the maximum extent feasible, the altered portions of the facility are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, including individuals who use wheelchairs, upon the completion of such alterations. Where the public entity is undertaking an alteration that affects or could affect usability of or access to an area of the facility containing a primary function, the entity shall also make the alterations in such a manner that, to the maximum extent feasible, the path of travel to the altered area and the bathrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving the altered area, are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, including individuals who use wheelchairs, upon completion of such alterations, where such alterations to the path of travel or the bathrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving the altered area are not disproportionate to the overall alterations in terms of cost and scope (as determined under criteria established by the Attorney General).

Anonymous said...

This also may violate the state Human Rights Act, which calls it an "unfair discriminatory practice" to deny the "full and equal enjoyment" of the benefits of a "public accommodation" because of race, color, creed, religion, disability, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation or gender.

Hans said...

I wonder if anybody on the entire internet takes you trolls seriously... this time in particular your ideas are so far fetched it's hilarious.

Anonymous said...

It's hilarious that both the Jordan community house and the Hawthorne community house are not handicapped accessible? Really?

How callous are you?

Why shouldn't people with disabilities be able to use these facilities?

Jack said...

I have worked on a handful of ADA projects. If you read the ADA act further you will find that the ADA does not apply to non-profit organizations if the cost to create the accommodation would create a unreasonable financial burden. There are also other considerations, such as if the building is too old to remodel. I would say it is reasonable (and required) that the HNC main floor offices and meeting room (and restroom) be handicapped/wheelchair accessible. But it would be unreasonable to require access to the attic (and just plain silly).

Anonymous said...

Fatty ,fatty two by four can't fit through the Hawthorne neighborhood offices door.Ate too many swedish meatballs i guess.

Hans said...

It's not hilarious that people with disabilities cannot use the various community resources available to everybody else.

It IS hilarious that a bunch of anonymous trolls want to make a big deal out of some wall decorations in an attic that happen to be in another language (and suddenly they're vital historic artifacts that MUST be made available to everyone).

I am VERY callous to TROLLS that don't actually care about disabled people but will bite at any issue they think will make JNS look bad.

NoMi Passenger said...

And furthermore about the trolls and ADA compliant issues the fact is that Hawthorne neighborhood has been in that house for so many years I wouldn't be surprised if there was no ADA laws when they moved in there. And for JACC, well, let's hear from the former Executive Director as to why he chose that building to move the offices to. He is the one that picked it out and lobbied the board to move there. Any previous employees or members of the old majority care to fill us in on why you moved to a building without handicap accessbile features?