Towne house

Devoted readers (with sterling memories) may recall that in July 2008, I wondered in this space what I might have meant by writing "Towne house" on my dry-erase board of ideas sometime previously. Readers posted their guesses. In the midst of that, I remembered. But I never quite got around to explaining.

What I meant was a house built circa 2004 on land left over from 210 Freeway construction in Claremont. This house popped up on Towne Avenue next to the eastbound offramp. All that separates the house from the freeway ramp is a picket fence, a walking path and a sound wall.

I found the house's construction there ironic, as a proposal for apartments a few yards northeast at Towne and Base Line, right next to the westbound offramp, drew such ire that it was dropped.

My attempts to photograph the Towne house proved problematic. On one weekend in May 2009 I shot photos that, upon later inspection, didn't give a good view. It was harder to get the freeway and the house in a photo than I'd imagined.

It was a year before I tried again. (Procrastinating was easier than parking and wandering around on foot near a freeway overpass on my personal time.) These photos worked out better but I set the whole project aside, unsure of the point.

Well, for anyone who still cares, here are a couple of those tardy photos, and this tardy explanation. And yes, "Towne house" is off my whiteboard.