i have to win the lottery...

because that is the only way i'm going to have the money to buy and fix up a firehouse, and i want one BAD.

i mean, who could resist something so awesomely cool? last night out of curiosity i was poking around and realized that the one that had been for sale (<- that one) isn't anymore. but the assessor's website doesn't show it changing hands. that could mean it was really recent and it hasn't been updated yet, or that it's been taken off the market without having sold.

so then i ended up screwing around on the assessor's website for hours finding and coveting all the cool old firehouses in evansville that i know about. not that any of them are for sale or anything, though.

there's the one on st. joe that i really like because i love that neighborhood, and it really is the nicest neighborhood you can get an old firehouse in as far as i know. and according to the assessor it's in the best shape of any of them, too. but when it sold recently it was uber-expensive, and the inside pictures showed it to be massively gaudy. of course, i'd have to gut it anyway because it wasn't set up as a house.

the one that was for sale on columbia is cool, and much cheaper, although also noteably smaller. and that massively trashy liquor store across the street doesn't make me jump for joy either, but i think it would still be cool.

the other one on columbia is really similar to the st joe one, and i thought i liked it less because of the main difference, the gable roof. but the more i see it the more i love the stuff up under the overhang (sorry i don't know the word for it). sure it screws up my roof garden plan, but it comes with a much bigger lot than st joe does, so that takes care of that right there. sure the nasty brown asphalt shingles would have to go, in favor of that great artificial slate roofing they make out recycled tires, but when the place has crumbling brick and the windows are all boarded up, what's a new set of roof shingles? the main issue with it would be all the cost to repair it. any of them would need work to be a house, but this thing needs work to be anything but falling down. but it looks so damned awesome.

the least appealing is the one on washington and grand. first, it's in a bad neighborhood. sure none of them are great neighborhoods, but that one is straight ghetto. also, there's the addition issue. if you get curious and want to go look at it, you have to check it out from grand because the washington side is obscured by an abysmal addition. sure that could be ripped off, but in old historic pictures you can tell that there used to be a fabulous round piece with lots of windows there, which was most likely torn off and would have to be replaced. at least i would have to replace it because i couldn't not, knowing how fabulous it had once been with that there.

plus, this morning i was telling my dad what i'd been doing all night while he was getting ready for work and he clued me in to another old firehouse in evansville. once i looked it up i realized i'd seen it bunches of times, but had never put two and two together and realized it was a firehouse. it's pretty cool, although it's got some crappy additions, but they're stuck on the back and side where you could pull them off pretty easy and they don't seem to have replaced the coolest feature of the old structure. in fact, the coolest feature has to be that bell tower. i mean, damn, is that thing awesome or what? but while i like it, i just don't think i like it as much as the columbia ones or st joe.

of course, while i was looking at commercial properties for sale trying to find that firehouse, i did find a couple of non-firehouse building i wouldn't mind having. sure this was originally a house and converting it back wouldn't be like converting a firehouse, but it still rocks. this one definately wasn't ever a house, in fact it was apparently once the republican headquarters (might be fun to laugh about that if i lived there). it's a little big though, i might have to split it up and share. plus there's a place for sale on the walkway, and one just off on 3rd.

okay, the massively long post about buildings i can't afford to buy is now complete. if you've gotten this far, thank you for your time and i hope you enjoyed it.