An Aesthetic Assessment of Downtown
January 12th, 2007 | by Andrea Longini | Published in Downtown | 14 Comments
While there is no quick-fix for community redevelopment, community beautification through art is relatively simple. The only ingredients are cheap materials such as paint and the spark of a creative mind. Let us take into account the current state of affairs in downtown College Park aesthetics.
The horizon is bland, squat, and nearly uniform. From the vantage point sitting on the bench in front of Noodles and Boston Market facing north, a strip mall of just three stores stews in an awkward parking lot devoid of logical design. From the left they are College Park Bicycles, Kimi & Phil’s China Café (which is so unsavory that I ate there once and never returned) and 7-Eleven. Abutting this federation of mediocrity is, of course, Santa Fe Café. There is a reinforced vinyl banner strung up on one of the unused terraces, half of which is a Bud Light logo, the other the phrase “WELCOME BACK STUDENTS.” Further to the east is a retail bank, Bentley’s, and a spate of grub joints.
In the center of this panorama is the one aesthetic anomaly in downtown College Park. It is a towering trompe l’oeil painted façade of a building, attached unceremoniously to the side of an actual building. The mural is odd – it would seem to be the upper portion of a neo-Georgian brick home. Complete with three flat chimneys and five green attic windows, the center of this faux home is crowned by a hexagonal spire that juts above the building and is propped up from behind. The base of the spire is rimmed with miniature balustrades and what are perhaps baroque portals. It is supposed to be a belfry but it has no bell. Not even a painted one. It is the tallest point in downtown College Park and would be tallest point in the entire town were it not for the Memorial Chapel looming in the distance. The painted façade represents College Park in many ways – its disjointed attempt to look authentic and functional when in fact it is a messy pastiche of frippery. The painted bell tower without a bell could not be a more appropriately hollow symbol.
The implementation of better public art would mean a lot more to our community than painting a bell inside that fake tower. Good public art provides a common point of reference. It can unite a localized region while endowing it with something attractive, something compelling. There is hope for College Park art yet. My personal favorite mural in CP is tucked away on a wall inside alumni-owned California Tortilla. Painted by UMD students Graham Garvie and Matt Mayer, the work cleverly promotes CalTort while playing up Maryland’s reputation. It conveys the diversity of our campus through the common point of reference of our mascot.
Reviewing the public art of College Park it would seem there is no shortage of places for new work like the CalTort mural: in or around new projects along Route 1, the underpass along Paint Branch under the railroad tracks, or even incorporated into the new parking garage or city hall now being planned.
Photo credit Flickr user Loke Sonne
January 12th, 2007 at 8:17 pm (#)
The downtown mural dates to about 1991. I cannot remember the circumstances which lead to its creation, though perhaps I never knew how it came about, because I was pretty new to College Park at that time.
In 1999 the Berwyn neighborhood organized to get the mural at Route 1 & Berwyn Road painted. Two mural artists, along with neighborhood residents and three high school students painted the mural. In about 2002 the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area (ATHA) held a design contest to add additional murals to College Park. One mural was painted one the side of the Seven Seas Restaurant and a second mural design was selected to be painted on the Knox Road side of the WAWA the next year. I don’t know why this second mural has not materialized.
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January 12th, 2007 at 11:23 pm (#)
I do remember the Wawa proposal. It’s a real shame that didn’t get done. How can we get that started again?
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January 13th, 2007 at 11:44 am (#)
Looking at your picture reminded me of the ugly utility polls. Western European cities looked like that in the sixties.
The polls are not only ugly, they are unrealiable. In 2005, I lost power at least eight times. My entire life in Germany I lost power once and that was when the city was flooded. My neighbors from Uruguay report that Montevideo has a more reliable power supply than College Park and the DC area.
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January 13th, 2007 at 12:01 pm (#)
I have always liked the mural above Ratsie’s. Your attempt to make it into a depressing metaphor ignores the fact that the mural adds a much-needed splash of color into an otherwise dull downtown. Besides, the mural definitely isn’t as “odd” and out of place as you make it out to be– I’m fairly sure it was intended to mimick the Georgian architecture from all over campus. Look carefully; the structure depicted in the mural is very similar to HJ Patterson Hall.
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January 13th, 2007 at 10:17 pm (#)
I think the main point we can all agree on is that more murals and other forms of public art would be a wellcome addition to downtown College Park. The recently painted California Tortilla is an example of how this can be an effective student-led initiative. I am very interested in looking into how the same can be done for other locations. Anyone else?
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January 14th, 2007 at 3:47 am (#)
Don’t bash Kimi & Phil’s! I don’t eat their often, but the food tastes just fine.
College Park is what it is. We can all talk about the ways that it can be improved, but in the mean time, let’s just continue to appreciate its quirks and idiosynchrasies! :)
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January 14th, 2007 at 7:05 pm (#)
The mural is of the Zoology building in Hornbake Plaza. I’m surprised no one noticed that.
And I agree with JL: the mural helps to give Downtown some much-needed character. It’s not a front, it’s a nod to the University, and it’s the kind of idiosyncracy that makes a good college town what it is.
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January 14th, 2007 at 10:56 pm (#)
I was a student when the Ratsie’s mural (a.k.a the Microbiology Bldg next to the Student Union) was planned and installed (Early 90’s)
It was a big deal. The city even made it into their official city of College Park post card.
That says it all.
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January 15th, 2007 at 1:33 am (#)
Microbiology? Or Zoology? Whoops.
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January 16th, 2007 at 9:52 am (#)
when i was there – the zoology bldg was the “Zoo/Psych” bldg and it was the one straight ahead as you looked into Hornbake Plaza from Campus Dr (Hornbake Library would be to the right) and Microbiology to the left…..it was the Microbiology Bldg ….is it now the Zoology Bldg?
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January 16th, 2007 at 9:38 pm (#)
The Zoo/Psych Bldg is now called the Bio/Psych Bldg. The Microbiology Bldg is still called that and is the one referenced in the mural. I don’t think we have a Zoology Bldg anymore.
Does anyone have anymore inforation on the Wawa mural proposal, btw?
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January 19th, 2007 at 12:23 am (#)
The story I got on the failure to execute the WAWA mural was that agreement to paint the mural could not be reached with the owner of the shopping center. The money that was to have been spent on it went instead to buying trash cans for the shopping center. What a trade!
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January 31st, 2007 at 2:46 pm (#)
I love the idea of more art downtown. Anyone know anyone in the art department on campus?
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July 6th, 2007 at 11:09 am (#)
The China Cafe doesn’t do American Chinese food well. People who only like orange chicken don’t like the China Cafe. You should try the pepper salted squid or the shredded pork with hot pepper. It’s very good. Restaurants don’t last very long in College Park. This one has for a reason. I know this isn’t exactly the point of your article, but I had to defend it. I eat there all the time.
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