If you’re not familiar with 902 N Mangum St, let me introduce you. Located on the corner of North Mangum and East Geer, you might notice the building if only for its dilapidated nature. It’s oddly shaped, ugly in color, and an imposing presence at 2300 square feet.
The exterior resembles an exaggerated example of the popular “Raised Ranch” architectural style of homes from the 1940’s – 1980’s. A style that always seemed to me to have an overbite, rather than a second story.
This building, however, has no second story. Instead its “overbite” is a facade of aluminum siding, an unfortunate legacy left by former occupants exhibiting their company’s wares. In drab mud brown.
The siding obscures beautiful scalloped stucco that 902 N Mangum sported in the 1950’s as an auto service station. Matching mud-colored paint masks glass-paneled garage doors, also from the ’50’s.
The parking lot resembles a parched desert of broken asphalt. It’s small, boomerang-shaped, and barely deep enough for a compact car. At night it’s illuminated by a single sodium vapor street lamp.
As for landscaping, it’s not much to speak of… primarily because there is none.
But ugly 902 N Mangum is located in a historic neighborhood with tall Victorian homes, not far from some of the City’s most famous landmarks. An optimist might say it’s full of potential, and Bull City Cool is certainly an optimistic organization. We even hope that we, too, will soon be a local landmark of our own.