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April 3, 1936. "Stairway leading to lookout on fifth floor -- Kenworthy Hall, State Highway 14 (Greensboro Road), Marion, Alabama." Photo by Alex Bush for the Historic American Buildings Survey. View full size.
One would have to look long and hard for a carpenter who could build a wooden stair like this today. A work of carpentry art, indeed.
It's a good thing these photo surveys were taken, because the climate of the deep South is not conducive to structural longevity, as most of the photos attest. All the door mouldings and jambs are shot, and the stairs up are showing signs of decay. Remarkably, the plaster looks perfect. Perhaps they were in the middle of renovations?
Fortunately, Kenworthy Hall survives to this day, in very good condition, although much of the decorative plasterwork and marble mantles were damaged, and the stained glass destroyed, by vandals during a period of vacancy in the 1950s.
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