The other Newark! I'm sure that's their proud slogan. Or maybe "Not the Newark You Think" or "Newark, but Okay For the Most Part." County seat of Licking County, with 50,000 souls. Let's wander around on a nice summer day.

Now why did I take this?

Oh

Nice improvement.

Stolid Romanesque. Like many of its kind, it looks stout and prosperous. A unique style for a while, a sign of money.

An interesting piece of . . . 20s? Thirties? Could be the former, really, before Moderne demanded less ornamentation. Well, every city should have one, and every city usually has no more.

Except for Newark. They have more!

I had to look twice to see if it wasn’t the same building, snapped at a different time. It wasn't. But surely the same architect.

Ugh. Top-heavy baroque-Brutalism. Looks like it could be a Rapson.

I’m sure it’s a Rapson. Can’t prove it.

Note: upon laying out this page, I thought, no, that's not possible. Of course I can prove it or disprove it. Googling . . . nope.

Built in 1967, this Modern and Brutalist city hall was designed by Blum and Sedden to house the municipal government of the city of Newark, Ohio, replacing a previous city hall that stood at the same intersection.

Oh no. Replaced it? Guaranteed it was a step down.

For God’s sake, SPEND A BUCK. Let that second bay window go up to the third floor.

This looks as if you could push the front and it would fold up flat.

I think this was an old motel-era hotel, complete with modern outdoors second-floor dining.

Looks careworn now. Sixties hotels often descend into public housing.

Sometimes the buildings just look like patient dogs waiting for a treat.

Odd fourth floor on the right-hand building. Then again. . .

Odd is what they were.

You can read its history easily: old commercial building rehabbed after the war, the windows bricked and the facade modernized, so the interior could be nothing but florescent lights.

Wonder if Sam lived next door.

Without big exuberant signage, it’s not a good look. The eye skitters around looking for something to hold on to.

Nice paint job. Oversized second floor, for some reason.

There's more - and we'll get to it next week.