Visible from a mile away, an ornate smokestack marks the spot where the Kamm Brewery stands on the banks of the St. Joseph River. The original wooden structures were built in 1853, and the brickwork was added around 1880. The complex consists of the main building, warehouses, an ice house, malt and yeast rooms, quarters for the workers -- and, they say, a huge vault deep underground where charcoal was made to filter the beer. There was a major fire in 1950, and the brewery ceased operations in 1951. It has since been salvaged to house shops, studios, restaurants, and offices. Why the windows on the right are half a floor higher than the rest of the building, I have no clue.
They don't make 'em like they used to. The smoke stack is a masterpiece of old-school masonry, culminating in a mosaic flourish.
Here and there around the grounds, machines that once clattered and spun stand like sentinels in the snow.
For my money, though, the best part of the place is around back. Narrow lanes wind between massive walls of brick. Above are equal parts steel and sky.
Maybe it was the quiet of the place today, or maybe just the pleasure of feeling sun on my face after a long illness, but I really enjoyed this assignment. Thanks go to Carly, author of the blog Ellipsis, for a fun challenge and a great afternoon of shooting. Please be sure to click over to the main Robins link to see what everyone else found: Round Robins Photo Challenge: Landmarks.
