City Park Gothic

The sun has dropped far enough to come in sideways. The whole front of the building goes warm — brick, stone trim, the gold running along the gable — while the long flank beside it stays in cold shadow, its windows gone pale blue.

It's the kind of blocky facade Monet would have painted a dozen times over to get a single hour right. I only had the one afternoon.

Imagine passing the real thing on some ordinary errand and catching yourself checking whether the light is doing it again.

The building will be there next year. The afternoon won't be, exactly.