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| Timothy Hare shows a visitor around his new salon on Spring Garden Street. |
Originally a surrealist and pen-and-ink artist, in addition to his architectural work, Hare's most recent works are bold abstracts, and grace the back room of the gallery space.
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| Two of the books containing Hare's pen-and-ink illustrations of Easton architecture. |
In the 1970s, jet-lagged and just back from Australia, Hare landed in Easton by chance, he said, just as wrecking balls were about to destroy what is now the city's historic district. Their work had already begun years earlier, and whole blocks of the city's unique antique architecture had already been removed.
The citizens of Easton had protested vigorously against their eviction and the destruction of their homes, to no avail. When Hare arrived, a demolition crane was set up next to the building that houses the Quadrant Coffee House and Book Mart, slated to be the next victim of elimination two weeks hence.
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| The front room greets visitors with the artifacts of Easton's struggle with urban renewal in the 1960s and 70s, along with a collection of hares. |
Although Easton was still thriving and bustling with commerce, despite what had already been lost, most of Downtown was being declared "blighted" which paved the way for the ill-conceived destruction of heart of the city.
Despite his fatigue, Hare went to that evening's city council meeting to ask what was going on and why, he said. Not receiving satisfactory answers, he refused to leave until city officials showed him the plans and explained what was going on.
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| A map of Easton's Downtown district, showing in black what buildings had been razed between 1945 and 1960. |
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| This map shows Easton's Downtown, with black areas depicting buildings demolished between 1945 and 1993. Most were razed in the 1960s and1970s. |
Deeply disturbed by the ultimate answer, that Downtown Easton was being flattened and residents forcibly removed from their homes, despite ownership, he decided to do something about it. Having worked in Australia on historic preservation and in America with government contracts, he knew what to do.
Not owning a car, Hare decided to take a bus to Washington DC the next day to attempt to get an injuction against the construction project, of which the demolition was the first phase. He believed from seeing the plans the night before that the city officials had not crossed T's and dotted I's when it came to federal permissions to enact the construction plan, which they were in charge of having been enticed by the millions of federal dollars the city was granted for agreeing to it.
He knew if he was successful the demolitions would be halted, and the city not only would be forced to return the unspent portion of the funding, but wouldn't be granted more, due to their failure to spend it on the project in time.
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| Three paintings done by Timothy Hare that depict Easton's various City Halls through time. |
His efforts were successful, where the protests of 12,000 City of Easton residents had failed, though not before more than half the city's Downtown buildings were gone.
Up until fairly recently, the reasons behind the federal push for urban renewal projects across the nation were a classified secret of the Department of Defense, which had pushed for cities being vacated after World War II, ostensibly to protect them from becoming targets in the event of nuclear war.
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| Hare's master thesis based on research into the reasons for Easton's ill-conceived urban renewal attempt, the effects of which the city still suffers from today. |
Already, it seems, despite officially opening only earlier this week, the salon is a success, not only for being the home to Hare's art, much of which reflects the struggle Easton faced, but for already fulfilling the mission of thoughtful exchange of ideas and historical information, too."When I think about it now, if I'd known what I was really up against, I don't think I would have done it," Hare said. "But I'm very glad I did."
Hare Salon, located at 229 Spring Garden St., is generally open Wednesday through Saturday, from noon to 5 p.m., with other times by chance or by appointment.
To contact the salon, email theviewfromhare@gmail.com. Or just stop by some time.
Update, July 2, 2012: Summer hours for Hare Salon are by chance or by appointment.
