Goodbye Wall

Jan 29, 2014 · 2 minute read
green walldurhamgentrification continues apace

I've been spray-painted, had water fights, film nights, a Pac-People wedding, and even Colin Firth by my side. But my time is short.

— The Green Wall (@Greenwalldurham) January 29, 2015

Cheers to you all, and remember the good times. Bye, Durham. It was a blast.

— The Green Wall (@Greenwalldurham) January 29, 2015

The Green Wall has felt like it has been part of Durham forever. Forever only stretches back to 2005 when Greenfire purchased the burnt-out remains of ¹²⁰⁄₁₂₂ W Main Street and painted it green in an act of hubris that come to haunt them in 2008, but still, ten years is plenty in a city that has transformed radically in that time.

It’s been home to many things, as detailed in the tweet above, but it was also just a lovely quiet space in the middle of the city where you could find a patch of grass, walk, have a pleasant lunch in the sunshine, or just have a sit-down. Something that I feel every city needs.

To be fair, the wall was rotting, the buildings it enclosed had been burnt out since 2001 and the whole thing could have collapsed in the face of a gale force wind. I’m not the hugest fan of the plans to build a massive 26-storey office/retail/condo block on the parkland and two storefronts deep into the block, but maybe it won’t be as bad as it sounds.

Not everything can be saved. We had ten years of the Green Wall which probably would have been three or four if not for the Great Crash of 2008. Let’s be sad about the event, but be thankful for the memories we made.