Click image to enlarge. A cluster of nineteenth-century houses of varying ages forms what has been designated as "Fort Conde Village," a four-square-block area next to Fort Conde and near the waterfront in downtown Mobile. One of Mobile's earliest residential districts, the village contains some of the city's oldest and finest houses. The Edward Hall House, built in 1836 of stucco with a frame second story, shows a strong Creole influence in the first- and second-story galleries, as well as in the kickoff roof. Likewise notable is the Spear House, dating from 1857. The village also contains several of the more modest homes of the period, making it a valuable repository of vernacular as well as high-style architecture.
In the 1970s, the City of Mobile helped to fund improvements including the installation of gaslights, brick paving, new curbing, and new electrical and plumbing systems, hoping to create an ambience that would attract both private citizens, who would restore the structures as residences and businesses, and visitors from the reconstructed fort. Unfortunately, the results of misguided 1960s urban renewal efforts and a subsequent federal highway project that embraced the area with a spur of Interstate 10 proved to isolate the charming village-turning it into a hard-to-reach and uninviting cul-de-sac.
One house was mysteriously destroyed by fire, and all were eventually abandoned as the hoped-for traffic never materialized. The City of Mobile took ownership of all the buildings and for ten years has sought a single developer to take over the structures with a new plan of action, such as converting the group of buildings into a delightful bed-and-breakfast village like the successful Telfair Inn complex in Augusta, Georgia. In the meantime, the buildings, which have not been maintained, have steadily declined. Adding insult to injury, one was even used as a Halloween Haunted House until it was declared unsafe.
One house was mysteriously destroyed by fire, and all were eventually abandoned as the hoped-for traffic never materialized. The City of Mobile took ownership of all the buildings and for ten years has sought a single developer to take over the structures with a new plan of action, such as converting the group of buildings into a delightful bed-and-breakfast village like the successful Telfair Inn complex in Augusta, Georgia. In the meantime, the buildings, which have not been maintained, have steadily declined. Adding insult to injury, one was even used as a Halloween Haunted House until it was declared unsafe.
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