Chapel Hill photos

[romec]

The first thoughts that come to mind of Chapel Hill are the beautiful campus and all the trees/greenery. Then one thinks about Franklin Street. Hidden amongst all those trees and rolling hills is the Triangle's third largest skyline (take that Cary ;-) ) (P.S. I was joking about that last comment, please don't reply telling me about Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Garner or insert your town here wonderful skyline.)

This quick album doesn't have the Well or the Stone walls, but I managed to get the Bell and a crisp October night. If you squint your eyes and pretend its spring, maybe you'll see "the memory of dogwoods blooming"

The soon to be razed Venable Hall in the foreground. (yes it deserves to be razed, if you've ever set foot inside, you'd agree)

Wilson Library's Dome

The Bell Tower

Kenan Labs

That squiggly line is a plane landing at RDU (the big patch of lights) (the plane isn't that erratic, just there was some wind/vibration while my shutter was open)

UNC Hospital

Crisp October night

Chapel Hill Pano (I have a larger version but it's 26 meg)

I've got a few more pictures that I might add later (a small blurry Duke Chapel on the horizon and the "pickle" on 15-501. I was really peeling my eyes looking for downtown Raleigh on the horizon, but couldn't find it. I think I can get a picture of downtown Raleigh from Chapel Hill soon though ;-)

[dmccall]

Thanks for the photos! I think a great fundraiser for UNC would be to invite alumni to pay to take a swipe at Venable (venerial) Hall. I'd easily pay $100 for a pop. Unfortunately there are asbestos issues.

[blburton]

10th floor of Hinton-James on the volleyball side (the nunnery) will give you a pretty good view of the Durham skyline. I was pretty surprised the times I went up there to see it. Also, from the ramp in Durham taking you from from S 15-501 bypass over to the MLK Pkwy, you can see the CH skyline. Of course it isn't shiny and sleek, but you can see the tall buildings of South Campus (Water Tower, Hospital, Berryhill) and the Bell Tower, of course.

[cltheel.sdl]

Nice pics. I live on North Campus and I love this college. Great architecture and I'm so lucky to be exposed to this day after day.

[paletexan]

Great pictures. Chapel Hill has a very quaint skyline (minus that water tower).

[DanRNC]

Venable has to be one of the worst buildings ever. Halls that get smaller ala Willy Wonka, halls that go nowhere, etc. I remember spending many hours in che chem library swaeting as I did my research. Good riddance. The physical science complex is starting to look pretty nice and looks like phase II is ready to begin. In related news the the Bell Tower parking lot will soon be transformed into the campus's main genetics campus and will add better connectivity between main campus and the hospital.

Science Complex

[NCMike1981]

Wow I never thought of Chapel Hill as having a skyline but I like the pics very much!

[MR-2]

The skyline is more prominant from the east. You can see it very well from the hills in the Botannical Gardens, and parts near Meadowmont. It's just the UNC hospital complex, and some research buildings like Kenan/Moorehead.

Downtown Chapel Hill has a few 5-8 story buildings as well, and it feels pretty big, especially at night. There isn't really a skyline yet, and there probably won't be until the height limit is removed.

[DanRNC]

You can also see it heading north on 15-501 from Pittsboro-mainly the hospital/biomed complex.

[dmccall]

They are making a huge mistake by not putting in an 8-story underground parking garage for faculty only under the current Venable footprint.

[Rufus]

With the condo proposals for Wallace Deck, and others, the skyline will be more impressive. it is the density that makes it a good skyline, even though the buildings are relatively the same height. it still looks great.

[romec]

Thanks everyone!

I'd definitely be willing to pay to take a few sledge hammer swings at Venable. I forget the date that it's being razed (It'll be empty within the next 2 months and I'm sure decomissioning and cleanup will take 6 months minimum, maybe even a year.)

I'm sort of torn about Downtown Chapel Hill. I'd love for there to be more housing options on Franklin/Rosemary, but I know the housing prices would be pretty high.

As far as height goes, I really wouldn't want to see anything new over 6-7 stories on Franklin. I'd much prefer that downtown became a little less 1 dimensional, but the current downtown area is pretty much boxed in on all sides. I guess the best that I could hope for is redevelopment along Rosemary. I'd love to see 5 stories of residential over ground floor retail there.

[romec]

LOL, I think I just set a new distance record for taking a picture of Downtown Raleigh from the ground. I've got a picture of the top of Wachovia and the top of BB&T just peeking above the treeline from Chapel Hill (25 miles away)

Here are some various distance shots

The famous "pickle" about 7 miles away from downtown Chapel Hill

Duke Chapel and the hospital complex (about 10 miles away)

(I'd love to get a shot with the bell tower and duke chapel in frame (sort of like the two towers ;-) )

Just the horizon right???

Wait that triangular structure looks familiar. . . . Wait thats Wachovia HEY THAT'S DOWNTOWN RALEIGH!!!! (25-26 miles away)

Wachovia enlarged

BB&T enlarged

[Flash]

^those distance shots are awesome! nice find

which spot did you take that from?

[MR-2]

How did you notice that on the horizon? It looks like a spot, at most.

[dmccall]

Nice! Where were you when you took that picture?

[romec]

These pictures were all taken from the roof of Chapman Hall, part of the new Science complex. (The pictures at the beginning of the thread were actually taken about 10 feet lower from the astronomy observation deck)

I'm not sure about the ground to roof measurement, but on top of the roof I felt that I was about as high as the 8 story Davis Library. (Chapman has 8 total stories, but some of them are underground)

I'll be perfectly honest, I spent a lot of time looking for downtown Raleigh. The second set of pictures was taken on a beautiful and clear day. I knew which direction to look, but couldn't even really make out the buildings through a 70-200 lens. I noticed Wachovia (without knowing what it was) and thought I'd try to focus on the horizon just to see if I could see anything. I didn't notice it was Wachovia until I pulled it onto my computer, then I noticed BB&T as well.

[DigitalSky]

Wow at the distance pics! nice pics of CH too

[Jones_]

I just saw a marketing ad in the Indy for a 9 story condo building on west Rosemary...could some one map that if they get a chance? My Mapquest skill are unrefined. That should do something for the skyline in CH.

[plus2]

Amazed

[orulz]

I just saw a marketing ad in the Indy for a 9 story condo building on west Rosemary...could some one map that if they get a chance? My Mapquest skill are unrefined. That should do something for the skyline in CH.

That's either the 'lot 2' redevelopment located here and discussed in this thread, or the Greenbridge development located here and discussed in this thread.

[Jones_]

That's either the 'lot 2' redevelopment located here and discussed in this thread, or the Greenbridge development located here and discussed in this thread.

Thanks Orulz...it was Greenbridge...its coming back to me now...the ethopian restaurant being torn down etc.

[CSP]

Holy smokes, I had no idea. Thanks for showing

[JerseyBoy]

On Friday I took a drive to the Triangle. I made a stop at one of the universities I hope to get into in the future and really took the time to look around. I've been coming to UNC for many years but just taking the time to explore all the nooks and crannies of the area really makes you realize the beauty of the entire campus. Here are the photos I took, hope you enjoy!

[JerseyBoy]

Part 2: