24The Building That Rose From Its Ashes

The white bird flaming up this 1907 brick wall is doing autobiography. This building made furniture, awnings and — through two World Wars — military tents and tarps. It survived a fire. It survived the 1953 tornado that flattened much of downtown. Then it sat derelict for half a century, waiting to be torn down, until a 2007 renovation brought the hardwood floors back to life and somebody gave the place the only name that made sense: The Phoenix Ballroom.

So the painted phoenix rising between the window rows, and its steel sibling mounted over the corner — those aren't decoration. They're a diagnosis. This is what Waco does with buildings other cities would bulldoze: waits for them to rise.