Everywhere I look I see too much taupe. Yes taupe it is, not tan, not brown, not beige, but taupe as in the color of pantyhose. It doesn't go well with the rich natural colors of red pressed brick or yellow common brick seen in downtown Crookston. If you look closely, there is a soft teal color on the four upper story windows on the right. This is a much better color and combined with gold makes for a historically correct color combination for this building. Much more pleasing to the eye. This much taupe calls attention to the remuddling of the storefront and the wrong sized windows. I know it was popular in the seventies to fill in and put in smaller windows for the sake of "energy savings," but now there are triple glazed windows for a bigger R Value while matching the original window opening. Worse yet, is the missing parapet. Where did they all go? And when? But I digress, back to taupe, covering homes it is the perfect backdrop for colorful flowerbeds, but downtown, yech. Even if I wasn't a historic preservationist, too much taupe is just not in good taste. Check out the historic color collection at Crookston Paint and Glass. Please rate this article, Too Much Taupe, on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being the least hateful thing about Crookston, 1 being the most.
