Admittedly, the shot is fuzzy but I just had to share this.
When one thinks of guttering for one's house, the images generally
include the ubiquitous downspout. These days, it usually
takes the shape of a long, rounded rectangle. When I was a kid,
it more often than not was a fluted tin tube hanging
from the sides of houses. Now, it is bought in sections at the
big box hardware store, or extruded on-site by contractors
using shaping machines designed especially for the task.
But how many of us have ever seen spirally fluted copper
downspouts, held in place by 2-inch straps with
fleur-de-lis attaching points and diamond-head rivets?
And the fact that it remains in place over 100 years after
the home was built is nothing short of miraculous.
