Today, 1111 16th Avenue South is Big Loud Shirt publishing, the Music Row home of many country radio success stories. In the early part of the 20th century, it was a stately mansion, one of the first built by gentrifying white settlers on land that had been a middle-class African-American neighborhood since the end of the Civil War. Jacob Schnell and his wife were so proud of the new home that they threw a huge party to celebrate their daughters’ entrance into society. Unfortunately (and likely due to the distrust of Germans prior to the First World War), nobody showed. Jacob was furious and he made his daughters promise to never leave the house, and to never take care of it. Lena and Bertha followed his orders, letting the grand mansion fall down around them. They had no heat or water, and both died in the house in the 1970s. It was torn down soon thereafter.

The party was over and nobody showed
down on the dark street where nobody goes
the grandest of mansions the wrong side of town
a new golden necklace the finest of gowns

Father was angry he swore we would stay
his curse echoed out while the orchestra played
the plaster will crumble the columns will bend
while it all falls around you we’ll have our revenge

Dream of love through the windows
there is no other way out
dance alone with the shadows
in the house that fell down

The years came and went and no one stopped by
no one was left but my sister and I
we kept our promise to not fix a thing
the world kept on going but we stayed the same

Dream of love through the windows
there is no other way out
dance alone with the shadows
in the house that fell down

Now I’ve run out of matches of pots and of pans
maybe I’ll sail away if it rains again
I’m here alone in this four-poster bed
the wind is the music that’s caught in my head

Dream of love through the windows
there is no other way out
dance alone with the shadows
in the house that fell down