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In postwar America, when new-home construction was booming along with the population, construction sites were fascinating places for little kids with time to kill and the run of the neighborhood.
They still are, but around here most of them are posted with signs warning that trespassers will be "guilty of a felony."
Katherine Salant doesn't remember such warnings when she was growing up in Alexandria, Va., in the 1950s. She has fond memories of exploring the new houses being built down the street. It was one of her favorite things to do.
"When I was born shortly after the end of World War II all the houses stopped at the end of our street. It was all woods. In the '50s, they started tearing down the woods and building houses.
"So as kids there was no park ... we just all went and climbed all over the houses. I sure our parents would have been horrified."
They couldn't have known that little Katherine would grow up to become first an architect, and then one of...