A milestone for Judge Parker?

I've been reading Judge Parker since I was in high school, and I think today something significant happened in the strip. In the panel below, you'll see something that I don't recall seeing rendered by any other Judge Parker artist -- the exterior of Abby Spenser's house.

Harold LeDoux, long-time artist for the strip was the master of the interior. He had a very clear idea of what the breakfast nook in the kitchen looked like, for example, and consistently depicted it throughout the years. The curtains were always the same pattern, the furniture always in the same place (in relation to the angle shown in the panel), and so on. He showed the same attention to detail with Sam Driver's office, and other recurring locations.

LeDoux didn't depict exteriors much, though. He occasionally would show all of Spenser Farms laid out in the distance when characters were on a hill overlooking the estate, but when they got close to the house, it was basically head shots and door frames.

Eduardo Barreto, who replaced him, also stuck mostly to interiors. So hats off to Mike Manley, the newest artist to take over the strip, for venturing into new ground. Frankly, I always thought the house would be an upscale version of a 50's ranch home, but Southern antebellum works, too.

The WTJU copyright issue, day 43.