Vintage roadside

I love the architecture of our little local post office. Built in 1920, in my mind, it is exactly what a 1920s post office should be - strong, reliable, classic in design. There is something thoughtful about it that I find lacking in most modern buildings - especially, public ones. It was harder to get a good shot of it than it seemed. It is on a side street with a lot of traffic and a lot of sidewalk trees, so I couldn't get a good open shot at the right distance. Still, I hope you enjoy it.

Last thought, I'm sure I'm missing it, but do we have a thread on vintage buildings, as that was my first thought for this one, but when I couldn't find it, I put it here since it is vintage and it is roadside?



right after they white van moved out, a huge truck came in and I wasn't able to catch it without a vehicle in front, but this was a pretty good shot anyway

Cool building Fading Fast. This was our Post Office (and Federal Courts Building). Built in 1937 as part of the "New Deal". It is now City Hall.

^^^ Beautiful - simple but still with style - they didn't go crazy, but enough Art Deco to prevent it from feeling cold.

I love post offices -- they were always my favorite place to go when I was little, just for the way they smelled.

Here's our late, lamented post office, built in 1873 and demolished for a parking lot in 1970. All the granite used in its construction was quarried locally.



In the Era it was used not just as a post office but also as a U. S. Customs House, Federal Office Building, OPA Headquarters, and military recruiting station.
The new post office across the street is much smaller and much less interesting, but it still has that same post office smell.

^^^It's funny you mention their smell as most have that unique post office smell - is it all the paper in the large space that does it? Growing up, our local post office smells just like the ones in NYC - not quite musty but stagnant, maybe. Very hard to describe.

NewBrunswick NJ Post Office:


Fortunately, hardly any change to the building.

This is the first post office building in my home town of Whittier, California, as it appeared in 1940:



And as it appeared in 2010 (and pretty much how it looks today):



Built in 1936, it hasn't changed much over the years as you can see--a new coat of paint and the addition of some railings and a wheelchair ramp are the most noticeable external modifications. Because the building has been declared a historical landmark, they've tried to preserve it's internal architecture and decor as well over the years, but have had to make some small compromises to allow for the electronic and other equipment used by the U.S.P.S. as time as progressed.

I love the odor of old books & wooden shelves at my public library
which I would spend most of the day on Saturdays.

Brock’s Book shop.

The main floor & basement was a wonderful labyrinth of
musty odor of books scattered all over & piling onto the floor.

This is old City Hall (and is still used for some city business):





The old Greene County court house:





And our Carnegie built library:

Such buildings remind me of what ballparks used to look like -- impressive and dignified edifices suiting their role as community gathering places.



Shibe Park, 21st St. & Lehigh Avenue, Philadelphia.



Braves Field, Gaffney & Babcock Streets, Boston.



Forbes Field, Schenley Drive and Sennot Street, Pittsburgh



Comiskey Park, 35th Street & Shields Ave., Chicago.


Yankee Stadium, 151st Street & River Avenue, Bronx, N. Y.



And the most iconic ballpark of them all -- Ebbets Field, McKeever & Sullivan Place, Brooklyn

Isn't this Vintage Roadside? I think, a lot of these should be under Favorite Historic Buildings or Places. http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/favorite-historic-buildings-or-places.57450/

Stearmen said:

Isn't this Vintage Roadside? I think, a lot of these should be under Favorite Historic Buildings or Places.

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”No problemo"...they’re available 24/7 !

Stearmen said:

Isn't this Vintage Roadside?

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Technically these building are all beside a road, so...

LizzieMaine said:

Such buildings remind me of what ballparks used to look like -- impressive and dignified edifices suiting their role as community gathering places....

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This is, IMHO, spot on. These municipal buildings and ballparks had an architecture that fit their role / use / reason for being. They echoed each other not owing to lack of original creativity, but as a way of signally their purpose to all and a reflection of a common culture across our communities.

Today, many public buildings seem built to each architect's or city planner's - or for stadiums, owner or sponsor's - ego, they "make statements" are "unique" or "quirky" or "fun" or whatever other stupid reason is given for a building that has no design connect to its function or community or, God forbid, continuity across communities.

If something is deliberately planned to be "quirky," it isn't -- genuine quirk comes from a complete lack of self-awareness. You need only look at the current Boston City Hall, a hideous and incongruous lump of 1960s concrete brutalism, to see what that kind of thinking gets you. Or anything ever designed by Frank Gehry. Even if it was good I wouldn't like it.

The current "retro ballpark" trend is another example. When the Orioles started it in the early 90s with Camden Yards, it made sense for the place to look like it did, because it was built to harmonize with its surrounding neighborhood, and like the early 20th Century parks, its layout and dimensions were dictated by the neighborhood. But when you build a "retro" park out in the middle of a suburban parking lot, there's no reason for any of these "quirks" -- they're artificially created just for the sake of being "unique" without any organic reason. And that artificiality detracts from them.

I actually rather like the old Olympic Stadium in Montreal, because it didn't try to be anything other than it was. It was and is weird and bizarre, but it's sincerely weird and bizarre, not marketing weird and bizarre. And as much as Walter F. O'Malley was the living embodiment of everything I oppose in the universe, I have to give him credit for Dodger Stadium -- it's designed to harmonize with and take advantage of its particular surroundings, while remaining instantly recognizable. It should have been built 2876 miles to the East, but it's still an outstanding structure from both an architectural and a practical perspective. Nice job, Whalebelly.

LizzieMaine said:

...You need only look at the current Boston City Hall, a hideous and incongruous lump of 1960s concrete brutalism, to see what that kind of thinking gets you....

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Having lived a block away from City Hall for eight years, I can only emphasize what a horrific building that is - it shuts down the sight lines and traffic flow, both people and cars, and, effectively, kills the aesthetic and ease of that part of the city. As proof, areas a block or two away would be crowded with regulars and tourists on the weekend, but that specific block would be desolate as it chased people away. The old Boston City Hall, though, had the classic-architecture, stature-befitting-its-community-standing thing down:

LizzieMaine said:

... It should have been built 2876 miles to the East, but it's still an outstanding structure from both an architectural and a practical perspective. Nice job, Whalebelly.

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Very funny.

There are two impressive buildings around here in Northern Virginia that come to mind and they're both airport terminals.

The first, National Airport, is quite old and in fact, my wife's grandfather was a civil engineer and had offices there when the George Washington Parkway was being built. The old main terminal looked like it was built with little money to spend. The new space in comparison is grand--on the inside. You never really get a good look at the outside even though the traffic pattern is mostly good now.

The other one, Dulles, is very impressive as you approach it, giving you a view almost like a Greek temple, though the styling is not exactly the same. Still, it is something to be seen. Inside, it exudes modernity (if that's a good word) but aside from the soaring ceiling, you don't think grand, merely functional. As the airport expanded, the original terminal was not expanded but rather a second terminal was built that you access via a tunnel.

In comparison, Baltimore-Washington, the only other airport we use, is neither grand nor impressive in any way, net it manages to avoid crowding anywhere and parking there is as easy as parking in your own driveway, mostly, though it costs more.

The most impressive building in my hometown may have been the post office and federal building, now the city library. Don't know where the post office is now. The courthouse was suitably impressive (as a courthouse) and the so-called Memorial Building, with its big Greek something or other columns was also impressive. It housed the city library at the time and was used for other purposes as well, particularly for school dances.

There are a few other impressive buildings around where I live now, too many to mention, and most of them have bronze doors if they have doors at all.

Not particularly impressive by most standards, yet one that stood out as a really different kind of a house was the home of one of my teachers in high school. Her husband was a physician. She was an art teacher and I visited her every time I went home. They had a modern house, which I guess you would call mid-century modern. There was only one other house in town that fit that description but their house was outside of town, close to the airport. But otherwise, I guess it was an average modern house.

Another house in town, which I'm also unable to provide pictures of (without a lot of work) was a large house in what I think was an Italianate style. It was immaculately kept with a broad porch, thick columns in front and I think a tile roof. I have no idea who lived there but I suspect it was built in the 1920s, which were good years there. There were a few other large houses close by but that was easily the most impressive. Naturally I never gave it ten seconds of thought when I actually lived there.

Drove past this this evening. The old terminal/tower at the "Downtown Airport" formerly Springfield Municipal Park and Airport and before that McCluer Flying Field (opened in 1925). The building is now a federal half-way house.

^^^ Great that you found the old pictures as well. Quite a lot of remuddling has been done - maybe someday, the building will be properly restores - it deserves it.