Favorite Historic Buildings or Places

[AtomicEraTom]

I've been in every square inch of the Pabst Mansion. I'm good friends with John Eastberg, who runs the show over there. I've done some contributing with references and some of my collectibles that he wished to display there.

This almost looks like an old courthouse from the outside. I had to look this up (I keep forgetting that I am in front of a computer and I can look these places up! !). It is so lovely inside. The staircase is jaw dropping!

Speaking of courthouses, V C Brunswick might be familiar with this.

This is a nice building too.

[Deco-Doll-1928]

Is there a similarity here?

Los Angeles City Hall (1928)


National Diet Building, Tokyo (1936)

The resemblance between the Los Angeles City Hall and the National Diet Building is eerie. Funny note about the Los Angeles City Hall. I never really liked that building when I was a kid. Over the years, I've grown to love it a little bit more. Plus, the view from the 27th floor is amazing (that is available to the public--just ask the "nice people" at security that you like to visit the Observation Deck on the 27th floor). The interior of City Hall is also a really nice surprise too. I almost wrote something about City Hall in one of my last posts. Are you a mind reader?

[Deco-Doll-1928]

I've been in every square inch of the Pabst Mansion. I'm good friends with John Eastberg, who runs the show over there. I've done some contributing with references and some of my collectibles that he wished to display there.

You're very lucky!

[Deco-Doll-1928]

Another Los Angeles favorite.

[Shangas]

I was SURE there was another thread like this SOMEWHERE around the Lounge, but after nearly a week of searching, I couldn't find the damn thing.

So this place will have to do.

One of my favourite historic buildings, one which is undoubtledly tied to the Golden Era, I've always had the chance of visiting, but never did...mostly because until relatively recently, I wasn't aware of its existence, or indeed, of its significance! I live in Australia, but part of my family is still based in Singapore, where my grandmother and uncle were penned in during the darkest days of the Japanese occupation of WWII.

I'm in Singapore now, on holiday. And I made it my mission to go out with my camera specifically to find and photograph this place:




This is Raffles Hotel in central Singapore. Opened in 1887, it has seen a LOT of history, from famous celebrities (Charlie Chaplin, Rudyard Kipling, Noel Coward and John Wayne) to being used by the Japanese during their occupation of Singapore and from being saved from decay during the 1980s and 1990s and being restored to its original, 1915 prewar condition. The Raffles Hotel was one of THE places to stay at, between 1890-1939 and it was fantastically popular with the rich, famous and well-to-do. Today, it is one of the most famous hotels in southeast Asia.

If anyone here goes there, take note that there is a small (but interesting) Hotel Museum on the Third Floor. I would supply photos of that too, but photography within the museum isn't permitted.

[Marc Chevalier]

The James Oviatt Building (completed in 1928) in downtown Los Angeles. There's a photo slideshow of it at the bottom of this link: www.myspace.com/oviatt_2008

A Class 'A' Italian Romanesque highrise by architects Albert Walker and Percy Eisen. Its outdoor lobby, interior decoration, and rooftop penthouse were steeped in early French Art Deco.

In 1998, filmmaker Seth Shulman and I made a feature-length documentary on the Oviatt Building's history. http://www.puzzledpictures.com/oviatts/home.htm I'm now hard at work writing a book-length biography of James Oviatt.

[JimWagner]

This past weekend my wife and I visited Hamlet, NC to see the restored Seaboard Airline RR station there.



It was built around 1900 and has been beautifully restored inside and out.



Shows just what can be done when people put their minds to it. It still serves two Amtrak trains a day.

[Deco-Doll-1928]

The James Oviatt Building (completed in 1928) in downtown Los Angeles. There's a photo slideshow of it at the bottom of this link: www.myspace.com/oviatt_2008

An Class "A" Italian Romanesque highrise by architects Albert Walker and Percy Eisen. Its outdoor lobby, interior decoration, and rooftop penthouse were steeped in early French Art Deco.

In 1998, filmmaker Seth Shulman and I made a feature-length documentary on the Oviatt Building's history. http://www.puzzledpictures.com/oviatts/home.htm I'm now hard at work writing a book-length biography of James Oviatt.

I would love someday to finally see the interior of this place. I've seen it from the outside. My list of places to see keeps growing.

[Deco-Doll-1928]

This past weekend my wife and I visited Hamlet, NC to see the restored Seaboard Airline RR station there.



It was built around 1900 and has been beautifully restored inside and out.



Shows just what can be done when people put their minds to it. It still serves two Amtrak trains a day.

Love this! Thank you! I love looking at old train stations.

I also love to hear that it is being used properly. I hate it when I hear from people, "It's just an old building. Tear it down and build a new one." If we tear those "old buildings" down, we lose our a part of cultural heritage and history forever. It's nice when someone lovingly takes the time and fix up the building so future generations can enjoy it as well.

Plus, it's like the saying goes, "They don't make them like they used to." I think of this every time I see the old theaters on Broadway. Imagine having to build those now. I don't think they could do it.

Here's another train station. I wish I could post the picture here, but it's on someone's flickr account and sometimes I have trouble posting those on here. The other ones I found were of weird angles.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pragmat...list/42639227/

[V.C. Brunswick]

Bannerman's Castle (1901)
Pollepel Island, Hudson River, New York

The king of this castle was military surplus king Francis Bannerman VI (1851-1918) who built it as a warehouse for his vast stocks of weaponry and munitions.

http://www.artificialowl.net/2008/07...-military.html