Favorite Historic Buildings or Places

[scottyrocks]

I paid a visit to Castle Conwy in Wales quite a few years ago. It's the ruins of a genuine medieval castle, and the town that surrounds it. We spent an entire day there, covering every square foot.

There is not one single photo that can do this place justice, but this one is pretty good. You simply must visit this place to appreciate it in all its ancient glory.



This picture makes it look like a sand castle, but use the cars for scale.

[Deco-Doll-1928]

How I remeber the Saenger Theatre in NOLA flic.kr/p/bt6Eqa
The stars on the celiling were so beautiful when the lights were down.

Saenger Theatre Restoration: New Orleans, LA
http://www.flickr.com//photos/saengernola/show/

Wow! I'd love to see a show there.

[Deco-Doll-1928]

I paid a visit to Castle Conwy in Wales quite a few years ago. It's the ruins of a genuine medieval castle, and the town that surrounds it. We spent an entire day there, covering every square foot.

There is not one single photo that can do this place justice, but this one is pretty good. You simply must visit this place to appreciate it in all its ancient glory.



This picture makes it look like a sand castle, but use the cars for scale.

I love castles.

[Mangrove]

The capital of Finland, Helsinki, being the World Design Capital 2012, I decided to show a couple of my favourite 20th century architectural pieces from Helsinki.

Mechelininkatu 39 - Apartment building build in 1939.



Munkkiniemen puistotie 1 - Apartment building by U.G. Linnapuomi (1938).



Laajalahdentie 7 - Munkkiniemi old fire station by Lauri Erik Hanstén (1931).



Hollantilaisentie 11 - Former hotel by Eliel Saarinen (1919).

[Deco-Doll-1928]

Thank you for posting the pictures!

[scottyrocks]

Here's another place I visited years ago: Castle Sant'Angelo in Rome, Italy. Very different from the typical English castle that is/was Castle Conwy. In fact, Sant'Angelo is still standing almost completely in its entirety, or at least it was when I was there.



While I was in both Northern England and Italy, I saw so many old buildings, mostly houses of worship, that I lost count.

One of these was a small church in the countryside around Manchester, England that was built and then added to over the centuries. The original part was built around 1100 AD. The entrance doorway is very short because people were generally smaller back then. I need to find the pictures I took of all these places.

The most famous 'ancient' building(s) I've been to, and possibly the most famous in the world, is the Vatican. Breathtaking anywhere you look.

Overall exterior:



Typical interior:



And the rotunda is a whole 'nother story. It's a huge indoor/outdoor space, all stone architecture, huge and ornate at the same time. I have real photographs (not digital) from when I was there. I need to find them and scan some of the best ones into my computer.

[Deco-Doll-1928]

This is why I want to go to Europe!! ^^ Pictures like these! Thank you for sharing.

[St. Louis]

Great Question. This thread would take me for ever to answer, if I posted all my favorite historic sites -- and if I tried to think of all those lost sites that I'd love to see, I'd never get off the computer. As an adopted St. Louisan, though, I can at least address one small part of the answer: the "Mother Road," Route 66. Since I moved to the Midwest, I've been on various sections of Route 66 (which changed courses throughout its lifetime) and I'm still trying to find all the various venues that are still in existence. My goal is to visit every active Route 66 restaurant and shop in the city.

Here are a few of the ones that have survived, and one or two that have been lost. Here is
The Coral Court Motel (sadly destroyed in the 1990s); known as one of the "classiest No-tell Motels":



Remaining pylons from the original Chain of Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi:


I drive past this Route 66 donut shop quite often, since it's in my neighborhood. I haven't succumbed to temptation yet (a gal has to watch her figure, or no one else will):


Here's a 1940s image of the Ted Drewes frozen custard stand-- still open, still looks just like this, still owned and managed by a Ted Drewes -- I think the grandson of the first one. The custard is to die for, particularly my favorite sundae, the Cardinal Sin (sour cherries on vanilla custard with hot fudge -- St. Louis is such a Catholic town, everyone gets the joke!)

[Flicka]

I love Highgate cemetary. It's the most peaceful place I've ever been too. So lovely, lush and derelict; all at the same time. And there are foxes living there! I've seen them, though they're usually pretty good at keeping out of sight.

Some pictures I snapped last summer:







I love how in some places you get the feeling that it's a city for the dead.





You can almost imagine that the dead go out and about at night! And isn't "Chillingworth" the perfect name? If I suspected I could pull it off, I'd so write a Diana Wynne-Jones/Eva Ibbotsen/Neil Gaiman-inspired children's book about it.

[deco_droid]

Great Question. This thread would take me for ever to answer, if I posted all my favorite historic sites -- and if I tried to think of all those lost sites that I'd love to see, I'd never get off the computer. As an adopted St. Louisan, though, I can at least address one small part of the answer: the "Mother Road," Route 66. Since I moved to the Midwest, I've been on various sections of Route 66 (which changed courses throughout its lifetime) and I'm still trying to find all the various venues that are still in existence. My goal is to visit every active Route 66 restaurant and shop in the city.

Here are a few of the ones that have survived, and one or two that have been lost. Here is
The Coral Court Motel (sadly destroyed in the 1990s); known as one of the "classiest No-tell Motels":



Remaining pylons from the original Chain of Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi:


I drive past this Route 66 donut shop quite often, since it's in my neighborhood. I haven't succumbed to temptation yet (a gal has to watch her figure, or no one else will):


Here's a 1940s image of the Ted Drewes frozen custard stand-- still open, still looks just like this, still owned and managed by a Ted Drewes -- I think the grandson of the first one. The custard is to die for, particularly my favorite sundae, the Cardinal Sin (sour cherries on vanilla custard with hot fudge -- St. Louis is such a Catholic town, everyone gets the joke!)

Route 66 -- That is a great choice for historic place/building -- and that little motel is so cute. I hate when perfectly good buildings are leveled like that though, especially when they survived intact for so long.