Favorite Historic Buildings or Places

[Fading Fast]

Nice place to visit.
View attachment 86641
The Lost YMCA Bldg, No. 52 E. 23rd Street

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A carriage awaits a shopper on the Fourth Avenue side as street cars rumble
along West 23rd. Photographer unknown, from the collection of the Museum
of the City of New York.

Dream vacation:
Check out all the old existing buildings, take a pizza break and continue!

You'd have a great time but you'd need way more than a day. My girlfriend had been to NYC before, but never lived here when she moved here in '05. I've taken her on many tours of old architecture since, fortunately, she loves it as much as I do. By now, of course, she's seen all the major ones, but less-well-known ones that are still impressive still pop up here and there for both of us. There are - no exaggeration - hundreds of pre-war buildings in this city to see, literally, hundreds. And a meaningful number of them (heck, most of them) would be the most impressive building in the town I grew up in, in Central Jersey.

 

[2jakes]

You'd have a great time but you'd need way more than a day. My girlfriend had been to NYC before, but never lived here when she moved here in '05. I've taken her on many tours of old architecture since, fortunately, she loves it as much as I do. By now, of course, she's seen all the major ones, but less-well-known ones that are still impressive still pop up here and there for both of us. There are - no exaggeration - hundreds of pre-war buildings in this city to see, literally, hundreds. And a meaningful number of them (heck, most of them) would be the most impressive building in the town I grew up in, in Central Jersey.

And that's why I'm calling it my
"dream vacation!"
I'm taking as much time as needed.

As long as you all don't run out of
good N.Y. pizza....which I doubt it!

 

[Fading Fast]

And that's why I'm calling it my
"dream vacation!"
I'm taking as much time as needed.

As long as you all don't run out of
good N.Y. pizza....which I doubt it!

Two things we have thankfully plenty of in NYC - great pre-war buildings and great pizza.

 

[belfastboy]

Toured Helena MT a few days back. What an architectural delight of early 20thC buildings and some late 19th. A wow for me.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Ehlen & Grote Building, Orange, California (1909)
This building now houses the antique mall where I have a dealer space.

Same building, September 2, 2017

 

[2jakes]

A favorite historic place.
Gruene, Tx.

Arriving in Texas in the mid 1840s, German farmers became the first settlers of what is now
known as Gruene, Texas. My grandmother would go shopping at the mercantile on the right.

Today it’s an antique shop...

Next door, it’s a dance Hall with Willie Nelson & the boys on stage.

 

[1mach1]

Lincoln Memorial

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[rocketeer]

United Kingdom Hotel
Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Australia

As you can see in the picture it's now a "Maccas."

There should be a law that when McDonalds/Burger King etc applies to use a beautiful building such as this, they should be put on hold until further enquiries at a reduced rent be considered.
Better than pulling it down though.

 

[photo2u]

Las Vegas New Mexico Hotel.

 

[2jakes]

Worse is when they gut the insides and leave a facade on the outside converting to a business, bank,
with no thought of looks.

 

[Fading Fast]

On my way to a meeting this morning, I passed by this classic old "artists" hotel - now just a part of the Hilton chain (sigh).

According to the web: ... [it] was built in 1928 as a long-stay residence for sheltering artists, intellectuals and noted authors — such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Mann, and John Steinbeck...


I've noticed that the large casement windows you can seen in the pics are consistent with many "artists" hotels built at the time - large and north facing for more consistent and not-direct sunlight.

In those days, it was quite common for people to live permanently in these hotels as they were priced consistent with regular rentals and were not really oriented toward travelers. They were hotels in the sense that many didn't have kitchens in the apartments, but had a common dinning room where residents would take their meals - but they really were more like rental apartments than hotels (I think I read that the no-kitchen, hotel thing had some city tax / cost advantage at the time they were built, but I forget the details).

I love the crazy details (tried to catch a bunch of it in the pics for you) that these "'20s Art Deco-ish with still some Gothic / Renaissance Revival style" buildings had.

 

[1mach1]

George Washington Masonic Memorial Temple in Alexandria VA

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[Hurricane Jack]

Las Vegas New Mexico Hotel.

Wow, the stories it could tell!

 

[Fading Fast]

George Washington Masonic Memorial Temple in Alexandria VA

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With the fall foliage, that is one insanely pretty picture.

The Masons had to have some serious coin at one time to have been able to build that building.

 

[1mach1]

Eiffel Tower.

Paris November 2017.

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[Fading Fast]

As you guys know, I love the big, bold pre-war architecture of NYC, but I also love how many older humbler buildings just keep on keepin' on like this small (my guess) early 1900s tenement building whose side (second shot with fire-escapes and pigeons) just became easily visible after they, unfortunately, knocked down a bunch of similar buildings to put up, what I'm sure will be, some ugly glass modern condominium building (to be sold to Chinese investors want to get their money out of that dictatorship state, ditto Russians, so they don't really care what they pay).

The third shot is a poor job of showing the space where the new condo building will go, but does give you a view of the back of another tenement building temporarily exposed.

The last shot is super girlfriend's work as she saw a Hitchcockian moment in that side shot of the building.

The building itself

The now exposed and cool side shot

The space being opened up

Super Girlfriend sees a Hitchcock moment

 

[AmateisGal]

Gosh, why have I never looked at this thread before?!? I love old architecture! If it were warmer outside, I'd go take some pics of our university campus buildings. The university is celebrating it's 150th anniversary in 2019 and we're fortunate that some of the original buildings are still here.

 

[belfastboy]

I travelled Montana for the month of September and the historic buildings in the towns are a great treat. Wish I know more about architectural styles/history so I could have been a more knowledgeable viewer but enjoyable nonetheless.

 

[BobHufford]

I was in downtown Springfield, Missouri as preparations for the annual Christmas parade were being made. For more that forty of my nearly sixty years this building (left) was covered with a mid-century-modern facade. Once removed most of the original look of the Mansfield Opera House was again revealed. The ironwork was locally made (back when we made things here).

From 1973:

 

[Fading Fast]

Yesterday had the Fading Fasts all over the city doing Christmas stuff, but we never miss an opportunity to pop into one of my favorite building in the city - Grand Central Terminal - and the one that I bring people to the most if they want to get the best extant feel for the Golden Era IMHO.

There was no plan to these pictures (there are, obviously, many professional pictures a hundred-times better than ours of GCT), but thought you'd enjoy some random shots of this incredible place.

I love this inscription over the main entranceway, very inspiring.

Same area in B&W

Entering the main hall

The famous clock atop the information booth

And from a wider angle

And, finally, a different angle of the main hall

Sorry I didn't capture the constellation ceiling better