Architectural Photographs

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Chateau Gruyere

[Jnyusa]

Those gardens!

That's what I dream of having - a courtyard with a garden. Some friends of mine actually did that with their house. They had a detached garage, and needed some extra office space, so they built the office in such a way that it connected to the original house and the garage leaving a square space in the middle. A fence with a gate across the fourth side, and voila! a courtyard which they've planted with flowers. It's wonderful.

Jn

[Rodia]

This might not be an impressive or even pretty sight for most, but it's a special photo for me. This is Detroit. I've never been there- the picture was taken from over the river, in Windsor, Canada. But it was in fact my first look at America. Sappy? Unromantic? Perhaps, but still cool.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Ro, that is very kewl.

[Rodia]

Would be kewler if I scanned the negative instead of the photo. Will have to do that someday.

How about this for a nightmare? Apartment blocks across the street from my dorm.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Rodia]

They call it the Manhattan. It's...well you have to stand before it to believe it. It takes looming to a whole new level...and when you pass under it, there is always a gale blowing through those arches, even if the day is still.

Something nicer now: the view from a workshop my friends were living in for a while:

[Jnyusa]

Hop! The image is gone, Rodia.

Btw, I lived in Detroit for a while, and traveled there routinely for many years - lived about 3 hours away. My Dad was a rep for the auto industry, which used to be all in Detroit as you probably know. The riverfront was gentrified back in the 1980's and I believe that tall tower is The Renaissance Center ... but sauronsfinger still lives there and can tell you exactly what we're seeing.

If you continue traveling westward from the river, you hit a belt of really awful slums that were burned out during the 1960s and never rebuilt properly. But the downtown of Detroit is very nice. It has distinct ethnic neighborhoods, like Philadelphia does, and I always loved the idea that one could walk into a neighborhood and "be in Greece" or "be in Lebanon." And, like most large cities, they have a fabulous farmer's market in the center where you could get imported goods from all over the world. I recall buying pistachio nuts in 10 lb bags at a ridiculously low price.

Jn

[Rodia]

So give me thirty seconds to edit the post, sheesh.

[Athrabeth]

Rodia, even on the fair western coast of Canada, there are structures that stand in cold defiance of the natural beauty that surrounds them. It always comes as an unpleasant little shock to me that anyone could actually CHOOSE to create something that ugly for people to live in. I mean, I understand practicality and cost effectiveness, but does it REALLY have to be that ugly?

Your pic made me think of the rock dwellings of Cappadocia in Turkey, which, although carved out of cold grey and tan stone, certainly seem to have more personality and life than their modern city equivalents:


Modern working-class homes.


Modern upper-class home.


Some typical "townhouses".

I was quite astonished at how many people are still modern-day "cave dwellers" in this area. The ancient "cities of refuge" populated by early Christians were especially impressive and quite beautiful:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Ath, those pictures bring to mind the Anasazi ruins in Mesa Verde (southwestern Colorado):



Edited to add: this was one place where I very definitely felt the "presence" of spirits.

[Athrabeth]

Oh, absolutely, Voronwë!

I've never been to Mesa Verde, but it's definitely on my "must see one day" list.

Both my kids have done research projects on it as part of the Grade 7 Social Studies programme, which examines ancient societies from North America to Asia. They had to put up with their mother's exclamations of awe at the sheer wonder of those structures built under that immense arch of stone. Incredible, organic architecture!

This is one of the pics we saved from their reports:



WOW!!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

They had to put up with their mother's exclamations of awe

I'm sure they were secretly very happy that you were so excited about what they were doing, even if they didn't show it.

That's a great picture.

[TIGG]

wow.... now that brings antiquity to a whole new level for me.

I was going to post something 'steel' today, but I will leave it for another day and enjoy the natural beauty of your photos.

[TIGG]

Steel. Sorry for the harshness after the soft natural quality of the previous photographs, but this view of the 'Tower' is a favourite of mine, and proves, we do not have to see the 'entire' thing to get an impression of its size and wonder.

[Jnyusa]

Rodia: So give me thirty seconds to edit the post, sheesh

Didn't realize I was posting right on top of you!

Well it was two minutes

Jn

[nerdanel]

The College of William and Mary, the second oldest school in the country (1693), is a school rich in solemn and time-honored history and traditions. Students compensate for the solemnity by inventing their own "traditions" - which are typically less dignified than those that are officially recognized, of course.

And so it is with Crim Dell, pictured below, one of the campus' scenic locations. Legend has it that straight couples walking across Crim Dell together will inevitably be married - but if they break up, the Crim Dell magic can be undone by the female throwing the male into the water (some say headfirst.) Male students protest the unfairness of this legend. Legend also has it that single female students who walk across the Crim Dell bridge alone will remain old spinsters.

Crim Dell also features in the Triathlon, the unofficial graduation "requirement" that students have added onto the school's official General Education Requirements. (The three elements of the triathlon are to jump off the Crim Dell bridge and to swim through the lake, to streak the school's Sunken Gardens, and to climb over the Governor's Wall in Colonial Williamsburg and make it out without being arrested by the police for trespass.)

Crim Dell, of course, is included in the senior class' Last Walk through campus during Commencement - a touching part of the walk that ensures that every senior, even those who never crossed Crim Dell with a girlfriend or boyfriend, will have at least one fond memory of the place.

It's not as grand as any of the other things that are posted in this thread, but the bridge would have made it feel out-of-place in the nature thread.

Seasons of Crim Dell (stolen from Google images and thus of varying quality)


Winter


Autumn


Summer


Spring - seniors cross the bridge during Commencement in May

[TIGG]

I love the Autumn one, but then I am in love with the season...

The leaves and that bridge... what a wonderful photograph.

and Winter, its like a scene from Narnia, I can imagine a sleigh crossing the snow with the white witch sitting in it.

for some reason Spring adn summer are not showing up for me, I'll check back later to comment.
And I love the idea of a set of photos taken of the same place in different seasons, it gives such an overall picture of things

oh...and that bridge is 'Grand' it has symmetry and beauty.

[Rowanberry]

That's a great series, TP!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Very cool, tp. So, what's the oldest school in the country.