beauty

Mayakovskaya Station, built in the Stalinist style in 1938, is considered one of the most beautiful of the Moscow Metro Stations

Novoslobodskaya Station, which like the one above, had Alexey Dushkin as its architect, was opened in 1952.

Although it is a bit disconcerting to see a station devoid of people, it is also a little unnerving to see a massive concourse with only a scattering of people wandering aimlessly as in this view of Chicago's Union Station, built in the 1920s for what would be $1B in today's dollars ($75 million)

houses

Tchaikovsky Memorial House

Japan

tenement houses

some different styles of houses for Thursday Postcard Hunt

lines

 I appreciate the crispness and precision of the lines in the windows above, though they might be too perfect

but then we head outdoors, and I could sit and look at this view for hours and not feel somehow the need to also be perfect in its presence

hello

CATURDAY 

Tours, Chambord, Chinon, Villandry, Ambroise, Loches

congratulations

a refresh 

casa loma

Possibly, in a totally unscientific poll, this is the most popular building to appear on postcards from Toronto

A 98 room mansion, considered North America's only true castle, a city owned landmark in the middle of Toronto

It is now a museum and event centre

I wrote more about it on my previous blog many years ago which you can read here (and see more postcards)

rue royal

Royal Street was spared the worst of the floods from Katrina, in 2005, having been built on naturally higher ground near the curve of the Mississippi.

According to wikipedia, the antique shops in the upper French Quarter could be the world's most expensive places to shop.

scenic cities

In Granada, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, is perhaps the most famous example of Islamic architecture.  It was originally a small fortress (1258-1358), but was significantly rebuilt after 1492 and used as a palace.

I have never been to Chattanooga, and have no idea what these buildings would be in this 1940s postcard showing the city center and the Tennessee River and Lookout Mountain.  It's official nickname is the "Scenic City".

day 20 of NaBloPoMo 

zwaanendael

The Zwaanendael Museum was built in 1931 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the first Dutch settlement in Delaware. The building models the city hall in Hoorn.  On the top is a David Pieterson de Vries, the founder of Swanendael.  The name changed over time (it means valley of the swans) and was again changed to Lewes when the English took control 1664.

 

day 19 of NaBloPoMo 

east wing

 he said it wouldn't be touched...

The East Wing as it once was and will be no more after Trump's demolition crew set to demolishing it for the abomination of a ballroom.

justice

The French Palais de Justice is a much grander name than the English utilitarian sounding Courthouse

unfortunately, the Monaco Palais de Justice is not open to the public, unlike this 1921 court house in Yorkton

 

thatch

rooftops

Storks are the national bird of Belarus. Their nests are high off the ground, in trees or rooftops, or pylons.  They evolve over time as the pair return year after year  and expand, alter and redecorate. Some nests have grown to 2 metres wide and could be decades old (and are, eventually, passed on to other pairs)

Some people's nests have thatched roofs that require repairs every 10-25 years or so.  It can be eyewateringly expensive, but is environmentally friendly and the materials are sustainable.  And is so pretty.  With the wildfires we are experiencing, it is a good thing that it is not a common practice here.

Some architectural details for Thursday Postcard Hunt.

splashes of colour

Some unusually colourful houses (for Canada) in St John's

 
under less sunny skies, is this street in Helsinki

and some unusual colours on this lighthouse on the North Sea

more yellow in Vienna

seats

Mr Woodhouse sinks into an floral patterned chair

Inside the Hermitage though, admittedly, the furniture is shown on the souvenir sheet rather than the stamp itself.

symmetry

 

This stamp has been shown before, but I like it, so here it is again.  It was designed by Yauheniya Biadonik who has designed various stamps, especially on culture and arts

 A deceptively simple Japanese forest

 

More conical trees in front of the horizontal schloss with an even number of vertical windows

some patterns for Sunday Stamps

 

 

wooden church

St George's Church, one of the oldest and best preserved wooden churches

In honour of  Easter and Orthodox Easter falling on the same day for the first time since 2017.

iron lace

 

Lacework in iron in Old New Orleans

mardi gras begins

 

One of the oldest buildings in the Vieux Carre (French Quarter),  After three centuries, it is still catering to connoisseurs and discriminating drinkers from around the world

modern

Holyrood, now 20 years old, was opened in October 2004 by Queen Elizabeth, four years after the death of its Catalan architect Enric Miralles.

 

 

I always find it so sad when architects don't get to see their works completed and see the public's (hopefully positive) reaction.  

This was also the case with Viljo Revell, the Finnish architect of Toronto's City Hall, who died in 1964, a year before it opened. 

 

 

a couple of public buildings for Sunday Stamps

pink granite

a rather grand building for a post office...  built in a Romanesque Revival style around 1902

Note the steeply pitched red roofs - perfect for keeping off the snow that Minnesota is known to have.  It is now known as the Landmark Center and used as an arts and cultural center.  This card dates from around 1910.