mackintosh building

 this stamp was issued long before the devastating fires

the first one in 2014 which caused severe damage, followed by another in 2018, after a massive renovation project, which destroyed the building built in 1909.  

Fortunately for the students, there are several other buildings located in the heart of the city

'places of learning' for Sunday Stamps

yellow houses

the most visited museum in Austria is where the Mozart family lived from 1747 to 1773 

this was the home of the Liechtenstein family until 1935 when the Nazi's took it and then the Czechs and  Prince Aloys II left for Vaduz. They never got it back and are still in legal battles over it.

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)

queen's park

Here is a bird's eye view of Queen's Park with the Ontario Legislative Assembly building, which is always known also as Queen's Park (as is the government)

The statue is of Sir John A MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister.  It has only recently been free of the hoarding that covered it in 2020 after it was vandalized in the wave of protests over the residential schools history.

You will have noticed that all of my parliament building postcards are vintage, some more so than others.  These next two are more recent.  It is not the most popular Toronto landmark to feature on a postcard, which is a shame.

I find it a beautiful old building (and the one I am most familiar with) and the asymmetry is pleasing to my eye. It is a Richardsonian Romanesque style (my favourite) built between 1886 and 1909.

What you can't tell from these, is that there are hundreds of gargoyles and grotesques and other faces (some, even, of the stonemasons who carved them!)

And so ends this tour of the parliament buildings since I don't have any from the three territories, and seem to be missing two provinces: Nova Scotia and Alberta. 

Tomorrow, I'll show what is the most popular building on a Toronto postcard.

parlement

Home to the National Assembly of Quebec in Quebec City. A second empire style building built between 1877 and 1886.
This may be a favourite card - embossed!

province house

It hurts my brain a little to be going back and forth across the country like this, not to mention all the differing names on the cards...

Next up is the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, known as Province House.  It is currently closed for conservation work.  It is the second oldest legislative building (1847).  Sadly, I haven't been able to determine when the fountain disappeared.

Again, older, hand painted cards have made the building redder than in real life.  Also, the trees are nice, but they do obscure the building somewhat.

confederation building

I didn't think I had a card of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly, known as the Confederation Building, but here we are.  This is the closest view I found of the building built in 1960 (with an extension built in 1991) overlooking the capital city of St John's.  It is the most modern of the parliament buildings and the province only became a part of Canada in 1949.

snow moon

February (and January) is often the snowiest months of the year ... and that has proved true here this past week! 

bonus parliament postcard.  this is the granddaddy of the Parliament Buildings as seen from the back with the gorgeous Library of Parliament taking centre stage.  The library survived the 1916 fire (120 years ago on Feb 3rd) that destroyed the rest of the Centre Block building when the library clerk ordered the iron doors to be shut so the fire couldn't spread into the room.  In spite of WWI going on, the Centre Block was rebuilt and reopened in 1920.

legislative assembly building

The New Brunswick Legislative Assembly Building stands out for the mansard roofs. The Second Empire style building in Fredricton was built in 1882 after the previous one was destroyed by fire. 

It's a shame you can't see the central octagon domed tower in this 1970's era prepaid postcard

largest leg

Another Beaux-arts building, this one in Regina, Saskatchewan.  It has the distinction of being the largest of the legislative buildings (and seems to be variously called 'legislative' and 'parliament').  It overlooks Wascana Lake and was completed in 1912.  At the time, there was some assumption that the population would grow to be in the millions ... that has not happened and the population of Regina is now less than 290,000 and of all Saskatchewan around 1,266,000.

The dome is copper and is 56' high - specifically designed to be visible from nearly every point in the city.  I'm not sure how old this postcard is (1980s?), but I am sure that the skyline has changed considerably.

parliament buildings

Not all the legislative buildings have legislative building in their name.  British Columbia's is one of the few that are Parliament Buildings.  Built in 1893-97, in a mouthful of Neo-baroque Renaissance Revival Romanesque Revival style.  The colour  of the stone in the first card is more accurate than the second.

 

Atop this dome is a statue of George Vancouver, though I'm not sure it ever warranted its own postcard.

the leg

Inspired by Lisa's postcards last week of state capitol buildings, I spent the weekend searching for my collection of our provincial legislative buildings.  I know I don't have all 14 of them, but we'll see how interesting this is.  In no particular order, here's the first I found, for Manitoba, in the capital city of Winnipeg, a neoclassical, beaux-arts building built in 1920 known colloquially as "the Leg"

 

Atop the dome, in pride of place is the Golden Boy, Manitoba's best known symbol.  Modeled after the Roman god Mercury (or Greek god Hermes) he is meant to represent the prosperity and entrepreneurial spirit of the province.  He is facing north to symbolize Manitoba's future in looking towards the vast northern resources.

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.

a touch of red

 

known as the birthplace of the modern form of the can-can 

received on Postcrossing

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

 

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.

the colour of happiness

 

A presshouse - wine press house, or wine press - in the eastern state of Burgenland, Austria.  There seems to be a few presshouses offered as holiday villas.  As Burgenland is the least populous state, this holiday home might be the perfect quiet, peaceful place to get away from it all.  And drink a little wine.

In nearby Hungary, this hybrid tea rose is front and centre on this 1962 stamp, one of six in a series.

house of learning

 it's back to school for many students

It is unusual to have a classroom with a bay window.  I once went to an open house of a school conversion to condos, and I am imagining that this building would lend itself to some lovely apartments