Financial Center Building

The Financial Center building is downtown at 14th St. and Franklin.  It was built in 1929 and is considered to be an example of Art Deco.  It was previously featured here.  Here's a closer look: 

Linked to ABC Wednesday.

D is for Dunsmuir House

Dunsmuir House was built in 1899 on 415 acres in a small valley in the Oakland hills.  Alexander Dunsmuir,  heir to a Canadian fortune in coal and lumber holdings, built the home for his bride.  The  mansion, designed by San Francisco architect, J. Eugene Freeman, is an example of Neoclassical-Revival architecture popular in the late 1800s. The 37-room mansion features a Tiffany-style dome, woodpaneled public rooms, 10 fireplaces and inlaid parquet floors within its 16,224 square feet. Servants quarters in the house are designed to accommodate 12 live-in staff.

Within two years of their marriage they both had died.  A daughter by an earlier marriage sold the estate to the Hellman family which used it as a summer residence for 50 years.  The estate (now only 40 acres) is now owned by the city of Oakland and managed by its Parks and Recreation Department.  A nonprofit group is dedicated to the restoration and maintenance of the house and grounds. The Dunsmuir mansion has been designated a National Historic Site by the United States Department of the Interior and both the mansion and the Carriage House have been designated Historic Landmarks by the City of Oakland.  Linked to ABC Wednesday.

C is for Christ the Light

The Cathedral of Christ the Light is the seat of the Oakland Catholic diocese.  It's the first cathedral built in the 21st century.  An older cathedral, located in a different part of town, was damaged in the big 1989 earthquake and needed to be replaced.  The physical site at Lake Merritt seems to suit the architecture nicely.  The cathedral has been previously featured here.  Linked to ABC Wednesday. 

B is for Bellevue-Staten

 

The Bellevue-Staten building reigns over Lake Merritt.  It was built in 1929 by famed architect Herman Carl Baumann, and is an elegant example of the art deco style of the time.  Spanish Colonial flare is thrown in via the cement molded decorations.  It started life as an apartment building and has now been condo-ized.  In 1991, the Bellevue-Staten Building was added to the National Register of Historical Places. It received a Historic Preservation Award in 1999 from the Art Deco Society of California.  Linked to ABC Wednesday.

Mormon Temple

The Mormon Temple, by virtue of its position in the Oakland Hills, can be seen from most highways crossing town.  It's most dramatic at night.  Recently the skies have been clear and the temps chilly.  Linked to Skywatch Friday.

downtown buildings

Downtown buildings showing the multiple architectural styles you'll find there.  The flag flying Tribune Building is to the right.  The large lawn is part of the City Hall plaza.

Quincy's Guggenheim

Quincy has its own Guggenheim . . . sort of . . .the Quincy Adams train station.    Happy Monochrome Monday!

Elizabethan Quincy

This Tudor/Jacobethan Revival Adams Building in Quincy Center was designed by William J. Beal in 1880, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Thursday is "This Old House" Day

Today's old house was built in 1910, and is located on Bellevue Road in the Squantum section of Quincy.  This Prairie-Bungalow style house may have been built to function as a summer house that was well situated to catch the cool breezes off Quincy Bay.

Our Navy's Long History

In 1832, Alexander Parris designed this granite block building that now houses the museum for the U.S. Frigate Constitution anchored nearby in the Charlestown Navy Yard. I would hazard a guess that this was built with Quincy granite but I haven't been able to document that.   Parris was an innovator of naval architecture and much of his naval architectural work can be viewed here.

Skywatch Friday: more blue skies

A 1960s-70s vintage motel on West MacArthur Blvd when MacArthur was the primary thoroughfare in Oakland pre-urban renewal. The hotel is being well maintained even as it has transitioned to a residential motel.  Love the sign, love the font on the wall, love those decorative oval thingies on the corner of the building.  Also love the blue skies we're enjoying and the comfortable Oakland temperatures.   If you go east through the Caldecott Tunnel, you'll find temps in the 90s.  And how is it in your area?  Linking to Skywatch Friday.

Creative Reuse

You might want to bookmark this just for the color palette. If it doesn't work for you as a building, perhaps you'd like it in a purse. Or as food.

I like it as a building. If you want to have a look, it's at the corner of Valley Street and DeLacey Avenue, a block or two south of Old Town Pasadena.

I love this kind of architecture. The shape of that facade says "old west frontier" to me. Except the old west is wearing a new outfit, and I just adore that handbag.

Door, 6

One the way to an event in a new building. Late day shadows darken a side door in an old building. I know my preference.

I wonder what it is about older architecture that makes me like it so much? Surely not every old building is worthy, and surely not every new one is soulless. Yet it seems that way. The histories that inhabit old buildings are part of what make the structures attractive, but even without those stories it's the architecture I love. To me, older architecture is simply more beautiful than most modern stuff.

Even the rooms are more comfortable. The wood and plaster used in walls and floors, the old window glass, the softer lighting (one hopes no one has added fluorescents) and the inferior air conditioning--all these things make a building more comfortable. I even like old radiators.

I'm not exactly scientific about this, am I? I haven't made a study and I'm not going to. Architecture is an emotional issue for me.

Fruitvale Hall

This deco era building is tucked between International Blvd. and the Fruitvale BART station.  I don't know who plays bingo here or when.  Bingo isn't my game but I wouldn't mind visiting to see if there are any deco flourishes left inside.
(One of these days I need to learn to pay attention to flare).

"Free To All"

The Thomas Crane Library, one of H.H. Richardson's most successful designs, really shows beautifully with its spring landscape which was designed by famous landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted.  I  wish funding was provided so people could visit the interior of the library on Sundays.

Taphophile Tragics: Cathedral of Christ the Light

Christ the Light, dedicated in 2008, is situated along the western shore of Lake Merritt.  It is the new seat of the local archdiocese.  Previous church homes to the diocese were damaged in the 1989 earthquake and were eventually demolished.

 

This new church is a very modern design.  Both inside and out it reminds me of a boat which I think is a reference to Christ the fisher of men.

In the tradition of old European cathedrals, however, parishioners can be buried in the mausoleum below the main floor.  There is room for 1300 niches for cremated remains and 1800 crypts for burials.  I'm unaware of any other church in California, except the old missions, doing this.  I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.  So far only a small number of these spaces are in use.  While the crypt walls look like marble, they are actually thin metal which have been treated to look like marble.  There are wall sections that look like onyx but may be glass, and are beautifully backlit. 

Many niches seem reserved for future use, which is probably a smart idea.  Those in use at eye level tend toward simple decorations with favorite personal items and informal photos sitting along side the ashes urn.

 

The curving paths lead you to the crucifix seen in the third photo.  There you find a previous Bishop of Oakland who was re-interred here in 2008.  Several crypts in this section are reserved for future bishops of the diocese.

Although a beautiful space, I couldn't help but be reminded that "end of life services" are, above all, a business.  Submitted to Julie's Taphophile Tragics where you'll find more musings on cities of the dead.

"Upon This Rock..."

Built in 1844, from great blocks of Quincy granite, is the former Church of Saints Peter & Paul in South Boston. Gridley J.F. Bryant, son of the famed railroad pioneer, was the architect on this Gothic revival church. This was the first Roman Catholic Church in South Boston; it was closed in 1995, and turned into condos.

Lux mausoleum

Here's another mausoleum among the many that dot Mt. View Cemetery.  Mr. Lux emigrated from Alsace to New York in 1838.  By 1853 he had migrated to San Francisco where he worked as a butcher.  Within a few years he joined in a partnership and ultimately became a cattle and land baron, said to own 1/7 of California.  Quite a story.  This mausoleum seems modest for someone who was fabulously wealthy.  For a more detailed biography, visit the above link.

And for more cemetery wanderings be sure and visit Julie's Taphophile Tragics.

the old Allendale Theater

I wonder what it's like living in a converted theater?   This is the site of the Allendale Theater constructed in 1927 at the beginning of talkies era.  It is located in East Oakland at 38th and Liese Avenues just below MacArthur Blvd.  Surprising to me, the theater was converted to apartments in 1949!  I thought conversions like this were a recent phenomenon.

Lincoln Heights: Architecture

Here's my shot of Manny. This little house is next door to a convenience store where we stopped for refreshments and a break.

I can't begin to show you all the architecture of Lincoln Heights in one post. It's vastly diverse and there's a lot of change going on according to Manny. A lot of gentrification. One really great project you might want to look at is the Brewery Arts Complex.

This was the original LA jail. *(update: I'm incorrect on that. See dbdubya's comments; he's a LAPD veteran and has a lifetime of knowledge of all things LAPD.) Manny says there are plans in the works to use it as some kind of housing. I don't know about you but I love this type of industrial architecture. There's something so Brazil about it, don't ask me why.

Kitty corner from jail we found confection.

That's Bellis in the door at right (and me in the middle). The street was too busy for me to step out and get you the whole building...

...but here's some detail.

And then, just around the corner, this little place. I got the impression there were once several like it along here but businesses have swallowed them up. There's a lot of manufacturing in the area. This was down near San Fernando Road and Barranca Street.

Now, this is up on Broadway (I'm tellin' you, we covered some ground!). I like this building. Brick buildings aren't the norm in Los Angeles. We have a few in Pasadena, but not many. I'm told it's because of earthquakes and I'll bet it's also because we have mild winters. Bricks are apparently winter material. This building reminds me of Chicago.

In a way, this photo exemplifies Lincoln Heights. Talk about juxtapositions: a glamorous old Victorian, plunked down in the middle of all these commercial buildings. Manny says a lot of gentrification happens in the neighborhood when folks with money buy these homes to live in them and fix them up. It can be a good thing: the neighborhood gets new people (with means) who care what happens there.

We saw this jewel as we hightailed it toward the train station. I was tired by then and I don't know what direction we were going or what street we were on. But damn. I mean--damn. Who's going to make a building like this today?

Tomorrow I'm not going to show you turkey. I like turkey, but I have this nagging feeling that tomorrow you can see turkey just about anywhere. So tomorrow I'm going to show you more of Lincoln Heights.