Thursday, July 03, 2008

Oh no, not more buildings!

Here are some more photos from my quick walk around the block after lunch yesterday. There is so much architectural detail within such a small area in the Central Business District of NOLA. For those who are really into design, detail, proportion, ornamentations, structure, texture, and color, this is a treat. And I am into all those things. I would guess that the political and spiritual and cultural aspects of this blog, as it advertises itself, are obvious. This romp through the architecture of New Orleans helps me uphold the aesthetic side of things.

And no, I simply cannot bring myself to spell aesthetic and its relatives without the "a" at the beginning. It is from the Greek aisthesis, after all.

Interesting juxtaposition of the rough-hewn white stone with the highly polished gray granite column. [Can you believe that the Blogger dictionary did not recognize "hewn"? What sort of illiterate dolts compile their dictionaries? While I'm sounding curmudgeonly, do we have major opportunity to use the word "dolt" more often? With a presidential election year we should find no shortage of exemplars.]

The texturing in the concavity is unusual.
How can you not love a neighborhood with arches like this? (Well, ignoring the humidity and heat and all, that is.)
I love this building. What a delicious terra cotta color. (Oh, the blog speller doesn't like terra cotta either. Sheesh.)

The Whitney Bank has great capitals on its square columns.
The Safe Deposit Vault section has these lovely curved bars that makes me think of the folds of hot candy being poured. (Yes, the BB has a notorious sweet tooth.)

There is a sense of barbaric splendor here, plus the trustworthy stolidity a bank hopes to convey. "Your money is safe with us."

I will refrain from comments about the financial industry in general at this point except to note that I read somewhere this morning (was it on AmericaBlog?) that there is talk of the Dow sinking to 10,000 again. I remember the days when folks were excited that it would finally reach 10,000 (but that was coming from below, not above).

Here we have a vacant lot amid the other buildings, a common sight in the CBD.
Another interesting combination of textures and design.

I like the sense of age in New Orleans. Though by New Mexican standards it is all rather modern.

--the BB

7 comments:

June Butler said...

Paul, I am loving your pictures of buildings. My favorite is the first. The three styles of windows on the four floors are wonderful. Second favorite would be the "barbaric splendor" of the columns at the Whitney. Thanks, love.

Jane R said...

I love your architectural photos.

David@Montreal said...

Paul
what a generous offering
as another fan or architectural detail for the lived lives they hint at, yours was a veritable feast with my morning coffee.

thanks- from one great city to another

David@Montreal

Paul said...

David, welcome to this site and thanks for commenting. Glad to enrich your morning. Prière de saluer Montréal de ma part. Je ne me suis jamais allé mais j'en ai envie.

I have been putting lots of such photos here. If you click the tags "architecture" or "New Orleans" at the end of this post you will find more. I would like to have a more sophisticated camera but am delighted with what I can do with the one I have.

Fran said...

I thought I had left a comment earlier, but maybe blogger ate it for breakfast!

Quien sabes?

Anyway, these are great and you have given us such feasts for our eyes, our minds, our hearts.

BooCat said...

The photos are a delight and they trigger many happy memories of days gone by and good times shared with my family, especially with my brother and his children wandering about the city.

Paul said...

I am glad to hear it, boocat. That is the sort of memories I would hope to trigger.

If you ever have a story to tell about anything depicted in the pix, feel free to share.