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