January 6, 2011
618 Ninth Street NW, Washington, DC. Behind that ‘65 notchback Mustang, structural glass Art Deco shop front, and afterthought of a fire escape there is a beautifully detailed yet unassuming Romanesque Revival building. Witness the exquisite Byzantine style stone capitals that demarcate the springing points of window arches that carry terracotta lion’s head keystones above which bullnose brick is employed to give the appearance of fluted pilasters… and all of it capped off with a Jacobethan parapet. Damn! They really knew how to build things to titillate the eye back then. 618 Ninth Street was built around 1890 and is seen photographed here by HABS photographer Ronald Comedy in July 1969. The building was razed in 1973 and the site is currently occupied by the Gallup Building (which, incidentally, has an arched window above its entryway, paying accidental homage to its Romanesque forebear).

618 Ninth Street NW, Washington, DC.

Behind that ‘65 notchback Mustang, structural glass Art Deco shop front, and afterthought of a fire escape there is a beautifully detailed yet unassuming Romanesque Revival building. Witness the exquisite Byzantine style stone capitals that demarcate the springing points of window arches that carry terracotta lion’s head keystones above which bullnose brick is employed to give the appearance of fluted pilasters… and all of it capped off with a Jacobethan parapet. Damn! They really knew how to build things to titillate the eye back then. 618 Ninth Street was built around 1890 and is seen photographed here by HABS photographer Ronald Comedy in July 1969. The building was razed in 1973 and the site is currently occupied by the Gallup Building (which, incidentally, has an arched window above its entryway, paying accidental homage to its Romanesque forebear).

(Source: loc.gov)

3:50pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZmmWyx2SZutx
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: romanesque Washington HABS Ronald Comedy terracotta Byzantine Jacobethan 
January 4, 2011
Old Kingsbridge Bus Depot, New York, New York. In the mid-nineteenth century a group of investors established the Third Avenue Railroad Company and began offering horse-drawn street car service from City Hall to 61st Street in Manhattan.  After some success, the company built this handsome Roman Renaissance car house in 1897 to accommodate its expansion northward. The building housed and serviced electric cable cars until 1948 when the transfer table and tracks were removed and the structure converted to a bus depot. The depot is shown here from its 10th Avenue facade with the elevated tracks of the 7th Avenue Subway Line, making this micro-history of New York’s public transit system complete.  The Old Kingsbridge Depot was torn down sometime after 1991 when this photograph was taken to make room for new bus maintenance and storage facilities.

Old Kingsbridge Bus Depot, New York, New York.

In the mid-nineteenth century a group of investors established the Third Avenue Railroad Company and began offering horse-drawn street car service from City Hall to 61st Street in Manhattan.  After some success, the company built this handsome Roman Renaissance car house in 1897 to accommodate its expansion northward. The building housed and serviced electric cable cars until 1948 when the transfer table and tracks were removed and the structure converted to a bus depot. The depot is shown here from its 10th Avenue facade with the elevated tracks of the 7th Avenue Subway Line, making this micro-history of New York’s public transit system complete.  The Old Kingsbridge Depot was torn down sometime after 1991 when this photograph was taken to make room for new bus maintenance and storage facilities.

(Source: loc.gov)

2:18pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZmmWyx2Qt8zX
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: New York Renaissance Revival bus stations transportation HABS 
December 22, 2010
Erie County Savings Bank, Buffalo, New York. Built from 1890 to 1893, the Erie County Savings Bank is the work of expert architect George B. Post whose later works included the New York Stock Exchange and the Wisconsin State Capitol. Post was a student of another big name, Richard Morris Hunt, and it shows. Notice the French Neo-Gothic dormers and roofs which bear a strong resemblance to Hunt’s Vanderbilt House (razed). Also notice the charabanc, a kind of early open-air omnibus, sitting under the massive Romanesque windows. With horse-drawn wagons and electric street cars, this image is a virtual timeline of transportation history. The bank was demolished in 1968 to make way for a mall. If you’re the autosadistic type, you can view a slide show of that here.

Erie County Savings Bank, Buffalo, New York.

Built from 1890 to 1893, the Erie County Savings Bank is the work of expert architect George B. Post whose later works included the New York Stock Exchange and the Wisconsin State Capitol. Post was a student of another big name, Richard Morris Hunt, and it shows. Notice the French Neo-Gothic dormers and roofs which bear a strong resemblance to Hunt’s Vanderbilt House (razed). Also notice the charabanc, a kind of early open-air omnibus, sitting under the massive Romanesque windows. With horse-drawn wagons and electric street cars, this image is a virtual timeline of transportation history. The bank was demolished in 1968 to make way for a mall. If you’re the autosadistic type, you can view a slide show of that here.

(Source: hdl.loc.gov)

5:05pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZmmWyx2GIq6T
(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: Buffalo Detroit Publishing Co. banks Romanesque HABS 
December 13, 2010
Woodlawn Plantation, Napoleonville, Louisiana. Built circa 1840 by Col. William W. Pugh, Woodlawn Plantation was one of the first houses in Louisiana to incorporate gas and also included a speaking tube and bathroom—still a rarity at the time. When Richard Koch surveyed the house in 1942 he noted, “Woodlawn is a bleak ruin; and, several years ago, while the Survey was measuring the building, it was occupied by migrating colored workers from the nearby cane fields who were breaking the doors for firewood.”

Woodlawn Plantation, Napoleonville, Louisiana.

Built circa 1840 by Col. William W. Pugh, Woodlawn Plantation was one of the first houses in Louisiana to incorporate gas and also included a speaking tube and bathroom—still a rarity at the time. When Richard Koch surveyed the house in 1942 he noted, “Woodlawn is a bleak ruin; and, several years ago, while the Survey was measuring the building, it was occupied by migrating colored workers from the nearby cane fields who were breaking the doors for firewood.”

(Source: hdl.loc.gov)

4:06pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZmmWyx29Kj6n
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: plantation homes Louisiana HABS Richard Koch 
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