One of the more spectacular courthouses I’ve seen lately is the Winneshiek County Courthouse in Decorah, Iowa, located in the northeastern reaches of the state. Replacing the first permanent courthouse on the site, and costing $125,000 to build, it was designed by A.C. Kinney of Minneapolis and completed in 1904. I suppose I would describe…
Tag: Monuments
Morgan Ford South of Gravois, Bevo
Jumping around a bit, we’re back to the intersection of Morgan Ford and Gravois, and we’ll head south, starting at this replica of a famous landmark in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina. We looked at the intersection before, and saw there was once a row of buildings at the corner that is now a parking lot…
Bowling Green, Pike County
Constructed in 1917, the Pike County courthouse sits in the middle of the square in downtown Bowling Green. There is a veterans’ memorial on the southwest corner of the building. It’s in a reserved Beaux-Arts style, typical of the time. Apparently Champ Clark, Speaker of the House served from this part of the state. You…
Chesterfield, Post-Chesterfield Mall
Big things are happening out to the west of the now almost completely defunct Chesterfield Mall, which entered the hallowed halls of my Crumby Run-Down Malls of St. Louis pantheon with this post in June of 2017. But Chesterfield still boasts some of the highest income levels in the region (even if other zip codes…
Schiller Park, German Village, Columbus, Ohio
We’ll leave German Village and Columbus today with this final look at greenspace. Much like Lafayette Square in St. Louis, the center of German Village is a park, the aforementioned Schiller Park. Originally known as City Park (its western boundary street preserves that name), the current name reflects the strong German heritage of the neighborhood….
Memorial, City Hall
Spotted recently on the north side of City Hall in downtown St. Louis.
Who Controls the Past Now Controls the Future
Who controls the past now controls the futureWho controls the present now controls the pastWho controls the past now controls the futureWho controls the present now? I’ve been thinking about the lyrics of this song by the band Rage Against the Machine, which are based off the novel 1984, after having gotten back from Paris….
Chapelle Expiatoire
The Chapelle Expiatoire might win the award for the building threatened with demolition the most number of times in its existence. Also, my streak of finding tourist attractions that are deserted continues, as I think there were a grand total of maybe four other people at this site when I visited. Expiatoire means “Expiation” which…
Public Space in Paris
One thing I’ve noticed about the great cities of the world, particularly Europe, is their lack of wide open spaces. Isn’t that counterintuitive? Aren’t American cities constantly building more plazas for free concerts and festivals? We need to bring more life to our cities with special events! In reality, life is brought to European (and…
Neoclassicism and Beyond, Paris
Moving along now so we can get back to St. Louis, here is a smorgasbord of Paris buildings that have broader implications on world architectural history, including here in the Gateway City. First up is the Madeleine, which was originally built by Napoleon to glorify his reign, but was then converted into a church. It’s…