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Architecture

20 American Mansions Fit for Jay Gatsby

By Tyler Coates on

While The Great Gatsby is filled to the brim with powerful symbolism, houses play a particularly important role in defining F. Scott Fitzgerald’s characters. Gatsby himself built a gigantic mansion at West Egg that purposefully looked classical, giving the illusion of long-standing prominence. Fitzgerald based Gatsby’s mansions on many real-life homes (including the now-demolished Beacon Towers and Land’s End, which both stood on Long Island’s Gold Coast), but there are a handful of castle-like mansions on the Eastern Seaboard that would be perfect for a number of lavish, Gatsby-style… Read More

Art

Trippy Paintings of Modern Architecture Saturated With Color

By Alison Herman on

When viewed in black and white, the buildings that artist Paul Davies depicts in his series of architecture paintings wouldn’t seem out of place in Palm Desert. Flat, boxy, and often surrounded by palm trees and pools, his subjects look like textbook post-Frank Lloyd Wright modern design. The twist is that Davies shows these structures in psychedelic patterns and colors. While some works are more outlandish than others, each painting is filled with surreal hues, from electric yellow to sunset pink. The cognitive dissonance between the buildings’ clean lines, which Davies achieves using stencils, and the crazy mix of colors the artist fills in makes for a dizzying yet intriguing viewing experience. Click through for a look at the series, which we discovered via Visual News, and visit Davies’ website to see more of his work. … Read More

Architecture

10 Incredible Repurposed Train Stations

By Alison Nastasi on

The heyday of railway travel may have passed, but the nostalgic allure of architecturally striking infrastructure has ensured that it’s not the end of the line for many historic station buildings. We recently learned that Union Station in Denver, which opened to passengers in the late 19th century, will be transformed into a trendy hotel, with adjoining restaurants and a beer hall, by 2014. Click through to see how other train stations have been repurposed into thriving cultural centers, libraries, and… Read More

Architecture

Beautiful Posters Celebrate Museum Architecture Around the World

By Judy Berman on

We may go to museums to see art, but how often do we stop to appreciate the beauty of the buildings that house these works? In the series of posters below, illustrator André Chiote reminds us that many of the world’s great museums are also architectural marvels, celebrating everything from Zaha Hadid’s Riverside Museum to Oscar Niemeyer’s Whitney. Click through for some of our favorite posters from the collection, which we discovered via Fubiz, and visit Chiote’s website to see more of his work. … Read More

Architecture

Fascinating Photos of Repurposed Churches Around the World

By Jennifer Lewis on

When a church is no longer used as a place of worship, a desanctification ritual is performed to render the space a “regular” building. Then, the building is sold and transformed into whatever the owner wants — a home, a bookstore, a Dunkin Donuts, anything. Despite this de-churching process, a church will always feel like a church, so it’s an odd thrill to walk into a “bar,” order a beer, and realize you’re surrounded by gorgeous stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings. After the jump, we’ve gathered photos of eight repurposed churches around the world. Check ‘em out, and hit the comments to let us know what you think. … Read More

Architecture

11 of the Most Beautiful Museum Libraries in the World

By Emily Temple on

We’ve shown you many beautiful libraries from around the world, and we’ve shown you some of the most fantastic museums, as well — so what about gorgeous museum libraries? Well, because many museum libraries are strictly utilitarian, meant for easy browsing and not necessarily planned to be easy on the eyes. That said, some standouts manage to be both, and since we’re always on the lookout for lovely architecture, preferably lovely architecture that incorporates books, we thought we’d round a few of them up for you here. After the jump, check out 11 of the most beautiful museum libraries from around the world, and as ever, let us know if we missed your favorite in the comments. … Read More

Architecture

Gorgeous Vintage Postcards of Incredible Architecture Around the World

By Claire Cottrell on

The postcard has quite the storied history. The first known picture postcard was sent from Vienna as a souvenir, but images of the sparkling new Eiffel Tower in 1889 gave impetus to the postcard, leading to the little convenient cards’ golden age at the turn of the century. The tourist images of time past serve as glossy memories we cherish today. To help you over the hump, we’ve rounded up some of the best architectural nostalgia. From 3 1/2 x 5″ renditions of Oscar Niemeyer’s glorious graphic structures to obscure designs in Casablanca and Tijuana, click through to check out vintage shots of the most incredible retro architecture in the world. … Read More

Architecture

10 Smart, Skinny Buildings Squeezed into Teeny Tiny Spaces

By Claire Cottrell on

Tokyo-based design firm, Atelier Bow-Wow coined the term “pet architecture” to describe buildings squeezed in to left over urban spaces. Why the cute conclusion? Principals Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kajima, explain: “Pets, companion animals of the people, are usually small, humorous and charming. We find what we call ‘pet architecture,’ architecture having pet like characteristics, existing in the most unexpected places within the Tokyo city limits.”

From a handful of Bow-Wow’s stunning, smart designs to buildings so thin they look like a sheet of paper, click through to check out some of the most incredible buildings built for the teeny, tiny slivers of leftover land in our increasingly dense urban areas. … Read More

Architecture

‘Downton Abbey’ in Real Life: A Visual Tour of Grand English Great Houses

By Claire Cottrell on

From grand bedrooms and lustworthy libraries suspended in time to a gorgeous great house complete with a walled garden and roaming peacocks, we’ve compiled a selection of images to help you imagine life in the sumptuous turn-of-the-century England of Downton Abbey. Before things changed… Read More

Architecture

Vintage Photos of Bizarre World’s Fair Architecture

By Claire Cottrell on

A few weeks ago we took a look at some of the most bizarre buildings we’ve ever seen: the strange Soviet architecture that emerged during a fascinating era of extreme artistic inquiry fueled — as so many are — by social revolution. Now that we’re officially obsessed with far-out retro-future design, we literally fell off of our chair when we came across the progressive pavilions built for two World Expos that we would have loved to attend. From a building that looks like a giant blue Jell-O mold to a larger-than-life paper forest, click through to take a quick virtual tour of some of the most incredible structures we’ve ever seen. … Read More