Tiffany-designed church interior a Baltimore landmark candidate

Louis Comfort Tiffany

(Baltimore Sun) More than a few East Coast buildings contain a Tiffany stained-glass window or two. But one structure in Baltimore can boast much more — a complete interior created by the famed designer, Louis Comfort Tiffany.
St. Mark's Lutheran Church on St. Paul Street is considered such an exceptional example of Tiffany's work that it has been recommended for designation as a Baltimore landmark. Only one other city building — the Senator Theatre — has an interior that was singled out for landmark status.
"St. Mark's is one of only a few intact Tiffany-designed interiors left in the world," said Lauren Schiszik, preservation planner and landmarks coordinator with Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation. "It's a glorious example of Tiffany's vision, and it's all there." Continued

Flag Day

(LoC) - On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress approved the design of a national flag. Since 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation establishing a national Flag Day on June 14, Americans have commemorated the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by celebrating June 14 as Flag Day. Prior to 1916, many localities and a few states had been celebrating the day for years. Continued

Photo: The Birth of Old Glory [detail], Percy Moran, artist, copyright 1917 (Library of Congress).

A Country’s Attic, on Display: ‘House & Home’ Opens at the National Building Museum

(NYTimes) WHAT makes a house a home? The lives lived in it, of course. The relationship between people and their homes, sometimes passionate, sometimes indifferent, confounding or fraught, is the subject of “House & Home,” an exhibition that opened Saturday at the National Building Museum here. Continued

Albert Ruger: Pioneering panoramic map artist

(LoC) Pioneering panoramic map artist Albert Ruger died on November 12, 1899 in Akron, Ohio. Ruger was born in Prussia and emigrated to the United States where he initially worked as a stonemason. While serving with the Ohio Volunteers during the Civil War he began drawing landscapes.
After the war, Ruger settled in Battle Creek, Michigan. In the late 1860s, Ruger joined forces with J.J. Stoner of Madison, Wisconsin to form Merchants Lithographing Company. Over the next three decades, Ruger produced maps of towns and cities in twenty-two states from New Hampshire to Minnesota and as far south as Alabama.
A form of cartography in which towns and cities are drawn as if viewed from above at an oblique angle, panoramic mapping became popular during the late nineteenth century. Panoramic cartographers abandoned restraints of scale to illustrate street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective. Continued

York College lauded for Kings Mill Depot renovation

York, PA (YDR) At one point in the more than 100-year history of the Kings Mill Depot, the building was a storage place for hundreds of pounds of paper.
Today the former warehouse on Kings Mill Road in York is home to two start-up companies ushering in a paperless digital age.
The building's transformation is part of the first major renovation project done by York College on the former Smurfit-Stone site, acquired by the school in 2006. The renovation created a business incubator in the building and recently received an award from Historic York for its successful adaptive reuse. Continued

A Christmas gallery from the Library of Congress (part 1)

A Christmas gallery from the Library of Congress (part 1)

Albert Ruger: Pioneering panoramic map artist

(LoC) Pioneering panoramic map artist Albert Ruger died on November 12, 1899 in Akron, Ohio. Ruger was born in Prussia and emigrated to the United States where he initially worked as a stonemason. While serving with the Ohio Volunteers during the Civil War he began drawing landscapes.
After the war, Ruger settled in Battle Creek, Michigan. In the late 1860s, Ruger joined forces with J.J. Stoner of Madison, Wisconsin to form Merchants Lithographing Company. Over the next three decades, Ruger produced maps of towns and cities in twenty-two states from New Hampshire to Minnesota and as far south as Alabama.
A form of cartography in which towns and cities are drawn as if viewed from above at an oblique angle, panoramic mapping became popular during the late nineteenth century. Panoramic cartographers abandoned restraints of scale to illustrate street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective. Continued

On 2 Historic Roads, Renovation Encroaches on Preservation

(NYTimes) Two historic highways on opposite side of the continent, the Pasadena Freeway in Southern California and the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, are being endangered by repair projects, said a highway preservationist.
Paul Daniel Marriott, author of “Preserving the Historic Highway,” a guide to melding safety improvements with historical accuracy for parkways and highways, said in an interview recently that a $17 million maintenance and rehabilitation project now under way on the Pasadena Freeway, or State Route 110 in California, was endangering original elements of the road, which opened in 1940 (as the Arroyo Seco Parkway) and is the oldest part of what became the Los Angeles freeway system. Continued

On the Boardwalk

(LoC) On June 26, 1870, the first section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk opened along the New Jersey beach. ... Alexander Boardman, a railroad conductor, and Jacob Keim, a hotelier, conceived of the idea of constructing a boardwalk as a means of keeping sand out of the railroad cars and hotels. The city used its tax revenues to build an eight-foot-wide temporary wooden walkway from the beach into town that could be dismantled during the winter.
... Any consideration of the boardwalk demands at least a nod to salt water taffy, a favorite beachside treat. Taffy, a candy made of corn syrup and white sugar is boiled; the confection is pulled and folded, then rolled into a long strip from which shorter (about two-inch-long) strips are cut, wrapped in stick resistant paper, and sold. Along the Atlantic City Boardwalk folks have purchased the product since at least the early 1880s. In 1925, the Supreme Court ruled that the term "salt water taffy" could not be trademarked, a decision which saved candy manufacturers from paying millions of dollars to John R. Edmiston of Wildwood, New Jersey, who claimed to be the originator of the candy and had applied for registration of the term with the U.S. Patent Office. Continued

Thomas Viaduct celebrates its 175th anniversary in July

(Baltimore Sun) ... The object of their veneration is the majestic Thomas Viaduct, the 704-foot-long, eight-arched, stone Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge that spans the Patapsco between Baltimore and Howard counties, and has been carrying trains since it opened for business in 1835. A moment later, a heavy southbound freight train whistled in the narrowing distance and then several growling CSX diesel locomotives rolled by as squealing flanges from its mix of cars produced notes only found on the upper register of a violin, interrupting conversation. Continued

Images: MDRails, Library of Congress

Baltimore Museum of Art unveils $24 million renovation plan

(Baltimore Sun) Baltimore Museum of Art leaders unveiled plans on Tuesday to complete a $24 million renovation in time for the institution's 100th anniversary in 2014, a three-year project that will require some galleries to be closed in phases starting early next year. The museum's director, Doreen Bolger, and its fundraising campaign co-chair, Sandra Levi Gerstung, announced that the museum has raised more than half the funds needed for the project, including a commitment of $10 million over four years from the state of Maryland and a $1.25 million bond issue from the city of Baltimore. City voters will be asked to approve another $1.2 million loan for the renovations on the ballot in November. Continued

Photo: Wikipedia

1939’s ‘World of Tomorrow’ Shaped Our Today

(Wired) The New York World’s Fair of 1939 and 1940 promised visitors they would be looking at the “World of Tomorrow.” Not everything they saw there came true, but plenty was close. One reason for that was the fair’s own lasting influence on American architecture and industrial design. It was a futuristic city inspired by the pages — and covers — of pulp science fiction: huge geometric shapes, sweeping curves, plenty of glass and chromium, and gleaming white walls. Continued

Images: Library of Congress

Art of Mourning

(artofmourning) Welcome to Art of Mourning, a dedication to mourning, memorial and sentimental jewellery, funeralia and art.
Each area is constantly updated with knowledge and information.
Because mourning, sentimental jewellery and art is relevant for the history of both cultures and societies, its documentation and distribution of knowledge is essential for people ranging from social historians to jewellery historians. Continued

Do You See a Pattern? An architectural theorist who has inspired smart-growth advocates, counterculture DIY-ers, and computer programmers.

(Witold Rybczynski) ... Alexander argued that the standardized, mass-produced way in which buildings are designed and built today is wrongheaded, and to demonstrate an alternative he started to build himself-houses in Mexico, institutional buildings in Northern California, eventually an entire university campus in Japan-to date more than 200 projects. Alexander often uses decorative patterns derived from his intimate familiarity with Oriental carpets, which gives his buildings a handmade quality. While quite beautiful, his built work has received less attention than his books. Traditional in appearance-some of it reminds me of the Swedish painter/builder Carl Larsson-it is not witty enough for Postmodernists, not historic enough for die-hard Classicists, and too traditional for the architectural mainstream. Continued

Photo: Wikipedia

Dawn of the Dead Mall

(Change Observer) ... Good riddance to bad rubbish, some say. In the comment thread to the November 12, 2008, Newsweek article, “Is the Mall Dead?,” a reader writes, “The end of temples of consumerism and irresponsibility? Sweet. The demise of a culture of greed? No problem.”
But wait, my Inner Marxist wonders: isn’t that the voice of bobo privilege talking? Teens marooned in decentered developments didn’t ask to live there; for many of them, the local mall is the closest thing to a commons, be it ever so ersatz. And malls are employment engines. Sure, in many cases the jobs they generate are low-skill and low-wage, but From Each According to His Ability, etc. Continued

Photo of the Hunt Valley Mall courtesy of Deadmalls.com

Albert Ruger: Pioneering panoramic map artist

(LoC) Pioneering panoramic map artist Albert Ruger died on November 12, 1899 in Akron, Ohio. Ruger was born in Prussia and emigrated to the United States where he initially worked as a stonemason. While serving with the Ohio Volunteers during the Civil War he began drawing landscapes.
After the war, Ruger settled in Battle Creek, Michigan. In the late 1860s, Ruger joined forces with J.J. Stoner of Madison, Wisconsin to form Merchants Lithographing Company. Over the next three decades, Ruger produced maps of towns and cities in twenty-two states from New Hampshire to Minnesota and as far south as Alabama.
A form of cartography in which towns and cities are drawn as if viewed from above at an oblique angle, panoramic mapping became popular during the late nineteenth century. Panoramic cartographers abandoned restraints of scale to illustrate street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective. Continued

Fountains of dismay greet ‘Gandhi pen’

(Financial Times) The Swiss penmaker Montblanc, in a jarring attempt to raise its profile in India, has unveiled a gold-and-silver fountain pen to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi, the independence leader whose austere asceticism was at the heart of his liberation campaign.
The limited-edition Ma­hatma Gandhi pen, priced at Rs1.1m ($23,000, €15,800, £14,400), has an 18-carat solid gold, rhodium-plated nib, engraved with Gandhi’s image, and “a saffron-coloured mandarin garnet” on the clip.
... “If he had seen this, he would have thrown it away,” Mr Modi said. Continued

Photo: WPA/Library of Congress

Mother of Reinvention: Chanel’s Life and Works Continue to Inspire Others

(NYTimes) ... Her seminal designs — from the little black dresses and “poor boy” jersey pullovers to the braid- trimmed bouclé collarless jackets and schoolgirl sailor blouses inspired by Colette — are routinely resurrected on fashion runways. Last week during the presentation of spring 2010 collections in New York, Tory Burch, Jason Wu and Donna Karan were among those re-adapting Chanel to modern tastes.
The look — slim, easy and devoid of embellishment — conveys a feeling of “youth and hopefulness,’” Professor Garelick suggested. It is also, she added, well adapted to an economic downturn. “It reflects austerity and speaks to great elegance without requiring lavish materials. It is a kind of fashionable way to establish financial restraint.” Continued

Photo: Colette

The bottle cap man

"The website for those that collect crowns commonly referred to as bottle caps. You will find this to be a fascinating hobby with a wide variety to select from. The Internet has brought many collectors together from all over the world. The bottle cap has always been an important item for bottlers as a great way to seal the bottle, but also served as a means of marketing the product. Remember the old soda machines that had bottles? What was the first thing you saw when you opened the door to grab your soda?" Link

Via boingboing

Seed catalogs from the Smithsonian

"The Smithsonian Institution Libraries have a unique trade catalog collection that includes about 10,000 seed and nursery catalogs dating from 1830 to the present. Many of the trade catalogs were part of the Burpee Collection donated to the Horticulture Services Division by Mrs. David Burpee in 1982. The collection includes both Burpee and their competitors' catalogs.
The real gems of the collection date from 1830 to the 1930s and are both beautiful and important multidisciplinary historical documents. The seed trade catalogs document the history of the seed and agricultural implement business in the United States, as well as provide a history of botany and plant research such as the introduction of plant varieties into the United States. Additionally, the seed trade catalogs are a window into the history of graphic arts in advertising, and a social history, through the text and illustrations, showing changing fashions in flowers and vegetables." Continued

Via boingboing