Seeing the Missions in a New (Old) Way

According to the U.S. Department of the Interior which sets forth preservation standards for historic resources, restoration is defined as the act or process of accurately depicting the form, featu…

Source: Seeing the Missions in a New (Old) Way

Postcard from Guanajuato, Mexico: An art-nouveau flavored barrio

Although the city of Guanajuato is the capital of the state of Guanajuato, the seat of the state government is not downtown. Governance is conducted in a neighborhood southeast of the center of the city near La Presa de la Olla. The original dam, or presa, dates from 1749.

But what captured our interest in the neighborhood was the architecture, much of it with art nouveau details in contrast to the ancient colonial buildings in the historic center. Presumably, this is where the social elite during the rule of Porfirio Diaz chose to erect modern homes reflecting their wealth enhanced by the dictator’s long rule.


Note added later in the day: This headline was changed as a more knowledgeable reader politely nudged me that these images reflected art nouveau styles, not art deco.

Postcard from Bologna, Italy: Reflecting on fine “finestre”

Wandering under the miles of sheltering porticos lining the streets of Bologna, it is easy to miss the wonderful attention paid to the architectural details a floor above. Bolognese architecture does not treat windows as merely functional holes in the wall filled with glass, but as sculptural artistic expressions.

And, yes, that is the Mister who slipped into Edward Hopper’s plain-old-American-style-windowed “Second Story Sunlight” at a major retrospective of the artist’s works at Palazzo Fava while we were in Bologna. The contrast between the architecture surrounding us in Italy and the slices of Americana portrayed by Hopper made us cast our eyes upward with even more appreciation.