Fantastic Architecture Of Old

wallmaxx

I went here last summer. I found myself walking around, looking up with my mouth wide open. Where can a guy find books on how these "craftsmen" did what they did?

I'd like to start a thread on all the "cool" places that y'all have been that have this level of incredible architecture.

Mike

PS Sometimes places like this make me feel like Charlton Heston on the Beach in the Planet of the Apes when he saw the Statue of Liberty. Those "damn dirty apes" had NO CLUE of the kind of society that built such a thing. "Who were these GREAT men of old who did these great things."
How can we recapture that lost knowledge?

KentWhitten

The knowledge is there.....the money isn't.

Beautiful architecture.

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If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

MALCO.New.York

Is that not the absolute truth!

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Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

Trimwerx

Spared me the words. That cost a lot... lots of lots... and with a few lots added in to cover additional costs.

wallmaxx

From the BC website

"At the time they were built the Parliament Buildings were criticized as an unnecessary extravagance, particularly since they came in over $300,000 over the original $600,000 budget."

Holy Cow!!! A buck could really get you something back then

KentWhitten

You might be interested in this address.

Great Buildings Online

There is some awesome architecture in the Boston area.

Harvard, Memorial Hall



Boston Public Library



Christian Science Center, Mass.



Trinity Church

__________________
If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

Dustball

A couple of local buildings-
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle.../15982917.html

http://www.startribune.com/galleries/15940037.html

trptman

I know exactly how you feel. especially when I drive past some housing development where all you see are acres and acres of vinyl clad boxes....
and the prices people pay for them, then drive past some old neighborhood full of great houses that are being let deteriorate because no one appreciates what they have in terms of craftsmanship. I actually get kind of depressed at times about this kind of thing.

Dan_Watson

tear, mcmansions and cookie cutters are taking over!

Trimcat

I've wondered about this very subject many times. Even in our short history in America, craftsmanship seemingly has been on a steady decline. I mean even stuff from 150 years ago blows aways the stuff we do today. Go into a high style Victorian house and look around. I think every step in technology we've taken as a society has had the effect of lowering the need for true craftsmanship. For instance, before electricity, carpenters had to be skilled enough with their hands to cut miters by hand, and even cut their own moldings with molding planes, or hand drill and chisel doors for hinges and hardware, and on and on. Then electricity came along, and new tool innovations followed. Now we have the tools to make all that early craftsmanship unnecessary, and we end up with guys who don't really know much about craftsmanship doing garbage work. Anybody can throw a piece of casing on a miter saw, snap it over to 45 degrees and cut it, nail it to a window with an air gun, then caulk the eighth inch gap, and paint it. Not a lot of skill needed there. Think about that process in the 1800's before electricity. You would have to cut those miters by hand on trim that you might have milled yourself with molding planes. Then you would nail it all by hand. If you are going to go through all that trouble, you are probably going to take the time to do it right. If I did it that way, I'd slap somebody who tried to fill a joint I made with the filler of the day.

I'm not sure where the end of this cycle is, but it's really a shame what we lose along the way. In a way we become a more civilized society the more and more advances we make with technology, but in another way we lose so much of the richness of a slower life.

Of course I think greed is the underlying reason for new tool technology. Do it faster, make more money. Problem is once everybody has the new technology to do it faster, the price comes back down. Now you're looking for the next tool innovation to make it faster to make more money.... and on and on.... Where does it end.