Nestled comfortably between New York and Tulsa as one of the best Art Deco cities in the United States, Miami Beach also has one of the country’s best historic districts. The short-lived Art Deco movement in the United States lasted only about 15 years, until World War II virtually killed it. But before this terrific style was beginning to fade, Miami Beach, rebounding from the devastating Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, capitalized on this architectural trend. Many of its now iconic buildings, especially the low-rise hotels, owe their very existence to one man, architect Albert Anis. Read about his top five works >
Tag Archives: architecture
Visiting Vincennes
I love small-town America. It’s such a different experience from my hometown of New York, and Vincennes, Indiana, is a perfect example. Founded in 1732 by French fur traders, Vincennes is one of the oldest settlements west of the Appalachians and the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in the state. With a population of under 17,000, the city is small enough to walk to all its sights, and when most of those people were seemingly asleep all day when I was there, I felt like I owned the entire city, able to appreciate its riverside setting and attractive architecture at a very leisurely pace. Read about the top five buildings in Vincennes >
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Louisiana’s Best Buildings
When I was in Louisiana, twice, I knew I was in the deep Deep South: the jazz, the Creole culture, the Spanish moss on the live oak trees, the accents, the alligator nuggets for lunch. And, of course, the wonderful architecture that makes the Pelican State so memorable. Read about the top five buildings in Louisiana >
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It’s All in the Curious Details
If you’ve been following my blog for a while now, and I hope that you are, you know I have a passion for architecture. I’ve written about castles, cathedrals, mansions, and so many other buildings and their fascinating stories. While I love looking at the entire structure as a whole, sometimes there’s an engaging little otiose detail that may elude me on first glance. Thank goodness for that second look, when these curiosities, thoughtful and often playful, grabbed my attention and made me appreciate the imagination of those who created them. Although some have lost their raison d’être to the mists of time, others can tell an entire history. Read about the top five architectural curiosities >
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Invest Some Time in a Buffalo Bank
The Buffalo Savings Bank building, in downtown Buffalo, New York, is always pretty: during the day, or when it warms up with the setting sun in the evening, or when the inside lights glow through giant arched windows at night. That was impressive enough, but when I stepped inside to take a look, it quickly became one of my favorite bank buildings in the world. Read about it >
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Underrated Zagreb’s Best Buildings
With good reason, visitors to Croatia flock to and concentrate on its gorgeous Adriatic coast and such unmistakable cities as Split and Dubrovnik. But there’s more to this country than its enviable coastline, verdant islands, and pristine beaches. A simple detour east brought me to Zagreb, one of the most underrated capitals in Europe and one of its most surprising, filled with great (and uncrowded) restaurants, fun markets, tons of museums, and striking architecture. Read about the top five buildings in Zagreb >
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Oklahoma’s Churches Are More Than OK
Adolf Hitler in stained glass. Dogs attending services. An Art Deco beauty co-designed by a female architect way back in 1929. A collateral victim of one of the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. An abbey church on a now defunct college campus. Visiting churches in Oklahoma proved to be a highly unusual experience. More than just beautiful structures, these houses of worship are packed with some truly fascinating stories. Read about the top five churches in Oklahoma >
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Centuries of Copenhagen’s Best Buildings
Copenhagen, Denmark, has a certain coziness about it. That intangible feeling is called hygge, and I could sense it in the general vibe of the city as well as in many of the places I visited. Even in the grandest buildings, some of which are hundreds of years old, somehow there is still, by and large, a sense of a human scale. Read about the top five buildings in Copenhagen >
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Fired Up
On a cold evening in late October in Granville, Ohio, I entered my accommodation, the Granville Inn, where the flames in the lobby fireplace greeted me and started to thaw me out, exorcising the chill from my body. With the northern half of the globe now ensconced in the winter season, I’m warmed by that memory. Amid all the snow and ice and freezing temperatures, one of the most welcome sights is a fire—well, a contained fire, such as in a fireplace, particularly a wood-burning fireplace, where you can become mesmerized by the dancing flames and the snap, crackle, and pop of the logs as they burn. Even without Christmas stockings that were hung there with care, fireplaces always provide a warm welcome. Read about the top five fireplaces >
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Great Churches in the Great Lakes State
By some estimates, there are approximately 12,000 churches in Michigan. Declining attendance in these churches, no matter what the faith, means that many have closed permanently, and many more are headed in that direction, with the very real possibility of being razed. That would be a shame, because these are some very fine buildings that enhance the beauty of cities and towns all around the Great Lakes State. Read about the top five churches in Michigan >
Stephen Travels 