Main Street Details, St. Charles

Other Victorian Period Houses, Main Street, St. Charles

New Post at Chicago Patina

Check it out here. Chicago Patina will feature old posts on Saint Louis Patina that may have been missed in the past, as it gets going again after a year hiatus.

Texture

Marble

Beaux-Arts Bank Building, Main Street, St. Charles

Front or Back Porches? Main Street, St. Charles

A tour guide once told me these were actually the fronts of these buildings, not the sides facing Main Street. Tour guides tend to make up stuff, so I don't know if this is true or not. It might make sense, as it would be facing the river.

Italianate Row Buildings, Main Street, St. Charles

Second Empire Mansards, Main Street, St. Charles

Blanchette Chouteau Mill, St. Charles

When I was little, I loved this mill. Unfortunately, I don't think the waterwheel is real anymore, but rather the water is pumped up to the headrace and then it goes over the wheel. For a great book about mills, read David Macauley's great book on the subject.

Naples Traffic

Mount Vesuvius, Naples

And we thought living near the San Andreas Fault was a bad idea.

New Post at Roman Patina

This week, we look at the Cornaro Chapel.

Naples Cathedral

Around the corner, and through a gate, you walk up to the Cathedral of Naples. There is no broad plaza in this crowded city.In fact, I had my back to the wall of the building across the street, and I still couldn't get the entire front of the building in my shot.Around the corner is some monument to the plague ending in Naples.

Via dei Tribunali #2, Naples, Italy

The great thing about Naples is that the streets are generally auto-free, which when you look at the streets, you can probably see why.The streets are so narrow, I had to step into the doorway of a house one time to let a car pass. It's that narrow.I can almost imagine my favorite artists prowling these streets, which have not changed appearance much in the last 500 years.Yeah, the churches are a little badly maintained, with weeds growing out of them, and plastic sheets covering portions of the interior to keep plaster from hitting people in the head.

San Paolo Maggiore, Naples

I stumbled upon the old Greek agora/Roman forum of Naples, and much to my surprise and delight, I realized the church in front of me had built around the ruins of an ancient Roman temple dedicated to Castor and Pollux.It turns out that the front of the old Roman temple was in better shape until the 1688 earthquake. All that remains are two Corinthian columns, a couple of bases, and the knowledge that there are probably more entombed in the walls of the newer church.Talk about adaptive reuse.

Porta Capuana, Naples

Wouldn't it just be easier to tear down this historic structure? I mean, we could fit more traffic lanes through the gate if it weren't there.

Via Dei Tribunali

Naples redefines the term "density."

Carillon, Logan College of Chiropractic

Logan College of Chiropractic has some cool buildings, including this funky 1970's carillon tower.

Rock Hill Presbyterian Church

The recent scare concerning the possible demolition of Rock Hill Presbyterian brought me back out to the church my family attended in the 1980's. Well, we didn't actually go to the Presbyterian services, but the services of the church that rented the church. Upon studying my pictures at home, I realized that the upper reaches of the church must have been replaced or added on to, as the stone does not match the lower courses of stonework. I like how the church looks like it could be in the Scottish Highlands.The church consists of two parts: an antebellum rock church rumored to have been built by slaves, and a 1950's Sunday School addition which has not aged gracefully.The coat of blue-gray paint slathered over the more recent addition has done little to hide the fact that it is in bad shape.Fairfax House I think has moved twice across Manchester Road; first from its original location to across the street from the church, and then a second time when it was moved back across Manchester a few years back.What's with that blue paint that's everywhere?