This post was great for my nearly-always-on-black-and-white iPhone color filter….that Tiong Bahru photo was meant to be in B/W! Thanks for the reminder of that neighborhood…completely in a league of its own in Singapore and I have good memories discovering it somewhat randomly when I lived there a few years ago.
Prague has “Fred and Ginger,” a pair of buildings that look like they are dancing together. One of my favorites that I was lucky to see in person years ago.
Great piece with photos to illustrate. Bit of regret at what might have been with both art deco and streamline moderne being pushed aside after WWll . Would have made for a far more interesting city scape.
But we do. Have you looked at a Frank Gehry lately? Or the Bean sculpture known as Cloud Gate at the foot of a Lego like building? Or these stacked beer kegs? There’s a lot of weird whimsy going on!
This is true! I suppose for me these are a separate category of in-your-face postmodernist stuff, whereas the charm of Streamline Moderne buildings lies partly in the constraints on the designers - they had to be more subtle in their whimsy. Not the biggest Gehry fan but I do love the Beijing “pants” building and the Las Vegas Sphere :)
That Duchess of Hamilton looks gorgeous
so plump and sleek!
This post was great for my nearly-always-on-black-and-white iPhone color filter….that Tiong Bahru photo was meant to be in B/W! Thanks for the reminder of that neighborhood…completely in a league of its own in Singapore and I have good memories discovering it somewhat randomly when I lived there a few years ago.
Prague has “Fred and Ginger,” a pair of buildings that look like they are dancing together. One of my favorites that I was lucky to see in person years ago.
Great piece with photos to illustrate. Bit of regret at what might have been with both art deco and streamline moderne being pushed aside after WWll . Would have made for a far more interesting city scape.
But we do. Have you looked at a Frank Gehry lately? Or the Bean sculpture known as Cloud Gate at the foot of a Lego like building? Or these stacked beer kegs? There’s a lot of weird whimsy going on!
This is true! I suppose for me these are a separate category of in-your-face postmodernist stuff, whereas the charm of Streamline Moderne buildings lies partly in the constraints on the designers - they had to be more subtle in their whimsy. Not the biggest Gehry fan but I do love the Beijing “pants” building and the Las Vegas Sphere :)
Yay for whimsy! I’m adding two more cone to mind.
Great selection of pics to illustrate a nicely written story. Love the art deco trains and boats and planes and the way you've knitted them together.
Rotterdam has a sense of whimsy. The one on the right is a library of waving pages with a pencil building.
I lived there would see the cubes all the time on market day.
This one in Berkeley, CA opened in 2020
https://www.berkeleyside.org/2020/02/24/a-moorish-tudor-fever-dream-is-unveiled-on-telegraph-avenue