Buildings with Character



In Saigon, the downtown core which dates back to the French colonial era has not only survived but all the landmark buildings have been preserved. On the far left, the Rex Hotel where during the war, the US military briefed the international press corps -dubbed by the latter as the Five O'Clock Follies. A former AP Bureau Chief described the briefings as "the longest-playing tragicomedy in Southeast Asia's theater of the absurd". In the center, the Eden Building, which during the latest renovations lost its beautiful Eden Cinema. On the far right, the Continental Hotel where Graham Greene sipped his whiskey and water and wrote the first pages of The Quiet American. Nikon FM3A - Nikkor Ais 2.8/28 - Kodakcolor 100.
 
US Library of Congress, Beaux Arts style, opened in 1897. Over the top, yeah. Gourgeous, absolutely. Almost everything on this building is ornately decorated, even the ceilings.




My favorite building by far in Washington, DC. Although, my favorite place in Washington DC area is the Udvar-Hazy Annex of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport
 
Maybe not as grand as some of the other buildings here, but with its own character, and very much in keeping with the character of the place: Clayton, NNM.

Ah way out in the Big Empty! I like Clayton -- stayed in the old hotel there a few years back, made one nice portrait in town.
 
Ah way out in the Big Empty! I like Clayton -- stayed in the old hotel there a few years back, made one nice portrait in town.

Yes, I've stayed there as well. A charming place, but the freight trains traveling below your window in the middle of the night can be nerve-wracking!
 
Looks like it belongs in a Coen Brothers movie. I like it.

Thanks! The Coen Brothers have their finger on the pulse of America, in all of its lonely and desolate weirdness. As Vince calls it, this area, the "Big Empty", is basically near ground zero of the Dust Bowl. Most people would think there's "nothing there", but that's exactly the point, and why I'm so drawn to it. It is one of the most quintessentially American landscapes I've ever encountered.
 
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