Ben Franklin Would Be Proud (So Would a Wordsmith)

Like many New Englanders, I hit up the beach this weekend. And look...kites! They are so cheery, so wavy, so in-the-breezy, so not struck by lightning, so about-to-fly-away-but-not-getting-away-with-that-today, so ready for takeoff, so ready to get-set and jet-set, so on the cusp of atmospheric elopement, so an arch of aerial enjoyment. Alright, that's just enough. Enjoy!

Til next time!

The Superest of Brownstones

In all sincerity, I am digging everything about this brownstone (and, honestly, this town is full of them). Let's hit the high marks: storefront on the first floor. Check. Checkerboard window panes. Check. Roof over the front entrance. Check. Transom. Check. All brick. Check. Rounded front. Check. Pleasing proportion. Check. And old school painted ads on the side. Check.

Face it, this brownstone is the bee's knees. Hey, man, that's "flapper talk"!

Til next time!

(Not) Just Another Brick in the Wall

Wall decoration has a certain appeal to me (something you probably knew, given my recent posts on graffiti). Whether it is simple, elaborate, functional, or decorative, it's always interesting to see what is put on display when a building becomes a canvas. Have a quick look at these two examples that I particularly enjoy.

The example on the left comes from the Christian Science area along Mass Ave. You can't argue with its simplicity. The example on the right comes from the side of the newly renovated Taberna de Haro restaurant in Brookline. I haven't been, but I like its style. The (huge) homage to Singer Sargent's El Jaleo (on display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, fittingly) is very appropriate to both the region and cuisine.

Til next time!

Hackage

So Google just told me that "thousands of accounts are hacked everyday." Is mine one of them? I don't know...if so, please discount any weirdness.

Mission Statement

Not too long ago (okay, it was months ago), I watched the documentary Bill Cunningham New York on Netflix. The film follows New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham as he watches the streets of New York for...well...whatever he likes. He takes pictures of all clothes trendy, distinct, personal, and expressive. Most incredibly, he does it without putting anyone down.

And that is the whole point of this post. As I walk around Boston, I see plenty of things that I like -- and I take pictures of those things. So those are the ones I'll share, taking care to withhold the lengthy criticisms, diatribes, and the like for those items that I am not so fond of. I'll leave those to the actual architects and critics. This really isn't that far off from what I do already, but it will hopefully keep me more focused. It also doesn't mean that I fancy an unfeatured building as ugly; I probably just haven't gotten to it yet. I do only have two feet and one camera, thereby limiting the amount of Bean architecture that I can share.

As I pass these pictures along to you, I'll also keep up with the blog "experience," detailing any trips, events, visits, etc. in the Bean. Yee-haw!

Some firsts:

One of the formative moments in my love of design and architecture came in 2008, when I visited York Minster Cathedral in York, England. This was my first up-close experience with detail -- the kind of detail that seems impossible. Scenes from the Bible were carved into blocks no larger than a square foot and surrounded the two main doors. And that was only the entryway! (There were still stories and stories of building above!) It was unbelievable to me that such minute detail could cover such a huge construction.

So it comes to pass that I am now a sucker for ornamentation, and I think that this building on Commonwealth (left) and the detail just outside this window of the Landmark Center (right) are fine examples from the Bean. 

Til next time!