Rich, Eclectic and Innovative Architecture

February 1, 2018

America has magnificent architecture in places that are not necessarily well known. I have enjoyed traveling all over America seeing and capturing our special places.  We have one very interesting country…at least architecturally!

The George Peabody Library, formerly the Library of the Peabody Institute of the City of Baltimore, dates from the founding of the Peabody Institute in 1857. In that year, George Peabody, a Massachusetts-born philanthropist, dedicated the Peabody Institute to the citizens of Baltimore in appreciation of their “kindness and hospitality.” The Peabody Library building, which opened in 1878, was designed by Baltimore architect Edmund G. Lind. Renowned for its striking architectural interior, the Peabody Stack Room contains five tiers of ornamental cast-iron balconies, which rise dramatically to the skylight 61 feet above the floor. The George Peabody Library is part of Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries. Image from the Carol M. Highsmith Library of Congress America Collection.

This is the Marble Room in The U.S. Custom House, also known as the Old Post Office and Custom House. It is a historic government building at 423 Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is wonderful architecture inside and out. It was designated a National Historic Landmark receiving this designation in 1974 and noted for its Egyptian Revival columns. Image from the Carol M. Highsmith Library of Congress America Collection.

Farnsworth House, Plano Illinois. The Farnsworth House, designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945-51, is a one-room weekend retreat in a once-rural setting, located 55 miles southwest of Chicago’s downtown on a 60-acre estate site adjoining the Fox River south of the city of Plano, Illinois.  It was used as an example for the architecture of Philip Johnson’s Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut. Image from the Carol M. Highsmith Library of Congress America collection.