Thursday, May 3, 2012

5/3/2012 I Love These Buildings!

I don’t know if I have always been interested in buildings or if this is something that has just come to the forefront in the last 10 years or so. I have taken much more notice and interest in buildings that were built in the 1800’s and the first half or so of the 1900’s. I got my fill of them today!


When we were driving downtown today I took notice that a lot of the old factory buildings were being converted to condos or lofts. I would love to be able to see the finished product.


After we left the Louisville SLugger building today we took a two block walk up the street. Here’s what we saw.


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I just love the detail in this one.


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Did I mention this street is know as museum row? I guess it explains this blue horse with no legs painted with the city skyline.


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We also saw a lot of these red penguins.


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I was curious as to what they meant, what they represented, what they were for, so I went into the restaurant on the ground level and asked. It seems the owners of the restaurants had gone to an art show in Italy and saw one and liked it. They had several, being a dozen or so I guess, commissioned and now they are the restaurants mascots. They must be into birds because when I was at the front desk I took notice of a small flock of birds that look like they were fashioned from paper hanging in mid flight from the ceiling.


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Now not everything was a building or piece of art that caught our eye on this street today. How about this, uh,,,,red limo?


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Its covered in red flat bottomed glass stones(?). I’m sure these things have a proper name but I don’t know what it is. I’ve seen them in aquariums and in the bottom of vases.


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More of the buildings. Bob said it was a good thing we didn’t live in the city because he would never have gotten me to leave to go fulltiming.


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I love the detail that went into the old buildings. You don’t see that anymore today.


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I didn’t quite understand this but it seems the buildings were torn down but the fronts were left standing. Maybe they will be rebuilt but keeping with the neighborhood they left the façade.


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In the very next block things changed dramatically. Everything was sleek and shiny. I’ll take the old stuff any day!


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I did sit down to have a conversation with Charles Farnsley, a former Mayor of Louisville. He was on the quiet side and the conversation was pretty one sided. (NO! My shorts weren’t that tight or that short. That iron bench wasn’t exactly comfortable and I must have slid around some trying to get in a place where I could sit for a few seconds)


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We were also surprised to see a golden statue of Michaelangelo’s David. He was just brought here a week ago from Instanbul. It looks totally out of place. While I certainly appreciate the art of the statue this replica belongs in a building, not on Main Street in downtown Louisville. I don’t care if this museum row. It seems as though a lot of the local population agrees with me according to letters to the editor of the local paper.


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A quiet little oasis in the middle of a busy downtown area.


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I caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of my eye and had to check it out.


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Hundreds of little mirrors.


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When we got back to the Expo Center we found that the UPS planes were coming in hot and heavy, one right after the other. Must be the rush before the weekend.


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