Whimsical Windows - Surveying the aftermath from the 24th floor

This week's meme post for Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors is a throwback to the time when tragedy was averted in the roof collapse of the Hartford Civic Center about 4:00 am January 18, 1978. Only a few hours after 4,800 spectators had watched a UConn college basketball game had left, so no injuries. An engineering error led to the weight of the snow pack on the roof to take it down...

This picture, in its faded original print and black-and-white edit, is interesting. The persons are my father and his mother looking at the ruins from his 24th floor office in Hartford's 'Gold Building' - the tangled and twisted structural steel is easier to see up there - and the reflections of the people and the windows of the next door (and long defunct) Hartford National Bank add an eerie feel to the scene. I believe these were taken in mid-late March 1978. An unique view of an urban disaster.

Whimsical Windows - Passenger Seat Perspective

When I am driving my Grand Caravan, I do not use my phone, let alone take pictures on a road trip. However, the always lovely Patti does. So for Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, I offer a panorama of downtown Hartford Connecticut on Interstate 91 North - from the passenger seat on an early Spring day. Nothing special, just a blue sky and equally blue Connecticut River alongside. It is a prosaic panorama that appears to have jumped into the frame...with lots of windows!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Stately, sunny and shadowy

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back, and I revert to a favorite of mine, the  grandeur that is the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. Taken a week ago, the photo captures were easy to get in an empty car park/lot as the legislative session was complete for the year. Opened for the legislative session in 1879, the marble exterior and gothic revival architectural details, such as the arches and ornaments leave room for many a shadow. I had viewed the Capitol in Winter, but not yet in Spring. With the sun so strong (and with thunderstorms a mere three hours later), shadow hunting this day was very easy...

Whimsical Windows - State Capitol redux

Toby's architectural photo meme, Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, is back - and I am returning to a favorite pictorial theme, that of the Connecticut state capitol in Hartford. These views were taken last Wednesday after a meeting. Since the legislative session was finished, I had an entire and nearly empty parking lot/car park to take a few pictures from wheelchair height. 

The Gothic architecture and details from this 1878 masterpiece are always stunning in view when under the sun. The government in this state is dysfunctional (alas,), but the seat of government is a work of art...

Whimsical Windows - Old/New

Toby hosts the architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, and we look at pieces of interesting design on our travels. Today we are an hour north of home in the state capitol, Hartford. The views are along the short (1.1 km) Conlin-Whitehead highway, built in 1945. Once slated to be an interstate grade expressway, it was not built as such and remains a winding and slow speed entry downtown. Of interest is the building above the road, the new addition to the Hartford Public Library, making for a tunnel underneath.

In the second pic, the arched stone bridge carries Main Street over. But why is it arched? The bridge was actually built over the Park River in 1833. Which then begs the question: where is the river? It is actually underneath the highway in a concrete conduit as it flows to the Connecticut River. Not that the leaders in the 1800s even thought to have the foresight of a future highway...

Finally, after the curve past the tunnel the skyline of the city comes into view. The mix of of 19th, 20th and 21st century blend together in a unique mixture of shape and function on a nice late winter day...

Whimsical Windows - Capital City Detailing

Toby's fun architectural meme, Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors reappears, and today I am archiving (is that a verb ?) from pictures taken inside the Connecticut State Capital in Hartford - and at wheelchair height from the second floor. The dusty rose and gold tones of the 1879 building are bright and bold, Nothing today is detailed quite as nicely as this!

Whimsical Windows - Vertically Challenged

Toby is the host of the fun architectural meme, Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors - we look at interesting bits of buildings. Today is another view of Hartford taken by Patti - who safely is not the driver - from I-91 North. The vertical motif is the theme, from light stanchions to buildings, all seem to be rising to the sky. The more classic building here is the Travelers Insurance tower, opened in 1919 and sits a stately 34 stories high at 527 ft/161 M. The rest of the skyline was built from the late 1960s-1999 and has little of the charm from decades past and is mostly nondescript. But all together compel us to look up (except when driving that is :)

Whimsical Windows - Collapse aftermath

Surveying the damage from the 24th floor

Toby hosts the fun architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, and we look at details of interest. Today is a scan of a unique view from the 24th floor of the United Technologies building in downtown Hartford Connecticut. I date the view from February or March 1978. The persons are my father and grandmother as they look down at the collapsed roof of the Hartford Civic Center which fell on 18 January 1978. The view is on the floor my father worked on looking west toward the building. The pattern on the reflection is the facade of the then Hartford National Bank building next door. The print was damaged and faded so it is now in B&W. A unique look at a disaster in which no one was hurt...

Whimsical Windows - Colt Armory

The refurbished Colt Armory along Interstate 91 in Hartford Connecticut, 2010. Photo taken by Patti

The blue onion dome at the Colt Armory

Toby hosts the fun architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors. Today, I revert to a late winter’s day drive northbound on the I-91 expressway in Hartford, Patti captured the enduring landmark from the passenger seat. This is the Colt Armory, the site of firearm genius Samuel Colt's manufacturing facility. It was completed in 1867. The very distinctive blue Onion Dome with its gold orb and stood and still stands out now along the busy freeway and Connecticut River.

Armaments are no longer being produced there, and much of the building has been renovated inside for rentals as office space and expensive apartments, both receiving the benefit of huge windows with lots of solar brilliance to filter through. Happily the building with its blue dome lives still…

Shadow Shot Sunday - Shadowy Collapse

Examining the collapsed Hartford Civic Center roof February 1978. © 2012 Alcam Writing & Admin LLC 

Shadow Shot Sunday is back as I go back in time to February 1978. The place is the 24th floor of the Gold Building in downtown Hartford. The persons are my father (who worked for UTC and had access) and Grandmother examining the collapsed roof of the Hartford Civic Center. 

This is a print that I have seen but found last week - the color had faded so I edited it in B&W and sharpened it as best possible. So the eerie view through the reflections is maintained...I found two cool things that explain it better - this Hartford Courant slideshow (great newspaper photography in its heyday) and a video below from the History Channel that I've seen before. The fallibility of humans is quite apparent in this mishap...

Tina's Pic Story - SOOC

Tina's Pic Story is back as we search for and search to meet the weekly theme supplied by her - sooc (straight out of the camera). Today, my unedited pick is these windows that appear to be floating in outer space... this previously seen view is inside the State Senate chamber at the Connecticut state capitol in Hartford. This was totally unplanned, merely an attempt to take a picture with a cheap point-and-shoot camera in less than ideal lighting conditions. The leaded windows from 1879 seem to 'float' away like a child's balloon at a parade...unedited fun!

Whimsical Windows - Solid portals

Toby's fun architectural Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors is back, and we look for portals of style as well as function. From a recent trip to to the state capitol in Hartford, I saw this and considered it a nice opening in its elegant 1879 design. Of course, we may see this as an office door. notwithstanding the marble floor, granite trim, bold victorian colors and what we rarely see any more, a transom window. All evoke the past, yet what I find the most attractive is the door - not what we see today as hollow core or a plywood core (under cheaper modern wood) but solid wood. Everywhere. We couldn't afford doors like this today, let alone the marble - we certainly could use 150 ft² (14 m²) of that and 50 linear ft (15 m) in our dining room. Who couldn't? See pleasing doors and windows at this fun meme!

Whimsical Windows - Capital portals

Toby hosts the fun Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, as we look for openings of style. Last week I was at the Connecticut state capitol building in Hartford, taking as many pictures in this regal structure.

In the first, I like the wavy effect of looking through two old windows at the same time. Wavy best describes the interior window in a hallway door that looks out to stained glass artistry. I especially like the shape of the other window. Interesting effects to say the least! 

The second was viewed from inside a room and minus the other pane. 

The colors are bold as the stained glass seems so brilliant even though the sun was only hazy, not very strong.

The shape evokes a star or sunburst in the architecture described as Victorian Gothic Revival when construction was completed in 1879. Unique best describes these...see more of the fun at Toby's meme!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Capitol ideas

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back – and we are ready to hunt and capture shadows! For work this week, the disability expo was in place and held on Wednesday. The venue was the Connecticut state capitol building in Hartford. While there, I was able to be a shadow detective – and this was a great place to do so.



Beyond the event, I happily moved around this landmark. The building was designed in a Victorian Gothic Revival style. It was opened for the General Assembly in January 1879.



In the first view, I am peering through the columns perched over a grand stairway leading down to the chamber for the House chamber. Shadows fall onto the ceiling overhang.



On the second, I am looking down the hall of the third floor. The opening receives light from a roof skylight above the top floor. The globe lamps leave shadows and reflections above and below. I would be delighted if about 150 square feet (14 M sq) of this marble floor just showed up on our dining room floor one day...same for the polished wood :) The view down to the second floor highlights the style of the era. Like the bold dusty rose and mauve colors.

Downstairs, there are velvet rope lines that the lobbyists are too stand behind these while awaiting their legislators to petition their positions. Note the people standing around – the lawmakers they want to see are not in the building this morning. So they wait with the hope they are noticed and seen…I love the style of this grand old building! See the shadowy world at the fun SSS2!

Whimsical Windows - L.O.B.

Toby most graciously hosts the fun meme Whimsical Windows - Delirious Doors. We look for openings and portals of style and class, but never too seriously...We are viewing the interior of the Connecticut Legislative Office Building (L.O.B.) in Hartford.
The look inside is amazing, the skylights that illumine the atrium  are massive, and on a sunny day with blue skies, the view upstairs outstanding, the reflections and window panes many.

In the second view, we are inside the building under a rotunda that covers the doorways leading to the adjacent state Capitol building. The window glazing up there is most impressive, with nary a water leak onto the lobby below...thanks for this fun weekly meme!

Tina's Pic Story - Captivating Capitol 'C"

The Connecticut state capitol in Hartford (1879).  It is covered with New England marble and granite

Tina's Pic Story is back! The simple procedure here is that we provide a photo per the weekly theme provided by her, which this week is the letter 'C'. The chosen subject is full of those: This is the Capitol Building, sited in the capitol city of Hartford, located in the state of Connecticut, also referred to as the Constitution State, the structure considerable size. A very captivating place - hopefully the theme has been met!