Tucked close to the water between steep granite slopes and the azure water of Lake Tahoe is a 1929 Scandinavian estate known as Vikingsholm. The wood and stone castle-like summer home was commissioned by millionaire Lora Josephine Knight. The estate sits within Tahoe’s picturesque Emerald Bay, which reminded Knight of the Scandinavian fjords. Although… Read More Vikingsholm: Tahoe’s Piece of Scandinavia
McKinley Park School is a recognizable feature to those who frequent Reno’s riverwalk. The Mission Revival beauty sits just west of Wingfield Park, with its central tower and two welcoming wings facing the Truckee River. McKinley Park School, built in 1909, is one of a quartet of Mission Revival style schools in Reno from the… Read More Reno’s Mission Revival Quartet of Schools
Domes and circles seem to be everywhere and cutting edge lately. There’s the ring-shaped Apple Park in California, the Amazon bubbles in Seattle, and a recent announcement was just made about a glass dome apartment to be constructed on the top of a Seattle building. But domes aren’t new. In fact, you may be familiar with… Read More Thinking Outside the Box(office): the Geodesic Domed Pioneer Theater
The Renton Historical Museum just southeast of Seattle is in an eye-catching building that doesn’t look like any museum I’ve seen before. And it’s no wonder: this building, with its Art Moderne curves and three central doors was originally the Renton fire station. Needless to say, even as a fire station, this building is pretty… Read More Fire Station Reuse Success: Renton Historical Museum
The Dalton Highway is one of the most unique highways in the world. 414 miles through Alaskan wilderness Crosses numerous broad valleys, mountain passes, and the Arctic Circle Few amenities and no cell phone service Narrow dirt road, truck traffic: broken windshields and flat tires expected So why is it there? The Dalton Highway, known… Read More Architecture on Alaska’s Dalton Highway
While the Portland Building in downtown Portland, Oregon, has received its fair share of critiques, it is a poster child for the American Post-Modern style and helped define Post-Modern Classicism. It pulls classical details back into architecture unapologetic, though stylized ornamentation. Look no further than the giant ribbons that festoon the building’s upper floors! While… Read More Building Feature: the Portland Building
There is a lot of eager anticipation for 2017 this week, but before we jump into the new year I want to take a quick look back at 2016. First, five of my personal favorite places I visited in 2016. Below, my top five blogs this year, purely by the numbers (did your favorite make… Read More Best of 2016
I’m partial to Portland’s White Stag Block only partly because it is now home to my alma mater, University of Oregon, including the historic preservation graduate program. Among other attributes, the White Stag Block holds up the iconic White Stag sign, which is, itself, listed as part of the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District. The White Stag… Read More Building Feature: White Stag Block
Midcentury Modern architecture has long had its critics. Even I, an unabashed Saarinen admirer (just look at this stunning building), am dubious about my boyfriend’s inherited dining room set that is a dead ringer for this. But Midcentury Modern design is part of a greater trend that has contributed more interior design elements than you may realize to… Read More Midcentury Modern: Houston
I don’t go to the Seattle Art Museum to see architecture, I go to see the art. But let’s face it, I’m an architectural historian, and the line between art and architecture is a blurry one (is there even a line?). So it should come as no surprise that upon spotting the Italian Room I… Read More My Favorite Thing at the Seattle Art Museum
Susie Trexler 