Tiles – Page 2 – No Idle hands here

A few blocks in Pasadena

Pasadena is lovely, always has been. Lucky for us many of the older buildings remain. About 25 years ago the western end of Colorado Blvd regentrified and became a very popular destination. It is interesting to see how the process is moving east along the Blvd. This is true of the original development of the city.

Colorado Blvd is the main street in Pasadena, like Wilshire in LA or Ventura Blvd. in the valley.

Yesterday I met a friend for lunch. I walked three short blocks and captured these wonderful details on the buildings.Linden Optometry, Yes, their marquee sort of gets in the way of the wonderful tile work, but not in a bad way. This is stunning tile work on an Art Deco building. Here is the info I found:

Warner Building

built 1927, by Jess Stanton

The Warner Building was built by Gladding, McBean and Company. It is remarkable for the incredible Art Deco green-glazed terra cotta grille over the display windows. The grille was designed by Jess Stanton of the Marston and Maybury design firm; he also did design work on the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. The Warner Building was originally occupied by a row of exclusive shops that catered to wealthy visitors, especially from the nearby Maryland Hotel. The building has long been occupied by Linden Optometry and is sometimes referred to as the Linden Optometry Building.

I got this info from this website City of Pasadena, unfortunately there was no way to link just to this info, so that is why I copied and pasted. Btw, Gladding, McBean didn’t build the building, they made the tiles. They are the oldest tile company still in existence in California. One of these days I need to write a post just on that company.This looks like one big mold, I can easily find the repeat, but still, this isn’t a piece of fabric, it’s glazed terra cotta! I’d love more information about how was made.Here is the info about this building. Pasadena Star News building, today the Cordon Bleu Culinary institute is housed here. I love that I captured two of the students standing outside. That was pure coincidence.

The blade sign for 24 Fitness should probably come down, they aren’t there anymore. But then again, by now it might simply be part of the building. There isn’t purity in architectures, building change and evolve with time and that is ok.Across the street are more offices of the Cordon Bleu, in the window – decorative cakes. Really like the sugar sculpture of the swan and blue rose.Details, details. Patio World now occupies this building, I notice things like the cornice over the doorway. The balcony is probably original, not sure about the scrolls that hold up the awning. If they are new – they work very well here.More design elements on the side of the building. My guess- more Gladding McBean Tile. I love how I captured the reflection of the palm tree. So SoCal.Along the side walk, decorative tile. This does not look like Gladding McBean at all. It could easily be Mexican tile. Pasadena is full of decorative tile.The mosaic behind Vroman’s Bookstore. This mosaic is made of tile as well, not glass.Sorry the image is blurry. I shot this to show the tile risers, but yet again, I love the human and dog aspects of this picture much more.

Lunch was lovely, yes, I will be taking my camera with me where ever I go. There are interesting things to see – if you open your eyes, take a moment and look.

Leah

More Downtown treasures, Allied Crafts Building

I always tell people, when walking downtown – look up! There are amazing things to see. While dress shopping on Saturday, I had to stop and take a closer look at this building. With so much cacophony on the street, it’s easy to miss even a building of this size. As you can see, most of the area is much lower buildings. So this Beaux Arts and it’s neighbor the Bendix building do stand out.

This is a photo from the 1930s. You can see there was retail on the ground floor even then and across Pico Blvd, no high construction. This was really the outer limits of downtown, from here on there would be other tall buildings, but many more low warehouse and small industry.

As the fashion industry rapidly expended here, the owners are doing just fine renting out large loft style space. They also set about spicing up the lobby.You can see the wonderful old elements that haven’t changed, the marble wainscoting, the wonderful mail box. In 2010, they brought in the artist Andre Miripolsky to add some vibrant color. Boy did he ever.I love how he worked around the old elements, the clock, The grill.Wonderful old elevator doors. I was able to see into the elevator but not snap a picture. It looked like the original paneling – no fancy materials but nicely decorated wood. And there is an elevator operator – which leads me to think – they haven’t updated this elevator to standard push button yet. Now there is a job you don’t see often, although I’ve seen other buildings downtown with one.It was hard to isolate out an image like this, so much stuff on all sides. This is the balcony over the Lobby entrance, also, the end of the fire escape.On a busy shopping trip, I’m sure this restaurant does good business. I love the cocktail sign, I think it was from a previous business. I’m pretty sure there are manufactories upstairs, they have wide open loft space, although this business looks more like a design studio.

Next door is another very interesting building. The Bendix building. I shot this image from the rooftop garage across the street where we parked. This building was build in 1930. The tower was built by Bendix Aviation Corporation manufactured to aid in nighttime aviation. The entire sign stands 150 feet tall; the letter “B” alone is 25 feet tall and 16 feet wide. This helped light the way to an airfield in Glendale, 9 miles away. Three years ago the tower was restored and the neon is now lit again at night.

In the 1930’s this building was used to manufacture automotive parts, navigation instruments and car parts. The fashion industry moved in much later.

Leah

Fine Arts Building, downtown Los Angeles

Yesterday I was downtown with a friend. We weren’t in my regular stomping grounds, but I knew of a gem of a building that is a must see.

Fine Arts Building-Fascade 02 — Had to grab this image from the web, first of all, buildings around have changed, also, no way I could take this picture. I don’t think I’d be allowed in an office across the street to do so.

I forgot my good camera so my pictures are from my phone.

Exterior plaques, Fine Arts, DTLA — 811 7th st. Dtla, go see this

One thing I always tell people, when walking on the street, look up! Most of us don’t do that, so when coming across this building, most people don’t notice much.

Wonderful gargoyles Fine Arts dtla — The whole exterior has this wonderful character.

Enter the beautiful front doors, and WOW:

Lobby Fine Arts, dtla — All of this is Ernest Batchelder Tiles

Ceiling Fine Arts Lobby DTLA — Incredible workmanship. The tile and painted ceiling are amazing.

Look up at the ceiling, also amazing.

Elevator, Fine Arts DTLA — Gorgeous elevators

For more information about this gorgeous building.

The Fine Arts Building

All the tiles in this building were made by:

Ernest Batchelder

I am falling in love with California tiles. It makes perfect sense that in a city where homes were built from clay (adobe) there will be a wonderful ceramic tradition, and there is. Ernest Batchelder has his own unique style, namely – he didn’t glaze his tiles, they don’t shine, he would paint many of them, and seal them. Notice the ones on the floor by the elevator, color, but no shine.

Many private craftsmen homes have fireplace surrounds with his tiles, in downtown LA, we have amazing examples of his work. This building is one of his largest commercial installations. Unfortunately you can’t go up to the mezzanine level to look down, it is a fully functioning office building these days and yes, the tenants are paying for privacy.

Leah