Gallery: looking back at buildings
Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness
Frank Gehry
One of the (many) things I like to photograph when I travel are the various buildings I see. Buildings tell us so much about how people live, how they work, how they worship. Or, if they are old buildings, how they once lived/worked/worshipped.
For the Lens Artists Challenge this week Sofia is interested in looking back at the past. I decided to focus on architecture and put together an informal timeline of some favourite buildings I have found and photographed. And because we are ‘looking back’ I propose to start with the present day and head backwards through time. I have included dates but some of these are quite general or refer only to one main section of a larger building constructed over a period of time.
I’ve included some links to posts with more photos of these buildings but please don’t feel obliged to follow any of them! They’re just there for interest if needed.
Early 21st century
High rise offices in Shiodome, Tokyo
1972
Al Alam Palace in Muscat, the royal residence of the Sultan of Oman (you can see it in its setting in the old city in my featured photo)
1967
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool
1959
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC
1930
The Chrysler Building, NYC
1913
The former bank of Magdalena, NM
1905
Strēlnieku iela 4a, one of the glorious Art Nouveau gems of Riga
Turn of the 20th century
The merchant houses of Takayama, Japan
1890s
The Palais de la Bahia, Marrakesh
1870s
Gurney Street’s ‘Painted Ladies’, Cape May, NJ
1823
The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, built as a seaside home for the Prince Regent and designed by John Nash
1815
Keats’ House, Hampstead, London
c 1750
Birthplace of George Stephenson, Wylam, Northumberland. When Stephenson was born, in 1781, there would have been four families living in this two-storey cottage, each with a single room.
1607
Badal Mahal (Cloud Palace), part of the Gahr Palace in Bundi, Rajasthan
1587 – 1593
Forte Real de São Filipe, Cidade Velha on the island of Santiago, Cape Verde
1492
Rocca Roveresca, Senigallia, on the Adriatic coast of Italy
1406 to 1420
The Forbidden City, Beijing
Late 12th century
The Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom, Cambodia
1011
San Vittore alle Chiuse, in Marche, Italy, considered a notable example of Byzantine-influenced architecture in Italy
C 700 AD
Temple One, Tikal, Guatemala
70 AD
The Royal Tombs, Petra (scanned from a very old slide)
2500 BC
Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England
As I compiled this selection I was struck by the similarity between some buildings many centuries apart in construction. Look at the cathedral in Liverpool next to Temple One in Tikal. Or the Art Nouveau styles in Riga next to the Royal Tombs in Petra. Maybe architects, like the rest of us, like to look back?
61 Comments
equinoxio21
A fascinating post. 👍🏻
Bayon and Tikal of course… 😉
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, so glad you liked this 🙂
equinoxio21
Places of utmost Beauty… Not so many of those…
Wind Kisses
You have such a gift. Your photography captures moments in time…always. Love the way you organized it, lots and lots of history. Not sure I can pick a favorite but the painted ladies photo an Santiago, Cape Verde were two.
The leading quote was a great intro. Always a pleasure, Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Donna 😊 Equally it’s always a pleasure to receive your considered comments. I wasn’t the only person to choose that quote for this theme, it did fit very well!
Christie
What a wonderful idea to walk back in time, and present the beautiful architecture from different eras, and different regions. It is amazing how well preserved are some of the buildings! Great tour!🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, I’m pleased you enjoyed the tour 🙂 Yes, a lot of these buildings are well preserved, or in some cases quite considerably restored or rebuilt!
bluebrightly
The Chrysler Building with the flag is really nice – a new way to see an old favorite. And I love the old bank in NM. It was brilliant to arrange these in chronological order. So much variety!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks for this lovely comment too 😀 It was taking my inspiration from Sofia’s theme that led me to post these chronologically and I was pleased with the way it turned out! The Chrysler is a favourite building of mine too, I took loads of photos last time we were in NYC but this was the best 🙂
Amy
Fabulous buildings around the world! What a treat to “travel” back in time through your beautiful photos!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Amy, I’m glad you enjoyed the ride!
grandmisadventures
What a stunning collection of such stunning architecture! That was a great art history lesson covering many times and places through buildings 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Aw, thank you 😊 I’m so glad you enjoyed the ‘lesson’!
VT starship
Sarah, if only you could see the smile on my face! You know I’ve always loved your photos featuring unique architecture and interesting details! Fabulous collection of photos in some of the world’s most interesting places! Kudos!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Sylvia 😊 I’m really glad you enjoyed this!
rosalieann37
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPgTOAXgJGWNJvNe8JnC-plO-FSWwgqRDpmS7OKK2GzSJIA50LqmUZiVc-tgFbyQg/photo/AF1QipNVOsXM_l-ke4fpVO0V_uUn06x54zHqc8lqxNlr?key=TGtHT2pWT185bmpSWEhjSFVZa21ZcWR0anJ1NHh3
This is one of the collages from Google photos – I hope the link will work.
Sarah Wilkie
It did, thank you Rosalie 🙂 I did something similar in a post about Paris some time ago: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/going-back-to-paris-and-to-the-place-dauphine/
rosalieann37
I have quite a few of old slides that my dad took in the 40s, 50s and 60s. And even some of mine from 59 to the present. When I find a good match, I make a collage of the two which invites point by point comparison. Some of these you will recognize, but some are just places I’ve lived https://photos.app.goo.gl/JaTvZgMTuQ1m6KZBA
Sarah Wilkie
Ah yes, I’ve seen you post some of these comparisons on Facebook 🙂
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
Lovely and interesting sequence.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anabel 🙂
restlessjo
I wondered how you managed to be around in 70AD to capture that photo, Sarah 🤣💖. Beautifully put together. You certainly have travelled !
Sarah Wilkie
🤣🤣 It does look quite timeless, doesn’t it, with the man on the donkey! Thanks Jo, we’ve certainly been fortunate to have been able to travel so much 😀
Marie
A great choice – I enjoyed your tour – so many places I’ve yet to visit!!!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Marie, I hope you get to a few more of these at least!
Mike and Kellye Hefner
I thoroughly enjoyed your around the world trip, Sarah. Your photos always inspire my wanderlust.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Kellye, it’s always good (and to share) a bit of travel inspiration 🙂
margaret21
Some great shots in that History of Architecture lesson. I’m particularly impressed by that dramatic shot of Christ the King in Liverpool.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Margaret 😀 That cathedral is very striking, inside as well as out. Have you ever seen it?
margaret21
Indeed I have, and was more impressed than I’d expected: I preferred it to its CE opposite number anyway!
pattimoed
This is truly wonderful, Sarah! I love it! Your photos from around the world, arranging them in chronological order…fantastic! I also looked at architecture and cities in my post.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Patti 🙂 I think a few of us thought of architecture as our topic for this challenge!
Rose
What a fabulous view of history. Interesting how some designs seem to repeat. Your images are fantastic!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Rose 😀 Those similarities hadn’t struck me until I looked at the photos I’d assembled for this post. I guess there are only so many shapes and design concepts that you can choose from!
Smitha V
This is such an amazing post, Sarah. It brought back memories of travels – Petra (I’ve written a post on my travel to Jordan), Oman, Rajasthan, Italy. And it’s making me dream of all the places that I haven’t visited (NYC, Japan, Cambodia, Guatemala) and there seem to be so many…your post woke the travel bug that had been in slumber for a while :).
P.S.I’d read about the merchant houses in Japan in ‘Pachinko’ but only saw it now in your post. The old bank seems like a easy, friendly place to enter as compared to cold, glass buildings these days. We had seen similar ones in Sienna, Italy.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you so much 😊 One of the things I hope to achieve with my posts is to inspire other people to travel, when they can, so it’s great to hear this has had that effect on you! I’ve already recommended Cambodia to you, and I reckon you’d love Japan too!
Smitha V
Oh, you definitely inspired me. More so, because the things you do on your travels are to see places that are off the beaten track. Hopefully, this year is a year of travel for me with both the girls off to Uni 🙂. Looking forward to reading more of your posts and being inspired.
Sofia Alves
Yay, Sarah! Your photos are absolutely amazing, I love the way you presented them too. And, I’m so happy someone had a collection of architecture as this one to share with us. All exquisite buildings, beautifully photographed. Thank you!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you so much Sofia 😊 Your choice of theme really got me puzzling but once I settled on architecture I was spoiled for choice in terms of photos as I seem to have taken a lot of building shots over the years. The biggest challenge was what to leave out!
Easymalc
What a fabulous collection in both content and quality. Nice one Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Malcolm 😀
Leela Gopinath
Nice collection indeed!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Leela 🙂
thehungrytravellers.blog
You are so often inspired to find a fascinating angle on a subject, Sarah. I don’t know how you keep coming up with these things! Anyway, what is so intriguing about ancient temples and ancient constructions is, those guys didn’t have any aids….no drawings, no plans, no CAD systems….everything came from their mind’s eye and their ability to turn thought into reality. Amazing really.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Phil 😊 The themes people choose for these challenges are such great prompts to get my brain going, but I confess this one took me a while to decide on! You’re right about those past building methods – Don (Nemorino) below made a similar point. I wonder what Petra would have looked like if the Nabateans had been able to use CAD?!!
Perpetua
So much history on these sites. Architectural designs were ver intricate in comparison to the clean cut buildings now a days.
Sarah Wilkie
That’s true, although these things go in cycles to some extent I guess. Maybe intricacy will come back into fashion?
Tina Schell
A very interesting choice for the week Sarah, definitely a great way to see an evolution through time. I liked that you went backwards in time – I wouldn’t have thought of that but it was very effective! Well done.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Tina 🙂 I swithered over my choice of direction of travel but this seemed to work better with Sofia’s theme title!
Nemorino
Great idea to start in the 21st century and take giant steps backwards. Some of the older buildings are astounding when you consider that they didn’t have anything like the huge motor-driven cranes that are used in building today. (But they did have poles, ropes and pulleys, and horses, so they weren’t completely limited to human muscle power. There used to be a display of medieval construction equipment — shown in the form of models — in the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, also in the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Salzburg.)
Sarah Wilkie
That’s a very good point Don – the construction methods on the older buildings here would have been very different to those on the modern ones! That display would have been interesting to see. There’s currently (or was the last two times we were in Paris) a fascinating set of images along the hoardings around Notre Dame showing how the craftspeople working on the rebuilding are employing many of those old methods. Have you seen it?
Nemorino
No, I haven’t seen the current set of images around Notre-Dame. I was there last September, but just for a brief stop at the beginning of the Jewish Marais tour. I do have one photo of the old Notre-Dame exhibit, but my Hohensalzburg photos give a better impression of medieval construction methods. https://operasandcycling.com/hohensalzburg-fortress/
Sarah Wilkie
Ah yes, I remember that post now I look again. The model of the machinery is very effective 🙂
sustainabilitea
What a fascinating and beautiful way to travel back through time, to “look back.” Well done!
janet
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Janet, I’ so glad you enjoyed it 😀
JohnRH
Great great selections and comparisons. Beyond thorough! Love the broad view of Petra. I’ve never seen it pictured like that.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you John 😊 You say ‘beyond thorough’ – that’s probably because I kept adding an extra shot each time I thought I’d finished 😆 The Petra shot, to be honest, was chosen because it’s one of the few old slides that ‘scrubbed up well’. The couple I have of the Treasury, the most commonly photographed building there, are of disappointing quality.
Teresa
All beautifully captured architecture from different eras. So awesome to look at from the simplicity of some to the grand and majestic of others. Thanks for sharing, Sarah!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Teresa 🙂 That’s true, there’s great variety in the styles and levels of grandeur here.
Anne Sandler
Great tour Sarah! I like the order in which you presented them-new first and going back in time. Beautiful.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Anne 🙂 I was originally going to start at the furthest back point but then I read Sofia’s prompt again and it made sense to go backwards!