Floral Map of Brussels at the 1958 World's Fair

Continuing on with the slides from the 1958 Brussels World's Fair — here's an amazing overview of the Fair looking towards the Porte de L'Atomium.

The area to the left of the avenue is the Belgian Section. The large square building is the Buildings and Housings exhibit. The tall white structure with the colorful mural across Avenue de la Construction is the Glass, Ceramics and Terra Cotta industries pavilion. Next to that is Town Planning. Behind that, with the bright red roof is the Coca Cola building. The globe is part of the Solvay pavilion. The round building on the right, Brabrant Hall, had a impuvium roof which was visible through the glass walls. The curved blue structure on the right of the avenue is the sewing pavilion (Singer, Bernina/Orion).

On the far left, under the zig-zag walkway can be seen the Map of Belgium, a 1.3500 scale model with working parts. This is the Civil Engineering pavilion, and although you can't see it well from this angle, the building was a daring piece of work.


The Civil Engineering building under construction, showing the walkway suspended by the cantilevered pylon.


The relief map of Belgium, showing positions of chief public works (bridges, tunnels, etc). The map is spanned by a footbridge, 17 feet high, which was entirely unsupported from the ground. It was suspended by the Civil Engineering building's cantilever (see above), which rose to a height of 120 feet.

Another view of the map (really a model!) showing considerable detail in craftsmanship.

This area is now called Mini Europe and is thriving still under the shadow of the Atomium.

A current look from the Atomium down on Mini Europe.

England, France and many other countries are represented here. Official site here.

Canadian Pavillion, Lumber and Glass — 1958 World's Fair

Here's some interior shots at various pavilions. The slides are unlabeled, and my knowledge of the 1958 Exposition is minimal at best, so some of these are unidentified.


I love the tree (or lumber?) exhibit here. This could be in the Canadian Pavilion. Note the dominant color scheme at the fair: red, yellow and blue; much like the palette the Eames used in the 50s.

A pair of visitors looking a a glass exhibit behind a fountain and sculptural wall.

Glass Exhibit.

Glass Exhibit.

Canadian Pavilion interior. More yellows, blues and reds. The modernistic mural at the end of the second story deserves note. The large map of Canada on the left appears metallic.

Eagle's Nest Gardens - Bellair, Florida Pt. 2

I was recently contacted through this blog by the grand-daughter of John Dean, who lived in the wonderful waterfront Bellair bluff house (see earlier post here) located in Eagle's Nest Gardens prior to Mr. Alvord (who developed the garden as an attraction). Her grandfather built most of the wooden elements of the gardens: the little temples, pagodas, bridges, etc. Her father was born in the house in 1930 (note: what a great place to start your life!). She refers to her father's childhood home as the grove house. In fact, she has extensive family in the area dating back more than 150 years!

She writes “Yes my dad has lots of memories of playing in the gardens — taking my grandfather his lunch, having tea with the aunties at the little Japanese teahouse… he also remembered distinctively the "Hound of the Baskervilles," so I was tickled when I found a picture of it. My grandfather had found a large eagle's nest that had blown down out of a tall tree during a storm and had climbed back up the tree to reposition it — amazingly enough, the eagles had returned. Considering my grandfather was only about 5'-5" and eagle's nests are very large and heavy that was quite an accomplishment.” (Electrospark's note: Bald Eagles build the largest nests in the world that are made by a single pair of birds. Some nests weigh over a thousand pounds. A large nest could be 12' deep.)

It's great to hear from people with personal stories connected to history such as yours. Thanks for sharing the photos and the stories with us, Lisa!

This photo (circa 1937) shows an exterior treatment given to the Dean/Alvord house by Mr. Dean to make it look tropical by using bamboo as exterior cladding. There was no power on the property, so Mr. Dean had the fabricate all the bamboo by hand.

Tea House

Trolleys came here from the lavish Belleview Biltmore resort hotel; note the upper-class clothing on the visitors in this photo.

 

Eagle's Nest Part 1 »

Forgotton Architecture - Clearwater, Florida 1974

I came across this little set of slides as I was going through a new box of found photos. The vacationer must have stayed at Schrafft's Motel, and took a walk around the Cleveland St. / Drew Street area with his camera. It's a beautiful spot of high bluffs overlooking the bay and Clearwater Beach to the west. It dawned on me that ALL these buildings are now gone! So here's a post for Clearwater lost architecture.

Clearwater Baptist Church
Was located on the bluffs overlooking Clearwater Beach on Cleveland Street. Torn down to make way for a huge condo project.

The Clearwater Chamber of Commerce
This googie/mid-century modern building was on the bluff behind the old Library. Not sure when it was taken down. It would make a cool house, I think! This is now the northern end of Coachman Park.

Back of the COC.

Clearwater Public Library.
This was taken down and replaced with a new one in 2004.

Schrafft's Motel, Restaurant and Lounge.
Across the street from the COC and Library, this was a great place to sneak into and take a dip in the pool after a hot day at the beach. The zig-zag building shown here is gone, but its double still exists on the water (was the restaurant). It is now owned by the Church of Scientology.

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Sunrise Shopping Center - Mid Century Modern Ft. Lauderdale - 1956

A brilliant blue sky and bright Florida sun highlight the Sunrise Shopping Center in Ft. Lauderdale in May 1956. Saks Fifth Avenue was the anchor store. Enclosed in 1980 and renamed the Galleria, it has no resemblance to this at all.

Dad just moved to Florida to start his architecture practice and this mall must have interested him. I have to agree. Shot on Kodachrome 35mm transparency, Argus Rohlik camera.


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Lido Beach Casino, Sarasota, Florida - 1950s

A wonderful, breezy day at the Lido Beach Casino captured on 35mm Kodachrome in the early 50s. The casino was designed by Sarasota School of Architecture icon Ralph Twitchell in 1939-40 as a WPA project. Of note are the precast concrete seahorses barely seen here on the second story. Structure at end (above green benches) is an "entry tower." It was demolished in 1969 at the request of local politicians and businessmen. A good book on the mid-century works coming out of Sarasota is The Sarasota School of Architecture, 1941-1966 by John Howey.

Close-up of the sign from the previous Lido Beach photo. Scanner maxed at 6000 dpi.

Sarasota promotional brochure (Not dated, late 40s?)
Modern youth, ready to be ruined by rock 'n roll, hang out under the precast concrete sea horses on the upper deck of the Casino. Note the delightful lack of development on the south beaches.
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San Francisco Slides, 1953

Here's an nice view down Taylor St. from Jefferson with pier 45 in the background. Not much has changed over the years, here. Alioto's and Fishermans Grotto are still going strong, and the wharf remains a vital part of San Francisco. Prices on the menu may have changed a bit...

I visited this great American roadhouse in 2000 and was able to enjoy the strange mechanical amusement arcade museum and camera obscura on the bottom floor. (The Mechanical Museum is now at Pier 45!) The red brick and California redwood were gone, but we enjoyed a drink in the restaurant and I gotta say the view was mesmerizing. I didn't see the cool Totem pole, or the pronto pups...

This mid-century structure (Whitney's) was remodeled in an $18-million effort in 2003 resulting in a version similar to the 1909 structure.

Here is the 1896 Victorian Structure Alfed Sutro built that burned in 1906. The baths next door were the largest in the world. More pictures and info here.

Our photographer and west coast explorer stayed here, parking his 1954 Buick Century on the street. Looks like a cozy house!

And his car can go up hills!

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Pike's Peak Avenue, 1952

click to enlarge

The Antlers Hotel sit in front of Pike's Peak in the middle of a beautiful day. No less than 3 theaters are visible, all with great graphics and neon. The Ute advertises Pat and Mike with Spencer Tracy (1952). Across the street, the Peak is showing Retreat, Hell! (1952) with Frank Lovejoy.

The Antlers Hotel, named for an extensive antler collection that adorned its walls, was the premier hotel in the area in its day. The original, built in 1890, burned down in 1898. The second one (seen here) was demolished in 1969 to make way for the Antler Plaza hotel (below) which has some modern appeal to it, I guess.



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Eagle's Nest Gardens, Bellair, FL - 1955

Royal Palms and tasteful landscaping surround the pure Florida-style estate of Dean Alvord near Eagle's Nest Gardens in Bellair, FL. The Alvords developed Japanese Gardens as a waterfront paradise filled with pagodas, statuary, and all things Japanese. After World War II, however, they changed the name for patriotic reasons to Eagle's Nest Gardens (after a pair of nesting eagles).

Being a minor attraction, there is not a lot of info about it, except for the typical postcards and brochures of the era. It had a run of about 30 years, folded in the 60s and was parceled into smaller lots and sold. Nothing remains today except million-dollar estates, the view of Clearwater Beach, some coastal pines and the name of the street.

 

Eagle's Nest Part 2 »

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