There is another interesting posting at detroitblog - this one about an intact 19th century interior that survives on the top floor of an abandoned 119 year old commercial building. While the rest of the building has been remodeled during the course of many decades, the upper floor was used for storage and was largely ignored.
From the posting:
"Up here, there are square columns made of cast iron, lined across the middle of the floor in strict rows, beautifully painted and topped with lovely details. There are exuberantly layered moldings, piled one atop the other in a burst of whimsy. There are garish colors like turquoise and silver and magenta, and shades of gold everywhere. There is texture throughout, touchable elements to be experienced with more than one sense.
They do not design buildings like this anymore. A modern retail store would not go to such lengths to enchant their customers with such surroundings. These rooms are rare, immediate evidence that a world existed when people sought to make buildings beautiful both inside and out, just to do so."
Based on the photos, I can't say that I am all too fond of the color scheme - though perhaps it may look better in person. But the columns and details are very nice. And the poster's admiration for "a world when people sought to make buildings beautiful both inside and out just to do so" very eloquently captures a sentiment that I have felt ever since I was a child and noticed the enormous contrast between pre-World War II era buildings verses the disgracefully ugly stuff put up during the 1960s and 1970s that still dominated and blighted the landscape. And the spirit of that long-lost world manifested itself in far more than just its buildings.
I am extremely grateful for the advantages that the modern world has to offer in terms of medical advances, a much higher standard of living and the many technological achievements that make our lives easier and better in countless and often under-appreciated ways. But whenever I listen to old music, look at old buildings and old photographs, I cannot help but notice that something very special had become all but lost in our popular culture by the latter part of the 20th century. I am greedy: I want to live in a world that combines the very best of both eras.
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