Take a look at the splendor of Stalinist architecture in Moscow and the majestic wonder of the Czar’s St Petersburg in 1958 through 10 beautifully striking vintage color photographs taken by Hungarian photographer Wein Sarolta:
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| Red Square, Moscow. |
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| Red Square, Moscow. |
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| Red Square, Moscow. |
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| Mange Square, Moscow. |
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| Bolshoi Theater, Moscow. |
During the Great Depression, new materials such as stainless steel and plastic began to emerge. Chrome plating, highly polished surfaces and finishes became popular, giving rise to a sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne.
In homes, a 1930s interior is characterized by striking color combinations; usually golds, oranges and blue shades and, of course, monochrome. Bold geometrics appeared in tiling, parquet flooring, door panels, lighting and metalwork.
The sleeker form of the style during this time also gave rise to minimalism in interior architecture; pure white walls formed a dramatic backdrop for polished, curved handrails and black and white flooring.
These vintage photos captured people at home in the 1930s.
Novelty architecture, also called programmatic or mimetic architecture, is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes for purposes such as advertising or to copy other famous buildings without any intention of being authentic.
Their size and novelty means that they often serve as landmarks. They are distinct from architectural follies, in that novelty architecture is essentially usable buildings in eccentric form whereas follies are non-usable, ornamental buildings often in eccentric form.
Utility buildings and “novelty structures” are the red headed step-children of architecture - Like the Elephant Hotel, a 10 room hotel built in 1885. Intended to be one of a menagerie of buildings in the Margate City project in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Charles Gesner van der Voort (1916-1991) had started his career in Rotterdam, at Holland-China Trading Company (HCHC). In 1938, he went to Shanghai for the firm. The Japanese interned him, and most other Dutch nationals, from 1943-45.
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| Holland-China Trading Company, Hong Kong office in 1918 |
In camp, he met his wife Nancy and they married after the war. After a leave in the Netherlands, they returned to the Orient, where Charles continued to work for HCHC in Hong Kong.
Twenty years before Charles started, in 1918, a photo album was made of the Hong Kong office and office staff. The office also housed the Nederlandsch Indische Handelsbank.
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| Holland China Trading Company: Hong Kong compradores office, 1918 |
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| Holland China Trading Company: Hong Kong office product department, 1918 |
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| Holland China Trading Company: Hong Kong office samples room, 1918 |
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| Holland-China Trading Company, Hong Kong office at 16 Des Voeux Road Central, 1918 |
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| Holland-China Trading Company: Guangzhou (Canton) office, 1918 |
It was a miserably cold night, with bitter gusts of wind and a light snow even though it was the middle of April. And about an hour after sunset, things would get even worse. No one is entirely sure what caused the blaze. It might have been faulty wiring. Or a stove. But around 8 o’clock on that terrible night of April 19, 1904, a constable walking his beat in downtown Toronto spotted the first flames rising out of a necktie factory on Wellington Street just west of Bay (where the black towers of the Toronto-Dominion Centre stand now). As the officer rushed to sound the alarm, the flames spread quickly.
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| The aftermath of the Great Fire of Toronto (1904) |
Within an hour, every firefighter in the city was desperately trying to contain the blaze. But they were losing the battle. Violent gusts of wind blew the water from their hoses off course. The spray froze in mid-air, coating everything with ice. Thick tangles of newly-installed telegraph, telephone and electrical wires made it impossible for ladders to reach the flames. Textile factories, book-sellers, paper supply companies and chemical manufacturers crowded the core of the city — they provided the perfect fuel. The firefighters were being blinded by smoke. The fire chief broke his leg, falling from a ladder. The April snow was joined by a constant rain of burning wood, broken glass, and ash.
The flames tore through the heart of the city, moving south from Wellington all the way down to the Esplanade and east toward Yonge. Twenty acres of downtown Toronto — more than a hundred buildings — were on fire. You could see the glow of the flames for miles in every direction.
Mayor Urquhart sent urgent telegrams to other cities asking for help. And all through the night they came: firemen from Hamilton, London, Peterborough, Niagara Falls and Buffalo joining the fight. Within a few hours, there were two hundred and fifty of them pouring millions of litres of water on the flames. At the Evening Telegram offices on Bay Street, employees spent hours spraying water out the windows to save the building. At the Queen Hotel (which stood about where the Royal York does now), guests and employees organized bucket brigades, hung water-soaked blankets out of the windows and beat off the flames, saving the hotel and helping to stop the fire's advance before it could cross Yonge Street.
Finally, not long before sunrise, nearly nine hours after it had started, the fire was out. One hundred and twenty-five businesses had been destroyed. Five thousand people were put out of work. More than ten million dollars worth of damage had been caused. Somehow, amazingly, no one had died.
The ruins smouldered for two more weeks, with smaller fires popping up and reigniting from time to time. The charred husks of the damaged buildings were dynamited and the rubble cleared out of the way. That’s when the Great Fire claimed its only life.
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| Looking south from south of King St. West, between Yonge St. & York St. |
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| Bay St., east side, between Wellington & Melinda Steets, showing shop of H. F. Sharpe & Co., photographic goods |
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| Bay St., east side, looking south from north of Wellington St. West |
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| Bay Street looking north from just north of Front Street |
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| Front and Yonge, with what's now the Hockey Hall of Fame on the right |
American engineer Frederick Taylor is credited with being one of the first people to design a modern office. His primary focus was efficiency, and his office spaces were designed to maximize productivity.
In the 1920s, many American and modern European companies, including insurance agents, mail-order firms and government agencies, adopted Taylor’s office design principles.
In these offices the majority of employees worked together in an open-plan space, each sitting at their own forward-facing desk, while bosses looked on from their own private offices.
Here below is a collection of amazing photos that shows people in the offices from between the 1900s and 1920s.
While many of the house styles brought by the first European settlers to North America remained popular until the mid-20th century, other styles have joined them, adding a vast choice for homeowners.
Whether it’s a Colonial or Victorian look to a bit more Modern or Postmodern, or something in between, there's something for every taste.
Take a look at these vintage photos to see what houses looked like in the U.S. from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
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| “The Corey House - Meals At All Hours” was built in 1886, before the hotel was built next door, Grove, Oklahoma |
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| 12 Friendship St, Newport, Rhode Island, 1903 |
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| 120 Washington St., Cuba City, Wisconsin, circa 1904 |
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| A farm in Massachusetts, 1899 |
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| A.J. Rodes & Co. Groceries, Clovis, NM, facing south between Rencher and Merriwether Streets, circa 1911 |
The 1950s furniture show many styles of home décor.
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| People at home in the 1950s |
Floral patterns and overstuffed comfortable chairs and sofas were available in almost any styles. The distinct look of Scandinavian furniture was embraced by the 1950s crowd for its modern and minimalist look. The upholstery was often heavy textures in earth greens, browns, and tans.
In the 1950s, radio was easily seen in the living room but superseded by gradually television as the most popular broadcast medium, and commercial radio programming shifted to narrower formats of news, talk, sports and music. Religious broadcasters, listener-supported public radio and college stations provide their own distinctive formats.
Wallpaper was a popular décor and often used in foyers, kitchens, dining rooms, bathrooms, and bedrooms.
Take a look at these amazing photos from Vintage Cars & People to see what home interior looked like in the 1950s.
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| A blonde lady and two fellows in suits posing in a middle-class home. A large radio cabinet can be seen in the corner of the room |
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| A brunette lady enjoying a snack in a typical fifties living room |
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| A brunette lady in a checkered blouse and dark capri pants posing next to a television set in an interior of a 1950s American home |
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| A brunette lady in a dressing gown lying on a bed, raising a glass of red wine. A radio set and an alarm clock can be seen on the bedside table |
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| A brunette lady in a summer dress posing in a sun-drenched middle-class living room. A reproduction of Johannes Vermeer's "Woman with a Water Jug" can be seen on the wall behind her |
The Christmas tree surely becomes the center of attention during the festive season, but there are a lot more things that can illuminate the Christmas spirit for the joyous occasion. And this is true for both contemporary Christmas decoration ideas and the ones used in the past.
A set of vintage photos shows what living rooms looked like during the 1950s Christmas time.
