Thursday Doors & Tour

The architecture tour from Tuesday through the older buildings of Davenport, Iowa, had many amazing doors, but I think my favorite one was once the First National Bank building which now houses the US Bank Center. It very much fits with the Thursday Doors prompt.

The bank was built in 1924, this year marks its 100th birthday. Smith and Childs, an architectural firm from Chicago, and architect O.H. Breidert, designed this beautiful building. While it is still a full use bank, it also displays a section of the history of the area with photographs and historical information. But its brass door…

Inside the archway of the door are raised sculptures reflecting the Renaissance Revival period.

Here is a closeup of one of the figures. Amazing detail.

When you first enter the entrance alcove of the bank, there is a wall display on marble slabs of important people from the area, from Chief Blackhawk to Bix Beiderbecke.

When you go into the main lobby of the bank, the ceiling may make you forget what century we now live in.

Check out these closeup details of the ceiling.

I find it heart breaking that this era of design is no longer affordable to build plus not having the artistic skill with stone they had back then. So enjoy your older buildings while they are still around and appreciate the talent it took to create them. Don’t get me wrong, the architectural talent we have today is just as amazing, it just doesn’t have that artistic flare that I love.

In closing, I remind you of the value of kindness in all that you do. Your gentle smile may be just the thing that a hurting person needs to carry on with the day.

Amazing Stonework, Craftsmanship

A couple of years ago, I was amazed by the architecture of the surrounding area where I currently live. So, I created a series of post called Amazing Stonework featuring some of those buildings.

This morning I went on an architectural history tour put on by the public library. And it was amazing. We must never take for granted that these beautiful buildings will be here forever and enjoy them while we have them.

For me the most amazing building in this area was once a prominent bank building. Today it is apartments but in its day, wow.

In 1927, Walsh & Kahl Construction Company, with the designs of Weary and Alfred of Chicago, built the tallest building in the area. The lower section of the building is black marble and the doors and windows have intricate metal details surrounding them.

The second floor shows the Roman style columns with detailed capitals and recessed arched windows.

As cool as I have always thought the outside was, on this tour, we got to go inside. The bank lobby is no longer used but coming into the side entrance where people access their apartments, we got to see the lobby from its back window. I would have never thought this architectural beauty existed in Davenport, Iowa. Amazing.

A wealthy philanthropist needs to restore this beauty and use it again. It’s a shame this architectural beauty is not seen. The detail in the ceiling shows a riverboat, since that is what brought wealth to the region.

The hall going up to the apartments also has amazing wooden inlaid ceilings.

Because of my art background, I tend to look at architecture from a different perspective than historical. A perspective that we have lost due to it’s cost and the available skill of these amazing craftsmen. I love the artistic view and understand the amount of work this beautiful form of architecture has. And yes, the only place we see this now is in our older buildings. So we must make every effort to preserve this so that later generation can see it. We don’t want to go all the way over to the “pond” to see this amazing artwork.

Below are other picture of this building including a side view showing the stone statues that are on top. I assume they are eagles but they could be winged dragons as well. I will have to do more research.

Remember in all things, always be kind. This morning a young robin was trying to learn to fly and mistakenly landed in the street. One of the ladies in the group instantly went out into the street to make sure the fledgling did not get run over. He hopped under a car and hopefully figured out what to safely do. His mama was very upset.

More Mother Nature

When you live by a river, you can expect occasional floods but this is an amazing shot of what it is like today. This photo was taken by a drone and placed on the cities website.

This is Davenport, Iowa, part of the Quad Cities area where 4 cities live, 2 on each side of the mighty Mississippi River. Usually at spring thaw after a high snow winter, we see this – never in July. But we have be inundated with storms and high rainfall since spring. Thus we have roads on both sides of the river closed due to flooding.

Some may think this photo is fake, AI or photoshopped but I assure you it isn’t. The ball park, Woodman Park, is on a little bit of a rise, plus it is surrounded by a higher retaining wall that the rest of the park. The blue line shows approximate location of the sidewalk retaining wall for the park which is usually 3-5 feet above the river.

You can seen to the far right the railroad track. It was recently raised due to being flooded out each spring. Here are a couple of photos of that same stretch of track in 2019.

Water has a power that is hard to match. I guess that is why we try to harness it power with dams to make electricity.

I am sure each area where we live has its own battles with mother nature, I just thought I would share mine. Stay safe and remember to share kindness, especially when times are hard.

Amazing…ly Scary

We all know that Mother Nature, even in her finest, can be a force to be reckoned with. Monday, we were hit with another round of sever weather. Its been a rough summer for us. Monday’s storm brought one small tornado to our town with an eight minute path of destruction. There were others in the area as well but this one was too close for comfort. Understand, there is really nothing small about any tornado, they go from bad to horrid. Fortunately, no severe damage was done that I know of and I have not heard of any casualties but I do know some people had to be rescued after the storm.

My house faces east, so the back yard was in full onslaught as the storm made its approached. Pictures don’t really show how black the sky was.

The tornado that was in Davenport was one block from my church and in a last ditch effort to destroy, the tornado took one of our beautiful trees that lined our sidewalk. The storm a few weeks ago took out a tree on the other side of the church by breaking it in half. They will usually do that or completely knock the tree to the ground. But when surveying the ground, I feel the funnel cloud was lifting when it hit this tree and twisted it with the 100 MPH force of the funnel, lifting it into the air. Look at the pictures and see what I mean. I could be totally wrong but this is what I feel happened.

You can see from where the tree was planted, the dirt is not really heaved to one side like they do when knocked over. The hole is rounded and somewhat smooth. The base of the tree also suggests it was twisted off like a bottle cap as no deep roots are present and the roots still attached show a twisted motion.

You can’t tell from the picture, but there is an indention under the trunk. I think the tree was dropped here and feel backwards toward the sidewalk. It left drag marks from it’s home. The drag marks are small as if it was from the trunk, not the tree limbs.

It was moved a good 30-40 feet before falling back to the ground.

Here you can see where the tree was originally planted on your right and now where it lays, 180 degrees from a normal fall direction. As I said earlier, I am no expert, but in my opinion, taking in the size and weight of the tree, plus the direction it is now laying, suggest it fell from the sky. Mother nature can indeed be a scary beast. Remember when storms are coming, please be over-safe to make sure you can take crazy pictures like these once the storm is gone.

And as always, I remind you to be extra kind when you can. You may be that light of sunshine someone needs.

Absolute Value

There are some of us who struggle with self-worth. One of the most powerful tools of Satan used to discourage and destroy us. But I want to express my opinion of the absolute value from God that he has bestowed on each of us.

We are all created by God, in his image…and God doesn’t make mistakes. Even though we feel others may think less of us, God smiles on us because of his profound love for us. I wrote this little encouragement that expresses how I believe we should think us ourselves. I call it Beautiful Package

In many ways, we concern ourselves too much with how others see us. We think we should be prettier or more profound than we actually are, making us anxious on what we believe we are not.

We forget we are made in God’s image and everything he creates has a beauty of its own. Let’s take a sunflower as an example. Although there are several varieties, people seem to think sunflowers are always tall.

Even though this sunflower, planted by one of the many birds in my yard, is barely over one foot tall, its beauty is stunning. It has one flower open and two other buds waiting to open. So I remind you that while you may not be a tall sunflower sharing your beauty in a bright blue sky, your beauty is still not missed by God and he wants the light of your beauty to shine from the inside. Beauty that is on the inside is far more important than beauty that is on the outside seen by others.

Do not stress over what you may see, or not see, in the mirror. Remember God created it all and he said it was good. That was what he said at the beginning, and it is also true for now. We have to accept our beauty given as a gift and we need to share its light with God’s love so that others may feel that beauty. With that mindset, your beauty will be beyond measure. So allow your flower to bloom as you share the love God gave you to share. And while it may not be accepted by some, when given as God intended, it will always bring a smile to his face. For he told us to love as he loves. Allow the beauty he gave you to shine and brighten someone else’s day.

In closing, I remind you that when you share the attributes of God, your light is always bright. Shine your inner beauty and always be kind.