Richmond, Virginia is a city teeming with historic buildings, both grand and small. Lately I’ve been trying my hand at capturing the smaller details of these buildings which can be so easily overlooked in the face of the entire structure.
Diagonally across from the sprawling VCU Medical Center is an old street lined with gracious brick and stucco townhouses, now all part of the hospital system. This is a detail from one of them, the William H. Grant House. Built in 1857, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
I remember this was a beastly hot summer day, and I was imagining how people survived without air-conditioning in the good old days. Dappled sunlight and shade trees could only do so much….
To see another example of shadowy photography, pop over to my friend Sandra’s blog to admire some truly wonderful shots for this week’s challenge.
And many other submissions may be found here.
Have a nice weekend, y’all,
Barbara
Silver in the Barn 
What a gorgeous window! I love wandering in historic districts and looking at the architecture, such interesting windows, doors, and designs.
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Exactly, Suzi. Those houses are shining examples of the “devil is in the details”, aren’t they? This house is on E. Clay Street in Richmond, should you be in the city sometime.
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Beautiful and very detailed. Thinking about a hot summer day was nice for a few seconds I felt warm 🙂
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Thank you, Bridget. I’m glad to send a little warmth your way.
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What a beautiful photo! … I love old doors, windows, and gates. I would imagine it gets pretty steamy in Virginia in the summer if Toronto is any indication 🙂 All I can say is, thank God for shade trees 😉
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I am so happy you like this photo because you are up there on my list of really good photographers. I’m still inspired to get to Hollywood Cemetery because of your earlier post.
It does get unbearable in the dog days of summer. That’s actually the time of year (August) we tend to get cabin fever, when we’re all hunkered down in the AC waiting for the heat to pass. Whenever I ask those who grew up without AC how they fared in the summer, among other things they say “we didn’t know any better.” That’s what the second floor of my porch was used for, by the way, a sleeping porch during the summer.
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{I’m blushing} … you think I’m a good photographer?!! … I so wish that was true! 🙂
You’ve just described the dead of winter for me … reluctant to do anything outside because it’s so damn cold.
Having said that, the heat really kicks the stuffing out of me.
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I like this photo. 🙂 Nice weekend wishes returned, Barbara!
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Thank you, Eric. Always enjoy seeing your smiling face pop in over here.
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Wow…I love the detail and the shadows, Barbara!
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Thank you so much, Christine.
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What a lovely photo! I love old buildings. I see in your tagline that you are restoring a 1915 farmhouse; we live in a 200+ year old renovated barn (it was renovated before we moved in), there is something special about living in a place that holds so many memories, isn’t there?
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Hello Grace. So you live in an actual barn. We call our old house the “barn” semi-affectionately. It sounds so much better than “money pit.” I’ll be popping over to your blog to see you’re up to!
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I love how looking through the lens of a camera, we seek and find such beautiful details in the simplest of things. There is such great beauty to be found everywhere! Look at the amount of work and intricacy that went into this window’s frame and molding. Exquisite!
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I couldn’t agree more, Jodi. I once photographed the detail of my living room mantel and it was one of my most popular photos on IG. If I had shot the entire fireplace, ho-hum. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your shots with that new camera of yours.
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So pretty, Barbara.
janet
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Thank you so much, Janet.
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You know I love the old building, Barbara. It’s a good looking history there in Richmod.
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Thanks, Mark. The grand dames of upstate New York architecture have their own special beauty too, I know.
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Pingback: weekly photo challenge: shadowed | Musings of a Random Mind
What’s particularly appealing about that is the reflection in the glass of what’s making the shadows ! Well done you ! 🙂
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Thank you, M-R!
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Every time we have visitors they fall in love with the architecture of San Jose…art deco, art nouveau….and as I look at their photographs more and more of the detail stands out for me.
I liked the treatment of this window with the shadow and reflection.
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Well, I’ve just spent a bit of time looking at San Jose architecture and among the glories, I saw the mixed used tower proposed by Moho Architects. Rather looks like chunky fingers on a blockish hand. I really need to add Costa Rica to our travel list.
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The council had a rush of blood to the head in the sixties and pulled down all sorts of wonderful buildings, replacing them with concrete tat, but it seems as if the tide is going to turn.
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The sixties is to blame for a LOT of really bad decisions in the UK too – tearing down historic medieval buildings for concrete boxes. What were the councils thinking of????
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Or in my area, I watch historic buildings -plantation homes in the country, mostly – fall into ruin and decay. Nobody seems to care.
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Oh, that’s criminal! I suppose no-one has the cash to fix them up and home loans are hard to get.
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Jude, the majority of the losses of grand old plantation happened by the 1930s. There is a very famous American woman photographer, Frances Benjamin Johnston, who went into the Deep South in the 1930s and photographed these magnificent (though carrying a dark past) homes which are now all in the Library of Congress National Archives. If you are interested, read this post which features a number of her outstanding photographs.
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I’ll look it up. What a shame though that they aren’t being preserved. It is such a large part of American history – or maybe it’s a part the Government want to pretend never happened.
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Most of the old mansions were privately owned high-maintenance properties that simply cost too much to run without all the “free labor.” And so families disbanded, moved, and deserted these huge plantations leaving them to literally rot on their foundations. There is one just down the road from me which I have taken numerous photos of….its history is that the owners sold all of the land to the State when they got too old to run the farm as a wildlife refuge and left the house to decay in about 1964. Makes me crazy.
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Backhanders.
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Wonderful shot, Barb. When in school in Wmsburg, I loved the colonial buildings up and down DOG street . . . with and without gorgeous wreaths.
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I particularly like the Governor’s Palace. Not much from the colonial era survives in Richmond so it’s good we have Wmsburg for a taste of what was. I haven’t been in ages, come to think of it.
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I love curves and circles. But the reflections and the dappled shadows are the best parts of this lovely photo.
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Thank you so much, Nicki. I am inspired to continue my architectural details photos now.
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Lovely photo. I can almost feel the heat reflecting from that dappled brickwork. Thanks for the link Barbara. 🙂
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You’re welcome, Sandra. Glad you like this one too.
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Barbara, this window looks like a jewel!
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Isn’t it marvelous, Barbara? So happy you like it.
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Very pretty window Barbara. Looks like a window I would see in downtown St. Louis. Love the shadows and the texture. The refection in the window is an extra treat. Good Morning!
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Good morning, Pix. Yes, this house caught my eye as not being typical of Southern architecture. It is in the Italianate style and is more what I would think to see up north. I’m delighted you like this shot!
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That is stunning! A perfect capture for the Photo Challenge. 🙂
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We both turned to our hometowns, Dor, for inspiration on this photo challenge. Your hat sign was a great entry! Thank you so much.
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We do tend to overlook the small details, don’t we? Lovely picture!
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Many thanks, Dianna.
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The reflections of the beautiful trees, along with the fine contrast of the red and detailed aged cornice on this framing are gorgeous, Barb! Such an exquisite ‘treat’ or ‘feast’ for the eyes. History comes alive when looking at the details, which inspire me more than the overall expanse of the topic of history.
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I know what you mean, Robin. Often larger truths are revealed in smaller details when it comes to history. Hope you’re having a great weekend.
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I may have mentioned this before, Barb. I have drawn over sixty pen and ink illustrations for eight home tours in Delaware and Lancaster, Ohio. They used my drawings as gifts, framing them and then made notepaper sold by AAUW here. I think this helps me to focus on the little details in buildings particularly, Barb.
I do feel when I read stories about times long ago, when I see pictures of dishes, artwork, clothing, buildings and the tapestries I get the sense of the era they came from more. (I also enjoy listening to their music. I enjoyed a movie about a woman who traveled around the Appalachian Mountains capturing their voices and accents on recordings. The book and movie were called, “The Songcatcher.”) So glad we share a common interest in culture and history, Barb.
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“The Songcatcher” sounds right up my alley, Robin. I did not know about your pen and ink illustrations and wish you had a way to upload them to your blog. Maybe someday! What a wonderful talent to possess and to know your drawings hang on somebody’s walls for years and years to enjoy.
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Sunlight and shadows dance across that building. Beautiful shot. Barbara, you made me laugh about the beastly hot summer day and how people survived without air conditioning. I’m told that before a.c., Florida was mostly inhabited by mosquitos. Mosquito Lagoon encompasses an area near where I live and it is aptly named.
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Florida would have been truly uninhabitable, wouldn’t it? No wonder people fled to Maine and the mountains around Asheville to escape that heat. I have a friend from Louisiana who explains that they basically just laid around on porches or the sofas with fans whirring waiting for evening. Everything just sloooowed down. Thanks, Judy!
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I truly can understand that reaction. 😉
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What a stunning photo Barbara. These wonderful old architectural appointments are so worth saving. No one could build them now even if they could afford it.
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I agree, where would we find the craftspeople to do this kind of work now? I suppose they must be out there….somewhere. So happy you like the photo, Kayti!
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Lovely, Barbara! I love the detail on this old buildings. I may have to boost Richmond up a little higher on my bucket list. 🙂
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Very cool, Barbara! Have you ever heard of a company called “Alphabet Photography”? (If not, it’s here: http://www.alphabetphotography.com/.) Anyway, that beautiful window you’ve photographed looks like a fancy M or possibly two A’s. I love it! 🙂
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Rachel, thank you for the link to this interesting website. I particularly like the architectural “letters”, as I suspect you knew I would. I didn’t see the letter “M” in my photo until you pointed it out and now it is so obvious. Very good!
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LOL! You’re welcome. Yes, after I discovered that site, I see letters EVERYWHERE!
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I love architectural details–each city seems to have their own nuances. Have you ever seen a book that really focuses on this subject?
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No, Kerry, I haven’t. I’ve just been playing around with improving my photography and realize that I do better honing in on the smaller details. I’m sure there must be something out there on the subject. You’re so right about the architectural nuances – I was in the historic district of Schenectady two summers ago and got some great shots there of heavy wrought iron and stone.
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This photography perfectly captures the feel of a Richmond summer day. I love the leafy reflections in the window. And yes, beastly hot without AC! I spent enough summers in un-airconditioned apartments in old Richmond to know first-hand! But oh, the fragrance of hot box and Magnolia 😉
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Thanks so much, Elizabeth. Oh yes, and the higher up the apartments, the worse it got.
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🙂 Yes, but we were young then, weren’t we? Hollywood is a great place for photography. I know you’ll have fun 😉
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I love that kind of detail in old buildings. I often see it in my own city but don’t stop to take a picture because I’m driving. Hopefully the next time my work brings me to Richmond I’ll have some time to walk around the city.
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And maybe have a blogger meet-up?😁
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Sure! I’ve only been to Richmond three times and I have no idea when I’ll be back. I’ll certainly let you know if it happens.
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It’s always the detail. For a writer, a photographer, an historian…an artist…
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I like the gothic detail as it works with the bricks. Years ago a friend gave me a book that was essentially a nineteenth-century DIY manual, and to my delight, all the architectural examples are Gothic Revival. Were I to own a house like this, I’d want to carry the design indoors and throughout!
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I agree, Mark. What a treasure that book must be to you. This style is a rare one in Richmond and captured my eye immediately.
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Such a gorgeous window. I love capturing this sort of detail too. And I love the dappled shadows.
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Thank you so much, Jude.
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Beautiful photo. Re the heat – I’ve often wondered that too, especially with all the clothes they wore.
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Hi Cat. It must have been just beastly. I truly can’t imagine.
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