Tour Guide
Mom's visiting from California. This trip she wanted to see some stuff she hadn't previously had a chance to see. Circumstances have prevented us from doing a lot of it, but one thing we did get to do was pay a visit to the St. Paul City Hall/Ramsey County Courthouse. It's an amazing art-deco building. According to the official history, a bonding measure for it was passed just before the stock market crash of 1929. As a result of the crash, materials and labor were much cheaper than anticipated. Instead of spending the extra money on, oh, say, feeding and housing the poor, the city instead spent it on exotic materials and extra craftsmanship in the construction of the building. Same as it ever was.Naturally, I didn't have a camera with me. But never fear; the Internet comes through, sort of. The main floor is dominated by a long, narrow, very dramatic three-story atrium walled with black marble, dominated by an amazing 30-something-foot-tall Mexican Onyx statue of Native Americans at one end. The feeling you get is that you're standing in the grand hallway of the Wizard of Oz (only I suppose that would be green marble, not black).
The building is 15 or so stories tall. Each floor seems to use a different exotic wood and/or marble as its primary decorative motif. But to get there, you have to take the elevators, complete with bas-relief bronze doors, each one different and beautiful.
Eh. I can't do it justice with the few pictures I can find online and the time I have to write about it. Information available here.
posted by MeanMrMustard @ 6:21 PM
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