John Dillinger

It's tough to gage the size of this photo, but this mural of John Dillinger, aka Frank Sullivan, is around 20 feet tall. It's on one of the walls inside the Landmark Center Building in downtown St Paul. From my understanding, Dillinger and his gang often made St Paul their home. The Landmark Center, which used to be a court house in the early 1990's, was the location for Dillinger's trial at some point in his lifetime. 5 foot, 7 inches tall....

Contrasting Building Style

Just showing the difference in building materials, design and style many of the buildings have in downtown St Paul.

I Stopped And Paused

I was walking on the second or third floor of the Landmark Center in downtown St Paul when I passed this stairwell. It was an unexpected location for a reflection photo.

Spiral Staircase

Looking up in the East spiral staircase at the Landmark Center.

Castle Like Structure

The immense, castle-like structure with two massive towers and a fanciful array of small towers, windows, and dormers became an immediate landmark. It had taken ten years to complete, covered an entire city block, cost more than $2.5 million dollars, and at the time of its completion was the largest building in the city. The exterior design incorporated two contemporary styles, Richardsonian Romanesque and Chatequesque, executed in St. Cloud pink granite.

Federal Building, Built In 1902

Continuing on from yesterday's photo. I mentioned congress approved funding for a new Federal Building in 1891. Actually there were 33 Federal Buildings that were approved funding throughout the country. All 33 buildings authorized were designed in the office of the Supervisory Architect of the Treasury Department. Although the Supervisory Architect signed all plans, the designs were actually collaborations among the more than 500 employees in his office; architects, engineers, draftsmen, specification writers, and cost estimators. Architects in private practice caled the office a "plan factory," referring to its practice of cranking out the design piecmeal and only a step ahead of the construction process. Others criticized the office for the standardized appearance and floor plans of the 33 buildings. Judging by the photos I've seen of some of the Federal Buildings, many of you have a building similar to the St Paul building, which is now known as 'Landmark Center'.

Inside The Landmark Center

The last couple of days, I've been teasing you with ceiling photos of the Landmark Center in downtown St Paul. It has been 20 years since I had last set foot inside the building, but I do recall learning that the building originally was built without electricity and used natural light for the occupants to see what they were doing.

By the late 1880's Minnesota's capital, St Paul and it's sister town across the river, Minneapolis had grown into thriving young cities. Only 40 years earlier, when St Paul was little more than a small collection of houses and muddy streets, Henry Jackson had dispensed the city's mail from a shelf in his dry goods store. Now St Paul was receiving more than 50 million pieces of mail annually, and the post office and federal courts had outgrown their space in the city's original federal building at Fifth and Wabasha streets. Civic leaders and elected officials began lobbying Congress for a much larger federal building. After several uncuccessful attempts, the St Paul contingent succeeded in 1891 when Congress approved a grand new building, one that would confirm St Paul's rapid rise and promising future.

I See A Landmark

On January 4, 2008 I posted a nighttime shot of the Landmark Center from within Rice Park. This one was taken obviously during the daytime hours, but to the west side of the building looking into the building across the street from it. I thought the colors turned out fantastic and the funny shapes the windows make don't distort the buildings design too much.

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Night Vision Goggles

I had my night vision goggles on while taking this photo in downtown St Paul at Rice Park of the Landmark Center. With the cloud cover and all of the lights of downtown, the sky and the odd color to it for the photo.

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Shit On A Shingle

Gasp! There's a swear word in the title! You'll have to click on the photo to look closer if you don't understand today's curse word in my title and how it relates to todays photo. I've given the literal meaning to this phrase thanks to some local pigeons defecating on the Landmark Center roof tiles in downtown St Paul.

However, the meaning behind today's title stems from my father. Growing up with my folks, but mom would make this dinner. There was toasted bread and something like cream of mushroom soup and chopped beef. My dad would call it 'shit on a shingle' but there was a real name for this dish, I believe it was 'chipped beef on toast' perhaps. I know some of you know exactly what I'm talking about and some of you have a look of confusion.

I just celebrated one year with this photo blog, why not start the next year out with a little flare and personality? I'm not a real big fan of being politically correct so you'll get some oddities here on this daily photo site. If I made you smile today, you're welcome!