Seaside Stay

Courtesy Hotel Creators by OliveSeon

Ocean Drive - (BTT) While we have done our fair share of covering the very best in hospitality over the year, I dare say this might be the most opulent let, if only for the site alone. Perched just feet away from the ocean, the Hotel Creators dwarfs the buildings around it, including the adjacent lighthouse. Thankfully it does its guests a great service is being beautiful in addition to big - a grand entry sets the stage at the ground floor, while the rest of the building's massing is playfully broken up with a series of setbacks, towers, and balconies.

Microscale Monday 02-18-2013

Courtesy mini LEGO house by ninbendo

Tinytown - (BTT) After a some recent (and stunning) examples of modern single-family residences, it's nice to return to a more traditional little slice of suburbia. This one-story charmer might be small in footprint, but is large on details - especially nice are the gardens and bay window overlooking the driveway. For this happy couple and their dog, it might not make the cover of the next issue of Mansions Monthly, but it is home.

Microscale Monday 02-11-2013

Courtesy Basilika by moctown

Abbey Road - (BTT) Religion is a touchy subject, as proven with the announcement that the Pope decided he's had enough of wearing pointy hats and riding around in Tupperware cars. Still, regardless of your own personal relationship with the higher power of your choice, it's hard to deny that some of the most important architecture is divinely inspired. This basilica, beautifully topped with striking blue roofs, exemplifies this point as well as any structure.

C'est Magnifique

Courtesy Avenue Saint-Jacques by snaillad 

Paris, France - (BTT) When you close your eyes and imagine Paris, likely the second thing to come into frame after the Eiffel Tower are the broad avenues lined with classical buildings such as the stunning example above - shops and restaurants on the bottom to encourage an active streetscape, apartments above to keep the buildings active at all hours of the day. While never becoming the household name that Gustave Eiffel has, at least not internationally, Georges-Eugène Haussmann deserves just as much credit for giving the City of Light its iconic look. Conveniently located right at the entrance of a Metro station, this building is more that just a pretty facade. Go inside you will find a lot going on - restaurants and cafes, dentist offices, and apartments that are the height of luxury.

Geometric Gem

Courtesy Schröder House by TechnicNick 

Utrecht, The Netherlands - (BTT) We seem to be on a bit of a modernist kick at the moment, and for good reason - not everything needs moldings to be a masterpiece. The Schröder House, designed by Dutch architect Gerrit Thomas Rietveld and completed in 1924, proves this to be true. Quite possibly the best architectural expression of Neoplasticism (De Stijl to the locals) ever created, the Schröder House is made up of a series of intersecting planes with key elements highlighted in primary colors. Inside the building is almost completely open with a virtually wall-free interior - quite radical at the time, when the concept of loft apartments were still decades away from being trendy.

Scandinavian Simplicity

Courtesy Villa Whiteout by birgburg

Scandinavia - (BTT) Looking just as good now as when it was first built back in the 1930s, this modern dwelling is newly renovated and ready for the next eight decades. The pure white facades punctuated by black trim on the windows and doors is a classic look for the era, but a bit of brickwork helps bring a little color and contrast to the composition. On the ground floor in a beautifully open plan is a living room wonderfully detailed with ample seating and a cow skin rug in addition to a kitchen sure to please any aspiring chefs in the family. Head up the spiral stairs to the upper level to find the master bedroom, complete with a walk in closet and private terrace.

Parcel Police

Courtesy Post office / Police depot by Maciej Drwięga

Over by the train tracks - (BTT) Every so often the post office raises the cost of a stamp by a penny, and every time they do people get in a panic as if the idea of something increasing in price over the years is unique to the evil mind of the Postmaster General. The ability to stuff any document in an envelop and have it delivered by hand to any address throughout the entire country in no doubt worth 45 cents, but now they want 46 cents!? Truly this is an injustice for the ages! This charming little building has the right idea - should any irate customer throw a tantrum about a service that still costs less than a gumball, all that the great employees of the post office need to do is knock on the party wall and the neighboring police will rush in to help defuse the situation.