Lesser-known, but Incredibly Beautiful Buildings in Your Neighborhood
 

What are some of your local gems, those buildings that are not extremely well-known, but really speak to you.

In my town, Pittsburgh, the Buhl Building is one of my absolute favorites. It's blue and white terra-cotta make it pop so distinctively in a sea of brown stone and brick.

http://www.phlf.org/wp-content/uploa...buhl_2_500.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Pittsburgh.jpg

image credit: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, Wikimedia Foundation

I like the Buhl building too! I took this photo a few weeks ago and i'm really happy with the way it turned out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2/P1010856.jpg

The Flatiron Building, Atlanta - 5 years older and considerably shorter than it's more famous NYC cousin, but still beautiful. :)

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1072/1...bbf97c4305.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippers...n/photostream/

Brewster Building, right up the block:
http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal...eb112008-6.jpg
http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/November-2008/On-the-Market-In-Lake-View-a-Brewster-Building-Condo/

Here is a small building in a neighbourhood in Halifax that I've always found interesting and unique:

http://i.pbase.com/g3/30/31330/3/53666638.IMG_0397.jpg
(photo is mine)

There are a lot of little gems in that part of town. Another nice one is Benjamin Wier House:

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4085/4...d1baeb5d_b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/auvet/4...n/photostream/

Next door is Keith House. I hesitate to post this one because it's being restored and probably will look a lot nicer soon. The Keith Brewery (1820) is well-known but this 1860's mansion doesn't get a lot of attention:
http://www.gfduffusandco.ca/KH.gif
http://www.gfduffusandco.ca/KH.htm

Probably the best would be the Steinway Mansion, once owned by the piano-making family.

I just love the vernacular rowhouse architecture in DC. Here's an example (edit: although come to think of it, I like the ones with turrets more than these.)

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5103/5...4fb10eda_b.jpg

Lots of gems here in Koreatown, Los Angeles. They're a mish-mash of styles, but I'm partial to the art deco ones myself. I need to take some photos and do a thread of these sometime.

840 S Serrano Ave
http://www.you-are-here.com/building/admiral.jpg

the Val D'amour (854 S Oxford Ave)
http://i.imgur.com/C7Ikf.png

the Wiltern Theater (3790 Wilshire Blvd)
(Well known here, but probably not so much outside of LA)
http://www.southlandarchitecture.com...01005-006a.jpg

Bullocks Wilshire (3050 Wilshire Blvd)
(this one is also well-known to locals, but probably wouldn't be recognizable to residents of other cities)
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2522/3...a72c80d2_z.jpg

What neighborhood are those particular row-houses in? Absolutely beautiful buildings everyone.

The Beaux-Arts style Candler Building was completed in 1906 by Coca-Cola magnate Asa Candler. It is one of Atlanta's grandest landmarks and is considered a masterpiece of classic design and architectural detail, but is not well known outside of Atlanta.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3292/2...d7c80fdf_o.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/negfoto...n/photostream/

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2509/4...32dbc743_z.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryke...n/photostream/

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2101/2...308f4fbb_z.jpg http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4072/4...73e7f854_z.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sminor/...n/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/youngic...n/photostream/

A few blocks from my house is the Peter Hemingway Pool, which just this year was awarded the prestigious Prix du XXe siecle award for architecture.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7056/6...0fd4b8a2_b.jpg
Normal Life Resumes by brenGT2, on Flickr

Here is a description of the award and why the pool was chosen:
http://raic.org/honours_and_awards/a...12/index_e.htm

I don't know if any of my choices would be considered "incredibly beautiful" as the thread title suggests, but......Back in 2005 and prior I would have said the Villa De Chantal school (1901) a few blocks from my home. Me and Virginia loved to walk the dog on the grounds of this place, especially after dark but it burned to the ground (arson?) in July 2005...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...i/Dcp_0652.jpg

So my current choice(s) are the Kelly house (1892) just down the block from me. The orginal owner was Frank Kelly, partner to Rock Island gangster John Looney whos home is next door. The 2002 movie Road to Perdition was based on the John Looney character......

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...kellyhouse.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ellyhouse2.jpg

.....And on the other side of my neighborhood, a place with unparalleled views on the edge of the bluff and can be seen for miles down the river valley is Steepmeadow Apartments (condos) Built between 1960 an 1962, designed by the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...teepmeadow.jpg

The north side of Q Street NW, between 14th and 13th sts. I lived right by these when I lived in DC :)

http://goo.gl/maps/DFPo