1737. Roosevelt (former Jai Alai) Club, Manila

Dear María Lourdes,

At the vacant lot where today is the controversial Torre de Manila
it used to stand the Roosevelt Club, former Jai Alai that you may
remember have seen or even visited.
This wonderful Streamline Moderne landmark was sadly
demolished in 2000 but it is still remembered by many.

Warm regards,
R

1736. Haludovo Palace Hotel, Krk, Malinska, Croatia

Dear Josip,

"You have to feel, experience and understand the space's spirit
in which you create." (Boris Magaš)

Sincerely,
R

1735. JAT skyscraper, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dear Jan,

The top four floors of the old JAT (Yugoslavian Airlines) building
are today occupied by the hotel Hecco Deluxe.
The building is the first high-rise built in Sarajevo and it is not a
coincide that its shape resembles the one of a traditional air traffic
control tower.

Best,
R

1734. Varkauden Kirkko

Dear Erkki,

The parish church of Varkaus is one of the most significant
Finnish churches of the functionalist period. The typical
bold industrial silo structure is combined here with the more
traditional freestanding campanile with natural stone insets
in the base of it.

Sincerely,
R

1733. Sabaudia Azienda Agraria O.N.C.

Dear Luigi,

The main office building of the agricultural local agency was
called "il grattacielo" (the skyscraper) because with its four-story
tower was the highest building in Sabaudia. The buildings adjacent
to it included warehouses, stables, and residential quarters for the
O.N.C. employees.

Sincerely,
R

1732. Turku Lounais Suomen Maalaistentalo. Abo

Querida Inés,

Hace ya cinco años te envié una postal muy parecida a esta que
te mando ahora ( la número 951). Entre estas dos postales se
puede ver que ésta última es más fiel al edificio original que
construyó el gran maestro Aalto. En esta se aprecia que no hay
carteles publicitarios ni en la cornisa ni en la esquina y que los
toldos de los ventanales de planta baja aún no habían sido
instalados. Esta postal tiene matasellos de 1932, solamente 3 años
después de haber concluidos las obras.

Espero que estés bien.
Un beso,
R

1731.City Hall Loop, Rapid Transit Tunnel, New York, NY

Dear George,

"The architects of America owe him [Rafael Guastavino Moreno]
a debt of gratitude for not only having been a faithful and
conscientious contractor, but for having made possible a larger
field of architectural design." (Peter B. Wight)

Respectfully,
R

1730. Berlin Reinickendorf Aroser Allee

Dear Peter,

(...) Si nosotros encontráramos también una pura,
contenida, estrecha, humana franja de huerto, nuestra,
entre el río y la roca (...)
(Rainer Maria Rilke "Las Elegías de Duíno" 1922)

Regards,
R

1729. Järvenpää, Suomi Finland

Dear Joonas,

The interior of this church in Järvenpää is full of dramatic and
beautiful effects shaped by natural light. Just because of that this
church is considered to be a remarkable example of Finish
architectural modernism.

Sincerely
R

1728. University of Jyväskylä. The Teachers Training School and the Main Building in the background

Dear Ilkka,

When designing the plans for the Jyväskylä Institute of Pedagogics
in 1951 Aalto envisioned this place to become the "Athens of the
North" as he was inspired by the Greek Acropolis layout.

Sincerely,
R

1727. Santander, Puerto, muelle de Calderón

Mamá,

Este es uno de los edificio-barcos que vimos en nuestros paseos
por la maravillosa ciudad de Santander. El otro fue el cercano
Edificio Siboney, también con muchas referencias náuticas aunque
no tan evidentes como las de este Club Náutico.

Besos,
R

1726. FIAT Turín - The spiral roadway which leads to the roof track

Dear Marco,

"The spiral is a spiritualized circle. In the spiral form, the circle,
uncoiled, has ceased to be vicious;  it has been set free"
(Vladimir Nabokov)

Best regards,
R

1725. Brasilia, Torre Televisão

Dear Norman,

"If you go to see Brasilia, the important thing is this: you may or
may not like the buildings, but you could never say you had seen
something similar before" (Oscar Niemeyer)

P.S. Oscar Niemeyer was the architect of most of buildings of
new capital city Brasilia and Lucio Costa the urban planner. The
Television Tower is though a project of architecture signed by
Lucio Costa.

Sincerely,
R

1724. Longaberger basket building

Dear Louise,

"Symbol dominates space. Architecture is not enough. Because the
spatial relationships are made by symbols more than by forms,
architecture in this landscape becomes symbol in space rather than
form in space." (Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Steven
Izenour, Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of 
Architectural Form)

Regards,
R

1723. Helsinki Tullimakasiini

Dear Elissa,

Gunnar Taucher, who was Helsinki's city architect from 1924 to
1941, designed many public buildings including housing, hospitals,
schools, and many other facilities.  Among these, his harbor
warehouses shown in the picture. Today this building is serving as
a terminal for the Viking Line ferries company.

Regards,
R

1722. Hälsning från Eslöv

Dear Bengt,

Hans Asplund, the son of Gunnar Asplund, was also as his
father was, an important architect and professor. The Community
Center (Medborgarhuset) at Eslöv (shown on the top right picture)
is one of his first and most successful projects.

Sincerely,
R

1721. Kastrup Flyverbo

Dear Hans,

Flyverbo in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen where the main
international airport of the country is located, is a large residential
building that Thomsen and Kampmann designed and built for the
the DDL (Danish Airline) workers between 1947 and 1949.

Regards,
R

1720. Sagrada Familia, Gaudí

Querido David,

"La inteligencia sin ambición es un pájaro sin alas"
(Salvador Dalí)

Agradecido,
R

1719. Concepción, Chile, Estación Ferrocarriles del Estado

Querida Mónica,

"Primera condición de toda obra maestra: pasar inadvertida"
(Nicanor Parra, poeta chileno)

R

1718. Berlin-Reinickendorf-Ost, Aroser-allee mit Brückenhaus

Dear Siby,

In addition to the Siemensstadt housing estate and the "Horseshoe"
settlement in Britz among others, the "White Town" at the village
of Reinickendorf was one of the most remarkable functionalist
residential communities built in Berlin in the 1930s.
The centerpiece of this 60,000 square meter estate was the
bridge-like building across the Aroser Allee built by Otto Rudolf
Salvisberg.

Cheers,
R

1717. Stockholmsutställningen 1930

Dear Anne,

"(...) my parents went to visit the grand exhibition in Stockholm
in 1930. (...) There they were exposed to a new and simple, white
architecture that drew in light and air, one that let in the sunshine
and paid homage to the practicality, the uncovered- you might call
it the functionalist. This was evident in Gunnar Asplund's
exhibition buildings that were made with light constructions and
emanating something completely new in Scandinavia.(...)
(Jörn Utzon)

Sincereley
R

1716. Terme Radioattive Regina Isabella Lacco Ameno (Isola Ischia)

Querido Gio,

"Dejando intactos solo la columnata exterior, su nombre, los
buenos augurios, y la historia sin cambios" (Ignazio Gardella)

Saludos cordiales,
R

1715. Secessions-Ausstellung, Wien

Querida Cristina,

Te mando un preciosa postal de 106 años de antigüedad.
Esta es además un magnífico complemento de otra que publiqué
en este blog hace ahora casi diez años el día 7 de enero de
2009 (postal número 176).

Todo mi cariño y feliz año nuevo.
R

1714. Bruxelles 1958. Pavillon de la Yougoslavie

Dear Sam,

This elegant and graceful, almost ethereal Yugoslav Pavilion
was highly admired when built in the occasion of the Brussel's
Exposition of 1958.  Today it is still standing in a different
location: Saint Paulus College at Wevelgem, Belgium.

Best regards,
R

1713. Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp

Dear David,

"The purpose of architecture is to move us"
(Le Corbusier)

Buon Natale,
R

1712. Republic Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Dear Zurab,

The monumental concrete arches nicknamed "Andropov's Ears"
were built to honor an oficial visit of Yuri Andropov, the general
secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and former
chairman of the KGB.
The monument was demolished in 2005 after Georgia's
independence from the Soviet Union occurred in 1991.

Sincerely,
R

1711. Baghdad University. Office Tower.

Dear George,

"Baghdad is an ideal project.(...) The total design of a
university is a goal achieved" (Walter Gropius)

Regards,
R

1710. L'Ecole la plus moderne de France

Querido Walter,

"No les evitéis a vuestros hijos las dificultades de la vida,
enseñadles más bien a superarlas" (Louis Pasteur)

Un abrazo,
R

1709. MIT's Ray and María Stata Center

Dear Sarah,

"The Stata's appearance is a metaphor for the freedom, daring,
and creativity of the research that's supposed to occur inside it."
(Robert Campbell)

Regards,
R

1708. Hotel Xenia, Poros

Dear Dimitri,

"You have to become laòs (the people of God) yourself
first before you can show others what is valuable from
your own people" (Aris Konstantinidis)

Sincerely,
R

1707. The Kruševo Makedonium, Macedonia

Querido José,

En 1903 un grupo de macedonios hizo frente al ataque del
Imperio Otomano iniciando un movimiento que desembocaría
en la creación de la República de Macedonia.
En 1974 se levantó este monumento-edificio que recuerda
extrañamente a las válvulas de un corazón, quizá inspirado
por los corazones de aquel grupo.

Un abrazo,
R

1706. Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan

Dear Toyo,

"I just shake the buildings out of my sleeves"
(Frank Lloyd Wright)

Respectfully,
R

1705. The Juilliard School building at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Dear Marcel,

"The most important features of architecture are space, structure,
and scale" (Eduardo Catalano)

Best regards,
R

1704. Vouksenniskan kirkko

Dear Raili,

"Yet a harp might be constructed
Even of the bones of fishes,
If there were a skillful workman,
Who could from the bones construct it"

(Elias Lönnrot, The Kalevala)
Respectfully,
R 

1703. National Bank of Denmark, Copenhagen

Queridos Luz, Manolo y Gabriel,

"Los dioses no regalan grandeza. Nada verdaderamente
grande se obtiene gratis" (Soren Kierkegaard)

Besos,
R

1702. Bermeo (Bizkaya) Batzoki

Cristina,

El Batzoki (Sede política del PNV) de Bermeo es un edificio
que oscila entre el racionalismo y el expresionismo dominante
en Europa en la época de su construcción.
Las referencias naúticas en las formas redondeadas de la esquina,
balcones y barandillas son claramente distinguibles.

Besos,
R

1701. Landesschule Klotzsche

Dear Alvaro,

An old postcard depicting the Saxon State School in Dresden.
When I looked at this picture beautiful memories of my visit
to your Teachers Training College at Setúbal came to my mind.
A similar sense of elegance and harmony are shared between
these buildings.

Gratefully,
R

1700. Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä

Querida Cristina,

"En una ciudad había una mujer tan feliz que se la expuso
en un museo, ahí ella sonreía. Irradiaba una felicidad tal que
la gente parada en la puerta tuvo que usar anteojos de sol, no
se permitió la entrada a los niños. Cada hora recitó un aforismo
sobre el amor, la gente llegó y escribió en sus pequeños cuadernos
cuadriculados, también suspiraron felices. Ellos no vieron cómo el 
celador por las noches llevaba a la mujer al cuarto de atrás, le abría
una tapa en la espalda, le recargaba las pilas, cambiaba su falda, le
lavaba el cabello sedoso. La boca de la mujer, más profunda que
ninguno de los lagos del país de canciones tristes, se abría y 
cerraba, tragaba todo y sonreía" (Kati Neuvonen)

Besos,
R