New windows and future patio doors? on the south side of the old Brandeis & Sons Department Store.

My first visit to Japan was far too brief - just a week to explore Tokyo and Kyoto. And yet, it surpassed my expectations, demolished my preconceptions, and spoiled me with color and vibrancy.

These images do not utilize AI beyond basic de-noising and are original imagery with no items added or removed (such as errant leaves, pieces of trash, or power lines). What you see is as close to the moment as I experienced it.

All images by Alex Berger, please reach out directly for licensing or usage requests.

Find more of my work at alex-berger.com or on virtualwayfarer.com.

The Renwick Gallery was designed by James Renwick in 1859 for the Corcoran Gallery of Art. It is on the National Register of Historic Places #69000300 and a National Historic Landmark.

Holy Cross Church was dedicated in 1848 and is on the National Register of Historic Places #79001837.

Looks like a religious spaceship landed in front of a Renaissance Revival church.

The architect incorporated historic buildings into the design of the stadium.

The Government Service Center by Paul Rudolph was designed in 1962 and finished in 1971. It's in the Brutalist style with his signature ribbed concrete or "corduroy concrete".

The Fox Theater opened in 1930 as the Tower Theater and closed in 1974. It sat empty for twenty-five years, and was finally restored in 2005. It is on the National Register of Historic Places #03000905.

Auguste Chouteau and John Lucas donated land to St. Louis County for a courthouse in 1816. The original courthouse was constructed of brick in the Federal style of architecture and completed in 1828. A second courthouse was designed by architect Henry Singleton, which incorporated the original courthouse as the east wing of the building. The second courthouse was designed with four wings and a dome in the center of its axis. The Old Courthouse underwent a second period of construction beginning in 1851. Due to the extensive remodeling, the original dome, a classic revival style, was replaced. The new dome was of wrought and cast iron with a copper exterior in an Italian Renaissance style, and was designed by William Rumbold. Carl Wimar was commissioned to paint the murals on the interior of the dome. The Old Courthouse was abandoned by the City of St. Louis in 1930. In 1935, St Louis voted a bond issue to raze nearly 40 blocks around the courthouse in the center of St. Louis for the new Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The courthouse was deeded to the Federal Government in 1940 by the city of St. Louis.

In 1846, slave Dred Scott sued for his freedom in the St Louis County Courthouse based on the fact that he and his wife had lived in the free state of Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin. The case was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1856 case Dred Scott v. Sandford which ruled against Scott. The decision In effect, ruled that slaves had no claim to freedom; they were property and not citizens; and they could not bring suit in federal court.

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (including the Arch, Old Cathedral, and Old Courthouse) is on the National Register #87001423, and is also a National Historic Landmark.

On May 17, 1664 issue a warrant to purchase this property for use by the Royal Navy as a gun wharf. A gun wharf was where a ship would offload all of its guns before it went in to dry dock so that the weight of the guns would not destroy the keel when it was no longer supported by water. After ships went to steel hulls, the Gunwharf Quays was converted into a torpedo school called the HMS Vernon. It saw great use in World War I and World War II. It was decommission in 1996 and Berkeley Homes adaptively reused it into a shopping and residential complex. The Main Gate and surviving walls date to the early 1870s and are a Grade II listed building.

The Alamo National Bank Building (left) opened in 1929 and was designed in the Art Deco style. The building was adaptively reused into a Drury Hotel. It is on the National Register #06000364. And the Tower Life Building opened in 1929 as the Smith-Young Tower, and designed by Ayrers & Ayrers in a Art Deco interpretation of Gothic Revival. The Tower Life Building is on the National Register #91001682.

The Old State House was constructed in 1713 in the Georgian style. It served as the chambers for the Royal Governor and then the government of the Commonwealth until the move to the new State House in 1798. It was the Boston City Hall from 1830 to 1841. It was restored in the 1880s. The Old State House is on the National Register #66000779, and is also a National Historic Landmark. It is also part of the Boston National Historical Park, National Register #74002222.

The Unity Temple was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and opened in 1908. It is probably one of Wright's most well-known works and is on the US tentative list for the World Heritage List. It is on the National Register #70000240 and is also a National Historic Landmark.

The Royal Military College (RMC) is the military academy of the Canadian Forces. RMC was established in 1876. It is on the Canadian Historic Register.

The Empire State Plaza was the idea of then governor Nelson Rockefeller. It was designed by Harrison and Abramovitz and was constructed from 1965 to 1976. Rockefeller reportedly doodled his ideas on a napkin incorporating elements from Brasilia and Chandrigahr. As was typical for urban renewal efforts of the era, an entire neighborhood was destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up. The focus of the development was the plaza itself were the buildings are situated along an axis emanating from the 1860s Romanesque Revival capitol building. The capitol building was constructed from 1860 and finally finished in 1899. A series of different architects worked on the building giving it it's mixture of Renaissance Revival and Romanesque Revival elements. The capitol is on the National Register of Historic Places #71000519, part of the Lafayette Park historic district which is also on the NRHP #78001837, and also a National Historic Landmark. Empire State Plaza is not yet on the NRHP.

Brooklyn Borough Hall was designed in 1835 by architect Gamaliel King. It was completed in 1849 to be used as the City Hall of the City of Brooklyn, but when the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, a portion of Westchester (The Bronx), and Richmond consolidated into New York City it became the Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Brooklyn Borough Hall is on the National Register #80002630.

It's amazing to me how the District has kept these historic schools going. It's not that way here in Champaign.

I love that they kept the Central Library downtown and they adaptively reuse a historic building!! I don't have a photo of it but the parking structure is great with these huge books.

In the West Ninth Street-Baltimore Avenue Historic District , National Register #76001113.

I wonder if these buildings once looked a lot alike.

The original church at this location was built in 1828, during lulls in the construction of the Rideau Canal, though the church building seen here was built in 1872, and then, much later, in 1988, an office building attached directly to the church, St. Andrew's Tower, was built. St. Andrew's Tower is mainly the headquarters of the Department of Justice, but the church still has some offices in the lower floors.

The two source photos were composited together in Autostitch.

Interesting, the Avant building on the left was originally constructed in 1971 as the Dulski Federal Building.

a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/167197_1015011139...

It was adaptively reused (basically stripped down to the structure) into an Embassy Suites, offices, and condos.

I don't know what the building on the right is, but it deserves to be saved.

The Customhouse and Post Office was designed by Alfred Mullett in 1873. It is one of two surviving Federal buildings by Mullett. The other one is the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House. You can't see it from this perspective, but there is a large domed portion on the other side of the building.

This building's adaptive reuse was part of a huge controversy between the Landmarks Association of St Louis and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Basically the developers interested in the adaptive reuse of the Old Post Office wanted to demolish the historic Century Building for a parking structure (which is what eventually happened). The National Trust sided with the developers horror, and the Century Building came tumbling down.

The Customhouse and Post Office (Old Post Office) is on the National Register #68000053, and it is also a National Historic Landmark.

On the foreground a beautiful old warehouse and behind it the Tower on South (Architect: Renzo Piano)

On the left: part of the Erasmus Bridge.

The Iolani Palace was constructed in 1871 and designed by Thomas J. Baker in the Hawaiian Regional style (think of Second Empire in this case).

The Iolani Palace is on the National Register #66000293, and is also a National Historic Landmark.

The Government Service Center by Paul Rudolph was designed in 1962 and finished in 1971. It's in the Brutalist style with his signature ribbed concrete or "corduroy concrete".

The Gothic Revival style cathedral was completed in April 1914 and designed by Charles A. MacDonald and George Winkler. It is on the National Register #82003704.

St Joseph's Church originated in 1876 with this church structure constructed in 1909. St Joseph's Church was surrounded on three sides in 1945 by Joske's Department Store.

In the Alamo Plaza Historic District, on the National Register #77001425.

The Minton Capehart Federal Building (designed by Woollen Associates) and the obelisk in Veterans Memorial Plaza which is part of the Indiana World War Memorial Historic District which is on the National Register #89001404 and also a National Historic Landmark.

My friend Brian named this "The Twinkie" It's some kind of entrance to the Civic Arena.

The Old State House was constructed in 1713 in the Georgian style. It served as the chambers for the Royal Governor and then the government of the Commonwealth until the move to the new State House in 1798. It was the Boston City Hall from 1830 to 1841. It was restored in the 1880s. The Old State House is on the National Register #66000779, and is also a National Historic Landmark. It is also part of the Boston National Historical Park, National Register #74002222.

From the marker:

This structure w as built to house the San Antonio National Bank, organized by George W. Brackenridge and others in 1866 as the first federally chartered banking institution in the city. Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz, A New York architect, designed the building using limestone mined from area Quarries. Completed in 1886, it served as the fourth structure for the bank. The Victorian design features moorish arches, ornate ironwork, and a decorative southeast corner tower. The bank occupied the facility until 1970.

This is on the National Register #72001348, and found in the San Antonio Downtown and River Walk Historic District which is on the National Register of Historic Places #100002128.

I almost didn't want to take this photo. It is the new addition to the R.O.M. - the Royal Ontario Museum on Bloor St. at University Ave.

I have to say, in my opinion, it's the ugliest thing I have ever seen in architecture. I don't know whose idea this was, which developers, politicians, etc. were involved.

The original building is a wonderful piece of architecture and it has been totally ruined with this addition of this monstrocity.

Next time I am in this area, I will take a photo of the front of this building and you will see what I mean.

See the notes, where I have pointed some of the original building.

You know in school my professor's would have killed me for putting trees up on a roof.

On the foreground: the harbour office, on the background: the flat iron building (Het Strijkijzer) www.skyscrapercity.info/100.php?id=4&bid=374 The harbor office was built in 1900. Architect: A.A. Schadee

Fourth Avenue (originally Cherry Street) east for a block was called the Men's Quarter with the heart of the Quarter being Printer's Alley. Printer's Alley was a series of bars and "other" establishments that served the more reputable places on Fourth Avenue. Nashville was a "dry town" starting in 1909 but the establishments still thrived. In 1939, purchasing liquor became legal except for by drink so most places allowed their patrons to bring in their own bottles.

In the Printer's Alley Historic District National Register #82003964.

The Government Service Center by Paul Rudolph was designed in 1962 and finished in 1971. It's in the Brutalist style with his signature ribbed concrete or "corduroy concrete".

Wong Sai Sin Temple

The Bank of Canada is Canada's "central bank", responsible for matters dealing with currency and monetary policy. It is not a commercial bank.

The original stone structure in the middle was designed by Montreal architect S.G. Davenport and built from 1937 and 1938. The glass additions were designed by architect Arthur Erikson and the architectural firm Marani Rounthwaite & Dick. I was surprised to find out in Wikipedia that they were completed in 1979. From the look of the structure, I would have guessed that they were built in the early 1990s.

You can see reflections of the Confederation Building, the Justice Building, and the Ottawa Marriott Hotel.

The Holy Trinity Catholic Church opened in 1896 and was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Nicholas Joseph Clayton. It is on the National Register #84001261

A church has been located here since 1784. La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles dates to 1861 although it utilized construction material from an 1822 church. Although not individually listed on the National Register (wonder why?) it is part of the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, #72000231.

I don't know what came first, the gas station or the church above it. It's on a street corner in Rosslyn, Virginia, which is part of Arlington. Locals call it "Our Lady of Exxon" but it looks to be a Chevron now. The old name seems to stick.

The First National Bank Building has recently been adaptively reused into lofts. The was designed in 1922 by Henry Trost.

On the National Register #79003127.

The Royal Military College (RMC) is the military academy of the Canadian Forces. RMC was established in 1876. It is on the Canadian Historic Register.

(Left) Currie Building, Building No. 15 was constructed in 1918.

www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=4389&...

(Middle) MacKenzie Building, Building No. 16 was constructed in 1876-78 and designed by Thomas Seaton Scott Chief Architect of Public Works.

www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=4382&...

A recent ( and first) visit to the wonderful and vibrant city of Porto revealed a surprise around every corner. This single site looked like a lesson in photography with a very obvious checklist of colours, light, shadow, angles and textures very evident.

"Parisian Tapestry: View from the Wheel" is a sweeping panorama captured from the heights of Paris's iconic Ferris wheel. This photograph presents a unique aerial perspective of the Louvre, its historical facade and the modernity of the glass pyramid merging in a seamless tableau of the old and new.

Gazing upon this image, one is transported to the moment of ascension on the Ferris wheel, where the grandeur of Paris unfurls beneath a sky that watches over centuries of art, culture, and life. The courtyard, a mosaic of people against the classical architecture, reflects the vibrant pulse of the city, a contrast to the quiet dignity of the surrounding edifices.

This is Paris seen through a rare lens, offering a view that is ordinarily fleeting, captured here for perpetual admiration. The essence of my journey to Paris is encapsulated in this frame—the thrill of discovery and the reverence for a city that is both a museum and a canvas, where every glance holds a story and every moment is a work of art.