Libraries as Architectural Marvels

When you think of great architecture, you probably think of cathedrals, glistening spires of the latest Donald Trump tower or a museum...maybe even an ancient castle.

Below are 20 of the world's most beautiful libraries. I hope you enjoy the tour. I find the architecture to be in many cases, profound.

Each blog entry has 5 photos, so be sure to click the actual blog entry on the right-hand side if scrolling doesn't show you all 20 photos. Click on each photo for an enlarged version.

The first library featured belongs to Jay Walker, the founder of Priceline.com and Walker Digital. Jay and his wife Eileen have two children, Evan and Lindsey, and have made their home in Ridgefield, Connecticut since 1990. Walker's personal library occupies 3,600 square feet and features books, artifacts and models of space exploration, cryptography and James Bond films.

I hope you enjoy the tour!



Veronica Franco

Jay Walker's Private Library




Melk Monastery Library, Melk, Austria




Trinity College LIbrary, AKA, The Long Room, Dublin, Ireland




Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil




Abbey Library St. Gallen, Switzerland

Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel, Germany




Wiblingen Monastary Library, Ulm, Germany




Biblioteca Geral University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal




Strahov Monastery - Theological Library, Prague, Czech Republic




Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada

Library of the Benedictine Monastery of Admont, Austria




National Library, Belarus




George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland, USA




Central Library, Seattle





Stiftsbibliothek Klosterneuburg, Klosterneuburg, Austria

Sansovino Library, Rome, Italy




Library of Congress, Washington, DC, US





Old British Reading Room, British Museum, London, England




Riksdagen Library, Swedish Parliament Library, Stockholm, Sweden




Rijkmuseum Library, Amsterdam

The Service Economy

-from Edge Perspectives With John Hagel

The Service Economy Made Tangible
Everyone knows that we now live in a service economy much more than an industrial economy. But sometimes it helps to see some statistics to drive this point home.

Here are some that I came across in a recent article on “Old School Economics” by Christopher Caldwell:

“the U.S. now has more choreographers (16,340) than metal-casters (14,880)”
“more people make their livings shuffling and dealing cards in casinos (82,960) than running lathes (65,840)”
“there are almost three times as many security guards (1,004,130) as machinists (385,690)”
According to a chart accompanying the article, there are also more fashion designers (15,670), landscape architects (22,130) and meeting and convention planners (42,510) than metal-casters (14,880).

We're not in Kansas any more. It will unfortunately take a bit longer for economic analysis and management practices to catch up to all the implications of this transition.

Weekend Crime Lab

One of my pet peeves has to do with how many CSI spin-offs there are cluttering up the programming schedule. When I grew up, we had one Gunsmoke, not Gunsmoke:Tombstone, Gunsmoke: Dodge City, Gunsmoke: Alaska...its a bit ridiculous and overplayed. Couldn't the writers have come up with a totally different show instead of recycling the same exact premise in different locations, as if a homicide committed in Florida might be any different than one committed in New York?

So last night, I was lying in bed watching television, had just finished off a second glass of Chardonnay when I saw what I thought was a commercial for yet another CSI franchise. I raised my voice and shouted to my Producer friend who was in the bathroom "They've done it again! Those uncreative dorks without a single original idea in their puny heads have created yet another CSI show! Can you believe it?!?!?! Its called CSI Weekends! Sheeesh!!! When is this insanity going to stop?!?!?!?!?!..."

My friend popped his head out of the bathroom and blankly stared at the television for a few seconds and flatly informed me, "Those are reruns."

He continues, "What did you think? That they created an entirely new show about crimes that are committed on the weekend? Since crimes that happen Monday thru Friday aren't as interesting as the ones on the weekend, they had to create a whole new show about it. Saturday, now that is a really interesting crime that is committed on a Saturday." At this point I am giggling furiously. He says, "Sunday might be a slow day, but not for murderers!"

His rant continues on,
"Hey, I know what happens to criminals who commit a crime during the week, but what about the ones that are committed on the weekend? Do they just get away with it??? They better create a show just for the crimes committed on Saturdays and Sundays, so they'll get caught."

Oh well, ridicule me as you will, however, I still don't put it past those uninspired greedy network suits to create a CSI: Weekends show, with an all-new "weekend crew" (cast) to show us what happens when a murder is committed, on the weekend.

Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here

Words failed me, as did the room service

One Night Only

If you are in town for a Halloween party, stay at the Chateau Marmont because, believe me, its for one night only.

Today I walked up Sunset on my daily walk and decided to drop by the Chateau Marmont, a hotel with a historic name. Yet, to date, I had never visited.

I was very disappointed. Its old, gothic and musty with a feel of Batman's cave. The entire zeitgeist is depressing as if haunted by the ghosts of the many who have died here, including me, whilst waiting for lunch - a complicated affair, involving as it did mating a burger with a bun. Think Dracula's Castle meets Tim Burton with Helena Bonham Carter as your cocktail waitress. Its the kind of place you expect to see the likes of Marilyn Manson, Dita Von Teese, Ozzy Osbourne so it was no surprise that whilst walking on the side-street I was passed by an obnoxious Russell Brand in a rented lemon-yellow Ferrari.

In the photo is the baroque motif above the colonnade which is surprisingly not the entrance to the hotel, but on a side street. They have a strict No Photography policy enforced throughout the grounds of the hotel, probably a wise idea, given, on any given day, there is nobody actually staying there.

The feel of the hotel is very similar to the Chelsea in New York, like an old meat-packing apartment. Some rooms on the Sunset Blvd side are very long like a 5 room apartment, with massive 60 foot sitting rooms, black and white subway tiled bathrooms, theatrically staged furnishings.

The corner rooms have a small terrace affording good views of the smog. The rooms along the back of the hotel are scuzzy, dank and noisy as are the rooms by the entrance.

The service here is notoriously non-existent. Its a place for people who sleep til 4 in the afternoon because generally thats how long it takes room service to arrive with your breakfast.


--- Veronica


P.S.

I can only imagine what Russell Brand might say should he read this blog. "Look Biaaatch, first, its not a rental and second, its Speed Racer Yellow."

Only the Gargoyles

are happy staying here the other 364 days of the year

The Colonnade at the Chateau Marmont

Vaulted Ceilings and exposed beams, very high church.

The Rock Star's Mellow Lounge

If you ever wondered what Anthony Kiedis' living room might look like, step into the Sunset Marquis' Bar 1200, a favorite low-key hangout for Rockers.

Tucked to the left of the hotel's entrance, the dim, cozy bar at the space formerly known as Whisky Bar has just five or so stools. If one of those aren't available, the low leather banquettes and ottomans on either side of the room provide a place for patrons to post in their jeans and T-shirts. Smokers favor a small patio area lined with more low leather seating; oddly enough, the patio is situated right below a hotel room's balcony. (We're guessing that room isn't for early risers.) If the topic of conversation isn't so-and-so's latest hit single, so-and-so's brother's new record deal, or who is recording in the hotel's basement studio, it will likely be about photographer Ross Halfin's dozen portraits of rockers like Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper and Roger Daltrey that line the bar's walls. —Enid Portuguez

Sunset Marquis Hotel - If They Were Any More Hollywood Their Pool Would Be Shallow At Both Ends

I am living it up like Rock Star here at the boutique Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood, on a discreet cul-de-sac just off the Sunset Plaza section of the Sunset Strip. This hotel is where all the rock stars (and rappers) stay when they are in town. Photos taken here on the premises of Guns & Roses, Billy Bob Thornton, U2, and Steven Tyler (just to name a few) decorate the inside and outside areas.


NightBird, a state-of-the-art recording and film production studio is located downstairs which is why rock stars and film production companies make the Sunset Marquis their home away from home.

An extended 8 day booking has brought me here once again to see a Producer who has booked me before. We hit it off and became dear friends who truly enjoy each other's company aside from things of a more intimate nature. Its so nice to spend quality time with someone you can relate to and love chatting with while relaxing. His hurried lifestyle does not afford him much opportunity to let go so he has to make time for more pleasurable pursuits in the evenings after his day of filming on-set and the requisite business dinners. I'm his "personal assistant" for this trip and he feels I fit in quite well in such a professional situation - I look, act and dress the part.





Last summer when I spent a week here with the same benefactor, I kept running into Kevin Costner because his production company had set up a Press Junket in one of the villas for Swing Vote PR.

During the day, when my friend is working, I take long walks down Sunset Blvd and hike way up into the Hollywood Hills. The narrow windy roads are much more steep than any stairmaster and its so lovely being outside instead of a stuffy gym. Today I walked up Doheny to the "bird streets" so named after avifauna with designations such as Bluejay Lane and Swallow Drive. Most people in LA are trapped in steel and glass cages (cars) and like the song goes "Nobody Walks in L.A."





After my workout, I return to our Villa where our butler attends to my luncheon, assuring that my meal is to my satisfaction. My biggest dilemma is deciding whether to dine-in since the Villa is so magnificent or to dine at the gorgeous indoor/outdoor restaurant. I usually start my meal in the villa and have a dessert of fresh fruit and cappuccino al fresco at the restaurant at a table above the tiled waterfall.





Los Angeles is truly a beautiful and unique city with so many options from the sea to the Hollywood Hills. Few of us get a chance to vacation in their own home city. I am relishing every minute of it.







Website: http://www.sunsetmarquishotel.com