Thursday, February 28, 2013

Zigzag House

Paris XV
1933
Architects: Marcel Hennequet & Robert Hennequet

Photo by RUAMPS ©, on Flickr

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Springtime for Diesel

Diesel shunter locomotive at the Leipzig Spring Fair
1930

(Bundesarchiv)

Monday, February 25, 2013

Two Designs

Palace of the Soviets, Moscow:
open design contest, early 1930s
By A. Zhukov and D. Chechulin

by A. Dushkin and J. Doditsa

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Then They Took New York

Led by Gen. Italo Balbo, a formation of 25 Savoia Marchetti S.55X twin-hull flying boats flew from Orbetello (Toscana) to Chicago via Amsterdam, Londonderry, Reykjavik, Cartwright, Shediac, and Montreal. Greeted by a huge crowd of the Century of Progress exhibition visitors, the formation proceeded to New York, and returned to Italy via Shediac, Shoal Harbour, Ponta Delgada, and Lisbon.
They did it in one month and 12 days. One aircraft was lost in an accident during return flight.

Friday, February 22, 2013

New Art

Germaine Krull. Atelier of Robert Delaunay.
Paris, 1926

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Two Soldiers

Cecil Beaton
Two Chinese soldiers wearing gas masks at Pihu Military Training Centre in South Eastern China
1944

(IWM)

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Wind in Aberdeen

Photo by e_alnak @ Flickr

Rosemount Square (actually horse shoe shaped) was a social experiment which grew from an exploration of what a modern tenement could be like, a far cry from the then typical tenement building of the Scottish cities. The building was inspired by visits to social housing in Europe. Rosemount Square was largely designed by Leo Durnin under Alexander Buchanan Gardner at the City Architect’s Department. It is one of the last granite load bearing buildings in Aberdeen (as opposed to using a steel frame). It is Grade A listed.

Included in the building cost were three sculptured panels by Thomas Huxley-Jones representing Rain Wind, and Cold but only Wind (above) and Rain were completed, in an effort to save money.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Socialist Cameras

Buy Photography Bonds!
Photo cameras for the Socialist construction!
1931

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Deco It!

The “It” CafĂ©, 1938, managed by Clara Bow and her husband Rex Bell

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Every 10 Minutes...

Opel Blitz assembly line, new Opel works, Brandenburg
1936
50 trucks in one shift, a new truck every ten minutes

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Two Marines

Omega Marine wristwatch for Cartier
1934

Omega Grand Marine, 1932
(2007 in-house replica)

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Lighter Than (Cold) Air

An observation blimp, launched in the Leningrad front

A. Konstantinov archive via Waralbum

Saturday, February 9, 2013

All-Steel Streamliner

International Delivery Van ad
(ft. the Magic Door!)
1940

Scanned and retouched by Paul Malon @ Flickr

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Two Gliders

Wolf Hirth waiting for a launch in the Laubenthal H2-PL Musterle glider
ca 1931
(Bundesarchiv)

Wolf Hirth-designed motoglider, presumably a Hi 20 MoSe
1940s

(via catmouse_ch @ Flickr)

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Empire Port

A pamphlet issued for the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow to extol the values of the Docks at Southampton - the Southern Railway were mighty proud of these important port installations and made the claim that they were the Empire port. The image show the 'new' Western Docks, the massive quays that substantially extended the port's facilities and that opened in 1934.

via mickeyashworth @ Flickr

Monday, February 4, 2013

Hear, Hear!

Members of the French Army man an acoustic locator device on January 4, 1940.

The device was one of many experimental designs, built to pick up the sound of distant aircraft engines and give their distance and location. The introduction and adoption of radar technology rendered these devices obsolete very quickly.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Double Exposure

 Georgiy Petrusov. A portrait of Alexander Rodchenko
c. 1934

Saturday, February 2, 2013

BB-56

USS Washington, a 35,000-ton North Carolina class battleship, was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania.
She commissioned in May 1941 and was in the Atlantic during "close to war" and wartime operations for more than a year. From April into July 1942 Washington worked with the British Home Fleet in the North Atlantic.
She was then overhauled and sent to the South Pacific, where, in September, she joined U.S. forces engaged in the Guadalcanal Campaign. On 14-15 November 1942, she was flagship of Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee in the last part of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. During that night action, her sixteen-inch guns fatally damaged the Japanese battleship Kirishima. 
Washington worked in the South and Central Pacific into 1944. She took part in the invasions of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943 and the Marshalls early in the new year. On 1 February 1944, during the latter operation, she crushed her bow in a collision with the battleship USS Indiana (BB-58). Following repairs, Washington rejoined the fleet in time to participate in the Marianas invasion in June 1944, and in the resulting Battle of the Philippine Sea.
During the next year, Washington took part in operations to capture the Palaus, Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, as well as supporting the fast carriers on their raids throughout the Western Pacific. She was undergoing overhaul during the last two months of the Pacific War and, in October 1945, steamed through the Panama Canal to the Atlantic. Her final active duty was to transport veteran servicemen home from Europe. USS Washington was placed out of commission in June 1947 and was in "mothballs" from then until May 1961, when she was sold for scrapping.

Friday, February 1, 2013