Thanks to Jonathan, a commenter on a previous post, I now know what a Dingbat is – an architectural style from the US sunbelt. The buildings are named for the “dingbats” or decorative elements on the facade that resemble typographic dingbats. All these photos are from Wikimedia Commons. Maybe these are so appealing mainly because they don’t exist here in our rainy climate, but they’re great. I’d live in one.
I love the buildings themselves in both cases, but those dingbat things just need to go.
You know, normally I’d agree, but that thing in the first photo is so weird I actually like it. A framed light fixture, and on that colour. It looks ironic. I almost want to see a hooded lamplighter come light it at dusk.
Make sure you ask Santa for that book that I told you about. It has a great photo collections of dingbat buildings!
Thanks, Jonathan! I went back through the comments and here is the link you suggested. And yes, I’m putting it on my wish list:
http://www.amazon.ca/Pretty-Vacant-Angeles-Dingbat-Observed/dp/0811840247/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254670879&sr=8-5