Wednesday, May 14, 2008

It's Old Post Card Wednesday--Manhattan Municipal Building

I have an old General Electric Steam & Dry Iron box that is full of vintage postcards, courtesy of my maternal grandmother, who saved cool stuff, and of my mother, who in turn saved just about everything. Of course it's stored upstairs with the tumble of clutter that I first blogged about here. (Writing this blog is actually helping me get organized, I'm not sure why.)

I thought about this stash of postcards when I was preparing the post about Lydia #2 that preceded this one, when, among my small pouch of photos and letters pertaining to her, I found that I am also in possession of some vintage Finnish postcards courtesy of my paternal grandmother. It's all a bit of a goldmine of postcard memorabilia and I decided to share these on my blog just for fun and general interest. For the sake of consistency I will do this on Wednesdays until I've scanned and blogged the whole bunch. I haven't counted them so I have no idea how many Wednesdays this will cover.
It was easy to decide which postcard I'd post first. The Manhattan Municipal Building in New York City is where Mike and I were married on September 1, 1995! We didn't exactly elope because family, friends, and employers all knew our plans but we did get the heck away from everyone who knew us to start our married life on our own terms. We flew to New York and stayed a week. I'm getting gleeful just thinking about what a fantastic time we had. But the purpose of this post isn't to describe our wedding day and trip; I might do that in a future post.

Since the back of this postcard refers to "the new Municipal Building" completed in 1913 the postcard you're looking at is over 90 years old, and, like the building itself, a thing of beauty!

According to information provided in the link referenced above, the building design used Roman, Italian Renaissance and Classical styles and was actually completed in 1915, although the first offices were occupied in 1913. The short article is worth a quick read. It ends with a description of current day use of the building, noting: "Some 2,000 people use the various services and agencies located in the building every day, including over 80 couples who visit the City Clerk for four-minute weddings." Those four-minute weddings can be very meaningful, I must say.

11 comments:

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

I like to collect postcards, although I don't have many that can be considered antiques.

Thank you for sharing, I am looking forward to the Wednesday PC :o)

Petrea Burchard said...

Hi Lydia. It really is a beautiful old card. Something about those old post cards is enchanting. Have you every looked at Katie's blog? She tends to post a later (mid-century) vintage, but she's got quite a collection.
http://katiefornia.blogspot.com/

robin ann mcintosh said...

I'm a fellow pack rat, I love to look at things from the past, and past relatives especially.

I can't believe you were married there, how romantic :)

what an awesome card - makes me look forward to next wednesday.

Lydia said...

Hi Wanderer, Petrea, and Robin,
Glad you enjoyed it. And, no Petrea, I haven't seen Katie's blog - so thanks for letting me know about it. I'll go visit! -Lydia

Adam said...

Good lord, you must have gotten so much attention because of the Obama hilary thing.

But anyway, Im back and I (to some extent) filled in the gaps from my absence. It feels really good to be blogging again, and I really like your bush countdown :-)
Hope to talk soon.
-Adam

Lydia said...

Well, Adam, it will be such fun to pop over to your blog and see what's new. I've checked daily and have missed you lots while you were ill.
I'm so glad you are fine now!
Lydia

La Belette Rouge said...

Thank you so much for the link to this post. It is fascinating to read how this all started. xxoo

Lydia said...

Dear La Belette Rouge~ Thank you for asking about the beginnings of Old Postcard Wednesday. I really appreciate your interest. xxoo

Roxana said...

i think it is a wonderful idea - but what i love most is not only to see the postcards in themselves, but to read your words and find out about the context into which you place them, the personal background woven around.
i feel like plunging my hands into time.

Lydia said...

Roxana~ Thank you so much for clicking to see the first postcard in my Wednesday series. I love doing the old postcard posts and have become interested in adding more old postcards to the ones left by my grandmothers. So it's become a hobby, of sorts, and certainly one that makes me feel like I'm also "plunging my hands into time" (I love how you expressed it!

Fireblossom said...

Okay, me too, I LOVE that "plunging my hands into time" phrase.

It's fun to see how OPW began and why! I love all the backstory.

So, that's it, I am officially declaring you a Cool Person and stamping it on your forehead. You don't even have to go to the Municipal Building!

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