Pages

Monday, August 3, 2009

215 - Before Shopping Malls

From Monticello Arcade
At turn of the 20th century shopping arcades were commonplace in cities. These enclosed buildings housed shops on the first floor and offices above. Only two remain in Virginia including this one, the Monticello Arcade in Norfolk. Built in 1907 the three-story, Beaux-Arts style arcade forms a protected pedestrian passageway between City Hall Avenue and Plume Street in the middle of a long block in downtown Norfolk. It and its sister, the Art Deco Selden Arcade in the next block, once formed the preferred path from downtown to the ferry slips to Portsmouth. Canon G10, 1/60 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

2 comments:

Joanna's Foto Blog said...

love photographs that can tell story from the past. Thank you for sharing!
I like the shot itself,so symmetric.

CIOPhoto said...

Thanks Joanna for the comments. I liked the symmetry of this building as well although the photo breaks the rule of thirds for composition. Someone once told me rules were made to be broken, the trick is to know when and why.