A Brief History of the Architecture of Superman's The Daily Planet

Smithsonian discusses it, here.

From the story...

In Cleveland, Superman fans claim that the Daily Planet was inspired by the AT&T Huron Road Building (originally the Ohio Bell Building), another Art Deco design, built by Cleveland architects Hubbell & Benes in 1927. Coincidentally, the building is currently topped with a globe, the AT&T logo – perhaps the owners want to reinforce the notion that this is the true Daily Planet Building. After all, harboring the world’s greatest superhero has to be good for property value, right? It’s not certain how this rumor got started, but Shuster has denied that anything in Cleveland influenced his designs for Metropolis.

Obviously, the massive sculptural globe is the one thing missing from the above buildings. And really, it’s the only thing that matters. The globe is the feature that identifies the building as the site of Superman’s day job and, more often than not, the collateral damage resulting from his other day job.

God's Architect

Photos of Famous Landmarks Still Under Construction

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Incredible Reading Rooms Around the World

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Ten Buildings That Changed America

Watch 10 Buildings that Changed America on PBS. See more from 10 Buildings that Changed America.

Inside Ernest Hemingway's Key West Home

Take a tour, here.

Urban Planning...Through Children's Books

Rem Koolhaas's Next Library Project

Qatar National Library Building Announcement from ArchDaily on Vimeo.

Beyond Downtown: 9 Illustrious Houses in Fiction

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The ABC of Architects

The ABC of Architects from fedelpeye on Vimeo.

What Will the Updated New York Public Library Be Like?

The Bizarre Architectural Remains of World's Fairs

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Dream Homes Built for Books and the Nerds Who Love Them

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The History of Western Architecture in 39 Free Lessons

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Batman...and Architecture

It's discussed on Arch Daily.

From the post...

New York, Dubai, Tokyo, Moscow, Gotham. Every city in every atlas—real and fictional— has a unique character shaped by history and geography. More than a mere sense of place derived from architecture and planning, cities have a feeling that pervades the consciousness of those who live there until themselves become a a piece of the urban fabric, a fractional embodiment of the city itself. Perhaps more than any other person—real or fictional—Batman is integrally linked to his city, the city he has sworn to protect. In every sense of the word, he is a true avatar of Gotham. And Gotham City itself is an avatar, not only of the dreams of its fictional architects, but of our collective urban paranoia.

Top 10 Homes in Literature

The list, care of the Guardian.

The Childhood Homes of 20 Famous Authors

The gallery, care of Flavorwire.

Where Classics Were Written

The Huffington Post visits writer's retreats, here.

10 Beautiful Buildings Inspired by Famous Books

The list, care of Flavorwire.

Scribner's Bookstore Was the Apple Store of It's Day

The New York Times revels in the old retail space of Charles Scribner's Sons, book publishers.

From the piece...

Mr. Safford was the retail chief of Scribner’s in the 1910s and ’20s, when the release of books — not tablets or apps — could cause a sensation. Scribner’s closed in 1989 but its interior became an official New York City landmark. [The designation report is available as a PDF from the Neighborhood Preservation Center.] As a consequence, it has kept a lot of its original character. Even in its current incarnation as a branch of the Sephora cosmetics chain, it still feels like the kind of place where a purchase is a “great ceremonial event,” as Paul Goldberger wrote in 1978, when he was the architecture critic of The New York Times.