National Archive Building Bookends For Sale

During a recent visit the the U.S. National Archives in Washington, D.C., I noticed these bookend for sale in the gift shop. Made of solid resin, they are nicely detailed and a good size for either display or actually holding up books. They are also available online. Designed by architect John Russell Pope, The real National Archives Building is located on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.  Opened as the archives' original headquarters in 1935, the building holds the original copies of the three main formative documents of the United States and its government: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and The Bill of Rights. It also hosts a copy of the 1297 Magna Carta confirmed by Edward I. These are displayed to the public in the main chamber of the National Archives, which is called the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. The National Archives Building also exhibits other important American historical documents such as The Louisiana Purchase Treaty, The Emancipation Proclamation, and collections of photography and other historically and culturally significant American artifacts. I have written about other building-shaped bookends in the past.

Architectural Building Bookends Available

I searched the Internet to find building-shaped bookends available online. Made of various materials like metal or resin, these pillars, pavilions and pediments create stylish parentheses that add panache to your architectural books. Check out the links below. 

Cyan Design Pagoda Bookends in Gold Leaf (Set of 2)

Sydney Opera House Book Ends Bookends Australia

Historical Wonders "The Alamo" Book Ends Bookends

Great Wall Of China Sculptural Book Ends Bookends

Historical Wonders Mount Rushmore Bookends

Empire State Building Book Ends Bookends NYC New York

Historical Wonders Golden Gate Bridge Bookends

Roman Arch Of Constantine Bookends Book Ends
TMS P5642D-18 Bookends - Colliseum

Historical Wonders Taj Mahal Bookends Book Ends

St. Basil's Cathedral Bookends Book Ends Russia

Historical Wonders Mount Rushmore Bookends

I previously wrote about other building bookends.

Building Doorway Souvenir Replicas

When is a door not a door? When Its ajar. That’s the old riddle that makes me think of souvenir coin banks and other replicas which just represent a door. From a bronze doorway bookend to a ceramic Asian entryway, souvenirs sometimes just depict part of a structure.  Other examples include the front of the Worchester Federal Savings Bank made by Banthrico and an antique brass doorway of a Norwegian bank reproduced as a coin bank. Do you know of other souvenir doorway replicas?

Cincinnati Union Terminal Train Station Bookends by Rookwood Pottery

Finely made bookend replicas of the Cincinnati Union Terminal train station are available. They are not cheap, but are for sale online. The bookends stand 4" high x 6.25" long x 3.25" wide. Made by the well-known ceramic maker, Rookwood pottery, which is also located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1880 by Marie Longworth Nichols, Rookwood pottery's initial work demonstrated an Oriental and European influence. Throughout Rookwood's years they mastered such diverse styles as Victorian, art nouveau, arts and crafts, and art deco. Seems a natural fit that they produce replicas of the stunning art deco style Cincinnati Union Terminal, which now has a new life as the Cincinnati Museum Center. The station opened in 1933 and its rotunda features the largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere, measuring 180 feet wide and 106 feet high. 

U.S. Treasury Souvenir Building Bookend Set

I did not know of a replica of the US Treasury building until fellow D.C. area souvenir building collector Scott D. showed me this set of bookends. The solid bronze bookends weigh close to eight pounds each and measure 6" high and 5 3/4" across, including wooden base. The south wing of the treasury, with its portico modeled on the Parthenon, is depicted in the miniature replicas. They appear to be a presentation piece as they came in a well-made wooden box. These rare bookends are marked, ‘BLACKINTON’ and ‘4’ on the back. They might commemorate the building becoming an historic landmark in 1976. The real Treasury building is the next-door neighbor to the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

Eiffel Tower Architectural Model

We interrupt this series of posts about the upcoming SBCS convention in DC with breaking news. Well, 'breaking' as news can get for building collectors. The new Restoration Hardware catalogue came out and wow. Included in the new designs is an 8-foot-tall model of the Eiffel Tower. According to their website, the “…architectural model is comprised of hand-cut pieces that take one artisan nearly 2 months to complete. Crafted of American oak, it is rendered in meticulous detail, from the arched base to the latticework sides and delicate spire. Built in 1889, the original is still the tallest structure in Paris; ours is scaled accordingly.” The price is on the large size at $1745, but this would be the centerpiece to an architectural collection. I wanted to get a good look at this replica and went to a local Restoration Hardware store, but they didn’t have one on display. I reached out to the company and turns out the only one on display at the store in their San Francisco gallery. Collectors in that city should check it out an let me know how it looks. Restoration Hardware is also selling other architectural decorations. The conservatory model has a domed roof and 12 columns. Two types of bookends, the Portico and a set ofGolden Gate bookends.

Mystery Bookend Building

I recently acquired this bookend in the shape of a building with a dome and a long colonnade in front. In the replica, stairs lead up to 14 columns in front with two pediments capping the columns on each end. Square windows above the columns lead to a roof with a dome with lines which could represent either windows or roofing. Made of bronze, this extremely heavy souvenir building measures 8.5 inches long and over 5 inches tall. Does anyone know which building this bookend might be a replica of? It seems too detailed to just be a generic building. Is it from a university campus, an auditorium or some other structure? If you have an idea, let me know via the ‘comments’ link below. Thanks.

Souvenirs of a Haunted Places

In this post, Building Collector reader Scott D. explores the paranormal possibilities of some particular places.

“Often times, collectors don’t think of the history of the buildings we collect. Even more, the notorious occurrence that took place at them and the ghost stories associated with them. One such place is Hampton Court. It was Cardinal Thomas Wolsey who built the palace 10 miles away from Central London in the area known as Richmond in 1514. Tudor King Henry VIII later was given the palace ten years later from Wolsey. Wolsey fell from favor and was arrested for treason, but he died before he met his executioner. Since then, Cardinal Wolsey still visits frequently his former home. Also reported to be haunting the palace are two phantom soldiers of King Charles I as well as a boy dressed as a page of Charles II or the White Lady of Hampton Court. As lovers of architecture we cannot forget Christopher Wren, (Who created numerous churches and famed buildings in England) who still is working on the renovation Hampton Court. On February 25, the anniversary of his death, his footsteps has been heard and other paranormal phenomena have been witnessed. We cannot leave out the Ghost associated with King Henry the VIII. His second wife Anne Boleyn was beheaded for alleged treason, incest, adultery and witchcraft. Staff and visitors have seen her most of the time seen as a lady dressed in blue or black. Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, died in 1537 after giving birth to Edward VI. Her death occurred in a Caesarean in order to save the life of the young heir. She now haunts the Silver Stick Gallery in Hampton Court every year on the birthday of the baby whose birth had meant her death. On moonlit evenings, dressed in white and carrying a candle, she ascends in a melancholic way the staircase leading to the Gallery, where she glides wreathed in a silvery light. Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII is one of the more notorious of his wives. Her being young she had many lovers. Henry had her beheaded along with her lovers. Catherine tried to make a last plea for her life only to be dragged away Shrieking. You can still hear her bone chilling shrieks in Hampton Court. Her ghost seen racing chased by soldiers. These days Catherine prefers the court yard on sunny days and a man said that he saw a ladies hand come from a door way with a ring on it that Catherine has in a portrait. Seems to be a number of ladies who haunt Hampton Court. Another is Dame Sybill Penn, also known as the Grey Lady of Hampton Court. She was the foster-mother of Edward VI. When the young king died, she mourned him as her own son. Afterwards she was granted a residence at Hampton Court. She died at the court in 1562 of smallpox and was buried in an imposing tomb in the old church of Hampton-on-Thames. Until 1829 she rested there in peace, but when the old church was demolished, her tomb was disturbed so was her soul. The ghost of Penn returned to her old rooms at Hampton Court, where angry mutterings were heard, and the sound of a spinning wheel echoing through the southwest wing. Workers traced the sound back to a brick wall and uncovered a secret room with a 16th century spinning wheel and a variety of curiosities. Hampton Court records showed that this room once had been occupied by Dame Penn who had often used the spinning wheel. Since then, people sleeping in the Palace have been felt the icy hands of Mrs. Penn upon their faces, and a luminous figure in grey bending over them. She reputedly haunts several parts of the palace including the Clock Court. Another souvenir with with ghostly provenance is the Bramshill house bookend made by Bradley & Hubbard in the 1930's. The real Bramshill house is a Jacobean style mansion and references to Bramshill (Bromeselle) date back to the Saxon times. In the 14th century Thomas Foxley lived there, he was the person that built Windsor Castle for the crown. It appears that he used masons from Windsor to build a small castle; some evidence of this can still be seen in the cellar. In 1605 11th Baron Zouche of Harrington, Edward Lord Zouche, of Gray’s Inn brought the property and demolished a large part of it and built the house we see today. He completed the work in 1612. It was intended to be used as royal palace by Henry, son of James I. Young Henry died of typhoid before the work could be completed in 1625, thereby associating the house with tragedy from the very beginning. Sir John Cope brought the house in 1699, and eight generation of his family continued to live there till 1935. Since 1960 it has been used as The Police Staff College. This is believed to be a very haunted. Bramshill House is said to be haunted by no less than 14 spirits and that the most important is the White Lady. She announced her presence with a strong floral fragrance, the smell of the arum lilies or the lily-of-the-valley. The White Lady is thought to be of young Anne, Sir John’s eldest daughter. On her wedding day she wanted to play a game of hide and seek her family and guests never found her. Years later her body was found inside an old trunk that could only be unlocked from the outside by a servant in an unused part of the house. The mistletoe-bough chest, Italian in origin, is displayed in the Bramshill’s reception hall. One legend has it that when the chest was in Italy, Genevre Orsini, who was 15, had suffered the ghastly fate described above in 1727. And when the carved Italian chest was imported by the fifth Baronet Cope, Genevre’s ghost was imported, too. Genevre or Anne wanders in the mansion, sad-faced, favoring the Long Gallery, the Fleur de Lys room and the area around the chest. During the 1930s, young Joan Penelope Cope and her brother often awoke to find the White Lady by their bedside. Maybe this is the reason why the family moved in 1935? The family of King Michael of Romania, which stayed at the Bramshill from 1950 to 1952, felt the presence of the White Lady. His queen saw ‘her’ sitting in the King’s room. An exorcism had had no effect. Yet another ghost, the Grey Lady, so named because of her grey colored robe, is said to be the ghost of one of the members of the Cope family. She has auburn hair and is dressed in a straight, sleeveless robe. One story has it that her husband, a dissenter, was brought to the Bramshill in the early 17th century, where he was interrogated, summarily tried and immediately thereafter beheaded. She now wanders through the mansion in search of him. The ‘husband of the Grey Lady’ has also been felt. The ‘son of the Grey Lady’ too is heard crying from the pre-Jacobean cellars. Then, there is the ghostly ‘Green Man’, seen in the vicinity of the fresh water-lake, sometimes standing on the little bridge near the Tudor gatehouse. It is said to be the ghost of a member of the Cope family who drowned in the lake in 1806. At the time of the death, he was dressed in green from head to knee. From knee down-wards, he wore black boots — and so, he is seen as legless against the dark background. In 1976, a security officer on night patrol encountered a ghost, believed to be Ronald, the son of the Bramshill’s last private owner Lord Brocket. Ronald had died in tragic circumstances 30 years back. At the time he was sighted the young man’s ghost was in tennis gear and carrying a racket. One room on the first floor has ghostly forms that float two feet above the floor level. It is an interesting fact that this particular floor was lowered during structural alterations, and it would appear that the ghosts walk at the same level where they had walked earlier. There is also a path in the grounds of the Bramshill haunted by ‘the Gardener’, who was drowned in a lake in the north-west side. Dogs smell something as soon as they come to the tunnel formed by the intertwining branches of overgrown trees, and avoid going through the tunnel. The terrace, with its loggias and elegant bay windows with balustrades, is haunted by a mysterious woman in white. She appeared dramatically one evening in front of Sir William Cope and his family. As the butler approached the figure, it seemed to melt into the balustrade. There are other stories of strange happenings in the house. No wonder, the Bramshill is known as the ‘most haunted house in Hampshire England’. Significantly, all but one of the ghosts — the exception being the Gardener — are "friendly", or more appropriately, not harmful to those who experience them. The College Secretariat keeps a ‘ghost file’ — a file on ghosts — which meticulously records encounters of all ghosts sighted in and around the house. If happen to visit the Bramshill and have a ‘ghostly’ experience, do not forget to have your experience entered in the "ghost file." Are these stories just over imagination or the real thing? You be the judge, but it sure makes a building in your collection even more special knowing it’s haunted. “ – Scott.

Building Shaped Bookends

If you have not completely gone digital and still have some books around the house (Don’t we all have too many?) then why not have a stylish way of holding those architectural books up? Although many building collectors want their architectural bookends to be the star of the shelf and not merely functional and possibly hidden, there are many different bookends with architectural designs. Churches and Cathedras seem to be a popular design for bookends. From sliver-painted Antwerp to gold-colored Notre Dames, European places of worship are common as flat-backed replica sets. A pair the National Cash Register (NCR) School bookends recently sold for $133 on eBay. They where given away as a sales award and have a date of 1931. Temple of Isis bookends depict five columns of the Pompeii structure. With a bronze finish, they measure 4” tall and were made by Bradley & Hubbard. The Temple of Isis is a Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess, Isis. This small and almost completely intact temple was among one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii in 1764. Another bookend set is in the shape of The Christian Science Building at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The flat brass sheet metal is etched the building’s image and stands 4" tall. Depicting the Berkshire Music Shed at Tanglewood in the Berkshire Mountains of western Ma. is the design of another set of bookends. The shed building was built in 1940 and designed by the legendary architect Eero Saarinen. This is a pair of cast iron bookends from the 1940's stands 4 3/8" tall. One of the nicest bookends, in my opinion, is that of the Bronx Hospital. With a bronze or green finish, they measure 5 1/2" wide by over 5 1/2" tall. On the back is written, “Donor to the Building Fund of the Bronx Hospital.” Just one (not a set) sold on eBay recently for $218.50. The real hospital building, at 1276 Fulton Ave. & 169th St., was built in 1928 and designed by architect Louis Allen Abramson. In 1962, the Bronx Hospital merged with the Lebanon Hospital to become the Bronx Lebanon Hospital. The First Church of Christ Scientist in Boston has a bookend set as well. Each bookend measures 7” tall. A set sold recently on eBay for $89.88. The Oregon Mutual Insurance Company of Mcminville, Oregon has a bookend with four columns supporting a pediment, with trees on each side. The pediment is marked with ‘Oregon Mutual Fire Insurance Co.,’ which is the old name for the company. With a height is 7.5” and a width of 8 inches, the casting is bronze and the wood bases may be walnut. The pair was issued in 1982 and they seem rare. Bookend replicas of the California Mission Dolores stand over 5" tall and have a great aged patina. Don’t forget some other souvenir buildings which have bookend versions I’ve written about before: Cleveland’s Terminal Tower, the Angelus Temple in L.A., and an Albany, N.Y. bank. Some collectors focus only on bookends of all designs and shapes. The Bookend Collector Club has a newsletter which is published quarterly. I could not find a website for this collector’s club. I guess being BOOKend collectors, they shy away from non-hard copy information. Here is some additional info about the history of bookends and collecting them. There are also collector’s book and price guides dedicated to all things bookends: A Collector's Guide to Cast Metal Bookends and Collector's Encyclopedia Of Bookends.

Lincoln Memorial Rededicated

Four score and seven years ago, President Warren Harding dedicated the Lincoln Memorial on May 30, 1922. This weekend, the Memorial built in honor of our 16th President was rededicated for Abraham Lincoln’s year-long bicentennial birthday tribute. Then, Americans of various generations, races, backgrounds, and occupations gathered in Washington, D.C. to originally dedicate the Lincoln Memorial. In the wake of Civil War, unity was the prevailing sentiment of that day. Now, the memorial continues to bring Americans together in struggles for equality and celebrations of freedom that this government—this nation—truly is one of, by, and for the People. I’ve written previously about Lincolm Memoral souvenir buildings. If you missed it, check it out here.

Angelus Temple Book Ends

As the annual Souvenir Building Collectors Society's (SBCS) convention approaches, let’s take a closer look at some of the miniature building replicas from this year’s host city of Los Angeles. Avid reader of this blog, Scott D., researched and wrote the following post to share with everyone. In the coming weeks, I’ll write about additional L.A. landmarks and their miniature models.

'Completed in 1923, the Angelus Temple was the base of operations for Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944), a pioneer in the field of radio evangelism and the first to incorporate Hollywood and vaudeville-style entertainment techniques in her broadcast sermons and preaching. Her doctrines, summarized as the "Foursquare Gospel," have served as a model for many modern Pentecostal evangelists. McPherson had Angelus Temple constructed, following her design guidance, in a location opposite Echo Park Lake. It is an unusual gore-shaped, reinforced concrete domed auditorium which seats 5,300. The dome, surmounted by a highly visible neon-lit cross, served as a beacon to the vast numbers who came to hear Sister Aimee preach. During the Depression, the Angelus Temple provided an important food and shelter service to the entire community. On April 27, 1992 the entire temple was designated a National Historic Landmark. As recently as 2002, the temple was renovated back to its 1920’s glory days. There are two known versions of the temple. One is an electroformed polychrome bookend which appears to have been done about 1926 since it shows the 5-story L.I.F.E. Bible College building that was completed at that time and also the prominent new prayer tower. The miniature building sits on an open bible. It could possibly be made by Ronson. Such other bookends from the same time frame use this polychrome process and have the same character as other bookends they produce. Made out of brass, the second version looks to be a bookend as well and is much more detailed. It is just of the Temple itself and has the two radio towers located on top of the temple. That would put the date of this piece between 1924 and 1941 when the radio towers changed to a different type. (One of these replicas sold on eBay recently for $121) I contacted the Temple and they informed me that both versions at one time were for sale at their shop. You might want to consider visiting this historic landmark when you attend the Souvenir building convention in LA this coming June. An interesting building in the heart of L.A.' - Scott D.