Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Sincerest Form of Parking Garage

This here is the parking garage for the Grandview at 3rd & Blanchard:

Here's the Grange Insurance Building at 2nd & Clay. (It's right across the street from the building that got the bad graffiti.):

And finally, this is the 1st & Cedar Building at, uh, 1st & Cedar, just a slim block over from Grange Insurance. Notice the soon-to-be-former Washington Mutual branch?

Hmmmm... Similar much?

I know that in the seventies and eighties, the squat, "blockhouse" design was quite popular for smaller office buildings, but I never dreamed that architects would draw their inspiration from parking garages. Maybe that's why at the 1st & Cedar Building, they charge you four bucks an hour to sit in their lobby. But seriously, I understand the utilitarian look of the Grandview's garage. But what's Grange Insurance and 1st & Cedar's excuse?

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