Darth Vader

In almost 10 years of lunch-time trekking in the neighborhood of this downtown building in the background, I have never known quite how to feel about it. The locals do; they dubbed it "the Darth Vader Building" almost as soon as it opened in 1989 as the biggest focal point in the Sacramento skyline.
  Officially, it's named Renaissance Tower. I doubt one in 100 people in town know it by that name. I had a job interview once  on the 21st floor. The views were stunning. This building also reflects the sun beautifully and kaleidoscopically in the morning and evening sunlight. Yet it always manages to look a bit shabby and dirty as if the dark windows need perpetual cleaning.
  I'll salute the architects for trying something bold in glass, especially in a city that's fairly conservative with its design standards. But one always has the feeling here that if they could take it down, many locals would. One exception is a writer for The Sacramento Press who saluted its 20th anniversary in 2009. 

Interestingly, while Googling around for this item I discovered two more city towers nicknamed "The Darth Vader Building, in Seattle and Boston.

UPDATE 4/15/2011

 Since writing this post I've been paying more attention to this building, watching at different times of day for light and play of the sun. Here are a couple more shots of the Renaissance Tower known as Darth Vader. The first is around 1 p.m. and the second about 4:45 p.m. Thanks for the chance to revisit:

Terminated Vista

One principle of great design is the "terminated vista," a landscape or building at the end of your line of sight that sort of takes your breath away. Here's an interior view in downtown Sacramento where the eye floats out  through a doorway, sails across a small plaza and lands upon a dark grove of California Redwoods.  If you keep your eyes open the world is full of small, pleasant, and surprising sights.

Consider the simple flower pot at the end of a walkway. This is Half Moon Bay Lodge south of San Francisco.

American High-Rise Afternoon

City Beautiful 1918

In the final year of World War I our civic ancestors, exhibiting the excellent aesthetic taste of their era, produced still another stunning Andrew Carnegie Library, in downtown Sacramento. Writes Dan Flynn in his 1994 "Inside Guide to Sacramento,"  "The original library was donated by industrialist Andrew Carnegie and was designed by San Francisco City Architect Rixford in a Florentine Renaissance style...The original library is now used for conference rooms and special events."

The entrance to those events

A closer view of the rich details of this triumphal arch 

One of a dozen lion heads that guard the first floor

Indulge me this nostalgia. Weren't those the days?

California Dreaming

The days are getting longer in Northern California. Welcome, to early January, when warm rays of sunset light the architectural treasures on the way to my bus stop.

In The Clouds

     Even the blandest architecture in a city of government buildings takes on a new light at sunrise below a thick fog. This December morning in downtown Sacramento had a certain San Francisco quality about it.

State Capitol Christmas

California's historic Capitol Building is stunningly beautiful in its own right. This time of year a 55-foot majestic white Christmas fir adds still more elegance. Workers were adding final touches when this was taken while out walking. 

 Tree lighting ceremony On December 7 

(Photo Courtesy of The Sacramento Bee)

Design Trekker loves how these holiday trees light up our Capitols across the United States, including the big one in Washington, D.C. again this year. Check this Washington Post link for photos of the national Christmas tree in Washington, D.C., in recent years. (Especially beautiful: 2007 in a snowstorm). We'll be collecting some images from statehouses across the U.S. in coming days. The juxtaposition of classic columns and design with wreaths and trees really defines the word "stately."

Washington D.C. 

Courtesy wn.com

Mid-December Update: I walked to the Capitol on Friday, December 10, to take in the daily noontime p.m. holiday concerts in the Rotunda and took some updated photos from our California Capitol Christmas.

Columns and Wreaths on the Front Portico

View from inside The Capitol Building

Outside, looking West toward Capitol Mall

 Once more, toward the Capitol Building, with white picket fence
 (Note flags at half mast for newest soldier killed in Afghanistan)