Friday, February 6, 2009

Presbyterian from on High

I snapped this shot of Pasadena Presbyterian Church on Colorado Blvd. from atop the Pasadena Professional Building at the corner of Madison and Union. If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can get a better view of the cloisters to the right. You can also see the bells mounted in the slim, modern bell tower. These bells survived the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, but the original bell tower didn't. (Thanks to Elizabeth for sharing this info in yesterday's comments.)

Pasadena Heritage says the church began in 1875 in a private home; this site was purchased in 1908. But this view wasn't available until 1925 when the Pasadena Professional Building came into being.

I took several more shots, but I knew security man Ernie had other things to do, and though he was too kind to rush me I thought it best to head back downstairs to see Amelia.

Amelia's the building manager, and a fountain of facts about the Pasadena Professional Building. In order to build the eight story structure, a group of 57 doctors, surgeons and dentists formed a corporation. For a cost of nearly a half million dollars, Los Angeles architects Dodd & Richards and LA's Schofield Construction Company built to the corporation's specifications. Each office suite is different due to the arrangements made for the original occupants. Where are you gonna find that today?

Just walk into the lobby and you'll know you're in a special place.

We'll take a three-day weekend to bring home the bacon and do some other blog business, and I'll finish the tale of the Pasadena Professional Building on Tuesday.

11 comments:

Cafe Pasadena said...

You're looking south, and getting high.

Anonymous said...

I quite enjoy this bird's eye tour of Pasadena

Margaret said...

I'm impressed with PasadenaPIO. What good eyes she has to recognize the church. Can't wait to see the bacon.

Petrea Burchard said...

Glad you like it. I have a couple looking north and west. I'll post them one of these days.

Laurie Allee said...

ANother cool shot from on high. I'm intrigued by this bacon caper...

pasadenapio said...

See my blog posting. But don't hurt me!

Petrea Burchard said...

As for the bacon caper, let's just say I've been splashed with grease.

Kathy H said...

If there were a challenge to take a picture of something low, Pasadena Presbyterian would probably win. They have a full-size gymnasium in a sub-sub basement. Hopefully it's being utilized more than it was when we belonged there.

Anonymous said...

Aw, I think you'd win if you rented the helicopter and threw bacon out the window.

Petrea Burchard said...

Kathy, that sounds kind of interesting. Is it a modern gym? They also have free lunchtime concerts on Wednesdays. I've been meaning to check them out.

Should I cook it first, Hiker?

JCK said...

I'm enjoying the tour, too. I love that building, but didn't know about the different layout in every office.