The Big Money Door

Big money: big door...and we are looking at one, big honkin' door! (I'm sorry, though I haven't used the adjective 'honkin' in, oh, forever, I had to use here because it just seemed to fit!) No, this building isn't any the Czech Federal Reserve, but it is a bank and since the building is really big, I'm going to go with the idea that there is a lot of money inside it.

Take a good look at this gorgeous door...imagine that the door handles are at, oh, say the 5 foot mark (approximately 1m60), what could be the distance between the door handles and the top of the door? 10 feet (3m30)? Big honkin' door.

I am in absolute awe of this door. Seriously. It is like a silent, gentle, handsome giant. It's such a big giant that to get this first picture I had to stand in the middle of the street. Just the same, I still couldn't get the entire door frame so I had to take this second picture.

Let's get down to details: look a little closer...do you notice something odd? No?

Ok, so get even closer (and check out the incredible woodwork while you're there)...do you see it?

No keyhole! This is clearly not the door the last person out of the bank has to shut when the work day is over (though it humours me to imagine someone doing so!). But surely you already guessed that! Look at those handles - they are purely symbolic - as if they were put there to say, 'yes, you can come in this door'. But a word of warning: don't bother trying to open it using those handles because they don't turn. FYI: during banking hours these doors stand wide open!

NOTE: If you are in the neighborhood of this building, I would highly recommend going inside...it is absolutely breath-taking!!

Two for One Tuesday

Sometimes there are couples that just shouldn't be separated...today's doors are just such a couple. When I came across this pair, I was first attracted to the smaller, typical-looking door, but then I backed up, gave the two a good look together and realised that these two were made for each other and that I have no right to split them up!

In our couple, on the left is Big Door who is (or was) probably some sort of an entry to an atelier or work area or even a small store judging from the threshold and the wear to it. Big Door's three sets of reinforced hinges and external lock (which seems to have replaced numerous hidden locks) tell us that Big Door has and will continue to do its best to hold strong and to keep the world at bay as best it can.

Little Door, on the other hand, was designed as the gregarious one in the couple. Little Door invites you to a cup of coffee in the kitchen that is somewhere behind it, or it waits while the children are at school, or it protects a family from a cold winter's night. Little Door's handle and door pull is nice and decorative, but neither exotic nor extravagant. I am guessing that the upper keyhole decoration was made and added later when the kind of keys used in the lower keyhole became more or less obsolete. What I like the most about Little Door is the is the incognito mail slot...you almost don't see it, but there it is!