But that will have to wait on better photographs; daylight was already fading by that point. Today, we have a somewhat more mundane discovery: some typical 1960s apartments, on Komensky Avenue at 55th Street. Ordinary stuff, right?
![5500 S. Komensky Avenue](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/2531104775_3170ca9a22.jpg)
Wrong! Look at the stairwell facade, above the door. Normally this portion of the facade has a glass block window wall, usually with a couple of vents. More decorative/funky versions have my beloved colored glass block, or even colored plastic panels for a low-budget stained glass effect. But instead, this little row of buildings got...
![5500 S. Komensky Avenue](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2066/2531104723_103ca91ee9.jpg)
...sculpture! Bas relief carvings, probably in limestone, on a background of stone panels.
![5500 S. Komensky Avenue](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2238/2531104683_b2c9f3f48f.jpg)
We've got a nude, bald man playing a flute, and a running guy with a winged helmet. Some sort of mythological theme? That theory gets obliterated by the third relief, a butterfly.
![5500 S. Komensky Avenue](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2191/2531918964_9eba557159.jpg)
And just to throw more confusion onto the fire...
![5500 S. Komensky Avenue](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/2531104611_fdd0f8029e.jpg)
...the fourth one isn't an image at all, but a sort of compass points cross.
Nearby, I also found another pair of apartments with an extra-heavy dose of colored glass block. Lovely!
![W. 55th Street](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2531104533_34a737ec4e.jpg)
1 comment:
Around the corner, on Pulaski south of 55th st is a building with carvings of "see, hear, and speak no evil monkeys"
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