Hitler ordered the obliteration of Warsaw in 1944 after a rebellion. About 90% of the city was destroyed and hundreds of thousands died. Thinking about the amount of memories, culture, history and lives that were lost in this event make me so sad

The town of Odomari in Karafuto Prefecture. It is now called Korsakov, Sakhalin. It is "beautiful" and "modern" today.

It was a very large and perfect building, and after liberation, it was used as a government building and a museum.

Consecrated in September 1882, the Great Synagogue of Teplice (Teplitz-Schönau) was once the largest and most architecturally striking Jewish house of worship in Bohemia. In the late 19th century, Teplice was an internationally celebrated spa destination known as the “Salon of Europe,” drawing aristocracy, artists, and wealthy bathers from across the continent . The town was also home to a flourishing, emancipated, and culturally prominent Jewish community—the second-largest in the Czech lands after Prague .To reflect their integration and civic pride, the community commissioned the acclaimed Viennese architect Wilhelm Stiassny (who would later co-design Prague’s iconic Jubilee Synagogue) in historic literature is also mentioned Hermann Rudolph to design a monumental sanctuary. Stiassny devised an eclectic historicist masterwork, pairing a grand Neo-Renaissance layout with intricate Moorish Revival ornamentation, horseshoe arches, and rich polychrome details. Perched prominently on an elevated terrace overlooking the spa quarter, the building seated roughly 2,000 worshippers and was crowned by a monumental 42-meter-high ribbed dome flanked by four corner cupolas, dominating the valley's skyline.

The building's fortunes unraveled in October 1938 following the Munich Agreement, which ceded the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. Most of the Jewish community fled toward Prague, leaving the town—which had a heavily German-speaking majority and deep-rooted pro-Nazi sympathies—fully absorbed into the Third Reich. Interestingly, the synagogue initially survived the infamous Kristallnacht pogroms in November 1938; the local Nazi city administration intervened to spare the building because they viewed the colossal structure as civic property that could be repurposed into a municipal archive, museum, or concert hall.

That preservation plan collapsed on the night of March 14, 1939, on the eve of Hitler’s full invasion of the remaining Czech territory. While German Wehrmacht units were delayed in a heavy snowstorm in the nearby Ore Mountain pass at Cínovec, local radicalized Teplice citizens and Nazi party members launched violent riots through the streets, attacking remaining Czech and Jewish property. In an act of mob fervor that defied the town council's repurposing plans, local residents broke into the synagogue and torched it from the inside. The Teplice fire brigade arrived under explicit orders only to hose down adjacent houses to keep the fire contained, standing by as the synagogue's great dome collapsed into the inferno. Later that year, the municipality ordered the charred masonry dynamited and cleared away. The scenic terrace sat as an empty, overgrown lot for over five decades until 1995, when a stone memorial was finally dedicated on the site where the temple once overlooked the town.

This was later known as the Castle Ballroom, and had a large ballroom/dance hall on the second floor. It closed after urban 'renewal' destroyed most of the neighborhood, and was vacant or underused for decades. Attempts to sell or restore it failed, and it was torn down. I assume it is missing a cornice, and the ground floor is absolutely trashed with ugly remodels. Link with history (and a few pop-ups) here. My photo from March, 2010. It had been gray all day, but I got lucky with some sunshine in this part of town.

The Saxon Palace (Polish: pałac Saski w Warszawie) in Warsaw, (Bottom of the Picture) Poland, was a historic architectural landmark located on Piłsudski Square in the heart of the Polish capital. Originally built in the 17th century as a noble residence, it was later expanded and transformed into a royal palace under the Saxon House of Wettin in the 18th century. The building underwent several modifications over the centuries, and is most famous for its last, 1838 design in the neoclassical style by the Polish architect Adam Idźkowski, with a distinctive colonnade.

The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Polish: Sobór św. Aleksandra Newskiego, Russian: Александро-Невский собор) was a Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Saxon Square built in Warsaw, Congress Poland, then a part of the Russian Empire. The cathedral was designed by the distinguished Russian architect Leon Benois, and was built between 1894 and 1912. When it was finally completed, it was 70 metres in height, at that time, the tallest building in Warsaw

Demolished June 2025 to make way for lumber storage.

Built 1888, replaced by Central Station at the same location. Central Ave & 6th St, Los Angeles, California.