Today is General Election Day! I'll be spending about 16 hours squirreled-away in the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall ("Gettysburg Room"), two short blocks from my house. My neighborhood is the nexus of four local colleges, so students and teachers are a big part of our voter base. Then, come 10:00 pm or so (once the voting machines are closed and secured), I'll race home to turn-on the election news recap.
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall was conceived as a monumental, Beaux-Arts tribute to Union soldiers (some of whom mustered on this very site during the Civil War). It was designed by the legendary Pittsburgh architect Henry Hornbostel and built between 1908 and 1910 (shortly after my house was built in 1907). Today the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall honors veterans and active service people from all branches of the military and is the largest such memorial in America.
The central core of the building is a 2500 seat auditorium. Surrounding that inner core are four perimeter hallways, lined with a series of glass vitrines displaying rare and historic military artifacts from the Civil War to the present. The museum is open to the public six days a week.
The set of four tumblers from the Fifties, shown above, are printed with a bucking Pennsylvania donkey—who's "Rarin' to Go!" They'd make a novel and appreciated gift for your favorite Democrat. Click on the photo above to learn more about these interesting glasses.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
We also can be found in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).
Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only). 917-446-4248