This door in the entrance of what was first called the United States Post Office and Courthouse. The building designed by New York architect James Gamble Rogers is located on the west side of the New Haven green. In the 1960's as part of a major 1960's urban renewal scheme, the building was a candidate for demolition. But it was saved by a coalition of Federal judges and local preservationists. And after much negotiation, it was restored in the early 1980's at a cost of $7,302,000 and renamed to "United States Courthouse". I guess it means that the postal service didn't care about saving it. (Photo by Bill Owens.)

This is the entrance to the Willey House on 105 Sylvar St. in Santa Cruz. This house was erected in 1887 for Henry Willey, the first president of the People's Bank in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is a beautiful coastal town in Northern California. Of course the pier and the boardwalk are famous, but it also has a very charming old downtown area and an old mission church and beautiful tower.

These doors are the entrance to the New Haven City Hall. About 400 years ago the area where New Haven is located was the home of a small tribe of Native Americans, the Quinnipiack, who built their villages around the harbor. On April 24, 1638, a company of five-hundred English Puritans, sailed into the harbor. The Quinnipiacks who were much distressed by raiding bands from surrounding areas agreed to sell the tribe's land to the Puritans. In return, the settlers pledged to protect the natives and to allow them the use of the lands on the east side of the harbor. This is when New Haven was founded. Today New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and has about 124000 inhabitants. (Photo was taken by Bill Owens.)

Another beautiful photo by David Miller is this one of this bright red door. This door is the entrance to the crypt of the St. Peters church in Streatham, London. The St Peter’s church is a parish church serving the local community in Streatham and West Norwood. A modern anglo-catholic parish in the Diocese of Southwark and within the Church of England. The architect for this church was Richard William Drew. The crypt is a flexible space with lots of character. It is laid out in a T-shape, with the kitchen occupying one end of the cross-piece and can be hired for social events for up to 100 people.

When I was in Sundsvall visiting an ancient Viking rune stone from approx. the year 1000 that Vikings used to place on gravehills that they erected for those who died, I ran into this door that deserved a spot on this blog. It is a front door that leads to no other place than heaven itself, because it is the entrance to the tomb erected as a family grave. May those who went through that door rest in peace.

This old door was photographed by Michelle Mitchell in Antalya, Turkey. Antalya is a beautiful city on the south coast of Turkey between the mediteranean see (here called the Antalya bay) and the Taurus Moutains on the North. The city is very old, it is believed that the region in which Antalya lays is inhibited for 50.000 years! During the centuries many dfferent tribes and kingdoms have ruled this area which has given it a wide diversity of historic sites. This is already one of my favorite doors posted here on my blog. This door has so much character! Thanks for sending it in Michelle!

Just like yesterday's photo this door is located in Bennington, Vermont and is sent in by Bill Owens. This door is the first door on "Front Doors" that has a clock inside it's beautiful framing. The building, which used to house the Vermont Federal Bank, is now called Fiddlehead at Four Corners, and houses a number of art galleries.

This door is the entrance to a municipal building in Bennington, Vermont. Bennington has a rich cultural heritage, beginning with the Native Americans drawn by an abundance of fish and game in and along the area's numerous waterways. In 1749, New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth chartered the first town in the territory now known as Vermont, and named it Bennington, in honor of himself. Photo by Bill Owens

This door is the door of the sågverksmuseum on the island Alnö in Sweden. This building was originally a sågverk (saw mill) and is part of a collection of small buildings called the Alnö Hembygdsgård. In the late 1800s there were around 20 saw mills in operation spread over the island Alnö. Around the saws small communities arose. Workers from different part of the Nordic contries moved into the island. But the working-class homes that were rapidly built left a lot to wish about comfort and sanitary conditions.

This door is the entrance to the Archbishop's house of the St George's catherdral. The original building was designed by the famous victorian architect Pugin and opened in 1848. In 1941, during world war II, the cathedral was badly bombed. But in the rebuilding of the cathedral that was completed in 1958, a great deal of the original design remained.
The photo was sent in by David Miller.

This is the front entrance to the Sundsvall Flickskola. This is the all girl school in Sundsvall that is built right next to the big church in the center of the town. The statue of the girl in front of it emphasizes that it for girls only.

Cameron Highlands, at 1,829 meters above sea level, is Malaysia's most popular hill resort. First discovered by British surveyor, William Cameron in 1885, Cameron Highlands is regarded as the "Green Bowl" of the country, supplying its produce of cabbages, tomatoes, lettuces, and green peppers to major cities in Malaysia, as well as to Singapore. The cool and fresh air in the highlands offers an attractive retreat for city dwellers who want temporary respite from the noise and pollution of the city. The photo of this door was taken by Tan HongSing.

On this land was before the fire in 1888 a large wooden structure that among others housed the Hollnerska bookstore from which both the newspapers Sundsvall Tidning and Sundsvalls Posten originated. After the fire the Swedish Riksbank (National Bank) hired the architects Ulrich and Hallquist from Stockholm to design a new bankpalace on the land. The building was finished in 1907. In 1954 it changed ownership and since 1994 it is owned by a real estate company who rents out the office space.

This door was photographed by Michelle Mitchell in Wye, Kent on her hiking trip on the south coast of England. She took a route that is part of the famous North Downs Way. The North Downs Way is a long-distance path in southern England. It runs 153 miles from Farnham in Surrey east to Dover in Kent, via Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester. East of Boughton Lees, the path splits in two, the northern section running via Canterbury and the southern via Wye. Both sections reuniting at Dover. With this in mind it's not suprising to see hiking boots outside of the front door.

This door is the entrance to a building, built in 1892, on Esplanaden in Sundsvall, Sweden. Sundsvall became a town in 1616. During Industrialisation Sundsvall became a centre for the sawmill industry. On a windy day in 1888, August Staff was burning tar in his back yard. A man came and asked him to sign a check. While signing the check the backyard took fire and soon the whole city was burning. The city was completely destroyed. This resulted in a completely new town plan with stone houses in the centre and Esplanaden was formed as the main street of Sundsvall.

This is one of the guarded entrances to the Kungliga Slottet (Royal Palace) in Stockholm, Sweden. Kungliga Slottet is the largest royal castle in the world still used for its original purpose. It was constructed on the site of the 'old' royal castle, Tre Kronor, which burned down in 1697. The palace, designed by the court architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, has 608 rooms and took 57 years to complete after the fire.

This photo was taken by Amira Al Hussaini on the Nizma market in Oman. The oasis city of Nizwa was once the old capital of Oman. Today, it remains a major tourist attraction with its historical buildings and imposing fort built by Imam Sultan bin Saif in 1668 AD. The town boasts of the falaj Daris (traditional irrigation system) and its bustling souq situated near a gnarled old tree, where tourists can buy exquisite copper and silver jewellery, dates and even goats on certain days.

This doorway is another one I ran in to in Gamla Stan in Stockholm. The nice detail is that there is actually a door within the door. This was done more often purely for convenience. What is a shame that there is quite some graphiti around a lot of those beautiful historical doors. This door was spared but not the walls next to it.

This is the first door in a serie about Stockholm. This particular door you can find in Gamla Stan or Old Town in Stockholm. Gamla Stan is situated on a small island in the heart of Stockholm. This part of the city is a maze of medieval streets and is crammed with historic attractions, including Stockholm's cathedral and the royal palace. The door you see here is just a door of one of the many beautiful earth tone colored houses.

This is the beautifully restored entrance of the Taube Center which is part of the Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA. The Taube Center, which was formerly called the Conference Center, stands at the entrance of the University campus on Ralston Avenue. Built in 1930, it was originally part of the San Carlos Parish. It was used as the local parish church until 1958. From 1958 to 1986, the building housed the College Art Department. In 1995 it was renovated by a grant from the Taube Family Foundation of Belmont and the Koret Foundation of San Francisco, and is now used by the University and community for special events and conferences.

It is with great pleasure and honor that I can announce today the very first Front Door of the month. It has been a difficult choice, but with help of many comments and emails the Jury announces the Front Door of the month July 2005 to be the Front Door sent in by António Caeiro from Portugal.
This photo was first placed on this Blog on July 30th, and that was just in time to be eligible for July. Well António is not a stranger from this blog, he already sent in a photo for August. Well if you live in Portugal with so much arcitectural beauty around you it's not surprising that we probably will see a lot more from him.

Please join me in congratulating António with his winning photo!!

This photo will be on display a few days while the editor of this blog will be collecting new material abroad. Keep sending in photos, your photo might become the next front door of the month.

This door shared by 'Here the Artist' is a door in the so called "Den Gamle By" (the old town) in Århus, Denmark. The Old Town is a state certified national museum of cultural history and was opened, as the first open-air museum of urban culture in the world, to the public in 1914. The museum shows all sides of life in the old market towns and therefore large collections of workshops, trade stalls and domestic interiors were built up and incorporated into the historic buildings in such a way that the museum guest experiences a closeness to the people of the past.

Built in 1932 the Veterans Memorial Building is an historical landmark located in the heart of beautiful downtown Santa Cruz. The building was added in 1992 to the county's registry of historic places. The architecture can be described as Mission/Spanish Revival. It was designed by Architect Davis-Pearce Co. And from the day it was built it has functioned as a social meeting hall.

Today I bring you another door from Monsaraz, Portugal. I wrote earlier about this jewel in the crown. But the more I read about it the more I would like to go there myself. For instance every year, throughout the month of July, Monsaraz becomes an open-air museum, affording visitors the opportunity to get to know more about the customs and habits used in the production of Alentejo handicraft, appreciate the delights of the regional cuisine and enjoy the various cultural events that are held there, including music, theatre, dance and art exhibitions. This photo comes from António Caeiro

As the oldest town in San Mateo County Half Moon bay was founded in 1840 and was known then as Spanishtown. In 1874 the town officially became known as Half Moon Bay. By then the church that is now the Methodist Episcopal Church was already built of which you can see it's door. Can you believe that a part of this church was once the Ocean Shore Railroad depot? Well between 1908 and 1920, the train ran along the ocean bluffs a mile west of town. In 1930, the derelict depot was dragged to the church to become a social hall.

This is a front door in the town of Orvieto in Italy. Orvieto is a charming hill town in the South West of Umbria. The town sits majestically on a big chunk of tufa rock. It has a beautiful cathedral that was built after a miracle that took place in the 1260s, when a Bohemian priest — who doubted that the bread used in communion was really the body of Christ — went to Rome on a pilgrimage. On his return journey, he worshiped in Bolsena, near Orvieto. During Mass, the bread bled, staining a linen cloth. The cloth was brought to the pope, who was visiting Orvieto at the time. And of course such a miraculous relic required a magnificent church. This photo was taken in the summer of 2003 by Al Teich.

Well we made it to the final 3 for the month of July. Bear with me, we need a few more votes to determine the Front Door of July. Motivation of votes is highly encouraged. The final 3 are in alphabetical order:
- Hatcher Pass, AK
- Indal, Sweden;
- Monsaraz, Portugal

So bring in the votes and comments!

Today I will announce the first nominees for the winner circle. The 6 doors were all posted the last month, and now I ask you to tell me which door deserves the title Front Door of the Month. The 6 nominees in alphabetic order are: 1. Agra, India ; 2. Hatcher Pass, AK; 3. Indal, Sweden; 4. Monsaraz, Portugal; 5. Palo Alto, CA; 6. San Diego, CA

Tell me what you think!