Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

It was a shame when during the design process for the Robert C. Byrd Federal Building along Virginia Street plans for a dome were KO'd because of budget constraints. The curvilinear pleasures of a dome would have done much to soften the boxy, rectangular (read 'boring') look of the Charleston skyscape. (One reason the Capitol Dome so attracts the eye -- aside from being gold as a pirate's tooth these days -- is exactly that its mammary roundness leaps out in contrast to the rest of the Capitol Complex's boxiness. It also picks up and reflects the curves of the surrounding hills. Nature knows what up, when it comes to design.) In compensation, the Byrd Building designers added this pleasing top-skirt, like an elaborate Elizabethan collar. It's really quite attractive, but you must exercise your neck to appreciate it in full.