Source: MSN, Pauline Lacsamana
Photo: Courtesy of Ama

Why we love this deal

Owning a home is a milestone that many have dreamed about. But with rising prices, it’s a goal that feels less and less attainable. Homes can cost anywhere from $150K to millions of dollars, depending on your location and criteria. However, there’s a solution that many are turning to in lieu of a standard house, and that’s investing in a tiny home.

Believe it or not, a place you can get one from is none other than Amazon, the retailer that truly seems to sell everything. In addition to groceries and a new sectional sofa, you can add a tiny home to your cart and be well on your way to building a tiny but mighty dream home. The Prefab A-Frame Tiny Home caught our eye, and it boasts a cozy, retro design for under $40K.

Why do shoppers love it?

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median sale price of a home in the United States in 2025 was nearly $411K (AKA not cheap). As a result, tiny homes have risen in popularity due to their affordability and flexibility, but just because they’re more budget-friendly than a standard home doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice style, too. The Prefab A-Frame Tiny Home proves just that with a surprisingly chic and retro design that would easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more otherwise.

With an A-frame silhouette, this tiny house taps into the charm of mid-century modern style, but for significantly less. We fully get the appeal of an original mid-century house, but as is the case with many older homes, they typically need a lot of repairs and updates that can cut deep into your budget. This tiny home is the perfect compromise that allows you to start from scratch.

Despite being a tiny home, the A-frame design takes advantage of every inch of vertical space, making the end result spacious and airy. The home is customizable in many ways, fitting two to four bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. As a prefab house, the assembly is meant to be easy and completed quickly. Each piece is made of metal, and it utilizes steel panels to create a durable frame that can withstand harsh weather, from snowstorms to heavy rain.

The only catch is that you’ll need to hire professionals to install electrical and plumbing systems. We also suggest doing additional research to ensure you have all of the required permits and are abiding by laws, regulations, and restrictions for your city or state.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/amazon-is-selling-a-cozy-a-frame-tiny-house-that-s-customizable-with-up-to-4-bedrooms-for-under-40k

Source: The Discoverer, Erin De Santiago
Photo: saiko3p/Shutterstock

Our oceans are one of our most precious, and endangered, resources. And whether you’re a diving buff, cruise lover, or just want to do your part protecting the oceans, there are some incredible places to learn about the world under the sea. From noted marine research facilities to underwater zoos, here’s a look at five jaw-dropping aquariums around the world. No scuba gear or certification necessary here.

Oceanographic Museum, Monaco

The building that houses the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco is worth a visit alone as the iconic structure was built on the side of Le Rocher cliff. This area of Monaco’s old town is known for its medieval windy lanes and stunning views. It features a Baroque Revival architectural style, took over ten years to build, and required 100,000 tons of stone. Prince Albert I, great-great-grandfather of H.S.H. Prince Albert II, was the museum’s founder. On the museum’s façade, don’t miss the names of 20 renowned oceanographic research vessels’ names inscribed into the frieze.

Visitors to the Oceanographic Museum can see over 6,000 specimens on display and learn more about the world’s oceans through its exhibits on sea-related objects like tools, model ships, weapons, sea animal skeletons, and more. Jacques Cousteau served as the museum’s director for just over 30 years, as well.

Monterey Bay Aquarium, USA

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is home to over 35,000 sea creatures that represent over 550 species, mostly all local marine life varieties. When it opened in 1984, it was the first aquarium to feature an exhibit of a living kelp forest. Monterey Bay Aquarium prides itself on its marine research and conservation efforts. This work includes the Seafood Watch, a sustainable seafood advisory list. With around 200 exhibits in total, it’s no wonder why this aquarium is a must-see for visitors to Northern California.

The building where the aquarium is housed in is a defunct sardine cannery and has been recognized for its architectural achievements. It also helped lead to a revitalization of the cannery row area, providing additional things to do for visitors to Monterey Bay. If you’re a fan of Disney Pixar movies, you likely already know filmmakers made multiple research trips to Monterey Bay Aquarium to gain inspiration for the Marine Life Institute featured in the film ‘Finding Dory.’

AquaDom, Germany

If you find yourself in Berlin, don’t pass up the opportunity to have a cocktail underneath the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium In the Radisson Blu Hotel, you’ll find the Atrium Bar where you can imbibe while gazing up at the 82-foot high AquaDom. With one million liters of saltwater, a two-story interior elevator, and more than 1,500 fish housed here. It is part of the adjacent SEA LIFE Berlin.

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Japan

Located at Ocean Expo Park in Okinawa, you’ll find the Churaumi Aquarium. Start by exploring the Coral Sea tank, a naturally-lit exhibit that showcases a large section of Japanese corals. The impressive cultivation of coral, about 450 colonies of 70 different types, is made possible through open tanks allowing in strong sunlight as well as the impressive system that supplies fresh seawater.

One of the other most impressive exhibits is the Kuroshio Sea tank. This tank is where some of the world’s biggest fish are, including manta rays and whale sharks. Don’t miss the Deep Sea tank either. Here you’ll find a variety of creatures you wouldn’t otherwise get to see as they live far below standard diving depths. You can find many of these creatures below 200 meters, including some bioluminescent types of marine life.

Dubai Mall Aquarium, United Arab Emirates

The Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo is located in a shopping mall of all places, and it’s one of the largest suspended aquariums in the world. There are over 33,000 specimens on display from 140 species of sea life, including an impressive number of sand tiger sharks. The aquarium reaches to the third floor of the mall and features a cool tunnel you can walk through and see huge stingrays and sand tiger sharks overhead. Want to get closer up? The Dubai Aquarium offers immersive experiences here, as well. If you have your swim gear, there are snorkeling and swimming with sharks excursions.

Dubai is a very layover-friendly city, with many people booking lengthy connections and using the opportunity to take a city tour for a few hours. The Dubai Mall has a guided private tour for those short on time. In an hour, you can explore all of the highlights, including a glass-bottom boat ride, submersible simulator, fish feeding, and a behind-the-scenes tour of the shark and crocodile exhibits.

About the Author

Erin De Santiago is a travel and food writer who writes for various publications and her own sites, including her award-winning blog, Our Tasty Travels. She’s explored over 70 countries in search of unique food and travel experiences.

https://www.thediscoverer.com/blog/jaw-dropping-aquariums-around-the-world

Source: Smithsonian Magazine, Emily Barske Wood
Photo: Peeps Marshmallow Chicks cooling on a conveyor belt before packaging at Just Born Quality Confections (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania), 2023 Christopher Payne/Courtesy of the artist, © Christopher Payne/Esto

A collection of photos published by the New York Times Magazine in 2014 prompted Susan Brown to make a cold call. It wasn’t usually her style, but the pictures delighted her, and she felt compelled to get in touch with the photographer.

The photo essay showed intricate details from New England textile mills: hundreds of yarn bobbins at a carpet company, a worker removing defects from a floral fabric, a close-up of a sewing machine’s gears. The photographer was Christopher Payne, and he was New York-based. The images were part of his early forays into photographing American manufacturing. Brown praised his photos and asked how he’d executed some of the shots; she hoped to someday find the right opportunity to feature his work at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, where she was, and still is, a curator. Payne was happy to connect, knowing museum curators are particularly choosy in selecting high-caliber art.

The occasion to collaborate has come more than a decade later. “Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne” will be exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum from December 12, 2025, through fall 2026. The display will feature more than 70 of Payne’s photos, including some never-before-seen work captured for the museum project.

Trained as an architect, Payne taught himself to take photos using design principles, drawing on his ability to visualize three-dimensional spaces on two-dimensional surfaces. He thought of photos like compositions—he created a stage that he fit the action onto.

“I think the advantage that [architecture] gives me, and also the burden, is that I tend to seek out geometric compositions in my work,” Payne says.

The photo projects he pursued often reflected his love for architecture, design and assembly. While working on his 2009 book, Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals, he photographed abandoned mental hospitals across the country, which seemed to have grand exteriors, but dilapidated interiors.

“They were these cities within the cities,” Payne says. “I always liked photographing the farms, the workshops and the infrastructure that kept these massive, sprawling campuses going. Every hospital had that manufacturing component.”

Not long after Payne finished the asylum project, his mother suggested he check out an old yarn mill in Maine. His visit there felt like walking into a museum, and when he spoke with the mill owner, he learned of other companies in the Northeast that were remnants of the factories that powered the American Industrial Revolution. The mill project became the photo essay published by the New York Times Magazine.

Soon Payne’s curiosity expanded beyond the old mills in his corner of the country, and his expertise grew into capturing interesting manufacturing operations around the U.S. Companies and publications commissioned his work. He published a collection of photos from a Steinway piano factory in New York, photographed the production of Peeps marshmallow treats in Pennsylvania and learned how roller skates were made in Minnesota. He captured ​​the technicolor factory where Jelly Belly jelly beans were made in California, observed the race to produce coronavirus vaccine vials in New York and witnessed the laying of high voltage cable used for fiber optics in South Carolina.

Christopher Payne first toured the Astoria, New York-based Steinway factory in 2002 as an architect.

Both his father and grandmother played the piano, and after they died, he made it a goal to return to the factory for a photo project, seeking to show the beauty of the artistry and materials that go into making the iconic pianos.

Payne liked the creative challenge of finding beauty and order in places that were traditionally unphotogenic or cluttered, and he took pride in creating photos that showed industrial production in unexpected ways. He sought to photograph mass-produced goods, like American flags, as well as modern products, like computer chips.

Kathy Ryan, former director of photography at the New York Times Magazine, recalls that Payne’s project featuring one of the last pencil factories in the country “was one of the most reacted to, beloved photo essays” the magazine ever published. His photos transformed the pencils into monumental sculptures, she says.

“He’ll make a picture of something tiny, like a batch of pencils, and it looms large in his photo, and it looks like this big, gigantic, building-like edifice—and it’s pencils,” Ryan says. “But then he can also go in and photograph the largest jet engine you can imagine in an airplane manufacturing plant, and then that gets rendered in a smaller way.”

The strength of his eye for patterns and abstract art on a busy factory floor is perhaps matched only by his desire to get the perfect shot no matter how much time it takes.

Ryan tagged along with Payne as he took photos at the facility where specialists perform maintenance on New York City subway cars. He had a strong idea of the shot he wanted because he’d already watched their operations several times. And his obsession seemed to impress the workers, who stalled their progress to move the hoisted-up cars a few inches over at Payne’s request so he could get the best angle.

Most of his photo assignments take months to plan, and hours or days to capture. He jumps hurdles with the companies, learning what can’t be photographed due to safety protocols and for proprietary reasons. Some businesses momentarily stop production for him.

Payne observes factory workers and machines for long periods of time, finding people suitable for the photos he envisions: someone tall enough to fit well into the frame of equipment, or a friendly worker who is willing to cooperate as he repeatedly adjusts his lights or asks them to shift the placement of their hands.

“Structurally, clearly his training as an architect informs his work,” Ryan says. “Spiritually, his love and respect for the industrial worker and the craftsmanship of what they do also defines his work.”

In factory workers, Payne saw a microcosm of the U.S.—young and old, immigrant and American-born, people with soiled aprons and those with clean white suits—all working together side by side. “It seems like it’s one of the few places in this country where democracy still works, because everyone has to work together toward a common goal,” Payne says. “If people aren’t working together in a factory, then it doesn’t work.”

Factory visits around the country broadened Payne’s understanding of the challenges facing American manufacturing. Many assert that global competition has hampered a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing, he says, but he also heard from factory leaders that it’s difficult for them to find enough skilled workers because the country has not prioritized vocational education.

Payne pursued his photo book Made in America, published in 2023, to share the highlights of his industrial photos. Curator Susan Brown reached out to him in January 2024 to explore an exhibition at Cooper Hewitt. The museum has never displayed a large-scale photography show. But Brown felt Payne’s photos were the right project to represent the entire country as the Smithsonian commemorates the United States turning 250 in 2026.

“It’s a very American project,” Payne says. “I love this country, and to me, this is sort of what I’m trying to do to be a good American, is to try to show people how important manufacturing is and to honor craft and manual labor. … The places that I photograph exist in the public discourse, but few of us know what factories actually look like.”

Payne’s images could also educate Cooper Hewitt visitors about manufacturing, a key part of the design process seldom explored at the museum, Brown notes.

“We collect prototypes and we collect sketches and concept drawings and unfinished products, but in between the prototype or the concept drawing and the finished product, there’s a really big step that we usually don’t get to share,” Brown says.

That’s what makes Payne’s work particularly compelling. He uncovers how the creation of useful objects, from pencils to wind turbines to electric vehicles, can be beautifully photographed. He shows us the art of the in-between.

About the Author

Emily Barske Wood is an Iowa-based journalist. She works part-time as the special projects editor for the Des Moines Business Record, and her work has been published by the Guardian, the Poynter Institute, and NPR’s Public Editor team. She recently completed a Master of Fine Arts in narrative nonfiction through the University of Georgia and is working on a book project that will be published by the University of Nebraska Press about a tornado that hit her hometown. You can follow her work on Instagram @emilybarskewood.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/see-amazing-images-that-reveal-the-strange-otherworldly-beauty-hidden-in-american-factories

Source: Dezeen, Nat Barker
Photo: Courtesy of Nike

Sportswear giant Nike has repeatedly sought to revolutionise footwear. In this roundup, we collect nine innovative projects from the brand covered on Dezeen.

Nike Mind 001 and Mind 002

Nike describes its recently launched Mind 001 trainer and Mind 002 mule as its “first neuroscience-based footwear”.

The shoes, which were created using data collected from brain scans in the brand’s new Mind Science Department, contain 22 foam nodes on the sole that move and compress underfoot, sending soothing messages to the brain.

“This is just the beginning,” Nike chief science officer Matthew Nurse told Dezeen. “Once you understand how sensory feedback influences focus and recovery, that insight can shape everything – from training shoes that calm pre-competition nerves to recovery slides that help reset the mind after.”

Project Amplify

Also recently unveiled by Nike was a prototype design for a motorised exoskeleton-like device that attaches to the lower leg and provides a power boost for running or walking by helping to lift the wearer’s heel.

Developed in collaboration with robotics company Dephy, the product is still in still in the testing phase, with plans for a consumer version “in the coming years”.

Nike GO FlyEase

Released in 2021, the Go FlyEase can be put on or taken off hands-free thanks to a specially developed hinge system in the sole. Nike billed the trainer as an example of accessible design useful for people who might struggle to tie shoelaces.

It built on earlier shoes in the FlyEase range that used an openable heel.

Nike Hyperadapt 1.0

Another example of Nike’s attempts to change how we put on our shoes came in the form of the Hyperadapt 1.0 in 2016. These self-lacing trainers contain tiny electric motors and sensors that automatically tighten the laces when the wearer puts them on.

The shoes were inspired by the 1989 time-travel movie Back to the Future Part II, in which the protagonist Marty McFly is transported to 2015 and puts on a pair of Nike sneakers that tie themselves.

Nike later adapted the technology for a laceless basketball shoe, the Adapt BB.

Nike VaporFly Elite

Possibly the most talked-about shoe ever made, Nike’s Vaporfly triggered a revolution in running-shoe design. The brand began distributing prototypes to its elite athletes in 2016 to sensational results at that year’s Olympic Games, and marathon world records were later smashed by runners wearing Vaporflys.

Featuring an extremely lightweight and extra-thick ZoomX foam sole embedded with a springboard-like carbon-fibre plate, the Vaporfly was so effective that some argued it provided an unfair advantage.

Dezeen has previously plotted a detailed timeline of the battle between Nike and its arch rival Adidas to develop the ultimate running shoe.

Nike Zvezdochka shoe designed by Marc Newson

In 2004, the highly influential designer Marc Newson developed a shoe for Nike consisting of four interchangeable parts: an insole, an outsole, an inner sock and an injection-moulded outer cage perforated with holes.

Ahead of a 2014 reissue, Newson told Dezeen in an interview that it was “revolutionary” as one of the first times a shoe had been manufactured in a mould rather than stitched together like a garment.

Then-Nike CEO Mark Parker told Dezeen that the Zvezdochka had been an important step in other footwear breakthroughs at the company.

Nike x Hyperice massaging boots

Working with health-tech company Hyperice, Nike last year unveiled a boot that massages the wearer, intended to help athletes warm up and decompress.

Air “bladders” inside the shoe inflate and deflate to massage the foot and ankle, with heating elements to help target achy tissue.

Power comes from a battery in the sole, while a button on the heal adjusts the level of compression and warmth.

Nike ISPA shoes

Almost all shoes are nearly impossible to recycle, because it’s very difficult to separate them into their constituent materials.

Nike – which is the world’s biggest producer of shoes – took a step towards addressing this issue with a pair of modular trainers that can be easily disassembled. Instead of being held together by glue, they consist of three interlocking parts.

However, in a later interview with Dezeen, Nike chief design officer Martin Lotti said that material choice is more important to reducing the environmental impact of the company’s footwear products.

Nike unveils “world’s first” running shoes with 3D-printed uppers

In 2012, Nike developed Flyknit. This technology combines strands of polyester yarn to produce shoes with lightweight, almost seamless uppers that feel like a sock and are made in one piece to reduce manufacturing waste.

Nike began applying Flyknit to many of its sports shoes, and it formed the upper for the aforementioned Vaporfly Elite. Despite enjoying huge success with that shoe, Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge had one piece of feedback: it absorbed water, meaning the shoe got heavier during the race.

In response, Nike’s designers came up with Flyprint for Kipchoge’s shoes at the 2018 London Marathon. Instead of being woven from fabric, it was 3D-printed from a plastic filament. The brand claimed they were the first running shoes in the world to have 3D-printed uppers.

https://www.dezeen.com/2025/11/09/nike-innovative-trainers-roundup

Fast Company, Grace Snelling
Photo: Dave Burk/© SOM

Following a long tradition, after the Games the site will be used for affordable student housing.

When athletes arrive in Milan for the 2026 Winter Olympics, they’ll find themselves living on top of what was once a bustling 19th-century rail yard. The newly revealed athletes village is located in the city’s historic Scalo di Porta Romana district—and when the Games are over, it’ll be converted into Italy’s largest-ever affordable student housing development.

The Olympic Village design was led by the global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). It includes six mass-timber residential buildings, two former train repair sheds that have been renovated into communal spaces, and 40,000 square meters of green space. After the Winter Olympics take place, the village will be transformed into 1,700 student apartments in time for the 2026-2027 school year.

The repurposing of the 2026 athletes village follows a long history of similar past efforts, including converting former athlete housing into resorts, luxury condos, and mixed-use developments—all of which have achieved varying degrees of success.

Inside the 2026 Athletes Village

Photos of Milan’s Scalo di Porta Romana district from the early-20th century paint a picture of an ultra-industrial zone populated by factories, smokestacks, and railway cars. Today Milan’s administrative body, the Comune di Milano, is in the midst of a multiyear project to convert the district into a sprawling neighborhood complete with green space and commercial and residential zones. Part of that plan includes first transforming the former rail yard into a global destination for the Olympics and, later, a student housing development.

“Porta Romana is a unique neighborhood,” says Colin Koop, design partner at SOM. “Originally situated outside the city walls, the neighborhood developed as a unique mix of industrial buildings, factories, and farms driven by its adjacency to the gate to Rome. Our project takes direct inspiration from these practical, utilitarian buildings in the siting and composition of our six, interconnected buildings.”

The site chosen for the athletes village, located on the southwest corner of the former rail yard, included two abandoned train repair sheds—which, according to Koop, were found “in various states of ruin.” To preserve the historic buildings, his team embarked on an extensive reinforcement of their existing structures. To do this, they had to entirely replace both roofs to meet seismic requirements, reconstruct several supporting walls, and rework crumbling facades with careful attention to the preservation of the buildings’ architectural character.

“The interiors are largely defined by the restored timber structure and largely left as an open hall, similar to their original spatial layout,” Koop says. During the Olympics, the two buildings will serve various uses for competing athletes, including a dining hall, information and logistics center, and communal lounge.

Beside the renovated buildings are six new apartment complexes, each composed primarily of single-occupancy rooms with their own bathrooms. Every floor includes amenities like communal kitchens, study rooms, and lounges, making them easily convertible into future student housing, Koop says. Fitness centers, screening rooms, and laundry facilities are incorporated on the ground floor.

Where the buildings truly stand out from previous athlete housing, though, is in their pocket courtyards and climbing greenery. These green spaces are designed both to pay homage to Milan’s architecture and to incorporate natural daylight in every room.

“Milan has a rich tradition of courtyard buildings with vertical gardens climbing up their facades,” Koop says. “We were inspired by these beautiful private terraces, which soften the city’s stone, brick, and plaster facades with rich palettes of plants and trees. We set out to extend this tradition through the creation of two grand facades of social terraces, which cover the eastern and western portions of the site.”

By the time students are ready to move in, Koop adds, the buildings’ incorporated irrigated planters and metal cables will have allowed plants to cover the facades entirely, “enveloping the student spaces in a canopy of green.”

This is far from the first time that an athletes village site has been repurposed after the Olympics. In fact, the practice has been around for decades.

After the 1996 Atlanta Games, athlete housing was converted into student dorms that were first used by Georgia State University and later by Georgia Tech. Following the nearly $12 billion 2012 Summer Olympics in London, housing in the city’s East Village neighborhood was turned into mixed-use residential and commercial space, with some of the former flats retailing for as much as $1 million back in 2021. After the 2008 Games in Beijing, the Olympic Village site became public parkland and memorial spaces. In Sydney, following the 2000 Summer Games, the village was transformed into a residential suburb.

These transformations have sometimes proved unsuccessful, or even damaging to local communities. The 2016 Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro was the largest in the history of the Games at the time, but after the athlete housing was converted to luxury condos, the space reportedly fell vacant, coming to serve for some as a symbol of the Games’ wasteful excesses.

Back in 2024—when Paris was preparing to turn its athletes village into sustainable housing and office space—political scientist Jules Boykoff told Fast Company that attempts to reuse Olympic infrastructure often fail.

“Unfortunately, the Olympics have an ignominious tradition of creating ‘white elephants,’ or stadiums and other venues that remain underused and expensive to maintain in the wake of the Games,” he said. He added that organizers often make promises to build social housing that fall through, like in Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012, when “both projects ended up being essentially nationalized, paid for by taxpayers, and then promises around social housing mostly evaporated in the face of market exigencies.”

In the case of the 2024 Olympic Village in Paris, established residents reported during construction that they were forced out of their homes to make way for the new housing. Currently, Paris is in the process of converting the Olympics infrastructure into a new district, though concerns around gentrification remain.

The Olympic Games are a limited-time event, notorious for passing through the host city in the blink of an eye. Whether the SOM team’s vision for the Milan site lasts long after 2026 remains to be seen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Grace Snelling is an editorial assistant for Fast Company with a focus on product design, branding, art, and all things Gen Z. Her stories have included an exploration into the wacky world of Duolingo’s famous mascot, an interview with the New Yorker’s art editor about the scramble to prepare a cover image of Donald Trump post-2024 election, and an analysis of how the pineapple became the ultimate sex symbol.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91421857/milan-2026-olympic-housing

Source: New York Times, Zachary Small
Photo: The Trump administration wants federal buildings to look more like the U.S. Supreme Court, with its Corinthian columns, than the Brutalist architecture seen elsewhere in Washington. (Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times)

The order, which affects buildings like federal courthouses and agency headquarters, encourages classical styles rather than modernist aesthetics.

President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that requires federal buildings in Washington to maintain a classical style of Greco-Roman architecture associated with the marble columns and austere hallways of the Supreme Court and U.S. Capitol.

The new guidelines, which the White House has framed as “making federal architecture beautiful again,” also discourage federal construction projects nationwide from choosing modernist styles like Brutalism.

“Because of their proven ability to meet these requirements, classical and traditional architecture are preferred modes of architectural design,” the executive order said. It added, “Major emphasis should be placed on the choice of designs that embody architectural excellence.”

Architects had expected the new rules for some months, ever since the White House released a memorandum in January calling for federal buildings to respect “classical architectural heritage.” It was a throwback to an executive order that Mr. Trump passed in the final weeks of his first administration and was later rescinded by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

“Architecture should be of its moment,” said Liz Waytkus, the executive director of Docomomo US, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving 20th-century architecture. “It seems the current administration wants to look back and not forward.”

The executive order said that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson modeled buildings in Washington, including the White House, on the architecture of ancient Athens and Rome.

“They sought to use classical architecture to visually connect our contemporary Republic with the antecedents of democracy in classical antiquity, reminding citizens not only of their rights but also their responsibilities in maintaining and perpetuating its institutions,” the order said.

The new guidelines will affect several federal projects, according to Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, a nonprofit that helped draft the executive order. He said the designs for new courthouses in places like Hartford, Conn., and Chattanooga, Tenn., would need to follow the executive order. In recent years, courthouses with a modern style have opened in cities like San Antonio, Texas, and Harrisburg, Pa.

“For too long, federal architecture has been in a dismal state,” Shubow said in a statement that refers to Mr. Trump. “Recognizing the public’s disdain of our more recent government buildings, he is ensuring that new edifices will be beautiful, dignified, and admired by the common person. Federal buildings will be once again noble symbols of our democracy.”

The White House has taken measures in recent months to exert more control over the design and planning of federal architecture. It has eyed plans for the redevelopment of southwestern Washington, where several buildings are under consideration for disposal, meaning they could be torn down and replaced. Those include the James V. Forrestal Building, which houses the Department of Energy, and the Jamie L. Whitten Building, where the Department of Agriculture resides.

In July, Mr. Trump also appointed three administration officials to the National Capital Planning Commission, which advances the government’s interest in the development of Washington by overseeing federal land. (The commission has traditionally included architects, urban planners and engineers.) New appointees included William Scharf as the commission’s chairman; he is also one of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers and the White House staff secretary.

The commission has since taken aim at Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, over a $700 million renovation to his department’s building that has been proceeding since 2021. James Blair, a new planning commissioner and the White House’s deputy chief of staff, has referred to the headquarters as the “Taj Mahal on the National Mall.”

The president also announced a ballroom expansion to the White House in July, which is being overseen by the architect James McCrery II, another founding member of the National Civic Art Society.

Preservationists worry that the new executive order is encoding a distaste for Brutalism, which was a popular style of architecture in the postwar era during a boom in the construction of public projects like universities, libraries and administrative offices. Architects closely associated with the style, including Paul Rudolph and Marcel Breuer, advanced the use of exposed concrete to build functional spaces of openness and warmth. Critics, however, have frequently described the style as cold and elitist.

It was frequently used in federal complexes like the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which opened north of the National Mall in the 1970s to negative reviews that described it as “arrogant” and “overbearing.”

The General Services Administration and the F.B.I. have announced they would be leaving the Hoover Building because of its dilapidated structure and aging water system. Michael Peters, the G.S.A.’s public buildings service commissioner, said in a statement that the complex had more than $300 million in deferred maintenance costs.

Some preservationists have expressed skepticism about those costs, saying that the federal government has generally been a good steward of its buildings.

“They are allowed their opinions, but this is a taste argument,” Waytkus said. “Where it gets more challenging and disturbing is when that is dictated by the federal government.”

Zachary Small is a Times reporter writing about the art world’s relationship to money, politics and technology.

A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 30, 2025, Section C, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Federal Architecture Is Facing a Redesign.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/arts/design/trump-executive-order-architecture-federal-buildings

Source: Daily Passport, Fiona Mokry
Photo: Felix Lipov/Shutterstock

You don’t need to travel all the way to Europe to find a fairy-tale castle. Although castles aren’t nearly as common in the U.S. as they are across the pond, there are still a handful of notable castles to discover from coast to coast — as long as you know where to look. We’ve narrowed your search down to a list of the 13 most incredible castles you can visit without leaving the U.S.

In the early 1900s, millionaire George C. Boldt set out to build a spectacular medieval-style castle on Heart Island, part of the Thousand Islands archipelago on New York’s northern border. The magnate, who was also the proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, shaped the island itself into a heart and built his namesake castle as an expression of his love for his wife. He was planning to gift the castle to her, but in 1904, Boldt’s beloved wife tragically died. Bereft, Boldt immediately stopped construction on the castle and never returned to the island. The castle sat there, unfinished, for more than 70 years, until the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority bought the property in 1977 and began restoring it for future generations. Accessible by water taxi, Boldt Castle is open for self-guided tours from mid-May through mid-October.

Montezuma Castle – Camp Verde, Arizona

This Arizona “castle” is probably unlike any castle you have ever seen. For starters, it’s tucked into the side of a cliff, where it has been sitting for more than 800 years. Built by the Sinagua peoples around 1100 CE, the pueblo palace contains about 45 to 50 rooms, but unfortunately visitors won’t be able to get inside to count them. Since 1951, Montezuma Castle has been off-limits to the public, as looters and time have rendered it too fragile for it to be safe. You can still climb up to peer in the windows, though, as you imagine what life must have been like back when it was built.

Castello di Amorosa – Napa Valley, California

If you’ve always wanted to visit Italy but your budget doesn’t allow for it, then consider heading to Castello di Amorosa in California’s Napa Valley wine country. Visiting this castle is like strolling through Tuscany hundreds of years ago — but many visitors don’t realize that it was completed far more recently, in 2007, after a 14-year-long building period. Built by Dario Sattui, the great-grandson of an Italian immigrant, this 107-room castle is a love letter to Italian culture, as well as a thriving vineyard and winery.

Scotty’s Castle – Death Valley, California

Located in California’s Death Valley, Scotty’s Castle has an interesting history — one marked by falsehoods. According to legend, the castle was built by Walter Scott, also known as “Death Valley Scotty.” He told everyone that he had built the castle with a fortune he had gained from a collection of secret mines nearby. In reality, though, the castle was built by wealthy couple Albert and Bessie Johnson, who used it as a vacation home. Scott was a friend of the family, though, and the castle today bears his name — even if records show no evidence that he ever actually visited it.
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Bannerman Castle – Pollepel Island, New York

Of all the castles in the United States, Bannerman Castle arguably looks the most like an authentic castle from Europe, if only for the fact that it is now in ruins. The castle was built in 1901 by Francis Bannerman VI on Pollepel Island, an island that was once considered to be haunted. This was an ideal place for the owner of a military surplus company to build a fortress in which to store all the weapons he stockpiled during the Civil and Spanish Wars. Unfortunately, there may have been some sort of curse on the island after all — in 1967, the castle was destroyed by a fire, turning it into a collection of beautiful ruins.

Iolani Palace – Honolulu, Hawaii

While most of the castles in the United States were built by wealthy private citizens, Iolani Palace in Honolulu, Hawaii, is the only one that served as an official royal residence. It was built in the early 1880s by Hawaii’s King Kalakaua, one of the last monarchs to reign over the islands. The very last was his sister, Queen Liliuokalani, who ruled Hawaii after him and lived in the palace he had built. After the monarchy was overthrown in 1893 with the goal of annexation of Hawaii to the United States, the castle was kept up and restored, so now it still looks much like it did back then.

Belvedere Castle – New York, New York

If you’re not a New Yorker, you may not have realized there’s a castle tucked into the city’s most famous park. Belvedere Castle was built by Calvert Vaux in 1869 as a way to welcome visitors to the sprawling park he helped design. The miniature castle atop Vista Rock looks out onto Central Park’s Great Lawn and gives visitors the opportunity to take in fantastic views. In fact, the view is so great that it gave the castle its name — the name Belvedere means “beautiful view” in Italian. But the castle isn’t just beautiful to look at — it’s also functional. The National Weather Service takes advantage of its location to take measurements of wind speed, rainfall amount, and temperature for its forecasts.

Lyndhurst Mansion – Tarrytown, New York

Occupying a 67-acre park on the banks of the Hudson River, the Lyndhurst Mansion is one of America’s most outstanding examples of Gothic Revival architecture. Its construction spanned more than a century, with three wealthy New York City families contributing to the castle standing today. First commissioned in 1838 by former New York City Mayor and U.S. Congressman William Paulding, the estate was once dubbed “Paulding’s Folly” due to its elaborate and exaggerated turrets and unbalanced dimensions. In 1864, wealthy merchant George Merritt took over the mansion and brought back its original architect, Alexander Jackson Davis, to update and expand the grounds. He also planted Linden trees around the house, spawning the present-day name, Lyndhurst Mansion. Finally, railroad tycoon Jay Gould purchased the property in 1880 and spent summers there with his family until his death in 1892. Gould’s daughters, Helen and Anna, maintained the mansion and added a pool and bowling alley. Eventually, they turned it into a community space for disadvantaged youth and American military soldiers. In 1965, the castle opened as a museum and historic site.

Coral Castle – Miami-Dade County, Florida

The unconventional Coral Castle, located in unincorporated Miami-Dade County near Leisure City, attracts many visitors due to the bizarre story of its construction. Legend has it that eccentric engineer Edward Leedskalnin single handedly built his mysterious abode secretly and at night, without the use of modern construction. Between 1923 and 1951, Leedskalnin claimed to have moved 1,100 tons of stones and hand-carved them to create his fantasy castle, dedicated to his former fiance Agnes Scuffs, who he said broke his heart. No one officially witnessed the construction of the castle. When Leedskalnin was questioned how he was able to build the two-story estate and stone sculpture garden, his response was simply that he “knew the secret of the pyramids,” according to the castle’s website. Perhaps even more miraculously, the builder started his project in Florida City, but decided to relocate to Homestead in 1936 after learning of the planned construction of a subdivision in Florida City. He disassembled his home, moved it with trucks, and reconstructed it again — where it remains standing as a peculiar tourist attraction today.

Fonthill Castle – Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Fonthill Castle, the estate of Henry Chapman Mercer, sits on a manicured lawn surrounded by soaring trees in a small borough located 33 miles north of Philadelphia. Mercer — an accomplished archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramist, scholar, and antiquarian — lived in Fonthill Castle after its completion in 1912, but the purpose of its construction was mainly to showcase his collection of handmade tiles, prints, and artifacts collected from his world travels. The castle’s architecture blends Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine styles, resulting in an eclectic appearance further embellished by Mercer’s own art and creativity. An impressive 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, 32 staircases, and 200 windows compose Fonthill Castle. The primary building material — concrete — is used liberally from the foundation to the stairs and even the built-in furniture. A visit to the castle is best combined with a stop at the Mercer Museum, located a mile away from the castle.
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Gillette Castle – Lyme, Connecticut

If you thought Gillette Castle looked like a medieval European fortress, you’d be right. William Hooker Gillette — the son of U.S. Senator Francis Gillette and an actor, director, and playwright in his own right — designed this spectacular abode to closely resemble a medieval European castle. The main structure took five years to build from 1914 to 1919, and many additions and updates were added in the years following. Located on the southernmost hill in the group known as Seven Sisters, Williman fondly referred to his 184-acre estate as the “Seventh Sister.” Some of the castle’s outstanding features include 47 doors (none of which are exactly alike), a train and three miles of train tracks, built-in couches, and wood-carved light switches. While exploring the grounds, visitors can also hunt for hidden mirrors and secret tunnels.

The Breakers – Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is famous for its lavish mansions built during the Gilded Age by the country’s wealthiest families. Many were used as summer cottages by financiers from New York City and the surrounding areas, but most were abandoned or demolished in the 1920s with the start of the Great Depression and World War I. Today, many of these mansions are maintained by the Preservation Society of Newport County, and the Breakers is by far the most visited. Built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the 62,482-square-foot oceanfront mansion boasts a castle-like Italian Renaissance exterior, a grandiose open-air courtyard, European-made tile mosaics, crystal chandeliers, gold trimming throughout, and even diamonds embedded in the walls. Today, you can visit and tour the Breakers and imagine the lavish lifestyle of the 19th century’s social elite.

Hearst Castle – San Simeon, California

Perched amongst the elevated ranchlands of California’s Big Sur region, Hearst Castle served as a retreat for the iconic newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. In 1919, Hearst inherited 40,000 acres of farmland from his father George Hearst, and he dubbed it La Cuesta Encantada (“The Enchanted Hill”). The construction of Hearst Castle spanned decades and included 165 rooms, the largest privately owned zoo in the world at the time, two pools constructed with imported statues of Roman deities, and over a hundred acres of gardens, paths, and pools. Hearst and architect Julia Morgan had still not completed their masterpiece in 1947, when the tycoon had to leave the residence due to failing health. Today, visitors come to this hilltop mansion not only to soak up the castle’s grandeur, but also to enjoy the serene views over rolling green hills and the Pacific Ocean.

https://dailypassport.com/incredible-castles-in-the-us

Source: Bright, Michael Wing
Photo: Courtesy of Pfunds Molkerei

Disclaimer: This article was published in 2023. Some information may no longer be current.

Along a street mostly unchanged since the 1700s in Dresden, a small nook is occupied by the most beautiful milk shop in the world. It was entered into the Guinness Book of Records in 1997.

And the name of that milk shop is Pfunds Molkerei.

Its beauty has endured hell—surviving two world wars, Soviet military occupation, closure, and near destruction. But survive it did. And boy, has it got a story to tell.

Today, you can still walk inside and find yourself weak-kneed from what Pfunds Molkerei is most famous for—besides its quality dairy products—that is its interior: exquisitely decorated with colorful neo-Renaissance style wall and ceiling tiles, produced by Villeroy & Boch.

These ceramics are decked out with cherubs, playing children, classical garlands and wreaths, woodland animals like squirrels and butterflies, and, fittingly for a dairy shop, cows throughout. There is an exquisite counter with brass and tile paneling to match.

You can sample its famous cheeses, treat yourself to flavorful ice cream, or enjoy a tall glass of their wholesome, fresh milk. They have myriad other products, with a specialty store next door selling bratwurst, soup, and hearty, peppery German mustard.

But beyond its beauty, this fanciful store has a riveting history.

It’s truly a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of its founders, the Pfund family, who established it in 1880 amid Dresden’s industrialization.

Cities grew, and founder Paul Pfund found the simplest hygiene rules were not being followed. Milk arrived contaminated, sour, or even watered down.

To improve the lives of Dresdeners, he started a dairy sanatorium, providing quality milk, and the company flourished. It expanded by opening its main shop on Bautzner Street, in the Outer New Town, where it is now.

Trained as an economist, or farmer to Germans at the time, Paul Pfund and his brother Friedrich Pfund, a celebrated actor, together saw the business’s prestige increase.

The enterprise widened its scope in leaps and bounds, diversifying product lines as distribution networks grew denser. They obtained a butter press and a milk separator. Condensed milk production marked the start of Pfunds’s success abroad.

Initially serving just 500 liters (approx. 132 gallons) a day, by 1895 that had increased to 40,000 liters (approx. 10,500 gallons).

So they wouldn’t have to rely on other trades, they bred their own animals; they set up their own cardboard box factory, print shop, shoe forge, paint shop, and tailoring and laundry facilities for employee uniforms.

The company blazed a trail in taking care of its people. They introduced their own insurance for health and maternity and staff subsidies. They ensured employees who worked 25 years for the company and who retired at 65 were paid benefits for life.

Calamity lay ahead though—World War II in particular all but leveled the city of Dresden. Most amazingly, Pfunds Molkerei survived the aerial bombing and inferno in February 1945.

Somehow, the main shop with its neo-Renaissance ceramic tiles emerged “miraculously untouched,” the store writes on its website.

Then, as East Germany fell into Soviet hands in the post-war era, Pfunds Molkerei faced a tyrannical communist military regime that threatened confiscation of the business by the state.

The shop owners held the regime off for a time, until it was mandatorily expropriated in 1972 and closed in 1978. Those beautiful, classical tiles did not suit well the socialist aesthetic.

A lack of maintenance led to large parts of the business being demolished. Yet the handsome salesroom with its mythical creatures, angels, and décor survived.

The owners had done well by calling the Institute for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, leading to a preservation order being placed on the store, protecting it.

Finally, with the fall of the Soviets, the heirs of the business regained ownership in 1990. Though they had to relinquish management to a Dresden businessman, Pfunds Molkerei is still running after nearly 150 years.

Amazingly, only 5 percent of the tiles needed renewing. The rest are all original. Villeroy & Boch, still operating, furnished new tiles to match the old décor.

The milk enterprise that once ran a vast chain and production facilities now contracts out to regional farms.

Yet you can still enter and marvel at its colorful tiles adorned with charming, gorgeous Renaissance designs and sip a tall glass of wholesome, fresh milk.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/worlds-most-beautiful-dairy-shop-covered-in-hand-painted-tiles-will-make-your-knees-wobble

Source: Smithsonian Magazine, Ella Feldman
Photo: Antonio Solario’s Madonna and Child (Art Recovery International)

Despite her legal claim to ownership, Barbara de Dozsa has decided to return an artwork by Italian artist Antonio Solario that vanished more than 50 years ago

A woman in Norfolk, England, has at last decided to return a 16th-century painting that was stolen more than 50 years ago.

The Madonna and Child painting disappeared from Italy’s Civic Museum of Belluno in 1973. Since then, it’s been included on the most-wanted lists of numerous police forces, according to the Guardian’s Dalya Alberge.

In March, the painting made headlines when it resurfaced in the possession of a Norfolk woman named Barbara de Dozsa. At the time, de Dozsa refused to return the painting, arguing that her deceased ex-husband, Baron de Dozsa, bought the work in good faith in 1973, shortly after the robbery.

Now, “after years of soul-searching and persuading by an art lawyer,” de Dozsa has agreed to return the painting to its owner, as the Guardian reports.

The Madonna and Child was painted by Antonio Solario, an Italian artist also known by his nickname, Lo Zingaro (the Gypsy). According to Artnet’s Jo Lawson-Tancred, the Belluno museum acquired it in 1872, and it was one of several works that were stolen a century later in a major heist.

Authorities were unable to locate the painting until 2017, when Barbara de Dozsa tried to sell it through an auction house, and experts linked to the Belluno museum came across it. The sale did not go through as planned, and Italian authorities failed to provide sufficient documentation to counter de Dozsa’s claim to the painting—partly due to pandemic-related disruptions.

In 2020, British police returned the painting to de Dozsa, who was protected under the United Kingdom’s Limitations Act of 1980, which legalizes ownership of stolen goods after six years if their purchase was “unconnected to the theft.”

Why did de Dozsa change her mind? She appears to have been convinced in part by Christopher Marinello, a lawyer who specializes in recovering stolen art. The founder of Art Recovery International, Marinello had been working on this particular case pro bono.

“It’s a beautiful Madonna and Child, it’s a beautiful small museum in a wonderful town, and the people are proud of it,” Marinello tells Artnet. “A theft is a horrible thing, especially for a museum that is supposed to protect cultural heritage for its citizens and future generations. It’s a real violation.”

The lawyer was partly motivated by his own roots in Italy’s Veneto region, which includes Belluno. He first made contact with de Dozsa a year ago and tried to convince her that she had a moral obligation to return the artwork.

“While the U.K. Limitations Act certainly supported her position, the fact that the painting was listed on the Interpol and Carabinieri stolen art databases meant that the painting could never be sold, exhibited or even transported without the risk of being seized,” says Marinello in a statement from Art Recovery International.

Eventually, de Dozsa agreed to return the painting unconditionally to Belluno’s Civic Museum.

“When it comes to returning stolen art and doing the right thing, I can be annoyingly persistent,” Marinello adds. “But ultimately, it was Barbara de Dozsa’s decision to make, and she chose wisely. Her kindness has restored my faith in people who unknowingly come into possession of stolen or looted works of art.”

Other works stolen in the same heist are still missing from Belluno. Having the Solario work back means a great deal to the region, according to Oscar de Pellegrin, the mayor of Belluno.

“Returning this painting to the city means giving back a fragment of its identity, its history and its soul,” de Pellegrin tells the Guardian.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-woman-didnt-want-to-return-a-stolen-16th-century-painting-then-she-changed-her-mind

Source: Smithsonian Magazine, Sarah Kuta
Photo: Oklahoma Cheyenne, Joseph Henry Sharp, circa 1915 (left) and Victor Higgins, Aspens, circa 1932 (right) (Harwood Museum of Art)

Paintings with ties to an infamous New Mexico couple have been returned to the museum they were stolen from 40 years ago.

Last Friday, officials at the University of New Mexico’s Harwood Museum of Art unveiled Victor Higgins’ oil painting Aspens (circa 1932) and Joseph Henry Sharp’s oil-on-canvas piece Oklahoma Cheyenne (circa 1915), also known as Indian Boy in Full Dress. The men were members of the Taos Society of Artists, a group of visual artists based in Taos, New Mexico, between 1915 and 1927.

The paintings had been missing from the museum’s walls since March 1985, when they were snatched in broad daylight. It took four decades and lots of sleuthing by an amateur historical crime researcher to get them back to their rightful owner. They’re now on display as part of the museum’s “The Return of Taos Treasures” exhibition.

The FBI, which located and recovered the works, has not announced any arrests in connection with the theft. However, the missing masterpieces have been linked with Jerry and Rita Alter, an unassuming husband and wife who purportedly led double lives as high-stakes art thieves.

Jerry died in 2012, followed by Rita in 2017. After the couple’s deaths, antiques dealer David Van Auker was tasked with appraising the contents of their three-bedroom home in Cliff, New Mexico, a tiny town near the state’s southwestern corner.

The paintings were returned to the University of New Mexico’s Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico. Bill Curry
Van Auker found a painting hanging in the couple’s primary bedroom that turned out to be Willem de Kooning’s 1955 Woman-Ochre, which had been pilfered from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in November 1985. A photograph of the couple placed them in Tucson the day before the theft.

The discovery of the missing de Kooning—worth an estimated $160 million and eventually returned to the Arizona museum—made headlines around the world. In 2022, director Allison Otto explored the story further in her documentary The Thief Collector.

Lou Schachter, who became a historical crime researcher after retiring from his corporate job, wondered if other works in the Alters’ estate might have also been purloined. He started poking around and eventually realized that two other paintings found in the Alters’ home—Aspens and Oklahoma Cheyenne—were also stolen.

“The account of the theft at the Harwood is almost identical to the account of the theft at the University of Arizona Museum,” Schachter told the Silver City Daily Press’ Juno Ogle last year. “A guy comes in in a big overcoat [and] slashes the painting with a packing knife. He rolls it up and stores it in his overcoat and leaves.”

A photo featured in The Thief Collector also shows Jerry playing a clarinet next to a wall of artwork, including Aspens and Oklahoma Cheyenne, as Taos News’ Geoffrey Plant reported in December.

Schachter didn’t quite know what to do with what he’d uncovered. So, he decided to send an email explaining his findings to the Harwood’s executive director, Juniper Leherissey.

“I responded right away,” Leherissey tells Taos News’ Haven Lindsey. “I wasn’t aware of the stolen paintings but recognized right away that this was something we needed to act on.”

The museum quickly organized a volunteer task force to dig into Schachter’s claims. Five weeks later, they alerted the FBI, which launched its own investigation in the spring of 2024. Detectives were able to track down the paintings and return them to the museum roughly a year later, on May 12.

The FBI did not share many details about its investigation, nor how it located the missing paintings. They had been donated to a now-closed thrift store, which sold them through the Scottsdale Art Auction in 2018.

“The cooperation of multiple individuals and other entities contacted during the investigation was critical to the recovery of these paintings,” notes the FBI statement announcing the paintings’ return. “All investigative leads have been exhausted at this time.”

The FBI also notes in its statement that the Theft of Major Artwork statute—a law enacted in 1994 that makes it a federal crime to steal any object of cultural heritage from a museum—was not in effect when the Harwood paintings were stolen.

Now that the paintings have been returned, what’s next for Schachter? Will he continue his amateur detective work?

“Anything is possible,” he tells KOB’s Ryan Laughlin. “I do historical work, so I’m not sure if I will stumble on something else I can solve. But certainly this has been a lot of fun.”

“The Return of Taos Treasures” is on view at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico, through September 7.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/stolen-paintings-linked-to-retired-couple-who-supposedly-moonlighted-as-art-thieves-returned-to-new-mexico-after-40-years