Hoover Dam, built in the 1920s with huge amounts of money, concrete and human toil (as well as a fair number of human lives), is living proof that enormity of purpose deserves an equal serving of style.

Once again, I am reminded that we live in A Changed World as of September 11, as the tours to the base of the dam have been suspended. But the giant new visitors' center is open, and I can still walk across the top and take in all its glory.

Again, since Hoover Dam is so well-covered on the Internet, I won't go into the facts. But I did find some surprises during my visit. First, I was unaware of the amount of decorative tile, brass and copper atop the dam. Stylized statues, mosaics of outer space, and tributes to the states which feed from Hoover Dam's electricity are in abundance, and all in high 1920s style.

More fun to me than the sparkly new visitors' center was the streamlined old one just north of the dam. I enter through a ribbon of doors beneath a concrete portico labeled "EXHIBITS" in freestanding letters. Inside, a half-century-old, room-sized topographic map lets you scan the region in miniature and follow the path of the Colorado River. Its wooden theater chairs and pale green paint suggest that the room remains true to its original design.