A Walk Around Baltimore’s Mount Vernon

 Baltimore
May 202024
 

May 2024

The George Washington Monument of Baltimore.

This Washington Monument has graced Baltimore’s historic Mount Vernon neighborhood since 1829. It was based on a design submitted by architect Robert Mills. The 178-foot-tall landmark is the first in the U.S. dedicated to President George Washington.  Four small parks surround the monument.

Washington faces south towards Annapolis and is depicted resigning his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, an act that took place in the Old Senate chamber in the Maryland State House in Annapolis on December 23, 1783. The statue was carved by Italian-born sculptor Enrico Causici, who previously had been employed to carve reliefs for the United States Capitol.

A lion was sculpted by Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875) on one of the parks surrounding the Washington Monument. The Lion is from the collection of William Thompson Walters, whose museum also sits on one of the four parks.

The Peabody Library

Also, sitting along one of the parks, you will find the magnificent Peabody Library.

The Peabody Library

The library’s interior is often regarded as one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, and I agree. It was completed in 1878 and designed by Baltimore architect Edmund G. Lind. The monumental neo-Greco interior consists of a 61-foot-high atrium towering over an alternating black and white slab marble floor. This is all surrounded by five tiers of ornamental black cast-iron balconies (produced locally by the Bartlett-Hayward Company).

The library houses over 300,000 volumes, focusing on texts from the 19th century.

The Garret-Jacobs Mansion

The Garret-Jacobs Mansion

Built in 1853 by Samuel George for Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs, who, with her husband Robert Garrett, transformed the home into a prime example of the Gilded Age mansions of the city.

Robert and Mary lived in their row house for ten years while Robert worked in the railroad business. Robert Garrett became president of the B & O in 1884. Prompted by their growing business, social responsibilities, and money, the Garretts decided to enlarge their home. So they engaged the services of Gilded Age architect Stanford White of the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White. The renovations would continue for thirty-two years until the house included over forty rooms, sixteen fireplaces, and one hundred windows.

Mosaics tiles in the entryway

The carved vestibule panels, decorative work, and staircase that rises from the vestibule were the work of the Herter Brothers of New York, furniture and interior wood design specialists.

Tiffany provided large stained glass windows and the skylight at the top of the stairs.

The mantel of a fireplace in one of the many rooms

Mary Elizabeth Garret – painting by John Singer Sargent

Mary Elizabeth Garrett (March 5, 1854 – April 3, 1915) was the youngest child and only daughter of the Garretts.  Mary Garrett was a formidable woman and worth getting to know.  In 1893, she donated money to start Johns Hopkins University Medical School on the condition that the school would accept female students “on the same terms as men.”

She founded Bryn Mawr School, a private girls preparatory school in Baltimore. She generously donated to Bryn Mawr College of Pennsylvania with the requirement that her intimate friend Martha Carey Thomas be the president.

Garrett was very involved in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. In 1906 she hosted the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s convention in her Mount Vernon home. Attendees included Baltimore college women and notable suffragists, such as Susan B. Anthony.

The Walters Museum

Memento Mori in the Walters Museum of Baltimore

One of the highlights of my trip was The Walter’s Museum.

As with many private collections, the pieces are far-ranging and eclectic. This museum is no different, but it is so excellent in its curation and pieces that it is worth at least one-half of a day.

Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections amassed primarily by William Thompson Walters and his son Henry Walters. William Walters began collecting when he moved to Paris as a Confederate loyalist at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Henry Walters refined the collection and made arrangements for the construction of what ultimately became the Walters Art Museum.  The museum consists of three buildings that have been joined together over time.

A few of the more unique objects I tripped upon.

This is a rare, experimental combination of body armor (shield) and a weapon (matchlock gun). The gunsmith, Giovanni Battista of Ravenna, proposed this gun shield to King Henry VIII of England in 1544. Interested in technology, the king had 100 made for his bodyguards. As a firearm, it was too heavy to aim unless rested on a support and was rejected for use. However, in the late 1600s, 66 were still kept in the royal armory, perhaps as curiosities. Technological hybrids were appreciated as attempts to do two things at once.

Perpetual Motion Mechanism. The original was by Dutch Cornelis Drebbel 1572-1633. The model is by English Andrew Crisford in 2005

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This basilica is so vast that it is virtually impossible to photograph properly without time and lots of equipment. But a tour is worth it to learn the history of Catholicism in America and, more importantly, the engineering and architecture of this grand building.

The Basilica was constructed between 1806 and 1863, and it was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), America’s first professionally trained architect and architect of the U.S. Capitol.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Latrobe originally planned a masonry dome with a lantern on top, but his friend Thomas Jefferson suggested a wooden double-shell dome (of a type pioneered by French master builder Philibert Delorme) with 24 half-visible skylights. For the inner dome, Latrobe created a solid, classically detailed masonry hemisphere. Grids of plaster rosettes adorn its coffered ceiling.

The undercroft shows Latrobe’s genius.

Latrobe scientifically laid out the foundation so that modular brick blocks were used for the vaults in the undercroft. The inverted arches that go all the way to the ground carry the weight of the rotunda’s pendentives. The arch distributes those loads evenly on the soil. These have stood the test of time, including a small earthquake in 2011.

There is so much history in the Mount Vernon area of Baltimore that if you can, grab a guide from their historical association and explore.

I conveniently stayed at the Hotel Revival. It sits on one of the four parks and is a lovely hotel with a rooftop bar that offers 360-degree views of Baltimore.

Walking the Federal Hill Neighborhood of Baltimore

 Baltimore, Maryland
May 202024
 

May 2024

In 1788, Maryland ratified the the U.S. Constitution. On that day, 4,000 Baltimoreans gathered to celebrate, and the celebration concluded on the hill, giving it its name. In 1797, an observatory was opened at the hill’s peak, enabling merchants to receive advance word of ships approaching the harbor. During the War of 1812, Federal Hill served as an observation post and signal station. When the British bombarded Fort McHenry, many citizens watched from the hill.

View from Federal Hill

Early in the colonial period, the area known as Federal Hill was the site of a paint pigment mining operation. The hill has several tunnels beneath its park-like setting that occasionally collapse, requiring infill.

View of the Inner Harbor from Federal Hill

On the night of May 12, following the Baltimore riot of 1861, the hill was occupied in the middle of the night by a thousand Union troops and a battery under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler. During the night, Butler and his men erected a small fort with cannon pointing towards the central business district. Their goal was to guarantee the allegiance of the city and the state of Maryland to the United States government. This fort and the Union army presence persisted for the duration of the Civil War.

The top of Federal Hill

The Federal Hill neighborhood, situated on the south side of the Inner Harbor, was the home of shipyards from the late 18th century and the home of the related business owners and workers.

Row houses of Federal Hill

Most houses in the historic district of Federal Hill date from the mid-to-late-19th century, although a smattering of earlier structures also exists. These were primarily the homes of sailors and shipyard workers who worked at the port. All are of brick construction with extensive use of white marble trim, and most are attached row houses of two or three stories in height and approximately 15 feet in width.

White marble stairways of Federal Hill

A 1/2 row house on the right

With only a single room per floor, half-houses were generally built as rentals for those at the lowest income level.  The house above is part of a historically African American section known as the Sharp-Leadenhall neighborhood, established in the 1790s by freed slaves and German immigrants. These row houses were sold to freed craftsmen, including carpenters and blacksmiths.

One of the last wood houses in Baltimore

In February 1904, a two-day fire utterly destroyed downtown Baltimore. H.L. Mencken said at the time, “The burned area looked like Pompeii.” The fire obliterated 86 city blocks, consumed 1,526 buildings, and destroyed 2,500 businesses. The fire was the end of wood houses in Baltimore, although a few still stand.

An old firehouse converted into a home.

The United States did not have government-run fire departments until around the time of the American Civil War. Prior to this time, private fire brigades competed with one another to be the first to respond to a fire because insurance companies paid brigades to save buildings.  This was the home of the Watchman Volunteer Fire Company. The building was constructed in 1840 and decommissioned from fire service in 1859 when Baltimore City took over all-volunteer fire companies and converted them into paid fire companies. It is the oldest standing firehouse in the City of Baltimore and possibly the oldest standing firehouse in Maryland.

A home on Federal Hill I found unique due to its curved front.

American Visionary Art Museum of Baltimore

At the foot of Federal Hill is one of the most unique art museums I have had the privilege to visit. The museum specializes in the preservation and display of outsider art (also known as “intuitive art,” “raw art,” or “art brut”).

The founder and director of the AVAM is Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, who, while working in the development department of Sinai Hospital’s (Baltimore) People Encouraging People (a program geared toward aiding psychiatric patients in their return to the community). Hoffberger became interested in the artwork created by the patients in the People Encouraging People program and found herself “impressed with their imagination” and looking to “their strengths, not their illnesses.”

The entryway floor is made of toothbrushes.

Outsider art is made by self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts and typically have little or no contact with the conventions of the art world. Wandering the museum, I became enthralled with the story of the artists’ lives, almost more than their art.

The Art of Ray Masterson

One that really sticks with you is Ray Masterson. Born March 15, 1954, in Milford, Connecticut, Raymond Materson grew up in the Midwest. He earned a G.E.D. and attended Thomas Jefferson College as a drama and philosophy major but was plagued by a serious drug problem. To support his habit, he committed a string of robberies with a shoplifted toy gun, was eventually arrested, and sentenced to 15 years in a state penitentiary in Connecticut. To keep himself sane, Ray taught himself to embroider, using unraveled socks for thread and a sewing needle secured from a prison guard. He stitched miniature tapestries depicting life outside prison walls and sold his works to other inmates for cigarettes. Most of Materson’s miniature embroideries include approximately 1,200 stitches per square inch, measuring less than 2.5 x 3 inches.

 

One of my favorites: World’s First Family of Robots by DeVon Smith

 

The Fells Point Neighborhood of Baltimore

 Baltimore, Maryland
May 202024
 

May 2021

The Fells Point Neighborhood

 

The Fells Point Neighborhood

Fell’s Point is one of Baltimore’s oldest neighborhoods and was once a bustling shipbuilding port. It was home to jazz singer Billie Holiday and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Today, there are more bars in Fells Point than in any other part of Baltimore, and many streets are still lined with Belgian Block.

The oldest continuously open bar in Baltimore opened in 1775. It was the last destination before the mysterious death of the author Edgar Allan Poe.

Fells Point was established around 1763 along the north shore of the Baltimore Harbor and the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River.

Belgian Block

This is Belgian Block. They are extremely large rectangular or sometimes cubical-shaped pieces of stone that can be upwards of 10 to 12” in length and height and are typically made of granite. It is thought that the term Belgian Block may have some historical connection to when European ships set sail from ports such as Antwerp, and large blocks of stone were used as ballast for ships that were too light.

Broadway Market

Broadway Market dates to 1786 and is one of the first public markets in Baltimore. It is one of six remaining public markets. In the early days, the market yards were equipped with stalls, barns, and a weighing platform to accommodate the livestock the farmers brought into town to sell.

A market stall number is still etched on the curb of the public square

A home owned by Frederick Douglass

While still enslaved, Douglas was hired out to the shipbuilder John A. Robb as a caulker at the Fells Point shipyard. In his autobiography, Douglass recounts that, years earlier, the first time he had been sent to Baltimore, the Fells Point neighborhood was where he taught himself to read and write, copying the letters with which the men in the shipyard labeled boards and “making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers.

The H and S Bread Company

In 1943, H&S Bakery was founded by Greek immigrants Harry Tsakalos and Steve Paterakis in the basement of a Baltimore rowhome. Steve’s son, John Paterakis Sr., added H&S’s first Automatic Rolls plant in 1962 and, most importantly, made a handshake deal with Ray Kroc in 1965 – starting a long-term & successful relationship with McDonald’s.

The Captain Steele House in Fells Point was built just after the Revolution. It has dormer windows and high-relief moldings characteristic of English Georgian architecture.

Welcoming sidewalk in Fells Point

An exuberance of color in Fells Point

The Recreation Pier

When the Recreation Pier was first built in 1914, the brick-faced structure served as a landing point for the thousands of immigrants who made their way to the United States. Today it is the Sagamore Pendry a high-end hotel. A major piece of the pier’s restoration involved replacing the pilings that are driven underwater and into the Baltimore harbor bed, an expensive undertaking. The pier’s restoration required 200,000 worker hours, $250,000 worth of asbestos removal, and $300,000 worth of lead paint removal.

Sagamore Pendry Baltimore was designed by BHS architects and reopened in March 2017.

Pirates walking the shores of Fells Point

Odds and Ends of Baltimore

 Baltimore, Maryland
May 202024
 

May 2024

The Owl Bar – The complete poem over the bar reads: A wise old owl sat in an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird?

Prohibition began on January 17, 1920, and for the next 13 years, the bar operated as a speakeasy.

At the time, owner Colonel Consolvo placed two large plaster owl statues on the cash registers. The owls were named Sherry Belle and John Eager Howard, and they had electric glass eyes that signaled the availability of contraband whiskey. An amber eye on each owl would blink when the hotel’s basement had liquor, and the coast was clear of law enforcement. When Prohibition ended in 1933, the owls mysteriously disappeared.

The bar fell on hard times and went through many owners.  However, in 1976, Victor Frenkil bought the property at auction and restored it to its former glory.

Frenkil’s friend found the original owls in New York, and late one night in April 1977, they mysteriously reappeared in the locked bar with a new poem:

Where we’ve been, what we’ve seen  No matter the din, no one will glean. But if your eyes are clear today, you can tell  The Owls of Belvedere—have returned from Hell!

One of The Owl Bar’s original owls on the left.

United Methodist Church of Mount Vernon

The United Methodist Church “is one of the most photographed buildings in Baltimore. It sits near the Washington Monument on the site where Francis Scott Key died in 1843. Its sanctuary seats 900, and its rose window resembles the one in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

The church is a Norman-Gothic-style church that was completed in 1872. It was designed by Thomas Dixon, a Baltimore architect, and is built of blocks of a green-toned Maryland fieldstone with brownstone ornamentation. It features three spires.

 

Evergreen Museum & Library .

Evergreen is operated by Johns Hopkins University.  It was built in the mid-19th century and bought in 1878 by the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, John W. Garrett. It is a 48-room mansion with a 23-karat gold plated bathroom, a 30,000-book library, and a theatre painted by famous Russian artist Léon Bakst.

I will admit the home did not really impress me.  This was primarily because, like so many house museums given to Universities, it wasn’t in the greatest shape.  The library, however, was impressive in its number of rare collectible books.

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What did catch my eye were the Tiffany canopy and the Tiffany front door.

The theater painted by Russian artist Léon Bakst.

This amazing gadget was in the kitchen of a house museum in Annapolis.  The x-shaped bowl on top of the goldish contraption on the hearth holds a bowl you fill with water.  It slowly drips and causes the chain to move, continuously rotating the spit hands-free.

 

An empty plinth in a park in the Mount Vernon Neighborhood

This plinth once held a statue of Roger Taney.  It is one of many Confederate statues removed from their locations across the country. Taney is most famous for his decision in the Dred Scott case, which advanced slavery in America and is tied to the Confederate cause. Taney served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court for nearly 30 years, beginning in 1836. During that time, Taney oversaw the ruling of the Dred Scott decision that stated that African Americans could not be considered citizens and, by extension, could still be considered property even if they were in a free state.

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Random Architecture

I found this building interesting because of its 1/2 urn ornamentation, not something I have seen before.

Other interesting buildings in Baltimore caught my eye.

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One very quick day in Annapolis, Maryland

 Annapolis, Maryland
May 202024
 

May 2024

I am on a tour, so the trip to Annapolis was brief, which is a shame because driving through Annapolis, it looked very intriguing; I will have to return one day.

The Naval Academy

Bill the Goat – Navy’s Mascot

Why a goat? There is a legend that a Navy ship once sailed with a pet goat and that the goat died during the cruise. The officers preserved the skin, intending to mount it when they returned to port. Two young ensigns were entrusted with the skin. On their way to the taxidermist, they stopped by the United States Naval Academy to watch a football game. At halftime, for reasons the legend does not specify, one ensign decided to dress up in the goat skin. The crowd appreciated the effort, and Navy won the game.  At games today, the mascot is represented by a live goat and also by a costumed midshipman.

We were on a guided tour, and I can not recommend it enough.  The information imparted is fascinating, not just about the buildings but about the life and history of the Naval Academy itself.

The Academy’s grounds are not called a campus but a Yard. The Academy was started in 1845 and is set on 338 acres on the south bank of the Severn River.

Approximately 4,400 men and women, known as midshipmen, represent every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries.
The nearly 600-member Naval Academy faculty comprises approximately equal numbers of military and civilian instructors. The student-faculty ratio is 8:1, with most class sizes ranging from 10 to 22 students.

Captains Row. The houses were designed by New York architect Ernest Flagg and built in the early 1900s

Dahlgren Hall

 

The inside of Dahlgren Hall

Dahlgren Hall was built in 1903. It originally served as an armory after the Civil War, as an ice rink, and now as an all-purpose building. As you can see, it also houses a perfect, full-sized replica of the Wright brothers’ early naval aircraft suspended from the ceiling.

Why the replica?  Well, of course, there are naval pilots, but what I did not know is that the US Military bought the specifications for the plane from the Wright brothers.  It took years for the Wright brothers to sell their plans for a military aircraft to the Army.  The Army had purchased several pigs in a poke from other inventors, and since the Wright brothers protected their technology in such a way the Army was wary about them, too.

It took four years of talks between the two groups before a deal was struck in 1909. The Board of Ordnance and Fortification and the U.S. Signal Corps sent a request for bids, designed to make the Wright brothers the only feasible bidders for flight trials. The specification stipulated that if their plane passed specific requirements, the brothers would get $25,000 (now equivalent to about $750,000). If they surpassed the 40 miles per hour mark, they would also earn a bonus. The brothers’ flight averaged 42.5 miles per hour, so they ultimately brought home $30,000 ($900,000 today).

The replica of the 1911 plane was placed in Dahlgren Hall in 2006 to showcase the Navy’s role in aviation history.

 

The entry area and the stunning wrought iron of Dahlgren Hall

Bancroft Hall

You can not possibly capture the scope of Bancroft Hall’s exterior in one photograph. In fact, Bancroft Hall is said to be the largest contiguous set of academic dormitories in the U.S.

One wing of Bancroft Hall

Bancroft Hall was also designed by Ernest Flagg in the Beaux-Arts style with its mansard roof and dormer windows. Its central rotunda and first two wings were built in 1901–06. Over the intervening years, it has been expanded to encompass eight wings of five stories (“decks”), each numbered 0–4. The original two wings (1906) are now the 3rd and 4th wings; the next pair, added in 1917, are now the 1st and 2nd wings; a pair added in 1939 became the 5th and 6th wings; and a final pair was added in 1961 as the 7th and 8th wings. The 3rd wing was built over the remains of the old Fort Severn.

Exterior ornamentation of Bancroft Hall

Ornamentation over the front door

As you walk into Bancroft Hall, showing the steps leading to Memorial Hall.

Looking to the left while standing in the entry

This is just a ridiculously small showing of the Yard.  Sadly, the Chapel, one of the Naval Academy’s more spectacular buildings, was closed.

Hammond Harwood House Museum

The Hammond Harwood House was built in 1774 and is one of the premier colonial houses remaining in America from the British colonial period (1607–1776). The architect William Buckland designed the house for wealthy farmer Matthias Hammond.  It is the only existing work of colonial academic architecture that was principally designed from a plate in Andrea Palladio’s I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture) (1570). It was modeled on the design of the Villa Pisani in Montagnana, Italy, as depicted in Book II, Chapter XIV of Palladio’s work.

This photo is from Wikipedia, as the house is too large for a regular camera to capture.

The front door of the Hammond Harwood House with its faux painted wood grain and carvings by Thomas Hall, an indentured artisan from England in service to the architect.

George Washington clock in the Hammond Harwood House Ballroom

This clock has a fascinating history.

Parisian artisan Jean-Baptiste Dubuc was a pendulier,  an artisan who cast the various components in bronze and then assembled them to make decorative mantle clocks.  This type of clock, already popular in France, consisted of a base, a plinth to house the clock face and mechanism, and a small statue, usually drawn from ancient history or mythology, all made of bronze and then gilded with a thin layer of gold.
Dubuc thought there would be a market in the new United States for a decorative clock honoring George Washington.   He used the image from the painting “Washington Before the Battle of Trenton” by John Trumball as the model for Washington.   An eagle adorned the top of the plinth, and the motto “E Pluribus Unum”.  The front bore an inscription from Washington’s funeral oration by Major-General Henry Lee: “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen”.
As I mentioned, there is a lot to see in Annapolis that another trip is highly warranted.

Homewood Cemetery

 Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Oct 252023
 

October 2023

Homewood Cemetery was established in 1878 from William Wilkins’ 650-acre estate, called Homewood.

This is the final resting grounds of the robber barons of the Pittsburgh Golden Age, as well as noted politicians, artists, sports figures, scientists, and others.

Section 14 of the cemetery sits atop a hill and houses the largest plots and, thus, the richest people.

This Doric temple mausoleum was built for James Ross Mellon, who died in 1934. The sculpture in front, “Motherless” by George A. Lawson (1897), actually doesn’t memorialize any particular dead Mellon; it was a piece of garden statuary that James Ross Mellon liked, but his heirs didn’t want in their garden.

This pyramid mausoleum was designed by Alden & Harlow for William Harry Brown.  It was erected in 1898-1899. The building was inspired by the Great Pyramids, which Brown and his family had visited.  The Brown money came from coal.

This polished granite mausoleum is for the candy bar maker David L. Clark. The Dodds Granite Company of New York erected the ten-crypt mausoleum in 1928. Due to the deplorable environmental conditions of the time, the Dodd company suggested granite for the exterior as the smoke and dirt would not penetrate the polished surface, and it could be easily cleaned.

This stone marks the grave of Anne Farley Walton Whetzel, who was a Millon. Why this particular piece of art, I have no idea, nor did a considerable amount of research reveal. Look for all the heads peeking out.

The Wilkins Mausoleum is patterned after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. This site dates to 1882. Wilkins was a surgeon’s mate in the Revolutionary War. He later served as the president of the Bank of Pennsylvania.

Unlike most other old cemeteries from this era, there is very little statuary on the grounds. This is why the Schoonmaker monument stood out to me. It is graced by a sculpture by Jakob Otto Schweizer.

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Fascinating Architecture of Pittsburgh, PA Part 2

 Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Oct 252023
 

October 2023

The Emmanuel Episcopal Church, completed in 1886, is by H. H. Richardson.  Richardson did not live to see the church completed, and had he; there might have been a few changes.  While the design is perfect, the slate roof is so heavy it has caused the walls to bow.  It actually adds a rather nice effect and, to date, has not been a problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allegheny County Courthouse

Another building by H.H. Richardson is the pride of Pittsburgh, which is the Allegheny County Courthouse.

This Romanesque Revival building was finished in 1888 and is filled with gorgeous carved marble and stone and WPA murals.

 

This Bridge of Sighs joins the 1888 Jail with the Courthouse.

A look at the towers from inside the internal courtyard.

Mellon Institute

The Mellon Institute building was designed by architect Benno Janssen and built in 1937.  This neo-classical building is best known for its monolithic limestone columns. These are the largest monolithic columns in the world.

Phipps Conservatory

The Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens sits in Schenley Park.

The gardens were founded in 1893 by steel and real-estate magnate Henry Phipps Jr. as a gift to the City of Pittsburgh. The building consists of fourteen rooms and is an excellent example of Victorian greenhouse architecture.

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Chatham Village

Chatham Village was built between 1932 and 1936 and was designed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright on the principles of the Garden City Movement of the early 20th century. It was created in the Georgian Colonial Revival style and was built to show that affordable housing for the working class could be attractive and safe. To be expected, it quickly became a middle- and upper-class neighborhood because it was so attractive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pittsburgh Snoopy Doghouse has been stolen many times, and in this case, Snoopy has been stolen off of the top.  But if you notice, there are Peanuts in the lower right corner.

This little box was built by carpenter Ron Gembarosky, who works for Pittsburgh Public Works, and it hides electrical conduits.

 

These two posts are a very small sample of the architecture of Pittsburgh.  It is a wonderful city to visit for that alone.

Fascinating Architecture of Pittsburgh Part 1

 Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Oct 252023
 

October 2023

Standing on the grass of Carnegie Mellon, you can see the University of Pittsburgh’s (Pitt) Cathedral of Learning. The 42-story Late Gothic Revival Cathedral is the tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere and the second-tallest university building in the world.

The entrance to the Margaret Morrison Building, which houses the School of Architecture and Design at Carnegie Mellon University.

Originally a life insurance building, the above is now the Steelworkers Union Building. Designed by Curtis and Davis, with structural engineers Worthington, Skilling, Helle & Jackson, it features a load-bearing steel diagrid exoskeleton, which was highly unusual at the time and helped pioneer the use of diagrids and framed tube construction.

The Buhl Building was built in 1913 in the Italianate style and is faced with multi-colored terra cotta tiles.

On July 19, 1855, Dollar Bank opened for business as “The Pittsburgh Dollar Savings Institution”. For $1, anyone could open a savings account. The first day’s deposits totaled $53. Opened in April 1871, the building was designed by Isaac H. Hobbs & Sons of Philadelphia.

Bendom Trees Building

The Benedum–Trees Building was originally called the Machesney Building until 1913 when Machesney sold it for $10 million to Joe Trees and Michael Late Benedum, who made their fortune in oil. The building was designed by Thomas H. Scott,

A row of houses on the 19th century Mexican War Streets primarily consists of Victorian architecture, with some Craftsman and Georgian.  The area changed its name around the time of the Mexican-American war. A number of the streets are named after battles and generals of the war.

This is one of many houses on Sampsonia Way, which are part of the The City of Asylum Exiled Writer and Artist Residency Program. The program provides a long-term residency for literary writers and other artists who are in exile from their home countries and under threat of persecution because of their work.

Randyland is the type of place that always pulls me in.  A creation of local artist Randy Gilson, this house and yard have helped to revitalize this neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This small sample shows that Pittsburgh is filled with every type of architecture you can imagine.

A Quick Introduction to Pittsburgh PA

 Pittsburgh
Oct 252023
 

October 2023

The Monongahela and the Allegheny meet and become the Ohio River. This is what defines Pittsburgh today and fueled its history and growth.

The 40-year period from 1870 until 1910 marked Pittsburgh’s Golden Age. With the rivers for transportation and the Connellsville coal seam that runs through Pittsburgh, the business of glass and steel was made possible.

Steel begat other industries, and the city was filled with names that are still well-known in history—Carnegie, Frick, Mellon, Pitcairn, Westinghouse, and Heinz, to name just a few.

Most of the grand mansions of the era were torn down due to maintenance costs or simply to make room for progress, but the James Frick mansion remains.

There is now a museum on the property with an interesting collection.  The special election while I was there was the Red Dress.  A world wide art project.

There are buildings that hold companies that many of those names made famous.  The center building with the uneven crenelation is the Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) building. Glass was one of Pittsburgh’s first businesses.  The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is in the US Steel Building. The silver building to the right of those two is the Mellon Center. In this skyline, you will also find Alcoa and other large industries that made Pittsburgh what it is today.

The Clark candy bar was invented by Irish immigrant D. L. Clark in Pittsburgh in 1917.

 

Henry John Heinz created the H.J. Heinz Company in Pittsburgh in 1869. To get people to visit his booth at the Columbian Exposition, he enticed them with a free gift, a pickle charm for a watch fob.  His promotion was so successful the police had to be called in to control the crowd.  What kid doesn’t have an itty bitty Heinz Pickle?

Sports are also a very big part of Pittsburgh’s personality, with the first modern World Series being played here.

Due to the hills of Pittsburgh, 17 Inclines were built throughout time.  This is the Duquesne Incline, which closely follows the tracks of an early coal hoist.

The incline rises 400 feet at a 30-degree angle.  The incline is unusual for having a track gauge standard used only in Finland, Russia, and Mongolia.  Originally, 17 of these climbed the hills of Pittsburgh. Today there are only 2.

Originally steam-powered, the Duquesne Incline was designed by Samuel Diescher, a Hungarian-American civil engineer, and completed in 1877.

This ornate 2,500-pound bronze clock replaced a previous clock on a post at the corner of Smithfield Street and Fifth Avenue in 1913. It marks the site of the flagship store of the local Kaufmann’s department store chain.

Pittsburgh’s history is fascinating and matched by its very interesting architecture.

 

Odds and Ends When Wandering Boston

 Boston, Massachusetts
May 302023
 

May 2023

A beautiful day for being on the water in Boston’s Common

The Boston Common is a 50-acre public park in downtown Boston, a perfect place to spend a lovely sunny day.

Central Burying Ground

On one end of the Common is the Central Burying Ground. The cemetery was established in 1756 and is located on Boylston Street between Tremont Street and Charles Street.

Central Burying Ground

Famous burials there include Gilbert Stuart, painter of the famed portraits of George Washington and Martha Washington, and the composer William Billings, who wrote the famous colonial hymn “Chester.” Also buried there are Samuel Sprague and his son, Charles Sprague, one of America’s earliest poets. Samuel Sprague was a participant in the Boston Tea Party and fought in the American Revolutionary War.

The grave of Chow  Manderien.

Another lesser-known burial is that of Chow Manderien in 1798. Chow’s burial is the first known documentation of a Chinese person in the United States.

In 1794, Chow sailed on The Union, a ship commanded by John Boit, Jr. as his servant. Onomastically, his name should be Zhou Libei, but “Chow Manderien” was a colloquial attempt to spell out his name.

“Here lies interred the body of Chow Manderien, a native of China, aged 19 years, whose death was occasioned on the 11th of Sept 1798 by a fall from the masthead of the ship Mike of Boston. This stone erected to his memory by his affectionate master John Boit Jr.”

King Chapel Burial Ground

Gravesite of Joseph Tapping

The King’s Chapel Burial Ground was established in 1630 on land that had formerly belonged to colonist Isaac Johnson. Johnson is believed to be the first person interred there, following—according to legend—his request to be buried in his pumpkin patch. Between 1630 and 1660, King’s Chapel Burial Ground was the only cemetery in Boston. Notable occupants include Mary Chilton, the first woman to step off the Mayflower; Paul Revere’s compatriot, William Dawes; Ralph Waldo Emerson’s father, William Emerson; Hezekiah Usher, the colonies’ first publisher; and the first governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop.

Joseph Tapping’s headstone in Kings Chapel is one of the most intricately carved of its day, depicting father time and the skeletal figure of death snuffing a lit candle.

Granary Burying Ground

The Granary Burying Ground is Boston’s third-oldest cemetery, founded in 1660 and located on Tremont Street. It is the final resting place for many notable people, including Paul Revere, the five victims of the Boston Massacre, and three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine. The cemetery has 2,345 grave markers, but historians estimate that as many as 5,000 people are buried in it.

Christopher Seider

Christopher Seider (or Snider) (1758 – February 22, 1770) is considered to be the first American killed in the American Revolution. He was 11 years old when he was shot and killed by customs officer Ebenezer Richardson in Boston on February 22, 1770. His funeral became a major political event, heightening tensions that erupted into the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770.

Samuel Adams (buried nearby) arranged for the funeral, which was attended by more than 2,000 people.

Public Art around Boston

Public Art at Boston’s Hay Market


This art installation is by Megs Harries. It was originally installed in 1976 as part of the Bicentennial Commission at the cost of $10,000.  The piece derives from the Roman floor mosaic art form known as asarotos, which creates the illusion of debris from a banquet littering the floor.  During the Big Dig, the installation was removed and relocated to the Boston Science Museum.  It was reinstalled in 2006 at Haymarket with updated components for the 21st century.
Bostons Steaming Kettle was created in 1873 by the copper manufacturing company Hicks & Badger as a sign for the Oriental Tea Company.  It has hung in a variety of locations before its present location at the Court Street Starbucks. It became a tourist attraction after an 1875 contest to guess the kettle’s capacity, which is 227 gallons, two quarts, one pint, and three gills (three teacups), which is etched on the side of the landmark. The kettle is also iconic for spilling out steam.



New England Holocaust Memorial

The New England Holocaust Memorial

The Memorial was founded by Stephan Ross, a Holocaust survivor, and erected in 1995. It consists of six glass towers engraved on the outside walls with groups of numbers representing the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Inscribed on the inner walls are quotes from survivors of each camp. Underneath the towers, steam rises up through metal grates from a dark floor with twinkling lights on it.


Each tower symbolizes a different major extermination camp (Majdanek, Chełmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Bełżec, and Auschwitz-Birkenau), as well as menorah candles, the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust (one million per tower), and the six years that the mass extermination took place, 1939-1945. Each tower consists of twenty-four individual panels of glass. Twenty-two of the panels are inscribed with seven-digit numbers, and two of the panels are inscribed with messages. In total, there are 132 panels from the six towers inscribed with numbers.

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“First they came …”  is the poetic form of a 1946 post-war confessional prose by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984).

Khalil Gibran

 

I would not have even noticed this piece of artwork in Copley Square if a friend had not told me of a book she is writing about Mary Haskell Minis, a benefactor of Gibran.

This Memorial depicts the Lebanese-born poet, philosopher, and painter. Dedicated in 1977, the piece was designed by Gibran’s nephew and is in part a testament to the McKim building, The Boston Public Library, across the street, where Gibran educated himself as a young immigrant living with his mother and siblings in Boston’s South End. “It was in my heart to help a little because I was helped much,” was excerpted from a letter that accompanied Gibran’s bequest to the Boston Public Library.

Edgar Allen Poe

Poe Returning to Boston was created by the American sculptor Stefanie Rocknak. The statue is located at the corner of Boylston and Charles Streets at Edgar Allan Poe Square.

The statue depicts Poe walking, facing away from the Boston Common. His figure is accompanied by an oversized flying raven.

From the back, you can see that his suitcase lid has fallen open, leaving a “paper trail” of literary works embedded in the sidewalk behind him. The public unveiling of the piece was on October 5, 2014.

Poe was born in 1809 to his roving actor parents in Boston, but only lived in the city for about ten months total, including about five months as a baby and another five when he returned to Boston at the age of 18 in 1827.

Poe wrote about his feelings for Boston in The Broadway Journal on Nov. 1, 1845:

We like Boston. We were born there–and perhaps it is just as well not to mention that we are heartily ashamed of the fact. The Bostonians are very well in their way. Their hotels are bad. Their pumpkin pies are delicious. Their poetry is not so good. Their common is no common thing–and the duck-pond might answer–if its answer could be heard for the frogs.

The Salada Tea Doors

Salada Tea Doors

In 1917 the 10-story masonry building at 330 Stuart Street, designed by Densmore and LeClear, housed the headquarters of the Salada Tea Company in the United States. Salada operated there for more than 40 years, and the building also served as a cultural center that held a significant collection of Asian art.

The Salada Company’s founder, Peter C. Larkin, commissioned the doors in 1926 to celebrate the cultivation of tea in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) as well as the tea trade. Mr.Larkin invented the modern tea bag by putting loose tea into foil pouches for greater freshness and a consistent flavor. He named the company after a Ceylonese tea garden.

The 12-foot-high doorway has two distinct parts. The bronze doors, which weigh approximately two tons, hold ten panels in bas-relief, five on each side. They depict every step of the process of growing, harvesting, and shipping tea in Ceylon. Two vertical rows of small figures in high relief flank the panels. Designs of tea leaves and tea berries decorate the frames between the panels.

 

Wandering Boston’s Architecture

 Boston
May 302023
 

May 2023

Trinity Church and HH Richardson

Trinity Church

Our group has a tendency to drift toward H.H. Richardson buildings, and that is a good thing.  Boston is full of Richardson projects.

Henry Hobson Richardson (1838 – 1886) was an American architect best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one of “the recognized trinity of American architecture.”

The exterior of the apse

Richardson’s most acclaimed early work is Trinity Church. The interior of the church is one of the leading examples of the arts and crafts aesthetic in the United States.

Trinity Church is the birthplace and archetype of the Richardsonian Romanesque style, characterized by a clay roof, polychromy, rough stone, heavy arches, and a massive tower. This style was soon adopted for a number of public buildings across the United States. The stone used was Dedham Granite.

Window Tracery

This stone window tracery came to Boston from the Church of St. Botolph in Boston, Lincolnshire, England.

It was removed by the authorities of St. Botolph’s church to make room for a modern organ chamber. An American visitor saw the stones piled up outside the church and requested that they become part of a church in America. He mentioned Trinity Church, “the last built and noblest,” as a potential home. In 1879 Canon Blenkin, the Vicar of St. Botolph’s, sent the tracery stones to Boston, where they were installed in the wall of the cloister “as a precious memorial of the church of our fathers.”

The original Puritans who came to settle in Boston in 1630 came from Boston in Lincolnshire, which is about 100 miles north of London. They named their new community after their old home in England. The name Boston is itself a smearing of St. Botolph’s town or St. Botolph’s stone.

The Sanctuary

The Pulpit

Ceiling of Trinity Church

Stained Glass window, Christ in Majesty, 1883, by John La Frage

Ornamentation on the exterior of the Parish House

Ornamentation on a nearby home designed by HH Richardson

Other Architecture of Boston


Boston, like so many cities of the 1800s, suffered devastating fires.  Brick became a very common building material after these fires in many cities across the country, including Boston.

The Armory of the First Corps of Cadets

The Armory was planned, constructed, and financed by the First Corps of Cadets, a Massachusetts military organization established in 1741. The Armory is the only remaining High Victorian armory in the City of Boston and a designated National Historic Landmark.

The four-story granite structure was designed by William Gibbons Preston and built beginning in 1891 and finished in 1897. Due to political unrest during the period, the building was designed to withstand mob violence. Its most prominent feature is its six-story tower.

In the late 1960s, the University of Massachusetts Boston leased the building and converted it into the university’s first library.

The tower, formerly known as the John Hancock, is New England’s tallest building at 790 feet, a distinction it has held since the Henry Cobb-designed spire was finished in 1976.

Isabella Stewart Gardner House and Museum

Much to my disappointment, a $118 million steel, glass, and copper-clad Renzo Piano expansion has been added to the Gardner Museum.  The addition, sadly, detracts immensely from the feel of the house.  The atrium is now closed to visitors, and the entrance to and exit from the museum feel sterile and hurried.

The 1901 structure was left almost entirely intact. A new wing now connects to the original museum through a glass passageway. The new four-story building houses visitor services,  a new 300-seat music hall,  a triple-height gallery for temporary exhibitions, a new lobby space, offices, and conservation facilities. Adjacent is a  second, smaller structure with a sloping glass roof that houses a greenhouse and apartments for artists-in-residence.

While I have no objection to the expansion, it has, in my opinion, radically taken away from the experience.

Gropius House, Massachusetts

 Lincoln
May 282023
 

May 2023

Gropius House

We spent the day in Concord area looking at several very interesting homes, all of which I will get to in another post.  However, I am a fiend of architecture from the Bauhaus school, and to see the home of the master himself was such a joy.

The stairway to the Gropius’ daughter’s room. Manon

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (May 1883 – July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School. Gropius, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright, are widely regarded as the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. Gropius was one of the founders of Bauhaus in Weimar (1919) and a leading architect of the International Style.

Looking back into the entry hall

The study of both Walter and his wife Ise.

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Penguin Donkey Bookcase by Egon Riss is designed to hold Penguin Books.

Walking into the living room with the Long Chair designed by Marcel Breuer for Isokon along with a Marcel Breuer Laccio Side End Table

“Butterfly” Stool by Sori Yanagi accompanied by nesting tables by Marcel Breuer

 

A small Henri Moore sculpture on the shelf

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The Dining room with Marcel Breuer’s MG5 chair, Designed in the 1950s

The kitchen was long and narrow, functional but minimal

The Kitchen

A closet on the first floor as you enter the house, but behind the stairwell, so nicely situated

The use of vertical slats in the hallway

The stairway to the second floor and the bedrooms

A bedside table, one of the personal pieces the Gropius’ were able to ship out of Nazi Germany.

An Afghani weaving over the bed

Only fifteen of the Gull bookstands were originally produced before the Second World War halted production in 1939 due to shortages in plywood. Designed as the smaller sibling to Egon Riss’s Penguin Donkey.  The Gull was bought back into production in 2020.

The screened porch at the back of the house

I could go on and on about the family, the house and the history of Bauhaus architecture, but the pictures speak for themselves.

The Peabody Essex Museum

 Salem
May 282023
 

May 2023

 

The interior courtyard of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

PEM is one of the oldest continuously operating museums in the United States and holds one of the major collections of Asian art in the US. Its total holdings include about 1.3 million pieces, as well as twenty-two historic buildings. It is worth a visit!

The museum was remodeled by Safdie Architects and re-opened in 2019.  The collection is divine and not to be belittled, but I was excited to see the Yin Yu Tang House, an early 19th-century Chinese house from Anhui Province that had been disassembled in its original village and reconstructed on the museum grounds.

Inside the central courtyard of the Yin Yu Tang House

The second floor of the Yin Yu Tang House

Yin Yu Tang House

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Connecting some of the multiple buildings of the Peabody Essex Museum

Gloucester, Massachusetts

 Gloucester, Massachusetts
May 282023
 

May 2023

A day spent outside of Boston in Gloucester was a quick but interesting day.

The Sleeper-McCann House – Beauport

This home, designed by its owner, Henry Sleeper, beginnings date to 1907.  Like many, he was never happy and altered and modified throughout his life.

The home was originally built as a modest Arts and Crafts-style cottage. But the resulting 40 rooms turned into a warren, with alcoves, odd-angled rafters, and linking stairways. Wherever your eye lands, you will see some of the more than 10,000 objects and furnishings that Sleeper acquired, with an obvious fondness for salvaged architectural artifacts.

The China Trade Room

The China Trade Moom features pagoda-inspired gold-curtained balconies at either end, a marble fireplace, and this magnificent antique 1780s wallpaper (originally ordered by Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence) depicting the rice and porcelain industries of China, which Sleeper found tucked away in an attic in Marblehead.

The fireplace array in the Octagon Room

The  “Octagon Room.”  and its aubergine walls set off Sleeper’s amethyst and ruby-red glassware and red antique toleware that he brought home from France. The room is chock-a-block full of uses of the number eight, which are demonstrated in the number of hooked rugs, chairs, sides of the table, scores in the ceiling, and even facets on the door knobs.  He wrote of the room to Isabella Stuart Gardner:  “Of course, I have all the details visualized and am enjoying it accordingly.”

The Octagon Room

In the two-story Book Tower (1911) is this Revolutionary War flag.

One of the many ships models throughout the house

Sleeper didn’t start collecting glass until 1917. The amber-glass window in the central hall was the last reconfiguration of the house, in around 1929.

A double rocking chair I found delightful

A wood-carved bracket at the front door

Windows abound, looking out upon Sleeper’s eclectic natural garden

The unusual roof line and chimneys of the house

Cape Ann Museum

Cassie the Sea Serpent

Cassie sits at the entrance to the Cape Ann Museum. The museum’s collection focuses on the artists and art colonies of Cape Ann, including the Rocky Neck Art Colony and the Folly Cove Designers. The museum’s collection also features objects from Gloucester’s fishing and maritime history and its granite quarrying history.

Cassie was developed by the museum to engage children and is based on the Gloucester sea serpent. The Glouster sea serpent is a legendary creature reportedly seen around and off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Cape Ann. The heyday of sightings began in August 1817 and continued into 1818–19. Described as a massive serpent-like creature with humps along its back, the Gloucester Sea Serpent has been the subject of numerous sightings and tales of encounters by fishermen and sailors. The earliest alleged sighting of such a creature off Cape Ann was recorded in 1638 by John Josselyn. Occasional sightings continued over the centuries and into the 20th century.

Glouster City Hall

Gloucester City Hall

Having suffered a small fire, the City Hall was undergoing some renovation.  However, we were able to get in and see the WPA murals.

Just one of the collection of WPA murals in Gloucester City Hall

The murals were all painted by Charles Allan Winter.  In the lobby is “City Council in Session” approximately 7 feet high by 11 feet wide) was painted in 1939.

 

Nashville Union Station

 Tennessee
Mar 272023
 

March 2023

The entry to the Nashville Union Station

The Nashville Union Station and Trainshed were constructed in the 1890s as part of the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) Railroad’s construction program.  Nashville Union Station was a major transfer station on the Louisville and Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis lines.  The station was designed by Richard Montfort, an engineer employed by the railroad. Montfort was trained at the Royal College of Science in Dublin, Ireland, and was influenced by the work of H.H. Richardson. The train station design is reminiscent of Richardson’s Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The train shed once stood where this parking lot is today. The whiter strips of pavement are where the rails once were. The trainshed was demolished in 2001 after a fire.

Spanning a length of 200 feet, the Nashville Trainshed was the longest of the trainsheds built by the L&N in the 1890s, making it the longest single-span, gable roof structure constructed in the United States.

The adjoining train station was constructed in the Romanesque Revival architectural style using Bowling Green gray stone and Tennessee marble. The illustrations that graced the interior walls of the train station depict the agricultural, mechanical, and commercial pursuits of the State of Tennessee.

For seventy-eight years, thousands of passengers would arrive in Nashville via trains with such charming names as Dixie Flyer, Dixieland, Floridian, and the Carolina Special.

The 65-foot, barrel-vaulted lobby ceiling features gold-leaf medallions and 100-year-old, original Luminous Prism stained glass.

There are two bas-relief panels—a steam locomotive and a horse-drawn chariot ̶ at each end of the lobby.

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20 gold-accented bas-relief angels of commerce figurines can be found circling the lobby

The border of the marble lobby floor

The back of the Union Station. The trains would have entered the building here.

If you look closely, you can still see remnants of the train tracks.

There were seven lines entering the station.  Four were for freight, and the others were passenger lines.  There was a small jail in the area between the two passenger trains for prisoner transfer.  The most famous of these transfers was Al Capone on his way to the Georgia penitentiary.  The Gym is now in the area where the jail once stood, but the hotel has at least left a small tribute.  Keep in mind, no one would have been in the jail cell for as many days as there are red hash marks, but it is a nice nod to the use of the space at one time.

Doors now cover where the trains would have entered the buildings.

A close-up of the lovely ironwork on the back of the building.

On the lobby level outside the building

Stained glass windows in what are now meeting rooms off of the lobby of the building

A board in the bar shows the train schedules with the great train names of the L&N.

The station is now a hotel and the number-one wedding venue in Nashville.  I had the pleasure of a 2nd-floor window with a view looking through one of the granite arches at the trains that ran by.

Hudson Yards, The High Line and the 9/11 Memorial

 New York City
Oct 162022
 

October 6, 2022

The Vessel at Hudson Yards

If one begins the High Line at West 29th you start at Hudson Yards.  While Hudson Yards if filled with many attractions, the reason I was there was to see the Vessel.  The Vessel is a spiral staircase, designed as an interactive piece of art by Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio.  Sadly, after becoming a suicide destination it is closed.

The piece is comprised of 154 intricately interconnecting flights of stairs consisting of almost 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings.

After having visited the Coulee Vert in Paris and writing about it, of course I had to walk the High Line.

The High Line took many years to come to fruition and like so many grand places in New York it was originally destined for demolition.

In the 1800s freight trains on street-level tracks, ran by New York Central Railroad, delivering food to lower Manhattan. The dangerous conditions created for pedestrians caused 10th Avenue to became known as “Death Avenue.” By 1910, more than 540 people had been killed by trains.

The tracks still run along the path and can be enjoyed in many locations

In the 1930s trains began running on the High Line—which was then called the “West Side Elevated Line.” The line was fully operational by 1934 and transported millions of tons of meat, dairy, and produce cutting directly through some buildings, creating easy access for factories like the National Biscuit Company (aka Nabisco), which is now where you can find Chelsea Market.

Thanks to the trucking industry, the train’s usage began dwindling in the 1960s and found itself out of use by the 1980s. The early 2000s saw a desire to both tear it down and preserve it. After considerable input by many organizations the High Line was saved and the first leg opened in 2009.

The thing this author loved more than anything was the public art found all along the way.

Women and Children by Nina Beier

Pomme d’hiver by Claude and Francois Lalanne

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A mural on a building in one of the neighborhoods along the way

Fun architecture you see as you wander the High Line

A view of the Empire State Building from the High Line

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The End of the High Line at Gansevoort

Just one block away from the High Line end at Gansevoort, is Washington Commons, a residential complex with a sweet public area to enjoy.  It is a wonderful place to just sit and let your feet recover.

Washington Commons Public Area

The 9/11 Memorial Area

One of two 9/11 Memorial Pool

The area which includes the two identical Memorial Pools was designed by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker.

The pools are called Reflecting Absence.  The largest waterfall in North America cascades 30 feet down into the reflective pools. Massive pump rooms collect all that water, treat it and send it back to the top at a rate of 24,000 gallons per minute.

The North Pool

The names of the 2,983 people who were killed in the 2001 and 1993 terrorist attacks are inscribed on bronze parapets edging the memorial pools. The names are grouped by the locations and circumstances in which victims found themselves during the attacks. The North Pool parapets include the names of those who were killed at the North Tower, on hijacked Flight 11, and in the 1993 bombing. The South Pool parapets include the names of first responders as well as victims who were killed at the South Tower, on hijacked Flight 175, at the Pentagon, on hijacked Flight 77, and on hijacked Flight 93.

The South Pool

The Sphere

As a sculpture lover I had to go hunting for The Sphere. Originally a cast bronze sculpture by German artist Fritz Koenig, it was commissioned for the old World Trade Center and completed in 1971. It stood on the Austin J. Tobin Plaza until the September 11 attacks. The sculpture survived the attacks with relatively little damage. It was relocated to Liberty Park, adjacent to the Memorial, in 2017, and stands as a testament to the horrendous day in New York City’s history.

I had one day in New York City, I had never seen either of these, it was a great way to spend the day.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

 Arkansas
May 012021
 

April 2021

Hot Springs, Arkansas, has a very rich history.  It gets its name from the natural thermal spring waters that flow out of the ground at an average temperature of 143 °F, producing almost one million gallons of water each day.  Water flowing from the springs today fell as rain when Egyptians were building the pyramids.

Native Americans called this area “the Valley of the Vapors,”  and Spanish and French settlers claimed the area in the mid-1500s.

In 1832, President Andrew Jackson declared Hot Springs as the first federal reservation essentially making Hot Springs the US’s first national park, but without the official designation.

Over time the area grew to be an elegant spa city centered on a row of Victorian-style bathhouses. Hot Springs Reservation became Hot Springs National Park in 1921.

From the late-1800s through the mid-1900s, with its heyday in the 1930s, Hot Springs was a hotbed of mob activity and a  popular hangout for Al Capone, Frank Costello, Bugs Moran, Lucky Luciano.

On Mach 12, 1927, US Park Ranger James Alexander Cary was killed by bootleggers while patrolling on West Mountain in Hot Springs National Park. Cary was the first National Park Service Ranger to be murdered in the line of duty.

Mob activity came to an end in the 1960s, due to a federal crackdown on what the government called “the site of the largest illegal gambling operation in the U.S.”

After a 400 mile drive,  as we entered the park, we read the guide book stating “don’t go out of your way to visit the Hot Springs”

Ghost Signs at the Hot Springs

It is a strange park.  It is the smallest national park, formed around a natural resource that is used for commercial purposes. The  commercial strip is the entry of the park with one side belonging to the park and the other being privately owned.  The town has fallen on very hard times, with many abandoned buildings and a grand hotel, that sits on National Park land, in dire need of love and attention.  Only two baths still operate as they once did. Sadly they had very limited hours during COVID, but the architecture of each of the remaining buildings are worth a slow stroll through town.

Abandoned buildings in downtown Hot Springs

An odd little tidbit this San Franciscan found fun: Before Tony Bennett was to perform his famous song I Left My Heart in San Francisco he rehearsed the song at the Vapors in Hot Springs.  Nobody was around except for the bartender who was setting up for the night.  After hearing the song, the bartender told Bennett and his accompanist, “hey guys, if you record that song I’ll buy a copy.”

These green boxes can be found all along the Grand Promenade. They surround individual springs to protect the quality and help regulate the water. Some springs are hotter than others, some have more flow, and some are prone to temporary dips in temperature due to rainfall.

View from the Hot Springs Mountain Tower observation deck which puts you 216 feet in the air or 1,256 feet above sea level.

Ozark Baths

Superior Baths

Eureka Springs Arkansas

 Arkansas
May 012021
 

April 2021

Eureka Springs is an unusual town.  Its architecture is primarily Victorian, and with its narrow streets and historic trains, it is a fun place to explore. Despite its charm it is filled, primarily, with tacky tourists shops.

A flatiron building in Eureka Springs. The original building was built in 1880 and was destroyed by fire in 1890. Shortly after, a new building was erected and also was destroyed by fire. The current building was built in 1987.

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Most everything was closed due to COVID so a walk around town was enough, we headed out of Eureka Springs to go exploring the environs.

Driving around Northern Arkansas the fields were filled with buttercups.

A hike along the Buffalo River yielded an armadillo carapace

A small glimpse of the Buffalo River. The river is a National Park, to reach the water you need to hike, go by boat or bicycle

Our day to explore the Northeast of Arkansas began with a tornado warning that sent us to the basement of our hotel.  The rest of the day was under flash flood warnings, we crossed many rivers overflowing their banks.

Crystal Bridges

Once on our way we headed to Crystal Bridges Museum.  The rain made pictures of the place impossible, but looking out the windows was a great reminder that we were high and dry.

Cleaning up after flash floods at Crystal Bridges. In the back you can see Fly’s Eye Dome by Buckminster Fuller and Americana by George Sánchez-Calderón

More exterior art at Crystal Bridges On the left is Lowell’s Ocean by Mark di Suvero

The Bachman-Wilson house by Frank Lloyd Wright at Crystal Bridges, was closed that day

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is in Bentonville, Arkansas. Founded by Alice Walton of Walmart,  the museum opened November of 2011.

The museum, designed by Moshe Safdie and engineered by Buro Happold, is made of glass-and-wood and  features a series of pavilions nestled around two creek-fed ponds..

photo from Wikipedia

Gilhuly at Crystal Bridges

Thorncrown Chapel

Sitting quietly in Thorncrown Chapel simply brought me to tears.

Thorncrown Chapel was designed by renowned architect E. Fay Jones. Fay was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1921. He studied at the University of Arkansas, Rice University, the University of Oklahoma, and under his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright at the Taliesin Fellowship.

A closer look at the pulpit

The interior  lights form crosses that are not noticed by many

Thorncrown Chapel is worth seeking out, and if you can enjoy the chapel alone it is a very moving and wonderful experience.

Little Rock

We flew out of Little Rock giving us just enough time to visit a dear old friend and see a few sights.

Central High School – Little Rock

Central High School was the center of racial discrimination in Little Rock.  The National Parks has installed a wonderful educational center just down the block from the High School.

The formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, enrolled nine black students in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Soon, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. It drew national attention to the civil rights movement.

Across the street from the National Park Educational Center is the Magnolia/Mobil service station.  It was built in the 1920s, and has served as a gas station, a student hangout, a temporary “office” for reporters during the desegregation crisis, storage for a wholesale florist business, a National Historic Site visitor center, eventually it will be an educational center for the National Park Service.

The Arkansas River flows right through the center of Little Rock, making their bridges a focal point for visitors in the newly built waterfront park area.  This is a bridge as seen from the Clinton Center and the restaurant 42 as the sun went down.

A roundup of our 2021 National Parks Road Trip

We visited:

Congaree National Park – the largest intact expanse of old growth bottom land and a UNESCO Biosphere site.

Shenandoah National Park had the first Civilian Conservation Corp camp in a National Park.

The Great Smokey Mountain National Park is the most visited National Park in the states and the most biologically diverse.

The New River Gorge National Park is the newest designated National Park

Mammoth Caves National Park is a UNESCO Biosphere site and a World Heritage Site with the world’s longest underground cave system.

Gateway Arch National Park is the smallest National Park

Hot Springs National Park is the most urban National Park

We visited 7 national parks, drove through 9 states (Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois) crossed the Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas Rivers, there were hundreds more, but those are the big ones, and we saw four mountain ranges, The Appalachia’s, The Smokies, The Shenandoah and the Ozarks.

Public Art in St. Louis

 Missouri, Saint Louis
Apr 302021
 

April 2021

Saint Louis is an amazing city for art!

City Garden

Between Chestnut and Market Streets and 8th and 10th Streets is City Garden.  Founded by the Gateway Foundation the park consists of a cafe, stunning landscape, a fountain or two and a modern art collection that made this public art enthusiast sing.

The photos I have chosen are a small sample of the pieces in the park.

Eros Bendato by artist Igor Mitoraj. – The dismembered head of Eros, the Greek god of love and desire, is wrapped in bandages suggesting that the desires of the eyes and mouth have been imprisoned. The bandages also symbolize two opposing views of the world – either that civilization is broken beyond repair, or that it is being held together despite destructive forces.

La Riviere by artist Aristide Maillol. This female nude is the subject of nearly all of Maillol’s later works. Here. the artist creates the feeling of instability and movement. It is the personification of water.

With Bird, Laura Ford creates playful and disturbing hybrid creatures. Part human and part animal they are developed through observation of her own children and recollection of her feelings of growing up. It represents her ability to move easily between the real and unreal, the creepy and sweet, the funny and mean.

Erwin Wurm chooses everyday objects as the subject of his work in an attempt to inspire viewers to question both the traditional definition of sculpture and their relations ship to the world.

Jim Dine has been intrigued by the story of Pinocchio for many years. Creating Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels Dine said “the idea of a talking stick becoming a boy, is like a metaphor for art.

Aesop’s Fables by Mark di Suvero is indicative of so much of his work, large pieces of industrial metal welded, bolted and painted.

Mimmo Paladino created Zenit with a combination of art, science and mathematics. A geometric form that mathematicians call a stellated dodecahedron appears to balance on one of its points on the horse’s back.

Unzip the Earth, by Canadian artist Floyd Elzinga – What a delightful whimsical piece!

Tai Chi Single Whip by Ju Ming depicts a faceless Tai Chi practitioner in the basic pose with the same name as the piece.

Clausses creates a tension between the light tone of the subject and the weight of the bronze forms. This bronze, enveloped in white paint gives the impression of marshmallows.

Classen’s bunnies took on even more meaning when you enjoy the small rabbits hopping all around the park.

Laumeier Sculpture Park

A friend turned me onto the outdoor sculpture park at 12580 Rott Road in St. Louis.

Founded in 1976, Laumeier is one of the first and largest dedicated sculpture parks in the country. In 1968, Mrs. Matilda Laumeier bequeathed the first 72 acres of the future Laumeier Sculpture Park to St. Louis County in memory of her husband, Henry Laumeier. In 1976, local artist Ernest Trova gifted 40 artworks, with an estimated market value of approximately one million dollars.

The entire park is a teaching facility and a divine place to spend a day just wondering the stunning grounds.  The pieces change, these were just some of the more interesting ones I found on my visit.

Blue Eyeball by Toni Tasset and Bornibus by Mark di Suvero

Ball? Ball! Wall? Wall! by Donald Lipski

Man with Briefcase at #2968443 by Jonathan Borofsky

The Way by Alexander Liberman

If the World is a Fair Place Then… by Rags Media Collective

Finding the Offbeat in Saint Louis

 Missouri, Saint Louis
Apr 302021
 

April 2021

The Union Station Hotel in St. Louis

Designed by the St. Louis firm of Theodore C. Link, the 600-foot long granite structure stylistically reflects the Romanesque influence of H. H. Richardson.

Now a National Historic Landmark the St. Louis Union Station was opened in 1894. At its opening it was the largest in the world with tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 people a day the 1940s. The last Amtrak passenger train left the station in 1978.

In the 1980s, it was renovated as a hotel, shopping center, and entertainment complex. with two more renovations in 2010 and 2020.  The shopping center and entertainment complex is a blight with loud music, horrible restaurants and a feeling of a tacky and cheap town.

The lobby of the hotel has kept its historical quality and is worth a visit or a drink in the bar.  The hotel itself is a Hilton, and not one this author would recommend.

This gothic corridor with gracefully vaulted ceiling once lead to a Renaissance private Dining Room.

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City Museum St. Louis

City Museum is a one-hundred-year-old warehouse in downtown St. Louis in which artists have repurposed found items to build miles of tunnels, slides, climbers, bridges, and castles.  There are secret passages and grand galleries, playgrounds and ball pits, a circus and a train and a rooftop with a school bus and a Ferris wheel.

The amazing part of the museum, to this architecture history nut was the two floors of rescued building parts from now vanished buildings.

This amazing cornice is from the Wainwright Building that stood at the NE corner of 7th and Chestnut. Built in 1891 it was designed by Adler and Sullivan, with the chief Draftsman being Frank Lloyd Wright.

This terra-cotta pediment once crowned the Broadway Strand Museum in Chicago. Built in 1917, the building was demolished in 1998.

Behind this fish you will see a wall of stainless steel pans originally used as steam table pans for food service.

Everywhere you look there are elaborate mosaic floors.  In the beginning several artists were brought in to create the mosaics, but eventually it was reduced to one, Sharon von Senden. Tile used in the museum comes from a variety of sources, including donations, closeouts, or surplus. Due to the shifting concrete slabs and heavy traffic, new designs are always being laid as the floors are repaired.

Bellefontaine Cemetery

A trip through any town would not be complete without a visit to a cemetery for this taphophile.

In 1849, the Rural Cemetery Association purchased the former Hempstead family farm located five miles northwest of the St. Louis, with the intent to turn it into a large rural cemetery modeled after Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts. The 138-acre Hempstead farm was situated along the road to Fort Bellefontaine, and as a result the Association decided to name its new cemetery after the fort. Within a few months, the Association had hired landscape architect Almerin Hotchkiss, who helped design Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, to implement a master plan.  The Cemetery is a stunning arboretum with a botanical garden and landscaping that invites one to wander for hours.

There are several notable people buried in the cemetery, these are just a few.

The Grave of Virginia Minor

Virginia Louisa Minor (March 27, 1824 – August 14, 1894) was an American women’s suffrage activist. She is best remembered as the plaintiff in Minor v. Happersett, an 1874 United States Supreme Court case in which Minor unsuccessfully argued that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote.

Susan Elizabeth Blow (June 7, 1843 – March 27, 1916) was an American educator who opened the first successful public kindergarten in the United States. She was known as the “Mother of the Kindergarten.”

The grave of William Clark of the Meriwether Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 – 1806. The men led the first major effort to explore and map much of what is now the Western United States.

The Wainwright Mausoleum was designed by renowned architect Louis Sullivan. The mausoleum was addd to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Compton Hill Water TowerCompton Hill Water Tower St. Louis

The Water Tower sits adjacent to the Compton Hill Reservoir and was the third to be built in the St. Louis (after the Grand Avenue Water Tower and the Bissell Street Water Tower). Located at Grand and Russell Avenues, the tower stands 179 feet high and is 130 feet around at the base. It was designed by Harvey Ellis, for the firm of George R. Mann in 1897.

The three water towers were actually standpipes encased in architectural towers and a vital part of the City’s early water system. The standpipes absorbed surges from the late-19th-century reciprocating water pumps, providing consistent water pressure. In 1972, The Compton Hill Water Tower was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A close up of the stunning carvings on the water tower.

St. Louis is an amazingly rich town in art, architecture and culture, I wish I had had more time.

Gateway Arch

 Missouri, Saint Louis
Apr 282021
 

April 2021

I have wanted to see the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis ever since I stood in the Saarinan house at Cranbrook. The arch was designed by Eero Saarinan, son of the great architect Elliel Saarinan, and a rather phenomenal architect in his own right.

The Arch sits along the west bank of the Mississippi River and takes its name from “Gateway to the West” celebrating the westward expansion of the United States in the 19th century.

I could wax poetic about the architecture and the construction of the Arch, something I have been doing all day to anyone that would listen, but there are books and books and movies and movies about those subjects.  Here are a few fun facts.

On a clear day you can see up to 30 miles across the Mississippi to the Great Plains.  We weren’t so lucky, it was a very rainy day when we visited.

Looking out from the top of the arch

The project required the demolition of 40 blocks of waterfront property which St. Louis city engineer W. C. Bernard called “an enforced slum-clearance program”  As a lover of historic architecture I would call the destruction of  dozens of warehouses and cast-iron buildings extremely sad if not criminal.

The two legs of the Arch were built separately.  If off by as little as 1/64th of an inch they would not join at the top.  As someone who spent her adult life in manufacturing building ornamentation, I shudder at having to be that accurate.

In the middle of the movie that one can see at the Arch there is a casual mention of the fact that it was determined prior to project start  that thirteen workers would die during its construction. No one did, and yes I am aware that that is the role of an insurance company, but it is a ghoulish discussion nonetheless.  The fascinating thing about watching the film is you will notice that despite being 630 feet in the air, no construction worker was tied off and most were not wearing steel-toed shoes.

Looking down upon the old courthouse from the top of the Gateway Arch

The arch is a catenary arch and it is as tall as it is wide.

The elevator was designed by Dick Bowser, an engineering school dropout whose family was in the elevator business.  It was not as easy as one would think as the arch curves.  Bowser was only given two weeks to come up with a design.  His solution was a tram that was part elevator and part ferris wheel.

A model of the tram car

Presidents are not allowed to go up the arch.  The only President that did so was Dwight D. Eisenhower after he retired.

One Day in Kentucky

 Kentucky
Apr 252021
 

April 2021

The trip to Kentucky was to visit Mammoth Caves National Park.  The park has limited their tours due to COVID, and while we were prepared to be disappointed, we were not.

The morning began with a trip to the cemetery, a must for this tophophile. It is the best way to also understand Mammoth Caves.

Mammoth Caves is a 142 mile labyrinth of limestone passageways. They are stacked atop each other on five levels. It is the longest cave system in the world, and much has never been explored. The area is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

In 1838, 17 year old Stephen Bishop was brought to the cave as a slave by his owner who planned to turn the caves into a tourist attraction.

Bishop, using a lard lamp and ropes, was said to have traveled most every inch of the caves. It is hard to imagine the danger that he placed himself in exploring the caves by a flickering light, through underground rivers, rubble, and sinkholes, to name just a few of the obstacles.

In 1842 a map of the caves, drawn by Bishop, was published in Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, During the Year 1844.

In that same year Bishop met Charlotte, they wed and she lived with him in the slave quarters.

Eventually Bishop’s slave owner died, and stipulated in his will that in seven years Bishop was to be Emancipate.  Bishop enjoyed only one year of emancipation, he died at the age of 37.

Bishop was buried in an unmarked grave in front of Mammoth Cave. In 1878, businessman James Mellon told Charlotte that he would send her a headstone. It took three years to arrive. It was an unclaimed Civil War headstone, and the original name was scratched out. The date of death was wrong by two years. Hardly a gracious gift.

The cemetery holds the remains of other slaves that worked as guides and as staff in the hotel built by Bishops owner.

There is archeological evidence that Native Americans explored the first three levels of the cave between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago.

There is no written history of the cave until its re-discovery in the 1790s. It came to prominence during the War of 1812 when slave laborers mined the caves for potassium nitrate.  These nitrates (saltpeter) were removed via a rather elaborate process and then shipped to the Dupont factory in Delaware to be made into gun powder.

Remains of the saltpeter operation

Tours began in 1816. Tours have been given continuously for the last 86 years, until COVID. During COVID, you are able to descend into the first layer of the cave on a self guided tour, getting a feel for the caves, seeing the remains of the saltpeter operation, and a failed tuberculosis clinic.

Cabins leftover from the tuberculosis clinic

Signatures left from workers or tourists

A lard lamp

The history of Mammoth Caves is fascinating, from the Native Americans, through slavery in the park and then the building of the park as we know it today by the CCC.

Getting on the road

Driving the roads of Kentucky and coming across Canola crops

I am traveling with a quilter, so we could not pass up the opportunity to see the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky.  While I admire the workmanship of a quilter I was stunned to see the high art of quilting.

This is a quilt by Melissa Sobotka as a result of her trip to the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul.

Titled Bang You’re Dead, this quilt by Jacquie Gering was done in 2013.  To quote the explanation: …made in response to my husband’s work in the Chicago Public Schools.  Every morning he would receive the Overnight Violence Report, a list of students hurt or killed that day who were students in the district.  After learning more about the violence affecting children and adults in the city, I made this piece to call attention to the problem of gun violence. Chicago has a reputation for being an extremely violent city.  After researching the data on gun violence across America, I discovered that my new home in Kansas City has a higher per capita gun death rate.  It’s a problem across this country and in every city and town in America.  If we don’t recognize or talk about the problem, we can’t find a solution.  This quilt was made to spark that conversation.

By Karen Maple with her explanation: The United States incarcerates 3 ½ times the number of people per population than European countries.  African-Americans and Hispanics have much higher imprisonment rates than whites in the US. Regardless of color or economic background, many prisoners are forgotten by society.  How would you spend your years in prison in orange garb?

Here are a few more pictures of Mammoth Caves National Park

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Wandering Around North Carolina

 North Carolina
Apr 242021
 

April 2021

Fontana Dam, North Carolina

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was a paragraph in my 6th grade history book.

The TVA is a federally owned corporation created by congressional charter on May 18, 1933, to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.

I believe that was the entire paragraph in my history book.  When you visit one of the largest dams you realize there is far more to the story.

The dam at Fontana Lake

Not far from Smoky Mountains National Park is the Fontana Dam.  Built in 1941 it had been on the concept books for quite awhile to service ALCOA (Aluminum Company of America).  Politics and money kept it from becoming a reality, the war made it happen.

When the US entered into World War II there was a huge spike in the demand for aluminum for aircraft, ships, and munitions. This created a huge spike in the need for electricity and TVA began construction on the Fontana Dam.

Not far away was the secret lab called Oak Ridge, working on the atomic bomb, that was another large user of electricity and an added reason to pursue the project.

Looking downriver from the Fontana Dam

At 480 feet high, Fontana is the tallest dam in the Eastern United States. The dam  was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

Bryson City, NC

This has never been a travel blog about hotels and restaurants, but we had the pleasure of staying at the Everett Hotel in Bryson City.  Bryson City is a sweet town south of the Smoky Mountain National Park.  It is a convenient place to stay and appears to be gentrifying if one believes the real estate agents haunting the sidewalks of their offices.

The Road to Nowhere – Bryson City NC

I had read about the Road to Nowhere, but thought it would be too hard to find, until driving out of Bryson City and past this sign.

With the creation of the Fontana Dam and thus Fontana Lake many locals of Swain County lost their homes and the highway that served their towns.

The Federal government promised to replace the highway with a new road. The most important reason was to provide access to the old family cemeteries that were left behind.

Construction was stopped when it was found that building the road would cause irreparable damage to the eco-system.  Thus the road to nowhere and broken promises.

The entry bridge to the road to nowhere

On weekends throughout the summer, the Park Service ferries groups of Swain County residents across Fontana Lake to visit their old family cemeteries for Decoration Days and family reunions.

Tail of the Dragon

Leaving Bryson and the Road to Nowhere we travelled along Highway 129 along the edges of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The road has 318 curves, is littered with motorcycles, and fast cars.   There is a speed limit, one we tried to adhere to, not quite enough turn outs for us slower drivers and only one policeman sitting in wait at the end.  The entire area is served by stores at the beginning and end of the road to sell T-shirts, drinks, snacks and the photos of you taken by the many professional photographers staked out along the road.

Somewhere in the middle is Deal’s Gap with a giant dragon made from spare parts.  Deal’s Gap was so filled with people that I could only get a photo of the Dragon from the roadside.

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A picture from the internet of the front of the Dragon

 

Cheoah Dam

Driving in and around the area one encounters the Little Tennessee River.  Down another long winding road is the Cheoah Dam.  Built in 1916 it was the first built by the Tallasee Power Company.  It was made famous when Harrison Ford stood atop it for the dramatic jump scene in The Fugitive.

The end of our day was spent driving 289 miles to our next destination.  Here are some shots from that drive.

An old wooden bridge that was a little tenuous driving over

Chaste Tree

Cardinal Flower

The Rhododendron’s were in bloom in the warmer pockets.

Rhododendron’s in bloom near Fontana Lake

Trumpet Vine

When the Rhododendron’s are in bloom in the forest it must be spectacular, these were near the warmer Fontana Dam

Meandering Through Four Southern States

 North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Apr 222021
 

April 2021

Luray Caves, Virginia

Visitors have been coming to Luray Caves since its discovery in 1878. The cavern system is filled to the brim with speleothems such as columns, mud flows, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and mirrored pools. The caverns are perhaps best known for the Great Stalacpipe Organ, made from solenoid-fired strikers that tap stalactites of various sizes to produce various tones.  The organ is in an area so large they once held ballroom dances, and today, if you choose you can be married in the room.

We recorded the organ, but the hum of a neon light in the cave overwhelmed our recording.  It was fascinating to watch nonetheless.

A Smithsonian Institution report of July 13 and 14, 1880, said: “It is safe to say that there is probably no other cave in the world more completely and profusely decorated with stalactite and stalagmite ornamentation than that of Luray.”

If you look closely at the photo above  you will notice that the floor is not stalagmites but a reflection of the ceiling in a pool of water

Through the years visitors have broken some of the stalactites, if you look at the center you can see the many layers of the crystal deposits.

The stalactites and stalagmites in the Luray Caves grow at a staggering slow rate of one cubic inch every 120 years.

Shenandoah National Park – Virginia

Shenandoah National Park covers 197,438 acres.  The best way to enjoy this if you are not hiking is Skyline Drive.  The park at its highest is 4,051 feet, so many of the trees have not yet leafed out, but you can see forever from many of the lookouts.

Visitors to Shenandoah owe a lot to the Civilian Conservation Corps. Over 1,000 men worked at ten camps in and around Shenandoah.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28.

Much of the work done by the  Civilian Conservation Corps  was located in national, state, and local parks. In 9 years the CCC planted nearly 3 billion trees and developed more than 800 parks across the United States.

Historical Massanutten Lodge

Skyland Lodge is the heart of the Shenandoah National Park, it was a private resort prior to the area becoming a park.  Built in 1911, it was the home of Addie Nairn Pollock, co-owner of Skyland Resort and wife of Skyland founder George Freeman Pollock. The lodge was designed by the Washington, DC architect Victor Mindeleff.  The stone building is covered in tree bark.

New River Gorge National Park – West Virginia

The New River Gorge Bridge is a steel arch bridge 3030 feet long over the New River Gorge  in the Appalachian Mountains. Built between June 1974, and October 22, 1977  the 1,700 feet long arch was the world’s longest single-span arch bridge for 26 years, it is now the fifth longest.

Visiting on April 21st it was snowing.

The New River Gorge

Great Smoky Mountains – Tennessee and North Carolina

Entering the Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains rise along the Tennessee–North Carolina border.  They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province.

The flora of the region changes consistently, making multiple visits almost a must to appreciate the ever changing scenery.  It was snowing in April, a rarity, and beautiful. Over ten million people visit the park yearly with another 11 million people simply passing through. Apparently during the summer the traffic is bumper to bumper, making us glad we had been there in April.

Snow dusting the trees at the higher elevations.

Elk on the valley floor

Red Bud in Bloom

The Red Bud was blooming along the sides of every highway and byway, it felt as though the roads had been splashed with a pink/purple paint everywhere we went.

The Dogwood Trees

Mother Nature was generous, where ever she did not toss a red bud, she tossed a white or pink dogwood tree, making every turn in the road a WOW moment.

Enjoy some of the sites…..

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Small mushrooms pushing their way into the world

Moss beginning to send up seed spores

* * *

 

Congaree National Park

 South Carolina
Apr 212021
 

April 2021

Congaree National Park – South Carolina

Congaree National Park is a 26,276-acre national park 18 miles southeast of the state capital, Columbia. The park preserves the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States. The trees growing in its floodplain forest are some of the tallest in the eastern United States, forming one of the highest temperate deciduous forest canopies remaining in the world.

The park has a raised trail system to preserve the wildlife with some off path trails available at certain times of the year.  The raised trail is 2.6 miles  and lovely, but the real way to see the forest is via kayak or canoe.

Kayaking the Cedar Creek

When telling friends I was going to Congaree I referred to it as a swamp, most people do, but it is really bottomland subject to periodic inundation by floodwaters.

The park also has one of the largest concentrations of champion trees in the world, with the tallest known examples of 15 species. Champion trees include a 167-foot loblolly pine, a 157-foot sweetgum, a 154-foot cherry bark oak, a 135-foot American elm, a 133-foot swamp chestnut oak, a 131-foot overcup oak, and a 127-foot common persimmon.  Due to their height and the shade from the enormous trees, none were very photographable.

Large animals that can be found in the park include bobcats, deer, feral pigs, feral dogs, coyotes, armadillos, turkeys, and otters.

The waters contain turtles, snakes, and many types of fish, including bowfin, alligator gar, and catfish.  We mainly encountered banded water snakes (non poisonous) and turtles.

Banded water snakes sun in the trees everywhere.

Cotton Mouth Snake (poisonous) we were eternally grateful we were up on the boardwalk when we found him

Turtles were here and there

If you looked closely you could see fishing spiders

The boardwalk trail

A view of the water from the boardwalk

One of our favorite sightings a Barred Owl

A Great Blue Heron

Crayfish

Crayfish burrow during the late summer, spend most of the fall and winter underground in water filled tunnels, then move to open water (anything from roadside ditches to swamps, ponds, bayous, and lakes).

The above meter is why we were eternally grateful we were here in April.

 

The Odd and Unusual in the Environs of Charlotte

 North Carolina
Apr 202021
 

April 2021

Shell Oil Clam Shell Station

1111 E Sprague St Winston-Salem, North Carolina

This is the last Shell Oil clamshell station in the United States.

A local Shell gasoline marketer, had eight similar stations built in the 1930s by R.H. Burton and his son, Ralph.

The buildings were constructed of bent green wood, wire and concrete stucco.

The station had a second life as J. Don Watson’s lawn mower repair business in the 1970s and 80s  After falling into disrepair it was rescued by the North Carolina Preservation society and is now registered on the National Register of Historic Places.

While the station is not open you can peek through the windows

The Bunker Hill Covered Bridge

Highway 70   Claremont, North Carolina

The Bunker Hill Covered Bridge is a National Civil Engineering Landmark, and is one of the 221 known remaining lattice truss bridges in the country.  This bridge is the only remaining example in wood of the Improved Lattice Truss patented by General Herman Haupt.

In a letter,  Haupt explained his design which is “composed of a system of braces and counter braces arranged at equal angles in opposite directions and pinned with wooden pins to horizontal chords at top and bottom. Theory, observation, and experiment all agree in favor of the conclusions that one half of the inclined pieces are of no use as counterbraces and badly answer the purpose of ties, that from their inclined position they are exposed to a very considerable cross strain, which tends to split the timbers along the line of pins, and that the pins of the lower intersections are caused to bear a disproportionate share of the weight.”

The Grave of Chang and Eng Bunker

Chang and Eng Bunker (a surname they did not take until retiring in the United States) were born in Siam (now Thailand) in 1811. Joined at the chest by a bridge of cartilage, the duo traveled the world as the famed “Siamese Twins” .

After years on the road, the brothers bought a small farm in the town of Traphill and settled down to lives as gentleman farmers. In 1843, they married Adelaide and Sarah Anne Yates, sisters native to the area. The brothers ran the farm and lived together until tensions between Adelaide and Sara Anne forced them to set up separate households. Between their two marriages, the brothers sired 21 children.

The Town of Mayberry

Mount Airy, North Carolina

Andy Griffith was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina. The Andy Griffith Show was not filmed in Mount Airy, but to honor Griffith, the city recreated some of the sights from TV show. You will find the Mayberry Courthouse, Floyd’s Barbershop, and Goober’s Filling Station.

    Produce Clock

1300 Pegram St Charlotte, North Carolina

Painted by seven artists for the Freshest Grocery store, the clock contains rainbow carrots, collard greens, Chioggia beets, watermelon radishes, Kassia limes, romanesco, kalettes, kumquats, Meyer lemons, bok choy, easter egg radishes, kohlrabi, peas, asparagus, morel mushrooms, garlic, red onions, strawberries, ramps, pickling cucumbers, cherry & heirloom tomatoes, blackberries, Chinese long beans, peaches, corn, raspberries, orange watermelon, red and green okra, butter beans, persimmon, figs, pawpaws, honey crisp & granny smith apples, delicata squash, peach sugar rush peppers, purple sweet potatoes, broccoli, napa cabbage, Carolina gold rice, blue hubbard squash, spinach, and peanuts

High Point, North Carolina

The Left Side of Nowhere

 Arizona, California
Nov 242020
 

November 23, 2020

The drive home promised to be a long one so we broke it up with the weird and wonderful.  Today was a day to remain curious and open-minded.

London Bridge and Parker Dam

Lake Havasu, AZ

A bridge has spanned the River Thames in London for more than 2000 years. The “Old” London Bridge of nursery rhyme fame was a stone bridge built between 1176 and 1209, by Peter of Colechurch, an architect and priest. It replaced various wooden bridges built by the Roman founders of London from AD 50–1176.  Over time the bridge was built and rebuilt.  This particular bridge the “New” London Bridge was completed in 1831.

Sadly the bridge was no match for modern technology. Due to the weight of automobile traffic, the bridge began sinking into the River Thames at the rate of an inch every eight years. By 1924, the east side of the bridge was some three to four inches lower than the west side.

In 1967, the Common Council of the City of London began to look for potential buyers for the London Bridge.  Lake Havasu City’s founder, chainsaw magnate Robert P. McCulloch, Sr. saw a perfect PR tool in a potential purchase.

In 1968,  at a cost of $2.4 million, McCulloch purchased the bridge.

The purchase included ornate lampposts made from the melted-down cannons captured by the British from Napoleon’s army, after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

The bridge was dismantled and shipped through the Panama Canal to California and then trucked from Long Beach to Arizona. The shipping and assembly of the bridge, and dredging of a man-made channel to accommodate the bridge, cost another $7 million.

Today the bridge is the second-largest tourist attraction in Arizona, after the Grand Canyon.

The London Bridge sits on Lake Havasu, which was created by the Parker Dam.

Built by the Bureau of Reclamation between 1934 and 1938 the Parker Dam is 320 feet high, With 235 feet of that being deep into the river bed, Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world. Built to create Lake Havasu, it also generates hydroelectric power.  The building of the dam was contentious and its existence has not quelled the controversy.

Camels in the Arizona Desert

Quartzsite, AZ


A few years ago, while stopping for gas and beef jerky in Quartzsite, my late husband told me a story about camels in the Arizona desert.  On this trip, I went to find out more.

Haji Ali (Philip Tedro) a Turkish-Greek Muslim was one of six camel handlers in the short-lived U.S. Camel Cavalry Corp of 1856. His Arabic name was modified to Hi Jolly by the American soldiers. Jefferson Davis, at the time, Secretary of War, introduced an 1855 bill in Congress to import camels for the military into the Arizona desert.

The first shipment consisted of thirty-three camels, the next year brought an additional forty-four. The experiment would last only a year or so. When the War Between the States broke out the program was abandoned.

Circuses and zoos acquired some of the camels and others were turned loose. The wild camels eventually became small herds and rumors of wild camels in Nevada, Arizona, California, and New Mexico could be heard until the 1940s.

Hi Jolly continued working with the Army until Geronimo’s surrender in 1886. In 1889 he became a desert prospector with the few camels he still had.

Haji Ali died on December 16, 1902, in Quartzsite, Upon his death, a small wooden sign was placed on his grave. In 1934 the stone pyramid monument, topped by a camel weathervane was placed on his grave by order of James L. Edwards of the Arizona State Highway Department.

On the main road of Quartzsite is this interesting sculpture. In the 1880s, stories could be heard of a giant red horse with a devil on its back. The Red Ghost trampled a woman to death, tore through a campground, and was said to have flipped over two freight wagons. At the scene of each event were hoof marks larger than any horse, and strands of red hair.  The crazy stories did not end until a farmer found a red camel grazing with the skeletal remains of an unknown man strapped to its back.

Blythe Intaglios

Blythe, CA

Way off the beaten path on Hwy 95 are three intaglios, or geoglyphs. I knew of the Nazca lines of Peru, but I had no idea that there are over 300 intaglios in the American Southwest and adjacent regions of Mexico. The figures are believed to have been made by the Mohave and Quechan Indians and are somewhere between 450 and 2,000 years old.  At 171 feet high, intaglios are best seen from the air, so this was the only somewhat decent photo I could take, it does not do the figure justice.

 

Photo provided at the site

Ehrenberg Pioneer Cemetery

Ehrenberg, AZ

Traveling with a taphophile means taking strange detours. The town of Ehrenberg was created in 1869 and named after Hermann Ehrenberg, a German immigrant who worked with the Mojave people until he was robbed and murdered near present-day Palm Springs.  Hermann Ehrenberg was a very interesting man with a long career.  The town of Ehrenberg, once a thriving steamboat stop, is now a ghost town, with nothing to mark its existence aside from this cemetery with its mostly unmarked graves.

The Salton Sea

The Salton Sea has always been somewhat of an enigma to me, it was time to turn it into a real place in my mind. The Sea does not come without a considerable amount of controversy.  The Salton Sea presently lies in what was a giant inland sea.  Its present iteration was created by accident in 1905 when water from the Colorado River spilled out of a poorly-constructed California Development Company irrigation system. The lake grew over the next two years until workers were able to staunch the massive flow. By that time, a 400-square-mile body of water had formed becoming the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea is referred to as an endorheic lake, meaning that its waters never discharge to the ocean; they either seep into the ground or evaporate. This condition has resulted in water with an extremely high salinity level, even higher than the  Pacific Ocean.

The state of California has a ten-year management program to help the Sea, but it is a slow and agonizing process that is well behind schedule.  While many argue it is not a natural, formation and with its rising salinity becoming a problem, that may seem accurate.  However, with the decline of so many natural waterways within the pathways of the great migratory bird system, the Salton Sea has become an important stop, and with the loss of it, there will be far more consequences to mother nature than just the death of a remote salty body of water.

The rate of water recession with the sea is appalling, the environmental cost is frightening.

Driving around the Salton Sea is a challenge unto itself.  Along one of the rather poor roads, you can stumble upon the Davis-Schrimpf Seep Field.  These are geothermal mudpots that bubble and burb from short sludge volcanoes. Seep fields are caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide beneath the surface of the earth, which pushes to the surface through the water table and sediment. While not real volcanoes they stink to high heaven.  We did not walk out to the field.  While there were several people walking around the area, they, as well as us, were parked in front of signs specifically stating that you would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law if you stepped out onto the fields.

Borrego Springs

Ricardo Breceda has placed over 130 sculptures throughout the area called Borrego Springs, we caught only about 20 of them.

Breceda’s website describes him:  Born in Durango Mexico, Ricardo has lived in California for over the last 25 years. An “accidental artist” who has become a well-known sculptor & designer. One of his largest collections can be appreciated in the city of Borrego Springs, California.

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This has been a fascinating trip during COVID.  Staying safe was not as difficult as one imagined. Our dining consisted of primarily take-out and grocery stores. Hotels were extremely conscientious, especially larger chains such as Hyatt and Marriott.  Bryce National Park was the safest with most everyone wearing masks even during hikes.  Zion was disturbing due to the number of people, but the park managed things extremely well, and with the exception of a few unmasked people on the hiking trails we felt protected.  The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is another story.  The Park Service is not limiting entries, so the amount of people you encounter is uncomfortably high.  The El Tovar Hotel was criminal.  We walked into the lobby, spun on our heels, and walked out.  While masking was required the lobby was so full as to inhibit even three-foot social distancing.  We were often the only masked people outside.

I needed to get away, it is in my nature to be on the road at this time of the year, but I did not want to fly, and a trip to some of the most remote locations in the US seemed like an answer.  It was a great trip.  We were highly cautious and paranoid and went to great lengths to stay safe.  Traveling during a pandemic takes special planning and a lot of give and take.

The trip was 3200 miles – wow.

The Grand Canyon’s South Rim

 Arizona
Nov 222020
 

November 22, 2020

Today was dedicated to exploring the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with a special emphasis on architecture.

The Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, South Rim

Our first adventure was to the sites of Mary Colter. Colter began working full-time for the Fred Harvey Company in 1910.  She moved from interior designer to architect and for 38 years served as chief architect and decorator for the company. As one of the country’s few female architects Colter worked in often rugged conditions to complete 21 landmark hotels, commercial lodges, and public spaces for the Fred Harvey Company.

While Colter designed six buildings in the Grand Canyon, we saw five of them, and here are two of those.  These two are at extreme opposite ends of the South Rim of the Canyon.

Hermit’s Rest

Coming upon Hermit’s End from the road

Looking back at Hermit’s End from the trail

The building was originally constructed as a rest stop for the short stage line that ran from El Tovar. It is a stone building placed several feet back from the rim and tucked into a small man-made earthen mound, built around and atop the building to blend it in with its setting.

Hermit’s Rest was designed to resemble a dwelling constructed by an untrained mountain man using the natural timber and boulders of the area.

The approach to Hermit’s Rest is marked by a small stone arch topped with a broken bell that Colter acquired from a Spanish mission in New Mexico. Stunning stone lanterns illuminate the pathways after dark.

 

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Beautiful metal lanterns encased in stone light the pathways at night

An enormous alcove, shaped like a semi-dome overwhelms the visitor upon entering the building. The stone alcove contains an arched fireplace decorated with andirons, a brass tea kettle, and various antique kitchen and fireplace tools. Wrought-iron wall sconces holding candles flank the far edges of the alcove.

Desert View Watchtower

The architecture of the ancestral Puebloan people of the Colorado Plateau served as Mary Colter’s model for the Watchtower. Patterned after those found at Hovenweep and the Round Tower of Mesa Verde, Colter indicated that it was not a copy of any that she had seen, but rather modeled from several.

The white decorative stones near the top that fade out as the eye goes around the tower, were from a pattern Colter had seen at Chaco Canyon and thought it would break the monotony of this Watchtower. The built-in cracks which are patterned from some of the ancient towers she had seen were a deliberate part of the design.

The tower is built over an internal steel framework designed by the bridge builders of the Santa Fe Railway company. Each exterior stone was selected and carefully placed to the exact specifications of Colter.

Shrine of the Ages

Shrine of the Ages

In1952 Harold E. Wagoner, a member of the board of directors of the Church Architectural Guild of America, was selected as architect for a non-denominational place of worship within the park. Designing with respect for the natural environment and Native American culture, Wagoner created a structure that reflected the architectural style of a kiva, a place of worship used by Native Americans in the Southwest.

The Entry with its wood arches

This taphophile was so thrilled to look out on the horizon outside the Shrine of the Ages to see a cemetery.  While I have seen cemeteries inside of National Parks (Yosemite for one), I did not expect to see a cemetery with recently interned.

The Grand Canyon Pioneer Cemetery

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The cemetery goes back before the forming of the national park and was formally dedicated in 1928.   It holds early Grand Canyon families and pioneers.  While closed to burials as of 2007, it still accepts members of families already laid to rest in the cemetery. The cemetery presently has more than 390 individual graves.

John Wesley Powell Memorial

The Powell Monument can be found at Powell Point on the Rim Road

In 1869 John Wesley Powell and his five-member crew were the first white people confirmed to have traveled through the entirety of the Grand Canyon.  The men traveled down the Green and Colorado rivers for three-months on the first official US government-sponsored passage through the Grand Canyon

Throughout his life, Powell was a geologist, U.S. Soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions.

The Grand Canyon is a spectacular, immense, overwhelming place, sometimes it is nice to just take a day and concentrate on the human-sized sites.

Elk feeding on Juniper berries

Driving the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon

 Arizona
Nov 212020
 

November 21.2020

After leaving our hotel outside the North Rim of the Grand Canyon we headed for the South Rim.  We had to go the long way through Flagstaff because the East Road goes through Navajo Country and they have closed access due to the alarming numbers of COVID cases on their lands.

The Colorado River

While driving over this spectacular bridge looking down at the Colorado River, we stopped to enjoy the scenery, and I found another engineering marvel. The only way to cross the Colorado River was by ferry well into the 1900s. As roads improved the government realized that this ferry was the weakest link in the transportation system of this area. A bridge was in order.

Navajo Bridge was forged with steel from, and a design by, the Kansas City Structural Steel Company.  The bridge was dedicated on June 14th, 1929 and despite the ridiculously remote location 7000 people and 1217 automobiles were there for the opening. The bridge in the upper photograph is actually a newer bridge designed for today’s traffic, the walking bridge is the original Navajo Bridge.

While spending time ogling the bridge our eyes alit on something we had spent the last three days looking for – Condors!

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The California condor is one of the rarest birds in the world, it is also the largest flying land bird in North America.  They can weigh up to 25 pounds with a 9 1/2 foot wingspan.  There are about 200 condors in the wild all in Arizona, Utah, California, and Baja Mexico.  What a treasure and such a lucky happenstance.

From there we headed to Wupataki National Monument and the Sunset Crater Volcano.  The area has a handful of Wupataki Pueblo homes.

We then headed toward the cinder cones of the Sunset Crater Volcano.  Throughout this trip, every day has a WOW and at this point, I thought we had run out of them.  A way down the road and I had a Holy S—- moment.  The lava fields are the first thing you see, and while I have seen the results of volcanoes all over the world, this still took my breath away.

The pictures are incapable of showing the vastness of these fields.  It is also fascinating to see the various types of lava. Lava varies depending on how it is projected out of the volcano.

The process that created Sunset Crater may have lasted as long as six months to a year.

Cinder Dunes

We made it to the South Rim in time for a long walk along the Rim Trail and to watch the sun go down.

Twighlight falling on the South Rim

The Grand Canyon

 Nevada, Utah
Nov 202020
 

November 20, 2020

We left Zion National Park via the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. Bored and blasted through the sandstone cliffs above Pine Canyon this amazing engineering feat blows the mind. Construction of the 1.1-mile tunnel began in the late 1920s and was completed in 1930 at a cost of $1, 896,000. At the time of its dedication, on July 4, 1930, it was the longest tunnel of its type in the United States. The purpose of the tunnel was to create direct access to Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon from Zion National Park.  The project included a 25-mile long road, that includes seven switchbacks taking vehicles up 800 feet in elevation from the valley floor.

Several galleries were cut into the exterior wall of the tunnel. During construction, the galleries were handy for disposing of rock and waste. Now, they provide natural light, ventilation, and some beautiful views.

Looking out one of the gallery windows from inside the tunnel

A three-hour drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with a stop at Moqui Caves we traveled through the Vermillion Cliffs, a park that requires a four-wheel drive and a permit from the BLM, but can be enjoyed from the Highway.

The Vermillion Cliffs as seen from Highway 89A

We headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  It was a moment where we both agreed we were a bit non-plussed.  We discussed that it might be due to the amazing sights we had seen, and then we went exploring.

North Rim of the Grand Canyon Survey Marker

Views of the North Rim

We began the long drive around the various canyons to Cape Royal with stops at various lookout points.  The views changed and our WOW factor was amped up considerably.

Point Imperial

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Looking through Angels Window down to the Colorado River

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During the summers of 1967 and 1968, an extensive archeological investigation was conducted on the Unkar Delta. That is the flat area in front of the Colorado River. Fifty-two Anasazi sites were recorded on the delta.

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The Colorado River flowing through the canyon.

Sometimes a silly graphic gives you a better idea of how our earth has formed than words.

These three canyons sit on the Colorado Plateau.  The Colorado Plateau consists of a deep layer-cake of rocks, mostly sandstone, and limestone.  These rocks recorded nearly two billion years of time – nearly half the age of the Earth.

We began at Bryce Canyon and worked our way down the geological scale to the Grand Canyon.  While difficult to describe this might help.

We are staying the night at Jacob Lake, the only place within miles and miles and miles of the Northern Rim.  An interesting place, but it has a full Smokey the Bear, making it the best, in my opinion.

 

 

Zion National Park

 Utah
Nov 182020
 

November 18, 2020

We are staying at Zion Lodge, so after a quick breakfast, we headed out to do the trails closest to the lodge, The Kayenta Trail with stop-offs at the three Emerald Pools.  It is fall, so the colors are spectacular. The Cottonwoods turning their fall yellow is breathtaking.

The elevation at Zion National Park goes from 3666 to 8726 and it sits on the edge of the Colorado Plateau making its geology light-years away from Bryce.  Two million years of the Virgin River flowing through the canyon carving into two Jurassic formations,  the Kayenta Formation and the Navajo Sandstone, created a labyrinth of canyons. Zion also sits between two active faults.

Zion is Hebrew for “a place of sanctuary and tranquility”, it was given the name by Mormon pioneers in the 1860s

As the west was expanding, it was difficult to get to this area due to the lack of roads. Around 1910, when old wagon roads were upgraded automobiles started arriving in this area, the road into Zion Canyon was built in 1917.

The park was established in 1919 with a proclamation by President Taft, at the time is was called Mukuntuweap National Monument.  In 1917, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service visited the canyon and proposed changing its name to Zion.

The Zion Lodge complex was built in 1925 designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood in a rustic architectural style.

In 1920,  3,692 people visited Zion.  In 2019 it was over 4.4 million. Even during COVID in November the park is full, and the lodge is sold out

Here are some more shots from today’s hike.

 

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The Hoodoo That You Do

 Utah
Nov 172020
 

November 17, 2020

Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon

Weathering and erosion play only a minor role in the development of hoodoos.  These are formed more by the freeze/thaw process than anything else. As the water flows into cracks and re-freezes, it expands and cracks the rock around it, this is called frost-wedging, and that is how, after millions of years you get hoodoos.

These natural amphitheaters throughout Bryce need to be seen to be believed

It is difficult to determine the actual makeup of each color, you really do need to be a geologist, and even with a great book, we were both very unsure of what we were seeing.  It is simply breathtaking, no matter how it was formed or what the different rocks are called.


To highly simplify the process of how hoodoos are made you begin with the thin walls of the rocks called fins. These are not yet hoodoos.

Frost-wedging enlarges the cracks in the fins creating holes or windows.  They are still not hoodoos.

As the windows grow their tops eventually collapse, leaving a column.  Rain continues to dissolve and sculpt these limestone/sandstone pillars into spires.  Now you have a hoodoo.

 

As you can see there is snow on the ground.  The elevation of Bryce is between 7,600 and 9,100 feet.

Hoodoo comes from the Southern Paiute word Ooh doo.  It means being afraid, or showing fear.  It is actually  pronounced uuudooooooooooooooo

Queen Victoria, in the part of the canyon called Queens Canyon, was named for its likeness to a statue in London, England.

Here are some amazing shots of our day.

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Looking down the trail we walked up to get back to the rim – Navajo Trail

If you look closely you can see two bridges

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I see two chickens atop those hoodoos

 

Entrenched Meanders

 Utah
Nov 162020
 

November 16, 2020

Arches to Bryce via a lot of fascinating places.

We stayed at Red Cliffs Lodge and woke to this in the morning outside our room.

We doubled back to Arches National Park to see the Delicate Arch, which we had run out of time the day before to visit.  It is the symbol of Arches National Park, but I must say our previous day was far more interesting.

Then we hopped on the 313 to Dead Horse State Park.  Dead Horse looks over the Canyonlands, and if you don’t have a few days to spend in Canyonlands, this is a great way to get an overview.

Colorado River flowing through Canyonlands

Within the Canyonlands, they harvest potash through evaporation.

It begins by pumping water from the Colorado River deep underground to reach the potash ore, which lies about 3,900 feet below the surface. The water dissolves the soluble potash into a brine, which is then pumped into underground caverns. Once it is fully dissolved, the potash brine is pumped into an evaporation pond.

The water in the evaporation ponds is dyed bright blue to help it absorb more sunlight and heat. This reduces the time it takes for the potash to crystallize, at which point it can be removed and processed for use as fertilizer.

Taking 191 to 70 we stopped at the Elgin Cemetary in Green River. So today I learned another self-descriptive adjective, I am a taphophile (an excessive interest in graves and cemeteries).  This brought me to the Elgin Cemetery, located in Elgin which is considered a ghost town, incorporated into the city of Green River, although their cemetery is still active.

The cemetery contains the remains of civil war veterans, Spanish-American War veterans, WWI, WWII, Viet Nam, and Afghanistan vets.

A casualty of the Spanish-American War

What makes this place so unique is the desire to bring a memory to an area where flowers and trees simply can not grow due to lack of water. How they celebrate their dead is one of the most unique sites I have seen. There are plastic flowers, celebrations of interests, such as bees, not to be understood by an outsider, but ways to just say, we were here.

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We continued down Hwy 70 to Salina.  Here we stopped in on a German POW camp. During WWII over 425,000 POWs were sent across the US to camps.  Nearly 15,000 were sent to Utah. The camps were staffed by American soldiers who were unable to fight overseas for reasons including physical to disciplinary issues  The Salina camp was home to one soldier that disgraced both the uniform and his country. Private Clarence V. Bertucci murdered nine German prisoners of war and nineteen prisoners because he “hated German’s”.

Racing against the sun we were headed to Bryce Canyon but we still had one stop to make. Butch Cassidy’s childhood home.  We passed a small area called Ice Cream, which makes sense.  It looked like Banana ice cream with chocolate sauce at the bottom of the bowl.

Next, stop Butch Cassidy’s childhood home.  It is well preserved and what I loved best were the signs explaining he was a “nice boy”, and also his entry into the census.

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*We rolled into Bryce Canyon after dark, with another adventure awaiting us in the morning.

 

An Explanation about the title.  Rivers meander, that is how they carve canyons.  Once the canyons are deep, the environment no longer influences the flow, and the meandering is entrenched.  I can not think of a better explanation of oxymoron.   And yet, we are on a meandering adventure, entrenched by the fact that we made reservations in advance. Thus the title.

Gee Gee Gee It Is Geology

 Colorado, Utah
Nov 152020
 

November 15, 2020

Today began with a drive from Palisades, Colorado to Arches National Monument in Utah.

Driving 139  in Colorado

We took the 139 which is all part of the Dinosaur laden area of Colorado.  When one drives for miles without seeing another car you either become fascinated with the geology, or you turn on rock and roll and go with it.  We chose geology.  I had purchased the Roadside Geology of Colorado and of Utah, I read Pam drove.  We don’t understand half of what we learned, so I won’t bore you with the details, but I will throw some of it out, as it is part of what makes this part of the US so absolutely gorgeous and interesting.

We began with a long drive through vast spaces ringed by book cliffs.  The valley holds oil, gas, and oil shale.  During the boom times, there was a lot of activity in this area, it is all gone, and the remnants have been moved out as well, giving us the beauty without the commerce.

 

We crossed into Utah and the WOW factor began.  Our first Wow was the Dewey Bridge.

The Dewey Bridge was originally brought in pieces from Chicago in 1916 and assembled across the Colorado River. For a short period of time, it was the second-longest suspension bridge west of the Mississippi. It was designed to support the weight of 6 horses, 3 wagons, and 9000 pounds of freight.
The bridge featured an all-wood deck measuring 502 feet long, 10.2 feet wide from support to support, and 8 feet wide from rail to rail. The bridge also consisted of two metal towers, a run of seven cables on each side of the bridge deck, and cable anchors. The old Dewey Bridge was restored in 2000 and then burned on April 2008 by a 7-year-old playing with matches.

Then we began driving with cliffs on both sides and the Colorado River to our right. This is where the sandstone begins.  We took 128 to get to our hotel for the night, The Redcliffs Lodge.  The trip begins with Dakota Sandstone and a lot of uplifting, tumbling, and tossing about of the rocks that make up this area.  A little further along one begins to encounter Entrada Sandstone, then they begin to layer atop each other.  There is a lot of discussion of the fact that this all took place from the Quaternary to the Precambrian ages.  If you want to know more I highly suggest you grab the book, it makes Utah amazing, but it is highly complicated as well.

We finished our day with a several hour walk to see some of the arches of Arches National Monument.  We headed to the far end of the park called Devils Garden and saw Landscape Arch, Navajo Arch, Partition Arch then continued to hike to the Double O Arch.  We gave up at that point, it is a wonderful hike, but we felt we had seen what we had come to see, many will argue that by not finishing the loop we cheated, but we were happy.

Landscape Arch

Double O Arch

Navajo Arch

A stop on the way out of the park at a small area called Park Avenue and onto our hotel.

Park Avenue

Here is the rest of what we saw, that I do not believe needs much explanation.

Pronghorn frolicking in the open space

The small mountain range – the La Sal Mountains – are visible for miles, even from Colorado

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Walking on Rock Rims is a large part of getting to the Double O Arch

This blue was rather stunning. It is called desert varnish and is a result of iron mixing with manganese. It normally looks black, but catching it in just right in the sun, made it worth photographing.

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The Three Gossips, a name I figured out before ever seeing the sign.

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The mountains around our hotel.

 

I also shot a few in Black and White

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We have plans to go back tomorrow to catch Delicate Arch and then on to the next adventure.

 

 

Dinosaurs

 Colorado, Utah
Nov 142020
 

November 14, 2020 – Day 4

Today was spent searching dinosaurs and geology.  We began at Dinosaur National Monument.

The park contains over 800 paleontological sites and has fossils of dinosaurs including Allosaurus, Deinonychus, Abydosaurus, and various sauropods.   As the ranger so poetically put it, when the University Paleontology departments come to dig, it is like hitting the grocery store.  There are three aisles of oceanic fossils and 8 aisles with dinosaur bones, what is your pleasure today?

Many of the perfect, intact bones went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, as it was Earl Douglass, a paleontologist working and collecting for the Museum that discovered the site in 1909.

Visitors can see the bones at the Quarry. There is a covering over a large excavation where you learn all about the area and you can even touch the bones.

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This amazing collection of bones is due to a drought. The dinosaurs came looking for water and died by the dry river beds.  Once the rains came the dinosaurs and other ancient animals were carried by the river system which eventually entombed their remains in Utah.  Then an upthrust of earth sent them to the surface.

You can take a short hike and see bones around the site, outside of the Park Service structure

Douglass wanted this area to be preserved, he wrote to the head of the Smithsonian at this time saying   “I hope that the Government, for the benefit of science and the people, will uncover a large area, leave the bones and skeletons in relief and house them. It would make one of the most astounding and instructive sights imaginable.”

And he got his wish, the area around the quarry was declared a national monument on October 4, 1915.

A two hour plus drive, part of which was on Stegosurus Highway put us into Colorado over the Douglass Pass at 8,205 feet and snow on the road when we were in the shadows.

In Utah Highway 64 is the Stegasaurus Highway.  Here it crosses Brontasaurus Way in Dinosaur, CO

Our next stop was the Colorado National Monument. There are many ways to enjoy the park, but a drive through the park on Rim Rock road is an easy way to take in most of the beauty. While absolutely stunning it is the geology that makes it so. The park has three different groups of rock and sediment. The oldest rocks are Early to Middle Proterozoic gneiss and schist, including the Ute Canyon Stock. Overlying these are mostly horizontally bedded Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, including the cliff-forming Wingate Sandstone. Overlying these are various types of Quaternary unconsolidated deposits such as alluvium, colluvium, and dunes. If that sounds too technical so be it, but just know it is gorgeous.

Balanced Rock is a 600-ton boulder that has been perched on a pedestal while most of the rock that once surrounded it has weathered away.

The Coke Ovens are named because of their similar appearance to conical-shaped coke ovens built to convert wood into charcoal. These huge domes are made of Wingate Sandstone and are the remains of earlier monoliths that lost their protective Kayneta caprock.

This is Independence Monument and it is all that remains of what was once a continuous ridge. The relentless erosion of the massive Wingate Sandstone has left this 450-foot high monolith with its protective sandstone caprock of Kayenta Formation. On the 4th of July local climbers go to the top and plant an American flag. This has been a tradition since John Otto first began exploring and creating trails through the area.

In the Windgate Sandstone cliff-face, there are arches and windows in the area that are formed when cracks cause blocks to fall out.

Some fun shots from the day

Fat Tire Raptor by Rand B. Hillyer in downtown Fruita, CO

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An interesting sculpture in Palisades, Colorado

The odd street naming of Paradise, Colorado

The South West During Covid

 Nevada, Utah
Nov 132020
 

November 2020

I am traveling during COVID, just to get a break.  I am traveling with my cousin and we are staying in well-researched hotels, and eating a lot of picnics.  We also chose to do many out of the way locations to help avoid as much humanity as possible during this scourge.

Day 1, 2 and 3

The Hoover Dam and other oddities

Fallbrook Pioneer Odd Fellows Cemetery
 Used as a community burial site as far back as 1886, the current three-acre plot of land was given to the local Odd Fellows Lodge in 1904 by F.W. Bartlett.   The above is the grave of Sergeant William Pittenger. Pittenger  and eighteen others were some of the first Congressional Medal of Honor recipients for their actions in the “Andrews Raid.”  A raid into confederate Georgia in April 1862.

The cemetery, while sadly neglected is still a wonderful place to stroll and discover very old tombstones.

Elmer Long’s Bottle Tree Ranch

Elmer Long’s father wandered the dessert amassing a rather large collection of bottles.  When he passed Elmer inherited the collection.  In 2000 he decided to create what amounted to, over 200 bottle trees. These trees take on a myriad of shapes with strange and wonderful things attached, often on the tops of the trees.

Long passed away in June 2019 at the age of 72. The fate of the Bottle Tree Ranch is currently uncertain.

Hoover Dam

This is a view of the dam from the  Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

The bridge is the first concrete-steel composite arch bridge built in the United States and incorporates the widest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere.  Sitting  890 feet above the Colorado River, it is the second-highest bridge in the United States and is the world’s highest concrete arch bridge.  Construction began in 2005 and was completed in 2010.

A view of the bridge from the top of the dam.

What can one say about the Hoover Dam that has not been said already?  I have had a fascination with the dam since learning that the concrete used to build the dam has not yet completely cured.  Think about that, the dam was completed in 1936.  Due to COVID, no tours were allowed, and thanks to both COVID and the late time of year, it was also nearly free of tourists.

I do not know if the public bathrooms atop the dam are always open, but the day we were there they were.  Since the dam was built with a very heavy art deco theme, we had to take a look.

The first things you encounter are these stunning tile mosaics. These were designed by local artist Alan True incorporating motifs of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes of the region.

The glass tile that lines the walls are also part of the Alan True design.

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There are two elevator towers on the dam, each adorned with brass doors and bas-reliefs. Both were created by artist Oskar J.W. Hansen.

Hansen is also responsible for one of the most spectacular pieces of Art Deco art to grace the dam project.

Rising from a black, polished base, is a 142-foot flagpole flanked by two winged figures, which Hansen calls the Winged Figures of the Republic. They express “the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the enormous power of trained physical strength equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific accomplishment.”

There is a slew of honorable plaques adorning this area, all sculpted by Hansen.

Near the center of the tourist-complex is a small plaque marking the spot of a dog that was loved by the construction crew.  It has a rather interesting, and yet sordid story.

Two penstock towers at the dam on the Lake Mead side.

Parowan Gap Petroglyphs

The petroglyphs can be found all over the mountains. Archaeologists have argued that the petroglyphs are a complex calendar system. Hopi and Paiute peoples have a variety of interpretations for the rock art as well, which includes representations of humans as well as depictions of animals and geometric shapes.

While the drive to Parowan is long it is absolutely worth it when you arrive.

Delta Solar Boondoggle

If you continue on to Hinkley Utah and then take a left and drive a few dirt roads, and then a few more, you will come across the Delta Solar ruins.

The Delta Solar company convinced people that by using satellite-like arrays that would follow the arc of the sun during the day, cheap plastic panels impregnated with magnifying elements would shoot intensified rays of sunlight into a crucible of combustible material which in turn created steam to power a generator.  The plastic and metal used proved no match for the desert winds and were quickly damaged.

This elaborate project was deemed a fraud in 2018, and the company which produced them was fined some 50 million dollars.

The Road Island Diner

This very out of the way diner not only has a wonderful history but also serves incredible food.

The  “Road Island Diner” was originally manufactured for and displayed at the 1939 World’s Fair, themed “The World of Tomorrow. ”  The 16-foot-by-60-foot beauty was from the legendary Jerry O’Mahony Diner Company.  It featured green Italian marble countertops, Tiffany glass clerestory windows, and hand-laid quarry tile flooring. It was bought shortly after the fair and moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, where it served as a functioning diner for 14 years before being sold again and moved to Rhode Island.

In 2007, the diner was transported from Rhode Island to Utah. Due to its size, however, the haul was forbidden from interstate highways. The several-thousand-mile backroad journey entailed state police escorts and pilot cars but arrived safe and sound.

Wandering towards tomorrows adventure

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Byrdcliffe

 Woodstock
Jul 122019
 

Woodstock, New York

Byrdcliffe was founded in 1902 near Woodstock, New York by the husband and wife team of Jane Byrd McCall and Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead along with colleagues, Bolton Brown (artist) and Hervey White (writer). It is the oldest operating Arts and Crafts Colony in America. Byrdcliffe was created as an experiment in utopian living inspired by the arts and crafts movement.

The colony, still in operation today, is located on 300 acres with 35 original buildings, all designed in the Arts and Crafts style.

The Theater

Planned in 1902 by Bolton Brown to house the Byrdcliffe School of Art. The large studio room, with magnificent lighting from the North, was used for painting classes, exhibitions, concerts, dance performances, and social events. The west wing once housed Ralph Whiteheads 5000 volume library. Today it is used as a theater for the performing arts.

The Villetta

The Villetta was built in 1903 as a boarding house for students.  It operated as the French Camp for Children during WWII.  It is now the home of the Artist in Residence program.  The building once had a  laundry, a wood room and servants quarters behind it.

Eastover

Eastover is one of Byrdcliffe’s largest homes, it was built in 1904-5 as faculty housing.  It has been the home/studio of Chevy Chase, The Band and artists Sally and Milton Avery.

Sunrise

Sunrise is the very first residence on Byrdcliffe to receive the morning sun.  Built in 1903 it was designed by Edna M. Walker and Zulma Steele.

Zulma Steele (1881–1979) was one of the first residents at the Byrdcliffe Colony and was considered one of the most talented students to come there. In 1903, she and Edna Walker, who both had recently graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, arrived in Woodstock to work in the furniture shop.

Steele was one of the pioneering women of the Arts and Crafts movement and Modernism in New York. American arts journalist for the New York Times Grace Glueck noted that Steele was a “progressive-minded artist and artisan whose work was considered avant-garde.” She married a farmer, Nelson Parker, in 1926. After he died in 1928, Steele traveled extensively in Europe. She returned to upstate New York, where she died at the age of 98.

Serenata

Serenata is a year-round residence and studio.

The grounds were designed with the concept of beauty and mindfulness, even the water was captured in an artistic way to be enjoyed as it flowed down the mountain.

The car garage now the jewelry studio

Robin the Hammer is an instructor of jewelry in Woodstock. He created much of the jewelry worn by rocker Billy Idol in this studio He also created the High Times Cannabis Cup, awarded in Amsterdam every year

Fleur de Lis is another year-round residence and studio

The remains of the Old Kiln Shed built in 1914 by Ralph Whitehead as a pottery studio.

In 1913  Jane took a ceramics course at the University of Chicago and then studied in Santa Barbara under Frederick Hurton Rhead.  Throughout the mid-1920’s both Jane and Ralph created pottery along with the Byrdcliffe potters, Edith Penman, and Elizabeth Hardenburgh.  They created their own line called White Pines Pottery.

White Pines

White Pines was designed by Ralph Whitehead and Bolton Brown.  It was built in 1903 for the Whitehead family.  This was the heart of the colony where such guests as poet Wallace Stevens, authors Will Durant and Tomas Mann, naturalist John Burroughs and journalist Heywod Bround regularly visited.  The building is the quintessential example of the Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts style.

The fireplace of White Pines

Jane was the cousin of Henry Chapman Mercer founder of Moravian Tile Works in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  He created the blue-green tiles.

A dining set made at Byrdcliff with the trademark Fleur de Lis carved on the end legs.

A clock made at Byrdcliff – The furniture enterprise only lasted three years, ending in 1905.

The Loom Room was added to White Pines in 1905.

The loom room gave the colony a large, open, workspace for the production of hand-woven items.  There is a fireplace at one end, and once had a stove for dye pots, drying racks and looms.

The fireplace in the loom room. The Greek saying has been interpreted as a Sophocles saying “Love Begets Love”

Ralph Whitehead came from an extremely wealthy family in England who owned the Royal George Mills in Saddleborough.  He studied at Oxford with John Ruskin, the father of the English Arts and Crafts Movement. He attempted to study with William Morris, the English designer and a leader in the English Arts and Crafts movement, but as he wrote to his wife “Morris will not take me as a pupil -nor canst I got to him now – he thinks tapestry is too difficult for me which by my own confession I have no artistic faculty, I agree”. Whitehead did eventually learn rug making under the teaching of Byrdcliffe weaver Marie Little.

Jane Byrd McCall came from a prominent Philadelphia family. Jane was a descendant of founding fathers William Byrd and George Mason, her father, Peter McCall, was mayor of Philadelphia and a professor of civil law at the University of Pennsylvania. From an early age, Jane and her sister traveled back and forth from Europe, where Jane studied art at Oxford with John Ruskin and fine arts in Paris at the Académie Julian. After the sister’s presentation to Queen Victoria in 1886, Jane practiced art and held a salon for European nobility and gentry, intellectuals and artists at Albury House in Surrey.  She met Ralph in Italy during her travels.

The Whiteheads’ marriage was based on an idea of a shared vision for a life lived apart from the real world, surrounded by beauty and useful work in the arts.

Byrdcliffe was left to Peter Whitehead, the only surviving son.  He bequeathed Byrdcliff and its remaining assets to the Woodstock Guild of Craftsmen.  In 1979 Byrdcliffe became a National Register Site for its Historical and architectural importance.

Lake Mohonk Mountain House

 Mohonk
Jul 102019
 

New Paltz, New York

The ten-room inn, Stokes Tavern and surrounding acreage on Lake Mohonk were purchased by Albert Smiley kicking off the beginning of what today is Mohonk Mountain House Retreat.

The ten-room inn was renovated and expanded, and the Mountain House underwent a gradual change into the Victorian edifice that stands today. The facility opened with accommodations for 40 guests in June of 1870. Over the years that followed, rooms and buildings were added, then torn down and rebuilt as needed.

There is no single architectural style reflected in the sections of the Mountain House. Using various materials (stone was an early favorite due to concerns about fire safety), they contribute to an eclectic mix of styles that help achieve the fairytale look of Mohonk Mountain House.

A two-story gazebo-like structure stands in the middle of the garden

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One of the wood fences in the garden

Just one of many stone structures found on the property

Sky Top Tower

Sky Top Tower was “erected in grateful memory of a man whose exalted character and useful life stand as a beautiful example to mankind.” That man is Albert K. Smiley, who lived from 1828 to 1912 and founded the Mohonk Mountain House with his twin brother, Alfred. The memorial tower was built in 1921.  You can climb to the top of the tower and get a fabulous view of the Shawangunk Ridge.

The Shawangunks of southeastern New York are a long, high ridge that rises west of the Hudson River, and runs southwest as far as Virginia. Pronounced shuh-WAN-gunk, or SHON-gum by locals, the “Gunks” are known widely for their dramatic cliffs and landscapes, dwarf pine barren forest ecosystems, “ice caves”, and classic rock climbing.

The rocks of the Shawangunks are chiefly made of sedimentary conglomerate and sandstone, with a small amount of shale. They were initially deposited as quartz gravel and sand, eroded from the Appalachian mountains over several million years.

The rocks consist of quartz pebbles and/or sand grains cemented together by quartz.

The Sky Tower as seen from the other side of the valley. The area was split in two by an earthquake and then carved out by a glacier.

Mohonk Lake is in better shape than many of the sky lakes in the area as the glacier cut through to the sediment layer allowing for a small leakage of water through the soil keeping it from becoming too acidic.

One of many critters found wondering the property

The bridge to the middle of the Lily Pond, part of one of many hiking trails throughout the property

The Lake Lounge is a designated historic site as the room is built from extinct American Chestnut

The National Historic Landmark Program’s “Statement of Significance”, regarding the awarding of the site’s historic landmark designation in 1986, reads:

Begun in the 1870s as a small resort for family and friends by the Smiley brothers, it became so popular that it was enlarged many times. Because of the Smileys’ love of the outdoor life, the area around the hotel was treated as an integral part of the attractions of the resort. Much of this area was planned as an experiment in conservation of the natural environment, and as an educational tool for the study of botany, geology, and outdoor living.

One of the over 120 Summer Houses at Mohonk Mountain House

One of the lasting traditions at the Mohonk Mountain House is to place covered benches called summerhouses along the many miles of hiking trails that emanate from inn’s lake and estate.

Patterned after the summerhouses of English and French estates, summerhouses were popular in the Hudson Valley area when Mohonk was founded in 1869. Mohonk’s founders, the Smiley Brothers incorporated the summerhouses into the system of carriage roads (now trails) that they built around the Mountain House, situating them where guests could enjoy sublime views of the surrounding countryside.

All of the summerhouses on the Mountain House’s property are unique, with no two exactly alike. When they were first built in 1870, the summerhouses were built by rustic carpenters, usually farmers without any carpentry training, who used local materials from the surrounding forest to build them. While the Smiley brothers specified the placement of each summerhouse, there were no engineering drawings to specify what they should look like. Instead, each builder was left to use their imagination to determine their appearance, a tradition that continues at Mohonk today.

The earliest tally of summerhouses, dated in 1917, recorded 155 summerhouses at Mohonk. Each one is identified by a four-digit number etched on an oval tag nailed inside each house. The newer tags also have the year they were either built or rebuilt, something that must be done every 25 years or so depending on the house’s exposure to the weather.  The tags in the newer houses can be found above the doors.

Today the builders are putting their initials in the houses, this one was by Cody

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Artists Colonies of the East Hudson Valley

 New York, Woodstock
Jul 082019
 

Artist Cemetery
Woodstock, New York

The Woodstock Artists Cemetery is officially operated by the Woodstock Memorial Society, the original 80 ft. by 100 ft. plot of land was purchased by John Kingsbury following the tragic death of his son. Additional land was purchased and the Woodstock Memorial Society was incorporated on November 4, 1934.

In an effort to preserve the natural beauty of the landscape, the founding members sought to limit traditional symbols of grief. As a result, conventional tombstones and other visual intrusions were prohibited. As is still the case today, graves are marked only by ground-level stones, many crafted from native bluestone.

The Penning sculpture stands at the highest point of the hill. The poem, penned by Dr. Richard Shotwell reads: “Encircled by the everlasting hills they rest here who added to the beauty of the world by art, creative thought and by life itself.”

Shotwell was a Columbia professor, who attended the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I and helped draft the United Nations Charter after World War II.

The only other above ground structure permitted is the memorial honoring the life of Byrdcliffe founder Ralph Whitehead and his family. Woodstock became a draw for artists in 1902 because of Byrdcliffe, which was one of the country’s first intentional arts communities.

The cemetery is the final resting place for artists as diverse as Robert Koch, the Academy-Award-winning screenwriter of Casablanca; American modernist painter Milton Avery; WPA muralist Ethel Magafan, children’s book author Paula Danziger; and pianist Richard Tee, who played on Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away.”

The legacy of some artists buried there has endured while the names of others, once well known, have become obscure, such as this grave of Clinton Woodbridge Parker.

 

Bolton Brown, carved his own birth and death years (as he felt the end approaching) into a boulder for his grave marker.

Brown was an artist, Lithographer, and Mountaineer. Brown was one of the founders of the Byrdcliffe Colony. He attended Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, where he received his Masters Degree in Painting. In 1891 he moved to Stanford, California to create the Art Department at Stanford University and was head of the department for almost ten years, but was dismissed in a dispute over his use of nude models in the classroom. Mount Bolton Brown in the California Sierras, is named in his honor.

The Sculpture Garden of
The Woodstock School of Art

In 1996, Pascal Meccariello, from the Dominican Republic, Alan Counihan, and Colm Folan, from Ireland, and husband and wife Hideaki and Eiko Suzuki, from Japan, were part of the Woodstock School of Art Sculpture Residency. They each picked various sites in the woods behind the school and created beautifully intricate sculptures, mostly of stacked bluestone.

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Opus 40
50 Fite Rd
Saugerties, NY

Opus 40 is the work of just one man, Harvey Fite.  The sculpture, made of bluestone from the local quarries, covers 6 1/2 acres

Fite created Opus 40 by hand. The work, which he said would take him 40 years (thus the name), consisted of ramps, stairways, pools, moats and other configurations carved in the bluestone. It was to be completed in 1982, but Fite died three years prior in an accident.

Mr. Fite, studied art at St. Stephen’s College and in Florence, Italy, where he studied with Corrado Vigni.

His works are on display in the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Albany Institute of History and Art. In 1938 Fite was commissioned by the Carnegie Institution in Washington to restore ancient Mayan sculpture in Copan, Honduras. His work was shown in 1953 and 1954 as part of the Department of State traveling group shows in Europe and Africa.

Opus 40 was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 and has been described in Architectural Digest as “one of the largest and most beguiling works of art on the entire continent.” * *

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High Falls

High Falls, a stunning natural waterfall, is not far from Opus 40. Situated on the Saranac River, it provides hydroelectric power.

A Smattering of Public Art in Philadelphia

 Philadelphia
May 252019
 

Grumman Greenhouse
Lenfest Plaza

Public Art in Philly

This crashed and artfully crumpled full-size airplane is titled “Grumman Greenhouse,”. The creation of 27-year-old Jordan Griska was installed in 2011.

The plane is a U.S. Navy Grumman Tracker S-2E, built in 1962. It flew from aircraft carriers. Mothballed in the 1980s, it had a second career helping to fight forest fires in California. Jordan bought it on eBay for about the same price as a cheap used car.

Grumman GreehhouseInspired by origami, Jordan folded the Grumman to look like it had nose-dived into the ground. He then replaced its cockpit innards with a working greenhouse, lit from within by LED grow lights, powered by solar panels on the wings. “The light tells people there’s something more going on, inside,” said Jordan, who hopes it will attract people who might otherwise run away from a crashed airplane. The magenta color is a serviceable spectrum for plant growth, and Jordan liked it.

The artist, who sees his work as a metaphor for recycling and repurposing, picks up seedlings from a local nursery, raises them in the airplane for a month, then delivers the herbs, peppers, and kale to City Harvest, which feeds poor families in the region. “It’s been a learning curve to get the temperature, light, and water right,” said Jordan. “I’m not gonna let my project not survive.”

Jordan says, “It’s not anti-military, it’s not anti-firefighter,” he said. “It’s about the plants growing in the plane.”

Grumman Greehouse

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Grumman Greenhouse

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Grummman Greenhouse

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Paint Torch
Lenfest Plaza

Oldenburg Paint TorchInstalled in August 2011 at a daring 60-degree diagonal position, the 51-feet high Paint Torch sculpture by Claes Oldenburg in Lenfest Plaza honors the act of painting—from the classical masters in PAFA’s museum to the students in PAFA’s School of Fine Arts. Paint Torch, commissioned by PAFA, stands on the point of its handle in a gravity-defying gesture. Nearby on the plaza floor is a six-foot high “glob” of paint, part of which the brush has lifted into the sky in a depiction of the act of painting a picture. The “glob” and “blip” at the tip of the brush are both illuminated from within at night.

Covenant
University of Pennsylvania
Locust Walk

Covenant by by Alexander Liberman (1912 - 1999)Weighing over 25 tons, Covenant, the creation of Alexander Liberman (1912-1999) was commissioned as part of the university’s fulfillment of the Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art requirement.

Alexander Liberman’s sculpture has been described as so “wildly asymmetrical” that every change in the viewer’s angle of perception alters the apparent axes. During his long career his sculpture became increasingly monumental, and he characterized his larger works as a kind of “free architecture” that should have the impact of a temple or cathedral. In Covenant Liberman specifically intended to convey a feeling of unity and spiritual participation. The installation in 1975 was assisted by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Split Button
University of Pennsylvania
In front of Van Pelt Library

Split Button by Claes Oldenburg

Split Button by Claes Oldenburg cost $100,000 with $37,500 coming from the University, $375,000 from NEA and the remaining raised through contributions.  It is made of reinforced aluminum, weighs 5000 pounds and meashures 16 feet in diameter.

A legend exists, mainly circulated by students at the University of Pennsylvania, that attributes The Button to the university’s founder, Benjamin Franklin. A monument of a seated Franklin stands near the sculpture; legend has it that when this man of considerable girth sat down, his vest button popped off and rolled across the University’s Locust Walk. It eventually came to a stop and split into two—hence becoming today’s sculpture.

Oldenburg, however, presents an alternative view. He once said “The Split represents the Schuylkill. It divides the button into four parts—for William Penn’s original Philadelphia squares.”

A Whirlwind Trip of Architecture in Philadelphia Day 2

 Philadelphia
May 252019
 

Philadelphia, PA

University of Pennsylvania

College Hall

College Hall U of Penn

College Hall is the oldest building on campus. Designed by Thomas Webb Richards the building was completed in 1873.

The exterior, upper walls of green serpentine stone (which gives it the green color) are articulated with courses of brownstone and “Ohio stone” arches and cornices, all on a base of dark grey schist. The main entrance porch (on the northern side) is of lighter grey “Franklin stone” with columns of pink polished granite. The building is topped by a slate mansard story with wooden dormers.

College Hall has been haunted almost since its inception by the deterioration of its serpentine walls by chemical and physical agents, a structural deterioration that necessitated the removal of two towers that once graced the building.  There have been many attempts to repair the stone with a color-matched cement to virtually all the serpentine work. A recent treatment of ground serpentine mixed with a slurry, placed on the building has been done The grout between these stones was originally made of red brick dust.

The use of the green painted cement can be seen under the window

The use of the green painted cement can be seen under the window

Furness Library

The Furness Library, designed by Frank Furness is officially known as the Fisher Fine Arts Library.  This red sandstone, brick and terra cotta Venetian Gothic building can be thought of as part fortress and part cathedral.  It was originally built to be the University’s main library and to house its archeological collection.  Construction, began in 1888 was completed in 1890.

U of Penn Art Library

Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of cataloging, and Harvard’s head librarian Justin Winsor were chosen as consultants for the project in order to make the space as useful as possible.

Interior stairwell of the Fisher fine arts library

The library’s plan is exceptionally innovative: circulation to the building’s five stories is through the tower’s staircase, separated from the reading rooms and stacks.

Furness Library U of Penn

The Main Reading Room is a soaring four-story brick-and-terra-cotta-enclosed space, divided by an arcade from the two-story Rotunda Reading Room. The latter has a basilica plan – with seminar rooms grouped around an apse – the entire space lighted by clerestory windows. Above the Rotunda Reading Room is a two-story lecture hall, now an architecture studio. The Main Reading Room, with its enormous skylight and wall of south-facing windows, acts as a lightwell, illuminating the surrounding inner rooms through leaded glasswindows.

Furness LibraryThe three-story fireproof stacks are housed in a modular iron wing, with a glass roof and glass-block floors to help light the lower levels. It was designed to initially hold 100,000 books – but also to be continuously expandable, one bay at a time, with a movable south wall. Furness’s perspective drawing highlighted this growth potential by showing nine-bay stacks, although the initial three-bay stacks were never expanded.

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*Furness Library U of PennThroughout the building are windows inscribed with quotations from Shakespeare, chosen by Horace Howard Furness (Frank’s older brother), a University lecturer and a preeminent American Shakespearean scholar of the 19th century.

Interlocking rubber tiles designed by Frank Furness line the small interior stairway treads

Interlocking rubber tiles designed by Frank Furness line the small interior stairway treads

The exterior gargoyles are reproductions of the originals.

The exterior gargoyles are reproductions of the originals that once graced the buildings.

Fisher Fine Arts Library

There is a considerable amount of terra cotta ornamentation on the exterior of the building.

St. James the Less

3227 West Clearfield Street

St James the Less

The Church of St. James the Less is a historic Episcopal church in Philadelphia. It was designated a National Historic Landmark for its Gothic Revival architecture, which influenced the designs of a generation of subsequent churches.

St James the Less

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St James the Less

The National Park Service called it “the first example of the pure English Parish church style in America, and one of the best examples of a 19th-century American Gothic church for its coherence and authenticity of design. Its influence on the major architects of the Gothic Revival in the United States was profound.

The interior wood ceiling

The hammer-beamed truss ceiling

St James the Less

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St James the Less

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St James the Less

The Wanamaker Memorial Bell Tower and mausoleum (1908), designed by John T. Windrim, houses a set of J.C. Deagan, Inc. tower chimes and a chime of bells by the McShane foundry.

A few faces found on the grounds of Saint James the Less:

St James the Less *St James the Less *St James the Less

Society Hill

Society Towersby I.M. Pei

I.M. Pei’s Society Hill Towers is a set of three-building condominiums. The complex contains three 31-story skyscrapers with 624 units on a 5-acre site.  The towers were designed by I.M. Pei and Associates and are constructed of poured-in-place concrete, with each apartment featuring floor-to-ceiling windows.  Completed in 1964, the apartments were originally rental units but were converted to condominiums in 1979.

The three towers are surrounded by lush greenery and cluster around a roundabout with a water feature in the center

The three towers are surrounded by lush greenery and cluster around a roundabout with a water feature in the center.

 

A Whirlwind Trip of Architecture in Philadelphia Day 1

 Philadelphia
May 242019
 

Philadelphia, PA

City Hall

Philadelphia City Hall

Tomes have been written about Philadelphia’s city hall, and I have visited and photographed this building on more than one occasion, but this trip was a tad different.  Our guide, Michael J. Lewis, the Faison-Pierson-Stoddard Professor of Art at Williams College, and a leading architectural historian, gave insights to the building’s ornamentation that I had never heard.  There is so much allegorical sculpture on this building but I will hit the highlights of my morning.

Blind Justice

Blind Justice

Much of the ornamentation on City Hall is covered in anti-bird netting, thus the odd texture.

City Hall, when conceived, was to be the tallest building in the world. (By the time it was completed, however, it had been surpassed by the Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument.) Designed in the ornate Second Empire style, it did not come to be without a considerable amount of criticism. Critics called it “the tower of folly” and “the marble elephant.” Despite this, in 1957 a committee of the American Institute of Architects declared City Hall “perhaps the greatest single effort of late nineteenth-century American architecture.”

City Hall of Philadelphia

South Portal Dormer Pediment figures: Egyptian and Zulu African

Penn Square, City Hall covers four and one-half acres and remains today the tallest masonry-bearing building in the world. The domed tower rises over 547 feet above the ground. The exterior and interior contain over 250 works of sculpture, principally attributed to, Alexander Milne  (MILL-nee) Calder.

Philadelphia City Hall

The face of Sympathy in the keystone of the West Portal

Calder (August 23, 1846 – June 4, 1923) was a Scottish American sculptor best known for this ornamentation on Philadelphia’s City Hall.

Philadelphia City Hall

There are four chambers allowing ingress and egress to the center courtyard of this enormous structure. Criticized in 1876 as a “chamber of horrors” the north chamber contains carved heads of dominant animals from the four corners of the earth: bull, bear, tiger, and an elephant. These beautifully sculpted animals face inward toward four polished red granite columns. Atop these columns are human figures, representing  Europe, The East, Africa, and America. These symbolic figures, lock arms and appear to be straining to bear the burden of the tower of the building that stands above this particular chamber

City Hall of Philadelphia

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Philadelphia City Hall*

Philadelphia city Hall

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The interior courtyard of City Hall with a map of the beginning of Philadelphia

The interior courtyard of City Hall with a map of William Penn’s plan for Philadelphia.

Philadelphia City Hall

A human hand holding a plumb line and an owl atop a stack of books of law.

In the bible, a plumb line is an allegory to justice and righteousness, although this is Quaker Pennsylvania, and biblical references are few, allegorical nods do abound.

William Penn as a keystone to one of the entry arches of Philadelphia City Hall

William Penn as a keystone on the North Pavillion. In the spandrel on the left is a pioneer and the right is a native American.

Philadelphia City Hall

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Philadelphia City Hall

The north portal entranceway originally led to the chambers of the legislative bodies of the Select and Common Councils.  Some themes found in this entryway are Commerce, Navigation, Architecture, Mechanics, Construction, Poetry, Dance, Music, and Horticulture, many of them symbolically represented in the bronze capitals found on the top of the highly polished granite columns.

Philadelphia City Hall

Pulse by Janet Echelman was installed in September 2018, this portion follows the trolley route that runs beneath the square.

Masonic Temple

This temple sits atop an entire block in Philadelphia bounded by Broad, Filbert, Juniper, and Cuthbert streets. This Norman Revival building was designed by architect James H. Windrim. The cornerstone to the building was laid in June of 1868 with construction completed in 1873.

Philadelphia Masonic Temple

The main entrance is in the style of eleventh and twelfth century Norman churches with its rounded arches and elaborate geometric ornamentation.

Philadelphia Masonic Temple

At the end of the grand foyer is an oak screen designed in 1901 by George Herzog specifically to block the central stairway from the front door.

Philadelphia Masonic Temple

Oriental Hall

Oriental Hall paying homage to the architecture of Spain’s Alhambra.

The Egyptian Hall

The Egyptian Hall

This room is a tableau of colors and imagery copied from a variety of temples including those of Karnak and Luxor.

 

Philadelphia Masonic Temple

Philadelphia Masonic Temple

Renaissance Hall

Renaissance Hall is the second largest ceremonial room in the temple. Designed by Windrim it was renovated in 1906 by Murray Gibson.

Philadelphia Masonic Temple

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Corinthian Hall

Corinthian Hall

Corinthian Hall is the largest room in the temple designed to seat 400 it measures 105 feel long, 49 feet wide and 52 feet high. It was remodeled in 1903 to be more archeologically correct in its simulation of ancient Greek spaces. with motifs copied from several ancient sites.

The caryatids found in the Corinthian Hall were inspired by those of the Erectheum in Athens.

The caryatids found in the Corinthian Hall were inspired by those of the Erectheum in Athens.

The second floor corridor has an intriguing star like pattern as you move under the ceiling

The second-floor corridor has an intriguing star-like pattern as you move under the ceiling

The cove of the grand staircase is decorated with painted rustic scenes

The cove of the grand staircase is decorated with painted rustic scenes

The cove of the Grand Staircase.

The cove of the Grand Staircase was altered and electrified in 1904.

One of the elaborate tile floors in the Temple.

One of the many elaborate tile floors in the Temple.

You can tour the temple Tuesdays through Saturdays at 10:00, 11:00 am or 1:00, 2:00 & 3:00 pm

Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a museum and art school. It was founded in 1805 by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush, along with other artists and business leaders. It is the first and oldest art museum and art school in the United States.

PAFAThe current museum building began construction in 1871 and opened in 1876 in connection with the Philadelphia Centennial. Designed by the American architects Frank Furness and George Hewitt, its mixture of Gothic, Victorian and Arabic architecture has led it to be  called “One of the most magnificent Victorian buildings in the country.”

A motif on a side door of PAFA

A motif on a side door of PAFA

The plant above is an amalgam of three types of fauna, it was described by Michael J. Lewis as an allegory for the pollinating of art.

The skylights fill the studios below with natural light

The skylights fill the studios below with natural light

Those same skylights from inside the studios

Those same skylights from inside the studios notice how Furness has left the construction hardware exposed.

The front door of PAFA

The front door of PAFA

Throughout the building are banded columns.

More floral ornamentation on the windows at the front of the building

More floral ornamentation on the windows at the front of the building

Just one of many beautifully tiled floors in the building

Just one of many beautifully tiled floors in the building

The mushroom molding below the vaulted ceiling of the entryway

The mushroom molding below the vaulted ceiling of the entryway

Leaving the “dark” represented by the mushrooms you enter into the “light” at the base of the stairway.  Furness used a classic architectural ploy of blocking the expanse and elegance of the building by a small foyer that helps to add to the drama of stepping through the archways to the gallery space.

The lighting throughout the building is quite unique

The lighting throughout the building is quite unique

Looking up towards the gallery space from the bottom of the stairway

Looking up towards the gallery space from the bottom of the stairway

PAFA

The walls are a masterpiece in pressed plaster, accompanied by a blue star ceiling and gothic arches.

The walls of the stairway are lined with these sandblasted flowers.

The walls of the stairway are lined with these sandblasted flowers, said to be the first use of sandblasting in the world.

Foliate columns support exposed steel beams, one of several radical design elements in the building.

Foliate columns support exposed steel beams, one of several radical design elements in the building. Described by Michael J. Lewis as Furness flaunting the steel as a coffee barista flaunts her tongue stud.

Furness celebrated the new and modern age by allowing much of the industrial touches such as large bolts and steel beams to remain exposed.  This was also great advertising for the donors to the building, as the name of their steel companies were imprinted on the beams for all to see.

The lecture stage. Notice the steel beams next to the stenciled cornice. Michael J. said to me, what a nice combination of botany and beams.

The lecture stage. Notice the steel beams next to the stenciled cornice. Michael J. Lewis said to me, what a nice combination of botany and beams.

The Cast Room

The Cast Room

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, public institutions acquired cast collections in the belief that plaster casts were perfect copies of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and were as instructive as the originals.

Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, contacted Nicholas Biddle (1786–1844), then secretary to the American ambassador to France and asked him to send a collection of plaster casts from Paris. Biddle purchased seventeen casts of statues, twenty-five casts of busts, and six of feet and hands from the studio of Getti, Mouleur du Musée Napoléon.

In 1845 a fire gutted the original Academy building, destroying virtually all of the casts. Fifty-five cast replacements were purchased in Paris in 1856 and another group of over thirty casts of the Parthenon sculptures was ordered from the British Museum. Other casts purchased at the time included Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise from the Florence Baptistery and several reductions of Michelangelo’s figures from the Medici chapel in Florence.

There are guided tours of the PAFA galleries or one can wander on your own.  The Cast Room is not open to the public.

The Met

The Met

Built in 1908 by Oscar Hammerstein, this once beautiful building housed the Metropolitan opera and was recognized for its superb acoustics.  It has suffered a rather sordid history and is somewhat the worse for wear.

In 1954 the building was purchased by the Rev. Theo Jones who then had a large congregation. After 1988, church membership decreased and the building began to deteriorate. The building was eventually declared imminently dangerous by the city but it was saved from demolition in 1996 when it was purchased by the Reverend Mark Hatcher for his Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center. Between 1997 and 2013 the church spent approximately $5 Million to stabilize the building.

In October 2012, Holy Ghost Headquarters Church and developer Eric Blumenfeld entered into a development partnership with Blumenfeld eventually purchasing the building for $1.  In February 2015, the church filed a lawsuit against the developer over the lack of progress on the building, alleging that Blumenfeld misled the congregation regarding his finances and “..never restored the Met as promised. Rather he gutted the auditorium the church had worked so hard to renovate, effectively displacing the church and left the unfinished project in shambles.”

The building is still owned by Holy Ghost and Eric Blumenfeld but is run by concert venue organizer Live Nation.  There is little left of the original building
Lovely cranes still crace the architrave on the second floor

Lovely cranes still grace the architrave on the second floor.

A random piece of remaining ornamentation

A random piece of remaining ornamentation

The Met

*The Met

Girard College

Founder’s Hall at Girard College is considered one of the finest examples of American Greek Revival architecture, it is a designated National Historic Landmark.

At the time of his death in 1831, Stephen Girard was the richest man in America and his endowment for Girard College was, up to that point, the largest private charitable donation in American history.

Girard College

Built from 1833-1847 Founders Hall served as Girard College’s first classroom building. Stephen Girard left specific instructions in his will for the building’s dimensions and plan of the building; Nicholas Biddle, chair of the school’s building committee, president of the Second Bank of the United States, and staunch admirer of Greek art and culture had a profound influence on its design and construction.

In 1832, following Stephen Girard’s death, members of the city government held an architectural design competition. With an unprecedented two-million-dollar construction budget the competition drew from all over the country.

The remains of Girard lie in the foyer of Founder's Hall

The remains of Stephen Girard lie in the foyer of Founder’s Hall

Thomas U. Walter submitted the winning entry. A former bricklayer, he later became the architect of the United States Capitol.

Girard College

The Corinthian columns are 65 feet tall.

Walter with influence from Biddle devised an immense Corinthian temple surrounded by a continuous peristyle for the classroom building, its order was taken faithfully from the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, as represented in Stuart and Revett’s Antiquities of Athens (1762).  The exterior is made entirely of local marble—blue Montgomery County marble for the walls and white Chester County marble for the columns—even the roof tiles, (weighing 720 pounds each) and ridge caps are marble.

girard college

The volutes were removed from all of the capitals after one fell off many years ago.

The 42,000 square foot building is masonry and cast iron, three stories tall.

There are two of these grand stairways flanking the interior of Founder's Hall.

There are two of these grand stairways flanking the interior of Founder’s Hall.

In the words of a contemporary critic, “In materials, magnitude and sheer sumptuousness, it has no peer.

Despite the word college, the school was founded for orphans in grades one through 12. Girard directed the city of Philadelphia to use his money to build a boarding school for poor, orphaned or fatherless white boys so that they might be prepared for the trades and professions of their era.

Congregation Rodeph Shalom

The original building of Congregation Rodeph Shalom was designed by Frank Furness in 1928. The current synagogue was designed by Simon and Simon.  The limestone-clad exterior and entryway mosaics and the hand-painted decorative stenciling inside makes a visit worth one’s time.

The entryway mosaics

The entryway mosaics

The marble flooring

The marble flooring

The interior of the synagogue and its decorative stenciling.

The interior of the synagogue and its decorative stenciling.

Grandview

 Hollandale, Wisconsin
May 242018
 

7351 Route WI-39
Hollandale, Wisconsin

Grandview

Three Swiss Patriots. This tableau represented the three founding fathers of the Swiss Republic. Walter Furst, Werner Stauffacher and Arnold Melchthal

This lovely and imaginative spot well in the countryside of Wisconsin is the creation of Nick Engelbert.

Nick Englebert

In 1937, after his children were grown, Nick Engelbert began to build an elaborate arched porch of concrete around the front entrance of his farmhouse, ultimately covering every inch of the outside surface of the house with concrete inlaid with shards of china, glass, beads, buttons, and seashells. Over the next 15 years, Nick created more than 40 concrete sculptures in his yard, combining patriotic themes with imagery from history, fairy tales, mythology and his own imagination. At the age of 70, no longer able to make sculptures, he turned to painting, producing over 200 oils before his death in 1962.

The Grandview site is now owned and operated by the Pecatonica Educational Charitable (PEC) Foundation. Many of the statues have been restored or recreated. The house, now a museum, contains many Engelbert artifacts, family memorabilia, and copies of Nick’s paintings.

The painting on the wall of the interior of the house.

The painting is on the wall of the interior of the house.

Nick Engelbert was born in 1881 in Pravaljie, Austria and named Engelbert Koletnik.  He was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army as a young man and, after serving only two years, he fled Europe to escape further military involvement.  Following extensive travel to several countries, he eventually settled in America.  He reportedly then changed his name to Nick Engelbert in order to start a new life with a new identity.

In 1913 Nick married Katherine Thoni, a recent immigrant from Switzerland.  They settled in Wisconsin to be near Katherine’s family.  In 1922 they bought a small seven-acre farm just outside the little village of Hollandale where they raised four children.

Engelbert created his first concrete sculpture in the mid-1930’s, reportedly while recovering from a sprained ankle.  By the 1950’s his entire yeard was transformed into an artistic landscape of over 40 concrete sculptures

By the early 1940’s Engelbert had decorated the entire exterior of his small farmhouse with a colorful mosaic of concrete embellished with stones, shells, glass shards and fragments of ceramic dinnerware and porcelain figurines.

In 1960 Katherine died and Engelbert sold Grandview and moved to Baltimore to live with his daughter Alyce and her family.

Nick passed away on his birthday in 1962.

Grandview in Hollandale

This is a replica. The lion was thought to be Engelbert’s first representational sculpture and was conserved and moved to the John Michael Kohler Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin

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Stork with Baby. This sculpture, as well as the Stork’s head and legs, are reproductions. It is thought the original sign read “The Stork has forgotten the address and is asking the ladies to help him”

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Habsburg Castle. The original sign read “Castle of Habsburg in Often Switzerland erected by an Austrian Governor during the 14th century” If you look very closely you can see a horse and rider approaching the bridge

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Uncle Sam with Donkey and Elephant. The original tableau featured Uncle Sam with the “Democratic” donkey and the “Republican” elephant. The Uncle Sam figure is missing and the donkey deteriorated beyond repair. The original sign read “Can anyone do a days work with a team like that?”

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Organ Grinder This is a replica, the original has been fully restored and moved to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan Wisconsin. The original sign read “Please register. Thank you”

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Austro-Hungarian Eagle. This double-headed eagle commemorates the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the land of Nick’s birth. It was originally on the front porch flanked by the American Eagle. The sign originally read “Double Eagle Under One Crown” Nick moved the sculpture to this location in the 1940s when the empire no longer existed

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Visiting this site is well worth the effort.  It is open Memorial Day to Labor Day every day but Monday and is free.  The day I visited there was not a soul around, and yet, the door to the museum was open and inviting.

A. D. German Warehouse

 Richland Center, Wisconsin
May 222018
 

300 South Church Street
Richland Center, Wisconsin

AD German Warehouse

The Albert Dell German Warehouse was designed by  Frank Lloyd Wright in the  Mayan Revival style, between 1917 and 1921.

While there is some controversy, it is believed that Wright was born in Richland Center, making this his only building in his birth town.

The building is a four-story, rectangular structure of brick and cast concrete. It was commissioned by the A.D. German Wholesale Grocery Company to store flour, feed, and groceries. The three lower floors were designed for storage of non-refrigerated goods, and the fourth floor was to be refrigerated for perishable items.

There is a small annex to the left that was to be the music studios of A. D. German’s sister.

Each of the four levels is an open-floor-plan, single-pour, concrete slab, supported by poured concrete columns 16 feet apart.  The ceiling heights grow slightly lower as one proceeds upward. The building was never completed. Construction stopped in 1921 after Mr. German had spent $125,000. The projected cost of the building had been a mere $30,000.  A. D. German fell on hard times over the course of its construction on several occasions but was never able to recover completely to fulfill the dream of occupying the building. The building has been altered over the years by various occupants, but never so much as to damage its overall condition.  Neglect, however, has taken a more severe toll.

The business entrance to the building is on Church Street, and it was to have been marked by horizontal rectangular windows topped by a decorative concrete frieze.  These elements were never finished.

A. D. German Warehouse

The interior of the building is yellow brick, the exterior red. The wythe wall construction uses every fourth red brick of the pattern to tie the two walls together.

The windows of the storage areas in the building are 12 inch wide slits. This allows for more storage area along the walls and deters vandalism

The windows of the storage areas in the building are 12 inch wide slits. This allows for more storage area along the walls and deters vandalism

Interior of the 2nd floor graced by the remains of a retrospective of Wright held in Europe just before his death

Presently the 2nd floor is graced by the remains of a retrospective of Wright, held in Europe, just before his death.

The cast concrete frieze on the warehouse is Frank Lloyd Wright’s first expression of Mayan forms. This building predates his use of these forms in Hollyhock House of 1920 in Los Angeles and the Millard House of 1923 in Pasadena, California.

The Mayan Revival, Cast Concrete, Frieze

The Mayan Revival, cast concrete, frieze

A. D. German Warehouse

The use of cast concrete most likely was new to the area.  The concrete company hired was The Daughhetee family, with the workers being the Piasecki brothers.  The concrete was mixed in a one bag mixer and then placed in wheelbarrows to be run up to the top floor. The concrete was poured with a crew of up to eight.  There would be four on the ground and then two, three or four on the building as needed.

The contractor was Arthur Judevine, a trusted contractor of Frank Lloyd Wright.

A few of the wooden molds used for the frieze still exist

A few of the wooden molds used for the frieze still exist

A corner of the building on the second floor, above the elevator, showing the concrete capitals and the brick walls.

A reinforced column sits in the corner of the building on the second floor, above the elevator.

The columns in the public spaces were also given a Mayan Revival decoration

The columns in the public spaces were also given a Mayan Revival decoration

At three corners of the building are these slightly ornamented concrete projections. The plans show that they were for flagpoles and hanging gas lanterns.

At three corners of the building are these slightly ornamented concrete projections. The plans show that they were for flagpoles and hanging gas lanterns.

Looking down through the hallway between the old and new warehouses, one can see the change in dock height to first accomodate horse drawn drays, and later motorized transport

Looking down through the hallway between the old and new (unfinished) warehouse, one can see the change in dock height to first accommodate horse-drawn drays, and later motorized transport

The building now stands in the hands of The German Warehouse Conservancy.  They have launched a $4million capital campaign to restore the building and give life back to it by turning it into a community use center.

The building is open for tours on Sundays.  They are $10. There is a terrific 15-minute video at the beginning of the tour that helps put the history of the place in perspective.

I had the pleasure of being led around by Lou Arbegust, a founding member of the Conservancy, who’s passionate love of the building is infectious.

You are not allowed above the second floor and must sign a waiver, but the hour plus drive from Madison is well worth the visit.

 You can also purchase Frank Lloyd Wright’s Warehouse by Margaret Scott at the site.  A lovely paperback of the family history of both the Wrights and the Germans.  It also contains descriptions of the building’s design and construction processes.

Wisconsin Historical Society

 Madison, Wisconsin
May 222018
 

816 State Street
University of Wisconsin, Madison Campus

There are four arches surrounded by uniquely different lions, leaves and garlands.

The entry consists of three arches surrounded by uniquely different lions, leaves, and garlands.

The building that houses the Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is an excellent example of the classicism that followed the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago

The organization is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization. Founded in 1846 and chartered in 1853, it is the oldest historical society in the United States to receive continuous public funding.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has occupied this building, designed by Ferry & Clas, since 1900. When it was completed and dedicated in the fall of 1900, it was the most expensive building built by the state at that time.

Wisconsin State Historical Society Building

 

Tile floors throughout the building differ from floor to floor. On the first floor, square sections hold printers marks from around the world in the center

Tile floors throughout the building differ from floor to floor. On the first floor, square sections hold printers marks from around the world in the center

Wisconsin Historical SocietyThis is the second-floor Reading Room, the public face and grandest room of the Society’s library.  The room was restored in 2009-2010 to the tune of $2.9 million.

The restored ceiling was part of the $2.9 million restoration

The restored ceiling was part of the $2.9 million restoration

When first built, money ran out before the Reading Room paint scheme could be executed. The colored stained glass panels were removed during a 1950s remodel, so the restoration included bringing things back, as well as finishing the original plans while upgrading the building’s infrastructure.

A total of 14,760 pieces of Kokomo art glass were used to restore the Reading Room ceiling. Originally skylights were above the stained glass ceiling allowing light into the room, the skylights are gone, and the effect of sunlight is provided with reflecting fluorescent lights

The pendant lighting is suspended from the ceiling and covered in gold leaf as are other decorative elements in the ceiling coffers.

The curved balconies look down upon the Reading Room

The curved balconies look down upon the Reading Room

Wisconsin Historical Society

The stacked moulding patterns of egg and dart, dentil, lambs tongue and bead and rail can be found throughout the building

The balcony level

The balcony level

The table lamps were not reproduceable due to the fixture size, so the lighting company found clear globes and coated them with automobile paint, in a precise and difficult process

The table lamps were not reproducible due to the fixture size, so the lighting company found clear globes and coated them with automobile paint, in a precise and difficult process.

Mosaic Tile floor of the entryway and first floor

Mosaic Tile floor of the entryway and first floor. This pattern is reproduced in the coffered ceiling and the stained glass of the Reading Room.

The transom windows above many of the doors in the building

The transom windows above many of the doors in the building

Wisconsin State Historical Building

The Centennial Mural, commissioned in observance of the Wisconsin state centennial in 1948, sits between the third and fourth floors. Three periods in Wisconsin’s history are depicted: exploration and fur trading, economic progress, and the state’s political heritage. The artist was William Ashby McCoy (1913-2001).

“William Ashby McCloy lived in Nanking and Shanghai, China until the age of thirteen, returning to the United States in 1926. He received his first training in art at the State University of Iowa in 1930 and graduated with a B.A. in Art. He spent one-year at Yale School of Fine Arts before returning to Iowa for graduate study in the Psychology of Art receiving an M.A. in 1936. At Yale, he studied painting with Eugene Savage and back at Iowa studied printmaking with Mauricio Lasansky, sculpture with Humbert Albrizio and also painting with Eugene Ludens. In 1937 he became Assistant Professor of Art at Drake University for two years. In 1939 he moved to the University of Wisconsin and remained until 1948. He was Mural Assistant to John Steuart Curry on three murals and executed two major mural commissions himself (1939-1943). He spent 1943-1946 in the US Army where he served as a Clinical Psychologist. Returning to State University in Iowa he received an M.F.A in Painting in 1949 under the G.I. Bill and again later a Ph.D. in Art History in 1958. Between 1950-1954 he was Director of the School of Art at the University of Manitoba leaving there to take over as Chairman of the Art Department at Connecticut College retiring as Professor of Art emeritus in 1978.” via AskArt

John Muir's alarm clock

John Muir’s alarm clock and desk

A highly interesting piece in a glass case on the first floor is this desk by John Muir.

Muir described this desk, and some of the other inventions that populated his dorm room, in his biography, “The Story of My Boyhood and Youth” (1913):

I invented a desk in which the books I had to study were arranged in order at the beginning of each term. I also made a bed which set me on my feet every morning at the hour determined on, and in dark winter mornings just as the bed set me on the floor it lighted a lamp. Then, after the minutes allowed for dressing had elapsed, a click was heard and the first book to be studied was pushed up from a rack below the top of the desk, thrown open, and allowed to remain there the number of minutes required. Then the machinery closed the book and allowed it to drop back into its stall, then moved the rack forward and threw up the next in order, and so on, all the day being divided according to the times of recitation, and time required and allotted to each study.

 

Wisconsin's ForwardThis is “Forward” by Jean Pond Miner, a female sculptor from Wisconsin.  The sculpture was for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.   “Forward” is an allegory of devotion and progress, qualities Miner felt Wisconsin embodied and is the Wisconsin state motto.

Miner was born in Menasha, Wisconsin in 1865 and grew up in Madison. She graduated from Downer College in Fox Lake and continued her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. Though she had planned to become a portrait painter, her classes with famous sculptor Lorado Taft convinced her to change her emphasis. In 1893, both Taft and the Janesville Ladies Afternoon Club recommended her for an artist-in-residence position at the Columbian Exposition.

In 1895 the statue was placed at the east entrance of the State Capitol. In 1916, the State rededicated “Forward” and moved it to the North Hamilton Street Entrance where it remained until 1995. Unfortunately, the delicate bronze had suffered in its 100 years of outdoor exposure.

A bronze replica of “Forward”  is now displayed at the west entrance to Capitol Square at the end of State Street, this original sits on the first floor of the Historical Society’s building.

The State Capitol of Madison, Wisconsin

 Madison, Wisconsin
May 202018
 

Wisconsin State CapitolThere is more information on the State Capitol of Madison than many I have seen.  So I will just be touching on the art and architecture, rather than the history, of this magnificent building.

It is important to point out that the people take very seriously that this is the building of the people, so it has no metal detectors and should you so desire, you can walk through this magnificent structure simply to get from one side of the block to the other.

WisconsinAtop the dome is “Wisconsin”, sculpted by Daniel Chester French of New York.  She holds a globe with an eagle in one hand and wears a helmet of the state animal on her head.  The state animal is a badger.  This came about when in the 1820s, mining had become a huge business, with thousands of men coming to find their fortune.

The miners made temporary homes by digging caves into the rock of the mines, similar to tunnels that badgers dig for shelter. The miners came to be known as “badger boys” or “badgers,” and the name stuck.

Resources of Wisconsin

Looking up to the top of the interior dome you will see the painting “Resources of Wisconsin” painted by Edwin Blashfield of New York at a cost of $8000.  In this photo, there is a woman with a red headdress representing Wisconsin.  She is holding a sheaf of wheat, which symbolized Wisconsin’s roots as the breadbasket of the area, before dairy took over the econonmy.  There are others products in the scene, such as tobacco, lead, fruit and fish. The paintings size is decieving due to its  distance from the ground, but it is only eight feet smaller in diameter than the opening of the first floor rotunda, or a huge 34 feet in diameter. The outer ring of the painting is actually a balcony.

Tile Mosaics of Wisconsin State Capitol

Liberty

There are four of these magnificent glass mosaics in the rotunda.  They were designed by Kenyon Cox of Warren, Ohio at a total cost $20,000.  They each contain about 100,000 pieces of glass tile and represent the three branches of government and Liberty.

Tile Mosaics of Wisconsin State Capitol

Legislation

Tile Mosaics of Wisconsin State Capitol

Government

Tile Mosaics of Wisconsin State Capitol

Justice

There are badgers above the doors of flour second-floor chambers.

There are badgers above the doors of four of the second-floor chambers.

The highly ornamented red and gold leaf room on the first floor in the East Wing is the Governor’s Conference Room.  It is designed after the small council chamber in the Doge’s palace in Venice.

Governor's Conference Room*

Wisconsin Governor's Conference Room

There are many allegorical paintings throughout the room done by Hugo Ballin from New York.  These paintings cost $25,000.

Wisconsin Governor's conference room

This painting shows Wisconsin’s role in the Civil War.  The woman in the center is Unity.  The woman on the left is Cordelia Harvey, widow of Wisconsin Governor Louis Harvey, During the war, Governor Harvey had asked Lincoln to establish military hospitals in the north, but Harvey died before this could happen, and his widow worked tirelessly to establish three hospitals.

 

supreme court These are a few panes from the skylight of the Supreme Court.  This is one of four skylights in the Capitol, all made of low-toned leaded glass with metal halide lights above.

There are four murals on the walls of the court painted by Albert Herter of New York at a cost of $28,000. They cover the historical events that influence Wisconsin Law.

Wisconsin Supreme Court

Caesar Augustus Octavius presiding over the trial of a soldier representing Roman civil law, which is written down in codes or statutes in contrast to English common law which is based on custom and usage.

The signing of the Magna Carta by King John, who was forced to sign by his soldiers and noblemen.

The signing of the Magna Carta by King John, who was forced to sign by his soldiers and noblemen.

Wisconsin State Capitol

In the painting is the artist’s son, Christian Herter who later served as Governor of Massachusetts and Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The signing of the Constitution in 1787. In the painting is Thomas Jefferson, who would not have been in the room as he did not sign, nor help write the constitution. It is possible the artist included him for his influence on American law.

The signing of the Constitution in 1787. In the painting is Thomas Jefferson, who would not have been in the room as he did not sign, nor help write the constitution. It is possible the artist included him for his influence on American law.

This painting is an example of territorial laws. Wisconsin was still apart of Michigan territory at the time. This shows the trial of Menominee Chief Oshkosh when he was accused of killing a Pawnee and brought before James Doty. While the jury found him guilt, Doty ruled that territorial law could not be applied begcause Oshkosh had, in fact, followd the legal system of his tribal laws.

This painting is an example of territorial laws. Wisconsin was still a part of Michigan territory at the time. This shows the trial of Menominee Chief Oshkosh when he was accused of killing a Pawnee and brought before James Doty. While the jury found him guilty, Doty ruled that territorial law could not be applied because Oshkosh had, in fact, followed the legal system of his tribal laws.

Benou Marble from France

These columns sit behind the chairs of the Supreme Court Judges. They are of Benou marble from France.

The marble panels are Formosa marble from Germany and the columns are Italian Breche Coralline marble

The marble panels are Formosa marble from Germany and the columns are Italian Breche Coralline marble

Fossils are scattered throughout the marble

Fossils can be found in the marble throughout the Capitol, including a starfish on the North Wing stairs, this Ammonoid, Coral, Nautiloids, Gastropods, Bryozoans, Burrows, and Brachiopods.

The skylight in the Senate Chamber

The skylight in the Senate Chamber

The mural in the Senate Chamber was also painted by Kenyon Cox at a cost of $12,000 and is called  “The Marriage of the Atlantic and Pacific”   It commemorates the opening of the Panama Canal.

Wisconsin Senate Chambers

The groom represents the Atlantic Ocean and the bride the Pacific Ocean The figure in the center presiding over the wedding is America. On the right side of the painting the goddess of peace welcomes the nations of Germany, France, and Great Britain, and on the left, the god of commerce welcomes the nations of China, Japan, and Polynesia.

The skylight over the Assembly Chamber

The skylight over the Assembly Chamber is the largest of the four skylights in the capitol

Assembly Chamber Wisconsin

This difficult to photograph mural is by Edwin Blashfield, titled Wisconsin it was commissioned at a cost of $15,000. It illustrates the past, present and future.

The skylight of the North Hearing Room

The skylight of the North Hearing Room

There are four murals in the North Hearing Room painted by Charles Yardley Turner of New York at a cost of $20,000.

This room was originally used by the Railroad Commission so the murals reflect the history of transportation.

Native Americans on horseback

Native Americans on horseback

A trading post with a canoe as the mode of transportation

A trading post with a canoe as the mode of transportation

Early French settlers bargaining for furs with the Native Americans

The colonial period with a stagecoach

Modern transportation of steamboat, railroad, automobile and even an airplane

Modern transportation of steamboat, railroad, automobile and even an airplane

The exterior sculpture of the capitol is as exquisite as the interior. They are all by Karl Bitter, a Vienna native who came to New York in 1889. His work can be found in such great architecture as the Biltmore in North Carolina, Trinity Church in New York City and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"Faith" emphasizes the importance of religion in the development of "good citizenship" This looks out over Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Faith

wiconsin

Prosperity and Abundance.

wisconsin

Knowledge

Strength

Strength

This is just a small soupcon of what the Wisconson State Capitol offers. Free tours are available every day of the year, except New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas. Plan on spending 45-55 minutes for a tour.

The Jacobs I House

 Madison, Wisconsin
May 182018
 

Madison, Wisconsin
441 Toepfer Avenue

The front of the home now rid of its coat of creosote and showing off the wood work as it was intended

The front of the home now rid of its coat of creosote and showing off the woodwork as it was intended

Traveling with the VSA we had the true pleasure of touring the home of James Dennis, who graciously opened his home and took time to answer all of the questions we could possibly throw at him.

The home is the first of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes and was originally built for Herbert and Katherine Jacobs.

Wright used the term “Usonian,” to refer to an artistic, low-cost house built for an average citizen of the United States of North America. The North America portion was an important part of his adaptation of the term. Wright went on to design over 300 Usonian houses.

The back of the house with its brick and glass walls

The back of the house with its brick and glass walls. Walter Burley Griffin created landscape plans for the house.

The house was built in 1937 on two lots in the Westmorland subdivision. The Jacobses picked the Westmorland subdivision for its then rural character and the relatively inexpensive price of lots. Wright forced them to give up a lot on the west side of Toepfer (on higher ground, with the potential for better views) for two lots on the east side of the street, which gave the house a better orientation for Wright’s design.

The house is 1550 square feet and consists of walls of boards, primarily in the front of the home and walls of solid brick or glass primarily in the rear of the home. The house sits on a concrete pad laid over tamped sand. It does have a small basement that contains the equipment for the radiant heating system.

James showing a sample of the wood wall construction

James Dennis showing the group a sample of the wood wall construction

The wood walls are mainly a composition of layered boards that Wright apparently invented. Wright believed that the thin sandwich walls would be cheaper and faster to erect than walls of standard balloon framing. These walls consist of interlocking pine boards standing on end, the side next to the floor is grooved to fit into the upper edges of zinc strips which are troweled into the concrete slab. This thin wall was then covered with building paper, and over that, on each side, is a layer of 91⁄2-inch wide boards arranged horizontally and held to the vertical boards by 3 1/4- inch redwood battens screwed to the boards with the screw heads all aligning to the directions of the boards. The walls were then covered with several coats of linseed oil on the outside and waxed on the inside.

The brick walls are the same on both sides. The glass wall in the living room and the two bedrooms are floor-to-ceiling sheets of plate glass set into narrow rectangular frames. These are nine feet high in the living room and seven feet high in the bedrooms.

Looking up through the overhands one can see how the water would drain off of the roof.

Looking up through the overhangs one can see how the water would drain off of the roof.

The roof was originally a flat roof which was later modified by the present owner to contain a slight slope solving a consistent drainage problem.

The house is filled with book shelves throughout that were modified by Mr. Dennis to be slightly wider, allowing them to actually hold books.

The house is filled with bookshelves throughout that were modified by Mr. Dennis to be slightly wider, allowing them to actually hold books.

One of the two bedrooms i n the home.

One of the two bedrooms in the home.

The hallway connecting the main area of the home to the bedroom area

The hallway connecting the main area of the home to the bedroom area

The kitchen, as in any Frank Lloyd Wright home is very small, it has been modified to allow some modern appliances

The kitchen, as in any Frank Lloyd Wright home is very small at only 7 x 8 feet, it has been modified to allow some modern appliances. The only windows are in the clerestory above

A window in the dining area just outside of the kitchen

A bay window in the dining area, just outside of the kitchen, lights both the dining and kitchen area

The fireplace was always the heart of the home in a Wright house.

The fireplace was always the heart of the home in a Wright house.

This unique track lighting is original and, as specified by Wright, consists of 15 watt incandescent bulbs.

This unique track lighting is original and, as specified by Wright, consists of 15-watt incandescent bulbs.

In a sad state of disrepair, the home was purchased by Mr. Dennis, a professor of American Art at the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Dennis explained to our group that when he purchased the home the exterior board walls were black from a coat of creosote, the roof leaked, and the overhangs were sagging. He brought the home back to its present shape with the help of Chicago restoration architect John Eiffler.

The restoration was not easy and was very obviously a labor of love by Mr. Dennis. Steel beams were placed to help correct the sagging edges, and return the roof to near horizontal. The heating system failed when steel pipes froze during restoration so it was replaced with PVC piping and the floor was re-poured with the added color of Cherokee Red  The wooden walls were cleaned and repaired,  the roof was covered with a continuous rubber membrane to help with drainage, and the electrical system improved. With all of these repairs, the house is now exactly as built.

A view of the ceiling in the interior of the home.

A view of the ceiling in the interior of the home.

The carport, a term we were told was invented by Mr. Wright

The extreme cantilever of the carport, a term we were told was invented by Wright

The home is called Jacobs I as Wright later built another house for the Jacobses when their family expanded.

Although not scaled, this drawing from GreatBuildings.com  will give one a sense of the floor plan.

Jacobs House I

The Unitarian Meeting House

 Madison
May 172018
 

 Madison, Wisconsin

Unitarian Meeting House Madison Wisconsin

At various times Wright used the word “aspiration” and “praying hands” to describe the soaring prow of the Meeting Hall.

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1951, when Wright was 84 years old, this church is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative examples of church architecture and one of Wright’s more influential buildings.

Despite being one of the more stunning buildings in Madison it was almost not to be.  When the congregation was deciding who should design the meeting hall Wright was not the most obvious or wanted choice. In a widely circulated letter, one society member described Wright as “arrogant, artificial, brazen, cruel, recklessly extravagant, a publicity seeker, an exhibitionist, egotist, sensationalist, impatient, unscrupulous, untrustworthy, erratic and capricious. . . .”

The First Unitarian Society realized (after fees) $102,650 from the sale of its old church and parish house and $23,915 from the sale of its former parsonage. At the winter parish meeting held January 25th, 1946, the vote to hire Wright was twenty-five in favor, three opposed, and one abstention.  The building was continually over budget and behind time.

You are greeted with this lovely saying as soon as you enter the Meeting Hall.

You are greeted with this quote as soon as you enter the Meeting Hall.

The materials selected by Wright consist of tawny-colored native stone, dolomite, for the masonry, natural finish oak for all of the trim which is a native and plentiful wood in Wisconsin, large expanses of clear glass, placed in horizontal, bands in the two wings and in the prow, and terra-cotta- colored concrete for the exterior steps, patio areas and interior floors.

The interior view of the prow

The interior view of the prow

This was Wright’s “Little Country Church” as it sits on a small hill that once overlooked experimental farms that belonged to the University of Wisconsin.

Unitarian Society Meeting House

The benches are designed for multiple uses. They are made of one sheet of 8 X 10 plywood and produced by the apprentices at Taliesin. Plywood was used as a cost-saving material but also makes them light enough to move easily.

Wright was a member of this church and his parents were founding members of the congregation in 1879.

Unitarian society meeting

The building reflects Wright’s beliefs in Unitarianism and Transcendentalism.  Presumably, to underscore his family’s connection to the church, Wright had the name of his uncle, who was a Unitarian minister, inscribed with the names of five other Unitarian and Transcendentalist on the oak fascia at the base of the octagonal opening in the Hearth Room ceiling. The other names include Charles William Elliot, Theodore Parker, William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.


Unitarian Meeting House

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First Unitarian Society Meeting House Madison

Unity Chapel also featured a large room divided by a curtain. The Meeting House inscription reads, “Do you have a loaf of bread break the loaf in two and give half for some flowers of the Narcissus for the bread feeds the body indeed but the flowers feed the soul.”

The curtain of the First Unitarian Society Meeting House

The curtain, which no longer hangs in the hall due to its delicate nature has a wonderful story on its own.  In the attempt to cut down on the ever-increasing costs of the building of the church the women of the church took it upon themselves to construct the curtain itself.

Wright agreed to the women’s suggestion for a curtain to hang between the worship space and the social space, but it was to be designed by him.  The women, knowing nothing about weaving, took classes at the local college to learn to weave, and then dyed the various materials in their own homes in big vats over their kitchen stoves.  Each color was then sent to Wright for his approval.

It is a stunning piece of artwork all unto itself.

Unitarian Meeting Hall

Triangular tables, designed by Wright, are used throughout the church.

Wright’s preliminary drawings reveal his use of a four-foot diamond or quadrilateral parallelogram with 60 and 120-degree angles as the unit grid for the design. The parallelogram provided the basis for the grid Wright used when laying out the floor plans and establishing the elevations for the roof, angular prow, and decorative details.

The Loggia continues the east-west axis established by the lobby and contains offices and a library, which were initially designed as classrooms, and a hallway with restrooms. The interior walls of the rooms in the Loggia correspond to the angled grid lines incised into the colored concrete floor; these spaces occupy approximately two thirds of the wing. A long hallway, which is lit its entire length by full-height windows and three glazed French doors, comprises the other third.

The Loggia continues the east-west axis and contains offices and a library, which were initially designed as classrooms. The interior walls of the rooms in the Loggia correspond to the angled grid lines incised into the colored concrete floor.

Hiroshige Japanese wood block printsWright donated these Hiroshige woodblock prints to the church.  Each door is bracketed with one horizontal print and one vertical print.  When the doors are open, the vertical prints are still completely visible, due to their positioning.

dsc_4782

The Loggia ends at the West Living Room. This room was originally intended as the living and dining space of an unbuilt pastor’s residence.

The front entry side of the Meeting House

The front entry side of the Meeting House

Knowing that the estimates for the construction were well over what the church could afford, arrangements were made with Albert J. Loeser, the owner of a quarry near Prairie du Sac, for the purchase of the dolomite for the walls at $20.00 per cord. Loeser agreed to further reduce prices if the society members hauled the stone themselves. Able-bodied members of the congregation assembled almost every weekend from the fall of 1949 through the spring of 1950 for the sixty-mile round trip to the quarry. It has been estimated that the volunteer stone haulers loaded and then unloaded approximately one thousand tons of stone. The church still refers to this labor force as the “stone haulers”.

Unitarian Meeting Hall

This bell was supposed to simply be a decorative piece for the Meeting House. It is made of sheet copper, the same material used in the roof. It was never meant to be rung and was designed to be suspended under the highest point of the roof in front of the glass prow. Strong winds caused the bell to swing so much that it was removed to prevent any more serious damage.

The Prow of the First Unitarian Society Meeting Hallll

 

Taliesin East

 Spring Green, Wisconsin
May 172018
 

Spring Green, Wisconsin

Taliesin East

So very much has been written about Taliesin that it seems silly to write a post about it, but it has been on my list of architectural sights to see ever since my father took me to Taliesin West when I was 10.

Taliesin East

Taliesin was named in honor of FLW’s Welsh heritage, it was the name of a druid bard, and literally means “shining brow.” The structures wrap around the ridge of the hill, embracing the site and standing as a “brow.”

Taliesin East

A lovely example of some of the stone work with a peek into the root celler on the right

Taliesin (or Taliesin East, following the construction of a Taliesin West in 1937) was the home and studio of the great American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Designed by Wright himself, the building was built in 1911, and underwent several changes before being finalized as its current iteration in 1937.

Taliesin East

The farm portion of the property, this was the old cow and horse barn area

Wright designed the Taliesin structure two years after leaving his first wife and home in Oak Park, Illinois with  Mamah Borthwick. The design of the original building was consistent with the design principles of the Prairie School, emulating the flatness of the plains and the natural limestone outcroppings of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area.

Taliesin East

The Taliesin house had three sections: two broad portions on either end and a narrow connecting loggia. Wright described, the house as “low, wide, and snug.”

Wright chose yellow limestone for the house from a quarry of outcropping ledges on a nearby hill. These stones were laid in long, thin ledges, evoking the natural way that they were found in the quarry and across the Driftless Area. Plaster for the interior walls was mixed with Sienna, giving the walls a golden hue resembling the sand on the banks of the nearby Wisconsin River. The outside plaster walls were similar but mixed with cement, resulting in a grayer color. Windows were placed so that sun could come through openings in every room at every point of the day.  The finished house measures approximately 12,000 square feet.

Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin East

Wright had a passion for Japanese art and his homes showed the Japanese influence in his work. He first became interested in his early 20’s, and within a decade, he was an internationally known collector of Japanese woodblock prints.

In 1885, at the age of 18, Wright met architect Joseph Silsbee, who was building a chapel for Wright’s uncle in Helena Valley, Wisconsin. The following spring, Wright went to work for Silsbee’s firm in Chicago.

Silsbee’s cousin, Ernest Fenollosa, happened to be the world’s leading Western expert on Japanese art at the time. It is not known whether the young Frank Lloyd Wright ever met Fenollosa in person. However, it is known that Wright admired his views, and appears to have obtained his first Japanese woodblock prints from him.

Wright, like Fenollosa, felt that “the Japanese print is an organic thing,” and his 1912 book on the subject, “The Japanese Print: An Interpretation,” was really a general treatise on aesthetics based largely on Fenollosa’s ideas.

Wright’s favorite Japanese print artist, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), had published sketches illustrating how the subtleties of living forms could be constructed from simple mechanical shapes.

Wright’s collection of woodblock prints by artists, both Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige, have been removed from the house and many have been repatriated back to Japan, others are in storage until Taliesin can provide a better temperature controlled environment.

The house, however, is not lacking in Japanese art and influences.

Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin East

*FLW Taliesin East

Many of Wright’s most famous buildings were designed while he was at Taliesin East, including Fallingwater, “Jacobs I” (the first Wright-designed residence of Herbert and Katherine Jacobs), the Johnson Wax Headquarters, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Possibly even on these two drafting tables that were gifts of his first major employer and mentor Louis Sullivan.

Taliesin Drafting room

Taliesin would burn three times, and as Wright did not have enough money for its reconstruction after the third fire, a group of former clients organized a partnership to pay Wrights debts. To keep Taliesin economically viable, the society devised programs in which students paid an enrollment to be able to learn and “experience the lifestyle of Frank Lloyd Wright”.  This program still continues at both Taliesin East and Taliesin West.

A small wood sculpture just inside the front door

A small wood sculpture just inside the front door

This is one of FLW's signature lamps, copies of which can still be purchased today

This is one of FLW’s signature lamps, copies of which can still be purchased today

Wright was also well known for his furniture that graced most every home he built. These are his barrel chairs and dining room table

Wright was also well known for his furniture that graced most every home he built. These are his barrel chairs, a high back chair and dining room table.  Notice the Japanese print behind the table.

A look towards the windows in the great room that command a stunning view of the Wyoming Valley

A look towards the windows in the great room that command a stunning view of the Wyoming Valley

Details and musical instruments found behind the piano in the great room

Details and musical instruments found behind the piano in the great room

Bird Porch Taliesin East

While not a true cantilever, as there is rock support in the middle, this little “Bird Porch” lets you stand in nature.

 

Chinese screens incorporated into one of the sitting rooms

Chinese screens incorporated into one of the sitting rooms

Classic Wright geometric ornamentation

Classic Wright geometric ornamentation

Broken pottery inlaid into one of the many fireplaces throughout the home

Broken pottery inlaid into one of the many fireplaces throughout the home

Another large room for entertaining

The work space of Wrights bedroom

A pergola made from old plumbing pipes and barn doors

A pergola made from old plumbing pipes and barn doors

A view of one end of the drafting room area with a piece from a Louis Sullivan designed building

A view of one end of the drafting room area with a piece of ornamentation from a Louis Sullivan designed building

Taliesin EastOne could spend days just studying the roof lines of a Frank Lloyd Wright home, and Taliesin East delights at every turn.
Taliesin East

There are many tours available at Taliesin East.  They all begin at the Wright designed Vistors center that also houses a small restaurant and excellent book and gift store.

I was here with the Victorian Society in America on the Spring Study Tour and we took the two hour house tour, which is the most complete way to see the home.

The tour was $54 and they run  every day from May to October and weekends the rest of the year.

It was a true thrill and a tour that one could take over and over to truly appreciate the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Metal spire on the Visitors Center

Metal spire on the Visitors Center

Wyoming Valley School

 Spring Green, Wisconsin
May 172018
 

Spring Green, Wisconsin

School by Frank Lloyd Wright

Built in 1957, the building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who donated his design and 2 acres of land to the Wyoming School District in honor of his mother, Anna Lloyd-Jones Wright.  It is the only public school ever designed by Wright.
The story goes that the school had land close to the road, but Wright, who truly believed in making architecture part of nature, wanted to build it into the small hill so he moved the building site back several hundred feet.  It was not until later that it was discovered this was not property the school owned, Wright bought the two acres from the farmer who owned the land and gave it to the school.
Even with Wright’s generous donation, the building did not have a budget large enough to be constructed, so many ways were found to help bring it in on budget, this included the use of cement block instead of stone, common light fixtures extended with standard plumbing pipe, and standard windows.
There are two fireplaces in the school. It is thought that only one was used, and this was often during Christmas pageants.

There are two fireplaces in the school. It is thought that only one was used, and this was often during Christmas pageants.

That same year, Wright was beginning construction on his redesigned Guggenheim Museum in New York, he was in the midst of a contentious battle regarding his 1955 design for the Monona Terrace Civic Center in Madison, and he was also in the midst of publicizing his Mile High ‘Illinois’ Skyscraper. In addition to these he had also just completed the design for his Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and according to  Frank Lloyd Wright: The Complete Works, that same year his office produced designs for at least another 34 new building projects, of which at least nine would begin construction in 1956 or soon thereafter.

Considering how busy he was this was quite obviously a labor of love for Wright, an opportunity to show what schools should look like and a chance to honor his mother.

The clearstory lets in so much light, that the electric fixtures are often not needed to light the building

The clerestory lets in so much light, that the electric fixtures are often not needed to light the building

The school opened in 1958 with 46 students in grades 1 through 8.  After consolidating with the River Valley School district the building was used by the district’s 4th graders until being closed in 1990.

There are 12 mitered windows throughout the building

There are 12 mitered windows throughout the building

It was sold then sold to a private owner for $305,000. The first owner lost it through bankruptcy and it was purchased again by Jeff Jacobsen, a local landowner, and neighbor.

The building closed and sadly, remained empty for much of the next 20 years.

In August of 2010 the school was given to the not-for-profit Wyoming Valley School by Jeff Jacobsen.

Small details were added to make the cement block a tad more attractive

Small details were added to make the cement block a tad more attractive

This is mirrored on the interior as well

This is mirrored on the interior as well

Wyoming Valley School

Wyoming Valley School

A view of the back of the school, showing how it was built into the hill.

The school is open for tours by guides that are local and very knowledgeable, they will regale you with not only stories about the school’s architecture, but stories from the teachers and students who attended the school during its 30-year run.

LLoyd Jones Chapel

Just down the street from the Wyoming Valley School and Taliesin East, is the Lloyd Jones Family Chapel.

The rumor is that Frank Lloyd Wright, at the age of 18, met architect Joseph Silsbee, the architect hired by Wright’s uncle, to build the chapel, and the Wright had a hand in the design. The story is probably apocryphal, but if he did have a hand in the design it most likely was the interior ceiling.

Lloyd Jones Family Chapel

The church also houses the family graveyard.  Wright was originally buried here but was later dug up, cremated and his ashes were spread with his third wife in Arizona.  There is still a gravestone honoring Wright.

Lloyd Jones Family Chapel

Also, hidden away on the grounds is the grave of the love of Wright’s life, Mamah Borthwick Cheney.

Grave of amah Northwick Cheney

Wanamaker, An Organ, and An Eagle

 Philadelphia
Mar 032018
 

1300 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA

The Wanamaker Organ, Philadelphia Designed by renowned organ architect and Scotsman, George Ashdown Audsley, and built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the Wanamaker Organ originally incorporated more than 10,000 pipes. The cost of construction ($105,000) actually bankrupted the builder.

Wanamaker Department Store

John Wanamaker purchased the abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad to construct a “Grand Depot,” which eventually became the first modern department store in Philadelphia and one of the first in the country.

Fortunately, the Organ found a new home with John Wanamaker, the Philadelphia merchant who founded the groundbreaking Wanamaker’s department store.

A firm believer in music’s capacity to benefit civic life, he purchased the organ in 1909 and had it installed over a two-year period in the seven-story atrium of his Philadelphia emporium. Seeking an even bigger sound, Wanamaker created an on-site factory to expand the Organ and hired 40 full-time employees to add 8,000 more pipes between 1911 and 1917, and another 10,000 pipes between 1924 and 1930.

Marble brackets in the main room

Marble brackets in the main room

Today, the Organ incorporates 28,500 pipes, six ivory keyboards, 729 color-coded stop tablets, 168 piston buttons (under the keyboards) and 42-foot controls. The largest pipe, made of three-inch-thick Oregon sugar pine, is more than 32 feet long and the smallest is a quarter-inch long.

The Organ was first heard in the downtown Philadelphia Wanamaker’s store on June 22, 1911, just as England’s King George V was being crowned.

There are weather entries to the store off of Market Street. Each of the entry vestibules contain these mosaics.

You pass through vestibules when entering the store off of Market Street, each of the entry vestibules contain stunning mosaics.

Mosaics at Wanamakers in Philadelphia

In 1904 St. Louis hosted a World’s Fair to celebrate the centennial of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.  The fair’s 1,200-acre site, designed by George Kessler, contained over 1,500 buildings, and was connected by some 75 miles of roads and walkways. It was said to be impossible to give even a hurried glance at everything in less than a week.

The exhibition was grand in scale and was given its start with an initial $5 million committed by the city of St. Louis through the sale of city bonds was authorized by the Missouri state legislature in April 1899. An additional $5 million was generated through private donations. The final installment of $5 million of the exposition’s $15 million capitalization came in the form of earmarked funds that were part of a congressional appropriations bill passed at the end of May 1900.

Over 19 million individuals attended the fair.

Wanamaker hired Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham to design his new store. The building was built in the Florentine style with granite walls and included 12 floors, nine of which were dedicated to retail, numerous galleries and two lower levels totaling nearly two-million square feet.

Wanamaker hired Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham to design his new store. The building was built in the Florentine style with granite walls and included 12 floors, nine of which were dedicated to retail, numerous galleries and two lower levels totaling nearly two-million square feet.

Stairways at Wanamakers in Philadelphia

Wanamaker also purchased this eagle from the St. Louis Fair. The large eagle became a symbol of the store and the phrase “Meet me at the Eagle” became a popular phrase amongst shoppers.
Wanamakers Eagle Philadelphia

Designed by German sculptor August Gaul, the bronze bird weighs 2,500 pounds, requiring the floor to be strengthened to handle the weight.

 

A Victorian Art Gallery

 Philadelphia
Feb 272018
 

Laurel Hills Cemetery
3822 Ridge Avenue
Philadelphia, PA

Laurel Hills Cemetery

Old Mortality and His Pony. This sculpture greets you as you first enter the cemetery. It is based on the Sir Walter Scot,t 1700 novel, “Old Mortality”.  Robert Patterson is the main character, an elderly Scottish Stone Mason, is shown here sitting on a marble slab. He sits talking with the image of the author Sir Walter Scott. These sandstone figures were carved by Scottish sculptor James Tom. His bust is in the right-hand corner. He sent this to the U.S. on speculation and was eventually paid $1000 for the piece. (Equivalent to $25,000 in 2000 dollars)

Laural Hills Cemetery was founded in 1836 by a group of local businessmen headed by John Jay Smith, a Quaker and librarian. The founding concepts were that it had to be situated in a picturesque location well outside the city; that it had no religious affiliation; and that it provided a permanent burial space for the dead in a restful and tranquil setting.

This is the first grave of Laurel Hills Cemetery - Mercy Carlisle, a pious Quaker woman. This was placed in 1990 after the original simple stone had disintegrated over time.

This is the first grave of Laurel Hills Cemetery – Mercy Carlisle, a pious Quaker woman. This was placed in 1990 after the original simple stone had disintegrated over time.

The cemetery was designed by  Scottish architect John Notman. Notman conceived of the Cemetery as an estate garden, based in part on the English idea of planned landscapes as transitions between art and nature.

The Shukyllkill RiverThe property sits above the Schuylkill River and the views of the Schuylkill River have always been an important component of the site’s visual character and adds so very much to the experience when you visit.

The cemetery is home to many stunning Art Deco tombs

The cemetery is home to many stunning Art Deco tombs

Today, Laurel Hill is located in the North section of Philadelphia, consists of an estimated 78-acres and is one of the few cemeteries in the nation to be designated a National Historic Landmark, a title it received in 1998.

Ivy covers this carved stone with its broken urn. Ivy was a symbol of everlasting life in Victorian cemetery symbolism.

Ivy covers this carved stone with its broken urn. Ivy was a symbol of everlasting life in Victorian cemetery symbolism.

The Victorian Age was filled with symbolism, especially when it came to death and burial.  There were even books one could purchase to help you decide which symbols to use.  Another unique feature of Laurel Hills are the monuments, in the 1840s the people were asked to “please don’t just erect another obelisk”, please choose something appropriate for you.

A broken column often signified an untimely death

A broken column often signified an untimely death

An entire funeral industry grew up around Laurel Hills Cemetery in Philadelphia, special mourning cards, clothing, and jewelry were needed as well as luxury caskets, ornately carved monuments and artificial flowers and funeral cars for railroads and trolly lines.

An anchor could signify a sailor or someone that made their fortune in shipping. Or it could simply be a symbol of religious salvation.

An anchor could signify a sailor or someone that made their fortune in shipping. Or it could simply be a symbol of religious salvation.

However, not all could afford these trappings, and many of the stones in Laurel Hills were mail order items.  They were not necessarily inexpensive, just more affordable.  Most of these were purchased from Sears Robuck and Company. Today Costco and Walmart are the largest distributors of inexpensive caskets.

Laurel Hills Cemetery

Williams James Mullen is one of the more unique characters buried in Laurel Hills.  He had this sculpture, with himself proudly standing there on the left, carved by Daniel Corbow, before his death, for the 1876 Centennial Exposition, the first World’s Fair in the US.

Mullen was an inventor, social activist, dentist, jeweler, and philanthropist.  He is posed in front of Moyamensing Prison with its broken chains and Angel Gabriel above the prison door. It is most likely a fallen woman to the right.

William James Mullen Grave at Laurel Hills CemeteryHe could often be found here in the cemetery, at his plot, greeting guests and discussing the art and symbolism of his own monument.

Mullen was a great philanthropist. He installed outdoor drinking fountains, funded homes for the poor, and lobbied for open churches so the homeless would have places to sleep.  He believed in temperance and women’s rights, including opening a woman’s medical college, the first in Pennsylvania.

In 1854 Mullen became Prison Agent.  He visited prisoners, helped those discharged find jobs and homes.  Most importantly he helped the falsely or needlessly interned, such as a 9-year-old boy charged with the theft of an egg.

The grave of Henry Charles Lea

The grave of Henry Charles Lea

Cleo, the Greek Muse of History sits over the tomb of historian Henry Charles Lea.  The sculpture is by Alexander Sterling Calder.

Sculpture by Alexander Sterling Calder

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Berwind Monument at Laurel Hills in PhiladelphiaThe Harry Berwind, (vice president of the Berwind White Coal Mining company) monument, Aspiration, was designed by female sculptor Harriet Whitman Frishmuth. Frishmuth studied briefly with Auguste Rodin at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and for two years with Cuno von Uechtritz-Steinkirch in Berlin. She then returned to the United States and studied at the Art Students League of New York under Gutzon Borglum and Hermon Atkins MacNeil. While in New York, she worked as an assistant to the sculptor Karl Bitter, (one of the main sculptors for the Vanderbilt home in Ashville, North Carolina) and performed dissections at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The woman in Aspiration is reaching towards the heavens as she releases herself from the funeral shroud.

Aspiration by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth

The grave of General Robert Patterson

The grave of Major General Robert Patterson

This is one of the most photographed monuments in Laurel Hills, the Patterson Lion. The lion is surrounded by symbols of war and its paw rests on the barrel of a cannon.  The sculptor was John Lackner who did many military-style sculptures around Pennsylvania.

The grave of Helena Schaaff Saunders

The grave of Helena Schaaff Saunders

Situated so she looks out over the Schuylkill River is the grave of Helena Schaaff Saunders and her two children, sculpted by husband and father Henry Dmochowski Saunders.  Helena was a German and Henry a Pole who had fled during the Russian occupation.  They met in their boarding house in Philadelphia. She was an accomplished pianist and music teacher, he a renowned sculptor. They met and married shortly after their meeting.  Their first child was stillborn and buried at Laurel Hills, Helena died delivering her second stillborn child. The monument was placed here in 1859.  Henry returned to Poland two years later and died in battle during the Russian occupation May 1863.

Laurel Hills Cemetery

*Frank Furness grave

Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 – June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled buildings, and for his influence on the Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. Furness also received a Medal of Honor for bravery during the Civil War.

The cemetery is well worth the visit, rain or shine.  There are downloadable walking tours and a gift shop with incredibly knowledgeable and kind people at the front entry gate. Laurel Hill Cemetery’s gates are open: Monday – Friday 8:00am-4: 30 pm and Saturday – Sunday 9:30am-4: 30 pm.

They have many guided tours and events throughout the year.  A visit to their website is a must before visiting.

 

Haunting and Beautiful

 Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Feb 262018
 

Mount Mariah Cemetery
6201 Kingsessing Avenue
Philadelphia, PA

Mount Mariah Cemetery Philadelphia, PA

Mount Mariah has a fascinating and tragic history, most of which can be found at the website Friends of Mount Mariah Cemetery.

Incorporated in 1855, this approximately 200-acre cemetery was established during the time of “Rural Ideal” cemeteries, a style of cemetery that utilizes landscaping to provide a park-like setting. It once was one of the largest cemeteries in Pennsylvania.

Mount Mariah Cemetery PhiladelphiaThe cemetery fell into disrepair around 2004 and closed, with no notice whatsoever, in 2011.

In September 2014, the Mount Moriah Cemetery Preservation Corporation was appointed receiver of the Cemetery. The former owner, the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association, whose last member died in 2004, was dissolved by the Orphans Court of Philadelphia and a group of volunteers, the Mount Moriah Cemetery Preservation Corporation, was appointed by the court to act as the receiver. The receiver is not the legal owner but works under the auspices of the Court to discharge the business affairs. The court order allowed the Corporation to determine the Cemetery’s assets and liabilities but also required that the Corporation attempt to better secure the site, work with others to better maintain the property and, most importantly, determine a strategic direction for the long-term viability of the Cemetery.

I had actually come because I had seen this photograph in one of my favorite websites, Atlas Obscura.

Mount Moriah Cemetery Philadelphia

This Romanesque gatehouse was fabricated from brownstone and designed by local architect Stephen D. Button in 1855. This was once the entrance to Mount Moriah on Kingsessing Avenue, called Islington Lane when it was first built.

Stephen Decatur Button was characterized by his biographer as “a capable, financially successful architect much in demand in the Philadelphia area” in the mid-nineteenth century.

Richard Buttons Gate House Mount Moriah Cemetery

This is what the gatehouse looked like in February of 2018

Backside of Buttons Gate House Mount Moriah

When walking through the cemetery the more haunting thing is cresting a hill and finding a perfectly maintained military cemetery. The naval plot located within the cemetery is managed by the US Department of Veteran Affairs. They estimate more than 2,400 navy officers and sailors have been buried in Mount Moriah Naval Plot since the first interment on March 26, 1865.

Mount Moriah Cemetery PhiladelphiaA separate Soldiers’ Lot is also managed by the department.

These graves are so stunningly maintained, including new stones created when the older ones have fallen into disrepair.

Naval graveyard Mount Moriah

*

A Brit buried in the cemetery sits a little bit aways from the Naval area

A Brit buried in the cemetery sits a little bit away from the Naval area

Mount Moriah Cemetery Philadelphia

There are 22 Medal of Honor winners buried in the Naval Plot of Mount Moriah Cemetery

Mount Moriah Cemetery Philadelphia

The Soldiers Lot sits on the other side of Cobb’s Creek and the very busy Cobb’s Creek Parkway, from the Naval lot.

Mount Moriah Cemetery

Mount Moriah is stunning in its abandonment and peacefulness, and I applaud the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery for all they are doing to bring it back and create a respectable place for the dead that are buried there.

Mount Moriah Cemetery Philadelphia *Mount Moriah Cemetery Philadelphia *Mt. Moriah Cemetery *Mt. Moriah Cemetery

Asheville, North Carolina

 North Carolina
Feb 202018
 
The Biltmore

The Biltmore as seen from the gardens

Asheville is a fast-growing city with a large influx of people looking for an affordable place to live with a great climate and stunning surroundings.  It is famously home to the Biltmore Estate and Grove Park Inn, both of which have amazing histories that are very well documented.  I wanted to concentrate this post on a sweet building in downtown Asheville.

The Grove Park Inn

The Grove Park Inn

The Corner of Patton Avenue and Church Street

The Drhumor (pronounced “drummer”) Building purportedly is the oldest standing commercial building in downtown Asheville. It was built in 1895 by William J. Cocke, an attorney who studied at the University of North Carolina and at Harvard. The building was named for the ancestral Irish island of Cocke’s Scots-Irish grandfather and rests on the land where Mr. Cocke’s childhood home and birthplace once stood. Architect Allen L. Melton designed the grand Romanesque Revival building, and Biltmore Estate English stone carver Frederic Miles was commissioned to carve the limestone frieze above the first-floor exterior.

Some of the allegorical stone images are believed to represent local residents of the era, including at least one local sidewalk superintendent, and the bearded face of florist Cyrus T.C. Deake.

The Drhumor Building

The Drhumor Building

The four-story brick Drhumor Building originally had a roof turret at the corner, where the entrance once was. In 1929, Wachovia Bank purchased the Drhumor Building, demolished the turret and moved the corner entrance to the side on Patton Avenue, where it still is today.

Cyrus T.C. Deake

Florist Cyrus T.C. Deake

Drhumor Building Asheville

Frederic Miles was one of dozens of craftsmen at the Biltmore, and yet he seems to be the only one whose name gained fame. Like other Biltmore artists, landscapers, craftspeople and architects, he stayed in the area working on other commissions after the house was completed in 1895.
Drummer Building Asheville

*Drhumor Building Asheville

In his book, Asheville’s Historic Architecture Richard Hansley describes the frieze as “decorated with relief carvings of British royal lions, faces of men and women, cupid-like children and other intricate foliate designs. Also shown are angels, seashells, mermaids and other mythological figures”.

Belle Isle

 Detroit
Aug 042017
 

Belle Isle
Detroit, Michigan

Belle Island

The James Scott Memorial Fountain was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and sculptor Herbert Adams, the fountain was completed in 1925 at a cost of $500,000

Belle Isle is a 982-acre island park in the Detroit River, between the United States mainland and Canada. Belle Isle is the largest city-owned island park in the United States and is the third largest island in the Detroit River. It is connected to mainland Detroit by the MacArthur Bridge.

One interesting story told about the island is part of Motor City history. It is said that one night in 1908 Byron Carter of Cartercar stopped to help a stranded motorist on Belle Isle. When he cranked her Cadillac, it kicked back and broke his jaw. Complications from the injury turned into pneumonia and he died. The incident motivated Henry Leland, founder of Cadillac Motors to state that “The Cadillac car will kill no more men if we can help it” and to hire Charles Kettering, who established Delco and developed the electric self-starter.

Belle Island

James Scott was left a sizable fortune by his father who invested in Detroit real estate. Scott was described by twentieth-century author W. Hawkins Ferry as a “vindictive, scurrilous misanthrope” who attempted to intimidate his business competitors and when this was unsuccessful, he filed suit. Perhaps for these reasons, Scott died in 1910 with no heirs or colleagues and he bequeathed his estate to the City of Detroit with the condition that the fountain include a life-sized bronze statue of him.

Belle Island Bell Tower

The Nancy Brown Peace Carillon

The 85-foot Neo-Gothic carillon cost nearly $59,000 when it was built. The tower was designed by Clarence E. Day, brother-in-law of James E. Scripps, the publisher of the Detroit News. The builder was Harlow A. Amsbary. Nancy Brown was the pen name of a Detroit News columnist who wrote the Experience Column from 1919 to January of 1942. Her real name was Annie Louise Brown.

The concept of the Peace Carillon came from a reader. In 1934, Nancy Brown promoted the idea in her column. It was built by readers who sent in nickels and dimes through Brown’s fundraiser and dedicated in 1940.

Belle Island Conservatory

The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is the oldest continually-running conservatory in the United States. It is named for Anna Scripps Whitcomb, who left her collection of 600 orchids to Detroit in 1955. Anna Scripps Whitcomb was the daughter of The Detroit News founder James E. Scripps

belle island conservatory

Outside of this Conservatory sits a Japanese Stone Lantern made of white granite. The lantern, or Tohro as it is traditionally called, was presented to the City of Detroit by their sister city, Toyota, to commemorate the 25th year of their sister city relations. The lantern is inscribed with the Japanese word for “friendship”. Behind the lantern is the Levi L. Barbour Memorial Fountain, designed by sculptor Marshall Fredericks and dedicated June 25, 1937. Barbour was an industrialist who pushed for Detroit acquiring Belle Isle, and left money to the City to erect a monument in his honor “in order to inspire others to be charitable.”

Construction began in 1902 on the Aquarium and Horticultural Building, as it was called then. The two buildings, designed by famed Detroit architect Albert Kahn, opened on August 18, 1904, and were originally joined where one could walk between the two structures without leaving the building.

Belle Island Aquarium

The Belle Isle Aquarium is the oldest aquarium in the country. In 2005, the city of Detroit announced that the Aquarium was to be closed due to lean economic times for the city. The building remained closed to the public until the Belle Isle Conservancy reopened it on September 15, 2012.

The lily pond is located between the conservatory building and the Belle Isle Aquarium. It was not part of the original design, but constructed in 1936. The rocky walls were created with 200 tons of moss-covered limestone boulders that were brought from the construction of the Livingstone Channel in the Detroit River near Amherstburg, Ontario. The pond is home to Japanese koi that are maintained by volunteers and are held in the aquarium basement during winter.

The lily pond is located between the conservatory building and the Belle Isle Aquarium. It was not part of the original design but constructed in 1936. The rocky walls were created with 200 tons of moss-covered limestone boulders that were brought from the construction of the Livingstone Channel in the Detroit River near Amherstburg, Ontario. The pond is home to Japanese koi that are maintained by volunteers and are held in the Aquarium basement during winter.

Belle Isle is the embodiment of what it is to live in Michigan, spending summers on the water.  Beach goers and picnickers abound on Belle Isle in the summer.  Signs of family reunions, birthday parties, and get-togethers are everywhere, parking is plentiful and all types of water activities available to those that visit the island.

FLW in Detroit

 Detroit
Aug 032017
 

The Melvyn Maxwell Smith and Sara Stein Smith House
Bloomfield, Michigan
Frank Lloyd Wright

The Melvyn Maxwell Smith and Sara Stein Smith House also known as My Haven is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Usonian home that was built by the owner/occupants in 1949 and 1950. The Smiths were two public school teachers living on a tight budget, to realize their dream they scrimped and scraped in ways most people would never consider, but the reward is this wonderful gem.

It is said that Mr. Smith, upon seeing a photo of Falling Water for the first time while studying to become a teacher, stood up in class and said: “One day I will own a Frank Lloyd Wright home”.

Usonian HomeIn the summer of 1941, the Smiths traveled to Taliesin, met with Wright, and he agreed to design a home for them with an initial budget of approximately $9,000.00.

In the summer of 1946, the Smiths took their entire savings of $3,600 and purchased the 3.3 acres the home would sit upon.

FLW signed tile

FLW would present his famous mark a red ceramic tile with his signature to many of the designated buildings that met his requirements and approval – a visible sign he accepted the structure as “truly- totally-Wright”.

Architect William Wesley Peters,  who served as president of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, wrote that Wright “never had clients who were greater in the sense of love and appreciation than Melvyn Maxwell and Sara Smith. It was a two-way road because the more that came back to Frank Lloyd Wright, the more he gave, so it was a double gain

FLW in DetroitOn Wright’s advice, Smith acted as his own general contractor in order to save money and maintain the quality standards he expected. He recruited skilled workers who wanted to work on a home designed by Wright so much that they would accept lower pay than usual. Suppliers of building materials also provided goods such as 14,000 board feet of red tidewater cypress lumber at discounted prices because of their wish to be involved with a Wright project.  Shopping center developer A. Alfred Taubman provided all of the windows at a deep discount because he considered the house a “fantastic structure”.

Wright visited the house himself in 1951, and called it “my little gem”. He visited the house again in 1953 and 1957.

Frank Lloyd Wright in Detroit

In 1957, Melvyn Smith met with landscape architect Thomas Dolliver Church who visited the home and stayed for a spaghetti dinner prepared by Sara Smith. Church spent the night as their guest, and the following morning, produced a landscape plan on the spot for a nominal fee

Detroit Usonian Home

The home is located near the Cranbrook Educational Community, and over the years, the Smiths built an extensive art collection by Cranbrook artists that fill the house today.

The home, while still in private hands, is open for tours and special events. 

Frank Lloyd Wright Detroit Usonian Home
Usonia was a word used by Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to his vision for the landscape of the United States, including the planning of cities and the architecture of buildings. Wright proposed the use of the adjective Usonian in place of American to describe the particular New World character of the American landscape as distinct and free of previous architectural conventions.Smith Frank lloyd Wright home DetroitThe home is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photos are not allowed inside the home, but this lamp style is carried throughout the house.

Photos are not allowed inside the home, but this lamp style is carried throughout the house.

Frank lloyd Wright Designed Gate

Detroit’s Guardian Building

 Detroit
Aug 022017
 

500 Griswold Street
Detroit, Michigan

The Guardian Building

There has been so very, very much written about the Guardian Building of Detroit, that my writing here is simply for me to remember this stunning building and that I had the pleasure of walking into it and staring.

The Guardian Building of Detroit

The building is so massive it is difficult to photograph in its entirety, the roof line is exquisite and also hard to see when standing on the ground.

Built for the Union Trust Company the building is 486 feet tall with 40 floors and was the second tallest building in Detroit and the world’s tallest brick building when it opened in 1929.

Designed by Wirt Rowland of  Smith, Hichman, and Grylls it came in at a cost of $12million.

The tangerine colored “Guardian Brick” was formulated by Rowland and there were almost 2 million bricks used in its construction, he chose these specifically because they were cheaper than other materials.

This tiled semi-circular dome sits over the main entrance which includes a person with outstretched arms who serves to welcome people into the building. While difficult to see the figure is also winged. The wings represent aviation, which was experiencing a boom during the time of the building's construction

Pewabic Pottery can be seen on the lower portion of the building’s exterior facade, but from the brick up, the tiles are from the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company.The Guardian Building from afar

The Guardian Building Detroit

This tiled semi-circular dome sits over the main entrance which includes a person with outstretched arms who serves to welcome people into the building. While difficult to see the figure is also winged. The wings represent aviation, which was experiencing a boom during the time of the building’s construction

On either side of the tiled entryway dome are these carved figures by Corrado Parducci. These exterior figures hold swords in their hands representing security and safety, to ensure depositors their money is safe.

On either side of the tiled entryway, dome are these carved figures by Corrado Parducci. These exterior figures hold swords in their hands representing security and safety, to ensure depositors their money is safe.

Guardian Building

Even the tree planters on the exterior of the building celebrate the "notched arch" design that can be found throughout the building

Even the tree planters and the flag poles on the exterior of the building celebrate the “notched” design that can be found throughout the building.

flag poles on the Guardian

 Nicknamed “The Cathedral of Finance” the building held the money of one in every four bank depositors in the City of Detroit.

Guardian Building

Upon entering the building you will be overwhelmed with the arched ceiling covered in Rookwood tile from the Rookwood Pottery company of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Guardian Building

This pledge sits directly over the reception desk

Guardian Building Detroit

At the end of the two elevator bays are these stained glass angelic figures

The elevator doors are etched and painted

The elevator doors are etched and painted

The Guardian Building

Entry to the Banking Hall is through an elaborate grill of Monel metal.  Monel is a mixture of copper, nickel, and aluminum. Above the entryway is the original Tiffany clock.

Guardian Buildings Tiffany Clock

Looking at the Tiffany clock while standing in the Banking Hall

Ezra Winter Mural

The Banking Hall is dominated by a mural by Ezra Winter representing Michigan and her industries.

Guardian Building

The ceiling was stenciled by Anthony Eugenio who cut the entire ceiling himself. A crew of 10 painters used a pallet of 16 colors. Solid gold leaf adorns the sunburst arches; the rays of the sunbursts spread from the center of the ceiling down along the columns.

The tables of the bank also contain the notched design

The tables of the bank also contain the notched design

The attention to detail in every square inch of this building truly does make it one of the greatest in Detroit.  The building is open to the public on the ground floor with retail in the Banking Hall.  Tours are given of the building on weekends by Pure Detroit.

Detroit’s Renaissance

 Detroit
Aug 012017
 

Book Building/Tower Detroit

The Book Building at 1249 Washington Blvd, Downtown Detroit

So much has been written about Detroit’s decline, and yet so little has been written about its renaissance.  Yes, the outlying areas have a long way to go, but the new construction and renovations happening in the downtown area are staggering.  This post by no means covers the enormous amount of renovation occurring, these are just a few of this author’s favorite buildings.

Book Building Detroit

The Book Building, designed by Louis Kamper for the Book brothers, was built in 1917, the tower was added in 1926. There was considerable criticism about the building looking more like a wedding cake than an office building when it was erected, this author, however, has a fondness for caryatids and found the building charming. The building is undergoing a projected $400 million renovation by Bedrock Real Estate Services.

The book building Detroit

The Grand Army of the Republic Hall at 1942 Grand River Avenue in the West Necklace neighborhood

The GAR building

The Grand Army of the Republic Building was designed by architect Julius Hess and constructed in 1887 as a structure for meetings and other GAR related activities. The cost was split between the Grand Army of the Republic ( $6000 of the cost) and the city of Detroit (the remainder of the $44,000 total cost).

McKim Meade and White

State Savings Bank at 151 West Fort Street and Shelby.

State Savings Bank of Detroit

This is the only building in Detroit designed by McKim, Mead, and White, it was built in 1900.

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

Slated for demolition in 2014, the building was purchased by a private investor. The owner did not disclose the purchase price or possible plans, however, one rumored use could be an auto museum.

The Fisher Building at 3011 West Grand Avenue.

Fischer Building Detroit

The interior of the Fisher Building is a wonder to behold and a stroll through the enormous lobby is not to be missed.  Named the “Building of the Century” by Detroit AIA this 1927 building, commissioned by the Fisher Brothers, was designed by eminent Detroit architect Albert Kahn. The Fisher family financed the building with proceeds from the sale of Fisher Body to General Motors

Fisher Building Detroit

The attention to detail on the exterior of the building is also worth noting.

Fisher Building Detroit

*Fisher Building

The three-story vaulted arcade is finished with forty different varieties of marble and ornamentation extolling the virtues of commerce, industry, and arts.
Fisher Building

It is almost impossible to explain the interior ceiling murals.

Fisher Building

The eagles with their wings slightly open, ready to take flight, symbolize an America ready to advance to greater things. Other eagles in and on the Fisher have their wings outstretched, symbolizing the power of the United States. Those with their wings tucked in, in a sheltering manner, show the nation’s strength and that it is sound.

The frescos, mosaics, and sculpture were designed by Geza R. Maroti, an artist from Budapest, Hungary. The artwork represents two major ideas: the wealth and power of the U.S. expressed through commerce and transportation, and American culture and civilization through music and drama.

Fisher Building Detroit

Artists from Detroit’s Cranbrook School and an army of European artists worked on the interiors.

Fisher Building Detroit

Set into the floor, is a large bronze shield in low relief. It featured a semi-nude figure of Mercury — the god of transportation and bearer of messages. Sadly, the details have been mostly eroded by decades of Detroiters walking over it. It has been roped off to prevent further damage.

Fisher Building Detroit

Along the walls of the arcade are 26 lunettes with symbolical designs and subjects such as Agriculture, Art, Justice, Knowledge, Music, Navigation, Peace, and Thrift.

Fisher Building Detroit

The elaborate frescoes were also designed by Maroti but carried out by artists Antonio and Tomas de Lorenzo of New York City.

Fisher Building Detroit

The corridors on every floor are marble-faced with cove ceilings. The window sills are marble.

The Buhl Building at 535 Griswold

Buhl Building Detroit

The exterior ornamentation of the Buhl Building is what drew me in. Designed by Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls in 1925 it showcases the sculpture of Corrado Parducci and tiles of Mary Chase Perry Stratton, of Pewabic Pottery.

Buhl Building Detroit

The entryway vaulted ceilings are designed to be the night sky, and the tiles were produced by Pewabic Pottery.

Buhl Building

Mies van der Rohe in Lafayette Park

The Mies van der Rohe Residential District is both an outstanding example of Modernist architecture and one of America’s most successful post-World War II urban redevelopment projects. Three distinct sections cover the 46-acre project: 21 multiple-unit townhomes (pictured below) and a high-rise apartment building, 13 acre Lafayette Park consisting of recreation facilities, and a school and finally twin apartment towers and a shopping center. In 1956 developer Herbert Greenwald brought together architect Mies van der Rohe, city planner Ludwig Hilberseimer, and landscape architect Alfred Caldwell to create an “integrated community” that would “attract people back to the heart of the city.”

Mies Van der Rohe in Detroit

 Michigan Central Train Station in Corktown near the Ambassador Bridge

Michigan Central Train Station

This Beaux-Arts Classical style train station was designed by the Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stem, the same firms who designed New York City’s Grand Central Terminal.

When the 18 stories tall train station opened in 1913, it was the tallest train station in the world and one of the tallest buildings in the city of Detroit. The high-rise part of the building was originally built to house offices; the depot itself is three stories tall. Part of what makes the building so visually striking is the fact that no other tall structures are immediately nearby.

Primarily due to the success of Detroit’s own auto industry the last train to ever leave Michigan Central Station pulled away in January of 1988 and the building has sat unoccupied ever since.

The building is owned by the Moroun family, who also owns the Ambassador Bridge. Neglect has brought this Nationally Registered landmark close to demolition on more than one occasion. It had all 1050 windows replaced in 2015 and hopes are that more will be done to preserve this gem.

Ford Motor Company has purchased the building as of June 2018.  Here is a great article with photos of the interior in the New York Times.

The last of the buildings in this strange wanderings is the Dymaxion House at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

Dymaxion House

This aluminum house, designed by Buckminster Fuller in 1929, was meant to handle the masses of servicemen returning from the war.  It was to be mass-produced, easily reused, and completely recyclable.

Built on a central core holding much of the utilities, the house radiated out from there

Built on a central core holding much of the utilities, the house radiated out from there

Market expectations, continual design changes, and other setbacks kept the house from being a reality, but the fact that its hybrid sits in the Ford Museum makes for fun viewing.

There are truly so many fabulous buildings, and history, in Detroit.  If you are going, I suggest adding a considerable amount of extra time to explore the many, many office buildings, churches and government buildings that make up this amazingly architectural rich city.

Heidelberg Project

 Detroit
Jul 312017
 

3600 Heidelberg St
McDougall Hunt Neighborhood
Detroit, Michigan

Heidelberg Project

Just 15 minutes away from the African Bead Museum is the Heidelberg Project.  I went anticipating a fabulous folk art installation due to all the hype, disappointing is the kindest word I can use. That being said, the motivation behind the project and the heart poured into it, should not ever be dismissed.

Heidelberg project detroit

There are three over riding themes to the Heidelberg project: clocks, faces, and shoes.  The clocks are to remind you that it is never too late to act.  You may think you do not have the time, or it is too late, but no, it is always time to act.

heidelberg

Heidelberg project Detroit

There are faces everywhere, these are the faces of God.

Heidelberg Project

The shoes represent the “soul”. Do not judge me until you walk a mile in my shoes.

Heidelberg project detroit

The Polka Dot House is where Tyree’s mother and sisters live.

The Heidelberg Project is the brainchild of Tyree Guyton who was assisted by his wife, Karen, and grandfather Sam Mackey. Guyton is a painter and sculptor described as an urban environmental artist.  Like others, he has waged a personal war on urban blight on Detroit’s East Side, transforming his neighborhood into a living indoor/outdoor art gallery. Through his art, Guyton has drawn attention to the plight of Detroit’s forgotten neighborhoods and spurred discussion and action.  The strength in this installation is the fact that it is a political protest. Guyton’s childhood neighborhood began to deteriorate after the 1967 riots, coming back to Heidelberg Street after serving in the Army, Guyton was astonished to see that the surrounding neighborhood looked as if “a bomb went off”.

Heidelberg Project

Guyton started by painting his Mother’s house with bright dots of many colors and attaching salvaged items to the houses in the neighborhood. It was a constantly evolving work that transformed a hard-core inner city neighborhood where people were afraid to walk, even in daytime, into one in which neighbors took pride. While Tyree’s work is truly inspirational and excellent, for some reason the Heidelberg Project does not reflect the high quality of artistic ability that the man possesses.

Heidelberg Project

However, he is a strong member of his community and includes children whenever he can, which is possibly reflected in the work, in other words, it is more community art than individual art. The city of Detroit has destroyed many of the installations and yet it stands as a true testament to the power of creativity in creating hope and a bright vision for the future.
Heidelberg Project

*Heildelberg Project

*Heidelberg Project

*Heidelberg Project

*HP

The neighborhood seems to be mixed about the project.  There are signs everywhere asking that you do not photograph the homes or the occupants, and at the same time, they sit on their stoops asking for money to help with their repairs.  The more enterprising sell water, and snacks.  They are all so very friendly, however, that handing over a buck or two is done with pleasure.

In 2019 the project began to wind down, you can read all about it in this New York Times article.

African Bead Museum

 Detroit
Jul 252017
 

Dabls’ MBAD African Bead Museum
6559 Grand River Avenue
Detroit, Michigan

Dabbles African Bead Museum

*African Bead Museum

I had the absolute privilege to speak with Olayami Dabls, the creator of Dabls’ African Bead Museum (pictured above), and he told me some of his story.  He began this project during the Clean Up Detroit program, a project to help clear all of the empty lots of the trash and building parts left after many homes were bulldozed.

This house, now in the hands of an architect, was once owned by the City.

The N’kisi Iron House, now in the hands of an architect, was once owned by the City.

The African Language Wall

The African Language Wall

He repeated often, how he was surprised the city had not shut him down and how happy he was to just keep doing what he was doing.  He did point out that an architect had purchased the building next door from the city. Olayami offered to remove all the art, the architect was happy with it just the way it is, and I for one am very glad that he saw the value in what this folk art brings to this part of town. I highly doubt the city is going to stop him anytime soon as the museum has received a $100,000 grant from theKnight Foundation . If you are interested in helping with matching funds you can do so here.

African Bead Museum

Photo from the African Bead Museum website

There is a very complete bead shop on the first floor of 6559 for shopping to your heart’s content.

African Bead MuseumOlayami Dabls’ visual story telling uses a wide range of materials. His work uses references from African material culture to tell stories about the human condition. Using iron, rock,  wood, and mirrors, Dabls found that these four materials are primary building blocks that speak universally to all cultures.

The audience watches

“Yeah, the students are made out of rocks. The exhibit is Iron Teaching Rocks How to Rust.  And, of course, rocks cannot rust, but you can teach people to believe pretty much anything you want them to believe. And they will.” Olayami Dbals.  From an interview to Michigan Radio

The teacher

*

A mad hatter's tea party?

A mad hatter’s tea party?

Detroits African Bead Museum
Dabls moved to Detroit with his parents from Mississippi because of the political and social unrest in the South during the 60s.

“In the years between 1975-1985, Dabls joined the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History as a curator and artist-in-residence. There, he learned how challenging it was to talk about the civil rights movement because in talking about emotionally charged history, there is no fixed perspective, only the memories, and experiences of millions of individuals. This inspired him to create the African Bead Museum as a space for communal understanding through his own sculptures and his collection of African material culture.”

African Bead Museum Detroit

*African Bead Museum

*African Bead Museum in Detroit

*African Bead Museum of Detroit

*African Bead Museum in Detroit

*African Bead Museum

Thank you Olayami Dabls for bringing such beauty and brightness to a small corner of Detroit.

For those of you that are curious, and have gotten to this point and wondered, MBAD are the initials of Olayami’s children.  Their names are: Makada, Barkan, Alake, and Davida, and please, forgive me all four of you if I have spelled them wrong.

Pewabic Pottery

 Detroit
Jul 242017
 

1025 Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, Michigan

 

Pewabic PotteryPewabic Pottery is a ceramic studio and school founded in 1903 by artist Mary Chase Perry Stratton and Horace James Caulkins.

Caulkins was considered a high-heat and kiln specialist, and developed the “Revelation kiln”.  Caulkins invented the kiln to help with his dental supply business, he then sold his kilns to other dentists so they could fire enamel for their patients.

Mary Perry Stratton was “the artistic and marketing force. Mary Stratton established the ceramics department at the University of Michigan and taught there. She also taught at Wayne State University. In 1947, she received the highest award in the American ceramic field, the Charles Fergus Binns Medal.

The collaboration of two and their blend of art and technology gave the pottery its historic place in the International Arts and Crafts movement exemplifying the American Craftsman Style.

Pewabic Pottery

The pottery continues in operation today and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991.

The word Pewabic is derived from the Ojibwa (or Chippewa) word “wabic”, which means metal, or “bewabic”, which means iron or steel, and specifically referring to the “Pewabic” Upper Peninsula copper mine where Ms. Stratton’s father worked and where she spent time taking long walks with him.

Pewabic PotteryUnder Mary Stratton’s artistic leadership, Pewabic Pottery employees created lamps, vessels, and architectural tiles. They were known for their iridescent glazes and architectural tiles.

Mary Stratton passed away, at the age of 94, in 1961. In 1964 Caulkins’ son, Henry deeded the Pewabic building and property to Michigan State University, which operated the site as part of its continuing education program until 1979.

This was not a successful venture and eventually a nonprofit, the Pewabic Society, Incorporated was established to help bring back the company.

In 1981 the Pewabic Society took ownership of Pewabic restoring the building and revitalizing Pewabic’s design and fabrication program. At that time the Society also grew the mission to include education and the creation of a museum, archive and exhibition programs.

The overhead wheels drive a system that lies underground stirring powdered clay with water to create the many types of clays Pewabic uses. This system is original to the building

The overhead wheels drive a system that lies underground stirring powdered clay with water to create the many types of clays Pewabic uses. This system is original to the building

After the clay is removed from the mixing area it is run through this giant bladder to separate as much water as possible from the clay to make it a viable product to mold.

After the clay is removed from the mixing area it is run through this giant bladder to separate as much water as possible from the clay to make it a viable product to mold.

Pieces ready to be fired are placed on racks to head to the kilns

Pieces ready to be fired are placed on racks to head to the kilns

There are several different types of kilns at Pewabic

There are several different types of kilns at Pewabic, this large one lifts up as a box so that you can load pottery from all four sides, the box then comes down over the racks, allowing firing.

Many pieces have glaze applied, prior to firing, by a sprayer, this is not only faster, but ensures a consistent color throughout

Many pieces have glaze applied, prior to firing, by a sprayer in this booth, this is not only faster but ensures a consistent color throughout

Today the company is a vital part of the community. The company’s most notable work, which was done under Mary Stratton, is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.. The project consisted of arches outlined with iridescent Pewabic tile, huge ceramic medallions set in the ceiling, and fourteen Stations of the Cross for the crypt.

Most of the tiles that Pewabic manufactures are created in molds

Most of the tiles that Pewabic manufactures are created in molds

Just a very small sampling of the molds

Just a very small sampling of the molds

Much of the work at Pewabic is done on potters wheels, the bags on the shelves hold the many different types of clays that are used

Much of the work at Pewabic is done on potters wheels.

Contemporary installations include Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Medical Center Children’s Hospital, and the Herald Square in New York City.

Pewabic also gives classes for budding and professional potters and ceramists.

Pewabic also gives classes for budding and professional potters and ceramists.

The Saarinen House

 Detroit
Jul 232017
 

Academy Way
Cranbrook
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Saarinen House

A tour of the Saarinen house is an amazing look into the perfectionism of Eliel Saarinen and his design beliefs and senses.  The house combines  Arts and Craft movement ideas with Art Deco elements for a stunning and harmonious work of art.

Saarinen House at Cranbrook

*

Saarinen House

Decorative elements are integral to the architecture and include patterned brickwork and leaded glass windows with triangles, square and rectangles.

The home was built concurrently with sculptor Carl Milles next door for a cost $140,000 for the two.  The typical cost of a home at that time in Detroit was $6250.

The home was completely restored in 1994, after having been changed by subsequent owners from 1950 to the 1990s.

Saarinen House

The living room is anchored by a rug created and woven by Eliel’s wife and weaving artist Loja Saarinen. The pattern is meant to echo the brickwork of the building.

All of the wooden furniture was crafted at Cranbrook by Swedish cabinet maker Tor Berglund using Eliel’s designs. The woods included greenheart, African walnut, rosewood, and ebony.

Saarinen Living Room

The sofa is based on a Finnish tradition in which rugs were draped onto the floor so they could be folded up over the sitters feet and lap for warmth.  In this case, Saarinen used the rug decoratively rather than functionally.

The andirons were designed by Saarinen are stylized peacocks.

The andirons, designed by Saarinen, are stylized peacocks.

The weaving above the fireplace is, again, by Loja Saarinen.  The tiles on the fireplace were designed by Saarinen but they were made by Mary Perry Chase Stratton of Pewabic Tile Company.

Saarinen

Above the credenza is a painting of Loja Saarinen done by her husband Eliel

Saarinen House

Silver designed by Saarinen

Saarinen Globe TAble

The globe table is the one piece in the house not designed by Berglund, it was, instead, designed by Saarinen’s son-in-law Robert F. Swanson.  The lighting in the house while designed by Saarinen it was all manufactured by Edward F. Caldwell and Company.

Saarinen Book Room

The Book Room is stunningly separated from the living room by a simple change of color on the molding.

Saarinen Dining Room

The table is covered in Saarinen designed silver pieces and pottery for Cranbrook Academy and the various Cranbrook schools

The dining room is one of the more spectacular rooms in the house. It is a square room made octagonal by the four corner niches. The table has an octagonal base but a circular top. The unique thing about the table is the four arch shaped extension leaves that came out from the exterior perimeter that allows the table to remain circular when expanded from an intimate 4 to a large 14.

Gold leaf covered dome lighting saarinen

The light is a gold-leaf-covered dome.

Greta Skogster

The wall hanging on the left was designed and woven by Finnish artist Greta Skogster.  It depicts birds in a tree.  It has open weave panels that mimic the panels of the dining room and allow you to see the birch wood behind the hanging.

saarinenThrough the door is the butler’s pantry with a Monel metal countertops, a Frigidaire and the personal pottery of the Saarinen’s. The kitchen is on the second floor and is not open to the public.

Saarinen upstairs

This small, blue furniture, alcove sits on the landing of the second floor and is where breakfast was brought to Eliel and Loja at 7:30 am by the housekeeper. The second floor contains the master bedroom and bath with four additional rooms and a guest bath. The other rooms have been modified into a small apartment for the use of the museum curator and are not open to the public.

2nd floor saarinen house

The doors on this floor had stencils on them by Saarinen daughter, Pipsan Swanson.  When the home was restored it was impossible to determine what they were so the restorer, Director Gregory Wittkopp,  utilized a pattern that Pipsan designed for the Kingswood School for girls, which is part of Cranbrook.

Saarinen master bedroom

Son, Eero Saarinen was 20 years old when his parents asked him to design the furniture for the bedroom. This would be one of his first commissions and the beginning of a successful architecture and furniture design career.

saarinen Eero

Loja Saarinen’s dressing table, designed by son Eero, the lamp and mirror were designed by his father Eliel.

Saarinen Studio

The Saarinen studio, located on the first floor, is broken into three sections.  The alcove, dubbed the “cozy corner” by Loja, was the main entertaining and work area.

Art pieces by daughter Pipsan

Art pieces by daughter Pipsan

Eero Saarinen

The above photo is the far end of the studio.  The center of the studio consisted of drafting tables and large windows for light.

The exquisiteness of this home and the incredible, masterful attention to detail is found throughout all of the buildings designed by Saarinen on the Cranbrook campus.

Saarinen was the chief architect of Cranbrook.  During his tenure, he designed Cranbrook School for boys (1925-1929), Kingswood School for Girls (1929-1931), Cranbrook Institute of Science (1935-1938), Cranbrook Academy of Art (1925-1942) and Cranbrook Art Museum and Library (1938-1942).  He also served as the Academy’s first president from 1932 – 1946 and headed the Department of Architecture and Urban Design from 1932-1950.

The home is operated by Cranbrook Art Museum and is open for tours from May through October.

Detroit’s Giant Tire

 Detroit, Michigan
Jul 212017
 

Along Interstate 94 West
Between the Southfield Freeway interchange and Outer Drive overpass
Allen Park, Michigan

Giant Uniroyal TireThis giant Uniroyal Giant Tire was originally created by the Uniroyal Tire Company for the 1964 New York World’s Fair, as a Ferris wheel.

The wheel was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, the architectural firm that designed the Empire State Building. Over 2 million people, including  Jacqueline Kennedy, Telly Savalas, and the Shah of Iran took a spin in one of its 24  four-passenger gondolas.

Giant Uniroyal TireIn 1965, after the fair, the tire was disassembled and put back together minus the gondolas. It originally stood outside of a Uniroyal sales office, the office moved, the tire did not.

Giant Uniroyal Tire as a Ferris WheelA nail was placed in the tire in 1998 to advertise Uniroyal’s NailGard tires, the nail was removed in 2003. At that time the tire was renovated at a cost of $1,000,000.

Giant Uniroyal Tire with Nail

Main Street Railroad Station in Richmond, VA

 Richmond, Virginia
Mar 272017
 

1500 East Main Street
Richmond, VA
March 2017

Richmond VA Main Street Railroad Station

This glorious building was not included in the VSA Spring study tour, but you could not help walk past it if you explore Richmond at all, and especially if you walk from downtown Richmond to the Shockoe District.

The Main Street Station was built in 1901 by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). Seaboard had newly introduced service to Richmond, and C&O had consolidated the former Virginia Central Railroad and the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad, which had previously maintained separate stations.

Richmond VA Main street train stationIn the 1950s, Seaboard shifted its Richmond passenger service to Union Station of Richmond on Broad Street (now the Science Museum of Virginia), but C&O continued at Main Street Station until Amtrak took over in 1971. In 1970, Main Street Station and its train shed, one of the last surviving train sheds of its type in the nation, were added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1976 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Richmond, VA Main Street Railroad Station Clock TowerIn 1972, Hurricane Agnes caused the James River to flood the station. The damage was so severe that Amtrak moved its Richmond stops to a different station in 1975. To make matters worse, the station was damaged by fires in 1976 and 1983. Rail service did not return to Main Street Station until 2003, when it was renovated and returned to service on December 18th of that year.

Some of the massive stones used in the construction of the train station

Some of the massive stones used in the construction of the train station

Constructed over a two-year period spanning the turn of the 20th century and designed in an eclectic variation on the ornate French Renaissance style.

Wilson, Harris, and Richards of Philadelphia, a firm that specialized in railroad architecture, designed both the monumental depot building and the attached 400’ long industrial train shed.

dsc_0945

The area around the train station is worth exploration as well, there are many old bars and restaurants housed in fun buildings and a locals farmers market.

The site of the 17th Street Farmers’ Market has been a public gathering place since 1737, and is one of America’s oldest public markets.

Richmond VA Shockoe Bottom Farmers MarketBy 1854, The Farmers’ Market had expanded and a large market building was built on the corner of Main and 17th Streets. During the Civil War, the First Market House, as it was originally called, served as a gathering place for Confederate soldiers and later as a barracks for Union Troops. In later decades, shoppers listened to political speeches, visited the police station on the second floor, and raised their own voices at religious revival meetings.

A history marker paying tribute to the one day flourishing Farmer's Market

A history marker paying tribute to the one day flourishing Farmer’s Market

The First Market House was razed in 1961 and the Farmers’ Market was reduced to scattered vendor stalls, but the predicted total demise never happened as a small market still exists on the spot.

The Union Station of Richmond, now the Virginia Museum of Science

The Union Station of Richmond, now the Virginia Museum of Science

Bolling Haxall House

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 272017
 

2111 Franklin Street
Richmond, VA
March 2017

Woman's Club Richmond VAThe Woman’s Club, that is housed in Bolling Haxall House, was founded in 1894 with the mission to advance education.  The house is one of the few private clubs, cum museum, in the US that is open to anyone that comes and knocks on its door.  The Woman’s Club, while charging for events in its lovely facility, also graciously donates space to educational facilities that are in need.  This is a very dynamic and wonderful group of Women.

Woman's Club Richmond VA

The iron-work fence is believed to have been cast by George Lownes, who did a similar, signed fence, in Hollywood Cemetery.

The Bolling Haxall House is an 1858 Italianate Mansion replicated for Bolling Walker Haxall from a house he admired in Brooklyn Heights, New York. Mr. Haxall, one of Richmond’s wealthiest citizens, was a partner in Haxall Mills, which were among the world’s largest flour mills. The architect is unknown. However, records show that the contractors were John and George Gibson.

Bolling Haxall House Richmond VA

In front of the house are two cast-iron horse-head hitching posts. These once stood on Capitol Street and were used for the horses of the state legislators.

Bolling Walker Haxall was also president of Old Dominion Iron and Nail Works and part owner of Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Company. He and his family lived in the well-appointed house until the Civil War burning of Richmond.

The entry hall ceiling of painted designs and ornamental plaster

The entry hall ceiling of painted designs and ornamental plaster

Because he feared for his family’s safety, he moved them to his home in Orange County, Virginia. After the war, he returned to the house, which had not been harmed in any way, only to find he could not afford to support it as he had lost several of his businesses to the fire. In 1869, Mr. Haxall sold The Bolling Haxall House to Dr. Francis T. Willis, a prominent physician, for $28,000.00.

There are many stunning marble fireplaces in the home, not all original to the home, but period pieces none-the-less

There are many stunning marble fireplaces in the home, not all original to the home, but period pieces none-the-less

The Woman’s Club purchased the home from Dr. Willis’ grandson in 1900 for the sum of $20,000.00. The House has served as the permanent home of The Woman’s Club ever since.
Woman's Club Richmond VA *Woman's Club Richmond VAThe Bolling Haxall House Foundation, an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was organized in 1990 as a preservation foundation which owns the historic property and raises funds to maintain it.

The piano and accompanying chair are said to be original to the second owner. It is still played by those brave enough to sit and play such an historic instrument.

The piano and accompanying chair are said to be original to the second owner. It is still played by those brave enough to sit and play such an historic instrument.

This stunning historic structure is on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a Virginia Historic Landmark.

The spiral staircase is topped with a stunning colored glass window.

The spiral staircase, added during Dr. Willis’s ownership, is topped with a stunning stained glass window.

Woman's Club of Richmond VA

The ballroom was added in 1916

The auditorium was added in 1916

Many of the new appointments include lovely paintings on the blinds and Bradbury and Bradbury wallpaper.

Many of the new appointments include lovely paintings on the blinds and Bradbury and Bradbury wallpaper.

This whimsical lamp was added in a recent renovation

This whimsical lamp was added in a recent renovation.

Woman's Club Richmond VA

The back of the house originally had a columned porch. The back of the house commanded a wonderful view of the James River and the mills along its banks.  When the auditorium was added the porch was eliminated on all levels except the second floor.  When a building was expanded next door, even that view was lost.  For this reason there is now a lovely mural along the wall to be viewed as you step out on the balcony. The mural represents what the view would have been in 1860. Of the 27 edifices depicted in the mural only seven remain. The mural was painted by Luther Coleman Wells.

 

Off the Beaten Path in Richmond, Virginia

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 272017
 

There are always weird and wonderful things that one finds when traveling, and here are three that I found in Richmond.

Marley Building Richmond VA

The Markel Building
5310 Markel Road

This 1962 building by Haig Jamgochian, was inspired by a foil wrapped potato.  Don’t believe me? Check out the historic marker sign next to the building.

The Markel Building

As the sign says, each floor is one single piece of aluminum.  Sadly this aluminum siding material is not holding up too well. Much of the texture was derived by Jamgochian using a sledgehammer to the aluminum, and much of that has been repaired in various ridiculous ways.

The Markel Building

Haigh Jamgochian (1925- ) known as Jam to his friends, was born in Richmond, VA to Armenian immigrants fleeing to America to escape genocide in their country. He studied at Dartmouth, Virginia Tech and Princeton, and trained for a short time with Frank Lloyd Wright. He writes of the building: “They wanted it to be built a certain way but had a limited budget, so we took the weight out of the building to lower the cost.  The idea to wrap a building in aluminum came to me over dinner one evening…”

The building is supported by some very unusual looking columns.

The building support columns are surrounded by some very unusual looking concrete castings.

The second unusual site is the Grand Kugel in front of the Union Station of Richmond which is now the Virginia Museum of Science at 2400 West Broad Street.

A kugel ball is a perfectly spherical stone ball that is set into a matching, perfectly concave cup. Water is then forced in from the bottom of the cup creating an evenly distributed, incredibly thin layer of water. The ball, almost no matter how heavy can then be moved on the liquid surface as though it weighed nothing at all.

A number of these floating stone spheres can be found around the globe, however, the Grand Kugel, installed in 2003, is the largest of these sculptural science experiments in the world. It is actually known as the Mary Morton Parsons Earth-Moon Sculpture, after its benefactor.

The third crazy stop is Connecticut The Indian at 2700 East Carey Street.

Connecticut Indian

The sculpture is the work of Richmond artist Paul DiPasquale, who created the statue as a tribute to the area’s natives in 1983 with the intention of having it installed in Washington D.C.  DiPasquale is also the sculptor of the Arthur Ashe sculpture on Monument Avenue.

“Connecticut” comes from the Eastern Algonquin Indian word, Quinnehtukgut which means beside the long tidal river.

The rooftop in the Shockoe Bottom neighborhood is the statue’s third home. Fabricated for the roof of a liquor store at 2600 Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C., a family dispute blocked the installation. Di Pasquale sought a new home and Frances and Sydney Lewis became interested who founded Best Products Company in Richmond in 1957, collectors of contemporary art.

Di Pasquale sought a new home and Frances and Sydney Lewis, collectors of contemporary art who founded Best Products Company in Richmond in 1957, became interested. However, local officials ruled that the statue was a sign and in violation of rooftop signage codes.

Bought back by the artist DiPasquale donated it to the Richmond Braves who placed it on top of a concession stand at “The Diamond”, the Triple-A baseball team’s new stadium, built in 1985. There he sat for nearly 25 years, as the mascot of the Braves. But in 2010, the Braves moved out of Richmond. Hopefully, as its final resting place, the sculpture was purchased by ODELL Architects and moved to the Lucky Strike power plant, an old tobacco factory complex that was being converted into loft apartments and offices. The easiest way to view Connecticut The Indian is down by the railroad tracks between Carey Street and the Canal.

Always remember to enjoy the sublime AND the ridiculous on your journey.

Two Unique Churches in Richmond, Virginia

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 272017
 

Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church
815 E. Grace Street
and
Confederate Memorial Chapel
2900 Grove Avenue

St Pauls Episcopal Church Richmond VA

Saint Paul’s is located directly across the street from the Virginia State Capitol, and has long been a popular house of worship for political figures, including General Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The first Episcopal church in Richmond was Monumental Church. However, Monumental’s congregation had begun to outgrow its building so its assistant rector, Reverand William Norwood, led an effort to found a new Episcopal church to accommodate the expanding membership. They had grand plans for this new venture and no church as large as the one planned (seating for 800 people) had ever been built in Virginia. A committee was formed to visit northern cities and view recently constructed large urban churches. While touring Philadelphia, the committee became enamored by the spacious St. Luke’s Church (now The Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany) and determined it should be the model for what would become St. Paul’s. The committee commissioned the architect of St. Luke’s, Thomas S. Stewart, to design a near replica for Richmond.  Steward had also designed the Egyptian Building nearby for the University School of Medicine. The resulting building by Stewart was consecrated in 1845. It is of Greek Revival style, and a complement to Jefferson’s temple-form capitol across the street.

St Pauls Episcopal church richmond va

There is an amazing amount of history within this church, including the over 20 stained glass windows, some of which are by Tiffany Studios.Tiffany window in St Pauls of Richmond VA

This is The Annunciation, installed in 1901 and by Tiffany.

Tiffany Altarpiece in St. Pauls Richmond VA

The Last Supper, also by Tiffany Studios was installed in 1896. This stained glass mosaic is without a doubt, the foremost work of art in St. Paul’s.

st pauls richmond va

The ceiling incorporates a variety of Greek-style motifs that surround a gold medallion with rays terminating in a Tetragrammaton, a triangular symbol of the Trinity with the four Hebrew letters for Yahweh (God).

Pew 111 Is where General Robert E. Lee’s family sat and pew 63 is where Confederate President Jefferson Davis worshiped from 1861 to 1865. It was during a church service that Davis received news that Lee could no longer defend Richmond, leading to the evacuation of the city and the subsequent fire which destroyed much of downtown, but not Saint Pauls.

The stunning Wrought Iron Fence that surrounds St Paul's

The stunning wrought iron fence that surrounds St Paul’s

On the grounds of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts stand the Confederate Memorial Church.

Confederate Memorial Chapel Richmond VA

The Confederate Memorial Chapel served as a nondenominational house of worship for the Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldier’s Home.  The Home was the first successful and longest operating residential complex for poor and infirmed southern veterans of the Civil War.

The chapel cost $4000 and was built with proceeds from benefit auctions of tobacco. The chapel was designed by architect Marion J. Dimmock, in the Carpenter Gothic style.  Carpenter Gothic, also called Rural Gothic is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters.

Confederate Memorial Chapel, Richmond VAThe interior has pine floors and a vaulted ceiling with rows of hand-hewn pews. The various Belcher Studio stained glass windows are of interest in their unique style.

Belcher Stained Glass*Belcher GlassHenry Belcher applied for four patents for his mosaic process between 1884 and 1889. To make its windows, the New York company assembled small pieces of glass—”not larger than one half-inch across”—into the desired pattern, arranging them around larger pieces of glass used for some of the elements of the designs. The whole mosaic was then sandwiched between two larger sheets of asbestos. The artisan poured in a liquid metal alloy, which would snake its way between the pieces and bind them together.

The chapel is open every day from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Virginia State Capitol

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 272017
 

Virginia State Capitol
Richmond, VA
March 2017

Virginia State Capitol

Virginia’s State Capitol, located in Richmond, is the third capital city of the U.S. state of Virginia and houses the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere.

Thomas Jefferson is credited with the overall design of the new Capitol, together with French architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau. The design was modeled after the Maison Carrée at Nîmes in southern France, an ancient Roman temple.

This is all I will say about the building as it has been written about over the course of hundreds of years by far greater scholars than I, including our esteemed leader and educator Richard Guy Wilson of UVA.

The back side of the capitol showing the buildings that originally contained the two houses of the legislature.

The back side of the capitol. The smaller building on the left is the Senate Chamber and the smaller building on the right is the House of Delegates Chamber, both added in 1906.

Virginia State Capitol

The center of the Capitol is the Rotunda.  A 30-foot diameter dome caps the Rotunda, added in 1794. There is no mention of the dome in Jefferson’s plans and it is not known if it was a later idea of Jefferson’s or a modification made by the builder. Constructed beneath the pitch of a gable roof, this skylight illuminated dome is invisible from the exterior of the building.

George Washington in the Virginia State Capitol

George Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon

In the center of the Rotunda, commissioned by the Virginia General Assembly in 1784 as a tribute to Virginia’s most respected citizen-soldier, stands this stunning sculpture of George Washington.  They wrote to Thomas Jefferson, who was on a diplomatic mission to Paris at the time, asking him to commission Jean-Antoine Houdon for the job.  Houdon traveled to Mount Vernon to study Washington, making a plaster mask of his face and taking detailed measurements of his body.   He returned to France and carved the sculpture from Carrera marble.  It was placed in the Rotunda on May 14th, 1796.  There are many illusions to the Roman empire in the work.  Washingtons sword is on his side while his left-hand rests on a bundle of rods, called fasces, a Roman symbol of power.  He also carries his walking stick and as a possible reference to Roman statesman Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, he is placed standing in front of a plow.

George Washington Virginia State Capitol Building

LA Fayette VA state capitol

Another sculpture by Houdon can be found in a niche surrounding the Rotunda.  This is of Marquis de Lafayette, a Frenchman who fought for America during the Revolution.  Lafayette was voted a citizen of Virginia by an “act of assembly” in 1785 for his services.

VA State Capitol

One of the most important paintings in the Capitol can be found in the Old Senate Chamber. The painting is the Storming of a British Redoubt by American Troops at Yorktown.  Painted by French artist Eugène-Louis Lami in 1840 it shows exactly what its name implies.  The battle took place in October 1781, the same month that Cornwallis surrendered to Washington, and America won its national independence.  The painting was a gift to Virginia in 1878 from philanthropist William Corcoran.

Plaster model

Jefferson commissioned Jean-Pierre Fouquet to make a plaster model of the Capitol prior to its restoration. Jefferson described Fouquet as “an artist who had been employed by the ambassador of France to Constantinople, in make models of the most celebrated remains of ancient architecture in the country.”

The model is at a scale of 1:60 and is reinforced with internal iron rods. The plaster model was not originally white.  An architectural archeological study of the model was done to determine the original colors, and the various colors found are shown on the back of the model.  It is thought it may have been possible that the original capitol was painted to represent masonry.

Virginia State Capitol

George Washington outside Virginia State Capitol

There is much fine artwork inside and out of the capitol, but the statue of a horse mounted Washington is the last I will discuss in this post.

The Washington Monument which stands prominently outside the capitol was sculpted by Thomas Crawford. Crawford was born in New York City and studied drawing and wood carving before joining a stonecutting studio in New York.  He traveled to Rome in 1835 to study with neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorwaldsen and established a studio there. Crawford is responsible for a good many pieces of sculpture throughout the Virginia State Capitol. However, he is best known for the Statue of Freedom that tops the US Capitol Dome.

The National Park Service states: “Crawford designed three tiers of pedestals with George Washington on top, Virginia patriots in the middle, and a series of allegorical female figures and shields with inscriptions in memory of Revolutionary war principles or events on the bottom. The trophy figures represent the virtues of the revolutionary era and battles and places representing those virtues. The second tier consists of standing figures of Virginia’s leaders during the Revolution: Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, John Marshall, Andrew Lewis, Thomas Nelson, and Patrick Henry. Atop the pedestal is the equestrian statue of Washington. Crawford only finished the sculptures of Washington, Jefferson, and Henry before his death. Crawford’s protégé, another important sculptor Randolph Rogers, completed the remaining pedestal sculptures after the Civil War. ”

The Capitol building is open for Guided Tours 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with the last tour commencing at 4:00 p.m. On Sunday, guided tours are available from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the last tour commencing at 4:00 p.m. Tours last approximately one hour and are free.

Monument Avenue

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 262017
 

Monument Avenue
Richmond Virginia
March 2017

Monument Avenue Richmond VA

Monument Avenue is either a bone of contention or an art gallery, and stirs emotions in all. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and a National Historic Landmark in 1997, making it, more than likely, an unchangeable force, as the NHL listing is the highest national designation a landmark can receive. It is also the only residential boulevard with monuments of this scale to survive almost unaltered to the present day.

As our guide, Richard Guy Wilson stated:  “it may be a place of residences and churches, a street of movement and communication, but ultimately Monument Avenue is the site of memorials to the Confederacy.”

This tree-lined, grassy mall, divides the east- and westbound traffic and is punctuated by statues memorializing Virginian Confederate participants of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Jefferson Davis, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Matthew Fontaine Maury, as well as Arthur Ashe, a Richmond native and international tennis star.

Robert E Lee Monument Avenue

The first monument, a statue of Robert E. Lee, was erected in 1890.

The Robert E. Lee statue was created by Anton Mercié with the pedestal by architect, Paul Pujol. It stands 21 feet tall and weight around 12 tons.  It sits upon a forty foot high granite pedestal.

Mercié entered the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and studied under Alexandre Falguière and François Jouffroy, and in 1868 gained the Grand Prix de Rome at the age of 23. His first great popular successes were the David and Gloria Victis, which was shown and received the Medal of Honour of the Paris Salon.

Photo from WikiCommons

Photo from WikiCommons

J.E. B. Stuart was created by Frederick Moynihan. The sculptor was inspired by a sculpture of the British General Outram done by John Foley for Calcutta, India.  The sculpture was unveiled in 1907at the largest Confederate reunion ever held.

Frederick Moynihan was an American sculptor, born on the Isle of Guernsey in 1843. He died at his New York City studio on January 9, 1910. Moynihan studied at the Royal Academy in London before immigrating to the United States. He is best remembered for creating monuments commemorating the American Civil War.

Monument Avenue

The Jefferson Davis sculpture by Edward Valentine is the most controversial of all the sculptures on Monument Avenue.  Unveiled in 1907 it sits in front of an exedra by architect William Noland.  There is a 65-foot tall doric column topped with a bronze allegorical figure named Vindicatrix.

According to James Ira Deese Miller author of A Guide to the South, “the monument typifies the vindication of Mr. Davis and the cause of the Confederacy for which he stood before the world, the leading inscripton being “Deo Vince” (God will vindicate)…Vindicatrix represents the whole spirit of the movement.”

Monument Avenue, Richmond, VAIn the statue, Davis is represented as an orator.  The two end piers are topped with a bronze group of war trophies, consisting of Confederate shields and flags, together with other emblems of land and naval warfare.

Monument Avenue Richmond, VA

Edward Valentine was born on November 12, 1838 in Richmond, Virginia. He studied in Europe: in Paris with Couture and Jouffroy, in Italy under Bonanti, and with August Kiss in Berlin. He died on October 19, 1930 in Richmond, Virginia.

William Churchill Noland (1865-1951) was a partner of Baskervill and Son, a firm that has maintained a consistent history as one of the most successful Richmond, VA, architectural firms since its establishment in 1897. The firm, originally called Noland and Baskervill, was the partnership of architect Noland and electrical engineer Henry Baskervill (1867-1930).

Monument Avenue Richmond VA

Stonewall Jackson, unveiled in 1919 was sculpted by Frederick William Sievers. Frederick William Sievers (1872–1966) was an American sculptor, born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sievers moved to Richmond, Virginia, as a young man, furthering his art studies by attending the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and the Académie Julian in Paris.

Monument Avenue Richmond VA

The statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury was also sculpted by Frederick William Sievers and was unveiled in 1929.  Sievers composed the statue with images of water, land, and sky, which relate to Maury’s achievements in oceanography, navigation, and meteorology. Jellyfish are sculpted in the arms of Maury’s chair, and bats, swallows, and fish encircle the base supporting the globe. Stylistically, the statue (which faces eastward toward the Atlantic Ocean) is perhaps the most complex of all the monuments on Monument Avenue.

Monument Avenue Richmond VA

The most recent statue to be erected on Monument Avenue is of local tennis great, Arthur Ashe.  This sculpture is by Paul DiPasquale and was unveiled in 1966.

The bronze statue of Arthur Ashe faces west with four children facing east. The statue shows him holding books in his left hand and a tennis racket in his right hand to illustrate how he encouraged the importance of sports and education. The 12-foot bronze statue stands on a 87,000-pound granite block quarried in Georgia.

Paul DiPasquale is an American artist. He graduated from the University of Virginia, and trained at the Boston Architectural Center, he received his Masters degree in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1977.

I apologize for the quality of the photos, they were taken through the window of a moving bus.

Richmond, Virginia’s Old City Hall

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 252017
 

1000 E Broad Street
Richmond Virginia
March 2017

This High Victorian Gothic structure was designed by Detroit architect Elijah E. Meyers and was completed in 1894.

Richmond VA Old City Hall

Old City Hall served as Richmond’s city hall until the 1970s. This is the third Richmond municipal building on this site, and occupies an entire city block. The original City Hall and Courthouse stood on this site from 1816 to 1875.

City Engineer Wilfred Cutshaw led the efforts to build a replacement for the 1816 building. A national competition was held and resulted in the selection of Elijah Myers who had been the designer of the State capitols of Michigan, Colorado, Texas, and Idaho and winner of the international competition for the Parliament Buildings in Rio de Janeiro.

Richmond, VA Old City HallThe bids were considerably higher than expected due to the choice of materials, and the large amount of ornamentation. City Engineer Wilfred Cutshaw attempted to manage the cost of the project by serving as the project contractor and hiring day laborers. In the end, the project cost  $1.3 million dollars, a ridiculous cost over run from its original $300,000 budget.

The interior of the building is a site to behold

The interior of the building is a sight to behold

James Netherwood was the subcontractor for the stone portion of Old City Hall’s construction. Netherwood was an English immigrant.  He chose “Petersburg” granite quarried locally along the James River. Netherwood’s workers relied on steam-driven saws and polishing tools developed in Britain in the 19th century to carve the stone.  Old City Hall is the largest granite building in Richmond.

Richmond VA Old City HallRichmond iron founder, Asa Snyder, cast the grills and fencing along with the cast iron columns in the atrium.

Restored to its original color scheme, the atrium is an amazing example of cast iron architecture in Richmond.

Old City Hall was almost torn down two times, once in 1915 and again in 1971. Saving the building was a huge preservation victory.

The building was rehabbed in the early 1980s as offices.

Richmond, VA Old City Hall

Egyptology and Richmond, Virginia

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 242017
 

Monument Church 1224 East Broad Street
The Egyptian Building 1223 East Marshall Street
March 2017

Egyptian revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson’s defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

Monumental Church Richmond VAThis revival began in the first building of today’s VSA tour the Monumental Church.

Tragedy at a phenomenal scale built this church and it is preserved and restored thankfully by Historic Richmond.

On December 26, 1811 a chandelier collided with the scenery of the theater that stood on this site.  The result was the death of 72 men, women and children, both white and black. This was one of the worst urban disasters that had hit the new America. Of the 72 who died in the fire 54 were women and 18 were men. Among the notable victims were Virginia’s sitting governor, George William Smith, and former senator Abraham B. Venable. Also killed were Benjamin Botts, of Dumfries, and his wife; Botts had made a name for himself as a member of the defense in Aaron Burr’s 1807 trial for treason.

Monumental Church

On the top of the memorial pedestal there is a winged disk which represents the Egyptian diety Horus.

Due to the fire, the city came together to build a memorial befitting the tragedy.  The result was Monumental Church.  Robert Mills was awarded the contract of designing the building, after beating his teacher Benjamin Henry Latrobe out of the award.

Monumental Church Richmond VA

The marble urn is adorned with funerary symbols including drapery, stars and a wreath with flying ribbons. The faces of shrouded women also appear, which can be traced back to a 1728 book of architecture that Mills likely consulted.

Mills used this opportunity to practice his classical design elements, which can be found throughout the interior of the church.  Along with his classical elements he also used a handful of Egyptian motifs.

The victims of the fire were entombed in the ground and the building was built around them. You will find the names of all the dead in the memorial in the portico of the building.

Monumental Church Richmond VA

A considerable amount of architectural archeology was done to determine that the columns were in fact, this blue, and faux painted to resemble marble.

Monumental Church Richmond VA

The capitals in the church contain more symbols of mourning. There are upside-down torches symbolizing life snuffed out,  and stars representing heaven also drapery referencing a burial shroud.

Found, under the stairs, in the most recent renovation were notes with measurements and a notation to the architect "Mr Mills".

Found, under the stairs, in the most recent renovation were notes with measurements and a notation to the architect “Mr Mills”.

The church has gone through many iterations, including being turned into a Victorian Era church.  Today it has been brought back to its original state, thanks to Historic Richmond, although it still has a ways to go.  It is not ready for adaptive re-use since the pews are original and should be preserved, making it difficult to find a proper venue, although they are still open to ideas.

The original pews would have been approximatelu 18" higher allowing privacy, they were cut down in the Victorian age, however, so may famous people have sat in the, including Edgar Allen Poe, Lafayette and others, they are of historical importance and must remain as part of the structure.

The original pews would have been approximately 18″ higher allowing privacy, they were cut down in the Victorian age. So many famous people have sat in them, including Edgar Allen Poe, Lafayette, and others, making them of historical importance and must remain as part of the structure.

Just around the corner is the “Egyptian Building”.

Egyptian Building Richmond VA

The Egyptian Building is considered by architectural scholars to be one of the finest surviving Egyptian Revival-style buildings in the nation.

Designed by The Egyptian Building was originally called College Building, and later the Old College Building.

Designed by noted Greek Revival architect Thomas S. Stewart of Philadelphia, the Egyptian Building is one of the finest examples of the rare “Egyptian Revival” style. The building was the first permanent home of the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College, which later became the Medical College of Virginia. The Egyptian Building has been in continuous use since its construction in 1845 and remains the oldest medical college building in the South.

The Egyptian Building Richmond VA

The building is constructed from brick, stucco and cast iron.

The interior of the building in 2017

The interior of the building in 2017

The Egyptian Building Richmond VA

Throughout the building you will find the winged disk which represents Horus. This symbol is also found in the Monumental Church.

The cast iron capitals, topping cast stone columns and cast iron bases.

The cast iron capitals, top cast stone columns and cast iron bases.

The Egyptian Building  was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971.

Maymont

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 232017
 

2201 Shield Lakes Drive
Richmond, Virginia
March 2017

In 1893, Major James H. Dooley, a wealthy Richmond lawyer and philanthropist, along with his wife, Sallie, completed this elaborate estate in Richmond, Virginia on a 100-acre site overlooking the James River.

Maymont Richmond VA

The house was occupied until Sallie May Dooley’s death in 1925, her husband had predeceased her in 1922. After their deaths, Maymont was left to the city of Richmond and opened as a museum just six months after Mrs. Dooley’s death. It did not fare well under the guise of the city. The upper floors’ interiors and a large original collection remained relatively untouched, uncleaned, and unprotected. In 1970 a foundation was formed, and now the palatial home, while still owned by the city, is run and funded by the foundation.

This is Fountain Court. The fountain, originally nine feet deep, apparently served as a reservoir to supply the Italian Garden fountains and the Japanese Garden waterfall. Designed by Noland and Baskerville and completed in 1911, it was based on a similar landscape feature at the Villa Torlonia near Rome.

This is Fountain Court. The fountain, originally nine feet deep, apparently served as a reservoir to supply the Italian Garden fountains and the Japanese Garden waterfall. Designed by Noland and Baskervill and completed in 1911, it was based on a similar landscape feature at the Villa Torlonia near Rome.

Maymont was named for Major Dooley’s wife, Sallie May. “May Mont,” combines Mrs. Dooley’s maiden name and the French word for hill. Construction on this Romanesque style, Victorian Age, building began in early 1879 but came to a stop early on.  Construction began again in 1890, with the mansion completed in 1893.

The 12,000 square foot, 33 room home was designed by Roman born and educated architect, Edgeton S. Rogers. The home was originally to be granite with a red slate roof to match its pink Montana marble columns and its hundreds of pink roses planted about the grounds.  The exterior, however, is made of Ohio Sandstone, and the red slate roof was replaced with black slate by the City of Richmond in the 1960s.

James Dooley descended from a successful Richmond family that had immigrated from Ireland.  Sallie May was the daughter of a prominent and long-standing Virginia family.  Their varied tastes and backgrounds are reflected in the home.

This is Mr. office and personal space.

This is Mr. Dooley’s office and personal space. The Maymont Mansion Collection is comprised of works of decorative and fine arts acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Dooley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, evidenced by the eclectic but tasteful interiors. Throughout the house, but beginning in Mr. Dooley’s office one can see the Dooleys’ reverence for the “Old Masters,” the collection includes many well-executed oil copies of paintings in the Pitti Palace, the AltePinathotek and other major collections that the couple visited on their trips abroad.

There is no wallpaper in the house as the Dooley’s preferred the walls hand painted or stenciled. Two rooms have silk damask upholstered walls.

There is no wallpaper in the house as the Dooley’s preferred the walls hand painted or stenciled. Two rooms have silk damask upholstered walls.

Maymont

Mrs. Dooley’s drawing room is done in pink damask with a gold leafed fireplace.  The silk curtains are original. Unfortunately, papers, blueprints, and documents at Maymont were burned following Mrs. Dooley’s death, and in the 1930s, pieces that the City considered superfluous were sold. Despite this, the interiors and a large collection of the Dooley’s possessions remain relatively untouched.

Maymont

The settee and four chairs found in this parlor are original. The museum had sent them out to be regilded and the upholstery cleaned, only to find that they were too delicate to handle the cleaning.

 

This Tiffany window, found on two floors is a 15 foot tall window divided between two floors

This 15 foot tall Tiffany window spans two floors.  The first floor contains a passage from Luke Chapter 10 verse 5. Peace be unto this house.

Maymont Tiffany Window

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Maymont

The second floor bathroom has a few areas that were left to show the neglect that occurred before the foundation was formed. The lack of cleaning can be seen in the small panel of blue above the tile that is a much darker color that the rest of the border.

The second-floor bathroom has a few areas that were left to show the neglect that occurred before the Maymont Foundation was formed. The lack of cleaning can be seen in the small panel of blue above the tile that is a much darker color than the rest of the border.

Maymont

Mrs. Dooley’s bedroom is one of the highlights of the tour.  The entire room is themed in swans.  These furnishings were originally in their summer home, Swannanoa, on Afton Mountain in Virginia. The bed is carved poplar by Newman and Company of Manhattan.

Maymont

The Dooley’s were consummate travelers, including many trips to Europe, San Francisco, Yosemite Valley, Polar Springs Maine, New York City and many points in between. This is Mrs. Dooley’s Louis Vuitton trunk with her name and address emblazoned on the end.

Her rocking chair was decked with swans, and many small sculptures of swans, and a painting over the fireplace can be found throughout the room.

Her rocking chair was decked with swans, as well as the painting over the fireplace and many small swan sculptures can be found throughout the room.

This dressing table and chair are a one of a kind male Narwal tusk and sterling silver Tiffany creation. The piece is in the Viking Revival style. The sterling silver contains Celtic designs with dragons toping the tusks.

This dressing table and chair are a one of a kind male Narwal tusk and sterling silver Tiffany creation. The piece is in the Viking Revival style. The sterling silver contains Celtic designs with dragons topping the tusks.

The Dooleys’ Doric temple-style mausoleum sits on the property not far from the house on the ridge over the river.

The Dooleys’ Doric temple-style mausoleum sits on the property not far from the house on the ridge over the river.

The Normandy-style Carriage House (built of James River granite), the three-storied Stone Barn and the Water Tower were designed by Noland and Baskervill and constructed in the early 20th century. These principal buildings (in addition to the three-storied Garage, a granite compost house, chicken coop and gatehouse) all were connected by the old service road that begins at Maymont’s Hampton Street entrance. Arrayed along a high ridge, this village-like assemblage of picturesque outbuildings would have been visible to guests entering along the magnolia-lined drive. These buildings have been adaptively renovated as public spaces and for institutional use.

The Stone Barn

The Normandy-style Carriage House (built of James River granite), the three-storied Stone Barn and the Water Tower were designed by Noland and Baskervill and constructed in the early 20th century. Arrayed along a high ridge, this village-like assemblage of outbuildings would have been visible to guests entering along the magnolia-lined drive. These buildings have been adaptively renovated as public spaces and for institutional use.

The Carriage House

The Carriage House

One of two water towers

One of two water towers.

Childless, the Dooley’s were big philanthropists. Not only did they give the estate to Richmond, but upon their death, several sizable bequests: $500,000 to the Crippled Children’s Hospital, $500,000 to the Richmond Public Library and $250,000 to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. Upon her death, Ms. Dooley designated that her jewels be sold to benefit Episcopal missions, this included a 10 carat diamond and a considerable amount of Tiffany designed jewelry.

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It was March so flowers were not in bloom, nor were the water features running due to freezing, but this will give you a sense of the Italian Garden

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The Japanese garden is very large and lovely as well.

The Japanese garden is very large and lovely as well.

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The grounds and gardens are open Daily
April-September, 10am-7pm
October-March, 10am-5pm
Admission is Free

The Mansion is open
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-5pm
Guided tours on the hour and half-hour; last tour begins at 4:30pm.
$5 per person suggested donation

Richmond, Virginia’s Canal Walk and Edgar Allan Poe

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 222017
 

The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
1914 East Main Street
March 2017

Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Though Poe never lived in the building, the museum serves to commemorate his time living in Richmond. The museum holds one of the world’s largest collections of original manuscripts, letters, first editions, memorabilia and personal belongings. The museum also provides an overview of early 19th century Richmond, where Poe lived and worked.

Richmond Virgiinia CanalWalkThe museum is just a few blocks from the James River and is an excellent jumping off spot for the Canal Walk.

First proposed by John Marshall in 1812 to connect the tidewaters of the James River with the navigable stretches of the Ohio River, the Kanawha canal required the back breaking effort of thousands of laborers. In 1837 there were as many as 3300 men, the majority of which were white Irish immigrants working on the canal. The summer of 1838 had such high temperatures that many of the Irish laborers died of hypothermia. They were replaced by slaves that worked not only through the grueling summer, but through horrible winters as well.

Richmond Virginia Canal Walk*

Richmond Virginia Canal Walk

 

Richmond Virginia Canal Walk

Captain Christopher Newport arrived in Virginia on May 24, 1607 where he planted a cross in honor of King James I. In 1907 the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities erected this cross on the tercentenary of Newport’s visit. It was moved to this location in 2000.

Richmond Virginia Canal Walk

The Slave Trail begins at the Manchester Docks which operated as a major port in the slave trade making Richmond the largest source of enslaved blacks on the east coast from 1830 to 1860. The trail follows the footsteps of those who remained in Richmond and who crossed the James River, often chained together. The trail then follows a route through the slave markets and auction houses of Richmond. It continues past Lumpkin’s Slave Jail and then past the African Burial Ground and the First African Baptist Church.

Canal Walk Richmond Virginia

Walking through the abandoned portion of the hydroelectric plant.

canal walk richmond va

Stone arches supporting bridges that cross the Haxall canal.

Canal Walk Richmond VA

*RICHMOND Canal walk

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Richmond VA Canal Walk

Stretching one-and-one-quarter-miles along the James River and the Kanawha and Haxall canals, the Canal Walk has access points at nearly every block between 5th and 17th streets. There are handicapped-accessible entrances at 5th, 10th, 12th, 14th and 16th streets.

Hollywood Cemetery

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 222017
 

412 South Cherry Street
Richmond, Virginia
March 2017

Hollywood Hills Cemetery

This stunning sculpture was done by Edward Valentine. His work and sculpture maquettes are enshrined in the Valentine House in Richmond, VA

Hollywood Cemetery is the resting place of two United States Presidents, James Monroe and John Tyler, as well as the only Confederate States President, Jefferson Davis. It is also the resting place of 28 Confederate generals, more than any other cemetery in the country.

This stone for a woman from Wales is an excellent reminder of how our country was settled by immigrants from all over the world.

This stone for a woman from South Wales is an excellent reminder of how our country was settled by immigrants from all over the world.

In the late 1840s, William Haxall and Joshua Fry hired John Notman (architect of Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia) to design the cemetery in the rural garden style. Its name, “Hollywood,” came from the holly trees dotting the hills of the property.

There are two areas that stand out in this massive cemetery the first one you come upon is The Pyramid.  Built in 1869, it is 90 feet high, and its size must be seen to be believed. This giant pyramid was built as a memorial to the more than 18,000 enlisted men of the Confederate Army buried in the cemetery.

The Pyramid of Hollywood Cemetery

*Hollywood Hills Cemetery

*dsc_0991 *dsc_0989 *dsc_0988 *The Pyramid of Hollywood Cemetery

The second most notable area in the cemetery is Presidents Hill.  The Hill is covered with flowering plum trees and sits on a knoll overlooking the James River.

President's Hill Hollywood Cemetery

James Monroe Grave

James Monroe’s grave sits at the center of Presidents Hill.  Governor of Virginia and the Fifth President of the United States, he is best known for the Monroe Doctrine, which prevented European intervention in the Americas.  His wife and daughters are buried along the sides of the tomb.

John Tyler's Grave

John Tyler was governor of Virginia and the 10th President of the United States. He was also the first President to succeed to the office following the death of a predecessor (William Harrison). Arguably the most significant achievement of Tyler’s administration was the annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1845.

The James River

The James River

The cemetery consists of 130 acres, and can take hours and hours to explore, here are a few shots of some of the more interesting graves.

Said to be a favorite of visitors, there is really no indication of who the dog belongs to or if it is the dogs grave.

Said to be a favorite of visitors, there is really no indication of who the dog belongs to or if it is the dogs grave.

This dog, however, is obviously pining for its old master

This dog, however, is obviously pining for its old master.

I cannot imagine going through life with this tongue twister of a name.

I cannot imagine going through life with this tongue twister of a name.

Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (April 22, 1873 – November 21, 1945) was an American novelist who portrayed the changing world of the contemporary South.

Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (April 22, 1873 – November 21, 1945) was an American novelist who portrayed the changing world of the contemporary South. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1942 book In This Our Life.

This grave, near Ellen Glasgow's had a fascinating design

This grave, near Ellen Glasgow’s had a fascinating design

Hollywood Cemetery Richmond Virginia

Jefferson Finis Davis is most noted for serving as the President of the Confederate States of America. His daughters are buried in the tombs with the angels.

I was unable to find the oldest grave in the cemetery, but I did find a pretty old one.

I was unable to find the oldest grave in the cemetery, but I did find a pretty old one.  The first burial was an infant in 1849.

Hollywood Cemetery Richmond VA

Hollywood Cemetery richmond VA

Hollywood Cemetery Richmond, VA

*Hollywood Cemetery

The cemetery opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 6 in the summer and 5 in the winter.

Shockoe Hill Cemetery

 Richmond, United States, Virginia
Mar 222017
 

Fourth and Hospital Street
Richmond, Virginia
March 2017

Shake Hill CemeteryJust north out of the downtown area of Richmond, Virginia is Shokoe Hill Cemetery. Originally called the “burying ground” it opened in 1820, its original 4 acres has grown to a little over 12 acres.

There are an estimated 300,000 bodies buried in Shockoe Hill, these include such notables as Chief Justice John Marshall and unionist spymaster Elizabeth Van Lew, intermingled with the wealthy (especially after Chief Justice John Marshall was buried there in 1835) and the poor, the native and the immigrant, all in Richmond’s first city-owned and operated cemetery.

Between 1861 and 1864 The Alms House hospital was just north of the area. The cemetery became the resting place of many Confederate soldiers, especially those who died at the hospital.

Between 1861 and 1864 The Alms House hospital was just north of the area. The newer Alms House is just across the street on Hospital Street.  The cemetery became the resting place of many Confederate soldiers, especially those who died at the hospital.

Some of the more neglected, and yet lovely graves

Some of the more neglected, and yet lovely graves

All Southern states (except Arkansas) are represented here by soldiers killed in battle. Including both wartime casualties and veterans.

The Cemetery is still open to burials of family members in existing family plots; the last such burial occurred in 2003. In July 2016 the City reclaimed title to several unused plots, on one of which will stand a columbarium with niches to hold cremated remains. Those plots and niches are now available for purchase by the general public, marking the first sale of grave spaces in the Cemetery since about 1900.

There are many illegible grave stones and all manner of flags

There are many illegible grave stones and all manner of flags

The city still maintains the cemetery, although it is in a rather sad state of disrepair. There are over 25 notable people buried in Shockoe Hill and if you visit there are sign posts that hold maps, but even then it isn’t very easy to find the graves you are searching for.

Here are some of the notable ones that I found.

Justice John Marshall

Justice John Marshall 1755-1835

A Revolutionary soldier, Congressman, and Secretary of State, Marshall served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States between 1801 and 1835. In Marbury v Madison he ensured that the judicial branch was made co-equal to the executive and legislative branches with the power to invalidate actions at odds with the Constitution.  He is buried here with his wife, Mary Ambler “Polly” Marshall and other family members.

Shackoe Hill Cemetery

Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900) was raised in a prominent Richmond family but grew to abhor slavery. As an adult she created the most effective Unionist espionage ring in Richmond during the Civil War. From her home on Church Hill she organized spy missions, assisted escaped prisoners, and dispatched critical data to Ulysses S. Grant. After the war, President Grant named her Postmistress of Richmond.  She went on to champion black Richmonders and integrated the postal service.  Her grave marker is a memorial gift from Union soldiers.

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Jane Stanard (1793-1824) was the mother of a close friend of Edgar Allan Poe.  His home life was turbulent and he often turned to Jane Stanard for respite and comfort. She treated Poe with kindness and encouraged his writing. She died early and Poe spent long nights pining at her grave.  She is believed to be the inspiration for his poem “To Helen”.

Shackoe Hill Cemetery

Shackoe Hill Cemetery

Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton (1810-1888)  had a romance with Edgar Allan Poe when they were teenagers. When Poe went off to the University of Virginia their romance cooled and they each married others.  By 1848 both of their spouses had died and they rekindled their relationship. Sarah is thought to be “Annabel Lee” in his poems.

Shockoe Hill Cemetery

The center stone if for Peter Francisco (1760?-1831). A Portuguese orphan, Peter grew to almost seven feet tall, leading him to be nicknamed the “Sampson of the American Revolution”. He fought in more than a dozen battles, and suffered as many serious wounds. In his last years he served as Sergeant-at-Arms to the Virginia State Senate.  Virginia, Rhode Island and Massachusets all celebrate a Peter Francisco Day.

John Mercer Patton

John Mercer Patton(1797-1850) was the great grandfather of General George S. Patton.  John Mercer trained as a doctor but never practiced, instead, he went into law and politics. He served as a Congressman and briefly as a provisional Governor in 1841.  All eight of his sons served in the confederate military two of which are buried here.

Shockoe Hill Cemetery

In this vicinity are buried 220 Confederate soldiers and 577 Union soldiers that are recorded, as well as, hundreds of others soldiers of whose burial no record was made.

Shockoe Hill Cemetery

Shockoe Hill Cemetery

One of the more sad stones in the cemetery is this one. This is the March 1863 Memorial Marker. The marker was placed on the 150th anniversary of the explosion on Brown’s Island in Richmond that killed dozens of munitions workers, mostly young girls.  Fourteen of the victims are named on the marker and are buried in the cemetery.

Shockoe Hill Cemetery

This monument is dedicated to the memory of more than 27 patriots of the American Revolution and 400 veterans of the War of 1812 buried in this cemetery. Their loyalty, faith, courage and self-sacrifice in serving our country preserved the freedoms we enjoy today. We hope that every visitor to this cemetery recognizes the service they provided to our country and that it is never forgotten.

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Notice the angels on the grave site railings

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Lily Pond

 Chicago
Jul 212016
 

125 W. Fullerton Parkway
Lincoln Park
Chicago, Illinois

Alfred Caldwell's Lily Pond

Chicago’s official motto is “Urbs in Horto,” which translates to “City in a Garden”, much of the garden aspects of this town can be attributed to Alfred Caldwell and his mentor Jens Jensen.

Lily Pond is the work of Alfred Caldwell. During the depression, Caldwell worked on and off for the Chicago Park District. It was a tumultuous relationship, but it was also steady work. In 1936, under the guise of the Park District and with WPA money Caldwell designed the Lily Pool.

Caldwell suggested that “besides being a nature garden,” the Lily Pool is “a geological statement.”

He explains: “The landscape of all Chicago was once a lake formed by the melting ice of the Late Wisconsin Glacier. These dammed-up waters finally broke through the moraine ridge at the southwest extremity of the area. This surging torrent carved out the underlying strata of Niagara limestone. The present Des Plaines River, in part follows that channel; and the stone bluffs are a veritable statement of the natural forces that created the terrain of Chicago.”

The front gate

The front gate

You enter this small oasis through a stunning wood and stone gate. Originally there was to be a Prairie style lantern at the entrance to the park, placed within the stone entryway, this was eliminated from the original project.

Prairie River Alfred CaldwellThe center of the park is a large body of water, it was called the prairie river by Caldwell. The intent was to emulate the melted glacial waters that had cut through the Niagara limestone. The curved shape gives the illusion of a larger space with views and scenery continuously changing.

On the northwest side, to the right as you enter, Caldwell created a small waterfall out of slabs of limestone. Caldwell suggested that, “A body of water presumes a source. Hence the waterfall.”

Lily Pool Alfred Caldwell

The waterfall

On the southeast side of the river is a circular round bench made of stone called a council ring. Although Caldwell included council rings in many of his park plans, this is the only one in Chicago that followed his exact specifications.

Circle at Lily Pond

The Council Ring

The most prominent feature is the wood pavilion. This Prairie style edifice is often wrongly attributed to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Lily Pool by Alfred Caldwell

Two stone and wood shelters are joined together by a large horizontal wood beam, to Caldwell “The spreading horizontal structure is like a tree, rooted in a rock ledge.”

The Lily Pool in Lincoln Park is the most fully realized surviving example of the work of landscape architect Alfred Caldwell. The disciple of renowned Prairie style landscape designer and conservationist, Jens Jensen, Caldwell “…imbibed deeply of Jensen’s philosophy. A total respect for the processes of nature was the basis. The landscape architect was an artist, or more correctly a poet, who would interpret and reveal nature, by using its materials.” …    Richard Guy Wilson – Commonwealth Professor in Architectural History at the University of Virginia

There are two interesting stories regarding this project by Caldwell. The first is regarding the plantings.

The park service had decided to cut the budget for the wildflower plantings that Caldwell has proposed.

Caldwell later told the story: “So not to be beat, I talked it over with my wife. I had recently taken out an insurance policy for $5,000 dollars. I cashed in my insurance policy. I got $250 dollars. I went up to Wisconsin. I hired a truck. I had three or four people and they worked like mad for a whole day and a half. I loaded all these thousand and thousands of plants. I loaded them and brought them in all the way from Sauk County, Wisconsin. When I got back to the Lincoln Park Lily Pond, it was 6:00 pm on a Saturday night. We spread all the stuff out on the side of the slopes where they were to go. In the morning we planted them all. We finished the whole thing by 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. The lily pond was finished. The Juneberry trees were in blossom. It was like paradise.

Lily Pool by Alfred CaldwellA second story, that comes down through Paul Finfer, a student of Caldwell’s, is of three men that would not only have a impact on Chicago and the world of architecture, but on Caldwell’s career itself.

Caldwell explains that while working on the pool three mysterious men in black overcoats stood and watched. “They spoke in German. The tall one could speak a little English.”

As the men studied the pavilion at the Lily Pool, Caldwell approached. They pointed to the pavilion and asked, “Frank Lloyd Wright?” He thumped himself on the chest and replied, “No, Alfred Caldwell.” Caldwell remembered that one of the men was also intrigued with the way plants were growing between the crevices of the rocks. The three men left, and Caldwell “often wondered mightily about them.” It wasn’t until a couple of years later that Caldwell learned that they were Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig Hilberseimer and Walter Peterhans, the famous architects and planners who fled Nazi Germany to settle in Chicago to teach at the Armour Institute (now Illinois Institute of Chicago).

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Sadly, by 1946 the Park district had allowed the nearby zoo to encroach upon the pool. Exotic birds left droppings in the pool and destroyed much of the vegetation. This allowed invasive plants to take over cutting down on the sunlight, causing erosion and destroying the design created by Caldwell.

In 1997 a non-profit group was formed to raise funds and work with the park department to restore the Lily Pool.

During this period the original entry gate was replaced. White oak barn wood was used to match the original and photographs were carefully studied to ensure accuracy of the elements. Also, during the restoration, the light fixture was recreated and placed as Caldwell had envisioned.

Caldwell's light fixture was added during the restoration. Photo courtesy of the Park Service

Caldwell’s entrance light fixture was recreated and added during the restoration.                                   Photo courtesy of Wolff Landscape Architecture – Chicago.

Alfred Caldwell was born in St. Louis in 1903, he moved to Chicago when he was a young boy. He enrolled in University of Illinois in Champaign- Urbana, but quickly became disillusioned. After a few missteps and thanks to some well-intentioned connections, he found himself apprenticed to renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen. He worked as a superintendent for Jensen for 5 ½ years. During this time he met Frank Lloyd Wright and was asked to join Wright at Taliesen. Caldwell’s wife had misgivings and he turned down the offer, although he did spend a few weeks there.

By now the depression was beginning to rear its ugly head and Jensen could no longer keep Caldwell on. At this point he was hired for a large project in Dubuque, Iowa, this project was to be Eagle Point Park.

Fired in January of 1936, most likely because he just did not fit in, he returned to Chicago.

He decided to sit for the Illinois architects exam and began attending classes. His instructors were the three Germans dressed in black overcoats that watched over him while planting Lily Pond. Caldwell passed the exam without difficulty.

Caldwell designed scores of landscapes, he also taught for more than 35 years at the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California and was a visiting professor at Virginia Polythechnic Institute. Despite all of this he remained relatively unknown. In a 1977 article, architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson changed all of that with his article “Alfred Caldwell Illuminates Nature’s Ways,” in Landscape Architecture Magazine.

“…as historians begin to inspect the [1930s] period it becomes increasingly obvious that certain strains of indigenous American creativity have been overlooked. Alfred Caldwell’s work encompasses the broadest definitions of landscape architecture, an activity not simply of plant types and topography, but a vision and philosophy of man and nature that is at the core of the American dream.”

Alfred Caldwell's Lily Pond

 

Boulder Man

 Chicago
Jul 192016
 

951 Chicago Avenue
Oak Park, Chicago

Boulder ManOn the piers flanking the entry to Frank Lloyd Wrights 1898 architectural studio in Oak Park, Illinois, sit these two pieces, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and executed by Richard Bock.

“Boulder Man” is the most valuable of Richard Bock’s work.  He originally designed and modeled the piece to top a gate post.  The body, apparently half buried in the earth is stunning from every angle.  These sculptures are reproductions.  They were re-created from photographs.  The originals had disintegrated beyond repair, the replicas were done during the 1980s restoration of Frank Lloyd Wrights home and studio.

The story goes that Wright wanted two sculptures, but could only afford one.  To get reflecting sculptures, i.e. a right and a left, two separate sculptures must be made and then two separate molds and final castings, so he simply turned one of them to a different angle, giving the sense of two different sculptures.

Richard Bock was born 1865 in Schloppe, Germany. He moved to Chicago, with his family as a youth, where he grew up in German neighborhoods.

Frank Lloyd Wrights StudioBock spent three years at the Berlin Academy studying and later at the Ecole des Beaux Arts School in Paris.  In 1891 he returned Chicago to establish a permanent sculpture studio. Almost immediately upon Bock’s return to America, he received three major commissions and for the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, he sculpted major architectural works for the Mining and Electricity Exposition Halls.

He created interior bas-reliefs for Chicago’s  Schiller Building, during which time, in the winter of 1891 to 1892, Bock studied under its architect Louis Sullivan. It was in the Sullivan’s office that Bock met Frank Lloyd Wright.

From 1903 to 1913, Bock worked almost exclusively with Wright on multiple projects, The two became close friends and their families often spent time together.

The close working relationship came to end when Wright invited Bock to accompany him to Japan. Bock, a family man, declined. Though they remained friends they were never worked together again or visited much afterwards.

In 1929, Bock became the head of the Sculptural Department at the University of Oregon, he retired in 1932.

In the 1940s, Bock and his wife moved to California where in 1949 he died at the age of 84 of Parkinson’s Disease.

Richard Bock

Standing Lincoln

 Chicago
Jul 172016
 

Off N. Lake Shore Drive near W. North Avenue
Chicago
Screen Shot 2016-07-09 at 5.00.36 PM

This is one of the two sculptures in Lincoln Park that were bequeathed to Chicago upon the death of lumberman Eli Bates.

This 12 foot tall figure known as the “Standing Lincoln” was the first of Saint-Gaudens’ statues of Lincoln. He received the commission for this monument in 1884 and began work the following year.

Lincoln had made quite an impression on Saint-Gaudens when he saw Lincoln in 1860 . “Lincoln stood tall in the carriage, his dark uncovered head bent in contemplative acknowledgement of the waiting people, and the broadcloth of his black coat shone rich and silken in the sunlight”.

To capture Lincoln’s appearance, Saint-Gaudens relied on plaster life masks made by Leonard Volk of Lincoln’s Hands and face. To achieve the pose Saint-Gardens used Langdon Morse a 6 foot 4 farmer from Windsor Vermont.

As he worked out the design for the statue, St. Gaudens experimented with a variety of poses: seated and standing, arms crossed in front of his body, or holding a document. Art critic Marianna Griswold Van Rensselaer described the decision  in her review of the statue in The Century (1887):

“The first question to be decided must have been: Shall the impression to be given base itself primarily upon the man of action or upon the man of affairs? Shall the statue be standing or seated? In the solution of this question we find the most striking originality of the work. The impression given bases itself in equal measure upon the man of action and the
man of affairs. Lincoln is standing, but stands in front of a chair from which he has just risen. He is before the people to counsel and direct them, but has just turned from that other phase of his activity in which he was their executive and their protector. Two ideas are thus expressed in the composition, but they are not separately, independently expressed to the detriment of unity. The artist has blended them to the eye as our own thought blends them when we speak of Lincoln. The pose reveals the man of action, but represents a man ready for action, not really engaged in it; and the chair clearly typical of the Chair of State reveals his title to act no less than his methods of self-preparation. We see, therefore, that completeness of expression has been arrived at through a symbolic, idealistic conception.”

Standing LincolnArchitect, Stanford White, of the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White, designed the monument’s base. He added the long, curving exedra bench to encourage visitors to sit and enjoy the statue,

This was one of 20 such artistic collaborations between White and Saint-Gaudens who also became close friends.

The monument was cast in bronze by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company in New York, and dedicated on October 22, 1887, to a large crowd. Lincoln’s son, Robert, considered this the best sculpture of his father of the many that were done.

After Saint-Gaudens’ death, his wife authorized an edition of smaller bronze copies. These are found in public institutions around the country. Full- size casts of the statue were later installed in London, England, Mexico City, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Hollywood Hills, California. The image of Lincoln used for the commemorative stamp
of 1909, was drawn from the head of this statue.

Saint-Gaudens has been in this site before, you can read about him here.

Abraham Lincoln

Shakespeare in Chicago

 Chicago
Jul 162016
 

N. Lincoln Parkway West and W. Belden Avenue
Chicago

ShakespeareAccording to the Chicago Parks Department:

“When Samuel Johnston, a successful north side businessman, died in 1886, he left a sizeable gift in his will for several charities as well as money for a memorial to William Shakespeare in Lincoln Park.

A competition was held to select a sculptor. The winner was a Columbia University graduate, William Ordway Partridge (1861–1930), who had studied sculpture in France and Italy after a short stint as an actor.

This commission presented a unique challenge for Partridge since the only known portraits of William Shakespeare (1564–1616) had been done after the death of the famous English playwright and poet. Partridge made an intensive study of Shakespeare and life in Elizabethan England. He visited Stratford and London, reviewed dozens of existing artworks, and examined a death mask that was then believed to have been authentic.

Partridge also consulted with Shakespearean actors including Henry Irving and his costumer, Seymour Lucas, who helped him portray the world-renowned literary figure in authentic period clothing.

Partridge displayed a plaster model of the William Shakespeare Monument at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. He had the work cast in bronze in Paris and shipped to Chicago.

The donor’s grandniece, Miss Cornelia Williams, unveiled the sculpture on April 23, 1894, the supposed anniversary of both Shakespeare’s birth and death. At the dedication ceremony, Partridge said: “Shakespeare needs nothing of bronze. His monument is England, America, and the whole of Saxondom. He placed us upon a pedestal, but one cannot place him on one, for he belongs among the people whom he so dearly loved.” The artist’s remarks offer insight into the sculpture’s unusually low pedestal, which provides exceptional visual and physical access to the artwork.”

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On the base is inscribed Shakespeare’s words from Hamlet.
What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty!

On the opposite side are Samuel T. Coleridge’s words,
“he was not for an age but for all time, our myriad- minded Shakespeare….”

William Partridge was born in Paris to American parents. Partridge travelled to America to attend Adelphi Academy in Brooklyn and Columbia University (graduated 1883) in New York. After a year of experimentation in theatre, he went abroad to study sculpture.

Aside from his public commissions, his work consisted mostly of portrait busts. In 1893 eleven of his works were displayed at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago

Partridge went on to lecture at Stanford University in California, and assumed a professorship at Columbian University, now George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.

He died in Manhattan on May 22, 1930.

Eli Bates Fountain

 Chicago
Jul 152016
 

Eli Bates FountainThis whimsical fountain is known as both the Eli Bates Fountain and “Storks at Play”.

Eli Bates was a Chicago lumberman who died in 1881. He bequeathed a fund for the commission of Standing Lincoln, also by Saint-Gaudens, and this fountain, both to be placed in Lincoln Park.

Installed in 1887 it was a joint collaboration between Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his student Frederick W. MacMonnies

Storks at PlayThe figures for the fountain were cast by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company of New York.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens has been in this site before, you can read about him here.

In 1880 MacMonnies began an apprenticeship under Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and was soon promoted to studio assistant, beginning his lifelong friendship with the acclaimed sculptor. MacMonnies studied at night with the National Academy of Design and The Art Students League of New York.

In Saint-Gaudens’ studio, he met Stanford White, who was using Saint-Gaudens for the prominent sculptures required for his architecture.
Augustus Saint-GaudensIn 1888, Stanford White helped MacMonnies win two major commissions for garden sculpture, a decorative Pan fountain sculpture for Rohallion, the New Jersey mansion of banker Edward Adams, and a work for ambassador Joseph H. Choate, at Naumkeag, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

In 1891 he was awarded the commission for the Columbian Fountain, the centerpiece of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago: the sculpture of Columbia in her Grand Barge of State, in the central fountain of the Court of Honor became the focal point at the Exposition and established MacMonnies as one of the important sculptors of the time.

MacMonniesIn 1894, Stanford White brought MacMonnies a commission for three bronze groups for the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza.

Three of MacMonnies’ best-known sculptures are Nathan Hale, Bacchante and Infant Faun, and Diana.

Lincoln Park Fountain

Fountain of Time

 Chicago
Jul 112016
 

6000 Cottage Grove Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

Time

Fountain of Time, or simply Time, is a 126 foot long sculpture by Lorado Taft, within Washington Park in Chicago, Illinois.

The sculpture was inspired by Henry Austin Dobson’s poem, “Paradox of Time”. “Time goes, you say? Ah no, Alas, time stays, we go”.

Father Time

Father Time

The sculpture includes Father Time, hooded and carrying a scythe. He watches over a parade of 100 figures showing humanity at various stages of life.

The Sculptor

The Sculptor Lorado Taft

 

Although most of the figures are generic Taft included himself, with one of his assistants following him, along the west side of the sculpture. He is wearing a smock, his head is bowed and his  hands are clasped behind his back. His daughters also served as models for some of the figures.

The work was created as a monument to the first 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain, resulting from the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 and funded by a 1905, $1 million ($26.3 million today), gift from Benjamin Ferguson. The gift formed a charitable trust to “memorialize events in American History”.

TimeLorado Taft initially conceived a sculpture carved from granite or Georgia marble, however, the trust only allotted enough funds for a concrete structure.

In 1999, Robert Jones, director of design and construction for the Art Institute of Chicago stated that Time was the first finished art piece to be made of any type of concrete.

The sculpture is made of  steel reinforced cast concrete. It was cast in a 4,500-piece mold, using 230 tons of a material described as “concrete-like”, which incorporated pebbles from the Potomac River.

TimeLorado Zadoc Taft was born in Elmwood, Illinois, in 1860 and died in his home studio in Chicago in 1936.

After being homeschooled by his parents, Taft earned his bachelor’s degree (1879) and master’s degree (1880) from the Illinois Industrial University (later renamed the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

Taft attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts from 1880 to 1883, he returned to Chicago in 1883 and taught at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago until 1929.

Taft also taught at the University of Chicago from 1893 to 1900 and again in 1909 as a lecturer of art history. He also wrote a number of books on art history.

TimeTaft’s body of work is impressive. Some notable sculptures around Chicago include Eternal Silence and The Crusader both at Graceland Cemetery, and Fountain of the Great Lakes at the Art Institute. He also sculpted the Columbus Fountain at Union Station in Washington DC.

Fountain of the Great Lakes

 Chicago
Jul 092016
 

Nichols Bridgeway
Off E. Jackson and South Michigan Avenue
Chicago

Great Lakes Fountain

Fountain of the Great Lakes or Spirit of the Great Lakes Fountain is an allegorical sculpture by Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago.  The fountain was moved to this spot in the 1960s.

Lake Superior

Lake Superior

Created between 1907-1913, the bronze fountain depicts five women arranged so that the water flows through them in the same way water passes through the Great Lakes.

The fountain is Taft’s response to Daniel Burnham’s complaint at the Columbian Exposition in 1893 that the sculptors charged with ornamenting the fairgrounds failed to produce anything that represented the great natural resources of the west, especially the Great Lakes.

It is said that Taft used the Greek myth of the Danaides, forty-nine sisters who were sent to Hades for killing their husbands on their wedding nights as inspiration. As punishment for this crime, the sisters were eternally condemned to hopelessly carry water in sieves.

Taft envisioned a fountain with five female figures each representing one of the Great Lakes. In 1902 Taft assigned Nellie Walker, Angelica McNulty, Clara Leonard, Lily Schoenbrun, and Edith Parker to bring his design to life.

“Five of my young sculptors made from a sketch of mine the first model of the “Great Lakes.” [The figures] were less than life size, they were not very good and being made separately they did not fit together well.  But the people like the idea and I was encouraged to do them again.  I did so, this time doing the work entirely myself.”

Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie

Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie

The fountain consists of a series of female figures symbolizing the general flow of the Great Lakes. Lake Superior sits at the top, the water from her mingles with that of Lake Michigan and empties into a shell held by Lake Huron.  The water then continues onto Lake Erie, and finally passes to Lake Ontario.

At the opening ceremony for the fountain Taft said of Lake Ontario waters “escape from her basin and hasten into the unknown, she reaches wistfully after them as though questioning whether she has been neglectful of her charge”.

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Once erected, the fountain received largely positive reviews, but a few critics questioned the symbolism of the sculpture. Others were caught up in sociopolitical subtexts of the day, with regard to obscenity laws as it related to public art and this semi-nude work. The degree to which nudity in public art was more for the “sake of nudity than for the sake of art” was a contemporary issue involving confiscated Paul Chabas fully nude painting. This led to a 1913 amendment to the Chicago municipal obscenity laws which passed three months before the dedication of Taft’s partially nude fountain.

Fountain

Eternal Silence

 Chicago
Jul 092016
 

 

Eternal SilenceThe Eternal Silence, (also called Eternal Silence or Statue of Death)  marks the grave of Dexter Graves, who led a group of thirteen families that moved from Ohio to Chicago in 1831, making them some of Chicago’s earliest settlers. Graves died in 1844, seventy-five years before the creation of the statue, and sixteen years before Graceland Cemetery was founded; his body was presumably moved to Graceland from the old City Cemetery.  The funds for the monument were provided in the will of his son, Henry, who died in 1907. The will provided $250,000 for a Graves family mausoleum, they received the statue instead.

The Eternal SilenceThe statue was sculpted by Lorado Taft and cast by a Chicago foundry owned by Jules Bercham.

The hooded figure was influenced by Taft’s own “ideas on death and silence”. Historically speaking, the figure in Eternal Silence is related to the sculpted funeral procession around the tomb of Philip the Bold in Dijon, France and the Adams Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

DSC_3809

Another grave stone carved by Loredo Taft is The Crusader.  This is also in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago

The Crusader

The Crusader is a medieval knight, and is used to symbolize the character of Victor Lawson, publisher of the Chicago Daily News. Standing over thirteen feet tall, it was carved out of a solid block of highly polished dark granite supplied by the Henry C. Smalley Granite Company of Quincy, Massachusetts. The knight, with a large sword and shield, was an image that Taft had contemplated for years; he used it in numerous works besides The Crusader.

Unlike Taft’s earlier work, The Crusader emphasizes its “sheer mass”. While there is no name on the grave stone there is an inscription:   “Above all things truth beareth away victory”,  a quote from 1 Esdras 3:12.

The Mosaics of the Marquette

 Chicago
Jun 232016
 

The Marquette Building
140 South Dearborn
Chicago

Tiffany Mosaics

This spectacular, and difficult to photograph, mosaic is in the rotund of the Marquette building.  Designed by J.A. Holler of the Tiffany Company it depicts the Mississippi voyage of Louis Jolliet and Father Marquette.

Louis Tiffany was the son of jeweler Charles Tiffany. His career took off after the display of his mosaics in the chapel at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, also known as the Worlds Fair in Chicago.

marquette buildingJacob Adolph Holzer was a Swiss artist who worked for Tiffany as chief designer and art director,  he was responsible for the design and execution of the Marquette murals.

Jacob Adolphus Holzer (1858–1938) was associated with both John La Farge and Augustus Saint-Gaudens before he left to direct the mosaic workshops of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Holzer worked with Tiffany until 1898. In 1898 he left to form his own studio.

Holzer designed the sculptural electrified lantern that became famous at that World’s Columbian Exposition, one of two electrified lanterns that have been called the “ancestors” of all later Tiffany lamps.

Tiffany ChicagoHolzer’s works include: in New York, the lobby of The Osborne, 205 West 57th Street. In Boston, the Central Congregational Church, 67 Newbury Street (1893), and perhaps the Frederick Ayer Mansion, Commonwealth Avenue (1899–1901). In Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Washington Street, as well as the Marquette Building.  At Princeton, his mosaics of subjects from Homer fill the rear wall of Alexander Hall. In Troy, New York, his stained-glass east window and baptistry mosaics can be seen in St Paul’s Church.

On leaving Tiffany studios, he traveled in the Near East. He provided some of the illustrations for Mary Bowers Warren, Little Journeys Abroad (Boston, 1894).

In 1923 Holzer moved to Florence where he lived out his life painting and taking on mosaic commissions until his death at the age of 80.

Tiffany Mosaics Chicago

The Marquette Building

 Chicago
Jun 192016
 

The Marquette Building
140 South Dearborn
Chicago

 

Herman Atkins MacNeil ChicagoThese four bronze plaques sit above the entry doors of the Marquette Building in Chicago.  They were done in 1895 by Henry MacNeil (1866-1947).  At the time MacNeil shared a studio in the building with painter Charles F. Browne.

Louis Jolliet and Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, were the first non-Natives to explore and map the Mississippi River in 1673. The four bronze plaques are the story of their journey. They depict the launching of the canoes, the meeting of the Michigamea Indians, the arriving at the Chicago River and finally the interring of Marquette’s body.

MacNeil, born in Massachusetts, studied at the Normal Art School in Boston.  He was an instructor in industrial art and modeling at Cornell before heading to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.

MacNeil returned to Chicago and began assisting on the sculptures for the Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893, also known as the White City or the Worlds Fair. He later settled in Chicago and taught at the Art Institute.

Herman MacNeil ChicagoAfter attending one of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows at the Worlds Fair he began depicting the American Indian throughout his art.

He latter befriended Black Pipe, a Sioux warrior from the show, who he found down-and-out on the Chicago streets after the carnival midways of the Fair had closed. Black Pipe, at the invitation of MacNeil, assisted in his studio for the next year. Inspired by these native subjects MacNeil, along with writer Hamlin Garland and painter C.F. Browne  traveled to the four-corners territories (now, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah) seeing American Indians (Navajo, and Moqui — now Hopi) and studied the changing cultural element on these various reservations.

The Marquette Building ChicagoPerhaps his best known work is as the designer of the Standing Liberty quarter, which was minted from 1916 to 1930, and carries his initial to the right of the date.

He also sculpted Justice, the Guardian of Liberty, on the east pediment of the United States Supreme Court building.

One of his last works was the Pony Express statue dedicated in 1940 in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Marquette Building Chicago

 

Morikami Japanese Gardens, Delray Beach, Florida

 Gardens
Oct 222015
 

October 2015

Hotei, or God of Happiness isn't as easy to find as one would expect by his size.

Hotei, or God of Happiness isn’t as easy to find as one would expect by his size.

Morikami Museum and Gardens were established in 1977 after Mr. Morikami bequeathed the land for the garden.

Chie no Wa or Wisdom Ring

Chie no Wa or Wisdom Ring. This is a replica of a 500 year old stone lantern from the Japanese city of Miyazu.  Originally the ring would hold a candle and the both sides would be covered with rice paper to create the lantern.

The Japanese influence to this part of Florida is interesting. In 1904, Jo Sakai, a new graduate of New York University returned to his home in Miyazu, Japan to organize a group of farmers with hopes of experimenting with new crops in the Boca Raton area of Florida. With the help of the Model Land Company, a subsidiary of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad, they formed a farming colony they named Yamato.

Details on the Woodruff Memorial Bridge, the entrance to the gardens

Details on the Woodruff Memorial Bridge, the entrance to the gardens

Eventually the experiment was a disappointment and by the 1920s the small group of 30-35 people eventually left for other parts of the US or returned to Japan.

A bridge entrance to the Shinden Garden which represents the Heian Period (c. 9th - 12th centuries)

A bridge entrance to the Shinden Garden which represents the Heian Period (c. 9th – 12th centuries)

The garden was designed by landscape architect Hoichi Kurisu. Kurisu was born in Hiroshima, educated in Tokyo and today lives in Portland, Oregon. The garden took nearly two years to create and is intended to cover the eras from the 9th to the 20th centuries in Japanese Gardens.

Traditional Japanese ornaments can be found throughout the park

Traditional Japanese ornaments can be found throughout the park

Morikami Gardens

This is a Shishi Odoshi, which means Deer Chaser. The bang of the bamboo against stone, was meant for just this purpose. If you have never seen one, the green bamboo holder fills with water and when full, drops to the stone, empties and makes a very loud bang.  It then pops back up and the process begins again, as long as the stream keeps running the process is endless.

A Shishi Odoshi, which means Deer Chaser. The bank of the bamboo against stone, was meant for just this purpose

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There are two traditional gravel raked gardens at Mirokami.

There are two traditional gravel raked gardens at Morokami.

There are also, non-traditional Japanese creatures throughout the park.

There are also, non-traditional Japanese creatures throughout the park.

Ishidoro Stone Lantern- erected in 1681 in memory of the fourth Tokugawa shogun, the latter made its way from Kan'eiji temple in Tokyo to a shipbuildier in Kure, Japan. then to West Palm Beach and then a South Florida Museum, before finally resting in Morikami

Ishidoro Stone Lantern- erected in 1681 in memory of the fourth Tokugawa shogun, the lantern made its way from Kan’eiji temple in Tokyo to a shipbuildier in Kure, Japan then to West Palm Beach and then a South Florida Museum, before finally resting in Morikami.

Morikami Museum and Garden, Florida

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A view of the Woodruff bridge from across the lake

A view of the Woodruff bridge from across the lake

Just when you think you are truly in Japan you are reminded you just might not be.

Caution Alligators may be present

Caution Alligators may be present

Morikami Museum and Garden, Florida

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The museum has a lovely teahouse.

The museum has a lovely teahouse.

There is a second story to the Yamato Colony mentioned above.  In 1942 the few that remained in the Boca Raton area had their land seized by the government to create an Army Air Corps training base.  They were eventually reimbursed for their land, but not at full market value.

George Marikami and other families retained their property and continued farming, but for a short time they had their bank accounts frozen and were watched closely by the Coast Guard.

During my visit there was a stunning exhibit by Wendy Maruyama titled Executive Order 9066.  Ms. Maruyama’s mixed media pieces were moving and brilliant, but what took my breath away was The Tag Project.

The project consists of 10 hangings of 120,000 recreated identification tags. The number of tags corresponds with the number of Japanese citizens interned during WWII. The 10 hangings represent the 10 internment camps.

The Tag Project by Wendy Maruyama

The Museum and Garden has a fabulous web presence, including an audio tour.

 

The following is a short video of the Bamboo.  The crack and pop that you hear is simply the bamboo moving against each other.

McKee Botanical Garden, Vero Beach, Florida

 Florida, Gardens
Oct 222015
 

October 2015

McKee Gardens Vero Beach, Florida

The McKee Botanical Garden began its life in 1932, when land speculator Arthur G. McKee and architect Waldo E. Sexton opened McKee Jungle Gardens.

Entrance Arbor

Entrance Arbor

This, originally, 80-acre, garden in Vero Beach, Florida was designed by landscape architect William Lyman Phillips from the office of Fredrick Law Olmsted.

The Royal Palm Grove, planted in 2012. The Royal Palm is native to Florida and can grow to a height of 100 feet.

The Royal Palm Grove, planted in 2002. The Royal Palm is native to Florida are among the tallest palms  in the world

By the 1940s more than 100,000 tourists were visiting the gardens each year.

McKee Gardens, Vero Beach, Florida

In the early 1970’s, the development of I-95 and other attractions in the area caused a serious decline in interest of the garden, and by 1976 the Gardens were forced to closed. The property was sold and zoned for development. Fortunately 18 acres of the original 80 did not fall to development, even after lying dormant for 20 years.

McKee Gardens, Vero Beach, Florida

In 1994, the Indian River Land Trust purchased the property. An additional $9 million was raised to purchase, stabilize and restore the Garden, and in November, 2001 McKee Botanical Garden was opened.

DSC_9475

The stone bridge was part of the original gardens, it was discovered in the 1990s by volunteers, hidden under a mass of weeds.

The Garden features 10,000 native and tropical plants as well as one of the area’s largest collections of waterlilies.

McKee Gardens Water LiliesThe Hall of Giants and Spanish Kitchen, historic to the Garden, were both meticulously restored to Sexton’s original vision, and in 2002 the United State’s first permitted bamboo structure was built on site.

The Hall of Giants with its

The Hall of Giants was designed by Waldo Sexton. In the Hall of Giants is this 35 foot long Mahogany table. Said to be the world’s largest one-piece mahogany table. It is a single slab of Philippine mahogany that is 35′ 10″ long and 5″ thick. It was the centerpiece of the Hall of Giants from 1940 until 1976.

Waldo Sexton first saw the table in 1903 at the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He purchased it nearly 20 years later in a basement of a New York City warehouse and had it shipped by boat to Vero Beach.

In 1940, the Hall of Giants was constructed to house the table.  During that time the Hall of Giants was a gathering spot for community events, including football banquets, corporate annual meetings and Chamber of Commerce dinners.

The exterior of the Hall of Giants

The exterior of the Hall of Giants

Opposite the Hall of Giants is the Spanish Kitchen, home of famed old-time Florida cookouts. During the height of the Gardens popularity, white uniformed cooks would prepare steaks and potatoes on the triple grill.

The Spanish Kitchen

The Spanish Kitchen

Sexton also designed the kitchen and used  odds and ends of his personal collections to give the kitchen an old time feeling.

Large cooking pots in The Spanish Kitchen

Large cooking pots in The Spanish Kitchen

Tower by

Tower by Hans Gobo Froebel is the one permanent piece of art in the garden.

McKee Botanical Garden is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and endorsed by The Garden Conservancy as a project of national significance.

For more about the garden check out their website. 

Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania

 Jim Thorpe
Oct 212015
 

October 2015

Jim thorpe pa

Jim Thorpe was originally called Mauch Chunk (Bear Place in the Lenape Indian Language).  It is the seat of Pennsylvania’s, Carbon County, and is called both “Switzerland of America” and “Gateway to the Poconos”.

Mauch Chunk

This was the company town of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. The company developed a gravity-fed rail system to feed the anthracite taken from the hills, to barges on the Lehigh Canal.

The rail system consisted of 8.7-miles of downhill track, (this type of track was called a gravity railroad), with the sole purpose of delivering coal, one driver to operate the brakes, and mules to haul the cars back up the hill, down to the Lehigh Canal.

The need for Anthracite Coal began to wane by the 1850s, and the “Gravity Road” (as it became known) began providing rides to thrill seekers (it got up to 50 mph)  for 50 cents a ride. It is often cited as the first roller coaster in the United States.

Mauch Chunk

How the town became Jim Thorpe is rather complicated, and is still steeped in controversy.

Jim ThorpeJim Thorpe was a Native American from Oklahoma and considered one of the greatest athletes ever.  He won Olympic gold medals for the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon.  He also played college and professional baseball, basketball and football.

It was found he was paid to play two seasons of semiprofessional baseball and was stripped of his gold medals.  Married three times, he died a pauper.

After his death in 1953 his widow was angry that the state of Oklahoma would not erect a monument in his honor.  At the same time the Mauch Chunk area was desperate to attract business to the dying communities. Thorpe’s widow promised many things that never came to fruition in exchange for renaming the town. One mile out of town, a large tomb with Thorpe’s body sits on mounds of soil from Thorpe’s native Oklahoma and from the Stockholm Olympic Stadium in which he won his Olympic medals. There is also a statue of Thorpe in an athletic stance that was funded by the local school children.

In 2010 Thorpe’s son Jack sued to have his fathers remains, his tomb and his statue, taken back to Oklahoma, the City of Jim Thorpe fought, saying that the city had invested considerably in the tomb, and the statue and while they could have the bones, they could not have the memorial.  The fight went on for years, and on October 5, 2015, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the matter, bringing the process to an end.

An odd piece of this are his medals, while many of Thorpe’s teammates fought for years to have his medals’ restored it took until 1983 when commemorative medals were awarded to two of Thorpe’s children.  Thorpe’s original medals had been held in museums, but were stolen, and never recovered.

The town is very proud of Jim Thorpe, but many feel it is time to go back to the original name of Mauch Chunk, apparently the cost would be prohibitive.

A model of the railway station at the Mauch Chunk Historical Society

A model of the railway station at the Mauch Chunk Historical Society

The narrow streets and old stone buildings help to give Jim Thorpe the nickname "Switzerland of America"

The narrow streets and old stone buildings help to give Jim Thorpe the nickname “Switzerland of America”

The Asa Packer House

The Asa Packer House

The second most famous person in the town of Jim Thorpe/ Mauch Chunk is Asa Packer (1805 – 1879).  Packer was a railroad baron and said to be one of the richest men in the world during his lifetime.

His legacy includes Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA as well as his home (open for tours) and the St. Marks Church in Jim Thorpe.

St Mark's Church in Jim Thorpe PA

This Gothic Revival style church was designed by Richard Upjohn between 1867 and 1869. The regularly coursed dressed stone jutting from the hill along with the crenelated bell tower and octagonal turret make for a commanding statement in the town.  Below the main church the Mary Packer-Cummings Memorial Building, designed by Addison Hutton, was added in 1912.

This Otis cage elevator was added in 1812.

This Otis cage elevator was added in 1912.

The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

This was the original front door, prior to the addition of 1912

This was the original front door, prior to the addition of 1912

St. Mark's Church

The Mary Packer Memorial Chapel

The Mary Packer Memorial Chapel

Ceiling above the baptismal font in the original chapel

Ceiling above the baptismal font in the original chapel

The Harry Packer Mansion

The Harry Packer Mansion

Carbon County Courthouse

Carbon County Courthouse

The Mauch Chunk Historical Society resides in the old church on the right

The Mauch Chunk Historical Society resides in the old church on the right

An old mill in Jim Thorpe

An old mill in Jim Thorpe

Mauch Chunk

Looking on to the downtown from the porch of the Asa Packer home

downtown jim thorpe

History and Architecture of Scranton, PA

 Scranton
Oct 192015
 

October 2015

Scranton PA

Baptist minister, David Spencer, proclaimed Scranton the “Electric City

Scranton Pennsylvania is the county seat of Lackawanna and the 6th largest city in Pennsylvania. Incorporated in 1866, it saw its hey-dey in the Anthracite Coal boom.  At that time the population was about 102,000, today it is about 76,000.

Electric lighting was introduced to Scranton through the Dickson Locomotive Works in 1880 and later it had the countries first successful, continuously operating, all electric street cars, giving it the nick name “The Electric City”.

The name of the town comes from New Jersey brothers Selden T. and George W. Scranton  They were responsible for the Lackawanna and Western Railroad.  Ironically, there is no passenger railway transportation in Scranton anymore, although the Canadian Pacific Railroad does run freight through Scranton.

Joseph Hand Scranton

The Home of Joseph Hand Scranton, now the Admissions Office for Scranton University

Some of the revival of Scranton is through the five institutes of higher learning located in the city.  They include: The University of Scranton, The Commonwealth Medical College, Johnson College, Lackawanna College and Marywood University.

Door of Scranton House

The Second Empire Style house, built in 1872, was designed by New York architect Russell Sturgis, for Joseph A. Scranton, George W. Scranton’s second cousin.  It is believed construction costs were $150,000.  It was also called the Stone House.  The stone mason was William Sykes.

Wood in Joseph Scranton House

The wood carvings in the home are by William F. Paris

The home is three stories tall, 19,925 square feet and originally had 25 rooms.  It also originally had a tower, which has since been removed.

Dining Room of the home

Dining Room of the home

In December 1941, Worthington Scranton, Joseph’s son, donated the home and property to Bishop William J. Hafey for use by the University of Scranton. The building has housed the Admissions office since 2009.

The skylight is by Tiffany

The skylight is by Tiffany

*

The wood stairwell

The solid mahogany stair case and Minton Tile floor

DSC_9011

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More of the Dining Room Ceiling

More of the Dining Room Ceiling

Lackawanna Station – Scranton, PA

 Scranton
Oct 192015
 

October 2015

Scranton Lackawanna Train Station

This is now the Radisson Hotel, however, it originally was the Lackawanna Train Station a vital piece in the development of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Scranton began as an iron mill town, these mills began manufacturing iron rails for the trains, which till then, had been imported from England.  This manufacturing made the organization of railroads in this area possible.  Later when Anthracite was discovered the railway system expanded across the country to distribute this new found fuel source.

Lackawanna Train StationNew York architect Kenneth Murchison was chosen for this project and ground was broken in September of 1906.  The building was originally 5 stories tall, a sixth floor was added in 1923.

The station was 240 feet long by 88 feet wide and was built at a cost just slightly over $600,000.  This French Renaissance style station has six statement columns on the front, and is faced with Indiana limestone and a 8 foot high bronze clock.  The overhang is twenty feet and gives the station presence.

Lackawanna Train StationThe track side, which now serves as a meeting room and the bar, has steel trusses with a concrete roof and, at one time, glass skylights.

Lackawanna Train Station SkyLightThe former waiting room, which is now the dining area, was 2 1/2 stories tall, capped with a barrel vaulted Tiffany leaded glass ceiling and clad in Formosa Italian marble.

Christopher Street Ferry dock, New York City

Christopher Street Ferry dock, New York City

DSC_9448

Delaware Water Gap and East of the Delaware Water Gap

There are 36 panels surrounding this area. They are faience panels showing various scenes along the route from Hoboken, New Jersey and Buffalo, New York.  These tiles were modeled after paintings by Clark G. Voorhees.

Lackawanna StationThe first floor once has a lunch room, newsstand, telegraph office, ticket office, mail room and baggage room.  The station also had offices for the railroads, auditing, engineering, legal, real estate, bridges and buildings departments.

The station was officially dedicated on November 11, 1908.Lackawanna Train Station

In the early 1980s Scranton found itself struggling with a 13% unemployment rate and was looking hard to work their town into a tourist destination spot.  The train station became the focus of this concept.  Originally the building was purchased by a group of private investors put together by the Chamber of Commerce.  The building renovation was overseen by Balog, Steines, Hendricks and Manchester Architects and opened New Years Eve 1983.  In 1993 the hotel was purchased by DanMar Hotel chain for $4million and turned into a Radisson.

Lackawanna Train Station

*Lackawanna Train Station

 

Masonic Hall – Scranton, PA

 Scranton
Oct 192015
 

October 2015

Masonic Hall Scranton Pennsylvania

The Masonic Hall in Scranton Pennsylvania is so massive, this postcard is the only way to show it in its entirety.

Masonic Temple Scranton, PA

The building is loaded with Masonic iconography, including this dragon unfurling its wings over the entryway. The reference is to the Draconis star system which equals light, light being the symbol of education and the purpose of Freemasonry.

Masonic Temple Scranton

The building, designed by Raymond Hood includes both the Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral. Today it is also home to the Scranton Cultural Center.

This architectural masterpiece is a combination  of Gothic Revival, Romanesque Revival, Richardsonian Romanesque and contemporary Art Deco styles.  The building, completed in 1930, was designed with a dual nature; it was built to house the more private Scottish Rite Cathedral and Masonic lodge while housing a theater and ballroom for public use.

Masonic Hall

There are three entries to the building, and in the lobby there are two large sliding doors. The lobby is usually one very long hall, however, the sliding doors can be closed to allow the three entries to be closed off from each other and therefore private. The public entry to the theater or ballroom was through the center, and entry by members of the private areas through the doors on the right and the left.
Masonic Hall Scranton *Masonic Hall Scranton *

Masonic Hall Scranton

Symbols of Masonry can be found throughout the Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral. The two-headed eagle, along with other symbols of various branches as well as the four cardinal virtues are engraved on the exterior of the building.

A Dragon on the most forward point of the front door ornamentation

A Dragon on the most forward point of the front door ornamentation

This ceiling is in the foyer of the entry to the public space

This ceiling is in the foyer of the entry of the public space.

Scottish Rite Temple, Scranton

The ceiling of the ballroom with its Art Deco lighting

Stencils found on the walls of the ballroom

Stencils found on the walls of the ballroom

The ballroom getting ready for a wedding

The ballroom getting ready for a wedding

The unique feature of this building is that the black screen that you see is also the backdrop for the theater, so it is possible to have both sides open and have a double facing stage.

Looking toward the stage of the theater from the back of the room.

Looking toward the stage of the theater from the back of the room.

The ornamentation around the stage

The ornamentation around the stage

The patterned ceiling of the theater

The patterned ceiling of the theater

Mason Lodge Scranton PA

The ceiling where the Masons hold their ceremonies. Notice the two headed eagles. Frederick of Prussia introduced the symbol of the two headed eagle when the Scottish Rite was in its formative stages.

Scottish Rite Temple Scranton PA

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A window in the stairwell shows you the depth of the walls.

A window in the stairwell shows you the depth of the walls.

One of many meeting rooms

One of many meeting rooms that is still in need of restoration.

A patterned wall in one of the meeting rooms

A patterned ceiling in one of the meeting rooms.

Masonic Hall Scranton PA

The elevator doors

The building is 180,000 square feet and is technically 10 stories, although only 5 are accessible to the public.  There are 4 below ground and the turret that are not accessible.

There was originally an 8 lane bowling alley in one of the basement levels, it had a pin operated system that was not restorable, and the need for a bowling lane wasn’t really there, so it was removed.

DSC_9148

The flowerettes in the center of these ceiling rosettes begin wide open on the top floor and gradually close to the somewhat pinecone shape you see in the first floor lobby.

 

The people of Scranton and the Masonic members have worked hard to keep this building standing and a center piece of the community.  The State of Pennsylvania holds the deed, and the building is on the Historic Register, these two items will keep it from being torn down and turned into a parking lot.  The temple association has a lease back agreement and there are a lot of paying functions held in the building, such as weddings and theater events, and yet, it runs a $250,000/year deficit.

DSC_9145Despite a $1.5 million restoration on the 2000 standing/900 seated capacity theater/ballroom, the building needs another $14million to bring it back.

For more information, as well as how to donate, check out their website.

Walking Scranton Pennsylvania

 Scranton
Oct 192015
 

October 2015

 

Lackawanna County Courthouse

This is the Lackawanna County Courthouse at 200 Washington Avenue.  It was designed by Isaac G Perry in the Romanesque Revival Style and built in 1884.  It utilizes a local West Mountain stone The third story was added in 1896 by architect B. Taylor Lacey.  The interior has been so radically modified as to not warrant mention.

The John Mitchell Monument

The John Mitchell Monument

There is a considerable amount of art around the courthouse, I would like to mention two that stand out.  This is the John Mitchell Monument by Peter Sheridan.  John Mitchell was the leader of the United Mine Workers. Its placement is fitting due to the fact that in May 1902, 150,000 mineworkers struck for six months against bad labor situations.  The Anthracite Coal Strike Commission was set up by President Theodore Roosevelt and they held the hearings in the courthouse behind this statue. The result was a few demands granted and the introduction of federal intervention in labor disputes.

Scranton Art

Art in Scranton*

ARt in ScrantonThis stunning sculptural piece is three sided.  It was dedicated in 1977 as a memorial to all men and women who served in the wars from Lackawanna County.

Elm Park ChurchThis church was built in 1892 and designed by George W. Cramer.  What makes it unique is its Akron Plan. The Akron Plan for church buildings was made popular by architectural pattern books in the late 19th and early 20th century. The plan is typified by an auditorium worship space  surrounded by connecting Sunday school classroom spaces, usually on one or two levels. The plan was first used in 1872 at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Akron, Ohio

The Sunday School Area

The Sunday School Area, each arch represents a different classroom, there are often curtains hung from the bars that cut across the bottom of the arches.

DSC_9033

The altar area, as taken from the Sunday School area.

There is a small chapel on the first floor of the Methodist Church with these fascinating little touches.

small chapel

DSC_9024 *DSC_9026 *DSC_9025

 

St Peters Cathedral Complex

St Peters Cathedral Complex

Originally built as the Church of St. Vincent de Paul and designed by engineer Joel Amsden in 1865, it was remodeled in the classic Beaux Arts Style in 1884 by Lewis Hancock.

A replication of Rafael's Transfiguration graces the altar area.

A replication of Rafael’s Transfiguration graces the altar area.

Scranton Municipal Building (1888) (340 N. Washington Ave. at Mulberry St.). Scranton, PA. Style: Victorian Gothic. Architect: Edward L. Walter. On National Register.

Scranton Municipal Building  built in 1888 at 340 N. Washington Avenue by Edward L. Walter.

Scranton Electric Building

Then there is the most recognizable building in Scranton after dark, the Scranton Electric Building.  Built in 1896 by architect Lansing Holden, the Beaux Arts building originally held the Scranton Board of trade, it was sold to the Electric Company in 1926 who erected the sign that can be seen from miles away at night.

Scranton is an ultimately very walkable town, with wonderful historic buildings where ever you go.  Pick up the History Set in Stone Walking Guide and enjoy.

 

 

Wilkes-Barre, PA – Its History and Its Architecture

 Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre
Oct 172015
 

October 2015

Let us start with, how do you pronounce Wilkes-Barre? The town was named in honor of British Parliament members, John Wilkes, and Isaac Barre and throughout its history, the city’s name has gone through various spellings, including Wilkesbarre, Wilkesborough, Wilkesburg, Wilkesbarra, Wilkes Barry and Wilkes Berry.  The two widely accepted ways to pronounce this hyphenated name are “Wilkes-BERRY” and “Wilkes-BEAR”.

Th Chevalier de Luzerne

Le Chevalier de Luzerne was born in Paris and joined the French Army.  He entered diplomatic service and was sent to the US in 1770.  He was always sympathetic to the young American Republic.

 

This small town, founded in 1769 and formally incorporated in 1806, is located in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania and is the seat of Luzerne County.  Due to the discovery of anthracite coal in the 19th century, which gave the city the nickname of “The Diamond City”, hundreds of thousands of immigrants flocked to the area for the jobs in the numerous mines and collieries that sprung up.

The cast-iron ornament of this house, reminiscent of New Orleans, was made possible by the mass production of the Industrial Revolution; forged in an anthracite- fueled foundry, it is an excellent example of the way in which Wilkes-Barre’s coal was helping to transform America. Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan designed this cubical Italian villa for banker Walter Sterling.

The cast-iron ornament on this house is reminiscent of much of the south of the U.S. The house was designed by Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan for banker William Sterling.  Built 1860

During this economic boom, a number of franchises were either founded or headquartered in the city, such as Woolworth’s, Planter’s Peanuts, Miner’s Bank, and Stegmaier Beer.  During this period the population was around 86,000, today it is half of that.

McClintock’s house has borne witness to both phases of River Street’s existence. Originally, the house was designed in the Greek Revival style. In 1863, McClintock, made wealthy by the growth of the mining industry, engaged New York architects Calvert Vaux and F. C. Withers to remodel his house. The spare structure was soon transformed into the first High Victorian Gothic house in Wilkes-Barre, boasting a polychrome brick arcade which made the house as fashionable as any of its neighbors.

This high Victorian Gothic home was designed by architect Bruce Price for Murray Reynolds and his family. This was also once the home of Colonel Robert B. Ricketts, a hero from the Battle of Gettysburg and donator of Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania.  Built 1873

The coal industry survived several disasters, including an explosion at the Baltimore Colliery in 1919 that killed 92 miners, but as other forms of energy were discovered and harnessed, its use died out. Most coal operations left Wilkes-Barre by the end of World War II, and then the 1959 Knox Mine Disaster, which killed twelve men and flooded the entire underground mine system marked the end.

The city went into a decades-long decline, hastened by Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

McClintock Law Office

This small Italianate building was originally built in 1840 as a law office for Alexander McClintock

During Hurricane Agnes the Susquehanna River rose to a height of 41 feet, that is four feet above the city’s levees, flooding the downtown with nine feet of water. No lives were lost but 25,000 homes and businesses were either damaged or destroyed.

Ornamentation on the Water Building

These water spewing ornaments grace the Neoclassical Revival office of the Spring Brook Water Supply Company, it was designed by architects Welsh, Sturdevant and Poggi.  Built 1910

Today the industry still includes beer, the recipes for Stegmaier’s was sold to the Lion Brewing company and they still make beer in Wilkes-Barre. The town is the home to both Wilkes University and King’s College, both started to educate the children of coal miners after WWII when people realized mining was dying out. Other institutions of higher learning include Misericordia University, Luzerne County Community College, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, and The Commonwealth Medical College.

Market Street Bridge is a historic concrete arch bridge over the Susquehanna River between Kingston and Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It was designed by the noted architectural firm of Carrère and Hastings and built between 1926 and 1929.

The Market Street Bridge over the Susquehanna River was designed by the noted architectural firm of Carrère and Hastings, the NY Public Library is one of their most famous buildings, and was built between 1926 and 1929.

The King atop the Kings College Administration Building

The King atop the Kings College (College of Christ the King)  Administration Building which was once the office of the Lehigh Coal Company. The building was designed by Daniel H. Burnham.

Scottish Rite Temple

The Masonic Temple was designed by the Wilkes-Barre architectural firm of Welsh, Sturdevant, and Poggi in 1916

DSC_8708

This is now Weiss Hall. In 1886, a new owner, E. L. Brown had architect Albert Kipp remodel the house, what was once a Greek Revival building, into this turreted, richly textured Queen Anne style abode.

Wilkes Barre Architecture

This is Wilkes-Barre’s Shriner’s temple, Irem Temple, built in 1907.  Designed by architect F. Willard Puckey it was patterned after the Mosque of Omar on the outside and the Court of Lions in the Alhambra on the inside.  It is without a doubt, the most talked about building in Wilkes-Barre.  Originally it was set on a large lot and probably had quite a wow factor when built, today, crammed amongst other buildings the beauty is, sadly, somewhat lost.

Shriners Temple
Originally a venue for large public affairs, the building has suffered from benign neglect.  It is estimated that it will take approximately $3million to bring it up to a point where it is safe for occupancy, but most likely other $2million before it is of use.
Shriners Temple
That amount is staggering when one considers that a home in the Wilkes-Barre area can be had for far less than $200,000 and that the church down the road, which is now a collection of artists studios is on the market for $250,000.
The Health Center of Wilkes-Barre
The Kirby Memorial Health Center was designed by Thomas Atherton and is an example of simplified Classical style. The tile work on the interior is just stunning. The building was built in 1930.
The stairways and walls are tiled, and the brass railings ornamented

The stairways and walls are tiled, and the brass railings ornamented.

DSC_8611

On the top floor, each end wall has a tile mural and the walls are covered in patterned green tiles.

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The building has been graced with an endowment by the Kirby Family of $5million.
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*DSC_8618

Fred Morgan Kirby became an apprentice at the Moore and Smith Dry Goods Store in Watertown, New York, at the age of 15. One of his co-workers was Frank Woolworth. Each gentleman went on their separate ways, but Kirby maintained a regular dialogue with Woolworth. By 1884 Woolworth persuaded Kirby to take a half interest in a store in Wilkes-Barre. Each man put up $600. The “Kirby and Woolworth 5 & 10 Cent Store” opened September 10, 1884. Early sales were poor and Woolworth wanted to bail but Kirby needed to see a return on his investment and insisted on braving it out. His patience paid off and by 1887 he had made enough profit to buy out his partner.  After years of both gentlemen making plenty of money going their own ways, their stores merged in January 1912. Kirby received $9million for his stores and a chunk of Woolworth stock, but Woolworth got his name put on all of the stores from there on out.

DSC_8596 *Kirby Health Center Lobby

Wilkes-Barre is still trying to find its way in this new economy, but tourism should be a huge boon if people discover how fabulous this small town is, and what interesting history and architecture it has.  I highly suggest a visit to this town if you find yourself in Pennsylvania.

St. Stephens Church – Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

 Wilkes-Barre
Oct 172015
 

October 2015

St. StephensSaint Stephen’s church is a masterpiece in understated elegance and master craftsmanship.  It sits on South Franklin Street and is a downtown landmark.

The church is built of locally-quarried yellow stone and was the second church that Philadelphia architect Charles M. Burns designed for the site: the first, built in 1885, burned down on Christmas Day 1896 leaving only the tower standing.

DSC_8848

These hammer beam trusses that support the roof, are capped with wooden angels.

St Stephens

*St Stephens

The polychrome brickwork is just so subtle, notice the faux arches created simply with the brick.

DSC_8857
St Stephens

The altar area is topped with a spectacular dome, while it appears to be a mosaic, it is not actually known what the material is, whether it is an applique or paint.

St Stephens

The pipe organ is just stunning and the church is used for many a music venue.

While there are no Tiffany windows in St. Stephens this plaque was done by the Tiffany Company

While there are no Tiffany windows in St. Stephens this plaque was done by the Tiffany Company

St. Stephens Church Wilkes-Barre

*St. Stephens

Luzerne County Courthouse

 Wilkes-Barre
Oct 172015
 

October 2015

Wilkes-Barre PA

This is the Luzerne County Courthouse, it is an architectural wonder, not to be missed if you are in Wilkes-Barre.

Wilkes-Barre was once part of Connecticut. At the beginning of its history, the territory belonged to Northampton County, Connecticut.  In 1786, after the establishment of Pennsylvania’s claim to the disputed territory, Luzerne County was formed with Wilkes-Barre as its seat.

Luzerne County CourthouseThe Classical Revival building with its cruciform shape is 200′ wide x 200′ long. The rotunda is 53 x 53 feet, and it terminates vertically with the dome sitting 100′ above the ground floor.

The dome is presently undergoing renovation and is netted in this photo.

The dome is presently undergoing renovation and is netted in this photo.

The foundation is concrete, the exterior walls are Ohio sandstone and then terra cotta and marble rule throughout the interior.

Luzerne County Courthouse The four piers supporting the dome and the walls of the first story are of Botticino stone, a buff-colored marble with a similar color to Caen stone. The cornices, columns, balustrades and corridor wainscoting are white Italian marble.

Luzerne County Courthouse*Luzerne County Courthouse*Luzerne County Courthouse*Luzerne County CourthouseYou will also find bronze throughout, including inset in the balustrades, the elevators, and office screens.

Luzerne County Courthouse MosaicsThroughout the building, and especially in the rotunda corridors and entrance corridors are mosaics.  They include painted portraits of prominent people throughout the history of Wilkes-Barre and are in chronological order, making the study of the area a simple “walkabout”.

Prosperity under the Law by William H. Low

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Prosperity under the Law by William H. Low

Over each  Judge’s Bench in the third-floor courtrooms are the murals: “Justice,” “Prosperity Under the Law,” “The Judicial Virtues,” and “The Awakening of a Commonwealth,” painted by Edwin H. Blashfield, William H. Low, Kenyon Cox, and William T. Smedley, respectively.

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The Judicial Virtues by Kenyon Cox

 

by W. F. Smelly

The Awakening of the Commonwealth by W. F. Smedly

The lighting outside of the four courtrooms on the third floor

The lighting outside of the four courtrooms on the third floor

Luzerne County Courthouse

Looking up to the second and third floors from the rotunda floor

Mahogany benches in the courtrooms of the third floor

Mahogany benches in the courtrooms of the third floor

Luzerne County Courthouse

The door plates all have the seal of Luzerne County, which is also the seal of Pennsylvania

The doorplates all have the seal of Luzerne County, which is also the seal of Pennsylvania

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.  The cost of the building at the time was $2million.  It was the subject of so many lawsuits that it did not come in on time or on budget, but I don’t think anyone today would complain.

The top of the tympanum on the exterior at the front entrance

The top of the tympanum on the exterior at the front entrance

Luzerne County Courthouse

A Small Sample of the Architecture of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

 Wilkes-Barre
Oct 172015
 

October 2015

Memorial PresbyterianThis is the Memorial Presbyterian Church, at 29 West North Street, built in 1872. It has been abandoned and is searching for a new loving owner.

Memorial PresbyterianThe church was built by Calvin Whitehead, he lost his three children to scarlet fever, and they are memorialized in these stained glass windows “being dead, might yet speak”

Memorial Presbyterian

This Gothic Revival Gem with its rather rare stone spire was designed by Edward Kendall of New York.

The tile Floor

The tile Floor

Door Escutcheons in the Church

Door hinges in the Church

 

This is the Kirby Health Clinic Annex

This is the Kirby Health Clinic Annex – 63 North Franklin Street, built in 1890 and credited with kicking off architect Bruce Price’s career.

Notice the rather interesting simple details.

Kirby Health Care Annex

The Kirby Health Annex with its glass and stone embedded stucco and wonderful dolphin downspout

Kirby Health Clinic Annex *

This is the Osterhout Free Library, originally built as the First Presbyterian Church in 1849.  In 1889 Isaac S. Osterhout left his estate of $325,000, to “establish and maintain in the city of Wilkes-Barre a free library” the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System, librarian Melvil Dewey recommended the church as a “temporary” building. It was purchased for $27,000.

Osterhous Free Library

Exterior of the Osterhout Free Library at 71 S. Franklin Street

The interior of the library today

The interior of the library today

The interior of the Free Library

The interior of the Free Library

 

Citizens Bank at 8 Market Street now sits empty.  It was designed by Daniel Burnham, best known as the architect for the Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair (Columbian Exposition). Built 1911

Miners Bank *

Miners Bank

This is the Valley’s oldest congregation the First Presbyterian church, founded in 1779.  The building is Laurel Run Redstone and was built in 1889.  The architects was James Cleveland Cady who also designed the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

First Presbyterian Church

First Presbyterian at 97 South Franklin Street

The church is filled with Tiffany Windows

The church is filled with Tiffany Windows

The house next door served as part of the church at one time, the architect is unknown, however, look at the huge pieces of sandstone that serve as stair rails.
Frist Presbyterian Rectors House

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Max Roth Center – 215 South Franklin Street- Built 1895

Designed by J. H. W. Hawkins for a local dentist the stubby Syrian arches and the rusticated walls stand out, as well as the beautiful wood work inside of the Max Roth Center.

Max Roth Center *

Max Roth Center

Bedford Hall

Bedford Hall 96 West South Street

Bedford Hall, built 1876, is architect Bruce Price’s finest example of the High Victorian Gothic Style, it was constructed for attorney and industrialist George Bedford.

Bedford Hall

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Ohak Zedek

This building for the Congregation Ohav Zedek, at 242 South Franklin Street, was built in 1930.  Its Middle Eastern over tones were designed by local architect Austin Reilly. Notice the splendid terra cotta entry.

Ohav Zedek

Paladian

An example of the rowhouses built throughout the city’s fashionable neighborhoods during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Row House of Wilkes-Barre

Row House of Wilkes-Barre

 

Stegmeir Beer

Stegmaier Brewing Company (1890-1913)  Wilkes-Barre Boulevard and East Market Street

Charles Stegmaier came to Wilkes-Barre from Germany in 1851 and hired A.C. Wagner, a brewery design specialist, to build the Stegmaier Brewery. This cupola-topped red brick brewhouse is a Victorian’s delight.

Steigmeir BeerIn 1974 when the brewery closed and sold their recipes to Lion Brewery, Stegmaier was the third largest brewery in Pennsylvania, producing 800,000 barrels of beer annually.

Lion Brewing

 

This is only a small smattering of the many wonderful historic buildings in Wilkes-Barre.  If you are able to find time to visit, you can download a walking tour put together by the Historical Society.

 

Hollenback Cemetery – Wilkes-Barre

 Wilkes-Barre
Oct 172015
 

October 2015

 

Hollenback CemeteryThe Hollenback Cemetery Association was formed in 1855 with 15 acres gifted by Colonel George M. Hollenback.
Wilkes-BarreAlthough this is the cemetery for the “upper crust” it resides in a neighborhood that is primarily surrounded with old miners homes.

Hollenback Cemetery Wilkes Barre

In 1887 John Welles Hollenback gave an additional five acres as a gift to the association.

Hollenback CemeteryThere are still plots available in this cemetery.

The reason for my visit is to witness, what is possibly the only historic place where an architect has designed a plot once every decade, and more importantly, that architect is Bruce Price renown architect of Wilkes-Barre.

If you have been reading along you have seen quite a few of his buildings.

Bruce Price was born in Maryland, and for a while, studied at Princeton. It is said that his stark style was a large influence on both Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Venturi. His style included Beaux-Arts, Romanesque and what ever was needed for New York skyscrapers of his time.

In 1871, Price married Josephine Lee, the daughter of a Wilkes-Barre coal baron. They had two children, a son William, who died in infancy and a daughter who grew up to be Emily Post of etiquette fame.

George W. Woodward

The first of the graves designed by Price was for George Washington Woodward (1809 -1875), a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. The monument is meant to represent a Greek funeral pyre.  It is made “Christian” by a very large cross on the top, that at this point, only one flying over or possibly god, could see.  However, if you are so inclined it is possible to view on GoogleEarth.

The stars are there to represent an immortal, representing, of course, immortality.  The “battered” lines are an abstract representation of the personality of the subject, George W. Woodward, and apparently comes from Egyptian lore.    Hanging from the jutting stone at the top were originally bronze wreaths, meant to represent fresh wreaths placed onto the funeral pyre.

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*Wilkes-Barre Cemetery

This grave stone is for Price’s father-in-law Washington Lee. (1821-1883) This being the second decade the Price placed a monument in this cemetery.

Washington Lee Gravestone

*Wilkes-Barre Cemetery

The Pergola like structure is where Price and his wife Josephine Lee are buried, he designed this monument.  His son William’s grave is the small one at the front on the left.

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With the exception of this stunning sculpture, the grave stones within the cemetery are all rather simple.  Neither the deceased, nor the sculptor, are known for this particular piece.

Notice the exquisite placement of the mourners hat.

Notice the exquisite placement of the mourners hat.

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Bonaventure Cemetery of Savannah, Georgia

 Savannah
May 122015
 

Bonaventure Cemetery

I have had a fascination for cemeteries for much of my life.  My love of them comes from their quality of art.  The rich and famous often hire the best sculptors of the time to memorialize their loved ones, so I often think of older cemeteries as large outdoor art galleries.

Bonaventure Cemetery

With that concept in mind I headed out to Bonaventure Cemetery just outside of Savannah.

In the 1800s throughout the world burial grounds began to be located outside of population centers for public health reasons.  This was the beginning of the “Rural Cemetery” movement. The rural cemetery was designed with a romantic vision of nature, based upon English landscape gardening. These cemeteries, thought by many to be the pre-cursor to our park system, were gathering places. It was common for families to picnic in these cemeteries.

The Willmington River

The Wilmington River

This nearly 100 acre cemetery sits on the Wilmington River.  Settled ca. 1761 this land was originally two plantations.

In 1846 a local businessman, Peter Wiltberger, purchased the land with the intention of creating a cemetery.  This did not happen until after the Civil War.  The, then named Evergreen Cemetery, operated privately until 1907.  In 1907 the City of Savannah purchased the Bonaventure, and while it has gone through much since then, it is well maintained and a delightful get away from the noise of the city.

Veterans of many wars will be found at the Bonaventure. These contain the remains from George Gannon Post 184 and Tybee Island Post 154

Veterans of many wars will be found at the Bonaventure. These contain the remains from George Gannon Post 184 and Tybee Island Post 154

Spanish American War Veterans

Spanish American War Veterans

Bonaventure

In order to have a separate Jewish section, the Orthodox Jewish community bought a very large portion to the right of Bonaventure. A large two-story brick and glass preburial house sits in the middle of the  Jewish section. Today this section, although it still has a separate gate, is part of the entire complex.

Entry gate to the Jewish section of Bonaventure Cemetery

Entry gate to the Jewish section of Bonaventure Cemetery

There is a large Greek Burial area

There is a large Greek Burial area

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Irish Gravestones

 

The plot for the Order of Railway Workers

The plot for the Order of Railway Workers

 

The simple grave marker of a railway worker

The simple grave marker of a railway worker

Gaston's Tomb

Gaston’s Tomb

Of course the cemetery has the historical figures of Savannah, and the South.  As you enter the cemetery you will first see.Gaston’s tomb. This mausoleum was originally in the Colonial Cemetery.  William J. Gaston (1777-1884) rose to prominence as an attorney, legislator, Congressman and state Supreme Court justice.

Well known for his hospitality and kindness to others, especially to strangers, Savannahians had this memorial built for the Judge after his death in New York City. Called the Visitor’s Tomb, it was designed as a place for out-of-towners to be laid to rest until their bodies could be sent home.

In writing the above I questioned the interchangeable words mausoleum and tomb.  The dictionary defines a mausoleum as a stately tomb.

Between 1844 and 1969 the first three generations of the De Renne family of Savannah made notable contributions to Georgia history by collecting materials relating to the state's past and by printing primary sources and other historical works relating to Georgia as colony and state. Much of this collection can be found at the University of Georgia

The De Renne family of Savannah collected printed materials and other historical works relating to Georgia’s history. Much of this collection can be found at the University of Georgia

Rufus Ezekial Lester Born in Burke Co., CA December 12, 1837 Died in Washington DC June 16, 1906 A gallant confederate soldier State Senator 1870-1873 Three years president of the senate Mayor of Savannah 1883-1889 Member of Congress 1830-1906

Rufus Ezekial Lester
Born in Burke Co., CA
December 12, 1837
Died in Washington DC
June 16, 1906
A gallant confederate soldier
State Senator 1870-1873
Three years president of the senate
Mayor of Savannah 1883-1889
Member of Congress 1830-1906

I originally went to find the grave of Corinne Elliot Lawton.  I am sure she is the heart of many of the ghost tours with the story that she died of a broken heart due to a jilted love. Miss Lawton most likely came to her premature end after a “short illness” — just as her obituary read. It is also said that the position of her parents grave shows how she brought shame to them, this more likely is due to the fact that her grave was relocated to Bonaventure after the death of her parents  The statue of Jesus was also erected in their name.

Corrine Elliott Lawtons grave, with its lack of eyes spawns more ghost stories and tall tales.

Corrine Elliott Lawtons grave, with its lack of eyes spawns more ghost stories and tall tales.

Corrine Eliot Lawton Grave

Corrine Eliot Lawton Grave

Corrine Elliot Lawton

Corrine Elliot Lawton

Here is a smattering of some other lovely weeping women and unusual grave stones.

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Bonaventure Cemetery

 

In October of 1867 during John Muir’s Thousand Mile Walk, he spent six days and nights in the Bonaventure, sleeping on the graves as the “safest and cheapest accommodations” he could find. He found the cemetery “breathtakingly beautiful and inspiring” and wrote a lengthy chapter on it, “Camping in the Tombs.”  The chapter, which you can read here, is a magnificent description of the cemetery at the time.

Bonaventure Cemetery

 

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Bonaventure Cemetery

Bonaventure Cemetery

Stunning Art Deco Doors at the Bonaventure Cemetery

Stunning Art Deco Doors at the Bonaventure Cemetery

Most of the few graves of Bonaventure are planted with flowers. There is generally a magnolia at the head, near the strictly erect marble, a rose-bush or two at the foot, and some violets and showy exotics along the sides or on the tops. All is enclosed by a black iron railing, composed of rigid bars that might have been spears or bludgeons from a battlefield in Pandemonium. - John Muir

Most of the few graves of Bonaventure are planted with flowers. There is generally a magnolia at the head, near the strictly erect marble, a rose-bush or two at the foot, and some violets and showy exotics along the sides or on the tops. All is enclosed by a black iron railing, composed of rigid bars that might have been spears or bludgeons from a battlefield in Pandemonium. – John Muir

Old Iron railings in the Bonaventure Cemetery

Old Iron railings in the Bonaventure Cemetery

Pre-burial house in the Jewish Section

Pre-burial house in the Jewish Section

A map and brief guide are available from the visitor center, inside the administration building at the main entrance. Public restrooms are also located at the main entrance.

Main gate of the Bonaventure Cemetery

Main gate of the Bonaventure Cemetery

As a sculpture garden, the Bonaventure did not exactly live up to my expectations.  However, it is an absolute must on anyone’s trip to Savannah.  The grace and beauty of the area, the history that it contains makes this a real highlight.

I recommend a tour.  I was unable to take one due to my time limitation.  I chose to visit on a typical Savannah day – 84 degrees and 76% humidity.  I really could only handle about one hour in that temperature, so exploring went out the window.  I missed a few of the highlights, to say the least.

Colonial Park Cemetery

While the Bonaventure is quite the cemetery, in downtown Savannah you will also find the Colonial Park Cemetery. Also known as the Old Cemetery and The Old Brick Cemetery, it was founded in 1750. Closed for new burials in 1853 it was reopened as a city park in 1896. The cemetery was much larger than it is today, and it contains over 10,000 burials but only 600 gravestones.

The reason I wanted to include it here is that even though the cemetery was closed to burials before the start of the Civil War and no Confederate soldiers are buried there, the war did leave its mark on the cemetery. Federal troops took over the cemetery grounds during their occupation of Savannah and many of the graves were looted and desecrated. It has been said that Union soldiers changed the dates on many of the headstones.

These stones can be found on the back wall of the cemetery.

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Notice the change of dates, making the soldier dead before his birth

Colonial Park Cemetery Back Wall

Colonial Park Cemetery Back Wall

 

Architectural Styles of Savannah

 Savannah
May 102015
 
The Davenport House

The Davenport House

The architectural styles of Savannah are varied and, thanks to many preservationists, available for us all to study.  There are hundreds of tour companies, riding in a variety of vehicles or by foot.  There are many books out on Savannah Architecture, better forums than here to get a decent education.  I will also say that it would take a lifetime to cover all of the items that are worth studying in Savannah Architecture, for that reason I am presenting, either some of my favorites or items that have the best of their style.

The Davenport House is the first home saved in the preservation movement. The Federal, or Adam, style dominated the American architectural landscape from roughly 1780 to 1840, having evolved from Georgian, the principal design language of the colonial period.

The Mercer House

The Mercer House

The Italianate Style Mercer House was designed by John Norris in 1871, a prolific architect in Savannah during this time.

The Armstrong House

The Armstrong House

Another Italianate house is the rather grand Armstrong House, built in 1819 for the Armstrong family.

The Andrew Low House

The Andrew Low House

The Andrew Low House, a John Norris home completed in 1849 has hallmarks of an Italianate home with bits of Greece.  This home was the home of Julliet Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts.  She married the son of the original owner and received the home after her husband’s death.  The first headquarters for the Girl Scouts is located in the carriage house in the back.

Georgia Hussars Armory

Georgia Hussars Armory

Known locally as the Ford dealership, this quirky building stands out with its ogee arch and quatrefoil motif.  The stunning spiral columns are topped with Arabic inspired arches.

The Green Meldrim House

The Green-Meldrim House

The Green-Meldrim house is another John Norris building, I fell in love with the entry portico.

Entry to the Green-Meldrim House

Entry to the Green-Meldrim House

The Scottish Rite Temple

The Scottish Rite Temple

This neoclassical Scottish Rite Temple places its prettiest face on the top floor. The temple was built in 1913 by Hyman Wallace Witcover, and has lovely terra-cotta along the top.

Volunteer Guards Armory

Volunteer Guards Armory

This Romanesque Style building, designed by William Gibbons Preston and completed in 1892 is flanked by cannons and black metal work that takes your breath away.

Volunteer Guards Armory

Volunteer Guards Armory

Volunteer Guards Armory

Volunteer Guards Armory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cotton Exchange

The Cotton Exchange

Another wonderful Romanesque Style building is the Cotton Exchange.

The Unitarian Church

The Unitarian Church

This odd little gothic church was designed by John Norris and finished in 1851. The Reverend John Pierpont Jr.’s brother James was the organist and the choir director.  James composed “Jingle Bells” while living in Savannah.  Their nephew, by the way, was John Pierpont Morgan.

Mickve Israel Synagogue

Mickve Israel Synagogue

Another gothic style house of worship is the Mickve Israel Synagogue. It was built in 1876 and designed by Henry G. Harrison.

12 East Taylor

12 East Taylor

Built in 1869 one side of this pair of townhouses was built for Daniel J. Purse, a one time mayor of Savannah. A renovation in 1897 added the projecting Bays that go out over the sidewalk and the mansard Roof. This excessiveness, somewhat hidden behind the trees, is what gives Savannah its whimsy.

Parkers Grocery

Parkers Grocery

This shining example of adaptive re-use was special even before it was a grocery store. Built in the 1920s this Arthur Comer designed building combined a gasoline station with both automobile sales and its service facility.

Laurence McNeil House

Laurence McNeil House

This neoclassical building by Gottfried Norman was built in 1903.

The Thunderbird Inn

The Thunderbird Inn

Built in 1964, the Thunderbird is still a fun place to stay in Savannah.

The Kress Building

The Kress Building

This Art Deco building is from 1923.

King Tisdell Cottage

King Tisdell Cottage

Originally built in 1896 by W. W. Aimar this Victorian, gingerbread ornamented cottage is now the Museum of Black History.

St. John's Cathedral

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

This High Victorian Gothic church, Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, was built in the 1870s and designed by E. Francis Baldwin.  If you have the opportunity to visit inside, it is a must!  The support columns are cast iron, faux painted as marble.  There are murals, and paintings and ornamentation, and windows, and alters, and……well you get the picture.

Independent Presbyterian Church

Independent Presbyterian Church

Built in 1816 and designed by John Holden Greene in the English Restoration style, this church sits on land granted directly from King George II to the Church.

The Chase Bank

The Citizens Bank

These windows are the most ornamental portion of the Citizens Bank, now occupied by Savannah College of Art and Design.

William Kehoe House

Kehoe House

This Queen Anne building was built for William Kehoe in 1893. Architect Dewitt Bruyn used the railings, brackets, moldings, and interior ceiling medallions made by Kehoe’s iron company to help advertise their availability.

This is just a smattering of the unbelievable variety of architecture in Savannah, but I hope I have shown you a good idea of what you can expect.

There are several books about that help to guide you around town if you want to do a tour on your own.

The National Trust Guide to Savannah

Savannah Architectural Tours by Jonathan Stalcup.  Jonathan also gives a spectacular tour.

Details of Savannah

 Savannah
May 092015
 
Forsyth Park Fountain

Forsyth Park Fountain

There is so much cast iron in Savannah but one of the more impressive pieces is the fountain in Forsyth Park

The iconic fountain was selected out of a catalogue of ornamental ironwork by Janes, Beebe & Company of New York . Known simply as design Number Five, it was one of a handful of elaborate fountain designs featured in the catalogue and was said to have cost the city $3,000 to install. The No. 5. design is modeled after a fountain that was created by Michel Joseph Napoleon Lienard and cast by the J.P.V. Andre Iron Foundry in Paris.

Cast iron was used functionally, as in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, the columns there are structural and by using cast iron the church was able to utilize a smaller diameter column and increase interior space.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Cast iron was also used to show off one’s wealth. Cast Iron Work

 

Wrought Iron Downspout

Cast Iron Downspout on a private home. This is a copy by Ivan Bailey, the originals no longer exist, but it is typical of the period,  you will find these on the Oglethorpe Club as well.

Balcony of the Owens Thomas House

Balcony of the Owens Thomas House

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The Marshall House Balcony

 

DSC_3295Wallpaper is the hallmark of many older homes, however, what is left is usually too damaged to keep, in the following cases, with the exception of the Telfair mansion (which is original) all the others are reproductions. This painstaking process requires experts that slowly tear back years of paint and covering wallpaper, then finding the original and having it reproduced.

Telfair Museum

Telfair Museum

Three different papers in the Davenport House

Three different papers in the Davenport House

Cast plaster, being my career for 25 years always makes me look.  In the case of the Green-Meldrim house, my mouth was agape.  The pierced plaster work throughout, is not only stunning but very rare.

Green-Meldrim House

Green-Meldrim House

Volunteer Regimental Armory

Volunteer Regimental Armory Building

Of course stained glass is studied by anyone that is interested in any period of historic architecture, here is a little of what is in Savannah.

The Unitarian Church

The Unitarian Church

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

B'nai B'rith Jacob Synagogue, now SCAD Student Center

B’nai B’rith Jacob Synagogue, now SCAD Student Center

Flooring is also always of interest, tile, wood, and even floor cloths were common throughout Savannah.

Center Pine Wood Floor in the Orphanage and Convent for the Missionary Sisters of the Francisan Order

Center Pine Wood Floor in the Orphanage and Convent for the Missionary Sisters of the Franciscan Order

Tile at the Oglethorpe Club

Tile at the Oglethorpe Club

Painted Ca

Painted Floor Cloth

There are many other crafts involved, here are some examples that showed up a little less in Savannah.

Stenciling

Stenciling

Murals

Murals

Terrazzo at the old Woolworth's building

Terrazzo at the old Woolworth’s building

Terracotta on the Scottish Rite Temple

Terracotta on the Scottish Rite Temple

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Tin Ceilings

Varied colored bricks

Polychrome Brickwork – A style of architectural brickwork which emerged in the 1860s and used bricks of different colors in patterned combination to highlight architectural features.

 

Savannah Tidbits

 Savannah
May 092015
 
A Victorian Privacy Barrier

A Victorian Privacy Barrier

There are so many wonderful architectural styles in Savannah, with details galore.  I wanted to focus on a few items of interest that aren’t often talked about.  The Archway in a private home delineated the private rooms from the public ones.  The parlor and the gentleman’s office in this house are the two rooms that are between the front door in the background and this stunning arch.

Haint Blue

Haint Blue

Haint Blue has a lot of mysticism and rumor surrounding it. An oft repeated theory states that its roots are in the Geechee culture. The Geechee are African-Americans found mainly in the low country. Descendants of slaves, their belief system is a mixture of African witchcraft and a bit of Christianity.

The story goes that painting sections or even entire homes this shade of blue came from the Geechee belief in witches and “haints” or spirits. Apparently these ghosts could not cross water so the blue was believed to repel the spirits.

The color is made of a mixture of indigo dye, milk and lime (the burning and grinding of the oyster shells as seen in tabby). Lime is a natural insect repellent, but I believe this is just a good side benefit, I doubt they knew that at the time.

Arsenic Paint

Arsenic Paint

Another bug repellent was arsenic.  Here it is in the dining room in the green paint.

Madera Decanters

Madeira Decanters in a case with a bug catcher nearby

Madeira started arriving in Savannah in the 1760s, it was even advertised in Georgia’s first newspaper. By the 19th century, Savannah was a major importer of Madeira.  It was so popular with the wealthy, their cellar inventories are still talked about today.

So what happened to Madeira?  Three things contributed to the demise of Savannah’s Madeira culture: the economic upheaval of the War Between the States and two blights of the vine that decimated much of Europe’s vineyards in the 1850s and 1870s.

By the time production and America’s economy recovered, the taste for Madeira had waned.

Another reason for the wine’s success in the South is its stalwart character. As a fortified wine, it survives heat, humidity and rough ocean crossings. Once opened, it seems to keep indefinitely.

Feather Beds

Feather Beds

Feather beds were terribly expensive in the past.  The feathers from the occasional chicken or turkey dinner would be saved until there were enough to stuff a mattress.

Pine Straw or Spanish Moss Mattress

Pine Straw or Spanish Moss Mattress

Spanish Moss and Pine straw however, were prevalent and cheap.  The pine straw mattress took a lot of work, the pine needles would clump together, so every morning someone, a slave in the case of the south, had to pull the lumps apart. The Spanish Moss appeared, to me at least, to be the most logical.  It was a much more comfortable material, and in the south, almost as prevalent as pine needles at the time.

Ballast bricks

Ballast bricks

Since many ships arrived in Savannah somewhat lighter than they intended to leave, they needed ballast during the voyage.  These bricks, which acted as ballast, eventually became a sidewalk.

Tabby

Tabby

Tabby, while most often found as a material in the walls of buildings, works just as well as sidewalk material. You can read all about Tabby in my article about Beaufort, South Carolina.

The Trustees Garden

The Trustees Garden

The Trustees Garden was the first experimental garden in America.  The garden was modeled after the Chelsea Botanical Garden and was ten acres.  Botanists were sent from England to scour the world for the project.  They brought vine cuttings, fruit trees, flax, hemp, spices, cotton, indigo, olives and medicinal herbs. The trustees laid their greatest hopes on wine industry and in Mulberry trees which were essential to the culture of silk. Both of these crops failed due to the unsuitable soil and weather conditions. However, they did produce the peach trees Georgia is so famous for, as well as upland cotton.

The Pirates House

The Pirates House

Next to the Trustees Garden is the Pirates’ House. It was built in 1734 and is said to be the oldest house in the State of Georgia. It was originally the home of the gardener for the Trustees Garden.

Eventually the building became a Seaman’s Inn and obviously a drinking establishment. Rumors insist that there is a tunnel from the rum cellar to the docks for Shanghaing sailors.  What is known is that Savannah is mentioned several times in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, and some say that a few passages of it were based on The Pirates House.

WTOC

WTOC

The first Savannah radio station opened in October 1929.  Its call letters WTOC stood for Welcome to our City.

Torah at Mickve Israel Synagogue

Torah at Mickve Israel Synagogue

The congregation of Mickve Israel was founded by a group of 42 Jews who sailed from London aboard the William and Sarah, they arrived in Savannah on July 11, 1733, just months after the colony’s establishment. These founders brought with them a “Safertoro” or Torah made of deerskin, it was the first brought to the U.S. and also the oldest in the U.S.  This Torah is still used on commemorative occasions today.

Savannah has the second largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the country. They begin in mid-February with an Irish festival, a Celtic cross ceremony on March 1 and many lesser parades and events leading up to its big St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Savannah's Celtic Cross

Savannah’s Celtic Cross

There is also a William Jasper Green ceremony. The event honors the Irishman who came to fight the British in the Revolutionary War and lost his life in the Siege of Savannah in 1779. It has become a ceremony that honors all who have served in the military.

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Pinkie Masters

On St. Patricks Day in 1978, Jimmy Carter stood on the bar at Pinkie Masters and gave a speech.  Al Gore gave one in there on St. Patrick’s Day as well.

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The Six Pence (shown above) is just one of many Irish Pubs in Savannah, it serves good food, but also starred in the movie Something to Talk About.

 

The Square as the Heart of Savannah

 Savannah
May 082015
 

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I studied the squares of Savannah in Urban Planning classes at school.  I was anxious to finally get to see them, but nothing compared to being educated further by Robin B. Williams, the Chair of the Architectural History Department at Savannah College of Art and Design.  He has a book coming out in the fall of 2015 about the planning of Savannah, I look forward to its release.  I will try, here, to do justice to his lecture.

King George II

King George II

General James Oglethorpe

General James Oglethorpe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General James Oglethorpe landed in Savannah on February 12, 1733. This new 13th Colony, called Georgia, was authorized by a grant from King George II to a group constituted by Oglethorpe as the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America, or simply the Georgia Trustees.

This colony was to be a sanctuary for Protestants and debtors in the English prisons. Oglethorpe had seen a friend die of smallpox in debtor’s prison, however, there were no debtors amongst the original settlers.

The new colony also served as a buffer between the Spanish in Florida and the rest of the English Colonies to the north.

The actual person that laid out Savannah, though attributed to Oglethorpe, and the actual germinating seed for the idea, are hazy, but the original city plan of Savannah has proved to be one of the finest ever devised.

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The concept of Savannah was to emphasize hard work, essentially an agrarian life was thought to be the ideal.  Settlers would be given a town lot as well as 45 acres outside of Savannah and a 5 acre garden plot.  You were allowed to purchase an extra 500 acres, but no more.  This was actually the beginning of the concept in America that “all men are created equal”.

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The town plan was based on the fact that each ward would have a square.  Savannah’s plan reflects political and organizational considerations of the day. Each ward had tythingmen, who shared guard and other duties, or “wardens”.

Tything Lots

Tything Lots

Around these squares were Tythings.  In those days Ty simply meant 10.  So on the north and south side of each square were 10 residential lots, giving each ward a total of 40.  Tything lots were 60′ X 90′. Townhouses came to tything lots in the 1800s.

Chatham County Courthouse sits on a Trust Lot

Chatham County Courthouse sits on a Trust Lot

On each square were 4 trust lots.  These were meted out to the deserving recipient by the “trustees” of Savannah.  These trust lots were to be for public buildings, most notably places of worship.  However, most of the largest mansions are on these trust lots.  Considering that these mansions were built when cotton was king, while Professor Williams did not say, I assume money had much to do with it.

The Mercer Williams House built on a trust lot

The Mercer Williams House built on a trust lot

Civic Streets are 75' wide

Civic Streets are 75′ wide

The plan made for interesting street layouts as well.  There are Civic Streets that are 75′ wide, they come in contact with the parks and have been tree lined since the 1800s.

Lanes are 45' with some 22 1/2 feet wide

Lanes are 45′ wide with some 22 1/2 feet wide

The lanes are the utilitarian streets. These run through the tything lots and tend not to have trees.  This area is where the carriage houses would have been, today they handle the garbage, sewers, phone and electric.  This is a good reason Savannah is so lovely, the utilities are hidden from the main streets and squares.

Carriage House opening onto a Lane

Carriage House opening onto a Lane

One interesting effect of the Lane and carriage house was the fact that the slave population actually had an ingress and egress to the world.  The slaves lived in the carriage houses, and this access gave them mobility.

Major Arteries

Major Arteries

Liberty Street and Oglethorpe Avenue are the only two major arteries.  These two streets have tree lined medians.

Madison Square

Madison Square, named for James Madison with a statue of Sergeant William Jasper

There were originally 24 squares, but the heyday of the 1960s and 1970s saw the loss of two of them.  Many of them include statuary of important Savannahians.  Caution however, the person named in the statue is never the person the square is named after, and yet there will be a statue of a person who also has a square named after them…confused yet?

Chippewa Square with a statue of Oglethorpe

Chippewa Square with a statue of Oglethorpe

This bench was built specifically for the Forest Gump movie and is in Chippewa Square

This bench was built specifically for the Forrest Gump movie and is in Chippewa Square

Monterey Square

Monterey Square with a statue of Count Casimir Pulaski

Troup Square

Troup Square

Lafayette Square

Lafayette Square

Originally the streets of Savannah were dirt, so the trees were planted in the street rather than the road.  Once the streets were paved the trees were given their own strips, these are called Tree Lawns.

Tree Lawn

Tree Lawn

Savannah homes are elevated and sit directly on their lot line.  This means that their entry stairways actually sit on public property.  Each home, to this day, must file for an encroachment agreement.  The stairs of Savannah are as varied as can be and just lovely.

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*DSC_3274This plan worked so well that it survived seven expansions of the city from 1790 to 1850.  It is still studied as an ideal, walkable, livable plan.

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I wanted to leave you with the four tenets that Oglethorpe founded Savannah on.

Religious liberty was guaranteed, except for Roman Catholicism. The Catholicism ban was not against Catholics as against their ability to build a church.  This was a military decision, as the Spanish were just a ways away in Florida, a highly catholic establishment.

Slavery was forbidden, but was allowed in South Carolina, so it was widely ignored.  On January 1, 1751, much to the disgust of Oglethorpe the parliament made slavery legal in Savannah.

Hard liquor and spirits were forbidden.  Beer and wine were fine, however, they weren’t perfect.

Lastly, no lawyers, on the theory that a gentleman should always be able to defend himself.

An additional one I find of extreme interest also was a statue requiring compliance with the Law for Maintaining Peace with the Indians.  Oglethorpe had an excellent relationship with the local Indians.

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Cotton is King

 Georgia
May 082015
 

May 2015

Savannah, Georgia is like other towns in the United States that have a plethora of historic architecture.  They have more houses to tour than is humanly possible and more historical groups than can be counted on both hands and all toes.

Savannah suffered greatly in the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, and without the foresight and forcefulness of a few brave souls that fought to preserve architecture, it would look very different than it does today.

Savannah Cotton Exchange

Savannah Cotton Exchange

There are many great homes that have been saved, and urban planning that is second to none, but I wanted to talk about what I believe, is my favorite location.

The Savannah Cotton Exchange

Factors’ Walk

I say location, because the Savannah Cotton Exchange is a stunning Romanesque Revival building that anchors what is called Factors’ Walk.

The Cotton Exchange was first established in 1872 as a place for the cotton factors and merchants to meet and decide the price of cotton.

The Savannah Cotton Exchange Building was built a little over a decade later, in 1886, by Boston architect William G. Preston.

DSC_3112This red brick building with its terra cotta façade, iron window lintels and copper finials and copings was deliberately designed to stand out from the buildings around it to to show off the prominence of the cotton industry.

The wharf side of the Cotton Exchange Building

The wharf side of the Cotton Exchange Building

The cotton exchange was one of the first major buildings to be constructed entirely over a public street.

Looking out from the back of the Cotton Exchange Building

Looking out from the back of the Cotton Exchange Building

Savannah’s port was a center of cotton trading and export in the South, the product of slave labor before the Civil War and impoverished sharecroppers after the war. This cotton was shipped to markets all over the world.

Three months after Savannah‘s founding (February 12, 1733), the first ship to visit – the James – anchored.  By June 1735, the first boat was loading and taking things from the new colony back to England.  By 1755, there were nine square-rigged ships and 43 schooners and sloops sailing from the port, loaded with things like indigo, wine, silk and potash.

Between the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783 and the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, cotton was the major product of the South, and Savannah was to benefit directly from that fact. The first shipment of cotton from Savannah took place in 1784 – eight bags sent to Liverpool, England, and, legend has it, seized by authorities who could not believe so much cotton could have been raised in the United States.

In 1793, after Eli Whitney perfected the cotton gin at Mulberry Grove, a plantation just west of Savannah, exports skyrocketed. Shipments from Savannah reached 90,000 bales per year in 1820, with revenues around $14million.

By 1855, exports through Savannah had risen to $20.1 million, 90% of it was cotton.

Balconies on the water side of Factors' Walk

Balconies on the water side of Factors’ Walk

William Makepeace Thackery wrote of Factors’ Walk, – where cotton factors or commission merchants inspected and bid on baled cotton stacked below.  Sampling, grading and storage took place in the brick buildings that architect Charles Clusky had built for the cotton factors and brokers and merchants at the rivers edge.  There was Stoddard’s Range, brand new then, accessible from the decorative cast iron walks and bridges on Bay Street and from the new riverside cobblestone walk.

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Cobblestones, brought from England as ballast, pave the area around Factors’ walk.

During the 1700s, factors and traders had conducted their business from the decks of ships and the wharves along the river. This area was 40 feet below the level of the town. The Exchange Building and the surrounding warehouses and offices built at the foot of the bluff, were built tall enough to access both levels. These buildings were connected to Bay Street by wooden bridges and cast-iron arches.

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The terracotta lion in front of the Exchange was installed in 1889. (A drunk-driver destroyed the original and a cement replica was installed in 2010.)

In 1915, the cotton-destroying boll weevil invaded Georgia and eventually destroyed half of the state’s cotton. By the 1920s King Cotton was dead.

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The Cotton Exchange finally closed business in 1952.  In 1974, the Freemasons purchased the remaining lease on the Cotton Exchange building. Their Lodge (Solomon’s), which now uses the building, claims to be the oldest continually operating lodge in the United States.

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Michael Cash's Rock Wall

Michael Cash’s Rock Wall

In the 1850s, erosion became a factor in this area. A retaining wall was built around Factors’ Walk. The retaining wall was built of ballast rock. Built between 1855 and 1869, it not only helped reduce the eroding, forty-foot high sandy bluff but also made use of the many tons of stone stacked along the river front. The builder of the wall was an Irish immigrant named Michael Cash.

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If you are heading down to Factors’ Walk I will warn you, it sits amongst many, many bad tourist shops and bars.  I am sure that there are some excellent places to dine, and some fine objects to be purchased, but one will have to sift through the t-shirts to find them.  A stroll along the river, however, will yield a myriad of delightful art pieces, and a jaw dropping reaction to the amount of shipping traffic occurring on the river.

The trip is worth it.

Shipping at Savannah Port

Shipping at Savannah Port

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Savannah Fried Chicken and More

 Savannah
May 082015
 

May 2015

Mrs. Wilkes Fried Chicken

Mrs. Wilkes Fried Chicken

Food in Savannah is Southern and then some.  As a California girl, I will admit that I am not the absolute fondest of fried food and the lack of fresh vegetables, but the South is growing up and I found lots to crow about.

I want to start, however, with one of the restaurants people come specifically to Savannah for,  Mrs. Wilkes.  The restaurant is open for lunch only from 11:00 to 2:00 Monday thru Friday.  The line starts forming at around 10:00 and those at the end are often disappointed in the lack of ability to get in after a long wait.

This long wait does one thing I had difficulty with, you feel rushed and tend to wolf down your meal.  That being said I will agree with my cab driver Gator Bob, this is the best fried chicken I have ever tasted.

The sides at Mrs. Wilkes

The sides at Mrs. Wilkes

The meal is family style, with ten people per table, and yes, in typical southern style, you make friends with these folks both standing in line and dining with them.

The sides, and sweet tea, are already set upon the table before you sit down.  There are so many, that before the chicken arrives your plate is full, along with your belly if you aren’t careful – be forewarned.

The meal is $20 cash and a tip in the basket at the front door as you leave, and you bus your own dishes.  I was left wondering what happens to all the left over food, the photo above was taken after we finished.

I was in Savannah for a conference, so by the time dinner rolled around, I was usually only in the mood for a light meal and a good southern cocktail.

Mother’s Day, with no reservations I ended up at Alligator Soul.

Aligator Soul

Aligator Soul

That was no problem, they serve the full menu at the bar, where, as the evening progressed, several tourists joined me for dinner.  I had their shrimp and grits and will say it was moist and sumptuous.  Having ordered the appetizer size, I walked away stuffed!  The bartender was adorable, and the service excellent.

The Public Bar and Kitchen

The Public Bar and Kitchen

Despite the fact that I was in town for a Victorian Conference, I fell in love with the mid-century modern Public Kitchen and Bar.  Their “contemporary Fresh American” fare was perfect.  A great place for snacks and a drink or a full dinner, and they mean it when they say fresh, great greens, and salads.

The Irish in Savannah

The Six-Pence Pub

I have discussed the Six Pence Pub already, but I want to repeat, it was a great place for bangers and mash, or a very, very comfortable spot to just sit and drink a beer and catch a game. It, like Mrs. Wilkes, is on the tourist route, but it deserves better praise than that moniker.

Leopold's Ice Cream

Leopold’s Ice Cream

I will admit, I had never heard of Leopold’s Ice Cream, and yet I was told over and over that it was rated some of the best in the country.  So, on a very hot, typical day I stopped in.  I had the lemon custard, as it promised they had not changed the recipe since 1919.  It was delicious and refreshing.  Leopold’s is an on-again off-again Savannah institution. It is an old fashioned soda fountain, with a little Hollywood history thrown in.

This is not a restaurant or food blog, so sorry, not many food choices or photos.  As a San Franciscan and world traveler, I am a real foodie, and it is not easy to impress me.  So I hope the notes above give you some help in weeding through the many great restaurants of Savannah when your time was as limited as mine.

Two Hours in Charleston, South Carolina

 Charleston
May 062015
 

Flag of South Carolina

Charleston is steeped in Southern history and they are proud of it, beginning with their flag.  The South Carolina flag was designed by Colonel William Moultrie in 1775.  The first flag simply had a crescent moon with the words liberty written on the moon.

That design flew over a fortress on Sullivan’s Island where Moultrie was part of a stand against the British in June 1776. One of the reasons the South Carolinians were able to hold Sullivan’s Island was because the  the fortress was constructed of palmettos, laid over sand walls.  These palmettos, spongy as they were, were able to withstand British cannons. The palmetto was added to the flag after that.

Map of Charleston, South Carolina

Map of Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston sits between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, these drain into the Atlantic Ocean.  When the British first arrived in South Carolina the distance between the two rivers was 2 1/2 miles, today it is 5 miles.

The British fortified the town with a wall around it. Due to the fact that it was a walled city, the lots, and therefore, the buildings, tended to be narrow.

The Crisp Map of 1711

The Crisp Map of 1711 – showing the walls around the city

Since Charleston was founded after the Great Fire of London, and the British had learned a little about fire management, the city was laid out on a grid.  The streets, for the same reason were also wide.

Single

Single House

Charleston developed Single House Architecture to beat the heat.  Single House is an architectural style specifically of Charleston, South Carolina and refers to homes built one room wide with double covered piazzas (or what others in the U.S. call porches), that face East. The homes can be many rooms long and multiple stories high. Some are 10 feet wide, some are 25 feet wide, but they always sit with the narrow part of the house facing the street due to Charleston’s narrow lot sizes.

Homes on the Battery

Homes on the Battery

During the Civil War a coastal defense artillery battery was built on the coastline. It stretches along the lower shores of the Charleston Peninsula.  Once this was done, homes were also built along the area.

Charleston was the fourth largest city during the period leading up to the Civil War; cotton was very good to Charleston.

While the earliest settlers primarily came from England, colonial Charleston was also home to a mixture of ethnic and religious groups. People came from Bermuda and the Caribbean,  French, Scottish, Irish, and Germans migrated to the developing seacoast town, representing numerous Protestant denominations. Sephardic Jews migrated to the city in such numbers that Charleston eventually was home to, by the beginning of the 19th century and until about 1830, the largest and wealthiest Jewish community in North America.

Hugenot Cemetery

Huguenot Cemetery – Huguenots made up 40% of the population prior to the Civil War

Charleston was also a very progressive city.  Prostitution was legal, and in fact stayed that way until after WWII.

The Dock Theater, site of the oldest American theater

The Dock Theater, site of the oldest American theater

Theaters were prevalent. In the North the theater was considered the highway to hell and was condemned or forbidden. In 1750 the General Court of Massachusetts passed an act prohibiting stage plays and theatrical entertainments of any kind. In 1759, the Colony of Pennsylvania passed a law forbidding the showing and acting of plays under a penalty of £500. In 1761 Rhode Island passed “an act to Prevent Stage Plays and other Theatrical Entertainments within this Colony,” and the following year the New Hampshire House of Representatives refused a troupe of actors admission to Portsmouth on the ground that plays had a “peculiar influence on the minds of young people and greatly endanger their morals by giving them a taste for intriguing, amusement and pleasure”.

 

Charleston was enjoying a prosperous and entertaining life as the seeds of Civil War were brewing.  The Civil War was not kind to Charleston.

This is the second St. Philip's Church on this site. It was constructed from 1835 to 1838 by architect Joseph Hyde, while the steeple, designed by E.B. White, was added a decade later.

This is the second St. Philip’s Church on this site. It was constructed from 1835 to 1838 by architect Joseph Hyde, while the steeple, designed by E.B. White, was added a decade later.

On December 20, 1860, the South Carolina General Assembly made the state the first to ever secede from the Union. Some of the staunchest Secessionists were members of the St. Philip’s Church.

On December 11, 1861, a massive fire burned 164 acres of the city.  In late 1863 the Union forces were able to get close enough to begin a bombardment that lasted on and off for more than a year.  The cumulative effects of this bombardment would destroy much of the city that had survived the fire.

Streets in the oldest part of Charleston

Streets in the oldest part of Charleston

The City of Charleston was evacuated from 1863 to 1865 and then sat under Marshall law for the next 16 years.

Earthquake bracing on the building

Earthquake bracing on the building

To add insult to injury a 7.5 earthquake hit Charleston in 1886. It damaged 2,000 buildings in Charleston and caused $6 million worth of damage, the city was so poor by then that the buildings in the entire city were only valued at approximately $24 million.

This was the end of Charleston.  The city became, as many cities do, an impoverished empty city.  A few people trickled in after WWII and many more with the opening of the Eisenhower Highway system, but today it is only the 225th largest city in U.S.

The House on Cabbage Row in Heyward’s novel Porgy. At the time 20 people were living in that house.

The House on Cabbage Row in Dubose Heyward’s novel Porgy. At the time of its writing there were 100 people  living in the house.

In the 1970s the city began attempting to attract tourism but the city remained rather impoverished until Hurricane Hugo in 1989.  At that time over $1billion in insurance money came in to help many people that had spent generations deferring maintenance on their homes.  This would include the installation of plumbing and electricity on the insides of the homes, rather than simply run up the exterior walls.

Hugo also, however, killed 45% of all the trees in Charleston, so tree canopy is treasured in Charleston where the trees are still large enough to provide shade. Along with the loss of trees, Spanish moss, so prevalent in the south, disappeared from Charleston.

There was also a 17 foot storm surge with Hugo bringing in “pluff” mud.

Pluff mud is a Carolina Lowcountry term for the slippery, shiny brown-gray, sucky mud, with a distinctive smell like none other, of the tidal flats and spartina grass salt marshes. When you step in it, you could sink up to your ankles, or up to your knees.

Pluff mud is a Carolina Lowcountry term for the slippery, shiny brown-gray, sucky mud, with a distinctive smell like none other, of the tidal flats and spartina grass salt marshes. When you step in it, you could sink up to your ankles, or up to your knees.

Today, Charleston is becoming a prime location for tech, it is considered a very important art center, and has the fourth largest container port in the U.S.

Robert Mills, best know for designing the Washington Monument, designed this church in his home town of Charleston

Robert Mills, best know for designing the Washington Monument, designed this church in his home town of Charleston

Tiny alleys like this run throughout the old part of Charleston

Tiny alleys like this run throughout the old part of Charleston

Trachelospermum jasminoides is called Confederate Jasmine here in the south

Trachelospermum jasminoides is called Confederate Jasmine here in the south

Victorian homes, made of wood, which is rare in Charleston are scattered in areas that were burned out in the old section of town

Victorian homes, made of wood, which is rare in Charleston, are scattered in areas that were burned out in the old section of town

The impending destruction of this building began the preservation movement in Charleston in 1920.

The impending destruction of this building began the preservation movement in Charleston in 1920.

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If you get to Charleston and want one of the absolute best tour guides I suggest Tommy Dew’s

Beaufort, South Carolina

 Beaufort, South Carolina
May 062015
 

Beaufort South Carolina

May 2015

I am in the south for the Victorian Society Annual meeting. I have never been to this part of the south, and am anxious to explore the architecture and the history.

Today was spent in Beaufort, South Carolina, a one hour drive from Savannah, Georgia.  I did not even know this town existed until today, and yet it is so rich, both architecturally, as well as, historically.

Beaufort County South Carolina Map

A little history before I walk you around town.  American Indians spent summers here, as far back as the second millennium B.C.. This fact is vital because it plays a part in the construction of homes in the area.

This area was settled around the same time as our first U.S. city, St. Augustine, Florida, Beaufort claims to be the second (1562).  There were Spanish, French, English and Scottish, all here for the rich soil and water trade routes to Europe.

The area finally was settled permanently by the English and chartered in 1711.  The town was named after the Duke of Beaufort.  The English laid out the still existing grid streets of the town.

St. Helena's Parish Church

St. Helena’s Parish was established in 1712.  The church we visited was not quite that old, but sits where the original sat.

Main industries of Beaufort at that time were indigo and rice. There is a normal tidal variation between low and high tide of eight (8) feet and eleven on “spring” tides.  This is one of the greatest variations along the Atlantic coast and makes rice planting feasible…to say nothing of oyster harvesting.

Beaufort was extremely prosperous at this time with vast amounts of wood allowing shipbuilding that added to the rice and indigo trade.  A plantation owner of this time, Thomas Heyward, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Many of the socially prominent families of this time remained loyal to the crown during the revolution and there are British soldiers buried in St. Helena’s graveyard.

St. Helens parish british

After the American Revolution the need, by the English, for indigo dried up and Beaufort’s economy was based on Sea Island Cotton. Beaufort became the wealthiest and most cultured town of its size in America because of the Sea Island Cotton crop.

Antebellum Architecture

The architecture of the Antebellum Days was predicated on getting cool breezes through a home. The homes typically faced south and had wide verandas. Many were built close to the water, which gave them the best breezes.

During this time many of the houses were of wood with tabby and brick used for the foundations, although many were built entirely of tabby and brick.

Most Antebellum homes are in the Greek Revival, Classical Revival, or Federal style.  They tend to be grand, symmetrical, and boxy, with center entrances in the front and rear, balconies, and columns. In the case of Beaufort, often hidden behind large trees.

In Beaufort, this style included large raised basements that addressed the constant threat of flooding from the tidal marsh.

Called "The Castle" this is the last Antebellum house built in Beaufort

Called “The Castle” this is the last Antebellum house built in Beaufort

The Washington House

The Anchorage House, presently undergoing a restoration is the tallest tabby home in the United States. Although extensively altered in the late 19th century it is a classic antebellum period home originally built in 1800.

Tabby

When the American Indians summered in this area, for ten thousand years, they ate oysters and left behind mounds of shells for the future use of contractors.

Lime, an essential ingredient in cement was unavailable. It was created by burning the oyster shells.  This was then mixed with sand and whole oyster shells to create a cementious mix for building. This was called Tabby.

Tapia is Spanish for “mud wall” and Arabic tabbi means a mixture of mortar and lime.  In the earliest buildings of the area they also included Spanish Moss. The Spaniards had been using this building style for centuries, but some researchers believe the English developed it in South Carolina on their own.

If you are interested in a very detailed account on how to make tabby click here.

Tabby Home

We were guests of the Beaufort County Open Land Trust in this tabby home.

This stunning wood paneling, removed early on in the life of its home found its way to New York, then California and finally back home to rest where it began

This stunning wood paneling, removed early on in the life of the home found its way to New York, then California and finally back home to rest where it began

The cotton planters living in these homes sent their sons to be educated at Harvard and Yale and and often shuttled between Newport, Rhode Island and Beaufort, South Carolina (the Newport of the south).

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Basements, raised entirely above ground were typical Beaufort style in Antebellum homes

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By 1886 Beaufort had lost its own style and people began building out of National Pattern Books

confederate flags

The Civil War changed everything in Beaufort, South Carolina.

November 7, 1861 known as the “Day of the Big Gun Shoot” began at 9:26 a.m.  The Union naval forces came into Port Royal Sound, found no resistance, and took over with no blood loss.

Warned by Southern spies via telegraph, every white person in Beaufort had already “skedaddled”. The white Southerners left most everything behind, leaving the homes almost intact.  They also left 10,000 slaves behind.

Beaufort was Union territory.  This area became a hospital zone and a Union army regional headquarters for the duration of the war.  Most every one of the large homes and buildings became either hospital wards or offices for the Union Army. This is what saved the architecture of Beaufort.

Baptist church in beaufort

Tabernacle Baptist Church ca. 1893 where Robert Smalls is laid to rest

On January 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was read to the freedmen of the area.  Following this, the government imposed a Federal real estate tax on the Southern landowners and their homes.  The Southerners were not going to pay taxes to these people, so the Federal government confiscated the land.  The land was auctioned off to the occupying Union soldiers and civilians.  The plantations were cut into 40 acre lots and for $2.00 an acre a freedman was able to buy 40 acres and a mule.

During the decades after the Civil War the black population of the area outnumbered the white populaton seven to one.

Robert Smalls

Robert Smalls

Robert Smalls became a very influential man during this period. Born in Beaufort, South Carolina, he freed himself  from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, the CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, and sailing it to freedom beyond the Federal blockade.

After the American Civil War, he became a politician, elected to the South Carolina State legislature and the United States House of Representatives.

In 1877, with the enactment of the Jim Crow laws, Beaufort lost any political power it had in the state.  However, the city itself remained a Jim Crow law free zone due to its overwhelmingly high black population.

The history of Beaufort struggled through the rest of its history, going from the richest area in the United States to the poorest.  Today it relies on income from the ever growing summer homes of the area, tourism and retirees.

Andrew Carnegie Library 1916

Andrew Carnegie Library 1918

All the original books of Beaufort were taken to Washington D.C. for safekeeping during the Civil War time.  They were lost when the Library of Congress burned in 1864. The Carnegie Library was built in 1918.

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Construction on the Beaufort Arsenal began in 1795. The land was given to the volunteer organization, The Beaufort Volunteer Artillery Company, by the city. The building retains a portion of its tabby walls.

Joseph Hazel House

The plinth under these columns is typical “Beaufort Style” from the 1810s.

 

This home was saved from destruction by Jim Williams, the protaganist in Midnight in the Garden of Evil

This home was saved from destruction by Jim Williams, the protagonist in “Midnight in the Garden of Evil”

Beaufort College Building

Built in 1795 this stucco on brick building is now part of South Carolina Beaufort College

The Pretty Penny, owned by a lumber maven it is said to be built with perfect wood and there is not a knot in the house - ca. 1850

The “Pretty Penny”, owned by a lumber maven, is said to be built with perfect wood and there is not a knot in the house – ca. 1850

A Sears and Roebuck Catalogue Home

A Sears and Roebuck Catalogue Home

Interior of the Parish of Saint Helena

Interior of the Parish of Saint Helena

I have already shown you some exterior shots of the Parish of Saint Helena.  I would like to take this opportunity to expound a little bit.  We were given a wonderful talk about the church by this woman.

Anne Heyward

Anne Heyward

This is Anne Hayward, and if you were paying close attention, yes it was her great x 4 grandfather that was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Her knowledge of the church and the area is staggering.

I am always attracted to graveyards, and the one at St Helena’s has some great characters. I would like to bring you just a few.

Dr. Perry's Brick Mausoleum

Dr. Perry’s Brick Mausoleum

Dr. Perry knew of someone that had been buried alive, so he had a pickaxe, a jug of water and a loaf of bread with him when he went.

Colonel John Tuscarora Jack Barnwell

Colonel John “Tuscarora Jack” Barnwell

Colonel Barnwell, an Irish immigrant who arrived in 1700, was the builder of the Tabby home we dined in.  He built the home for his daughter Elizabeth after she eloped to Europe with an unsavory fellow and the colonel knew the marriage would not work.

This Baptismal Font is one of the few things left from before the Civil War - it is still used today

This Baptismal Font is one of the few things left from before the Civil War – it is still used today

While the homes of Beaufort survived the Union occupation the contents did not, it is rare to find items from buildings before that time period.

Bobby Pin Fence

Bobby Pin Fence

Decorative fences are all over the area, and as varied as they are many.  The fences in the past were latticed on the bottom and often very high.  This kept the chickens from escaping through the slats and the cows from the yards.

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Spanish moss is EVERYWHERE! It is not Spanish, it is not moss and it is not a parasite.  It is actually an epiphyte and a member of the pineapple family, Tillandsia usneoides. It does not need a tree to grow, as you can see in the second photos where it is draped on the phone wires, it just needs lots of air and lots of sun.

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Another tree that is thriving in the south is the Elm.  Dutch Elm disease can not live in areas where it is 90 degrees day and night.

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Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman

In 1862, Governor Andrew of Massachusetts arranged for Harriet Tubman to go to Beaufort, South Carolina, as a nurse and teacher.  She was a nurse in the Tabby home in which we dined.

Clara Barton

Clara Barton

Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross, served in Beaufort, South Carolina twice.  The first during the Civil War and again in 1893 when a horrific hurricane wreaked havoc on the area.

If you are heading to Beaufort, there are many many architectural tour companies available.  I found two wonderful books on the history of the area that can guide you easily around should you prefer to do it on your own.

The Historic Beaufort Foundation Guide to Historic Homes and Places and Beautiful Beaufort by the Sea Guidebook

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The town is small and walkable with a delightful shopping main street and a waterfront for relaxing and cooling off with the breezes off the water.

8 Hours in Washington D.C.

 United States, Washington D.C.
Dec 022014
 

November 2014

What do you do in Washington D.C. when you have a day and you have already seen “the famous”  National Monuments?  Well here is my wild and crazy schedule.  Some of it is walkable, some of it was done by cab and some of it was done on mass transit.  That part is up to you, I am going to simply highlight the sites, and let you see if any of them interest you.

Adams Memorial

I will begin with this beautiful sculpture.  I visit this whenever I am in Washington D.C.  This is the Adams Memorial it is located in Section E of Rock Creek Cemetery.

The Smithsonian probably writes about it best:

Marion Hooper “Clover” Adams, wife of the writer Henry Adams, committed suicide in 1885 by drinking chemicals used to develop photographs. Adams, who steadfastly refused to discuss his wife’s death, commissioned Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a memorial that would express the Buddhist idea of nirvana, a state of being beyond joy and sorrow. In Adams’s circle of artists and writers, the old Christian certainties seemed inadequate after the violence of the Civil War, the industrialization of America, and Darwin’s theories of evolution. Saint-Gaudens’s ambiguous figure reflects the search for new insights into the mysteries of life and death. The shrouded being is neither male nor female, neither triumphant nor downcast.

Clover Adams

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Augustus Saint Gaudens

Rock Creek Cemetery is just one block from the President Lincoln’s Cottage on the grounds of the Soldiers Home if you find you have more time. I did not, and on busy days they highly suggest reservations, but I at least got a shot of the statue in front of his cabin.  If you do go, give yourself lots of time, as there is quite a museum attached to the grounds as well.

President Lincolns cabin

Did you know that the original columns of the United States Capitol are standing in a field?  Yup, here they are in the National Arboretum.

U.S. Capitol columns

The original Corinthian Columns from our United States Capitol sit on a knoll in the Ellipse Meadow.  The columns were part of the 1828 construction of the East Portico, quarried from Virginia sandstone and barged to Washington, they were part of the capitol before the dome was completed.  When the dome was finally completed in 1864 it was significantly larger than the original design making the columns look too small to support it and out of scale.  An addition to the east side of the Capitol was supposed to fix the problem, but that was not built until 1958.

National Arboretum

Then it wasn’t until 1980 that Ethel Garret, benefactor of the Arboretum and world famous Landscape Designer Russell Page were able to garner enough monies and support to have them placed on the Ellipse Meadow.

The columns are set on a foundation of stones from the steps that were on the east side of the Capitol. Old identification marks from the quarry are still visible on some of the stones.

The National Arboretum address is:
3501 New York Ave NE, Washington, D.C., DC 20002
The columns are closest to the R Street Entrance if you are on foot.
If you are going in the winter check the trolly schedule it does not run all year.

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Cuban American Friendship Urn

This is the Cuban American Friendship Urn.  The urn is not easy to find, but it is marked on the National Park Service Map “National Mall and Memorial Parks” You will find it marked at Parking A, Ohio Drive, on the Potomac.

The urn once stood atop a column of marble in Havana.  It was originally made to commemorate the U.S. sailors and Marines who lost their lives aboard the USS Maine when it sank in Havana harbor in 1898.

The sinking of the Maine on February 15 precipitated the Spanish-American War and popularized the phrase Remember the Maine!

Cuban American Friendship Urn

A hurricane in October 1926 knocked the marble column over, and in 1928 the urn was sent to the United States and presented to President Calvin Coolidge.  After that, the urn stood outside the Cuban Embassy on 16th Street, N.W., in Washington. After relations between the United States and Cuba deteriorated it disappeared from public view. It was rumored to have been stolen during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, or it may have simply been removed for a construction project. A 2009 National Park Service publication states that it was discovered in a National Park Service warehouse in 1992 and moved to its present site. However, in 1996, “The Washington City Paper”, reported that the urn had recently been found by the park service abandoned in Rock Creek Park “lying on its side”.   The urn was placed in East Potomac Park in 1998 following repair work that cost $11,000.

It has been called one of the “10 monuments you’ve probably never heard of” in the Washington, D.C., region, which is of course, why I had to go find it!

George Mason

Walking through Washington you will simply trip over statue after statue, while waiting for transit around the corner from the Friendship Urn, tucked way in the back of the bend of the street was this wonderful statue of George Mason. I had not gone seeking this out, but what a great find.

George Mason was a member of the elite Virginians. He is considered one of the “Founding Fathers” but did not sign the U.S. Constitution because it did not contain explicit rights for individuals.  He did however convince our forefathers to add them into amendments which became our Bill of Rights, these were based on the earlier Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Mason had drafted.

While the garden was the product of extensive historical research, and I am sure is stunning in the spring and summer, there was not one flower or piece of greenery on December 1st.  The design by landscape architect Faye Harwell, FASLA, Oehme Van Sweden, is intended to reflect the site’s history as a Victorian garden as well as George Mason’s love of gardens.

The sculptor was Wendy M. Ross.

Union Station Washington DC

What would a trip like this be without a quick dash into Union Station.  In 1908 architect Daniel H. Burnham, assisted by Pierce Anderson, was inspired by a number of different architectural styles, and yet the station does not feel eclectic, it feels gracious and grand. Classical elements included the Arch of Constantine (exterior, main façade) and the great vaulted spaces of the Baths of Diocletian (interior); prominent siting at the intersection of two of Pierre L’Enfant’s avenues, with an orientation that faced the United States Capitol just five blocks away; (behind me as I took this picture above) a massive scale, including a façade stretching more than 600 feet and a waiting room ceiling 96 feet above the floor; stone inscriptions and allegorical sculpture in the Beaux-Arts style; expensive materials such as marble, gold leaf, and white granite.

Interior of Union Station DC

During World War I, troops were mobilized through Union Station, and many prominent women worked in the Station’s canteen, including Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. It was reported that Mrs. Wilson had kept her husband, the President, waiting for her outside the Station, until she had finished her duties at the canteen.

DC Union Station

On September 29, 1988, Union Station reopened its doors with a gala celebration. A public/private partnership funded the $160 million restoration of the Station per legislation enacted by Congress in 1981 to preserve Union Station as a national treasure. It was the largest, most complex public/private restoration project ever attempted in the United States.

Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain

Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain

The fountain, which was co-created by Lorado Zadoc Taft (April 29, 1860 – October 30, 1936) and architect Daniel Burnham, was influenced by a fountain designed by Frederick MacMonnies that was displayed at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Dumbarton Bridge DC

I was going to just throw this guy in as a place holder but then I started to do my research and figured I would share a little bit about him.  There are four of these fellows on the Dumbarton Bridge.  The bridge is also, obviously, known as the Buffalo bridge, or the Q Street Bridge. These buffalo, the largest cast in a single piece of bronze, are by Alexander Phimister Proctor. 

Q Street Bridge Washington DC

I thought this was unique when I saw it, but didn’t really know how unique until I started writing, as I said. The bridge is significant as showing the impact of the City Beautiful movement in Washington. The architects studied photographs of bridges around the world choosing as models a Roman aqueduct and a mountain bridge in Italy with intent to set a precedent for further city bridges. The color of the bridge’s stone was intended to evoke the warm tones of Spain and Italy.

Indians on the Dumbarton Bridge in DCAlong with the buffalo theme the arches are decorated by Indian head designs by architect Glenn Brown based on a life mask of the Sioux chief Kicking Bear in the Smithsonian.

New Leaf by Lisa Sheer 2007

New Leaf by Lisa Sheer 2007

 

A day running around must include at least one meal, and while I love The Old Ebbitt Grill for oysters, todays was Ben’s Chili Bowl.

1213 U Street NW

Ben's Chili Bowl

A great spot for a cold cold day.  Chili dog, chili fries and all the entertainment you could ask for!

I hope that you have enjoyed a very quick, but unusual view of Washington DC.

Bat to Bat Days in Louisville, Kentucky

 Kentucky
Jul 162014
 

July 2014How do you pronounce Louisville?

Louisville is an interesting town.  Everyone knows it for the Kentucky Derby, and I have always wanted to go, not to see the Derby, but to see the fireworks display on the bridges the night before.

I found myself in Louisville for the weekend in the middle of June, and yes I suffered immensely from the heat and humidity, but I didn’t get to choose the date.

Kentucky Derby Fireworks

We stayed at the Brown Hotel, check out my post about hotel service.  We had only a few hours to spend, as we were scheduled with family things for a part of the weekend, but here are the highlights and how I would recommend you spend your few hours in Louisville.

Louisville Slugger

Wooden bats for the Louisville Slugger are still manufactured in the companies original building here at 800 West Main Street.      They have a museum and a factory tour available, but if you don’t have time for that, make sure you get your picture taken in front of the largest bat in the world and visit the gift store.  You can even have your own bat personalized right here.

Bourbon is another thing one thinks of in Kentucky.

Kentucky Bourbon

A lot of Bourbon tasting can be done along Main Street, also called Whiskey Row. Bourbon makers are slowly moving into this area and doing what they can to revitalize the area. Louisville has one of the largest collections of cast-iron facades outside SoHo New York, along Main Street.  Sadly, some of the area is in very bad shape, and historic restoration apparently hasn’t really caught on in Louisville. It is nice to see that at least Bourbon may help in this revitalization.

In case you are wondering we chose to do our Bourbon tasting at the bar in the Brown Hotel, aided by a great staff, and within easy walking distance to our room, but some highly recommended spots are Doc Crows for food at 127 West Main Street, Doc Crows occupies the former Bonnie Brothers distillery, at the healthy end of Whiskey Row (West Main Street).   Evan Williams at 528 West Main Street has a tour and artisanal Bourbon tasting.  Walk around see what you can see, and of course, drink responsibly.

 

Whiskey RowWhiskey Row

West Main Street is also an interesting area to spot some art.

21C Hotel

These little guys are atop the 21C Hotel at 700 West Main Street.

Owners Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson partnered with architect Deborah Berke to rehabilitate a series of 19th century tobacco and Bourbon warehouses into a boutique hotel and a contemporary art museum. The outcome is really rather fabulous.

The day that we visited we started with Sunday Brunch in the Proof Lounge.  The meal was excellent, the ingredients fresh and innovative and the room, well, filled with art.  The exhibit going on at the time was a photography exhibit by Chito Yoshida.

We then headed to the gallery.  The gallery space is considerably larger than one original thinks.  The exhibits rotate and while we were there I was so thoroughly glad that we had the chance to spend time.  The first, in the lobby, was See You At The Finish Line by Duke Riley.  The exhibit is thought provoking, progressive and at the same time fun.  The second show that should not be missed is Trumpf, Transporting, Transformation: Cuba, In and Out, a great collection of many artists from Cuba, not an easy feat to gather together.  The other collection that made an impression was Seeing Now, the exhibit challenges you to truly, truly look.David on West Main Street in Louisville, KY

After seeing these spectacularly curated exhibits, it was hard to understand how the hotel could place such an abhorrent copy of David in the front of their hotel, but at least you can find the hotel easily this way.

Colonel Sanders

We also spent a few hours at the Cave Hill Cemetery. The cemetery is somewhat out of downtown at 701 Baxter Avenue, but it is the final resting spot of most important Kentuckians.   The cemetery is a Victorian Era cemetery and I had hoped to wander the grounds and explore, but the beating sun of 92 degrees kept us in our air-conditioned car and driving to the highlights.

There was Colonel Sanders, and two others that I sought out.

The Frito Lay Magician Collins

This is Harry Leon Collins.  originally a Frito-Lay salesman he was Louisville’s most popular magician, “Mr. Magic”, at night.  He used the words Frito-Lay as his “magic” word.  He became Frito-Lay’s official corporate magician in 1970, and traveled the world performing magic and selling corn chips all at the same time.

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Wilder Monument at

This is the Wilder Monument.  Its importance to me in that it was designed by Robert E. Launitz, considered the father of monumental art in America. In this case monumental refers to size.  Monumental sculptures of humans are at least life size and often larger.  Prior to Launitz  emigrating from Russia, marble work in the US was confined almost entirely to small grave stones, plain memorial tablets, mantel pieces and the occasional small carving.   This piece was done for Minnie Wilder, the Wilder’s only child, who died at age seven.

Why Louisville?

We had the opportunity to catch a small amount of shopping, and would highly recommend Why Louisville.  We visited the Bardstown Road store in the Highlands, but they also have a location at 806 E. Market Street. You will find lots and lots of fun items with and without the Louisville theme.

Hanging Bat in Louisville KY

And to finish with our last bat of the trip, this hangs on the outside of Caufields. 

Keran S Caufield, Sr. was an Irish immigrant who opened a photography studio in Louisville, KY in 1920. He used $15. he had received in an accident settlement, and bought some magic tricks. Soon the novelty business outpaced his photography business so he closed the camera shop and opened Caufield’s Novelties.  Today, Caufields is one of the largest theatrical distributors in the country.

We will be returning to Louisville in May/June of 2015 and I have a list of items I hope to see, including a ride on the Belle and an architectural walking tour, I’ll let you know how they are.

 

Chicago River Cruise

 Chicago
Jun 162014
 

June 2014Chicago Architectural Tours

There are several river cruises available to take in Chicago, and I highly recommend that you take at least one.  While it is a touristy thing to do, it is also a great way to see the city, and can be a great place to cool off if your day gets too hot and muggy.

 

We chose to take the Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise aboard “Chicago’s First Lady”. The tour is 90 minutes long and at this point – June 2014 – it cost $37.85/person plus tax, WHICH is 9.75% in Chicago.

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We took the last tour of the day, which in June was 7:30 pm.  This gave us the opportunity to leave in the day light and travel through the sunset arriving back at dark.  It was a great time enjoy the sun setting on the city.

Wrigley Building

The boat takes off from the Southeast corner of Michigan and Wacker, so you are able to sit and enjoy the Wrigley building while waiting to take off.

When ground was broken for the Wrigley Building in 1920, there were no major office buildings north of the Chicago River and the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which spans the river just south of the building was still under construction. The land was selected by William Wrigley Jr. to headquarter his gum company. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White using the shape of the Giralda tower of Seville’s Cathedral combined with French Renaissance details. The  south tower was completed in April 1921 and the north tower in May 1924.

The building is clad in glazed terra-cotta. On occasion, the entire building is hand washed to preserve the terra cotta. The Wrigley Building was Chicago’s first air-conditioned office building.

Glass building on chicago river tour

This is 333 Wacker Drive. Designed by Kohn Pederson Fox, it sits on an awkward triangular site where the chicago river makes a sharp turn.

Chicago River Pollution

An interesting smaller structure on the river is the Union Station power plant building, which stands today at 301 S. Taylor Street. Built in 1931 and designed by architects Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, its construction  was urged along, because its predecessor occupied the future site of the new Post Office.  Construction on the Post Office could not be started until the old power plant was replaced and demolished.

You will pass the Old Main Post Office on the tour.  It has been abandoned for now and is awaiting someone to grab it up for rehabilitation/reuse. There have been proposals, but it is a whopping 2.7 Million square feet, a project that could take decades if it gets under way.

Spirit of Progress Chicago

This is the Spirit of Progress.  She sits atop a tower, which is a part of the Montgomery Ward complex.  Montgomery Ward was a large part of Chicago history, and now it is a large part of the adaptive re-use program along the river.  You will see the buildings and learn a lot about the role of Mr Ward and historic preservation.

Speaking of progress…In earlier times the Chicago River was used to dump sewage, factory, and other wastes that badly polluted the river. The river was connected to Lake Michigan, the source of water for Chicago residents. When the Chicago River watershed became too big because of rain storms, the river overflowed into the lake. A particularly heavy rainstorm in 1885 caused sewage to be flushed into the lake beyond the clean water intakes. The resulting typhoid, cholera, and dysentery epidemics killed an estimated 12 percent of Chicago’s 750,000 residents, and raised a public outcry to find a permanent solution to the city’s water supply and sewage disposal crisis.

The city’s solution? Make the river run backwards via the Sanitary and Ship Canal, constructed in the 1920’s and 30’s at an estimated cost of over $70,000,000.

The reversal of the Chicago River was the largest municipal earth-moving project ever completed. Significant new excavation technology and techniques developed and perfected on the project contributed to the construction of the Panama Canal.

 

Navy Pier

One of the turn around spots is Navy Pier.  Navy Pier was planned and built to serve as a mixed-purpose piece of public infrastructure. Its primary purpose was as a cargo facility for lake freighters, and warehouses were built up and down the Pier. However, the Pier was also designed to provide docking space for passenger excursion steamers, and in the pre–air conditioning era parts of the Pier, especially its outermost tip, were designed to serve as cool places for public gathering and entertainment. I was surprised to learn that today, Navy Pier is Chicago’s number one tourist attraction

The Navy Pier Ferris Wheel opened on July 1, 1995. It operates year-round, weather permitting, and has 40 gondolas, each seating up to 6 passengers. Its 40 spokes, span a diameter of 140 feet.

Bridges of Chicago

Did you know there are 18 yep Eighteen, movable bridges on the loop?  If you love bridges, or just want to learn a little bit more about the Chicago Loop Bridges check out this site.  

Corncob buildings in Chicago

Some of my favorite buildings in Chicago make up Marina City. Marina City is a complex of two 60-story towers built in 1964 by Bertrand Goldberg, a student of Mies van der Rohe. It consists of apartments, recreation facilities, offices, restaurants, banks, a theater and 18 stories of parking space.

The experimental complex was financed by unions who feared that the outflow of people from the cities in the early sixties would lead to a decrease in jobs.

The cylindrical shape was used to cut down on wind pressure. The architect chose reinforced concrete instead of steel as this was the only material in which he could create the petal shapes of the apartments.  When finished, the two towers were both the tallest residential buildings and the tallest reinforced concrete structures in the world. It was also the first building in the United States to be erected with tower cranes.

River City

Further down on the tour you will see River City II, also designed by Bertrand Goldberg. River City II represents the last of Goldbergs buildings in this style.

River City II was the one part of the larger River City plan that was constructed. It was a portion of the “snake” that was ultimately completed as River City II.

River City II was a mid-rise housing complex, containing 446 residences. Unlike Marina City, the units did not feature balconies, but did have clerestories on their “inner side” to gain light from the interior atrium. The curvilinear structure, eight to fifteen stories in height, featured a private interior passageway called “the River Road,” . The project was cast in place concrete, unusual for the time and the very large and long sklyight over River Road was made of glass block held in thin concrete ribbing. Originally designed as rental housing, the owners of the project later converted it to condominiums.

Trump Tower Chicago

Trump Tower, designed by Skidmore Owens and Merrill  includes, from the ground up, retail space, a parking garage, a 366 room hotel, and condominiums.  The sign had just gone up the day before our tour, and is very controversial.  I find it offensive, way out of scale with its surroundings, but Trump thinks it is d-i-v-i-n-e, and insists the world loves it.  How he would know that, since it had only been installed a few days of this writing when the controversy began, is interesting.

Lake Point Tower

Near Navy Pier is Lake Point Tower. The building was designed by John Heinrich and George Schipporeit, who were both students of Mies van der Rohe. The design was partially derived from a sketch Mies van der Rohe made in 1921. The original proposal made by the architects consisted of a building with 4 wings, but was ultimately replaced by a design which included only 3 wings due to cost. The advantages of the latter were a shorter construction time and a 120 degree angle between the wings, so that the apartments would not face each other.

skyscrapers of Chicago235 West Van Buren by Perkins and Will

Chicago River Architecture Tour

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Chicago River Tour

You will pass so many, many more beautiful sites along the cruise and learn about the architecture that formed and is still transforming Chicago.  Enjoy!

Eataly

 Chicago
Jun 152014
 

43 East Ohio Street
Chicago, Illinois

Eataly of Chicago

This is Eataly and an experience not to be missed! Owned by Mario Batali, Oscar Farinetti, Joe and Lidia Bastianich, Adam and Alex Saper, Eataly is an extravaganza,covering 62,000 square feet, on two floors, that is EVERYTHING Italian.

Eataly Chicago

In January 2007, Italian businessman Oscar Farinetti converted a closed vermouth factory in Turin into the first location of Eataly. September 2010, Eataly opened in New York near Madison Square park, with a partnership that included Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich and her son Joe Bastianich, and brothers Adam and Alex Saper. The chain has additional locations in Italy, Japan, Dubai and Turkey.  The Chicago store opened in December 2013.

Eataly Chicago

The Chicago store is open seven days a week, and is so very much more than just a shopping experience.

La Pizza & La Pasta Chicago Eataly

 There are several places with tables and chairs to grab a bite to eat.  There is La Pizza and La Pasta serving Rossopomodoro Pizza as well as house made pasta. Rossopomodoro is a branch of an Italian chain that has locations all over Italy, as well as, in London, Buenos Aires, Reykjavik, Tokyo, and Naples, Florida.

We chose to sit at the Il Pesce bar, but you can sit at Le Verdure, or La Piazza.  They each have a special chalk board with menu items, that you can get at each of these three bars, or you can go for the specialty of the bar itself.  There were fresh oysters at Il Pesce, and the food at each of the other spots looked fabulous as well.

Bruschetta at Eataly in Chicago

The special was a three bruschetta plate, and each are truly wonderful.

Meat Department

We moved onto La Carne, which is a nice quiet corner of the second floor with windows out onto the world, white cloth napkins and wonderful service.  I can’t rave enough about everything we dined on.

Cafe Vergnano Chicago Eataly

There are two spots to grab coffee.  On the first floor is Gran Bar Lavazza and on the second is Caffe Vergnano. 

Wine store at Eataly Chicago

There is not only a large selection of wine for sale, you can taste wine at the Vino Libero that also includes tastings of salumi and verdure.

Birreria Eataly Chicago

Yes, they have their own on-site craft brewery with a dining area and of course, beer.

Cookies Chicago Eataly

You can buy sweets galore from Italy or head over to the pastry, or gelato areas on the first floor.

Eataly Gelato Bar

If you simply want sandwiches there is La Rosticceria with a selection of hand carved sandwiches, and rotisserie chicken available from 11:30 to 5:00.

Housewares at Eataly Chicago

Then there is the housewares department, you could spend thousands of hours, (and dollars) happily filling your shopping cart with items from all over and for every wild and imaginable use.

Mario Batali Cookware

You know they are going to have Mario Batali’s cookware,

Alessi Cookware

but you will also find other great names as well.

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Cookware Eataly

There is a great bookstore.  Yes there are the ubiquitous cook books, but there are also some nice travel books as well.

Bookstore at Eataly

You must appreciate a spot that puts its guest services desk smack in the middle of the first floor.

Guest Services at Eataly

Nutella Bar

Oh, did I fail to mention they have a Nutella Bar?

We spent several hours in Eataly, and I warn you that you will too.  So when you are in Chicago, put it on your MUST DO list, and plan on coffee and pastries, maybe just some mezes/tapas/enotheche, or a full meal, but give yourself lots of time to explore.

My only down thing were the restrooms, it was Father’s Day around noon and they were really filthy.

That, however, should not keep you from making sure you put it on your Chicago Trip Things to Do!

Olive Bar at Eataly

Olive Oil Bar at Eataly

 

 

Chagall in Chicago

 Chicago
Jun 132014
 

10 South Dearborn
Exelon Plaza
Chicago

Chagall in Chicago

Composed of thousands of inlaid chips in over 250 colors, this mosaic is by Marc Chagall.  Titled The Four Seasons, it  portrays six scenes of Chicago. Chagall maintained, “the seasons represent human life, both physical and spiritual, at its different ages.” The design for this mosaic was created in Chagall’s studio in France, transferred onto full-scale panels and installed in Chicago with the help of a skilled mosaicist.

Chagall in Chicago Tiles

Chagall continued to modify his design after its arrival in Chicago, bringing up-to-date the areas containing the city’s skyline (last seen by the artist 30 years before installation) and adding pieces of native Chicago brick.

Chagall Tile Mosaic

The mosaic was a gift to the City of Chicago by Frederick H. Prince (via the Prince Charitable Trusts). It is wrapped around four sides of a 70 feet long, 14 feet high by 10 feet  wide  box, and was dedicated on September 27, 1974. It was renovated in 1994.

Chagall's Four Season

Marc Zakharovich Chagall (1887 – 1985) was a Belarussian-Russian-French artist. Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as “the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century” (though Chagall saw his work as ‘not the dream of one people but of all humanity’). An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in virtually every artistic medium, including painting, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, tapestries and fine art prints.

Chagall Signature on Mosaic

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Chagall

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Chagall Four Seasons

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*Chagall's Four Season

Gillette Castle

 Connecticut
Jun 102014
 

67 River Road
East Haddam, Connecticut

Gillette Castle

This, truly unique residence was commissioned and designed by William Gillette.  Gillette was an actor who is most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on stage.

William Gillette

Gillette’s estate, called Seventh Sister, was built in 1914 on a 184-acre parcel on top of a chain of hills known as the Seven Sisters. Gillette’s wife died long before he designed this castle, so it is the ultimate Man Cave.  When he died he specified in his will that it not be purchased by any  “blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded”. The relatives agreed that they would sell for less than it was worth as long as they could abide by his wishes.  Fortunately, in 1946,  the state of Connecticut was able to come up with the money, and only $4000 less than asking. The state renamed the home  Gillette’s Castle and the estate as Gillette Castle State Park. The estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The wood work was all designed by Gillette himself, although actually carved by others.  The wood carvers must have thought they had tripped into their dream jobs.

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William Gillette Drawings

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*Gillette Castle

The grounds once had a railroad track with a working steam engine and an electric engine that visitors could ride on.  The train system was also designed by Gillette.  The track was eventually pulled up and converted into walking trails.

William Gillette's Train

Built of local fieldstone supported by a steel framework, it took twenty men five years (1914-1919), to complete the main structure.

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Seventh Sister

The woodwork within the castle is hand-hewn southern white oak. Of the forty-seven doors within the structure, there are no two exactly the same. And each door has an external latch intricately carved of wood.

Gillette Castle

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William Gillete

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Gillette was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1853, the son of former U.S. Senator Francis Gillette and his wife Elizabeth Daggett Hooker Gillette, a descendent of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. He attended classes at numerous colleges including Trinity, Yale, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and College of the City of New York, but never received a degree. In addition to his successful stage career Gillette wrote two novels, invented many trick stage props and lighting techniques, and often produced and directed the plays in which he appeared. His last performance was at the Bushnell in Hartford in 1936, one year before his death.

 

The Blue Garden and the Arthur Curtiss James Estate

 Rhode Island
Jun 082014
 

School has finished and I am spending a few days with dearest friends Robert and Gail Ornstein.  Robert is an architect in Providence, and is working on the restoration of Blue Garden, a Frederick Law Olmsted garden, and as architects who visit with other architects know, I had to see the sight and Robert was thrilled to show it off.

The Arthur Curtiss James home, which was lost to fire in 1967

The Arthur Curtiss James home, which was lost to fire in 1967, known as Beacon Hill.

Showing the Blue Garden which was originally part of the Arthur Curtiss James estate.

Showing the Blue Garden that was originally part of the Arthur Curtiss James estate.

“Once celebrated as the crowning achievement of America’s Gilded Age gardens when it was dedicated in August of 1913, the Blue Garden took its place at the pinnacle of landscape design.”

The garden was originally part of the Commodore Arthur Curtiss James estate, which was known as Beacon Hill.  Built in 1909 it was designed by Harriet James, Arthur’s wife, and then the plans were turned over to architects Howells and Stokes.

The main home burned down in 1967 and the grounds fell into disrepair. The land was subsequently purchased and subdivided.

The garden property is now owned by philanthropist Dorrance “Dodo” Hamilton, and it is Mrs. Hamilton that is restoring the Blue Garden.

 

The Blue Garden

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The south portico was torn down during the 1960’s.  However, it had been redesigned from the exedra design sometime in the 1920’s.

The Blue Garden The blue tiles and parts of the coping are original. These were found during excavation for a new home recently built on the property.

Orignal paving from the South Pergola

Above is the original paving from the north portico, as shown below.

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Parts of the north portico needed to be rebuilt.

There is not doubt this will be a magnificent spot when construction is finished, and it is so nice to see an Olmsted garden of this high quality being brought back.

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We had the pleasure of running into Peter Borden, the executive Director of the SVF Foundation.  He was, coincidentally, showing John Tschirch, our guide at Marble House, around Blue Garden.

Peter was kind enough to give us a tour of Surprise Valley.  When the Commodore inherited his father’s prized herd of Guernsey cattle, he  hired Grosvenor Atterbury and Stowe Phelps to design Surprise Valley. This was the era in history of the gentleman’s farm remember.

The farm consists of many buildings including, during those days, a dairy, a slaughterhouse, a smoke house, a piggery, hen houses, a root cellar and a few cottages. In its heyday after WWI it employed more than 100 people.

Surprise Valley

SVF Foundation

Today it is so much more.  Mrs. Hamilton purchased this property and today it is the SVF Foundation. SVF stands for Swiss Village Farm.  When the Commodore and his wife Harriet were alive they traveled extensively, and enjoyed the architecture of Italy and Switzerland.  When they built Surprise Valley they incorporated those types of architecture.

After a two year restoration of the Swiss Village it became the headquarters for SVF.  SVF is a nonprofit that collaborates with Tuft Cummins School of Veterinary Medicine.  The foundation works in cryopreservation of rare and endangered breeds of livestock, it is state-of-the art and jaw dropping what they are working on.

SVF Foundation

This consists of the collection of germplasm (semen and embryos) and then cryogenically freezing the specimens.

Peter Borden SVF

 

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These delightful signs, replications of originals, are all over the farm.

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The chicken coop is just fabulous. While chickens are not part of the program, they grow many different types, because what is a farm without chickens?

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SVF offers numerous educational programs, including: K-12 school field trips, large animal reproductive studies for fourth-year veterinary students and undergrad internships.

Smokehouse at SVF

 

This is the old Smokehouse/Slaughterhouse, it is now the cottage of the Farm Manager.

Roof Details

DSC_2590The front door gate – the gate folds up into the tower.

Surprise Valley is a terrific spot, doing great things, here is a paragraph from their website:

Rare or heritage breeds of livestock carry valuable and irreplaceable traits such as: resistance to disease and parasites, heat tolerance, mothering ability, forage utilization, and unique flavor and texture qualities. A particular breed that now dominates the marketplace may find its future jeopardized for any number of reasons. For instance, highly inbred and genetically uniform breeds, which dominate the industry, could be decimated by a serious infectious disease. Recall the Irish potato famine: A single variety of potato, which sustained a population, was devastated by blight. Alternatively, consumer preference could shift toward different flavors, textures or agricultural practices. With the lack of diversity in today’s animal agriculture, we are at tremendous risk.

 Surprise Valley

 

Newport, Rhode Island

 Rhode Island
Jun 072014
 

I arrived in Newport today (May 30, 2014) to begin an 8 day course on the History and Architecture of the area.  Class does not start until this evening, which gave me the opportunity to grab the first, of what I hope will be many, lobster rolls during this visit.

I headed to Flo’s Crab Shack with my friend Phyllis, and along the walk I spotted these little plaques embedded in the sidewalk.

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I am a big fan of the WPA, what it accomplished, what it stood for and the legacies that it left, so these were such a fun find for me.

The WPA employed more than 60,000 Rhode Islanders between 1935 and 1943 and spent $60million on projects offer the eight years.

WPA workers built or repaired 671 miles of highways, roads and streets and constructed or renovated 35 bridges and viaducts in Rhode Island. They also built 10,300 feet of airport runways and constructed or repaired five landing fields.

WPA Plaque in Providence RI

In Rhode Island, the WPA built or renovated 222 schools, 395 other public buildings, 34 parks, 54 playgrounds and fields, seven pools, seven power plants, and 184 miles of new sewers.

WPA employees in the state also served 818,187 school lunches; sent housekeepers on 85,558 visits; and manufactured 2.8 million garments of clothing. And 21,317 people attended WPA-produced musical performances.

If I have time to discover more WPA wonders in this coming week, I will bring them to you.

Flo's Crab Shack

A little about Flo’s…great atmosphere, but the food left a bit to be desired, but that is ok because it means the hunt is still on.

Regarding the Lobster Roll:  According to the Food Timeline:

Sometimes…the simpler the recipe the more complicated the history. Such is the case with lobster rolls. When it comes to lobster rolls, food historians generally agree on two points:

1. There is no one single recipe for lobster rolls.
2. Lobster rolls, as we know them today, are probably a 20th century invention because they require soft hot dog buns.

What is a lobster roll?
There seem to be two primary versions of the lobster roll: one is a mayonnaise-based lobster salad sandwich and the other is simply composed of hearty chunks of fresh lobster meat drenched in butter. Both are traditionally served in long (hot-dog type) buns which may be toasted. Pickles and chips are the usual accompaniments. Both are considered standard menu items with shore-based restaurants, diners and lobster shacks (inexpensive family-style outdoor eateries).

“ON A ROLL… Temperature’s rising, the surf’s pounding, the lobster harvest is at an all-time high. Bring on the lobster rolls! The roll: It must be a stand-alone hot-dog bun, rectangular, flat on both sides, coming to a crisp right angle at the flat base. If it’s oval or toasted, do not touch it. If it’s not buttered, do not even look at it. The meat: It must be fresh and predominantly from the tail. It must be at least three inches wide at the top, extending at least an inch above the crest of the bun. No less than a quarter-pound of lobster per sandwich. Some joints boast that they use a full lobster in each sandwich, but it takes nearly five lobsters to get a pound of meat. The dressing: The lobster may be mixed with a thin lather of mayo but not salad dressing. Dick Henry, co-owner of the Maine Diner, believes in naked lobster. “All meat,” he says. I, however, will accept celery, if finely chopped. “It gives a hint of the taste,” agrees Billy Tower, who has sold lobster rolls for four decades at Barnacle Billy’s restaurant. The temp: Like a hot-fudge sundae, the ideal lobster roll is a contradiction of temperatures: warm bun, chilled meat. “I’m 60 years old, and that’s the way I’ve always been told it should be,” says Georgia Kennett of Five Islands Lobster Co. But it has become quite respectable to serve the meat hot, in which case the lobster should be covered with drawn butter, not mayonnaise, and eaten with a fork and knife.”
—“On a roll,” David Shribman, Fortune, 8.13.2001 (p. 198)

A survey of current online menus confirms there is no distinct geographic boundary that separates the two versions. You can find both versions in restaurants from the top of Maine to the tip Long Island.

Mayo Lobster Roll

When did lobster rolls begin?

“Lobster rolls…because they are made with hamburger buns, they are definately twentieth century (soft, hamburger yeast buns were first maufactured in 1912).” —The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 345)

“About 1966-67 Fred Terry, owner of the Lobster Roll Restaurant…in Amagansett, New York, produced a recipe containing mayonnaise, celery, and seasonings; mixed with fresh lobster meat placed on a heated hot-dog roll that has come to be known as the “Long Island (New York) lobster roll”…According to Carolyn Wyman…lobster meat drenched in butter and served on a hamburger or hot dog roll has long been available at seaside eateries in Connecticut and may well have originated at a restaurant named Perry’s in Milford, where owner Harry Perry concocted it for a regular customer named Ted Hales sometime in the 1920s. Furthermore, Perry’s was said to have a sign from 1927 to 1977 reading “Home of the Famous Lobster Roll.”
—Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 188)

Butter Lobster Roll

“The lobster roll is a tradition, though not a very old one. My 75-year-old father, who has lived all his life in Maine, says he doesn’t remember eating a lobster roll until sometime after World War II. ”It was down around Tenants Harbor,” he said. ”Some people named Cook had a stand down there where a lobster roll cost 35 cents.””
—“Fare of the Country: In Maine, Lobster on a Roll,” Nancy Jenkins, New York Times, July 14, 1985 (section 10, p.6)

I prefer my bun toasted and my lobster with mayo, I may have it all wrong apparently.

Salva Regina Dormitory Annex

That’s my room on the top right

We are hunkered down in the dorms of Salve Regina University founded by the Sisters of Mercy, the university is a Catholic, co-educational, private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of Rhode Island in 1934. In 1947 the university acquired Ochre Court and welcomed its first class of 58 students.

We sit on the porch of the dorm and look out onto the Breakers.  Well, not exactly this view, but we can see the chimney pots.

The Breakers Newport RI

The Breakers

 

Early Newport

 Rhode Island
Jun 062014
 

Trinity Church Newport RI

We were told when this course began that we would learn the meaning of “Death March” or “Sherman’s March to the Sea”, well it is day one, and yup we learned it right away.

First stop was Trinity Church.  It is important to begin with a bit of Newport history, which at this point in time, is Rhode Island history.  First there were the Antimonians.  To make it simple, but I hope not offensive in it’s trite treatment towards the history of RI:  in 1639 the Antinomians came to Rhode Island and settled in Providence.  Then Ann Hutchinson left Providence with a slightly different take on religion and came to the island, a further group broke from that sect and came to Newport.  For this reason Newport has always been known as a town of religious freedom.  This point is important architecturally because, unlike most every New England town, there are no churches on the main square of Newport.

So back to Trinity Church.  Assumed to have been designed by Richard Munday,(1725) it was a period in history, where most likely, Munday was a good contractor with a lot of wealthy church members overseeing what they thought a church should look like.  There is so much history here that everyone will be happy to discuss, things such as the fact that you paid for your pew, that is how the church paid for its building, also you were taxed on that payment, another stipend in the daily grind of taxes, well afforded by the wealthy and impossible for the poor. Also the stained glass window, Tiffany versus the older English.

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Tiffany

The church is stunning in its simplicity, but what I truly loved was the flattened-groin vaulted ceiling, somehow not noticed in the overall impressiveness of the church.

Trinity Church Vaulted Ceiling

So, yes a stop for a Lobster Roll. This time at Brick Alley Pub – FABULOUS!  Then on to 18th Century Newport…

We began with the Colony House (1739), again attributed to Richard Munday.  Because Rhode Island is actually Rhode Island and the Plantation of Newport it originally had five State Houses and one of them was the Colony House.

Colony House Rhode Island

The house is a mish mash on the exterior, and the interior consists of several different centuries of architectural styles, so I will just hit on the things I found to be outstanding.  Underneath the second remodeling are the original beams, which show that they were discarded ship masts, how cool is that?

lamp colony house

This lamp was on the second floor, and part of the second phase of construction, I just thought it was gorgeous.

Gilbert Stuart Colony House Newport RI

Gilbert Stuart was born and raised across the water from Newport, I don’t really think I need to explain further who he is, but it is fabulous to see so many of his paintings, simply hanging in buildings around Newport, OUT of the museum setting.

 Wanton-Lyman-Hazzard House Newport RINext stop, the Wanton-Lyman-Hazzard House.  Assumed to be the oldest surviving house in Newport, the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House was built for Stephen Mumford around 1697. Mumford was a merchant and a founding member of Newport’s Seventh Day Baptist congregation.

Beams in the Wanton-Lyman-Hazzard House

Beams in the Wanton-Lyman-Hazzard House

This house has had its fair share of lives.  It had a few things of note, the fact that the second floor was the entertainment floor.  This, of course, was the way that homes in Europe were designed with the Piano Nobile being the second floor, but it surprised me to find that we had adopted that in our architecture here.

A high point of this house is that restorationists have found what appears to be the first attempt at faux-painting, or “wall art”.  While looking at it, I can hear Professor Wilson saying “You will never see anything like this anywhere else”.  I am thinking, I hope not.  I really wish there was more understanding on my part as to what was being attempted.  However, what I did walk away with was an admiration for the beautiful structural beams and the original-growth planks on the floor that were so divinely wide they made me lust after them.

Wanton-Lyman Hazzard

“Wall Art” and structural beams in the Wanton-Lyman-Hazzard House.

Wall art and Structural Beams in the Wanton-Lyman Hazzard House

We then moved on to the Vernon House. (Before 1708 Renovated  c. 1760)   So many things I can say about it this house.  First, it is where Rochambeau had his headquarters and possibly met with Washington to plan the battle of Yorktown. It is pretty well accepted that the plans were hatched in Newport, in this house… is speculation.

Vernon House Newport RI

In 1758, Metcalf Bowler, purchased the house at the corner of Clarke, and Mary Streets. He expanded it to its current form around 1760. It is thought that the expansion was designed by architect Peter Harrison who is responsible for the Redwood Library, Touro Synagogue and the Old Brick Market. In 1773 it was purchased by another wealthy Newport merchant, William Vernon.

Vernon House

William Vernon, a supporter of the American rebellion and later the president of the Eastern Naval Board (precursor to the Department of the Navy), lived at Vernon House from 1773 to 1806. However, he left Newport during the British occupation in the Revolutionary War. During his absence, the Comte de Rochambeau, leader of the French forces in America, used the house as his headquarters.

Vernon House Rhode Island

 What is phenomenal are the Chinese style paintings, thought to be painted by the original owner around 1740.  They were covered up during the occupation and remodel by the second owner, and only discovered during a restoration in 1937. While I found that the artist had absolutely no sense of perspective, the ability to draw birds was breathtaking.

Vernon House

This was followed by the Hunter House. (c. 1748) The house was restored in the early 50’s and it speaks volumes about the lack of proper restoration and the lack of monies to do it correctly in this time period.  However, the woodwork is just gorgeous.

Hunter House Newport RI

The north half of Hunter House was constructed between 1748 and 1754 by Jonathon Nichols, Jr., a prosperous merchant and colonial deputy. After his death in 1756, the property was sold to Colonel Joseph Wanton, Jr., who was also a deputy governor of the colony and a merchant. He enlarged the house by adding a south wing and a second chimney, transforming the building into a formal Georgian mansion with a large central hall. Hunter House Newport RI

During the American Revolution, Colonel Wanton fled from Newport due to his Loyalist sympathies. His house was used as the headquarters of Admiral de Ternay, commander of the French fleet, when French forces occupied Newport in 1780. After the war, Colonel Wanton’s house was acquired by William Hunter, a U. S. Senator and President Andrew Jackson’s charge d’affaires to Brazil. The Hunters sold the house in the mid-1860s, and it passed through a series of owners until the mid-1940s.

Stairwell Hunter House

Mrs. George Henry Warren initiated a preservation effort, purchasing the house in 1945 and forming The Preservation Society of Newport County. The Preservation Society restored Hunter House to the era of Colonel Wanton (1757 to 1779).

Claw foot of

Furniture by Townsend and Goddard

The Goddard and Townsend families of Newport lend their name to an extensive body of New England furniture associated with Newport, Rhode Island in the second half of the 18th century.

Newport furniture is also associated with a distinct ball and claw foot, in which there is an open space carved between the talon and ball. Such a form is thought to be unique to Newport, though not unique to the Goddard or Townsend families.

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We visited the home of Tom Robinson which had been in the family from the 1700’s until it was sold about 20 years ago.  This broad, gambrel-roofed house is one of the best examples of Newport’s merchant residences of the 18th century. It was beautifully preserved, and full of wonderful sailing items, as the people that now own it are avid sailors.  What, at this point in the day most likely stood out more than anything was the siting of the house.

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The original three-bay, three room-plan house could have been built as early as 1725. Soon after the purchase of the land and house in 1760, Thomas Robinson enlarged the house to the north, adding a sitting or living room to the east and a kitchen to the west. The small entrance was enlarged to accommodate the symmetrical arrangement of windows and entrance on the street or east facade. This addition was deeper than the original house. Therefore there is an eight-foot projection on the west facade. The second and third floors have this same room arrangement–one room in the northwest corner and one in the northeast corner. In 1874-1875, Charles F. McKim converted the 1760 kitchen into a sitting room, adding a five-sided bay to the north. He placed a single story porch on the west facade, extending from the center hall axis to the old kitchen door on the north wall. A single-story kitchen ell with a decorative, shingled gable at the chimney was added to the south at this time. A roof-top gallery with squared and turned balusters and flame corner finials appears in photographs of the house taken after the addition of the kitchen….From Historic-Structures.com

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St John’s Church (1891-94), across the street, was next.  The new priest was especially delightful to me, as he was obviously a history buff.  I am always drawn to art work done by the nuns of any church, as it is so rarely appreciated, displayed, or even acknowledged.   There is a stunning painting in the Lady Chapel, sadly, I was unable to determine the name of the Nun that was responsible for the work, but the priest assured me it is in the church records.

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I also, as a tile nut, was thrilled to see Monrovia tile in this church.  The tiles in the pew area are Minton, but the tiles in the nave and chancel are Monrovia.  I have written about Mr Mercer, the owner of Monrovia tile here.

The Church was designed by Frederick Clarke Withers, with Ralph Adams Cram adding the Lady Chapel between 1913 and 1916.

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Our final stop, despite the death march and exhaustion, was still able to make ones jaw drop  This was the Sanford-Covell house (William Ralph Emerson architect – 1870), now called Villa Marina.

Villa Marina

I am starting with the peacock, because seriously, who doesn’t love a house with a stuffed peacock.  That aside, I am leaving you with a house who’s woodwork, frescoed walls and simple grandeur of entry should speak for itself.

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The Sanford-Covell Villa Marina was completed in 1870 by architect William Ralph Emerson for Milton H. Sanford of Pimlico Race Course fame. It is also known as the William King Covell III House.

William King Covell II bought the house  in 1896 and it has remained in his family until this day. It is currently owned by Anne Ramsey Cuvelier, the great granddaughter of William King Covell II, who now runs the home as a Bed and Breakfast.

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The truly difficult part about a class like this, is, after a day that had everyone dropping from exhaustion, a quick dinner of oysters and wine at the Black Pearl, I came back to the dorm and continued until midnight with stimulating conversations about restoration, historic preservation and how all of it fits into life in general with great young minds.  I am loving it, but it is now 1:00 in the morning. – Good night all!

Newport – The Calm before the Storm

 Rhode Island
Jun 052014
 

 

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So, I have come to the conclusion that the reason these are called death marches isn’t just because we hike for miles and miles, but because our esteemed Professor Richard Guy Wilson, heads straight out without a care in the world.  There are thirty of us, and watching him step off the sidewalk into traffic, knowing full well the seas will part, and then 30 of us holding up traffic like “damn stupid tourists” has become rather common.

William Watts Sherman House Newport RI

So, now it is Sunday and once again we have done another long march.  I will try to do my best to share.  Our first stop was the William Watts Sherman House designed by H. H. Richardson (1874-1876).  It was built for New York Financier Sherman and his first wife Annie Wetmore.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970. Salve Regina acquired the property,  in 1982.

So, what made me go wow?  The green room, inspired by The Peacock Room at the Freer, who is to know, but still…

Sherman House Newport RI

Sherman House

There are William Morris style painted windows on the second floor.  This building is now a sophomore dormitory for Salve Regina, it has suffered pretty badly, but fortunately the green room and these windows have survived.

Professor Richard Guy Wilson atop the Moon Gate at Chateau-Sur-Mer

Professor Richard Guy Wilson atop the Moon Gate at Chateau-Sur-Mer

Chateau-sur-Merwas built as an Italianate-style villa for China trade merchant William Shepard Wetmore. Mr. Wetmore died in 1862, leaving the bulk of his fortune to his son, George Peabody Wetmore.

George married Edith Keteltas in 1869. During the 1870s, the young couple took a 10 year trip to Europe, leaving architect Richard Morris Hunt to remodel and redecorate the house in the Second Empire French style. This remodel resulted in the fact that Chateau-sur-Mer displays most of the major design trends of the last half of the 19th century.

I will, again just hit the things that made me go WOW.

Château Sur Mer

Tree of Life painted at Chateau Sur Mer

This is called the Tree of Life, and I remember this from when Michael, Joyce and I toured this house years and years ago.  I have discovered in the last two days that everyone appreciates how fabulous these things are, but they have absolutely no idea who did the work.  For me, you can imagine, how completely frustrating this is.  I hope that at some point in the future, I can work on bringing you this information, but for now, I need to just get my notes down at the end of  our ridiculous days before I forget.

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*Château Sur Mer

These two beauties are lamps at the top of the stairs as you enter the house.  I see so much sculpture, but these girls called to me. Alas, there is no information. AGAIN! Frustrating!

United Congregational Church

After another Lobster Roll at La Forge Casino – not as good as yesterday, but now number two – we hit the United Congregational Church.  In horrific shape, but my OMG moment was the painting behind the alter.  Again, no one knows who the painters were, but WOW.   The Church was built in 1855 and the architect was Joseph C. Wells.  However, the interior was designed by John La Farge.  This educational group is in love with LaFarge.  No judgements, he is amazing, but I am truly disappointed in the fact that only the “biggies” are known.  The unknown craftsman continues to be a fact.

Tiffany Lam[

A Louis Comfort Tiffany lamp speaks of a longtime rivalry against LaFarge (I promise that story will be brought to you in the next few days) the only reason I am showing it is because, well frankly, it is interesting.

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This is a panel on the ceiling, the panels were copied from an existing carpet.  Here are the notes from the National Park Service regarding the interiors of the church:

United Congregational Church: Executive Summary

  •  The United Congregational Church is nationally significant for the interior remodeling by American artist John La Farge. The murals and opalescent and stained glass windows of United Congregational Church (later, Newport Congregational Church), executed by La Farge between 1880 and 1881, are the only comprehensive interior designed by the artist, and the most complete synthesis of La Farge’s mastery of media and design.
  •  The murals are based upon archeologically correct Near Eastern prototypes, while the twenty stained glass windows feature an inventive use of handmade opalescent glass designed to complement the paintings. One of six major ecclesiastical commissions by La Farge, the Congregational Church survives as the only example of the artist’s comprehensive decorative scheme for the interior of a church.

It is important to understand that the reason I did not include pictures of the stained glass windows is because at this point they are a mish-mash of various works.  The church suffered very badly during a freak hailstorm in 1894 which riddled the windows on the North side of the church.  The records show what a mess was created by hiring low-budget contractors, due to lack of funds.  The results are sad and hopefully can be rectified in the future when funds become available.

Newport, Rhode Island

 

Kingscote – So where do you begin.  In 1839 Southern planter George Noble Jones commissioned Richard Upjohn to design this “summer cottage”.  An incredible brick covered building with Horizontal Flush Board and then painted grey with sand in hopes of mimicking stone.

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At the outbreak of the Civil War, the Jones family left Newport for good, and the house was sold in 1864 to China Trade merchant William Henry King. His nephew David took over the house in 1876, and several years later decided to enlarge the home. David King hired  McKim, Mead and White to make the renovations, including the new dining room.

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Opalescent glass bricks by Louis Comfort Tiffany, as well as, cork ceiling and wall panels were installed in the dining room during the remodel.

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The house remained in the King family until 1972, when the last descendant left it to the Preservation Society, along with the original family collections. Today, Kingscote is a National Historic Landmark.

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The next house was a private home that we were so privileged to visit.  The Charles H. Baldwin House was built in 1877-78, by the architectural firm of William Appleton Potter and Robert Anderson Robertson.

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The dining room was the unique portion of this home.

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We finished with a party at the Isaac Bell House.  The house was done by McKim, Mead and White between 1881 and 83 for cotton broker and investor Isaac Bell.  After passing through a succession of owners, the Isaac Bell House was purchased by the Preservation Society in 1996,

It is listed as a “shingle style”, though architects would have labeled it is as modernized colonial.  With double gables, it has Japanese, French and Italian influences.  There are several shingle styles on the exterior.  These include the fish scale and wave, the fish scale being the classic style, but the wave playing into the “modern” concept.

Isaac Bell House Newport RI

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Isaac Bell House Newport RI

You have got to love the entryway.

Isaac Bell House

Notice the pink mortar, the quoins are intentionally irregular.

Isaac Bell House

This is a caned wall. I was in LOVE!

Isaac House

A cast plaster basket weave – seriously amazing.  Can you imagine the sanding work it takes to get that depth?

I can not say enough about how our days are so long, but we literally walking back to our rooms, bent over with sore feet, back aches and heads that are so completely filled with information that facts are found dripping out of our ears, lining the sidewalks as we drag ourselves home.

I hope that I have shown you the amazing things we have seen visually, even if I can not iterate with words the thousands upon thousands of facts we are learning as we go along.

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So You Want an American Renaissance…

 Rhode Island
Jun 042014
 

Today was a day of only 3 houses, but what houses they were.  All three houses were designed by Richard Morris Hunt.

The Fountain at the front of Marble House

The Fountain on the front of Marble House

Our first stop was Ochre Court.  Built between 1888 and 1893 for Ogden Goelet.  These houses are well documented as to the craftspeople.  The Ochre House sculptor was Karl Bitter, however, much of the work was purchased by Allard and Son’s of Paris.

Ochre House

Ochre House is now owned by Salve Regina University.  The Goelet’s daughter, May, married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe. Their son, Robert, was a businessman with an interest in American railroads, hotels and real estate. Robert gave Ochre Court to the Sisters of Mercy in 1947.

Ochre Court

The Parisian firm of Jules Allard and Sons (or Jules Allard et Fils) was in business between 1878 and Allard’s death in 1907. It was one of the most notable interior decorating houses of the turn of the twentieth century. The firm opened a New York branch in 1885. Allard’s Paris origin reinforced the firm’s credibility in composing “high style” French interiors for the American elite.  Essentially, Allard went around Europe and bought up the contents of so many of the mansions that had fallen on hard times, the firm then shipped these interiors to the US and incorporated them into the homes of the wealthy in Newport.  They also employed craftspeople to recreate and rework or supplement the pieces that they had picked up.

OCHRE COURT

Since Ochre Court is a University building, it is devoid of the furniture and fixings of the home, in a way, this was nice as it let one enjoy the surroundings without being distracted.

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Next stop was The Breakers, so well known it hardly seems logical to write much about it.  The first floor was essentially done by Allard and Sons, and the second more sedate floor was done by Ogden Codman.  Codman was a noted American architect and interior decorator in the Beaux-Arts styles, and co-author with Edith Wharton of The Decoration of Houses (1897), which became a standard in American interior design.

It is important to note the designation of “architect” at this point.  Codman had only one year at MIT and commented that it was a complete waste of his time.  So architects would sketch drawings, but it was really up to the builders to keep them standing.  There was no engineering going on at this point.

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The only way to really get a feel for these homes is to sit quietly and take the whole room in as a whole. To sit and look at pieces as an individual is so disquieting as it is all so busy. But here are some of my favorite shots from the first floor.

The Breakers

The Breakers

The muses are beautifully painted on, not silver, but platinum, so it never tarnishes.

The Breakers

The ceiling in the Billiard Room by Batterson and Eisele.

The Breakers

The bathtub is cut from one piece of marble and weighs approximately one ton.

The Breakers

Panels done in one of the bedroom by Ogden Codman.

The Breakers

We finished in the kitchen.

Marble House

Our last stop was Marble House.  This was built for William K. and Alva Vanderbilt, as a 40th birthday present for Alva.  There is 1/2 million cubic feet of marble in the house.  This includes Tuckahoe marble on the exterior, Sienna Marble and Numidian Marble on the inside.

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The amount of gold leaf in this house is staggering.

The Marble House

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These two gorgeous animals were on the ceiling in the dining room

Marble House

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The plaster cherubs were over Alva’s bed

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There were four of these stunning sculptures in each corner of the high ceiling, each was just a tad different.

The Marble House

The tea house, built when Alva decided to promote the suffragette movement.  She used it for fundraising purposes.

Larry Ellison

This is Summer Wind, one of Newport’s oldest summer cottages. The home was originally owned by William and his wife, Caroline, better known as The Mrs. Astor in 1881.  It was also a Richard Morris Hunt building.  I only am showing it because it is now owned by Larry Ellison and is intended to house his art collection.

Guastavino Tiles

These are Rafael Guastavino Tiles in the entry way to the Breakers.  I remember seeing them before and being fascinated by them, and here they are rearing back up into my attention, so I figured this time I should learn a bit about them.

Guastavino tile is the “Tile Arch System” patented in the United States in 1885 by Valencian architect and builder Rafael Guastavino (1842–1908). It is a technique for constructing robust, self-supporting arches and architectural vaults using interlocking terracotta tiles and layers of mortar to form a thin skin, with the tiles following the curve of the roof.

The Guastavino terracotta tiles are standardized, less than an inch thick, and approximately 6 inches by 12 inches across. They are usually set in three herringbone-pattern courses with a sandwich of thin layers of Portland cement.

So that was our day, a complete day of the height of the Gilded/Golden Age.

MM&W meet LaFarge

 Rhode Island
Jun 032014
 

Channing Memorial Church

Our day started at the Channing Memorial Church.  (E. Boyden and Sons 1881).  William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century.

We were at the church to view the John LaForge stained glass windows.  I promised I would tell this story, so here goes.  Charles Lewis Tiffany, father of Louis Comfort and man of the silver company, agreed to sponsor John LaFarge in a business if he would teach his son Louis the art of stained glass.  At this point, LaFarge had developed a new style of stained glass.

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Originally Glass was painted and then fired and was truly lovely.  However, LaFarge realized that adding the color to the glass gave a far better experience.  The glass would be colored and then poured into large vats.  Eventually that colored glass would be either broken or cut to fit into the lead caning.  The rivalry I spoke of a few days ago, is that after LaFarge taught Tiffany everything, his father reneged on the deal.  That is a blatant statement, that possibly has other things behind it.  LaFarge was known for having absolutely NO business sense, he was always over budget and over time, and possibly this had something to do with the situation.  LaFarge windows now command a higher price  because they are considerably more detailed than Tiffany’s.

LaFarge Glass

LaFarge Glass Windows

LaForge Wiondows

Red glass in a LaFarge window, that also has a second layer of clear glass to give even more depth to the drapery.

LaFarge Glass

Even in LaFarge windows the hands and faces would be painted, I assume because the caning would interfere with the reverence.  These are the first part of the window to fail, and as you can see this guy is aging badly – who doesn’t?

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An idea of the detail in the LaFarge windows.

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Our next stop was the Newport Casino.  Commissioned by James Gordon Bennet, because there was no place to have fun in Newport, (after a peeing in the fireplace incident) it was designed by McKim, Mead and White (MMW) in 1873. The word Casino has morphed over the years, in this case it does not mean a gambling spot. In Italian it is a diminutive of casa, “house.” The word was first applied to a country house and then came to be used for a social gathering place, a room or building where one could dance, listen to music, and gamble.

Casino in Newport RI

Lawn Tennis was first played here in 1881.

Newport Rhode Island Casino

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We were shown around the theater with its gilded woven plaster walls, but also had the chance to watch a round of the Men’s World Championship of Court Tennis.  Court Tennis is very, very different and if you are interested you can read about it here.

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This is the same basket weave plaster that was first seen in the Isaac Bell house, here it is gilded for that special POP.

Theater at the Casino in Newport RI

Next was the Griswold House which now houses the Newport Art Museum. The home was originally built for John N. A. Griswold who made his money in the China Trade.  It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt between 1861 and 1864.

Newport Art Museum

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Then a stop at the Redwood Library.(Peter Harrison 1748-50)  The library has the first full temple facade in the US.

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There were no photographs allowed, but it is rather gorgeous inside. More importantly is the libraries collection. The library is a private subscription library, one of only 13 in the U.S.. Founded in 1747, it is the oldest community library still occupying its original building in the United States.

We then proceeded to do another Richard Guy Wilson death march past fourteen houses with explanations. One, we pleasantly were able to tour, and it just blew me away, that was the Samuel Tilton House, McKim Meade and White (1880-82).  The home is private and yet has some of the most stunning original interiors. I am just going to leave you with the photographs.

Samuel Tilton House

The top of the chimney at the Tilton House

The top of the chimney at the Tilton House

 

The exterior walls made from the grout of the stone and broken glass

The exterior walls made from the grout of the stone and broken glass

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We then proceeded to a delightful cocktail party sponsored by the William Vareika Art Gallery.  The gallery has a superb collection of Newport and Narragansett related art and upstairs is a wonderful collection of LaFarge paintings.

Newport Rhode Island

Clement Clarke Moore

The home of Clement Clarke Moore house, the man who wrote The Night Before Christmas

Newport RI

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William Morris Hunt did the Horses of Anahita, this seems to be a study for the final bronze.

Floors, Ceilings and Walls

 Rhode Island
Jun 022014
 

Slater Mill

Our day began at Slater Mill.  The mill is part of the Blackstone River Valley, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Pawtucket is the local Indian word for place of falling water.  Slater Mill is the last mill standing in the valley.  This stone building is actually the Wilkinson Blacksmith shop.  When the Englishman Slater convinced the local Sylvanus Brown that he could, in fact, build a proper mill he needed Wilkinson to build the machines.

Blacksmith shop

The water wheel weighs 20,000 pounds

Slater Mill Rhode Island

I simply took photos of the equipment because the machinery is so cool, all of this machinery was run off of the mill wheel

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slater mill rhode island

This is the Slater Mill building, notice it is all wood.  The one thing we hear constantly is the fear of fire, with all the cotton dust, it must have been truly a fire trap.

Pawtucket was a major contributor of cotton textiles during the American Industrial Revolution. Slater Mill is known for developing a commercially successful production process not reliant on earlier horse-drawn processes (i.e. the water wheel). Other manufacturers moved in and helped transformed Pawtucket into a center for textiles, iron working and other products.

The textile business in New England declined during the Great Depression with many manufacturers closing or moving their facilities South where operations and labor were cheaper.

BBurleigh House RI

This is the Fleur de Lys Studio of Sydney Burleigh in Providence.  Built in 1885 with monies provided by Burleigh’s wife, Sarah Drew Wilkinson, who with her wealth encouraged Burleigh to become a full time artist.  Burleigh along with Edmond Wilson used the house to found the Art Workers Guild of Providence.  The house was, and, remains today, an artists studio, now belonging to Providence Art Club.  This house represents the beginning of the Arts and Crafts Movement.  The exterior is simply divine.

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Burleigh House

Providence Art Club

The Fireplace in Burleigh Studio

The Fireplace in Burleigh Studio

 

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This is Providence City Hall. In 1843, the municipal council passed a resolution calling for the construction of a new city hall building. In 1873, the Providence municipal government completed negotiations and acquired a former theater site for the new building.

An open call for design led to twenty one submissions, and four finalists. Samuel J. F. Thayer’s “Blue Wafer” design was chosen, and he was paid $1000.00.  The building, modified from its original design, would evetually cost the city $1,000,000. The cornerstone was laid on June 24, 1875. Inaugurated on November 14, 1878, The Providence Journal called the building “Our Municipal Palace.”

The Providence City Hall is part of this fabulous architecture of hand painted/stenciled ceilings, tile floors and wood carved walls.

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Rhode Island State Capitol

Next stop, Lippitt House, which was the home of Rhode Island Governor Henry Lippet who served from 1875-77.  The house is a Mead and McKim built in 1875. Again, I am just sharing photographs because the house is so beautiful it needs no further discussion.

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The wood on the floor is real, but the wood on the ceiling is faux paint.

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Cloud House

This is Clouds Hill.   Built in 1872-77 by William R. Walker, this house has been in the family for four generations, and is part of the Slater Mill Empire.  What made the house so unique is that nothing has changed inside.  There is just too much to say about it, so I will let the photographs speak for it.

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The parlor was Egyptian.  It was just phenomenal, the wall paper, the clocks, the furniture, and the fireplace all had Egyptian themes.  A house of this type would have been planned, as a whole, down to the gnat’s ass, but this was just spectacular.

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The dining room had a bird theme, again, every single thing about it…

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This was the fireplace in the hall, obviously the fireplaces were the thing that struck me the most.

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As I said, the house is still lived in by the family

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Including this fellow

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Just in case you haven’t had enough, here are some random shots from the day.

Victorian Society Course

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Castles, Views and the Servants

 Rhode Island
Jun 012014
 

Belcourt Castle

After a morning of lectures we headed out to Belcourt Castle.  Belcourt is a R. M. Hunt building( 1891-94).  The house was built for Oliver Hazzard Perry Belmont, with changes done when he married Alva Vanderbilt once she divorced William.

The house has been purchased by Carolyn Rafaelian, founder of Alex and Ani.  She is restoring the house, and we were told that it would become a museum, however, she is maintaining an apartment on the top floor.

The house, especially the ballroom, is rather over the top, granted it  is in a complete state of disarray and in the midst of construction but here goes:

Belcourt Castle

As you can see today was a very, very rainy day, so there will be a handful of photographs that are a tad “wet”.

Belcourt was built as a sort of French hunting lodge.  There is English half timbering and French style masonry work essentially drawing from varying periods.

Belmont was an accomplished horseman, establishing Belmont Raceway with it subsequent Belmont Stakes, so the first floor was occupied by elegantly furnishes stables.   Alva was given Belmont House as a wedding present when she married Oliver  and in the beginning she toned down the “masculine” touches then, after his death she converted the tack room into a dining room.

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There was a storage room that is just chock-a-block full of cast off’s, and was a treasure hunters dream.

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When Alva removed the stables, the front entry was changed, this caused a complete realignment of the stairway.

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The stained glass window is in the dining room.

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The dining room, as I said is just over the top!

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This is for Deb at Sullivan Masonry.  I am truly frustrated with terms, there is a constant interchange of the word plaster and stucco, often confused with mortar, but this was the ultimate HUH? I was told that they were spending a lot of money repointing the brick so I was excited to take pictures for you – well here you go.

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Next stop was Beacon Rock.  It too has an interesting heritage.  While perfect symmetry and Greek sensibilities reign on the exterior,  the interior feels as modern and frankly as McMansion as you can imagine.

Beacon Rock was done for Edwin Morgan of the Morgan Family.  Edwin Morgan was Commodore of the NY Yacht Club and owner of several America’s cup defenders.

Beacon Rock

The landscape was done by Frederick Law Olmstead, fresh off his work on Central Park, he incorporated this aqueduct styled bridge that serves as the entry way to the property.

After three decades of Morgans the home was eventually sold to Felix DeWeldon, best know for sculpting the Iwo Jima Memorial.  There was a falling of fortunes, and then a sewage debacle and the house was purchase by attorney Brian Cunha from Boston.  There was a complete overhaul of the property and today you can rent it for around $125,000/month.

Here are some of the finer details of the home.

Beacon Rock

Italian marble was brought in to recreate the ancient Athenian Stoa of Attalos and Agora.

The Stoa of Attalos

The original Stoa of Attalos

 

Roman Brick

This is Roman Brick.  Modern “Roman” bricks were introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. They are invariably longer and flatter than other modern brick types, but there are no fixed dimensions. We had seen a house earlier this week with Roman Brick – below- the Commodore William Edgar house which was a MMW house.

Roman Brick

Continuing with the Beacon Rock House:

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Yep, loved the landscape and the views, but again the house was fabulous on the exterior but…

 

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Earlier,  we had been given one of the most fabulous lectures regarding the way that the house staff works and lived in these homes by John Tschirch.  John is engaging, and an excellent lecturer, and made the entire subject one you want to go running out and learn so much more about.  The next stop was a behind the scenes walkthrough of The Elms.

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Walking the five stories to the servants quarters.
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The Bell call system

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Overlooking the ground from the roof.
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The laundry room, there were originally 5 sinks in the laundry room, with lye soap to boot.

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This was amazing, the owner designed a coal delivery system underground.  The coal car ran 50 feet down under the lawn to the street and the manhole in the middle of the street.  The coal was loaded up and rolled to the boilers.  The ashes from the fireplaces were removed via the same system.  No dust, no muss.

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Interior of the iceboxes
DSC_2100The kitchens – can you imagine how hot this must have been running 24 hours a day on coal.

While this looked like a short day, it was filled with hours of lectures, and ended with a lecture by RGW at the Newport Art Museum to open the newest show Very Simple Charm – The early work of Richard Morris Hunt.

Dinner at the Black Pearl and back to the dorms with the funniest, smartest young group I have had the pleasure of rooming with.

Here are some final shots of the day

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I absolutely love sculpted faces in the ornamentation of building, I was in seventh heaven today.

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William Morris Hunt placed himself in every single house he designed, this one is in Belcourt Castle.

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Found this little guy on the back of a chair.

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And this of course is the maquette of the Iwo Jima statue in front of some fabulous murals. – And yes – I find that silk flag horrible too!

 

 

Out and About in the Countryside

 Rhode Island
May 312014
 

We began this morning in my favorite genre, Japanese revival.  The house is just lovely, as are the couple that own it.  They still have a lot of restoration to go, but what they have done is just perfect.  The house is called the Knapp house and was designed by Ralph Adams Cram in 1894. Cram was better known for his churches and revolutionizing church design in America.  The house is also called The Rising Sun, and I was in love.

Rising Sun House

Tori Gate Doors

Notice the Tori Gate Surround

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this was my favorite room.  It is the parlor off of the front door with this great little fireplace

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This chipped wood wall blew my mind

Tokobishira

Check out the Tokobishira and the grass painted wallpaper

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This is the second floor, take a look at this great woodwork.

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The dining room has these unusual china cabinets.

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Over the fireplace

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We then headed to the town of North Easton.

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This is the gatehouse to the Ames Estate.  It was designed by H. H. Richardson and the gardens are by Frederick Law Olmstead.

The right hand side was a guest cottage and the left was the gardeners shed.  The Ames Shovel Company traces its beginning to 1774 when Captain John Ames began making iron shovels at West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. His son Oliver moved the company to North Easton in 1803. Gold was discovered in California in 1848, and in Australia in 1851, which created a worldwide demand for the company’s shovels.

 The Ames brothers entered politics and became influential in financing the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, as well as the development of the village of North Easton. Expansion of the shovel factory continued over the years until 1928.

Ames shovels became standard issue for troops in the U.S. Army for every conflict from the American Civil War to Korea.

The Ames Shovel Company ceased production in Easton in 1952

Ames

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The house has pretty much been remodeled past recognition, but there is this marvelous fireplace.  The tiles are Tiffany tiles, and the fireplace carvings are by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.  The covering over the little settee is lincrusta.

Ames House

Frog

On the second floor was a wishing well, and this Saint-Gaudens frog is sitting on the outside of the well.

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Train Station

This is the local train station, The Old Colony Railroad Station, it is also known as the North Easton Railroad Station. The station’s facade is constructed of rough-faced, random ashlar of gray granite with a brownstone belt course and trim. Two large, semicircular arches are ornamented with wonderful carvings of a  snarling heads.

Old Colony RailRoad Station

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The station was commissioned in 1881 by Frederick Lothrop Ames, director of the Old Colony Railroad.  The architect was H. H. Richardson.  The building currently houses the Easton Historical Society.

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The next stop was the Unity Church. The church was built in 1875 at a cost of $100,000. It was designed by Gothic Revivalist John Ames Mitchell, nephew of donor Oliver Ames.

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This frieze, which includes twenty-two oaken seraphim, was carved by Johannes Kirchmayer.  He was born in Bavaria, and educated at the University of Munich, he was considered “one of the most remarkable sculptors of wood”.

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The organist, who gave us our tour, said that he had the privilege of helping to clean these, the saints lift out of their niches and are complete carvings, in other words, the backs are carved as well, even though you will never see them.

Church

We were there, however, to see the windows.  There were the two largest LaFarge windows ever made.

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This LaFarge window was commissioned by botanist Oaks Ames and his brother Winthrop Ames  in memory of his grandfather Congressman Oakes Ames, and their fathers Governor Oliver Ames and Oakes Angier Ames.  This is the “Figure of Wisdom”

LaFarge

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This window is the “Angel of Help” and was donated by Frederick Lothrop Ames.  It was installed in 1886.

LaFarge

But there are more.

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This window was by Gorham, better known for silver, they did two in this church.

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This window is by Franz Meyer of Munich

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And these are by Burnham of Boston.

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Ames Free Library

Next stop, the Ames library, again designed by H.H. Richardson. The library was built from 1877 to 1879, although it did not open until March 10, 1883.

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There are dragons on most every exterior corner.

Ames Library

Notice the lovely wood barrel vault ceiling

DSC_2246This chair was also designed by H. H. Richardson.

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Ames Memorial Hall

Next door to the library is Ames Memorial Hall, not only was this designed by H. H. Richardson, but the citing was done by Frederick Law Olmstead.  Again, a building that has been radically changed inside, but I just loved the sculpture on the exterior.

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The stone carver was John Evans, a welsh man and member of the stone carver’s guild of Boston.

We then headed to Bristol………………………

Colt School

Bristol is a lovely town with the country’s largest 4th of July parade, the main street is tree lined with quaint stores, everything you would think of as fairy land New England.  It is also the home of Herreshoff of the Herreshoff Boat Building company. Nathanael Greene Herreshoff I, was an American naval architect-mechanical engineer. “Captain Nat,” as he was known, revolutionized yacht design, and produced a succession of undefeated America’s Cup defenders between 1893-1920

Our tour was a walking tour and I am not presenting them in order here.  One stop was the Colt School, donated and named after the “gun” family. Designed by Cooper & Bailey of Boston in 1906-1913.

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This is a Tiffany window in the auditorium.

Colt SchoolI loved the tile floor that looked like puzzle pieces.

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This is the Bristol State House.  This was one of the five state houses in Rhode Island.  I just loved the hitching post.

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Burnside House

This is the Burnside Memorial Hall designed by Stephen C. Earle in 1883.  Burnside is rumored to be the origination of the term Side Burns.

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DeWolf Colt House

This is the DeWolf-Colt House (also known as Linden Place). The lineage is extremely complicated, but essentially it was built in 1810 by Russell Warren.  It was built for DeWolf.  The DeWolf family was the largest single importer of slaves to the United States.  The original DeWolf ran out on his bills in the middle of the night.  The son eventually came in and purchased the house back and found all the existing furniture and reassembled the family home. When that line died out the home went up for auction.  Colt purchased it, and yet no one knew who this Colt was.  Once the deed was recorded it was discovered that Colt had purchased the home for his mother, the daughter of the DeWolf gentleman who left the home in a snow storm in the middle of the night.

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Seven Oaks

This is Seven Oaks. The architect is not known but it was done in 1816-1817.

We squeezed a few Gothic Revivals in and then headed out, it was a very full day!

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Arbiters of Taste and Where We Are Today?

 Rhode Island
May 302014
 

 

Edith Warton as a child

Edith Warton as a child

 

We were asked to read a few books before class started.  Henry James An International Episode and A House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.  I enjoyed An International Episode, but truly had a hard time plodding through A House of Mirth.  I came to the conclusion this it was because I really became exceptionally bored reading about a truly stupid woman that continued to make really stupid mistakes her entire life, until her life was destined to fail.  The third book I chose to read was Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder, a true gem, and absolutely worth a read.

This was all in preparation for the fact that Edith Wharton, along with Ogden Codman were such an influence on 19th century architecture and interiors, and thus a large part of our course. Together they wrote the Decoration of Houses, first published in 1897, it was a forum to denounce the “over” style of the Victorians, over stuffed chairs, over stuffed rooms and over decorated style.

 

Ogden Codman

Ogden Codman

The book lead to the acceptance of the professional decorator.  While I have no issue with the highly intelligent and successful Edith Wharton, and in fact I completely agree with the importance of balance, symmetry and good use of space, I take issue with the concept of “style makers” and their following.  I can not think of a worse way to create a singular way of thinking and a singular style followed by many, eschewing the concept of individuality.

Having said that, I am thoroughly aware that there are many people ready to knock me over the head with a singlestick, but hey this is my website not yours.

So, onto our day.

We began with the Harold Brown house. (Dudley Newton Architect 1894) The interior was originally done by Ogden Codman.

The Brown House

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John Carter Brown was a rare book collector whose philanthropy created Brown University and the library most famous for its unparalleled collection of books on the Americas.  Harold Carter Brown commissioned the house.  Since Brown collected French furniture he most likely had quite a symbiotic relation with Codman and his lighter classical attitude.  The grounds were done by Frederick Law Olmstead.

Our hostess was Beryl Powell, and you would be hard pressed to find a more delightful woman.

Beryl Powell

Harold Brown House

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Ogden Codman Interiors throughout the first floor of the house.

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Next stop was the Bellevue House / Berkeley Villa  This house was done by Ogden Codman for his cousin Martha in 1910.

Martha Codman House

 

The house echoes Codman’s interest in Federal-style architecture  The paired columns and the monumental entry porch are so appealing.

Berkeley Villa

The entry way holds a multi storied cylindrical volume spiral staircase, topped with a dome.  The colors of the house interior seem to be chosen from the marble inlaid on the entry floor.

Ogden CodmanThe interiors seem to be more English than American with shallow inset arches and appliqué reliefs throughout.

Codman interiorsWho doesn’t love a split pediment topped fireplace?

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The home is now owned by Ron Fleming, and his love of the house is obvious, but his flair seems to be in developing the garden.  As a Landscape Architect I was just gaga.  I loved the adherence to the English garden and its many follies, but the humor of monkeys spread throughout speaks volumes for this mans sense of humor.

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A beautiful Japanese influenced gardenDSC_2451

One of many follies around the grounds

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We stopped by Gray Craig, (also called Gray Crag or GlenCraig). Built for Michael Van Beuren  by Harrie T. Lindeberg in 1924. Lindeberg was known as the premier country house architect in the area during his time.

Van Beuren House Newport

In the late 1800s, Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont owned 77 acres of rural ocean-side land. Belmont, along with Cornelius Vanderbilt and other leaders of Newport society, formed The Gray Craig Park Association, named for the dramatic rock outcroppings which border the property and stocked the land with wild and exotic game and birds.  The Van Beuren’s purchased the property in the 1920’s when Lindberg convinced them that the property they had originally chosen in Portsmouth was not dramatic enough. The home remained in the van Beuren family for 60 years.

 

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We finished our day in the perfect way.

This is Greenvale Farm and Winery.  It was designed by John H. Sturgis for John Barstow, and is still in the family.  Barstow had the home designed after the farm described in Robert Morris Copeland’s Country Life published in 1859.  The book preached that a gentleman’s farm should be no more than 50 acres, that 2/3 should be farm plantings and the rest the estate.  This is considered the “American Plan”, and the house has managed to maintain itself since it never got “too” big.  The present owners have planted a vineyard and make a DIVINE white wine (Vidal Blanc). I so respect what they are doing, adaptable re-use to help keep the family home in the family.

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Greenvale Farm and Winery*

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This family has served proudly in every war since we have been a country, including, as you can see by the last hat, Afghanistan.

 

Greenvale Farm and WineryThis has been an amazing experience, the course was beyond what one could absorb as a human being, which is why I am so grateful I that I was writing at the end of each evening, I could not possibly remember it all, even from one hour to the next.

I have met the most interesting people, professionals, students and people still trying to find their way (including me).

To the older adults in the crowd, thank you for bringing your experience, and knowledge to round out all that we have learned.  To the students that kept me up till 2 in the morning talking about every subject under the sun, I applaud you, and can’t wait to see where you all end up.  Good luck on your theses, and everyone keep in touch, it has been an amazing ride.

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Eccentric Mercer and his Moravian Tiles

 Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Jun 262011
 

Mercer Museum Philadelphia

This is the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, (Bucks County) Pennsylvania. Henry Mercer inherited his money from a maiden aunt and with this money, he started collecting objects of everyday life, convinced that the history of Bucks County was the history of the world. At first, he did all the collecting himself, but over the years he developed quite a network of people that would bring him items from far and wide.
Mercer Museum

His first collection burned down, thus creating the desire to house the entire new collection in a fireproof, concrete building. So in 1916, Mercer erected a 6-story concrete castle. The towering central atrium of the Museum was used to hang the largest objects such as a whaleboat, stagecoach and Conestoga wagon. On each level surrounding the court, smaller exhibits were installed in a warren of alcoves, niches, and rooms according to Mercer’s classifications — healing arts, tinsmithing, dairying, illumination and so on. The end result of the building is a unique interior that is both logical and provocative. It requires the visitor to view objects in a new way. It is easy to follow and gives you a wonderful sense of how things were actually used.

Mercer Museum and Mercer Tiles*Mercer Museum and Mercer Tiles*Mercer Museum and Mercer Tiles*Mercer Museum and Mercer Tiles*Mercer Museum and Mercer Tiles*Mercer Museum and Mercer Tiles *Mercer Museum and Mercer Tiles

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Fonthill

Fonthill

Just down the road is his home, Fonthill. It served as a showplace for Mercer’s famed Moravian tiles that were produced during the American Arts & Crafts Movement. Designed by Mercer, the building is an eclectic mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles, and is significant as an early example of poured reinforced concrete.

I truly regret that we did not get a chance to tour the Moravian tile factory on the grounds of Fonthill, due to time constraints, but those are the reasons you find yourself with excuses to return to some places.

FonthillThe museum is open to 7 days a week, the home Fonthill, however, requires a guided tour. The tour takes at least an hour and a half. There is no photography allowed inside the home, which is a shame because it is rather amazing and I would love to show you some of it.

FOnthill

Magic Gardens

 Philadelphia
Jun 232011
 

1020 South Street
Philadelphia, PA

Magic Gardens PhiladelphiaMy favorite artists are ones that find their passion and pursue it, with no thought to commercialism, or the sale. The thing that is shunned by the neighbors, until they realize you aren’t a crazy old coot, you have a vision and it is just different.

Magic Gardens PhiladelphiaWell, I found one of those in Philadelphia. His name is Isaiah Zargar. His work looks like that of an educated artist, and he is, having graduated from Pratt Institute in NYC. While a young 19 years old he discovered the folk art of Clarence Schmidt which definitely inspired his work.

The street that runs parallel to the Magic Gardens

The street that runs parallel to the Magic Gardens

Magic Gardens PhiladelphiaIn 1994, Zagar started work in the vacant lots located near his studio.  The vacant lots became “Magic Gardens” at 1020 South Street in Philadelphia. He constructed a massive fence to protect the area and then spent the next 12 years excavating tunnels and grottoes, sculpting multi-layered walls and tiling and grouting the 3,000 square foot space. In 2002, the actual property owner wanted to sell the property, the community came together and incorporated as a non-profit to promote and preserve this wonderful slice of heaven.

Magic Gardens PhiladelphiaThere are wonderful sayings all over the place including: “I built this sanctuary to be inhabited by my ideas and my fantasies.” Another says, “Remember walking around in this work of fiction.” or “Art is the Center of the World.” I could put up 100 pictures, and it wouldn’t be enough. To say nothing of the fact that he has created over 130 other murals scattered throughout the South Street Area. If you get a chance to visit Philadelphia, get off the beaten path and go see the “Magic Gardens”.

A small museum sits underground

A small museum sits underground

Magic Gardens Philadelphia*
 Magic Gardens Philadelphia

*Magic Gardens Philadelphia

Eastern State Penitentiary

 Philadelphia
Jan 252011
 

2027 Fairmount Avenue
Philadelpha, PA

East State PenitentiaryI am in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My habit in any town is to seek the oddball. After an entire morning spent at the Philadelphia Art Museum, I headed out to an oddball spot. Before explaining that however, I must say, that if you have the opportunity to visit the Philadelphia Art Museum, please do. Plan on exhausting yourself. It has one of the vastest collections in the United States, and all of it is absolutely first rate. I have never seen so many great old masters on display in one location, to say nothing of their Asian Art Collection with an actual tea house, and a French Cloister in another room. Just spectacular.

East State Penitentiary PhiladelphiaOn to the oddball. This is the Eastern State Penitentiary, a former American prison located in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia that was operational from 1829 until 1971. The penitentiary refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration with no human contact in order to find God and do “pentinence” emphasizing principles of reform rather than punishment.

Eastern State Penitentiary PhiladelphiaIts unique wagon wheel design originally housed inmates in cells that could only be accessed by entering through a small exercise yard attached to the back of the prison; only a small portal, just large enough to pass meals, opened onto the cell blocks. As time went on, and more prisoners were added, this proved unfeasible. So two wings were added with two floors and designs we think of as prisons today.

Eastern State Penitentiary PhiladelphiaEventually, the prison became too expensive to operate and was abandoned. It lay empty for over 20 years. In that time it became so overgrown with trees and cats, it was almost impossible to get through. It was slated for demolition and a condominium project when a very small group of preservationists and prison historians banded together to convince the state to restore it and open it up as an educational and tourist operation. In 1994, Eastern State opened to the public for historic tours.

Eastern State Penitentiary PhiladelphiaNotorious criminals such as bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone were held inside When the building was erected it was the largest and most expensive public structure ever constructed, quickly becoming a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide. There is even a map of all the prisons around the world that adopted this method, it is somewhat haunting.

Eastern State Penitentiary Philadelphia