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Louis Rothman arrived from Russia in 1887 and married his Russian born wife in 1893 the late 19th Century in the East End of London, [his brother and early business partner Marx Rothman {d. 1938, Eastbourne) married in 1894] and ran a tobacco business eventually at 5A Pall Mall from 1900 in partnership with Abraham Melinski [q.v.].The Rothman family lived here in Evering Road [no 220] in 1901. Louis died on December 15 1925 at 9 Mandeville Place, W1, leaving £25,605 7s 8d in his will; Executors were Sydney Rothman, tobacco manufacturer, Harry Wyner,restaurateur and Harry Burford Judge, solictor. The names "Rothmans of Pall Mall" Rothmans King Size became world famous - "the passport to international smoking pleasure" By 1911, the Rothman family had moved to the strongly jewish area of Cricklewood at 222 Walm Lane, his partner Melinski living not far away at no 194, described as a cigarette factory manager. Another associate, Marcus Weinberg [ died Hackney 1923] was living at 1 Ryder Street, Pall Mall in 1901 , born about 1859 in Russia, wife Rebeccah. along with a professor of Languages Albert Finkelstein, aged 50. Historyw of Rothmans of Pall Mall here: www.fundingunTerse.com/company-histories/rothmans-uk-hold... Harry Wyner was involved with several patents concerning filter tips etc , at 5 and 5A Pall Mall, SW1. www.patentmaps.com/assignee/harry_wyner_1.html
Another well known name in very comfortable Evering Road in 1881 [at death] was Harper Twelvetrees [no 223] whose name survives in the huge Twelvetrees Park development, industrial and subsequently also residential in Stratford where his Imperial Chemical Works [laundry chemicals] was located.
Sir John Peyton 1561-1616 and wife Alice 1569-1620 lying in higher status position, daughter of Sir Edward Osborne, Lord Mayor of London by 1st wife Anne Hewitt heiress to estates in Barking Yorkshire and Wales.
John was the eldest surviving son of Robert Peyton 1590 and Elizabeth www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/10740503614/ daughter of Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich www.flickr.com/photos/erichardyuk/2123821594/ of Rochford Hall Essex. He was a JP, High Sheriff, Deputy Lieutenant & MP tor Cambridgeshire, he was knighted in 1596 and created baronet in 1611
Children - 6 sons and 6 daughters
1. John d1616
2. Edward 2nd bart of Kiveton 1581-1656 m1 1604 Martha daughter of Robert Livesay m2 1614 Jane daughter of James Calthorpe & Barbara 1639 flic.kr/p/WkQPMW daughter of John Bacon of Hesset m3 1638 Dorothy daughter of Edward Ball, on 14 Dec 1638
3. Nicholas 1583-1600
4, William 1584-1668 m Tabitha daughter of Henry Payne of Worlington
5, Roger 1593-1617 died unmarried
6. Thomas 1599-1612 died unmarried in Holland
1.Alice 1580 m John Peyton of Doddington son of Sir John Peyton by Dorothy Beaupre
2.Anne 1581-1640 - Robert Bacon of Redgrave son of Nicholas Bacon & Anne Butts www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/xaq60e
3 Elizabeth 1585 m Anthony Irby www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/10713282083/
4.Mary 1590 m George Brent / Roger Meeres
5 Susan 1596-1660 m John Brewes
6 Frances 1598-1631 m1 Philip Bedingfield of Hedenham & Ditchingham dsp 1621 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/x1e3H0 m2 Miles Hobart 1639 of Intwood, 2nd son of Sir Henry Hobart of Blickling, Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas.
John was among the first purchasers of the newly created title of baronet in 1611,but whether he could really afford the honour is questionable. His grandson Thomas stated that his father Edward had inherited an insupportable burden of debt which could explain why Edward began to sell off the family estates within a few years of inheritiing and why John in his will of 1615 chose to limit the wearing of black at his funeral to his immediate family and household servants. He hoped that his friends would not object to this arrangement, as he could not pay for them all to wear funeral garb, and ‘if one have and another have not there will be unkindness and exceptions against it’. Peyton’s decision to appoint his 19-year-old unmarried daughter Susan as his executrix also hints at financial difficulties, as presumably he feared that if he made Sir Edward his executor Susan would not get the full dowry to which she was entitled.The cause of Peyton’s financial problems is unknown, but university fees for 3 sons and dowries for 5 daughters, coupled with the extravagance of a baronetcy did not help, . John's decision to deny his son Edward the right to execute his will and to prevent him from exercising any say in the choice of husband for Susan - a duty which was fixed on Lord Rich instead - may have opened up a rift between father and son. Shortly before his death, Peyton appended a codicil to his will, in which he spitefully ordered Edward to pay the £120 ‘which he oweth me for the board and diet of his first wife’.
He was buried, in accordance with his wishes, in the south chapel here "‘where many of mine ancestors lie and are entombed". This was subsequently erected, presumably by a forgiving Edward.
c1517-c1573 Nicholas Powtrell second son of John Powtrell of West Hallam by Margaret co-heiress daughter of John Strelley of Strelley (and younger brother of Thomas www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member... )
m1 Anne daughter of Walter Rodney of Stoke Rodney by Elizabeth daughter of Edward Compton (Elizabeth m2 Sir John Chaworth www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/9518954070/ )
(her sister Elizabeth m his brother Thomas ) (her brother Maurice aged 9 at his father's death was "carelessly brought up by his guardian Sei'jeant Powtrell", married while under age a blacksmith's daughter, after divorce from whom he re-married Joan, daughter of Sir Thomas Dyer of Somerford )
Children
1. Nicholas dsp
m2 ?
Pre 1554 Nicholas bought part of the manor here from Sir Edward Stanhope and built the hall.
In 1546 he was appointed to the recordership of Nottingham and also MP for Nottingham 3 times. In November 1554 he was one of a number of MPs prosecuted in the King’s bench for absenting themselves without licence. In 1557 he was fined 53s.4d and his absence was held to be deliberate and inexcusable: His public career showed no advancement during the remainder of Mary’s reign, but evidence against him coincided with his leaving the recordership
At the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth he was made serjeant-at-law and a judge at Lancaster, and for several years he was busy on commissions in his home county and further north until ending abruptly c1565 and thereafter he disappeared almost completely from public life. He was not yet an old man, but he could have been an ailing one, or perhaps he paid the penalty for recusancy, not on his own account but on his family’s, - in 1564 the archbishop of York omitted to categorize him—but his nephew’s house at West Hallam had become a refuge for Catholic priests:
During his earlier career Powtrell was associated with the Willoughbys of Wollaton from whom he received an annuity and although not one of his servants he performed services for the Manners Earls of Rutland.
In 1573 he bought land from William Thornehill, gent in the manors of Cassalls and Claworth, 25 messuages, 12 cottages, etc. there and in Heyton, Clarebrough, Wheatley, Wieston Gringley super montem, Saunby, Dole and Deckingham, Nottinghamshire, for £220.
Having no issue, In his will of Sept. 1579 he recited an indenture drawn up in the previous year leasing the manor of Egmanton and lands in Laxton, Tuxford and Weston to his niece Julian and her husband William Mason, two of his executors; he had afterwards granted these properties to a group of feoffees, including his cousin Thomas Markham, to his own use and on his death to that of Markham and his heirs. He had made a similar arrangement for the disposal of other lands in north Nottinghamshire, intending at that time to disinherit his nephew Walter Powtrell, because of "the untrue and slanderous reports and of the unnatural dealing that he and his wife have and do daily use towards me". In his will, however, Powtrell declared his ‘"readiness ... to die in charity towards them and all the world", and in the hope that his nephew’s son would prove "more wise, honest ... and of better judgment"’ he granted these lands to Thomas Markham to the use of Walter and his heirs. His household goods, articles of silver and other valuables Powtrell left to relatives, including his nephews the Masons and the Stringers, and he made several monetary bequests to his servants. William Dabridgecourt and Thomas Markham were appointed supervisors.
After his death his attempt to disinherit his nephew in favour of his couisin Thomas Markham of Ollerton provoked a dispute between Walter Powtrell and the executors; In June 1584 the administration of the will was granted to Walter Powtrell as next of kin, but in March 1587 this was revoked and probate was granted to the executors
www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member... - Church of St Mary Egmanton Nottinghamshire
These views of the Hollytrees Museum in Colchester from the High Street. Saw this side after leaving The Minories. Also home of the Visitor Information Centre.
Hollytrees Museum is a free to visit, publicly owned museum in the centre of Colchester and close to Colchester Castle. It is situated in an eighteenth-century house ("Hollytrees"), which was used as a private residence until 1929, when it became a museum.
The first house on the site, known as "Symnells" after its owner, was later bought by the Shaw family, and passed from John Shaw to John Shaw III and John Shaw IV. When he died a minor, the house passed into chancery; his mother Jane Lessingham bought it but soon died. The modern house was constructed in for Elizabeth Cornelisen, who had bought the site from Lessingham's executors and promptly tore down the existing structure in poor condition. Construction commenced on 10 May 1718 at a cost of £630 plus brickwork and tiling; the total refurbishment was estimated to have cost £2000. She died soon after, bequeathing the house to her niece, Sarah Creffeild (née Webster), who left it to her second husband Charles Gray. It was, at that time, known as "Esqr Creffield's [sic]". Possession of the house reverted to the Creffeilds; through Thamer Creffeild to James Round, who left to his brother Charles, who left it to his son Charles Gray Round, who left to it to his nephew James Round. The Rounds finally sold it to the Corporation of Colchester in 1922, a purchase paid for privately by Viscount Cowdray and his wife. It became a museum in 1929.
The house is known as Hollytrees after two holly trees planted in the grounds by Charles Gray in 1729 and is now a free to visit museum serving the centre of Colchester and specialising in local history. It is a grade I listed building.
Grade I Listed Building
Listing Text
1. HIGH STREET
995 (North Side)
TL 9925 SE 5/111 Holly Trees (Museum)
24.2.50.
I
2.
A fine early C13 brick building, standing back from the road in its own
grounds - now part of the Municipal Castle Park. Good ironwork railings
with gate to the street. Built circa 1717-18, it was formerly the home
of Charles Gray (1696-1783) MP for Colchester and owner of the Castle
estate; he lived here over 60 years. The west wing was added in 1748, by
James Deane. The main building is of 3 storeys and basement, red brick
with rubbed brick dressings, parapet to front and rear elevations.
Both elevations have a 5-window range of double hung sashes with glazing
bars, segmental heads. The front has a fine central doorcase with flat
hood, carved consoles. Fluted pilasters, semi-circular fanlight, 6-panel
door, iron handrail to flight of steps to door. The west wing is of 3
storeys, but at a lower level, with cut brick rustications to the ground
floor, 1st floor window with moulded brick pediment and architrave,
Venetian window on garden elevation, brick bands. Many original interior
features.
Listing NGR: TL9996025268
This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.
Description
1. HIGH STREET
995 (North Side)
TL 9925 SE 5/111 Holly Trees (Museum)
24.2.50.
I
2.
A fine early C13 brick building, standing back from the road in its own
grounds - now part of the Municipal Castle Park. Good ironwork railings
with gate to the street. Built circa 1717-18, it was formerly the home
of Charles Gray (1696-1783) MP for Colchester and owner of the Castle
estate; he lived here over 60 years. The west wing was added in 1748, by
James Deane. The main building is of 3 storeys and basement, red brick
with rubbed brick dressings, parapet to front and rear elevations.
Both elevations have a 5-window range of double hung sashes with glazing
bars, segmental heads. The front has a fine central doorcase with flat
hood, carved consoles. Fluted pilasters, semi-circular fanlight, 6-panel
door, iron handrail to flight of steps to door. The west wing is of 3
storeys, but at a lower level, with cut brick rustications to the ground
floor, 1st floor window with moulded brick pediment and architrave,
Venetian window on garden elevation, brick bands. Many original interior
features.
Listing NGR: TL9996025268
The entrance to the museum is round the back in Castle Park. To the right was the Wetzler Garden.
College Point, Queens
The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House is located in College Point, in north central Queens. It stands on an unusual circular site that was created c. 1906 when the original 14-acre estate was subdivided into building lots and became part of the surrounding street grid. Morris A. Gescheidt, a German-born painter and architect, was responsible for the building’s neo-classical design. Two-and-a-half stories tall, this large red brick house has four visible facades that display elements associated with the Italianate and Second Empire styles, including a mansard roof, segmental arch windows, and quoins. Active in New York City from the late 1840s to the 1860s, Gescheidt also built a factory structure for College Point’s leading citizen, the industrialist Conrad Poppenhusen, in 1854.
These developments coincided with the introduction of regular ferry service, resulting in the construction of many residences by German immigrants, particularly in the north section of the village where owners enjoyed views of the East River and Long Island Sound. Two contemporary newspapers commented on Gescheidt’s handsome design; while one writer listed it as among several “elegant residences . . . under contract” in the area, the Flushing Journal called it “another gem of a residence.” The Schleicher House was originally situated at the west end of a walled compound that incorporated out buildings and landscaped carriage paths.
Though relatively little is known about the Schleicher family, census records indicate that Herman had Prussian parents and was a successful merchant, involved in the sale of dry goods, stationary, and coal. He shared the house with his wife Malvina, four children, and three servants. Following his death in 1866, the building was acquired by Kenneth G. White, who owned considerable property in the area and is often identified as an attorney and law clerk. In 1890, the house was sold to developer William K. Aston who leased it to John Jockers, a former Schleicher employee. For about a decade, Jockers operated the structure as the 11-room Grand View Hotel. Divided into apartments in 1923, there are currently seven units in the building. Despite changes, the 1857 Schleicher House has many notable characteristics; not only is it one of the oldest houses in College Point but it is one of the earliest surviving structures in New York City to feature a mansard roof.
College Point, Queens
The Schleicher House was constructed in 1857, during the decade when College Point was transformed from mostly meadows and farmland to a compact village of factories and homes. Located on a peninsula in north central Queens, College Point extends into the East River and adjoins Flushing Bay. It was named for St. Paul’s College, which opened in 1839. Located on the site of present-day MacNeil Park, the seminary lasted for less than a decade, closing in 1847. At the time, the area to the south was known as Strattonport and Flammersburg. These neighborhoods were named for businessman Eliphalet Stratton (1745-1831) who purchased 320 acres from descendents of the English merchant and slave owner William Lawrence (1622-1680) in 1789,3 and real estate developer John A. Flammer, who acquired 141 acres from the Stratton estate in 1851 and subdivided the property into 80 building lots. These villages then merged and were incorporated as College Point in 1867 or 1870.
Regular ferry service between Manhattan and the village started in the 1850s and plans were soon developed to construct a paved causeway, linking the peninsula to Flushing. These transit improvements attracted a growing number of residents, from several hundred in 1853 to 2,200 in 1860. More than half were foreign born, including nearly a thousand from Germany. The rest were mainly Irish. Because the majority of early residents were originally German, College Point was sometimes referred to as the “Little Heidelberg.” Conrad Poppenhusen, the town’s best-known citizen, was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1813.
He immigrated to the United States in 1843, forming a partnership with H. C. Meyer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to produce consumer products from whale bones. When demand declined, he sought new opportunities, acquiring a license from the American inventor Charles Goodyear, who held various patents for the vulcanization of rubber. In July 1853, he toured College Point to inspect “eligible locations” for his new company and in September 1854 laid the cornerstone for the “India Rubber Comb Company,” with at least six hundred people in attendance. Among various attendees were several men who would later be associated with the Schleicher residence: M. Gescheidt, the architect; A. Schleicher, either his father, Arthur, or the owner himself; and of course, the owner of the factory, Poppenhusen – Schleicher’s neighbor and co-executor of his will.
Herman A. Schleicher (c. 1827-1866)
Relatively little is known about Herman A(lvin) Schleicher. Born in New York City to Prussian immigrants in the late 1820s, documents indicate that during his brief life he lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and possibly Long Island. He married Malvina (born Prussia, c. 1830) in the late 1840s or early 1850s and they produced four children: Herman, Julia, Frederick, and Walter.5 Schleicher was a successful merchant who was involved in several areas of business, including the sale of hardware, stationary, and coal. In the 1860s, he was identified as: a partner in Schleicher, Walkinshaw & Co., a local importer of dry goods, a trustee of the Mercantile Insurance Company, a director of the St. Nicholas Bank on Wall Street, and a director of the Germania Fire Insurance Company. Schleicher also served with Poppenhusen on Flushing’s first board of education, starting in 1858, and was listed as one of College Point’s top ten income tax payers in 1866.
Schleicher died suddenly at the age of 39 in July 1866 and several months later, in November 1866, his dry goods firm consigned a “valuable” collection of European and American paintings to the Leeds Art Galleries in Manhattan.7 Though it can not be confirmed, it seems likely it was Schleicher’s art collection. Irwan Von Auw and Conrad Poppenhusen, both of College Point, served as the executors of his will.8 His funeral took place in Brooklyn and he is buried in a family plot at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, beside Arthur (d. 1859), Herman
(d. 1906), and Waldemar (d. 1922) Schleicher.
Morris A. Gescheidt (d. 1871)
The Schleicher House was designed by the architect Morris (Moritz) Albert Gescheidt. His name appears on a rendering of the building in the collection of the Poppenhusen Institute, located in College Point. Little is known about Gescheidt, who immigrated to New York in 1837. He was probably born in Dresden and studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, starting in 1831. According to the Dictionary of Artists in America, he was active as an “architectural painter” in Rome from 1834 to 1836 and may have been the artist who exhibited “views of two Italian churches” at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1838.
Gescheidt began to practice architecture in the early 1840s, locating his office at 11 Wall Street. He built at least one additional structure in College Point, a 300- by 40-foot brick factory (1854-55) for Conrad Poppenhusen. He may also have designed Poppenhusen’s house (c. 1857, demolished after 1905) which stood within view of the Schleicher House, near 12th Avenue and College Avenue (now College Place), and incorporated similar architectural elements. In 1860-61, Gescheidt built part of a five-story brick warehouse with cast-iron details for Henry J. Meyer at 393 Greenwich Street (part of the Tribeca West Historic District, Manhattan), near N. Moore Street.
Meyer was the son of H(einrich) C(hristian) Meyer, who employed Poppenhusen at his Williamsburg factory in the 1840s. Gescheidt lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on South 3rd Street, and owned property at Castleton, Staten Island, including a “fine mansion house,” which was sold as part of a “mortgage sale” in 1871. Gescheidt died around this time and was listed in various New York State court proceedings in October 1871 as “deceased.”
The Schleicher Estate
In March 1857, Malvina Schleicher acquired 14 acres from Herman A. Funke, a business associate of Conrad Poppenhusen. The land was directly across from Funke’s own residence and adjoined properties owned by Poppenhusen and his son, H. C. Poppenhusen. Located in College Point’s exclusive north section, approximately 100 feet above sea level, residents of the area enjoyed panoramic views and summer breezes. Gescheidt may have been involved in laying out the grounds, which is known from a site plan dating from before 1866 in the collection of the Poppenhusen Institute.
The house was sited near the west end of the parcel, near what is now College Point Boulevard, and was formerly known as 13th Avenue. Many houses were currently under construction in the area: three or four “elegant residences” were described as “under contract” in January 1857, and in August 1857 the Flushing Journal reported that “Joseph Stonebank has just completed an elegant mansion for Conrad Poppenhusen, Esq. and is erecting another gem of residence for Mr. Schleicher in the same section.”12 Stonebank was a successful carpenter and builder in College Point from the 1850s to 1870. He reported an income of $15,000 in 1860 and built his family a 13-room house with such conveniences as speaking tubes, gas, bells, as well as hot and cold running water.
The Schleicher House originally stood at the end of tree-lined, semi-circular drive. The rear elevation faced east, toward a sloping, almost circular lawn, ringed by trees. South of the house stood a “back” house or privy, suggesting that at the time of construction the bathrooms were not served by running water. To the north of the house, from west to east, was planned a large vegetable garden with rows of fruit trees, a coach house and stable, a hen house, and duck yard. There were also asparagus beds and winding carriage paths that led to an oval pond at the northeast corner of the estate, near present-day 125th or 126th Street. At the center of the pond was a small island, reached by a bridge. Here stood a small “summer” pavilion and “back” house.
Design of the Schleicher House
Among various houses erected in College Point during the mid-19th century, the Schleicher House is the last substantial one to survive. Landscape architect A. J. Downing, who published The Architecture of Country Houses in 1850, wrote:
The villa – the country house, should above all things, manifest individuality. It should say
something of the character of the family within – as much as possible of their life and history, their
tastes and associations, should mould and fashion themselves upon its walls.
Gescheidt’s stately design blends Italianate and French Second Empire Style features. Inspired by recent developments in Europe, these features, as well as the materials selected by the architect, helped distinguish the house, as well as some its neighbors, from College Point’s agrarian roots. Built of red brick, the exterior was originally covered with light-colored stucco that created the impression that it was constructed of large stone blocks. Other notable classical revival elements included paired columns, slightly arched windows, and a continuous projecting wood cornice. In the decade prior to the Civil War, such decorative treatments became defining characteristics of row houses in New York and Brooklyn, as well as in larger free-standing mansions.
Downing also observed that the “Italian style is one that expresses not wholly the spirit of country life nor of town life, but something between both, and which is mingling of both.”15 This may explain why many surviving examples of this architectural style in New York City, including the Schleicher House, were built in once-suburban areas, including: the Phelps-Stokes House (1852-53) in Murray Hill, Manhattan, the Litchfield Villa (1854-57) in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and the Benjamin Pike House (1858) in Astoria, Queens – all designated New York City Landmarks.
In contrast to Italianate houses, which often display flat or low pitch roofs, the Schleicher House was distinguished by a squat mansard punctuated by dormer windows on four sides. Perhaps the earliest surviving structure with this roof treatment in New York City, it was named for the 17th century French architect Francois Mansart who frequently used this type of construction in residential designs.16 Revived in France during the 1830s, it became particularly popular under the rule of Napoleon III (1852-70) and was a characteristic feature of the Second Empire Style.
Mansard roofs generally slope inward from all sides and provide additional interior space at the attic level. Such practical solutions were also present in Germany and Austria, where roofs were “raised to a very great pitch, on the account of the great quantity of snow that falls.”
Detlef Lienau, who studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, has been credited with introducing the Second Empire Style in New York City, in his 1850-52 residence (demolished) for the French merchant Hart M. Schiff. Located on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 10th Street, his brick-and-brownstone design was widely praised – it incorporated many architectural features employed by Gescheidt, including corner and wall quoins, a tiled mansard roof, and elaborately-decorated dormers.
The Schleicher House is 2½ stories tall. Oriented toward the west, to face the setting sun, the main elevation is divided in two sections. The larger, main section was designed in a symmetrical manner, with a wide front porch reached by stairs that were flanked by wood railings and balusters. The balusters curved outward, with the steps getting wider close to the ground. The porch incorporated four pairs of Ionic columns. Directly above the stairs, Gescheidt included a rounded pediment that displayed a small medallion relief.
This feature softened the facade’s rectilinear character and echoed the shape of the arched window openings. Each story was divided into three bays, including large windows on the parlor floor, pairs of arched, eight-pane windows on the second floor, and single dormers at the attic level aligned with the windows below. As completed in 1857, all of first and second floor windows probably had wood shutters and the dormers were flanked by decorative brackets. The recessed north section (left) was divided into two bays, each with eight-pane windows. This wing was likely to have contained the kitchen, and the adjoining interior space, to the rear (east), served as a dining or breakfast room.
The rear facade faced east, where a sloping lawn descended to landscaped grounds. Less formal in character, this elevation has an irregular profile, with two projecting bays. Each was designed to suggest a Second Empire Style pavilion, crowned by a nearly independent mansard. As built, the original raised wood porch extended across three of the four bays. Though no 19th century photograph has been located that shows the east facade in detail, it can be assumed that the columns and fenestration resembled the west facade.
Along with the nearby Poppenhusen mansion, the Schleicher House helped popularize the Second Empire Style in College Point. A photograph taken from the mansard roof of the Poppenhusen Institute in 1880 looking northeast, shows numerous buildings executed in this style, including a large number of houses.19 Today, most of these buildings have been lost or what survives has been significantly altered.
Subsequent History
Following Schleicher’s death, the house was sold in 1870 to Kenneth G. White for $40,000. White, who served as a clerk in the Federal Circuit Court as well as a United States Commissioner, owned the house for less than two decades and it may be his family and friends who occupy the west porch in a circa 1872 photograph. The house was then acquired by Henry C. and Margaret Cronkright who sold it to the New York City developer William B. Aston (d. 1919) in 1892. Contemporary maps show that both White and Aston owned multiple lots in the vicinity and may have assembled these parcels with the intention to subdivide.
In May 1892, it became the Grand View Hotel and Park, providing “First-class accommodations to summer boarders and private parties.” Ten miles from Manhattan, Sunday and summer excursionists arrived by hourly ferry, on railroads from Hunter’s Point in Long Island City, and by trolley. Famous for beer gardens, boating facilities and scenic drives, it was estimated that on weekends the town’s population would double or triple. The hotel’s manager was John Jockers, a long-time employee of the Schleicher family. Born in Germany in 1836, he immigrated to New York City in 1853 and after a brief period working for Conrad Poppenhusen was hired by Schleicher.
In the 1870 United States Census, he described himself as a gardener, and in the 1880 Census, a coachman. In later years he was also identified as the “superintendent of the residence and grounds . . . where he laid out the grounds and improved them with the assistance of a number of workmen.”21 The hotel was said to offer “eleven light and airy sleeping rooms” and “the dining accommodations are ample to meet all demands, while the service is above the average found in this vicinity.”22 What remained of the Schleicher estate was described as a “beautiful park” where guests could play lawn tennis and croquet.
Jockers probably leased the house from Aston who planned to divide the property into building lots. In 1893, 100 lots were put up for sale, but few were actually sold. Some were purchased by 1896 but it was not until 1906 that the majority of lots, approximately 11 acres, were finally sold. During this period, the surrounding street grid was cut through the site, isolating the house at the center of four streets. Two years later, in 1908, the house itself appeared at auction and was described as occupying “an exactly circular plot, 110 feet in diameter, at North Fourteenth Street and Schleicher Court.”
Ownership of the Schleicher House changed several times over the next decades. In 1910, it was described as being “occupied for years by foreigners of the poorest class and is in very bad repair.”24 In 1923 major alterations by owner A. Szczur were approved by the Queens Department of Buildings.25 These changes are likely to have involved the legal conversion of the house into multiple units, the addition of fire escapes on the east facade, and the modification of the east porch into a second entrance with stairs. A researcher for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) observed in 1938 that the house “still stands and is run as a tenement.”
Photographs of the building, taken in 1957, show a significant loss of stucco on the exterior. Eva Rohan, the previous owner, acquired the building from Peter Stella in 1971. It was awarded a Queensmark for architectural and historical significance from the Queens Historical Society in 1997. A series of wood brackets, set below the cornice, were removed in the 1990s or possibly later. The house is currently divided into seven apartments, with about 14 tenants.
Description
The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House is located at 11-41 123rd Street in College Point, in north central Queens. Situated on a circular parcel, this freestanding house stands at the intersection of 13th Avenue and 123rd Street, one block east of College Point Boulevard. Non-historic chain-link fencing, partially covered with vines, encloses and divides the property, which is planted with bushes and a few older trees. To the east and west, stone steps rise toward non-historic concrete paths that lead to the entrances. Two-and-a-half stories tall, this large red brick house features a raised basement and a steep mansard roof with projecting dormer windows. All of the aluminum-frame windows are non-historic. The dormers have been modified but retain their original shape and projection. The roof is covered with non-historic black shingles. From a distance, a large central brick chimney is visible.
The main (west) facade faces 13th Avenue, toward College Point Boulevard. The facade is asymmetrical; the north section contains two bays, each with single windows, and the south section is divided into three bays, each with two windows. The first (parlor) floor of the south section has a large enclosed porch, reached by non-historic concrete stairs with painted pipe railings. The beed board paneling, brown wood shingles, one-over-one white metal windows and fixed clerestories are non-historic, but the brick bases with horizontal recesses, the painted Ionic composite wood columns that support the porch and flank the entrance, and the general contours appear to be historic.
The arched, second-story windows share a single stone sill, and are framed by raised brickwork that rises from each end of the sill. Below the projecting cornice, the brackets have been removed, revealing rectangular recesses, painted white. The roof has three dormer windows, aligned above the paired windows. The northern edge of the west facade has brick quoins. A horizontal stone element (painted white) extends between the base of the porch and the north edge of the house. Below this element, two basement windows are visible. At the second story, the south (right) window has been filled with brick. The roof has a single window, aligned between the first and second story windows. Beneath the wood porch is the original areaway, with basement windows, reached by brick steps on the north side. Most of the stone and brick inside the areaway is painted white. To the right of the door is an oval window.
The north facade faces 123rd Street, towards 11th Avenue. Each window is framed with raised brickwork that rises from wide stone sills. The fenestration is asymmetrical, with a wide space between the center and west (right) windows. Between the center and east (left) window, a metal pipe extends up the wall and through the projecting cornice. The roof has a single dormer at center and a brick chimney stack with a recessed decorative pattern to the right (west).
The east facade faces 13th Avenue, towards 124th Street. Divided into four bays, an entrance is located in the center-left bay. Reached by non-historic stairs, flanked by non-historic brick walls and wood columns, the wood entrance doors and transom are historic but the wood pediment is probably not. A raised horizontal stone element (painted white), between the basement and the first floor, originally framed a wide porch and is visible in the south and north bays. The center-left bay projects out from the main body of the house, with angled side windows. Both windows have been significantly altered: the first story is partially filled with brick and the second story is entirely enclosed with brick. The south (left) bay is served by an iron fire escape that descends from a dormer window on the roof to the second floor window and then continues down to the south facade.
Along the edge of this bay is a metal pipe, painted white. The windows in the center-right bay are identical to the south bay. The north bay also projects from the main body of the house, with angled side windows. It is served by an iron fire escape that descends from the dormer window on the roof to both center and south windows on the second floor and then down to a landing set between the center and south windows on the first floor. Both of the center windows have been filled with brick. At the basement level, there is a squat, one over-one-window. The side windows are one-over-one aluminum windows. Extending the full length of the east facade is a deep areaway with windows, reached by stairs with a single iron railing along the south side. Below first story entrance is a single door to the basement, flanked by small windows, with prominent lintels and sills, and the original vertical bars.
The south facade faces 123rd Street, toward 14th Avenue.
The first and second floors have four window openings. A pair of windows on the second floor has been filled with brick. On the roof is a single dormer window, flanked by brick chimney stacks, decorated with arched recessed patterns. A metal pipe extends up from inside the right half of the west (left) chimney. Between the center and west (left) windows on the first floor, a gray television dish is attached to the wall. Between the base and the first story, a raised white horizontal element (probably painted stone) extends the full length of the facade. The basement has four windows, aligned with the windows above. The center pair has been filled with brick. At the west edge of the facade, a white metal pipe extends up the wall and through the projecting cornice.
- From the 2009 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Detail - Probably Mary Magdalene
Right Foy;
Left : Sellack
After the chancel east wall was rebuilt in 1673, a new stained glass window was inserted, www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/k83927 a paler version of the one at Sellack www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/mjptuK placed in 1630 which is made up of 15c, 16c & 17c glass.
The wall repair and window were gifted by John Abrahall the greatest lay benefactor of the village. Dated 1675, it was delayed by his defaulting executors. - Church of St Mary, Foy, Herefordshire
Headless John Chapman alias Barker 1582 stands opposite his wife Julyann www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/518008283/ daughter of Thomas Derehaugh of Badingham
John was the son of Richard Barker of Nayland dc1561 and wife Alice 1560
Children
3 sons www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/518008245/ and 3 daughters www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/517963650/
1. Edmund the heir
2. John
3. Anthony dsp 1594
1. Ann m Thomas Barker of Colchester
2. Dorothy m Frederick Johnson of Ipswich
3. Elizabeth m .... Smythe
Will = "my capital messuage with all my lands in Sibton and Yoxford to Edmund, with remainder to son John, then to son Anthony and lastly to the next male to the common law. To Edmund after the decease of my brother Thomas Barker my houses and lands in Peasenhall To John lands in Blaxhall and Farnam and meadow in Bedhall. To Anthony at 21 houses and lands in Aldburgh, Haslewood, Saxmundham and Standfield. My daughters Elizabeth and Dorothy. To my brother Thomas Chapman alias Barker my house in Peasenhall named New Inn. To Ann Barker of Colchester the whole sum of £10 and no more, to be paid by my son Edmund. My sons to be executors
- Sibton church Suffolk
Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel, Sussex
A chantry chapel built by Lord Lumley in 1596 as a memorial to his wife's family. All the people listed below are buried within the confines of the collegiate chapel and are connected with the chantry;
Thomas Fitzalan, 17th (10th) Earl of Arundel, 7th Baron Maltravers was born 1450 to William Fitzalan, 16th (9th) Earl of Arundel and Joan Neville.
27 June 1461 he was created Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Edward IV and was elected to the Order of the Garter on 24 February 1474.
6 July 1483 he was present at the coronation of Richard III.
September 1486 he was Godfather to Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII.
25 November 1487 he bore the rod and dove at the coronation of Elizabeth of York.
1488 he became Earl of Arundel.
17 July 1489 and 1517 he was elected Lieutenant of the Order of the Garter.
1489 appointed Warden of the New Forest.
25 October 1524 he died at Downly Park in Singleton, Sussex aged 74 and was buried in the collegiate chapel with his wife.
In February 1466 he had married Margaret Woodville. Born 1439 she was the second daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxumberg. she was also the younger sister of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort to Edward IV.
They had two sons and two daughters.
Margaret died August 1492.
William Fitzalan, 18th (11th) Earl of Arundel, son of the above born in 1476.
1501 he firstly married Elizabeth Willoughby, widow of John Dinham and daughter of Robert Willoughby de Broke and Blanche Champernoun.
15 Febraury 1510 he married Lady Anne Percy, daughter of the 4th Earl of Northumberland.
1524 he became Earl and 1526 Lord Chamberlain.
1533 he bore the rod and dove at the coronation of Anne Boleyn and in 1536 took part in her trial.
He did well out of the Dissolution of the Monastries gaining lands in Sussex and Michelham Priory.
He died in 1544.
Anne Percy was born 27 July 1485 in Leconsfield, Yorkshire to Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland and Maud Herbert.
She was in the household of Elizabeth of York by 1494 and at the age of 9 she presented one of the participants in a tournament to Princess Margaret then aged only 5.
She is mentioned in the royal clothing warrants for 1497 and 1498 and on July 10 1502 she was at Windsor to take a delivery of linen cloth for a sample for the Queen.
She is recorded as serving the Queen from June - December 1502. After Elizabeth of York died, Anne joined the household of Princess Mary and attended Queen Catherine's coronation in 1509. She was paid an annuity of £20 until 1509.
In September of 1509 she was paid 100 marks (£26 13s 4d) upon a warrant delivered by Edmund Dudley.
On her marriage in 1511 the king made an offer of 6s 8d for the occasion at Arundel.
She died 1552 having born 4 children and is buried in the chapel.
Henry Fitzalan, 19th Earl of Arundel was born 23 April 1512 to William Fitzalan , 18th Earl and his second wife Anne Percy. Henry VIII was his godfather.
Aged 15 he became a page at court and in 1533 was summoned to Parliament as Lord Maltravers.
He was present at the trial of Anne Boleyn and Lord Rochford in May 1536.
1540 he was appointed Deputy of Calais and improved the fortifications at his own cost. He was there until his father died in 1544 and he was needed to return to England. In the same year he was made a Knight of the Garter and Lord Chamberlain.
1547 he became Lord high Constable at edwarad IV's coronation. He was named in Henry's will as one of the 12 assistant executors, but by 1550 the Earl of Warwick had had removed Arundel and southampton from office. Arundel was placed under house arrest on the dubious charge of Peculation. He was released after a couple of months but by this time he had joined the Somerset camp and as a result was arrested again in 1551 and imprisoned for a year, He was allowed back into council in May 1553.
In the same year he signed King Edward's Letters Patent confirming the succession of Lady Jane Grey. However, as soon as Northumberland had left London, Arundel and a select group worked on the proclamation for Mary Tudor, took the Great Seal and a letter of submission from the council and went to Framlingham where Mary was staying.
At Mary's coronation he was Second high Constable and was appointed Lord Steward of the Royal Household.
Although Elizabeth i did not trust him when she succeeded, Arundel was too powerful to be ignored, so he continued in his various offices as before. this, however, did not stop him from becoming embroiled in several plots against the queen and being placed under house arrest.
He married firstly Katherine Grey, aunt of Lady Jane, daughter of Thomas Grey.
Secondly he married Mary Arundell.
He died in 1580.
Mary Arundell was the only child of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, Cornwall and Catherine Grenville.
She came to court in 1536 and was a Gentlewoman to Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves. She also served the Princess Mary.
Her first husband was Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex on 14 January 1537 as his third wife.He died in 1542.
On 19 December 1545 she married Henry as his second wife.
She was reputed to have been a well educated woman and is believed to have translated "The sayings and doings of the Emperor Severus", from the Greek.
She died in London 21 October 1557 and was originally buried in the Church of St Clement Danes. However, during the restoration of the Fitzalan chapel in 1847 a lead coffin containing what is believed to have been her remains were discovered. The coffin was reburied under the chapel floor.
305 Broadway, Civic Center, Downtown Manhattan, New York City, United States of America
Civic Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The 13-story (plus basement) Mutual Reserve Building (1892-94), located on the northwest corner of Broadway and Duane Street, is one of New York City's most significant examples of a tall late-19th-century office building designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style. The two designed facades feature granite and limestone cladding, rusticated piers, foliate carving, and arcaded base and upper sections. The architect, William H. Hume, was best known in his day for commercial and institutional work, and this is his most important extant commission.
The building is notable as an early steel cage- framed structure in New York, constructed just prior to the full development of the skyscraper. The builder was the eminent Richard Deeves, while the prominent consulting structural engineer was Frederick H. Kindl, chief engineer of the Carnegie Steel Co. The Mutual Reserve Building was owned, until 1920, by the grandchildren of the immensely wealthy Boston merchant shipping magnate and shipbuilder, William F. Weld.
The initial principal tenant of the building was the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association, launched in 1881 with the intention of offering life insurance at cost and called by King's Handbook of New York in 1892 "the largest purely mutual natural-premium life-association in the world." Mutual Reserve only lasted until 1909, however,
and the structure was re-named the Langdon Building. It has housed many other tenants, including firms and organizations associated with the publishing and paper trades, as well as many lawyers' offices, and was the first long-term home of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (1967-80). The original main and auxiliary entrances on Broadway were altered and eliminated, respectively (c. 1923). The Mutual Reserve Building is also significant as a survivor among the 19th-century insurance industry buildings along Broadway in this vicinity, which include the Home Life Insurance Co. Building (1892-94, Napoleon le Brun & Sons), No. 256, and New York Life Insurance Co. Building (1894-99, Stephen Decatur Hatch with McKim, Mead & White), No. 346.
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
William F. Weld Estate
The Mutual Reserve Building was commissioned by the Estate of William F. Weld. One of America's most successful merchant shipping magnates and shipbuilders, William Fletcher Weld (1800-1881), the proprietor of William F. Weld & Co. in Boston, operated one of the largest fleets in the country, including the Senator (1833), one of the largest ships of its era. His trade was centered in the Canary Islands, East and West Indies, Manila, and Singapore. Merchants in both Boston and New York City had created immense wealth based on commerce with Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia starting in the 18th century - participation in the trans-Atlantic "triangular trade" became an integral part of both cities' economies. These merchants were significant in this highly lucrative Europe-Africa-Americas shipping network that traded enslaved workers from Africa and the Caribbean, manufactured goods, and products from the Caribbean, such as sugar, rum, molasses, tobacco, rice, and cotton. Located closer to the West Indies, New York eventually surpassed Boston in the domination of the northern Atlantic coastal trade. This trade, in turn, spurred a number of profitable local industries, such as shipbuilding and food processing, particularly sugar refining, distilling molasses into rum, and the conversion of tobacco into snuff.
William F. Weld also invested in the construction of railroads, and became sole agent of the English firm of Thompson & Forman, producer of iron rails. After he retired from business in 1861, according to a biographical sketch, he "devoted himself largely to real estate, purchasing and building stores and warehouses in Boston and New York, a policy he directed, in his will, should be carried out by his trustees." He left an estate estimated to be about $21 million which, after various family and charitable bequests, was left to his four grandchildren (the two granddaughters when they reached the age of 25): William Fletcher Weld, Jr. (1855-1893), Charles Goddard Weld (18571911), Mary Bryant Pratt (later Sprague, then Brandegee)(1871-1956), and Isabel Weld Perkins (later Anderson)(1876-1948). His son, William Gordon Weld (1827-1896), grandson William F. Weld, Jr., and Samuel Johnson were the original executors of the estate.
In May 1888, the Weld Estate (on behalf of the four Weld grandchildren) purchased a lot for $350,000 at the northwest corner of Broadway and Duane Street, and in 1890 acquired a tiny adjacent interior lot. The Estate commissioned the construction of a speculative office building (the Mutual Reserve Building) in 1892. Following the death of William F. Weld, Jr., in 1893 and the transferral of Charles G. Weld's interest in 1901, this property was held by the trustees of Mary Bryant Pratt Sprague and Isabel Weld Perkins Anderson. It was transferred solely to Mary Bryant Pratt Brandegee in 1907. In 1891, Mary Bryant Pratt had married Charles Franklin Sprague (18571902), a wealthy Boston lawyer who, after his marriage, was said to have been the wealthiest man to serve in Congress. In 1904, Mary (called by the New York Times "one of the richest young widows in the country") married Edward Deshon Brandegee, a wholesale clothing manufacturer from Utica, New York. Mary Brandegee retained the 305 Broadway property until 1920.
The Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association
The original principal tenant of the Weld Estate's office building at 305 Broadway was the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association, which signed a 40-year lease for its home office that officially began on June 1, 1894. The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported in January 1892 that the rent would be "on a per cent basis of the total cost of the building, together with a percentage of the valuation -- $500,000 we believe -- of the land." According to an 1894 report, Mutual Reserve had contributed $408,297 towards the lease and the building's construction and furnishing. William H. Hume, the architect selected to design their headquarters, was listed as a director of the Association in an obituary.
Incorporated in 1875 and launched in 1881 with the intention of offering life insurance at cost, the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association was called by King's Handbook of New York in 1892 "the largest purely mutual natural-premium life-association in the world." Offering reduced premiums that allowed many people to be able to afford the cost of insurance, Mutual Reserve became one of the largest and most popular life insurance companies, with branches in Canada and Europe. The Association was previously located in the Potter Building on Park Row, and its founder and president was Edward Bascom Harper (1842-1895), who was succeeded in 1895 in the new building by Frederick A. Burnham. In 1892, the firm had $225 million worth of insurance coverage "in force", and by 1895 its coverage rose to $300 million.
Reports began to circulate by 1896, however, about a significant decrease in business, the depletion of reserves, rapid losses due to death benefit payouts, and excessive executive salaries, and the affairs of the Association were under investigation for several years. In 1902, the firm was re-incorporated as the Mutual Reserve Life Insurance Co., a "purely mutual life insurance institution" and New York's third largest. Complaints continued about the company's solvency, and after further investigations, indictments were made against Mutual Reserve's president and vice-president. The lease at 305 Broadway was renewed in 1908 at $60,000 a year, but the company was placed under receivership that year, then-president Archibald C. Haynes filed for bankruptcy, and former president Burnham was found dead, a possible suicide. The Mutual Reserve Life Insurance Co. was fully defunct by 1911.
The Mutual Reserve Building
Plans for the 13-story (plus basement) Mutual Reserve Building were filed by architect William H. Hume in June 1892, to cost an estimated $730,000. Construction began at the end of that month, but was ultimately greatly delayed due to steel and granite strikes. The builder, the eminent Richard Deeves, stated that "the Mutual Reserve Building... was about a year and a half under construction, but then we lost at least eight months in consequence of the strike at the Carnegie Iron and Steel Works." The Mutual Reserve Building was steel cage framed: the prominent consulting structural engineer, Frederick H. Kindl chief engineer of the Carnegie Steel Co., wrote that "this method of construction, that is, using steel beams and columns for framework, and supporting the walls at each floor level, has only of late been introduced extensively. ... Mutual Reserve Building... [is] of similar construction...." The stone contractor, Hanlein & Co., also executed the extensive Romanesque style ornamental carving. Dedicated on June 14, 1894, the building was officially completed in September.
Hume's design for the Mutual Reserve Building was comparable to, and undoubtedly influenced by, architect R.H. Robertson's first tall commercial structure completed two years earlier, the nine-story Lincoln Building (1889-90), 1-3 Union Square West. The architectural vocabulary of both buildings was influenced by the Richardsonian Romanesque style, named after one of America's greatest architects, Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886), who created an American interpretation of the Romanesque based on French and Italian prototypes. His Trinity Church (187377), Boston, as well as his many libraries and other buildings, firmly established Richardson's professional reputation and launched the popularity and influence of the style.
Following Richardson's precedent, many architects employed it in the 1880s and 90s for a wide variety of building types, ranging from mansions to courthouses, university structures, and railroad stations, and including some tall office buildings. The style was characterized by its appearance of massiveness and such features as rockfaced masonry and round-arched fenestration. In this period, as architects in New York City were still grappling with appropriate ways to design tall office structures and early skyscrapers, two features were commonly employed: multiple-story arcades on facades, and a tripartite base-shaft-capital arrangement associated with the classical column. The designs of both the Lincoln and Mutual Reserve Buildings merged these features through a horizontal layering of sections (an effect criticized by some contemporary architectural critics).
The Mutual Reserve Building's two designed granite- and limestone-clad facades are arranged with a six-story base, with arcades up to the fifth story, and rusticated piers; a six-story planar mid-section; and a one-story rusticated upper section with an arcade of windows and a tall balustraded parapet. Intricate Romanesque style foliate carving appears on such areas as the arches, column capitals, and cornices. King's Handbook (1892) had speculated that the proposed structure "will be one of the finest office-buildings in the city... the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association... is contributing a masterpiece of architecture to its artistic aspect." An observer at the New York Herald-Tribune in November 1893 expounded on the "model new office building" and its amenities:
The handsome new building of the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association... has aroused the admiration of all who have seen it. ... The exterior of the building is of a dignified and attractive Romanesque style of architecture. The material employed is Indiana limestone, which has given a rich architectural effect. The building is one of the best types of the new steel buildings, and is built in the most substantial manner. It is, in fact, a tremendous steel frame inclosed in a handsome stone casing, while the partitions and floors are of fire-proof brick. ... The building is provided with every convenience that skill and modern invention can give. Four swift-running Otis elevators will give the most rapid communication between the highest and lowest parts of the building. The offices will be heated by steam and lighted by electricity throughout, while the plumbing, ventilating and sanitary arrangements have received the most careful study. The unusually desirable situation of this building has enabled the architect, William H. Hume, to make all the offices light and well ventilated from the street, while large courts give good light to the other rooms in the building. All the windows of the building are the largest size.
After its completion, the New York Times in 1895 touted "this massive and impressive structure" as "an instance of genuinely fire-proof construction" that "closely approached the ideal of safe construction," while the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1897) noted that "towering above all the other buildings in its vicinity, its stately walls fittingly represent the solidity and permanence of the business for which it was erected." Mutual Reserve's slogan, "Founded Upon a Rock," seemed to mimic the solid Romanesque style of its home office. The firm occupied the second through fourth stories.
Not only is the Mutual Reserve Building one of New York City's most significant examples of a tall office building designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style, the structure is also notable as a survivor among the 19th-century insurance industry buildings along Broadway in
this vicinity, which also include the Home Life Insurance Co. Building (1892-94, Napoleon le Brun & Sons), No. 256, and New York Life Insurance Co. Building (1894-99, Stephen Decatur Hatch with McKim, Mead & White), No. 346.
Architect: William H. Hume
William Henry Hume (1834-1899), born in New York City, began an architectural practice here in 1855. Examples of his early commercial work in contemporary styles may be seen at 62 and 66 Perry Street (1866); 53 Lispenard Street (1867-68); 313 Church Street (1868-70); and 83-87, 89, and 66 Grand Street (1872, 1877, 1885), in the Greenwich Village, SoHo-Cast Iron, and Tribeca East Historic Districts. By the 1880s, Hume was receiving some highly noteworthy commercial and institutional commissions, including: the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society Asylum (1881-84; demolished), Broadway and West 136th Street; B. Altman Store addition (1887), 615-629 Sixth Avenue; Hotel Normandie (1887; demolished), Broadway and 38th Street; Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank (1887-89; demolished), 49-51 Chambers Street; Masonic Home and School (c. 1890; demolished), Utica, New York; H.C.F. Koch & Co. Store (1890-91), 132-140 West 125th Street; North River Savings Bank (1892; demolished), 266 West 34th Street; and Lotus Club (1893; demolished), 556 Fifth Avenue.
Hume designed William Waldorf Astor's 17-story New Netherland Hotel (1891-93; demolished), Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, touted as the world's tallest hotel at the time and an early steel cage-framed structure. The firm of William H. Hume & Son, formed in 1894 with Frederick Thomas Hume (1859-1934), was responsible for the Scotch Presbyterian Lecture Hall (1895; demolished), Central Park West and 95th Street; First Church of Christ Scientist (1896; demolished), 137 West 48th Street; Spingler Building (1896-97), 5 Union Square West; and Simpson, Crawford & Simpson Co. Store (1900-02), 635-649 Sixth Avenue. The firm continued until around 1910. The Mutual Reserve Building was one of the Hume's finest commissions and is his most important extant work.
Builder Richard Deeves and Consulting Engineer Frederick H. Kindl
The builder of the Mutual Reserve Building, Richard Deeves (1837-1919), was born in Dublin, Ireland, came to the United States in 1850, apprenticed as a mason with George S. Dixon, and soon became a builder, establishing his own firm in 1869. An early specialty was gasworks structures. He was responsible for the construction of countless notable residences, commercial buildings, and skyscrapers, examples of which included the Temple Court Building (1881-83, Silliman & Farnsworth), 3-9 Beekman Street (where he maintained an office); Randall Memorial Chapel and Music Hall (1890-92, Robert W. Gibson; chapel demolished), Sailors' Snug Harbor, Staten Island; and the Manhattan Life Insurance Co. Building (1893-94, [Francis H.] Kimball & [G. Kramer] Thompson, with engineer Charles Sooysmith; demolished), 64-66 Broadway. Richard Deeves & Son, with J[ohn]. Henry Deeves, "mason builders and general contractors," was formed by 1895. One of its projects was the American Seamen's Friend Society Sailors' Home and Institute (1907-08, William A. Boring), 505-507 West Street. Richard Deeves had his office in the Mutual Reserve Building from its completion until at least 1914.
Frederick Henry Kindl (1863-1914), born in Austria, immigrated to the United States as a boy in 1873, and graduated from the Case School of Applied Science (1884), Cleveland. After working as an engineer in Chicago for several years, he moved to Pittsburgh, where he became Structural and Chief Engineer of the Carnegie Steel Co. Kindl is considered one of the seminal
pioneers of the American steel-framed tall building and skyscraper, a field in which he specialized as a consulting engineer nationally.
The Tall Office Building in New York City in the 1880s-90s
During the 19th century, commercial buildings in New York City developed from four-story structures modeled on Italian Renaissance palazzi to much taller skyscrapers. Made possible by technological advances, tall buildings challenged designers to fashion an appropriate architectural expression. Between 1870 and 1890, nine- and ten-story buildings transformed the streetscapes of lower Manhattan between Bowling Green and the City Hall area. During the building boom following the Civil War, building envelopes continued to be articulated largely according to traditional palazzo compositions, with mansarded and towered roof profiles.
Beginning in the later 1870s, tall buildings were characterized by flat roofs and a free, varied grouping of stories, often in the form of multi-storied arcades, within the facades. The period of the late 1870s into the 1890s was also one of stylistic experimentation in which commercial and office buildings in New York incorporated diverse influences, such as the Queen Anne, Victorian Gothic, Romanesque, and neo- Grec styles, French rationalism, and the German Rundbogenstil, under the leadership of such architects as Richard M. Hunt and George B. Post. Beginning around 1890, architects began producing tall building designs that adhered to the tripartite base-shaft-capital arrangement associated with the classical column, a scheme that became commonly employed in New York.
New York's early tall buildings -- including the seven-and-one-half-story Equitable Life Assurance Co. Building (1868-70, Gilman & Kendall and George B. Post) at Broadway and Cedar Street, the ten-story Western Union Building (1872-75, George B. Post) at Broadway and Liberty Street, and the ten-story Tribune Building (1873-75, Richard M. Hunt) on Park Row (all now demolished) -- incorporated passenger elevators, iron floor beams, and fireproof building materials. Fireproofing was of paramount concern as office buildings grew taller, and by 1881-82 systems had been devised to "completely fireproof' them. Cage construction, employed in the 1880s in tall buildings in New York and Chicago, was characterized by the Record and Guide as
a frame work of iron or steel columns and girders which carry the floors only, and do not carry the outer walls. In the cage construction the outer walls are independent walls, from the foundation to the extreme top, sustaining themselves only, and therefore, the walls are made less in thickness than if they had to bear the floors as in ordinary buildings such walls would have to do.
Ever taller skyscrapers were permitted by the increasing use and refinement of the metal skeleton frame, in which the metal columns and girders support both the floors and the outer (curtain) walls. In addition, several hybrid structural forms were used in tall buildings, such as the combination of both masonry and metal for interior vertical supports.
In 1888-89, New York architect Bradford Lee Gilbert used iron skeleton framing for the first seven stories of the 11-story Tower Building at 50 Broadway (demolished). As steel skeleton framing was adopted for tall buildings in New York, architects and engineers introduced caisson foundations which carried the weight of the skeleton frame down to bedrock. Kimball & Thompson's seminal 17-story (plus tower) Manhattan Life Insurance Co. Building (1893-94, with engineer Charles Sooysmith; demolished) was the tallest building yet constructed in the city and is credited with being the first skyscraper with a full iron and steel frame, set on pneumatic concrete caissons.
This was followed by the American Surety Co. Building (1894-95, Bruce Price, also with Sooysmith), 100 Broadway, which was the first New York skyscraper with a full steel frame, set on pneumatic concrete caissons. The cage-framed Mutual Reserve Building utilized the successful design and construction techniques of its predecessors, just prior to the full development of the skyscraper. It is interesting to note that, while the Mutual Reserve Building was nearing completion, the building committee of the American Surety Co. visited the structure and expressed the intention to construct something similar.
Other Early Tenants
The Arkwright Club, for drygoods merchants, was one of the earliest Mutual Reserve Building tenants, having signed a lease in 1893 for one of the top stories at $90,000 (to 1899). Undoubtedly drawn to the location nearby the then-center of New York's publishing and newspaper industries, the Mutual Reserve Building drew a number of firms and organizations associated with the publishing and paper trades, such as Hubbell Publishing Co. (c. 1894-1915), West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co. (1894-1909), Hollingsworth & Whitney Co., paper manufacturer (c. 1899-1911), Marcus S. Bulkley, paper buyer (1901), American Paper & Pulp Association (c. 1906-08), and Stationers Association ofNew York (c. 1907-11). Other tenants included the Co-Operative Building Bank (1894), Spanish Benevolent Society of New York (c. 1896-1902), Mutual Mercantile Agency (pre-1901), Miller Bros. Cutlery Co., pocket cutlery and pens (c. 1903-15), and Hapgoods, "National Organization of Brain Brokers" (c. 1905-14).
The Langdon Building and Later Ownership History and Tenants
By 1909, with the demise of the Mutual Reserve company, No. 305-309 Broadway was renamed the Langdon Building, most likely after the owner's son, the stockbrocker John Langdon Brandegee. In 1920, the Times announced the purchase of the property (from Mary Brandegee) for about $2 million by the Broadway-John Street Corp. (Elias A. Cohen, president), which intended to remodel it to lease as "high-grade offices for lawyers" who, according to the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, "are being crowded out of the financial district by the insistent demand from banks and business concerns willing to pay rentals which are prohibitive to lawyers." Lawyer tenants already in the building formed the Office Tenants League to protest eviction and expected exorbitant rents. The building was transferred in 1921 to a group of investors that included Isidor and Charlotte Mishkind, Fred and Cecilia Mishkind Broverman, Joachim S. Van Wetzel, Warren and Marguerite Watson, and Edward J. and Beatrice Lewis. In 1923, the central auxiliary entrance on Broadway was removed (Schwartz & Gross, architects). The building was conveyed in 1940 to the Downtown Renting Co. (Elias A. Cohen, president) and in 1945 to the Broaduane Corp. (Elias A. Cohen, president).
Two authors mentioned the building's unsavory reputation within the legal profession, one referring to it as "the 'Den of Forty Thieves,' reflecting the appearance... and the snobbish opinion of lawyers located elsewhere on lower Broadway... [and] because the structure was regarded as a law office slum." The other called the building one of the centers in the 1920s of the faked American "personal injury underworld." Various other tenants included Herman J. Hegt, Inc., metals dealer (c. 1919-20); George F. Hardy, mill architect and consulting engineer (c. 1914-20); Lithographers International Protective and Beneficial Association of the United States & Canada (c.
1914-15); Earle E. Liederman/ Progressive Exerciser Co., one of America's early physical culture mail-order businesses (1922-30); Wall Street Synagague (1929); and Jewish Forum Association, publisher of The Jewish Forum (1944). By 1950, the building began to house a number of state government agencies.
In 1957, the property was conveyed to the 305 Broadway Co. (Sylvan Lawrence and Seymour Cohn, partnership), and was purchased in 1959 by Broadway Duane Associates (Louis and Joseph Lefkowitz, general partners) and leased back to the 305 Broadway Co. The building was transferred in 1969 to the 305 Broadway Corp. (Louis Lefkowitz, president), then in 1975 back to the 305 Broadway Co., which merged the lease and fee of the property. It was owned in 1980 by 305 Broadway, Limited Partnership (Herman Abbott, president, of Abbott Corp., general partner), and since 1982 by Reade Broadway Associates. The former Mutual Reserve Building has housed a number of New York City agencies, including the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (1967-80) as its first long-term home.
Description
Historic: 13-story (plus basement) corner Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style office building clad in granite and limestone on main facades, with carved foliate ornament; six-story base, with arcades up to the fifth story, and rusticated piers; six-story planar mid-section; one-story rusticated upper section with arcade of windows and tall balustraded parapet; paired windows on Broadway and end bays on Duane Street, and tripartite windows on the rest of Duane Street facade, divided by stone piers, columns, or colonnettes; small rectangular windows inserted at top of building (1909, William H. Hume & Son)
Alterations: shopfronts (originally single-pane glass with bulkheads and sign bands), signage, and rolldown gates; two-story main Broadway entrance (originally elaborately ornamental with round-arched entrance) re-built in flattened form, with rectangular entrance and transom, non- historic doors, and rectangular second-story window bay (c. 1923); two-story central auxiliary Broadway entrance (originally with steps and round-arched transom) eliminated and replaced with shopfront and rectangular second-story window bay (1923); windows with anodized aluminum sash (originally one-over-one double-hung wood sash)
Western and Northern Side Elevations: unarticulated brick cladding, pierced by windows
- From the 2011 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
The Shipley Art Gallery is an art gallery in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, located at the south end of Prince Consort Road. It has a Designated Collection of national importance.
Origins
The Shipley Art Gallery opened to the public in 1917. This was made possible by a bequest from wealthy local solicitor and art collector, Joseph Ainsley Davidson Shipley (1822–1909).
Shipley was a rather enigmatic person about whom little is known. He was born in Gateshead, near High Street. He was a solicitor in the Newcastle firm of Hoyle, Shipley and Hoyle. From 1884 until his death, he leased Saltwell Park House, now known as Saltwell Towers. Shipley's main passion was art and collecting paintings. He bought his first painting when he was sixteen and by the time he died he had amassed a collection of some 2,500 paintings.
On his death, Shipley left £30,000 and all his pictures to the City of Newcastle, which was to build a new gallery to house the collection. This was to be known as "The Shipley Bequest". Current belief within local history circles is that Shipley’s will expressly banned Newcastle’s art gallery as a recipient of the bequest, but this assertion must be dismissed: since the foundation stone of the Laing Art Gallery was laid only in August 1901 and the gallery opened in October 1904, the institution did not yet exist in 1900, when Shipley’s will was compiled. Shipley’s will did, in fact, declare that ‘the Art Gallery to be erected in Higham Place will not be and shall not be regarded as an Art Gallery within this trust’, owing to its being ‘too small’, but he conceded that if it ‘shall be capable of being enlarged so as to render it capable of holding all, then I direct my Trustees to raise the sum of £30,000 out of my residuary estate and pay the same to the treasurer of the gallery to be applied in or toward such enlargement as aforesaid’. It was only following a lengthy process that Gateshead Municipal Council was offered the collection. As it was impossible to house all of the paintings, 359 of the pictures recommended by the executors of Shipley's will were selected. A further group was then added by the Gateshead Committee, bringing the total to 504.
In 1914, after the sale of the remaining paintings, work began on the new art gallery. The building, which was designed by Arthur Stockwell, M.S.A. of Newcastle, opened on 29 November 1917. The stone entrance portico is distyle in antis – four Corinthian-style stone columns flanked by solid pilasters. These are surmounted by two sculptured figures, one representing the Arts and the other Industry and Learning, by W. Birnie Rhind, RSA. of Edinburgh.
Pevsner described the art gallery as a "bold arrangement of a brick central block and lower wings containing galleries". The building was designated as Grade II listed in 1982.
Present gallery
The original 504 paintings represented all the main European schools from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Since 1917, the collection has been added to, and now comprises some 10,000 items.
The gallery holds a strong collection of 16th and 17th century Dutch and Flemish paintings, as well as 19th century British works, watercolours, prints, drawings and sculpture. Also featured are items of local interest, which include the popular painting by William C. Irving ((1866–1943) of "Blaydon Races" (1903) and a 1970 street scene of Redheugh Crossroads by Gateshead-born Charlie Rogers.
Since 1977 the gallery has become established as a national centre for contemporary craftwork. It has built up one of the best collections outside London, which includes ceramics, wood, metal, glass, textiles and furniture. The Shipley is home to the Henry Rothschild collection of studio ceramics. In 2008, the Shipley opened its Designs for Life gallery which showcases the gallery's collections of contemporary craft and design. The Gallery also hosts a varied programme of temporary exhibitions and has a strong partnership with the V&A Museum in London.
The Shipley Art Gallery is managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums on behalf of Gateshead Council.
Gateshead is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The town shares the Millennium Bridge, Tyne Bridge and multiple other bridges with Newcastle upon Tyne.
Historically part of County Durham, under the Local Government Act 1888 the town was made a county borough, meaning it was administered independently of the county council.
In the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 120,046 while the wider borough had 200,214.
History
Gateshead is first mentioned in Latin translation in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People as ad caput caprae ("at the goat's head"). This interpretation is consistent with the later English attestations of the name, among them Gatesheued (c. 1190), literally "goat's head" but in the context of a place-name meaning 'headland or hill frequented by (wild) goats'. Although other derivations have been mooted, it is this that is given by the standard authorities.
A Brittonic predecessor, named with the element *gabro-, 'goat' (c.f. Welsh gafr), may underlie the name. Gateshead might have been the Roman-British fort of Gabrosentum.
Early
There has been a settlement on the Gateshead side of the River Tyne, around the old river crossing where the Swing Bridge now stands, since Roman times.
The first recorded mention of Gateshead is in the writings of the Venerable Bede who referred to an Abbot of Gateshead called Utta in 623. In 1068 William the Conqueror defeated the forces of Edgar the Ætheling and Malcolm king of Scotland (Shakespeare's Malcolm) on Gateshead Fell (now Low Fell and Sheriff Hill).
During medieval times Gateshead was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Durham. At this time the area was largely forest with some agricultural land. The forest was the subject of Gateshead's first charter, granted in the 12th century by Hugh du Puiset, Bishop of Durham. An alternative spelling may be "Gatishevede", as seen in a legal record, dated 1430.
Industrial revolution
Throughout the Industrial Revolution the population of Gateshead expanded rapidly; between 1801 and 1901 the increase was over 100,000. This expansion resulted in the spread southwards of the town.
In 1854, a catastrophic explosion on the quayside destroyed most of Gateshead's medieval heritage, and caused widespread damage on the Newcastle side of the river.
Sir Joseph Swan lived at Underhill, Low Fell, Gateshead from 1869 to 1883, where his experiments led to the invention of the electric light bulb. The house was the first in the world to be wired for domestic electric light.
In the 1889 one of the largest employers (Hawks, Crawshay and Company) closed down and unemployment has since been a burden. Up to the Second World War there were repeated newspaper reports of the unemployed sending deputations to the council to provide work. The depression years of the 1920s and 1930s created even more joblessness and the Team Valley Trading Estate was built in the mid-1930s to alleviate the situation.
Regeneration
In the late noughties, Gateshead Council started to regenerate the town, with the long-term aim of making Gateshead a city. The most extensive transformation occurred in the Quayside, with almost all the structures there being constructed or refurbished in this time.
In the early 2010s, regeneration refocused on the town centre. The £150 million Trinity Square development opened in May 2013, it incorporates student accommodation, a cinema, health centre and shops. It was nominated for the Carbuncle Cup in September 2014. The cup was however awarded to another development which involved Tesco, Woolwich Central.
Governance
In 1835, Gateshead was established as a municipal borough and in 1889 it was made a county borough, independent from Durham County Council.
In 1870, the Old Town Hall was built, designed by John Johnstone who also designed the previously built Newcastle Town Hall. The ornamental clock in front of the old town hall was presented to Gateshead in 1892 by the mayor, Walter de Lancey Willson, on the occasion of him being elected for a third time. He was also one of the founders of Walter Willson's, a chain of grocers in the North East and Cumbria. The old town hall also served as a magistrate's court and one of Gateshead's police stations.
Current
In 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, the County Borough of Gateshead was merged with the urban districts of Felling, Whickham, Blaydon and Ryton and part of the rural district of Chester-le-Street to create the much larger Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead.
Geography
The town of Gateshead is in the North East of England in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear, and within the historic boundaries of County Durham. It is located on the southern bank of the River Tyne at a latitude of 54.57° N and a longitude of 1.35° W. Gateshead experiences a temperate climate which is considerably warmer than some other locations at similar latitudes as a result of the warming influence of the Gulf Stream (via the North Atlantic drift). It is located in the rain shadow of the North Pennines and is therefore in one of the driest regions of the United Kingdom.
One of the most distinguishing features of Gateshead is its topography. The land rises 230 feet from Gateshead Quays to the town centre and continues rising to a height of 525 feet at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Sheriff Hill. This is in contrast to the flat and low lying Team Valley located on the western edges of town. The high elevations allow for impressive views over the Tyne valley into Newcastle and across Tyneside to Sunderland and the North Sea from lookouts in Windmill Hills and Windy Nook respectively.
The Office for National Statistics defines the town as an urban sub-division. The latest (2011) ONS urban sub-division of Gateshead contains the historical County Borough together with areas that the town has absorbed, including Dunston, Felling, Heworth, Pelaw and Bill Quay.
Given the proximity of Gateshead to Newcastle, just south of the River Tyne from the city centre, it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as being a part of Newcastle. Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council teamed up in 2000 to create a unified marketing brand name, NewcastleGateshead, to better promote the whole of the Tyneside conurbation.
Economy
Gateshead is home to the MetroCentre, the largest shopping mall in the UK until 2008; and the Team Valley Trading Estate, once the largest and still one of the larger purpose-built commercial estates in the UK.
Arts
The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art has been established in a converted flour mill. The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, previously The Sage, a Norman Foster-designed venue for music and the performing arts opened on 17 December 2004. Gateshead also hosted the Gateshead Garden Festival in 1990, rejuvenating 200 acres (0.81 km2) of derelict land (now mostly replaced with housing). The Angel of the North, a famous sculpture in nearby Lamesley, is visible from the A1 to the south of Gateshead, as well as from the East Coast Main Line. Other public art include works by Richard Deacon, Colin Rose, Sally Matthews, Andy Goldsworthy, Gordon Young and Michael Winstone.
Traditional and former
The earliest recorded coal mining in the Gateshead area is dated to 1344. As trade on the Tyne prospered there were several attempts by the burghers of Newcastle to annex Gateshead. In 1576 a small group of Newcastle merchants acquired the 'Grand Lease' of the manors of Gateshead and Whickham. In the hundred years from 1574 coal shipments from Newcastle increased elevenfold while the population of Gateshead doubled to approximately 5,500. However, the lease and the abundant coal supplies ended in 1680. The pits were shallow as problems of ventilation and flooding defeated attempts to mine coal from the deeper seams.
'William Cotesworth (1668-1726) was a prominent merchant based in Gateshead, where he was a leader in coal and international trade. Cotesworth began as the son of a yeoman and apprentice to a tallow - candler. He ended as an esquire, having been mayor, Justice of the Peace and sheriff of Northumberland. He collected tallow from all over England and sold it across the globe. He imported dyes from the Indies, as well as flax, wine, and grain. He sold tea, sugar, chocolate, and tobacco. He operated the largest coal mines in the area, and was a leading salt producer. As the government's principal agent in the North country, he was in contact with leading ministers.
William Hawks originally a blacksmith, started business in Gateshead in 1747, working with the iron brought to the Tyne as ballast by the Tyne colliers. Hawks and Co. eventually became one of the biggest iron businesses in the North, producing anchors, chains and so on to meet a growing demand. There was keen contemporary rivalry between 'Hawks' Blacks' and 'Crowley's Crew'. The famous 'Hawks' men' including Ned White, went on to be celebrated in Geordie song and story.
In 1831 a locomotive works was established by the Newcastle and Darlington Railway, later part of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway. In 1854 the works moved to the Greenesfield site and became the manufacturing headquarters of North Eastern Railway. In 1909, locomotive construction was moved to Darlington and the rest of the works were closed in 1932.
Robert Stirling Newall took out a patent on the manufacture of wire ropes in 1840 and in partnership with Messrs. Liddell and Gordon, set up his headquarters at Gateshead. A worldwide industry of wire-drawing resulted. The submarine telegraph cable received its definitive form through Newall's initiative, involving the use of gutta-percha surrounded by strong wires. The first successful Dover–Calais cable on 25 September 1851, was made in Newall's works. In 1853, he invented the brake-drum and cone for laying cable in deep seas. Half of the first Atlantic cable was manufactured in Gateshead. Newall was interested in astronomy, and his giant 25-inch (640 mm) telescope was set up in the garden at Ferndene, his Gateshead residence, in 1871.
Architecture
JB Priestley, writing of Gateshead in his 1934 travelogue English Journey, said that "no true civilisation could have produced such a town", adding that it appeared to have been designed "by an enemy of the human race".
Victorian
William Wailes the celebrated stained-glass maker, lived at South Dene from 1853 to 1860. In 1860, he designed Saltwell Towers as a fairy-tale palace for himself. It is an imposing Victorian mansion in its own park with a romantic skyline of turrets and battlements. It was originally furnished sumptuously by Gerrard Robinson. Some of the panelling installed by Robinson was later moved to the Shipley Art gallery. Wailes sold Saltwell Towers to the corporation in 1876 for use as a public park, provided he could use the house for the rest of his life. For many years the structure was essentially an empty shell but following a restoration programme it was reopened to the public in 2004.
Post millennium
The council sponsored the development of a Gateshead Quays cultural quarter. The development includes the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, erected in 2001, which won the prestigious Stirling Prize for Architecture in 2002.
Former brutalism
The brutalist Trinity Centre Car Park, which was designed by Owen Luder, dominated the town centre for many years until its demolition in 2010. A product of attempts to regenerate the area in the 1960s, the car park gained an iconic status due to its appearance in the 1971 film Get Carter, starring Michael Caine. An unsuccessful campaign to have the structure listed was backed by Sylvester Stallone, who played the main role in the 2000 remake of the film. The car park was scheduled for demolition in 2009, but this was delayed as a result of a disagreement between Tesco, who re-developed the site, and Gateshead Council. The council had not been given firm assurances that Tesco would build the previously envisioned town centre development which was to include a Tesco mega-store as well as shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, offices and student accommodation. The council effectively used the car park as a bargaining tool to ensure that the company adhered to the original proposals and blocked its demolition until they submitted a suitable planning application. Demolition finally took place in July–August 2010.
The Derwent Tower, another well known example of brutalist architecture, was also designed by Owen Luder and stood in the neighbourhood of Dunston. Like the Trinity Car Park it also failed in its bid to become a listed building and was demolished in 2012. Also located in this area are the Grade II listed Dunston Staithes which were built in 1890. Following the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of almost £420,000 restoration of the structure is expected to begin in April 2014.
Sport
Gateshead International Stadium regularly holds international athletics meetings over the summer months, and is home of the Gateshead Harriers athletics club. It is also host to rugby league fixtures, and the home ground of Gateshead Football Club. Gateshead Thunder Rugby League Football Club played at Gateshead International Stadium until its purchase by Newcastle Rugby Limited and the subsequent rebranding as Newcastle Thunder. Both clubs have had their problems: Gateshead A.F.C. were controversially voted out of the Football League in 1960 in favour of Peterborough United, whilst Gateshead Thunder lost their place in Super League as a result of a takeover (officially termed a merger) by Hull F.C. Both Gateshead clubs continue to ply their trade at lower levels in their respective sports, thanks mainly to the efforts of their supporters. The Gateshead Senators American Football team also use the International Stadium, as well as this it was used in the 2006 Northern Conference champions in the British American Football League.
Gateshead Leisure Centre is home to the Gateshead Phoenix Basketball Team. The team currently plays in EBL League Division 4. Home games are usually on a Sunday afternoon during the season, which runs from September to March. The team was formed in 2013 and ended their initial season well placed to progress after defeating local rivals Newcastle Eagles II and promotion chasing Kingston Panthers.
In Low Fell there is a cricket club and a rugby club adjacent to each other on Eastwood Gardens. These are Gateshead Fell Cricket Club and Gateshead Rugby Club. Gateshead Rugby Club was formed in 1998 following the merger of Gateshead Fell Rugby Club and North Durham Rugby Club.
Transport
Gateshead is served by the following rail transport stations with some being operated by National Rail and some being Tyne & Wear Metro stations: Dunston, Felling, Gateshead Interchange, Gateshead Stadium, Heworth Interchange, MetroCentre and Pelaw.
Tyne & Wear Metro stations at Gateshead Interchange and Gateshead Stadium provide direct light-rail access to Newcastle Central, Newcastle Airport , Sunderland, Tynemouth and South Shields Interchange.
National Rail services are provided by Northern at Dunston and MetroCentre stations. The East Coast Main Line, which runs from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, cuts directly through the town on its way between Newcastle Central and Chester-le-Street stations. There are presently no stations on this line within Gateshead, as Low Fell, Bensham and Gateshead West stations were closed in 1952, 1954 and 1965 respectively.
Road
Several major road links pass through Gateshead, including the A1 which links London to Edinburgh and the A184 which connects the town to Sunderland.
Gateshead Interchange is the busiest bus station in Tyne & Wear and was used by 3.9 million bus passengers in 2008.
Cycle routes
Various bicycle trails traverse the town; most notably is the recreational Keelmans Way (National Cycle Route 14), which is located on the south bank of the Tyne and takes riders along the entire Gateshead foreshore. Other prominent routes include the East Gateshead Cycleway, which connects to Felling, the West Gateshead Cycleway, which links the town centre to Dunston and the MetroCentre, and routes along both the old and new Durham roads, which take cyclists to Birtley, Wrekenton and the Angel of the North.
Religion
Christianity has been present in the town since at least the 7th century, when Bede mentioned a monastery in Gateshead. A church in the town was burned down in 1080 with the Bishop of Durham inside.[citation needed] St Mary's Church was built near to the site of that building, and was the only church in the town until the 1820s. Undoubtedly the oldest building on the Quayside, St Mary's has now re-opened to the public as the town's first heritage centre.
Many of the Anglican churches in the town date from the 19th century, when the population of the town grew dramatically and expanded into new areas. The town presently has a number of notable and large churches of many denominations.
Judaism
The Bensham district is home to a community of hundreds of Jewish families and used to be known as "Little Jerusalem". Within the community is the Gateshead Yeshiva, founded in 1929, and other Jewish educational institutions with international enrolments. These include two seminaries: Beis Medrash L'Morot and Beis Chaya Rochel seminary, colloquially known together as Gateshead "old" and "new" seminaries.
Many yeshivot and kollels also are active. Yeshivat Beer Hatorah, Sunderland Yeshiva, Nesivos Hatorah, Nezer Hatorah and Yeshiva Ketana make up some of the list.
Islam
Islam is practised by a large community of people in Gateshead and there are 2 mosques located in the Bensham area (in Ely Street and Villa Place).
Twinning
Gateshead is twinned with the town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in France, and the city of Komatsu in Japan.
Notable people
Eliezer Adler – founder of Jewish Community
Marcus Bentley – narrator of Big Brother
Catherine Booth – wife of William Booth, known as the Mother of The Salvation Army
William Booth – founder of the Salvation Army
Mary Bowes – the Unhappy Countess, author and celebrity
Ian Branfoot – footballer and manager (Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton)
Andy Carroll – footballer (Newcastle United, Liverpool and West Ham United)
Frank Clark – footballer and manager (Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest)
David Clelland – Labour politician and MP
Derek Conway – former Conservative politician and MP
Joseph Cowen – Radical politician
Steve Cram – athlete (middle-distance runner)
Emily Davies – educational reformer and feminist, founder of Girton College, Cambridge
Daniel Defoe – writer and government agent
Ruth Dodds – politician, writer and co-founder of the Little Theatre
Jonathan Edwards – athlete (triple jumper) and television presenter
Sammy Johnson – actor (Spender)
George Elliot – industrialist and MP
Paul Gascoigne – footballer (Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers and Middlesbrough)
Alex Glasgow – singer/songwriter
Avrohom Gurwicz – rabbi, Dean of Gateshead Yeshiva
Leib Gurwicz – rabbi, Dean of Gateshead Yeshiva
Jill Halfpenny – actress (Coronation Street and EastEnders)
Chelsea Halfpenny – actress (Emmerdale)
David Hodgson – footballer and manager (Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Sunderland)
Sharon Hodgson – Labour politician and MP
Norman Hunter – footballer (Leeds United and member of 1966 World Cup-winning England squad)
Don Hutchison – footballer (Liverpool, West Ham United, Everton and Sunderland)
Brian Johnson – AC/DC frontman
Tommy Johnson – footballer (Aston Villa and Celtic)
Riley Jones - actor
Howard Kendall – footballer and manager (Preston North End and Everton)
J. Thomas Looney – Shakespeare scholar
Gary Madine – footballer (Sheffield Wednesday)
Justin McDonald – actor (Distant Shores)
Lawrie McMenemy – football manager (Southampton and Northern Ireland) and pundit
Thomas Mein – professional cyclist (Canyon DHB p/b Soreen)
Robert Stirling Newall – industrialist
Bezalel Rakow – communal rabbi
John William Rayner – flying ace and war hero
James Renforth – oarsman
Mariam Rezaei – musician and artist
Sir Tom Shakespeare - baronet, sociologist and disability rights campaigner
William Shield – Master of the King's Musick
Christina Stead – Australian novelist
John Steel – drummer (The Animals)
Henry Spencer Stephenson – chaplain to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II
Steve Stone – footballer (Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Portsmouth)
Chris Swailes – footballer (Ipswich Town)
Sir Joseph Swan – inventor of the incandescent light bulb
Nicholas Trainor – cricketer (Gloucestershire)
Chris Waddle – footballer (Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield Wednesday)
William Wailes – stained glass maker
Taylor Wane – adult entertainer
Robert Spence Watson – public benefactor
Sylvia Waugh – author of The Mennyms series for children
Chris Wilkie – guitarist (Dubstar)
John Wilson - orchestral conductor
Peter Wilson – footballer (Gateshead, captain of Australia)
Thomas Wilson – poet/school founder
Robert Wood – Australian politician
305 Broadway, Civic Center, Downtown Manhattan, New York City, United States of America
Civic Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The 13-story (plus basement) Mutual Reserve Building (1892-94), located on the northwest corner of Broadway and Duane Street, is one of New York City's most significant examples of a tall late-19th-century office building designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style. The two designed facades feature granite and limestone cladding, rusticated piers, foliate carving, and arcaded base and upper sections. The architect, William H. Hume, was best known in his day for commercial and institutional work, and this is his most important extant commission.
The building is notable as an early steel cage- framed structure in New York, constructed just prior to the full development of the skyscraper. The builder was the eminent Richard Deeves, while the prominent consulting structural engineer was Frederick H. Kindl, chief engineer of the Carnegie Steel Co. The Mutual Reserve Building was owned, until 1920, by the grandchildren of the immensely wealthy Boston merchant shipping magnate and shipbuilder, William F. Weld.
The initial principal tenant of the building was the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association, launched in 1881 with the intention of offering life insurance at cost and called by King's Handbook of New York in 1892 "the largest purely mutual natural-premium life-association in the world." Mutual Reserve only lasted until 1909, however,
and the structure was re-named the Langdon Building. It has housed many other tenants, including firms and organizations associated with the publishing and paper trades, as well as many lawyers' offices, and was the first long-term home of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (1967-80). The original main and auxiliary entrances on Broadway were altered and eliminated, respectively (c. 1923). The Mutual Reserve Building is also significant as a survivor among the 19th-century insurance industry buildings along Broadway in this vicinity, which include the Home Life Insurance Co. Building (1892-94, Napoleon le Brun & Sons), No. 256, and New York Life Insurance Co. Building (1894-99, Stephen Decatur Hatch with McKim, Mead & White), No. 346.
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
William F. Weld Estate
The Mutual Reserve Building was commissioned by the Estate of William F. Weld. One of America's most successful merchant shipping magnates and shipbuilders, William Fletcher Weld (1800-1881), the proprietor of William F. Weld & Co. in Boston, operated one of the largest fleets in the country, including the Senator (1833), one of the largest ships of its era. His trade was centered in the Canary Islands, East and West Indies, Manila, and Singapore. Merchants in both Boston and New York City had created immense wealth based on commerce with Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia starting in the 18th century - participation in the trans-Atlantic "triangular trade" became an integral part of both cities' economies. These merchants were significant in this highly lucrative Europe-Africa-Americas shipping network that traded enslaved workers from Africa and the Caribbean, manufactured goods, and products from the Caribbean, such as sugar, rum, molasses, tobacco, rice, and cotton. Located closer to the West Indies, New York eventually surpassed Boston in the domination of the northern Atlantic coastal trade. This trade, in turn, spurred a number of profitable local industries, such as shipbuilding and food processing, particularly sugar refining, distilling molasses into rum, and the conversion of tobacco into snuff.
William F. Weld also invested in the construction of railroads, and became sole agent of the English firm of Thompson & Forman, producer of iron rails. After he retired from business in 1861, according to a biographical sketch, he "devoted himself largely to real estate, purchasing and building stores and warehouses in Boston and New York, a policy he directed, in his will, should be carried out by his trustees." He left an estate estimated to be about $21 million which, after various family and charitable bequests, was left to his four grandchildren (the two granddaughters when they reached the age of 25): William Fletcher Weld, Jr. (1855-1893), Charles Goddard Weld (18571911), Mary Bryant Pratt (later Sprague, then Brandegee)(1871-1956), and Isabel Weld Perkins (later Anderson)(1876-1948). His son, William Gordon Weld (1827-1896), grandson William F. Weld, Jr., and Samuel Johnson were the original executors of the estate.
In May 1888, the Weld Estate (on behalf of the four Weld grandchildren) purchased a lot for $350,000 at the northwest corner of Broadway and Duane Street, and in 1890 acquired a tiny adjacent interior lot. The Estate commissioned the construction of a speculative office building (the Mutual Reserve Building) in 1892. Following the death of William F. Weld, Jr., in 1893 and the transferral of Charles G. Weld's interest in 1901, this property was held by the trustees of Mary Bryant Pratt Sprague and Isabel Weld Perkins Anderson. It was transferred solely to Mary Bryant Pratt Brandegee in 1907. In 1891, Mary Bryant Pratt had married Charles Franklin Sprague (18571902), a wealthy Boston lawyer who, after his marriage, was said to have been the wealthiest man to serve in Congress. In 1904, Mary (called by the New York Times "one of the richest young widows in the country") married Edward Deshon Brandegee, a wholesale clothing manufacturer from Utica, New York. Mary Brandegee retained the 305 Broadway property until 1920.
The Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association
The original principal tenant of the Weld Estate's office building at 305 Broadway was the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association, which signed a 40-year lease for its home office that officially began on June 1, 1894. The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported in January 1892 that the rent would be "on a per cent basis of the total cost of the building, together with a percentage of the valuation -- $500,000 we believe -- of the land." According to an 1894 report, Mutual Reserve had contributed $408,297 towards the lease and the building's construction and furnishing. William H. Hume, the architect selected to design their headquarters, was listed as a director of the Association in an obituary.
Incorporated in 1875 and launched in 1881 with the intention of offering life insurance at cost, the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association was called by King's Handbook of New York in 1892 "the largest purely mutual natural-premium life-association in the world." Offering reduced premiums that allowed many people to be able to afford the cost of insurance, Mutual Reserve became one of the largest and most popular life insurance companies, with branches in Canada and Europe. The Association was previously located in the Potter Building on Park Row, and its founder and president was Edward Bascom Harper (1842-1895), who was succeeded in 1895 in the new building by Frederick A. Burnham. In 1892, the firm had $225 million worth of insurance coverage "in force", and by 1895 its coverage rose to $300 million.
Reports began to circulate by 1896, however, about a significant decrease in business, the depletion of reserves, rapid losses due to death benefit payouts, and excessive executive salaries, and the affairs of the Association were under investigation for several years. In 1902, the firm was re-incorporated as the Mutual Reserve Life Insurance Co., a "purely mutual life insurance institution" and New York's third largest. Complaints continued about the company's solvency, and after further investigations, indictments were made against Mutual Reserve's president and vice-president. The lease at 305 Broadway was renewed in 1908 at $60,000 a year, but the company was placed under receivership that year, then-president Archibald C. Haynes filed for bankruptcy, and former president Burnham was found dead, a possible suicide. The Mutual Reserve Life Insurance Co. was fully defunct by 1911.
The Mutual Reserve Building
Plans for the 13-story (plus basement) Mutual Reserve Building were filed by architect William H. Hume in June 1892, to cost an estimated $730,000. Construction began at the end of that month, but was ultimately greatly delayed due to steel and granite strikes. The builder, the eminent Richard Deeves, stated that "the Mutual Reserve Building... was about a year and a half under construction, but then we lost at least eight months in consequence of the strike at the Carnegie Iron and Steel Works." The Mutual Reserve Building was steel cage framed: the prominent consulting structural engineer, Frederick H. Kindl chief engineer of the Carnegie Steel Co., wrote that "this method of construction, that is, using steel beams and columns for framework, and supporting the walls at each floor level, has only of late been introduced extensively. ... Mutual Reserve Building... [is] of similar construction...." The stone contractor, Hanlein & Co., also executed the extensive Romanesque style ornamental carving. Dedicated on June 14, 1894, the building was officially completed in September.
Hume's design for the Mutual Reserve Building was comparable to, and undoubtedly influenced by, architect R.H. Robertson's first tall commercial structure completed two years earlier, the nine-story Lincoln Building (1889-90), 1-3 Union Square West. The architectural vocabulary of both buildings was influenced by the Richardsonian Romanesque style, named after one of America's greatest architects, Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886), who created an American interpretation of the Romanesque based on French and Italian prototypes. His Trinity Church (187377), Boston, as well as his many libraries and other buildings, firmly established Richardson's professional reputation and launched the popularity and influence of the style.
Following Richardson's precedent, many architects employed it in the 1880s and 90s for a wide variety of building types, ranging from mansions to courthouses, university structures, and railroad stations, and including some tall office buildings. The style was characterized by its appearance of massiveness and such features as rockfaced masonry and round-arched fenestration. In this period, as architects in New York City were still grappling with appropriate ways to design tall office structures and early skyscrapers, two features were commonly employed: multiple-story arcades on facades, and a tripartite base-shaft-capital arrangement associated with the classical column. The designs of both the Lincoln and Mutual Reserve Buildings merged these features through a horizontal layering of sections (an effect criticized by some contemporary architectural critics).
The Mutual Reserve Building's two designed granite- and limestone-clad facades are arranged with a six-story base, with arcades up to the fifth story, and rusticated piers; a six-story planar mid-section; and a one-story rusticated upper section with an arcade of windows and a tall balustraded parapet. Intricate Romanesque style foliate carving appears on such areas as the arches, column capitals, and cornices. King's Handbook (1892) had speculated that the proposed structure "will be one of the finest office-buildings in the city... the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association... is contributing a masterpiece of architecture to its artistic aspect." An observer at the New York Herald-Tribune in November 1893 expounded on the "model new office building" and its amenities:
The handsome new building of the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association... has aroused the admiration of all who have seen it. ... The exterior of the building is of a dignified and attractive Romanesque style of architecture. The material employed is Indiana limestone, which has given a rich architectural effect. The building is one of the best types of the new steel buildings, and is built in the most substantial manner. It is, in fact, a tremendous steel frame inclosed in a handsome stone casing, while the partitions and floors are of fire-proof brick. ... The building is provided with every convenience that skill and modern invention can give. Four swift-running Otis elevators will give the most rapid communication between the highest and lowest parts of the building. The offices will be heated by steam and lighted by electricity throughout, while the plumbing, ventilating and sanitary arrangements have received the most careful study. The unusually desirable situation of this building has enabled the architect, William H. Hume, to make all the offices light and well ventilated from the street, while large courts give good light to the other rooms in the building. All the windows of the building are the largest size.
After its completion, the New York Times in 1895 touted "this massive and impressive structure" as "an instance of genuinely fire-proof construction" that "closely approached the ideal of safe construction," while the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1897) noted that "towering above all the other buildings in its vicinity, its stately walls fittingly represent the solidity and permanence of the business for which it was erected." Mutual Reserve's slogan, "Founded Upon a Rock," seemed to mimic the solid Romanesque style of its home office. The firm occupied the second through fourth stories.
Not only is the Mutual Reserve Building one of New York City's most significant examples of a tall office building designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style, the structure is also notable as a survivor among the 19th-century insurance industry buildings along Broadway in
this vicinity, which also include the Home Life Insurance Co. Building (1892-94, Napoleon le Brun & Sons), No. 256, and New York Life Insurance Co. Building (1894-99, Stephen Decatur Hatch with McKim, Mead & White), No. 346.
Architect: William H. Hume
William Henry Hume (1834-1899), born in New York City, began an architectural practice here in 1855. Examples of his early commercial work in contemporary styles may be seen at 62 and 66 Perry Street (1866); 53 Lispenard Street (1867-68); 313 Church Street (1868-70); and 83-87, 89, and 66 Grand Street (1872, 1877, 1885), in the Greenwich Village, SoHo-Cast Iron, and Tribeca East Historic Districts. By the 1880s, Hume was receiving some highly noteworthy commercial and institutional commissions, including: the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society Asylum (1881-84; demolished), Broadway and West 136th Street; B. Altman Store addition (1887), 615-629 Sixth Avenue; Hotel Normandie (1887; demolished), Broadway and 38th Street; Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank (1887-89; demolished), 49-51 Chambers Street; Masonic Home and School (c. 1890; demolished), Utica, New York; H.C.F. Koch & Co. Store (1890-91), 132-140 West 125th Street; North River Savings Bank (1892; demolished), 266 West 34th Street; and Lotus Club (1893; demolished), 556 Fifth Avenue.
Hume designed William Waldorf Astor's 17-story New Netherland Hotel (1891-93; demolished), Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, touted as the world's tallest hotel at the time and an early steel cage-framed structure. The firm of William H. Hume & Son, formed in 1894 with Frederick Thomas Hume (1859-1934), was responsible for the Scotch Presbyterian Lecture Hall (1895; demolished), Central Park West and 95th Street; First Church of Christ Scientist (1896; demolished), 137 West 48th Street; Spingler Building (1896-97), 5 Union Square West; and Simpson, Crawford & Simpson Co. Store (1900-02), 635-649 Sixth Avenue. The firm continued until around 1910. The Mutual Reserve Building was one of the Hume's finest commissions and is his most important extant work.
Builder Richard Deeves and Consulting Engineer Frederick H. Kindl
The builder of the Mutual Reserve Building, Richard Deeves (1837-1919), was born in Dublin, Ireland, came to the United States in 1850, apprenticed as a mason with George S. Dixon, and soon became a builder, establishing his own firm in 1869. An early specialty was gasworks structures. He was responsible for the construction of countless notable residences, commercial buildings, and skyscrapers, examples of which included the Temple Court Building (1881-83, Silliman & Farnsworth), 3-9 Beekman Street (where he maintained an office); Randall Memorial Chapel and Music Hall (1890-92, Robert W. Gibson; chapel demolished), Sailors' Snug Harbor, Staten Island; and the Manhattan Life Insurance Co. Building (1893-94, [Francis H.] Kimball & [G. Kramer] Thompson, with engineer Charles Sooysmith; demolished), 64-66 Broadway. Richard Deeves & Son, with J[ohn]. Henry Deeves, "mason builders and general contractors," was formed by 1895. One of its projects was the American Seamen's Friend Society Sailors' Home and Institute (1907-08, William A. Boring), 505-507 West Street. Richard Deeves had his office in the Mutual Reserve Building from its completion until at least 1914.
Frederick Henry Kindl (1863-1914), born in Austria, immigrated to the United States as a boy in 1873, and graduated from the Case School of Applied Science (1884), Cleveland. After working as an engineer in Chicago for several years, he moved to Pittsburgh, where he became Structural and Chief Engineer of the Carnegie Steel Co. Kindl is considered one of the seminal
pioneers of the American steel-framed tall building and skyscraper, a field in which he specialized as a consulting engineer nationally.
The Tall Office Building in New York City in the 1880s-90s
During the 19th century, commercial buildings in New York City developed from four-story structures modeled on Italian Renaissance palazzi to much taller skyscrapers. Made possible by technological advances, tall buildings challenged designers to fashion an appropriate architectural expression. Between 1870 and 1890, nine- and ten-story buildings transformed the streetscapes of lower Manhattan between Bowling Green and the City Hall area. During the building boom following the Civil War, building envelopes continued to be articulated largely according to traditional palazzo compositions, with mansarded and towered roof profiles.
Beginning in the later 1870s, tall buildings were characterized by flat roofs and a free, varied grouping of stories, often in the form of multi-storied arcades, within the facades. The period of the late 1870s into the 1890s was also one of stylistic experimentation in which commercial and office buildings in New York incorporated diverse influences, such as the Queen Anne, Victorian Gothic, Romanesque, and neo- Grec styles, French rationalism, and the German Rundbogenstil, under the leadership of such architects as Richard M. Hunt and George B. Post. Beginning around 1890, architects began producing tall building designs that adhered to the tripartite base-shaft-capital arrangement associated with the classical column, a scheme that became commonly employed in New York.
New York's early tall buildings -- including the seven-and-one-half-story Equitable Life Assurance Co. Building (1868-70, Gilman & Kendall and George B. Post) at Broadway and Cedar Street, the ten-story Western Union Building (1872-75, George B. Post) at Broadway and Liberty Street, and the ten-story Tribune Building (1873-75, Richard M. Hunt) on Park Row (all now demolished) -- incorporated passenger elevators, iron floor beams, and fireproof building materials. Fireproofing was of paramount concern as office buildings grew taller, and by 1881-82 systems had been devised to "completely fireproof' them. Cage construction, employed in the 1880s in tall buildings in New York and Chicago, was characterized by the Record and Guide as
a frame work of iron or steel columns and girders which carry the floors only, and do not carry the outer walls. In the cage construction the outer walls are independent walls, from the foundation to the extreme top, sustaining themselves only, and therefore, the walls are made less in thickness than if they had to bear the floors as in ordinary buildings such walls would have to do.
Ever taller skyscrapers were permitted by the increasing use and refinement of the metal skeleton frame, in which the metal columns and girders support both the floors and the outer (curtain) walls. In addition, several hybrid structural forms were used in tall buildings, such as the combination of both masonry and metal for interior vertical supports.
In 1888-89, New York architect Bradford Lee Gilbert used iron skeleton framing for the first seven stories of the 11-story Tower Building at 50 Broadway (demolished). As steel skeleton framing was adopted for tall buildings in New York, architects and engineers introduced caisson foundations which carried the weight of the skeleton frame down to bedrock. Kimball & Thompson's seminal 17-story (plus tower) Manhattan Life Insurance Co. Building (1893-94, with engineer Charles Sooysmith; demolished) was the tallest building yet constructed in the city and is credited with being the first skyscraper with a full iron and steel frame, set on pneumatic concrete caissons.
This was followed by the American Surety Co. Building (1894-95, Bruce Price, also with Sooysmith), 100 Broadway, which was the first New York skyscraper with a full steel frame, set on pneumatic concrete caissons. The cage-framed Mutual Reserve Building utilized the successful design and construction techniques of its predecessors, just prior to the full development of the skyscraper. It is interesting to note that, while the Mutual Reserve Building was nearing completion, the building committee of the American Surety Co. visited the structure and expressed the intention to construct something similar.
Other Early Tenants
The Arkwright Club, for drygoods merchants, was one of the earliest Mutual Reserve Building tenants, having signed a lease in 1893 for one of the top stories at $90,000 (to 1899). Undoubtedly drawn to the location nearby the then-center of New York's publishing and newspaper industries, the Mutual Reserve Building drew a number of firms and organizations associated with the publishing and paper trades, such as Hubbell Publishing Co. (c. 1894-1915), West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co. (1894-1909), Hollingsworth & Whitney Co., paper manufacturer (c. 1899-1911), Marcus S. Bulkley, paper buyer (1901), American Paper & Pulp Association (c. 1906-08), and Stationers Association ofNew York (c. 1907-11). Other tenants included the Co-Operative Building Bank (1894), Spanish Benevolent Society of New York (c. 1896-1902), Mutual Mercantile Agency (pre-1901), Miller Bros. Cutlery Co., pocket cutlery and pens (c. 1903-15), and Hapgoods, "National Organization of Brain Brokers" (c. 1905-14).
The Langdon Building and Later Ownership History and Tenants
By 1909, with the demise of the Mutual Reserve company, No. 305-309 Broadway was renamed the Langdon Building, most likely after the owner's son, the stockbrocker John Langdon Brandegee. In 1920, the Times announced the purchase of the property (from Mary Brandegee) for about $2 million by the Broadway-John Street Corp. (Elias A. Cohen, president), which intended to remodel it to lease as "high-grade offices for lawyers" who, according to the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, "are being crowded out of the financial district by the insistent demand from banks and business concerns willing to pay rentals which are prohibitive to lawyers." Lawyer tenants already in the building formed the Office Tenants League to protest eviction and expected exorbitant rents. The building was transferred in 1921 to a group of investors that included Isidor and Charlotte Mishkind, Fred and Cecilia Mishkind Broverman, Joachim S. Van Wetzel, Warren and Marguerite Watson, and Edward J. and Beatrice Lewis. In 1923, the central auxiliary entrance on Broadway was removed (Schwartz & Gross, architects). The building was conveyed in 1940 to the Downtown Renting Co. (Elias A. Cohen, president) and in 1945 to the Broaduane Corp. (Elias A. Cohen, president).
Two authors mentioned the building's unsavory reputation within the legal profession, one referring to it as "the 'Den of Forty Thieves,' reflecting the appearance... and the snobbish opinion of lawyers located elsewhere on lower Broadway... [and] because the structure was regarded as a law office slum." The other called the building one of the centers in the 1920s of the faked American "personal injury underworld." Various other tenants included Herman J. Hegt, Inc., metals dealer (c. 1919-20); George F. Hardy, mill architect and consulting engineer (c. 1914-20); Lithographers International Protective and Beneficial Association of the United States & Canada (c.
1914-15); Earle E. Liederman/ Progressive Exerciser Co., one of America's early physical culture mail-order businesses (1922-30); Wall Street Synagague (1929); and Jewish Forum Association, publisher of The Jewish Forum (1944). By 1950, the building began to house a number of state government agencies.
In 1957, the property was conveyed to the 305 Broadway Co. (Sylvan Lawrence and Seymour Cohn, partnership), and was purchased in 1959 by Broadway Duane Associates (Louis and Joseph Lefkowitz, general partners) and leased back to the 305 Broadway Co. The building was transferred in 1969 to the 305 Broadway Corp. (Louis Lefkowitz, president), then in 1975 back to the 305 Broadway Co., which merged the lease and fee of the property. It was owned in 1980 by 305 Broadway, Limited Partnership (Herman Abbott, president, of Abbott Corp., general partner), and since 1982 by Reade Broadway Associates. The former Mutual Reserve Building has housed a number of New York City agencies, including the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (1967-80) as its first long-term home.
Description
Historic: 13-story (plus basement) corner Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style office building clad in granite and limestone on main facades, with carved foliate ornament; six-story base, with arcades up to the fifth story, and rusticated piers; six-story planar mid-section; one-story rusticated upper section with arcade of windows and tall balustraded parapet; paired windows on Broadway and end bays on Duane Street, and tripartite windows on the rest of Duane Street facade, divided by stone piers, columns, or colonnettes; small rectangular windows inserted at top of building (1909, William H. Hume & Son)
Alterations: shopfronts (originally single-pane glass with bulkheads and sign bands), signage, and rolldown gates; two-story main Broadway entrance (originally elaborately ornamental with round-arched entrance) re-built in flattened form, with rectangular entrance and transom, non- historic doors, and rectangular second-story window bay (c. 1923); two-story central auxiliary Broadway entrance (originally with steps and round-arched transom) eliminated and replaced with shopfront and rectangular second-story window bay (1923); windows with anodized aluminum sash (originally one-over-one double-hung wood sash)
Western and Northern Side Elevations: unarticulated brick cladding, pierced by windows
- From the 2011 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
This is my personal redesign of the midi-scale Imperial-Class Star Destroyer featured in the new Executor SSD set, which I wasn't the most impressed with. Until LEGO makes a modified plate with slope that's 1 stud shorter, this is as good as I can do to "upgrade" this design, but I'm still happy with it.
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While waiting for 75356 to come back in stock on LEGO.com, I've challenged myself to design some ships to go alongside it, all to scale. Here's the first batch of ships, but I'll likely check back here with some more designs soon!
I don't know if he's one of my forebears but if we are related I'm pleased to say I have not inherited his thirst for Irish blood. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Denny_%28soldier%29
humphrysfamilytree.com/Denny/sir.edward.governor.html
Inscription on the Denny Tomb at Waltham Abbey
An epitaph upon ye death of ye Right Worthie Sir Edward Denny sonn of ye Rt Hon Sr Anthony Denny, Counsellor of Estate and Executor to King Henry VIII and of Joan Champion his wife, who beinge of Queen Elizabeth’s private Chamber and one of ye Counsell of Munster in Ireland was governor of Kerry and Desmonde, and Colonell of certain Irishe Forces there; Departed this life about ye 523 yere of his age ye XIIthe of February 1599. He is offered to ye view and consideration of ye Discrete reader a spectacle of pietie and Pittie, the Pittie kindly proceeding from a vertuous Ladie, daughter of Pierce Edgecombe of Mounte Edgecombe, Esquier, and sumtime Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth, hath out of meane fortune but no meane affection produced this monument dedicate to the remembrance of her deare husband.
The pitie must inwardly be conveyed and considered in ye person of ye dead carkeys here interred cut off like a pleasunt fruite before perfect ripeness. This weorthie knight here represented, religious, wise, just, liberal, right valiant, most active, Learning’s friend, Pride’s foe, kindly, loving mutch beloved, was honoured with ye dignitie of knighthood by due deserte in ye field, in which Bedd of Honor hee willingly would have ended his dayes, but it pleased his most Merciful Redeemer to bringe him to his grave in Christian Peace, yet so farr condescended to his honourable desire yt in his countree’s service he tooke his deadlie sickness. If ye times [most happily flourishing under gratious Astraea] had been answerable to his heroicall designes without all doubt hee could not have had [according to ye strange Italian proverb] “ his beake greater than his wings.” I finally refer inquisitive searchers into men’s fame to ye true Report even of he most malitious; and recommend ye gallant pattern of his life, together with his repentant Patience and assured faith at ye point of Death to his owne and all posterytie.
1559 Thomas Grey and wife Anne widow of Sir William Cave, daughter of Sir Ralph Verney of Pendley Manor, Tring by 1st wife Margery Iwardby flic.kr/p/fFxqbw
Thomas was 1st son of Edward Grey 1529 and 1st wife Joyce daughter of John Horde / Hoorde of Bridgnorth (grand daughter of Thomas Hoorde and Joyce Stapleton)
His sister Elizabeth Clopton was the mother of William Clopton at Stratford www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/278wNZ
Children:
1. Catherine m Walter son of Sir Thomas Blount of Sodington and Catherine Stanford
2. Eleanor m William son of Richard Cave of Pickwell by Barbara Fielding / Feilding
3. John m Jane daughter of Simon Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt by Mary daughter of Sir Edward Aston of Tixhall
4. Edward
5. George m Joyce daughter of Thomas Levenson of Wolverhampton d1595 and Mary daughter of Judge Robert Brooke / Broke www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/2146208326/
6. Elizabeth m William son of Francis Cockayne and Dorothy Marrow
7. Robert
8. Son
9. Margaret
10. Daughter.
11. Jane
Although Thomas was not a minor when his father died, an enfeoffment compelled him to wait until he was 29 before he could inherit lands in Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and elsewhere: Sadly also his father died heavily in debt and only bequeathed him £50 towards the redemption of a chain !.
Although he was nominated for the position of sheriff of Staffordshire in 1535, he never achieved any local office Although probably a Catholic himself , this did not stop him, as with others, acquiring former chantry property in Enville and Kinver and his becoming MP in Mary Tudor's parliament of 1554 was possibly due to his link with the catholic Giffards:
His Will of December 1559, 9 days before his death, divided his property into 3 parts; one was to pass immediately to his heir John who was 19 years old, another to remain with his wife for her life, and the third to be held by his executors, his kinsmen Francis Kynaston and Bassett Fielding, until the conditions of the will had been performed. The executors were empowered to sell whatever was necessary, the chantry in Enville being specified for disposal. Much of his lands here were leased to Rowland Shakerley, a London mercer,
Thomas' nephew Thomas Mytton (son of his sister Anne) is at Acton Scott www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/2187413424/
Panorama school photograph taken in 1968 when I was by now in the Seventh Form (we didn't bother with any pretentious "Lower" and "Upper" Sixth nonsense). Another "where are they all now" moment. One, at the time of this photograph already gone up to Oxford, is a Member of Parliament, another an author, a third was a member of the famous "Pontypool Front Row" (None are me!)
This picture is taken on the sports field/cricket pitch in front of the school, the "New Building" in the background.
Jones' West Monmouthshire Grammar School for Boys was opened in 1898 from a legacy left by the Haberdasher William Jones on land craftily donated by Squire Hanbury to win over the executors who were looking for a site for a new school. The school was run by the Haberdashers, the school badge being their crest, until 1954 when it was taken over by Monmouthshire County Council as a Grammar School under the 1944 Education Act. In 1958, boarding ceased at the school ending the distinction between "boarders" and "day boys". In 1980 the school became a comprehensive, shed the school badge and tie link to the Haberdashers, and, shock horror, became co-ed!
Margaret Brent (c. 1601 – c. 1671), an English immigrant to the Colony of Maryland, was the first woman in the English North American colonies to appear before a court of the Common Law. She was a significant founding settler in the early histories of the colonies of Maryland and Virginia. Lord Calvert, Governor of the Maryland Colony, appointed her as the executor of his estate in 1647, at a time of political turmoil and risk to the future of the settlement. She helped ensure soldiers were paid and given food to keep their loyalty to the colony.
With Anne Hutchinson, Brent ranks among the most prominent women figures in early Colonial American history. Hailed as a feminist by some in modern times in advancing rights of women under the laws, her insistent advocacy of her legal prerogatives as an unmarried gentlewoman of property, while notable in its exceptional energy, was consistent with English law.
Speedyshare download:
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Update yourself in other download links @ Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pages/Denuke/196045150421764
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Thanks to eslphotos for the great photos :)
Title: The White's Bush area, four miles southwest of Aylmer, was officially turned over to the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority in a $125,000 transaction carried out in January 1964 at the Elgin County Registry Office in St. Thomas. The 420-acre tract of land was purchased from the estate of the late Fred White and would be developed into a provincial park. It was hoped that the area would be open to the public the following summer. Completing the transfer, are left to right, standing: E. Stewart Graham, Q.C., lawyer for the White estate; Allan Anderson, manager of the Ontario-Provincial Savings office of Aylmer; C. J. Heeney, timber supervisor for the Department of Lands and Forests, Lake Erie Branch. Seated, W. G. Eastman, executor of the estate; Ward McKenna, chairman of the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority, and Ted White, secretary-treasurer. Jason and Brian White, vice-presidents of Steelway Building Systems, are descendents of the White family who owned this land. Steelway Building Systems celebrated their 35th anniversary in October 2011.
Creator(s): St. Thomas Times-Journal
Bygone Days Publication Date: October 18, 2011
Original Publication Date: January 23, 1964
Reference No.: C9 Sh3 B1 F1 1
Credit: Elgin County Archives, St. Thomas Times-Journal fonds
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius"
Gonville and Caius is the fourth-oldest college at the University of Cambridge and one of the wealthiest. The college has been attended by many students who have gone on to significant accomplishment, including twelve Nobel Prize winners, the second-most of any Oxbridge college (after Trinity College, Cambridge).
The college was first founded, as Gonville Hall, by Edmund Gonville, Rector of Terrington St Clement in Norfolk in 1348, making it the fourth-oldest surviving college. When Gonville died three years later, he left a struggling institution with almost no money. The executor of his will, William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, stepped in, transferring the college to the land close to the college he had just founded, Trinity Hall, and renamed it The Hall of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, endowing it with its first buildings.
By the sixteenth century, the college had fallen into disrepair, and in 1557 it was refounded by Royal Charter as Gonville and Caius College by the physician John Caius. John Caius was master of the college from 1559 until shortly before his death in 1573. He provided the college with significant funds and greatly extended the buildings.
By 1630, the college had expanded greatly, having around 25 fellows and 150 students, but numbers fell over the next century, only returning to the 1630 level in the early nineteenth century. Since then the college has grown considerably and now has one of the largest undergraduate populations in the university.
The college first admitted women as fellows and students in 1979. It now has nearly 100 fellows, over 700 students and about 200 staff.
Gonville and Caius is the third wealthiest of all Cambridge colleges with an estimated financial endowment of £115m and net assets of £140.5m in 2006.
The University of Cambridge (informally known as Cambridge University or simply as Cambridge) is a public research university. It is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world (after the University of Oxford), and the fourth-oldest surviving university in the world. In post-nominals the university's name is abbreviated as Cantab, a shortened form of Cantabrigiensis (an adjective derived from Cantabrigia, the Latinised form of Cambridge).
On the left of this picture is the facade of the Senate House again part of the University of Cambridge is now used mainly for degree ceremonies. It was formerly also used for meetings of the Council of the Senate. The building, which is situated in the centre of the city between King's and Gonville and Caius Colleges, was designed by Sir James Burrell and built in 1722–1730 by architect James Gibbs in a neo-classical style using Portland stone. The ceremony to lay the first stone was performed by Thomas Crosse, then Vice-Chancellor, on June 22, 1722. The site was previously used for houses, which were purchased by an Act of Parliament, dated June 11, 1720. It was officially opened in July 1730, although the western end was not completed until 1768.
This view is seen from the historical street of King's Parade which is a in central Cambridge. The street continues north as Trinity Street and then St John's Street, and south as Trumpington Street. It is a major tourist area in Cambridge, commanding a central position in the University of Cambridge area of the city. It is also a place frequented by many cyclists, as can be seen here, and by students travelling between lectures during term-time.
King's College is located on the west side of the street, hence the name, and dominates the scene with the east end of its large Chapel on view. Also on the street, just to the north, is the University of Cambridge Senate House, mentioned earlier. This area is known as Senate House Hill. Opposite the Senate House is Great St Mary's, the historic University Church.
Thanks to the Nailbourne project, I now understand how the communities and landscape fots in along its length, though that a bubbling noisy stream can just vanish then appear miles away is very difficult to get your head round. The Nailbourne only fully flows in very wet years, but when it does, the beds that are dry now can be several feet deep.
But downstream of Littlebourne, where the Nailbourne becomes the Little Stour, it is wider, about six feet wide, clogged with reeds and weeds, but also was used to power to large mills. They both stand, one between Littlebourne and Wickhambreaux, and the other in Wickhambreaux itself, though is now just a house But is a large white clapboard building, with a large wheel.
These days, the village looks very prosperous, all grand houses or cottage conversions.
From here, the Little Stour makes its way over the marshes which centuries ago was the Wantsum Channel, so Wickhambreaux was almost a seaside town.
Od that the only features I remembered from my previous visits was the avenue of pollarded trees and the blue ceiling of the roof. Missed was the glorious glass, especially the fine east window, very art deco.
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The interior of this very pretty church is dominated by nineteenth-century work. The whole of the chancel and baptistry is lined with dark brown encaustic tiles, hiding a straightforward fourteenth-century church. The east window is an early example of American Art Nouveau in England, and dominates the entire building. It was designed by Baron Arild Rosenkrantz in 1896. Above the window are stencilled paintings of angels ascending, which can also be seen in the nave, whilst the roof there has a charming star-spangled sky. At the south-west corner is a vestry - screened off by an eighteenth-century screen which may have formed part of the refitting of the chancel paid for by Mary Young. Her monument in the chancel records that 'infirm from her youth she protracted life to the 68th year of her age'. She left £100 for wainscotting and ornamenting the chancel. The interior viewed from the east gives an unusual appearance as the aisles flank the tower (see also Sandhurst).
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Wickhambreaux
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WICKHAM BREAUS
LIES adjoining to Littleborne north-eastward, being usally called Wickham Brook. It is likewise called Wickham by Wingham, to distinguish it from the two other parishes of the same name in this county. In Domesday it is written Wicheham, a name derived from its situation near the banks of the river, which runs close to it. There is only one borough in it, viz. the borough of Wickham, which comprehends the whole parish.
Wickham is a low, flat, and unpleasant situation, and lying so near the marshes cannot but be unhealthy, the land throughout it is in general good and sertile, especially near the village, where the fields are very large and level ground. The village, in number about twenty houses, stands at the south-east boundary of the parish, built round a green, over which the road leads to Ickham, having the church and court-lodge on one side, and the parsonage, a handsome brick house, on the other. At the further end of the green, the Lesser Stour crosses the road, and turns a corn-mill belonging to the manor, beyond it is only one house, called the Stone-house, being built of squared stones and slints in chequers, and by the arched windows and door-ways seems of some antiquity. The parish stretches a good distance northward, as far as Groveferry, the house of which is within it, and the greater Stour river, over a level of about 500 acres of marsh land, which extend from the river into a sinus, with a ridge of upland on each side, to within a quarter of a mile of the village. North eastward from which is the Saperton, formerly the property of the Beakes's, who resided here as early as king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign; it was sold by them to the Furneses, whence it came by marriage, with Copthall, in this parish, to the St. John's, viscounts Bolingbroke, who have lately sold it, but one of the family of Beake, many of whom lie buried in this church, now occupies it. A little beyond this is Newnham, once accounted a manor, formerly belonging to the Ropers, lords Teynham, afterwards to the Bartholomews, then to Joseph Brooke, esq. of Rochester, and now to his devisee the Rev. John Kenward Shaw Brooke, of Town-Malling.—Hence among the marshes is the hamlet of Grove, through which the road leads across them to the right over the lesser Stour, to Wingham, Ash, and the eastern parts of Kent, and to the left by Grove-ferry over the Greater Stour, to the northern part of the country and the Isle of Thanet. There is no other wood in the parish excepting Trendley park. There is no fair.
At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, this place was part of those possessions with which that king had enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux. Accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of his lands:
In Donamesford hundred, the bishop himself holds in demesne Wicheham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is eleven carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and thirty-six villeins, with thirty-two cottagers having nine carucates. There is a church, and one priest who gives forty shillings per annum. There is one park, and two mills of fifty shillings, and two saltpits of thirtytwo pence, and three fisheries of four shillings, and thirtytwo acres of meadow. Pasture for three hundred sheep and for thirty-one beasts. Wood for the pannage of eighty bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, when he received it twenty pounds, now thirty pounds. There belong to this manor in Canterbury three plats of land paying six shillings and eight pence. Alured Biga held it of king Edward. Moreover there belongs to this manor half a suling of free land, which Sired held of Alured Biga, and Goisfrid, son of Badland, now holds it of the bishop of Baieux, and it is and was worth separately sixty shillings.
Four years afterwards the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown, of which this manor appears afterwards to have been held by the Cliffords. Walter, son of Walter de Clifford, possessed it in the reign of king John, and with Agnes de Cundy, his wife, was a good benefactor to St. Augustine's abbey, and that of St. Radigund. (fn. 1) By the marriage of Margaret, daughter and heir of Walter Clifford, with John de Brewse, it passed into that name, and William de Brewse, or de Braiosa, as they were written in Latin, was possessed of it in the 42d year of king Henry III. His descendant William de Brewse, lord of the honour of Brembre, in Sussex, and of Gower, in Wales, as he stiled himself, whose ancestor came into England with the Conqueror, who gave him the castle of Brember, and whose descendant afterwards, by the marriage with Bertha, daughter and one of the coheirs of Milo, earl of Hereford, became possessed of the castles of Brecknock and Gower likewife, and bore for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant, between twelve cross-croslets, or; though I find by the pedigrees of this family, that his ancestors bore Azure, three bars vaire, argent, and gules. He was several times summoned to parliament in king Edward I.'s reign, as was his son of the same name, both in that and Edward II.'s reign, and died possessed of this manor in the 19th year of the latter. Very soon after which it appears, with the church appendant to it, to have come into the possession of Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, half brother to king Edward II. (fn. 2) After which it descended to his brother John Plantagenet, likewife earl of Kent, it being then held of the king in sergeantry. He died anno 26 Edward III. upon which Joane his sister, commonly called the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of Sir Thomas Holand, became his heir, who in her right not only possessed this manor, but became earl of Kent likewise. She afterwards married Edward the black prince, and died in the 9th year of king Richard II. being succeeded in this manor then held in capite, by Thomas Holand, earl of Kent, her son by her first husband, whose two sons, Thomas and Edward, both earls of Kent, and the former created Duke of Surry, in turn succeeded to it, and the latter dying anno 9 Henry IV. his five sisters became his coheirs, and on a partition made between them, Edmund, earl of March, son of Eleanor, late countess of March, the eldest of them became entitled to this manor in his mother's right, being the last earl of March of this family, for he died s. p. in the 3d year of king Henry VI. being then possessed of it. The year after which, Joane, wife of Sir John Gray, appears by the escheat rolls to have been entitled to it; not long after which it became the property of the family of Tibetot, or Tiptoft, as they were usually called, in whom it continued down to John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, who was attainted and beheaded in 1471, anno 10 Edward IV. king Henry being then restored to the crown. He lest an infant son Edward, who, though he was afterwards restored in blood by king Edward IV. yet I do not find that he was ever reinstated in the possession of this manor, which remained in the crown till the reign of king Henry VIII. who granted it, with the advowson of the church, to Sir Matthew Browne, of Beechworth-castle, who in the 22d year of it, passed it away to Lucy, widow of his uncle Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer of England, whose grandson Anthony was, anno I and 2 of Philip and Mary, created viscount Montague, and died possessed of this manor anno 34 Elizabeth, and by his will devised it to his eldest son by his second wife, Sir George Browne, who was of Wickham Breaus, and his grandson Sir George Browne, K. B. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Winifrid, married to Basil Brooks, esq. of Salop, and Eleanor, to Henry Farmer, esq. of Oxfordshire, they joined in the sale of it, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, to Sir H. Palmer, bart. of Wingham, who died possessed of it in 1706, s. p. and by his will devised it to his nephew Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. who died in 1723, and by his will gave it to his natural son Herbert Palmer, esq. who married Bethia, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, who died in 1760, s. p., having devised this manor, with the advowson of the church appendant, to his widow. She afterwards married John Cosnan, esq. who in her right became possessed of it, and died in 1778, s. p. leaving her furviving, upon which she again became entitled to the possession of it, and continued owner of it till her death in 1797, on which it came to her nephew Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.
Trendley park, now accounted a manor of itself, is situated at the north-west boundary of this parish, being entirely separated from the rest of it by that of Littleborne intervening. It was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and is noticed in the survey of Domesday, in the description of the manor of Wickham above recited, in which it is mentioned as being then a park; and it should seem that at least part of it was then accounted as appurtenant to that manor; though in the description of the manor of Littleborne, in the same survey, which then belonged to the abbey of St. Augustine, it appears that the bishop had lands belonging to that manor too lying within his park here. Of this manor the bishop of Baieux has in his park as much land as is worth sixty shillings, says the record. In part of the recompence for which, the bishop seems to have given the abbot the manor of Garwinton, in Littleborne, and other land within the manor of Leeds, as may be seen by the entries of both these manors in the same record. Soon after which there was another exchange of land made between the bishop and archbishop Lanfranc, for some which lay within his park of Wikeham. What is remarkable in this instrument is, that it is given in two languages, in Saxon and Latin, but neither is a translation of the other, for both are originals, as was a frequent custom of that time. Appendant to it is the bishop's seal in wax, representing him on one side on horseback, with his sword and spurs, as an earl, and on the other habited as a bishop, with his pastoral staff; being perhaps the only seal of Odo at this time extant. (fn. 3) By all which it appears, that this park is much more antient than that of Woodstock, which has been accounted the first inclosed park in England. How long it continued an inclosed park, I have no where found; but in the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign it was not so, as appears by the escheat-rolls of the 3d year of it, after the death of Edmund, earl of March, at which time there were two hundred acres of wood in it. He was lord of the manor of Wickham, and Trendley park was chiefly at that time certainly appurtenant to it, and continued so whilst in the possession of the same owners, which it did most probably till the attainder of John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, in the 10th year of king Edward IV. when they both came into the hands of the crown, and though king Henry VIII. afterwards granted the manor of Wickham to Sir Matthew Browne, yet I do not find that Trendley park was granted with it. From which time it has had separate owners. For some time it has been the property of the family of Denne, who continue at this time the owners of it. It lies in an unpleasant, lonely part of the parish, facing Westbere, and consists of three hundred acres of woodland, and a house called the Park-house. There is a high road through the middle of it from Stodmarsh to Canterbury market, which in king Edward II.'s reign, was attempted to be shut up, but the sheriff, with the posse comitatus, was ordered to open it again, as being an antient and allowed high road.
Charities.
Andrew Holness, of Seton, in Ickham, by will in 1554, gave to the poor 2s. in money and bread, to be distributed yearly; the churchwardens to take so much yearly out of his lands in Ickham and Wickham, except his house and garden at Seton, in case his executors did not give the same yearly.
Henry Sloyden, of Wickham Breaus, by will in 1568, gave for the use of the poor and Littleborne, in equal portions, a piece of land containing six acres and a half in the latter parish, called Church-close, which is distributed twice a year by the respective minister and churchwardens, and is of the annual produce of 4l.
John Smith, rector of this parish, by deed in 1656, gave a school-room, and a house and garden for a schoolmaster, in this parish, for teaching the children of it. The master to be chosen from one of his relations in preference, if any such could be found, is vested in the rector and churchwardens of this parish.
Sir Henry Palmer, of Bekesborne, by his will in 1611, gave the sum of 10s. to each of the several parishes of Wickham, Stodmarsh, Littleborne, and five others therein mentioned, to be paid into the hands of the minister and churchwardens yearly, out of his manor and lands of Well-court, at Michaelmas, towards the relief of the poor of each of them.
Thomas Belke, D. D. rector of this parish, by will in 1712, gave 501. for the putting out of five poor children of this parish apprentices.
There are about thirty poor constantly relieved, and casually seventy.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, consists of three isles and one chancel, having at the west end a square tower, in which hang six bells. The church is not large, but is handsome and neat. In the middle isle are several memorials for the Beakes, of Saperton. In the south isle for the Larkins, who lived at Grove, in this parish. In the east window are remains of good painted glass, viz. the arms of Edward the black price and of Mortimer, quartered with Burgh, and a representation of Herod's daughter beheading John the Baptist. In the chancel, on the pavement, is the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription, for Henry Welde, rector, obt. 1420. A gravestone, and monument for Alexander Young, B D. rector of this parish, who rebuilt this parsonage-house, and repaired that of Eastchurch, of which he was vicar likewife, at the expence of 2000l. obt. March 21, 1755. A memorial for John Smith, rector, obt. Oct. 28, 1658. In the church-yard are many headstones, and a tombstone for the family of Beake. In the windows of this church there were formerly many different shields of arms, long since demolished.
This church was always an appendage to the manor, and continues so at this time, Sir Narborough D' Aeth, bart. owner of the manor of Wickham, being the present patron of it.
There was antiently both a rectory and vicarage in this church, which continued till the year 1322, when on a vacancy of the latter, Richard de Newcastle, the rector, petitioned archbishop Walter Reynolds, that they might be consolidated, which was granted, and they have continued in that state to the present time. (fn. 4)
This rectory is valued in the king's books at 29l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 19s. 3d. In 1588 it was valued at 250l. communicants one hundred and sixty-three. In 1640 the same. There are eighteen acres of glebe-land.
The marsh-lands in this parish, within Wickham and Preston valleys, pay a modus of two-pence an acre, and those within Newnham 1½d. only, in lieu of all tithes.
An elephant statue (with a baby on the side opposite of the photographer...) stands in the median of Rachatdamri Road at the intersection of Sarasin Road in Bangkok, Thailand. The northwest corner of Lumphini Park is in the background of the shot. Taken by a Nikon D610 at ISO 400 with a Nikkor 35-135mm ƒ 3.5-4.5 AF lens. (at 135)
If an artistic executor of the sculptor has any copyright objections to this photo, Flickr-mail the poster (in English, please, he doesn't read Thai...) stating that you are such an executor, state the objection(s), and it will be taken down...
While you are contacting the poster anyway, please tell him the name of the sculptor...
Margaret 1489 heiress daughter of Agnes 1465 & John Stock / Stokke / Stokes of Warmington stands next to her husband William Browne 1489 on the south chapel floor in their original place where he asked in his will of 17th February 1489 to be buried .
Wealthy wool merchant of the staple, Mayor, Justice of the Peace, Alderman, Sheriff, Benefactor. Acquired during his lifetime around 200 properties and 10,000 acres of land including the Manor of Lilford He and his brother John 1475 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/B6W946 restored, embellished and enlarged the 13c church of All Saints c1475 after major damage by lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses..
Browne's hospital www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/N8Uh6c , an almshouse in Broad Street adjacent to where he lived and which is still in use today was founded in November 1493 on his instructions after his death by his widow Margaret, Thomas Stokke, clerk, her brother and other executors which was dedicated to pray their souls and also for the Queen, Sir Reynold Bray and wife Katherine, Thomas Stokke and William Elmes,
William who died on 14th April 1489 stands on 2 woolsacks, over his head is his motto "X me spede" (Christ speed me) and at his feet the family crest of a stork on a woolsack. Over Margaret are the words "Dere Lady help at need"
A long inscription translates -
"Since Thou alone art King of kings, Lord of lords
All that is and will be shall be subjected to Thy will
My body entered the earth, but my spirit to Thee
hastens to run. Thou God, accept me,
Who put my hope in Thee, Son of God, gentle Father
and Holy Ghost thundering from on high - accept and receive me, I have sinned, I have done much evil, and rue this
Thou God accept and receive me who is calling out to Thee !
Enter not, Lord, in judgement, unless beforehand
Thou deignest to give me of Thy redeeming grace, which is enough and since for the sake of the salvation of our souls
Thou, King, wast on earth, receive me, my God! "
William was the son of John Browne 1442, wool merchant, and wife Margery / Margaret 1460 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/z1Zb1N
He m Margaret 1489 heiress daughter of Agnes 1465 & John Stock / Stokke / Stokes of Warmington
Children
1. Elizabeth c1441-1511 m John Elmes 1497 of Henley-on-Thames, merchant of the Staple of Calais (parents of Margaret Elmes 1571 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/30591z )
2. Agnes died young
Elizabeth inherited the majority of his wealth and land, estimated to be around 6,000 acres in total and 50 houses (at today’s value worth around £50 million), the balance of land having been endowed to the Alms houses / Hospital. One of the manors inherited by Elizabeth was the Manor of Lilford, which the Elmes family owned until 1711. The wealth of William Browne was thus the basis on which Lilford Hall was built by his grandson and executor William Elmes in 1495, and indeed its' extension in 1635.
www.pegasus-onlinezeitschrift.de/2010_1/erga_1_2010_lamp-...
www.lilfordhall.com/ElmesFamily/William-Browne.asp - Church of All Saints, Stamford Lincolnshire
Heritage Weekend is more than just the Saturday. In fact its more than one weekend. And the website for the weekend listed many intersting places to go, but few in east Kent on the Sunday, but St Margaret's being open was one of them.
So, after we had left St Mildred in Canterbury, we drove up the M2, and then through the usual strip malls and urban spread that is the Medway Towns.
The sat nav took us down narrow streets, across a main road, and up a slight hill, and announced we had arrived.
Nothing churchy leaped out at me.
I thought maybe down the narrow lane in front. It was then I saw the wall.
The wall looked chuchy. And beyond was an early 19th century building that had heritage bunting strung out.
Bingo.
The first view had the tower hidden by a tree, I thought perhaps it didn't have one.
But nearer to the church I could see it did have a tower, an a medieval one at that, it looked like an unhappy coupling.
I was given a very warm welcome, and the history of the church was explained:
the original church was in a ruinous state at the start of the 19th century, and when Army and Naval officers began to have houses built in the area, they wanted a nice fashionable church.
So the nave and chancel were taken down, and the current nave put in its place.
Built before the English Gothic fervour took hold.
The east and west windows have been replaced since the church was built.
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THE PARISH OF ST. MARGARET is of large extent, and contains all the lands without the walls on the south side of the city, that are within the bounds of its jurisdiction. It is stiled in some records, St. Margaret's in Suthgate, (fn. 22) and in those of the city, the Borough of Suthgate. (fn. 23)
There are two streets of houses in this parish, the one called St. Margaret's-street, leading from Bully-hill to the church, and so on to Borstall and Woldham southward; the other at some distance from it called St. Margaret's-bank, being a long row of houses, situated on a high bank at the north-east boundary of the parish, on the south side of the great London road to Dover, between St. Catherine's hospital in Rochester, and the Victualling-office, in Chatham. These houses are within the manor of Larkhill.
THERE are SEVERAL MANORS within the bounds of this parish, the most eminent of which is that of
BORSTALL, which was given to the church of Rochester and bishop Beornmod, in the year 811, by Cænulf, king of Mercia, as three plough lands.
This manor seems to have continued part of the possessions of the church of Rochester, without any interruption, till the time of the conquest. It is thus described in the general survey of Domesday, taken in the year 1080, under the general title of Terra Epi Rovecestre, i. e. the lands of the bishop of Rochester.
In the hundred of Rochester, the same bishop (of Rochester) holds Borchetelle. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was taxed at two sulings, and now for one suling and an half. The arable land is four carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and six villeins with three carucates. There are 50 acres of meadow, and two mills of 20 shillings. In the time of king Edward, and afterwards, it was worth six pounds, and now 10 pounds.
In Rochester the bishop had, and yet has, 24 plats of ground, which belong to Frindsbury and Borstal, his own manors. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, they were worth three pounds, now they are worth eight pounds, and yet they yield yearly 11 pounds and 13 shillings and four-pence.
When bishop Gundulph was elected to this see in the time of the Conqueror, and after the example of his patron, archbishop Lanfranc, separated his own revenues from those of his convent, this manor in the division was allotted to the bishop and his successors.
On a taxation of the bishop of Rochester's manors, in 1255, it appears that the bishop had in the manor of Borstalle one hundred and forty acres of arable, estimated each acre at 4d. forty acres of salt meadow at 8d. each, and fourteen acres of salt pasture, each at 6d. which, with the rents of assise, made the total value of the whole manor 9l. 10s. 3d. the repair of the buildings yearly amounting to twenty shillings. (fn. 24)
This manor still continues in the possession of the bishop of Rochester; but the demesne lands are leased out by him to Mrs. Vade, of Croydon, in Surry.
By the agreement made between John Lowe, bishop of Rochester, and the bailiff and citizens of Rochester, in the 27th year of king Henry VI. concerning the limits of the jurisdiction of the city, according to the charter then lately made to them, this borough and manor of Borstall was declared to be exempt from the precinct of the hundred of Rochester, and the law-day of it, and from all payments, fines, suits forfeitures and amerciaments due on that account, as being within the liberty of the bishop, and his church. (fn. 25)
The monks of Rochester priory had several grants of TYTHES, and other premises made to them within this manor and hamlet.
Robert Ernulf and Eadric de Borstalle, gave the tithes of their lands in Borstalle to the priory, which were confirmed to it by several bishops of Rochester, and others (fn. 26) In which confirmations they are described, as the whole tithe of Borstalle of corn, and two parts of the tithes of the land of Ralph de Borstalle. (fn. 27) Eadric de Hescenden, with his wife and two sons, entered into the society of the monks of this priory, upon condition, that when they died, the monks should say a service for them, as for their brethren; and the monks were to have for ever the tithes of their lands in Borestealle and Freondesberie, but in corn only.
Several parcels of land, &c. lying within the manor or hamlet of Borstall, were likewise at times given to these monks. All these premises continued part of the possessions of the priory till the dissolution of it, in 1549, when they were surrendered into the king's hands, and were settled by him, three years afterwards, on his new founded dean and chapter of Rochester, where they remain at present.
This manor, with others in this neighbourhood, was bound antiently to contribute to the repair of the first pier of Rochester-bridge.
NASHENDEN is a manor in this parish, which lies about three-quarters of a mile south-eastward from Borstall. In the Textus Roffensis it is called Hescenden, and in Domesday, Essedene.
This manor was part of those vast possessions, with which William the Conqueror enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux; accordingly it is thus entered, under the title of that prelate's lands, in the general survey of Domesday:
Rannulf de Columbels holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Essedene. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . . In demesne there is one carucate, and 19 villeins, with three borderers having three carucates. There are three servants, and 8 acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth three pounds, when he received it four pounds, now five pounds. Earl Leuuin held it.
It appears by the red book of the exchequer, that this estate in the reign of king Henry II. was held by Thomas de Nessingden, of Daniel de Crevequer, as one knight's fee of the old feoffment.
In the reign of king Edward I. this manor was become the property of Jeffry Haspale, whose descendant, John de Aspale, for so the name was then spelt, died possessed of Nashenden in the 31st year of that reign, holding it of the king in capite. After which it appears to have come into the name of Basing, and from thence quickly after into that of Charles.
Richard Charles, as appears by the inquisition taken after his death, anno 1 Richard II. died possessed of the manor of Naseden, which he held of the king in capite by knight's service, excepting forty acres of pasture and wood, which he held of the lord Grey, as of his manor of Aylesford; whose nephew, Richard, son of his brother Roger Charles, died possessed of it in the 11th year of that reign, holding it of the king in capite, as of his honor of Peverel and Hagenet, by knight's service.
Nicholas Haut afterwards possessed this manor, in right of his wife Alice, who was a descendant of the above-mentioned family. She held it for the term of her life with remainder to James Peckham, who on her death, in the 1st year of king Henry IV. came into the possession of it. He obtained the king's licence two years afterwards, to give and amortize to the wardens of Rochester-bridge, and their successors, this manor, and also one hundred acres of pasture, with their appurtenances in Ellesford, the manor then being worth yearly, and above all reprises 6l. 13s. 4d. per annum. (fn. 28) Since which it has continued part of the possessions of the wardens and commonalty of the said bridge, for the support and repair of it. The present lessees of this manor are Leonard Bartholemew and Phil. Boghurst, esqrs.
An account of the tithes of this manor will be given, with those of Little Delce in this parish. (fn. 29)
There was a chapel at this place, dependent on the parish church of St. Margaret. (fn. 29)
GREAT DELCE is a manor which, with the estate now called LOWER DELCE, lies on the eastern side of this parish, about half a mile southward from Eastgate, in Rochester. It was formerly called Much Delce and Delce Magna, or Great Delce, and was given by William the Conqueror to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his halfbrother, under the title of whose lands it is thus entered in the general survey of Domesday:
In the lath of Aylesford, in Rochester hundred, the son of William Tabum holds Delce of the bishop (of Baieux). It was taxed at one suling and one yoke. The arable land is . . . . . There is one carucate in demesne, and five villeins having five carucates. There are 12 acres of meadow, wood for the pannage of one bog. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth three pounds, and now 70 shillings. Godric held it of king Edward.
This manor afterwards came into the possession of a family, to which it gave name. Herebert, Gosfrid, and Hugo de Delce possessed it in successive generations. After which it passed to Buckerel, and the heirs of Thomas Buckerel, in the latter end of the reign of king Henry III. held it as two knights fees and a half, of Bertram de Criol. (fn. 30) After which this estate seems to have been separated into parcels, for Geoffry de Haspale held this manor as the fourth part of a knight's fee only, at the time of his death, in the 15th year of king Edward I. as appears by the inquisition taken for that purpose.
The next family who succeeded, as appears by the original deeds of this estate, was that of Molineux, descended from those of Sefton, in Lancashire; but they did not keep possession of it long, for by the evidence of an antient court roll, Benedict de Fulsham was lord of it in the 30th year of king Edward III. His descendant, Richard Fulsham, held it of the king in capite, as the fourth part of a knight's fee, at his death in the 5th year of king Henry V. Soon after which this name seems to have become extinct here; for in the 9th year of that reign, Reginald Love died possessed of it, and his successor held it till the latter end of king Henry VI's reign, when it passed by sale to William Venour, whose arms were, Argent, on a fess sable five escallops or, three and two, and who died possessed of this manor in the 1st year of king Edward IV. After which it was within a few months conveyed by sale to Markham, descended from an antient family of that name in Nottinghamshire, in which name it staid but a very short time before it was sold to Tate, who passed it away to Sir Richard Lee, citizen of London, and grocer, who served the office of lord-mayor in the 39th year of king Henry VI. and the 9th year of king Edward IV. (fn. 31) He was the eldest son of John Lee, of Wolksted, in Surry, and grandson of Symon Lee, who was descended of ancestors in Worcestershire, and bore for his arms, Azure, on a sess cotized or, three leopard's faces gules. He lies buried in the church of St. Stephen, Walbrook, his arms are remaining in East-Grinsted church, and in that of St. Dionis Backchurch, in London, with those of several marriages of his posterity; his son Richard Lee seems to have had this manor of Great Delce by gift of his father during his life-time, and kept his shrievalty at this mansion in the 19th year of the latter reign, his son Richard, who was both of Delce and of Maidstone, left two sons, the youngest of whom, Edward, was archbishop of York, (fn. 32) and the eldest Richard, was of Delce, whose only surviving son, Godfrey, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands to be disgavelled, by the general act passed for this purpose, (fn. 33) after which his descendants continued to reside here for several generations, but Richard Lee, esq. about the latter end of queen Anne's reign, passed away the whole of this estate, excepting the manor, and forty acres of land, to Thomas Chiffinch, esq. of Northfleet, in this county, from which time this seat and estate acquired the name of Lower Delce.
Thomas Chiffinch, esq. died in 1727, and was succeeded by Thomas Chiffinch, esq. his only son and heir, who died without issue in 1775, and by his will bequeathed this, among his other estates, to his niece and heir-at-law, Mary, the daughter of his sister Elizabeth Comyns, who afterwards carried them in marriage to Francis Wadman, esq. of the Hive, in Northfleet, and he is the present possessor of Lower Delce.
THE MANOR OF GREAT DELCE, and the forty acres of land above-mentioned, together with a farm, called King's Farm, continued in the possession of Richard Lee, esq. who died possessed of them in 1724, and his grandson, Richard Lee, esq. of Clytha, in Wales, now possesses this manor; but in 1769, he alienated all the demesnes of it, together with King's farm, to Mr. Sampson Waring, of Chatham, who died possessed of them in 1769, leaving his brother, Mr. Walter Waring, and his sister, Mrs. Smith, of Lower Delce, his executors, who are at this time entitled to the profits of them. The court for the manor of Great Delce has not been held for some years.
The manor is held by castle-guard rent of Rochester castle; but when the mansion and most part of the lands were sold, as above mentioned, from Lee to Chiffinch, the former expressly charged the whole of that rent on the premises bought by Chiffinch, and entirely exonerated that part which he reserved to himself from paying any portion of it.
An account of the tithes of this manor, given to the priory of Rochester, may be seen under the following description of Little Delce manor.
LITTLE DELCE, or DELCE PARVA, now known by the name of UPPER DELCE, is a manor in this parish, situated in the high road between Rochester and Maidstone, somewhat more than a quarter of a mile from the former. This likewise, as well as that of Great Delce, was given by William the Conqueror to his half brother Odo, bishop of Baieux; under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in the book of Domesday:
In Rochester hundred, Ansgotus de Roucestre holds Delce of the bishop (of Baieux). It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is two carucates, and there are in demesne . . . . . . . with one villein, and five borderers, and six servants. There are 12 acres of meadow, and 60 acres of pasture. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, and now, it was, and is worth 100 shillings. Osuuard held it of king Edward.
This estate, on the disgrace of bishop Odo, most probably reverted again into the king's hands; and seems afterwards to have been in the possession of a family, who assumed their name, De Delce, from it, and held it of William de Say, as one knight's fee. (fn. 34)
In the reign of king John, this manor was in the possession of Jeffry de Bosco, a Norman; but when that province was seized by the king of France, the lands of the Normans, in this kingdom, became vested in the crown, by way of escheat or seizure, under the title of, Terra Normanorum; thus the manor of Little Delce was seized by king John, in the 5th year of his reign, who gave it to William de Ciriton, the sheriff, for two hundred pounds, two palfreys, and two gols hawks, (fn. 35) on condition, that if the said Jeffry should return to his allegiance, he should, without delay, again possess the same. (fn. 36) But this never happened, and this manor continued in the desendants of William de Ciriton. Odo de Ciriton died possessed of it it in the 31st year of king Henry III. holding it of the king in capite, by the service of one knight's fee. (fn. 37) This family was extinct here before the middle of the reign of king Edward I. for in the 9th year of that reign, as appears by Kirkby's Inquest. Richard Pogeys held this manor. At the latter end of the reign of king Edward III. it was possessed by the family of Basing, from which name it went into that of Charles. Richard Charles died possessed of the manor of Little Delce, in the 1st year of king Richard II. leaving his brother's sons, Richard and John, his next heirs; the former of whom died possessed of it, anno 11 Richard II. and left a son, Robert Charles, who dying without issue, his two sisters became his coheirs, viz. Alice, married to William Snayth, and Joan to Richard Ormskirk; and on the division of their estates, this manor fell to the share of William Snayth, commonly called Snette, in right of his wife, Alice, the eldest of them. Soon after which, Charles and William Snette, for so the name is spelt in the bridge archives, gave and amortized this manor of Little Delce, of the yearly value of six marcs, above all reprises, to the wardens of Rochester bridge and their successors, for the support and repair of the same. Since which it has acquired the name of Upper Delce, by which it is now only known, and it continues at this time part of the possessions of the wardens and commonalty of the said bridge, for the purposes above mentioned. The present lessees of this manor are Leonard Bartholomew and Philip Boghurst, esqrs.
The tithes of Great and Little Delce, Borstal, and Nashenden, were given, in the time of bishop Gundulph, to the priory of Rochester.
Gosfrid de Delce, together with his wife and children, on their being admitted to be partakers of the benefits received from the prayers of the monks, gave the whole of the tithes of Little Delce, both great and small, to the priory of St. Andrew.
Ansgotus de Rovecestre accepted of the like benefit from the church of St. Andrew, and the monks there, in the time of bishop Gundulph, and gave to the church and monks there, all his tithes, both great and small, of Great Delce, and in like manner the whole of his tithe mill, and of a certain piece of land included within the wall of the monks, towards the south, and five acres of land near Prestefelde, and at their request, gave them, on his death bed, cloathing, and they performed service for him as for a monk.
Uulmer, the tenant of Arnulf de Hesdine, by the advice of Adelold, brother of Baldwin, monk of St. Andrew, accepted the benefit of that society, and gave to it his whole tithe, worth ten shillings yearly. Robert de St. Armand gave his tithes of Neschendene and Borstelle to St. Andrew's priory. These several tithes were confirmed to the priory by various bishops of Rochester; by Theobald, archbishop, and Ralph, prior, and the convent of Canterbury. They remained part of the possessions of the priory till their dissolution in 1540; three years after which they were settled on the new founded dean and chapter of Roter, where they still remain.
The PARISH of St. MARGARET, is Rochester, is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese and deanry of Rochester. The church is situated at the south extremity of St. Margaret's-street; it consists of one nave and two chancels on the south side of much later date than the church. That towards the east end was built and long supported by the family of Lee, of Great Delce, whose remains lie in a large vault under this chancel; but since the alienation of their mansion here, the repair of this part of the fabric has devolved on the parishioners. The chancel, at the east end of the church, belongs to the appropriator, who consequently repairs it. At the west end of the church is a tower, containing five bells; it is entirely covered with ivy to the top of it, which makes a most beautiful and picturesque appearance. Against the east wall, in the south chancel, is the antient bust of a man in robes, with a coronet on his head. (fn. 38) In the reign of king Charles II. a coronet, set round with precious stones, was dug up in this church yard; and the report of the parish has been, that one of our Saxon kings was buried here.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in this church are the following: In the chancel, a brass for Syr James Roberte Preess, obt. Sep. 24, 1540. A monument, arms, Head, impaling quarterly a chevron between three hawks belled or, for Francis Head, esq. eldest son of Sir Richard Head. bart. obt. 1678; he married the only daughter of Sir George Ent. In the north window, Argent. three crosses bottony fitchee sable, and argent on a bend quarterly, an efcallop gules. In a pew, partly in the chancel and partly in the nave, Argent on a bend gules, between two peliers, three swans proper. In the nave, a brass for Tho. Cod. vicar, a benefactor to the steeple of this church, obt. Nov. 1465. In the chancel, south of the rectors, a monument, arms, Argent, a right hand couped sable, impaling Lee, for Thomas Manly, esq the third son and heir of George Manly, of Lach, esq. he married Jane, second daughter of Richard Lee, esq. of Delce, and left one only son and two daughters, obt. 1690. In the east window, arms of Lee, Azure on a fess cotized, or three leopards heads gules. In a chapel, west of the Lee chancel, in the east wall, a bust of a person with a crown on his head, much defaced. (fn. 39)
At the time of bishop Gundulph's coming to the see of Rochester, and for almost a century afterwards, this church or chapel of St. Margaret, for it is frequently mentioned by both names, was accounted only as an appendage to the parochial altar of St. Nicholas in the cathedral, and the one underwent the same changes as the other; (fn. 40) and Walter, bishop of Rochester, in 1147, confirmed the above mentioned parochial altar, together with this church of St. Margaret, which belonged as a chapel to it, to the monks of this priory, and appropriated it to them. This grant was set aside by bishop Gilbert de Glanville, in the beginning of the reign of king Richard I. who not only separated this church from the altar of St. Nicholas, and divested the monks of all manner of right to it; but on the foundation of his hospital at Stroud about the same time, he gave, in pure and perpetual alms, among other premises, this church of St. Margaret to the master and brethren of it, and appropriated it to them, reserving only half a marc yearly to be paid to the priory, in lieu of the oblations which the monks used to receive from it. (fn. 41)
The monks by no means acquiesced in this gift, but seized every opportunity of asserting their right to this church, and after several appeals to the pope from time to time, and confirmation and decrees made in favour of each party, (fn. 42) the dispute seems to have been finally settled in 1255, when the pope adjudged, that this church of St. Margaret, with all its appurtenances, should for the future belong to the prior and chapter of Rochester; accordingly from the above time they kept possession of it.
From the time of bishop Walter's appropriation of the profits of the parochial altar of St. Nicholas, with this church appendant to it, to the prior and convent, to the divesting them of it by bishop Glanville, it is likely, instead of a curate being appointed, the duty of this parish was discharged by some member of the society, as it was probably afterwards, whilst in the possession of the hospital, by one of the priests of that foundation; however, within a few years after the convent recovered the permanent possession of St. Margaret's, a vicar was certainly appointed, for William Talevez occurs by that title in 1272.
The vicars seem to have had only a yearly stipend from the convent for their pains, for more than a century afterwards; but in 1401, the prior and chapter came into a composition with the vicar for the endowment of this church; in which they agreed, that the vicar and his successors should for the future have, for their maintenance, and the support of the burthens therein mentioned, a mansion with its appurtenances, to be assigned for the vicarage of it, and the accustomed and entire altarage of it, and all the small tithes of the three manors of Nessenden and Great and Little Delce, and of all goods and lands, except the tithes of mills, within the parish, and except the tithes, great, small, and mixed, arising from the lands, cattle, and other things belonging to the religious; and that he and his successors should have three quarters of wheat with three heaps, and three quarters of barley with three heaps, to be taken yearly at their barn, at the times therein mentioned, and the tithes of sheaves, which should arise in gardens not cultivated with the plough; and that the vicar and his suc cessors, content with the above portion, should not demand any thing further of the religious or their successors; and further, that he and they should undergo, at their own proper costs and charges, the burthens of repairing, maintaining, and new building, as often as need should be, the buildings, with their appurtenances, and all other things belonging to the said mansion, with its appurtenances, as well as all things belonging to the celebration of divine services, and the administration of the sacraments and sacramentals to the parishioners, and the finding of bread and wine, lights, books, vestments, and other ornaments necessary to the celebration of divine services, which of custom or right ought to belong to the secular rectors of this church; and also the procurations and subsidies, according to the taxation of his and their portion; but all other things whatsoever, belonging or which in future should belong to this church, as well as all tithes whatsoever, arising or to arise from the lands and possessions of the prior and convent within the parish, even though they should be let or sold to laymen, they the said prior and convent should take and have, who should likewise maintain and repair the chancel, except as before excepted, at their own proper costs and charges. Notwithstanding the stipulation of the vicar for himself and his successors, not to require any increase of their portion from the prior and convent, Edmund Harefelde, vicar of this church, did not consider this clause as obligatory upon him; for in 1488, he petitioned the bishop for an augmentation of his vicarial portion, who decreed, that the vicar and his successors should yearly receive, as the portion of his vicarage, from the prior and convent, five marcs in money; and out of the tithes and profits of this church, appropriated to the prior and convent, four quarters of wheat with four heaps, and four quarters of barley with four heaps, to be taken yearly at their barns of the Upper court, in Harreat, with liberty of entry and distress on the parsonage on non-payment; and he decreed, that the endowment of the vicarage, over and above the portion above mentioned, should be as follows, that the vicar for the time being should have the mansion of the vicarage of this church, with the garden adjoining, for his habitation, which they used to have of old time there, and then had; and all manner of oblations whatsoever within the bounds of the parish, and all manner of tithes whatsoever, as of hay, lambs, wool, mills, calves, chicken, pigs, geese, ducks, eggs, bees, honey, wax, cheese, milk, the produce of the dairy, flax, hemp, pears, apples, swans, pidgeons, merchandizes, fisheries, pastures, onions, garlics, and saffrons whatsoever arising and coming; and also the tithes of sheaves in gardens, whether cultivated with the plough or dug with the foot, increasing within the parish; and the tithes also of firewood, woods, thorns, silva cedua, as well as of all billets, faggots, and fardels whatsoever, within the limits of the parish; and he further decreed, that the burthens of repairing, amending, and new building the mansion, with every appurtenance belonging to it, and the celebration and ministration of the sacraments and the sacramentals to the parishioners, of the finding of bread and wine, and lights to the church, either of right or custom due, should belong to and be borne by the vicar and his successors, as well as all episcopal burthens of the said church, according to the taxation of his portion. But that the burthen of repairing and amending the chancel of the church, as well within as without, as also the finding and repairing of books, vestments, and other ornaments, for the celebration of those divine rights, which of old, either by right or custom, belonged to the rectors of the church, should in future be borne by the prior and convent and their successors, at their own proper charge and expence; and that all other burthens, ordinary and extraordinary, of the vicarage, and to the vicar belonging, by reason of tha same, except as before excepted, should belong to him and his successors, to be borne and supported at his and their own proper costs and charges; saving to the bishop and his successors, a right of augmenting and diminishing this vicarage, and of correcting, amending, and explaining the above decree, whenever he or they should think it expedient so to do; and saving to himself and his successors, all episcopal right, (fn. 43) &c.
The appropriation of this church, and the patronage of the vicarage, continued part of the possessions of the prior and convent till the dissolution of the monastery, in 1540, when it was surrendered into the king's hands, who three years after, by his dotation charter, settled this appropriation and vicarage on his new founded dean and chapter of Rochester, where they remain at this time.
Adjoining to the north wall of the church yard is a piece of ground, which has probably belonged to the vicars of this parish ever since their first institution here; an antient court roll mentions their being possessed of it in the year 1317.
In the 5th year of king Edward III. John de Folkstan, vicar of St. Margaret's, held a messuage, with its appurtenances, adjoining to the church yard, by the assignment of the prior and convent, with the ordination of the bishop, as belonging to the portion of his vicarage; which messuage, with its appurtenances, was held of the master and brethren of the hospital of Stroud, by fealty, and the service of two shillings yearly, and also the payment of twelvepence to them, after the death of each vicar. (fn. 44)
The vicars, I am told, now hold this piece of land of the dean and chapter, as of their manor of Ambree, on their paying a small acknowledgment.
The vicarage house being from age become irreparable, was taken down, with an intention of erecting a convenient and substantial dwelling in the room of it; for which purpose Mr. Lowth, the late vicar, for several years deposited an annual sum with the dean and chapter, towards defraying the charges of it; and about 1781, erected on this spot a neat and convenient house, built of brick and sashed, with proper offices adjoining, for the use of himself and his successors, vicars of this parish. By an agreement between John Ready, vicar of it, and the dean and chapter, the former, in consideration of several benefits and benevolences done to him by the latter, consented to take an annual payment of 5l. 6s. 8d. instead of the pension in money and corn, granted by the composition made in 1488. Some recompence indeed has since been made for this unjust bargain by the dean and chapter, who have settled on it a larger augmentation than on any other church in their patronage. The vicarage of St. Margaret is valued in the king's books at 10l. and the yearly tenths at 1l. (fn. 45)
¶In the survey, taken after the death of Charles I. in 1649, of the church livings within this diocese, by the powers then in being, on the intended abolition of deans and chapters, it was returned, that there were belonging to this rectory or parsonage, a parsonagehouse, two barns, one stable, and other houshings, and also certain tithes, profits, &c. belonging to it, together with certain glebe land, called Court-hill and Court hill marsh, containing together nine acres, and and one marsh, lying in the parish of St. Nicholas, Rochester, called Cow marsh, with the waste ground called salts, containing together seven acres, and all that piece of ground called Upper court, alias Hogshaw, containing one acre; in all seventeen acres, worth together 130l. per annum, viz. the house and lands, 12l. per annum, and the tithes 118l. per ann. all which were let, among other premises, by Henry King, late dean of the cathedral church of Rochester, by his indenture, in 1639, to George Newman, esq. for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent, for Preestfield and Stroud marsh, of 4s. 4d. per annum, and for all the other premises twelve quarters of wheat, heaped, making together the yearly rent of 31l. 1s. 8d. Next the vicarage was, in like manner surveyed, and returned at the yearly value of 30l. (fn. 46)
On the way back from Oxfordshire, I thought about stopping off somewhere to take some church shots.
I'm sure Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Sussex have fine churches just off the motorway, but one had stuck in my head, back in Kent, and that Hever.
What I didn't realise is how hard it was to get too.
I followed the sat nav, taking me off the motorway whilst still in Sussex, then along narrow and twisting main roads along the edge of the north downs, through some very fine villages, but were in Sussex.
Would I see the sign marking my return to the Garden of England?
Yes, yes I would.
Edenbridge seemed quite an unexpectedly urban place, despite its name, so I didn't stop to search for an older centre, just pressing un until I was able to turn down Hever Road.
It had taken half an hour to get here.
St Peter stands by the gate to the famous castle, a place we have yet to visit, and even on a showery Saturday in March, there was a constant stream of visitors arriving.
I asked a nice young man who was directing traffic, where I could park to visit the church. He directed me to the staff car park, meaning I was able to get this shot before going in.
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Near the grounds of Hever Castle, medieval home of the Bullen family. Sandstone construction with a nice west tower and spire. There is a prominent chimney to the north chapel, although this is not the usual Victorian addition, but a Tudor feature, whose little fireplace may be seen inside! The church contains much of interest including a nineteenth-century painting of Christ before Caiphas by Reuben Sayers and another from the school of Tintoretto. The stained glass is all nineteenth and twentieth century and includes a wonderfully evocative east window (1898) by Burlisson and Grylls with quite the most theatrical sheep! The south chancel window of St Peter is by Hardman and dated 1877. In the north chapel is a fine tomb chest which displays the memorial brass of Sir Thomas Bullen (d. 1538), father of Queen Anne Boleyn. Just around the corner is a typical, though rather insubstantial, seventeenth-century pulpit with sounding board.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hever
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HEVER.
SOUTH-EASTWARD from Eatonbridge lies Hever, called in the Textus Roffensis, and some antient records, Heure, and in others, Evere.
This parish lies below the sand hill, and is consequently in that district of this county called The Weald.
There is a small part of it, called the Borough of Linckbill, comprehending a part of this parish, Chidingstone, and Hever, which is within the hundred of Ruxley, and being part of the manor of Great Orpington, the manerial rights of it belong to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the owner of that manor.
THE PARISH of Hever is long, and narrow from north to south. It lies wholly below the sand hills, and consequently in the district of the Weald; the soil and face of the country is the same as that of Eatonbridge, last described, the oak trees in it being in great plently, and in general growing to a very large size. The river Eden directs its course across it, towards Penshurst and the Medway, flowing near the walls of Hever castle, about a quarter of a mile southward from which is the village of Hever and the parsonage; near the northern side of the river is the seat of Polebrooke, late Douglass's, now Mrs. Susannah Payne's; and a little farther, the hamlets of Howgreen and Bowbeach; part of Linckhill borough, which is in the hundred of Ruxley, extends into this parish. There is a strange odd saying here, very frequent among the common people, which is this:
Jesus Christ never was but once at Hever.
And then he fell into the river.
Which can only be accounted for, by supposing that it alluded to a priest, who was carrying the bost to a sick person, and passing in his way over a bridge, sell with it into the river.
Hever was once the capital seat and manor of a family of the same name, whose still more antient possessions lay at Hever, near Northfleet, in this county, who bore for their arms, Gules, a cross argent. These arms, with a lable of three points azure, still remained in the late Mote-house, in Maidstone, and are quartered in this manner by the earl of Thanet, one of whose ancestors, Nicholas Tuston, esq. of Northiam, married Margaret, daughter and heir of John Hever of this county. (fn. 1)
William de Heure. possessed a moiety of this place in the reign of king Edward I. in the 2d of which he was was sheriff of this county, and in the 9th of it obtained a grant of free warren within his demesne lands in Heure, Chidingstone, and Lingefield.
Sir Ralph de Heure seems at this time to have possessed the other moiety of this parish, between whose son and heir, Ralph, and Nicholas, abbot of St. Augustine's, there had been, as appears by the register of that abbey, several disputes concerning lands in Hever, which was settled in the 4th year of king Edward I. by the abbot's granting to him and his heirs for ever, the land which he held of him in Hever, to hold by the service of the fourth part of a knight's fee.
William de Hever, in the reign of king Edward III. became possessed of the whole of this manor, and new built the mansion here, and had licence to embattle it; soon after which he died, leaving two daughters his coheirs; one of whom, Joane, carried one moiety of this estate in marriage to Reginald Cobham, a younger son of the Cobhams of Cobham, in this county; (fn. 2) whence this part of Hever, to distinguish it from the other, acquired the name of Hever Cobham.
His son, Reginald lord Cobham, in the 14th year of that reign, obtained a charter for free warren within his demesne lands in Hever. (fn. 3) He was succeeded in this manor by his son, Reginald lord Cobham, who was of Sterborough castle, in Surry, whence this branch was stiled Cobhams of Sterborough.
The other moiety of Hever, by Margaret, the other daughter and coheir, went in marriage to Sir Oliver Brocas, and thence gained the name of Hever Brocas. One of his descendants alienated it to Reginald lord Cobham, of Sterborough, last mentioned, who died possessed of both these manors in the 6th year of king Henry IV.
His grandson, Sir Thomas Cobham, sold these manors to Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, a wealthy mercer of London, who had been lord mayor in the 37th year of king Henry VI. He died possessed of both Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, in the 3d year of king Edward IV. leaving by Anne, his wife, eldest sister of Thomas, lord Hoo and Hastings, Sir William Bulleyn, of Blickling, in Norfolk, who married Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas Boteler, earl of Ormond, by whom he had a son and heir, Thomas, who became a man of eminent note in the reign of king Henry VIII. and by reason of the king's great affection to the lady Anne Bulleyn, his daughter, was in the 17th year of that reign, created viscount Rochford; and in the 21st year of it, being then a knight of the Garter, to that of earl of Wiltshire and Ormond; viz. Wiltshire to his heirs male, and Ormond to his heirs general.
He resided here, and added greatly to those buildings, which his grandfather, Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, began in his life time, all which he completely finished, and from this time this seat seems to have been constantly called HEVER-CASTLE.
He died in the 30th of the same reign, possessed of this castle, with the two manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, having had by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, one sonGeorge, executed in his life time; and two daughters, Anne, wife to king Henry VIII. and Mary, wife of William Carey, esquire of the body, and ancestor of the lords Hunsdon and the earls of Dover and Monmouth.
On the death of the earl of Wiltshire, without issue male, who lies buried in this church, under an altar tomb of black marble, on which is his figure, as large as the life, in brass, dressed in the robes of the Garter, the king seised on this castle and these manors, in right of his late wife, the unfortunate Anne Bulleyn, the earl's daughter, who resided at Hever-castle whilst the king courted her, there being letters of both extant, written by them from and to this place, and her chamber in it is still called by her name; and they remained in his hands till the 32d year of his reign, when he granted to the lady Anne of Cleves, his repudiated wife, his manors of Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, among others, and his park of Hever, with its rights, members, and appurtenances, then in the king's hands; and all other estates in Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, lately purchased by him of Sir William Bulleyn and William Bulleyn, clerk, to hold to her during life, so long as she should stay within the realm, and not depart out of it without his licence, at the yearly rent of 931. 13s. 3½d. payable at the court of augmention. She died possessed of the castle, manors, and estates of Hever, in the 4th and 5th year of king Philip and queen Mary, when they reverted again to the crown, where they continued but a short time, for they were sold that year, by commissioners authorised for this purpose, to Sir Edward Waldegrave and dame Frances his wife; soon after which the park seems to have have been disparked.
This family of Waldegrave, antiently written Walgrave, is so named from a place, called Walgrave, in the county of Northampton, at which one of them was resident in the reign of king John, whose descendants afterwards settled in Essex, and bore for their arms, Per pale argent and gules. Warine de Walgrave is the first of them mentioned, whose son, John de Walgrave, was sheriff of London, in the 7th year of king John's reign, whose direct descendant was Sir Edward Waldegrave, who purchased this estate, as before mentioned. (fn. 5) He had been a principal officer of the household to the princess Mary; at the latter end of the reign of king Edward VI. he incurred the king's displeasure much by his attachment to her interest, and was closely imprisoned in the Tower; but the king's death happening soon afterwards, queen Mary amply recompensed his sufferings by the continued marks of her favour and bounty, which she conferred on him; and in the 4th and 5th years of that reign, he obtained, as above mentioned, on very easy terms, the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas; and besides being employed by the queen continually in commissions of trust and importance, had many grants of lands and other favours bestowed on him. But on the death of queen Mary, in 1558, he was divested of all his employments, and committed prisoner to the Tower, (fn. 6) where he died in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth. He left two sons, Charles, his heir; and Nicholas, ancestor to those of Boreley, in Essex; and several daughters.
Charles Waldegrave succeeded his father in his estates in this parish; whose son Edward received the honour of knighthood at Greenwich, in 1607, and though upwards of seventy years of age, at the breaking out of the civil wars, yet he nobly took arms in the king's defence, and having the command of a regiment of horse, behaved so bravely, that he had conferred on him the dignity of a baronet, in 1643; after which he continued to act with great courage in the several attacks against the parliamentary forces, in which time he lost two of his sons, and suffered in his estate to the value of fifty thousand pounds.
His great grandson, Sir Henry Waldegrave, in 1686, in the 1st year of king James II. was created a peer, by the title of baron Waldegrave of Chewton, in Somersetshire, and had several offices of trust conferred on him; but on the Revolution he retired into France, and died at Paris, in 1689. (fn. 7) He married Henrietta, natural daughter of king James II. by Arabella Churchill, sister of John duke of Marlborough, by whom he had James, created earl of Waldegrave in the 3d year of king George II. who, in the year 1715, conveyed the castle and these manors to Sir William Humfreys, bart. who that year was lord mayor of the city of London. He was of Barking, in Essex, and had been created a baronet in 1714. He was descended from Nathaniel Humfreys, citizen of London, the second son of William ap Humfrey, of Montgomery, in North Wales, and bore for his arms two coats, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, sable, two nags heads erased argent; 2d and 3d, per pale or and gules, two lions rampant endorsed, counterchanged.
He died in 1735, leaving by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of William Wintour, of Gloucestershire, an only son and heir, Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. who died in 1737, having had by Ellen, his wife, only child of colonel Robert Lancashire, three sons and two daughters; two of the sons died young; Robert, the second and only surviving son, had the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, and died before his father possessed of them, as appears by his epitaph, in 1736, ætat. 28.
On Sir Orlando's death his two daughters became his, as well as their brother's, coheirs, of whom Mary, the eldest, had three husbands; first, William Ball Waring, of Dunston, in Berkshire, who died in 1746, without issue; secondly, John Honywood, esq. second brother of Richard, of Mark's-hall, who likewife died without issue, in 1748; and lastly, Thomas Gore, esq. uncle to Charles Gore, esq. M.P. for Hertfordshire; which latter had married, in 1741, Ellen Wintour, the only daughter of Sir Orlando Humfreys, above mentioned.
They, with their husbands, in 1745, joined in the sale of Hever-castle and the manors of Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, to Timothy Waldo. He was descended from Thomas Waldo, of Lyons, in France, one of the first who publicly opposed the doctrines of the church of Rome, of whom there is a full account in the Atlas Geograph. vol. ii. and in Moreland's History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont. One of his descendants, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to escape the persecution of the duke D'Alva, came over to England, where he and his descendants afterwards settled, who bore for their arms, Argent a bend azure, between three leopards heads of the second; of whom, in king Charles II.'s reign, there were three brothers, the eldest of whom, Edward, was knighted, and died without male issue, leaving two daughters his coheirs; the eldest of whom, Grace, married first Sir Nicholas Wolstenholme, bart. and secondly, William lord Hunsdon, but died without issue by either of them, in 1729. The second brother was of Harrow, in Middlesex; and Timothy, the third, was an eminent merchant of London, whose grandsons were Edward, who was of South Lambeth, esq. and died in 1783, leaving only one daughter; and Timothy, of Clapham, esquire, the purchaser of this estate, as above mentioned, who was afterwards knighted, and died possessed of it, with near thirteen hundred acres of land round it, in 1786; he married, in 1736, Miss Catherine Wakefield, by whom he left an only daughter and heir, married to George Medley, esq. of Sussex, lady Waldo surviving him is at this time intitled to it.
The castle is entire, and in good condition; it has a moat round it, formed by the river Eden, over which there is a draw bridge, leading to the grand entrance, in the gate of which there is yet a port cullis, within is a quadrangle, round which are the offices, and a great hall; at the upper end of which, above a step, is a large oak table, as usual in former times. The great stair case leads up to several chambers and to the long gallery, the cieling of which is much ornamented with soliage in stucco; the rooms are all wainscotted with small oaken pannels, unpainted. On one side of the gallery is a recess, with an ascent of two steps, and one seat in it, with two returns, capable of holding ten or twelve persons, which, by tradition, was used as a throne, when king Henry VIII. visited the castle. At the upper end of the gallery, on one side of a large window, there is in the floor a kind of trap door, which, when opened, discovers a narrow and dark deep descent, which is said to reach as far as the moat, and at this day is still called the dungeon. In a closet, in one of the towers, the window of which is now stopped up, there is an adjoining chamber, in which queen Anne Bulleyn is said to have been consined after her dis grace. The entrance to this closet, from the chamber, is now by a small door, which at that time was a secret sliding pannel, and is yet called Anne Bulleyn's pannel.
In the windows of Hever-castle are these arms; Argent, three buckles gules, within the garter; a shield of four coasts, Howard, Brotherton, Warren, and Mowbray, argent three buckles gules; a shield of eight coats, viz. Bulleyn, Hoo, St. Omer, Malmains, Wickingham, St. Leger, Wallop, and Ormond; and one, per pale argent and gules, for Waldegrave. (fn. 8)
It is reported, that when Henry VIII. with his attendants, came to the top of the hill, within sight of the castle, he used to wind his bugle horn, to give notice of his approach.
There was a court baron constantly held for each of the above manors till within these forty years, but at present there is only one, both manors being now esteemed but as one, the circuit of which, over the neighbouring parishes, is very extensive.
SEYLIARDS is an estate here which extends itself into the parishes of Brasted and Eatonbridge, but the mansion of it is in this parish, and was the antient seat of the Seyliards, who afterwards branched out from hence into Brasted, Eatonbridge, Chidingstone, and Boxley, in this county.
The first of this name, who is recorded to have possessed this place, was Ralph de Seyliard, who resided here in the reign of king Stephen.
Almerick de Eureux, earl of Gloucester, who lived in the reign of king Henry III. demised lands to Martin at Seyliard, and other lands, called Hedinden, to Richard Seyliard, both of whom were sons of Ralph at Seyliard, and the latter of them was ancestor to those seated here and at Delaware, in Brasted. (fn. 9)
This place continued in his descendants till Sir Tho. Seyliard of Delaware, passed it away to John Petley, esq. who alienated it to Sir Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, and he died possessed of it in 1758; and it is now the property of his grandson, Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, esq.
Charities.
A PERSON gave, but who or when is unknown, but which has time out of mind been distributed among the poor of this parish, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid out of land vested in the churchwardens, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. JOHN PETER gave by will, about 1661, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid for the benefit of poor farmers only, out of land vested in the rector, the heirs of Wm. Douglass, and the heirs of Francis Bowty, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. GEORGE BORRASTON, rector, and several of the parishioners, as appears by a writing dated in 1693, purchased, with money arising from several bequests, the names of the donors unknown, except that of WILLIAM FALKNER, to which the parishioners added 15l. a piece of land, the rent to be distributed yearly among the poor of the parish, vested in the rector and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 3l. 12s.
Rev. THOMAS LANCASTER, rector, gave by will in 1714, for buying good books for the poor, and in case books are not wanting for the schooling of poor children at the discretion of the mimister, part of a policy on lives, which was exchanged for a sum of money paid by his executor, being 20l. vested in the minister and churchwardens.
SIR TIMOTHY WALDO gave by will in 1786, 500l. consolidated 3 per cent. Bank Annuities, one moiety of the interest of which to be applied for the placing of some poor boy of the parish apprentice to a farmer, or some handicraft trade, or to the sea service, or in cloathing such poor boy during his apprenticeship, and in case no such poor boy can be found, this moiety to be distributed among such of the industrious poor who do not receive alms. The other moiety to be laid out in buying and distributing flannel waistcoats, or strong shoes, or warm stockings, among such of the industrious or aged poor persons inhabiting within this parish, as do not receive alms, vested in the Salters Company.
HEVER is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham. The church, which stands at the east end of the village, is a small, but neat building, consisting of one isle and two chancels, having a handsome spire at the west end of it. It is dedicated to St. Peter.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the isle is a grave-stone, on which is the figure of a woman, and inscription in black letter in brass, for Margaret, wife of William Cheyne, obt. 1419, arms, a fess wavy between three crescents.—In the chancel, a memorial for Robert Humfreys, esq. lord of the manor of Heaver, only son and heir of Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. of Jenkins, in Effex, obt. 1736. Against the wall is a brass plate, with the figure of a man kneeling at a desk, and inscription in black letter for William Todde, schoolmaster to Charles Waldegrave, esq. obt. 1585.—In the north chancel, an altar tomb, with the figure on it at large in brass, of Sir Thomas Bullen, knight of the garter, earl of Wilcher and earl of Ormunde, obt. 1538. A small slab with a brass plate, for ........ Bullayen, the son of Sir Thomas Bullayen.—In the belsry, a stone with a brass plate, and inscription in black letter in French, for John de Cobham, esquire, obt. 1399, and dame Johane, dame de Leukenore his wife, and Renaud their son; near the above is an antient altar tomb for another of that name, on which is a shield of arms in brass, or, on a chevron, three eagles displayed, a star in the dexter point. These were the arms of this branch of the Cobhams, of Sterborough-castle. (fn. 10)
This church is a rectory, the advowson of which belonged to the priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, and came to the crown with the rest of its possessions at the time of the surrendry of it, in the 7th year of king Henry VIII. in consequence of the act passed that year for the surrendry of all religious houses, under the clear yearly revenue of two hundred pounds. Soon after which this advowson was granted, with the scite of the priory, to Thomas Colepeper, but he did not long possess it; and it appears, by the Escheat Rolls, to have come again into the hands of the crown, and was granted by the king, in his 34th year, to Sir John Gage, to hold in capite by knights service; who exchanged it again with Tho. Colepeper, to confirm which an act passed the year after. (fn. 11) His son and heir, Alexander Colepeper, had possession granted of sundry premises, among which was the advowson of Hever, held in capite by knights service, in the 3d and 4th years of king Philip and queen Mary; the year after which it was, among other premises, granted to Sir Edward Waldegrave, to hold by the like tenure.
Charles Waldegrave, esq. in the 12th year of queen Elizabeth, alienated this advowson to John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, and being entailed to his heirs male, by the last will of Sampson Lennard, esq. his eldest son, under the word hereditament possessed it, and it being an advowson in gross, was never disentailed by Henry, Richard, or Francis, lords Dacre, his descendants, so that it came to Thomas lord Dacre, son of the last mentioned Francis, lord Dacre, afterwards earl of Sussex, in 1673, and at length sole heir male of the descendants of John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, above mentioned; and the same trial was had for the claim of a moiety of it, at the Queen's-bench bar, as for the rest of the earl's estates, and a verdict then obtained in his favour, as has been already fully mentioned before, under Chevening.
The earl of Sussex died possessed of it in 1715, (fn. 12) whose two daughters, his coheirs, on their father's death became entitled to this advowson, and a few years afterwards alienated the same.
It then became the property of the Rev. Mr. Geo. Lewis, as it has since of the Rev. Mr. Hamlin, whose daughter marrying the Rev. Mr. Nott, of Little Horsted, in Sussex, he is now intitled to it.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church of Heure was valued at fifteen marcs.
By virtue of a commission of enquiry, taken by order of the state, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Hever was a parsonage, with a house, and twelve acres of glebe land, which, with the tithes, were worth seventy-seven pounds per annum, master John Petter being then incumbent, and receiving the profits, and that Francis lord Dacre was donor of it. (fn. 13)
This rectory was valued, in 1747, at 1831. per annum, as appears by the particulars then made for the sale of it.
It is valued, in the king's books, at 15l. 17s. 3½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. 8¾d. It is now of the yearly value of about 200l.
¶The priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, was endowed by Robert de Thurnham, the founder of that house, in the reign of king Henry II. with his tithe of Lincheshele and sundry premises in this parish, for which the religious received from the rector of this church the annual sum of 43s. 4d.
Same one as before, just different colours.
Red & White , just like the Polish flag.
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Fotografia feita na Festa de São Lázaro... Ele apareceu pra mim como um anjo... Como um anjo querubim!!!
"Como Um Anjo Querubim"
Alceu Valença
Quando você foi embora
Minha princesa senhora
De tudo que há em mim...
Soprou a flor do desejo
O vento e seu realejo
Como um anjo querubim...
Desmantelou minhas horas
Tomando conta do agora
Era o princípio do fim...
Deixando sobra e sobejo
Vermelho beijo no espelho
Como um anjo querubim
Como um anjo querubim...
ANJO QUERUBIM
Definição: são os bebês, retratados com simpatia e graça pelos artistas e pintores. É a representação de anjo, mais comum que conhecemos: nus, com asas, bochechudos e com um sorriso "maroto" de criança arteira.
Personalidade: suportam qualquer coisa para conseguir alcançar sempre um resultado positivo. Extremamente emotivos (choram quando vêem alguém chorando e comovem-se com filmes e novelas), têm sentimentos profundos e estáveis. Sua confiança é conseguida de modo gradual e lento, como as crianças pequenas, não sabem disfarçar quando não gostam de alguém. Compreendem o mundo de maneira própria e dão grande importância à família, esforçando-se para atendê-la da melhor maneira possível. Tímidos, generosos, carinhosos, amigos leais, sabem ouvir confidências com atenção. São ótimos executores e geralmente obtém sucesso quando lhes são dadas oportunidades de trabalho. Não têm apego ao dinheiro e gostam de usá-lo para ajudar as pessoas. Estão sempre perdoando e gostam de ver todos reconciliados. Têm forte caráter e senso estético. Gozam de boa saúde e têm mãos para cura. Sempre constróem coisas para que sejam permanentes, inclusive casamento e amizades.
Sentimentalmente: ótimos pais ou mães, sentem-se plenamente realizados com a paternidade ou maternidade. É o melhor dos cônjuges. Demoram um pouco para se casar, porque na adolescência sofreram um pouco pela interferência de regras moralistas ou tradicionais que os pais impuseram. Adoram olhar para as pessoas quando estão na rua, o que pode incomodar quem os acompanham. Olham com curiosidade, como crianças e depois revelam seu bom humor, fazendo comentários engraçados. Muito generosos, adoram presentear, mas não são bons para datas ou nomes. Não gostam de horários e estão sempre atrasados.
Trabalho: por sua generosidade, sentem-se atraídos pela medicina tradicional ou alternativa, pois com ela podem ter uma atuação completa junto aos que precisam de ajuda. Pelo amor à beleza, sentem-se atraídos para as artes. Pensam no sucesso e não medirão esforços para atingi-lo, entregando-se por completo. Gostam de ser bem remunerados ou perdem o interesse e o controle da situação. Precisam de espaço para suas manobras, criações e elaborações.
Profissões: músico, cantor, escritor, jornalista, relações públicas, cirurgião, enfermeiro, guia turístico, esteticista, cabeleireiro, administrador.
Ambiente: para ancorar em sua casa, um anjo da qualidade Querubim necessita de tudo muito colorido, com brinquedos, fotos de crianças e muitos doces.
"Here lieth Margaret who was the daughter of John Elmes and Elizabeth his wife of Henley on Thames (?) who died the 1st day of August 1471 on whom God have mercy"
Margaret Elmes 1471 grand daughter of William Browne & Margaret Stocks www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/eCL3g8 who must have died an infant
She was the first (?) child of their sole heiress daughter Elizabeth Browne 1511 and John Elmes c1455-1497 of Henley on Thames, merchant of the Staple of Calais
She had 2 brothers
1. William c1475-1505 Woolfox Greetham Rutland m Elizabeth 1474-1549 daughter and coheir of John Iwardby by Joan Brudenell (one of her co-heirs was Margaret Verney flic.kr/p/fFxqbw ) - William was a lawyer and an executor of their grandfathers will, who after their mother's death inherited their grandparents estates and the Manor of Lilford (Joan m2 (2nd wife) Thomas Piggot / Pigott 1520 of Whaddon flic.kr/p/fFxy2L
2 Thomas bc1477
and a sister Catherine bc 1479 who m Peter Turner
freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kingsman/kinsm... - Church of All Saints, Stamford Lincolnshire
New Brighton, Staten Island, New York City, New York, United States
Summary
The Vanderzee-Harper House is a fine surviving example of a Queen Anne style residence with Shingle style details, built c.1887 in Staten Island’s affluent “Fort Hill” section. The house features many details characteristic of the Queen Anne and Shingle styles, including a prominent three-story tower; bay window projections; bracketed, cantilevered gable projections; turned woodwork and a curved roofline at the porch; textured shingle and clapboard siding; a variety of window types and shapes, including multi-light upper sash and stained-glass windows; and a tall, decorative masonry chimney.
The house was constructed c.1887 for Margaret A. Shields (later Vanderzee) who had recently purchased the property from Charles A. Herpich. A Manhattan furrier and prominent Staten Island resident, Herpich had substantial real estate holdings in the area, including his large home nearby at the corner of Westervelt and Hendricks avenues.
Having purchased the property in 1887, Margaret A. Vanderzee retained ownership until 1920, although she and her husband had relocated to Philadelphia by 1895. After occupancy by several renters, the home was owned for over twenty-five years by the family of Thomas Harper, a grocery store owner who was active in local civic affairs. The house has recently been restored and many of its historic decorative features remain intact.
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
The Site
The Vanderzee-Harper House is located on Fort Hill in northeastern Staten Island at the edges of the villages of Tompkinsville, New Brighton and St. George. Considered the oldest European village in eastern Staten Island, Tompkinsville was known in colonial times as the Watering Place for a fresh water spring located there. According to Holden’s Staten Island, The History of Richmond County, Giovanni da Verrazzano, who is credited with “discovering” the island in 1524, was led “to safe anchorage near ‘The Watering Place’” by resident “friendly LeniLenapes.” Evidence of earlier inhabitation by Native Americans during the Woodland period has also been found in the surrounding area, including traces of campsites, Native American artifacts and “triangular points.” In 1639, several families sent by Captain David Pietersz De Vries, who was the second patroon to receive a land grant on Staten Island from the Dutch West India Company, settled near the Watering Place. According to research done by former Staten Island Borough Historian Dick Dickenson, there is evidence that these colonists may have owned African slaves, the first living on Staten Island. The colony did not survive past 1641.
Residential development of this section of Staten Island was first promoted by Daniel D. Tompkins. A governor of New York and later vice president of the United States, Tompkins (1774-1825) spent considerable time on Staten Island during the War of 1812. Impressed by the island’s natural beauty and the ease of travel to Manhattan, in October 1816, Tompkins commissioned a survey of a portion of his recently purchased land to be developed as the village of Tompkinsville. Realizing that transportation would significantly aid development, he procured the incorporation of the Richmond Turnpike Company to establish a highway from the New Blazing Star Ferry on the west shore of Staten Island to Tompkinsville along the route of present-day Victory Boulevard. He also acquired an interest in the steamboat monopoly of Fulton and Livingston and the following year established regular ferry service between Staten Island and Whitehall Street in New York City. In 1817, Tompkins, in his last year as governor of New York, signed the “Final Abolition Act” that freed all slaves living in the state by 1827. (Although a known abolitionist, the 1800 U. S. Census lists Daniel D. Tompkins living in the 1st Ward in New York City as having one enslaved person in his household.) Tompkins borrowed heavily to finance his enterprises in Staten Island, expecting to be reimbursed for expenses he had incurred on behalf of the government during the War of 1812. Stalled repayments brought about foreclosure proceedings on the land, and following his death in 1825 other creditors brought suit against his estate. Several of his children and his nephew, Caleb T. Ward, some of whom were in part responsible for the early development of the adjacent village of Stapleton, purchased portions of his former holdings at auction in the late 1820s and early 1830s.
In 1830, Dr. John S. Westervelt (1799-1869), the first health officer of the port of New York, who had married Daniel Tompkins’ daughter Hannah, purchased a ninety-eight acre tract that formerly had been part of her father’s estate. The Westervelts moved into Tompkins’ house (demolished) on Fort Hill near the present-day intersection of Fort Place and Sherman Avenue. To provide access to this property from Richmond Terrace and the dock at the foot of Jersey Street, Dr. Westervelt had a lane opened that eventually became Westervelt Avenue. In 1871, two years after Dr. Westervelt’s death, his widow Hannah and their son Tompkins, as executrix and executor of his estate, conveyed over 11 lots to Charles A. Herpich. Including several acres in two separate real estate transactions, the property had street frontage on Westervelt Avenue, Fourth Avenue (now Benziger Avenue), Sherman Avenue and Fort Street (now Fort Place).
During the 1880s, this area of Staten Island continued to develop as a residential neighborhood following the integration of competing Staten Island ferry lines at one location, linking to train service at the site of the present St. George ferry terminal. In 1887, Herpich and his wife Matilda sold an approximately 90 by 100 foot lot to Margaret A. Shields.
Charles A. Herpich
Born in Berlin in 1831, Charles A. Herpich came to the United States in the 1850s and established a fur importing business in New York in 1853 with a partner firm in Leipzig, Germany. Herpich began purchasing property in the New Brighton/Tompkinsville area in 1861, and made his residence in a large house at the northwest corner of Westervelt and Hendricks (formerly Fifth) avenues, which was described as one of the finest mansion on Staten Island (demolished). By 1874, maps show that he owned extensive property in the area. Herpich was described as a “popular, enterprising and generous” man and was involved in public affairs. He was a member of the New Brighton Board of Trustees, serving for a time as its president, served two terms as Supervisor from the town of Castleton, served as a trustee of the Madison Avenue School, Tompkinsville, and was a founder and president of the German Club and one of the trustees of the Lutheran Church in Stapleton.
He achieved much success in his business ventures, and according to his obituary in the New York Times, “was one of the leading men in the trade in the United States.” The country’s financial state did, however, take a toll on his business activity, and Herpich was forced to make assignments after the panic of 1877, and again in 1886. The business again suffered in the depression of the mid-1890s. Herpich settled with his creditors and continued to operate as a wholesaler, however, never matching his earlier success. A third assignment was made in 1897, and although he resumed business “it [was] believed that he gave up all hope of ever recovering his fortune.” Herpich died on June 18, 1898 from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
First Residents
Margaret Ann Shields of the town of Castleton purchased property from Charles A. and Matilda Herpich in June of 1887. Although the house was not specifically mentioned in the deed, the purchase price of $4500 indicates that it was likely present on the lot. Herpich probably had the house constructed shortly before the sale, as it does not appear on an atlas of the area published in 1887. As early as 1880, Shields, who was born in Westchester County, New York, was living with her parents nearby on Second Avenue and later on Westervelt Avenue, on the adjacent tax block. By the time of their son’s birth in May of 1890, Margaret A. Shields and Gordon Doane Vanderzee were married and living in the Westervelt Avenue house. A native Staten Islander, Vanderzee and his brothers were involved in the clothing business and, prior to his marriage, lived in Tompkinsville on nearby First Avenue (now Corson Avenue). The Vanderzees remained in the house for less than ten years, relocating to Philadelphia around 1895; however, they retained ownership of the house as a rental property until 1920.
Design and Construction
The Vanderzee-Harper House is an excellent surviving example of a transitional Queen Anne/Shingle style residence, two styles that were popular at the time of the house’s construction. Lying on the slope of Fort Hill, the house was designed with a picturesque tower and bay window projections to take advantage of its hillside location and harbor views, and has a verticality that is characteristic of the Queen Anne style. Other distinctive Queen Anne features include the bracketed, cantilevered gable projections; contrasting wall surfaces; turned woodwork at the porch; a variety of multi-light and stained glass windows; and the tall, decorative masonry chimney. While the irregular form and use of a corner turret is characteristic of both styles, the builder’s attempt to integrate it into the main roof, albeit a little awkward, shows the influence of the Shingle style. Other Shingle-style details include the continuous wall and roof surfaces with shingle siding and the wavy porch roof.
Inspired by the British style of the same name, the Queen Anne style was popular from the 1870s until the 1910s, and was the most dominant style of domestic building during the last twenty years of the 19th century. Buildings constructed in the Queen Anne style exhibit a greater freedom in their massing and a more varied, and frequently whimsical, use of ornament. The style is characterized by picturesque and asymmetrical massing of forms and details, including the free use of varied materials, colors and textures. Certain motifs, such as the use of textured wall surfaces, towers, turrets, bay windows and stained-glass, are used on many of the houses built in this style, but they are arranged and rearranged with other decorative devices in an unending variety of forms. With a central goal of avoiding flat wall surfaces, the style’s irregularity of form allowed it to be interpreted on a broad range of housing types, from large frame mansions to small vernacular homes to masonry rowhouses.
In addition to the corner tower, gable projections and bay windows add variety to basic rectangular form of the house at the Vanderzee-Harper House. The side gables of the eaves-front building are bracketed and cantilevered over both the north and south facades; and smaller gable projections extend from all three secondary facades. The cut-away bay at the first floor of the front facade creates a slight cantilever of the second story at the southwest corner. The house features two other bay windows, extending from the south and rear (east) facades. Additional surface texture is added by the use clapboard cladding at the base and patterned shingles at the upper floors. Rectangular shingles, set at alternating levels or straight across, are mixed with rows of scalloped shingles to give more variety to the wall surfaces. Like the majority of Queen Anne buildings, the house at 327 Westervelt Avenue features a front porch with turned woodwork. One original column remains at the northeast corner of the porch, distinguished by a large, central round element; while slightly more simplified, the historic posts at the northwest and southwest corners were relocated from the rear porch. Other notable Queen Anne features on the house include the use of large panes of glass, bounded by smaller panes in a multi-light-over-one, double-hung window configuration, found in most openings on all facades; and the use of decorative stained glass windows at the second floor of the front facade and at the center of the north facade.
Beginning in the 1880s as a popular style for the construction of seaside “cottages,” the most defining characteristic of the Shingle style is its cladding of continuous wood shingles, which cover an irregular house form. Although it spread across the country from the New England communities of Newport and Cape Cod, because of its generally low and sprawling form, the style was never practical or popular in urban settings. Influenced by the Queen Anne style, as well as the Colonial Revival and Richardsonian Romanesque, the Shingle style borrowed wide porches, shingled surfaces and asymmetrical forms from its picturesque predecessor. The style did not achieve the popularity of the Queen Anne; it “remained primarily a high-fashion, architect’s style, rather than becoming widely adapted to mass vernacular housing.” Although unusual in New York, in addition to its influence on 327 Westervelt Avenue, a number of houses designed in the Shingle style remain in the nearby St. George/New Brighton area (a designated New York City Historic District.)
In addition to being the most defining characteristic of the style, the continuous wall and roof surfaces clad with shingle siding is the dominant Shingle-style characteristic of the Vanderzee-Harper House. At the time of its construction, the main roof of the house likely also featured wood shingles, further unifying the structure. (Wood shingles are currently prohibited as a roofing material by New York City building code and therefore cannot be replaced in kind, once removed.) Evidence of the wood-shingle roofing remains at the porch roofs on the front facade. Additionally, the curved roofline of the porch roof recalls the curvilinear shape of eyebrow dormers or wavy wall surfaces, commonly found on Shingle-style houses.
The building’s architect has not been determined. Based on style and detail, it has been attributed to Edward Alfred Sargent, Staten Island’s most prominent 19th-century architect who designed over 300 buildings on the island during his career, a number of which were located in the area. However, there is no documentation to substantiate this claim. Some of the building’s features, including the corner tower, projecting bays, porches, stained-glass windows and shingled-wall surfaces, although commonly used by Sargent, are generally characteristic of the Queen Anne or Shingle styles. Additionally, study of other extant buildings and architectural delineations indicates a general difference in proportion of this house to other documented Sargent commissions.
It is also possible that the house was not designed by an architect, but was designed by a builder or inspired by a pattern book. Although builder’s guides had been published earlier, beginning in the 1870s an increasing number of architectural pattern books were marketed to the general public. Often published by architects who realized the potential of mass marketing their designs, the books served as a catalog from which full sets of construction drawings could be ordered, often including site selection and technique suggestions, material lists and estimates, and even sample contracts for builders. Pattern books allowed architect-designed houses to be more affordable to the middle-class, although their construction was still limited to the skills of the local contractor and lacked the oversight that an architect often provided during construction. Often modified by their builders, these houses frequently exhibit a whimsical eclecticism, with multiple styles freely mixed on the same house in a decidedly non-Academic way, and in a romantic manner inspired by the picturesque architecture of the era.
Later History
Suburban development continued in the area as the owners of large estates died and the heirs sold off the properties. Following Staten Island’s 1898 consolidation into the City of New York, the neighborhood’s close proximity to the newly created Borough Center at St. George, an important transportation terminus and link to Manhattan, helped maintain the area as an important “suburb,” a status which it continues to maintain today.
Several renters occupied the house at 327 Westervelt Avenue after the Vanderzees relocated to Philadelphia. According to census records, Austro-German immigrant Ignatius Newburg, a liquor importer, lived there with his wife, three sons, two daughters and a servant in 1910. Five years later, his children continued to occupy the house, still maintaining a servant. By 1920, Swedish immigrant Albert Johnson lived there with his Bohemian-immigrant wife and their three daughters. The Johnsons shared the house with two borders, a German- and Bohemian-immigrant married couple and an Italian-immigrant lodger. Thomas H. Harper, a resident of nearby Hendricks Avenue, purchased the property in June of 1920, with plans to live there upon the expiration of the current tenants’ lease.
Thomas H. Harper was born in Ireland in 1857 and immigrated to the United States in the 1870s, first settling in Brooklyn. Harper came to Staten Island in 1878, where he operated grocery stores in both Stapleton and New Brighton. He purchased two lots from Charles A. Herpich on Fifth Avenue (later Hendricks Avenue) in 1884 and made his residence there for the next 36 years. In addition to his business, Harper was active in public affairs, serving as a Trustee, and later president of the Board of Education of former Public School District 3 (New Brighton) and also as a Trustee of the Village of New Brighton prior to Staten Island’s consolidation into the City of New York. Harper was a charter member and director of the New Brighton Co-operative Savings and Loan Association and was an active member of the American Red Cross during World War I. Shortly after his death in 1922, his widow Ella sold the house to their son Lester and his wife Ethel, but continued to live there until her death in 1940. The Harpers sold the house and half of the lot in 1946; this subdivision of the property later allowed for the construction of the building at 333 Westervelt Avenue in 1952-53. Subsequent owners that occupied the house for long time periods include: Mr. and Mrs. Oscar J. and Ana Quaranta (9 years), Mr. and Mrs. Milton and Marjorie Saul (28 years), and Mr. Ronald Brown (19 years). The house was sold again in 2002 and underwent extensive interior and exterior renovation work including the installation of new plumbing and electrical systems, the addition of a second story to the rear porch, the restoration of the historic shingle and clapboard siding, and the installation of new windows at the rear facade.
Description
The Vanderzee-Harper House is located on a rectangular lot that has a frontage of 50 feet along Westervelt Avenue and is approximately 89 feet deep. The house sits just forward of the center of the lot, behind a simple iron railing with historic iron posts. A concrete-paved path leads from the sidewalk through a decorative iron gate set between two, non-historic brick piers to the front door. The path is flanked by gardens and several low, curvilinear bluestone planting beds. Located on Fort Hill, the site slopes down toward the south (side) and east (rear of the building). There is a concrete paved sidewalk along the northern side of the house, and a less-structured path of bluestone pavers, gravel and brick, as well as numerous plantings along the southern side of the house, leading to the well-planted rear yard.
Set on brick foundation, the two-and-a-half-story building, divided into five bays at the first floor and two bays at the upper stories, is dominated by a three-story round and polygonal tower at the front facade. The facade features pale-green painted clapboard siding with olive-green corner boards at the first floor and natural-wood or brown-painted shingles of different shapes at the second and third stories. The large, one-story porch at the northern half of the front facade partially wraps around the north-side facade and features projecting gable and curved rooflines, extending from the second floor tower. The porch is supported by simplified, turned wood posts, painted brown and olive green, set on an olive-green, square-post railing with light green square balusters. Brown-painted rectangular wood shingles, set at alternating levels, fill the gable while unpainted wood shingles cover both porch roofs. The porch features a brown-painted wood floor and unpainted bead board ceiling with a light fixture and several planters suspended from it. The first bay of the first floor has a rectangular, single-pane fixed window with a storm window and the numbers “327” above. The paneled wood and glass door is located in the second bay, and features a brown-painted wooden storm door and simple, olive-green painted surround. The next three openings comprise a bay window of multi-light-over-one, double-hung wood windows with simple wood surrounds and storm windows. There is a small, rectangular basement window located below the fourth bay. The second floor of the front facade is divided into two bays and features scalloped and rectangular wood shingles. The rounded section of the tower projects from the facade in the first bay and features a tripartite window composed of three, multi-light-over-one, double-hung wood windows with simple wood surrounds and wood storm windows. The second bay of the second floor also contains a tripartite window, however, it features three rectangular, stained-glass windows set above a single, multilight-over-one, double-hung wood window with olive-green painted wood shutters, all with storm windows. The natural-wood-shingle-clad tower extends above the roofline at the third story with a polygonal shape, three, multi-light-over-one, double-hung wood windows with simple wood surrounds and wood storm windows, and an asphalt-shingled, bell roof. Side walls and a gable roof extend from the sides of the tower, intersecting with the slope of the eaves-front, asphalt-shingled main roof. A small, gable-front dormer, with natural-wood shingle cladding and a single, multi-light-over-one, double-hung wood window with simple wood surround, extends above the southern side of the roof. The dormer has a historic, wood storm window and asphalt shingles at the roof. A pale-grey-stuccoed, decorative brick chimney with two flue caps extends from the slope of the roof near its southern edge.
The southern (side) facade is visible from both Westervelt Avenue and partially visible from Benziger Avenue. Like the front facade, the side features pale-green painted clapboard siding with olive-green corner boards at the first floor and natural-wood shingles of different shapes at the second and third stories. A bay window projects from the eastern portion of the facade at the first two stories and basement, below an extended gable at the third floor. The triangular portion of the main roof gable also extends forward, cantilevered over the wall surface of the facade and supported by simple, curved brackets. There is a single, multi-light-over-one, double-hung wood window with simple wood surround and historic wood storm window in each opening on the first and seconds floors of the bay window, and a single, one-over-one, doublehung wood window with simple wood surround toward the western edge of the facade at the second floor. Paired, one-over-one, double-hung wood windows with simple wood surrounds and wood storm windows are located in the center of the facade at the third floor. There is a rectangular window in an elliptical opening at the center of the small gable projection. A two-story porch, extending from the rear facade, is visible from the southeast corner of this facade. At the basement level, there are two, single-pane multi-light wood windows with storm windows, and two, one-over-one, double-hung vinyl windows in the center on third openings of the bay projection. Metal conduit runs down the southwest corner and along the bottom of the facade and there are two flood lights, two utility meters, three vents, wires and a spigot attached to facade.
The eastern (rear) facade is partially visible from Benziger and Hendricks avenues and features a large, two-story porch that partially wraps around the southeast corner of the building. Like the front and south facades, the rear facade features pale-green painted clapboard siding with olive-green corner boards at the first floor and natural-wood or brown-painted shingles of different shapes at the second and third stories. The porch is supported by simplified, white-painted turned wood posts with square bases at the first floor and square 6” by 6” wood posts at the basement level. The porch also features light-green-painted bead board trim; natural-woodfinish, square-wood-baluster railings; bead-board ceilings; and one light fixture at each level. There is a projecting bay with a low-pitched, hipped roof in the northern portion of the facade at the first and second floors. A projecting gable extends from the eaves-front roof above this bay window. Each of the three openings at both floors of the projecting bay have replacement wood windows in the historic, multi-light-over-one, double-hung configuration. A gable-roofed dormer and stuccoed brick chimney with flue cap extend from the roof of rear facade. Because the house was constructed on a sloped site, the brick basement is at grade at the rear. There is a wood-andglass door with wood storm door and two, one-over-one, double-hung vinyl windows with wood storm windows in segmentally arched openings at the basement level of the facade, and a bluestone, brick and concrete patio under the porch.
The northern (side) facade is visible from Westervelt and Hendricks avenues and is clad in non-historic composite siding. (At two places, the synthetic siding is partially removed, revealing the historic clapboard or shingle siding.) The eastern portion of the facade projects below an extended gable and the triangular portion of the main roof gable is cantilevered forward, supported by simple, curved brackets. Several windows of various sizes and configurations, most with storm windows, dot the facade, including a large, stained-glass window at the center of the first floor and a small, rectangular stained-glass window at the center of the second floor. The trim and simple window surrounds are painted dark red at this facade. Because the site slopes downward, much of the brick foundation is visible toward the eastern (rear) end of the house. At the basement level, there is one, one-over-one, double-hung vinyl window and one masonry opening with brick infill. A leader runs down this facade at the north east corner, and there are two vents and one flood light fixture at this facade.
- From the 2009 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
College Point, Queens
The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House is located in College Point, in north central Queens. It stands on an unusual circular site that was created c. 1906 when the original 14-acre estate was subdivided into building lots and became part of the surrounding street grid. Morris A. Gescheidt, a German-born painter and architect, was responsible for the building’s neo-classical design. Two-and-a-half stories tall, this large red brick house has four visible facades that display elements associated with the Italianate and Second Empire styles, including a mansard roof, segmental arch windows, and quoins. Active in New York City from the late 1840s to the 1860s, Gescheidt also built a factory structure for College Point’s leading citizen, the industrialist Conrad Poppenhusen, in 1854.
These developments coincided with the introduction of regular ferry service, resulting in the construction of many residences by German immigrants, particularly in the north section of the village where owners enjoyed views of the East River and Long Island Sound. Two contemporary newspapers commented on Gescheidt’s handsome design; while one writer listed it as among several “elegant residences . . . under contract” in the area, the Flushing Journal called it “another gem of a residence.” The Schleicher House was originally situated at the west end of a walled compound that incorporated out buildings and landscaped carriage paths.
Though relatively little is known about the Schleicher family, census records indicate that Herman had Prussian parents and was a successful merchant, involved in the sale of dry goods, stationary, and coal. He shared the house with his wife Malvina, four children, and three servants. Following his death in 1866, the building was acquired by Kenneth G. White, who owned considerable property in the area and is often identified as an attorney and law clerk. In 1890, the house was sold to developer William K. Aston who leased it to John Jockers, a former Schleicher employee. For about a decade, Jockers operated the structure as the 11-room Grand View Hotel. Divided into apartments in 1923, there are currently seven units in the building. Despite changes, the 1857 Schleicher House has many notable characteristics; not only is it one of the oldest houses in College Point but it is one of the earliest surviving structures in New York City to feature a mansard roof.
College Point, Queens
The Schleicher House was constructed in 1857, during the decade when College Point was transformed from mostly meadows and farmland to a compact village of factories and homes. Located on a peninsula in north central Queens, College Point extends into the East River and adjoins Flushing Bay. It was named for St. Paul’s College, which opened in 1839. Located on the site of present-day MacNeil Park, the seminary lasted for less than a decade, closing in 1847. At the time, the area to the south was known as Strattonport and Flammersburg. These neighborhoods were named for businessman Eliphalet Stratton (1745-1831) who purchased 320 acres from descendents of the English merchant and slave owner William Lawrence (1622-1680) in 1789,3 and real estate developer John A. Flammer, who acquired 141 acres from the Stratton estate in 1851 and subdivided the property into 80 building lots. These villages then merged and were incorporated as College Point in 1867 or 1870.
Regular ferry service between Manhattan and the village started in the 1850s and plans were soon developed to construct a paved causeway, linking the peninsula to Flushing. These transit improvements attracted a growing number of residents, from several hundred in 1853 to 2,200 in 1860. More than half were foreign born, including nearly a thousand from Germany. The rest were mainly Irish. Because the majority of early residents were originally German, College Point was sometimes referred to as the “Little Heidelberg.” Conrad Poppenhusen, the town’s best-known citizen, was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1813.
He immigrated to the United States in 1843, forming a partnership with H. C. Meyer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to produce consumer products from whale bones. When demand declined, he sought new opportunities, acquiring a license from the American inventor Charles Goodyear, who held various patents for the vulcanization of rubber. In July 1853, he toured College Point to inspect “eligible locations” for his new company and in September 1854 laid the cornerstone for the “India Rubber Comb Company,” with at least six hundred people in attendance. Among various attendees were several men who would later be associated with the Schleicher residence: M. Gescheidt, the architect; A. Schleicher, either his father, Arthur, or the owner himself; and of course, the owner of the factory, Poppenhusen – Schleicher’s neighbor and co-executor of his will.
Herman A. Schleicher (c. 1827-1866)
Relatively little is known about Herman A(lvin) Schleicher. Born in New York City to Prussian immigrants in the late 1820s, documents indicate that during his brief life he lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and possibly Long Island. He married Malvina (born Prussia, c. 1830) in the late 1840s or early 1850s and they produced four children: Herman, Julia, Frederick, and Walter.5 Schleicher was a successful merchant who was involved in several areas of business, including the sale of hardware, stationary, and coal. In the 1860s, he was identified as: a partner in Schleicher, Walkinshaw & Co., a local importer of dry goods, a trustee of the Mercantile Insurance Company, a director of the St. Nicholas Bank on Wall Street, and a director of the Germania Fire Insurance Company. Schleicher also served with Poppenhusen on Flushing’s first board of education, starting in 1858, and was listed as one of College Point’s top ten income tax payers in 1866.
Schleicher died suddenly at the age of 39 in July 1866 and several months later, in November 1866, his dry goods firm consigned a “valuable” collection of European and American paintings to the Leeds Art Galleries in Manhattan.7 Though it can not be confirmed, it seems likely it was Schleicher’s art collection. Irwan Von Auw and Conrad Poppenhusen, both of College Point, served as the executors of his will.8 His funeral took place in Brooklyn and he is buried in a family plot at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, beside Arthur (d. 1859), Herman
(d. 1906), and Waldemar (d. 1922) Schleicher.
Morris A. Gescheidt (d. 1871)
The Schleicher House was designed by the architect Morris (Moritz) Albert Gescheidt. His name appears on a rendering of the building in the collection of the Poppenhusen Institute, located in College Point. Little is known about Gescheidt, who immigrated to New York in 1837. He was probably born in Dresden and studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, starting in 1831. According to the Dictionary of Artists in America, he was active as an “architectural painter” in Rome from 1834 to 1836 and may have been the artist who exhibited “views of two Italian churches” at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1838.
Gescheidt began to practice architecture in the early 1840s, locating his office at 11 Wall Street. He built at least one additional structure in College Point, a 300- by 40-foot brick factory (1854-55) for Conrad Poppenhusen. He may also have designed Poppenhusen’s house (c. 1857, demolished after 1905) which stood within view of the Schleicher House, near 12th Avenue and College Avenue (now College Place), and incorporated similar architectural elements. In 1860-61, Gescheidt built part of a five-story brick warehouse with cast-iron details for Henry J. Meyer at 393 Greenwich Street (part of the Tribeca West Historic District, Manhattan), near N. Moore Street.
Meyer was the son of H(einrich) C(hristian) Meyer, who employed Poppenhusen at his Williamsburg factory in the 1840s. Gescheidt lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on South 3rd Street, and owned property at Castleton, Staten Island, including a “fine mansion house,” which was sold as part of a “mortgage sale” in 1871. Gescheidt died around this time and was listed in various New York State court proceedings in October 1871 as “deceased.”
The Schleicher Estate
In March 1857, Malvina Schleicher acquired 14 acres from Herman A. Funke, a business associate of Conrad Poppenhusen. The land was directly across from Funke’s own residence and adjoined properties owned by Poppenhusen and his son, H. C. Poppenhusen. Located in College Point’s exclusive north section, approximately 100 feet above sea level, residents of the area enjoyed panoramic views and summer breezes. Gescheidt may have been involved in laying out the grounds, which is known from a site plan dating from before 1866 in the collection of the Poppenhusen Institute.
The house was sited near the west end of the parcel, near what is now College Point Boulevard, and was formerly known as 13th Avenue. Many houses were currently under construction in the area: three or four “elegant residences” were described as “under contract” in January 1857, and in August 1857 the Flushing Journal reported that “Joseph Stonebank has just completed an elegant mansion for Conrad Poppenhusen, Esq. and is erecting another gem of residence for Mr. Schleicher in the same section.”12 Stonebank was a successful carpenter and builder in College Point from the 1850s to 1870. He reported an income of $15,000 in 1860 and built his family a 13-room house with such conveniences as speaking tubes, gas, bells, as well as hot and cold running water.
The Schleicher House originally stood at the end of tree-lined, semi-circular drive. The rear elevation faced east, toward a sloping, almost circular lawn, ringed by trees. South of the house stood a “back” house or privy, suggesting that at the time of construction the bathrooms were not served by running water. To the north of the house, from west to east, was planned a large vegetable garden with rows of fruit trees, a coach house and stable, a hen house, and duck yard. There were also asparagus beds and winding carriage paths that led to an oval pond at the northeast corner of the estate, near present-day 125th or 126th Street. At the center of the pond was a small island, reached by a bridge. Here stood a small “summer” pavilion and “back” house.
Design of the Schleicher House
Among various houses erected in College Point during the mid-19th century, the Schleicher House is the last substantial one to survive. Landscape architect A. J. Downing, who published The Architecture of Country Houses in 1850, wrote:
The villa – the country house, should above all things, manifest individuality. It should say
something of the character of the family within – as much as possible of their life and history, their
tastes and associations, should mould and fashion themselves upon its walls.
Gescheidt’s stately design blends Italianate and French Second Empire Style features. Inspired by recent developments in Europe, these features, as well as the materials selected by the architect, helped distinguish the house, as well as some its neighbors, from College Point’s agrarian roots. Built of red brick, the exterior was originally covered with light-colored stucco that created the impression that it was constructed of large stone blocks. Other notable classical revival elements included paired columns, slightly arched windows, and a continuous projecting wood cornice. In the decade prior to the Civil War, such decorative treatments became defining characteristics of row houses in New York and Brooklyn, as well as in larger free-standing mansions.
Downing also observed that the “Italian style is one that expresses not wholly the spirit of country life nor of town life, but something between both, and which is mingling of both.”15 This may explain why many surviving examples of this architectural style in New York City, including the Schleicher House, were built in once-suburban areas, including: the Phelps-Stokes House (1852-53) in Murray Hill, Manhattan, the Litchfield Villa (1854-57) in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and the Benjamin Pike House (1858) in Astoria, Queens – all designated New York City Landmarks.
In contrast to Italianate houses, which often display flat or low pitch roofs, the Schleicher House was distinguished by a squat mansard punctuated by dormer windows on four sides. Perhaps the earliest surviving structure with this roof treatment in New York City, it was named for the 17th century French architect Francois Mansart who frequently used this type of construction in residential designs.16 Revived in France during the 1830s, it became particularly popular under the rule of Napoleon III (1852-70) and was a characteristic feature of the Second Empire Style.
Mansard roofs generally slope inward from all sides and provide additional interior space at the attic level. Such practical solutions were also present in Germany and Austria, where roofs were “raised to a very great pitch, on the account of the great quantity of snow that falls.”
Detlef Lienau, who studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, has been credited with introducing the Second Empire Style in New York City, in his 1850-52 residence (demolished) for the French merchant Hart M. Schiff. Located on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 10th Street, his brick-and-brownstone design was widely praised – it incorporated many architectural features employed by Gescheidt, including corner and wall quoins, a tiled mansard roof, and elaborately-decorated dormers.
The Schleicher House is 2½ stories tall. Oriented toward the west, to face the setting sun, the main elevation is divided in two sections. The larger, main section was designed in a symmetrical manner, with a wide front porch reached by stairs that were flanked by wood railings and balusters. The balusters curved outward, with the steps getting wider close to the ground. The porch incorporated four pairs of Ionic columns. Directly above the stairs, Gescheidt included a rounded pediment that displayed a small medallion relief.
This feature softened the facade’s rectilinear character and echoed the shape of the arched window openings. Each story was divided into three bays, including large windows on the parlor floor, pairs of arched, eight-pane windows on the second floor, and single dormers at the attic level aligned with the windows below. As completed in 1857, all of first and second floor windows probably had wood shutters and the dormers were flanked by decorative brackets. The recessed north section (left) was divided into two bays, each with eight-pane windows. This wing was likely to have contained the kitchen, and the adjoining interior space, to the rear (east), served as a dining or breakfast room.
The rear facade faced east, where a sloping lawn descended to landscaped grounds. Less formal in character, this elevation has an irregular profile, with two projecting bays. Each was designed to suggest a Second Empire Style pavilion, crowned by a nearly independent mansard. As built, the original raised wood porch extended across three of the four bays. Though no 19th century photograph has been located that shows the east facade in detail, it can be assumed that the columns and fenestration resembled the west facade.
Along with the nearby Poppenhusen mansion, the Schleicher House helped popularize the Second Empire Style in College Point. A photograph taken from the mansard roof of the Poppenhusen Institute in 1880 looking northeast, shows numerous buildings executed in this style, including a large number of houses.19 Today, most of these buildings have been lost or what survives has been significantly altered.
Subsequent History
Following Schleicher’s death, the house was sold in 1870 to Kenneth G. White for $40,000. White, who served as a clerk in the Federal Circuit Court as well as a United States Commissioner, owned the house for less than two decades and it may be his family and friends who occupy the west porch in a circa 1872 photograph. The house was then acquired by Henry C. and Margaret Cronkright who sold it to the New York City developer William B. Aston (d. 1919) in 1892. Contemporary maps show that both White and Aston owned multiple lots in the vicinity and may have assembled these parcels with the intention to subdivide.
In May 1892, it became the Grand View Hotel and Park, providing “First-class accommodations to summer boarders and private parties.” Ten miles from Manhattan, Sunday and summer excursionists arrived by hourly ferry, on railroads from Hunter’s Point in Long Island City, and by trolley. Famous for beer gardens, boating facilities and scenic drives, it was estimated that on weekends the town’s population would double or triple. The hotel’s manager was John Jockers, a long-time employee of the Schleicher family. Born in Germany in 1836, he immigrated to New York City in 1853 and after a brief period working for Conrad Poppenhusen was hired by Schleicher.
In the 1870 United States Census, he described himself as a gardener, and in the 1880 Census, a coachman. In later years he was also identified as the “superintendent of the residence and grounds . . . where he laid out the grounds and improved them with the assistance of a number of workmen.”21 The hotel was said to offer “eleven light and airy sleeping rooms” and “the dining accommodations are ample to meet all demands, while the service is above the average found in this vicinity.”22 What remained of the Schleicher estate was described as a “beautiful park” where guests could play lawn tennis and croquet.
Jockers probably leased the house from Aston who planned to divide the property into building lots. In 1893, 100 lots were put up for sale, but few were actually sold. Some were purchased by 1896 but it was not until 1906 that the majority of lots, approximately 11 acres, were finally sold. During this period, the surrounding street grid was cut through the site, isolating the house at the center of four streets. Two years later, in 1908, the house itself appeared at auction and was described as occupying “an exactly circular plot, 110 feet in diameter, at North Fourteenth Street and Schleicher Court.”
Ownership of the Schleicher House changed several times over the next decades. In 1910, it was described as being “occupied for years by foreigners of the poorest class and is in very bad repair.”24 In 1923 major alterations by owner A. Szczur were approved by the Queens Department of Buildings.25 These changes are likely to have involved the legal conversion of the house into multiple units, the addition of fire escapes on the east facade, and the modification of the east porch into a second entrance with stairs. A researcher for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) observed in 1938 that the house “still stands and is run as a tenement.”
Photographs of the building, taken in 1957, show a significant loss of stucco on the exterior. Eva Rohan, the previous owner, acquired the building from Peter Stella in 1971. It was awarded a Queensmark for architectural and historical significance from the Queens Historical Society in 1997. A series of wood brackets, set below the cornice, were removed in the 1990s or possibly later. The house is currently divided into seven apartments, with about 14 tenants.
Description
The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House is located at 11-41 123rd Street in College Point, in north central Queens. Situated on a circular parcel, this freestanding house stands at the intersection of 13th Avenue and 123rd Street, one block east of College Point Boulevard. Non-historic chain-link fencing, partially covered with vines, encloses and divides the property, which is planted with bushes and a few older trees. To the east and west, stone steps rise toward non-historic concrete paths that lead to the entrances. Two-and-a-half stories tall, this large red brick house features a raised basement and a steep mansard roof with projecting dormer windows. All of the aluminum-frame windows are non-historic. The dormers have been modified but retain their original shape and projection. The roof is covered with non-historic black shingles. From a distance, a large central brick chimney is visible.
The main (west) facade faces 13th Avenue, toward College Point Boulevard. The facade is asymmetrical; the north section contains two bays, each with single windows, and the south section is divided into three bays, each with two windows. The first (parlor) floor of the south section has a large enclosed porch, reached by non-historic concrete stairs with painted pipe railings. The beed board paneling, brown wood shingles, one-over-one white metal windows and fixed clerestories are non-historic, but the brick bases with horizontal recesses, the painted Ionic composite wood columns that support the porch and flank the entrance, and the general contours appear to be historic.
The arched, second-story windows share a single stone sill, and are framed by raised brickwork that rises from each end of the sill. Below the projecting cornice, the brackets have been removed, revealing rectangular recesses, painted white. The roof has three dormer windows, aligned above the paired windows. The northern edge of the west facade has brick quoins. A horizontal stone element (painted white) extends between the base of the porch and the north edge of the house. Below this element, two basement windows are visible. At the second story, the south (right) window has been filled with brick. The roof has a single window, aligned between the first and second story windows. Beneath the wood porch is the original areaway, with basement windows, reached by brick steps on the north side. Most of the stone and brick inside the areaway is painted white. To the right of the door is an oval window.
The north facade faces 123rd Street, towards 11th Avenue. Each window is framed with raised brickwork that rises from wide stone sills. The fenestration is asymmetrical, with a wide space between the center and west (right) windows. Between the center and east (left) window, a metal pipe extends up the wall and through the projecting cornice. The roof has a single dormer at center and a brick chimney stack with a recessed decorative pattern to the right (west).
The east facade faces 13th Avenue, towards 124th Street. Divided into four bays, an entrance is located in the center-left bay. Reached by non-historic stairs, flanked by non-historic brick walls and wood columns, the wood entrance doors and transom are historic but the wood pediment is probably not. A raised horizontal stone element (painted white), between the basement and the first floor, originally framed a wide porch and is visible in the south and north bays. The center-left bay projects out from the main body of the house, with angled side windows. Both windows have been significantly altered: the first story is partially filled with brick and the second story is entirely enclosed with brick. The south (left) bay is served by an iron fire escape that descends from a dormer window on the roof to the second floor window and then continues down to the south facade.
Along the edge of this bay is a metal pipe, painted white. The windows in the center-right bay are identical to the south bay. The north bay also projects from the main body of the house, with angled side windows. It is served by an iron fire escape that descends from the dormer window on the roof to both center and south windows on the second floor and then down to a landing set between the center and south windows on the first floor. Both of the center windows have been filled with brick. At the basement level, there is a squat, one over-one-window. The side windows are one-over-one aluminum windows. Extending the full length of the east facade is a deep areaway with windows, reached by stairs with a single iron railing along the south side. Below first story entrance is a single door to the basement, flanked by small windows, with prominent lintels and sills, and the original vertical bars.
The south facade faces 123rd Street, toward 14th Avenue.
The first and second floors have four window openings. A pair of windows on the second floor has been filled with brick. On the roof is a single dormer window, flanked by brick chimney stacks, decorated with arched recessed patterns. A metal pipe extends up from inside the right half of the west (left) chimney. Between the center and west (left) windows on the first floor, a gray television dish is attached to the wall. Between the base and the first story, a raised white horizontal element (probably painted stone) extends the full length of the facade. The basement has four windows, aligned with the windows above. The center pair has been filled with brick. At the west edge of the facade, a white metal pipe extends up the wall and through the projecting cornice.
- From the 2009 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Heritage Weekend is more than just the Saturday. In fact its more than one weekend. And the website for the weekend listed many intersting places to go, but few in east Kent on the Sunday, but St Margaret's being open was one of them.
So, after we had left St Mildred in Canterbury, we drove up the M2, and then through the usual strip malls and urban spread that is the Medway Towns.
The sat nav took us down narrow streets, across a main road, and up a slight hill, and announced we had arrived.
Nothing churchy leaped out at me.
I thought maybe down the narrow lane in front. It was then I saw the wall.
The wall looked chuchy. And beyond was an early 19th century building that had heritage bunting strung out.
Bingo.
The first view had the tower hidden by a tree, I thought perhaps it didn't have one.
But nearer to the church I could see it did have a tower, an a medieval one at that, it looked like an unhappy coupling.
I was given a very warm welcome, and the history of the church was explained:
the original church was in a ruinous state at the start of the 19th century, and when Army and Naval officers began to have houses built in the area, they wanted a nice fashionable church.
So the nave and chancel were taken down, and the current nave put in its place.
Built before the English Gothic fervour took hold.
The east and west windows have been replaced since the church was built.
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THE PARISH OF ST. MARGARET is of large extent, and contains all the lands without the walls on the south side of the city, that are within the bounds of its jurisdiction. It is stiled in some records, St. Margaret's in Suthgate, (fn. 22) and in those of the city, the Borough of Suthgate. (fn. 23)
There are two streets of houses in this parish, the one called St. Margaret's-street, leading from Bully-hill to the church, and so on to Borstall and Woldham southward; the other at some distance from it called St. Margaret's-bank, being a long row of houses, situated on a high bank at the north-east boundary of the parish, on the south side of the great London road to Dover, between St. Catherine's hospital in Rochester, and the Victualling-office, in Chatham. These houses are within the manor of Larkhill.
THERE are SEVERAL MANORS within the bounds of this parish, the most eminent of which is that of
BORSTALL, which was given to the church of Rochester and bishop Beornmod, in the year 811, by Cænulf, king of Mercia, as three plough lands.
This manor seems to have continued part of the possessions of the church of Rochester, without any interruption, till the time of the conquest. It is thus described in the general survey of Domesday, taken in the year 1080, under the general title of Terra Epi Rovecestre, i. e. the lands of the bishop of Rochester.
In the hundred of Rochester, the same bishop (of Rochester) holds Borchetelle. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was taxed at two sulings, and now for one suling and an half. The arable land is four carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and six villeins with three carucates. There are 50 acres of meadow, and two mills of 20 shillings. In the time of king Edward, and afterwards, it was worth six pounds, and now 10 pounds.
In Rochester the bishop had, and yet has, 24 plats of ground, which belong to Frindsbury and Borstal, his own manors. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, they were worth three pounds, now they are worth eight pounds, and yet they yield yearly 11 pounds and 13 shillings and four-pence.
When bishop Gundulph was elected to this see in the time of the Conqueror, and after the example of his patron, archbishop Lanfranc, separated his own revenues from those of his convent, this manor in the division was allotted to the bishop and his successors.
On a taxation of the bishop of Rochester's manors, in 1255, it appears that the bishop had in the manor of Borstalle one hundred and forty acres of arable, estimated each acre at 4d. forty acres of salt meadow at 8d. each, and fourteen acres of salt pasture, each at 6d. which, with the rents of assise, made the total value of the whole manor 9l. 10s. 3d. the repair of the buildings yearly amounting to twenty shillings. (fn. 24)
This manor still continues in the possession of the bishop of Rochester; but the demesne lands are leased out by him to Mrs. Vade, of Croydon, in Surry.
By the agreement made between John Lowe, bishop of Rochester, and the bailiff and citizens of Rochester, in the 27th year of king Henry VI. concerning the limits of the jurisdiction of the city, according to the charter then lately made to them, this borough and manor of Borstall was declared to be exempt from the precinct of the hundred of Rochester, and the law-day of it, and from all payments, fines, suits forfeitures and amerciaments due on that account, as being within the liberty of the bishop, and his church. (fn. 25)
The monks of Rochester priory had several grants of TYTHES, and other premises made to them within this manor and hamlet.
Robert Ernulf and Eadric de Borstalle, gave the tithes of their lands in Borstalle to the priory, which were confirmed to it by several bishops of Rochester, and others (fn. 26) In which confirmations they are described, as the whole tithe of Borstalle of corn, and two parts of the tithes of the land of Ralph de Borstalle. (fn. 27) Eadric de Hescenden, with his wife and two sons, entered into the society of the monks of this priory, upon condition, that when they died, the monks should say a service for them, as for their brethren; and the monks were to have for ever the tithes of their lands in Borestealle and Freondesberie, but in corn only.
Several parcels of land, &c. lying within the manor or hamlet of Borstall, were likewise at times given to these monks. All these premises continued part of the possessions of the priory till the dissolution of it, in 1549, when they were surrendered into the king's hands, and were settled by him, three years afterwards, on his new founded dean and chapter of Rochester, where they remain at present.
This manor, with others in this neighbourhood, was bound antiently to contribute to the repair of the first pier of Rochester-bridge.
NASHENDEN is a manor in this parish, which lies about three-quarters of a mile south-eastward from Borstall. In the Textus Roffensis it is called Hescenden, and in Domesday, Essedene.
This manor was part of those vast possessions, with which William the Conqueror enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux; accordingly it is thus entered, under the title of that prelate's lands, in the general survey of Domesday:
Rannulf de Columbels holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Essedene. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . . In demesne there is one carucate, and 19 villeins, with three borderers having three carucates. There are three servants, and 8 acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth three pounds, when he received it four pounds, now five pounds. Earl Leuuin held it.
It appears by the red book of the exchequer, that this estate in the reign of king Henry II. was held by Thomas de Nessingden, of Daniel de Crevequer, as one knight's fee of the old feoffment.
In the reign of king Edward I. this manor was become the property of Jeffry Haspale, whose descendant, John de Aspale, for so the name was then spelt, died possessed of Nashenden in the 31st year of that reign, holding it of the king in capite. After which it appears to have come into the name of Basing, and from thence quickly after into that of Charles.
Richard Charles, as appears by the inquisition taken after his death, anno 1 Richard II. died possessed of the manor of Naseden, which he held of the king in capite by knight's service, excepting forty acres of pasture and wood, which he held of the lord Grey, as of his manor of Aylesford; whose nephew, Richard, son of his brother Roger Charles, died possessed of it in the 11th year of that reign, holding it of the king in capite, as of his honor of Peverel and Hagenet, by knight's service.
Nicholas Haut afterwards possessed this manor, in right of his wife Alice, who was a descendant of the above-mentioned family. She held it for the term of her life with remainder to James Peckham, who on her death, in the 1st year of king Henry IV. came into the possession of it. He obtained the king's licence two years afterwards, to give and amortize to the wardens of Rochester-bridge, and their successors, this manor, and also one hundred acres of pasture, with their appurtenances in Ellesford, the manor then being worth yearly, and above all reprises 6l. 13s. 4d. per annum. (fn. 28) Since which it has continued part of the possessions of the wardens and commonalty of the said bridge, for the support and repair of it. The present lessees of this manor are Leonard Bartholemew and Phil. Boghurst, esqrs.
An account of the tithes of this manor will be given, with those of Little Delce in this parish. (fn. 29)
There was a chapel at this place, dependent on the parish church of St. Margaret. (fn. 29)
GREAT DELCE is a manor which, with the estate now called LOWER DELCE, lies on the eastern side of this parish, about half a mile southward from Eastgate, in Rochester. It was formerly called Much Delce and Delce Magna, or Great Delce, and was given by William the Conqueror to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his halfbrother, under the title of whose lands it is thus entered in the general survey of Domesday:
In the lath of Aylesford, in Rochester hundred, the son of William Tabum holds Delce of the bishop (of Baieux). It was taxed at one suling and one yoke. The arable land is . . . . . There is one carucate in demesne, and five villeins having five carucates. There are 12 acres of meadow, wood for the pannage of one bog. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth three pounds, and now 70 shillings. Godric held it of king Edward.
This manor afterwards came into the possession of a family, to which it gave name. Herebert, Gosfrid, and Hugo de Delce possessed it in successive generations. After which it passed to Buckerel, and the heirs of Thomas Buckerel, in the latter end of the reign of king Henry III. held it as two knights fees and a half, of Bertram de Criol. (fn. 30) After which this estate seems to have been separated into parcels, for Geoffry de Haspale held this manor as the fourth part of a knight's fee only, at the time of his death, in the 15th year of king Edward I. as appears by the inquisition taken for that purpose.
The next family who succeeded, as appears by the original deeds of this estate, was that of Molineux, descended from those of Sefton, in Lancashire; but they did not keep possession of it long, for by the evidence of an antient court roll, Benedict de Fulsham was lord of it in the 30th year of king Edward III. His descendant, Richard Fulsham, held it of the king in capite, as the fourth part of a knight's fee, at his death in the 5th year of king Henry V. Soon after which this name seems to have become extinct here; for in the 9th year of that reign, Reginald Love died possessed of it, and his successor held it till the latter end of king Henry VI's reign, when it passed by sale to William Venour, whose arms were, Argent, on a fess sable five escallops or, three and two, and who died possessed of this manor in the 1st year of king Edward IV. After which it was within a few months conveyed by sale to Markham, descended from an antient family of that name in Nottinghamshire, in which name it staid but a very short time before it was sold to Tate, who passed it away to Sir Richard Lee, citizen of London, and grocer, who served the office of lord-mayor in the 39th year of king Henry VI. and the 9th year of king Edward IV. (fn. 31) He was the eldest son of John Lee, of Wolksted, in Surry, and grandson of Symon Lee, who was descended of ancestors in Worcestershire, and bore for his arms, Azure, on a sess cotized or, three leopard's faces gules. He lies buried in the church of St. Stephen, Walbrook, his arms are remaining in East-Grinsted church, and in that of St. Dionis Backchurch, in London, with those of several marriages of his posterity; his son Richard Lee seems to have had this manor of Great Delce by gift of his father during his life-time, and kept his shrievalty at this mansion in the 19th year of the latter reign, his son Richard, who was both of Delce and of Maidstone, left two sons, the youngest of whom, Edward, was archbishop of York, (fn. 32) and the eldest Richard, was of Delce, whose only surviving son, Godfrey, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands to be disgavelled, by the general act passed for this purpose, (fn. 33) after which his descendants continued to reside here for several generations, but Richard Lee, esq. about the latter end of queen Anne's reign, passed away the whole of this estate, excepting the manor, and forty acres of land, to Thomas Chiffinch, esq. of Northfleet, in this county, from which time this seat and estate acquired the name of Lower Delce.
Thomas Chiffinch, esq. died in 1727, and was succeeded by Thomas Chiffinch, esq. his only son and heir, who died without issue in 1775, and by his will bequeathed this, among his other estates, to his niece and heir-at-law, Mary, the daughter of his sister Elizabeth Comyns, who afterwards carried them in marriage to Francis Wadman, esq. of the Hive, in Northfleet, and he is the present possessor of Lower Delce.
THE MANOR OF GREAT DELCE, and the forty acres of land above-mentioned, together with a farm, called King's Farm, continued in the possession of Richard Lee, esq. who died possessed of them in 1724, and his grandson, Richard Lee, esq. of Clytha, in Wales, now possesses this manor; but in 1769, he alienated all the demesnes of it, together with King's farm, to Mr. Sampson Waring, of Chatham, who died possessed of them in 1769, leaving his brother, Mr. Walter Waring, and his sister, Mrs. Smith, of Lower Delce, his executors, who are at this time entitled to the profits of them. The court for the manor of Great Delce has not been held for some years.
The manor is held by castle-guard rent of Rochester castle; but when the mansion and most part of the lands were sold, as above mentioned, from Lee to Chiffinch, the former expressly charged the whole of that rent on the premises bought by Chiffinch, and entirely exonerated that part which he reserved to himself from paying any portion of it.
An account of the tithes of this manor, given to the priory of Rochester, may be seen under the following description of Little Delce manor.
LITTLE DELCE, or DELCE PARVA, now known by the name of UPPER DELCE, is a manor in this parish, situated in the high road between Rochester and Maidstone, somewhat more than a quarter of a mile from the former. This likewise, as well as that of Great Delce, was given by William the Conqueror to his half brother Odo, bishop of Baieux; under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in the book of Domesday:
In Rochester hundred, Ansgotus de Roucestre holds Delce of the bishop (of Baieux). It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is two carucates, and there are in demesne . . . . . . . with one villein, and five borderers, and six servants. There are 12 acres of meadow, and 60 acres of pasture. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, and now, it was, and is worth 100 shillings. Osuuard held it of king Edward.
This estate, on the disgrace of bishop Odo, most probably reverted again into the king's hands; and seems afterwards to have been in the possession of a family, who assumed their name, De Delce, from it, and held it of William de Say, as one knight's fee. (fn. 34)
In the reign of king John, this manor was in the possession of Jeffry de Bosco, a Norman; but when that province was seized by the king of France, the lands of the Normans, in this kingdom, became vested in the crown, by way of escheat or seizure, under the title of, Terra Normanorum; thus the manor of Little Delce was seized by king John, in the 5th year of his reign, who gave it to William de Ciriton, the sheriff, for two hundred pounds, two palfreys, and two gols hawks, (fn. 35) on condition, that if the said Jeffry should return to his allegiance, he should, without delay, again possess the same. (fn. 36) But this never happened, and this manor continued in the desendants of William de Ciriton. Odo de Ciriton died possessed of it it in the 31st year of king Henry III. holding it of the king in capite, by the service of one knight's fee. (fn. 37) This family was extinct here before the middle of the reign of king Edward I. for in the 9th year of that reign, as appears by Kirkby's Inquest. Richard Pogeys held this manor. At the latter end of the reign of king Edward III. it was possessed by the family of Basing, from which name it went into that of Charles. Richard Charles died possessed of the manor of Little Delce, in the 1st year of king Richard II. leaving his brother's sons, Richard and John, his next heirs; the former of whom died possessed of it, anno 11 Richard II. and left a son, Robert Charles, who dying without issue, his two sisters became his coheirs, viz. Alice, married to William Snayth, and Joan to Richard Ormskirk; and on the division of their estates, this manor fell to the share of William Snayth, commonly called Snette, in right of his wife, Alice, the eldest of them. Soon after which, Charles and William Snette, for so the name is spelt in the bridge archives, gave and amortized this manor of Little Delce, of the yearly value of six marcs, above all reprises, to the wardens of Rochester bridge and their successors, for the support and repair of the same. Since which it has acquired the name of Upper Delce, by which it is now only known, and it continues at this time part of the possessions of the wardens and commonalty of the said bridge, for the purposes above mentioned. The present lessees of this manor are Leonard Bartholomew and Philip Boghurst, esqrs.
The tithes of Great and Little Delce, Borstal, and Nashenden, were given, in the time of bishop Gundulph, to the priory of Rochester.
Gosfrid de Delce, together with his wife and children, on their being admitted to be partakers of the benefits received from the prayers of the monks, gave the whole of the tithes of Little Delce, both great and small, to the priory of St. Andrew.
Ansgotus de Rovecestre accepted of the like benefit from the church of St. Andrew, and the monks there, in the time of bishop Gundulph, and gave to the church and monks there, all his tithes, both great and small, of Great Delce, and in like manner the whole of his tithe mill, and of a certain piece of land included within the wall of the monks, towards the south, and five acres of land near Prestefelde, and at their request, gave them, on his death bed, cloathing, and they performed service for him as for a monk.
Uulmer, the tenant of Arnulf de Hesdine, by the advice of Adelold, brother of Baldwin, monk of St. Andrew, accepted the benefit of that society, and gave to it his whole tithe, worth ten shillings yearly. Robert de St. Armand gave his tithes of Neschendene and Borstelle to St. Andrew's priory. These several tithes were confirmed to the priory by various bishops of Rochester; by Theobald, archbishop, and Ralph, prior, and the convent of Canterbury. They remained part of the possessions of the priory till their dissolution in 1540; three years after which they were settled on the new founded dean and chapter of Roter, where they still remain.
The PARISH of St. MARGARET, is Rochester, is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese and deanry of Rochester. The church is situated at the south extremity of St. Margaret's-street; it consists of one nave and two chancels on the south side of much later date than the church. That towards the east end was built and long supported by the family of Lee, of Great Delce, whose remains lie in a large vault under this chancel; but since the alienation of their mansion here, the repair of this part of the fabric has devolved on the parishioners. The chancel, at the east end of the church, belongs to the appropriator, who consequently repairs it. At the west end of the church is a tower, containing five bells; it is entirely covered with ivy to the top of it, which makes a most beautiful and picturesque appearance. Against the east wall, in the south chancel, is the antient bust of a man in robes, with a coronet on his head. (fn. 38) In the reign of king Charles II. a coronet, set round with precious stones, was dug up in this church yard; and the report of the parish has been, that one of our Saxon kings was buried here.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in this church are the following: In the chancel, a brass for Syr James Roberte Preess, obt. Sep. 24, 1540. A monument, arms, Head, impaling quarterly a chevron between three hawks belled or, for Francis Head, esq. eldest son of Sir Richard Head. bart. obt. 1678; he married the only daughter of Sir George Ent. In the north window, Argent. three crosses bottony fitchee sable, and argent on a bend quarterly, an efcallop gules. In a pew, partly in the chancel and partly in the nave, Argent on a bend gules, between two peliers, three swans proper. In the nave, a brass for Tho. Cod. vicar, a benefactor to the steeple of this church, obt. Nov. 1465. In the chancel, south of the rectors, a monument, arms, Argent, a right hand couped sable, impaling Lee, for Thomas Manly, esq the third son and heir of George Manly, of Lach, esq. he married Jane, second daughter of Richard Lee, esq. of Delce, and left one only son and two daughters, obt. 1690. In the east window, arms of Lee, Azure on a fess cotized, or three leopards heads gules. In a chapel, west of the Lee chancel, in the east wall, a bust of a person with a crown on his head, much defaced. (fn. 39)
At the time of bishop Gundulph's coming to the see of Rochester, and for almost a century afterwards, this church or chapel of St. Margaret, for it is frequently mentioned by both names, was accounted only as an appendage to the parochial altar of St. Nicholas in the cathedral, and the one underwent the same changes as the other; (fn. 40) and Walter, bishop of Rochester, in 1147, confirmed the above mentioned parochial altar, together with this church of St. Margaret, which belonged as a chapel to it, to the monks of this priory, and appropriated it to them. This grant was set aside by bishop Gilbert de Glanville, in the beginning of the reign of king Richard I. who not only separated this church from the altar of St. Nicholas, and divested the monks of all manner of right to it; but on the foundation of his hospital at Stroud about the same time, he gave, in pure and perpetual alms, among other premises, this church of St. Margaret to the master and brethren of it, and appropriated it to them, reserving only half a marc yearly to be paid to the priory, in lieu of the oblations which the monks used to receive from it. (fn. 41)
The monks by no means acquiesced in this gift, but seized every opportunity of asserting their right to this church, and after several appeals to the pope from time to time, and confirmation and decrees made in favour of each party, (fn. 42) the dispute seems to have been finally settled in 1255, when the pope adjudged, that this church of St. Margaret, with all its appurtenances, should for the future belong to the prior and chapter of Rochester; accordingly from the above time they kept possession of it.
From the time of bishop Walter's appropriation of the profits of the parochial altar of St. Nicholas, with this church appendant to it, to the prior and convent, to the divesting them of it by bishop Glanville, it is likely, instead of a curate being appointed, the duty of this parish was discharged by some member of the society, as it was probably afterwards, whilst in the possession of the hospital, by one of the priests of that foundation; however, within a few years after the convent recovered the permanent possession of St. Margaret's, a vicar was certainly appointed, for William Talevez occurs by that title in 1272.
The vicars seem to have had only a yearly stipend from the convent for their pains, for more than a century afterwards; but in 1401, the prior and chapter came into a composition with the vicar for the endowment of this church; in which they agreed, that the vicar and his successors should for the future have, for their maintenance, and the support of the burthens therein mentioned, a mansion with its appurtenances, to be assigned for the vicarage of it, and the accustomed and entire altarage of it, and all the small tithes of the three manors of Nessenden and Great and Little Delce, and of all goods and lands, except the tithes of mills, within the parish, and except the tithes, great, small, and mixed, arising from the lands, cattle, and other things belonging to the religious; and that he and his successors should have three quarters of wheat with three heaps, and three quarters of barley with three heaps, to be taken yearly at their barn, at the times therein mentioned, and the tithes of sheaves, which should arise in gardens not cultivated with the plough; and that the vicar and his suc cessors, content with the above portion, should not demand any thing further of the religious or their successors; and further, that he and they should undergo, at their own proper costs and charges, the burthens of repairing, maintaining, and new building, as often as need should be, the buildings, with their appurtenances, and all other things belonging to the said mansion, with its appurtenances, as well as all things belonging to the celebration of divine services, and the administration of the sacraments and sacramentals to the parishioners, and the finding of bread and wine, lights, books, vestments, and other ornaments necessary to the celebration of divine services, which of custom or right ought to belong to the secular rectors of this church; and also the procurations and subsidies, according to the taxation of his and their portion; but all other things whatsoever, belonging or which in future should belong to this church, as well as all tithes whatsoever, arising or to arise from the lands and possessions of the prior and convent within the parish, even though they should be let or sold to laymen, they the said prior and convent should take and have, who should likewise maintain and repair the chancel, except as before excepted, at their own proper costs and charges. Notwithstanding the stipulation of the vicar for himself and his successors, not to require any increase of their portion from the prior and convent, Edmund Harefelde, vicar of this church, did not consider this clause as obligatory upon him; for in 1488, he petitioned the bishop for an augmentation of his vicarial portion, who decreed, that the vicar and his successors should yearly receive, as the portion of his vicarage, from the prior and convent, five marcs in money; and out of the tithes and profits of this church, appropriated to the prior and convent, four quarters of wheat with four heaps, and four quarters of barley with four heaps, to be taken yearly at their barns of the Upper court, in Harreat, with liberty of entry and distress on the parsonage on non-payment; and he decreed, that the endowment of the vicarage, over and above the portion above mentioned, should be as follows, that the vicar for the time being should have the mansion of the vicarage of this church, with the garden adjoining, for his habitation, which they used to have of old time there, and then had; and all manner of oblations whatsoever within the bounds of the parish, and all manner of tithes whatsoever, as of hay, lambs, wool, mills, calves, chicken, pigs, geese, ducks, eggs, bees, honey, wax, cheese, milk, the produce of the dairy, flax, hemp, pears, apples, swans, pidgeons, merchandizes, fisheries, pastures, onions, garlics, and saffrons whatsoever arising and coming; and also the tithes of sheaves in gardens, whether cultivated with the plough or dug with the foot, increasing within the parish; and the tithes also of firewood, woods, thorns, silva cedua, as well as of all billets, faggots, and fardels whatsoever, within the limits of the parish; and he further decreed, that the burthens of repairing, amending, and new building the mansion, with every appurtenance belonging to it, and the celebration and ministration of the sacraments and the sacramentals to the parishioners, of the finding of bread and wine, and lights to the church, either of right or custom due, should belong to and be borne by the vicar and his successors, as well as all episcopal burthens of the said church, according to the taxation of his portion. But that the burthen of repairing and amending the chancel of the church, as well within as without, as also the finding and repairing of books, vestments, and other ornaments, for the celebration of those divine rights, which of old, either by right or custom, belonged to the rectors of the church, should in future be borne by the prior and convent and their successors, at their own proper charge and expence; and that all other burthens, ordinary and extraordinary, of the vicarage, and to the vicar belonging, by reason of tha same, except as before excepted, should belong to him and his successors, to be borne and supported at his and their own proper costs and charges; saving to the bishop and his successors, a right of augmenting and diminishing this vicarage, and of correcting, amending, and explaining the above decree, whenever he or they should think it expedient so to do; and saving to himself and his successors, all episcopal right, (fn. 43) &c.
The appropriation of this church, and the patronage of the vicarage, continued part of the possessions of the prior and convent till the dissolution of the monastery, in 1540, when it was surrendered into the king's hands, who three years after, by his dotation charter, settled this appropriation and vicarage on his new founded dean and chapter of Rochester, where they remain at this time.
Adjoining to the north wall of the church yard is a piece of ground, which has probably belonged to the vicars of this parish ever since their first institution here; an antient court roll mentions their being possessed of it in the year 1317.
In the 5th year of king Edward III. John de Folkstan, vicar of St. Margaret's, held a messuage, with its appurtenances, adjoining to the church yard, by the assignment of the prior and convent, with the ordination of the bishop, as belonging to the portion of his vicarage; which messuage, with its appurtenances, was held of the master and brethren of the hospital of Stroud, by fealty, and the service of two shillings yearly, and also the payment of twelvepence to them, after the death of each vicar. (fn. 44)
The vicars, I am told, now hold this piece of land of the dean and chapter, as of their manor of Ambree, on their paying a small acknowledgment.
The vicarage house being from age become irreparable, was taken down, with an intention of erecting a convenient and substantial dwelling in the room of it; for which purpose Mr. Lowth, the late vicar, for several years deposited an annual sum with the dean and chapter, towards defraying the charges of it; and about 1781, erected on this spot a neat and convenient house, built of brick and sashed, with proper offices adjoining, for the use of himself and his successors, vicars of this parish. By an agreement between John Ready, vicar of it, and the dean and chapter, the former, in consideration of several benefits and benevolences done to him by the latter, consented to take an annual payment of 5l. 6s. 8d. instead of the pension in money and corn, granted by the composition made in 1488. Some recompence indeed has since been made for this unjust bargain by the dean and chapter, who have settled on it a larger augmentation than on any other church in their patronage. The vicarage of St. Margaret is valued in the king's books at 10l. and the yearly tenths at 1l. (fn. 45)
¶In the survey, taken after the death of Charles I. in 1649, of the church livings within this diocese, by the powers then in being, on the intended abolition of deans and chapters, it was returned, that there were belonging to this rectory or parsonage, a parsonagehouse, two barns, one stable, and other houshings, and also certain tithes, profits, &c. belonging to it, together with certain glebe land, called Court-hill and Court hill marsh, containing together nine acres, and and one marsh, lying in the parish of St. Nicholas, Rochester, called Cow marsh, with the waste ground called salts, containing together seven acres, and all that piece of ground called Upper court, alias Hogshaw, containing one acre; in all seventeen acres, worth together 130l. per annum, viz. the house and lands, 12l. per annum, and the tithes 118l. per ann. all which were let, among other premises, by Henry King, late dean of the cathedral church of Rochester, by his indenture, in 1639, to George Newman, esq. for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent, for Preestfield and Stroud marsh, of 4s. 4d. per annum, and for all the other premises twelve quarters of wheat, heaped, making together the yearly rent of 31l. 1s. 8d. Next the vicarage was, in like manner surveyed, and returned at the yearly value of 30l. (fn. 46)
There was never any doubt I would go to Rob's funeral. Rob was born just two weeks before me, and in our many meetings, we found we had so much in common.
A drive to Ipswich should be something like only two and a half hours, but with the Dartford Crossing that could balloon to four or more.
My choice was to leave early, soon after Jools left for work, or wait to near nine once rush hour was over. If I was up early, I'd leave early, I said.
Which is what happened.
So, after coffee and Jools leaving, I loaded my camera stuff in the car, not bothering to program in a destination, as I knew the route to Suffolk so well.
Checking the internet I found the M2 was closed, so that meant taking the M20, which I like as it runs beside HS2, although over the years, vegetation growth now hides most of it, and with Eurostar cutting services due to Brexit, you're lucky to see a train on the line now.
I had a phone loaded with podcasts, so time flew by, even if travelling through the endless roadworks at 50mph seemed to take forever.
Dartford was jammed. But we inched forward, until as the bridge came in sight, traffic moved smoothly, and I followed the traffic down into the east bore of the tunnel.
Another glorious morning for travel, the sun shone from a clear blue sky, even if traffic was heavy, but I had time, so not pressing on like I usually do, making the drive a pleasant one.
Up through Essex, where most other traffic turned off at Stanstead, then up to the A11 junction, with it being not yet nine, I had several hours to fill before the ceremony.
I stopped at Cambridge services for breakfast, then programmed the first church in: Gazeley, which is just in Suffolk on the border with Cambridgeshire.
I took the next junction off, took two further turnings brought be to the village, which is divided by one of the widest village streets I have ever seen.
It was five past nine: would the church be open?
I parked on the opposite side of the road, grabbed my bag and camera, limped over, passing a warden putting new notices in the parish notice board. We exchange good mornings, and I walk to the porch.
The inner door was unlocked, and the heavy door swung after turning the metal ring handle.
I had made a list of four churches from Simon's list of the top 60 Suffolk churches, picking those on or near my route to Ipswich and which piqued my interest.
Here, it was the reset mediaeval glass.
Needless to say, I had the church to myself, the centuries hanging heavy inside as sunlight flooded in filling the Chancel with warm golden light.
Windows had several devotional dials carved in the surrounding stone, and a huge and "stunningly beautiful piscina, and beside it are sedilia that end in an arm rest carved in the shape of a beast" which caught my eye.
A display in the Chancel was of the decoration of the wooden roof above where panels contained carved beats, some actual and some mythical.
I photographed them all.
I programmed in the next church, a 45 minute drive away just on the outskirts of Ipswich, or so I thought.
The A14 was plagued by roadworks, then most trunk roads and motorways are this time of year, but it was a fine summer morning, I was eating a chocolate bar as I drove, and I wasn't in a hurry.
I turned off at Claydon, and soon lost in a maze of narrow lanes, which brought be to a dog leg in the road, with St Mary nestling in a clearing.
I pulled up, got out and found the air full of birdsong, and was greeted by a friendly spaniel being taken for a walk from the hamlet which the church serves.
There was never any doubt that this would be open, so I went through the fine brick porch, pushed another heavy wooden door and entered the coolness of the church.
I decided to come here for the font, which as you can read below has quite the story: wounded by enemy action no less!
There seems to be a hagioscope (squint) in a window of the south wall, makes one think or an anchorite, but of this there is little evidence.
Samuel and Thomasina Sayer now reside high on the north wall of the Chancel, a stone skull between them, moved here too because of bomb damage in the last war.
I drove a few miles to the next church: Flowton.
Not so much a village as a house on a crossroads. And the church.
Nothing so grand as a formal board outside, just a handwritten sign say "welcome to Flowton church". Again, I had little doubt it would be open.
And it was.
The lychgate still stands, but a fence around the churchyard is good, so serves little practical purpose, other than to be there and hold the signs for the church and forthcoming services.
Inside it is simple: octagonal font with the floor being of brick, so as rustic as can be.
I did read Simon's account (below) when back outside, so went back in to record the tomb of Captain William Boggas and his family, even if part of the stone is hidden by pews now.
I had said to myself, that if I saw signs for another church, I might find time to visit. And so it was with Aldham, I saw the sign pointing down a narrow lane, so I turned and went to investigate.
First it looked like the road ended in a farmyard, but then I saw the flint round tower of the church behind, so followed the lane to the church gate.
There was a large welcoming sign stating, proudly, that the church is always open.
St Mary stands on a mound overlooking a shallow valley, water stand, or runs slowly, in the bottom, and it really is a fine, fine location for a church.
I pushed through the gate and went up the path to the south porch, where the door swung open once again.
The coolness within enveloped me.
An ancient font at the west end was framed by a brick-lined arch, even to my untrained eyes, I knew this was unusual.
There were some carved bench ends, some nice fairly modern glass, but the simplicity of the small church made for a very pleasant whole.
I no longer watch TV much, so was unaware of the view and indeed church being used in the TV show, The Detectorists.
One of Suffolk's hidden treasures, for sure.
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I cycle past this church often - or, at least, the top of the lane that leads down to it. Traffic rushes along the busy Ipswich to Sudbury road not far off, but there is a quieter, parallel road which not many people seem to know about. It leaves Ipswich through Sproughton and will take you all the way to Sudbury, visiting the likes of Burstall, Kersey and Little Waldingfield on the way. Aldham as a village is little more than a straggle of houses, but they lie along this road, and just beyond a cluster of houses you take a sudden turn to the left, on to a pretty track to Aldham Hall. Down through fruit trees you descend, until the walls become older, and there at the end are the farm buildings. Beyond them, is this pretty church.
If the church is pretty, the view from it is doubly so - to the south, the land drops away alarmingly, into a valley full of sheep. You may even think you recognise it, and you could well be right, for the second season of the popular TV series The Detectorists was filmed here, as a small display in the porch of the church reminds you. The church appeared in the opening credits of each programme, the two main characters searching for buried treasure in Aldham Vale below the churchyard.
This is lovely, and splendidly English. Nothing could be more peaceful. But beyond, the land rises to a dark sea of trees, the mysteriously named Wolves Wood, now an RSPB reserve. Looking along to the right, the other hilltop is where the Protestant preacher Roland Taylor was burned at the stake in the 1550s, a site of pilgrimage for his many American descendants. Whatever your reading of the English Reformation, Taylor's burning was a terrible event. One imagines the villagers gathered outside this church, watching the flames and smoke rise.
I remembered the first time I came here, back in the 1990s. We arrived on one of those humid, overcast summer days, on our way to the Bildeston Beer Festival. My young children scattered off to play hide and seek with their mother in the precipitous graveyard. An elderly man was pottering about, looking at 19th Century graves, so I apologised for my family (as you do). But he seemed genuinely pleased that they were running about like mad things. He was tracing his family, and had come down from Norfolk to look for a particular grave of an ancestor. And he'd found it. He was pretty pleased about that, too. He was also following up a theory that his ancestor had been a Rector of this parish. His address had been Aldham Rectory. Did I have any idea how he could find out? I suggested that the church might have a board of 'Rectors of this Parish'. Many do. These are a pleasant Victorianism, intended to overcome the 16th Century breach by claiming a history of the CofE that extended back before the Reformation. We could go inside, and take a look. And we did - the church was militantly open, the inner door wedged wide. We found the board - but the name wasn't there. So, the mystery remained unsolved.
This church was pretty well derelict by the mid 19th Century, and underwent a fairly late restoration, in 1883. The tower was rebuilt, as was the south wall of the nave. The roofs were replaced, giving an overwhelmingly Victorian appearance, although Sam Mortlock detected the Norman, and possibly Saxon, ancestor. The hill itself suggests a very early foundation, perhaps on a site of pagan worship.
The architect was WM Fawcett, and there was another restoration of the inside in the early 20th Century under the eyes of diocesan surveyor and renowned antiquarian H Munro Cautley. The resulting interior is one of those neat and shiny jobs that is certainly grand, and pleasant enough, but rather dated now. Our early 21st Century spirituality seems to respond more to dusty, ancient interiors than to these High Church ritualisations. But you get a sense of a church that is still much loved, well-cared for, and used regularly.
Aldham parish have gone one further than a wedged-open door, and a big sign has been erected at the bottom of the lane proclaiming that Our Church is Always Open, and so it is easy to step inside. And it is not without survivals, some of them fascinating. The benches are mostly Cautleys from the 1920s, but he incorporated a couple of earlier ones. These are unlike anything else I've seen in Suffolk, and their primitive quality suggests a local origin. The one to the west apparently shows a bear, or possibly a lion. My first impulse was that it was some kind of heraldic device, but what is the shaved off object it holds in its mouth, and is the pattern emerging from beneath the head really fur? Back in 1999, my six year old took one look at it and decided that the creature isn't eating the bird, but the bird is flying out of its mouth. Could it be a dove? And could the three objects issuing from beneath the head actually be tongues of fire? In which case, could this be some strange composition representing Pentecost, and the descent of the Holy Spirit?
In the spandrel above the bear, or whatever it is, there is a lily, the symbol of the Annunciation. But it is also a symbol of the crucifixion. It calls to mind the rare lily crucifixes, of which just two are known to survive in Suffolk, at Long Melford and Great Glemham. Could this be an unrecorded third? The other bench end is probably easier to read. The crown is obvious enough. The star and crescent are familiar from representations of the crucifixion. The pike is a familiar instrument of the Passion. And, if you look in the spandrel above, you'll see a crown of thorns, so this may well be a composition representing the Passion.
A third bench end, to the east, shows just a simple spiked tool, that looks as if it might have been used in thatching. So, what's it all about? They are all a bit of a mystery, really.
And what of the font? This is curious too. It appears to be Norman, but a second glance finds it too elegant, too finely detailed. The pillars are almost Classical in design, and the whole piece has a touch of the 18th Century about it. Was it brought here from somewhere else in the 1880s? Or is it a Victorian recutting of a Norman predecessor? Whatever, the revealed brickwork of the late medieval tower arch looks most fitting behind it.
To see Cautley's work in its full glory, step up into the chancel for the reredos and its flanking niches, as grand as a side-chapel in a French cathedral. Cautley was usually a safe pair of hands in these churches he loved so well, but I wonder what he had been thinking to impose this triumphalism on this pretty little country church. Alfred Wilkinson's contemporary glass above it suits it well, but even so it is rather hard to imagine the same thing happening today. Postdating it by a few decades is a set of arms for Elizabeth II above the south doorway. East Anglia has no more than half a dozen sets, and these ones are rather good.
Standing in the nave and looking east to the splendour of the reredos, it is hard to imagine the real glory that once was here. But John Nunn contacted me, to tell me about a will he has a copy of. In 1525, his ancestor Robert Clifford declared: I bequeath I will have the rood there upon the candlebeam set up higher and Mary & John and two new angels and the breast under the rood korvyn and when that is done I will have all this painted and guilt whatsoever the cost. I will have bought two standards of brass stand in the choir and I will my executors bestow therein 40/-. I will my executors shall buy four candlesticks of brass for the candlebeam, I give six kine unto the church of Aldham to keep my obit with as long as the world stand.
What does all this mean? Firstly, you have to remember that England was a devoutly Catholic country in 1525, and the fittings of the church were for the actions of the Catholic liturgy. In the late 15th and early 16th Centuries, all Suffolk churches had a rood in place. This was a representation of the crucifixion, set above the chancel arch. On the left hand side of the cross always stood the Virgin Mary, and on the other side stood St John. Often, the wall behind was painted. The rood either hung on the wall, or was supported by a beam. However, there was always a beam that ran below it for candles to be lit on. This was called the candlebeam, or rood beam. The candles were placed on it by individuals or guilds as part of the process of prayer, particularly prayer for the souls of the dead. A rood loft ran beside it for access, and the space beneath was infilled with a rood screen. To make the rood even more glorious, the roof above was panelled, and the panels were painted blue, with gold stars, and perhaps Marian monograms. This was called the canopy of honour, or more simply, the coving (rendered delightfully in Suffolk dialect as Korvyn above.)
Robert Clifford was paying for a simple rood to be made more glorious. He was going to have it placed higher, with a new canopy of honour. He was paying for brass candlesticks to replace wooden candlestocks.
Why? Simply, the medieval economy of grace depended upon the living praying for the dead, and the dead praying for the living. In donating glorious things to his church, Clifford was ensuring that he would be remembered. The roodscreen would have a dedicatory inscription with his name on. He was saying - I won't forget you, don't you forget me. The Catholic liturgy formalised prayers for the dead in the form of obit masses.These were said on the anniversary of someone's death in perpetuity. The proceeds of the sale of the six cows (kine) would be invested, probably in land to be rented, to pay a priest to say these masses - as long as the world shall stand; that is, for ever.
Unfortunately, 'for ever' didn't last very long. Prayers for the dead were declared illegal by the protestant reformers in the late 1530s. By 1547, every single rood in the land had been toppled and burned. The rood lofts were hacked down, along with many of the candle beams (although about ten beams survive in Suffolk) and most of the rood screens were also destroyed (about 50 survive in Suffolk).
Nothing of Robert Clifford's gifts survive at Aldham. All the gilt would have been stripped, the brass candlesticks melted down, and the proceeds sequestered by the King's commissioners. The collected glory of all the churches of England was squandered by Henry VIII on high living, and on the expensive and pointless siege of Boulogne. A sad thought.
When I first came here in 1999, I remember the graveyard was full of wild thyme and especially sorrel, which we gathered in handfuls and ate later in the day with fresh trout and new potatoes. Twenty years have passed since then, and it was too early for the sorrel this year. Instead I just stood, and looked out across the gentle valley, the sheep cropping their way slowly westward. It was easy to recognise the opening of The Detectorists in the vale below. And I looked beyond to Wolves Wood, and the site of Roland Taylor's martyrdom. Hard to imagine such history happening to such a modest little parish.
Simon Knott, March 2019
Helen wife / widow of Francis Houghton 1629 son of Sir Robert Houghton 1548- 1623 who bought the "demeans and park" from the Sheltons.
Sir Robert was the 3rd son of John Houghton of Gunthorpe 1584 by Agnes daughter of Robert Playford of Brinton
He was Serjeant at Law and one of the justices of the Kings Bench. At his death at his chambers in Serjeants’ Inn on 6 Feb. 1624 he also held the manors of Leffley, Threxton, Buxhall, Brettenham (from the Felton family) and Heacham.
Sir Robert m Mary daughter of rich lawyer Robert Richers 1588 of Wrotham and Elizabeth Cartwright flic.kr/p/dYvNfq daughter of Edmund Cartwright of Ossington by Agnes daughter of Thomas Cranmer www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/8510161707/ , She was the widow of Reginald Peckham d1551 buried at Ossington www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/8513250144/
Children - 2 sons & 3 daughters
1. Francis his heir 1593-April 13th 1629 m Helen ........... leaving a minor son & heir Robert aged 3- 6 years +++
2. John dsp
His widow Mary Rychers erected the monument - Heraldry - Richers arg 3 annulets azure / Houghton 3 azure 2 barrulets arg between 3 helmets or
++ Robert Houghton in his will of 1660 directing his executors Robert Houghton and John Tuthill, to sell first his estates in Sussex and then those in Suffolk to pay his debts, which were numerous. He died leaving an infant heir Charles Houghton, and his father's creditors obtained a decree in Chancery for sale of Leffey Manor and the others in Suffolk. A Bill was afterwards introduced in Parliament, and against this Sir George Pretyman and wife Elizabeth widow of Robert Houghton and mother of heir Charles, presented 2 petitions, saying the Bill would deprive Elizabeth of her dower and ruin her son Charles . The Committee said the parties should desist from any further prosecution
www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member...
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 17, 2023) Fabien Cousteau, executor and founder of the Proteus Ocean Group (POG), and members of his team take a tour of various departments during a visit to the U.S. Naval Academy. Proteus is the world’s most advanced underwater research station, a collaborative global platform for researchers, academics, government agencies, and corporations to advance ocean science. U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen are working with Proteus as part of their final capstone project.(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jordyn Diomede)
Panorama school photograph taken in 1968 when I was by now in the Seventh Form (we didn't bother with any pretentious "Lower" and "Upper" Sixth nonsense). Another "where are they all now" moment. One, at the time of this photograph already gone up to Oxford, is a Member of Parliament, another an author, a third was a member of the famous "Pontypool Front Row" (None are me!)
This picture is taken on the sports field/cricket pitch in front of the school, the "New Building" in the background.
Jones' West Monmouthshire Grammar School for Boys was opened in 1898 from a legacy left by the Haberdasher William Jones on land craftily donated by Squire Hanbury to win over the executors who were looking for a site for a new school. The school was run by the Haberdashers, the school badge being their crest, until 1954 when it was taken over by Monmouthshire County Council as a Grammar School under the 1944 Education Act. In 1958, boarding ceased at the school ending the distinction between "boarders" and "day boys". In 1980 the school became a comprehensive, shed the school badge and tie link to the Haberdashers, and, shock horror, became co-ed!
College Point, Queens
The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House is located in College Point, in north central Queens. It stands on an unusual circular site that was created c. 1906 when the original 14-acre estate was subdivided into building lots and became part of the surrounding street grid. Morris A. Gescheidt, a German-born painter and architect, was responsible for the building’s neo-classical design. Two-and-a-half stories tall, this large red brick house has four visible facades that display elements associated with the Italianate and Second Empire styles, including a mansard roof, segmental arch windows, and quoins. Active in New York City from the late 1840s to the 1860s, Gescheidt also built a factory structure for College Point’s leading citizen, the industrialist Conrad Poppenhusen, in 1854.
These developments coincided with the introduction of regular ferry service, resulting in the construction of many residences by German immigrants, particularly in the north section of the village where owners enjoyed views of the East River and Long Island Sound. Two contemporary newspapers commented on Gescheidt’s handsome design; while one writer listed it as among several “elegant residences . . . under contract” in the area, the Flushing Journal called it “another gem of a residence.” The Schleicher House was originally situated at the west end of a walled compound that incorporated out buildings and landscaped carriage paths.
Though relatively little is known about the Schleicher family, census records indicate that Herman had Prussian parents and was a successful merchant, involved in the sale of dry goods, stationary, and coal. He shared the house with his wife Malvina, four children, and three servants. Following his death in 1866, the building was acquired by Kenneth G. White, who owned considerable property in the area and is often identified as an attorney and law clerk. In 1890, the house was sold to developer William K. Aston who leased it to John Jockers, a former Schleicher employee. For about a decade, Jockers operated the structure as the 11-room Grand View Hotel. Divided into apartments in 1923, there are currently seven units in the building. Despite changes, the 1857 Schleicher House has many notable characteristics; not only is it one of the oldest houses in College Point but it is one of the earliest surviving structures in New York City to feature a mansard roof.
College Point, Queens
The Schleicher House was constructed in 1857, during the decade when College Point was transformed from mostly meadows and farmland to a compact village of factories and homes. Located on a peninsula in north central Queens, College Point extends into the East River and adjoins Flushing Bay. It was named for St. Paul’s College, which opened in 1839. Located on the site of present-day MacNeil Park, the seminary lasted for less than a decade, closing in 1847. At the time, the area to the south was known as Strattonport and Flammersburg. These neighborhoods were named for businessman Eliphalet Stratton (1745-1831) who purchased 320 acres from descendents of the English merchant and slave owner William Lawrence (1622-1680) in 1789,3 and real estate developer John A. Flammer, who acquired 141 acres from the Stratton estate in 1851 and subdivided the property into 80 building lots. These villages then merged and were incorporated as College Point in 1867 or 1870.
Regular ferry service between Manhattan and the village started in the 1850s and plans were soon developed to construct a paved causeway, linking the peninsula to Flushing. These transit improvements attracted a growing number of residents, from several hundred in 1853 to 2,200 in 1860. More than half were foreign born, including nearly a thousand from Germany. The rest were mainly Irish. Because the majority of early residents were originally German, College Point was sometimes referred to as the “Little Heidelberg.” Conrad Poppenhusen, the town’s best-known citizen, was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1813.
He immigrated to the United States in 1843, forming a partnership with H. C. Meyer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to produce consumer products from whale bones. When demand declined, he sought new opportunities, acquiring a license from the American inventor Charles Goodyear, who held various patents for the vulcanization of rubber. In July 1853, he toured College Point to inspect “eligible locations” for his new company and in September 1854 laid the cornerstone for the “India Rubber Comb Company,” with at least six hundred people in attendance. Among various attendees were several men who would later be associated with the Schleicher residence: M. Gescheidt, the architect; A. Schleicher, either his father, Arthur, or the owner himself; and of course, the owner of the factory, Poppenhusen – Schleicher’s neighbor and co-executor of his will.
Herman A. Schleicher (c. 1827-1866)
Relatively little is known about Herman A(lvin) Schleicher. Born in New York City to Prussian immigrants in the late 1820s, documents indicate that during his brief life he lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and possibly Long Island. He married Malvina (born Prussia, c. 1830) in the late 1840s or early 1850s and they produced four children: Herman, Julia, Frederick, and Walter.5 Schleicher was a successful merchant who was involved in several areas of business, including the sale of hardware, stationary, and coal. In the 1860s, he was identified as: a partner in Schleicher, Walkinshaw & Co., a local importer of dry goods, a trustee of the Mercantile Insurance Company, a director of the St. Nicholas Bank on Wall Street, and a director of the Germania Fire Insurance Company. Schleicher also served with Poppenhusen on Flushing’s first board of education, starting in 1858, and was listed as one of College Point’s top ten income tax payers in 1866.
Schleicher died suddenly at the age of 39 in July 1866 and several months later, in November 1866, his dry goods firm consigned a “valuable” collection of European and American paintings to the Leeds Art Galleries in Manhattan.7 Though it can not be confirmed, it seems likely it was Schleicher’s art collection. Irwan Von Auw and Conrad Poppenhusen, both of College Point, served as the executors of his will.8 His funeral took place in Brooklyn and he is buried in a family plot at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, beside Arthur (d. 1859), Herman
(d. 1906), and Waldemar (d. 1922) Schleicher.
Morris A. Gescheidt (d. 1871)
The Schleicher House was designed by the architect Morris (Moritz) Albert Gescheidt. His name appears on a rendering of the building in the collection of the Poppenhusen Institute, located in College Point. Little is known about Gescheidt, who immigrated to New York in 1837. He was probably born in Dresden and studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, starting in 1831. According to the Dictionary of Artists in America, he was active as an “architectural painter” in Rome from 1834 to 1836 and may have been the artist who exhibited “views of two Italian churches” at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1838.
Gescheidt began to practice architecture in the early 1840s, locating his office at 11 Wall Street. He built at least one additional structure in College Point, a 300- by 40-foot brick factory (1854-55) for Conrad Poppenhusen. He may also have designed Poppenhusen’s house (c. 1857, demolished after 1905) which stood within view of the Schleicher House, near 12th Avenue and College Avenue (now College Place), and incorporated similar architectural elements. In 1860-61, Gescheidt built part of a five-story brick warehouse with cast-iron details for Henry J. Meyer at 393 Greenwich Street (part of the Tribeca West Historic District, Manhattan), near N. Moore Street.
Meyer was the son of H(einrich) C(hristian) Meyer, who employed Poppenhusen at his Williamsburg factory in the 1840s. Gescheidt lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on South 3rd Street, and owned property at Castleton, Staten Island, including a “fine mansion house,” which was sold as part of a “mortgage sale” in 1871. Gescheidt died around this time and was listed in various New York State court proceedings in October 1871 as “deceased.”
The Schleicher Estate
In March 1857, Malvina Schleicher acquired 14 acres from Herman A. Funke, a business associate of Conrad Poppenhusen. The land was directly across from Funke’s own residence and adjoined properties owned by Poppenhusen and his son, H. C. Poppenhusen. Located in College Point’s exclusive north section, approximately 100 feet above sea level, residents of the area enjoyed panoramic views and summer breezes. Gescheidt may have been involved in laying out the grounds, which is known from a site plan dating from before 1866 in the collection of the Poppenhusen Institute.
The house was sited near the west end of the parcel, near what is now College Point Boulevard, and was formerly known as 13th Avenue. Many houses were currently under construction in the area: three or four “elegant residences” were described as “under contract” in January 1857, and in August 1857 the Flushing Journal reported that “Joseph Stonebank has just completed an elegant mansion for Conrad Poppenhusen, Esq. and is erecting another gem of residence for Mr. Schleicher in the same section.”12 Stonebank was a successful carpenter and builder in College Point from the 1850s to 1870. He reported an income of $15,000 in 1860 and built his family a 13-room house with such conveniences as speaking tubes, gas, bells, as well as hot and cold running water.
The Schleicher House originally stood at the end of tree-lined, semi-circular drive. The rear elevation faced east, toward a sloping, almost circular lawn, ringed by trees. South of the house stood a “back” house or privy, suggesting that at the time of construction the bathrooms were not served by running water. To the north of the house, from west to east, was planned a large vegetable garden with rows of fruit trees, a coach house and stable, a hen house, and duck yard. There were also asparagus beds and winding carriage paths that led to an oval pond at the northeast corner of the estate, near present-day 125th or 126th Street. At the center of the pond was a small island, reached by a bridge. Here stood a small “summer” pavilion and “back” house.
Design of the Schleicher House
Among various houses erected in College Point during the mid-19th century, the Schleicher House is the last substantial one to survive. Landscape architect A. J. Downing, who published The Architecture of Country Houses in 1850, wrote:
The villa – the country house, should above all things, manifest individuality. It should say
something of the character of the family within – as much as possible of their life and history, their
tastes and associations, should mould and fashion themselves upon its walls.
Gescheidt’s stately design blends Italianate and French Second Empire Style features. Inspired by recent developments in Europe, these features, as well as the materials selected by the architect, helped distinguish the house, as well as some its neighbors, from College Point’s agrarian roots. Built of red brick, the exterior was originally covered with light-colored stucco that created the impression that it was constructed of large stone blocks. Other notable classical revival elements included paired columns, slightly arched windows, and a continuous projecting wood cornice. In the decade prior to the Civil War, such decorative treatments became defining characteristics of row houses in New York and Brooklyn, as well as in larger free-standing mansions.
Downing also observed that the “Italian style is one that expresses not wholly the spirit of country life nor of town life, but something between both, and which is mingling of both.”15 This may explain why many surviving examples of this architectural style in New York City, including the Schleicher House, were built in once-suburban areas, including: the Phelps-Stokes House (1852-53) in Murray Hill, Manhattan, the Litchfield Villa (1854-57) in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and the Benjamin Pike House (1858) in Astoria, Queens – all designated New York City Landmarks.
In contrast to Italianate houses, which often display flat or low pitch roofs, the Schleicher House was distinguished by a squat mansard punctuated by dormer windows on four sides. Perhaps the earliest surviving structure with this roof treatment in New York City, it was named for the 17th century French architect Francois Mansart who frequently used this type of construction in residential designs.16 Revived in France during the 1830s, it became particularly popular under the rule of Napoleon III (1852-70) and was a characteristic feature of the Second Empire Style.
Mansard roofs generally slope inward from all sides and provide additional interior space at the attic level. Such practical solutions were also present in Germany and Austria, where roofs were “raised to a very great pitch, on the account of the great quantity of snow that falls.”
Detlef Lienau, who studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, has been credited with introducing the Second Empire Style in New York City, in his 1850-52 residence (demolished) for the French merchant Hart M. Schiff. Located on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 10th Street, his brick-and-brownstone design was widely praised – it incorporated many architectural features employed by Gescheidt, including corner and wall quoins, a tiled mansard roof, and elaborately-decorated dormers.
The Schleicher House is 2½ stories tall. Oriented toward the west, to face the setting sun, the main elevation is divided in two sections. The larger, main section was designed in a symmetrical manner, with a wide front porch reached by stairs that were flanked by wood railings and balusters. The balusters curved outward, with the steps getting wider close to the ground. The porch incorporated four pairs of Ionic columns. Directly above the stairs, Gescheidt included a rounded pediment that displayed a small medallion relief.
This feature softened the facade’s rectilinear character and echoed the shape of the arched window openings. Each story was divided into three bays, including large windows on the parlor floor, pairs of arched, eight-pane windows on the second floor, and single dormers at the attic level aligned with the windows below. As completed in 1857, all of first and second floor windows probably had wood shutters and the dormers were flanked by decorative brackets. The recessed north section (left) was divided into two bays, each with eight-pane windows. This wing was likely to have contained the kitchen, and the adjoining interior space, to the rear (east), served as a dining or breakfast room.
The rear facade faced east, where a sloping lawn descended to landscaped grounds. Less formal in character, this elevation has an irregular profile, with two projecting bays. Each was designed to suggest a Second Empire Style pavilion, crowned by a nearly independent mansard. As built, the original raised wood porch extended across three of the four bays. Though no 19th century photograph has been located that shows the east facade in detail, it can be assumed that the columns and fenestration resembled the west facade.
Along with the nearby Poppenhusen mansion, the Schleicher House helped popularize the Second Empire Style in College Point. A photograph taken from the mansard roof of the Poppenhusen Institute in 1880 looking northeast, shows numerous buildings executed in this style, including a large number of houses.19 Today, most of these buildings have been lost or what survives has been significantly altered.
Subsequent History
Following Schleicher’s death, the house was sold in 1870 to Kenneth G. White for $40,000. White, who served as a clerk in the Federal Circuit Court as well as a United States Commissioner, owned the house for less than two decades and it may be his family and friends who occupy the west porch in a circa 1872 photograph. The house was then acquired by Henry C. and Margaret Cronkright who sold it to the New York City developer William B. Aston (d. 1919) in 1892. Contemporary maps show that both White and Aston owned multiple lots in the vicinity and may have assembled these parcels with the intention to subdivide.
In May 1892, it became the Grand View Hotel and Park, providing “First-class accommodations to summer boarders and private parties.” Ten miles from Manhattan, Sunday and summer excursionists arrived by hourly ferry, on railroads from Hunter’s Point in Long Island City, and by trolley. Famous for beer gardens, boating facilities and scenic drives, it was estimated that on weekends the town’s population would double or triple. The hotel’s manager was John Jockers, a long-time employee of the Schleicher family. Born in Germany in 1836, he immigrated to New York City in 1853 and after a brief period working for Conrad Poppenhusen was hired by Schleicher.
In the 1870 United States Census, he described himself as a gardener, and in the 1880 Census, a coachman. In later years he was also identified as the “superintendent of the residence and grounds . . . where he laid out the grounds and improved them with the assistance of a number of workmen.”21 The hotel was said to offer “eleven light and airy sleeping rooms” and “the dining accommodations are ample to meet all demands, while the service is above the average found in this vicinity.”22 What remained of the Schleicher estate was described as a “beautiful park” where guests could play lawn tennis and croquet.
Jockers probably leased the house from Aston who planned to divide the property into building lots. In 1893, 100 lots were put up for sale, but few were actually sold. Some were purchased by 1896 but it was not until 1906 that the majority of lots, approximately 11 acres, were finally sold. During this period, the surrounding street grid was cut through the site, isolating the house at the center of four streets. Two years later, in 1908, the house itself appeared at auction and was described as occupying “an exactly circular plot, 110 feet in diameter, at North Fourteenth Street and Schleicher Court.”
Ownership of the Schleicher House changed several times over the next decades. In 1910, it was described as being “occupied for years by foreigners of the poorest class and is in very bad repair.”24 In 1923 major alterations by owner A. Szczur were approved by the Queens Department of Buildings.25 These changes are likely to have involved the legal conversion of the house into multiple units, the addition of fire escapes on the east facade, and the modification of the east porch into a second entrance with stairs. A researcher for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) observed in 1938 that the house “still stands and is run as a tenement.”
Photographs of the building, taken in 1957, show a significant loss of stucco on the exterior. Eva Rohan, the previous owner, acquired the building from Peter Stella in 1971. It was awarded a Queensmark for architectural and historical significance from the Queens Historical Society in 1997. A series of wood brackets, set below the cornice, were removed in the 1990s or possibly later. The house is currently divided into seven apartments, with about 14 tenants.
Description
The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House is located at 11-41 123rd Street in College Point, in north central Queens. Situated on a circular parcel, this freestanding house stands at the intersection of 13th Avenue and 123rd Street, one block east of College Point Boulevard. Non-historic chain-link fencing, partially covered with vines, encloses and divides the property, which is planted with bushes and a few older trees. To the east and west, stone steps rise toward non-historic concrete paths that lead to the entrances. Two-and-a-half stories tall, this large red brick house features a raised basement and a steep mansard roof with projecting dormer windows. All of the aluminum-frame windows are non-historic. The dormers have been modified but retain their original shape and projection. The roof is covered with non-historic black shingles. From a distance, a large central brick chimney is visible.
The main (west) facade faces 13th Avenue, toward College Point Boulevard. The facade is asymmetrical; the north section contains two bays, each with single windows, and the south section is divided into three bays, each with two windows. The first (parlor) floor of the south section has a large enclosed porch, reached by non-historic concrete stairs with painted pipe railings. The beed board paneling, brown wood shingles, one-over-one white metal windows and fixed clerestories are non-historic, but the brick bases with horizontal recesses, the painted Ionic composite wood columns that support the porch and flank the entrance, and the general contours appear to be historic.
The arched, second-story windows share a single stone sill, and are framed by raised brickwork that rises from each end of the sill. Below the projecting cornice, the brackets have been removed, revealing rectangular recesses, painted white. The roof has three dormer windows, aligned above the paired windows. The northern edge of the west facade has brick quoins. A horizontal stone element (painted white) extends between the base of the porch and the north edge of the house. Below this element, two basement windows are visible. At the second story, the south (right) window has been filled with brick. The roof has a single window, aligned between the first and second story windows. Beneath the wood porch is the original areaway, with basement windows, reached by brick steps on the north side. Most of the stone and brick inside the areaway is painted white. To the right of the door is an oval window.
The north facade faces 123rd Street, towards 11th Avenue. Each window is framed with raised brickwork that rises from wide stone sills. The fenestration is asymmetrical, with a wide space between the center and west (right) windows. Between the center and east (left) window, a metal pipe extends up the wall and through the projecting cornice. The roof has a single dormer at center and a brick chimney stack with a recessed decorative pattern to the right (west).
The east facade faces 13th Avenue, towards 124th Street. Divided into four bays, an entrance is located in the center-left bay. Reached by non-historic stairs, flanked by non-historic brick walls and wood columns, the wood entrance doors and transom are historic but the wood pediment is probably not. A raised horizontal stone element (painted white), between the basement and the first floor, originally framed a wide porch and is visible in the south and north bays. The center-left bay projects out from the main body of the house, with angled side windows. Both windows have been significantly altered: the first story is partially filled with brick and the second story is entirely enclosed with brick. The south (left) bay is served by an iron fire escape that descends from a dormer window on the roof to the second floor window and then continues down to the south facade.
Along the edge of this bay is a metal pipe, painted white. The windows in the center-right bay are identical to the south bay. The north bay also projects from the main body of the house, with angled side windows. It is served by an iron fire escape that descends from the dormer window on the roof to both center and south windows on the second floor and then down to a landing set between the center and south windows on the first floor. Both of the center windows have been filled with brick. At the basement level, there is a squat, one over-one-window. The side windows are one-over-one aluminum windows. Extending the full length of the east facade is a deep areaway with windows, reached by stairs with a single iron railing along the south side. Below first story entrance is a single door to the basement, flanked by small windows, with prominent lintels and sills, and the original vertical bars.
The south facade faces 123rd Street, toward 14th Avenue.
The first and second floors have four window openings. A pair of windows on the second floor has been filled with brick. On the roof is a single dormer window, flanked by brick chimney stacks, decorated with arched recessed patterns. A metal pipe extends up from inside the right half of the west (left) chimney. Between the center and west (left) windows on the first floor, a gray television dish is attached to the wall. Between the base and the first story, a raised white horizontal element (probably painted stone) extends the full length of the facade. The basement has four windows, aligned with the windows above. The center pair has been filled with brick. At the west edge of the facade, a white metal pipe extends up the wall and through the projecting cornice.
- From the 2009 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Panorama school photograph taken in 1968 when I was by now in the Seventh Form (we didn't bother with any pretentious "Lower" and "Upper" Sixth nonsense). Another "where are they all now" moment. One, at the time of this photograph already gone up to Oxford, is a Member of Parliament, another an author, a third was a member of the famous "Pontypool Front Row" (None are me!)
This picture is taken on the sports field/cricket pitch in front of the school, the "New Building" in the background.
Jones' West Monmouthshire Grammar School for Boys was opened in 1898 from a legacy left by the Haberdasher William Jones on land craftily donated by Squire Hanbury to win over the executors who were looking for a site for a new school. The school was run by the Haberdashers, the school badge being their crest, until 1954 when it was taken over by Monmouthshire County Council as a Grammar School under the 1944 Education Act. In 1958, boarding ceased at the school ending the distinction between "boarders" and "day boys". In 1980 the school became a comprehensive, shed the school badge and tie link to the Haberdashers, and, shock horror, became co-ed!