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From a short walk in the recreation area at the eastern end of Holstebro Lake (Vandkraftsøen), Denmark - May 05, 2018.
*LEVEL* road complete bike
BLUE LUG custom
SPEC
Frame: *LEVEL* 650c custom road
Tire: *CONTINENTAL* grand prix 4000s tire (black)
Crankset: *CAMPAGNOLO* veloce crankset
Shift&Brakelever:*CAMPAGNOLO* veloce
FD&RD:*CAMPAGNOLO* veloce
Brake: *CAMPAGNOLO* veloce
Stem: *NITTO* technomic stem (silver)
Handle: *NITTO* b135aa randonneur drop handle (silver)
Bartape:*BROOKS* leather bartape (honey)
Seatpost: *NITTO* 65 seatpost (silver)
Saddle: *BROOKS* swift chrome (honey)
In 1891 work began on the construction of the Queen Hotel, overlooking The Lansdowne, at the junction of Bath Rd and Old Christchurch Rd.
A variety of shops traded at street level on the Old Christchurch Rd side.
It opened in 1894 and traded until the late 1940s and was converted into offices and renamed Jacey House in the early 1950s.
In the late 1990s it was again converted, this time into flats, with the retail units remaining on the Old Christchurch Rd side.
Today a branch of the 'Ask' Italian restaurant chain occupies the ground floor with the retail unit on the Old Christchurch Rd side having been a Slug and Lettuce pub amongst other things in recent years.
A [ VERY ] POTTED HISTORY OF BOURNEMOUTH...............
1810 - 1835
The founding of the town of Bournemouth is officially commemorated as the being 1810 the year that Captain Lewis Tregonwell and his wife Henrietta purchased a plot of land on the west bank of the Bourne stream upon which to build a large detached house that would serve as their new holiday home. The land was purchased from Sir George Tapps, Lord of the Manor of Christchurch, who became the largest landowner after what had been common land was effectively privatised in the Christchurch Inclosure Act 1802 and the subsequent Awards of 1805.
At that time the area was a remote one that lay mid way between Christchurch and Poole, themselves not the large towns they are today, on what was virtually uninhabited heathland. The house, known as the ''Mansion', was completed in 1812 with the Tregonwells purchasing further land to increase the size of their estate upon which they built a few cottages for staff members and several more to let, mainly to family, friends and associates.
Although the Tregonwells eventually rented out their Mansion, their estate, referred to as 'Bourne Tregonwell' remained all but unknown to the outside world and was somewhere they spent much of their time.
Their original holiday home still exists as part of the Royal Exeter Hotel that stands opposite the Bournemouth International Centre [ B.I.C ] on Exeter Rd.
Lewis Tregonwell died in 1832 a few short years before the next important stage in the development of Bournemouth.
1835 - 1870
In 1835 Sir George Tapps died and his son Sir George Gervis inherited his father's land, much of which lay to the east of the Bourne stream and set about creating a new development that he called his 'Marine Village', a seaside resort aimed at attracting paying guests. Early buildings included the Bath Hotel, later enlarged as the Royal Bath Hotel, the Westover Villas, a row of large detached houses or villas on generous plots that lined what is now Westover Rd, the Belle Vue Boarding House that fronted todays Pier Approach and some public baths that stood where, what was popularly known as the Imax building, was later built..
The new development wasn't a resort as we would understand it now, offering beach holidays, but more of a health resort with much being made of the area's mild micro climate and the health giving properties of the masses of pine trees that would also offer protection from the more extreme vagaries of the British weather.
Over the coming years more and more villas were built, spreading out from the banks of the Bourne stream which in turn attracted those that were needed to build the new properties and those that provided services to the well heeled residents of the fledgling town such as domestic staff, gardeners and food, grocery and household goods suppliers.
By 1856 there was a need to amalgamate the growing development and so Parliament passed the Bournemouth Improvement Act that set the town's first boundary as being within a 1 mile radius of what is today Pier Approach. it also provided for a team of Commissioners, essentially the town's first Council, charged with the power to raise funds via property rates to pay for things like highway improvements, drainage, sewers and street cleaning.
The town continued to grow within the 1 mile boundary and also led to development outside it including artisan / working class areas at Springbourne and Winton.
In 1870 the railway came to town but it was seen by many as a necessary evil and something to be kept as far away from the town centre as possible and so the station was located at the very edge of the 1 mile boundary on the opposite side of Holdenhurst Rd to the present Central Station. This arrival of the railway combined with cheaper rail fares and the creation by Parliament of the first Bank Holidays would lead to the next phase in the development of Bournemouth turning it from a sleepy seaside resort favoured by the wealthy upper classes many of whom were suffering poor health, into the large, bustling holiday destination that we know and love today. Bring it on!
1870 - PRESENT DAY
In 1871 the town's population was just under six thousand but by 1891 it had increased almost ten fold to just under sixty thousand. Most of the new citizens were new comers to the area drawn by the opportunities the fast expanding new town could offer.
In 1876 Springbourne and Boscombe became part of Bournemouth when the town boundaries were extended for the first time with a further six following including Westbourne in 1884, Pokesdown, Southbourne, Winton and Moordown in 1901, Malmesbury Park, Charminster and Strouden Park in 1914, Kinson and Holdenhurst in 1931.
The final area incorporated into the town was Hengistbury Head in 1932 which was purchased from H. Gordon Selfridge founder of the Selfridges department store chain and took the town to it's present size.
Today Bournemouth is home to more than 160,000 people and has grown at a phenomenal rate in the past two hundred years since the Tregonwells purchased that first eight and a half acres of land back in 1810.
The town is still a popular holiday destination and has had to work hard to compete against the rise of the foreign holiday and the unpredictability of the British weather by trying to attract visitors year round. Short weekend breaks, the conference trade, the annual airshow and a thriving night time economy all play their part in attracting day trippers and holiday makers, the life blood of the town's tourism industry.
Sadly Bournemouth is also a victim of it's own success and has almost reached bursting point with space for new homes very much at a premium. Many older, larger properties are being demolished to make way for more, smaller properties, many of them blocks of flats which are squeezed into every available space.
The last of the green belt clings desperately by it's finger tips to the north, rightly or wrongly the town planners and Councillors come under attack for their stewardship of the town and any resemblance to a slow paced seaside resort of old has long gone.
The pressures of modern life, traffic levels, the drinking culture and even the current economic climate all take their toll on the quality of life in the town but it's not all doom and gloom.
Bournemouth is still a great place with much to be proud of such as it's wonderful sandy beaches, cliffs, pleasure gardens, parks, some of it's buildings both old and new, oh, and it's history of course.
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING.
'Bournemouth 1810 - 1910' by Mate and Riddle [ the full text is available as a pdf file on the internet if you have a hunt around for it.]
'The Story of Bournemouth' by David S Young. Published in 1957 it occasionally turns up on E Bay and Amazon around the £10 mark.
'A History of Bournemouth' by Elizabeth Edwards. ISBN 0 85033 412 8. Turns up on E Bay and Amazon fairly regularly for under a tenner.
'The Book of Bournemouth' by David and Rita Popham ISBN 0 86023 219 0
All titles also available at local libraries.
Just before dawn looking out from Glastonbury with the boggy Somerset levels on your left. Managed to capture this with the frost, before the big black cloud covered up all the light for the rest of the morning.
Gail (Tan PKF Vanilla): "I know you said "snow," ami, but mon Dieu!"
Zephyr: (PKF Cony): "It's not as bad as it was. Look. Actual ground!"
Note: Gail is a storm deva from New Orleans. "Ami" is "friend" and "mon Dieu!" is "my God."
This is right by the driveway and as close as I could get to ground level without sinking in mud. We had a LOT of snow this winter.
Manulla Junction to Ballina Railway Line - MP Dublin 146 3/4.
Level Crossing (XX1) on the N5 at Manulla, Mayo 18th March 2012.
Hilton level crossing across Egginton Road between Hilton and Egginton. 11:46, Friday 6th May 1988
(1/125, F8/11)
Hilton Crossing Ground Frame is a Torton Nomad portable building located by the Down Stoke line equipped with a 1 lever London & North Western Railway SK80 frame and an individual function switch which was opened as a non block post by British Railways on 20th November 1977, replacing a mid 1930s London & North Western Railway hut located on the opposite side of the level crossing. The lever was moved from the outside the previous hut and is electrically released by Egginton Junction signal box. The individual function switch controls emergency replacement switch for Egginton Junction signal box 10 and 12 signals
Ref no 08371
Level corssing on Geoff William's model of Aylesbury, now in the care of the Princess Risborough model railway club.
in this view you can see the two levels of the layout, I hope to have track on the roadbed on the lower level in time for this weekends open house
4M34 04.26 Coatbridge - Daventry liner hauled by DRS Class 66 Co-Co no. 66412.
9th March 2010
Shot with the little FinePix E550
Desert View Watchtower Level 2 murals before the start of conservation work, July 23, 2015. NPS Photo by Michael Quinn
Grand Canyon National Park is working with area tribes and art experts to restore the Fred Kabotie murals and the rock art images, painted by Fred Geary, which have been damaged by water. The first phase of the project is being funded through a grant from American Express obtained by Grand Canyon Association.This grant will help with the evaluation, documentation and testing process that is a critical component of all historic preservation projects. The park intends to preserve the murals while remaining true to Mary Colter’s design. Over the next year, a conservation specialist will analyze and restore the murals with the help of students participating in an intern training program.
On January 1, 2015, the Watchtower was purchased from the concessionaire managing it and designated a National Park Service building. NPS plans to return the Watchtower to its intended purpose, as a tribute to the Native American tribes who have cultural ties to Grand Canyon. The park is moving forward with plans to restore the tower to reflect Mary Colter’s original vision for the building.Visitors first enter through the large, open Kiva Room. Until recently, this room was filled to capacity with a large gift shop. The gift shop has since been removed from the rotunda and reduced to a much smaller footprint. The new Grand Canyon Association Park Store fits into the original space Colter envisioned for a gift shop: a corner off to the side of the rotunda. All the proceeds support the park.
Originally the Watchtower was designed as a space where visitors could see Native American craft demonstrations by weavers and basket makers. The park will bring Native American artists back into the space to share tribal traditions, dances, songs, skills, art and oral histories with the public. The park is also considering turning the old Desert View visitor center into a Native American cultural center.The transformation of the Watchtower back to its original intent is already proving to be a dramatic experience for visitors and park staff.
Top Hills ~ Situated 2,000 feet above sea level on the cool hills of Busay, it is an excellent sight seeing spot which offers breathtaking views of Metro Cebu and the islands of Mactan and Olango. Open kiosks are available for daytime picnics at the summit of this viewpoint. The City of Cebu is the capital city of Cebu and is the second city in the Philippines with the second most significant metropolitan centre and known as the oldest Spanish settlement in the country. The city is located on the eastern shore of Cebu and was the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. Cebu is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies. Cebu also holds the second largest international flights in the Philippines and is a significant centre of commerce, trade and industry in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. Cebu City is the centre of a metropolitan area called Metro Cebu, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-lapu, Mandaue, Naga, Talisay. Metro Cebu has a total population of about two million people. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu City is only a 20 minute drive away from Cebu City. To the northeast of the city is Mandaue City and the town of Consolacion, to the west is Toledo City, the towns of Balamban and Asturias, to the south is Talisay City and the town of Minglanilla. Across Mactan Strait to the east is Mactan Island where Lapu-Lapu City and an aquarium attraction are located.
The Cebu Provincial Capitol is dramatically positioned at the end of a grand perspective of a new avenue ( Osmeña Boulevard ) as conceived by William E. Parsons in his 1912 plan of Cebu, in the lines of the City Beautiful Movement. The building follows an H-shaped plan, one side opening to the terminus of Osmeña Boulevard. The main block or corps de logis, three stories high, is flanked by two secondary wings, symmetrically advancing to embrace a rectangular, elevated cour d'honneur that serves as an entrance podium. The elevation of the corps de logis is of typical neoclassical formula: a rusticated ground floor, containing minor rooms and offices, the piano nobile above, with the most important spaces, and finally the attic story. A heavy cornice and parapet caps the façade, with allegorical statues standing by its corners. The most distinctive part of the façade is the central concave pavilion, which creates the semi-circular main balcony and pulls together the entire mass, finally crowned by an austere dome upon an octagonal drum.
The piano nobile is reached by two staircases from the ground floor foyer. The first space, the art deco rotunda below the cupola, opens to the south the main balcony that faces Osmeña Boulevard, and to its north the ballroom (social hall). Two-stories high with full-length windows, the ballroom, also in art deco style, is reminiscent of a fairytale setting. Two enormous chandeliers fashioned in crystal and local capiz shells ( placuna placenta ) light the grand space
Cebu City is a significant cultural centre in the Philippines. The imprint of Spanish and Roman Catholic culture is evident. The city's most famous landmark is Magellan's Cross. A few steps away from the Magellan's Cross is the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino (Church of the Holy Child). This is a Augustinian church elevated to the rank of Basilica in 1965 during the 400th year celebrations of Christianity in the Philippines, held in Cebu. The church, which was the first to be established in the islands, is built of hewn stone and features the country's oldest relic, the figure of the Santo Niño de Cebú ( Holy Child of Cebu ). This religious event is celebrated during the island's cultural festivities known as the Sinulog festival. Held every third Sunday of January, it celebrates the festival of the Santo Nino, who was formerly considered to be the patron saint of Cebu. (This patronage was later changed to that of Our Lady of Guadalupe after it was realised that the St. Niño could not be a patron saint because he was an image of the Christ and not a saint.) The Sinulog is a dance ritual of pre-Hispanic indigenous origin. The dancer moves two steps forward and one step backward to the rhythmic sound of drums. This movement resembles somewhat the current (sulog) of the river. Thus, the Cebuanos called it Sinulog.
When the Spaniards arrived in Cebu, the Italian chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, sailing under convoy with the Magellan expedition, offered a baptismal gift to Hara Amihan, wife of Rajah Humabon. She was later named Juana, the figure of the Santo Nino. The natives also honoured the Santo Niño de Cebu in their indigenous Sinulog ritual[citation needed]. The Sinulog ritual was preserved but limited to honouring the Santo Nino. Once the Santo Niño church was built in the 16th century, the Christian Malay people started performing the Sinulog ritual in front of the church, the devotees offering candles and indigenous dancers shouting ~ Viva Pit Senor!
Magellan's Cross is a Christian cross planted by Portuguese, and Spanish explorers as ordered by Ferdinand Magellan on arriving in Cebu in the Philippines around April 14 or 21, 1521. This cross is housed in a chapel next to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño on Magallanes Street ( Magallanes being the Spanish name of Magellan ), just in front of the city centre of Cebu City. A sign below the cross describes the original cross is encased inside the wooden cross that is found in the centre of the chapel. This is to protect the original cross from people who chipped away parts of the cross for souvenir purposes or in the belief that the cross possesses miraculous powers. Some people, however, believe that the original cross had been destroyed or had disappeared after Magellan's death, and the cross is a replica that was planted there by the Spaniards after they successfully colonized the Philippines.
The history is that when Ferdinand Magellan first arrived in Cebu on 21 April 1521 he erected a cross in Cebu. The cross there today is not the original. Magellan's Cross is one symbol of Cebu. This chapel's image can be found in Cebu city seal. It is also seen as the symbol of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines. Magellan and his crew were the first Europeans to arrive in the Philippines. They made the first conversions to Catholicism when they converted Rajah Humabon, the local chief, his wife and hundreds of his Cebuano villagers to accept Christianity and be consequently baptized. At the same time Magellan left in Cebu the Santo Nino de Cebu [ holy child of Cebu ] a doll figure made in Europe in the 16th Century representing Jesus Christ as a child. This doll was rediscovered some 45 years later the return to Cebu of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi who came back to Cebu on the order of King Phillip of Spain to make Cebu the first centre of the new Spanish Colony in Asia, called Las Islas Filipinas. This doll also plays an important function in the religious life of millions of people as explained here.
An enjoyable day on the undergrad sea level field trip. Somehow I ended up with a dog at one point - this is proof it didn't eat me!
Sorry Tasha, this had to beat the Extra Tuffs photo!
Wake up to an ocean view!
KOHO's One Level Townhomes offer oceanfront living with 2 bedrooms, 2 bath and attached 2-car garage. Enjoy luxe finishes: granite, marble, travertine, maple, oak, hemlock and more.
Mallow to Waterford Railway Line - MP Mallow 40 1/4.
Level Crossing and gate house preceding Cappagh Station, Waterford 27th June 2012.
Desert View Watchtower Level 2 murals before the start of conservation work, July 23, 2015. NPS Photo by Michael Quinn
Grand Canyon National Park is working with area tribes and art experts to restore the Fred Kabotie murals and the rock art images, painted by Fred Geary, which have been damaged by water. The first phase of the project is being funded through a grant from American Express obtained by Grand Canyon Association.This grant will help with the evaluation, documentation and testing process that is a critical component of all historic preservation projects. The park intends to preserve the murals while remaining true to Mary Colter’s design. Over the next year, a conservation specialist will analyze and restore the murals with the help of students participating in an intern training program.
On January 1, 2015, the Watchtower was purchased from the concessionaire managing it and designated a National Park Service building. NPS plans to return the Watchtower to its intended purpose, as a tribute to the Native American tribes who have cultural ties to Grand Canyon. The park is moving forward with plans to restore the tower to reflect Mary Colter’s original vision for the building.Visitors first enter through the large, open Kiva Room. Until recently, this room was filled to capacity with a large gift shop. The gift shop has since been removed from the rotunda and reduced to a much smaller footprint. The new Grand Canyon Association Park Store fits into the original space Colter envisioned for a gift shop: a corner off to the side of the rotunda. All the proceeds support the park.
Originally the Watchtower was designed as a space where visitors could see Native American craft demonstrations by weavers and basket makers. The park will bring Native American artists back into the space to share tribal traditions, dances, songs, skills, art and oral histories with the public. The park is also considering turning the old Desert View visitor center into a Native American cultural center.The transformation of the Watchtower back to its original intent is already proving to be a dramatic experience for visitors and park staff.
Another church I did not have high hopes of seeing inside, and so i wasn't disappointed to find it locked, but I do know the Friends of City Churches has it open at least once every two weeks, so there is a chance.
Hemmed in bot other buildings and down a narrow winding lane, hard to get a clear shot of it without resorting to the distorted end of the wide angle zoom.
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The Dutch Church, Austin Friars (Dutch: Nederlandse Kerk Londen), is a reformed church[1] in the Broad Street Ward, in the City of London.[2] Located on the site of the 13th-century Augustinian friary, the original building granted to Protestant refugees for their church services in 1550 was destroyed during the London Blitz.
The present church was built between 1950 and 1954[1] and is a familiar landmark in the Broad Street Ward.[3] With the founding of the church dating to 1550, it is the oldest Dutch-language Protestant church in the world,[4] and as such is known in The Netherlands as the mother church of all Dutch reformed churches.
The original church was a monastic priory known as the Austin Friars, London, a contraction of "Augustinian Friars", founded circa 1253 by Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford (d. 1275).[5] The pretender Perkin Warbeck, executed on 23 November 1499 for claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, the younger of the Princes in the Tower, is buried in the church.[6] The priory was dissolved in November 1538.[7] The City of London attempted to buy the church of the friary from the Crown in 1539 and again in 1546 but was rebuffed. In 1550, London's community of "Germans and other strangers" was granted the use of the friary church's nave;[8] the rest of the church was used as a storehouse, with the monuments sold for £100 and the lead stripped from the roof. The choir, tower and transepts were demolished in 1600.
The nave became the first official nonconformist chapel in England under its Polish-born superintendent John a Lasco (known in Poland as Jan Łaski) who had founded a preaching house for a group of Protestant refugees mainly from the Low Countries. The mostly Dutch and French speaking "strangers" were granted a royal charter on 24 July 1550 that allowed them to establish a Stranger Church and this was incorporated by letters patent from King Edward VI.[9] Upon incorporation, the church was named the "Temple of the Lord Jesus" and had four pastors: two for Dutch and two for the French-Walloon who by the 1580s began using St Anthony's Chapel in Threadneedle Street.
By 1570, the Dutch community was the largest group of expatriates in London, numbering 5,000 out of the 100,000 total population of the time. About half of the Dutch in London were Protestants who fled the Flemish Low Countries due to religious persecution. Others were skilled craftsman, including brewers, tile makers, weavers, artists, printers and engravers, who came to England for economic opportunities. Engraver Martin Droeshout, famous for his 1623 portrait of William Shakespeare, was among the Flemish Protestant emigrants who arrived in London.[1]
A century later, the arrival of William of Orange brought a second wave of Dutch emigrants to London. This second group included noblemen, bankers, courtiers, merchants, architects and artists.
In the night of 15–16 October 1940, just a decade before the Dutch Church celebrated its 400th anniversary, the medieval building was completely destroyed by German bombs. The church's collection of rare books including Dutch Bibles, atlases and encyclopedias had been moved out of London for safe-keeping one day before the bombing raid that destroyed the building. Today the collection is housed in the church library and includes a multilingual Bible published by the Plantin Press of Antwerp in 1569-1571, and a 1649 atlas of all the cities in the Low Countries by Willem Blaeu. The church's manuscript collection and original charter are kept in the London Metropolitan Archives. The church's library collection is currently being digitalised and a launch date for the online catalogue of September 2015 has been announced.
The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 23 July 1950 by the 10-year-old Princess Irene of the Netherlands. The new church, built to the design of Arthur Bailey, was completed in 1954. The new building is a concrete box frame, externally clad in Portland stone.[10] The church possesses detailed archives,[11] and is a popular tourist attraction.[12]
The church was designated a Grade-II listed building on 25 September 1998.[10] In 2000, the church celebrated its 450th anniversary; Prof. Keetie E Sluyterman at the University of Utrecht published a book about the church and its history, De Kerk in de City.
The church remains active today, with weekly Dutch-language church services, confirmation classes, and meetings for various groups. The church also does outreach to the Dutch community in London, including ministering to the elderly. The church is home to two other UK registered charities: The Netherlands Benevolent Society (NBS) and The Dutch Centre. On 24 April 2015, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands was honorary guest in the Dutch Church for a jubilee celebration to mark 150 years since the founding of the NBS. On the same day the Dutch Centre was officially opened by Laetitia van den Assum, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, Liesbeth Knook, Chairman of the Church Council and Paul Beiboer, General Manager of London branch of Rabobank.
In April 2014, the current minister of the Dutch Church, Rev. Joost Röselaers, confirmed that the Dutch Church is able to perform weddings for same-sex couples.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Church,_Austin_Friars
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The best 20th Century church in the City, and one of the best in the whole of London, but at what a price! For here was the priory church of the Austin Friars, rebuilt in spectacular Decorated style by the Augustinians in the 1350s, a mark of piety in that decade after the Black Death. At the Reformation it was all sold off or demolished apart from the vast nave, which was given as the Temple of Jesus to the Dutch Protestants by the crown to help them put down error among the Flemish community, which had developed a taste for anabaptism. The advisers to the young Edward VI were keen to encourage Bible-based teaching and a rejection of Popish practices like the consecration of Bishops and sacramental worship. Thanks to their uncompromising Reformation, the Dutch were felt to be the best defenders of the fundamental protestant faith, although in fact the church was used by protestant sects from a number of European countries, including Scandinavian ones - Wayland Young notes that the Swedish ambassador had his own pew beside that of the Dutch ambassador. In the 19th Century, one of the Dutch Reformed congregations here was of South African Boers.
Young goes on to describe the Temple of Jesus as throughout a place of the highest seriousness. The pulpit was attached to one of the nave piers and the pews were grouped around it, leaving the rest of the great nave bare. Offenders, however trivial, stood on a raised place while their offences and their penance were read out from the pulpit. The congregation debated moral questions such as might a Christian attend a Catholic marriage service? The church was gutted by fire in 1870 and stood roofless for a few years before being repaired, but the interior 16th Century furnishings were all lost of course. Eventually restored, it remained one of the most stunning 14th Century buildings in the whole of London.
On the night of 15th October 1940, in an early raid on the City, the church received a direct hit from a half-ton high explosive bomb, and was vaporised. The Dutch, being a practical people, built a completely new church in its place. The architect was Arthur Bailey. He was clever enough to maximise the use of space on the site by raising the floor of the new church and building offices and meeting rooms beneath. This split level interior is complemented by other offices to the west of the church. The whole thing was complete by 1957.
No City church is so full of light as this one - it is breathtaking. The simplicity of Dutch Reformed worship coupled with an opulent scheme of 1950s stained glass by the likes of Max Nauta, Hugh Easton and William Wilson creates a sense of being inside a hollow jewel. Floors, furnishings, glass - everything is of the highest quality. The acoustic is designed for robust scriptural worship, which is the kind of thing the Reformed Dutch like best. This acoustic creates a sense of gravitas - not seriousness exactly, more a feeling of the importance of this place. All in all, a stunning achievement despite the loss.
Simon Knott, December 2015
Bunchrew Level Crossing with automatic half barriers - converted from automatic open crossing (AOCL) to AOCL+B in August 2013.
Halkirk level crossing in 2014 after it had been upgraded to an automatic half-barrier crossing (ABCL), it was previously an automatic open crossing.
Desert View Watchtower Level 2 murals before the start of conservation work, July 23, 2015. NPS Photo by Michael Quinn
Grand Canyon National Park is working with area tribes and art experts to restore the Fred Kabotie murals and the rock art images, painted by Fred Geary, which have been damaged by water. The first phase of the project is being funded through a grant from American Express obtained by Grand Canyon Association.This grant will help with the evaluation, documentation and testing process that is a critical component of all historic preservation projects. The park intends to preserve the murals while remaining true to Mary Colter’s design. Over the next year, a conservation specialist will analyze and restore the murals with the help of students participating in an intern training program.
On January 1, 2015, the Watchtower was purchased from the concessionaire managing it and designated a National Park Service building. NPS plans to return the Watchtower to its intended purpose, as a tribute to the Native American tribes who have cultural ties to Grand Canyon. The park is moving forward with plans to restore the tower to reflect Mary Colter’s original vision for the building.Visitors first enter through the large, open Kiva Room. Until recently, this room was filled to capacity with a large gift shop. The gift shop has since been removed from the rotunda and reduced to a much smaller footprint. The new Grand Canyon Association Park Store fits into the original space Colter envisioned for a gift shop: a corner off to the side of the rotunda. All the proceeds support the park.
Originally the Watchtower was designed as a space where visitors could see Native American craft demonstrations by weavers and basket makers. The park will bring Native American artists back into the space to share tribal traditions, dances, songs, skills, art and oral histories with the public. The park is also considering turning the old Desert View visitor center into a Native American cultural center.The transformation of the Watchtower back to its original intent is already proving to be a dramatic experience for visitors and park staff.