In my travels round America I have seen few buildings that were genuinely a delight on the eye. The Chrysler building in New York is an exception it must have cost a fortune but this Art deco skyscraper is a masterpiece . I think you have to go into its lobby to fully experience the buildings quality. You won’t be exactly welcomed by the doormen and its very dark inside. I did managed to get one shot which gives an idea of the whole you can see three of the beautifully decorated elevator doors.

More information

The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City. At 1,046 ft , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework, and it was the world's tallest building for 11 months after its completion in 1930.

The writer Eric Nash described the lobby as a paragon of the Art Deco style, with clear influences of German Expressionism. Chrysler wanted the design to impress other architects and automobile magnates, so he imported various materials regardless of the extra costs incurred.

The walls are covered with huge slabs of African red granite. The walls also contain storefronts and doors made of Nirosta steel.There is a wall panel dedicated to the work of clinchers, surveyors, masons, carpenters, plasterers, and builders. Fifty different figures were modelled after workers who participated in its construction.

Within the lobby, there are ziggurat-shaped Mexican onyx panels above the elevator doors.The doors are designed in a lotus pattern and are clad with steel and wood. When the doors are closed, they resemble "tall fans set off by metallic palm fronds rising through a series of silver parabolas, whose edges were set off by curved lilies" However, when a set of doors is open, the cab behind the doors resembles "an exquisite Art Deco room". These elements were influenced by ancient Egyptian designs, which significantly impacted the Art Deco style. According to Vincent Curcio, "these elevator interiors were perhaps the single most beautiful and, next to the dome, the most important feature of the entire building."

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Barry X Ball’s installation it was exhibited at the Michela Rizzo Gallery, in a narrow street just behind the famed “Prigioni” (Prisons). The gallery owns two spaces. In a large room on the second floor of a nearby building, Ball placed some works from the past years. They revealed Ball to be a refined assemblagist of themes and materials, steeped in cultural references and quotations, of the kind that makes scholars gloat but whose essence remains anchored in the canons of late postmodernity. But it was in the smaller street-level room that this artist jumped into a realm that awakened in me the subtle vibration of discovery. The title of the piece is too long and fantastic to copy. It suffices to quote the beginning: “paired, mirrored, flayed, javelin-impaled, cable-delineated-pendentive-funnel-suspended, squid-like, priapic / labio-vulval, Janusian meta-portrait lozenges of the artist, screaming, and Matthew Barney, in two guises: determined combatant and recently-deceased, resigned stoic. (…)”, 2000-2007. The title continues then to describe the Baja California Mexican onyx marble the piece is carved in and indicates several other material and imaginary connotations of the work.

This sculpture it seems like contains the characteristics of both the Biennale and Artempo shows. It is attempting to bypass the shackles of current discourse. It is both mystical and grotesque, both transcendent and upsettingly earthy. I read it as having been made in a state of lucid, calculated obsession the resulting image of which triggers in the spectator a sense of unease while also giving reassurance because of its completeness. Two pieces of onyx are suspended from the ceiling in a way that pierces the void over which they float. Gilded stainless steel javelin-like tubular shapes that are spiked at either end traverse both vertically. 30 tiny micro holes have been drilled on all sides in the upper part of each javelin. In them are inserted very thin cables that radiate towards eyelets fixed to the ceiling from which the heavy sculptures thus hang. The marble is carved in great detail. Both parts consist of two back to back portraits linked as one head. One can see on their surface the horizontal lines of the computer-guided point that carved them before the sculptor started retouching and refining by hand. Barney’s faces face one another while Ball’s faces look outwards. Barney’s face is serious, eyes open as if looking into space, Ball’s eyes squint because he is screaming. Underneath, the necks morph into hanging folding cloths. The heads end at the top with a kind of exploded opening from which the upper part of the javelin comes out. Intricate reliefs carved in curlicues with crosses and heraldic imagery reminiscent, as the artist says, of decorations on Renaissance armor decorates the surfaces of the heads and necks. The inside of Ball’s open mouth is smooth and shiny.

It took Ball seven years to finish this piece. With other artists, often refinement becomes boring, and excessive symbolism and cultural references become pedantic, but the labor-intensive attention Ball pours into his art conveys to me a sense of disquiet, a bridge between death and life. I read here a desperate tenderness for the human condition exalted to the millionth degree, a daring frozen outlook spanning primitive rituals and cartoonish sci-fi banality.

.....an angel or cupid inspiring love today and everyday!

I Took the foto at Eclectic Art Gallery this week, a borrowed angel!

Mexican onyx lighting in the background

for inquiring minds, like Ana's; the angel is one of an inexpensive plaster set of bookends, I needed an angel for a client request!)

this is the image I am using for a client's valentines to send to her clients!!

have a smile worthy day!

LARGE ON BLACK (press F11 for full screen view)

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Something a little different today. I have been brushing up on my texture skills in CS5, and this is the best one I've done so far. Old Morris Tobacconist opened it's doors in 1892, and is the second oldest tobacconist in North America still in operation today. I worked in this place for most of this year. It sure was fun! I got to meet people from all over the planet every single day.

Location Info...

Old Morris Tobacconist, originally E.A. Morris Tobacconist, was established in 1892 on its present site and is one of Victoria, British Columbia's last remaining examples of pure Victoriana. It is considered one of Victoria's oldest businesses (as well as one of North America's oldest tobacco stores) and serves as a rare surviving example of an of an early twentieth century retail interior of the city. It was commissioned by businessman E.A. Morris. Designed by architect Thomas Hooper, the value of this unique building lies in its Georgian exterior and interior elements and detailing.

As you enter the shop, you can glance overhead at the fine examples of leaded glass in the domed entrance and the Alabaster arch and pillars framing the doorway. In 1910, the interior of the store was completed, including such materials as mahogany, marble and onyx, as well as state-of-the-art fixtures and mirrors. A walk-in humidor was also added. The final result was an excellent representation of a quaint high Victorian 'gentlemen's club' image suited to the typically male patrons of this specialty shop. The shop presents a unique contribution to the Government Street streetscape in its alluring shop front, gentlemanly facade and its masculine interior atmosphere.

A big thanks to Ewan Thot for the texture.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week ahead!

Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg.

The composition of base of the souvenir, made in the year of the 30-year anniversary of Maria Feodorovna coming to the throne, was an evergreen laurel. The upper part of the tree’s crown contains an opening for a key and a tiny lever, which, when pressed, releases a cover hidden by the leaves on the tree. A bird with iridescent feathers appears from inside the tree, and begins to sing. When the singing ends, the bird disappears. The leaves of the tree crown, shaped somewhat like an egg, are made of Sayan jade. The bright leaves are covered with amethysts, citrines, and pink diamonds, as well as small white enamel flowers. The tree is planted in a pot of white Mexican onyx, draped with golden trellis netting and hanging enamel garlands.

Built in 1851-1870, this Gothic Revival-style church was designed by Richard Upjohn, and rebuilt with a stone interior to replace the original wooden interior following a fire in 1888 under the direction of Robert W. Gibson, with reconstruction being completed in 1890. The building is clad in Medina Sandstone with two sandstone spires topped with crosses, the taller of which sits atop the main tower and belfry of the church and is among the tallest unreinforced masonry spires in the world. The rest of the building features slate gabled roofs, with gable parapets at the ends. The church features stained glass lancet windows, with the larger windows featuring tracery, an octagonal western tower and a square eastern tower, buttresses, an irregular footprint, pinnacles, and gothic arched entrance doors. The church’s interior features slate and marble mosaic tile flooring, a Mexican Onyx altar, and ornately carved oak furnishings, hammer beam vaulted ceilings, columns supporting gothic arches, with the smaller Richmond Chapel featuring a hammer beam ceiling with painted panels, a decorative oak screen between the chapel and the nave of the main sanctuary, and decorative chandeliers. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1987, due to its historical and architectural significance. The building continues to serve as the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Buffalo, and is a very well preserved example of 19th Century Gothic Revival architecture.

Midtown Manhattan.

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The ground floor interior of the Chrysler Building which the Commission designates an Interior Landmark, has been called one of the great Art Deco spaces in New York City. Built in 1928-30 according to the designs of architect William Van Alen, it provides an elegant and dramatic entrance to one of New York's great skyscrapers which had been dedicated by Walter P. Chrysler to "world commerce and industry." A variety of design features create this effect and enhance its progressive image..

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HISTORY OF CONSTRUCTION.

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The Chrysler Building had its beginnings in an office building project for William H. Reynolds, a real-estate developer and promoter and former New York State senator. Reynolds had acquired a long-term lease in 1921 on a parcel of property at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street owned by the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1927 architect William Van Alen was hired to design an . office tower to be called the Reynolds Building for the site. Publicized as embodying new principles in skyscraper design, the projected building was to be 67 stories high rising 808 feet, and it was "to be surmounted by a glass dome, which when lighted from within, will give the effect of a great jewelled sphere." .

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In October, 1928, however, the office building project and the lease on the site were taken over by Walter P. Chrysler, head of the Chrysler Corporation, who was seeking to expand his interests into the real estate field..

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Walter Percy Chrysler (1875-1940), one of America's foremost automobile manufacturers, was a self-made man who worked his way up through the mechanical and manufacturing aspects of the railroad business before joining the Buick Motor Company as works manager in 1912. Because of his success in introducing new processes and efficiencies into the automobile plant, he rose quickly through the administrative ranks of General Motors (which had absorbed Buick) before personality conflicts with William C. Durant, head of General Motors, forced Chrysler to leave. .

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In 1921 he reorganized Willys-Overland Company, and then took over as chairman of the reorganization and management committee of the Maxwell Motor Company, eventually assuming the presidency. This enabled Chrysler to introduce in 1924 the car bearing his name which presented such innovations as four-wheel hydraulic breaks and a high compression motor. .

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Over 50 million dollars worth of cars were sold the first year, and in 1925, the Maxwell Motor Company became the Chrysler Corporation. Dodge Brothers was acquired in 1928 giving the Chrysler Corporation additional manufacturing facilities, a famous line of cars, and putting it in a position to challenge the leadership of Ford and General Motors. .

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By 1935, when Chrysler retired from the presidency of the Chrysler Corporation to become chairman of the board, the company was second in the automobile industry in volume of production. .

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It was while Chrysler was aggressively expanding his corporation in 1928 that he took over the office building project from Reynolds. In his autobiography, Chrysler said that he had the building constructed so that his sons would have something to be responsible for. 6 He could not have been unav^ure, however, that the building would become a personal symbol and further the image of the Chrysler Corporation— even though no corporate funds were used in its financing or construction, lb that end Chrysler worked with architect William Van Alen to make the building, including the ground floor interior, a powerful and striking design..

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Work began on the Chrysler Building on October 15, 1928, when Chrysler acquired the lease with clearance of the site. Construction proceeded rapidly; foundations to a depth of 69 feet were completed early in 1929, and the steel framework was completed by the end of September of that year. The design of the building, however, was altered from that for Reynolds. Chrysler, in his autobiography, credits himself for suggesting that it be taller than the 1000-foot Eiffel Tower. .

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The design of the crowning dome was also changed, and the addition of a spire, which the architect called a "vertex," made the Chrysler at 1046 feet the tallest building in the world at the time. Kenneth Murchison fancifully depicts Chrysler urging Van Alen to win the race to construct the world's tallest building. .

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Van Alen himself had personal reasons for achieving this goal, as a former partner, H. Craig Severance, was constructing the Bank of Manhattan, 40 Wall Street, at the same time with the aim of making it the world's tallest skyscraper. Thinking that the Chrysler Building would be only 925 feet high, Severance added a 50-foot flagpole to his building making it 927 feet. .

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Meanwhile, Van Alen designed the 185-foot spire which would make the Chrysler Building the tallest. The spire was fabricated, then delivered to the building in five sections, and assembled secretly at the 65th floor. In November, 1929, it was finally raised into position by a 20-ton derrick through a fire tower in the center of the building, then riveted into place, the whole operation taking about 90 minutes. This engineering feat captured the popular imagination as well as that of professionals, and it helped to further the progressive image of the Chrysler Building. However, the Chrysler lost its height distinction two years later with the construction of the Empire State Building..

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The first tenants moved into the Chrysler Building in April, 1930, even though construction was not completed. Formal opening ceremonies were held on May 27, 1930, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the 42nd Street Property Owners and Merchants Association. A bronze tablet was placed in the lobby of the building "in recognition of Mr. Chrysler's contribution to civic advancement." H It may still be seen in the 42nd Street entrance lobby. The building was considered finished in August, 1930, but curiously, the completion date in the records of the Manhattan Buildings Department is February 19, 1932..

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The Chrysler Building and Art Deco.

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Walter P. Chrysler wanted a progressive image and a personal symbol. Van Alen strove to create such an image using the tenets of modernism as he interpreted them. In so doing he designed a building which has come to be regarded as one of the outstanding examples of Art Deco architecture. The ground floor interior is one of the great Art Deco spaces in the country..

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The term Art Deco, which is also referred to by several different names such as the Style Moderne and Modernistic, is adopted from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Deooratifs et Industriels Modemes— an important European influence on the American Art Deco style— held in Paris in 1925..

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In the period fallowing the first World War, architects in Europe and the United States had begun to simplify traditional design forms and to use new industrial materials in innovative ways in order to characterize the modem age. The Art Deco style seemed to lend itself particularly well to skyscraper design because the skyscraper, more than any other building type, epitomized progress, innovation, and a new modem age. Although the Art Deco style was short-lived, it coincided with a great building boon at the end of the 1920s in New York. The many skyscrapers which were erected in the Art Deco style gave New York and its skyline a characteristic and romantic image, popularized in theater and films, which persisted until the next great building boom of the early 1960s. The Art Deco ground floor interiors of these skyscrapers were equally effective, giving an air of drama to the act of entering a building. .

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In the Chrysler Building and its ground floor interior, Van Alen used a variety of materials, techniques, and design forms which are characteristic of Art Deco..

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Three entrances provide access to the ground floor interior of the building—one each from 42nd and 43rd Streets and Lexington Avenue. The three entrance lobbies lead into the triangular main concourse with two massive octagonal piers. The shape of the concourse and the placement of the piers help to channel traffic efficiently to the four elevator halls. In his autobiography, Walter P. Chrysler claimed that he asked the architect to redesign the lobby so that "when people come into a big building they...sense a change, get a mental lift that will put them in a frame of mind to transact their business.'^* The triangular concourse was the result..

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Rich materials, a characteristic feature of the Art Deco style, enhance the spatial effects and enrich the experience of entry. The walls of the entrance lobbies and main concourse as well as the octagonal piers are faced with a type of red Moroccan marble known as Rouge Flarrme. .

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The marble is distinguished by variegated markings in tones of buff. Complementing the marble on the walls is the yellow Sienna travertine floor set in diagonal patterns—another subtle directional device to guide the user of the building. Shop windows opening onto the entrance lobbies and main concourse as well as directory boards are elegantly framed in "Nirosta" steel, a kind of rust-resistant, chromium nickel steel, manufactured for the first time in the United States specifically for the Chrysler Building according to a German formula from Krupp. .

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Handsome crenellations of "Nirosta" steel—in characteristic Art Deco forms—surmount these enframements. The entrance doors, as well as the service doors, are also of "Nirosta" steel. Set between the service doors opposite the Lexington Avenue entrance is an information booth of red marble with "Nirosta" steel back rising from it..

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One of the most striking and dramatic features of this interior is the lighting system. Vertically-placed panels of polished Mexican onyx are placed in a stepped pattern above the elevator halls and the three street entrances. Vertical reflector troughs of "Nirosta" steel set with lamps are placed in front of the onyx panels. As the light is reflected off these panels it is given an amber glow. .

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Set in front of the lights marking the entrances are vertically-placed letters forming the names of the streets outside. The octagonal piers in the main concourse also provide a light source. V-shaped recesses lined with onyx contain the same type of vertical reflector troughs and lamps as those over the entrances and elevator halls..

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On the ceiling scanning the main concourse and the Lexington Avenue entrance lobby is a large mural by artist Edward Trumbull. The use of such murals was a favorite device of Art Deco designers. In addition to heightening the dramatic effect and enriching the experience of interior spaces, they also were a means of achieving the Art Deco ideal of the unity of design..

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Edward Trumbull (1884-1968) was one of the foremost American moralists of his generation. As a student at the Art Student's League in New York he studied with Robert Raid; in London from 1906 to 1912, he was a student of Frank Brangwyn. Returning to the United States, he was commissioned to do nine panels for the Heinz Administration Building in Pittsburgh. .

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Among the important ccnmissions of his career, in addition to the Chrysler Building, were murals for: the Pennsylvania State Building at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, the Graybar Building, the Oyster Bar and Restaurant at Grand Central Station, the waiting rooms in Union Station in Washington, D.C., the dining rocms in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building, the cafeteria of the Kress Store at 444 Fifth Avenue, and a branch office of the Union Dime Savings Bank at Madison Avenue and 39th Street. .

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For Inland Steel, he painted "The Story of Steel" which was presented to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. In 1932 Trumbull was appointed Color Director for the art program of Rockefeller Center to supervise more than 40 murals and 50 sculptural pieces..

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The mural in the Chrysler Building depicts "the vision, human energy and engineering ability which made possible the structure." The composition is divided into several parts, each with its own theme. A triangular panel placed over the information booth displays a large muscular Atlas figure. Radiating out from this are three bands which follow the triangular form of the main concourse. The first, showing a series of abstract patterns and lines, was supposed to symbolize primitive, natural forces. .

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The second, depicting construction workers and techniques, has a specific analogy to the construction of the Chrysler Building. The third shews the development of modem transportation with an emphasis on airplanes. Extending outward over the Lexington Avenue entrance lobby is a large panel with a rendering of the b building as seen from the exterior. The warm tones of the mural harmonize well with the rich colors of the marble and onyx below..

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The four elevator halls are lined with the same red marble as the entrance halls and main concourse. The doors of the twenty-eight passenger elevators are a strikingly handsome Art Deco design, displaying an abstract lotus pattern executed in metal and inlaid wood veneers. The elevator cabs are of four design types. .

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All are abstract patterns, again executed in a variety of inlaid wood veneers. The woods include Japanese ash, English gray hardwood, Oriental walnut, dye ebonized wood, stainwood, Cuban plum pudding, myrtle burl, and curly maple. Ceiling fans in the elevator cabs are of metal, also executed in striking abstract designs. The use of such rich materials to create a luxurious and dramatic effect is characteristic of Art Deco..

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The curved staircases at the north and south ends of the main concourse lead to the mezzanine at the second floor and to the basement. The use of highly polished black marble on the curved walls heightens the dramatic effect of these staircases. The railings, which follow the curve of the stairs, are of "Nirosta" steel, and the inner railings have zigzag motifs characteristic of Art Deco design set between the balusters. .

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At ground floor level, the railings terminate in massive red marble newel posts. The steps are of gray and black terrazzo. Handsome molded glass light fixtures hang from the ceilings above the staircases. These ceilings are finished with aluminum, leaf..

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All features of the ground floor interior combine together to create one of the great Art Deco spaces in the city and country. The elements of the design and the rich materials are not only characteristic of the Art Deco style but are also same of the finest examples of their type. All appropriately enhance the progressive image of One of New York's finest office buildings..

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The Chrysler Building and the Image of Progress.

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When completed the Chrysler Building was praised as "an expression of the:intense activity and vibrant life of our day" and as "teeming] with the spirit of modernism,...the epitome of modem business life,.. .standjing] for progress in architecture and in modem building methods." Walter P. Chrysler had sought to create the most desirable office building of the day:.

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The Chrysler Building is dedicated to world commerce and industry. It was created with a desire to meet the demand of business executives of today who, with their intense activities, must have the most favorable office surroundings and conditions..

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The need for abundant light and air resulted in a building of fine proportions and great height. The importance of accessibility and transit facilities dictated the location. The desire for the utmost in conveniences determined the inclusion of unusual facilities of every necessity contributing to the contentment and satisfaction of the business man in his office home..

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As an environment in which work may be accomplished efficiently and in comfort, it is believed the finished structure establishes a new ideal—one which will stand as a measure of comparison for office buildings of the future..

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The Chrysler Building is therefore dedicated as a sound contribution to business progress. .

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The building had a number of innovative and desirable features. The soundproofed office partitions were of steel made in interchangeable sections so that the arrangement of any office suite could be changed quickly and conveniently. Under-floor duct systems carried wiring for telephone and electric outlets. .

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The elevators were not only beautiful in design but also,, specifically at Chrysler's instruction, capable of speeds of 1000 feet per minute although city codes in effect in 1930 only allowed 700 feet per minute. The building also had three of the longest continuous elevator shafts in the world. To enhance public access to the building, an underground arcade led to the IRT subway system. The connection was strongly opposed by the IRT, but Chrysler prevailed and the passageway was built at his expense. .

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In the dome was the private Cloud Club, which still exists, and, in the very topmost floor, a public observatory. On display was Walter P. Chrysler's box of handmade tools, the emblem of his enterprise and personal success. The observatory has been closed for many years..

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Conclusion.

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Critics such as Lewis Mumford who favored the International Style denigrated the Chrysler Building for its "inane romanticism, .. .meaningless voluptuousness,.. ./and] void symbolism^ " but it was these qualities which captured the popular imagination and helped make it one of the most famous buildings in New York. We can appreciate the comments of the editor of Architectural Forum who wrote:.

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It stands by itself, something apart and alone. It is simply the realization, the fulfillment in metal and masonry, of a one-man dream, a dream of such ambition and such magnitude as to defy the comprehension and the criticism of ordinary men or by ordinary standards. .

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The Chrysler Building with its ground floor interior remains one of New York's finest office buildings—the elements of its design capturing the eye and imagination of the viewer. .

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The total design of the ground floor interior helped toe carry out Walter P. Chrysler's aim of dedicating the building to world commerce and industry. With its dramatic effects, elegant materials, and striking ornamental details, the ground floor interior of the Chrysler Building is an outstanding example of the Art Deco style— among the finest in the city and the country..

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- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

~15 x 14 x 12 cm. And the third big chunk for the day is this rough-faced Mexican onyx....

San Francisco - the main lobby is getting a remodel - barriers were put in place today.

The columns in this photograph were originally made of Mexican onyx - they may still be below the wood.

The original fountain was by Ruth Asawa, a noted San Francisco artist. It was ripped out after her death a few years ago. In it's place is this ugly fountain with black river rocks.

The panels are translucent Onyx and allow light to pass through to the interior.

Interior of St. Paul's Cathederal, 1907. The columns lining each side of the isle are solid granite (trivia note!).

St Paul's Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, located at 2120 Third Avenue North, on the northwest corner of its intersection with 22nd Street North in downtown Birmingham. The present Victorian Gothic brick building was dedicated on November 30, 1893.

The first Catholic church in downtown Birmingham was a 30-foot by 60-foot wooden building on a site adjacent to the present cathedral. It was moved to the present site on the corner and enlarged in 1880.

The cornerstone for the Neo-Gothic cathedral building, designed by the German-born, Chicago-based architect Alphonse Druiding, was laid on June 11, 1890 and $90,000 was spent completing the building over the next three years. The walls of the 96-foot by 140-foot building is clad in red brick and limestone with a polychrome slate roof. The two octagonal towers on the southeast front carry spires reaching to 183 feet. A large statue of Christ dominates the facade, flanked by an image of St Paul the Apostle, the church's patron and St Joseph. The interior of the nave is 66 feet wide and 130 feet long. The clerestory walls are supported by ten slender granite columns and the vaulted ceiling reaches 67 feet above the interior floor. The semicircular apse supports a domed vault and frames the altar. The original altarpiece was installed on the back wall of the sanctuary in 1905. It was fabricated in Spain of Italian marble and Mexican onyx at a cost of $5,000. It has since been modified several times, most notably in 2004 when the altar table was brought forward so that the celebrant faced the congregation. The sculpted angels flanking the tabernacle also remain from the original altar.

Irish-Americans made up the majority of the parish of St Paul's at its founding. A memorial in the southwest corner of the nave recognizes founding members of the Holy Name Society. The cathedral's stained glass windows, made by G. C. Riordan & Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio, depict the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Assumption of the Virgin, Saint Paul, Saint John, Saint Patrick, Saint John Berchmans, the Good Shepherd, the Holy Family, and Christ gathering the children. The eastern windows are topped by trefoils, while those on the west feature quatrefoils. A circular window over the sanctuary depicts the Dove of the Spirit. Statues in the interior honor Mary, the mother of Christ, St Joseph and St Anthony, patron of Italy - a nod to the increasing numbers of Italian Catholics in Birmingham.

Mexican onyx sculpture (1936) by Carl Milles (1875-1955)

Millesgården, Lidingö, Sweden

Re-edited in August 2019

Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg.

The composition of base of the souvenir, made in the year of the 30-year anniversary of Maria Feodorovna coming to the throne, was an evergreen laurel. The upper part of the tree’s crown contains an opening for a key and a tiny lever, which, when pressed, releases a cover hidden by the leaves on the tree. A bird with iridescent feathers appears from inside the tree, and begins to sing. When the singing ends, the bird disappears. The leaves of the tree crown, shaped somewhat like an egg, are made of Sayan jade. The bright leaves are covered with amethysts, citrines, and pink diamonds, as well as small white enamel flowers. The tree is planted in a pot of white Mexican onyx, draped with golden trellis netting and hanging enamel garlands.

The Vision of Peace is a statue in the three-story memorial concourse lobby along the Fourth Street entrance of the Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The memorial to war dead was created by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. He drew on memories of a Native American ceremony he witnessed in Ponca City, Oklahoma, when he designed the statue, Indian God of Peace. Although there is no connection between Native American spirituality and his own vision, Milles depicted five Native Americans seated around a fire and holding their sacred pipes. Emerging from the smoke of those pipes is a “god of peace” which Milles imagined speaking to “all the world.”

The statue was unveiled on May 28, 1936 as the Indian God of Peace. It was later renamed Vision of Peace in 1994 at a special community ceremony involving three major Minnesota Native American tribes.

The statue weighs approximately 60 tons, stands 38 feet high, and was carved from creamy white Mexican onyx using Milles’ full-scale model. The statue sits on a revolving base which turns the figure 132 degrees every 2.5 hours. There are 98 sections fastened to a steel I-beam and supported by three-quarter inch bronze ribs.

Mexican Onyx. From near Catavina, B.C.

Barry X Ball (born 1955)

National Academy Museum, New York

for educational purpose only

please do not use without permission

Mexican onyx sculpture (1936) by Carl Milles (1875-1955)

Millesgården, Lidingö, Sweden

Mexican Onyx. In situ near Catavina, B.C.

Built in 1851-1870, this Gothic Revival-style church was designed by Richard Upjohn, and rebuilt with a stone interior to replace the original wooden interior following a fire in 1888 under the direction of Robert W. Gibson, with reconstruction being completed in 1890. The building is clad in Medina Sandstone with two sandstone spires topped with crosses, the taller of which sits atop the main tower and belfry of the church and is among the tallest unreinforced masonry spires in the world. The rest of the building features slate gabled roofs, with gable parapets at the ends. The church features stained glass lancet windows, with the larger windows featuring tracery, an octagonal western tower and a square eastern tower, buttresses, an irregular footprint, pinnacles, and gothic arched entrance doors. The church’s interior features slate and marble mosaic tile flooring, a Mexican Onyx altar, and ornately carved oak furnishings, hammer beam vaulted ceilings, columns supporting gothic arches, with the smaller Richmond Chapel featuring a hammer beam ceiling with painted panels, a decorative oak screen between the chapel and the nave of the main sanctuary, and decorative chandeliers. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1987, due to its historical and architectural significance. The building continues to serve as the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Buffalo, and is a very well preserved example of 19th Century Gothic Revival architecture.

Barry X Ball’s installation it was exhibited at the Michela Rizzo Gallery, in a narrow street just behind the famed “Prigioni” (Prisons). The gallery owns two spaces. In a large room on the second floor of a nearby building, Ball placed some works from the past years. They revealed Ball to be a refined assemblagist of themes and materials, steeped in cultural references and quotations, of the kind that makes scholars gloat but whose essence remains anchored in the canons of late postmodernity. But it was in the smaller street-level room that this artist jumped into a realm that awakened in me the subtle vibration of discovery. The title of the piece is too long and fantastic to copy. It suffices to quote the beginning: “paired, mirrored, flayed, javelin-impaled, cable-delineated-pendentive-funnel-suspended, squid-like, priapic / labio-vulval, Janusian meta-portrait lozenges of the artist, screaming, and Matthew Barney, in two guises: determined combatant and recently-deceased, resigned stoic. (…)”, 2000-2007. The title continues then to describe the Baja California Mexican onyx marble the piece is carved in and indicates several other material and imaginary connotations of the work.

This sculpture it seems like contains the characteristics of both the Biennale and Artempo shows. It is attempting to bypass the shackles of current discourse. It is both mystical and grotesque, both transcendent and upsettingly earthy. I read it as having been made in a state of lucid, calculated obsession the resulting image of which triggers in the spectator a sense of unease while also giving reassurance because of its completeness. Two pieces of onyx are suspended from the ceiling in a way that pierces the void over which they float. Gilded stainless steel javelin-like tubular shapes that are spiked at either end traverse both vertically. 30 tiny micro holes have been drilled on all sides in the upper part of each javelin. In them are inserted very thin cables that radiate towards eyelets fixed to the ceiling from which the heavy sculptures thus hang. The marble is carved in great detail. Both parts consist of two back to back portraits linked as one head. One can see on their surface the horizontal lines of the computer-guided point that carved them before the sculptor started retouching and refining by hand. Barney’s faces face one another while Ball’s faces look outwards. Barney’s face is serious, eyes open as if looking into space, Ball’s eyes squint because he is screaming. Underneath, the necks morph into hanging folding cloths. The heads end at the top with a kind of exploded opening from which the upper part of the javelin comes out. Intricate reliefs carved in curlicues with crosses and heraldic imagery reminiscent, as the artist says, of decorations on Renaissance armor decorates the surfaces of the heads and necks. The inside of Ball’s open mouth is smooth and shiny.

It took Ball seven years to finish this piece. With other artists, often refinement becomes boring, and excessive symbolism and cultural references become pedantic, but the labor-intensive attention Ball pours into his art conveys to me a sense of disquiet, a bridge between death and life. I read here a desperate tenderness for the human condition exalted to the millionth degree, a daring frozen outlook spanning primitive rituals and cartoonish sci-fi banality.

Barry X Ball (born 1955)

National Academy Museum, New York

for educational purpose only

please do not use without permission

Barry X Ball’s installation it was exhibited at the Michela Rizzo Gallery, in a narrow street just behind the famed “Prigioni” (Prisons). The gallery owns two spaces. In a large room on the second floor of a nearby building, Ball placed some works from the past years. They revealed Ball to be a refined assemblagist of themes and materials, steeped in cultural references and quotations, of the kind that makes scholars gloat but whose essence remains anchored in the canons of late postmodernity. But it was in the smaller street-level room that this artist jumped into a realm that awakened in me the subtle vibration of discovery. The title of the piece is too long and fantastic to copy. It suffices to quote the beginning: “paired, mirrored, flayed, javelin-impaled, cable-delineated-pendentive-funnel-suspended, squid-like, priapic / labio-vulval, Janusian meta-portrait lozenges of the artist, screaming, and Matthew Barney, in two guises: determined combatant and recently-deceased, resigned stoic. (…)”, 2000-2007. The title continues then to describe the Baja California Mexican onyx marble the piece is carved in and indicates several other material and imaginary connotations of the work.

This sculpture it seems like contains the characteristics of both the Biennale and Artempo shows. It is attempting to bypass the shackles of current discourse. It is both mystical and grotesque, both transcendent and upsettingly earthy. I read it as having been made in a state of lucid, calculated obsession the resulting image of which triggers in the spectator a sense of unease while also giving reassurance because of its completeness. Two pieces of onyx are suspended from the ceiling in a way that pierces the void over which they float. Gilded stainless steel javelin-like tubular shapes that are spiked at either end traverse both vertically. 30 tiny micro holes have been drilled on all sides in the upper part of each javelin. In them are inserted very thin cables that radiate towards eyelets fixed to the ceiling from which the heavy sculptures thus hang. The marble is carved in great detail. Both parts consist of two back to back portraits linked as one head. One can see on their surface the horizontal lines of the computer-guided point that carved them before the sculptor started retouching and refining by hand. Barney’s faces face one another while Ball’s faces look outwards. Barney’s face is serious, eyes open as if looking into space, Ball’s eyes squint because he is screaming. Underneath, the necks morph into hanging folding cloths. The heads end at the top with a kind of exploded opening from which the upper part of the javelin comes out. Intricate reliefs carved in curlicues with crosses and heraldic imagery reminiscent, as the artist says, of decorations on Renaissance armor decorates the surfaces of the heads and necks. The inside of Ball’s open mouth is smooth and shiny.

It took Ball seven years to finish this piece. With other artists, often refinement becomes boring, and excessive symbolism and cultural references become pedantic, but the labor-intensive attention Ball pours into his art conveys to me a sense of disquiet, a bridge between death and life. I read here a desperate tenderness for the human condition exalted to the millionth degree, a daring frozen outlook spanning primitive rituals and cartoonish sci-fi banality.

Dyersville, Iowa...

In the center of the sanctuary is the High Altar on Italian marble and Mexican onyx, which rests on a solid rock foundation reaching up from the basement. On either side of the altarpiece are brass crosses containing small relics of various saints.

Above the Altar is an 1873, woodcarved crucifix, from the old St. Francis Xavier Church, which formerly stood to the south of the Basilica. The crucifix was made by an early parishioner from a walnut tree on his farm.

A small room has been built in the lobby around a support beam of the building. I will hide the seismic upgrade. I will feel a lot safer when the work is done. After the 1989 earthquake I felt the building moved differently for about two years. Hopefully a big earthquake will not happen until the work is done. I live on the 27th floor.

The support column covered in wood covers (as far as I know) Mexican onyx. There are four of them around the fountain.

The original fountain had a fountain sculpture by Ruth Asawa, a noted artiest in San Francisco. Sadly it was taken away after she died & given to her family. The lobby has been altered very much from the original decor. Every time there is a new owner or manager something changes in the decor, and not for the good.

Title : Smith Tower

Creator : Gaggin and Gaggin

Creator role : Architect

Creator 2 : NBBJ; Mithun

Creator 2 role : Architect

Date : 1914 (original) 1999 (renovation by NBBJ and Mithun)

Current location : Seattle, Washington, United States

Description of work : At 522 feet, the Smith Tower was the fourth tallest building in the United State upon its completion. It remained the tallest structure in Seattle until 1962 when the 605-foot Space Needle was built. The building rises 24 floors and steps back to a tower center over the western elevation, which rises to 35 floors. The interior doors and trim are steel painted to simulate mahogany and the windows are framed in bronze. The lobby features Alaskan marble, Mexican onyx and polished brass trim on the elevators, which are the last manually operated elevators on the west coast. (Source: Elenga, Maureen R., Seattle Architecture; A Walking Guide to Downtown. Seattle Architecture Foundation, Seattle WA 2007.)

Description of view : Aerial view of the building looking south

Work type : Architecture and Landscape

Style of work : Modern; Revival: Classical Revival

Culture : American

Materials/Techniques : Stone

Source : Pisciotta, Henry

Date photographed : Mar-09

Resource type : Image

File format : JPEG

Image size : 3072H X 2304W pixels

Permitted uses : This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted. For additional details see: alias.libraries.psu.edu/vius/copyright/publicrightsarch.htm

Collection : Worldwide Building and Landscape Pictures

Filename : WB2010-0176 SmithTower.jpg

Record ID : WB2010-0176

Sub collection : historic sites

office buildings

Copyight holder : Copyright Henry Pisciotta

Barry X Ball (born 1955)

National Academy Museum, New York

for educational purpose only

please do not use without permission

This stunning milagro heart was handcrafted in Peru and I also included vintage Mexican onyx and clay beads

This is what the business lobby looked like before it was "remodeled." The lovely fountain sculpture is gone, the columns clad in Mexican onyx is covered in wood.

Built in 1851-1870, this Gothic Revival-style church was designed by Richard Upjohn, and rebuilt with a stone interior to replace the original wooden interior following a fire in 1888 under the direction of Robert W. Gibson, with reconstruction being completed in 1890. The building is clad in Medina Sandstone with two sandstone spires topped with crosses, the taller of which sits atop the main tower and belfry of the church and is among the tallest unreinforced masonry spires in the world. The rest of the building features slate gabled roofs, with gable parapets at the ends. The church features stained glass lancet windows, with the larger windows featuring tracery, an octagonal western tower and a square eastern tower, buttresses, an irregular footprint, pinnacles, and gothic arched entrance doors. The church’s interior features slate and marble mosaic tile flooring, a Mexican Onyx altar, and ornately carved oak furnishings, hammer beam vaulted ceilings, columns supporting gothic arches, with the smaller Richmond Chapel featuring a hammer beam ceiling with painted panels, a decorative oak screen between the chapel and the nave of the main sanctuary, and decorative chandeliers. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1987, due to its historical and architectural significance. The building continues to serve as the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Buffalo, and is a very well preserved example of 19th Century Gothic Revival architecture.

Barry X Ball (born 1955)

National Academy Museum, New York

for educational purpose only

please do not use without permission

Barry X Ball (born 1955)

National Academy Museum, New York

for educational purpose only

please do not use without permission

Near Lever House. Nothing but stone. A little research shows that this is the lobby of the Manhattan Tower at 600 Lexington, built by Emery Roth & Sons in 1985. Emery Roth built some interesting buildings in the 20's and 30's, most famously the twin towered San Remo on Cenral Park West. Roth & Sons later worked on another set of twin towers - the World Trade Center.

MILAGROS

Milagros "Miracles" are small devotional charms that are traditionally used in most Latin American Countries. These votives are placed in small shrines, church, nichos, retablos, saints or altars.

Milagros also refers to an ancient aspect of Hispanic Folk Culture: Small silver or gold votive offerings.

A person attaches a Milagro to a saint for a special request of a miracle for a particular aliment of the body.

Barry X Ball (born 1955)

National Academy Museum, New York

for educational purpose only

please do not use without permission

Barry X Ball (born 1955)

National Academy Museum, New York

for educational purpose only

please do not use without permission

construction barriers were put in place today. The main lobby is getting another remodel. The columns in this photo were originally clad in Mexican onyx - they were still be there.

The business lobby is being remodeled. I'm not excited about this picture of what it will look like, but I think it will be better than the last remodel a few years ago. The wood boards suspended in air do not impress me at all. How about some real art? This is a view of the mezzanine level. The columns originally were Mexican onyx & were 2 stores tall

The Baptistry.

The font is an original George Edmund Street design and is of mexican onyx lined with lead. It has a heavey wooden gothic lid, which is lifted by chains. (The Organ is above.)

The baptistry area was added to the original building in 1896. The two mosaics are therefore later than the others in the church.

Built in 1851-1870, this Gothic Revival-style church was designed by Richard Upjohn, and rebuilt with a stone interior to replace the original wooden interior following a fire in 1888 under the direction of Robert W. Gibson, with reconstruction being completed in 1890. The building is clad in Medina Sandstone with two sandstone spires topped with crosses, the taller of which sits atop the main tower and belfry of the church and is among the tallest unreinforced masonry spires in the world. The rest of the building features slate gabled roofs, with gable parapets at the ends. The church features stained glass lancet windows, with the larger windows featuring tracery, an octagonal western tower and a square eastern tower, buttresses, an irregular footprint, pinnacles, and gothic arched entrance doors. The church’s interior features slate and marble mosaic tile flooring, a Mexican Onyx altar, and ornately carved oak furnishings, hammer beam vaulted ceilings, columns supporting gothic arches, with the smaller Richmond Chapel featuring a hammer beam ceiling with painted panels, a decorative oak screen between the chapel and the nave of the main sanctuary, and decorative chandeliers. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1987, due to its historical and architectural significance. The building continues to serve as the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Buffalo, and is a very well preserved example of 19th Century Gothic Revival architecture.

The altar is madeof Italian marble and Mexican onyx. It rests on a solid rock foundation. Above the altar is an 1873 woodcarved crucifix made by an early parishoner from a walnut tree on his farm.

A fifty-two feet high baldachin (canopy) of carved butternut is richly decorated with pinnacles, gables, niches and angels. Designed by J.E. Brielmaier of Milwaukee.

Brass Plaque on the Font.

St Saviours’ Eastbourne Sept 1877.

The Font Bowl originally of stone was replaced by this of Mexican onyx marble in memory of Marsden Radclille, infant sone of Rev H R and C H Whelpton, born 4 Oct 1874, baptised 29 Nov 1874 fell asleep 21 August 1875.

The Font Cover from desin by C E Street RA was given by Rev H A Alder MA in memory of his son Henry S Austin born 25 August 1871, baptised 11 Oct 1871.

mexican onyx on an imperial blue granite base

Title: "Rhomboid and Cube"

Sculptor: Arnold Flaten

Accessible to Public: yes, indoors

Location: Old Science Center Foyer

Ownership: St. Olaf College

Medium: Mexican onyx with laminated oak base

Dimension: 55 inches high by 45 inches wide by 22 inches deep

Provenance: Gift of Thomas and Dorothy Rossing

Year of Installation: 1970

Physical Condition: Good

Built in 1851-1870, this Gothic Revival-style church was designed by Richard Upjohn, and rebuilt with a stone interior to replace the original wooden interior following a fire in 1888 under the direction of Robert W. Gibson, with reconstruction being completed in 1890. The building is clad in Medina Sandstone with two sandstone spires topped with crosses, the taller of which sits atop the main tower and belfry of the church and is among the tallest unreinforced masonry spires in the world. The rest of the building features slate gabled roofs, with gable parapets at the ends. The church features stained glass lancet windows, with the larger windows featuring tracery, an octagonal western tower and a square eastern tower, buttresses, an irregular footprint, pinnacles, and gothic arched entrance doors. The church’s interior features slate and marble mosaic tile flooring, a Mexican Onyx altar, and ornately carved oak furnishings, hammer beam vaulted ceilings, columns supporting gothic arches, with the smaller Richmond Chapel featuring a hammer beam ceiling with painted panels, a decorative oak screen between the chapel and the nave of the main sanctuary, and decorative chandeliers. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1987, due to its historical and architectural significance. The building continues to serve as the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Buffalo, and is a very well preserved example of 19th Century Gothic Revival architecture.

This lamp is made from Onyx with a crystallization from Aragonite. These lamps are hand-crafted and come from Mexico. The lamp gives off an energetic vibe as well as a relaxing ambient. The Onyx is extracted from mines located in the Tehuacan region in Puebla, Mexico. Mexican Onyx is a form of calcite and can come in a variation of color such as orange, tiger, yellow, and brown. Aragonite aids in emotional and physical healing and it is also believed to raise energy levels and to help clear and focus the mind so that you can concentrate on the task at hand.