Masonic Tracing Boards: youtu.be/m-dc96wCxWs

 

Elmvale Masonic Temple 77 Queen Street West Elmvale Ontario.

 

Masonic Tracing Board Decoded & Explained: youtu.be/9exPJ6LAjA8

 

www.niagaramasons.com/Info%20Stuff/The%20Winding%20Stairc...

 

Museum of Freemasonry - Masonic Library

 

Lecture: The Legend Of The Winding Stairs

 

In an investigation of the symbolism of the winding stairs, we shall be directed to the true explanation by a reference to there origin, there number, the objects which they recall, and there termination, but above all by a consideration of the great design which an assent upon them was intended to accomplish.

 

The steps of this winding staircase commenced we are informed, at the porch of the Temple; that is to say, at its very entrance. But nothing is more undoubted in the science of Masonic symbolism than that the Temple was the representative of the world purified by the Divine Presence. The world of the profane is without the Temple; the world of the initiated is within its sacred walls. Hence to enter the Temple, to pass within the porch, to be made a mason, and to be born into the world of Masonic light, are all synonymous terms. Here, then, the symbolism of the winding stairs begins.

 

The Apprentice having entered within the porch of the temple, has begun his Masonic life. But the first degree in masonry, is only a preparation and purification for something higher. The Entered Apprentice is the child in Masonry. the lessons which he receives are simply intended to cleanse the heart and prepare the recipient for that mental illumination which is to be given in the succeeding degrees.

 

As a Fellow Craft, he has advanced another step, and as the degree is emblematic of youth, so it is here that the intellectual education of the candidate begins. And therefore, here, at the very spot which separates the porch from the sanctuary, where childhood ends and manhood begins, he finds stretching out before him a winding stair which invites him, as it were, to ascend, and which, as the symbol of discipline and instruction, teaches him that here must commence his Masonic labour here he must enter upon those glorious though difficult researches the end of which is to be in the possession of divine truth. The winding stairs begin after the candidate has passed within the porch and between the pillars of strength and establishment, as a significant symbol to teach him that as soon as he has passed beyond the years of irrational childhood, and commenced his entrance upon manly life, the laborious task of self-improvement is the first duty placed before him. He cannot stand still; his destiny requires him to ascend, step by step, until he has reached the summit, where the treasures of knowledge await him

 

The numbers of these steps in all the systems is odd. The coincidence is at least curious that the ancient temples were always ascended by an odd number of steps; so that commencing with the right foot at the bottom, the worshipper would find the same foot foremost when he entered the temple, which was considered as a fortunate omen. But the fact is, that the symbolism of numbers was borrowed by the masons from Pythagoras, in whose system of philosophy it plays an important part, and in which odd numbers were considered as more perfect than even ones. Hence, throughout the Masonic system we find a predominance of odd numbers, and while three, five, seven, and nine, are all-important symbols, we seldom find a reference to two, four, six, or eight. The odd number of stairs was therefore intended to symbolise the idea of perfection, to which it was the object of the aspirant to attain.

 

As to the particular number of the stairs, this has varied at different periods. The Tracing-boards of the nineteenth century have been found, in which only five steps are delineated, and others in which they amount to seven. The prestonian lectures, used at the beginning of the century gave the whole number of thirty-eight. the error of making an even number, which was a violation of the Pythagorean principle of odd numbers as the symbol of perfection, was later corrected. At the union of the two Grand Lodges of England the number was reduced to fifteen, divided into three series of three, five, and seven.

 

At the first pause which he makes he is instructed in the peculiar organisation of the order of which he has become a member. But the information here given, is barren, and unworthy of his labour. The rank of the officers, and the required number can give no knowledge which he has not before possessed. We must look therefore to the symbolic meaning of these allusions for any value which may be attached to this part of the ceremony.

 

The reference to the organisation of the Masonic institution is intended to remind us of the union of men in society, and the development of the social state out of the state of nature. He is thus reminded, in the very outset of his journey, of the blessings which arise from civilisation, and of the fruits of virtue and knowledge which are derived from that condition. Masonry itself is the result of civilisation; while, in grateful return, it has been one of the most important means of extending that condition to mankind.

 

All the monuments of antiquity prove that as man emerged from the savage to the social state then came the invention of architecture. As architecture developed as a means of providing convenient dwellings and necessary shelter from the harshness of the seasons, with the mechanical arts connected with it, for as we began to erect solid and more stately edifices of stone, they imitated the parts which necessity had introduced into the primitive huts. and adapted them to there temples, which, although at first simple and rude, were in the course of time, and by the ingenuity of succeeding architects, wrought and improved to such a degree of perfection on different models, that each was by way of eminence, denominated an order of architecture.

 

Advancing in his progress the candidate is invited to contemplate another series of instructions. The human senses, as the appropriate channels through which we receive al our ideas of perception, and which, therefore, constitute the most important sources of our knowledge, are here referred to as a symbol of intellectual cultivation. Architecture, as the most important of the arts which conduce to comfort of mankind, is also alluded to here, not simply because it is closely connected with operative instruction of Masonry, but also as the type of all the other useful arts. In his second pause, in the ascent of the winding stairs, the aspirant is therefore reminded of the necessity of cultivating practical knowledge

 

So far, then the instructions he has received relate to his own condition in society as a member of the great social compact, and to his means of becoming, by a knowledge of the arts of practical life, a necessarry and useful member of society. Still must he go onward and forward. the stair is still before him; its summit is not yet reached, and further wisdoms are to be sought for, or the reward will not be gained, nor the middle chamber the abiding-place of truth, be reached.

 

In his third pause, he therefore arrives at that point in which the whole circle of human science is to be explained. Symbols, we know, are in themselves arbitrary and of conventional signification, and the complete circle of human science might have been as well symbolesed by any other sign or series of doctrines as by the seven liberal arts and sciences. But Masony is an institution of olden time; and this selection of the liberal arts and sciences as a symbol of the completion of human learningis one of the most pregnant evidences that we have of its antiquity.

 

In the seventh century, and for a long time afterwards, the circle of instruction to which all the learning of the most eminent schools and most distinguished philosophers was confined, was limited to what were then called the liberal arts and sciences, and consisted of two branches, the trivium and the quadrivium. The trivium included grammar, rhetoric, and logic; the quadrivium comprehended arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. These seven arts were supposed to include universal knowledge. He who was master of these was thought to have no need of a preceptor to explain any books or to solve any question which lay within the compass of human reason, the knowledge of the trivium having furnished him with the key to all language, and that of the quadrivium having opened to him the secret laws of nature.

 

But we are not yet done. It will be remembered that a reward was promised for all this toilsome ascent of the winding stairs. Now, what are the wages of a Speculative Mason? Not money, nor corn, nor wine, nor oil. All these are but symbols. His wages are truth, or the approximation to which it will be most appropriate to the degree into which he has been initiated. It is one of the most beautiful, but at the same time most abstruse, doctrines of the science of Masonic symbolism that the Mason is ever to be in search of truth, but is never to find it. This divine truth, the object of all his labours, is symbolised by the Word, for which we all know he can only obtain a substitute; and this is intended to teach the humiliating but necessary lesson that the knowledge of nature, of God, and of man's relation to them, which knowledge constitutes divine truth, can never be acquired in this life. Only at the end of this life shall he know the origin of life.

 

The middle chamber is therefore symbolic of this life, where the symbol only of the Word can be given, where the truth is to be reached by approximation only, and yet where we are to learn that truth will consist in a perfect knowledge of the G.G.O.T.U. This is the reward of the inquiring Mason; in this consist the wages of a Fellow Craft; he is directed to the truth, but he must travel farther and ascend still higher to attain it.

 

It is then, as a symbol, and as a symbol only, that we must study this beautiful legend of the winding stairs. if we attempt to adopt it as a historical fact, the absurdity of its details stares us in the face, and wise men will wonder at our credulity. Its inventors had no desire to thus impose upon our folly; but offering it to us as a great philosophical myth, they did not for a moment suppose that we would pass over its sublime moral teachings to accept the allegory as a historical narrative without meaning, and wholly irreconcilable with the records of Scripture, and opposed by all the principles of probability. To suppose that eighty thousand craftsman were weekly paid in the narrow precincts of the Temple chambers, is simply to suppose an absurdity. But to believe that all this pictorial representation of an ascent by a winding staircase to the place where the wages of labour were received, was an allegory to teach us the ascent of the mind from ignorance, through all the toils of study and the difficulties of obtaining knowledge, receiving here a little and there a little, adding something to the stock of our ideas at each step, until, in the middle chamber of life, in the full fruition of manhood, the reward is attained, and the purified and elevated intellect is invested with the reward in the direction how to seek truth and knowledge; to believe this, is to believe and to know the true design of Speculative Masonry, the only design which makes it worthy of a good and wise man's study.

 

2nd degree fellowcraft tracing board illustration.

 

On our way to the Sanctum Sanctorum, the newly made Mason undertakes a passage through what is commonly called the Middle Chamber. The reference into the middle way is through the temple of Solomon, and the pathway to the Holy of Holies, the adytum in which the Holy Ark of the covenant resides at the the Kodesh Hakodashim, or the place in which deity dwells. In that journey through the middle space, the Second degree brother is introduced to some of the more seemingly secular influenced aspects of the fraternity that begin to take on a double, or symbolic, meaning. On their surface, the basic notions of these things are obvious, but not until you start to look at them closely, at their deeper meanings, that we start to see their relationships to other more esoteric ideas. This is similar to religious traditions where withing one religious text there can be multiple layers of meaning, and multiple ways of interpretation which can lead to an allegorical, a moral, or a mystical meaning.

 

Indeed, as the degree is symbolically in King Solomon’s Temple, so to can it be seen as a symbolic metaphor to our own internal path, what Joseph Campbell calls the hero quest, and where you “leave the world that you you’re in and go into a depth or into a distance or up to a height.”[1]

 

This is not to assume that the Masonic degrees have a similar relevancy to sacred or Masonic symbols, tracing board, second degree, 2 degreespiritual texts, though some could argue that their significance is almost as powerful to some observants. It is a system of morality that strives to make good men better, which runs nearly in parallel with the many Volumes of the Sacred Law which seeks similar outcomes to achieve as it outlines and instructs its path to elevation. Whether its salvation or spiritual awakening the holy books seek to instruct its adherents to live better lives through their faith, the same that Freemasonry strives to through its practice – to make those good men better. In that process of making the good man a candidate for the degrees is made an entered apprentice, symbolically as he ascends Jacob’s ladder. Once at the top, he is presented a series of three groups of symbols which are set before him to become a Second Degree mason so as they may observe and contemplate them in their path of progression, their hero’s quest, to the third degree.

 

The story of the degree, from Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor*, picks up after the passage between the twin pillars of the degree with the conductor delivering this instruction:

 

Brother, we will pursue our journey. The next thing that attracts our attention is the winding stairs which lead to the Middle Chamber of King Solomon’s Temple, consisting of three, five, and seven steps.

 

The first three allude to the three principal stages of human life, namely, youth, manhood, and old age. In youth, as Entered Apprentices, we ought industriously to occupy our minds in the attainment of useful knowledge; in manhood, as Fellow Crafts, we should apply our knowledge to the discharge of our respective duties to God, our neighbors, and ourselves; so that in old age, as Master Masons, we may enjoy the happy reflections consequent on a well-spent life, and die in the hope of a glorious immortality.

 

They also allude to the three principal supports in Masonry, namely, Wisdom, Strength. and Beauty; for it is necessary that there should be wisdom to contrive, strength to support, and beauty to adorn all great and important undertakings.

 

They further allude to the three principal officers of the Lodge, viz.: Master, and Senior and Junior Wardens.

 

Let’s pause here and consider what some of the deeper meanings of these first steps infer. The first segment is fairly straight forward; with narrative telling us that the three steps allude to the three stages of human life – Youth, Manhood, and Old Age.

 

Youth is defined as:

Young persons, collectively.

A young person; especially, a young man.

The quality or state of being young; youthfulness; juvenility.

The part of life that succeeds to childhood; the period of existence preceding maturity or age; the whole early part of life, from childhood, or, sometimes, from infancy, to manhood.

 

from ThinkExist.com

This is a pretty straight forward idea, especially as it says to us that “we ought industriously to occupy our minds in the attainment of useful knowledge”, but how does this apply to an older initiate, someone who is no longer in his youth. Is it a wistful thought to what was achieved when younger and in still in school? Taken on a deeper level, it could allude to the idea of the degree itself, the First degree being synonymous to mean that in the first, the candidate comes to the lodge as a youth (despite his chronological or physical age) with a clean slate of perception and a clean pallet of interpretation. In a sense, he comes as blank slate to its teachings or to the ideas before him. The degree being his introduction from exterior life to interior life which ushers him both into the fraternity and into the concept of the undertaking. Pike, in the first degree lecture in Morals and Dogma, calls this the focusing of the aspirants “unregulated force” – the channel by which they constrain their previously raw, infantile state, into that of a focused and youthful aspirant no matter their age.

 

Next, the candidate enters into his Manhood, more literally the 2nd degree, of which the ceremony says of it “we should apply our knowledge to the discharge of our respective duties to God, our neighbors, and ourselves” which is a really active process to live by. We, in essence, are to achieve much by way of our doing, essentially, the work of our daily life towards our deity in worship and practice, our community in which we live and reside, but more specifically as we apply it to ourselves in continuing to apply what we’ve learned in our youth to this state of existence.

 

The Free Dictionary defines Manhood as:

1. The state or time of being an adult male human.

2. The composite of qualities, such as courage, determination, and vigor, often thought to be appropriate to a man.

3. Adult males considered as a group; men.

4. The state of being human.

 

In the third entry, we can take much from it beyond it simply being our middle state of being. It is in fact our ability to BE in the first place, our SELF in daily practice. Interesting as this is, the second degree in which our further education takes place is not only about the practice of our youth but also our ability to learn and apply that education to our life.

 

Campbell says of the age progression that “As a child, you are brought up in a world of discipline, of obedience, and you are dependant on others. All this has to be transcended when you come to maturity, so that you can live not in dependency but with self-responsible authority.”[2] This is, in essence, the heart of the three degree progression and the fundamental of the three steps – he becoming a man (or woman, respecting your discipline)!

 

Old age is a bit more of a troubling and complex issue. So often in modern society we look at old age as a point of retirement where work and physical activity dramatically changes or diminishes. In this description, the idea of old age holds true in that the degree says of old age that in it “we may enjoy the happy reflections consequent on a well-spent life, and die in the hope of a glorious immortality”

 

There are several interesting meanings we can take from this especially that it is in the degrees that these physical changes are metaphorically said to take place which can become a literal interpretation, and that once attained the Master Mason can live through them – literally to reflect on the life well spent. What’s troubling here is that the major portion of the work of the lodge is spent in the third degree and a caution must be considered so as to not see the work of the Master Mason as just one of reflection and of casual rest lest no work, as described in Manhood, be completed.

 

Old Age is essentially defined as ones age nearing or passing the average life span of human beings, and thus at the end of the human life cycle. In the U.S. this is considered to be 78 years old giving a distinct impression as to when one should then become a True Master. It really is at a twilight of life period, one of great age and maturity where little change and much reflection takes place. This gives us an interesting perspective on the meaning as it implies a near end of physical life period of time which squares with the degrees lesson as the period of reflection of a life well spent. We become the Master of our all, ready to pass our knowledge on to the next generation.

 

With this vantage, we can take pause to deeply consider that our daily working of the degrees, intrinsically, could (or should) be conducted in the 2nd state, our manhood in which we conversely learn and grow.

 

Cirlot, in his Dictionary of Symbols, makes an interesting point in that the idea of progression in the stages of age is not unique to Masonry. Besides the stages themselves, the number three (3) is a representation of synthesis and unites the “solution of conflict posed by dualism.” In other words, the third object brings about balance for the first two opposing states. Think of the balance of three dots, one stacked above two.

 

From this point, the degree breaks off to correlate these first steps with the three principal pillars of the lodge as Wisdom, Strength and Beauty which also has an interesting Kabalistic point of reference in the three pillars that make up the structure of the tree of life. Keep in mind, the orientation assumes the viewer reverse the structure to mirror ones own standing rather than simply reflect the observer.

 

Wisdom, the left hand pillar of mercy, is an active pillar and representativeof alchemical fire, which is the principal of spirituality, often called the pillar of Jachin. It is a masculine pillar, and relates to our mental energy, our loving kindness, and our creative inspiration as we traverse it up the Kabbalaistic tree through the Sephirot.

 

Strength is the right hand pillar and takes the form of severity, shaped into the alchemical symbol of water. It can represent darkness, but it is a passive symbol that is feminine in nature and called the pillar of Boaz. Upon it we find the points of our thoughts and ideas, our feelings and emotions, and the physicality of our physical experience, our sensations, each an aspect of its Cabalistic progression.

 

Beauty, then, takes on the role of synthesis of the two, the pillar of mildness; it is upon this pillar that the novitiate is transformed through his progressive states as he progresses. The central pillar of Beauty is representative of Jehovah, the Tetragrammaton which represents deity itself"mercurial transformation" upon which our crown of being resides balanced through feeling and emotion from our foundation of justice and mercy, all of which springs from our link to the everyday world.

 

These aspects of the Kabbalah are not specific attributes of the study in the blue lodge, rather elements of deeper esoteric study, found more specifically in the degrees of the Scottish Rite. Because of the pillars, and their deeper symbolic meaning, it does, however, necessitate looking at them deeper to see the relationship between them as the blue lodge degrees seem to have parallels in the study of the Kabbalah – a happy accident at some time past or with purpose to link the ideas together. Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty are specific aspects of the lower three degrees and emphasized here in the first three steps into the middle chamber, necessitating their deeper esoteric study to fully grasp their broader importance.

 

As the degree instructs – Wisdom is to contrive, Strength is to support, and Beauty is to adorn all great and important undertakings – which are the fundamentals of the three pillars in the Kabbalaistic study.

 

Conversely, as the degree states, these three pillars “allude to the three principal officers of the Lodge, viz.: Master, and Senior and Junior Wardens.” and can be interpreted as such in both a micro (in lodge) fashion and in a broader macro tradition of Masonry itself – in this Kabbalaistic formulation. When the alchemical aspects of wisdom and strength are combined we can see the 6 pointed star appears, the symbol of transformation, often depicted in the conjoining of the square and compass in which Masons are instructed to square their actions and circumscribe their passions, which also corresponds to the link between the Saints Johns – the Baptist as the principal of alchemical water, and the Evangelist as the symbol of alchemical fire, both of whom have much deeper esoteric connections in Masonry. Also, the figures of the lodge leadership have a deeper connection as you begin to look at their alchemical connections too, when you look at their relationship to the Sun and moon, and the aspirant candidate as the solution of conflict, as Cirlot described, and as defined in the first degree – the three sphere aspect to balance the two of conflict.

 

From these short first few tentative steps, we can see that there is a wealth of Masonic symbols at hand, but we are only one third into our progression. Our next step takes us deeper into the middle chamber to its central position where we encounter an interesting juxtaposition of the physical world to our very human aspect of being through our senses.

 

For now, reflect a time on these first three steps and consider what comes next upon the path.

Tee-Tee......A Friend, Mother, Cancer Patient, Survivor, and now a Model!!!!

The National War Memorial is a monument in the South Australian capital of Adelaide, commemorating those who served in the First World War. Opened in 1931, the memorial is

 

located on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue, in the heart of the central business district and adjacent to the grounds of Government House. Memorial services are held

 

at the site throughout the year, with major services on both Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November).

 

First proposed in 1919, the memorial was funded by the Parliament of South Australia, making it the first Australian state war memorial to be confirmed after the war. The design of

 

the memorial was selected through two architectural competitions. The first competition, in 1924, produced 26 designs—all of which were lost before judging could be completed after

 

fire destroyed the building in which they were housed. A second competition, in 1926, produced 18 entries, out of which the design by the architectural firm Woods, Bagot, Jory &

 

Laybourne-Smith was selected as the winner. The design—effectively a frame for two scenes depicted through Rayner Hoff's marble reliefs and bronze statues—shows the prelude

 

and the epilogue to war, depicting both the willingness of youth to answer the call of duty and the extent of the sacrifices which they made. In this, the work is not displaying a material

 

victory, but instead a victory of the spirit. Bronzes line the walls of an inner shrine, on which are listed the names of all South Australians who died during the Great War.

 

History

The obverse face of the National War Memorial, as viewed from the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue.Almost 35,000 South Australians served in the First World War. This

 

number amounted to 8.5% of the South Australian population at the time, or 37.7% of men between the ages of 18 and 44. Of those who served, over 5,000 South Australians died. In

 

response to these deaths, Archibald Peake, the premier of South Australia, asked the state parliament to fund a memorial commemorating the victory and the sacrifice of those who

 

had fought and fallen. The motion was presented in March 1919, and it received unanimous support in the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council. With the passing of this

 

motion, the South Australian Government became the first in Australia to elect to build a memorial to the soldiers of the First World War.

 

It was decided by parliament that the new memorial should be referred to as the "National War Memorial", even though it was to be a purely South Australian monument, and in spite

 

of the term already being used to describe the memorial to the South African War of 1899–1902. There have been at least two perspectives offered as to why the term "National" was

 

employed. First, as Donald Richardson observed, the name may have been chosen to emphasis the Government's intention that the memorial should commemorate all who served

 

during the war, not just those who came from South Australia; and second, Ken Inglis argued that the name may have reflected the perception, (still held in spite of federation), that the

 

"province is a nation".

 

1924 competition

The National War Memorial Committee was formed in order to bring the proposal to fruition, and in February 1924 the committee announced an architectural competition to find the

 

design of the new memorial. In the preamble to the conditions of entry, it was stated that the new memorial was to serve the purpose of "perpetually commemorating the Victory

 

achieved in the Great War, 1914–1918, the Supreme and personal sacrifice of those who participated in that War, and the National effort involved in such activities".

 

Entry was open to South Australians who were British subjects, and those intending to submit designs were required to

 

file a Statement of Intent prior to 29 February 1924. The competition closed on 30 September 1924, and there was a one guinea entry fee. Three assessors were nominated to judge

 

the entries: the South Australian Architect-in-Chief, A. E. Simpson; local architect Herbert Louis Jackman (representing the South Australian Institute of Architects); and Sir William

 

Sowden.

 

The committee specified a budget of £25,000, (previously figures of both £5,000 and £100,000 had been discussed), and the conditions of entry stated that the memorial was to be

 

situated at the entrance to Government House on the corner of King William Street and North Terrace, placing it just behind the existing memorial to the South African War. This

 

location was counter to previous suggestions: a 1919 survey of architects had proposed that the memorial should be built on Montefiore Hill, while in 1923 the plans for the memorial

 

involved erecting it at the rear of Government House, rather than at the front.

 

Significantly, the committee left open the form that memorial would take, beyond stating that the memorial was not to be "utilitarian in character", and debate over the form led to

 

the emergence of a number of suggestions, many of which were covered in the media of the day. These included Dame Nellie Melba's proposal to build a carillon of bells; a

 

suggestion by Simpson Newland to turn Anzac Highway into a "Way of Honour" by adding triumphal arches to each end; and Walter Charles Torode's plan to build a 30 meter high

 

"metal and marble" monument on the top of Mount Lofty with an electric car to carry people to the summit.

 

In the end a total of 28 architectural firms registered their intent to submit entries to the competition—a lower number than expected, but Richardson suggests this may have been due

 

to work on proposals for the new Adelaide Railway Station. Out of those 28, a total of 26 firms submitted designs by the deadline. Unfortunately, on 10 November 1924, before

 

judging could be completed, the Richards Building in Currie Street was destroyed by fire, taking with it all 26 proposals.

 

Although most of the judging had been completed before the fire, suggestions at the time that the committee could use what they had learned from the entrants to propose a new

 

competition with greater clarity as to the requirements led to naught: a 1925 letter to the then Premier John Gunn reveals that there was little to be learned from the competition, as the

 

assessors had found that none of the designs were suitable.

 

1926 competition

Louis Laybourne Smith, the architect who (along with Walter Bagot and Rayner Hoff) was largely responsible for the winning design.Little progress had been made on the memorial by

 

1926. While some debate occurred in respect to the form that the memorial would take, the focus of the discussions concerned the location of the memorial, and this centered on

 

the future of Government House and the role of the Governor. A number of left-wing politicians argued that the grounds of Government House should be turned over to the State and

 

used to build the memorial while the conservatives desired to retain the status quo. By 1925 the National War Memorial committee was prepared to accept the Government House

 

grounds as the site of the memorial, but they delayed making an announcement. This proved to be fortuitous, as legal issues prevented the plan from going ahead. Instead a

 

portion of the grounds, located at the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue, was put aside for the purpose. (The plan to move the Governor and to use the grounds as part of

 

a larger war memorial were revisited, over 80 years later, in 2007).

 

In 1926, after pressure from the returned soldiers, a second competition was announced. Once again the budget was set at £25,000. As per the first competition, all entrants had

 

to be South Australian British subjects, and all entries were to be judged anonymously, but this time there was to be only one assessor: John Smith Murdoch, the chief architect for the

 

Commonwealth of Australia. In deference to the previous competition, the top five entrants from 1924 were each given £75 upon the submission of a new design, and all of the

 

designs were insured by the government for £100 each.

 

With entries restricted to South Australians, only 18 designs were received—a figure that was "correspondingly fewer" than those received in other states where the competitions

 

were open to all Australians. Nevertheless, in his Assessor's Report, Murdoch acknowledged that the quality of some of the proposals were such that they "probably would not

 

have been exceeded had the competition been more open". After examining the submissions, on 15 January 1927, the design by Louis Laybourne Smith, (one of the principals at

 

the architectural firm Woods, Bagot, Jory & Laybourne–Smith), was selected by Murdoch as the winner.

 

Woods, Bagot, Jory & Laybourne-Smith had entered the 1924 competition with an arch designed by Walter Bagot, but in 1926 Bagot was away in Europe. Thus Laybourne

 

-Smith was responsible for drawing and submitting the final design, although he was clear to highlight the role Bagot played in the "architectural conception" of the monument.

 

While the firm was to be awarded 6% of the cost of the memorial, they refused all but enough to cover their own expenses, asking instead that residues (approximately £1000) be

 

placed in a trust fund to pay for the upkeep of the work. While this is seen as an altruistic act, Richardson noted that Laybourne-Smith was both a member of the National War

 

Committee and sat on the sub-committee which drafted the rules of the competition, and thus it may have been considered "improper" to accept the money.

 

When announced to the public the design was "universally hailed as a masterpiece". Nevertheless, in writing his report on the result of the judging, Murdoch stated of the winning

 

architect that he "depends almost entirely on the sculptor to tell the story of the memorial, employing in his design no more architecture than that required to successfully frame and set

 

his sculptural subjects, and to provide accommodation to the extent asked for by the conditions". This view was echoed by Inglis, who described the architecture as "essentially a

 

frame for statuary"—an approach that he felt was "unusual" for an architect. As a result of this dependency on the sculpture, some of the other contestants expressed concerns,

 

arguing that the contest was about architectural works rather than sculptural ones, even though the conditions of the competition specifically allowed for sculpture in the proposals.

 

Construction

Construction of the memorial began in 1928 with the cut and placement of marble blocks from Macclesfield

 

and Angaston. The South Australian Monumental Works were chosen to work on the construction, with Alan Tillett as the principal. Although no sculptor was named in the winning

 

proposal, it did make mention of a possible candidate—who later proved to be Rayner Hoff, a Sydney-based sculptor born in England. Raynor Hoff produced the designs for the

 

sculptures from his Sydney studio, with the bronze castings from Hoff's plaster models being produced by the South Australian firm A. W. Dobbie and Company. (Hoff had expressed

 

reservations that a South Australian company would be capable of handling bronzes of the required size, but a test casting of the lion's head from the memorial was sufficient to

 

overcome his concerns). The two angel reliefs sculpted from the Angaston marble were produced by Julius Henschke in situ from Hoff's designs, expressed through one-third sized

 

plaster models which Henschke then scaled to suit.

 

Significant delays occurred during construction after a strike by the stonemasons. The stonemasons were demanding a 44 hour week and to be paid at "outside rates", (rates of pay

 

for stonemasons were based on whether or not the work was to be constructed on site in the open air, or inside under cover— Tillet was paying the lower "inside rates", even though

 

most of the work was to be conducted on the site). However, Tillet had tendered on the basis of a 48 hour week at inside rates, and paying extra would have caused significant

 

financial problems. Tillet eventually won after the dispute went before the courts, but the strike had caused considerable financial damage to Tillet's company, which went into

 

receivership in 1930 and stayed in that state until after the memorial was completed.

 

The South Australian Government had dedicated £25,000 for the memorial. It was estimated that bulk of the expense would be masonry at £15,300 with sculptural work and

 

landscaping requiring £8,500 and £1,200 respectively. However, the final cost of construction pushed this out to approximately £30,000.

  

Opening

The National War Memorial in South Australia became the fourth state World War I memorial to be opened when it was unveiled in 1931. Inglis notes that this is in keeping with the size of the constituency, arguing that

 

"the larger the constituency that each of these collective tributes had to represent, the later it was built". It was unveiled before a crowd of almost 75,000 on Anzac Day, 25 April

 

1931, (the 16th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing), by the Governor Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven. The crowd, "as huge a crowd as anyone could remember assembling in the

 

city", was unable to fit in front of the memorial, so many thousands assembled at the Cross of Sacrifice in the Adelaide park lands to await a later ceremony. Hore-Ruthven was

 

introduced by the acting state premier, W. J. Denny, whose involvement in the unveiling, according to Inglis, was unusual for a Labor politician.

 

Restoration work

In 2001, the memorial's 70th anniversary year, a three-month remedial project was undertaken, restoring the bronze and stonework details and reinforcing the

 

foundations. The work was completed just days before the Remembrance Day services. In 2002 the architects responsible for the restoration, Bruce Harry & Associates, were

 

awarded a Heritage merit award for their work on the memorial by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

 

Design

The Spirit of Duty appearing before the youth of South Australia, as represented by the girl, the student and the farmer.The rules of the competition limited the space for the memorial

 

to the "one half acre" of land that was excised from the grounds of Government House.The design submitted by Woods, Bagot, Jory & Laybourne Smith easily met this

 

requirement, as the memorial was designed to fit on an ellipse with a major axis of 18.3 m (60 ft) in length and a minor axis of 15.5 m (51 ft).Standing at a height of over 14 m (46

 

ft), the structure was carefully placed back from North Terrace to provide space for "public gatherings of a ceremonial nature" and to allow for the proposed widening of the street.

 

The monument has two sides, referred to by the architects as the reverse and the obverse of the work, which they likened to the two sides of a coin. These two aspects represent

 

the prologue and the epilogue of war. Each side features a relief carved from Angaston marble and framed by the "rough-hewn" arch carved out of marble from Macclesfield,

 

while the granite steps leading up to the monument are constructed of Harcourt granite, as specified in the original proposal. (The architects had preferred the local West Island

 

granite, but acknowledged that the Harcourt granite was "the best available" unless the government would agree to reopen the quarry on West Island). The materials were chosen

 

in order to provide continuity with Parliament House, located a short distance away along North Terrace.

  

The Spirit of Compassion, bearing aloft the body of a dead soldier, symbolizes and commemorates the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in the war and the loss experienced by

 

those who loved them.To represent the prologue to the war, the obverse of the monument (the side facing North Terrace) features a relief of the Spirit of Duty appearing as a vision

 

before the youth of South Australia, represented in the work by a sculptural group consisting of a girl, a student and a farmer abandoning the "symbols of their craft". The three are

 

depicted in normal dress, as they are not yet soldiers and are currently unprepared for the war that is to come, and they are facing away from the world as they look to the vision

 

before them. In Bagot's original plan, submitted for the 1924 competition, there was to be but a single nude figure kneeling before the vision (for which Bagot posed while in

 

Europe), but Laybourne-Smith's 1926 submission became grander in its scope. In addition, Bagot's original designs were naturalistic, with the Spirit of Duty depicted as a female

 

figure, but under Hoff's direction the figure was changed to male, and the style of the reliefs was changed to Art Deco—a "radically new" art style for Australia at the time. Hoff,

 

however, presented the sculptural group in the original naturalistic style, thus providing a "bridge between the Renaissance-style architecture and the Art Deco of the reliefs".

 

On the reverse side of the monument, facing away from the traffic, is a relief carved into the marble representing the epilogue of the war and depicting the Spirit of Compassion as a

 

winged spirit of womanhood bearing aloft a stricken youth. Beneath the figure is situated the Fountain of Compassion, the flow of water representing the "constant flow of

 

memories", while the lion's head from which it emerges, (and which bears the Imperial Crown), is representative of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

 

The designers acknowledged that the symbolism—especially that of the reverse side—does not represent "victory" in the traditional sense. They stated that the "Arch of Triumph

 

which was built in honour of a Caesar, a Napoleon, no longer expresses the feelings of modern democracy after an international struggle". Instead, the memorial represented a

 

spiritual victory, in which was displayed a "willingness to serve and to sacrifice".

 

Detail of one of the bronzes inside the memorial, upon which is listed the names of the South Australians who died during the war.Within the memorial the architects added an inner

 

shrine, or Record Room, in which could be recorded the names of the South Australians who fell during the war. While the design did not specify the exact form that this would take,

 

in the completed memorial these names are inscribed in the bronzes that line the walls. The design also allowed for a cenotaph within the inner shrine, which the designers

 

suggested could either be used as a symbolic representation of the unknown soldier or as the marker to an actual grave, although this aspect was never realised.

 

The monument is designed to honour both the war dead and all who served in the war—one face being inscribed to those who died in the war, while the other is dedicated to "all who

 

served". On the obverse side is inscribed the words "To perpetuate the courage, loyalty, and sacrifice of those who served in the Great War 1914–1918", while the reverse states

 

"All honour give to those who, nobly striving, nobly fell that we might live". Above the two entrances to the inner shrine were to be inscribed the names of the major theaters in which

 

Australians served in the Great War. Originally it was suggested that this was to be Egypt, Gallipoli and Palestine on one side, with France on the other, but in the final work

 

Belgium was added to the list.

 

Although the central square mile of the City of Adelaide is designed to the points of the compass, the monument sits at a 45 degree angle to North Terrace. The architects

 

provided two reasons for this. First, it was observed that "monuments suffer materially from monotonous lighting" when they face to the south; and second, the placing of the

 

monument to face a north-west direction allows it to be in line with both the Cross of Sacrifice and St. Peter's Cathedral. In addition to these two arguments, Richardson also notes

 

that the diagonal positioning of the memorial permits the dawn sun to fall on the facade.

 

EOS Canon 5D, 24-70L. AEB

 

2014

 

IMG_3180_1_2

Ganesha, also spelled Ganesh, and also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is a widely worshipped deity in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.

 

Although he is known by many attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits and explain his distinct iconography.

 

Ganesha emerged as a distinct deity in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, during the Gupta Period, although he inherited traits from Vedic and pre-Vedic precursors. He was formally included among the five primary deities of Smartism (a Hindu denomination) in the 9th century. A sect of devotees called the Ganapatya arose, who identified Ganesha as the supreme deity. The principal scriptures dedicated to Ganesha are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.

 

ETYMOLOGY AND OTHER NAMES

Ganesha has been ascribed many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati and Vighneshvara. The Hindu title of respect Shri is often added before his name. One popular way Ganesha is worshipped is by chanting a Ganesha Sahasranama, a litany of "a thousand names of Ganesha". Each name in the sahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. At least two different versions of the Ganesha Sahasranama exist; one version is drawn from the Ganesha Purana, a Hindu scripture venerating Ganesha.

 

The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana, meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system and isha, meaning lord or master. The word gaņa when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaņas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva. The term more generally means a category, class, community, association, or corporation. Some commentators interpret the name "Lord of the Gaņas" to mean "Lord of Hosts" or "Lord of created categories", such as the elements. Ganapati, a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord". The Amarakosha, an early Sanskrit lexicon, lists eight synonyms of Ganesha : Vinayaka, Vighnarāja (equivalent to Vighnesha), Dvaimātura (one who has two mothers), Gaṇādhipa (equivalent to Ganapati and Ganesha), Ekadanta (one who has one tusk), Heramba, Lambodara (one who has a pot belly, or, literally, one who has a hanging belly), and Gajanana; having the face of an elephant).

 

Vinayaka is a common name for Ganesha that appears in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. This name is reflected in the naming of the eight famous Ganesha temples in Maharashtra known as the Ashtavinayak (aṣṭavināyaka). The names Vighnesha and Vighneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) refers to his primary function in Hindu theology as the master and remover of obstacles (vighna).

 

A prominent name for Ganesha in the Tamil language is Pillai. A. K. Narain differentiates these terms by saying that pillai means a "child" while pillaiyar means a "noble child". He adds that the words pallu, pella, and pell in the Dravidian family of languages signify "tooth or tusk", also "elephant tooth or tusk". Anita Raina Thapan notes that the root word pille in the name Pillaiyar might have originally meant "the young of the elephant", because the Pali word pillaka means "a young elephant".

 

In the Burmese language, Ganesha is known as Maha Peinne, derived from Pali Mahā Wināyaka. The widespread name of Ganesha in Thailand is Phra Phikhanet or Phra Phikhanesuan, both of which are derived from Vara Vighnesha and Vara Vighneshvara respectively, whereas the name Khanet (from Ganesha) is rather rare.

 

In Sri Lanka, in the North-Central and North Western areas with predominantly Buddhist population, Ganesha is known as Aiyanayaka Deviyo, while in other Singhala Buddhist areas he is known as Gana deviyo.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art. Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time. He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down or on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations.

 

Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the 6th century. The 13th century statue pictured is typical of Ganesha statuary from 900–1200, after Ganesha had been well-established as an independent deity with his own sect. This example features some of Ganesha's common iconographic elements. A virtually identical statue has been dated between 973–1200 by Paul Martin-Dubost, and another similar statue is dated c. 12th century by Pratapaditya Pal. Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a big belly. This statue has four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha. He holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds a delicacy, which he samples with his trunk, in his lower-left hand. The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature. A more primitive statue in one of the Ellora Caves with this general form has been dated to the 7th century. Details of the other hands are difficult to make out on the statue shown. In the standard configuration, Ganesha typically holds an axe or a goad in one upper arm and a pasha (noose) in the other upper arm.

 

The influence of this old constellation of iconographic elements can still be seen in contemporary representations of Ganesha. In one modern form, the only variation from these old elements is that the lower-right hand does not hold the broken tusk but is turned towards the viewer in a gesture of protection or fearlessness (abhaya mudra). The same combination of four arms and attributes occurs in statues of Ganesha dancing, which is a very popular theme.

 

COMMON ATTRIBUTES

Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati, has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known. While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, he acquires the head later in most stories. The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was created by Parvati using clay to protect her and Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati. Shiva then replaced Ganesha's original head with that of an elephant. Details of the battle and where the replacement head came from vary from source to source. Another story says that Ganesha was created directly by Shiva's laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly.

 

Ganesha's earliest name was Ekadanta (One Tusked), referring to his single whole tusk, the other being broken. Some of the earliest images of Ganesha show him holding his broken tusk. The importance of this distinctive feature is reflected in the Mudgala Purana, which states that the name of Ganesha's second incarnation is Ekadanta. Ganesha's protruding belly appears as a distinctive attribute in his earliest statuary, which dates to the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries). This feature is so important that, according to the Mudgala Purana, two different incarnations of Ganesha use names based on it: Lambodara (Pot Belly, or, literally, Hanging Belly) and Mahodara (Great Belly). Both names are Sanskrit compounds describing his belly. The Brahmanda Purana says that Ganesha has the name Lambodara because all the universes (i.e., cosmic eggs) of the past, present, and future are present in him. The number of Ganesha's arms varies; his best-known forms have between two and sixteen arms. Many depictions of Ganesha feature four arms, which is mentioned in Puranic sources and codified as a standard form in some iconographic texts. His earliest images had two arms. Forms with 14 and 20 arms appeared in Central India during the 9th and the 10th centuries. The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms. According to the Ganesha Purana, Ganesha wrapped the serpent Vasuki around his neck. Other depictions of snakes include use as a sacred thread wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Upon Ganesha's forehead may be a third eye or the Shaivite sectarian mark , which consists of three horizontal lines. The Ganesha Purana prescribes a tilaka mark as well as a crescent moon on the forehead. A distinct form of Ganesha called Bhalachandra includes that iconographic element. Ganesha is often described as red in color. Specific colors are associated with certain forms. Many examples of color associations with specific meditation forms are prescribed in the Sritattvanidhi, a treatise on Hindu iconography. For example, white is associated with his representations as Heramba-Ganapati and Rina-Mochana-Ganapati (Ganapati Who Releases from Bondage). Ekadanta-Ganapati is visualized as blue during meditation in that form.

 

VAHANAS

The earliest Ganesha images are without a vahana (mount/vehicle). Of the eight incarnations of Ganesha described in the Mudgala Purana, Ganesha uses a mouse (shrew) in five of them, a lion in his incarnation as Vakratunda, a peacock in his incarnation as Vikata, and Shesha, the divine serpent, in his incarnation as Vighnaraja. Mohotkata uses a lion, Mayūreśvara uses a peacock, Dhumraketu uses a horse, and Gajanana uses a mouse, in the four incarnations of Ganesha listed in the Ganesha Purana. Jain depictions of Ganesha show his vahana variously as a mouse, elephant, tortoise, ram, or peacock.

 

Ganesha is often shown riding on or attended by a mouse, shrew or rat. Martin-Dubost says that the rat began to appear as the principal vehicle in sculptures of Ganesha in central and western India during the 7th century; the rat was always placed close to his feet. The mouse as a mount first appears in written sources in the Matsya Purana and later in the Brahmananda Purana and Ganesha Purana, where Ganesha uses it as his vehicle in his last incarnation. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa includes a meditation verse on Ganesha that describes the mouse appearing on his flag. The names Mūṣakavāhana (mouse-mount) and Ākhuketana (rat-banner) appear in the Ganesha Sahasranama.

 

The mouse is interpreted in several ways. According to Grimes, "Many, if not most of those who interpret Gaṇapati's mouse, do so negatively; it symbolizes tamoguṇa as well as desire". Along these lines, Michael Wilcockson says it symbolizes those who wish to overcome desires and be less selfish. Krishan notes that the rat is destructive and a menace to crops. The Sanskrit word mūṣaka (mouse) is derived from the root mūṣ (stealing, robbing). It was essential to subdue the rat as a destructive pest, a type of vighna (impediment) that needed to be overcome. According to this theory, showing Ganesha as master of the rat demonstrates his function as Vigneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) and gives evidence of his possible role as a folk grāma-devatā (village deity) who later rose to greater prominence. Martin-Dubost notes a view that the rat is a symbol suggesting that Ganesha, like the rat, penetrates even the most secret places.

 

ASSOCIATIONS

 

OBSTACLES

Ganesha is Vighneshvara or Vighnaraja or Vighnaharta (Marathi), the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He is popularly worshipped as a remover of obstacles, though traditionally he also places obstacles in the path of those who need to be checked. Paul Courtright says that "his task in the divine scheme of things, his dharma, is to place and remove obstacles. It is his particular territory, the reason for his creation."

 

Krishan notes that some of Ganesha's names reflect shadings of multiple roles that have evolved over time. Dhavalikar ascribes the quick ascension of Ganesha in the Hindu pantheon, and the emergence of the Ganapatyas, to this shift in emphasis from vighnakartā (obstacle-creator) to vighnahartā (obstacle-averter). However, both functions continue to be vital to his character.

 

BUDDHI (KNOWLEDGE)

Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning. In Sanskrit, the word buddhi is a feminine noun that is variously translated as intelligence, wisdom, or intellect. The concept of buddhi is closely associated with the personality of Ganesha, especially in the Puranic period, when many stories stress his cleverness and love of intelligence. One of Ganesha's names in the Ganesha Purana and the Ganesha Sahasranama is Buddhipriya. This name also appears in a list of 21 names at the end of the Ganesha Sahasranama that Ganesha says are especially important. The word priya can mean "fond of", and in a marital context it can mean "lover" or "husband", so the name may mean either "Fond of Intelligence" or "Buddhi's Husband".

 

AUM

Ganesha is identified with the Hindu mantra Aum, also spelled Om. The term oṃkārasvarūpa (Aum is his form), when identified with Ganesha, refers to the notion that he personifies the primal sound. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa attests to this association. Chinmayananda translates the relevant passage as follows:

 

(O Lord Ganapati!) You are (the Trinity) Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa. You are Indra. You are fire [Agni] and air [Vāyu]. You are the sun [Sūrya] and the moon [Chandrama]. You are Brahman. You are (the three worlds) Bhuloka [earth], Antariksha-loka [space], and Swargaloka [heaven]. You are Om. (That is to say, You are all this).

 

Some devotees see similarities between the shape of Ganesha's body in iconography and the shape of Aum in the Devanāgarī and Tamil scripts.

 

FIRST CHAKRA

According to Kundalini yoga, Ganesha resides in the first chakra, called Muladhara (mūlādhāra). Mula means "original, main"; adhara means "base, foundation". The muladhara chakra is the principle on which the manifestation or outward expansion of primordial Divine Force rests. This association is also attested to in the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. Courtright translates this passage as follows: "[O Ganesha,] You continually dwell in the sacral plexus at the base of the spine [mūlādhāra cakra]." Thus, Ganesha has a permanent abode in every being at the Muladhara. Ganesha holds, supports and guides all other chakras, thereby "governing the forces that propel the wheel of life".

 

FAMILY AND CONSORTS

Though Ganesha is popularly held to be the son of Shiva and Parvati, the Puranic myths give different versions about his birth. In some he was created by Parvati, in another he was created by Shiva and Parvati, in another he appeared mysteriously and was discovered by Shiva and Parvati or he was born from the elephant headed goddess Malini after she drank Parvati's bath water that had been thrown in the river.

 

The family includes his brother the war god Kartikeya, who is also called Subramanya, Skanda, Murugan and other names. Regional differences dictate the order of their births. In northern India, Skanda is generally said to be the elder, while in the south, Ganesha is considered the first born. In northern India, Skanda was an important martial deity from about 500 BCE to about 600 CE, when worship of him declined significantly in northern India. As Skanda fell, Ganesha rose. Several stories tell of sibling rivalry between the brothers and may reflect sectarian tensions.

 

Ganesha's marital status, the subject of considerable scholarly review, varies widely in mythological stories. One pattern of myths identifies Ganesha as an unmarried brahmacari. This view is common in southern India and parts of northern India. Another pattern associates him with the concepts of Buddhi (intellect), Siddhi (spiritual power), and Riddhi (prosperity); these qualities are sometimes personified as goddesses, said to be Ganesha's wives. He also may be shown with a single consort or a nameless servant (Sanskrit: daşi). Another pattern connects Ganesha with the goddess of culture and the arts, Sarasvati or Śarda (particularly in Maharashtra). He is also associated with the goddess of luck and prosperity, Lakshmi. Another pattern, mainly prevalent in the Bengal region, links Ganesha with the banana tree, Kala Bo.

 

The Shiva Purana says that Ganesha had begotten two sons: Kşema (prosperity) and Lābha (profit). In northern Indian variants of this story, the sons are often said to be Śubha (auspiciouness) and Lābha. The 1975 Hindi film Jai Santoshi Maa shows Ganesha married to Riddhi and Siddhi and having a daughter named Santoshi Ma, the goddess of satisfaction. This story has no Puranic basis, but Anita Raina Thapan and Lawrence Cohen cite Santoshi Ma's cult as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity.

 

WOSHIP AND FESTIVALS

Ganesha is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions; especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business. K.N. Somayaji says, "there can hardly be a [Hindu] home [in India] which does not house an idol of Ganapati. [..] Ganapati, being the most popular deity in India, is worshipped by almost all castes and in all parts of the country". Devotees believe that if Ganesha is propitiated, he grants success, prosperity and protection against adversity.

 

Ganesha is a non-sectarian deity, and Hindus of all denominations invoke him at the beginning of prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies. Dancers and musicians, particularly in southern India, begin performances of arts such as the Bharatnatyam dance with a prayer to Ganesha. Mantras such as Om Shri Gaṇeshāya Namah (Om, salutation to the Illustrious Ganesha) are often used. One of the most famous mantras associated with Ganesha is Om Gaṃ Ganapataye Namah (Om, Gaṃ, Salutation to the Lord of Hosts).

 

Devotees offer Ganesha sweets such as modaka and small sweet balls (laddus). He is often shown carrying a bowl of sweets, called a modakapātra. Because of his identification with the color red, he is often worshipped with red sandalwood paste (raktacandana) or red flowers. Dūrvā grass (Cynodon dactylon) and other materials are also used in his worship.

 

Festivals associated with Ganesh are Ganesh Chaturthi or Vināyaka chaturthī in the śuklapakṣa (the fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of bhādrapada (August/September) and the Gaṇeśa jayanti (Gaṇeśa's birthday) celebrated on the cathurthī of the śuklapakṣa (fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of māgha (January/February)."

 

GANESH CHATURTI

An annual festival honours Ganesha for ten days, starting on Ganesha Chaturthi, which typically falls in late August or early September. The festival begins with people bringing in clay idols of Ganesha, symbolising Ganesha's visit. The festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, when idols (murtis) of Ganesha are immersed in the most convenient body of water. Some families have a tradition of immersion on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, or 7th day. In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed this annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra. Because of Ganesha's wide appeal as "the god for Everyman", Tilak chose him as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. Today, Hindus across India celebrate the Ganapati festival with great fervour, though it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra. The festival also assumes huge proportions in Mumbai, Pune, and in the surrounding belt of Ashtavinayaka temples.

 

TEMPLES

In Hindu temples, Ganesha is depicted in various ways: as an acolyte or subordinate deity (pãrśva-devatã); as a deity related to the principal deity (parivāra-devatã); or as the principal deity of the temple (pradhāna), treated similarly as the highest gods of the Hindu pantheon. As the god of transitions, he is placed at the doorway of many Hindu temples to keep out the unworthy, which is analogous to his role as Parvati’s doorkeeper. In addition, several shrines are dedicated to Ganesha himself, of which the Ashtavinayak (lit. "eight Ganesha (shrines)") in Maharashtra are particularly well known. Located within a 100-kilometer radius of the city of Pune, each of these eight shrines celebrates a particular form of Ganapati, complete with its own lore and legend. The eight shrines are: Morgaon, Siddhatek, Pali, Mahad, Theur, Lenyadri, Ozar and Ranjangaon.

 

There are many other important Ganesha temples at the following locations: Wai in Maharashtra; Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh; Jodhpur, Nagaur and Raipur (Pali) in Rajasthan; Baidyanath in Bihar; Baroda, Dholaka, and Valsad in Gujarat and Dhundiraj Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Prominent Ganesha temples in southern India include the following: Kanipakam in Chittoor; the Jambukeśvara Temple at Tiruchirapalli; at Rameshvaram and Suchindram in Tamil Nadu; at Malliyur, Kottarakara, Pazhavangadi, Kasargod in Kerala, Hampi, and Idagunji in Karnataka; and Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh.

 

T. A. Gopinatha notes, "Every village however small has its own image of Vighneśvara (Vigneshvara) with or without a temple to house it in. At entrances of villages and forts, below pīpaḹa (Sacred fig) trees [...], in a niche [...] in temples of Viṣṇu (Vishnu) as well as Śiva (Shiva) and also in separate shrines specially constructed in Śiva temples [...]; the figure of Vighneśvara is invariably seen." Ganesha temples have also been built outside of India, including southeast Asia, Nepal (including the four Vinayaka shrines in the Kathmandu valley), and in several western countries.

 

RISE TO PROMINENCE

 

FIRST APEARANCE

Ganesha appeared in his classic form as a clearly recognizable deity with well-defined iconographic attributes in the early 4th to 5th centuries. Shanti Lal Nagar says that the earliest known iconic image of Ganesha is in the niche of the Shiva temple at Bhumra, which has been dated to the Gupta period. His independent cult appeared by about the 10th century. Narain summarizes the controversy between devotees and academics regarding the development of Ganesha as follows:

 

What is inscrutable is the somewhat dramatic appearance of Gaņeśa on the historical scene. His antecedents are not clear. His wide acceptance and popularity, which transcend sectarian and territorial limits, are indeed amazing. On the one hand there is the pious belief of the orthodox devotees in Gaņeśa's Vedic origins and in the Purāṇic explanations contained in the confusing, but nonetheless interesting, mythology. On the other hand there are doubts about the existence of the idea and the icon of this deity" before the fourth to fifth century A.D. ... [I]n my opinion, indeed there is no convincing evidence of the existence of this divinity prior to the fifth century.

 

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES

Courtright reviews various speculative theories about the early history of Ganesha, including supposed tribal traditions and animal cults, and dismisses all of them in this way:

 

In the post 600 BC period there is evidence of people and places named after the animal. The motif appears on coins and sculptures.

 

Thapan's book on the development of Ganesha devotes a chapter to speculations about the role elephants had in early India but concludes that, "although by the second century CE the elephant-headed yakṣa form exists it cannot be presumed to represent Gaṇapati-Vināyaka. There is no evidence of a deity by this name having an elephant or elephant-headed form at this early stage. Gaṇapati-Vināyaka had yet to make his debut."

 

One theory of the origin of Ganesha is that he gradually came to prominence in connection with the four Vinayakas (Vināyakas). In Hindu mythology, the Vināyakas were a group of four troublesome demons who created obstacles and difficulties but who were easily propitiated. The name Vināyaka is a common name for Ganesha both in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. Krishan is one of the academics who accepts this view, stating flatly of Ganesha, "He is a non-vedic god. His origin is to be traced to the four Vināyakas, evil spirits, of the Mānavagŗhyasūtra (7th–4th century BCE) who cause various types of evil and suffering". Depictions of elephant-headed human figures, which some identify with Ganesha, appear in Indian art and coinage as early as the 2nd century. According to Ellawala, the elephant-headed Ganesha as lord of the Ganas was known to the people of Sri Lanka in the early pre-Christian era.

 

A metal plate depiction of Ganesha had been discovered in 1993, in Iran, it dated back to 1,200 BCE. Another one was discovered much before, in Lorestan Province of Iran.

 

First Ganesha's terracotta images are from 1st century CE found in Ter, Pal, Verrapuram and Chandraketugarh. These figures are small, with elephant head, two arms, and chubby physique. The earliest Ganesha icons in stone were carved in Mathura during Kushan times (2nd-3rd centuries CE).

 

VEDIC AND EPIC LITERATURE

The title "Leader of the group" (Sanskrit: gaṇapati) occurs twice in the Rig Veda, but in neither case does it refer to the modern Ganesha. The term appears in RV 2.23.1 as a title for Brahmanaspati, according to commentators. While this verse doubtless refers to Brahmanaspati, it was later adopted for worship of Ganesha and is still used today. In rejecting any claim that this passage is evidence of Ganesha in the Rig Veda, Ludo Rocher says that it "clearly refers to Bṛhaspati—who is the deity of the hymn—and Bṛhaspati only". Equally clearly, the second passage (RV 10.112.9) refers to Indra, who is given the epithet 'gaṇapati', translated "Lord of the companies (of the Maruts)." However, Rocher notes that the more recent Ganapatya literature often quotes the Rigvedic verses to give Vedic respectability to Ganesha .

 

Two verses in texts belonging to Black Yajurveda, Maitrāyaṇīya Saṃhitā (2.9.1) and Taittirīya Āraṇyaka (10.1), appeal to a deity as "the tusked one" (Dantiḥ), "elephant-faced" (Hastimukha), and "with a curved trunk" (Vakratuņḍa). These names are suggestive of Ganesha, and the 14th century commentator Sayana explicitly establishes this identification. The description of Dantin, possessing a twisted trunk (vakratuṇḍa) and holding a corn-sheaf, a sugar cane, and a club, is so characteristic of the Puranic Ganapati that Heras says "we cannot resist to accept his full identification with this Vedic Dantin". However, Krishan considers these hymns to be post-Vedic additions. Thapan reports that these passages are "generally considered to have been interpolated". Dhavalikar says, "the references to the elephant-headed deity in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā have been proven to be very late interpolations, and thus are not very helpful for determining the early formation of the deity".

 

Ganesha does not appear in Indian epic literature that is dated to the Vedic period. A late interpolation to the epic poem Mahabharata says that the sage Vyasa (Vyāsa) asked Ganesha to serve as his scribe to transcribe the poem as he dictated it to him. Ganesha agreed but only on condition that Vyasa recite the poem uninterrupted, that is, without pausing. The sage agreed, but found that to get any rest he needed to recite very complex passages so Ganesha would have to ask for clarifications. The story is not accepted as part of the original text by the editors of the critical edition of the Mahabharata, in which the twenty-line story is relegated to a footnote in an appendix. The story of Ganesha acting as the scribe occurs in 37 of the 59 manuscripts consulted during preparation of the critical edition. Ganesha's association with mental agility and learning is one reason he is shown as scribe for Vyāsa's dictation of the Mahabharata in this interpolation. Richard L. Brown dates the story to the 8th century, and Moriz Winternitz concludes that it was known as early as c. 900, but it was not added to the Mahabharata some 150 years later. Winternitz also notes that a distinctive feature in South Indian manuscripts of the Mahabharata is their omission of this Ganesha legend. The term vināyaka is found in some recensions of the Śāntiparva and Anuśāsanaparva that are regarded as interpolations. A reference to Vighnakartṛīṇām ("Creator of Obstacles") in Vanaparva is also believed to be an interpolation and does not appear in the critical edition.

 

PURANIC PERIOD

Stories about Ganesha often occur in the Puranic corpus. Brown notes while the Puranas "defy precise chronological ordering", the more detailed narratives of Ganesha's life are in the late texts, c. 600–1300. Yuvraj Krishan says that the Puranic myths about the birth of Ganesha and how he acquired an elephant's head are in the later Puranas, which were composed from c. 600 onwards. He elaborates on the matter to say that references to Ganesha in the earlier Puranas, such as the Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas, are later interpolations made during the 7th to 10th centuries.

 

In his survey of Ganesha's rise to prominence in Sanskrit literature, Ludo Rocher notes that:

 

Above all, one cannot help being struck by the fact that the numerous stories surrounding Gaṇeśa concentrate on an unexpectedly limited number of incidents. These incidents are mainly three: his birth and parenthood, his elephant head, and his single tusk. Other incidents are touched on in the texts, but to a far lesser extent.

 

Ganesha's rise to prominence was codified in the 9th century, when he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism. The 9th-century philosopher Adi Shankara popularized the "worship of the five forms" (Panchayatana puja) system among orthodox Brahmins of the Smarta tradition. This worship practice invokes the five deities Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, and Surya. Adi Shankara instituted the tradition primarily to unite the principal deities of these five major sects on an equal status. This formalized the role of Ganesha as a complementary deity.

 

SCRIPTURES

Once Ganesha was accepted as one of the five principal deities of Brahmanism, some Brahmins (brāhmaṇas) chose to worship Ganesha as their principal deity. They developed the Ganapatya tradition, as seen in the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana.

 

The date of composition for the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana - and their dating relative to one another - has sparked academic debate. Both works were developed over time and contain age-layered strata. Anita Thapan reviews comments about dating and provides her own judgement. "It seems likely that the core of the Ganesha Purana appeared around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries", she says, "but was later interpolated." Lawrence W. Preston considers the most reasonable date for the Ganesha Purana to be between 1100 and 1400, which coincides with the apparent age of the sacred sites mentioned by the text.

 

R.C. Hazra suggests that the Mudgala Purana is older than the Ganesha Purana, which he dates between 1100 and 1400. However, Phyllis Granoff finds problems with this relative dating and concludes that the Mudgala Purana was the last of the philosophical texts concerned with Ganesha. She bases her reasoning on the fact that, among other internal evidence, the Mudgala Purana specifically mentions the Ganesha Purana as one of the four Puranas (the Brahma, the Brahmanda, the Ganesha, and the Mudgala Puranas) which deal at length with Ganesha. While the kernel of the text must be old, it was interpolated until the 17th and 18th centuries as the worship of Ganapati became more important in certain regions. Another highly regarded scripture, the Ganapati Atharvashirsa, was probably composed during the 16th or 17th centuries.

 

BEYOND INDIA AND HINDUISM

Commercial and cultural contacts extended India's influence in western and southeast Asia. Ganesha is one of a number of Hindu deities who reached foreign lands as a result.

 

Ganesha was particularly worshipped by traders and merchants, who went out of India for commercial ventures. From approximately the 10th century onwards, new networks of exchange developed including the formation of trade guilds and a resurgence of money circulation. During this time, Ganesha became the principal deity associated with traders. The earliest inscription invoking Ganesha before any other deity is associated with the merchant community.

 

Hindus migrated to Maritime Southeast Asia and took their culture, including Ganesha, with them. Statues of Ganesha are found throughout the region, often beside Shiva sanctuaries. The forms of Ganesha found in Hindu art of Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional influences. The spread of Hindu culture to southeast Asia established Ganesha in modified forms in Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. In Indochina, Hinduism and Buddhism were practiced side by side, and mutual influences can be seen in the iconography of Ganesha in the region. In Thailand, Cambodia, and among the Hindu classes of the Chams in Vietnam, Ganesha was mainly thought of as a remover of obstacles. Today in Buddhist Thailand, Ganesha is regarded as a remover of obstacles, the god of success.

 

Before the arrival of Islam, Afghanistan had close cultural ties with India, and the adoration of both Hindu and Buddhist deities was practiced. Examples of sculptures from the 5th to the 7th centuries have survived, suggesting that the worship of Ganesha was then in vogue in the region.

 

Ganesha appears in Mahayana Buddhism, not only in the form of the Buddhist god Vināyaka, but also as a Hindu demon form with the same name. His image appears in Buddhist sculptures during the late Gupta period. As the Buddhist god Vināyaka, he is often shown dancing. This form, called Nṛtta Ganapati, was popular in northern India, later adopted in Nepal, and then in Tibet. In Nepal, the Hindu form of Ganesha, known as Heramba, is popular; he has five heads and rides a lion. Tibetan representations of Ganesha show ambivalent views of him. A Tibetan rendering of Ganapati is tshogs bdag. In one Tibetan form, he is shown being trodden under foot by Mahākāla, (Shiva) a popular Tibetan deity. Other depictions show him as the Destroyer of Obstacles, and sometimes dancing. Ganesha appears in China and Japan in forms that show distinct regional character. In northern China, the earliest known stone statue of Ganesha carries an inscription dated to 531. In Japan, where Ganesha is known as Kangiten, the Ganesha cult was first mentioned in 806.

 

The canonical literature of Jainism does not mention the worship of Ganesha. However, Ganesha is worshipped by most Jains, for whom he appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. Jain connections with the trading community support the idea that Jainism took up Ganesha worship as a result of commercial connections. The earliest known Jain Ganesha statue dates to about the 9th century. A 15th-century Jain text lists procedures for the installation of Ganapati images. Images of Ganesha appear in the Jain temples of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Always thirsty for light

Photography credit: N. Phelps - Bleeding Iris Photography

"The St. Nicholas Historic District, known colloquially as "Striver's Row", is a historic district located on both sides of West 138th and West 139th Streets between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is both a national and a New York City district, and consists of row houses and associated buildings designed by three architectural firms and built in 1891–93 by developer David H. King Jr. These are collectively recognized as gems of New York City architecture, and "an outstanding example of late 19th-century urban design":

 

There are three sets of buildings: The red brick and brownstone buildings on the south (even-numbered) side of West 138th Street and at 2350–2354 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard were designed by James Brown Lord in the Georgian Revival style; the yellow brick and white limestone with terra cotta trim buildings on the north (odd-numbered) side of 138th and on the south (even-numbered) side of 139th Street and at 2360–2378 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard were designed in the Colonial Revival style by Bruce Price and Clarence S. Luce; the dark brick, brownstone and terra cotta buildings on the north (odd-numbered) side of 139th Street and at 2380 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard were designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by Stanford White of the firm McKim, Mead & White.

 

The district was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The district's name reflects the nearby St. Nicholas Park.

 

David H. King Jr., the developer of what came to be called "Striver's Row", had previously been responsible for building the 1870 Equitable Building, the 1889 New York Times Building, the version of Madison Square Garden designed by Stanford White, and the Statue of Liberty's base. The townhouses in his new project, which were originally called the "King Model Houses", were intended for upper-middle-class whites, and featured modern amenities, dark woodwork, and views of City College. King's idea was that the project would be "on such a large scale and with such ample resources as to 'Create a Neighborhood' independent of surrounding influences."

 

The houses sit back-to-back, which allowed King to specify that they would share rear courtyards. The alleyways between them – a rarity in Manhattan – are gated off; some entrance gates still have signs that read "Walk Your Horses". At one time, these alleys allowed discreet stabling of horses and delivery of supplies without disrupting activities in the main houses. Today, the back areas are used almost exclusively for parking.

 

King sold very few houses and the development failed, with Equitable Life Assurance Society, which had financed the project, foreclosing on almost all the units in 1895, during an economic depression. By this time, Harlem was being abandoned by white New Yorkers, yet the company would not sell the King houses to blacks, and so they sat empty until 1919–20, when they were finally made available to African Americans for $8,000 each. Some of the units were turned into rooming houses, but generally they attracted both leaders of the black community and upwardly-mobile professionals, or "strivers", who gave the district its colloquial name.

 

Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, is 139th Street, known among Harlemites as 'strivers' row.' It is the most aristocratic street in Harlem. Stanford White designed the houses for a wealthy white clientele. Moneyed African-Americans now own and inhabit them. When one lives on 'strivers' row' one has supposedly arrived. Harry Rills resides there, as do a number of the leading Babbitts and professional folk of Harlem.

 

By the 1940s, many of the houses had decayed and were converted to single room occupancies (SROs). Much of the original decorative detail inside the houses was lost at this time, though the exteriors generally remained unaltered. With the post-1995 real-estate boom in Harlem, many of these buildings are being restored to something resembling their original condition.

 

Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west and north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Central Park, and East 96th Street.

 

Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle. Harlem was predominantly occupied by Jewish and Italian Americans in the 19th century, but African-American residents began to arrive in large numbers during the Great Migration in the 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a major African-American cultural movement. With job losses during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. In the 21st century, crime rates decreased significantly, and Harlem started to gentrify.

 

The area is served by the New York City Subway and local bus routes. It contains several public elementary, middle, and high schools, and is close to several colleges, including Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, and the City College of New York. Central Harlem is part of Manhattan Community District 10. It is patrolled by the 28th and 32nd Precincts of the New York City Police Department. The greater Harlem area also includes Manhattan Community Districts 9 and 11 and several police precincts, while fire services are provided by four New York City Fire Department companies.

 

New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. The city is within the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area – the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. New York is the most photographed city in the world. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, an established safe haven for global investors, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world." - info from Wikipedia.

 

The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

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76/365 - "Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." ~Albert Einstein

 

A collection of daisies by the roadside, ignored by all except bees and curious photographers.

  

Strive to find the end of the rainbow

Work until your mind grows weary

Struggling to keep the status quo

In an economy of which you are leery

 

-The Worker, by Theresa Moore

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Special guest delle date italiane dei Simple Plan la band electronicore americana Ghost Town; a Milano all’Alcatraz il 2 marzo 2016.

 

Ghost Town is an audio and visual movement ahead of its time; catering to the young generation of today while keeping true to the underground scene they come from.

 

Huge drums (MannYtheDrummeR), funky guitar riffs (Alix Monster), and unique vocals (Kevin Ghost), are the main elements that give Ghost Town their sound, along with the artwork of Alistar Dippner, aka imamachinst, who uses Ghost Town's drop dead sounds as inspiration to bring each song to life with his shocking visuals.

 

The energy in their songs is evident in the recordings but is even more amplified in their live show. Armed with forward thinking and an army of 'Ghosts' they are striving to make history.

 

"The St. Nicholas Historic District, known colloquially as "Striver's Row", is a historic district located on both sides of West 138th and West 139th Streets between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is both a national and a New York City district, and consists of row houses and associated buildings designed by three architectural firms and built in 1891–93 by developer David H. King Jr. These are collectively recognized as gems of New York City architecture, and "an outstanding example of late 19th-century urban design":

 

There are three sets of buildings: The red brick and brownstone buildings on the south (even-numbered) side of West 138th Street and at 2350–2354 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard were designed by James Brown Lord in the Georgian Revival style; the yellow brick and white limestone with terra cotta trim buildings on the north (odd-numbered) side of 138th and on the south (even-numbered) side of 139th Street and at 2360–2378 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard were designed in the Colonial Revival style by Bruce Price and Clarence S. Luce; the dark brick, brownstone and terra cotta buildings on the north (odd-numbered) side of 139th Street and at 2380 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard were designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by Stanford White of the firm McKim, Mead & White.

 

The district was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The district's name reflects the nearby St. Nicholas Park.

 

David H. King Jr., the developer of what came to be called "Striver's Row", had previously been responsible for building the 1870 Equitable Building, the 1889 New York Times Building, the version of Madison Square Garden designed by Stanford White, and the Statue of Liberty's base. The townhouses in his new project, which were originally called the "King Model Houses", were intended for upper-middle-class whites, and featured modern amenities, dark woodwork, and views of City College. King's idea was that the project would be "on such a large scale and with such ample resources as to 'Create a Neighborhood' independent of surrounding influences."

 

The houses sit back-to-back, which allowed King to specify that they would share rear courtyards. The alleyways between them – a rarity in Manhattan – are gated off; some entrance gates still have signs that read "Walk Your Horses". At one time, these alleys allowed discreet stabling of horses and delivery of supplies without disrupting activities in the main houses. Today, the back areas are used almost exclusively for parking.

 

King sold very few houses and the development failed, with Equitable Life Assurance Society, which had financed the project, foreclosing on almost all the units in 1895, during an economic depression. By this time, Harlem was being abandoned by white New Yorkers, yet the company would not sell the King houses to blacks, and so they sat empty until 1919–20, when they were finally made available to African Americans for $8,000 each. Some of the units were turned into rooming houses, but generally they attracted both leaders of the black community and upwardly-mobile professionals, or "strivers", who gave the district its colloquial name.

 

Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, is 139th Street, known among Harlemites as 'strivers' row.' It is the most aristocratic street in Harlem. Stanford White designed the houses for a wealthy white clientele. Moneyed African-Americans now own and inhabit them. When one lives on 'strivers' row' one has supposedly arrived. Harry Rills resides there, as do a number of the leading Babbitts and professional folk of Harlem.

 

By the 1940s, many of the houses had decayed and were converted to single room occupancies (SROs). Much of the original decorative detail inside the houses was lost at this time, though the exteriors generally remained unaltered. With the post-1995 real-estate boom in Harlem, many of these buildings are being restored to something resembling their original condition.

 

Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west and north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Central Park, and East 96th Street.

 

Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle. Harlem was predominantly occupied by Jewish and Italian Americans in the 19th century, but African-American residents began to arrive in large numbers during the Great Migration in the 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a major African-American cultural movement. With job losses during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. In the 21st century, crime rates decreased significantly, and Harlem started to gentrify.

 

The area is served by the New York City Subway and local bus routes. It contains several public elementary, middle, and high schools, and is close to several colleges, including Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, and the City College of New York. Central Harlem is part of Manhattan Community District 10. It is patrolled by the 28th and 32nd Precincts of the New York City Police Department. The greater Harlem area also includes Manhattan Community Districts 9 and 11 and several police precincts, while fire services are provided by four New York City Fire Department companies.

 

New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. The city is within the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area – the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. New York is the most photographed city in the world. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, an established safe haven for global investors, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world." - info from Wikipedia.

 

The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

My future lays before me, sir

Darkened by uncertainty,

Yet lighted by opportunity.

My future is my own, sir

And I shall ever reach for it.

 

Toronto Ontario Canada

30 x 30 Inches

2012

Corrugated cardboard, found street signage, acrylic w/ matte varnish finish. Framed w/ red mahogany lattice.

www.puedeone.com

 

Designer unknown (佚名)

Early 1970s

Strive to collect scrap metal and other waste materials!

Dali huishou fei gangtie ji qita feijiu wuzi! (大力回收废钢铁及其他废旧物资！)

Call nr.: BG E15/329 (Landsberger collection)

 

More? See: chineseposters.net

Presidential Proclamation Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month written by US President Barack Obama, public reading by Sassy Parker, Ryan Janek Wolowski, Samara Riviera at the White House in Washington, D.C. June 13th 2010

 

To view the video visit:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD65QrDEJGw

  

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,

Washington, DC 20500

(202) 456-1111‎

www.whitehouse.gov

 

You can read the entire Presidential Proclamation with the link below:

 

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclama...

 

The White House

 

Office of the Press Secretary

 

For Immediate Release May 28, 2010 Presidential Proclamation--Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month

As Americans, it is our birthright that all people are created equal and deserve the same rights, privileges, and opportunities. Since our earliest days of independence, our Nation has striven to fulfill that promise. An important chapter in our great, unfinished story is the movement for fairness and equality on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. This month, as we recognize the immeasurable contributions of LGBT Americans, we renew our commitment to the struggle for equal rights for LGBT Americans and to ending prejudice and injustice wherever it exists.

 

LGBT Americans have enriched and strengthened the fabric of our national life. From business leaders and professors to athletes and first responders, LGBT individuals have achieved success and prominence in every discipline. They are our mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters, and our friends and neighbors. Across my Administration, openly LGBT employees are serving at every level. Thanks to those who came before us — the brave men and women who marched, stood up to injustice, and brought change through acts of compassion or defiance — we have made enormous progress and continue to strive for a more perfect union.

 

My Administration has advanced our journey by signing into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which strengthens Federal protections against crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation. We renewed the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides life saving medical services and support to Americans living with HIV/AIDS, and finally eliminated the HIV entry ban. I also signed a Presidential Memorandum directing hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds to give LGBT patients the compassion and security they deserve in their time of need, including the ability to choose someone other than an immediate family member to visit them and make medical decisions.

 

In other areas, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a series of proposals to ensure core housing programs are open to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. HUD also announced the first ever national study of discrimination against members of the LGBT community in the rental and sale of housing. Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services has created a National Resource Center for LGBT Elders.

 

Much work remains to fulfill our Nation's promise of equal justice under law for LGBT Americans. That is why we must give committed gay couples the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple, and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. We must protect the rights of LGBT families by securing their adoption rights, ending employment discrimination against LGBT Americans, and ensuring Federal employees receive equal benefits. We must create safer schools so all our children may learn in a supportive environment. I am also committed to ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" so patriotic LGBT Americans can serve openly in our military, and I am working with the Congress and our military leadership to accomplish that goal.

 

As we honor the LGBT Americans who have given so much to our Nation, let us remember that if one of us is unable to realize full equality, we all fall short of our founding principles. Our Nation draws its strength from our diversity, with each of us contributing to the greater whole. By affirming these rights and values, each American benefits from the further advancement of liberty and justice for all.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2010 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in their own lives and everywhere it exists.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

 

BARACK OBAMA

  

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Washington, D.C. USA

06-13-2010

 

2018 HLPF Side Event on Shaping Smarter and More Sustainable Cities: Striving for Sustainable Development Goals" held on 12 July 2018 in New York provided a platform to debate the impact of frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and Internet of Things (IoT) on cities, to present current national and international initiatives such as the United for Smart Sustainable Cities and to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced in shaping smart and sustainable cities at the local level.

 

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Morecambe and Wise

Bring You Sunshine

Starline SRS 5066

1971

 

Today, in the popular imagination, they are inextricably linked with their block-busting 1970s show which broke records and entertained (nearly almost) an entire nation, but Morecambe and Wise had to work long and hard before they became successful and ubiquitous household names. From their first meeting in a touring troupe way back in 1940, the duo served their apprenticeship in a succession of venues all around the UK, touring, struggling and grafting, all the time striving to perfect their act and develop their unique sense of timing and delivery.

 

Ernie Wise though was an ambitious man, with an eye always firmly set on achieving enduring greatness and he had long coveted a television career. The nascent medium during their early years had appealed to his style of intimate joke telling, a style too subtle to be truly effective on variety stages.

 

As long ago as 1948 he had been writing increasingly insistent letters to the BBC begging for a chance to make a TV show.

 

After a disastrous, critically-panned television debut back in 1954 with the BBC series Running Wild, a sorry chapter that saw them pleading for the show to be taken off air, the duo had been brave enough to return to television a second time and try to establish themselves all over again.

 

Over the years they made numerous supporting appearances on the likes of The Winifred Atwell Show and the popular variety-fest that was Sunday Night at the London Palladium, diligently working away to establishing their reputation anew.

 

Finally in 1961, the hard work of Morecambe and Wise was rewarded by omnipotent showbiz mogul Bernard Delfont, who granted them their own ATV series, The Morecambe and Wise Show.

 

It was a brave decision, but I think it is fair to say that Delfont’s impetuous showbiz gamble was vindicated many, many times over.

 

For the next two decades Morecambe and Wise dominated television like few acts before or since, achieving huge viewing figures never likely to be surpassed, and forging the template for a comedy double act, a template that has been copied many times but never bettered.

 

The material on the album Bring You Sunshine is made up of songs and sketches penned by Morecambe and Wise’s regular scriptwriters Dick Hills and Sid Green.

 

Over six series of The Morecambe and Wise Show, Hills and Green did much to establish the personas and characters of Morecambe and Wise that would last the rest of their career.

 

Ernie Wise, a sensible sort with his ‘short fat hairy legs’ was the butt of many jokes and Eric Morecambe was a wisecracking interfering jester full of witty retorts and mischief.

 

The efforts of Morecambe and Wise and their writers paid off and they duly became bona fide TV stars.

 

By 1968 though their contract with ATV was due for renewal.

 

It was during negotiations over this contract that the particular die was cast which was to change British comedy forever.

 

In an office with Bernard Delfont’s brother Lew Grade, thick with the heady fog of his gargantuan cigars, Eric and Ernie picked a fight with one of the most powerful and obstinate figures in showbiz.

 

And won.

 

Eric and Ernie insisted that more money should be spent on their show and demanded that all their new shows be shown in colour.

 

This outraged the pug-faced cheroot-chomping mogul. It was rare that Lew Grade made mistakes in business but by refusing to accommodate the artistic and professional ambitions of Morecambe and Wise he effectively released them into the clutches of Bill Cotton over at the BBC.

 

Cotton realised immediately the gift he had received and saw to it that Morecambe and Wise would become the huge stars that they always believed they could be.

 

But there was yet more drama in the offing before they could go on to become true legends of the small screen.

 

In November 1968, just after their first BBC series had aired, Eric Morecambe suffered a major heart attack.

 

On doctor’s order he was forced to ease back on performing and the second BBC series was postponed indefinitely.

 

It was six months before Morecambe and Wise would appear in public together again, and before their TV series could return they were stunned by the defection of their tried and trusted writers, the reliable and dependable Green and Hill who had done so much to make them stars.

 

Unsettled by the long period of inactivity and fearful for their own future, Dick Hills and Sid Green were lured away from writing solely for Morecambe and Wise by their arch-nemesis Lew Grade who offered the writers a generous contract to sign exclusively for ATV.

 

They left without informing their former employers in a move which could have easily meant the premature end of Morecambe and Wise as a going concern.

 

Luckily for them though, a former Scouse market trader turned gag-writer named Eddie Braben was free after being ditched by Ken Dodd.

 

By building on the foundations that Green and Hill had established, the surreal wordplay and comic fantasies of Eddie Braben would make Morecambe and Wise undoubtedly the biggest, most popular comedy stars in the UK.

 

Bring You Sunshine captures the essence of Morecambe and Wise at this pivotal point in their long comedy career.

 

It was released in 1971 on EMI’s Starline label and gathered together a selection of much-loved comic routines created by Dick Hills and Sid Green for the 1960s TV series.

 

The sketches are, with a few exceptions, fairly insubstantial.

 

Ton Up Boy seems an obvious inspiration for Dick Emery and Tape Recorder is an enchanting piece of domestic comic whimsy.

 

The remaining sketches such as Indians and Get It Right Corporal are so brief as to almost be one line gags. Harmless filler really but not the meaty chunks that Morecambe and Wise fans were after.

 

The meaty comedy chunks in thick marrowbone stand-up jelly were delivered by the comic songs.

 

As with the sketches, the songs are also written by Dick Hills and Sid Green, with Walter Ridley taking charge of musical duties.

 

They are without exception an absolute joy, full of charm and gentle subtle wit, much like Morecambe and Wise’s TV act.

 

They do not try to force themselves on the audience, instead relying on clever, well rehearsed repartee. Singing the Blues is a faithfully rendered pastiche of white man blues and there is also an early prototype version of Eric’s brilliant mangling of Grieg’s piano concerto to enjoy, a routine which was later resurrected for none other than the great Andre Preview.

 

I’d love to put the entire album up for you to listen, but for the sake of brevity and bandwidth, I have selected just one track.

 

Bring Me Sunshine was perhaps the obvious choice, played as the end credits rolled on their TV shows and very much the signature theme of Morecambe and Wise.

 

As ever though, I prefer to spin the more obscure and unappreciated tracks.

 

So to play us out, here is Song of Youth, a wonderful comic song full of domestic violence, hard drinking, promiscuity and lunacy.

 

Somewhere in here lurk the spirits of John Osborne and Les Dawson, with perhaps just a dash of Violet Carson. Bring us sunshine lads:

 

downstairslounge.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/morecambe-and-w...

Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

 

The St. Nicholas Historic District, consisting of four rows of houses built by David H. King, Jr., appears much the same as it did when it was built, more than 70 years ago, in 1891. Both then and now, it has been a source of pride not only to its own residents, but to all the people living in its vicinity.

 

These houses are a fine example of Nineteenth Century urban design, influenced by English antecedents. The sense of forethought and consideration in land development seen here is much sought after today, and often today's results arc not as successful. A high degree of architectural continuity is maintained, while taking into consideration even such problems as house service.

 

This problem is successfully resolved by the use of a main cross alley extending through the block, from avenue to avenue, with two shorter transverse alleys between the streets.

 

The District, designed by three of the most prominent architectural firms of the day, was one of the most prestigious sections of Harlem and is still considered as such. The fact that these houses have been well maintained through the years is most unusual in New York City. Obviously its reputation as a fashionable area has contributed to the residents' desire to preserve their homes and to their tremendous sense or pride in them.

 

Harlem Background

 

In 1658 Peter Stuyvesant named this area we now know as Harlem, Nieuw Haarlem. Up to the middle of the Nineteenth Century this part of Manhattan remained very much the same as it had been in the Seventeenth Century. Farms, and some large estates, comprise most of the land holdings. Many of the most prominent colonial families: the Delanceys, Beekmans, Bleeckers, Rikers, Coldens and Hamiltons had estates in Harlem.

 

The St. Nicholas Historic District lies within the estate of Cadwallader D. Colden, an early Mayor of New York, whose grandfather was a colonial governor.

 

In Lloyd Morris' book "Incredible New York" there is an illustration of Commodore Vanderbilt racing horses on Harlem Lane near 137th Street. The Harlem Lane of that day extended up to 168th Street. Morris also notes that when General Grant visited the City at the end of the Civil War, one of his first requests was to be taken out to Harlem Lane.

 

In 1831, the Harlem Railroad was chartered, and by 1837 it was extended to Harlem changing it from a rural to a suburban community—one of New York's first suburbs. By 1981, the elevated rapid transit lines extended up to 129th Street, and by 1884 to 145th Street. Thus, Harlem had become a vary desirable and fashionable neighborhood by the 'eighties'.

 

During the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century, with a rise of Harlem as a "convenient" residential suburb, there was great land speculation and a construction fever such as had rarely been seen in New York. It was in this climate of speculative activity that the D. H. King houses were built.

 

Early History

 

The property was purchased by D.H. King and in 1891 commissioned the architectural firms of Bruce Price, James Brown Lord, Clarence S. Luce and McKim, Mead & White to design four rows of houses. King was a member of the Knickerbocker Trust and was a well-known builder .

 

A period of Victorian gentility had led to the creation of the houses which comprise the District. They represented what was possibly the apex of that disastrous spurt of over-investing which occurred at the end of the Nineteenth Century. It is reported that in a society whose working class families paid an average of $10-18 monthly for rent, rents for these dwellings started at just below $60 and ranged somewhere between $900 and $1700 a year.

 

King wished to erect high-quality housing for well-to-do buyers, who wished to make a sound, profitable investment. Almost prophetic of the principles of today's Landmarks Preservation Commission, he wanted to be able to assure a purchaser that no nuisances could spring up near these buildings and that one need have no fear of a stable, factory, tenement or over-shadowing hotel rising beside his home.

 

"The interests of each property owner are carefully protected by stipulations against the building of additions or altering any house...." .

 

Recent History

 

The building fever that had overtaken Harlem investors came to an abrupt end with the panic of 1904. A wave of selling followed, and owners sold buildings at losses ranging from one-third to two-thirds of their original cost. Many of these buildings had never been inhabited.

 

Negro realtors, such as Philip A. Payton and John M. Royall, persuaded many property owners to sell or rant their houses to Negroes who wished to move to Harlem. The northward movement of Negro families from the South and immigration from the West Indies were the catalysts which caused the move to uptown Manhattan.

 

The houses and apartments were by far the best available to Negro families at that time. It is stated in Gilbert Osofsky's "Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto" that Harlem's "name was a symbol of elegance and distinction.... its streets and avenues were broad, well-paved, clean and tree-lined.... its homes were spacious, with the best of modem facilities...."

 

Finally, by 1919; the D. H. King houses were made available to Negroes and were already being acquired by well established professionals, a few of whom are still living there today. Many of Harlem's most prominent doctors have lived there. L. T. Wright, Surgical Director of Harlem Hospital from 1938-52, lived at 218 West 139th Street.

 

He was an eminent brain surgeon, and was the only Negro member of the American College of Surgeons at one time. P. M. Hurray, of 200 West 138th Street, was the Dean and Professor of Surgery at Howard University and was one of the first Negroes to be appointed to the staff of a private hospital.

 

Paul Collins, also of 200 West 138th Street, was a staff member in the Eye Clinic of Harlem Hospital.

 

In February, 1920, a front page article in the "New York Age" described the move to 260 West 139th Street of William Pickens, a former Dean and Vice-President of Morgan College, Baltimore, Maryland, and an Associate Field Secretary of the NAACP.

 

Several famous entertainers have also lived in the St. Nicholas Historic District. W. C. Handy, internationally known and considered the father of popular jazz, lived at 232 West 139th Street. Hubie Blake, the musician, lived at 236 West 13 8th Street. Floumay Miller, of 200 West 139th Street, and Noble Sissle, of 264 West 139th Street, were members of the "Shuffle Along Company", extremely successful, which played to a wide range of audiences.

 

In 1933, Abram Hill, one of the collaborators on the play, "Anna Lucasta", and a founder of the American Negro Theatre, wrote a play about the Historic District, called "On Striver's Row". Popular use of the name "Striver's Row" developed in the 1920's and 30's and indicated the great desirability of living in this two-block area.

 

Comments on the District

 

Montgomery Schuyler, in the "Architectural Record" of April-June 1899, praised the King project for "the employment of three architects of the first rank to compete with each other, net on paper, but in actual brick and mortar.... in the most extensive building operation that has been carried out on the West Side."

 

His only criticism was that "they have supplied but a small fraction of the demand that exists for such dwellings."

 

style, by respecting each others conventions, by keeping to a uniform cornice line, the architects achieved an unusual unity rarely seen in this City. For this reason the...rows which make up this Historic District arc probably the finest of their kind in any of the five boroughs."

 

And the Rev. John J. Hicks, pastor of St. Mark's Methodist Church and chairman of the West 139th Street Block Association, testified, "This area should be preserved in our City because it will aid us in keeping capable citizens and adequate indigenous leadership within the community. The present weakness in the inner city is that we have flights to the hinterlands that siphon off respectable and capable citizens and leave the community bereft of neighborhood leadership and respect."

 

ARCHITECTURE IMPORTANCE

 

The D. H. King Houses, though the rows vary in design and detail, were planned in order to create a unified, distinct "neighborhood within a neighborhood." The use of uniform block fronts of equal heights provides a strong cohesive element, while individuality of approach prevents the area from succumbing to monotony. The basic simplicity and elegance of the houses supports this dominating sense of quiet refinement.

 

The unobstructed view of the buildings of New York's City College, high on the heights overlooking St. Nicholas Park, contributes to a feeling of openness surrounding the St. Nicholas Historic District. Builder D. H. King wanted the residents of his houses to benefit from their location on land which was "high, healthful and accessible, swept by the westerly breezes from the Hudson."

 

The planning of ornamental, wrought-iron gateways for access is likened by Montgomery Schuyler to the cutting of the Gordian Knot of house service. The gateways were at once decorative .and functional. Ostensibly designed to act as entrances to serve the houses at the rear, they also led to attractive hidden accessways for private use by the residents. Circular flower beds and fountains were planned for the intersections of these interior "cross-streets". Agreements were made between King .and the various buyers concerning the privileges of ownership and use of these "streets" at the rear.

 

The comprehensiveness of King's undertaking involved more than an interest in the sale-ability of his properties. The very scale of the project and the resources available to him, the financing and retaining the services of three well-known architectural firms permitted King to concern himself, to a great degree, with the everyday needs of residents within the area as a whole. The air of exclusiveness that resulted is still highly valued today.

 

Rows in the District South Side of 139th Street

 

The houses designed by Janes Brown Lord, on the south side of West 138th Street, are without pretension and are relatively modest in design and detail. They derive from the Georgian tradition and are constructed of red brick with brownstone trim, in exceedingly good taste.

 

This row is composed of twenty-five houses, and is broken into three major groups, separated by two handsome wrought-iron gateways. Being the shortest block-front of the four, it stops east of Eighth Avenue at 250 West 136th Street. Lord also designed, at the east end, the four adjoining row houses facing Seventh Avenue. Lord's three-story houses, with basement, are the widest houses in the Historic District. The entrances to adjoining houses are adjacent to each other. Of interest, is the use of a common stoop, serving both entrances, with beautiful wrought-iron railings The illusion of a single, wider more elegant house facade is thus created, in lieu of the compartmented effect of narrow houses side by side.

 

There is a restrained use of detail within the row. This raw house concept evinces an over-all concern with the unity of the facade, which is treated as a. single mass, and the uniformity of the detail serves to create a pleasing rhythm, carrying the eye along the street and maintaining visual interest. The Jajr.es Brown Lord row is reminiscent of the Eighteenth Century English development of the palace facade and in its comprehensiveness reminds us of John Weeds' work in the City of Bath, England.

 

North Side of 138th Street & South Side of 139th Street

 

The block located between West 138th Street and West 139th Street and Seventh and Eighth Avenues was the work of architects Bruce Price and Clarence S. Luce. This block was designed in the Georgian style of the Eclectic period. Here, there is a greater reliance on detail than in the Lord houses, and the profusion of decorative elements, and their numerous variations, are most attractive. The use of buff colored brick with Indiana limestone detail acts as a contrast both to the Lord houses to the south, and to the McKim, Mead and White houses to the north.

 

This complete block of houses, executed in a uniform style of architecture, consists of thirty-five houses along each street. On Eighth Avenue, two apartment houses close the end with entrances on the cross streets.

 

On Seventh Avenue, there are two groups of five story houses on cither side of the inner accessway. The houses on these two block fronts are narrower than those at the south side of 138th Street, averaging about seventeen feet in width, except for the end houses, Which, ore twenty feet wide.

 

Although the stoops arc adjacent to each other, serving the adjoining houses, one senses here that they arc distinct, as they run up straight from the street, separated by handrails. The basic street elevation consists of a flush masonry basement, whose entrance is under the front stoop of each house, and three stories of handsome buff colored brick, undefined by any horizontal string course. Instead, the uniformity of the brick work provides a uniform ground to set off decorative motifs. The window sizes vary, and there are several different window treatments.

 

The first story windows and the narrow ones at the second story have terra cotta splayed lintels with elongated keystones. The wider second story window has a cornice-like lintel above with a semi-circular panel above that. The two third story windows are narrow and have simple lintels with keystones.

 

The second story of the houses on either side of the handsome iron gateways display an interesting pseudo-Palladian window treatment in terra cotta. Here, a triply divided window is separated by handsome Ionic columns supporting, above its garlanded horizontal lintel, an arch-form above the columns. This arch has alternate voussoirs elongated with a blind tympanum with wreath design within. The triple square-headed windows on the floor above these complement the arched window, at the second story.

 

An element of movement is added to the row by projecting forward some of the facades of the houses, which are adjacent to each other. This difference in alignment also adds interest and apparent depth to the row. The doorway is slightly recessed and its round arched head has an elongated, console-like keystone the arch springs from Greek-fret motif impost blocks similar to those used for some of the third story windows.

 

Delicate wrought-iron balconies extend from the base of the full-length first story windows, and similar wrought-iron work is to be found at the top platforms of the stoops and used as handrails for the steps.

 

A delicate garland pattern is employed in the fascia of the cornice, signalizing the windows below it. A horizontal moulding at the base of the fascia displays a tiny, continuous swag motif. These decorative elements unify the individual, attached buildings as does the overhanging cornice surmounted by a handsome stone balustrade topping the whole.

 

Distinctive stone quoins delineate the corners of the houses whore breaks in the wall occur.

 

The diversity of window treatment and the decorative motifs of the cornice ere at-; an interesting variation against the over-all pattern of the windows and doors.

 

North Side of 139th Street

 

Finally, there are the houses designed by McKim, Mead and White, situated on the north side of West 139th Street. They represent basically the Italian Renaissance style, which this firm was among the first to absorb, modify, and then transform into that distinctive product of American architecture which we so readily associate with them.

 

Thirty-two houses, approximately nineteen feet wide, contrast wall with the other houses by their generally darker tone. They are built of handsome dark brown mottled brick. The over-all design of this exceptionally handsome row of houses reminds one of a Sixteenth Century Italian palace. The center house of the block, 233 West 139th Street, acts as a central feature of the raw. Its elegant first floor English Basement, entered at ground floor, is deeply rusticated and is similar to that of all the houses in this row, except that in place of the simple rectangular doorway of the other houses, there is an attractive arcade effect, seen through two rectangular openings on cither side of a round arched doorway. A deeply recessed porch lies behind this arcade, with the doorway set to one side. On Eighth Avenue there is an apartment house, and there are five row houses on Seventh Avenue. The ground floors of the buildings on the avenues have been extensively altered to serve as store fronts.

 

Most of the residences on the north side of 13 9th Street have a single platform step, with simple railings leading to the entrance doors.

 

The window arrangement of these houses is very unusual. The first story, in each case, is handsomely rusticated, with simple elongated keystones over each of the two windows and the door, which is set off unsymmetrically to one side. The rest of the facade is of brick, separated by a delicate string course at the third floor sill level. The second story displays two,, narrow side windows on either side of a largo central window, from which an iron railed balcony extends, supported by stone brackets . Above this central window is a medallion with a floral rosette. The medallion acts as a focal print for this window grouping and punctuates the row of houses at regular intervals. The medallion was widely used in Italian Renaissance architecture; an early example was to be found on Brunelleschi's Foundling Hospital, in Florence, 1445 A.D.). The upper portion ofvthe front elevation contains the third and fourth stories exhibiting an unusual wide-eyed appearance with the two windows at each floor set well apart.

 

The fourth story windows have simple lintels with keystones. The frames of the other windows above the basement are surmounted by small-scale, distinct cornices.

 

The four houses on either side of the gateways (Nos. 217, 219, 247 and 249 West 139th Street' vary the second story window treatment. Here a round-arched pediment is used, instead of the usual medallion, producing a handsome note of emphasis en these terminal houses. An attractive cornice with modillions crowns the row of houses and unifies the whole composition. The variation in window treatment lends interest and to some extent signalizes the individual units, while brick quoins on the end buildings emphasize the corners and the breaks in the main wall.

 

- From the 1967 NYCLPC Historic Distric Designation Report

The Community Boat Project students, led by Captains Wayne Chimenti and MB Armstrong and veteran teacher Marci Van Cleve, launched the fourth boat built in the program, the 32-foot sailing vessel EPIC.

 

The Community Boat Project is a unique partnership between the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (the lead organization), Port Townsend School District (#50), Chimacum School District (#49), 4-H/Washington State University (WSU), and the Puget Sound Voyaging Society.

 

You can see what the Shop is doing at their website, here: communityboats.wordpress.com/

 

It is an "all ages, all volunteers" community-oriented non-profit organization specializing in free, accredited programs for high school students.

 

Intergenerational maritime education is the mission of the Community Boat Shop.

The Shop strives to give youth a "sense of place" by connecting them to the environment, the economy, and the people of the Olympic Peninsula.

 

In short, Community Boat Project volunteers --build-- large voyaging boats with high school students - one large boat per year - while the non-profit Puget Sound Voyaging Society, which runs at the same time, and then through the summer, teaches high school students how to -- use-- those same boats.

 

The program's philosophy is centered on five principles.

 

Social Justice: Quality educational opportunities should be available to all. Therefore all Community Boatshop programs are free to public school youth or sliding scale that matches the needs of any group. Community Boatshop programs are open to all.

 

Community Supported Education: Education should be community driven. The Local Community drives what is important to learn. Community Boatshop programs are funded by donations of materials and money from the community, and are run on 100% volunteer expertise and energy.

 

Experiential Learning: Learning is best done through hands-on, real meaningful experiences.

 

Environmental Sustainability and Sensitivity: The environmental implications of all of Community Boatshop actions are considered, and the the best choice made for minimum impact.

 

Empowerment: There is a leader in every person.

 

The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is located in Port Hadlock WA and is a private, accredited non-profit vocational school.

 

The School's mission is to teach and preserve the fine art of wooden boatbuilding and traditional maritime crafts.

 

You may find us on the web at www.nwboatschool.org .

 

You can reach us via e-mail at info@nwboatschool.org or by calling us at 360-385-4948.

 

Strive To Do The Impossible, You May Succeed.

 

This image may be used as free stock photography with proper attribution to the photographer; please see license.

  

A five year old girl rock climbing a near vertical slope.

with every choice I make each day, I am moving toward that person I most want to be.

All images are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed, written permission of the photographer

......what life would be like if you received everything you wanted?

07/07/08

 

I do believe. I would like to see what it was like.

For a day.

 

But one of my fav things about myself, is that I don't have everything I want.

I like having something to yearn for, or desire.

work on, strive for.

 

I fear I would be a different person if I lacked the will to keep trying.

 

(but hell yeah, for one day I would like to play basketball in the court in my basement and drink champagne with breakfast.)

 

eh. ;-)

maybe someday, right?!

Searching by Rod Winning 16 x 20 acrylic on stretched canvas

Yakima, WA

Strivers Row - the elegant, uniform homes were built by some of the city's most renowned architects.

At the Country House, Sonoma County. July, 2017.

 

Cross-view stereophoto.

Be the best you can be!

 

Embodying the vibrant QZ Man lifestyle, this dynamic look is designed to accentuate the masculine lines of your body.

 

For ease of movement, good fit and comfort select your T-shirt from a cornucopia of colour.

I play ultimate frisbee with a group of friends. This picture was uploaded for a post on striving and rest for the prayer blog.

King Model Houses

Renaissance Revival Row Houses (1891–93)

Architect: Bruce Price and Clarence S. Luce

253–59 W. 138th St.

Strivers Row

Harlem, New York

 

In 1890, builder and real estate developer David H. King Jr. (1849–1916) purchased land along 138th and 139th streets in Harlem on which he would construct his King Model Houses. King had recently constructed the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and would soon build the Washington Memorial Arch in Washington Square Park. Describing his housing project for the middle class, King declared, “the homes of New Yorkers [should] be sunny, tasteful, convenient, and commodious even if their occupants are not millionaires.”

 

To vary the look of each block, King hired three different architectural firms to construct 146 row houses and three apartment buildings. Unusual for New York, King included service alleys behind the rows of houses as well as cross alleys to break the monotony of the house fronts.

 

The architects retained by King were prominent in their day. James Brown Lord (1858–1902), who designed the houses on the south side of 138th St., also designed the old Delmonico’s Restaurant (1891) at Beaver and Williams streets in the Financial District and the Appellate Court on Madison Square (1902). Bruce Price (1845–1903) and Clarence S. Luce (1852–1924) designed the houses on the north side of 138th St and the south side of 139th St. Price would later design the Chateau Frontenac Hotel (1893) in Quebec City. The most famous architect associated with the project was Stanford White (1853–1906), who designed the houses on the north side of 139th St. White designed the Villard Houses (1884) on Madison Ave., the Cable Building at Broadway and Houston St. (1892), and the Washington Memorial Arch (1895).

 

Construction commenced in 1891, and the houses were completed in time for the Depression of 1893. The unexpected economic downturn led to only nine houses being sold by 1895. The mortgagee, the Equitable Life Assurance Co., took over the properties, selling thirty-one additional houses by 1905. The unsold houses were rented out.

 

From the 1890s to the 1910s, white middle-class professional and business people occupied the King Model Houses. Typically, five to ten people lived in each house with one or two servants. Acknowledging the changing demographics of the neighborhood, Equitable sold its remaining properties to black middle- class buyers in 1919 and 1920.

 

In the 1920s, most houses were occupied by a single family. Some eventually took in lodgers to defray costs, especially in the 1930s. By the 1930s, the two blocks had been dubbed “Strivers’ Row”. Originally meant as a insult, the name was embraced by residents in recognition of the fact that those who lived here were striving to better themselves. Today, the houses on these blocks are among the most desirable in Harlem.

 

No. 257 was home to Harry Pace (1884–1943) from 1921 until 1925. He founded Pace-Handy music publishers and Black Swan Records (1921–22). Their offices were at 289 Seventh Ave. nearby. Pace later owned the largest black-owned business in the north: Northeastern Life Insurance of Newark, N.J.

 

© Matthew X. Kiernan

NYBAI13-5149

Striving for the kind of perfection only found in plastic will rob you of your peace.

Photography credit: N. Phelps - Bleeding Iris Photography

Striver's Row, St. Nicholas Historic District, Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

 

The St. Nicholas Historic District, consisting of four rows of houses built by David H. King, Jr., appears much the same as it did when it was built, more than 70 years ago, in 1891. Both then and now, it has been a source of pride not only to its own residents, but to all the people living in its vicinity.

 

These houses are a fine example of Nineteenth Century urban design, influenced by English antecedents. The sense of forethought and consideration in land development seen here is much sought after today, and often today's results arc not as successful. A high degree of architectural continuity is maintained, while taking into consideration even such problems as house service.

 

This problem is successfully resolved by the use of a main cross alley extending through the block, from avenue to avenue, with two shorter transverse alleys between the streets.

 

The District, designed by three of the most prominent architectural firms of the day, was one of the most prestigious sections of Harlem and is still considered as such. The fact that these houses have been well maintained through the years is most unusual in New York City. Obviously its reputation as a fashionable area has contributed to the residents' desire to preserve their homes and to their tremendous sense or pride in them.

 

Harlem Background

 

In 1658 Peter Stuyvesant named this area we now know as Harlem, Nieuw Haarlem. Up to the middle of the Nineteenth Century this part of Manhattan remained very much the same as it had been in the Seventeenth Century. Farms, and some large estates, comprise most of the land holdings. Many of the most prominent colonial families: the Delanceys, Beekmans, Bleeckers, Rikers, Coldens and Hamiltons had estates in Harlem.

 

The St. Nicholas Historic District lies within the estate of Cadwallader D. Colden, an early Mayor of New York, whose grandfather was a colonial governor.

 

In Lloyd Morris' book "Incredible New York" there is an illustration of Commodore Vanderbilt racing horses on Harlem Lane (now Eighth Avenue) near 137th Street. The Harlem Lane of that day extended up to 168th Street. Morris also notes that when General Grant visited the City at the end of the Civil War, one of his first requests was to be taken out to Harlem Lane.

 

In 1831, the Harlem Railroad was chartered, and by 1837 it was extended to Harlem changing it from a rural to a suburban community—one of New York's first suburbs. By 1981, the elevated rapid transit lines extended up to 129th Street, and by 1884 to 145th Street. Thus, Harlem had become a vary desirable and fashionable neighborhood by the 'eighties'.

 

During the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century, with a rise of Harlem as a "convenient" residential suburb, there was great land speculation and a construction fever such as had rarely been seen in New York. It was in this climate of speculative activity that the D. H. King houses were built.

 

Early History

 

The property was purchased by D.H. King and in 1891 commissioned the architectural firms of Bruce Price, James Brown Lord, Clarence S. Luce and McKim, Mead & White to design four rows of houses. King was a member of the Knickerbocker Trust and was a well-known builder (Times Building, 1889; Madison Square Garden, 1890; Equitable Building, 1872; base of the Statue of Liberty, 1886).

 

A period of Victorian gentility had led to the creation of the houses which comprise the District. They represented what was possibly the apex of that disastrous spurt of over-investing which occurred at the end of the Nineteenth Century. It is reported that in a society whose working class families paid an average of $10-18 monthly for rent, rents for these dwellings started at just below $60 and ranged somewhere between $900 and $1700 a year.

 

King wished to erect high-quality housing for well-to-do buyers, who wished to make a sound, profitable investment. Almost prophetic of the principles of today's Landmarks Preservation Commission, he wanted to be able to assure a purchaser that no nuisances could spring up near these buildings and that one need have no fear of a stable, factory, tenement or over-shadowing hotel rising beside his home.

 

"The interests of each property owner are carefully protected by stipulations against the building of additions or altering any house...." (see agreement of December, 1890, Liber 463, par. 2338 in Hall of Records, between King and Board of Health).

 

Recent History

 

The building fever that had overtaken Harlem investors came to an abrupt end with the panic of 1904. A wave of selling followed, and owners sold buildings at losses ranging from one-third to two-thirds of their original cost. Many of these buildings had never been inhabited.

 

Negro realtors, such as Philip A. Payton and John M. Royall, persuaded many property owners to sell or rant their houses to Negroes who wished to move to Harlem. The northward movement of Negro families from the South and immigration from the West Indies were the catalysts which caused the move to uptown Manhattan.

 

The houses and apartments were by far the best available to Negro families at that time. It is stated in Gilbert Osofsky's "Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto" that Harlem's "name was a symbol of elegance and distinction.... its streets and avenues were broad, well-paved, clean and tree-lined.... its homes were spacious, with the best of modem facilities...."

 

Finally, by 1919; the D. H. King houses were made available to Negroes and were already being acquired by well established professionals, a few of whom are still living there today. Many of Harlem's most prominent doctors have lived there. L. T. Wright, Surgical Director of Harlem Hospital from 1938-52, lived at 218 West 139th Street.

 

He was an eminent brain surgeon, and was the only Negro member of the American College of Surgeons at one time. P. M. Hurray, of 200 West 138th Street, was the Dean and Professor of Surgery at Howard University (1917-1913) and was one of the first Negroes to be appointed to the staff of a private hospital.

 

Paul Collins, also of 200 West 138th Street, was a staff member in the Eye Clinic of Harlem Hospital.

 

In February, 1920, a front page article in the "New York Age" described the move to 260 West 139th Street of William Pickens, a former Dean and Vice-President of Morgan College, Baltimore, Maryland, and an Associate Field Secretary of the NAACP.

 

Several famous entertainers have also lived in the St. Nicholas Historic District. W. C. Handy, internationally known and considered the father of popular jazz, lived at 232 West 139th Street. Hubie Blake, the musician, lived at 236 West 13 8th Street. Floumay Miller, of 200 West 139th Street, and Noble Sissle, of 264 West 139th Street, were members of the "Shuffle Along Company", extremely successful, which played to a wide range of audiences.

 

In 1933, Abram Hill, one of the collaborators on the play, "Anna Lucasta", and a founder of the American Negro Theatre, wrote a play about the Historic District, called "On Striver's Row". Popular use of the name "Striver's Row" developed in the 1920's and 30's and indicated the great desirability of living in this two-block area.

 

Comments on the District

 

Montgomery Schuyler, in the "Architectural Record" of April-June 1899, praised the King project for "the employment of three architects of the first rank to compete with each other, net on paper, but in actual brick and mortar.... in the most extensive building operation that has been carried out on the West Side."

 

His only criticism was that "they have supplied but a small fraction of the demand that exists for such dwellings."

 

style, by respecting each others conventions, by keeping to a uniform cornice line, the architects achieved an unusual unity rarely seen in this City. For this reason the...rows which make up this Historic District arc probably the finest of their kind in any of the five boroughs."

 

And the Rev. John J. Hicks, pastor of St. Mark's Methodist Church and chairman of the West 139th Street Block Association, testified, "This area should be preserved in our City because it will aid us in keeping capable citizens and adequate indigenous leadership within the community. The present weakness in the inner city is that we have flights to the hinterlands that siphon off respectable and capable citizens and leave the community bereft of neighborhood leadership and respect."

 

ARCHITECTURE IMPORTANCE

 

The D. H. King Houses, though the rows vary in design and detail, were planned in order to create a unified, distinct "neighborhood within a neighborhood." The use of uniform block fronts of equal heights provides a strong cohesive element, while individuality of approach prevents the area from succumbing to monotony. The basic simplicity and elegance of the houses supports this dominating sense of quiet refinement.

 

The unobstructed view of the buildings of New York's City College, high on the heights overlooking St. Nicholas Park, contributes to a feeling of openness surrounding the St. Nicholas Historic District. Builder D. H. King wanted the residents of his houses to benefit from their location on land which was "high, healthful and accessible, swept by the westerly breezes from the Hudson."

 

The planning of ornamental, wrought-iron gateways for access is likened by Montgomery Schuyler to the cutting of the Gordian Knot of house service. The gateways (two per street, and one each at the avenue ends of the block) were at once decorative .and functional. Ostensibly designed to act as entrances to serve the houses at the rear, they also led to attractive hidden accessways for private use by the residents. Circular flower beds and fountains were planned for the intersections of these interior "cross-streets". Agreements were made between King .and the various buyers concerning the privileges of ownership and use of these "streets" at the rear.

 

The comprehensiveness of King's undertaking involved more than an interest in the sale-ability of his properties. The very scale of the project and the resources available to him, the financing and retaining the services of three well-known architectural firms permitted King to concern himself, to a great degree, with the everyday needs of residents within the area as a whole. The air of exclusiveness that resulted is still highly valued today.

 

Rows in the District South Side of 139th Street

 

The houses designed by Janes Brown Lord, on the south side of West 138th Street, are without pretension and are relatively modest in design and detail. They derive from the Georgian tradition and are constructed of red brick with brownstone trim, in exceedingly good taste.

 

This row is composed of twenty-five houses, and is broken into three major groups, separated by two handsome wrought-iron gateways. Being the shortest block-front of the four, it stops east of Eighth Avenue at 250 West 136th Street. Lord also designed, at the east end, the four adjoining row houses facing Seventh Avenue. Lord's three-story houses, with basement, are the widest houses in the Historic District. The entrances to adjoining houses are adjacent to each other. Of interest, is the use of a common stoop, serving both entrances, with beautiful wrought-iron railings The illusion of a single, wider more elegant house facade is thus created, in lieu of the compartmented effect of narrow houses side by side.

 

There is a restrained use of detail within the row. This raw house concept evinces an over-all concern with the unity of the facade, which is treated as a. single mass, and the uniformity of the detail serves to create a pleasing rhythm, carrying the eye along the street and maintaining visual interest. The Jajr.es Brown Lord row is reminiscent of the Eighteenth Century English development of the palace facade and in its comprehensiveness reminds us of John Weeds' work in the City of Bath, England.

 

North Side of 138th Street & South Side of 139th Street

 

The block located between West 138th Street and West 139th Street and Seventh and Eighth Avenues was the work of architects Bruce Price and Clarence S. Luce. This block was designed in the Georgian style of the Eclectic period. Here, there is a greater reliance on detail than in the Lord houses, and the profusion of decorative elements, and their numerous variations, are most attractive. The use of buff colored brick with Indiana limestone detail acts as a contrast both to the Lord houses to the south, and to the McKim, Mead and White houses to the north.

 

This complete block of houses, executed in a uniform style of architecture, consists of thirty-five houses along each street. On Eighth Avenue, two apartment houses close the end with entrances on the cross streets.

 

On Seventh Avenue, there are two groups of five story houses on cither side of the inner accessway. The houses on these two block fronts are narrower than those at the south side of 138th Street, averaging about seventeen feet in width, except for the end houses, Which, ore twenty feet wide.

 

Although the stoops arc adjacent to each other, serving the adjoining houses, one senses here that they arc distinct, as they run up straight from the street, separated by handrails. The basic street elevation consists of a flush masonry basement, whose entrance is under the front stoop of each house, and three stories of handsome buff colored brick, undefined by any horizontal string course. Instead, the uniformity of the brick work provides a uniform ground to set off decorative motifs. The window sizes vary, and there are several different window treatments.

 

The first story windows and the narrow ones at the second story have terra cotta splayed lintels with elongated keystones. The wider second story window has a cornice-like lintel above with a semi-circular panel above that. The two third story windows are narrow and have simple lintels with keystones.

 

The second story of the houses on either side of the handsome iron gateways display an interesting pseudo-Palladian window treatment in terra cotta. Here, a triply divided window is separated by handsome Ionic columns supporting, above its garlanded horizontal lintel, an arch-form above the columns. This arch has alternate voussoirs elongated with a blind tympanum with wreath design within. The triple square-headed windows on the floor above these complement the arched window, at the second story.

 

An element of movement is added to the row by projecting forward some of the facades of the houses, which are adjacent to each other. This difference in alignment also adds interest and apparent depth to the row. The doorway is slightly recessed and its round arched head has an elongated, console-like keystone the arch springs from Greek-fret motif impost blocks similar to those used for some of the third story windows.

 

Delicate wrought-iron balconies extend from the base of the full-length first story windows, and similar wrought-iron work is to be found at the top platforms of the stoops and used as handrails for the steps.

 

A delicate garland pattern is employed in the fascia of the cornice, signalizing the windows below it. A horizontal moulding at the base of the fascia displays a tiny, continuous swag motif. These decorative elements unify the individual, attached buildings as does the overhanging cornice surmounted by a handsome stone balustrade topping the whole.

 

Distinctive stone quoins delineate the corners of the houses whore breaks in the wall occur.

 

The diversity of window treatment and the decorative motifs of the cornice ere at-; an interesting variation against the over-all pattern of the windows and doors.

 

North Side of 139th Street

 

Finally, there are the houses designed by McKim, Mead and White, situated on the north side of West 139th Street. They represent basically the Italian Renaissance style, which this firm was among the first to absorb, modify, and then transform into that distinctive product of American architecture which we so readily associate with them.

 

Thirty-two houses, approximately nineteen feet wide, contrast wall with the other houses by their generally darker tone. They are built of handsome dark brown mottled brick. The over-all design of this exceptionally handsome row of houses reminds one of a Sixteenth Century Italian palace. The center house of the block, 233 West 139th Street, acts as a central feature of the raw. Its elegant first floor English Basement, entered at ground floor, is deeply rusticated and is similar to that of all the houses in this row, except that in place of the simple rectangular doorway of the other houses, there is an attractive arcade effect, seen through two rectangular openings on cither side of a round arched doorway. A deeply recessed porch lies behind this arcade, with the doorway set to one side. On Eighth Avenue there is an apartment house, and there are five row houses on Seventh Avenue. The ground floors of the buildings on the avenues have been extensively altered to serve as store fronts.

 

Most of the residences on the north side of 13 9th Street have a single platform step, with simple railings leading to the entrance doors.

 

The window arrangement of these houses is very unusual. The first story, in each case, is handsomely rusticated, with simple elongated keystones over each of the two windows and the door, which is set off unsymmetrically to one side. The rest of the facade is of brick, separated by a delicate string course at the third floor sill level. The second story displays two,, narrow side windows on either side of a largo central window, from which an iron railed balcony extends, supported by stone brackets (consoles). Above this central window is a medallion with a floral rosette. The medallion acts as a focal print for this window grouping and punctuates the row of houses at regular intervals. The medallion was widely used in Italian Renaissance architecture; an early example was to be found on Brunelleschi's Foundling Hospital, in Florence, 1445 A.D.). The upper portion ofvthe front elevation contains the third and fourth stories exhibiting an unusual wide-eyed appearance with the two windows at each floor set well apart.

 

The fourth story windows have simple lintels with keystones. The frames of the other windows above the basement are surmounted by small-scale, distinct cornices.

 

The four houses on either side of the gateways (Nos. 217, 219, 247 and 249 West 139th Street' vary the second story window treatment. Here a round-arched pediment is used, instead of the usual medallion, producing a handsome note of emphasis en these terminal houses. An attractive cornice with modillions crowns the row of houses and unifies the whole composition. The variation in window treatment lends interest and to some extent signalizes the individual units, while brick quoins on the end buildings emphasize the corners and the breaks in the main wall.

 

- From the 1967 NYCLPC Historic Distric Designation Report

Arara-de-barriga-amarela ou Arara-canindé (Ara ararauna), fotografada no "Rio Quente Resorts", em Rio Quente, Goiás, Brasil.

 

A seguir, um texto, em português, da Wikipédia, a Enciclopédia Livre:

 

A arara-de-barriga-amarela ou arara-canindé (Ara ararauna) é uma arara que ocorre da América Central ao Brasil, à Bolívia e Paraguai. Tal espécie chega a medir até 90 cm de comprimento, com partes superiores azuis e inferiores amarelas, alto da cabeça verde, fileiras de penas faciais e garganta negras. Também é conhecida pelos nomes de arara-amarela, arara-azul-e-amarela, araraí, araraúna, arara canindé e arari. As araras canindé na natureza se alimentam frutos e castanhas. Essas aves estão sempre em grupo e são aves barulhentas mas pousam silenciosamente. A arara canindé enfrenta vários problemas em relação a extinção, estão sendo ameaçadas principalmente pelo contrabando e pelo comércio ilegal de aves, também é um animal muito procurado como bicho-de-estimação pois é muito dócil, quieto (dependendo das condições do cativeiro) e possuem certa capacidade de fala, além de ser um animal muito belo. Uma vez que formam casal, não mais se separam e botam em cerca de 3 ovos e chocam entre 27 e 29 dias. Ordem: Psittaciformes

Família: Psittacidae

Nome popular: Arara-canindé

Nome em inglês: Blue-and-yellow-macaw

Nome científico: Ara ararauna

Distribuição geográfica: Do Brasil a América Central.

Habitat: Várzeas com buritizais, babuçais e beira de mata.

Hábitos alimentares: Frutas, principalmente o bacurí e sementes.

Reprodução: Período de incubação de aproximadamente 28 dias, botando de 1 a 3 ovos.

Período de vida: Em cativeiro aproximadamente 60 anos.

 

O Brasil é o país com o maior número de representantes da família Psittacidae, sendo denominado desde a época do descobrimento como “Terra dos Papagaios”. Esta família é composta por papagaios, araras, periquitos, jandaias e maracanãs.

As araras são os maiores representantes desta família. Possuem um bico forte, alto e curvo adaptado para cortar sementes duras. Suas línguas grossas, sensíveis e repletas de papilas gustativas funcionam como um órgão táctil. Costumam ingerir pedrinhas para auxiliar na trituração das sementes de Buriti, Tucum, Bocaiúva, Carandá e Acurí, palmeiras que fazem parte de suas dietas. Estas aves não contribuem para a dispersão destas plantas, sendo consideradas “predadoras”, pois trituram os caroços dos cocos, destruindo as sementes.

Um dos representantes mais conhecidos é a arara Canindé. Possui o bico preto e uma plumagem caracterizada principalmente pelo azul de suas asas e pelo amarelo de seu ventre podendo chegar a medir até 80 cm de comprimento. Pode ser encontrada desde a América Central até o sudeste do Brasil, Bolívia e Paraguai. Habitam beiras de mata e várzeas de palmeiras.

Normalmente é observada voando aos pares ou até mesmo num grupo com três indivíduos, podendo este último ser um filhote. Dormem em bandos com até 30 indivíduos e fazem grandes deslocamentos diários desde a área de alimentação até a área de descanso.

Quando chega a época reprodutiva formam casais que permanecem fiéis por toda vida. Só dá cria a cada dois anos e a postura de ovos compreende os meses de agosto e janeiro, colocando em média 2 ovos com período de incubação de aproximadamente 30 dias. Os filhotes permanecem no ninho até a décima terceira semana, período no qual são alimentados pelos pais que regurgitam o alimento em seus bicos.

Nidificam em buracos de troncos ocos, preferindo os ninhos bem profundos para proteger os ovos e filhotes da ameaça de possíveis predadores, como o tucano e primatas de médio porte. Quando os pais encontram um ninho potencial, eles afofam o fundo do mesmo com a madeira triturada, que raspam das laterais da árvore, facilitando a secagem do fundo que ficará repleto de fezes dos filhotes. Os ovos postos são chocados principalmente pela fêmea que é visitada e alimentada pelo macho.

Os psitacídeos são um dos grupos que mais sofrem com o tráfico de fauna silvestre, pois sua grande diversidade de cores e capacidade de imitar a voz humana desperta o interesse de pessoas no mundo todo, movimentando milhões de dólares por ano. Quando esses animais são caçados para a venda, as árvores que possuem ninhos costumam ser derrubadas. Isso prejudica a reprodução de diversas espécies de aves que utilizam o mesmo ninho em épocas reprodutivas diferentes. Além da caça para a comercialização, sofrem com a contínua destruição do habitat. Como a maioria das aves, principalmente as dessa família,são espécies monogâmicas, permanecendo com um único parceiro até a morte, quando se reproduzem , em geral apenas um filhote por vez, o mesmo permanece com os pais durante muito tempo, por isso, são vistas, na mioria das vezes em duplas ou trios.

 

Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna), photographed at Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, in Belém-PA, Brazil.

 

Following, a text, in english, from thw Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia:

 

Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna)

 

The Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna), also known as the Blue-and-gold Macaw, is a member of the group of large Neotropical parrots known as macaws. It breeds in forest (especially varzea, but also in open sections of Terra Firme) and woodland of tropical South America from Trinidad and Venezuela south to Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Paraguay. It barely extends into Central America, where restricted to Panama. It is an endangered species in Trinidad, and is on the verge of being extirpated from Paraguay, but still remains widespread and fairly common in a large part of mainland South America. There is also a breeding population in Miami-Dade County, USA.[1] It is therefore listed as Least Concern by BirdLife International.

It can reach 76–86 cm (29.9-33.9 inches) long and weigh 900 to 1300 g (2-3 lbs). It is vivid in appearance with blue wings and tail, dark blue chin, golden under parts and a green forehead. Its beak is black, and very strong for crushing nuts. The naked face is white, turning pink in excited birds, and lined with small black feathers.

There is little variation in plumage across the range. Some birds have a more orangey or "butterscotch" underside color, particularly on the breast. This was often seen in Trinidad birds and others of the Caribbean area, and appears to be due to environmental factors. The Blue-and-yellow Macaw uses its powerful beak for breaking nutshells, and also for climbing up and hanging from trees.

Breeding

The Blue-and-yellow Macaw generally mates for life. It nests in a tree hole and the female typically lays two or three eggs. The female incubates the eggs for about 28 days, and the chicks fledge from the nest about 90 days after hatching.

Aviculture:

At Walsrode Bird Park, Germany

Blue-and-yellow Macaws are popular as pets partly because of their striking appearance and ability as a talking bird; however, their large size makes accommodation problematic, and they require much more effort and knowledge from owners than more traditional pets such as dogs or cats. They are intelligent and social, so for someone who can provide for their needs, they make good and loving companion parrots. Blue-and-yellow Macaws bond very closely to their owners. They tend to be more aggressive during mating season, typically 6–8 weeks in the spring time.[citation needed]

Even the most well cared for Blue-and-yellow Macaw will "scream" and make other loud noises. Loud vocalizations, especially "flock calls", and destructive chewing are natural parts of their behavior and should be expected in captivity. Due to their large size, they require plentiful space in which to fly. According to World Parrot Trust, an enclosure for a Blue-and-yellow Macaw should not be smaller than 15 metres (50 feet) long.[3]

They require a varied diet; a seed only diet will lead to health problems such as vitamin deficiency. An example of a good diet would be a quality pelleted mix, in conjunction with a mix featuring seed, nuts, and dried fruits, with fresh vegetables (greens and roots) and fruits fed regularly; furthermore, it is quite common (and appreciated by the parrot) to partake with their human owners of safe foods like pasta, bread, etc.

It is important to avoid foods with high fat content (generally) while striving to provide a wide variety of foods. There are some foods which are toxic to birds and parrots as a group. Cherries and most other Rosaceae pits and seeds, avocados, chocolate, and caffeine are among the foods toxic to parrots. Chocolate and caffeine are not metabolized by birds the same way they are in humans. Rosaceae seeds contain cyanogenic glycosides, and avocados contain persin which are both toxic compounds to birds. Safe foods include oranges, apples, grapes, peanuts, walnuts, and sunflower seeds.