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Strivers' Row was a speculative townhouse development in Harlem that became home to several influential African Americans. Despite being in New York, the development was initially segregated, but famous later residents included musicians Fletcher Henderson and W. C. Handy. Where Handy first heard the blues: www.flickr.com/photos/josepha/5424914959/.
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
West 130th Street, Harlem
The group of buildings known as Astor Row is comprised of 28 houses, effectively grouped in pairs, extending along most of the south side of 130th Street between Fifth ,Avenue and Lenox Avenue. They were bull t as a speculative development in the 1800s at a time when William Astor owned this land. Their architectural details are unusual for their place and time and their coherent style sets them apart from other remaining 19th-century rowhouses In the Harlem area. As a group, they create a pleasant streetfront, recalling a period when Harlem was changing from a country town to an urbanized area.
Practically all the houses that stand in Harlem today were built in the period beginning in the 1870s through the first decade of the 20th century. Exclusive homes such as those on Striver's Row in the St. Nicholas Historic District, helped establish Harlem as a center of fashion and elegance. The area also boasted rows of more modest brownstones, the popular Polo Grounds, and the distinguished Harlem Opera House. Some speculators made tremendous profits by Buying and re-selling land.
Prices increased so dramatically that one old-timer complained In 1839, ''When I see the prices real estate Is now bringing In Harlem, It makes me feel that I was a fool for not making investments years ago when property was so cheap." One canny Investor was John Jacob Astor. Adhering to his own principles of buying land In outlying areas of New York on the certain conviction that the city would eventually grow to meet them, he hea purchased a number of lots In Harlem at an auction in 1844.
Astor's creed was to pay less than premium price because the land was uninhabited or farmland. lie was content to hold onto his lots for long periods, allowing them to remain empty until someone came along who was Interested In Improving them.
The block of West 130th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues was purchased by Astor In 1844 for $10,000. When Astor died in 1848, the block passed with the rest of his estate to his son William Backhouse Astor. William B. Astor's holdings were In turn bequeathed in 1375 to his sons John Jacob Astor III and William Astor.
These two created a partition agreement in 1878, dividing the Inherl.ted real estate between themselves. On this block In Harlem, John Jacob Astor III received the southern half of the block which faces 129th Street (Jots 1-36), while William Astor held title to the northern half, facing 130th Street (lots 37-12). Astor Row was constructed on part of this latter section in the early 1880s, during the tremendous Harlem building boom. In 189), as part of William Astor's will, the houses were divided among his grandchildren, Mary, James and Sarah Van Alen. They maintained ownership until the second and third decade of the 20th century. During their ownership these were single family dwellings, housing middle-and upper-middle-class whites. "people of taste and wealth") from downtown Manhattan.
In 1920, the houses were described by a New York Times reporter "as one of the most attractive and exclusive home centres" in Harlem, presenting "a picture of domestic tranquility and comfort which few other blocks in the city possess." Sarah Van Alen was the first of the Astor Row land holders to sell, divesting herself of nos. 42-62 (lots 59-103) in 1912. The rest of Astor Row was held by Mary and James Van Alen until 1920 and 1921, respectively. An all-white enclave until that time, Astor Row was described in Claude Clay's novel, Home to Harlem (New York, 1928) as "the block beautiful." By the time these lots were sold, Harlem was predominately populated by African-Americans. During the next ten years, Harlem changed from a promising black community to a deplorable slum. A tremendous need for housing due to the influx of blacks from the South and from the West Indies, as well as exorbitant rents for the living spaces that existed led to the subdIvision of houses like those on Astor Row.
Although built for single families, within a short time they were carved up into boarding houses and single-room- ,. occupancy dwellings. Their ownership changed often during these years, as did the tenants and the modifications to the interiors. These buildings on Astor Row provide an excellent study in the development and change of the community of Harlem. Today, most of these buildings remain divided into single room or small apartments. The only exception is no. 62 which is owned by and serves the Pentecostal Faith Church.
The 28 buildings of Astor Row were constructed in three groups.
Nos. 8-22 were built first, in 1880-1881, the architect was Charles Buek.
The second group of houses, nos. 24-30, was built in 1882-1883, while the final section, nos. 40-62, was erected later in 1883. The design of the last twenty houses, created without benefit of an architect, was almost identical to that of the first group. Except for slight changes in the decorative motifs, the main difference between them is that the first group of buildings was constructed in freestanding pairs, each pair separate from its neighbors. The remaining houses were built as continuous row, although a deep recess between each pair of houses carries through the same effect as is found on the first buildings. The houses are ~et back from the street behind small front yards.
Whether or not the Astor Row houses were built under the direction of William Astor remains a question. The usual Astor policy with regard to real estate was to grant a lease on a certain parcel for a long term, usually 21 years. The leasor would then be expected to make Improvements to the land, such as erecting buildings, and would also be responsible for maintaining the buildings. At the onset of a new lease, Astor could then raise the rent because the land contained improvements and was thus more valuable. Whether or not this happened on Astor Row and a leasor was responsible for hiring Charles Buek and erecting these houses has been Impossible to determine. The most that can be stated with certainty Is that the buildings were erected during the time the land was owned by William Astor.
The architect of the first eight houses, Charles Buek, was known primarily for the large, elaborate private homes and apartments he designed for wealthy clients. He started his career in the firm of Duggin & Crossman In 1870. When this firm dissolved, Buek established his own office as Charles Buek & Co., with Charles Duggin as special partner. Much of their work centered around the east side of Manhattan, on Lexington and Madison Avenues, from the 30's to the 70's. Later they produced some buildings In the West 72n Street area. Buek's clients included George Moor, Charles Dana, Charles M. Fry and John A. Stewart.
The style Buek chose to employ on the Astor Row houses was not only quite different from other structures in his oeuvre, but was unusual for most row houses built during this period. By contrast, the houses on the north side of 130th Street, built during the 1870's which are not a Buek design and are not associated with the Astor family, are more typical: high stoops, stone facades and more elaborate Italianate details.
The simple brick facades of Astor Row, with their wide front porches and small, neat yards were much more suggestive of the rural background of Harlem than of the urban area it was becoming. A few houses with broad wooden porches remained scattered throughout the area into the early years of the 20th century, remnants of a much earlier period. The arrangement of the Astor Row houses in pairs, with recesses between them, is also quite unusual.
The neo-Grec details found on these buildings typified by the simple, linear incised designs in the lintels were commonly found on commercial cast-iron buildings. Examples of these types of motifs are found on the Roosevelt Building at 478-482 Broadway, designed in 1874 by Richard Morris Hunt. The original B. P Altman store at 19th Street and Sixth Avenue, designed by David and John Jardine in 1876 contains some elements which are similar to those found on the Astor houses. A small pendant triangle droops down from the horizontal line of the lintel with a light and dainty incised motif centered above it.
The Astor Row buildings are all three stories high and are constructed of brick with light stone trim. Each pair is symmetrical, the center being indicated by a projecting brick•pier topped by a stone triglyph at the '•cornice line. Each individual house is two bays wide, with a double door and a full height window on the~ first floor. Two double-hung windows are located on each floor above this one. Each window is surmounted by a broad, shouldered stone lintel with a delicate incised design centered in it. The mid-point of the lintel is emphasized by a small triangular extension which points down in front of the window molding. A simple, projecting string course wraps around the building at each sill line with footed sill is located just below these courses.
A complete entablature crowns the front of these houses. It is composed of a simple projecting stone architrave surmounted by a brick frieze comprised of recessed quatrefoil motifs. A cornice with brick dentils finishes the roof line.
Originally each house had a large wooden porch running the full width of the building. Many porches are still in place although some have bee-• changed or removed. The porches are covered by shallow roofs supported on thin wooden columns •at each corner. The upper part of each column is squared and is distinguished by bands and decorative bosses as well as by paint of contrasting color. Decorative brackets join these columns to the roof. Just below the roof is a continuous row of thin wooden spindles.
The effect of the spindles and the decorative wood trim is reminiscent of the Eastlake style of decoration, popular in this country in the 1870s and 1880s. A plain railing with straight wooden slats surrounds the porch at the floor level.
- From the 1981 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
The Wong People Studio, The Ancient Chinese Dragon Dance Group performed the Dragon dance at the 2012 Asian Pacific American Heritage Observance “Striving for Excellence in Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion” at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, May 24, 2012. The Dragon dance is an ancient ritual based on Taoist Principles used to drive away evil spirits or bad energy (chi). The costume worn while performing this ritual is specifically designed for the purpose of driving away evil. The music for the Dragon Ritual is also an integral element of this energy directing ritual. A Dragon Ritual is successful when the Dragon, musicians and spectators synchronize their flow of internal energy (chi) to drive away the bad energy. USDA photo by Bob Nichols.
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
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"Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known?"
Charles de Lin
"Spring has its secrets and its mysteries; but who can tell or who can explain them!"
(after Max Muller)
Thank you so much for your visits and kind comments, my dear friends...! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone...!
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* Lightbox: Best seen in larger size on black (click image above)
i was laying on the lawn (which is covered in grape hycanith) with my telephoto and this was the nearest flower i could focus on... random, yet destined to be picked from hundreds ;-)
The “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.
© ITU
Ahh, the Guatamalan Bird-Eating Hydrangea. A true rara avis, except, you know, that means "rare bird" and this is a flower that eats birds. You can see here, in this candid nature shot, how the petals (or "phalanges," in botanical terms) strive to grab at passing sparrows.
It's a wonder of the natural world.
All experience is an arch wherethro' gleams that untravell'd world'
Tennyson apparently - Ulysses:
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vexed the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honoured of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers;
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breath were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this grey spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle —
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me —
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads — you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Text from Victorian Web, commentary at Spark Notes
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.
The gal in the rich cultural costume -this is a common dressing being seen in and around the Nangarparkar, the city of eastern region of Sindh, Pakistan.
These pictures were taken as I played ultimate frisbee with a group of friends. It was uploaded for a post on striving and rest for the prayer blog.
Strivers Row is considered a gem of New York's architecture and consists of three rows of townhouses in the Western part of Harlem, Manhattan, New York. It is located between 138th and West 139th Sts and between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Originally called the "King Model Houses" after developer David King, they were designed for upper middle class whites and constructed between 1891 and 1893. Different architects - most famous amongst them were the ubiquitous McKim, Mead and White - worked on each of the three rows. This is one of the most beautiful areas in Manhattan with a high quality of life at the foothills of City. More about the nickname and the racial problems on these blocks in the Wikipedia article.
With each and every post, we strive here at Creative Tempest to bring you only the best artists from around the world. This post comes to you all the way from NYC, New York, with our artist being none other than Joe Jusko. What makes this artist so special is that it’s a safe assumption to say that the majority of people alive today have seen his artwork! His work includes paintings and illustrations for characters such as Hawk Man, The Green Lantern, Conan the Barbarian, The Punisher, Lara Croft, and Captain America just to name a few. Producing his first cover at the age of 17 for Heavy Metal Magazine in 1977, Joe Jusko is a comic book artist who has worked for all the major comic book companies including Marvel, DC, Crusade, Innovation, Harris, Wildstorm, Top Cow, and Byron Preiss. Graduating that year as well from the New York High School of Art & Design (the only high school in the country that offers a curriculum geared towards commercial art) he received the DC Comics Award of Excellence in Cartooning. In 2007 Joe Jusko was inducted into the prestigious Society of Illustrators and received the Certificate of Merit from them for his more recent work in ‘Tomb Raider’ (based off the popular PlayStation videogame). We’re happy to post such talent and vision here on Creative Tempest and hope you will share the same appreciation for great artwork that we do. Find out more at www.creativetempest.com
some kids from colombia asked me to do a design for their band STRIVE FOR YOURSELF today, so this one came out on a couple of free hours I had.
hoy unos chicos de colombia me pidieron si les hacia un diseño para su banda STRIVE FOR YOURSELF asi que salio esto en un par de horas libres.
Caroline Myss, a long time medical intuitive, who writes intelligently because she was once a hard boiled journalist, talks about healing in mystical terms. This is her six book on the subject so a lot has already been explained in previous books. That may be why it was a bit tough going to understand what she was getting at, but I was so transfixed by her introducing me to the mystical perspective of healing that just reading about it became a confirming experience for me. The book called out to me while I was looking for another book recommended by friends offering help.
She begins by talking about how it is not possible to use your rational mind to figure out how to heal yourself of a serious illness. The rational mind wants to know why this disease happened. Who did this to me? Why am I being punished? But the rational mind cannot penetrate the heart and soul. You have to transcend the whole narrative and simply forgive and liberate the embittered self. Only then can you heal. Reason just strives to protect your fears.
She debunks the popular reasons that the mind might come up with to explain why disease has struck now. This includes that there is a lesson to be learned. She says there is some truth to this, and it is necessary to let go of the pain that was the cost of the lesson learned. As for karma, she says that is a mystical truth far too complex to comprehend. Nor does she give much credence to negativity being the cause of disease although she allows that it certainly doesn't help things. Disease, she says, is more about destiny and not a consequence whether it be negativity and stress or something else we can blame ourselves for. She believes that disease is more about not finding one's personal mission in life.
She talks about coming to terms with our illness in the sense that you must discover and release the shadow power that the illness allows you to wield. Has a lot to do with past abuse, greed, self-entitlement, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. The seven sins basically. I am not subject to six of the seven sins, but then there's sloth, the slacker's hidey hole.
I was more intrigued when she addressed grace, what it is and how to have more of it. The characteristics of grace are Reverence—understanding that all life is interconnected, Connection—seeking to connect and seeing the divine in others, Understanding—recognizing what is necessary and useful, Fortitude—choosing courage over fear to stay in the present moment, Truth—a force of transformation, Knowledge—more than just information, and finally Wisdom.
Given this toolbox of grace the author proceeds to teach mystical reasoning and consciousness which is also about embracing the present. Start by giving up the words blame, deserve, guilt, fair and fault, she says, and you will fall in harmony with the now. She describes how to navigate illusion and not immediately react to the obvious narrative of someone stepping on your foot. It might have been part of a bigger plan to delay your journey in order to avoid an accident on the road. Learning to reason like a mystic includes learning how to incorporate the invisible narrative. And how to trust in that which is not logical, but is speaking to you in synchronicity, irony and divine paradox.
By the time I got through the book, I realized that I am not far off in my journey to mysticism. I already have a natural aptitude for it. So the gift of the book was to have this territory of the soul described for me and confirmed as an existing structure of how the world works. How to defy gravity. I'm not sure I learned that much about healing. It was more that I learned the state of mind that allows for the soul and body to regain equilibrium with the universe.
The Venue Nightclub is an 11-year-old adult dance club featuring a wide array of genres and talent, we are looking to add more to our team! We strive to be a place of great music, good vibes, and long-lasting friendships!
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With each and every post, we strive here at Creative Tempest to bring you only the best artists from around the world. This post comes to you all the way from Los Angeles, CA, with our artist being none other than Tomasz Opasinski. Born in Poland, in 1975, Tomasz has his bachelor’s degree in computer graphics in print and advertising, certified as an Adobe expert, and is currently working as a digital artist and creative consultant for various prestigious advertising agencies in LA. Tomasz has an incredibly impressive work resume that includes work in literally hundreds of movies, video games, TV shows, and television networks. What we love about the work of Tomasz Opasinski is how original and unique all his designs are. Looking at his work makes us ponder the depth and complexity of his mind, clearly there must be countless algorithms and innumerable image configurations taking place that all sum up to one thing: design genius! This is why his work is put on display for the entire world to see. And for this we’re happy to post such creative talent and vision here on Creative Tempest and hope you will share the same appreciation for great artwork that we do. Find out more at www.creativetempest.com
Please join us for an international conference with senior opinion makers, policy makers, and officials to look in-depth at the prospects for regional cooperation among the major powers of East Asia, in advance of the White House summit between the United States and the Republic of Korea. A light lunch will be served. For RSVP questions, please email us at KoreaChair@csis.org
Featuring
Dr. Zbigniew K. Brzezinski
Counselor and Trustee, CSIS;
The 10th U.S. National Security Advisor
In Discussion With
Dr. John Hamre
President & CEO and Pritzker Chair, CSIS;
Director, Brzezinski Institute on Geostrategy
Agenda
9:15 AM Registration and Check-in
9:45-9:55 AM Welcoming Remarks
Dr. Victor Cha, Senior Adviser & Korea Chair, CSIS; Professor and Director, Asian Studies Program, Georgetown University
9:55-10:00 AM Introductory Remarks
Ambassador Ahn Ho-Young, Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the United States
10:00-10:40 AM Spotlight Conversation
Dr. Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, CSIS Counselor and Trustee and the 10th U.S. National Security Advisor
Dr. John J. Hamre, CSIS President and CEO, the Pritzker Chair, and Director, Brzezinski Institute on Geostrategy
Moderated by Dr. Victor Cha, CSIS and Georgetown
10:40-10:45 AM Coffee Break
10:45-12:00 PM The Challenges and Opportunities of Northeast Asian Cooperation
Moderator: Dr. Victor Cha, CSIS and Georgetown
Dr. Kurt Campbell, Chairman and CEO, The Asia Group; Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Dr. Evan Medeiros, Former Special Assistant to the President and SeniorDirector for Asian Affairs, National Security Council
Dr. Jin Canrong, Professor and Associate Dean, School if International Studies, Renmin University of China
Dr. Narushige Michishita, Director of Security and International Studies Program, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan
Dr. Shin, Beomchul, Director General for Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea
Dr. Choi, Kang, Vice President for Research, Asan Institute for Policy Studies; Former National Security Council Staff, The Blue House
12:00-12:20 PM Lunch and Coffee Break
12:20-1:00 PM Northeast Asian Peace and Cooperation Initiative
Dr. Choi, Kang, Asan Institute for Policy Studies
Mr. Scott Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
1:00 PM Adjournment
This event is co-hosted by CSIS and the Korea Foundation.
The "Korea Going Forward" series of events is made possible by the generous support of Grosvenor Capital Management L.P. and Amkor Technology.
Programs
Korea Chair, Korea Going Forward, South Korea as a Global Power, U.S.-ROK Alliance
Topics
Regional Analysis
Regions
Asia, China, Japan, Korea
Striving for excellence, tennis ace Sania Mirza achieved a career-best rank of number 5 in the world!
The “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.
© ITU
The Jay Heritage Center is proud to have been named to the list of 100 Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area sites in 2009 for our dynamic programming centered on themes of Architecture, Landscape, Environmental Sustainability and Freedom and Dignity.
Most recently, a group of 100 visitors- students, teachers and parents from a local school- spent the whole day at JHC for a custom designed 1 day curricula that included classes about American history, the abolition of slavery in New York, colonial music, natural sciences and much more. From learning about John Jay's role as a spymaster for George Washington during the Revolutionary War to participating in a play about the abolition of slavery in New York State, this seventh grade experienced the value of "placed based learning."
There are truly no classrooms to rival the national historic landmarks where America's natural and cultural heritage began.
Explore your American Heritage at
Jay Heritage Center
210 Boston Post Road
Rye, NY 10580
(914) 698-9275
Email: jayheritagecenter@gmail.com
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A National Historic Landmark since 1993
Member of the African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County since 2004
Member of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area since 2009
On NY State's Path Through History (2013)
I doubt a girl hasnt said 'I look fat' to herself. Every girl feels fat every once in awhile. This is an example of a girl that depending on your definition has the perfect body. But it's still not good enough and she wants to be even skinnier. Everyone has insecurities. Even the people you think don't.
We strive to make your pet as comfortable as possible during it's stay with us.
Here you can clearly see our 2 kennel rooms.
One room is strictly dedicated to dogs and the smaller, quieter room houses our feline patients.
Crassevig constantly strives to find solutions that offer outstanding style and versatility while catering to the varied needs of modern life. At Milan 2017, these efforts are exemplified by Pola Round, a new armchair that complements the Pola range.
It is extremely lightweight and durable because it is made of polypropylene, which has the added benefit of being recyclable. Versions with padding on the seat or all over are also available. There is a wide range of bases: solid wood or aluminium for the versions with four legs and the stand bases, an aluminium model with wheels, and a metal sled base.
Seven colours are available: white, light blue, green, red, light grey, anthracite grey and black.