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This picture was taken during the Classical Revolution Manchester performance in The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester on the 8th January 2012..
Every month, Classical Revolution Manchester perform at this venue for free providing chamber music to those who turn up..
At this event, they played Bach's 5th Brandenburg Concerto (soloists: violin - Rosy Williams, flute - Carla Sousa and Harpsichord - Charlotte Turner) and Bach's Double Violin Concerto (soloists: Naomi Koop and Kath Ord)..
Other performers: viiolin - Dewi Tudor-Jones, Clare Jackson, Sarah Hill, Claire Jackson; viola - Jordan Bowron, Emily Pond; Cello - Greg Morton; Double Bass - Heather Bird
My son and daughter playing viola/violin with their dad (to the right on guitar). I am so blessed to have a musical family!
The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was one of the most famous buildings of the classical world, a grandiose royal tomb for the rulers of Caria. It was so famed for it's rich sculptural decoration and majestic pyramid-capped form that it became one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. Halicarnassus, capital of ancient Caria is present day Bodrum, a well known coastal resort in south west Turkey.
The tomb was built for King Mausolos after his death in 343BC by his sister-queen Artemisia who wished to use it to immortalise the Carian dynasty. Artemisia herself died only two years later and was buried alongside her king in the heart of the monument, which became known as the 'Mausoleum' after it's prime occupant, thus becoming the origin of the modern word 'mausoleum' .
The architect Pytheos designed a huge roughly square structure atop a great terraced plinth, surmounted by a colonnade on all four sides (36 columns in all according to Pliny who left the best description of the building) surmounted by a pyramid roof of marble steps crowned by an enormous four horse chariot group in, all in gleaming white marble. There was a rich sculptural program, each of the four sides being entrusted to the supervision of a seperate sculptor, each renowned in his day (Scopas, Leochares, Timotheus & Bryaxis, wilst Pythis created the chariot group at the summit).
The magnificent structure survived the various invasions and traumas of history suffered by the city of Halicarnassus for many centuries but appears to have been partially demolished by earthquakes in the medieval period. A substantial part of the lower half of the building survived until the Knights of St John arrived during the 2nd Crusades, who plundered the materials to build the castle that now dominates the harbour of Bodrum. Many of the materials and sculptures were ground or burned for lime mortar, a tragic end to one of the greatest achievements of antiquity. During the plundering of the building the tomb chamber of Mausolos & Artemisia was discovered and looted. Little was allowed to remain and the site was consigned to oblivion.
It was not until the early 19th century that Sir Charles Newton aimed to rediscover the remains of the lost monument; sections of carved frieze and certain lion sculptures had remained visible incorporated into the medieval castle but the site itself was long forgotten. Newton had to buy plots of land at great personal expense in order to conduct test excavations to find the missing wonder, and eventually located large deposits of broken sculpture and the foundations of an enormous square structure. The lost Mausoleum was found.
The sculptures and best surviving architectural elements were sent back to London and reside in various parts of the British Museum, the best concentrated in the 'Mausoleum Room'. Their scale and quality is impressive and remind us what a grevious loss we have suffered when contemplating these last few fragments.
The sculptures include massive figures identified as Mausolos & Artemisia themselves, though it seems these are only the best preserved of a whole series of statues as many fragments of similarly huge figures have been found. Several sections of frieze and a sequence of lion statues ( originally nearly fifty, the three best preserved on display in London, another is in Istanbul). Conjecture surrounds the exact placing of all these sculptures on the monument, except for the largest of all, an enormous horse, originally one of four from the chariot group at the summit of the monument.
For more see below
The classically modernist simplicity of line and sparse internal decoration of All Saints’, Somerset West, focuses attention on the High Altar.
A cathedral only since 2022, All Saints’ in Somerset West was opened in 1953 but the congregation is more than a century older.
The town of Somerset West, 46 km or 29 miles east of Cape Town, was established during the governorship of Sir Charles Somerset (1814-26), but the first Anglican services were only held several years later, in 1838. The Rev’d J W Sanders was sent, by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to Stellenbosch to minister to children who had been sent out to the Cape by the Children's Friend Society. On Sunday afternoons, Sanders would ride from Stellenbosch, 12 miles away, to various outlying places and hold services, but when he returned to England in 1840 these services came to an end.
A more permanent foothold for Anglicanism in the Hottentots-Holland area was established after the arrival of Bishop Grey in 1848, and then in 1855 a piece of ground between Victoria and Oak Streets was transferred to the See of Cape Town for ecclesiastical purposes. This land was consecrated and used as a burial ground, but it was not until 1860 that the building of a combined chapel and school commenced, 100 metres south of the current location.
In 1861 the Rev’d James Robert Godfrey was ordained Deacon by Bishop Gray and appointed Curate-in-Charge and schoolmaster at Somerset West. The chapel was not named and it is believed that Godfrey requested the name All Saints mainly because his birthday was on 1 November!
By the turn of the century, the old church had fallen into disrepair. Somerset West had also grown considerably, mainly because of the extension of the railway and the establishing of the De Beers Dynamite Factory. A new church was built on the Oak Street side of the Diocesan property and in 1905 Somerset West finally became a parish.
By the 1940s this second church was also in a very dilapidated state, needing constant repairs. It was proposed to build a new church and rectory on vacant land opposite the existing church.
By mid–1951 the church property between Oak and Victoria streets had been sold to the municipality for £12,500 and the Diocesan Trustees had agreed to authorise a loan of £10,000. This money, together with funds raised by donations and subscriptions, provided the sum necessary for the building of the new All Saints complex.
The new church was dedicated by Archbishop Geoffrey Clayton in 1953, but it was only in 1961 (when the bond had been repaid) that Archbishop Joost de Blank consecrated All Saints' Church.
On Pentecost Sunday 2022, All Saints was inaugurated as the Cathedral of the Diocese of False Bay and the first Dean was installed.
I am indebted to the Cathedral website, www.anglicansomersetwest.com, for this information.
Story time! Grab a cup of tea, it might be long.
So, my town has organized outdoors shows for the second time this summer. Shows are held every Thursday evening on a raised platform over a canal, and they invite a variety of artists, including dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet. Obviously, it is a big deal for ballet lovers, and this year I was particularly excited because I couldn't go last year; I had just had surgery when the ballet show was scheduled, and I had to stay in bed. A friend shared videos live while it was happening and it was beautiful, but of course I was quite disappointed and all the more impatient this year.
This time, I arrived very early to secure a spot as close to the stage as possible, and my friend joined me soon after. The first part of the show was danced by pre-professional and professional dancers from a local school, who did really well (the ballerina in red bowing in my previous photo was one of them).
The second part was the dancers from the Paris Opera. We had been increasingly looking at the sky all day and all through the first part of the show, because a big thunderstorm had been announced, but we didn't know when it would start. Sure enough, as the nine dancers climbed the stairs to the stage, we started seeing a few drops. They did a little opening dance together, then the first two dancers remained alone, they started dancing, and... the rain increased. A LOT. They tried a few steps, then they stopped and left the stage while an off-stage voice announced that they would wait 10 minutes and see if the rain stopped. 10, 20, 30 minutes passed. The dancers visibly did not want to give up, and the audience certainly didn't want to lose hope either. You have to imagine, the stage is in the middle of this part of the canal, and the four sides were absolutely packed with people. Eventually, we noticed that the rain was decreasing and it finally stopped. But the stage was literally a lake by that point.
That's when things became surreal. Remember, the rain had been forecast all day, and even the day before. But nothing had been provided to clean the stage if it rained during the show. A few brooms were provided by cafés and others shops nearby, but only a couple of volunteers from the city were there to help. So... the dancers had to mop the stage. I'm telling you, it was absolutely surreal, and also an absolute shame. Ballerinas in tutus and beautiful dresses, their pointes safely hidden in warm boots, male dancers barefoot in contemporary or classical costumes, mopping the stage with borrowed brooms, a few banners and even tee-shirts. The audience was furious that the organizers had not provided anything and were letting prestigious dancers do the work themselves, at their own risks. We were also not sure if we should be hopeful, because when the dancers tried a few steps, they looked quite doubtful.
But, eventually and to immense applause, one of the dancers took the mike and announced that they would not dance all the ballets in the programme, and of course they would adapt their steps so as not to take risks... but they would dance! A few pieces were not danced, and an extract from Swan Lake was danced in soft shoes, not pointe shoes, for obvious reasons. But the very first ballet was The Dying Swan in this picture, and she did keep her pointe shoes on. And it was... purely magical. The Dying Swan is not very technical (although the pointe part is not as easy as it looks), but it requires grace, incredible arm movements, and pure emotion. The audience were so spellbound, we all fell quiet during the whole ballet. I still have shivers thinking about it.
The other pieces were also amazing, and the finale earned a well-deserved ovation. We left almost reluctantly, not wanting the show to be done. It was supposed to be followed by illuminations of a nearby monument, but my friend and I decided to go home... and it was a wise decision, because I had barely opened the door of my apartment when it started pouring outside. It was a huge thunderstorm, with violent winds and three times more rain as in a usual month of July. All in all, it was a memorable evening!
Pretty Ballerina Dancing Ballet Griffth Observatory Los Angeles City Skyline! Nikon D810 70-200mm VR2 F2.8! Fine Art Classical Ballet in Pointe Shoes Slippers Leotard Tutu Photography! High Res LA Model Portraits of Professional Ballerina! Jette Jump!
L to R: 1. Jeanne Baxtresser (USA). 2. Emily Beynon (Wales). 3. Sharon Bezaly (Israel). 4. Bonita Boyd (USA). 5. Sophie Cherrier (France). 6. Linda Chesis (USA). 7. Doriot Anthony Dwyer (USA). 8. Alexandra Hawley (USA). 9. Suellen Hershman. 10. Marya Martin (New Zealand). 11. Judith Mendenhall (USA). 12. Eugenia Moliner (Spain). 13. Tara Helen O'Connor (USA). 14. Michaela Petri (Denmark). 15. Marina Piccinini (USA). 16. Paula Robison (USA). 17. Jayn Rosenfeld (USA). 18. Alexa Still (New Zealand). 19. Mary Stolper (USA). 20. Marion Verbruggen (Netherlands). 21. Carol Wincenc (USA). 22. Arngunnur Yr (Iceland). 23. Eugenia Zukerman (USA).
The Neo-Classical E. Romero Hose & Fire Company building (1909) stands next to the Hedgcock Building (1882). While the Hedgock has lost its bracketed metal cornice, its arched window hoods still reveal its original Italianate Style... It was also once home to the West Las Vegas Town police station and jail. The jail sequence in the movie Easy Rider was filmed in the Hedgock Building in 1968. Photo August 7, 2014, by Kent Kanouse, on Bridge Street in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Caption notes from "Historic Las Vegas, New Mexico: The Story of an Intriguing Town", by the Las Vegas Citizen's Committee for Historic Preservation (LVCCHP).
First pullip. Expect lots of Alice pictures! She quickly became one if my favorite dolls, and one of my favorite dolls to photograph. I got her from PullipStyle.com with a dent box, as I didn't care for the box, only Alice and her accessories, and I was planning to take her out of packaging from the start so I saved a couple of dollars there(even though it took me 5 minutes to find such dent that I hardly think of it as one. Such a non-problem being taken into consideration by the retailer really shows the high quality of service from PullipStyle).
Over-all review of Alice: She's mine hands off! Kidding aside lovely, and looks a lot like the drawings of Alice in Through The Looking-Glass, with a bit of pimped up attributes here and there making her a one of a kind variation. The wig has a good scent to it, so it won't get a foul odor on the clothing and accessories. It has no bald spots and you can't see the seams of the wig unless you push the hair over. It is a nice thin(dimensions matter!), polyester I believe, hair, with quite minute frizzing. Almost none, but making the hair look more natural. Her curls are not stiff, and incredibly soft. The company(Groove) used a very very high quality spray, that can't be noticed practically at all when touching the hair, to help keep the curls in their designated design. The curls are easily fixed with only moist fingers. Great doll, but very delicate. I've never been more careful with a doll than Alice.
Classical door at 54 Meeting Street in Charleston, South Carolina. Doors placed like this typically open into a piazza rather than directly into the house.
Dallmeyer Super-Six 3" F1.9 + Schneider 100mm F2.0 + Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 + Canon 35mm F1.4L + Sony E 16mm F2.8 + Canon 5D + Sony NEX-3
With its classical Chinese palacial architecture and giant, orange roof, the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei is one of the most iconic building in Taiwan and a real treat for photographers.
Dedicated to Sun Yat-sen, popularly referred to as the "father of the country", this museum and memorial is to commemorate the man and his legacy.
Metope from the Elgin marbles depicting a Centaur and a Lapith fighting
The Acropolis, Athens, Greece, about 438-432 BC
From Wikipedia:
"The Parthenon Marbles, known also as the Elgin Marbles are a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures (mostly by Phidias and his pupils), inscriptions and architectural members that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens. Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799–1803, had obtained a controversial permission from the Ottoman authorities to remove pieces from the Acropolis.
From 1801 to 1812 Elgin's agents removed about half of the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon, as well as architectural members and sculpture from the Propylaea and Erechtheum. The Marbles were transported by sea to Britain. In Britain, the acquisition of the collection was supported by some, while other critics compared Elgin's actions to vandalism or looting. There is controversy as to whether the removed pieces were purchased from the ruling government of the time or not.
The Elgin Marbles include some 17 figures from the statuary from the east and west pediments, 15 (of an original 92) of the metope panels depicting battles between the Lapiths and the Centaurs, as well as 247 feet (or 75 m of an original 524 ft or 160 m) of the Parthenon Frieze which decorated the horizontal course set above the interior architrave of the temple. As such, they represent more than half of what now remains of the surviving sculptural decoration of the Parthenon. Elgin's acquisitions also included objects from other buildings on the Athenian Acropolis: a Caryatid from Erechtheum; four slabs from the parapet frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike; and a number of other architectural fragments of the Parthenon, Propylaia, Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Treasury of Atreus.
Following a public debate in Parliament and subsequent exoneration of Elgin's actions, the marbles were purchased by the British government in 1816 and placed on display in the British Museum, where they stand now on view in the purpose-built Duveen Gallery.
The debate continues as to whether the Marbles should remain in the British Museum or be returned to Athens."
It has been suggested that the Parthenon frieze could be one of the most significant and profound documents of mankind.
Bhojpuri Classical Dance performed by a male artist at 9th Annual indo-american festival in Bridgewater, NJ
77-79 Eighth Avenue, West Village, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
In the wake of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 which spawned the Academic Classical movement throughout America, the neo-classical style virtually became a formula solution for bank design. Constructed in 1907 for the New York County National Bank, , this bank building is an exceptionally fine and well-conceived example of its type. The overall design, although small in scale, employs the monumental classical type in a unified and structurally expressive manner, superimposing two classical architectural systems, a trabeated and an arcuated order. Enhancing the well-proportioned composition is especially handsome and thematically appropriate stone carving, which incorporates Beaux-Arts ornamental motifs, classical symbols and naturalistic elements.
The architects were De Lemos & Cordes, responsible for some of New York's largest and most impressive retail stores, as well as residential and commercial buildings, in conjunction with the Ecole des Beaux-Arts trained Rudolph L. Daus , one of Brooklyn's foremost architects who designed several public and institutional buildings in that borough. Hie bank occupies a prominent corner site at the axis of two major thorou^ifares. Paired with its counterpart, the New York Bank for Savings located across 14th Street, the two banks form a striking, classical ensemble reflective of sensitive, civic-minded urbanism, symbolically linking the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and Chelsea.
The Crossroads
Fourteenth Street and Ei^ith Avenue has been a busy crossroads since the area began to grow in the mid-nineteenth century. Serving as the northern boundary of Greenwich Village and the southern boundary of Chelsea, the neighborhood surrounding this intersection attracted a mix of residential and commercial development, particularly when the railroads constructed along the west side in the 1850's made the area more accessible. In 1851, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt opened the Hudson River Railroad, which was followed one year later by the Eighth Avenue Railroad, running between chambers and 51st Streets. The Ninth Avenue Elevated railway, which was the first rapid transit system in New York, began operation in 1871. Later, the Eighth Avenue Independent Subway system was constructed underneath what had become the "Main Street" of the district.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, light industry flourished in this section: lumber and brickyards, warehouses, food processing and meat packing. Brick tenement houses rose in the 14th Street area in response to the need to accommodate the workers employed nearby. While Greenwich Village was already well established, Chelsea became a neighborhood of recently arrived immigrants, including the Irish, Spanish, and Greeks. During and following the Civil War, the fashionable residential and retail center of the city moved northward to Union Square; 14th Street, both east and west, became a significant commercial thoroughfare.
Although 14th Street and Eighth Avenue was not at the heart of the commercial boon which occurred between Union Square and Sixth Avenue, , banks at this location proved a convenient service for local residents and businesses.
The New York County National Bank, , was founded in 1855. The bank occupied the the southwest corner of the Fourteenth Street and Eighth Avenue intersection, the location at which the present building was erected in 1907. In 1896-97, the New York Bank for Savings , had built its new quarters, designed by R. H. Robertson, sited on the northwest corner of 14th Street and Eighth Avenue. The New York County National Bank, erected roughly ten years later, formed a classical ensemble with its counterpart, giving this major axis its special prominence. Viewed from the east on 14th Street, or from the south, where Greenwich Avenue meets Jackson Square, the two structures create a symbolic link between the two adjoining neighborhoods, Greenwich Village and Chelsea.
Banks and Architectural Imagery
As industry, business, and commerce prospered after the Civil War, New York became the nation's financial capital. Apart from a few imposing buildings on Wall Street, however, banks were for the most part located in converted residences, or in office buildings, but prior to the 1880's and 1890's, rarely in quarters designed for them. Property values being so high in the financial district, many commercial banks began to build office buildings, conducting business on the ground floors and renting revenue producing office space above.
Savings banks, many of which catered to small private investors, were, in contrast, generally not located in the Wall Street area; therefore, taking advantage of less expensive real estate, they were able to build monumental bank buildings for their exclusive use, many on corner sites. In the 1890's, many savings banks, "suffering, as it were, from the possession of too much cash," commission new buildings. Among them were the Greenwich Savings Bank at 16th Street and Sixth Avenue, designed by Robert W. Gibson ; the Bank for Savings at 22nd Street and Fourth Avenue, designed by Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz ; the sumptuous Bowery Savings Bank, designed by McKim, Mead & White ; and Robertson's New York Bank for Savings.
By the turn of the century, private and incorporated banks had begun to follow the trend set by savings banks. Owners of office buildings, in an effort to maintain high rents by ensuring light and air for their tenants, often bought adjacent lots in order to limit their development to low-scale buildings, such as banks. As one critic wrote in 1903, "the tendency toward erection of 'skyscrapers' has been checked by the very conditions which these tall buildings have helped to create." Amidst so many tall and anonymous offices, banks could also benefit from the symbolic impact of occupying their own monumental buildings. This elegant, low-scale type not only projected an image of wealth and financial security, but also evoked the trustworthiness and civic responsibility expected from public institutions.
In 1909, the Architectural Record published a lengthy, illustrated survey entitled, "Recent Bank Buildings of the united States," in which the author invoked the ancient Greek and Roman temples—which also served as banks—as ancestors to the modern type; the recent banks, however, had evolved, due to "the marvelous growth of modern consumerism." The illustrations attest to the pervasiveness of the classical bank type, about which the author states, 'The effect of the structure must be one of great importance and simplicity. It must make on the depositors the impression of being a perfectly safe place to leave their money and valuables."
This bank imagery developed, not only as a result of economic conditions, but also in response to the resurgence of the neo-classical style, what has been termed Academic Classicism. American architects, influenced by the principles of the French Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the popularity of the "Great White City"—the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago—turned to the interpretation of Renaissance and neo-Classical prototypes. In part, Academic Classicism and the Beaux-Arts style were popularized as a means to create an architecture characterized by order, clarity, and sobriety, qualities considered appropriate to the democratic ideals of the expanding nation, and particularly appropriate for the design of banks and public institutions.
In making historical associations, American architects drew parallels between their own culture, the American neo-Classical past, and the enlightened Greco-Roman and Renaissance civilizations. The "American Renaissance" not only fostered a boom in public buildings, but also the City Beautiful Movement, emphasizing civic improvement and beautification through the creation of formal, public spaces and classical, axial planning. Art commissions and many professional organizations grew out of these concerns.
The leading practitioner of Academic Classicism was the firm of McKim, Mead & White, instrumental in popularizing the classical bank type. In addition to the Bowery Savings Bank, the firm also designed the Knickerbocker Trust Company, at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, in 1902-04. It was highly praised by Montgomery Schuyler as "a modern classic," a single institution designed "only for its own use." Featuring a colossal columnar order filled in with a screen wall of glass and iron, Knickerbocker Trust became an influential model. William Jordy comments that "Renaissance forms provided the norm for the period....The planar surfaces of these styles, their rhythms, and their reticulated character accorded well with the boxy massing and skeletal framing of commercial and institutional buildings. Schuyler's acclaim for Knickerbocker Trust highlighted its "true method of classical construction," in which the order functions as the structure,, , while the glass wall is a screen.
Construction and Design
The New York County National Bank had already occupied its prominent corner site at 79 Eic£ith Avenue since 1877 when it acquired the adjacent 77 Eighth Avenue from John Jacob Astor in January of 1905. 77 had been a three-story brick printing house, leased to the firm of Styles & Cash. This purchase allowed the bank to increase its frontage on Eighth Avenue from 25.11 to 51.7 feet, while maintaining its 100-foot depth along 14th Street. Construction of the new banking quarters could not begin until 1906, as Styles & Cash held their lease until May of that year. In the meantime, the printing firm had begun to build its large, ten-story headquarters, designed by Charles E. Birge, at 135 West 14th Street.
In February of 1906, Real Estate Record and Guide announced that the firm of De Lemos & Cordes had been commissioned to make plans for "the erection of a new bank, loft and office building...eight stories in height," in which the bank would occupy the first two floors. In April, the same weekly reported that the New Building Application had been filed for a one-story and attic building, by "De Lemos & Cordes, and R.L. Daus, successor." In a period of two months, not only was the scope and conception of the building dramatically altered, but De Lemos & Cordes had also associated themselves with a third architect for this commission, Rudolph L. Daus.
Both the firm of De Lemos & Cordes and Daus had offices at 130 Fulton Street, although it is unclear exactly what Daus's relationship to the firm entailed; this association is not documented elsewhere. Plans and drawings are likewise ambiguously signed, and it is therefore difficult to determine who was responsible, and to what extent, for the design of the bank.
The well-proportioned design of the building, although small in scale, reflects the gravity and importance of the New York County National Bank's financial operations by employing the monumental, classical type. The bank building is well-suited to its neighborhood environment, while embodying the Beaux-Arts clarity of function and structure.
Robertson's New York Bank for Savings, located at the northwest corner of 14th Street and Eighth Avenue, may have inspired the comparable scale of the New York County National Bank. Both banks occupy important corner sites on the broad axis of a busy intersection; both are clad in similar materials; and both are designed in compatible but significantly different classical styles. The relationship of the two banks also reflects the urban idealism current in the City Beautiful Movement. One recent observer states:
In particular, the value of the ensemble is generated by the volumetric correspondence of the two buildings, which is derived by typologically similar uses of the buildings, but it is also an overall ordering device which allows stylistic freedom under the umbrella of classical forms.Indeed, within their type, the two buildings offer quite diverse solutions to .the design of a classical bank. Robertson's New York Bank for Savings features a temple front and a done, recalling Roman, or perhaps, Palladian models. In contrast, the architects of the New York County National Bank selected an overall planar, flat-roofed design in which a trabeated order and arcuated bays are superimposed, a configuration recalling the Neo-Grec style of the 1840's in France. The striking juxtaposition of the two banks represents sensitive, civic-minded urbanism, creating a coherent, visual unity, which is, at the same time, enlivened by stylistic variation.
De Lemos & Cordes
Theodore W. De Lemos and August W. Cordes were both natives of Germany who received their formal and professional education in Europe before arriving in the United States in the 1880's. They formed a long-lasting partnership in 1884. The firm of De Lemos & Cordes was active in designing same of the largest retail and commercial buildings in New York: the immense, classically-inspired Siegel-Cooper Dry Goods Store, ; the exuberant, Beaux-Arts style Adams Dry Goods Store, ; and the over-scaled Renaissance style palazzo, Macy's Department Store, . Other works include the Fulton Building, , on the corner of Fulton and Nassau Streets, a nine-story commercial building in which the firm had its offices. De Lemos & Cordes also designed another bank building, for Speyer & Company, , at 24 Pine Street. Executed in a robust, Renaissance palazzo style with coursed stone and pedimented windows, the design is an adaptation of the style of a private club to the needs of an exclusive banking firm. Speyer & Company was highlighted in Arx^hitectural Record as a successful solution to the low-scale, monumental bank. The critical reception of this work may have prompted the New York County National Bank to commission De Lemos & Cordes for the design of their new quarters.
Rudolph Lawrence Daus
Rudolph L. Daus was born in Mexico, but moved to New York at an early age. He was educated in New York, Berlin, and Paris, where he graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1879. While a student at the prestigious Ecole, Daus received several prizes and medals for excellence, including the Achille LeClerc Prize for being a top-ranking student in his class.
With high recommendations from the Ecole, Daus returned to New York in c. 1880 and entered the office of the prominent Beaux-Arts architect, Richard Morris Hunt. He worked as an assistant on Hunt's residence for William K. Vanderbilt at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street.
In 1884, Daus established an office in Brooklyn and became one of that borough's most notable architects. Although his practice was centered there, he moved his office in 1896 to the Fulton Building. In 1898, he was appointed Secretary to the Commission for New York City's Building Laws and during 1899-1900, he served as Surveyor of Buildings in Brooklyn. In addition to these professional affiliations, he was also a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and at one time served as president of the Brooklyn Chapter. He was also an active member of the Society of Beaux- Arts Architects.
During the 1880's and early 1890's, Daus designed several Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne style residences in Brooklyn, in addition to notable public and institutional buildings: the Thirteenth Regiment Armory, ; the Lincoln Club, ; and the German Hospital, . Daus's work from the late 1890's and early 1900's reflects the influence of neo-Renaissance and Beaux-Arts styles. In 1897, he designed the Italianate style Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Brooklyn and a small office building in Jersey City, N.J., for the New York and New Jersey Telephone Company, the composition of which is quite similar to the New York County National Bank- In 1902-05, Daus designed the extension of the Brooklyn Hall of Records, , the grand, main facade featuring superimposed trabeated and arcuated orders, surmounted by a balustrade; the bank design employs the same scheme. In addition to several commercial buildings, Daus also designed the neo-Renaissance style Flatbush Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, , as well as other branches: Greenpoint, City Park , and Saratoga. In 1908, Daus retired to Paris.
Description
The former New York County National Bank is a flat-roofed, one-story building with a basement, rising fifty-eight feet on the southwest corner of Eighth Avenue and 14th Street. The building is set on a concrete base, , and has brick foundations. Steel girders and reinforced interior columns form the supporting armature of the structure, allowing large openings in the wall surface for windows. The projected cost was $250,000, and the bank is clad in. South Dover white marble with a rubbed surface, which has recently been painted to match the original color of the stone.
The building incorporates two superimposed classical architectural systems: a major, trabeated order and a minor, arcuated order. This compositional device orders and unifies the two street elevations, which are given different emphasis in the design. The narrow, principal facade on Eighth Avenue, 51.8 feet wide, forms the grand, pedimented, entrance portico, while the four-bay, 100-foot side elevation reflects the large space of the banking room behind it.
The entrance portico consists of two broad corner piers and two fluted Ionic columns in ant is, supporting a continuous entablature with a dentil led cornice, the triangular pediment, and a paneled parapet. Set back and enframed by the trabeated members is a large, round arch. The bank's entrance, reached by broad steps, is through an elaborately carved stone aedicule set within the paneled archway with its original metal framing. .
On the bank's 14th Street elevation, broad corner piers flank a four- bay arcade. The round arches are framed by Ionic pilasters --visually stressing the vertical support of the structure—which are surmounted by the continuous entablature, and a classical balustrade at roof level. Set within the iron-framed, multi-paned glazing of each arched opening is a marble aediculated window enframement, recalling the composition of the entrance portico with its carved, stone door frame.
The planar surface of the piers on both elevations contrasts effectively with the precisely and elegantly carved ornamental detail. Laurel garlands define the top edge of the base and outline the aedicules, which are also accented by carved florettes on small square panels and scrolled and fluted keystones with classical motifs. The keystone in the entrance arch is ornamented with a carved head. Keystones in the arches of the side elevation have feathered carving, while those in the aedicules have winged, serpentine staffs.
The entrance aedicule has a festooned, oval medallion above its entablature, while the aediculated windows have triangular pediments trimmed with classical moldings. In addition to egg- and-dart moldings, rows of bead and stylized tulip moldings are also used, such as in the soffits of the arches. , The deeply-carved spandrels of the arches contain convex stone rondels; on the left, the spandrels are filled with laurel, and on the right, with oak leaves. In the entrance arch, the naturalistic foliage surrounds symbolic books and a ledger. A monumental eagle with broad, open wings and a neck swooping downward, as if in a protective manner, is contained within the pediment of the entrance facade. In the original drawings, the eagle's head was raised, but the design was changed; as executed, the pedestrian ..approaching the bank has more direct interaction with the noble creature.
Pedestals surmounted by bronze, columnar lamps originally flanked the entrance steps, but they have been removed. An electric sign on the Eighth Avenue frieze, reading "Manufacturers Hanover Trust" masks the original carving, "New York County National Bank." Another modern electric sign bearing the name of the current bank is suspended from the corner of the building.
In 1926, an addition was constructed on the adjacent site at 75 Eighth Avenue. While situated on the designated Landmark Site, this is not a significant structure.
Conclusion
In 1921, the New York County National Bank merged with Chatham and Phoenix National Bank; three years later, this institution merged with the Metropolitan Trust Company, forming the Chatham-phoenix National Bank and Trust Company. In 1932, this bank was acquired by Manufacturers Trust Company, which later became the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, who continue to vise the building as a branch.
- From the 1988 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report