View allAll Photos Tagged features
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - FEBRUARY 19: Joseph "ban" Seungmin Oh of T1 poses during the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN features day on February 19, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
FEATURES
THE FUTURE (AND BEAUTY) OF FAT
THE COMBO CONTOUR: MOMMY MAKEOVERS
THE ORIGINAL DOC HOLLYWOOD
CURVES AHEAD
ACHIEVING THE LOOK
PERK UP!
A PRIVATE AFFAIR
A NAVAL APPROACH
LIP SERVICE
MOUTHING OFF
FLUSH MUCH?
INSPIRED STORIES
ANNA BROONER
CYNTHIA WALKER
CAROLYN MILLER
XOCHITL AGUILAR
STACY MCKELVEEN
BOBBY AMOROSO
TRENDS & TRUTHS
10 AESTHETIC TRENDS AND TRUTHS
AESTHETIC ASPIRATIONS: TODAY’S TOP 10 PROCEDURES
SCIENCE OF BEAUTY
SCIENCE OF BEAUTY
DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK
DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK
NEW YOU SKIN DOCTOR
ANTI-AGING
KEEPING IT MOIST
SUNKISSED (NOT SCORCHED!)
THE AGE OF ANTIOXIDANTS
HERE COMES THE SUN
DOES BOTOX EQUAL HAPPINESS?
Fort Totten Historic District, Fort Totten, Bayside, Queens
Building 207 is a two-and-one-half story rectangular residence, faced in red brick laid in stretcher bond above a rusticated foundation of schist. The building has a gabled roof covered with asphalt shingles. The horizontal and raking cornices at the edge of the roof are enriched with corbels and dentils.
On the front roof slope two wide gabled dormers are faced with slate shingles, have Palladianesque window surrounds, and are framed with wood pilasters carrying raking denticulated cornices. A two-story wood porch extends across the entire front facade. Two sets of wooden stairs approach the porch. At both levels, Tuscan columns are linked by wood balustrades. The second-story columns support a shallow hipped roof. The porch base is supported on concrete piers with wooden screens between them.
The two entrances to the residence have paired paneled wood doors below transoms. Similar entrances are located at the second story. All of the first and second-story window openings have splayed brick lintels with keystones. The windows have stone sills and contain two-over-two wood sash. Paired arched windows with keystones and stone sills are placed at attic level in the gable ends.
Building 207 was constructed in 1905 as Enlisted Personnel (lower-ranking non-commissioned officers) Quarters, part of a campaign to meet the housing needs of the rapidly growing fort and the newly installed Coast Artillery. Erected for the Office of the Quartermaster General, the building displays the forms and details of the popular Colonial Revival style. Under construction at the same time as the adjacent Post Headquarters, Building 207 replaced a frame building, the assistant engineer's office, constructed between 1866 and 1871 during the first development phase of the Fort at Willets Point. It remained in use as housing for enlisted officers until the late 1960s.
Historic District description
Fort Totten occupies a 136-acre site in northeast Queens, north of Bayside, on a peninsula jutting into the Long Island Sound. The Fort Totten Historic District, incorporating much of the peninsula, includes over 100 buildings and smaller secondary structures built between the 1830s and the 1960s.1 The fort, originally called the Fort at Willets Point, was established in 1857 as a major component in the defense system of New York Harbor. Its surviving, although uncompleted, fortification displays the features of the last phase of the Third System of coastal fortification, an important period of American military construction. The fort's surviving structures from various phases of construction vividly depict the changing role of military technology and defense strategy between the Civil War and World War II. The major period of improvement and expansion for the fort occurred in 1885-1914, resulting in much of the historic character that exists today.
In addition to upgrading the fortifications and batteries, installing torpedo buildings, and reconfiguring the parade grounds, the Army built about 80 structures, many of them to house the soldiers and officers who were stationed there. In 1898, the Fort at Willets Point was renamed in honor of Maj. Gen. Joseph G. Totten (1788-1864), who had been a major force in developing the Third System, and it was characterized as one of the most essential posts on the East Coast. The buildings and grounds, represent Fort Totten as a major military post and as one of the most intact, self-contained army posts in New York City.
Fort Totten is a tangible reminder of New York City's once-powerful harbor defense system which ranged from the inner harbor adjacent to Manhattan Island to the Narrows and Long Island Sound. Since the sixteenth century, New York Harbor has been recognized for its strategic importance, and as the city grew to prominence, its defense became increasingly important to New York and the nation. Fort Totten (the Fort at Willets Point) was planned as the counterpoint to Fort Schuyler on Throgs Neck (The Bronx), begun 1833, to guard the Long Island Sound entrance to New York Harbor. Although the Third System fort, begun in 1862 during the Civil War, was never completed because of advances in weaponry during that conflict, the army post retained its importance as the site of advanced training for Army Engineers and of research in military technology and military medicine.
It also housed several major military commands, including the Eastern Artillery District, New York, and the Coast Defense of Eastern New York and the North Atlantic District, through much of the twentieth century.
In 1968, Fort Totten became the home of the 77th United States Regional Support Command for the Army Reserve, and the United States Coast Guard took over a portion of the facility in 1969. The United States Department of Labor established a Job Corps Training Center on a portion of the site in 1971.2 Both the Army and the Coast Guard retain some facilities at Fort Totten; however, much of the fort is to be turned over the the City of New York and will be operated under the jurisdiction of the Fire Department, the Parks Department, and the Historic House Trust.
Notable structures have survived from four major periods of construction on Willets Point. These periods correspond to changing roles of military technology and defense strategy at Fort Totten, and the surviving physical structures of each period give tangible evidence of those roles and exert a strong historical presence.
These periods of construction are described briefly below and in greater detail in the History section following. The fort's open space, which reflects the topography of the peninsula, evolved as part of these campaigns. A description of the open space and landscape features concludes this section on Physical and Architectural Development.
Period of Local Settlement. 1639-1857
Although the Dutch had taken over the peninsula from the Matinecock Indians in 1639, no pre-nineteenth-century structures survive at Fort Totten. The Willets family constructed a Greek Revival double house,3 now known as Building 211, after Charles Willets purchased the peninsula, then known as Wilkins Point, in 1829 and changed the name to Willets Point. This house, the earliest surviving structure on the fort and the only one that predates the fort's establishment, was described in 1868 as "a large double house, which had been built on that portion of the point facing the river and commanding a view of Long Island Sound, for occupation as a summer residence."4 At that time, the house had been moved to its present location on Murray Avenue and remodeled as a Gothic Revival villa to serve as the living quarters for the commanding officer of the fort, Major Henry L. Abbot.
The Fort at Willets Point: Third System. Civil War, and Reconstruction Periods (1857-1885)
Construction of the original Third System battery (now called the Stone Fort or Building 518) began in 1862 at the north end of the peninsula under the direction of Col. William Petit Trowbridge. It was planned as a V-shaped structure with a polygonal bastion at the vertex of the ramparts with four tiers of casemates, but construction halted in 1864 when advances in Civil War weaponry made the plan obsolete. The two tiers of vaulted casemates that were built are of brick, faced with heavy granite blocks, and they command an impressive view of Long Island Sound and Fort Schuyler on Throgs Neck. The Quartermaster's Wharf (Building 605) was built in 1864, extending 460 feet into Little Bay with all necessary facilities for unloading vessels. Portions of this pier structure survive.5
Although the battery was obsolete as planned, the Army Engineers enhanced the defensive capability of the Fort at Willets Point in several phases ~ 1868, 1872, and 1883; the main magazine was constructed of concrete and masonry with walls from 17 to 36 inches thick for the storage of gun powder in the hillside behind the battery in several phases — 1868, 1872, and 1883. A barrel-vaulted vehicular access tunnel of concrete was built through the hillside in 1870, linking the batteiy with the rest of the post. Adjacent to the magazine and tunnel are vaulted masonry and concrete casemates, built into the south slope of the hill, for storing torpedo mines. Building 129, constructed sometime between 1871 and 1879 as a fireproof torpedo storehouse, is the oldest brick building at the post and the only surviving structure from the Army Engineers' initial period of research into torpedo technology and development of torpedo defense.
The Queen Anne style and domestic appearance of Building 317, constructed in 1882-83, belies its initial use as a photographic laboratory; it is one of the oldest surviving frame buildings at Fort Totten and is the earliest surviving frame building constructed specifically for the purposes of this Army post, namely one of the technical and research functions carried out by the Army Engineers.
Endicott Board and Taft Board Period. 1885-1914
The major period of improvement and expansion at the fort occurred in 1885-1914, resulting in much of the historic character that survives today. This work was in part the outcome of recommendations for improved harbor defense for the New York area (in addition to other strategic locations in the United States) from two Congressionally-authorized boards of experts, the Endicott Board, issued in 1886, and the Taft Board, issued in 1906, as well as a locations of these two structures has not been determined; they were demolished prior to 1890. See Trieschmann and Gettings, vol. 1, 37.
While the fortifications were upgraded by the Army Corps of Engineers, other improvements to the fort were undertaken by the Office of the Quartermaster General. Some 80 structures were built during this period, including housing for the soldiers and officers who were stationed there.6 Many of these replaced earlier wood-frame structures. The first major building from this period is Building 208, a castellated Gothic Revival style wood frame structure built as the Officers Mess and Officers Club in 1887, facing the parade ground at the west. Now a designated New York City Landmark, it is leased to the Bayside Historical Society. Brick barracks with Colonial Revival details, Buildings 322, 323, and 325, were built at the south end of the parade ground between 1892 and 1894. (These three barracks were enlarged in 1904.)
Building 405, a slightly later barracks dating from 1900 but similar in design to the earlier ones, was built north of the parade ground. Building 331, a brick and frame fire engine house, was erected in 1892 near the new barracks. A new bungalow style guardhouse, Building 103, was constructed in 1892, just inside the grand Romanesque Revival style entrance gates that had been installed in 1889. Building 637, the brick Engineers' Museum, was built in 1890-98 with Romanesque Revival detail, facing what is now Totten Avenue. Building 333 was constructed in 1897-98 near the barracks as the post mess hall for non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel. Building 222, built sometime between 1890 and 1898 as offices and a storehouse for the commissary, is located southwest of the intersection of Murray Avenue and Sgt. Beers Avenue.
The Quartermaster's storehouse (Building 107), built in 1897, is located near the guardhouse, while another commissary storehouse, Building 601, dating from 1896-97, is on the shore of Little Bay. The bakery, Building 309, was built that same year, and is close to the barracks. Building 502, built in 1900 as an ordnance shop strategically situated near the batteries (and later an artillery repair shop), is now the Fort Totten Historical Center. All of these non-domestic structures have a sturdy utilitarian character enhanced by Romanesque Revival detail.
A major building campaign beginning in 1905 brought many significant structures to the area adjacent to the parade ground as part of the campaign to improve and enhance the facilities at Fort Totten. This coincided with a change in the fort's mission after the Army Engineers were withdrawn and the Coast Artillery installed. All of the buildings constructed during this campaign are brick structures, designed in variants of the Colonial Revival style but with a common vocabulary of details that echo the details used on the somewhat earlier barracks structures and reinforce the architectural cohesion of the fort. Virtually all were constructed according to standardized plans from the Office of the Quartermaster General. Building 206, the Post Headquarters, displays the characteristics of high style Colonial Revival architecture with neo-Georgian details.
The use of such elaborate detail can be seen to convey the importance of the headquarters as the command post of the Fort Totten military installation, by then the home of the Coast Artillery. Housing for commissioned officers was built in single-family and twin-dwelling units in the area north and west of the parade ground, forming an enclave known as Officers' Row. This group includes Buildings 203, 400, 401, 402, 409, 411, 413, 415, 418, and 420. Field officers (with the rank of major or colonel) occupied the single-family dwellings, while lieutenants and captains occupied with twin dwellings.7 Twin-dwelling units for noncommissioned officers were built off Shore Road, south of the parade ground (Buildings 306, 308, 309, 310, 312, and 314 (the last remodelled in the 1930s)). Building 207, a multi-unit dwelling to house enlisted officers, was constructed west of the parade ground between the post headquarters and the officers' mess.
The last major barracks structure, Building 330, which is similar in architectural character and detail to the earlier barracks, was built in 1907-08 southeast of the parade ground. A new imposing neo-Georgian Commanding Officer's Quarters, Building 422, was constructed among the other houses of Officers Row in 1909.
The Colonial Revival style Hospital, Building 304, built in 1906 and enlarged in 1911-12, is located east of the parade ground along Shore Road facing Little Neck Bay. While the hospital is much larger in size, its details are similar to those of the contemporary houses as well as the earlier brick barracks. The somewhat more architecturally elaborate annex, Building 326, dates from 1914. During this period the mission of the fort was expanded to include research into and development of medical equipment and care for military personnel. Building 305, a modest Colonial Revival style dwelling, was built in 1907 to house the hospital steward. Building 319, the gymnasium, was built in 1905 south of the parade ground. Colonial Revival in form and detail, it complements the nearby residential structures.
The more utilitarian buildings constructed prior to 1914 are situated on the periphery of the fort. Building 128, built in 1907-08 as a stable, is located southwest of the noncommissioned officers' housing; Building 604, Building 607, and Building 614 are storage facilities situated close to Little Bay. Building 105 was constructed in 1910 as the permanent electric sub-station for Fort Totten, which connected the army base with the municipal power supply at Bayside, Queens.
The Period between World War I and World War II. 1920-1940
While the 1920s saw little new construction at Fort Totten, a number of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century utilitarian structures were converted for other uses.8 The YMCA, Building 318, a neo-Georgian style brick building, situated next to the gymnasium, was built in 1926-27. The YMCA had a presence at Fort Totten prior to the construction of this building.9
Another building campaign to improve housing facilities at Fort Totten (as well as many other Army posts) took place beginning in 1933. This resulted in the construction of several Colonial Revival twin dwellings; Buildings 316 and 634 are within the boundaries of the historic district. Building 314, a frame twin dwelling, was remodeled in the Colonial Revival style to be more compatible with other nearby houses. Two other major structures date from 1938-39. Building 332, the theater, was constructed south of the barracks area, east of the gymnasium and the YMCA. The chapel, Building 638, is situated north of the parade ground, between Officers' Row and the Post Headquarters. Both were built according to standardized plans that display characteristics of the Colonial Revival style.
Among the secondary structures constructed at Fort Totten in 1937-38 are the many one-story garages set behind the officers' housing and the small brick transformer structures throughout the grounds. Both are evidence of continuing technological change at the fort.
Open Space and Landscape Features
Fort Totten is located on a small ridge that forms a peninsula jutting into Long Island South that is protected by a stone sea wall. Historically the peninsula was known as Thome's Point, subsequently Wilkins Point, and then Willets Point, after the major owners prior to acquisition by the U.S. government. The portions of Long Island Sound surrounding the peninsula on three sides are more specifically identified as Little Bay, Little Neck Bay, and the Hast River Channel, while the land side was historically wetlands, much of which has been filled in. The ridge rises to the northeast to a high point of 68 feet above sea level, but it drops abruptly at the north end at the site of the granite fortifications and on the west facing Little Bay. The road system of Fort Totten generally follows the topographical terrain of the ridge, creating a series of circular drives that focus attention on the parade ground and allow for vistas overlooking Long Island Sound.
The rising slope at the intersection of Bay side Street and Totten Avenue, in front of Building 635, contains the simple granite grave marker of Charles A. Willets, the property owner who gave the point its name. The steep slope rising to the south of Totten Avenue remains open.
The major open space at Fort Totten is the parade ground, which had been established after the Civil War.10 It was originally oriented in a north-south direction and fronted by buildings with the post gardens behind at the north and south. As part of the major building campaign in the early twentieth century, the parade ground was reoriented from a north-south to an east-west direction. It is likely that the trees surrounding the periphery date from that period. The parade ground is bisected by a pedestrian path, and the eastern section is sometimes called the park. Many of the major buildings of the fort continue to front the parade ground on the north, south, and west. Current plans to expand the parade ground into parklands include the demolition of several of the 1959 houses northeast of the parade ground (Buildings 406-408, 423-431, 504-514).
Two sections of the parade ground have been identified as containing archeological deposits and recommended as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Section A at the southwest corner is bordered by Story Avenue and Murray Avenue and may contain intact structural remnants from the 1866-1885 period. Section B is at the northwest corner of the eastern section (the park) bordered by Weaver Avenue and the pedestrian path; it contains intact foundation remnants and the possible remains of a storehouse from the period of the 1860S-1910.11
Historic cast-iron lamp posts edge the roads throughout the fort. These presumably were installed after 1910 when the first permanent electric sub-station was constructed. The posts have fluted shafts set on molded bases with stylized acanthus caps surmounted by octagonal lanterns.
Additional open space is located near the north end of the fort on top of Battery King (Building 500), now a baseball field bounded by Abbott Road and North Loop Road.
HISTORY OF FORT TOTTEN
Local Settlement to Government Acquisition. 1639-1857
The peninsula occupied by Fort Totten was taken from the Matinecock Indians by the Dutch in 1639. William Kieft, Governor General of New Netherlands, transferred the land by patent to the Englishman William Thome, who had been forced to Long Island from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for assisting religious dissenters. The land became known as Thome's Point, and his farmstead was called "one of the most valuable and handsome" in the area.13 The property, some 152 acres, was held by the Thome family until 1788, when Ann Thome married William Wilkins and the peninsula became known as Wilkins Point. In 1829, Charles A. Willets (1781-1832), an area nurseryman, purchased the Wilkins farmland and changed the name of the peninsula to Willets Point. Possibly Willets hoped to sell the property to the Army, as the Army Board of Engineers had recommended fortifying various points in the New York Harbor, including Willets Point and Throgs Neck, in a report issued in 1821.
A property transfer did not take place, so Willets established a nursery and built a Greek Revival style house near the north end of the peninsula. This house, now known as Building 211, was subsequently moved and remodeled in the fashionable Gothic Revival style in 1867. Presumably other service buildings were constructed by either Wilkins or Willets, but none survive. Charles Willets died in 1832 and was buried on the property down the slope from the original site of the house. His simple granite grave marker survives near the intersection of Bayside Street and Totten Avenue. Willets's heirs sold the property in 1857 to George Irving, a New York broker and land speculator.
The Fort at Willets Point: Third System. Civil War, and Reconstruction Periods (1857-1885)
The defense of New York Harbor had been a matter of continuing interest to the United States government from the time of the Revolutionary War on. Initial efforts had focused on the inner harbor utilizing the First and Second Systems of fortifications; the result was the construction of Fort Jay (later Fort Columbus), Castle Williams and the South Battery on Governors Island, Castle Clinton at the southern tip of Manhattan, Fort Wood on Bedloe's (now Liberty Island), and Fort Gibson on what is now Ellis Island.16 Following the War of 1812, the Federal government established a board to create a permanent system of defenses and fortification, which came to be known as the Third System. Organized in 1816, the board was headed by Simon Bernard, a French military engineer, Capt. J.D. Elliott of the Navy, and Maj. William McKee and Lt. Col. Joseph G. Totten of the Army Engineers.
Totten proved to be the most influential figure in the advancement of the Third System, serving for 26 years as Chief Engineer of the Army Engineers. In this capacity he was responsible for the design of most of the forts built in the United States between the 1820s and the 1860s; the Third System is often called the Totten system, in recognition of his achievement. Third System forts are generally polygonal in plan with one or more arched tiers of casemates on the seaward fronts and roof tiers of barbette emplacements (platforms from which guns were fired over parapets) surmounting the exterior walls, which were built of brick or stone or both materials. Casemate emplacement and the size and shapes of the embrasures (gun openings) were a major focus of Totten's innovations.18 In addition to the Fort at Willets Point, two other forts were named after him, one in North Dakota and the other in North Carolina.
The Bernard Board was initially charged with dealing with seacoast defense "as an activity involving the efforts of several interrelated elements—a navy, fortifications, avenues of communication in the interior, and a regular army and well-organized militia."19 The Board's first report was submitted in February 1821 and listed 18 defensive works as a top priority, followed by 32 for future construction as lesser priorities. However, by 1850, the Board envisoned a major scheme of harbor defense for the United States, with nearly 200 separate works, from the East Coast, to the Gulf of Mexico, to the Pacific Coast. In fact, because of the limitations of cost and manpower, far fewer fortifications were actually constructed.
In New York, the system of harbor fortification gradually moved to the outer harbor. While the Narrows had been guarded initially by Fort Richmond and Fort Tompkins on the Staten Island side and Fort Lafayette on the Brooklyn side, these 1812 fortifications were replaced in 1847 and 1825 respectively by the present Fort Richmond and Fort Hamilton. Throgs Neck in the Bronx acquired Fort Schuyler, beginning in 1833, to guard the entrance from Long Island Sound. Finally, the last piece of New York harbor defense under the Third System was put into place with the acquisition of 110 acres of Willets Point from George Irving in 1857.
The price, $200,000, brought forth accusations of profiteering and an abortive congressional investigation. Even though Congress appropriated some $155,000 to have plans drawn for a fortification, reputedly by Robert E. Lee, the work was not carried out despite continued calls for improving New York Harbor defenses.
With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, a temporary camp known as Camp Morgan was set up at Willets Point to train military recruits and to accommodate volunteer units, among them the 15th New York Volunteers (Engineer), the 2nd Marine Volunteers (Infantry), and the 9th Indiana Volunteers (Infantry). With fears that Confederate troops might attack New York Harbor from Long Island Sound, Congress appropriated $200,000 in 1862 for fortifications work at Willets Point. The land area of the fort was increased in 1863 with the purchase of an additional 26 acres. Work on the pentagonal casemated fortification had begun in 1862 at the north end of the peninsula. The Quartermaster's Wharf, jutting into Little Bay, was constructed at the same time to accommodate materials and supplies needed during construction.
The fortification called for four tiers of casemates on the water side and two tiers on the land side with foundations extending twelve feet below sea level and walls eight feet thick. Guns and cannon were to be mounted in the casemates. Even as construction was underway, the fortification was made obsolete by advances in military technology.22 The Rodman cannon could smash fort walls with heavy iron balls, while rifled guns and cannons could be fired with great accuracy over long ranges. Rifled projectiles could penetrate the masonry walls of fortifications and then explode inside. Only two tiers of casemates were completed at Fort Totten, and the work was subsequently abandoned.
The other major construction at the fort during the Civil War was the General Grant Hospital, completed in 1865 in the southern section of the site. Containing 1,410 beds in 37 wards, the hospital treated 5,283 soldiers in its one year of existence.23
Following the Civil War, three of the Army's four companies of Engineers were sent to the Fort at Willets Point because of existing storage facilities for the engineering materials remaining from the war. This was the first permanent garrison at the Fort where they were initially commanded by Gen. J.C. Duane and then, beginning in 1868, for some twenty years by Maj. Henry L. Abbot (1831-1927). The relocation and remodelling of the original Willets house occurred in 1867-68 in conjunction with the establishment of this permanent garrison.
Prior to 1866, the Army Engineers had headed the program at West Point. When this connection ended, a group of officers founded the Essayons Club at Willets Point to perpetuate the study of engineering in the Army.24 This became the Engineer School for Application. The Engineer Depot for the eastern United States was established at Willets Point in 1870, and a torpedo school was set up in 1873.
Under Abbot's leadership, the Engineer School of Application carried out experiments and training in engineer reconnaissance, military bridges, weaponry, astronomy, photography, submarine mines, torpedoes, submarine rockets, and searchlights, beginning in 1872. Abbot's report on a system of coastal defense by submarine mines was published in 1881 as No. 23 of the Professional Papers of the Army Corps of Engineers.25
Few of the structures that were built between 1865 and 1885 survive. Those that do include the batteries behind the Civil War battery, the seacoast mortar battery, the torpedo research and storage facilities, as well as the photo laboratory (Building 317).
While frame barracks and other housing were constructed for enlisted men and officers, none of these survive. The frame officers quarters were of the type still seen on Governors Island around Nolan Park (located within the Governor's Island Historic District). Other structures built during this period included the observatory, library and theater, the first officers mess (designed in the Gothic Revival style and later replaced by the barracks on the south side of the Parade Ground), and the first chapel, also built in the Gothic Revival style 26
Endicott Board and Taft Board Period. 1885-1914
By the 1880s, coastal and harbor defense had again become a national issue. In 1885, Congress authorized a board of experts to examine what defenses were needed at what ports. This became known as the Endicott Board after its president, Secretary of War William C. Endicott. As a result, New York was identified as one of five harbors most in need of new fortifications, and as part of the New York Harbor defense, the Fort at Willets Point was classified as one of the most essential on the East Coast .29
As the result of Congressional appropriations in the 1890, more facilities were constructed in the 1890s, especially a first phase of more permanent barracks and related service structures. The fort had been supplied with water from the Town of Flushing in 1886. The Engineers' Museum was also constructed in the 1890s.
The Fort at Willets Point was renamed in honor of Maj. Gen. Joseph G. Totten in 1898 by direction of President William McKinley.30 However, the Engineer School of Application relocated to Washington in 1901, and the Engineering Depot closed in 1902.
The mission of the fort changed as five companies of the Coast Artillery Corps were moved there. There was a major influx of personnel between 1902 and 1913 with the establishment of the Eastern Artillery District, New York, in 1906, and the Coast Defense of Eastern New York and the North Atlantic District in 1913. The building campaign that began in 1905 coincided with this change as there were many more officers on site who needed housing.
President Theodore Roosevelt appointed the Taft Board, named after Secretary of War William Howard Taft, in 1905 to review and update the harbor defense programs. By this time, emphasis had shifted from fortifications to ever increasing attention to weapons and firepower. Fort Totten was the site of innovations and experimentation with searchlights, electrification, and precision methods of fire control for greater accuracy of artillery, all under the jurisdiction of the Coast Artillery stationed there.31
World War I period
No structures built at Fort Totten during this period survive. During the war, Fort Totten served as a training and administrative post. Units of the Coast Artillery, Infantry, Engineering, Field Artillery, Army Medical Corps, Signal Corps, Anti-aircraft, and members of the First Reserve Engineers were trained at Fort Totten before going to Europe. Company A of the First Reserve Engineers, sailed for France on July 14, 1917, becoming the first unit to leave the United States for the front.
The Period between World War I and World War II. 1920-1945
A new Torpedo Depot was established in 1921 which focused on improved torpedoes, naval mines, and anti-aircraft technology. The 62nd Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) was stationed there in 1922. The batteries were abandoned completely in 1938. Many temporary structures were erected in 1940s for barracks, storage, etc. Few survive, and most are not within the boundaries of the historic district.
The first radar installation used in Anti-Aircraft Command on the east coast was constructed at Fort Totten in 1941. Fort Totten became the Headquarters of the Anti-Aircraft Command of the Eastern Defense Command. In 1944 the Eastern Defense Command Headquarters and the 1378 AAF unit of the North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command moved to Fort Totten. Fort Totten also served as the processing point for troops departing through La Guardia Field Terminal until 1947.
Post World War II to Present. 1945 on
Following World War II, Fort Totten remained in active service as the home of the 1362nd Service Unit in 1947 and the New York-New Jersey Sub-Area Headquarters for Civilian Component Activities in 1949. It housed the Fort Totten Medical Center for army personnel in 1947-49. The Development Branch of the Army Service Medical Program Agency moved to Fort Totten in 1948, being reorganized in 1957 as the U.S. Army Medical Equipment Research and Development Laboratory under direction of Army Surgeon General. The laboratory had the sole responsibility for conducting engineering research and development leading to new items of military equipment for the Army, including surgical, veterinary, dental, and optical equipment, hospital utensils, medical sets and kits, x-ray equipment, devices for insect and rodent control, and equipment for a combat casualty evacuation system.
The First Regional Army Air Defense Command was organized in 1954 to provide overall anti-aircraft defense for New England, New York, New Jersey, and Greenland. Its mission was expanded in 1961 to the defense of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington. First Anti-Aircraft Regional Command remained at Fort Totten until 1967 and included the 23 rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group; the 41st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (with 90-millimeter guns); the 66th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Missile Battalion (which monitored the Nike/Ajax and Nike/Hercules missile systems). The construction of additional housing, beginning in 1959, to the north and south of the earlier officers' housing, coincided with this command. These houses, most of which are outside the boundaries of the historic district, are of the so-called Capehart type, built in double and quadruple units.36
In 1967, Fort Totten was placed on inactive status as a sub-installation for Fort Hamilton, after the First Regional Army Air Defense Command was relocated. It continued to provide housing for military personnel in the New York City area and to serve as the headquarters of the 77th Regional Support Command (RSC), stationed at Fort Totten in 1969. The United States Coast Guard took over 9.6 acres with its related buildings near the shore of Little Bay in 1969. The parade ground and Buildings 322 and 323 were transferred to the United States Department of Labor in 1971 for use as a Job Corps Training Center. The Army Reserve remained an active presence, and the Ernie Pyle U.S. Army Reserve Center was dedicated in 1983. This building is outside the boundaries of the historic district. Other buildings at Fort Totten have been leased to various units of New York City government and non-profit entities.
- From the 1999 NYCLPC Historic District Designation Report
Epic 45SURF t-shirts & hoodies for your EPIC HERO'S ODYSSEY!
shop.spreadshirt.com/45surf/45surf+hero's+odyssey+mytholo...
Epic Malibu Sea Caves 2018 Caledar!
My book on Epic Landscape Photography!
www.amazon.com/Epic-Landscape-Photography-Principles-Comp...
Photographing the Venus Archetype!
www.amazon.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Photography-Arc...
Greetings mate! As many of you know, I love marrying art, science, and math in my fine art portrait and landscape photography!
The 45surf and gold 45 revolver swimsuits, shirts, logos, designs, and lingerie are designed in accordance with the golden ratio! More about the design and my philosophy of "no retouching" on the beautiful goddesses in my new book:
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
If you would like a free review copy, message me!
Epic Landscape Photography! New Book!
www.facebook.com/epiclandscapephotography
And here's more on the golden ratio which appears in many of my landscape and portrait photographs (while shaping the proportions of the golden gun)!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
'
The dx4/dt=ic above the gun on the lingerie derives from my new physics books devoted to Light, Time, Dimension Theory!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Thanks for being a fan! Would love to hears your thoughts on my philosophies and books! :)
http:/instagram.com/elliotmcgucken
instagram.com/goldennumberratio
Beautiful swimsuit bikini model goddess!
Golden Ratio Lingerie Model Goddess LTD Theory Lingerie dx4/dt=ic! The Birth of Venus, Athena, and Artemis! Girls and Guns!
Would you like to see the whole set? Comment below and let me know!
Follow me!
I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
The Golden Ratio informs a lot of my art and photographic composition. The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo! Not so long ago, I came up with the Golden Ratio Principle which describes why The Golden Ratio is so beautiful.
The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.
The Birth of Venus! Beautiful Golden Ratio Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Helen of Troy! She was tall, thin, fit, and quite pretty!
Read all about how classical art such as The Birth of Venus inspires all my photography!
www.facebook.com/Photographing-Women-Models-Portrait-Swim...
"Photographing Women Models: Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype"
Welcome fellow Paddington Bear spotter! My photostream features all 50 Paddingtons. If you would like to shortcut to a specific one, please use the links below
No. 1: Love, Paddington X (Lulu Guinness) |
No. 2: Texting Paddington (Westminster Academy) | No. 3: The Mayor of Paddington (Paddington Waterside and Costain) | No. 4: Bearing Up (Taylor Wimpey) | No. 5: Brick Bear (Robin Partington & Partners) | No. 6: Futuristic Robot Bear (Jonathan Ross) | No. 7: Paddington (Michael Bond) | No. 8: Paddingtonscape (Hannah Warren) | No. 9: The Journey of Marmalade (Hugh Bonneville) | No. 10: Paws Engage (Canterbury of New Zealand) | No. 11: Flutterby (Emma Watson) | No. 12: W2 1RH (Marc Quinn) | No. 13: Paws (Sally Hawkins) |
No. 14: Goldiebear (Kate Moss) | No. 15: Sparkles (Frankie Bridge) | No. 16: Bear Humbug (Ant and Dec) | No. 17: The Spirit of Paddington (Rolls-Royce Motor Cars) | No. 18: Thread Bear (Matthew Williamson) | No. 19: Golden Paws (David Beckham) | No. 20: Parka Paddington (Liam Gallagher) | No. 21: Bearer of Gifts (Hamleys) | No. 22: Little Bear Blue (Intel) | No. 23: Bearodiversity (Peru) | No. 24: Paddington the Explorer (Ripley’s Believe it or Not! London) | No. 25: Andrew Lloyd Webbear (Andrew Lloyd Webber) | No. 26: Blush (Nicole Kidman) | No. 27: The Bear of London (Boris Johnson) | No. 28: Paddington Jack (Davina McCall) | No. 29: Good News Bear (The Telegraph) | No. 30: Paddington is GREAT (Stephen Fry) | No. 31: Special Delivery (Ben Wishaw) | No. 32: Rainbow (Darcey Bussell) | No. 33: Bear Necessities (John Hurt) | No. 34: Sherlock Bear (Benedict Cumberbatch) | No. 35: Bear in the Wood (Rankin) | No. 36: Fragile (Ryan McElhinney) | No. 37: Shakesbear (Michael Sheen) | No. 38: Good Morning, London (Michael Howells) | No. 39: RGB (Zaha Hadid) | No. 40: Taste of Peru (Peru) | No. 41 Wonders of the World (Peru) | No. 42 Paddington Who? (Peter Capaldi) | No. 43 Gravity Bear (Sandra Bullock) | No. 44 Wish You Were Here (Nick Mason) | No. 45 Toggle (Benjamin Shine) | No. 46 Primrose Paddington (Julie Walters) | No. 47 Sticky Wicket (Ian Botham) | No. 48 Chief Scout Bear (Bear Grylls) | No. 49 The Special One (Chelsea FC) | No. 50 Dapper Bear (Guy Ritchie)
An afternoon visit with our tour group to RHS Garden Rosemoor in Great Torrington, North Devon.
RHS Garden Rosemoor is a public display garden run by the Royal Horticultural Society in north Devon, England.
Rosemoor is about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Great Torrington on the A3124 road to Exeter. It is surrounded by over 100 acres (40 ha) of woodland with the River Torridge running along the western border. Features include a rose garden with about 2,000 rose plants; an arboretum; herb, fruit and vegetable gardens; and an alpine house.
A variety of clematis introduced as part of the RHS Bicentenary Plant Collection is named after the garden.
The Rolle Canal (completed in 1827) terminated at a complex of large lime kilns at Rosemoor (known then as "Rowe's Moor"). The lime kiln complex, designed by James Green, survives in a ruinous condition in a working compound at the gardens, inaccessible to the public. George Braginton, the manager and later a major leaseholder of the canal, moved into the Rowe's Moor estate some time before 1851.
On the death in 1931 of Robert Horace Walpole, the fifth Earl of Orford, the estate became the property of his daughter, Lady Anne Berry (then Palmer). She created the original garden of 8 acres (3.2 ha) in 1959, and developed it over a 30-year period. The garden developed in a naturalistic style, with sweeping lawns and curving borders set out as the plantings expanded. There was no masterplan, but designer John Codrington who later became a life member of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), provided drawings, in particular for the early development of warmer sheltered areas near the house.
The garden was first opened to the public in 1967, under the National Gardens Scheme. A small nursery was started in 1979. Both the garden and nursery were noted for rare and unusual plants. By the 1980s, the garden was attracting significant numbers of visitors.
A gazebo in the garden
In 1988 Lady Palmer gave the garden to the RHS, together with an additional 32 acres (13 ha) of land. In the mid 1990s 37.5 hectares (0.375 km2) of woodland surrounding the site, mainly coniferous forest, was added to the garden, securing the land bordering the garden from unwanted change, providing opportunities to blend the garden into its surrounding landscape and also providing it with a range of additional experiences for visitors.
Christopher Bailes, curator of Rosemoor Garden, described the garden in 2008 thus:
"Tucked into the north-east corner of the estate, it remains very much a plantswoman's garden, dominated by surrounding woodlands, with a number of discrete areas where choice subjects take full advantage of the warmth and shelter offered by the south-westerly aspect and high ground to the north."
Today Rosemoor Garden covers 65 acres (26 ha) and it includes a visitor centre, a plant centre, a shop, a restaurant and the Wisteria tearoom. There is also a reference library, located near the entrance to the garden, which provides a small collection of books on practical gardening, garden design, botanical art, garden history, wildlife gardening, plant hunting, as well as a selection of the major gardening magazines to browse through.
In 2019 the garden received 255,861 visitors.
Rosemoor House on the other side of the garden. Part of it is Holiday Apartments, but there is a cafe here where you can buy a hot drink or an ice cream.
Grade II Listed Building
Description
ST GILES
SS 51 NW IN THE WOOD
7/194 Rosemoor
-
II
House, former hunting lodge. Early - mid C19, service wing is dated 1925. Plastered
stone rubble, maybe with some brick; brick or stone rubble stacks with plastered
chimney shafts; slate roof.
Plan: Basically an L-plan house. The main block faces south-west. It has a 3-room
plan with entrance hall. The left room has an end stack and the central room has a
rear lateral stack. The entrance hall and the right room which has an end stack are
in a taller section which also breaks forward from the rest of the front. Service
block (dated 1925) projects to rear of the right end. 2 storeys.
Exterior: 3:2 - window front. First floor windows are original 16-pane sashes, but
the ground floor windows have all been replaced circa 1987, 2 French windows to left
and an alumimium-framed window to right (this last window has stucco voussoirs over).
Front doorway is right of centre and contains a part-glazed 6-panel door with an
overlight behind a flat-roofed timber porch with moulded entablature. Glass-roofed
verandah across the front of the recessed left section and it returns round the left
end. Roof is hipped both ends.
Interior was not available for inspection at the time of this survey.
Listing NGR: SS5003018107
Features
Super 35mm CMOS sensor
Dual Pixel CMOS AF (DAF) Technology
4K up to 60 fps, 2K/HD up to 240 fps
dynamic range of 15 stops
Dual Pixel CMOS AF (DAF)
Triple DIGIC DV 5 Image Processors
Canon XF-AVC and Apple ProRes Internal Recording
Internal CFast and SD Card...
BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 29: Team Envy's Pujan "FNS" Mehta poses at the VALORANT Champions Features Day on November 29, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
DAVOS/SWITZERLAND, 24JAN14 - A woman takes a photo from a poster with a yawning tiger in a shop window during the Annual Meeting 2014 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 24, 2014.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/swiss-image.ch/Photo Christof Sonderegger
PARIS, FRANCE - October 25: T1 at the League of Legends World Championship 2024 Semi Finals Features Day on October 25, 2024 in Paris. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
FEATURES:
Music and sound effects
Available in many styles
Now available with a video screen showing clips from the movie
Released by Leontronic in an unknown year under no license from Disney and Pixar.
Historically named 'Wurm' meaning 'dragon' by Viking invaders, the promontory, Worm's Head, is shaped like a giant sea-serpent and marks the most westerly tip of Gower. The island is joined to the mainland by a rocky causeway and features an large flat-topped 'Inner Head', towards a natural rock bridge called 'Devil's Bridge', a 'Low Neck' leading further out to the 'Outer Head'. The headland is one mile long and the highest point is approximately 150 feet. The rocky, jagged causeway leading out to the 'Worm' is only exposed for two and a half hours before and after low tide, so walkers should always carefully check the tide times before they set off over the causeway. Being trapped on Worm's Head for half the day, waiting for low tide again, is both inconvenient and desolate to say the least, but so easily done by the inexperienced. Breeding Seabirds The Outer Head is a breeding ground for birds such as Herring Gulls, Guillemots, Razorbills, and Kittiwakes, with the occasional appearance of Puffins. Walkers are requested not to climb to the top of Outer Head between 1 March and 31 August, to avoid disturbing these nesting birds. The Outer Head is also home to Worm's Head Cave and on the north side, a natural blow hole. William Camden in the 1586 published 'Britannia' describes the blow hole thus. Toward the head itself, or that part which is farthest out in the sea, there is a small cleft or crevice in the ground, into which if you throw a handful of dust or sand, it will be blown back again into the air. But if you kneel or lie down, and lay your ears to it, you will then hear distinctly the deep noise of a prodigious large bellows. The reason is obvious; for the reciprocal motion of the sea, under the arch'd and rocky hollow of this headland, or promontory, makes an inspiration and expiration of the air, through the cleft, and that alternately; and consequently the noise, as of a pair of bellows in motion. During the right conditions the blow hole is heard to emit noisy, impressive boomings and hissing; in fact, there is an old Gower saying - "The old Worm's blowing, time for a boat to be going". The land on Worm's Head is very fertile and despite its hazards and rare accessibility, people in the past have attempted to utilise its resources. One Rhossili man decided to grow a crop of potatoes on the south side of the Inner Head, the potatoes grew very successful here and his early crop was earlier than anyone else's, but others were deterred from following his example when the problem of getting the crop over the razor-like rocks, back to the mainland was illustrated. Sheep farmers, in the past, have utilised the rich grazing ground on 'The Worm'. For example the Talbot family at Penrice Castle used to graze their flock of wethers on the Inner Head of Worm's Head from September to March. It has been said that Worm's Head mutton is the tastiest in Gower. However, the sheep are so fond of the seclusion and good grass growing there that they are loathed to return to mainland pastures. One Rhossili farmer, Wilfred Beynon, reported that his whole flock of sheep escaped from their mainland field in the summer of 1932 and attempted to cross the treacherous causeway leading to the Worm. They were caught by the rising tide and all seventy of them drowned. Walking to The Worm Owned and protected as a National Nature Reserve by the National Trust and the Countryside Council for Wales, the varied plant life on Worm's Head is governed by the high winds, tidal spray and sun. The Outer Head is a very rare, ungrazed grassland, whereas the Inner Head, which has been grazed over the centuries, shows a large variation of plant colonies. Therefore, visitors are advised to keep to the well-worn dirt trail rather than trample on these species. The best route for walkers to follow is down the wide path past National Trust Information Centre and shop, through the gate and follow the track for 1 mile until the former coastguard lookout hut is reached (it is now the Countryside Council for Wales Information Centre). From here start the decent to cross the causeway. It takes about 15 minutes to scramble across the wet, jagged rocks of the causeway. When the Inner Head is reached follow the dirt track round the south side (bear left), then across Devil's Bridge, around the south side (bear left again) of Low Neck, and on to the Outer Head. Remember not to climb to the top of the Outer Head between 1 March and 31 August so the nesting birds there are not disturbed and if the journey outwards is proving too long and laborious do not venture too far out and take the same route back.
Sitting amid the beautiful Carlton Gardens, the Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage Site-listed building at the north-eastern edge of Melbourne’s central business district.
The interior is heavily decorated in true Victorian style. Beaneath its central dome it features pendentives of Hercules and Venus (pictured) Mercury and Mars; lunettes of allegorical symbolism including one of the "Arts Applied to Peace" (pictured); and profuse hand stencilled decoration, all of which has all be painstakingly restored in recent years.
The Royal Exhibition Building was designed by the architect Joseph Reed, who also designed the Melbourne Town Hall and the State Library of Victoria. According to the architect, the design was inspired by many different sources. The dome was modeled on the Florence Cathedral, while the main pavilions were influenced by the style of Rundbogenstil and several buildings from Normandy, Caen and Paris.
The foundation stone was laid by the then Victorian governor George Bowen on 19 February 1879 and it was completed in 1880, ready for the Melbourne International Exhibition. The building consisted of a Great Hall of over 12,000 square metres and many temporary annexes. In the 1880s, the building hosted two major International Exhibitions; the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880 and the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in 1888 to celebrate a century of European settlement in Australia. The most significant event to occur in the Exhibition Building was the opening of the first Parliament of Australia on 9 May 1901, following the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January. After the official opening, the federal government moved to the Victorian State Parliament House, while the Victorian government moved to the Exhibition Building for the next 26 years. On 3 September, the Australian National Flag was flown at Royal Exhibition Building for the first time. On that day Prime Minister Edmund Barton announced the winners of a competition to design a flag for Australia. The buildings were a venue for the 1956 Summer Olympics, hosting the basketball, weightlifting, wrestling, and the fencing part of the modern pentathlon competitions. As it decayed, it became known derogatively by locals as The White Elephant in the 1940s and by the 1950s, like many buildings in Melbourne of that time it was earmarked for replacement by office blocks. In 1948, members of the Melbourne City Council put this to the vote and it was narrowly decided not to demolish the building. The wing of the building which once housed Melbourne's aquarium burnt down in 1953. During the 1940s and 1950s, the building remained a venue for regular weekly dances. Over some decades of this period it also held boat shows, automobile shows and other regular home and building industry shows. It was also used during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s for State High School Matriculation and for the Victorian Certificate of Education examinations, among its various other purposes. Nevertheless, the grand ballroom was demolished in 1979, leaving the main structure in place along with annexes constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. Following the demolition of the grand ballroom, there was a public outcry which prevented the main building from also being demolished.
During a visit to Victoria in 1984, Princess Alexandra (Queen Elizabeth II's cousin) bestowed the royal title on the building and it has been referred to as the Royal Exhibition Building ever since. This title, and the first conservation assessment of the building undertaken by Alan Willingham, sparked a restoration of the interiors of the building in the late 1980s and 1990s, and the construction of a mirror glass annexe (which was later demolished). In 1996, the then Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett, proposed the location and construction of Melbourne's State Museum on the adjacent site. Temporary annexes built in the 1960s were removed and in 1997 and 1998, the exterior of the building was progressively restored.
On 1 July 2004, the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens was granted listing as a World Heritage Site, the first building in Australia to be granted this status. The heritage listing states that "The Royal Exhibition Building is the only major extant nineteenth century exhibition building in Australia. It is one of the few major nineteenth century exhibition buildings to survive worldwide."
Features Simon Says Stamp "you" and speech bubble dies, Lawn Fawn's "Harold's ABCs" and handmade "lego" brick Additional photos and details on my blog: kellybertram.blogspot.com/2013/02/lego-ninjago-party-invi... thanks for visiting!
BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 30: Team Gambit Esports' Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov poses at the VALORANT Champions Features Day on November 30, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
SULTAN ABDUL SAMAD Building
The Sultan Abdul Samad building has long been a famous landmark for Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur. Designed by British architect A.C Norman, it was built in 1897 with a unique Moorish-style design. The Moorish inspired design of the building is based on some of the features of buildings in Islamic countries that suitably reflects the cultural background of Malaysia. Previously home to the Colonial Secretariat offices, it now houses the Supreme and High Courts.
The centre of attraction of Sultan Abdul Samad is it’s clock tower in the middle - Kuala Lumpur’s answer to London’s ‘Big Ben’. The clock tower is significant to many major events; from the lowering of the Union Jack at the stroke of midnight when Malaysia (then Malaya) gained independance and annual new year eve celebrations.
History
It was designed by A.C. Norman and built in 1894-1897 to house several important government departments during the British administration. A.C. Norman spent time in Africa and saw Muslim mosques in India which led him to use Moorish architecture in the building's design.
In 1945, when World War II ended, Britain resumed control again, but Malaya's independence movement had matured and organized itself in an alliance under Tunku Abdul Rahman. When the British flag was finally lowered in Kuala Lumpur's Merdeka Square in 1957, Tunku became the first prime minister of Malaya.
In front of the building is the Dataran Merdeka (or Merdeka Square). It was here, the Union Jack flag was lowered and the Malayan flag hoisted for the first time at midnight on August 31, 1957. The Dataran Merdeka was officially opened on January 1, 1990, in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 1990.
The Merdeka Square symbolized British sovereignty as it was a cricket ground for the colonial administrators and fronted the Royal Selangor Club, Malaya's most exclusive whites-only club.
In 1961, Abdul Rahman mooted the idea of the establishment of "Malaysia", which would consist of Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei, all of which had still been British colonies. The reasoning behind this was that it would allow the federal government to control and combat communist activities, especially in Singapore. It was also feared that if Singapore achieved independence, it would become a base for Chinese chauvinists to threaten Malayan sovereignty. To balance out the ethnic composition of the new nation, the other states, whose Malay and indigenous populations would cancel out the Chinese majority in Singapore, were also included.
A 95-meter flagpole, one of the tallest in the world, marks that spot with a flat, round black marble plaque. It is located at the southern end of the square.
To mark the occasion on the morning of Merdeka Day, Thousands of spectators converge on the city to watch the colourful parade along the streets of the city and performances held at the Merdeka Square. Each state will be represented, as are the many ethnic groups that comprise multiracial Malaysia. The National Flag will be flown throughout the country, at office buildings, private homes and on vehicles. State shows, competitions and exhibitions will also be held in all states. This year, Malaysia celebrates her 50th birthday.
During state occasions, coloured lights twinkle in the arches, making it look like a scene from an Arabian Nights' tale. The section of Jalan Raja is closed in order for the people to enjoy the night scenery of the area.
Features
Topped by a shiny copper dome and a 40m high clock tower, it is a major landmark in the city. It serves as the backdrop for important events such as the National Day Parade on August 31 and the ushering in of the New Year. This heritage building used to be occupied by the then Apex Court of Malaysia, the Supreme Court which was subsequently renamed the Federal Court. The Court of Appeal was also housed in this historic building. The Federal Court and the Court of Appeals have since moved to the Palace of Justice located in Putrajaya, the new Federal administrative capital. The Sultan Abdul Samad Building now houses the Commercial Division of the High Court of Malaya.
Behind the building flows the Klang river and Gombak river's confluence and in the middle of where the 2 rivers meet stands The Masjid Jamek Mosque, a mosque of similar design by the same architect.
Incidents
In 1971, Kuala Lumpur suffered a huge flood after a heavy rainfall. Part of the building was not spared. In 1978, a massive renovation was undertaken. The renovation took six years to complete with a total cost of RM 17.2 million.
Many historical events had been held in front of this building. Among them was the declaration of independence of Malaysia (Malaya then) on 31 August, 1957 and the lowering of the Union Jack. On 1st January 1982, the clock tower became the venue for another historic event when the time between West Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore were standardized.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
To view more of my images, of Audley End House and gardens, please click "here" !
Audley End House is largely an early 17th-century country house just outside Saffron Walden, Essex, south of Cambridge, England. It was once a palace in all but name and renowned as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England. Audley End is now only one-third of its original size, but is still large, with much to enjoy in its architectural features and varied collections. It is currently in the stewardship of English Heritage though remains the family seat of the Lords Braybrooke. The nearby Audley End railway station is named after Audley End House. Audley End was the site of a Benedictine monastery (Walden Abbey), granted to the Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas Audley in 1538 by Henry VIII. It was converted to a domestic house for him, known as Audley Inn. This dwelling was later demolished by his grandson, Thomas Howard (the first Earl of Suffolk and Lord Treasurer), and a much grander mansion was built, primarily for entertaining King James I. The layout reflects the processional route of the King and Queen, each having their own suite of rooms. It is reputed that Thomas Howard told King James he had spent some £200,000 on creating this grand house, and it may be that the King had unwittingly contributed. In 1619, Suffolk and his wife were found guilty of embezzlement and sent to the Tower of London. However, a huge fine secured their release, but Suffolk died in disgrace at Audley End in 1626. At this time, the house was on the scale of a great royal palace, and soon became one after Charles II bought it in 1668 for £5 for use as a home when attending the races at Newmarket. It was returned to the Suffolks in 1701. Over the next century, the house was gradually demolished until it was reduced to its current size. However, the main structure has remained little altered since the main front court was demolished in 1708, and the east wing came down in 1753. Some rooms have been substantially remodelled, though, especially the huge Hall. Sir John Griffin, later fourth Baron Howard de Walden and first Baron Braybrooke, introduced sweeping changes before he died in 1797. In 1762, Sir John commissioned Capability Brown to landscape the parkland, and Robert Adam to design new reception rooms on the house's ground floor, which he did in the style of the 18th century with a formal grandeur. The Great Drawing Room proved problematic as it had to be the grandest room for receiving guests, but it possessed a very low ceiling, and this was considered most undesirable at that time. Robert Adam solved the problem to a large extent by making the furniture unusually small and lowering the chair rail. His design of the Little Drawing Room for the Ladies was exceedingly odd, based on the style of ancient Rome, and Lady Griffin had difficulty moving between the columns when dressed in her evening gown. The third Baron Braybrooke, who inherited house and title in 1825, installed most of the house's huge picture collection, filled the rooms with furnishings, and reinstated something of the original Jacobean feel to the State Rooms. Audley End was offered to the government during the Dunkirk evacuation but the offer was declined due to the lack of facilities at the house. It was later requisitioned in March 1941. It was initially used as a camp by a small number of units before being turned over to the Special Operations Executive. The SOE initially used the house as a general holding camp before using it for the Polish branch of the SOE. A memorial to the 108 Poles who died in the service stands in the main drive. After the war, the ninth Lord Braybrooke resumed possession, and in 1948 the house was sold to the Ministry of Works, the predecessor of English Heritage. Lord Braybrooke moved to the Abbey House in the grounds of Audley End, an irregular L-shaped two-storey house with an early 17th-century timber-framed and 19th-century brick core. It was remodelled by Sir Albert Richardson and Eric Houfe in the 1950s and then enlarged to three times its former size by Philip Jebb in 1967-70 for the Hon. Robin Neville. Symmetrical north front with two canted bay windows in the centre. The building history is most apparent from the south, where the gables of the first house can be seen behind those of the 19th-century rear wing. The house has interior decoration in Classical style by Dudley Poplack. The Capability Brown parkland still includes many of the mock-classical monuments, although some are not in the care of English Heritage. The grounds are divided by the River Cam, which is crossed by several ornate bridges, and a main road which follows the route of a Roman road. The park beyond the river is frequently used for open air concerts. There is also a miniature circular railway in the grounds. The walled kitchen garden in its grounds was painstakingly restored by Garden Organic, the UK's leading organic growing charity, in 1999 from an overgrown, semi-derelict state. Renovated to its former glory it now looks as it would have done in late Victorian times; full of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - APRIL 8: Enzo “Fearoth” Mestari of team Fnatic poses for the VALORANT Masters Features Day on April 8, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA - MAY 25: Sergen "Broken Blade" Celik of G2 Esports (L) and Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme of Evil Geniuses pose at the League of Legends - Mid-Season Invitational Knockouts Features Day on May 25, 2022 in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Lee Aiksoon/Riot Games)
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA - MAY 08: fastPay Wildcats poses at the League of Legends - Mid-Season Invitational Features Day on May 8, 2022 in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 30: Team FURIA Esports' Agustin "nzr" Ibarra poses at the VALORANT Champions Features Day on November 30, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
The Postcard
A postally unused Sovereign Series postcard. The card was published by Prescott Pickup & Co. Ltd. of Allscott, Telford, Salop, England. On the back of the card they state:
'A series of 60 postcards.
Illustrated souvenir album
£3'.
The series features images of the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on the 29th. July 1981, and also various scenes both prior and subsequent to the event.
The card was printed in England.
The Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer
The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday 29th. July 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral in London. The groom was the heir to the British throne, and the bride was a member of the Spencer family.
The ceremony was a traditional Church of England wedding service. The Dean of St Paul's Cathedral Alan Webster presided at the service, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie conducted the marriage.
Notable figures in attendance included many members of other royal families, republican heads of state, and members of the bride's and groom's families. After the ceremony, the couple made the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
The United Kingdom had a national holiday on that day to mark the wedding. The ceremony featured many ceremonial aspects, including use of the state carriages and roles for the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry.
Their marriage was widely billed as a 'Fairytale Wedding' and the 'Wedding of the Century'. It was watched by an estimated global TV audience of 750 million people.
Events were held around the Commonwealth to mark the wedding. Many street parties were held throughout the United Kingdom to celebrate the occasion.
The couple separated in 1992, and divorced in 1996 after fifteen years of marriage.
The Tragic Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales died after a high-speed car crash at the age of 36 on the 31st. August 1997 at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.
When Diana married Charles, she was a naïve yet hopeful young woman seeking true love. But by the time she died, Diana was jaded, bitter, and impossibly scarred by her disastrous marriage and being hounded by the media.
Twenty years after Princess Diana's funeral, people recall the iconic moments, from the sea of flowers and mementos left outside Kensington Palace to the heart-breaking image of Prince William and Prince Harry walking behind their mother's casket.
Diana’s younger brother Charles, the ninth Earl Spencer, held nothing back during his funeral oration. Funeral attendees may have been expecting a tearful remembrance of Diana’s life. Instead, they felt the full brunt of her brother’s fury at those he felt were responsible for her death.
In paying tribute to his sister, the 9th Earl Spencer reportedly angered the Queen and created a rift in the royal family that has only begun to heal in recent years with the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
What Charles Spencer said in Westminster Abbey is as follows:
Charles Spencer's Funeral Speech
'I stand before you today, the representative of a family in grief in a country in mourning before a world in shock.
We are all united not only in our desire to pay our respects to Diana but rather in our need to do so.
For such was her extraordinary appeal that the tens of millions of people taking part in this service all over the world via television and radio who never actually met her, feel that they too lost someone close to them in the early hours of Sunday morning. It is a more remarkable tribute to Diana than I can ever hope to offer her today.
Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality. Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.
Today is our chance to say thank you for the way you brightened our lives, even though God granted you but half a life. We will all feel cheated always that you were taken from us so young, and yet we must learn to be grateful that you came along at all. Only now that you are gone do we truly appreciate what we are now without, and we want you to know that life without you is very, very difficult.
We have all despaired at our loss over the past week and only the strength of the message you gave us through your years of giving has afforded us the strength to move forward.
There is a temptation to rush to canonise your memory, there is no need to do so. You stand tall enough as a human being of unique qualities not to need to be seen as a saint. Indeed to sanctify your memory would be to miss out on the very core of your being, your wonderfully mischievous sense of humour with a laugh that bent you double.
Your joy for life transmitted where ever you took your smile and the sparkle in those unforgettable eyes. Your boundless energy which you could barely contain.
But your greatest gift was your intuition, and it was a gift you used wisely. This is what underpinned all your other wonderful attributes and if we look to analyse what it was about you that had such a wide appeal, we find it in your instinctive feel for what was really important in all our lives.
Without your God-given sensitivity we would be immersed in greater ignorance at the anguish of AIDS and H.I.V. sufferers, the plight of the homeless, the isolation of lepers, the random destruction of landmines.
Diana explained to me once that it was her innermost feelings of suffering that made it possible for her to connect with her constituency of the rejected. And here we come to another truth about her. For all the status, the glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others so she could release herself from deep feelings of unworthiness of which her eating disorders were merely a symptom.
The world sensed this part of her character and cherished her for her vulnerability whilst admiring her for her honesty.
The last time I saw Diana was on July the 1st., her birthday in London, when typically she was not taking time to celebrate her special day with friends but was guest of honour at a special charity fund-raising evening. She sparkled of course, but I would rather cherish the days I spent with her in March when she came to visit me and my children in our home in South Africa. I am proud of the fact apart from when she was on display meeting President Mandela we managed to contrive to stop the ever-present paparazzi from getting a single picture of her -- that meant a lot to her.
These were days I will always treasure. It was as if we had been transported back to our childhood when we spent such an enormous amount of time together -- the two youngest in the family.
Fundamentally she had not changed at all from the big sister who mothered me as a baby, fought with me at school and endured those long train journeys between our parents' homes with me at weekends.
It is a tribute to her level-headedness and strength that despite the most bizarre-like life imaginable after her childhood, she remained intact, true to herself.
There is no doubt that she was looking for a new direction in her life at this time. She talked endlessly of getting away from England, mainly because of the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers. I don't think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to bring her down. It is baffling. My own and only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this -- a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.
She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys William and Harry from a similar fate and I do this here Diana on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.
And beyond that, on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as you planned.
We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage them in their royal role. But we, like you, recognise the need for them to experience as many different aspects of life as possible to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead. I know you would have expected nothing less from us.
William and Harry, we all cared desperately for you today. We are all chewed up with the sadness at the loss of a woman who was not even our mother. How great your suffering is, we cannot even imagine.
I would like to end by thanking God for the small mercies he has shown us at this dreadful time. For taking Diana at her most beautiful and radiant and when she had joy in her private life. Above all we give thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to be able to call my sister, the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds'.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - APRIL 12: (L-R) Auni "AvovA" Chahade, Johan "Meddo" Renbjork Lundborg and Zygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas of G2 Esports pose for the VALORANT Masters Features Day on April 12, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
Photograph from an album of images of English churchyards in London, West Sussex, Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent, including churchyard elements of external tombs, tomb chests, chest tombs, monuments and memorials, memorial plaques, plinth monumental sculptures and sculptures of angels, gravestones and headstones, grave slabs and grave ledger stones, stone grave crosses, cast-iron grave crosses, grave fences, graveyard paths, lychgates, churchyard furniture, churchyard walls, and churchyard trees including yew trees.
__________________________________________________
This photo is one of thousands, typically taken with Canon EOS 6D (EOS 6D) or Canon Powershot X60HS of public places and events mostly rendered with DxO Optics Pro Elite, of various subjects and locations under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence, see Acabashi at Wikimedia. Republishing in whole, part, form or adaptation in any media is allowed, but only if the text 'Photo © Acabashi' is clearly stated. If this attribution is not given, the licence for follow-on use is automatically revoked, see: legal code conditions This file has been released under a licence which is incompatible with Facebook's licensing terms. It is not permitted to upload this file, or any variation of this file, to Facebook and social media platforms.
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA - MAY 08: fastPay Wildcats poses at the League of Legends - Mid-Season Invitational Features Day on May 8, 2022 in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
TOKYO, JAPAN - JUNE 08: T1 at VALORANT Masters Tokyo Features Day on June 8, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Lee Aiksoon/Riot Games)
Well... After a thinking it over a little, I decided to go ahead and add two additional features to the unit. I have now added an Intervalometer and a Lightning Detector to it's capabilities! :-)
The Intervalometer is a bit more capable than the standard ones out there and certainly the one I have built into my camera. It has the ability to set intervals down to the milliseconds! The ones have used in the past only allowed me to set intervals in seconds and not fractions of a second. I am sure there are other uses for it but I know for sure it would have been handy in doing some time lapses while doing higher speeds in a vehicle. The Lightning detection circuit is about as simple as it can get and will work with any camera having a shutter lag of less than 90 milliseconds (just to be on the safe side).
I also spent a lot of time re-writing the code for the update routines to make it easier to navigate through the system parameters, make changes to them, and then added the ability to save them to non-volatile memory so that the saved parameters will be reloaded on power up of the system. All in all, I think this unit will work very nicely in what I want it to do! :-)
All of this has taken up pretty much every moment of the last two days, but most of that time was spent fighting a bug that I ran across in the Arduino compiler in dealing with complex OR comparisons. That was bit frustrating to figure out, but I finally worked my way around it. :-)
So... now I can get back to work on finishing the tutorial and getting the wiring diagram drawn up!
Welcome to the Masonry Division of Johnson’s Landscaping Service, Inc.!
View the work of our experience and skilled masons. From traditional steps and walkways, to elegant patios and stone walls, our masons pride themselves on implementing your design to perfection. Contact us today, and begin enjoying a new outdoor living experience!
BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 30: Team Vikings' Gustavo "gtnziN" Moura poses at the VALORANT Champions Features Day on November 30, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately 3 miles (5 kilometres) south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for 407 years becoming one of the wealthiest monasteries in England until its dissolution in 1539 under the order of Henry VIII.
The abbey is a Grade I listed building owned by the National Trust and part of the designated Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Foundation
After a dispute and riot in 1132 at the Benedictine house of St Mary's Abbey, in York, 13 monks were expelled (among them Saint Robert of Newminster) and, after unsuccessful attempts to form a new monastery were taken under the protection of Thurstan, Archbishop of York. He provided them with land in the valley of the River Skell, a tributary of the Ure. The enclosed valley had all the natural features needed for the creation of a monastery, providing shelter from the weather, stone and timber for building, and a supply of running water. After enduring a harsh winter in 1133, the monks applied to join the Cistercian order which since the end of the previous century was a fast-growing reform movement that by the beginning of the 13th century was to have over 500 houses. So it was that in 1135, Fountains became the second Cistercian house in northern England, after Rievaulx. The Fountains monks became subject to Clairvaux Abbey, in Burgundy which was under the rule of St Bernard. Under the guidance of Geoffrey of Ainai, a monk sent from Clairvaux, the group learned how to celebrate the seven Canonical Hours according to Cistercian usage and were shown how to construct wooden buildings in accordance with Cistercian practice.
Consolidation
After Henry Murdac was elected abbot in 1143, the small stone church and timber claustral buildings were replaced. Within three years, an aisled nave had been added to the stone church, and the first permanent claustral buildings built in stone and roofed in tile had been completed.
In 1146 an angry mob, annoyed at Murdac for his role in opposing the election of William FitzHerbert as archbishop of York, attacked the abbey and burnt down all but the church and some surrounding buildings.The community recovered swiftly from the attack and founded four daughter houses. Henry Murdac resigned as abbot in 1147 upon becoming the Archbishop of York and was replaced first by Maurice, Abbot of Rievaulx then, on the resignation of Maurice, by Thorald. Thorald was forced by Henry Murdac to resign after two years in office. The next abbot, Richard, held the post until his death in 1170 and restored the abbey's stability and prosperity. In 20 years as abbot, he supervised a huge building programme which involved completing repairs to the damaged church and building more accommodation for the increasing number of recruits. Only the chapter house was completed before he died and the work was ably continued by his successor, Robert of Pipewell, under whose rule the abbey gained a reputation for caring for the needy.
The next abbot was William, who presided over the abbey from 1180 to 1190 and he was succeeded by Ralph Haget, who had entered Fountains at the age of 30 as a novice, after pursuing a military career. During the European famine of 1194 Haget ordered the construction of shelters in the vicinity of the abbey and provided daily food rations to the poor enhancing the abbey's reputation for caring for the poor and attracting more grants from wealthy benefactors.
In the first half of the 13th century Fountains increased in reputation and prosperity under the next three abbots, John of York (1203–1211), John of Hessle (1211–1220) and John of Kent (1220–1247). They were burdened with an inordinate amount of administrative duties and increasing demands for money in taxation and levies but managed to complete another massive expansion of the abbey's buildings. This included enlarging the church and building an infirmary.
Difficulties
In the second half of the 13th century the abbey was in more straitened circumstances. It was presided over by eleven abbots, and became financially unstable largely due to forward selling its wool crop, and the abbey was criticised for its dire material and physical state when it was visited by Archbishop John le Romeyn in 1294. The run of disasters that befell the community continued into the early 14th century when northern England was invaded by the Scots and there were further demands for taxes. The culmination of these misfortunes was the Black Death of 1348–1349. The loss of manpower and income due to the ravages of the plague was almost ruinous.
A further complication arose as a result of the Papal Schism of 1378–1409. Fountains Abbey along with other English Cistercian houses was told to break off any contact with the mother house of Citeaux, which supported a rival pope. This resulted in the abbots forming their own chapter to rule the order in England and consequently they became increasingly involved in internecine politics. In 1410, following the death of Abbot Burley of Fountains, the community was riven by several years of turmoil over the election of his successor. Contending candidates John Ripon, Abbot of Meaux, and Roger Frank, a monk of Fountains were locked in conflict until 1415 when Ripon was finally appointed, ruling until his death in 1434. Under abbots John Greenwell (1442–1471), Thomas Swinton (1471–8), John Darnton (1478–95), who undertook some much needed restoration of the fabric of the abbey, including notable work on the church, and Marmaduke Huby (1495–1526) Fountains regained stability and prosperity.
At Abbot Huby's death he was succeeded by William Thirsk who was accused by the royal commissioners of immorality and inadequacy and was dismissed as abbot. He was replaced by Marmaduke Bradley, a monk of the abbey who had reported Thirsk's supposed offences, testified against him and offered the authorities six hundred marks for the post of abbot. In 1539 it was Bradley who surrendered the abbey when its seizure was ordered under Henry VIII at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The abbey precinct covered 70 acres (28 ha) surrounded by an 11-foot (3.4 m) wall built in the 13th century, some parts of which are visible to the south and west of the abbey. The area consists of three concentric zones cut by the River Skell flowing from west to east across the site. The church and claustral buildings stand at the centre of the precinct north of the Skell, the inner court containing the domestic buildings stretches down to the river and the outer court housing the industrial and agricultural buildings lies on the river's south bank. The early abbey buildings were added to and altered over time, causing deviations from the strict Cistercian type. Outside the walls were the abbey's granges.[citation needed]
The original abbey church was built of wood and "was probably" two stories high; it was, however, quickly replaced in stone. The church was damaged in the attack on the abbey in 1146 and was rebuilt, in a larger scale, on the same site. Building work was completed c.1170.[11] This structure, completed around 1170, was 300 ft (91 m) long and had 11 bays in the side aisles. A lantern tower was added at the crossing of the church in the late 12th century. The presbytery at the eastern end of the church was much altered in the 13th century. The church's greatly lengthened choir, commenced by Abbot John of York, 1203–11, and carried on by his successor terminates, like that of Durham Cathedral, in an eastern transept, the work of Abbot John of Kent, 1220–47. The 160-foot-tall (49 m) tower, which was added not long before the dissolution, by Abbot Huby, 1494–1526, is in an unusual position at the northern end of the north transept and bears Huby's motto 'Soli Deo Honor et Gloria'. The sacristry adjoined the south transept.
The cloister, which had arcading of black marble from Nidderdale and white sandstone, is in the centre of the precinct and to the south of the church. The three-aisled chapter-house and parlour open from the eastern walk of the cloister and the refectory, with the kitchen and buttery attached, are at right angles to its southern walk. Parallel with the western walk is an immense vaulted substructure serving as cellars and store-rooms, which supported the dormitory of the conversi (lay brothers) above. This building extended across the river and at its south-west corner were the latrines, built above the swiftly flowing stream. The monks' dormitory was in its usual position above the chapter-house, to the south of the transept. Peculiarities of this arrangement include the position of the kitchen, between the refectory and calefactory, and of the infirmary above the river to the west, adjoining the guest-houses.
The abbot's house, one of the largest in all of England,is located to the east of the latrine block, where portions of it are suspended on arches over the River Skell.It was built in the mid-twelfth century as a modest single-storey structure, then, from the fourteenth century, underwent extensive expansion and remodelling to end up in the 16th century as a grand dwelling with fine bay windows and grand fireplaces. The great hall was an expansive room 52 by 21 metres (171 by 69 ft).
Among other apartments, for the designation of which see the ground-plan, was a domestic oratory or chapel,
1/2-by-23-foot (14 by 7 m), and a kitchen, 50-by-38-foot (15 by 12 m)
Medieval monasteries were sustained by landed estates that were given to them as endowments and from which they derived an income from rents. They were the gifts of the founder and subsequent patrons, but some were purchased from cash revenues. At the outset, the Cistercian order rejected gifts of mills and rents, churches with tithes and feudal manors as they did not accord with their belief in monastic purity, because they involved contact with laymen. When Archbishop Thurstan founded the abbey he gave the community 260 acres (110 ha) of land at Sutton north of the abbey and 200 acres (81 ha) at Herleshowe to provide support while the abbey became established. In the early years the abbey struggled to maintain itself because further gifts were not forthcoming and Thurstan could not help further because the lands he administered were not his own, but part of the diocesan estate. After a few years of impoverished struggle to establish the abbey, the monks were joined by Hugh, a former dean of York Minster, a rich man who brought a considerable fortune as well as furniture and books to start the library.
By 1135 the monks had acquired only another 260 acres (110 ha) at Cayton, given by Eustace fitzJohn of Knaresborough "for the building of the abbey". Shortly after the fire of 1146, the monks had established granges at Sutton, Cayton, Cowton Moor, Warsill, Dacre and Aldburgh all within 6 mi (10 km) of Fountains. In the 1140s the water mill was built on the abbey site making it possible for the grain from the granges to be brought to the abbey for milling.Tannery waste from this time has been excavated on the site.
Further estates were assembled in two phases, between 1140 and 1160 then 1174 and 1175, from piecemeal acquisitions of land. Some of the lands were grants from benefactors but others were purchased from gifts of money to the abbey. Roger de Mowbray granted vast areas of Nidderdale and William de Percy and his tenants granted substantial estates in Craven which included Malham Moor and the fishery in Malham Tarn. After 1203 the abbots consolidated the abbey's lands by renting out more distant areas that the monks could not easily farm themselves, and exchanging and purchasing lands that complemented their existing estates. Fountains' holdings both in Yorkshire and beyond had reached their maximum extent by 1265, when they were an efficient and very profitable estate. Their estates were linked in a network of individual granges which provided staging posts to the most distant ones. They had urban properties in York, Yarm, Grimsby, Scarborough and Boston from which to conduct export and market trading and their other commercial interests included mining, quarrying, iron-smelting, fishing and milling.
The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 was a factor that led to a downturn in the prosperity of the abbey in the early fourteenth century. Areas of the north of England as far south as York were looted by the Scots. Then the number of lay-brothers being recruited to the order reduced considerably. The abbey chose to take advantage of the relaxation of the edict on leasing property that had been enacted by the General Chapter of the order in 1208 and leased some of their properties. Others were staffed by hired labour and remained in hand under the supervision of bailiffs. In 1535 Fountains had an interest in 138 vills and the total taxable income of the Fountains estate was £1,115, making it the richest Cistercian monastery in England.
After the Dissolution
The Gresham family crest
The Abbey buildings and over 500 acres (200 ha) of land were sold by the Crown, on 1 October 1540, to Sir Richard Gresham, at the time a Member of Parliament and former Lord Mayor of London, the father of Sir Thomas Gresham. It was Richard Gresham who had supplied Cardinal Wolsey with the tapestries for his new house of Hampton Court and who paid for the Cardinal's funeral.
Gresham sold some of the fabric of the site, stone, timber, lead, as building materials to help to defray the cost of purchase. The site was acquired in 1597 by Sir Stephen Proctor, who used stone from the monastic complex to build Fountains Hall. Between 1627 and 1767 the estate was owned by the Messenger family who sold it to William Aislaby who was responsible for combining it with the Studley Royal Estate.
Burials
Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray
John de Mowbray, 2nd Baron Mowbray
Abbot Marmaduke Huby (d. 1526)
Rose (daughter of Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester), wife of Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray
Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy
William II de Percy, 3rd feudal baron of Topcliffe
Becoming a World Heritage Site
The archaeological excavation of the site was begun under the supervision of John Richard Walbran, a Ripon antiquary who, in 1846, had published a paper On the Necessity of clearing out the Conventual Church of Fountains.In 1966 the Abbey was placed in the guardianship of the Department of the Environment and the estate was purchased by the West Riding County Council who transferred ownership to the North Yorkshire County Council in 1974. The National Trust bought the 674-acre (273 ha) Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal estate from North Yorkshire County Council in 1983. In 1986 the parkland in which the abbey is situated and the abbey was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It was recognised for fulfilling the criteria of being a masterpiece of human creative genius, and an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates significant stages in human history. Fountains Abbey is owned by the National Trust and maintained by English Heritage. The trust owns Studley Royal Park, Fountains Hall, to which there is partial public access, and St Mary's Church, designed by William Burges and built around 1873, all of which are significant features of the World Heritage Site.
The Porter's Lodge, which was once the gatehouse to the abbey, houses a modern exhibition area with displays about the history of Fountains Abbey and how the monks lived.
In January 2010, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal became two of the first National Trust properties to be included in Google Street View, using the Google Trike.
Film location
Fountains Abbey was used as a film location by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark for their single "Maid of Orleans (The Waltz Joan of Arc)" during the cold winter of December 1981. In 1980, Hollywood also came to the site to film the final scenes to the film Omen III: The Final Conflict.Other productions filmed on location at the abbey are the films Life at the Top, The Secret Garden, The History Boys, TV series Flambards, A History of Britain, Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, Cathedral, Antiques Roadshow and the game show Treasure Hunt. The BBC Television series 'Gunpowder' (2017) used Fountains Abbey as a location.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - APRIL 12: Auni "AvovA" Chahade of G2 Esports poses for the VALORANT Masters Features Day on April 12, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - JULY 08: OpTic Gaming poses at the VALORANT Champions Tour: Stage 2 Masters Features Day on July 8, 2022 in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Photo by Sebastian Stigsby/Riot Games)
South Surrey White Rock – British Columbia, Canada
Each Best Western hotel is independently owned and operated.
Facilities and Special Features:
•42 Deluxe rooms
•Complimentary Continental Breakfast
•Indoor swimming pool, whirlpool & sauna
•Exercise Facility
•Coin operated guest laundry
•Safe deposit box
•Full elevator service
•Free 24 hour parking
•Business Center with free internet
•Meeting room available
•Two Honeymoon Suites
All rooms feature:
•Free hard wire data port and wireless internet
•32” Flat Panel LCD Television with free local cable
•Pay Per View Movies with new selections monthly
•Free local calls
•Desk & work area in all rooms
•Microwave, bar fridge and Coffee/Tea Makers
•Hairdryers, ironing board and extra pillows
•Electronic Key Card Locks and deadbolts
•Kitchenettes available
•100% non-smoking facility
•Individual control air conditioning and heating
Located in beautiful Surrey/White Rock area. The perfect setting to enjoy all the amenities of this diverse area.
Within walking distance are restaurants, shopping mall and bike path. Just 3 km away, guests can enjoy White Rock Beach and Pier, Crescent Beach or Morgan Creek Golf Course (1km). Three other golf courses nearby including a PGA Course.
The 3 miles of accessible beachfront on Semiahmoo Bay is popular with residents and visitors alike. Whether getting in your morning exercise or taking a sunset stroll, the boardwalk is a must see while visiting White Rock. Local artisans and vendors have mixed to create a unique shopping experience and great restaurants with spectacular views of the ocean await.
Top White Rock Attractions include:
•White Rock Promenade, Pier and Beach
•The Gift Totem Poles at East Beach of White Rock
•White Rockk Museum & Archives at the Train Station Building on the beach
•White Rock Farms Market
•Semiahmoo Bay
•Crescent Beach and Ocean Park
•Blackie Spit Park nature area & bird watching at Crescent Beach
•Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley
•Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair (seasonal)
•Golfing at Four nearby cources
Best Western Peace Arch Inn is located only Minutess from the Canada/US Border, 30 minutes to Vancouver and 20 minutes to the ferry.
How to Find us...
From the North: Take Highway 99 to Exit 8, 152nd Street. Turn left onto Highway 99A, King George Highway, follow for four blocks.
From The South: Take Highway 99 to Exit 2, 8th Avenue. Turn right onto Highway 99A, King George Highway, follow for one block.
From the East: Take Highway 1 to 176th Street Exit to U.S.A. Border, turn right onto 24th Avenue, then turn Left onto Highway 99A, King George Highway, follow for one block.
From the West: Take Highway 1 to 152nd Street Exit. Turn left onto Highway 99A, King George Highway, follow for four blocks.
Contact information:
2293 King George Highway, Surrey, B.C. Canada V4A 5A4, Phone: (604) 541-8100, Fax: (604) 541-8700, Toll Free: 1-877-677-8100, Email: stay@peacearchinn.com, website: www.bestwesternpeacearchinn.com
BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 30: Team Gambit Esports pose at the VALORANT Champions Features Day on November 30, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - APRIL 12: Zygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas of G2 Esports poses for the VALORANT Masters Features Day on April 12, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - FEBRUARY 09: Jose "koldamenta" Herrero of KOI poses during the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN features day on February 9, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)
Oner of T1 at League of Legends Worlds 2025 Semifinal Features on October 27, 2025 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by David Lee/Riot Games)
The Autostadt (German for Automobile City) is a visitor attraction adjacent to the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, with a prime focus on automobiles.
It features a museum, feature pavilions for the principal automobile brands in the Volkswagen Group, a customer centre where customers can pick up new cars, and take a tour through the enormous factory, a guide to the evolution of roads, and cinema in a large sphere.
It is also home to the largest glass doors in the world and the longest printed line. The line starts from outside Wolfsburg and travels through Autostadt to a point on a farm. It is about 6.4 km long.
HISTORY
The idea for Autostadt was started in 1994 when the concept of documenting the stages of production of Volkswagen vehicles and how the company's operations were showcased at Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany. In 1998, Autostadt, which is German for "Car City", broke ground on the former site of a fuel company bordering Volkswagen's Wolfsburg production plant. Like the adjacent car plant, the site of Autostadt is on the north bank of the Mittelland Canal. The resulting complex is the work of more than 400 architects, created as a new urban center, close to downtown Wolfsburg.
The main pavilion opened in May 2000, providing an opportunity to present famous cars hitherto locked in crates to be shown to the public. By that time it was reported that Volkswagen had invested approximately 850 Million Marks (€435 Million) in the project. Autostadt is located next to Volkswagen's main factory which is also an attraction. Every Volkswagen model is available giving the opportunity for the public to choose what they want. Volkswagen then manufactures the car specified according to the purchaser's requirements.
VISITORS AND ATTRACTIONS
Autostadt attracts around 2 million visitors a year. It is very popular because of the ultra modern architecture it features in each building. Extensive use is made of water and vegetation between the pavilions and mounds of earth covered in grass are located in the grounds. Modern design is not just incorporated into the pavilions but also into the furniture such as benches and chairs.
It has a small track for the off-road Volkswagen Touareg underneath the bridge which leads from the main town to the Autostadt which is located above the main canal cutting through the city, the Mittelland Canal. Visitors must be able to show driver's licenses before being able to drive the vehicles. First, the guide drives the car around the track showing the features of the vehicle and giving information of the vehicle's capabilities. After driving around the track, the visitor can then drive around the track under the surveillance of the guide who sits in the passenger seat. Any other passengers sit in the back. Features of the track include a 21 degree angled hill, another hill which is angled on the side, a water tank, a sand pit which is located under a road bridge, a log road and a numerous small mounds which allow one wheel to be raised off the ground. The price of this runs at €35, and €25 for driving a Tiguan on a slightly different track (2013 prices).
There is a mini track for children where they can drive small electric cars in the form of Volkswagen Beetles.
Autostadt has a large variety of multimedia activities and devices which include car design software. There is a room exhibiting the advantages and disadvantages different fuels have on the performance of cars. There are two cinemas which show small films in German. One of these cinemas is located in its own purpose built buildings and is in a large sphere.
Major attractions are some famous cars, such as the first petrol vehicle produced, and the Beetle.
There are two 60 meter tall glass silos (AutoTürme) used as storage for new Volkswagens. The two towers are connected to the Volkswagen factory by a 700 metre underground tunnel. When cars arrive at the towers they are carried up at a speed of 1.5 metres per second. The render for the Autostadt shows 6 towers. When purchasing a car from Volkswagen (the main brand only, not the sub-brands) in select European countries, it is optional if the customer wants it delivered to the dealership where it was bought or if the customer wants to travel to Autostadt to pick it up. If the latter is chosen, the Autostadt supplies the customer with free entrance, meal tickets and a variety of events building up to the point where the customer can follow on screen as the automatic elevator picks up the selected car in one of the silos. The car is then transported out to the customer without having driven a single meter, and the odometer is thus on "0".
There is also a room with interactive devices which provide information on the design of cars using Audi as an example. Computer software allows visitors to design their own cars using features from Audi cars and send them to an email address and get them printed at the printer located in the centre of the room.
PAVILIONS AT AUTOSTADT
There are seven pavilions dedicated to car manufacturers at Autostadt.
VOLKSWAGEN PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Not to be confused with AutoMuseum Volkswagen.
There are two pavilions for Volkswagen which show production and the development of cars.
The Volkswagen development pavilion is the largest in ground area of all pavilions at Autostadt. The pavilion is circular in shape and has two floors which display all models in the Volkswagen range plus a shop of Volkswagen articles of clothing, die cast models and vehicle accessories which is located on the top floor.
The production pavilion is the smallest and one of the last of the pavilions to be constructed. It was not included on the original render of Autostadt.
PORSCHE
The pavilion is round-shaped, the interior design is simple yet elegant. The visitors enter on a descending curved corridor entering the only hall of the pavilion. There are three models on display, a Boxster, a 911 and a Panamera. Behind them there are small models of the previous cars in the history of the marque with the oldest displayed with the smallest and the generation just before the current one the biggest in scale. Next to the cars on display, there is a black couch fitted with iPads running an app which shows the history of Porsche with pictures and videos on the former generations.
PREMIUM CLUBHOUSE (FORMERLY BENTLEY)
The pavilion for Bentley was built into a small hill. It has a marble roof and the entrance is cut into the side of the grass-covered mound. The exit is on the opposite side of the pavilion. It was designed by KSS Architects.
The pavilion visit began with an escalator with a film either side documenting cars produced by Bentley since the creation of the company. There was then a spiralling walkway which descends around a rotating displays of cogs illuminated by coloured lights which changed throughout. Television screens of varying sizes were located around this contraption which showed different videos of their vehicle's performance.
The Bentley pavilion was in 2008 reassigned, however, being now shared with the Bugatti brand and named the "Premium Clubhouse".
The displays include a Bugatti Veyron with a special chrome finish and separately an engine from the same car model.
SKODA
The pavilion consists of a number of metal sculptures. It shows several examples of cars produced under the Škoda brand and small models of all types ever produced in Škoda's history. Like in other brand pavilions it is possible to open and enter the cars to get a feeling for them. Information about engine specifications, prices and fuel consumption are next to each car.
LAMBORGHINI
The building is completely black and a show with a yellow Lamborghini Murciélago attached to the wall greets visitors. During the show, the lights dim and dry ice floods the room before finally diminishing revealing that the car has disappeared from the wall. During this, the car which sits on a vertical platform has been rotated 180 degrees and sits on the outside of the building.
AUDI
The building is large and has a unique "sphere-guide". Each visitor gets a small plastic sphere which they first have to activate by giving their name and taking a photo with the help of wall-mounted touchscreens at the entrance. Then through the way in the pavilion, the sphere lights up with the same color as the design of the current section and visitors can push their spheres onto special hemisphere depressions on the wall thus for example launching a video about some technical information on the wall mounted displays, light up a real Audi headlight placed behind a piece of glass in the wall or creating an illusion of charging an electric A1 by floor-mounted lights. Visitors can get into the vehicles on display including an R8. At the end of the tour visitors can send their photo made at the entrance in e-mail or post it to social networking sites after dropping the sphere in the collecting pit.
SEAT
The SEAT pavilion is surrounded by water and plants and is one of the largest pavilions. A metal archway is located at the entrance to the bridge which leads to the entrance of the building. The roof of the entrance is glass and the wall to the right is composed solely of red wing mirrors. There is a display of the fourth generation of the SEAT Ibiza in a glass case. The platform it sits on rotates. The next room then comprises all current SEAT models on display. A staircase leads up to a mezzanine level with numerous computer screens and iPads with playable racing games. This finally leads to an exit which comprises a wooden based bridge on metal tubes. This bridge is interactive; the tubes contain speakers which play back the Seat 'castanet' SFX with each footstep across the bridge.
WIKIPEDIA
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA - MAY 25: Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski of G2 Esports poses at the League of Legends - Mid-Season Invitational Knockouts Features Day on May 25, 2022 in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Lee Aiksoon/Riot Games)
TOKYO, JAPAN - JUNE 08: FUT Esports at VALORANT Masters Tokyo Features Day on June 8, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Lee Aiksoon/Riot Games)
This outdoor kitchen features a sink, built in Luxor grill (background) and flat top grill (foreground) in custom granite counter tops on stacked stone with glass and imported tile mosaic mural.
Custom built by OutdoorFL.com
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - October 31: Faker of T1 at the League of Legends World Championship 2024 Finals Features Day on October 31, 2024 in London. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
DAVOS/SWITZERLAND, 24JAN14 - (FLTR) A participant, Ahmed Heikal, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Citadel Capital SAE Egypt, Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (2001-2011) and Hamza B. Alkholi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Hamza Alkholi Group Saudi Arabia are captued during the Annual Meeting 2014 of the World Economic Forum at the congress centre in Davos, January 24, 2014.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/swiss-image.ch/Photo Remy Steinegger