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Fonthill was the home of the American archaeologist and tile maker Henry Chapman Mercer. Built between 1908 and 1912, it is an early example of poured-in-place concrete and features 44 rooms, over 200 windows, 18 fireplaces and 10 bathrooms. The mansion is filled with an extensive collection of ceramics embedded in the concrete of the house, as well as other artifacts from his world travels, including cuneiform tablets discovered in Mesopotamia dating back to over 2,300 B.C.E. The home also contains around 1,000 prints from Mercer's extensive collection, as well as over six thousand books, almost all of which were annotated by Mercer himself. It has also been long rumored that the ghost of Henry Chapman Mercer's housekeeper still haunts the Fonthill castle, making it one of Doylestown, PA's prime supernatural hot spots.
I completely messed up the exposure on this one but I still like it enough to post, knowing I will go back and shoot it again in the future.
4x5 for 365 Project details: greggobst.photography/4x5-for-365
Camera: Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail view camera.
Lens: Schneider 90mm f/5.6 Super-Angulon lens in a Copal 0 shutter mounted on recessed lens board. B+W brand Yellow filter on the lens to help with contrast.
Film: Arista EDU 200 Ultra B&W Negative Film, shot at box speed.
Exposure: 1/15th @ F45.
Development: Self Developed in Kodak Xtol 1+2 dilution in Paterson Universal Tank using the Taco Method. 12 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius. Kodak indicator stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo rinse.
Scanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two scans and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass.
I seem to be noticing trees a lot more lately. I love the forms they take and the pure random and uniqueness of their shapes especially in the bare skeletal state they're in this time of year. taken beside the lake at Fonthill Bishop.
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Best seen on Black, press "L" Then on a PC press F11 for full screen view, or view in Fluidr (use link below).
I though that as it's Friday I'd post this one for Traps, a contact of mine in Canada who has a regular "Friday Fence" series going on his stream. Hope there's enough fence in this for you traps :o) Taken on part of the estate at Fonthill Bishop near Shaftesbury.
Comments/Invites are always appreciated, but please do not place Multiple Invites, Flickriver Badges or Animated badges with comments. They may be deleted.
Best seen on Black, press "L" Then on a PC press F11 for full screen view, or view in Fluidr (use link below).
MARLENE STEWART STREIT, Order of Canada, was born on the farm, in Cereal, Alberta on March 9, 1934. Two years later her family abandoned the family farm because of the unrelenting locust hordes of the past two years. These locust storms had consumed all their crops. The Stewarts resettled in Ranier Alberta, in the irrigation district, where crops were bountiful with fruits (like melons) and vegetables they had never even seen before.
So far, so good.
Eventually, horrendous sand storms killed crop production in Ranier, so the Stewart family in 1941 again pulled up stakes, and moved to Fonthill near to the US border at Niagara Falls, Ontario. Marlene's father, Harold, had tried to join the RCAF but because her dad was a skilled electrician he was immediately dispatched to work for Fleet Aircraft of Canada, there in Fonthill.
Still, good.
Starting off as a golf caddy for a friend of hers, Marlene learned how to play…and really win at the game…from golfing master and pro Gordon McInnis Sr. at Fonthill's Lookout Point Golf Club. Putting spikes into her street shoes, and rewrapping her golf club's because Marlene's hands were so small…McInnis taught Marlene the techniques showcased in Ben Hogan's book, Power Golf.
Tiny Marlene, she stood only five feet tall, was so persistent and so damn determined. She got golf right, and right from the start immersed herself in the game, practising golf day and night. Soon she started winning tourneys. After she won the Ontario provincial championship, before financially committing to take Marlene to the Amateur level, Harold Stewart asked McInnis to fairly assess his daughter's potential future success.
Marlene's dad asked the seasoned McInnis, "How far can she go?"
McInnis thought about the father's searching question, and honestly responded, 'She can go the limit. She can be the best.'
And that's exactly what she started to do…
By December, 1954, at a mere 20 years old, and standing only five feet tall with tiny hands, Miss Stewart had garnered some pretty spectacular golfing achievements for a young Canadian lass.
Have a looky for yourself:
▪Ontario Junior Girls (2-time winner)
▪Ontario Ladies' Amateur - 1951
▪Canadian Women's Amateur - 1951, 1954
▪CLGA Close Amateurs - 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954
EXCELLENT!! Way to go Marlene!
But on December 17, 1954 Canada's brightest golfing star boarded a triple-tail TCA Super Constellation in Tampa, Florida with…Canada's worst pilot, Captain Norman Ramsay, at the helm.
Oh. No.
Marlene, not good~
I can't look. Quick, take another afternoon flight!!
Too late folks, airborne now…
Trans-Canada-Airlines newest type airliner took flight on a route straight north from Tampa to Malton airport, now known as Pearson International or YYZ.
At 9:32pm, Mount Pleasant - Brampton, Ontario time, Captain Ramsay vectored his large and brand-new 1.5 million dollar Constellation to line-up with Malton airport's northwest runway. He coaxes the graceful bird into position, drops his wheels, drops his flaps, throws his canteen out the window, and brings her in to land.
Trouble is…Norman and his TCA Constellation…are 12 miles from the airport.
Very soon, Norman's Super Constellation's fuselage and delicate underbelly is being ripped up by the very rough, and very frozen, unforgiving farmland fields of Mount Pleasant in Brampton.
All 23 passengers aboard the TransCanada Airlines flight had only just been told, and had only begun to prepare, moments before, for landing at Malton…when their unexpected disaster struck.
On the descent, the Super Constellation struck several trees which sheared off one of the wings of the ill-fated airliner. Good grief. The speeding airliner stared sliding along the frozen Brampton tundra for nigh of a 1000 feet. When the botched-landing airplane came to rest, it was on the farmland of Clure Archdekin. And fortunately, for the passengers and crew, Clure was right on hand to give help.
Some of the passengers were able to escape through the large fuselage hole created when the Connies' wing was torn away. Other dazed survivors just jumped to the ground unassisted from the former aircraft, while Clure got the rest of the passengers, and all three crew members, out from the other end of the burning wreck. Everyone survived, and as they ran from the fire engulfed airplane, it proceeded to explode sending a huge ball of orange flame that went a hundred feet into the air.
At the time, 1954, it was the most miraculous escape in Canadian aviation history.
Marlene Stewart, herself, sustained only slight injuries from the accident. Not only did everyone survive, but miraculously…no one was even seriously injured!
These TCAL air crash survivors were cautiously sent to Brampton and Weston hospitals. Brampton firefighters who had rushed to the scene mostly assisted the crash survivors by getting them into arriving ambulances, as they were not able to save the burning airplane. TCA's pride of the fleet, the Lougheed Super Constellation, was stuck 1000 feet from the nearest road, on frozen, rough farmland…and remember Brampton at the time did not have the elaborate fire hydrant system that it has today. In short, the firefighters were not able to get any significant amount of water out to the airplane, in order to save her.
Very shortly after this crash, Malton Airport's flight approach route was altered, so that descending airliners would no longer take this approach…and fly over the centre of Brampton.
Good idea.
This Trans-Canada-Air-Lines crash, and Hurricane Hazel's terrible October flooding of Brampton two months earlier, convinced Brampton politicians that the city needed full-time firefighters, modern equipment, and a disaster plan for this growing community of British and Portuguese immigrants.
Only 16 short years later that very disaster plan would have to be put into effect for another large airplane that would crash in Brampton, this time, at the other end of the city.
That would be Air Canada Flight 621 on July 5, 1970.
Only this time there would be no miracles, because there would be no survivors.
Marlene Stewart Streit as we know survived the forgotten Trans-Canada-Air-Lines crash of 1954, and went forth to become the most accomplished Canadian amateur golfer…in Canadian history, male or female. Marlene also became the only golfer in world history to have won the Australian, British, Canadian and United States Women's Amateur Golf Championships.
In total career wins Marlene won 11 Canadian Ladies’ Open Amateurs, nine Canadian Ladies’ Close titles and four Canadian Ladies’ Senior Women’s Amateur tournaments. She won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1956, and again in 2003.
When Marlene was 69 years young she became the oldest person to win a USGA championship.
She claimed her third US Senior Women's Amateur Championship at this time.
Today, she is 76 years old.
In 2004, Marlene Stewart Streit was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame becoming the first Canadian to be so honoured.
Marlene resides in Florida, but was not able to be reached for comment related to this post. I hope to do a follow-up piece interviewing Marlene about herself, and her TCA experience.
A special thanks to Carolyn Crawford who helped me find the location of the accident, and provided me with some background details about the community at the time of the accident. Carolyn's father resided on the farm beside, and south of Clure Archdekin's. Both her aunt and her father boarded their tractor that fateful evening, and drove out to the accident to see if they could lend a hand, only to find the passengers rescued, and the airplane burning out of control.
An additional special thanks to former Brampton firefighters who helped me identify the "famous" golfer who was aboard this flight, and to Rhonda Glenn, for additional details about Marlene's career.
The TOP photo is a TCA Super Constellation
LEFT photo is part of the crash in Mount Pleasant
CENTRE is Marlene at 20
RIGHT is the location of the crash arena in Mount Pleasant, Brampton
FAMOUS QUOTES from Marlene:
"Don’t be a spoiled brat; get out there and do it. Beat everybody. Don’t go around with a chip on your shoulder. Just beat ‘em."
“When you write about me, don’t forget Canada. Canada (fist clenched, tapping it on her heart) is right here!”
THIS CRASH Part 1: www.flickr.com/photos/78215847@N00/4066337145/
THIS CRASH Part 2: www.flickr.com/photos/78215847@N00/5052365996/in/photolis...
+++++MERRY CHRISTMAS to ALL in 2010!+++++
(As with all my articles…this is a first post that will be revised several times over time.)
In 1907 Henry Mercer inherited a large amount of money. He spent the next three years building Fonthill, an eccentric masterpiece. He used concrete, but in an unusual fashion.
He and his workmen formed the structure a room at a time, building an interior frame from earth and wood. Decorative tiles, furniture, and other architectural elements were then placed on the surface, and concrete poured around and over them.
Once the concrete hardened, the supporting earth was dug out, leaving a solid structure with inset decorations.
--- Mark Clark, Heliograph. Com
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Fonthill Castle, named for Beckford's English manse, was the first of three eye-popping (and eye-poppingly early) poured-in-place concrete structures designed and built by former academic and Arts-and-Crafts tile magnate Henry Chapman Mercer. See text on the Mercer Museum for background and commentary.
Built in 1858 at no. 168 Jackson Street West.
"168 Jackson Street West is a two-and-a-half storey brick dwelling constructed in 1858. The building, originally constructed as two storeys, underwent renovations in the late-19th century which included the addition of a mansard roof. The stucco-clad building has a rectangular plan with a long facade and one-and-a-half storey rear brick wing, which was constructed in the early-20th century along with a one-storey rear brick garage in the northwest corner of the lot. The building has a concave mansard roof clad with octagonal slate tiles, punctuated by semi-circular dormers with decorative wood trim, metal hoods and keystones, and finished with metal cresting. The projecting eaves have a moulded wood cornice, soffit, modillions, and frieze, and the curb has a moulded cornice. The central chimneys appear to have been removed and there is a parged chimney in the rear.
The symmetrical three-bay front façade is composed of segmental windows with stone lug sills, with stainglass transoms in the second storey and a dormer in the mansard roof above each bay. The hung windows have been replaced. The front portico has a flat roof with an elaborate entablature - including a decorated frieze with dentils and egg-and-dart courses, a moulded cornice, and a balustrade with square posts and series of arches – which is supported by four tapered columns with Corinthian capitals. The double-leaf entrance is accessed by a set of stone steps. The east side wall has a tripartite bay in the southern end of the first storey with a flat roof, a moulded cornice and a dentilated frieze.
The rear wing has a flat roof, which doubles as a second-storey balcony, and a contemporary fire escape. The secondary entrance in the north end of the west side wall has a less ornate portico with a moulded cornice and a plain entablature supported by two tapered columns with Corinthian capitals. The one-storey garage in the northwest corner of the lot has a rectangular plan and a hip roof with a cupola and projecting eaves. A hip roof extends to the east over the three double-leaf wooden doors with T-type hinges and five-light (blind) transoms. The stucco-clad walls are composed of segmental windows with two-over-two hung segmental windows with rock-faced stone lug sills.
The former verandah on the west side of the building was removed circa 1953, around the same time the lot was divided to construct a three-storey concrete-block apartment building at 170 Jackson Street West. The landscaped front lawn was replaced by a parking lot in the mid-20th century.
168 Jackson Street West was originally constructed by William Herald in 1858 for John W. Bickle, the eldest son of Hamilton druggist Tristram Bickle. Tristram Bickle had constructed Pinehurst two years earlier across the street on the southwest corner of Jackson and Caroline Streets. 168 Jackson Street West, known as the Fonthill Estate, is believed to be derived from a combination of its geographic location and the existence of a highly decorative fountain, which was formerly situated in the landscaped entrance to the property. The building was owned by Samuel Greening from 1889 to 1912 and Harold B. Greening from 1912 to 1934 before the house was given to the Municipal Chapter of the International Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE) in 1938 by members of the Greening family, in memory of their mother, Mrs. S.O. Greening. The IODE, a national women’s charitable organization, was situated at Fonthill for over three decades. In 2011, 168 Jackson Street West was occupied by Mentorship Wealth Management." - info from the City of Hamilton.
"Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which encompasses Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is situated approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of Toronto in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).
Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, the town of Hamilton became the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe. On January 1, 2001, the current boundaries of Hamilton were created through the amalgamation of the original city with other municipalities of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton–Wentworth. Residents of the city are known as Hamiltonians.
Traditionally, the local economy has been led by the steel and heavy manufacturing industries. During the 2010s, a shift toward the service sector occurred, such as health and sciences. Hamilton is home to the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, the Bruce Trail, McMaster University, Mohawk College, and Redeemer University. McMaster University is ranked 4th in Canada and 69th in the world by Times Higher Education Rankings 2021." - info from Wikipedia.
Late June to early July, 2024 I did my 4th major cycling tour. I cycled from Ottawa to London, Ontario on a convoluted route that passed by Niagara Falls. during this journey I cycled 1,876.26 km and took 21,413 photos. As with my other tours a major focus was old architecture.
Find me on Instagram.
Built between 1908-1912, Fonthill was the home of Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930). Archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramist, scholar and antiquarian, Mercer built Fonthill both as his home and as a showplace for his collection of tiles and prints. The first of three Mercer buildings in Doylestown, Fonthill served as a showplace for Mercer's famed Moravian tiles that were produced during the American Arts & Crafts Movement. Designed by Mercer, the building is an eclectic mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles, and is significant as an early example of poured reinforced concrete.
Text from: www.mercermuseum.org/mission_history.htm
Due to a points issue at Hazelhatch, all services had to operate via the Up Fast line. This gave the rare opportunity to step off a passenger train onto the Up Fast platforms (as any train calling at the four four-track stations serve the slow lines).
22034 is seen working the 0720 Portlaoise - Heuston
The house can be a powerful symbol of the self, and often serves that purpose in dreams and art. The outside of the structure is that part of our personality that we show to others. The interior is what we think and feel inside. Our unconscious desires and fears may reside in the basement. The types of rooms, walls, staircases, objects, decorations, and colors may all represent aspects of who we are.
Every year there is a gingerbread house contest in Peddlers Village and they display them all in a little gazebo in the middle of the complex. It's fun to walk through and see all the imaginative, fun creations.
This was one of my favorites.
Its a model of an iconic museum in my area, the Fonthill Castle.
Here's a link to a picture I took of the castle a couple years ago.
22023 approaches Clondalkin with the 1305 Galway - Heuston. Kishogue station can be seen in the background
Home of Henry Chapman Mercer(1856-1930) Doylestown Pa.My photo on the cover of this new addition.Valancourt Books,Richmond Virginia
The clock in downtown Fonthill, Ontario.
What better reminder that it is just about time to have some pizza!
Steve (Visual Photons) shared,
"Henry has one request, he says, if you converted the image to B/W or gentle Sepia, he would blend in seamlessly with the group."
The Ides of April are approaching and spring is slowly emerging. The grass is noticeably starting to turn green. Trees are starting to bud.
Most notably, the ground in parks is starting to become solid enough (as opposed to muddy) to use for non-winter recreation activities.
Even the sunshine is starting to feel spring-like.
Should the rain hold of for several days, this might be an early end to mud season!
When i got to roughly where the grotto was marked on the map what i found was something very different to what i was looking for. I suspect this may originally have been built as a picturesque little ruined temple folly. Now, a couple of hundred years later, it was well and truly ruined and overgrown to the point where the original structure was difficult to define. There was a quite mysterious feel to it - what were those odd little openings just in front? They looked like rabbit sized passages leading under the main structure/ All very strange, as these things often are. Anyone got any ideas?
(Oh and this picture was taken facing right into the sun, the original needed some serious cooking to even out the exposure and my skills at processing... well, you can make your own mind up about that)
Position:
maps.google.es/maps?ll=51.064252,-2.1104182&z=18&...
Pictures taken from hte book "Alison and Peter Smithson-From the house of the Future to a house of today" edited by Dirt van Heuvel and Max Risselada