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REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
COUCHER DE SOLEIL - Sainte-Flavie
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS. (Sainte-Flavie)
Mrs Elsie Reford loved those beautiful sunsets.
Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!
''I shall always, all my life, want to come back to those sunsets.'' Elsie Reford, July 20, 1913. (page 25)
" It is just after 8 o'clock and I am sitting in front of my big window with the gorgeous panorama of a glorious afterglow from a perfect sunset. There is every hue of blue on the water of 'the Blue Lagoon' while Pointe-aux-Cenelles is bathed in pink and crimson and the dark hills of the north shore seem no further than two or three miles distant. I don't think in the whole world at this moment there could be anything more beautiful." Elsie Reford, June 2, 1931. (page 81)
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
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From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
www.dongardner.com/plan_details.aspx?pid=179
Flanked by columns, the barrel vaulted entrance of this three bedroom home is echoed in its dramatic arched windows and gables.
In this house plan, interior columns add elegance while visually dividing foyer from dining room and great room from kitchen. The great room is made even larger by its cathedral ceiling and bank of windows, including an arched clerestory window.
A box bay window adds space to the formal dining room, while the kitchen features an angled center island with breakfast counter for the busy family.
The floor plan's master suite, secluded on the first floor, boasts his and her walk-in closets and garden tub with skylight. Two bedrooms upstairs share another skylit bath.
*Photographed home may have been modified from the original construction documents.
Djupalonssandur is a beautiful pebbled beach, with a series of rocks of mysterious form emerging from the ocean.
It is one of the few areas that lead down to the sea along this coast with its high dramatic cliffs. Watch out for the famous ghosts roaming the place!
The rests of a shipwreck can be seen on the beach. On the beach there are also big stones which people tried to lift and test their strength in the days of the fishing stations: Fully Strong 154 kg, Half-Strong 100 kg, Weakling 54 kg and Bungler 23 kg. Weakling marked the frontier of wimphood, any man who couldn't lift it was deemed unsuitable for a life as a fisherman. (west.is)
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a region in western Iceland known for its dramatic landscapes. At its western tip, Snæfellsjökull National Park is dominated by Snæfellsjökull Volcano, which is topped by a glacier. Nearby, a trail leads through lava fields to black-pebble beach
East 42nd Street, Midtown Manhattan
The Chanin Building, built in 1927-29, rises 56 stories at the comer of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Designed by the architectural firm of Sloan & Robertson with sculptural decoration by Rene Chambellan, it is a major example of Art Deco architecture in New York City. Erected under the supervision of the Chanin Construction Company, the building still serves as the organization’s headquarters.
Irwin S. Chanin (b.1892) established his firm in 1919 to build one-family houses in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, after studying engineering at Cooper union, working on subway construction in New York and Philadelphia, and participating in the construction of a poison gas factory for the U.S. Amy during World War I.
His first venture in Bensonhurst was so successful that he brought his brother Henry I. Chanin (1893-1973) into the firm, and they proceeded to build more houses and also apartment buildings in Brooklyn and then erected an office building in downtown Brooklyn. Extending their activities to Manhattan in 1924, they constructed the Fur Center Building. 'That same year the Chan ins expanded into the theater business, 'eventually building eight theaters, including the fabulous 6000-seat Roxy. The Chanins also managed a number of these theaters.
The 1400-roan Hotel Lincoln, on Eighth Avenue between 44th and 45th. Streets was completed and opened by the Chanins in 1S28. Following the completion of the Chanin Building in 1929, the firm expanded its activities into the Manhattan apartment field, building the Majestic and Century apartment houses on Central Park West. Extensive suburban building activity occupied much of the firm's tire during the 1930s and 1940s. A notable example was Green Acres, a residential park community in Valley Stream, Long Island, begun in 1936. During World War II the firm built 2000 pro-fabricated dwellings in Newport News,Virginia, five hangars at National Airport in Washington, the Naval Or dance Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland, and five Navy powder magazine buildings in Indian Head, Maryland.
Tte firm has also built numerous manufacturing buildings in the New York City area and the impressive Coney Island Pumping Station for the City of New York. By 1952 when Irwin S. Chanin was profiled in the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, the Chanin Organization was composed of approximately 25 firms and corporations engaged in architecture, engineering, and construction, and in ownership and operation of real estate.
In August 1926 the Chanins acquired a 105-year leasehold on the site of the Manhattan Storage Warehouse on the west side of Lexington Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets in order to build their new office tower. Plans were filed and work begun in 1927. When the steel structure work was completed on July 2, 1928, the Chanins followed their traditional practice of driving two gold rivets into a column on the uppermost floor. On January 23, 1929, exactly one year after Irwin S. Chanin drove the first rivet into the st.ee! frame, construction was completed—testimony to the skill of the workmen and the efficiency of the Chanin Construction Company. It was opened for business that January 29 and was hailed as "another step in the evolution of the skyscraper . At that time, it was the first major skyscraper to have been built in the area around Grand Central Terminal, anticipating a major shift in the business district of the city. Other notable skyscrapers such as the Chrysler and Daily News Buildings soon followed. Its 660-foot height was then exceeded only by the Woolworth Building and Metropolitan Life Tower in New York and the Cleveland Terminal Building in Cleveland. Irwin S. Chanin was not, however, interested in creating the world's tallest office building but rather in building an efficient, up-to-date, progressive structure that would attract the modern business man and be a credit to the Chanin firm.
To create this image, he commissioned the architectural firm of Sloan & Robertson.
Sloan & Robertson was one of the major New York architectural firms of the 1920s and '30s. John Sloan (1888-1954) studied architecture at New York University, then supervised construction for the U. S. Army In various capacities between 1900 and 1920. In private practice in 1920, he received the commission for the Pershing Square Building, 100 East U2nd Street. He formed a partnership in 1924 with T. Markoe Robertson (1878.-1962) who had been educated at Yale University and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In addition to the Chanin Building, the firm was responsible for the Graybar Building, 420 Lexington Avenue; the Maritime Exchange Building, 80 Broad Street; the 29 Broadway Office Building; the Plaza Building, 625 Madison Avenue; apartment buildings at 1 Beekman Place and 895 Park Avenue; and alterations, modernization, and an annex for the St. Regis Hotel.
The firm was also active 'in the design of buildings for hospitals and institutions, including the House of Detention for Women at 10 Greenwich Avenue, the Ward's Island Sewage Disposal Plant, the Rikers Island Penitentiary, buildings for the Harlem Hospital, and the Southampton Hospital, Architectural plans for the West Side Elevated Highway between Canal and 72nd Streets and the New York State exhibit building, marine amphitheatre and stage at the 1939 New York World's Fair were also carried out by the firm. In the Chanin Building as in so much of their work during the 1930s, they created a striking example of Art Deco architecture, using that most characteristic Art Deco building type, the skyscraper.
The Chanin Building rises 56 stories in a series of setbacks culminating in a tower, designed in accordance with the 1916 zoning ordinance. The site itself, which was bounded by streets on three sides, was governed by three sets of zoning rules. This made the tower rather than the street frontage the controlling factor in regard to massing. Critic Matlack Price praised the Chanin Building as "an impressive realization of the most hopeful predictions that were made years ago, when the zoning laws first imposed the set-back restrictions on tall structures. At once it becane necessary to design in
masses rather than in facades." The design of the tower was also influenced by the widely-publicized entry submitted by Eliel Saarinen in the competition for a new building for the Chicago Tribune (1922) .
The Saarinen design proved a fertile source for many Art Deco architects.
The first 17 stories completely cover tine plot except on the center of trie Lexington Avenue facade which is recessed above the fourth story. Major setbacks begin above the seventeenth story, forming a pyramidal base for the tower which rises uninterrupted from the thirtieth to the fifty-second story. The upper four stories of the tower are further recessed and accented with buttresses. The steel frame is clad with buff brick, terra cotta, and limestone, and is ornamented in such a way as to emphasize seme of the special functions within.
As was the customary in skyscraper design, the architects were interested in establishing a clearly-defined base for the composition and a strong interest at and relationship to the street. The first floor was intended for shops. Originally the plate glass shop windows were enclosed by bronze enframements set in Belgian black marble.
Later alterations have obscured sane of the original detail. Also at first floor level are major entrances on Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Above the first floor runs a bronze frieze telling the story of evolution. It shows different kinds of plant and animal life, beginning with low marine forms, then more complex forms, and finally birds and fish. At the second and third floors, which were intended for financial institutions, are triple window groups framed in bronze and divided between the floors by bronze spandrel panels with characteristic Art Deco ornament.
Each window group is flanked by limestone piers with ornamented terra-cotta capitals. Hie windows above the entrances are given a distinctive treatment with ornamental spandrel panels of a different design. Incorporated into the window framing are curved bronze supports holding canopies above the entrances. The canopies themselves have been altered. The fourth story is completely covered with an elaborate pattern of stylized plant forms executed in terra cotta. The use of such stylized forms is a characteristic associated with Art Deco design.
Trie ornament on these floors was designed by the noted architectural sculptor Rene Chambellan (1893-1955) in collaboration with Jacques Delamarre (b. 1907), head of the architectural staff of the Chanin Construction Company. Among the buildings for which Chambellan executed architectural sculpture were Radio City Music Hall and other buildings at Rockefeller Center, the East Side Airline Terminal, the Russell Sage Foundation Building, the Tribune Ttwer in Chicago, the Stirling Library at Yale, and the Pershing Stadium in Vincennes, France.
In the Chanin Building Delamarre was responsible for many of the details of the interior design and through the years supervised the many projects which the Chanin organization chose to design "in-house." Chambellan and Delamarre also collaborated on the design of the sculptural reliefs and bronze grilles adorning the vestibules inside the building entrances. They symbolically portray various aspects of the theme "the City of Opportunity," telling "the story of a city in which it is possible for a nan to rise from a humble station to wealth and influence by sheer power of his mind and hands." This, in fact, was a tribute to the success and achievement of Irwin S. Chanin.
Cc\ the Lexington Avenue side, a series of buttresses at the fifth and sixth stories accent the recessed portion of the facade. The form of these buttresses echoes the form of those at tine crown of the tower. Buttress forms extending from the thirtieth to the forty-ninth floor also accentuate the comers of the brick-faced tower.
The termination of the buttress forms at the forty-ninth floor indicates sore of the special functions in the floors above. The fiftieth and the fifty-first floors-now converted to office space— originally housed a theater which was to serve the theatrical division of the Chanin Organization. The Chanin offices continue to be housed in the crcKn of the tower which begins at tiie fifty-second floor. The most prominent features of the crown are the protruding buttresses which provide a distinctive termination for the tower.
Projecting ornament executed in abstract patterns at the fifty-second floor adds further interest to the Tower. Originally a battery of 212 flood-lights illuminated the crown of the tower at night adding to its dramatic effect of the skyline. This emphasis on dramatic illumination is another quality associated with Art Deco architecture, and it is characteristically displayed in one of Hugh Ferriss' noted renderings of the buildings.
When completed in 1929 the Chanin Building was praised by architectural, critic Matlack Price as being "a splendid contribution to twentieth century architecture.. .that.. .powerfully rationalizes all the novel features of this new style,-and.. .a splendid contribution to the architecture of all time because it is a good design."
The quality of the design and the ornament continue to delight and are now recognized as exemplifying the characteristics of the Art Deco skyscraper. it remains a striking visual asset to the Grand Central area and continues to function successfully as an office building.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS | REFORD GARDENS
Visit: www.refordgardens.com/
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Le tamia rayé ou tamia strié (Tamias striatus), appelé aussi suisse en Amérique du Nord
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipmunk
Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia.
Chipmunks have an omnivorous diet primarily consisting of seeds, nuts and other fruits, and buds. They also commonly eat grass, shoots, and many other forms of plant matter, as well as fungi, insects and other arthropods, small frogs, worms, and bird eggs. Around humans, chipmunks can eat cultivated grains and vegetables, and other plants from farms and gardens, so they are sometimes considered pests. Chipmunks mostly forage on the ground, but they climb trees to obtain nuts such as hazelnuts and acorns. At the beginning of autumn, many species of chipmunk begin to stockpile nonperishable foods for winter. They mostly cache their foods in a larder in their burrows and remain in their nests until spring, unlike some other species which make many small caches of food. Cheek pouches allow chipmunks to carry food items to their burrows for either storage or consumption.
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From Wikipedia:
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
The Hoopoe is a bizarre creation with crazy black and white banding across its wings and tail, an eccentric black-tipped crest, long, down-curved bill and an orange coloured body. Its dramatic plumage is best seen when the bird flies with floppy, rounded, fingered wings, flicking like a big moth. Breeds in parks, orchards, copses and gardens mostly on continental Europe, this is a scarce migrant to Irish shores. This species is migratory wintering in Africa. This is my second Hoopoe this week, I only seen one for the whole of last year.
Taken at the "Holy Ground" Knockadoon head, Co. Cork
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a region in western Iceland known for its dramatic landscapes. At its western tip, Snæfellsjökull National Park is dominated by Snæfellsjökull Volcano, which is topped by a glacier
All Saints in Pavement, York is distinguished by its dramatic octagonal tower, a major landmark of the city and masterpiece of late medieval architecture. The church itself is of mainly 14th/15th century date, though lost its chancel in the following centuries. The west window contains reset late 14th century panels depicting the Passion.
This church is generally open and welcoming to visitors.
DAMARALAND NAMIBIA Damaraland is a geographic and cultural region in northwestern Namibia, known for its dramatic landscapes, desert-adapted wildlife, and rich indigenous heritage.
Key Features
Location: Between the Skeleton Coast to the west and the Etosha region to the east. Major towns include Khorixas and Uis.
People: Traditionally inhabited by the Damara people—one of Namibia’s oldest cultural groups.
Landscape: Rugged mountains, vast semi-desert plains, and iconic natural formations such as:
Brandberg Mountain (Namibia’s highest peak, home to the famous White Lady rock painting)
Twyfelfontein (a UNESCO World Heritage Site with thousands of ancient rock engravings)
Organ Pipes, Burnt Mountain, and dramatic basalt formations
Wildlife: Known for desert-adapted elephants, black rhinos, giraffes, and other wildlife that survive in extremely arid conditions.
Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States
Summary
The Childs Restaurant Building on Surf Avenue in Coney Island was the first restaurant built for this well-known chain in Coney Island, at a time when the area was changing from its somewhat seedy aura of summer amusements to a wholesome, family resort that could be enjoyed year-round. The Childs Restaurant chain, begun in 1889, developed as small luncheonettes that catered to working people, where one could find decent meals for a reasonable price in a clean environment. As such, it was the perfect type of establishment for the “new Coney Island.”
This building was constructed in 1917 in West Brighton near the terminus of the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railway line and close by many of the most famous amusements of the area. Childs Restaurant filled the need for a respectable but not expensive restaurant for the many working-class New Yorkers who flocked to the beach for a relaxing day in the sun. As the area prospered, a second and larger Childs was built at 21st Street facing the new Boardwalk. This first restaurant continued to operate in this location until 1943 when the property was leased to the Blue Bird Casino and restaurant. During the following years the building continued to house restaurants, clubs and other activities related to Coney Island’s amusements.
It was the site of David Rosen’s Wonderland Circus Sideshow and, since 2007, has been the location of Coney Island U.S.A. and the Coney Island Museum, which documents the history of this famous New York City neighborhood. Originally designed by John C. Westervelt who worked for the Childs chain for many years, the building displays elements of the Spanish Revival style, seen in its overhanging red tile roof, round-arched openings and white facade. Its wide arches facing two streets served as grand welcoming gestures to crowds passing by, while the style suggests a warm Mediterranean resort and hint at the fun to be had in Coney Island. This building is a rare survivor from a many years of Coney Island history, beginning when an assortment of amusements and the sea air attracted thousands of pleasure-seekers escaping from the nearby hot city through the present day.
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
Coney Island
Although the western end of Coney Island had achieved some popularity as a rustic seaside resort early in the 19th century, it also gained an unsavory reputation for its gambling, pickpockets and prostitution. The real growth of Coney Island as a resort came about in the 1870s when five new railroads were constructed to connect the island with the rest of Brooklyn. These were built by businessmen and entrepreneurs who developed large hotels and wanted to provide easy access from Brooklyn and Manhattan to attract a higher-end clientele than those who frequented the western side. Austin Corbin built the luxurious Manhattan Beach Hotel in 1877 on the far eastern end, served by the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway with direct connections to lower Manhattan. Just to the west of this was the huge Brighton Beach Hotel opened in 1878. Its clientele were generally from Brooklyn’s middle-class business community and their families traveled to Coney Island via the Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railroad from Prospect Park.
Between Brighton Beach and the less savory environs of the far western point lay West Brighton, an area that became the island’s entertainment section and was served by the Prospect Park & Coney Island Railroad, commonly known as the Culver Line. Carrying numerous day- trippers away from their teeming tenements, this train terminated at a large depot near 17th Street across from Culver Plaza, a spacious open area filled with colorful flowers. West Brighton became the site of numerous bathing pavilions, restaurants, saloons, variety shows, small stores, games and unusual attractions such as the “Elephant Colossus” (built 1879, destroyed by fire in 1896) and the Iron Tower (imported from the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876). West Brighton was “Coney’s true entertainment district, attracting the lion’s share of the island’s visitors.”
During the 1890s West Brighton was the site of many innovations that increased the fame and popularity of Coney Island, including mechanical amusements such as carousels and roller coasters, hot dogs, and mixed gender public bathing. The Ferris Wheel, modeled after the original designed for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, was brought to Coney Island in 1894. In 1895, Paul Boyton opened Sea Lion Park, the first outdoor amusement park in the world, which included live sea lions and a number of new mechanical rides. A series of disastrous fires in the 1890s destroyed many of the area’s flimsy wooden structures and opened large sections for redevelopment. With the goal of creating a “new” Coney Island that would attract more families and limit alcohol consumption, George C. Tilyou opened Steeplechase Park in 1897, including in his park a mechanical race track and a small version of the original Ferris Wheel. It was so successful that similar parks, such as Luna Park (1903) and Dreamland (1904) soon followed, offering more rides, entertainments, and a fantasy world of exotic architecture, bright lights, and unusual sights. The Bowery (named after the street of the same name in Manhattan) continued to serve as the island’s midway, with numerous small stands for rides, shooting galleries, arcades, and saloons, as well as palmists, dance halls, and photo galleries. By 1900, Sunday crowds reached more than 500,000 and lines for the various amusements often lasted well into the night.
More than any other area on the island, West Brighton...appealed to a working- class crowd, bringing together established groups and recent immigrants who in everyday life were often segregated into separate neighborhoods and work
places.
During the early years of the 20th century, Luna Park and Dreamland were destroyed by fire. The area’s racetracks were closed and the grand hotels to the east ceased to attract their previous crowds. In another effort to renew the neighborhood, the Coney Island Board of Trade was
formed by 1916, with membership consisting of successful local businessmen who had a sense of responsibility to improve the district for the sake of their own and other businesses. The summer season of 1916 opened with a pledge from this group to create an area that was “sanitary, safe, and sane.” Their goal was to impose “fair dealing,” with “no faking” to make sure that visitors had a good time and would want to come back again. They worked to encourage excursions to bring more people to Coney Island. Their publicity brochure stated that “Coney is better, bigger, cleaner and more wholesome than world’s fairs.”
These efforts had several practical effects. Sanitation was improved by providing more garbage cans with more frequent pick-up. There was greater cooperation with local police, and Surf Avenue was rebuilt with a smooth asphalt surface. The city subway system was extended to the area in 1920, allowing New Yorkers from all parts of New York to reach the beach for only five cents. After this, approximately one million visitors came to Coney Island each summer day. It soon became obvious that something had to be done to alleviate the resulting congestion and to allow for better fire-fighting access to battle the huge conflagrations that periodically decimated the area. A broad pedestrian boardwalk was constructed along the beach, with the first section opening in 1923, stretching four miles from Brighton Beach to Sea Gate. Additionally some of the area’s streets were widened destroying many smaller buildings in the process. These improvements changed the character of Coney Island and the resort attracted more families and was used during more times of the year.
Restaurants on Coney Island
Although clams were plentiful on the shoreline and many people in the 19th century came to Coney Island for picnics and clambakes, before long a number of restaurants also developed to feed the huge crowds that assembled there. Charles Feltman began selling hot dogs from his hot food wagon in 1871 as an easy-to-eat meal. As his business expanded, he leased a tiny plot of land along the shoreline and sold thousands of hot dogs to hungry visitors. In 1874 he bought a lot at West 10th Street and Surf Avenue, eventually expanding it to include several huge beer gardens serving beer, hot dogs and ice cream with German bands and Tyrolean singers entertaining his customers. Stauch’s Restaurant, located on the Bowery, was another local institution that appealed to an upper class clientele with its dining room and dance hall. Nathan’s started its hotdog stand in 1916 at the corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues. Although it took a while for this business to gain popularity, Nathan’s sold its one hundred millionth hot dog in 1955 and the store is still located at the same intersection.
The Child’s restaurant chain was expanding rapidly at this time and the idea of opening a branch at this busy and popular area made sense for the business.
Childs Restaurant
The restaurant as a unique place to take a meal began to gain popularity in this country after the Civil War. Although travelers had always been able to obtain food at inns and taverns, and later at hotel dining rooms, those living at home generally ate at home. Eating somewhere else was a new idea, related to a modern urban and industrial lifestyle. By the 1830s, members of the Del-Monico family established several Manhattan locales to supply New York's elite with replicas of "Parisian" cuisine. At the same time, soup kitchens and one-cent coffee stands began to provide food for the destitute, while immigrants started cafes and beer gardens to recreate a taste of the old country for their fellow emigres. After the Civil War, other restaurants including saloons, coffee shops and oyster bars began to cater to the working class, with low-priced fare that was available during extended hours, not just at set mealtimes. Lunch-counters became common after the invention of the soda drink, when stores with these popular features began to add light food such as sandwiches to the sodas and desserts already served there.
The Childs Restaurant chain, begun in 1889, came out of this lunch-counter tradition. Samuel and William Childs, two brothers originally from New Jersey, learned the restaurant business by working for A.W. Dennett, owner of several restaurants in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. With $1,600 and some second-hand furniture, the brothers opened their first store on Cortlandt Street in Manhattan. It was so successful that they were able to open a second one several months later. They borrowed Dennett's idea of placing a chef in the window, preparing flapjacks, as a way to advertise their business. They also started to furnish their restaurants with white-tiled walls and floors, white marble table-tops, and waitresses dressed in starched white uniforms, to convey a sense of cleanliness. The hard surfaces tended to discourage patrons from lingering on the premises, allowing for quicker turnover and more business. After ten years they had ten profitable restaurants and by 1925, the company (which was incorporated in 1902) operated107 restaurants in 33 cities in the United States and Canada.
Many of the early Childs Restaurants were set in narrow storefronts designed in an “austerely-elegant” style, with white tile, mirrors, bentwood furniture and exposed ceiling fans, to complement and also to symbolize the simplicity and purity of the food. Most of the stores from these early years were designed by John C. Westervelt who worked as the company architect for many years. In the 1920s however, new designs began to be used, each suited more specifically to the location of the individual store. One of these was the William Van Alen design for a Childs restaurant on Fifth Avenue which, in a bow to the more refined character of that section of town, did not display the usual signage and white decor, but had dark, mission style interiors, with “dramatic use of large sheets of curved glass for corner windows.” Another was the elegant Spanish Revival style building on the Boardwalk in Coney Island designed by Dennison & Hirons and built in 1923 (a designated New York City Landmark).
The Childs chain was responsible for several restaurant innovations, including a self-serve cafeteria. In 1898, at 130 Broadway, they piled a lunch counter high with sandwiches and pastry and trays on which to place them. Cafeteria service proved to be very popular and was emulated at numerous other restaurants around the country. In 1927, due to health concerns by William Childs, the Childs restaurants served only vegetarian food and were known as the Childs Unique Dairy Lunch. After a severe drop in business attributed to the meatless policy, it was reversed the following year.
In 1925, the Childs Company branched out from the restaurant business and became a primary investor in a new midtown hotel, the Savoy Plaza, on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets. A large Childs Restaurant in the Spanish Renaissance style was located within this hotel. Samuel Childs served as president of the company before he died in 1925. William Childs served as a director of the new hotel corporation, as well as president and later chairman of the Childs Company until he was removed from governance of the company by irate stockholders in 1928.
The company and the restaurants continued to evolve over the years. After Prohibition was lifted in 1933, liquor and wine were served in some Childs outlets. In 1939, the company received the contract to provide food service at the New York World's Fair, where it sold over 16 million hot dogs. Although the organization suffered financial problems at different periods, it continued to operate for many years. In 1950, the Childs Company bought Louis Sherry, the ice cream makers, and was, in turn, purchased by Lucky Stores shortly afterwards. At that time, the company owned restaurants in 14 American cities and three in Canada. In 1961, the chain was acquired by the Reise Brothers and in 1966 they opened the 90th Childs Restaurant on 52nd Street and Third Avenue in New York.
John C. Westervelt (1873-1934)
John Corley Westervelt was born in Ithaca, New York and educated at Cornell University, where he also served as a trustee for many years. He practiced architecture in New York City for 40 years, and was a member of the Architectural League of New York and the American Institute of Architects. Westervelt served as house architect for the Childs restaurant firm for more than 30 years, designing most of their restaurants in various cities. One of his more well- known designs was for the Childs Restaurant at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, which he rendered in the Spanish Renaissance style (demolished). Two other buildings designed by Westervelt can be seen in the Ladies Mile Historic District: 4 East 20th Street (1900-01), a neo- Grec style, cast-iron fronted department store and 184 Fifth Avenue (facade design, 1911), a commercial style store and loft building faced with white terra cotta.
Child’s Restaurant, Coney Island
Childs Restaurant became known as a place one could buy a reasonable meal for a fair price. Having already established its reputation in other parts of New York the company opened this small restaurant at the corner of Surf Avenue and 12th Street in 1917, in the heart of the West Brighton entertainment area. The block of Surf Avenue where it was constructed was near the Columbia Hotel and Kosters Music Hall and also held a series of small, one and two-story structures for games and other amusements on Surf Avenue and what was then Thompson’s Walk (later West 12th Street). Coney Island’s popularity was increasing, and since Childs Restaurants were already well-known to New Yorkers its location on this busy spot made good business sense.
This Childs restaurant was a two-story structure with two designed facades, each displaying broad arched openings along the street, a tiled roof and an overhanging, bracketed cornice. The Spanish Revival style facade was created of white-painted concrete with decorative triangular panels of terra-cotta mosaics inset in the arch spandrels. The concrete helped make it fireproof and its dramatic style helped it fit into the resort atmosphere of Coney Island. The large arched openings may have been inspired by several nearby buildings that also faced the street with similar windows, possibly as a way of encouraging anyone strolling by to enter the establishment. Although the Spanish (or the variant Mediterranean) Revival style was more often found on buildings in warmer climates, such as in Florida or the Caribbean, the designer of this structure was hoping to suggest this same kind of vacation-oriented environment for a building in the heart of New York’s most popular resort area.
The narrow side street where the restaurant was located was a private street called Thompson’s Walk. As part of the area’s general improvement plan in 1923, the city widened it from 30 to 60 feet, paved it and opened it as West 12th Street. This necessitated the movement of the Child’s building to the west, achieved by cutting the front piers so that it could be raised onto rails and slid farther from the widened street. The facade was then restored to its original appearance.
This building served the Child’s restaurant chain for many years. When the Boardwalk was opened in 1923, the company opened a second, much larger restaurant at 21st Street (a designated New York City Landmark). Childs closed this store in the area’s busy amusement section by 1943. From 1944 the building housed the Bluebird Casino and later other restaurants and clubs, as well as David Rosen’s Wonderland Circus Sideshow. Since 2007, it has been owned by Coney Island USA and serves as the home of the Coney Island Museum which documents the history of this famous section of New York.
Description
The Childs Restaurant Building is located on the corner of Surf Avenue and 12th Street and has two designed facades that display the same motifs. The Surf Avenue facade is three bays wide while that on 12th Street has six bays. Constructed of brick covered with painted concrete, the building is two stories tall and is capped by a shallow pent roof that overhangs the facade and is topped by red Spanish tiles. The roof is supported on paired metal brackets with flat concrete panels between them. There are colorful, non-historic fabric signs attached to the wall space between each window that are suggestive of the kinds of banners that used to advertise Coney Island attractions during its heyday.
The Surf Avenue facade has three large, round-arched openings with non-historic metal-and- glass infill. The entrance is located within the center arch. The arches have remnants of painted concrete moldings along the edges of their openings. Large metal housing for roll-down metal gates is located over the windows and below the transoms. Triangular multi-colored mosaic panels are set in the arch spandrels. A concrete molding marks the top of the first story and a series of small, non-historic light fixtures extend horizontally from above it.
The second story has three rectangular window openings marked by painted concrete window sills. The original metal window frame is in place however, the glass has been replaced by two large panes. There are two rectangular vent openings in the cornice between the paired brackets that show up in the early tax photo.
The 12th Street facade is longer, with six bays displayed along its length. This side boasts similar motifs to those on Surf Avenue. There are six large, round-arched openings on the ground story. Only the first one nearest the corner has the full transom arch revealed since the others are covered by plywood and fabric signs. There is a service entrance with non-historic door located in the southernmost bay. Historic, concrete-covered piers flank the doorway and it is topped by a series of wires attached to the building. Non-historic roll-down metal gates are located above each archway. The concrete cornice carries around the building above the ground story. The second story has six rectangular windows with new glass and historic sash, except for the two southernmost windows in which the entire sash has been replaced.
A plastered and painted extension with mechanical housing extends above the roof at the southernmost corner of the building.
- From the 2011 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
MECONOPSIS BETONICIFOLIA
Himalayan flower imported by Elsie Reford in the early 1930s that has since become the floral emblem of the Gardens.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
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This Passion Vine (Passiflora vitifolia) grows along fences, over shrubs and garages here in South Florida. The leaves are glossy green and grape-leaf like. But what will simply knock your socks off are its dramatic, outrageous flowers! Surely they come from another planet! But no, they come from South America.
Legend and romance surround the passion flower... legend because of historical associations with Christianity. And romance because of its suggestion of romantic passion. Early explorers and missionaries to the Southern hemisphere named these dramatic vines Passiflora or Passion Flower to help in their conversion of native Americans to Christianity. They used the beautiful intricate flower parts to tell the story of the death of Jesus, making the story more memorable to listeners. The family name, Passifloraceae, means "Flower of the Passion" or "Flower of the Cross."
The color symbolized the blood shed on the cross; the 10 petals and sepals represented the 10 apostles present of the crucifixion; the 5 stamens, the 5 wounds, the 3 styles, the 3 nails ( or, in some versions, Christ and the 2 thieves crucified with him); the vine tendrils, the ropes and scourges; the 3 secondary leaf bracts, the holy trinity. The flower is usually open 3 days representing the 3 years of Christ's ministry on Earth. Source: Florida's Fabulous Flowers, Their Stories by Winston Williams.
See my sets Tantalizing Flowers and Blossoms and Passionate Passion Vines for more images of this amazing exotic, erotic flower.
Biscayne Park FL
Jaw droopingly good basic Mainline edition of the classic Porsche 917 LH now in its second recolour. It may lack that overwhelming WOW factor of the debut blue version but by keeping the previous GULF livery it still impresses far more than what a type of car like this should to a collector like me. Le Mans type model cars don't usually do it for me but the Hot Wheels Team have absolutely nailed this, capturing its dramatic proportions without fuss and giving it additional goodies such as clear plastic headlamps.
Bought recently from ASDA as part of Case M. Mint and boxed.
The 35th Desktop created for “The E82 Project”
A variation of "SeaRise" depicting the mural as seen through the prism of its dramatic lighting scheme featuring deep blue rim lighting and a single amber spotlight highlighting the mural's focal point.
Symbolizing the dynamic and interconnected relationship between the ocean, sky, and our mother star, The Living Seas Entry Mural, designed by Tim Delaney, was a modern masterpiece of multi-dimensional design. With its colorful currents and dramatic seascape refracting the sunlight, the mural not only emphases the pavilion’s theme but also accurately depicts the ratio of a planet that should have been named Sea not Earth as its surface is mostly covered by water.
Designer’s Note:
Just as with Energy’s Mural, I was dealing with the same problem of a very wide subject matter on a comparatively narrow screen. This time it was determined to have the focal point occupy more than 50% of the desktop image. In order to accomplish this I wanted to (vertically) extend the mural well beyond the confines of the original pavilion entry. Also, I had to concede that the mural could not be exhibited fully and approximately 30% of its length would have to be cropped.
Several test later, and to spite its uniquely multi-layered presentation, the desktop background was completely lacking in depth. Fast-forward a few months, and I finally hit upon a solution of multiple “backlit” Art Deco-influenced layers that would both increase depth and would maintain focus on Tim’s original masterpiece.
Point of Interest:
The waveforms below the mural are exact replicas of wavy railings that originally encircled the pavilion’s marquee.
For More Information
Please visit “E82 – The Epcot Legacy”
Krasnoyarsk Pillars (also known as Stolby) (Russian: Национа́льный парк «Красноя́рские Столбы́») is a Russian national park located 10 km south of the city of Krasnoyarsk, on the northwestern spurs of the Eastern Sayan Mountains. The site is known for its dramatic rock formations. Over 200,000 climbers, hikers, and other visitors are recorded annually. The park covers 47,219 hectares.
Topography
The park's natural borders are the Bazaikha River, a right tributary of the Yenisei River, in the northeast; the Mana River in the south; and the Bolshaya Slizneva River in the southwest. To the northeast, the park borders the city of Krasnoyarsk. The park is divided into two regions. The first is straight Stolby, which is open to tourists. The second is "Wild Stolby", which is located deeper the park, and where access is restricted.
Ecoregion and climate
Stolby is located in the East Siberian taiga ecoregion, in the heart of Siberia.
The climate is subarctic, without dry season (Köppen climate classification, Dfc). This climate is characterized by mild summers and cold, snowy winters.
Flora and fauna
Flora of the national park includes about 740 vascular plants and 260 kinds of mosses. Fir taiga, which is typical for the midlands of the Eastern Sayan, prevails. 290 species of vertebrates are found in the territory of the park, including many with a taiga habitat, (red-backed mouse, sable, Siberian musk deer, hazel grouse and others), as well as some forest-steppe animals (Siberian roe deer, steppe polecat, long-tailed ground squirrel and others).
Also, there are species from The Red Book of Russia:
Plants: calypso bulbosa, cypripedium calceolus, dactylorhiza majalis, orchis militaris, stipa pennata et al.
Birds: osprey, golden eagle, saker falcon, peregrine falcon and others.
Ecotourism and access
Visitors are able to get to the boundary of the park by city bus. The main attraction of the park is the rocks; the collective name of the rocks is Stolby, although all of the large formations, and even some smaller stones, have their own names. Inhabitants of Krasnoyarsk have been visiting Stolby for more than 150 years for sport and adventure holidays.
Three districts are accessible to tourists:
Takmakovsky district is situated in a valley of the Bazaikha River, at the foot of the Takmak rock. Rocks in this area include: Kitayskaya Stenka, Yermak and a group of small rocks: Vorobushki, Tsypa, Zhaba.
Central pillars is a district 7 kilometers from the boundary of the reserve, occupying an area of about 5x10 kilometers. Unique rocks such as Ded ("Grandfather"), Perja ("Plumage"), and Lvinnyj vorota ("Lions Gate"), as well as a group of pillars, are located here. The most popular routes to the top of rocks are Golubye Katushki ("Blue Coils") and Dymokhod ("Stovepipe"). Stolbists say that Bolsheviks wrote the word "Svoboda" (en. Freedom) on the biggest pillar before the October Revolution. Nowadays enthusiasts renew the writing intermittently, and because of difficulty of the ascent, law enforcement cannot erase the inscription.
Wild pillars include the rocks Manskaya Stenka and Manskaya Baba, which are situated in a buffer zone (closed for free visit).
History of exploration
Hikers climbing a rock (known locally as the First Pillar). A suburb of Krasnoyarsk is seen in the background.
Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt explored the Stolby between 1720 and 1727. He visited Krasnoyarsk three times during his 7-year exploration of Siberia. Vitus Bering visited it in 1733–1734.
In 1735 the Pillars were seen by the members of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, including naturalists Johann Georg Gmelin and his assistant Stepan Krasheninnikov.
In 1771–1773, Peter Simon Pallas visited the Stolby. He lived about a year in Krasnoyarsk, working on such papers as "Journey in various provinces of the Russian Empire," "Description of plants of the Russian state," and "Russian-Asian zoogeography."
The gold rush started in Siberia in the 1830s. Gold was mined in the Stolby. "Royev Ruchey" (Eng. "Scooped Brook") was so named because of the activities of miners.
In 1833, furs of 67 sables, foxes and 43 to thousands of skins of other animals were obtained in the Stolby region.
In 1870 and 1880s, a Krasnoyarsk teacher named Ivan Savenkov organized school trips to the "Pillars". In 1886, Savenkov published a topographical description of the suburbs of Krasnoyarsk.
From the late 1940s to the beginning of the 21st century, 16 collections of scientific papers about the Pillars were published. The effect of air pollution and recreational using on taiga ecosystems was investigated. Ivan Belyak has authored several books about the area.
History of protection
The core of the area was declared a natural reserve (zapovednik) on June 30, 1925, by the Krasnoyarsk soviet in order to protect the picturesque Syenite Buttes and surrounding rocky landscape. About 3.5% of the territory was open to hikers seeking to visit and climb the rocks.
In 1947 a married couple (Yelena Krutovskaya and James Dulkeyt) set up a farm for wild animals injured by poachers. In 2000, it was expanded into a zoo named Royev Ruchey.
In 2007 Stolby was submitted to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but the inscription was deferred indefinitely.
On December 4, 2019, the legal status of the Stolby Nature Reserve was changed to that of a national park (IUCN category II).
Krasnoyarsk is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a population of over 1.1 million. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the renowned Trans-Siberian Railway, and is one of the largest producers of aluminium in the country. The city is known for its natural landscape; author Anton Chekhov judged Krasnoyarsk to be the most beautiful city in Siberia. The Stolby Nature Sanctuary is located 10 km south of the city. Krasnoyarsk is a major educational centre in Siberia, and hosts the Siberian Federal University. In 2019, Krasnoyarsk was the host city of the 2019 Winter Universiade, the third hosted in Russia.
Etymology
The fort was named Krasny Yar (Russian: Кра́сный Яр) after the Yarin (a dialect of Khakas) name of the place it was built, Kyzyl Char ('red steep-riverbank'), which was translated as Krasny Yar.
History
The city was founded on August 19, 1628[2] as a Russian border fort when a group of service class people from Yeniseysk led by Andrey Dubenskiy arrived at the confluence of the Kacha and Yenisei Rivers and constructed fortifications intended to protect the frontier from attacks of native peoples who lived along the Yenisei and its tributaries. Along with Kansk to the east, it represented the southern limit of Russian expansion in the Yenisei basin during the seventeenth century. In the letter to Tsar Michael I the Cossacks reported:
...The town of trunks (log buildings) we have constructed and around the place of fort, we the servants of thee, our Lord, have embedded posts and fastened them with double bindings and the place of fort have strengthened mightily...
The settlement was granted town status in 1690. An intensive growth of Krasnoyarsk began with the arrival of the Siberian Route (the road M53 nowadays) in 1735 to 1741 which connected the nearby towns of Achinsk and Kansk with Krasnoyarsk and with the rest of Russia.
In 1749, a meteorite with a mass of about 700 kg (1,500 lb) was found 230 km (140 mi) south of Krasnoyarsk. It was excavated by Peter Simon Pallas in 1772 and transported to Krasnoyarsk and subsequently to Saint Petersburg. The Krasnoyarsk meteorite is important because it was the first pallasite ever studied and the first meteorite ever etched.
In 1822 Krasnoyarsk became the administrative center of Yeniseysk Governorate. By the end of the 19th century, Krasnoyarsk had several manufacturing facilities and railroad workshops and an engine house. Growth continued with the discovery of gold and the arrival of a railroad in 1895.
In the Russian Empire, Krasnoyarsk was one of the places to which political exiles were banished. For example, eight Decembrists were deported from St. Petersburg to Krasnoyarsk after the failure of the revolt.
In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, during the Russian Civil War, Siberia east of Omsk was controlled by white forces under Alexander Kolchak, who in December 1919 retreated east to Irkutsk and the Bolsheviks took control of the city. On a plateau 7 km outside of town was a prisoner of war camp with 13,000 German and Austrian troops. Elsa Brändström of the Swedish Red Cross spent almost a year there from July 1919 until May 1920.
During the periods of centralized planning (Five Year Plans) numerous large plants and factories were constructed in Krasnoyarsk: Sibtyazhmash, the dock yard, the paper factory, the hydroelectric power station (now the fifth largest in the world and the second in Russia), and the river port.
In 1934, Krasnoyarsk Krai was formed, with Krasnoyarsk as its administrative center.
During Stalinist times, Krasnoyarsk was a major center of the gulag system. The most important labor camp was the Kraslag or Krasnoyarsky ITL (1938-c. 1960) with the two units located in Kansk and Reshyoty. In the city of Krasnoyarsk itself, the Yeniseylag or Yeniseysky ITL labor camp was prominent as well during World War II (c. 1940–41).
During World War II, dozens of factories were evacuated from Ukraine and Western Russia to Krasnoyarsk and nearby towns, stimulating the industrial growth of the city. After the war additional large plants were constructed: the aluminum plant, the metallurgic plant, the plant of base metals and many others.
In the late 1970s, the Soviet Union began constructing a phased array radar station at Abalakova, near Krasnoyarsk, which violated the ABM Treaty. Beginning in 1983, the United States demanded its removal, until the Soviet Union admitted the radar station was a violation in 1989. Equipment was slowly removed from the site and by 1992 it was officially declared to be dismantled, though the equipment from the site was likely relocated to a new site near Komsomolsk-on-Amur.[citation needed] Krasnoyarsk was also a home to Krasnoyarsk Northeast air base, which was turned into living blocks after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and beginning of privatization, many large plants and factories, such as the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant, became owned by alleged criminal authorities and oligarchs, while others were declared bankrupt. The economic transition resulted in a dramatic rise in unemployment and numerous strikes.
The best known financial scandal of the second half of the 1990s happened when ownership of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant by a known Krasnoyarsk businessman Anatoliy Bykov had been canceled after he was accused of murdering his partner, Vilor Struganov. The accusation eventually turned out to be false. The Krasnoyarsk plant's ownership problems continue through the early 21st century since nearly all of them are owned either by monopolistic financial groups or by oligarchs.
Since the election of Pyotr Pimashkov as the mayor of Krasnoyarsk in 1996, the appearance of the city gradually improved: the old historical buildings were restored, the asphalt walkways were replaced with paving-stone, and numerous squares and recreation areas with fountains were either restored or constructed from scratch. Now the majority of the city keeps only a few traces of its former, drab, post-collapse look.
Geography
The total area of the city, including suburbs and the river, is 348 km2 (134 sq mi).
The river Yenisei flows from west to east through the city. Due to the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric dam 32 km (20 mi) upstream, the Yenisei never freezes in winter and never exceeds +14 °C (57 °F) in summer through the city. Near the city center, its elevation is 136 m (446 ft) above sea level. There are several islands in the river, the largest of which are Tatyshev and Otdyha Isles, used mainly for recreation.
To the south and west, Krasnoyarsk is surrounded by forested mountains averaging 410 m (1,350 ft) in height above river level. The most prominent of them are Nikolayevskaya Sopka (notable for its ski jumping tracks), Karaulnaya Gora, and Chornaya Sopka, the latter being an extinct volcano. The gigantic rock cliffs of the Stolby Nature Reserve rise from the mountains of the southern bank of the Yenisei, the western hills from the Gremyachaya Griva crest extending westwards up to the Sobakina River, the north is generally plain, except for the Drokinskaya Sopka hill, with forests to the northwest and agricultural fields to the north and east.
The major rivers in and near Krasnoyarsk are the Yenisei, Mana, Bazaikha, and Kacha Rivers, the latter flowing throughout the historical center of the city. Due to the nature of the terrain, a few natural lakes exist in the vicinity of Krasnoyarsk.
The forests close to the city are mostly pine and birch; further afield, aspen becomes dominant in many areas. The moss-covered fir and Siberian pine replaces other wood in the mountains westward of the Karaulnaya River, in about 15 km (9.3 mi) to the west from the city, the forests to the south are mostly pine, fir and aspen.
Administrative and municipal status
Krasnoyarsk is the administrative center of the krai. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with one rural locality (the village of Peschanka) incorporated as the krai city of Krasnoyarsk – an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the krai city of Krasnoyarsk is incorporated as Krasnoyarsk Urban Okrug.
City divisions
For administrative purposes, Krasnoyarsk is divided into seven city districts:
Kirovsky
Leninsky
Oktyabrsky
Sovetsky
Sverdlovsky
Tsentralny
Zheleznodorozhny
Coat of arms
The Krasno-yarsk Lion
The first version was approved on March 12, 1804. The coat of arms was divided horizontally into two parts, the upper part containing the coat of arms of Tomsk Governorate, and the lower part picturing the Krasny Yar cliff on a silver background. A revised coat of arms, approved on November 23, 1851, had the golden figure of a lion placed on a red heraldic shield with a spade in the right fore paw and a sickle in the left fore paw, both made of the same metal. The shield was topped with the golden crown of the Russian Empire. The current coat of arms (as depicted here) was approved on November 28, 2004. It contains the same red shield as in 1851 but with a slightly changed figure of the lion in the officially approved image. The shield is topped with a form of the mural crown, which is the golden five-tower coronet of rank of a federal subject administrative center.
Climate
Krasnoyarsk experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) bordering on a subarctic climate (Dfc). Its climate is very similar to that of Fort McMurray and Winnipeg in Canada, the latter of which is a good deal further south geographically. Compared to Thompson, Manitoba, or Labrador City at similar latitudes, Krasnoyarsk's winters are relatively mild. Compared to European cities on a similar latitude, Krasnoyarsk has much warmer summers, but much colder and longer winters (for example, Aalborg, Denmark). The summer is also on average warmer than similar inland latitudes of Scandinavia, owing to Siberia's greater continentality. Krasnoyarsk has high differentials between summer and winter temperatures.
Architecture
There are a number of historical buildings in Krasnoyarsk, the oldest of them being the Intercession Cathedral (Russian: Покровский собор, 1785 to 1795, restored in 1977 to 1978). Other locally significant samples of Russian Orthodox architecture are the Annunciation Cathedral (Russian: Благовещенский собор, 1802–12), the Holy Trinity Cathedral (Russian: Свято-Троицкий собор, 1802–12), John the Baptist Church (Russian: Церковь Иоанна Предтечи, 1899, former episcopal residence), and the new Michael the Archangel Church (Russian: Церковь Архистратига Михаила, 1998 to 2003).
On the top of the Karaulnaya Hill, originally a pagan shrine, later occupied by the Krasnoyarsk fort watchtower, the Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Chapel (1804, rebuilt 1854–55) still stands. The chapel, displayed on the 10-ruble note, is one of the iconic images of the city. The chapel was abandoned and fell into disrepair during the Soviet era and only when Perestroyka came was it regained by the Yenisei bishopric.
Another unofficial symbol of Krasnoyarsk is the incomplete 24-story tower located at Strelka. Construction of the tower had been started just before Perestroyka and then frozen due to the administrative crisis. The outline of the tower is clearly seen from many places in the city.
A bridge near Krasnoyarsk carries the Trans-Siberian Railway across the Yenisei. The original structure, one of the longest at the time, was constructed between 1893 and 1896 to an award-winning design by Lavr Proskuryakov. In 2003 it was rejected for emergency inscription on the World Heritage List. It was described at the time by ICOMOS "an early representation of a typical parabolic polygonal truss bridge in Russia" which became "a testing ground for the application of engineering theories and the development of new innovative solutions, which had numerous successors". The bridge was dismantled between 2002-2007.
Among other notable buildings are the mansions of the merchant Nikolay Gadalov (beginning of the 20th century), the Roman Catholic Transfiguration Chapel (Russian: Преображенский собор, 1911, also known as the Krasnoyarsk Organ Hall), the Krasnoyarsk Krai Museum stylized as an Ancient Egyptian temple, the Krasnoyarsk Cultural/Historical Center and the triumphal arch at the Spit (2003), the regional administration building flanked with two towers known as the "Donkey Ears".
There are a number of two-story wooden houses in the city built mostly in the middle of the 20th century as temporary habitations. Many urbanized villages located inside the city keep the remnants of the traditional Russian village architecture: wooden houses with backyards, many somewhat dilapidated now but still inhabited.
Culture
There are a number of local holidays celebrated annually in Krasnoyarsk. The most significant holiday is the Day of the City celebrated in June, usually with a carnival. Other holidays and cultural events are the Mana Festival (Russian: Манский фестиваль. The celebrations take place on the outside of town, on the bank of river Mana) usually held on the last weekend in June with the traditional bard contest, the International Museum Biennale traditionally held in the Krasnoyarsk Cultural/Historical Center, the avant-garde Museum Night festival dedicated to the International Museum Day (May 18), the Jazz on Yenisey festival, the Stolbist Day held many times a year celebrating the traditions of mountain climbing in the Stolby national reserve, and the Bikers' Rally.
Krasnoyarsk has a number of local television companies and the highly developed telecommunications, many districts of the city have LAN-based broadband Internet access.
The city is also home to the Krasnoyarsk Children's Choir, a world-renowned choir that tours in many countries as The Little Eagles of Siberia.
Education and science
Next to Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk is a prominent scientific and educational center of Siberia, with over 30 higher education facilities, many of which are the branches of the Russian Academy of Science, and about 200 high schools. The most notable higher education institutes are:
Siberian Federal University (Russian abbreviation is SFU), founded on November 4, 2006. The institution integrated four large higher education institutions (Krasnoyarsk State University, Krasnoyarsk State Academy of Architecture and Civil Construction, Krasnoyarsk State Technical University, State University of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold)
Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University (Russian abbreviation is KGPU), founded in 1932
Siberian State Technological University (Russian abbreviation is SibGTU), the oldest in the city, founded in 1930 as the Siberian Institute of Forest
Siberian State Aerospace University (Russian abbreviation is SibGAU), founded in 1960
Krasnoyarsk State Medical University (Russian abbreviation is KrasGMU), founded in 1942
Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University (Russian abbreviation is Krasnoyarsk GAU), founded in 1952
Like Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk has a special city district called Akademgorodok ("Academic Town"), where several scientific research institutes are located. Krasnoyarsk's Institute of Biophysics is known for a 1973–1985 experiment on ecological isolation of human beings (the "Bios Experiment"). Sukachev Institute of Forest, founded in 1944 at Moscow and relocated to Krasnoyarsk in 1959. There are several museums in Krasnoyarsk. One is the Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum, containing historical items and exhibits of the region, including ancient history, native Siberians, and woolly rhinos.
The Krasnoyarsk zoo is also a major attraction for residents and tourists.
Transportation
Metro
An underground system (three lines) has been in planning and construction phases in Krasnoyarsk for decades. Subway construction was terminated in 2008.
Public Transportation
The transit system is dominated by buses, but there also are several trolleybus and tram routes.
Railway
Krasnoyarsk lies on the Yenisei River and historically has been an important junction on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Krasnoyarsk-Passazhirsky (Russian: Красноярск-Пассажирский, lit. Krasnoyarsk-Passenger) is the main railway station of Krasnoyarsk. Long-range trains of the Trans-Siberian Railway stop at this station. There are some stations served by Elektrichka and there is Krasnoyarsk-East goods station 26.3 km east of Krasnoyarsk-Passazhirsky.
Airports
Krasnoyarsk was served by two airports: Yemelyanovo Airport is the main airport and handles both medium and long-haul domestic as well as international flights, and is 27 km (17 mi) northwest of the city. The secondary Cheremshanka Airport handled short-haul flights. Cheremshanka has lost its eminent role as the main base airport for an extensive network of local air services (MVL) in Krasnoyarsk Krai formerly served by the local Aeroflot Krasnoyarsk Directorate. In December 2011 a fire broke out at the Cheremshanka airport which destroyed the terminal building and the air traffic control tower.
Tourism
The most popular place of attraction for tourists visiting Krasnoyarsk is the huge national nature reserve Stolby ("pillars"), which covers an area of 470 km2 (180 sq mi) with numerous giant granite rocks formations up to 100 meters high, many of very extraordinary shapes. Stolby is also a major rock climbing location. Many local climbers intentionally do not use any belaying equipment and call their extreme sport stolbizm, known elsewhere as solo climbing.
Other popular showplaces include the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Station dam, the Karaulnaya Gora hill with the Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Chapel, museums, theaters, etc.
Sports
Krasnoyarsk is a center of Siberian sports. Areas, where Krasnoyarsk excels compared to other Russian cities, include rugby union, bandy, and freestyle wrestling.
Yenisey was the Soviet bandy champions every year in the 1980s as well as in 1991. The first Russian title came in 2001. In 2014 they became champions of the Bandy Super League and had the highest average attendance, 5 747. In 2015 the league title was won again as well as in 2016. At the 2019 Winter Universiade, bandy will feature as a demonstration sport for the first time and tournaments for both men and women will be held. An indoor stadium will be built for the occasion. It is planned to be ready for use by the end of 2018. The complexity of the construction is considered unique.
The city is considered a stronghold of rugby union in Russia, to the extent that the Rugby Union of Russia was headquartered locally for many years. Two Krasnoyarsk clubs, Krasny Yar and Enisey-STM, participate in the national Professional Rugby League, and European Rugby Challenge Cup, the second-tier pan-European club competition. Matches take precedence in the local media, and the city derby match can attract crowds of about 3000–5000. Many players of the Russian national rugby team hail from the area. Some of Russia's international rugby matches are played at the Central Stadium.
Notable people
Mirra Andreeva, tennis player
Viktor Astafyev, writer
Vyacheslav Butusov, singer and songwriter
Caziel, artist
Walter Ciszek, Polish-American Jesuit priest held captive here on suspicion of espionage for the Vatican
Valentin Danilov, Russian scientist
Elena Abramovna Davidovich, numismatist and archaeologist
Yekaterina Duntsova, Russian politician, journalist and lawyer
Helene Fischer, German singer and actress
Iya Gavrilova, ice hockey player
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, operatic baritone
Evgeny Isakov, ice hockey player
Elena Khrustaleva, biathlete
Sergey Ivanovich Lomanov, bandy manager and former player
Sergey Sergeyevich Lomanov, bandy player
Andreï Makine, novelist
Yevgeni Popov, writer
Sofia Samodurova, figure skater
Alexander Semin, ice hockey player
Andrei Shepelenko, professional ice hockey player
Pyotr Slovtsov, opera singer
Vasily Surikov, historic painter
Viktoria Tereshkina, prima ballerina
Viktor Tretiakov, violinist
Evgeny Ustyugov, biathlete
Twin towns – sister cities
Krasnoyarsk is twinned with:
China Heihe, China (1999)
Tajikistan Istaravshan, Tajikistan (2000)
Canada Sault Ste. Marie, Canada (2002)
Mongolia Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2003)
Uzbekistan Samarkand, Uzbekistan (2003)
United States Oneonta, United States (2004)
Italy Cremona, Italy (2006)
Slovakia Žilina, Slovakia (2013)
China Changchun, China (2014)
China Manzhouli, China (2017)
First visit of 2019 for me to this stunning castle today Thursday 28th March 2019.
Dunnottar Castle.
The rock the Castle sits upon was forced to the surface 440 million years ago during the Silurian period. A red rock conglomerate with boulders up to 1m across known as Pudding Stone is incredibly durable.
The ancient Highland rock pebbles and cementing matter is so tough that faults or cracks pass through the pebbles themselves.
I first visited Dunnottar Castle summer 2017, this magnificent castle sits high on a hill, last time I visited I captured my shots from the cliffs overlooking the site, though today I made the journey up the hill and entered the castle walls , wow what a magnificent experience, just perfect with loads of great photo opportunities to capture real Scottish history,after two hours wandering around and capturing as many shots that caught my eye , I made my way home, a magnificent experience indeed.
Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope" is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Stonehaven.
The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.
The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 50 metres (160 ft) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse.
The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site are listed buildings.
History
Early Middle Ages
A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of "Dún Foither" in 681 and 694.
The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Scottish Chronicle records that King Domnall II, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. King Aethelstan of Wessex led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham. W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present caste, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification.
The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that "Dún Foither" was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north.
Later Middle Ages
During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a center of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield.
In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.
In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters.
Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.
In the 14th century Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife.
William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication.William Keith's descendents were created Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.
16th century rebuilding
Through the 16th century the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme".
Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564.
James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of a progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar.
During a rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by a Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.
In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security.
A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle.
An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features.
Civil wars
Further information: Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.
Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists.
Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir: Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.
The Honours of Scotland
Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar.
They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.
In November 1651 Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes.
Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword-case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.
Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas.
Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons,[28] and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.
At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.
Whigs and Jacobites
Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king.
The Whigs were imprisoned from 24 May until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance.
The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage.
The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".
Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendents) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William and Mary with Lord Marischal appointed captain.
Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College.
In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.
Later history
The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle.
In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith, an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland.
Dunnottar was inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000.
It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925 after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs.
Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009.
Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a scheduled monument in 1970.In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed.
Three buildings are listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging.
The remaining listings are at category B as being of "regional importance".[39] The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (52,000-acre) Dunecht Estates.
Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there.
Description
Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland.
The site is accessed via a steep, 800-metre (2,600 ft) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven. Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).
The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".
Defences
The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs.
The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above.
Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.
Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency.
The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.
A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace.
Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.
Tower house and surrounding buildings
The tower house of Dunnottar, viewed from the west
The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above.
Measuring 12 by 11 metres (39 by 36 ft), the tower house stood 15 metres (49 ft) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs.
Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal.
This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.
The palace
The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581.
It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.
Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplace. Above the lodgings the west range comprised a 35-metre (115 ft) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall.
At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.
The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs.
The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the Countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1654. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 16 by 4.5 metres (52 by 15 ft). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trap-door in the floor.
Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s. The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 16 metres (52 ft) across and 7.6 metres (25 ft) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west.
At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.
Darkened corridors in the clositers of the temple complex provide a cool retreat and wonderful atmosphere in the middle of the day.
Ta Prohm is a 12th-century Buddhist temple located in the Angkor Archaeological Park near Siem Reap, Cambodia. Built by King Jayavarman VII as a monastery and university dedicated to his mother, it was originally named Rajavihara, meaning “Royal Monastery.” The temple is part of the larger Angkor complex and was one of the most important temples of the Khmer Empire.
Ta Prohm is best known for its dramatic and photogenic appearance, where massive trees—mostly spung (Tetrameles nudiflora) and silk-cotton trees—grow out of the temple's stonework. Their thick roots snake over and through the crumbling towers, walls, and courtyards, creating a unique blend of natural and man-made architecture. This overgrowth has been preserved intentionally in a “conservation-through-minimal-intervention” approach, unlike many other Angkor temples that have been fully restored.
Architecturally, Ta Prohm follows the Bayon style, characterised by intricate bas-reliefs, corbelled arches, and the use of sandstone. The layout is a flat temple structure with a series of enclosures, galleries, and courtyards. Decorative carvings depict scenes of Buddhist devotion, daily Khmer life, and mythological beings, reflecting the spiritual and cultural priorities of Jayavarman VII’s reign.
Central Park West, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States of America
If you want to know more about my walks and photos, check out my blog.
Summary
Soaring over Central Park, the profile of the San Remo is among the most important components of the magnificent skyline of Central Park West. The first of the twin-towered buildings which give Central Park West its distinctive silhouette, and one of the New York's last grand apartment houses built in the pre-Depression era, it was designed by Emery Roth, then at the pinnacle of his career as a specialist in apartment house architecture. A residential skyscraper in classical garb, the San Remo epitomizes Roth's ability to combine the traditional with the modern, an urbane amalgam of luxury and convenience, decorum and drama.
Development of Central Park West
Central Park West, the northern continuation of Eighth Avenue bordering on the park, is today one of New York's finest residential streets, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was a rural and inhospitable outpost, notable for its rocky terrain, browsing goats and ramshackle shanties. With the creation of Central Park in the 1860s, followed by Riverside Park (begun 1876), as well as a series of transportation improvements such as the Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad (1879), the Upper West Side in general experienced a period of intense real estate speculation. The 1880were the first decade of major development, and set the pattern for the Upper West Side, where rowhouses line the side streets, and multiple dwellings, commercial and institutional structures are sited on the avenues.
Not surprisingly, those avenues closest to the parks. Central Park West and Riverside Drive, were immediately considered the most desirable. (Ninth Avenue, re-christened Columbus in 1890, Tenth Avenue, renamed Amsterdam in the same year, and Broadway—the Boulevard before 1899 — were all, in varying degrees marred by cable car and elevated railway lines.)
The potential of the parkside avenues for development as prime locations led to an anticipatory increase in land values; prices rose to such extravagant heights that many speculative builders shied away from row house and tenement construction, from which they would realize relatively meager returns, while the very wealthy, who could afford to build mansions, for the most part remained on the more fashionable East Side- As a result, the development of Central Park West lagged behind the general development of the Upper West Side. It was not until the turn of the century that Central Park West's construction boom began and it emerged as a- boulevard of elegant tall apartments punctuated by impressive institutional buildings—a kind of grand proscenium to the architectural variety show of the Upper West Side.
The stage had been set By two great monuments, the American Museum of Natural History between 77th and 81st Streets, (begun 1874, architects Vaux & Mould, and a designated New York City Landmark), and the Dakota, the pioneering luxury apartments at 72nd Street (1880-84. architect Henry Hardenbergh, and a designated New York City Landmark). Yet a survey of roughly a decade later revealed that more than half the block fronts along the park from 60th to 96th Streets remained vacant or contained only old, modest frame houses. A few rather unprepossessing apartment hotels (at
least, relative to the Dakota) were constructed in the early 1890s, among them the San Remo at 75th Street, designed in 1890 by architect Edward Angel 1.2 was described by Moses King in his Handbook as "an immense and imposing edifice, finely situated on the high ground of West 75th Street and facing on the lawns, woods and waters of Central Park. The rooms . . . are all in suites"; and more recently as "a ten-story, high Victorian pile, a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque details . . . unremarkable from an architectural standpoint except for the steep pyramidal towers at its corners."
Among the other apartment hotels on the avenue, were the Beresford at 81st Street, the Majestic (architect Alfred Zucker) just south of the Dakota, both erected in the early 1890s, and the El Dorado at 90th Street of 1901. These have all been replaced by their towered namesakes of the late 1920s and early '30s, but they had already been architecturally superceded by grand apartments houses of the early 1900s—such as the Prasada (1904) at 65th Street, the Langham (1905) at 73rd Street, the Kenilworth (1908) at 75th Street. This phase in Central Park West's development was interrupted by World War I, when construction ground to a halt. The second major phase of development began with the great prosperity of the '20s producing the Art Deco towered buildings, and Roth's Beresford and San Remo Apartments which now define the skyline.
The 1920s provided a generation of aspiring immigrants with the opportunity to move up in the world, both economically and geographically. Many Jewish immigrants, refugees from Csarist pogroms, had achieved prosperity in New York by the late 1920s, and looked from the Lower East Side and the Boroughs to the Upper West Side as a cultural and architectural haven. By the mid-1930s more than half the residents of the Upper West Side from 72nd to 96th Streets were Jewish, and more than a third of these families was headed by a parent born in Europe. Emery Roth was himself a Jewish immigrant of Horatio Algeresque stamina and optimism, a family man and Upper West Sider, although he arrived by a more circuitous route than most of his neighbors.
The Architect
Emery Roth was born in 1871 in the town or Galzecs, Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he was thirteen the family's fortunes took a turn for the worse, and it was decided that young Emery, alone, would immigrate to America. Passing through Ellis Island, he continued on to Chicago where his success story began.
When still a teenager living a hand to mouth existence in Bloomington, Illinois, Roth determined to become an architect. He worked for both a local builder and a local architect. In 1889, having won a national-government sponsored contest, the Maize Competition—for which he drew a living room utilizing the corn plant as a decorative motif—Roth took his $100 prize money and set out for Kansas City. Apparently he could not find architectural employment there, but while he was still in Bloomington, had applied to join the office of Burnham & Root. Offered the job by mail. Roth moved on to Chicago and worked under Charles Atwood (who had succeeded John W. Root after his death in 1891.) Roth helped to prepare drawings for the celebrated Palace of Fine Arts. While at the fair, he met Richard Morris Hunt, the recognized dean of American architects, who offered to hire him if he ever came to New York. After the fair, with true to form optimism, Roth made his way to New York, where Hunt's casual offer was honored. Assigned to draft interior perspectives for The Breakers, the Newport mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Roth came in contact with Ogden Codman, a noted architect, interior designer and socialite. In 1895 Roth went to work for Codman, where his decorative and planning abilities were sharpened.
By 1898 Roth believed himself ready for private practice. Two young architects, Theodore G. Stein and E. Yancy Cohen, after involved negotiations, sold Roth their architectural practice for $1000. As part of the agreement, Roth was entitled to represent himself as a partner in Stein, Cohen & Roth in order to capitalize on the good will of the existing firm. In fact, Roth was on his own.
Roth's first major commission was the Hotel Belleclaire of 1901-03 on upper Broadway, a designated New York City Landmark. While it was under construction Roth was approached by Leo and Alexander Bing, Manhattan real estate developers. The Bing brothers admired the Belleclaire and commissioned Roth to design a group of five-story apartment buildings in Washington Heights. This alliance inaugurated a lifelong association.
In the following years, Roth had several commissions, among them Bancroft Hall of 1910—a student housing facility for Columbia University, and a series of religious structures, including the Congregation Ahavith Achem of 1908 in Brooklyn and the First Reformed Hungarian Church of 1916 on East 69th Street in Manhattan.
The year 1918 was a traumatic one for Roth. He lost his vision in one eye, the result of glaucoma, and nearly died in the great influenza epidemic. But the prosperity of the 1920s was to carry him into a period of great achievement. After the hiatus in construction caused by the First World War, building was again undertaken. In New York City, a 1921 ordinance exempting new residential construction from real estate taxes for the next decade, opened the door to a building boom. The Bing brothers commissioned a series of apartment buildings and hotels from Roth, many of which Ruttenbaum aptly terras "fine background buildings," while two other developers, Samuel Minskoff and Harris H. Uris commissioned Roth to design a number of handsome medium height apartment houses which the architect dubbed "skyscratchers."
In 1926 Roth in association with Thomas Hastings, the surviving partner of the eminent firm of Carrere & Hastings, designed the Ritz Tower at Park Avenue and 57th Street, a 41-story apartment hotel In a neo-Renaissance style, its extreme height making it "a symbol of a new way to live for wealthy New Yorkers." After the Ritz Tower, Roth went on to design a host of luxury residential skyscrapers, among them the Oliver Cromwell Hotel on West 72nd Street (1928), the Beresford Apartments on Central Park West, and as a consultant to Margon & Holder, the Art Deco style El dorado Apartments also on Central Park West (1929-31, and a designated New York City Landmark). From the mid-1920s on, the signature of a major Roth apartment house was its tower(s). Initially designed to conceal water tanks, they evolved in the Beresford with its three towers into a major element of the design.
In the San Remo. among Roth's finest works, the towers are carried even further, becoming an integral component of this residential skyscraper. This fusing of the functional with the aesthetic was equally characteristic of his apartment plans. Roth's sons credit their father with the creation of the foyer plan, and if not the originator he was certainly a refiner of this type. Roth's best apartments seem effortlessly interlocked, wasteful corridor space reduced to a minimum, with spacious, well-lit rooms in their stead.
Roth's last great work was the Normandy Apartments on Riverside Drive of 1938-39 (a designated New York City Landmark), by which time his sons had joined the firm. The majority of his later buildings in concession to the Depression had smaller apartments and fewer amenities, while still maintaining high standards. Roth died in 1947, and his sons continued the firm, which has been prosperous and prolific.
The San Remo
In an advertisement of May 18, 1930, in the New York Times the San Remo was heralded as:
The Aristocrat of Central Park West Apartments Designed for You Built by the builders of the Beresford
Every detail of these sumptuous apartments has been carefully planned to make living in them the last word in luxury. Only private homes have ceilings as lofty as these and rooms as- spacious. Every chamber has its own colored tile bathroom and is well-supplied with deep closets. Many have dressing rooms too. The long galleries and living rooms with fireplaces offer splendid decorative possibilities. The kitchens have been fitted with the most modern appliances. Up in the towers are apartments such as New York has never before seen with windows on all four sides and views of Central Park, the Hudson, and Westchester. Other specially designed apartments have slate terraces overlooking the park.
Six to sixteen rooms, simplex and duplex apartments H.R.H. Construction Company 11
Contemporary writers essentially concurred with this euphoric description, and were impressed by the height of the building, the twin-towered silhouette, good plans and luxurious detailing. The New Yorker magazine (a publication which in 1930 seems, at least to modern eyes, to all but ignore the 1929 Crash) featured two articles on the San Remo, one by "Penthouse" [Marcia Clarke Davenport]. Davenport is impressed by the views, the size of the terraces and rooms, and "the remarkable sun and light everywhere." Perhaps a hint of the Depression can be detected in her interest in costs--"This is not one of the houses you use to illustrate that rents are lower on the West Side." An eighteen-room duplex was offered at $21,000 per year.
The second New Yorker contributor, "T-Square" [George S. Chappell] considers the San Remo in more strictly architectural terms and as a design by Roth "whose name must be inextricably associated with the development of this section" of Manhattan.
...the Italian baroque [is] skillfully adapted to modern conditions. Cornices are reduced to a minimum, becoming simply bandcourses, but such detail as is used is classic in derivation. The twin towers with their circular colonnades of Corinthian columns, crowned by bronze lanterns,
are fine in silhouette____ The proportions are
well-studied and the warm light brick used above the limestone substructure give a delightful effect.
Chappell also praises the watertank coverings and the innovative window design with upper and lower movable transoms.
Despite its popular success, the San Remo fell prey to the pervasive economic mayhem of the 1930s. A full year after it had officially opened, nearly a third of its apartments remained vacant, and the Bank of the United States which held its $5 million mortgage had collapsed, its officers charged with recklessly "gambling" on the San Remo. In an
effort to attract tenants rents were reduced, and some of the larger apartments were subdivided. But after a succession of owners and bankruptcies, in 1940 the San Remo was sold along with the Beresford, which was experiencing similar financial woes, for a mere $25,000 over existing mortgages.
In its near sixty-year history, the San Remo has had numerous well-known and famous tenants, among them David Nemerov and his wife, owners of Russeks Stores, and parents of Howard Nemerov, poet and critic, and Diane Arbus, photographer, Eddie Cantor, the singer and comedian, and more recently, singer Barry Manilow, and actors Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Tony Randall and Mary Tyler Moore.
Architectural Sources and Style
The San Remo is a skyscraper which, in the conservative early twentieth-century tradition, applies an historical style to a contemporary form. Roth, who had a lifelong predilection for classicizing styles (although he used others), here turned to the Late Italian Renaissance for inspiration,,. Broken pediments, both curved and triangular, cartouches, and boldly scaled pilasters and columns with composite capitals, and overlapping architectural elements—all hallmarks of the Late Italian Renaissance—are the components of the San Remo's detailing. Ruttenbaum has noted similarities in the crowning temples of the San Remo with the ancient Greek choragic monument of Lysicrates, which Roth had studied in his youth at the Chicago exposition. Certainly, there are parallels, especially in the proportions, but perhaps equally important are such Late Renaissance structures as Bramante's celebrated Tempietto in Rome, or—in terms of placement as much as form—Michelangelo's lantern atop St. Peter's dome.
Much closer to home are such general prototypes as McKim, Mead & White's Municipal Building of 1909-13, a skyscraper topped by a temple and designed in a neo-classical style.
Truly tall skyscrapers, rather than the "skyscratchers" of Roth's terminology, up until the 1920s had been almost exclusively erected as commercial structures. Roth's first very tall apartment building, the 41-story Ritz Tower of 1926, had been erected as an apartment hotel, for which less stringent building code requirements applied than for apartment houses. The Ritz Tower was exactly what the name implied—one preliminary scheme even called for a lantern clearly derived from the tower of the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio. In residential terms, this was a new building type, one which reached a fuller expression in the San Remo.
In early 1929, a new Multiple Dwelling Act was passed, allowing apartment houses of large ground area greater height and the use of towers. The San Remo, the first of the vast twin-towered West Side apartments, was designed in response to these new stipulations. An innovative design, based on Roth's experience with single-towered structures, it was quickly emulated: yet the sheer size and height of the San Remo apparently struck others as fundamentally "modern." The Century Apartments and the Majestic Apartments are exercises in the contemporary Art Deco style. Even the Normandy, Roth's own last great building combines elements of the Style Moderne with neo-Italian Renaissance motifs. Yet, as the architectural critic, Paul Goldberger (himself a resident of the San Remo) has remarked, "Roth's greatest gift was his ability to adapt Renaissance and classical details to modern building forms." 21
Description
The San Remo Apartments occupy the Central Park West blockfront from 74th to 75th Streets. A residential skyscraper, the main block of the building is 17 stories in height, with terraced setbacks from the 14th to 17th stories. Two symmetrical towers, each ten stories in height surmounted by elaborate suprastructures culminating in circular temples with lanterns give the building its dramatic profile. The building is executed in light brick. The first three stories are in rusticated limestone, lightly vermiculated at the first two stories, with smooth lower relief at the third. The facade is 26 bays wide, with two main entryways. The southern elevation is 19 bays wide, and the northern is 16. {The southern elevation is 180 feet in length, the northern, 150.) Each has a single main entrance. (There are four office entrances on the Central Park West facade, two on the south elevation, and three on the north. The towers are five bays wide on the facade and side elevations.
The rear, western elevation...which owing to its height above the side street rowhouses, is largely visible is executed in the same light brick, and is ranged around a T-shaped courtyard. The towers have terraced rear extensions. A large chimney abuts the north tower.
The facade and side elevations are articulated above the three-story base by shallow brick pilasters and slight projections signalized as pavilions by the Renaissance detailing at the upper stories. The facade of the main block of the building has a basic vertical arrangement of bays as: 1-1-1-6-1-6-1-6-1-1-1. At the terrace levels the central six bays and outermost three bays function as true pavilions between the setbacks. The towers have massive, pier-like enframements at the corners. Cornices are effectively and sparingly used to accentuate the upper stories of the main block of the building, the upper stories of the towers, and the suprastructures.
Architectural detailing, executed in stone, terra cotta and metal, is Late Italian Renaissance in character, and highlights entrances and window configurations at the upper stories. Balustrades, pilasters, engaged columns, broken pediments, both circular and triangular, garlands, urns, cartouches, scrolls, consoles and roundels are employed. The detail is executed in limestone up to the fourth story and in terra cotta above. The terraces have either terra-cotta balustrades or metal railings. The lantern is of copper. (All such detailing is described below.)
Detailing
Fenestration:
The windows are uniformly treated on the designed elevations, with metal casements featuring movable transoms above and below the principal windows. The upper transom swings out, the lower transom (or hopper) swings in. The central large windows open outward in the conventional manner. The windows have six panes (2 over 2 over 2). This innovative design was intended to facilitate the regulation of temperature and air circulation. There are some variations in width which reflect interior spaces (living rooms, bedrooms etc.) but the basic configuration remains the same, except in the second-story windows above the Central Park West entrances, and at the uppermost stories of the facade central pavilion, which are tripartite with nine panes of glass (3 over 3 over 3). On the rear elevation the windows are more varied in their treatment, with single double, triple and double leaf casement windows, some of which do not have the lower transom. A few windows have been altered, most notably on the rear tower elevations.
Main Entrances:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically located at the 6-7th bays and 20-21st bays).
A broken triangular pediment surmounts the double doors , executed in bronze and glass with paneled, solid bronze transoms. The doors are each divided into three parts, with square panels ornamented by bronze medallions and bordering acanthus leaver set in a rectilinear bronze grillework. Metal and glass lanterns flank the doorway. A double-height limestone enframement surrounds the doorway and second-story tripartite window, and is composed of flanking pilasters with composite capitals , with reliefs depicting classical urns above, and supporting a dentiled curved, broken pediment. At the center of the pediment is a large scrolled cartouche draped by a garland which is looped over a rosette at each side. The doorways have sheltering canopies on bronze supports.
North [75 St.] and south [74th St.] elevations (one, located in the 13th bay, north side, and in the 11th bay, south side).
Both have deep reveals and limestone enframements with a surmounting console table on console-like supports with a central scrolled cartouche. The single bronze and glass doors follow the same design as those on the facade and have transoms with an octagonal panel with central medallion and acanthus leaves. Lanterns flank the doorways.
Office Entrances:
Facade [Central Park West] (four, symmetrically located at the 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th bays).
These have limestone enframements and surmounting entablatures with scrolled ornamental keystones. The single doors are of bronze with a glazed upper panel and transom.
North elevation [75th St.] (three, at the 4th, 8th, and 15th bays).
These are detailed like those on the facade.
South elevation [74th St.] (two, at the 6th and 14th bays).
Set within deep reveals and enframed by the rusticated walls, each has a bronze door with a glazed upper panel and transom.
Service Entrances:
North [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (two, located at the rear of each elevation).
A rusticated wall which follows the design of the building walls and extends to the second story contains an arched doorway with a large keystone and is surmounted by a paneled overdoor. A decorative metal gate with a panel reading "Service" fills the archway. At the south elevation, a metal railing atop a brick wall extends westward along the property line.
Third Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St. ] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
The windows have limestone relief enframements with side elements in the shape of a console in profile, and rosettes. .. . .
Fourth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically placed, 5-8th bays and 19-22nd bays).
A balustraded balcony set upon four large ornamented console brackets extends for four bays. The central two bays have a limestone enframement and are separated by a smooth limestone panel. Flanking pilasters support an entablature upon which a triangular broken pediment is superimposed. At the center is a scrolled escutcheon with a garland and ornamental tablet.
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
Each has an entablature with a superimposed triangular pediment, both dentil led, and a central ornamented keystone flanked by plain stones. Pilasters and enframements surround the windows which also have a balustrade executed in high relief.
Fourth Story Cartouche:
Facade [Central Park West] (one, between the 13th and 14th bays).
A large scrolled cartouche, placed at the center of the facade, it has the completion date of the building 19—30 placed to each side.
Eleventh-Twelfth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically located at the 5-8th and 19-22nd bays).
A balustrade on Four console brackets, which visually echoes the fourth-story treatment below, extends across four bays. A double-height, two-bay wide central section is recessed, with flanking brick pilasters, in which the capitals are seemingly "overlapped" by the outer wall surface. Two embossed rosettes appear in the panel which is enframed by bandcourses between the 11th and 12th stories. Two additional embossed rosettes appear in the outer bays. A scrolled cartouche with garlands draped over rosettes, similar to those of the facade main entrances, surmount the composition.
Thirteenth to Fifteenth Story Window Enframements:
Facade (Central Park West], north [75 th St. ] and south [74 th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
Placed similarly to the window enframement of the fourth story, these three-story compositions also serve to accentuate and anchor the Central Park West corners of the building. In each,, ornamented console brackets at the 13th story level support a balustered balcony one bay wide. At the 13th story and balcony level, are bandcourses which continue along the walls, articulating the designed elevations. The 14th-story windows are surmounted by curved broken pediments and ornamented at the center by escutcheons. Garlands and floral motifs appear below the pediments, upon the window frames. The 15th-story windows are surmounted by a scrolled escutcheon. Double height brick pilasters with rosettes flank the windows and support a broken triangular pediment. Cartouches appear at the center. The band courses of the pilasters and broken pediments also continue along the wall surfaces and here help to define the three-bay wide corner pavilions. These pavilions are further defined by flanking brick pilasters with rosettes.
Thirteenth to Seventeenth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (one, at the 12-13th bays).
This composition, which signalizes the central six-bay wide pavilion, reiterates many of the elements of the four corner compositions just described, although it is two bays wide, rather than one. Ornamented consoles at the 13th story support the 14th story balustered balcony. Instead of two windows there are single tripartite windows. The 14th and 15th story windows are detailed like those at the corners, but here the broken pediment enframing the carouche is curved rather than triangular. The composition continues to the 16th and 17th stories, which are also flanked by brick pilasters. The tripartite window at the 16th story is richly enframed with a central garlanded tablet, and a broken triangular pediment. At the 17th story is a central garlanded cartouche. The central pavilion has terminating brick pilasters with embossed rosettes like those of the corner pavilions.
Twenty-third Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, set in the central bays).
These window, set mid way on the designed elevations of the towers, function as medallions on the relatively unadorned tower shafts. The windows have elaborate enframements with ornamental keystones and curved, broken pediments.
Twenty-sixth - Twenty-seventh Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St. ] and south [74th St. ] elevations, (four, set in the 2-4th bays).
Set between bandcourses and balustrade and pediment level, which continue on the wall surfaces of the towers, are these three boldly scaled three-bay wide compositions. The central bay has a projecting balustrade and above, double-height engaged columns on brackets, with foliate capitals. These columns enframe the two windows and support a curved broken pediment. At the center of the pediment is a large cartouche. The side bays have balustrades and above, double-height pilasters on podia, with foliate capitals. These pilasters flank the two windows and support triangular broken pediments.
Suprastructure Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations and the two inner faces of the towers (six, set at the second story of the suprastructure and in the penthouses).
These double-height compositions each include a framed window with flanking brick pilasters with embossed rosettes at capital-level. Above the window is a broken triangular pediment and a central escutcheon. Six small penthouses with semi-circular roofs have their facades placed above the pediments. The windows of these are curved at top and bottom and elaborately enframed and have metal grilles. They are each flanked by console brackets which support the curved pediment of the penthouse.
Temples:
North and south towers, (two, located at the top of the building).
Above the suprastructure each tower is surmounted by a circular temple of brick and terra cotta, set upon a base articulated by boldly scaled console brackets on eight buttressing pedestals. Large urns, draped with garlands, crown each pedestal and the intervening walls are ornamented with scrolled cartouches beneath balustrades. The temples, set on simple brick podia, are encircled by colonnades of smooth columns with foliate capitals. These support plain dentil led friezes beneath balustrades. Above on each tower is a circular base with copestones, which supports the crowing element — a fenestrated and electrified copper lantern, above elongated foliate scrolled consoles. (The temples and lanterns have recently been restored.)
- From the 1987 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
The mine beneath the sea
In its dramatic clifftop setting Levant was, for 110 years, ‘the queen of Cornwall’s submarine mines’. Today, the surviving buildings and ruins offer a window on another world where men and women toiled to extract the riches of the earth from beneath the crashing waves.
Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah is known for its dramatic desert landscape carved by the Colorado River. Island in the Sky is a huge, flat-topped mesa with panoramic overlooks. Other notable areas include the towering rock pinnacles known as the Needles, the remote canyons of the Maze and the Native American rock paintings in Horseshoe Canyon. Whitewater rapids flow through Cataract Canyon.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Claudette, surrounded by lots of beautiful flowers, is '' making '' some photos...
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
Iceland, a Nordic island nation, is defined by its dramatic landscape with volcanoes, geysers, hot springs and lava fields. Massive glaciers are protected in Vatnajökull and Snæfellsjökull national parks. Most of the population lives in the capital, Reykjavik, which runs on geothermal power and is home to the National and Saga museums, tracing Iceland’s Viking history. Iceland is it the most sparsely populated country in Europe.
This alluring depiction of a woman playing a guitar was painted during Vouet’s years in Rome and reveals his interest in the work of Caravaggio with its dramatic lighting and psychological engagement with the beholder. Women playing guitars have a long history in European painting. Seventeenth-century French engravings of modes and manners often show them, as here, lost in reverie. One, dated 1630, has the caption "Love Conquers All but Music Does Not Conquer Love." In 1627 Simon Vouet, already famous, returned to Paris to become painter to the king and the dominant force in French painting.
Source: The MET
West Bay is a picturesque coastal destination in West Dorset, England, that serves as a stunning gateway to the Jurassic Coast—a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its dramatic scenery and geological wonders.
The area is celebrated for its golden sandstone cliffs, sweeping views over Lyme Bay, and a vibrant seaside atmosphere that blends natural beauty with local heritage. Its unique position at the western extremity of Chesil Beach gives West Bay a distinctive character, marked by rugged coastal formations alongside carefully maintained family-friendly beaches.
Lovely and friendly little squirrel!
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
Visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel
American red squirrels should not be confused with Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris); since the ranges of these species do not overlap, they are both commonly referred to as "red squirrels" in the areas where they are native. The specific epithet hudsonicus refers to Hudson Bay, Canada, where the species was first catalogued by Erxleben in 1771. A recent phylogeny suggests the squirrels as a family can be divided into five major lineages. Red squirrels (Tamiasciurus) fall within the clade that includes flying squirrels and other tree squirrels (e.g., Sciurus). There are 25 recognized subspecies of red squirrels.
Red squirrels can be easily identified from other North American tree squirrels by their smaller size, territorial behavior and reddish fur with a white venter (underbelly). Red squirrels are somewhat larger than chipmunks. The Douglas squirrel is morphologically similar to the American red squirrels, but has a rust-colored venter and is restricted to the southwestern coast of British Columbia and in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. These species' ranges do not overlap. (Wikipedia)
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LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS | REFORD GARDENS
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
Iceland, a Nordic island nation, is defined by its dramatic landscape with volcanoes, geysers, hot springs and lava fields. Massive glaciers are protected in Vatnajökull and Snæfellsjökull national parks. Most of the population lives in the capital, Reykjavik, which runs on geothermal power and is home to the National and Saga museums, tracing Iceland’s Viking history. Iceland is it the most sparsely populated country in Europe.
The Rathskeller in the Seelbach Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky
The 1907 addition to The Seelbach in Louisville, Kentucky, included a German rathskeller made of Rookwood Pottery created in nearby Cincinnati, Ohio, by workers hired from the Art Academy. Rookwood Pottery was founded by Maria Longworth Nichols (later Mrs. Bellamy Storer Jr.) in 1880.
According to "The Seelbach Hotel, A History of Louisville Tradition" by J. Theriot in August, 1988, "In making this expensive type of pottery, decorations were drawn by hand on the clay before firing, making the design part of the ware. After baking, various glazes were added in subsequent firings. The floors, columns and walls of the eighty-foot square room were made of the pottery. The ceiling is fine-tooled leather."
To complement the room, The Seelbach Realty Company's president, Charles C. Vogt, presented the hotel with a $10,000 gift, a Rookwood-faced clock. Such a collection of Rookwood was very rare and, today, The Rathskeller is one of only two surviving ensembles of this art form.
The Rathskeller (ratskellar, a German word meaning restaurant in the town-hall cellar) was built in Bavarian tradition. The Seelbach's Rathskeller menu offers this description: "As a matter of fact the Rathskeller in every essential, artistic detail, is a reproduction of the underground drinking and council hall of one of the famous castles on the Rhine."
The graceful arches supported by noble columns give a cathedral-like effect. The archway pillars are encircled with Rookwood pelican frescoes, a symbol of good luck, and the ceiling above the bar is covered with hand-painted 24K gold leaf leather detailing the signs of the zodiac.
The Rathskeller achieved immediate popularity. The July 1912 edition of Hotel Monthly describes it as having a "seating capacity from 300 to 400." Not only was it a beautiful nightspot, conveniently located for the after-theater crowds, but it was also one of the first air-conditioned rooms ever built. The Seelbachs vowed to keep the room at least 10 degrees cooler than the outside summer temperatures. To do so required 40 tons of steam-produced refrigeration every 24 hours.
When the hotel was sold to Abraham Liebling, one of the first improvements was for the managers to lease a corner of the first floor to Walgreen Drugs. The Seelbach welcomed this renovation. Since prohibition and the nationwide ban on alcohol sales, the first floor bar had closed and The Rathskeller was little more than an extension of a restaurant. With the drug store on the main floor, the restaurant simply found a home downstairs in the basement. Several years later after prohibition ended, management moved the restaurant back up to the renovated first floor and closed The Rathskeller for extensive changes. In April 1934, it re-opened with a 56-foot bar staffed by six bartenders. With these renovations, the basement bar moved into a new era. Instead of simply providing a stopping place for late-night theater patrons, The Rathskeller would now offer its own musical and dramatic entertainment featuring local bands and occasional first-run theater.
When Walgreen's lease expired in 1941, management opted to open a new nightclub, tentatively called The Seelbach Café-Bar. The club took away from The Rathskeller and in 1945, when the Legionaries offered to rent the basement, including The Rathskeller, for a members-only club, the managers agreed. Today, The Seelbach's most treasured heirloom, The Rathskeller, with its dramatic design, lighting, and hand-carved architectural details, is again operated by The Seelbach and is available for private events.
The RathskellerThe Rathskeller is the only surviving room in the world completely encrusted in Rookwood pottery. Rookwood pelicans pervade the area, and although the Hotel’s tourist information likes to cheerfully note that the pelicans are there “for good luck,” it’s also true that the pelican is regarded in some occult mythologies as a symbol of resurrecting one’s children after having killed them oneself, by anointing them with one’s own blood. The pelican has also long been synonymous with the Phoenix (the mythological bird of occult initiation, wherein one is reborn into a new awareness or gnosis) and with Henet (a pelican goddess from pyramid-era Egypt, who appears on walls of ancient tombs and in royal funerary texts).
The Seelbach Hotel was the dream of two German immigrants, and over the past century it has gained the reputation of one of the finest hotels in the area.
"They opened the doors in 1905, the original cost was approximately $990,000 dollars," says Larry Johnson, who is now the lobby concierge at Louisville's Seelbach Hotel.
"The poker room had the distinction of being where Al Capone came to play poker," Johnson says. "He probably would have stopped here on his way back to Chicago from being in eastern Kentucky, where he picked up his moonshine." It was the era of Prohibition and Al Capone played it safe at the hotel, always facing a mirror in the poker room to keep an eye on his competition ... and on his back. And Johnson says there were "lookouts" throughout the hotel. "Whenever the police came into the lobby, somebody would step on the button and the doors going into the poker room would automatically close and he would know to get out."
And secret passageways -- now sealed up -- allowed just that. "One of the doors went out and down to the street, and the other door went downstairs to the tunnels underneath the hotel. They would go down into the tunnels and he could go anywhere from a block to a mile away form the hotel without being seen."
Louisville police never caught up with Capone, whether he was escaping a card game or from another room he favored: the Rathskeller. Now a backdrop for corporate events and other parties, Johnson says the Rathskeller was a "big night club back in the 20s and 30s, it was a USO in World War I and World War II. During Prohibition, it was a dinner club."
Capone wasn't the only well-known character to frequent the Seelbach. An Army captain stationed at Camp Taylor also gained quite a reputation at the hotel. F. Scott Fitzgerald, he frequented the bar and supposedly he was kicked out on several occasions for being a booze hound and being a little rowdy," Johnson says. Despite his brushes with the law, Fitzgerald loved the opulent hotel. So much so he wrote about it years later in the Great Gatsby.
As the Human Face of Big Data project proves, Big Data is everywhere - and EMC technologies are helping the world to benefit from its dramatic power. Are you in? emc.im/RU2yw3
Detail of the lower half of the west window depicting the Last Judgement. The Last Judgement is Fairford's most celebrated window for its dramatic composition and graphic depiction of the horrors of hell in the lower half. The window sadly suffered badly during the great storm of 1703 with the upper half depicting Christ in Judgement and the surrounding company of saints and angels the most seriously affected part.
The lower half depicts Archangel Michael at the centre with the elect entering Heaven to the left and the damned being condemned to Hell on the right. This depiction of Hell is renowned for its exotic demons dragging their victims to the red glow of hellfire, culminating in the monstrous soul-devouring figure of Satan seated in the bottom right hand corner.
St Mary's at Fairford is justly famous, not only as a most beautiful building architecturally but for the survival of its complete set of late medieval stained glass, a unique survival in an English parish church. No other church has resisted the waves of iconoclasm unleashed by the Reformation and the English Civil War like Fairford has, and as a result we can experience a pre-Reformation iconographic scheme in glass in its entirety. At most churches one is lucky to find mere fragments of the original glazing and even one complete window is an exceptional survival, thus a full set of 28 of them here in a more or less intact state makes Fairford church uniquely precious.
The exterior already promises great things, this is a handsome late 15th century building entirely rebuilt in Perpendicular style and dedicated in 1497. The benefactor was lord of the manor John Tame, a wealthy wool merchant whose son Edmund later continued the family's legacy in donating the glass. The central tower is adorned with much carving including strange figures guarding the corners and a rather archaic looking relief of Christ on the western side. The nave is crowned by a fine clerestorey whilst the aisles below form a gallery of large windows that seem to embrace the entire building without structural interruption aside from the south porch and the chancel projecting at the east end. All around are pinnacles, battlements and gargoyles, the effect is very rich and imposing for a village church.
One enters through the fan-vaulted porch and is initially met by subdued lighting within that takes a moment to adjust to but can immediately appreciate the elegant arcades and the rich glowing colours of the windows. The interior is spacious but the view east is interrupted by the tower whose panelled walls and arches frame only a glimpse of the chancel beyond. The glass was inserted between 1500-1517 and shows marked Renaissance influence, being the work of Flemish glaziers (based in Southwark) under the direction of the King's glazier Barnard Flower. The quality is thus of the highest available and suggests the Tame family had connections at court to secure such glaziers.
Entering the nave one is immediately confronted with the largest and most famous window in the church, the west window with its glorious Last Judgement, best known for its lurid depiction of the horrors of Hell with exotic demons dragging the damned to their doom. Sadly the three windows in the west wall suffered serious storm damage in 1703 and the Last Judgement suffered further during an 1860 restoration that copied rather than restored the glass in its upper half. The nave clerestories contain an intriguing scheme further emphasising the battle of Good versus Evil with a gallery of saintly figures on the south side balanced by a 'rogue's gallery' of persecutors of the faith on the darker north side, above which are fabulous demonic figures leering from the traceries.
The aisle windows form further arrays of figures in canopies with the Evangelists and prophets on the north side and the Apostles and Doctors of the Church on the south. The more narrative windows are mainly located in the eastern half of the church, starting in the north chapel with an Old Testament themed window followed by more on the life of Mary and infancy of Christ. The subject matter is usually confined to one light or a pair of them, so multiple scenes can be portrayed within a single window. The scheme continues in the east window of the chancel with its scenes of the Passion of Christ in the lower register culminating in his crucifixion above, while a smaller window to the south shows his entombment and the harrowing of Hell. The cycle continues in the south chapel where the east window shows scenes of Christ's resurrection and transfiguration whilst two further windows relate further incidents culminating in Pentecost. The final window in the sequence however is of course the Last Judgement at the west end.
The glass has been greatly valued and protected over the centuries from the ravages of history, being removed for protection during the Civil War and World War II. The windows underwent a complete conservation between 1988-2010 by the Barley Studio of York which bravely restored legibility to the windows by sensitive releading and recreating missing pieces with new work (previously these had been filled with plain glass which drew the eye and disturbed the balance of light). The most dramatic intervention was the re-ordering of the westernmost windows of the nave aisles which had been partially filled with jumbled fragments following the storm damage of 1703 but have now been returned to something closer to their original state.
It is important here not to neglect the church's other features since the glass dominates its reputation so much. The chancel also retains its original late medieval woodwork with a fine set of delicate screens dividing it from the chapels either side along with a lovely set of stalls with carved misericords. The tomb of the founder John Tame and his wife can be seen on the north side of the sanctuary with their brasses atop a tomb chest. Throughout the church a fine series of carved angel corbels supports the old oak roofs.
Fairford church is a national treasure and shouldn't be missed by anyone with a love of stained glass and medieval art. It is normally kept open for visitors and deserves more of them.
Sunset on the River - 1867
George Inness (1825 - 1894)
The play of sunshine and shadow across the scene of cows grazing and thunderclouds in the distance creates a dynamic mood in the landscape. George Inness believed there was a direct correspondence between the natural and spiritual realms, as theorized by the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). The artist hoped that, by showing the drama and dynamism of nature, his paintings would transport viewers to a higher emotional or mental plane.
George Inness distinguished himself among the Hudson River School painters by pursuing a more modern aesthetic of landscape painting. Unlike his contemporaries, who believed in creating realistic canvases of nature's vastness, Inness felt that "paintings were not necessarily pictures, and it was the artist's function, even his obligation, by an aesthetic and expressive reorganization, to interpret nature and not merely depict it." (as quoted in N. Cikovsky, Jr. and M. Quick, George Inness, Los Angeles, California, 1985, p. 19) Inness' New York based works from the 1860s are widely admired today because they are closest to the familiar manner of Hudson River School painting in those years. Yet these works also begin to show the artist's painting philosophy of incorporating atmospheric climate and expression which brings deeper spiritual meaning into his compositions. Inness went on to produce a body of work marked by a more subjective and ultimately more modern aesthetic than that of his contemporaries. With its dramatic composition and high degree of finish, Sunset on the River is an extraordinary masterwork from this important transitional phase in the artist's career.
Painted in 1867 near the town of Leeds, New York, Sunset on the River presents an expansive view of cattle grazing in a broad pasture which slopes toward a river, partially visible on the left. On the right a stone wall borders a road, along which a covered wagon moves toward a mill with a smoking chimney near the water. From a slightly elevated vantage point, the viewer looks across the expanse to another light-struck pasture in the middle ground extending to wooded foothills, which give rise to a large mountain in the distance. Storm clouds fill the sky, dappling the land with dark streaks intermingled with bursts of light which pierce the foliage and rake across the landscape.
Inness' use of light and atmosphere in Sunset on the River evokes mood and meaning. Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., writes: "In all of the paintings of the 1860's, nature is not merely depicted straightforwardly, but is made articulate: moods of calm are emphatically peaceful, rainbows are clearly portentous, storms are dramatic and threatening, sunsets are gloriously radiant, and bleakness is unmistakably harsh and cold. In 1865, a writer remarked that Inness 'signally [possessed the power of] seizing upon the critical moment in some marked phase of nature.' The result is that one is made aware of the spiritual significance of nature through the way in which its visible forms and effects reflect some higher power." (George Inness, London, 1971, p. 38) The painting's dramatically changing sky, along with the tranquil setting of workers setting off to the mill, seems to express a sense of hope and prosperity in the wake of the Civil War. Very likely, Inness' contemporaries saw in this painting a theme that would pervade American art after the war--the return to peace, industry, and prosperity. The movement and energy of the present work's lush brushwork, paint texture and strong color choices underscore the emotional sense of calm after a storm.
Michael Quick considers Sunset on the River a stunning success of Inness' style of the 1860s. He writes: "This handsome, fully developed painting, with its dramatic lighting and clouds, is one of the most impressive of 1867, looking ahead to the more emotional interpretation of nature seen in Inness's work at the end of the decade. The view is based upon a sketch he used again in Approaching Storm, 1869. In this case, both the foreground and the distance are deeper, and the season is full summer, rather than fall. An unusual element is the mill with its smoking chimney, near what appears to be a building in ruins. Inness drew attention to the mill by both silhouetting it against the lighted field beyond and by making it the object of the road's long diagonal. Brick textile mills were numerous in the Leeds area, but this factory seems out of place in the otherwise entirely pastoral landscape. The textured foreground and the blacklighting of the trees are also unusual for works of 1867, no doubt reflecting the extra effort to add interest to this painting." (George Inness: A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. one, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2007, p. 278) His inclusion of the factory and its workers appears here to add an element of the contemporary to his idealized landscape. Where other artists of the 1850s and 1860s might choose to render more purely pastoral views, Inness embraced the new.
All of the artistic devices evident in Sunset on the River convey emotional power. The painting's dramatic recession, extreme contrasts and strong color scheme induce the spiritual response that Inness began to suggest in the 1860s, and continued to evoke in his paintings throughout his career.
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This World Class attraction was everything we expected and more. Construction has just begun on a major expansion, but that has been managed in such a way that it does not in any way detract from the experience now.
This album focuses on the artwork inside the buildings and on the other interior spaces including the Eleven Restaurant and the Gift Shop. A separate album posted a few days ago is devoted to the two April mornings that we spent exploring just some of the trails that crisscross the 120 acres of Arkansas forest around the museum.
Alice Walton and her co-creative team can be proud of the vision and execution of everything on this 120 acre site.
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"Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission.
Alice Walton, the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, spearheaded the Walton Family Foundation's involvement in developing Crystal Bridges. The museum's glass-and-wood design by architect Moshe Safdie and engineer Buro Happold features a series of pavilions nestled around two creek-fed ponds and forest trails. The 217,000 square feet complex includes galleries, several meeting and classroom spaces, a library, a sculpture garden, a museum store designed by architect Marlon Blackwell, a restaurant and coffee bar, named Eleven after the day the museum opened, "11/11/11". Crystal Bridges also features a gathering space that can accommodate up to 300 people. Additionally, there are outdoor areas for concerts and public events, as well as extensive nature trails. It employs approximately 300 people, and is within walking distance of downtown Bentonville."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Bridges_Museum_of_American_Art
crystalbridges.org/nature-trails/
...
Here I'm in one of those diners popular with the locals (it's more crowded than you can tell in this photo), and I'm eating a bowl of abgusht (pron. ah-pooshed) a delicious stew, but very carefully and very slowly as it's full of small bone sherds broken for the marrow. It's a Tabrizi specialty, "made with fatty meat, typically beef or mutton, thick chunks of potato and lentils." (LP) Other patrons here were smoking the hookah.
- These men are Azeris, Turkic-speaking Shiites, members of the largest minority in Iran (@ 25% of the total pop.!). West and East Azerbayjan provinces are majority Azeri.
- Tabriz is a city of @ 1.5 million, the 6th largest in Iran and the 4th largest I would tour in Iran that trip. It's a legendary city, known for its great splendour as a capital in the Il-khanate, the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu states, and in the early Safavid period. But it's a cerebral place for a tourist. Many once-glorious Persian cities are, as earthquakes have cleared away most of its late-medieval monuments.
GARDEN of EDEN - More from the Book of Genesis: "Biblical clues point to the Ajichay river flowing out of the Garden of Eden, which places Tabriz at the gates of paradise!" (LP, 2012) Genesis 2:8-14 reads: "A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes 4 branches. The name of the 1st is Pishon; it's the one that flows @ the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the 2nd river is Gihon; it's the one that flows @ the whole land of Cush. The name of the 3rd river is Hiddekel [Tigris], which flows east of Assyria. And the 4th river is the Perath [Euphrates]." British archaeologist David Rohl claims to have located and identified the biblical Garden of Eden as the Adji Chay valley in which, or just west of which, Tabriz sits and which extends east @ 150 clicks to the city of Sarab ('Edin' is Sumerian for plain or steppe, see a map at the 32:20 min. pt. in the doc. in the link below) on the basis of the following argument. He suggests that the Gihon and Pishon are the Aras (or Araxes) river and the Uizhun. Before the Islamic invasion, the Aras was known as the Gaihun. "Victorian dictionaries had referred to it as the Gihon-Aras." Pishon is the Hebrew corruption of Uizon, wherein labial 'U' becomes labial 'P', 'z' becomes 'sh', and 'o' and 'u' are well accepted linguistic variations. The headwaters for all 4 rivers are in the region of this valley or plain. (But the Adji Chay isn't their source. Again, "a river flows out of Eden, ... and divides and becomes 4 branches." And from what I can see in the map in the video in the link to follow, the headwaters of the Tigris and the Euphrates are west and NW of Lake Ourumiyeh, respectively. Something to google.) www.ramsdale.org/dna6.htm The wider area is "packed with landmarks that retain their biblical names. North of the Adji Chay river valley rises the Kusheh Dagh, the mtn. of Kush. Beyond it lay the biblical land of Cush, Rohl asserts. "The bible tells us that the Gihon flows through the land of Cush", and the Araxes, the biblical Gihon, "winds through" the area. The Uizhun is known locally as the Golden river and meanders /b/ ancient gold mines and lodes of lapis lazuli, matching the biblical account. "East of Eden" [or just east of the river valley or plain hemmed in by mtn.s to the north, east, and south, and beyond a pass] is a rural district named Noqdi ['belonging to Noq'], which could be Cain's land of Nod. Some km.s south of Noqdi, at the head of a mtn. pass, lies the sleepy town of Helabad, www.google.com/maps/place/Hellabad,+Ardabil+Province,+Ira... formerly Kheruabad, "settlement of the Kheru people," which could be "a permutation of the Biblical word Keruvim ['Cherubim'], the ferocious winged guardians of Eden's eastern gateway. The name in Genesis is normally read as a reference to some type of angel, but Rohl suggests that the Keruvim, or 'Cherubs', were a tribe of fearsome warriors whose token was an eagle or falcon, and who only morphed into otherworldly creatures by later tradition." ("So He drove the man out. And He placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden with a sword of fire that turned every way. They kept watch over the path to the tree of life.") Wow! A series of coincidences or clues? It seems I might've spent 3 days in the Garden of Eden (in Tabriz!) or only @ 40 clicks west of it. What a miss! tiborkrausz.com/html/features/Paradise Found.html (Rohl's findings or theories were publicized in 1999 just before I took this trip, but I'm only reading about them now [in 2023]. Nobody tells me anything.)
- Rohl argues that the ancient Sumerians might've descended from people who lived in this 'Edin' (or plain, literally) east of Lake Ourumiyeh in a warmer period, and then moved south into southern Mesopotamia. (They might've been driven from their home by violent invaders or by an epidemic or drought, more the rule than the exception when prehistoric peoples moved en masse.) A legend then developed as an expression of their nostalgia for life in the mtn.s (there's no stone in southern Mesopotamia; I can take rocks for granted at times I confess), which then spread throughout much of the Middle and Near East, transmuting into the biblical tale in Genesis. What's most remarkable, if Rohl's right (and the coincidences with all the names listed above really do rack up), is the evidence that the author(s) of Genesis knew where the former site of the 'Garden' was on the map, so to speak. He or they knew it as a real place that had fallen from grace, a location that could be visited.
- I wonder what kind of access a Judaean might have had (if any) to the Adji Chay river valley as a traveller or trader in the early 1st mill. B.C. (Long-distance trade was alive and well then. Lapis lazuli was traded great distances from Afghanistan.) It was within or just south of the land of Aratta (quite possibly Ararat [Urartu]) on the other side of Assyria until the early 6th cent. B.C., and was NE of the north-eastern extent of the Neo-Babylonian empire in lands newly-conquered by the Medes, enemies of the Babylonians, during the period of the Babylonian exile. The description and co-ordinates given are so specific, it seems the author(s) received a credible, current account of the place (if he didn't visit it himself), wherever it is.
- Rohl makes his pitch.: youtu.be/jjuYYFn1cXk He recommends the lower slopes of Mt. Sahand (the 'Mountain of God' in Genesis he suggests), the old town of Osku in particular, 15 clicks SW of Tabriz, with its orchards, olive groves, walnut and almond trees, ancient giant plane tree and silk-weaving workshops, as the place to seek a glimpse of the inspiration for Genesis 2-3. Sarab at the east end of the valley and surrounding villages, groves, and orchards, look inviting as well, and Sarab is in the valley itself, near its 'Eastern gate'. (Sarab's old brick mosque has 2 old minarets topped with huge storks' nests.)
- A final point is that Rohl's assertions re these names listed above should be fact-checked wherever possible (although I haven't found an article or anything online that debunks them yet), b/c his other work is dodgy. He famously argues for a shift in the Egyptian chronology by 300-350 yr.s, such that the Amarna period of Akhenaten becomes that of the Early Monarchic period in Israel so as to identify the grand 12th-13th cent. BC ruins of what's been accepted as a Canaanite centre at the site of Jerusalem in that period with David and Solomon, for whose 10th-cent.-BC reign such ruins are conspicuous by their absence. Without touching on carbon-dating, this article debunks his Egyptian re-set handily.: anarchic-teapot.net/david-rohl-how-to-fail-a-test-of-time/ I think he tells a white lie when he says he's not religious (let alone a fundamentalist), that he hasn't sought to support the accuracy of the Bible, his discoveries are happen-stance, etc. His mask might've slipped a bit when he spoke to Peter Martin about historical figures who "apparently knew" where Noah's Ark was (on Mt. Judi Dagh in SE Turkey), which of course implies that Noah's Ark was a thing.
TABRIZ CITY HISTORY: - An Iron-age cemetery from the early 1st mill. B.C. has been excavated near the Blue mosque, the city was referred to as Tarui or Taruis in a royal Assyrian epigraph dating from 714 B.C., and is said to have been 'founded' by Jhosrow Arshakid (Arsacid) of Armenia in @ 220. Following the Muslim conquest, the Arab Azd tribe from Yemen settled in what was then a Sassanian village. In 791, Zubaidah, wife of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, rebuilt Tabriz following a devastating earthquake and beautified the city such that she was (also) credited with founding it. Earthquakes in 858 and 1042 levelled any structure from the pre-Islamic period. By the end of the 10th cent. it was such a prosperous centre for trade that it was chosen as the venue for the marriage celebrations of the Seljuq sultan Tughril Beg and a daughter of the caliph of Baghdad.
- At Ramadan in 1208, Tabriz and its adjacent territories, then under Seljuq rule, were conquered by the Kingdom of Georgia under Queen Tamar the Great, in response to the (infamous) massacre of 12,000 Christians by the Seljuqs in the Georgian-controlled city of Ani on Easter day. In nearby Ardabil, the Georgians slew as many as 12,000 Muslims (in a tit for tat?).
- Following the Mongol invasion, Tabriz came to eclipse Maragheh as the 2nd Il-Khanid (Mongol) 'royal' capital of Azerbaijan, chosen by Abaqa Khan (r 1265-'81), 4th ruler of the Ilkhanate, in @ 1265 for its favoured location in the northwestern grasslands. "Even then [the locals] had a reputation for business acumen as the city's traders rioted over the introduction of paper money to replace coinage." Western visitors to Tabriz in the 13th cent. would consistently gush as to the magnificence of the city and its bldg.s. Marco Polo described it in 1275 as "a great and noble city. ... The men of Tauris get their living by trade and handicrafts, for they weave many kinds of beautiful and valuable stuffs of silk and gold. The city has such a good position that merchandise is brought thither from India, Baudas [Baghdad], Cremesor [aka Garmsir, the Gulf coast], and many other regions; and that attracts many Latin merchants, Genoese in particular, to buy goods and transact other business there; the more as it is also a great market for precious stones. It is a city in fact where merchants make large profits." (But he then refers to "a medley of different classes" in the city, and to "the natives of the city themselves", the Taurizi, as "a very evil generation." [He's generally regative re 'worshippers of Mahommet."]) In 1295, Abaqa's successor Ghazan Khan made Tabriz the administrative centre of an empire stretching from Anatolia to the Oxus river and from the Caucasus to the Indian Ocean. Under his rule, new city walls, many public buildings, schools, an enormous mausoleum, bazaars, and caravanserais were built to serve traders travelling the Silk road, but little remains of these. But, his conversion to Islam was marked by persecution of all non-Muslims in the region and the razing of all churches, synagogues and Zoroastrian temples in town.
- The Byzantine Greek astronomer Gregory Chioniades served as the city's Orthodox bishop during this time. Born in @ 1240 and raised in Constantinople, he "received assistance from Alexios II and travelled to Persia where he lived in Tabriz from 1295 to '96 and translated a number of Arabic and Persian works on mathematics and astronomy, incl. the astronomical tables of his teacher Shams al-Din al-Bukhari who had worked at the famous observatory at Maragheh under the polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. Chioniades played an important role in transmitting several innovations from the Islamic world to Europe, incl. the universal latitude-independent astrolabe and a Greek description of the Tusi couple." (Wikipedia) He returned to Tabriz as a bishop in 1302 and stayed until at least 1310. (But what about Ghazan Khan's persecution of Christians?)
- From the mid-14th cent., Tabriz and the surrounding area came under the control of various warlords, and the city was sacked by Timur in 1392. The Turcoman Qara Qoyunlu ('Black Sheep') tribal chiefs made Tabriz their capital from 1436 to 1467 when Jahan Shah was slain in an ambush and the city was taken by Uzun Hassan of the Aq Koyunlu ('White Sheep') who located their capital there from 1469 to 1501. The 'Blue mosque' dates to the Qara Qoyunlu period. Ismail I entered Tabriz in 1501 and proclaimed it the capital of his Safavid state. He was crowned there, and it was at Tabriz where he momentously declared the Twelver branch of Shi'ite Islam as the official religion of the Safavid empire. The primarily Sunni population of Tabriz was then forcibly converted to Shi'ism. In 1514, following the Persian defeat at the Battle of Chaldiran, Tabriz was sacked by Selim I (the Grim). On July 16, 1534, prior to the Ottoman conquest of Baghdad, Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha occupied Tabriz. In 1555, Tahmasp I transferred the Safavid capital to Qazvin to avoid the growing Ottoman threat, ending a period of 290 yr.s in which Tabriz had been the capitol of much of the medieval Middle East. Tabriz came under Ottoman occupation from 1585 to 1603, was retaken by the Safavids under Abbas I, and then grew as a centre of commerce and of trade with the Ottoman empire, Russia, and the Caucasus. Tabriz was then occupied and sacked by Murad IV in 1635 in the Ottoman-Safavid War (1623–39), was returned to Persia with the Treaty of Zohab in 1639, and was devastated by a strong earthquake in 1641.
- The 18th cent. was an unhappy one for Tabriz. It was shocked by a deadly earthquake in 1721 that killed @ 80,000, and was then invaded by the Ottomans in 1724-'25 who took many captives and massacred @ 200,000 (!). When the Persians retook the city, a famine and an epidemic killed more of the survivors. In 1780, a major earthquake killed @ 50,000 (an estimate, some say as many as 200,000), leaving only @ 30,000!
- The Persians were such accomplished engineers, I wonder how they designed their cities and their larger buildings to withstand earthquakes, as the Incas, the Chinese and Japanese famously did. Or might there have been less emphasis on seismic threats because Islam means submission? www.theguardian.com/environment/2003/dec/27/iran.naturald... This article explores vernacular measures taken in the construction of adobe bldg.s in Yazd to anticipate earthquakes, such as reducing their weight and lowering their centre of gravity, and the use of "thick spandrel walls and vaults which function as transversal stiffeners and enhance vault lateral capacity." built-heritage.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s43238-0... The Times of India claims that the Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae is the world's oldest earthquake resistant structure. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/destinations/do-you-kn... It's not true. Ancient coastal Peruvians employed very effective "shicra bags in the foundations of their monumental step pyramids" @ 5,000 yr.s ago, more than 2,000 yr.s before Cyrus. They filled these mesh bags "with river cobbles and piled them behind retaining walls and into the bases of the terraces of their temples." roseannechambers.com/buildings-that-last/ But "[a]n Iranian newspaper has quoted a Tehran risk management official as reporting that 60% of the city's bldg.s don't meet seismic standards and would be heavily damaged if a major earthquake hit." One official in the city's 'risk management dept.' said that 20% of Tehran's bldg.s would be "completely destroyed". The standards are on the books, but enforcement is lax. www.rferl.org/a/iran-earthquake-risks-damage/31439140.html temblor.net/earthquake-insights/a-personal-cry-by-an-iran...
- In the late 18th cent., the city was divided into several districts, each ruled by a family until 1799 when Qajar Prince Abbas Mirza was appointed governor. In the Qajar era the city was the residence of the Crown Prince, who would serve as governor of Azerbaijan province as well. (Something similar in 15th-16th cent. Amasya where, by tradition, the Ottoman crown prince was sent "to be taught statecraft, and to test his knowledge and skill as governor of the province." The Qajar shahs were of Turkish stock.) Prince Eristov marched into the city with 3,000 troops and captured it in the Russo-Persian War of 1826-'28. The 'Peace of Turkomanchay' signed by Abbas Mirza and Ivan Paskevich in 1828 ceded Iran's Caucasian territories (Georgia, southern Dagestan, Azerbaijan and Armenia, prior to which "Tabriz had been instrumental to the implementation of Iranian rule in [those] territories"), and the Russians left Tabriz having received a crippling war indemnity. Abbas Mirza then launched a modernization scheme from Tabriz, introduced Western institutions, imported industrial machinery, installed the first regular postal service, and undertook military reforms in the city. He launched a rebuilding campaign and established a modern taxation system. Tabriz became a city of Iranian 'firsts'. It was home to the first publication house, public library, public cinema, primary school, kindergarten, municipality, chamber of commerce, firefighting dept., telephone system, power plant, industrial factories, public limited co., etc. (Wikipedia, etc.)
- "Heavy-handed Qajar attempts to 'persianize' the Azeri reqion caused resentment. The 'Constitutional revolution' of 1906 briefly permitted Azeri Turkic-speakers to regain linguistic rights (schools, newspapers, etc.) and Tabriz held out valiantly in 1908 when the liberal constitution was promptly revoked again. For its pains it was brutally besieged by Russian troops [again]", etc. (LP, 2012)
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=gusgQNkFLYw
- I was happy with the moserferkhane (sp?) that I found and stayed at in Tabriz, @ $5.00 per night. My memory's fuzzy but I recall sleeping in a bed that was raised quite high atop some structure and that I had to climb up to with a ladder, although it wasn't a 'bunk-bed' (? possibly above wall storage cabinets), and which was very clean and comfortable with white sheets. It wasn't luxurious but it was perfect. I was well-rested in Tabriz and spent 3 days there (I think).
- As to sites and sights, I followed the LP and toured the following.:
- The ARG (Citadel), one of 4 massive eivans of what "must have been one of the largest mosques ever constructed" (LP), the Masjed-e-Shah (Il-Khanate, 1312-'22), built of brick with a huge mihrab /b/ 2 arches and visible from afar, it was once coated in tile panels. (I'll scan a photo.) The mosque was "the brainchild of a vizier in Oljeitu's court. Judging from the surviving height (26 m.s) and thickness (10.5 m.s) of the walls of the eivan, it's thought that the one leading to the prayer chamber stood @ 66 m.s high, with the vault springing starting at @ 24.5 m.s, with a staggering vault span of almost 31 m.s, much wider than anything attempted in 14th cent. Europe." (Bradt) A point of local pride was that the vault was larger than the famous, ancient (Sassanian! pre-Islamic) vault of Khosrow/Kisra, the Taq-i-Kisra at Ctesiphon in latter-day Iraq, 37 m.s high, 26 across and 50 m.s long, said to be "the largest man-made, free standing vault constructed until modern times", but apparently not. (Fie those earthquakes!). "Chronicles describe the mosque as having a huge 285 x 228 m. marble-paved courtyard, surrounded by an alabaster-columned arcade and with an ablution pool so large that, 2 centuries later, Shah Ismail I would sail across it in a barge. Its minarets, soaring > 60 m.s high, were said to have so impressed envoys from the Mameluke court of Cairo that they influenced the design of those built in 1330 at the Mosque of Amir Qarasunqur in Cairo (no longer extant)." (Bradt) The compound also included adjoining prayer halls, libraries, and a mausoleum. Most of it collapsed in the earthquake of 1641, although later that century "there was [still] enough cover to conduct the Friday prayer."
- In 1809, the Qajar governor converted the structure into a citadel, "a large acropolis fortification (whence the metathetic name Ark or Arg plus polis)", and built a barracks, headquarters, cannon foundry and a small palace on-site. The Qajar general Samson Makintsev, a Ukrainian deserter from the Russian army, lived in the citadel for years with his wife, the daughter of Prince Aleksandre of Georgia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Makintsev
- In that period, "criminals were hurled from the top of the Arg into a ditch below. It's said that one woman sentenced to this end was saved from death by the parachute-like effect of her chador." (LP)
- "The Arg's defenses were finally dismantled in the late 19th cent., and by then not one tile panel remained." (Bradt)
- The Russians shelled the Arg in yet another invasion in 1911, and then used it as a command centre. In the Pahlavi era, parts of it which were presumed to date from the Qajar era were removed, and in the process much of the much older Il-khanid and Safavid elements were unwittingly destroyed. It now adjoins an empty plaza and is handy to a vast, controversial new mosque (the construction of which is said to have undermined the Arg's foundations).
Encounters with architectural and engineering superlatives like this would recur over my 3 mos. in Iran.
- The 'BLUE MOSQUE', Masjed-e Kabud (1465, Qara Qoyunlu): Its construction was on the orders of Saliha Khanum, daughter of Jahan Shah, or of his wife Khatun Jan, and was completed in 1465, 2 yr.s before Jahan Shah was slain in an ambush (Bradt) and Tabriz was taken by Uzun Hassan of the Aq Koyunlu. Following the Safavid defeat at Chaldiran in 1514, the Ottomans looted Tabriz and the mosque, absconding with at least 8 carpets, taken to Istanbul. The mosque was damaged in several earthquakes /b/ the 16th and 18th cent.s, and most severely in 1780 (Wikipedia, 1776 according to Bradt) when only the entrance eivan was left standing, although the mosque had been abandoned by then. (That quake had an estimated magnitude of 7.4, a maximum felt intensity of IX on the Mercalli Intensity Scale, and almost entirely destroyed the city. The number of reported casualties varies from 40,000 to as many as 200,000, with a 'best estimate' of 50,000.) Locals looted its ruins in the 19th cent. Reconstruction began in 1973 (according to Wikipedia, 1950 according to Bradt, 1960 according to the LP), and much of it's been rebuilt, incl. the dome (since 2000).
- It's renowned for the fine, chromatic, mosaic tiling which once coated the interior and exterior walls, but which is now fractured and fragmentary, although still glorious. The tiles were of such quality that they represent something of a height or pinnacle of achievement in their production, or so I've read. (But Esfahan? Sheikh Lotfollah?) www.flickr.com/photos/bijantaravels/3032399359/ www.flickr.com/photos/bijantaravels/46464373821/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=53gifnSsXGI The Kufic and Thuluth inscriptions, arabesque compositions and patterns were created by the famous calligrapher Nematollah-ben-Mohammad-ol-Bavab. www.youtube.com/shorts/7AwUyTuKYvQ "Modern glazes rarely match the jewel-like intensity and depth of colour" in the tiles that remain. (Bradt) This mosque was my reintroduction to the height of this art-form after my tourism in Istanbul and Bursa (where the famous 'Green mosque' and 'Green tomb' were decorated by Persian 'Masters of Tabriz' in the early 15th cent.) and which I'd see much more of later at Esfahan (!) and Yazd.
- It was designed in the 'covered mosque' plan of 9 domes, incl. the central dome (diameter 16 m.s), more often found in early Ottoman architecture. The ground plan is similar to the 'T-shaped' mosques of 15th cent. Bursa (such as the Green mosque), but the function, emphasis and proportions differ. (Bradt)
- The importance of this mosque was emphasized with the great pains taken to preserve and reconstruct much of it, and the remaining tiles are lovely, but I'd appreciate it more today than I did then. Again, most of the sites and sights in Tabriz are cerebral. It's on Iran's 'Tentative list' for Unesco designation.
- A video re the Blue mosque led me to this video (1 of 3 from 'Gamesquad') of this group playing a strange boardgame, 'Secret Hitler' (a "social deduction game for 5-10") with fascists v. liberals. youtu.be/P0KHFO9Jekc It reminds me of how well the average young, University-educated Iranian in the big cities speaks English, better than the average German, even in Berlin, and much better than les Quebecois in much of rural Quebec. It also reminds me of how strange it was to travel in a country for 3 mos. where much of the population dress like nuns.
- The CHURCH of ST. MARY (Armenian, 1785): I'm a fan of Marco Polo, of course (I travelled to Montreal in 2014 to take in this exhibit at the Pte.-à-Callière: pacmusee.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/detail/marco-polo-an-epic-j... ), and looked forward to touring this church as the LP ('92) had written that "there's been a sizeable Armenian community in Tabriz from the earliest days of Christianity, and the city boasts a number of churches, incl. one mentioned by Marco Polo. Probably the most interesting is the old but [very] substantially rebuilt Church of St. Mary." But there's no reference in Marco Polo's 'Travels' to any church in 'Tauris' (Tabriz). (?) The 12th-cent. church that he allegedly visited in 1271, and which served as the seat of the Armenian archbishop of Azerbaijan, stood on-site until the city was destroyed in the earthquake of 1780. The current domed bldg., 16 x 14 m.s, was built upon its ruins "in Safavid style" from 1782 to '85 per an inscription. "The oldest gravestone [inside] dates to the 16th cent." and "parts of the tabernacle date to the 12th" (Wikipedia), but I was disappointed. It was in a spacious, sunny compound, but aside from an old plaque or 2 preserved in its walls, it appeared to be entirely new with little atmosphere. See for yourself from the 13 min. pt. in this French vlog.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMeiye6ZRYU Again, tourism in Tabriz was often cerebral (and later in Hamadan and Shiraz too). Preserve thoroughly, renovate sparingly.
- The SAHEB-OL-AMR MOSQUE and medrese (1636, Safavid, reconstructed 1694-1722) www.flickr.com/photos/bijantaravels/52021115783/ This was the most atmospheric sight that I toured in the city and not so cerebral. Built in 1636 by Tahmasp I, destroyed in 1638 by Murad IV, then rebuilt and then badly damaged in an earthquake, the mosque was finally rebuilt by Goli Khan Danbali. "In favour of the people" it was named Sāheb ol Amr, the title of the last 'Twelver' Shī‘ite Imām, Muhammad al-Mahdi, which is to say that Danbali was being selfless in not naming it after himself. (Wikipedia)
- It wasn't in my LP guide (not much was), and I was surprised when I came across it. It's large, wide, and domed, with rows of false pointed arches along the exterior and with twin minarets with ornate brickwork and little metal domes or cupolas raised on poles at the tops to shelter the muezzin (something I hadn't seen before). It was visibly ancient and seemed exotic. My memory's hazy (again) but I explored it and it definitely wasn't crowded if it wasn't entirely or almost entirely empty. Old, dim and quiet with high ceilings, what I recall best is a pair of tall wooden doors that open onto a prayer-room to the right of the entrance, entirely coated on the side facing the room with small, round or oval metal faces with unibrows which I assumed had been tacked up by local supplicants, one at a time. There were some metal hands as well, but far fewer (more likely in Shi'ite cultures to represent the hands of Abulfazl Abbas, who lost them as punishment for bringing water to Imam Hussein's children, than 'the hand of Fatima', a shield against jealousy and the evil eye). These were charms or offerings of some type and seemed very un-Islamic (Islam is iconoclastic), possibly syncretistic. www.flickr.com/photos/peteshep/5258476665/ (I'll scan a photo.) This kind of thing can be common in Catholic churches, as congregants will attach photos of loved ones etc. to a particular wall. (One in this cathedral in San Antonio is covered with photos.: www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/15458532657/in/photoli... ). I didn't see these for sale in town.
- I just found this on-line.: pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e50c/9711a8b2ea0d1634041424cc285... "Metal Decorations of Door of Saheb al-Amr Mosque in Tabriz: Azerbaijan Folk Art from Qajar Era", in the 'Journal of History, Culture and Art Research' (2019). They're of "low-grade silver and brass" and many are inscribed with prayers for divine assistance, verses from the Koran, or spells. The most interesting point in the article, made at the end, is that such metal faces or masks hadn't been used or found in any other mosques or shrines in Iran. Their use was unique to the culture of the members of this one congregation. Wow.
- The mosque, or bldg. (if it's no longer a functioning mosque), now houses a 'Qur'an museum' with exhibits in cases.
- The BAZAAR, has become the most celebrated attraction in Tabriz following its designation by Unesco in 2010. I didn't know it when I explored part of it (or until I read this just now), but it's the largest covered bazaar in the world. Labyrinthine, "it covers some 7 km.s with 24 separate caravanserais and 22 impressive timchehs (domed halls). Construction began over a millenium ago, although much of the fine brick-vaulting is 15th cent. There are several carpet sections, organized according to knot-size and type. The spice bazaar has a few shops that still sell herbal remedies and natural perfumes. ..." (LP)
- This complex has long been one of the most important commercial centres on the Silk Road, having stood on the same site since the early periods of Iranian urbanism following the arrival of Islam. Al-Maqdisi (in the 10th cent.), Yaqut al-Hamawi (@ 1213), Zakariya al-Qazwini (@ 1252), Marco Polo (1271), Odoric of Pordenone (@ 1321), Ibn Battuta (@ 1330), Ambrogio Contarini (1474), Hamdallah Mustawfi (13th to 14th cent.), John Cartwright (1606), Jean Chardin (in the time of Suleiman I of Persia), Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (@ 1636), Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri (@ 1642) and dozens of other explorers and historians have written about it.
- During Ashura merchants cease trading for @ 10 days and religious ceremonies are held inside the bazaar. Several mosques have been constructed behind it, incl. the Jameh mosque. (Wikipedia)
- The walls are cleaner, lighter and brighter today, following restoration with much sand-blasting, than they were in 2000. It's a bit like a grand mosque, with high ceilings in a very long series of pointed arches, with lofty, round sky-lights and domes supported by elaborate squinches, all built with fine, small bricks. I preferred the bazaar in Esfahan, but this in Tabriz has Unesco designation for good reason.
- Some 19th and/or early 20th cent. Tabrizi bldg.s have some European baroque architectural or decorative features. I'll scan a shot of some large, relatively intact pieces of decorative, white stucco work in a pile on the ground somewhere (that would've been snapped right up in the west) which include images of the faces of cherubs with long, wild hair above their heads.
- The AZERBAIJAN MUSEUM.: I spent the better part of my last day in town touring this history and archaeology museum (with the 2nd largest collection in Iran from a range of periods and cultures in the country's history; the proto-Elamite, Elamite, Mitanni, Median, etc. through to the Qajar, after the Bastam in Tehran [Wikipedia]), perusing its ancient and medieval coins, seals, much sculpture (incl. some fine Sassanian metal plates or disks with reliefs), ceramics, calligraphy, etc., and the obligatory ethnographic collection. The item I remember best is the Basmala or 'Sang-e Bism Allah stone', intricately carved in 1845 by Mohammad-Ali Qhochani (Mirza Sanglakh) in Cairo, a huge, marble masterpiece with a large central inscription, in the photo in the next link. (It helps that I have a postcard of it in a bound collection I bought in town. In Tabriz I had returned to the world of postcards, quality ones.) 'Besm Allah', 'In the name of Allah' is from the phrase "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful", one of the most important phrases in Islam, used by Muslims before performing 'good deeds', daily prayers, etc. Those words commence each surah in the Koran, apart from the 9th.
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Besm_allah_stone.jpg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_Museum#
- The POET'S MAUSOLEUM, Maqbarat-o-shoara (1971, modernist) - I toured this monument on my return visit to Tabriz in December, and I'll write about it here.: www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/3471850513/in/datepost...
- I might vaguely recall the Tabriz Municipal bldg. with its distinctive clock tower (1934), built under the supervision of German architects. I didn't tour the municipal museum inside, but I don't know that it was a miss apart from a room with 12 Tabrizi carpets.
Misses in Tabriz include:
- The Armenian 'Church of St. Sergius' (Sarkis), renovated in 1845 and a bit Russian in appearance.
- The "curious" Anglican church "has a tower of 4 diminishing cylinders." (LP, '12). There are some 6 churches in town but I only recall the one (see above).
- The Jame mosque (11th-12th cent., renovated or rebuilt after 1779), a miss as I don't see how I could've forgotten its dramatic entrance.: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jameh_Mosque_of_Tabriz#/media/File:...
- 'The Constitution House' (1868), a "Qajar-era courtyard house, headquarters for rebels during the 1906-'11 Constitutional revolution" (LP);
- The Imāmzādeh Hamzah (14th cent.), a pilgrimage site with the tomb of Hamzah, son of the Twelver Shī‘ah Imām, Mūsā al-Kāzim and a founder of the Safavid dynasty (!);
- The shrine of On ibn Ali on Eynali mtn. (a large park) just north of town, a tomb for 2 Muslim clerics which had initially been a Sassanid Zoroastrian temple (also !);
- Ruins of the Rab'-e Rashidi University or academic community (Ilkhanid, 1307 at the latest until after 1501), founded and endowed (with @ 50,000 dinars, a huge sum) by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, vizier to Ghazan Khan, it received "provision for > 100 employees, @ 1/4 labourers and the rest skilled professionals, 220 slaves, and salaried students [i.e. with scholarships] from Iran, China, Egypt, and Syria." Early manuscripts of the Jami' al-Tawarikh and the Great Mongol Shahnameh were produced there, as well as the 1st global history (!), with sections or chapters on Mongolia (of course), China, India, the Jews, and the Franks, books on plants and agriculture, medicine, etc. "The most prominent extant ruin might be the foundation of an observatory mentioned in Rashid al-Din's writings." (Wikipedia, etc.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=30g_yHmgusM www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3S6oiWkaCY
- Several Tabrizi museums have come about since 2000 incl. the now-famous Qajar museum (2006) in the Amir Nezām mansion; the 'Iron Age museum' (2006) built to showcase an Iron Age cemetery and items found there; the Qur'an museum in the Saheb-ol-Amr mosque; and the photogenic Hariree house (Qajar, 19th cent.).: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hariree_House#/media/File:Hariri_Ho...
- A big miss 62 clicks south of town was the very photogenic and now very popular troglodyte town of Kandovan, a little piece of Cappadocchia where locals live in ancient, multi-level homes carved out from the volcanic tuff. (Get a better guidebook!) www.youtube.com/shorts/nNvqXBUC3bo
- Ardabil was a big hike from Tabriz, 3 1/2 hr.s, 215 clicks east towards the Caspian, but a mausoleum-shrine complex there, that of Sheikh Safi-od-din-Ardabili (1252/3-1334, dervish-Sufi mystic, founder of the Safaviyya order and eponymous forebear of the Safavid dynasty), is my 3rd or 4th biggest miss in the country. A work in progress from the 14th to the 17th cent.s, the exterior is impressive but the interior is about as delicate and dazzling as any I've seen anywhere or seen photos of, at least that I can think of (apart from the Sistine chapel). With its "'Chini Khaneh', 'China room' (1612), honeycombed with ‘stalactite’-vaulted, gilt niches designed to display the royal porcelain collection" carted off to the Hermitage by the Russians (LP), etc., it competes with the best in Samarkand, Khiva, Esfahan, etc., although on a more intimate scale.
From Tabriz I took a long-distance bus @ 30 clicks SE down the 16 to the fork with the 21, then @ 80 south down the 21 to Bonab and the fork with the 24, and then east @ 15-20 clicks to Maragheh. I passed Mamqan a few clicks west of the 21, a town claimed to be the largest producer of chickpeas in the world. The biggest miss that leg of my trip was the Mithraic cave temple near the village of Qadamgah, less than 10 clicks SE of the 21 and @ 12 S. of Azarshahr, a vast domed chamber sculpted out from a natural cave or from the living rock. www.youtube.com/shorts/UWrNiJvG7HM
- I only passed through Bonab on the bus, but it's at least 6,000 yr.s old and "has 25 registered historical national monuments, 8 under protection." (What are they?) The Mehrabad mosque is filled with "splendid wooden columns under colourful, faceted capitals dated to 1083." (LP) The city has "the only nuclear research centre in the NW of the country" where "the laser ion argon 10 was first produced in the Middle East." It's known for laser and thyatron production, etc. But Bonab is famous for one thing, Bonab Kebab (mixed ground beef and lamb). Not only is it the best in Iran, it was registered as 'National Intangible Cultural Heritage' in 2015, so it's official. youtu.be/1JWgA70aXOU
- "Archeologists hope a newly-discovered tunnel in Bonab will lead them to the legendary city of Shiz, dating back 7,000 yr.s. [??] ... The tunnel is 12 km.s long [? I wouldn't buy 1 km., let alone 12] and 0.8 m.s high [a qanat?] and clearly reveals the impact of sledge hammers used to burrow it. Experts speculate it might have served as an escape route for the city's nobility." Shiz was one of the most prosperous cities in ancient Persia with a pop. of > 10,000 at its height and is believed to predate Susa. Experts can't agree on its location. (Wikipedia, etc.)
MARAGHEH (Marag-huh) was a city with a pop. of < 150,000 in 2000, but with an out-sized importance to history as the capital, albeit briefly (only 7 yr.s) of the vast, new Il-Khanate in the mid-13th cent.
- It might've been ancient Phraata, winter capital of Atropatene, as it was known as 'Afrah-rudh' in the 10th cent. and as 'Afrazah-rudh' in the 12th-13th, which might have derived from Phraata. The Umayyad prince Marwan ibn Muhammad briefly stayed at Maragheh following his expedition to Muqan and Gilan in 740. It was in this period that the settlement was given the name Maragheh ('place where an animal rolls') due to the large quantity of dung there. A perimeter wall was erected and a garrison established there (803 or later) on the orders of Khuzayma ibn Khazim, governor of Adharbayjan and Arminiya in response to the rebellion of Wajna ibn Rawwad, Lord of Tabriz. Caliph al-Mam'un (r. 813–833) restored the walls following the rebellion of Babak Khorramdin in 816/17. Khaydhar ibn Kawus al-Afshin used Maragheh as his winter quarters during his expedition against Babak. To reduce the unstable autonomy of the Arab chieftains of Adharbayjan and curb the dominance of the Bagratid kings of Armenia, Caliph al-Mu'tamid installed Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Saj (of the Sajid family, native to Ushrusana, likely Soghdian) as governor of Adharbayjan and Armenia in @ 892. When rebel 'Abd-Allah ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Hamdani took control of Maragheh in 893, Muhammad convinced him to surrender by promising his safety, but then executed him anyway. Muhammad then made Maragheh his capital (although he was more often in Barda'a) and amassed so much authority that he briefly declared independence from the caliphate. He died in an epidemic in 901, his troops installed his son Devdad ibn Muhammad on the throne, and 5 mos. later his uncle Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj usurped, destroyed the city walls, and moved his capital to Ardabil. Yusuf was acknowledged as the ruler of Adharbayjan and Armenia in 909 by the new caliph al-Muqtadir. The last Sajid ruler, Abu'l-Musafir al-Fath, was killed at Maragheh in 929.
- Maragheh and much of Azerbaijan were then contested and held by the Daylamite Sallarids, the Buyids, the Kurdish Rawadids, Oghuz Turks, and the Seljuqs. The Seljuq brothers and rivals Berkyaruq and Muhammad I Tapar signed a peace treaty near Maragheh in 1104. One Ahmadil ibn Ibrahim ibn Wahsudan (who might've been Rawadid, the 1st of the Ahmadili dynasty) was appointed ruler of Maragheh in 1111/12, and was succeeded by his slave Aq Sunqur (who engaged in much intrigue with unsuccessfully rebellious Seljuq princes, was dismissed and somehow reappointed as governor). "The last Ahmadili ruler of Maragheh, Sulafa Khatun (r. 1209–1225) was at Ru'in Dez", the local "impregnable fortress", during the storming and burning of Maragheh and the slaughter of its inhabitants by the Mongols on March 30, 1221. In 1225, the Khwarazmshah of the Anushtegins, Jalal al-Din Mangburni (r. 1220–1231) entered and conquered Maragheh easily due to local discontent with recent raids and oppression by the raiding Georgians.
- Mongol rule over Maragheh and the region was solidified in 1231. Following his conquest of Baghdad in 1258, Hulagu Khan (r 1256-'65), ruler of the vast Il-Khanate, established his residence and his court at Maragheh. He died from an illness and was buried on the island of Shahi in Lake Ourumiyeh with a shamanist funeral (together with many beautiful, young virgins) in 1265, only 7 yr.s later. His successor, his son Abaqa Khan, moved the capital to Tabriz in 1265 or soon thereafter. By 1340, Maragheh was the capital of a tuman, which included the southern portion of Azerbaijan. (All Wikipedia, etc.)
- I spent a night in Maragheh and recall eating a restaurant meal and reading or writing at a table outside by a busy street after dark. I saw most of what I'd see in and @ town the next day.
- I wrote (on the back of a photo) in 2002 that Maraghe "is known for the excellence of its seedless grapes. the best I remember ever having." ! At least I remembered them then, 20 yr.s ago, lol.
- I vaguely recall touring the interesting but small 'Il-Khanate museum' with its surfeit of ancient hand-written books, collection of coins, ceramics and all manner of things from the Il-khanid period, Maragheh's heyday in the 13th-14th cent.s.
- The main attraction (according to the LP in '92, but not really, see below) are 4 gonbads, medieval tomb towers.:
1. The GONBAD-e SORKH ('Red', Seljuq, 1147): The oldest of the bunch, tall and boxy, 8.4 m.s2 in area, 10 m.s high, with 2 blind pointed-arches on 3 of its sides, it reminds me a bit of a British telephone-booth. The pyramidal roof above the dome is long gone. It has 7 inscriptions incl. Koranic verses and was built by architect Bani Bakr Mohammad Ibn Bandan Ibn Mohsen Memar per the order of Abd al-Aziz Ibn Mahmoud Ibn Saad Yadim, Seljuk governor of Azerbaijan (although it's uncertain if he's the occupant).
- Holes in the sides of the bldg. were used like a sundial to determine the months of the year and the hours of the day (before construction of the local observatory). It's the most recent bldg. constructed in the 'Razi' architectural style in Iran, popular in the time of the Samanid and Seljuk empires and the Khwarazmian dynasty. (Wikipedia) I've read that it's the oldest known structure in which turquoise tiles or faience is combined with decorative brickwork (as seen in the tall entrance with its central, Kufic inscription), a big deal. The decorative brickwork fills each of the blind arches.
2. The BORJ-e MODAVAR ('Round', Seljuq, 1167): It stands, photogenically juxtaposed, next to the Gonbad-e Kabood. (I'll scan a photo). Per its name, it's cylindrical and much simpler than the other tombs, apart from its ornate entrance portal, with delicate, interlacing brickwork and two inscriptions in blue faience.
3. The GONBAD-e KABOOD ('Blue', Seljuq, 1197): A decagonal, brick tower, 14.5 m.s tall, it's been (falsely) attributed to the Christian mother of Hulagu Khan (not with those Koranic verses in its Kufic inscriptions). There's a blind pointed-arch on each of its 10 sides, within which the surfaces are entirely covered in complex strap brickwork with raised, interlacing hexagons and 6-pointed stars, like a large web. There's much muqarnas vaulting covered in dense, labyrinthine patterns in brick and mosaic faience. It's by far the busiest of the gonbads and the most memorable. Much of it's badly damaged (and in photos online, it looks worse for wear than it did in 2000 I think), but it's > 800 yr.s old and delicate.
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gonbadkabod.jpg
4. The GONBAD-e GHAFFARIYEH (Il-Khanid, 1325-'28): Named after a local school, it's another boxy, square, brick construction on a stone platform, with pairs of blind pointed-arches on 3 of its sides, and contains a main chamber above a crypt. But the brick used is a darker red and all inscriptions are in the Rayhani script. What's left of the decorative blue tiles (both turquoise and sky blue) is impressive. I've read that it's thought to be the tomb of one Shams al-din Qara Sunghur "who worked for both the Egyptian Mamluks and then the Il-Khanids as a local governor. He was also 'Master of the Royal Polo', indicated by the heraldic device of 2 polo sticks." (Bradt). But the presenter in the Press TV clip in the link below advises that it's the tomb of the 9th Il-Khanate Khan, Abe Saeed Bahadur (?).
- iolanda-andrade.blogspot.com/2017/06/my-19-day-iranian-az...
- www.tehrantimes.com/news/465808/Maragheh-tomb-towers-on-t...
- See 2 of these gonbads to the 6 min. pt. in this Press-TV clip.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7becD8x5yJs
- To tour Towers 1, 2 and 3, above, "I had to pay a man from the museum a fee (and taxi-fare) to accompany me to 2 locked courtyards. He unlocked the Gonbads as well." (written on the back of a photo 20 yr.s ago, but which I don't recall. youtu.be/zTIVI6JLQUE youtu.be/063qvy0QJos ) I toured the 4th on my own.
- I don't recall the Gonbad-e Arqala or Aghalar, which looks (in photos online) to be plainer in appearance and shorter but wider. It contains a museum today.
- The MOLLA ROSTAM MOSQUE (Safavid, 16th cent., rebuilt in the Qajar era): Said to have been built by one 'Haj Ali Khan Moghaddam Maraghe'e', it's spacious, under a flat wooden ceiling supported by rows of 35 octagonal wooden pillars, with stalactite-carving on the capitols which connect with beams which support perpendicular logs which in turn support long rows of long, narrow, wooden slats, parallel to the beams. Medallions are painted on the beams and logs, and detailed floral and foliate images with tiny medallions on each slat /b/ the logs. It's a very busy ceiling with one painstaking paint-job. I liked that it (clearly) hadn't been renovated or touched up. tishineh.com/tour/Pictures/Item/3077/38532.jpg See it from the 7:07 min. pt. in this clip.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7becD8x5yJs www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHHR65SOMi4&list=PLhxDUhiBSi9...
- The famous MARAGHEH OBSERVATORY (the greatest Observatory in the Medieval world!): The ruins of Hulagu khan's 13th cent. rasadkhune (observatory; known in it's day as 'the Star House') are on a low, flat-topped hill west of the city under a geodesic dome, and include a long, straight, flag-stone-paved, 3.1-m.-wide corridor with entrances to a series of long, rectangular rooms on both sides, and with the 'meridian', a straight gutter-like recess, running down its centre to the base of the 'Mural Quadrant' ( www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/6337193475/in/photostr... ), originally with a radius of @ 40 m.s of which 5.5 m.s has survived, and which was used to calculate the position and motion of the sun (see below), all within the round base of what was once a large bldg., 22 m.s in diameter, and /b/ the thick foundations of the walls of its rooms. "The bldg., which no doubt served as a citadel as well, had a staff of at least 10 astronomers and a librarian, covered 340 x 135 m.s, and the foundations of the walls were 1.3 to 2 m.s thick." It made use of "a complex system of water wheels" (?). Instruments designed for it include the said quadrant, an armillary sphere with a radius of @ 160 cm.s, a solstitial armilla, an azimuth ring and a parallactic ruler (triquetrum). 5 circular platforms "on which astronomical instruments were placed" (I'll scan a photo of one) and the foundations of outbldg.s surround the site of the central tower, incl. one 330 m.s2, thought to have been the library which allegedly had holdings of @ 400,000 books (plundered by the Mongols from libraries across Persia, Syria and Mesopotamia, incl. "the legendary library of Alamut" where Tusi himself salvaged some works.) Some families of Iranian tourists were milling @. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGYczp2WJpM
- "A mural instrument is an angle-measuring device mounted on or built into a wall. For astronomical purposes, such walls were oriented to lie precisely on the meridian. Mural instruments that measured angles from 0 to 90 degrees were called 'mural quadrants' and were utilized as astronomical devices in ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. ... To measure the position of a star, the observer needs a sidereal clock in addition to the mural instrument. With the clock measuring time, a star of interest is observed with the instrument until it crosses an indicator and 'transits the meridian'. The time on the clock is then recorded as well as the angular elevation of the star, yielding the position in the coordinates of the instrument. If the instrument's arc is not marked relative to the celestial equator, then the elevation is corrected for the difference, resulting in the star's declination." (Wikipedia)
- The Astronomical Observatory, as we know it, was a medieval, Islamic invention. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqQYR6qYj4U And the Maragheh observatory (Il-Khanid, 1259-@'63) "represented new heights in the science of astronomy within Islam and the [wider] world" (Huff, "The rise of Early Modern Science"). It was the earliest and most successful of the 3 greatest astronomical observatories in the Muslim Middle East, incl. those in Islanbul (1420) and Samarkand (1577). (Why isn't this site on Iran's 'Tentative list' for Unesco designation?) "[T]he Chinese, having less hostile relations with Islam, and possibly through the intermediaries of the Mongols who sponsored the observatory, could have gained access to the most advanced astronomy in the world [!] 2 centuries before the West did." (Huff)
- "... The Maragha school of astronomers built [their] observatory with the hope of constructing new tables of observation that would surpass those of Ptolemy. Although this research team included such figures as al-Urdi, al-Tusi, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, and al-Maghribi [whose full name was Muhyī al‐Milla wa al‐Dīn Yahyā Abū ʿAbdallāh ibn Muhammad ibn Abī al‐Shukr al‐Maghribī al‐Andalusī], they didn't produce the observational database that might have displaced Ptolemy. Nonetheless, by adjusting various parameters they did create the first non-Ptolemaic planetary models, [but which] remained geocentric, ... [and] improved the Ptolemaic system such that its models were mathematically equivalent to [and preceded by > a century] those in the Copernican system. ... This is to say, (1) Copernicus [1473-1543] used the Tusi couple as the Maragha astronomers did ["a geometric system that includes a smaller circle within a larger circle twice its diameter. The rotations of the smaller circle allow a specific point on the circumference to oscillate in linear motion. The Tusi-couple solved many issues with Ptolemaic systems over planetary motion" and helped astronomers to understand how celestial bodies revolve around one another.], (2) his planetary models for longitude in the Commentariolus are very similar to those of Ibn al-Shatir, while (3) those for the superior planets in De Revolutionibus used Maragha models, and (4) the lunar models of Copernicus and the Maragha school are identical." (Huff) At the Maragheh and Samarkand observatories, the Earth's rotation was discussed by Najm al-Din al-Qazwini al-Katibi (d. 1277), Tusi (b. 1201) and Qushji (b. 1403). (Huff) The arguments and evidence used by Tusi and Qushji resemble those used by Copernicus to support the Earth's motion. (Wikipedia)
- financialtribune.com/articles/travel/3009/maragheh-the-je...
- "In 1256, the Mongols under Hulagu took the [infamous] Alamut castle [see my photo] where the religious scholar and astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1274) and several other scholars had taken refuge to continue their studies. Impressed with Al-Tusi's scholarship, Hulagu appointed him wazir or vizier, and then employed him to found and oversee the construction of the observatory. (According to one account, Al-Tusi appealed to Hulagu's superstitions and told him that he could predict the future with a good observatory.) This appears to have been done under the umbrella of the law of waqf, the religious law of endowments that al-Tusi understood as a legal scholar. This seems to be the first example of such use of Islamic law for these purposes." (Huff) But while Islam had initially generated and supported the observatory, it was Islam that would later destroy it. "Astronomers [maintained] that astronomy was a “handmaiden of religion”, as it was used to determine the new moon and time-keeping. Nonetheless it was associated with astrology whose assumptions ran counter to the tenets of Islam (and to those of Christianity too). If only God knows the future, those who claim such knowledge usurp his power and capacities. The decline of the observatory began in the late 13th cent., although it would survive the rule of 7 khans, incl. Abaqa and Uljaytu, and remained active for over 50 yr.s. > 100 astronomers conducted research in the facility in that period. ("It is believed that several Chinese astronomers worked at the observatory where they introduced several Chinese methods of computation.") The site became derelict as a result of a loss of funding, and damage sustained in earthquakes.
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy_in_the_medieval_Islamic_w...
- RASAD-KHANEH CAVES: A "MITHRAIC" TEMPLE or BUDDHIST or ?: I came upon an unusual cave complex, the Rasad-khaneh caves, just below and west of the observatory, carved out of the side of the hill. The ceilings of 2 chambers had been sculpted and smoothed, each like 2 sides of a triangle meeting at a point, like ceilings under a pitched roof. What look like large altars carved out from the living rock were in the centre of the floor in each. (I'll scan a photo.) There were subterranean levels and tunnels with much atmosphere. I used my flashlight or my camera flash to spelunk all through it. A vlogger and his friends explore some of it here.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxfCFZ7hPdU Some maintain that this was a mithraic temple complex, but Wikipedia refers to these sculpted caves as similar in style to Chinese and Mongol cave temples or shrines, and as having been used "for religious ceremonies in the Il-Khanid period." Oxford research fellow Arezou Azad writes that "[t]he rectangular stone blocks in chambers A and B were identified as altars, and hence the chambers as sanctuaries. To [Warwick] Ball they [resemble] the Buddhist circumambulatory pillar-caves of Afghanistan and Central Asia, and to Bowman and Thompson the Jacobite style of dual sanctuaries. I would also note a resemblance to the Sassanian fire altars of Balkh. ... In the cave temples of the Mithraists (or Mithraea), altars of such dimensions can also be found. An ancient Mithraic use is likely given the similarities with Roman Mithraic temples, but it is the Il-khanid period which is of greater interest to us." www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/display.php?page=supp_...
- "Mithraic narratives state that Mehr was born in a cave and thus caves were considered important in the construction of mithraic temples. [Supplicants] performed their rituals in natural caves. ... The most important part of a temple was its altar, located at the end of the hall and including a small porch, built a little higher than ground level. The walls contained images of Mehr. ... [In the] hand-made caves of the Observatory hill ... platforms for sacrifice or on which images of Mehr were engraved are well preserved." www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Archaeology/Ashkanian/verjuy_mithr...
- Dr. Amin Moradi is dismissive of "the traditional views of scholars" that the cave complex at Varjavi, nearby, is a mithraeum. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41826-022-00049-x "In the history of Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna, Western Iran has been thought of as the heart of religious activity under the Median emperors (Herodotus). It's believed that after the unification of the Median and Achaemenid dynasties in 550 B.C., temples to Mithra, a Zoroastrian divinity, were constructed throughout the empire. (Malandra 1983, 88)." But he maintains that no evidence of any ancient mithraeum has been identified east of Syria (although they're found from Great Britain across the former Roman Empire to Dura Europos, and notwithstanding that the cult of Mithras is thought to have been adopted by Roman soldiers from its source in the worship of the Aryan pantheon in Parthian and Sassanian Iran.) No assumptions or inferences should be made as to Iranian mithraism on the basis of Roman mithraism. As to the purported mithraic cave-complex at Varjavi (which I write about in the next photo comment, a miss) Moradi suggests that it's an Il-Khanid-era tomb, "an attempt to try to copy the earlier Mongol construction methodologies in the Islamic context of Iran." He notes similarities in its layout with those of 7 cave 'dome tombs' that belong to clans of eastern Turks in Mongolia and which predate the Il-Khanate by /b/ @ 230 and 570 yr.s. But who was buried at Varjavi? All Khans are accounted for. Moradi admits that there's "no unknown Ilkhanid elite burial candidate for this monument in this region."
- After all that, I might find the evidence of the Buddhist nature of the Rasad-Khaneh caves (but not the Varjavi complex) to be most persuasive. (Cont.)
Redmond, Oregon
Listed 10/30/2013
Reference Number: 13000859
Petersen Rock Garden, which has state-wide significance, is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C in the areas of Art and Landscape Architecture, as a folk art environment, for its significance as an exceptional work of art that combines architecture, landscape, art, and sculpture in a unified whole. Located approximately eight miles southwest of Redmond, Oregon, the work recalls European and American grotto traditions, juxtaposed with American iconography and vernacular folk art traditions, through the creativity and artistry of Danish immigrant Rasmus Christian Petersen. Petersen, who began constructing the garden after finishing his education in Danish and American culture at Nysted Folk High School in Nebraska and three successful decades of farming, was also influenced by his homestead's setting in central Oregon, with its dramatic views of the Cascade range . Creation of the garden represents the last chapter in Petersen's life. The gardens are all the more remarkable for their unexpectedness in the desert landscape and their lack of precedent in their creator's life. The Period of Significance for the site is 1927, the date of construction of the Petersen's residence, to 1952, the date of Petersen's death. The gardens and property as a whole retain excellent integrity and easily convey the reasons for their significance.
National Register of Historic Places Homepage
The Colorado River is the principal river of the Southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. The 1,450-mile (2,330 km) river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states. Rising in the central Rocky Mountains in the U.S., the river flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada line, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the large Colorado River Delta where it naturally emptied into the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora, though it no longer reaches its delta or the sea.
Known for its dramatic canyons and whitewater rapids, the Colorado is a vital source of water for agricultural and urban areas in the southwestern desert lands of North America. The river and its tributaries are controlled by an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts, which divert 90% of its water in the U.S. alone to furnish irrigation and municipal water supply for almost 40 million people both inside and outside the watershed. The Colorado's large flow and steep gradient are used for generating hydroelectric power, and its major dams regulate peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. Since the mid-20th century, intensive water consumption has dried the lower 100 miles (160 km) of the river such that it has not consistently reached the sea since the 1960s.
After the greater Colorado River basin became part of the U.S. in 1846, the bulk of the river's course was still largely the subject of myths and speculation. Several expeditions charted the Colorado in the mid-19th century, one of which, led by John Wesley Powell in 1869, was the first to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. American explorers collected valuable information that would later be used to develop the river for navigation and water supply. Large-scale settlement of the lower basin began in the mid- to late-19th century, with steamboats providing transportation from the Gulf of California to landings along the Colorado River that linked to wagon roads into the interior of New Mexico Territory. Lesser numbers settled in the upper basin, which was the scene of major gold strikes in Arizona and Nevada in the 1860s and 1870s.
Major engineering of the river basin began around the start of the 20th century, with many guidelines established in a series of domestic and international treaties known as the "Law of the River". The U.S. federal government was the main driving force behind the construction of hydraulic engineering projects in the river system, although many state and local water agencies were also involved. Most of the major dams in the river basin were built between 1910 and 1970, and the system keystone, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. The Colorado is now considered among the most controlled and litigated rivers in the world, with every drop of its water fully allocated.
The damming and diversion of the Colorado River system have been flashpoint issues for the environmental movement in the American Southwest because of their impacts on the ecology and natural beauty of the river and its tributaries. During the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, environmental organizations vowed to block any further development of the river, and a number of later dam and aqueduct proposals were defeated by citizen opposition. As demands for Colorado River water continue to rise, the level of human development and control of the river continues to generate controversy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
One of the many carvings adorning the wall arcading in the north aisle.
There is a danger of running out of superlatives when trying to describe Beverley Minster. It is not only the second finest non-cathedral church in the country but is architecturally a far finer building than most of our cathedrals themselves! It will come as a surprise to many visitors to find this grand edifice simply functions today as a parish church and has never been more than collegiate, a status it lost at the Reformaton. What had added to its mystique and wealth was its status as a place of pilgrimage housing the tomb of St John of Beverley, which drew visitors and revenue until the Reformation brought an end to such fortunes and the shrine was destroyed (though the saint's bones were later rediscovered and reinterred in the nave). That this great church itself survived this period almost intact is little short of a miracle in itself.
There has been a church here since the 8th century but little remains of the earlier buildings aside from the Saxon chair near the altar and the Norman font in the nave. The present Minster's construction spans the entirety of the development of Gothic architecture but forms a surprisingly harmonious whole nevertheless, starting with Early English in the 13h century choir and transepts (both pairs) with their lancet windows in a building phase that stopped at the first bays of the nave. Construction was then continued with the nave in the 14th century but only the traceried windows betray the emergent Decorated style, the design otherwise closely followed the work of the previous century which gives the Minster's interior such a pleasingly unified appearance (the only discernable break in construction within can be seen where the black purbeck-marble ceased to be used for certain elements beyond the eastern bay of the nave). Finally the building was completed more or less by 1420 with the soaring west front with its dramatic twin-towers in Perpendicular style (the east window must have been enlarged at this point too to match the new work at the west end).
The fabric happily survived the Reformation intact aside from the octagonal chapter-house formerly adjoining the north choir aisle which was dismantled to raise money by the sale of its materials while the church's fate was in the balance (a similar fate was contemplated for the rest of the church by its new owners until the town bought it for retention as a parish church for £100). The great swathes of medieval glass alas were mostly lost, though seemingly as much to neglect and storm-damage in the following century than the usual iconoclasm. All that survived of the Minster's original glazing was collected to form the patchwork display now filling the great east window, a colourful kaleidoscope of fragments of figures and scenes. Of the other furnishings the choir stalls are the major ensemble and some of the finest medieval canopied stalls extant with a full set of charming misericords (though most of these alas are not normally on show).
There are suprisingly few monuments of note for such an enormous cathedral-like church, but the one major exception makes up for this, the delightful canopied Percy tomb erected in 1340 to the north of the high altar. The tomb itself is surprisingly plain without any likeness remaining of the deceased, but the richly carved Decorated canopy above is alive with gorgeous detail and figurative embellishments. There are further carvings to enjoy adorning the arcading that runs around the outer perimeter of the interior, especially the north nave aisle which has the most rewarding carved figures of musicians, monsters and people suffering various ailments, many were largely restored in the 19th century but still preserve the medieval spirit of irreverent fun.
To summarise Beverley Minster would be difficult other than simply adding that if one enjoys marvelling at Gothic architecture at its best then it really shouldn't be missed and one should prioritise it over the majority of our cathedrals. It is a real gem and a delight to behold, and is happily normally open and welcoming to visitors (who must all be astonished to find this magnificent edifice is no more than a simple parish church in status!). I thoroughly enjoyed this, my second visit here (despite the best efforts of the poor weather!).
Central Park, New York City, New York, United States
January 21, 2011 snow storm
If you want to know more about my walks and photos, check out my blog.
Soaring over Central Park, the profile of the San Remo is among the most important components of the magnificent skyline of Central Park West. The first of the twin-towered buildings which give Central Park West its distinctive silhouette, and one of the New York's last grand apartment houses built in the pre-Depression era, it was designed by Emery Roth, then at the pinnacle of his career as a specialist in apartment house architecture. A residential skyscraper in classical garb, the San Remo epitomizes Roth's ability to combine the traditional with the modern, an urbane amalgam of luxury and convenience, decorum and drama.
Development of Central Park West
Central Park West, the northern continuation of Eighth Avenue bordering on the park, is today one of New York's finest residential streets, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was a rural and inhospitable outpost, notable for its rocky terrain, browsing goats and ramshackle shanties. With the creation of Central Park in the 1860s, followed by Riverside Park (begun 1876), as well as a series of transportation improvements such as the Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad (1879), the Upper West Side in general experienced a period of intense real estate speculation. The 1880were the first decade of major development, and set the pattern for the Upper West Side, where rowhouses line the side streets, and multiple dwellings, commercial and institutional structures are sited on the avenues.
Not surprisingly, those avenues closest to the parks. Central Park West and Riverside Drive, were immediately considered the most desirable. (Ninth Avenue, re-christened Columbus in 1890, Tenth Avenue, renamed Amsterdam in the same year, and Broadway—the Boulevard before 1899 — were all, in varying degrees marred by cable car and elevated railway lines.)
The potential of the parkside avenues for development as prime locations led to an anticipatory increase in land values; prices rose to such extravagant heights that many speculative builders shied away from row house and tenement construction, from which they would realize relatively meager returns, while the very wealthy, who could afford to build mansions, for the most part remained on the more fashionable East Side- As a result, the development of Central Park West lagged behind the general development of the Upper West Side. It was not until the turn of the century that Central Park West's construction boom began and it emerged as a- boulevard of elegant tall apartments punctuated by impressive institutional buildings—a kind of grand proscenium to the architectural variety show of the Upper West Side.
The stage had been set By two great monuments, the American Museum of Natural History between 77th and 81st Streets, (begun 1874, architects Vaux & Mould, and a designated New York City Landmark), and the Dakota, the pioneering luxury apartments at 72nd Street (1880-84. architect Henry Hardenbergh, and a designated New York City Landmark). Yet a survey of roughly a decade later revealed that more than half the block fronts along the park from 60th to 96th Streets remained vacant or contained only old, modest frame houses. A few rather unprepossessing apartment hotels (at
least, relative to the Dakota) were constructed in the early 1890s, among them the San Remo at 75th Street, designed in 1890 by architect Edward Angel 1.2 was described by Moses King in his Handbook as "an immense and imposing edifice, finely situated on the high ground of West 75th Street and facing on the lawns, woods and waters of Central Park. The rooms . . . are all in suites"; and more recently as "a ten-story, high Victorian pile, a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque details . . . unremarkable from an architectural standpoint except for the steep pyramidal towers at its corners."
Among the other apartment hotels on the avenue, were the Beresford at 81st Street, the Majestic (architect Alfred Zucker) just south of the Dakota, both erected in the early 1890s, and the El Dorado at 90th Street of 1901. These have all been replaced by their towered namesakes of the late 1920s and early '30s, but they had already been architecturally superceded by grand apartments houses of the early 1900s—such as the Prasada (1904) at 65th Street, the Langham (1905) at 73rd Street, the Kenilworth (1908) at 75th Street. This phase in Central Park West's development was interrupted by World War I, when construction ground to a halt. The second major phase of development began with the great prosperity of the '20s producing the Art Deco towered buildings, and Roth's Beresford and San Remo Apartments which now define the skyline.
The 1920s provided a generation of aspiring immigrants with the opportunity to move up in the world, both economically and geographically. Many Jewish immigrants, refugees from Csarist pogroms, had achieved prosperity in New York by the late 1920s, and looked from the Lower East Side and the Boroughs to the Upper West Side as a cultural and architectural haven. By the mid-1930s more than half the residents of the Upper West Side from 72nd to 96th Streets were Jewish, and more than a third of these families was headed by a parent born in Europe. Emery Roth was himself a Jewish immigrant of Horatio Algeresque stamina and optimism, a family man and Upper West Sider, although he arrived by a more circuitous route than most of his neighbors.
The Architect
Emery Roth was born in 1871 in the town or Galzecs, Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he was thirteen the family's fortunes took a turn for the worse, and it was decided that young Emery, alone, would immigrate to America. Passing through Ellis Island, he continued on to Chicago where his success story began.
When still a teenager living a hand to mouth existence in Bloomington, Illinois, Roth determined to become an architect. He worked for both a local builder and a local architect. In 1889, having won a national-government sponsored contest, the Maize Competition—for which he drew a living room utilizing the corn plant as a decorative motif—Roth took his $100 prize money and set out for Kansas City. Apparently he could not find architectural employment there, but while he was still in Bloomington, had applied to join the office of Burnham & Root. Offered the job by mail. Roth moved on to Chicago and worked under Charles Atwood (who had succeeded John W. Root after his death in 1891.) Roth helped to prepare drawings for the celebrated Palace of Fine Arts. While at the fair, he met Richard Morris Hunt, the recognized dean of American architects, who offered to hire him if he ever came to New York. After the fair, with true to form optimism, Roth made his way to New York, where Hunt's casual offer was honored. Assigned to draft interior perspectives for The Breakers, the Newport mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Roth came in contact with Ogden Codman, a noted architect, interior designer and socialite. In 1895 Roth went to work for Codman, where his decorative and planning abilities were sharpened.
By 1898 Roth believed himself ready for private practice. Two young architects, Theodore G. Stein and E. Yancy Cohen, after involved negotiations, sold Roth their architectural practice for $1000. As part of the agreement, Roth was entitled to represent himself as a partner in Stein, Cohen & Roth in order to capitalize on the good will of the existing firm. In fact, Roth was on his own.
Roth's first major commission was the Hotel Belleclaire of 1901-03 on upper Broadway, a designated New York City Landmark. While it was under construction Roth was approached by Leo and Alexander Bing, Manhattan real estate developers. The Bing brothers admired the Belleclaire and commissioned Roth to design a group of five-story apartment buildings in Washington Heights. This alliance inaugurated a lifelong association.
In the following years, Roth had several commissions, among them Bancroft Hall of 1910—a student housing facility for Columbia University, and a series of religious structures, including the Congregation Ahavith Achem of 1908 in Brooklyn and the First Reformed Hungarian Church of 1916 on East 69th Street in Manhattan.
The year 1918 was a traumatic one for Roth. He lost his vision in one eye, the result of glaucoma, and nearly died in the great influenza epidemic. But the prosperity of the 1920s was to carry him into a period of great achievement. After the hiatus in construction caused by the First World War, building was again undertaken. In New York City, a 1921 ordinance exempting new residential construction from real estate taxes for the next decade, opened the door to a building boom. The Bing brothers commissioned a series of apartment buildings and hotels from Roth, many of which Ruttenbaum aptly terras "fine background buildings," while two other developers, Samuel Minskoff and Harris H. Uris commissioned Roth to design a number of handsome medium height apartment houses which the architect dubbed "skyscratchers."
In 1926 Roth in association with Thomas Hastings, the surviving partner of the eminent firm of Carrere & Hastings, designed the Ritz Tower at Park Avenue and 57th Street, a 41-story apartment hotel In a neo-Renaissance style, its extreme height making it "a symbol of a new way to live for wealthy New Yorkers." After the Ritz Tower, Roth went on to design a host of luxury residential skyscrapers, among them the Oliver Cromwell Hotel on West 72nd Street (1928), the Beresford Apartments on Central Park West, and as a consultant to Margon & Holder, the Art Deco style El dorado Apartments also on Central Park West (1929-31, and a designated New York City Landmark). From the mid-1920s on, the signature of a major Roth apartment house was its tower(s). Initially designed to conceal water tanks, they evolved in the Beresford with its three towers into a major element of the design.
In the San Remo. among Roth's finest works, the towers are carried even further, becoming an integral component of this residential skyscraper. This fusing of the functional with the aesthetic was equally characteristic of his apartment plans. Roth's sons credit their father with the creation of the foyer plan, and if not the originator he was certainly a refiner of this type. Roth's best apartments seem effortlessly interlocked, wasteful corridor space reduced to a minimum, with spacious, well-lit rooms in their stead.
Roth's last great work was the Normandy Apartments on Riverside Drive of 1938-39 (a designated New York City Landmark), by which time his sons had joined the firm. The majority of his later buildings in concession to the Depression had smaller apartments and fewer amenities, while still maintaining high standards. Roth died in 1947, and his sons continued the firm, which has been prosperous and prolific.
The San Remo
In an advertisement of May 18, 1930, in the New York Times the San Remo was heralded as:
The Aristocrat of Central Park West Apartments Designed for You Built by the builders of the Beresford
Every detail of these sumptuous apartments has been carefully planned to make living in them the last word in luxury. Only private homes have ceilings as lofty as these and rooms as- spacious. Every chamber has its own colored tile bathroom and is well-supplied with deep closets. Many have dressing rooms too. The long galleries and living rooms with fireplaces offer splendid decorative possibilities. The kitchens have been fitted with the most modern appliances. Up in the towers are apartments such as New York has never before seen with windows on all four sides and views of Central Park, the Hudson, and Westchester. Other specially designed apartments have slate terraces overlooking the park.
Six to sixteen rooms, simplex and duplex apartments H.R.H. Construction Company 11
Contemporary writers essentially concurred with this euphoric description, and were impressed by the height of the building, the twin-towered silhouette, good plans and luxurious detailing. The New Yorker magazine (a publication which in 1930 seems, at least to modern eyes, to all but ignore the 1929 Crash) featured two articles on the San Remo, one by "Penthouse" [Marcia Clarke Davenport]. Davenport is impressed by the views, the size of the terraces and rooms, and "the remarkable sun and light everywhere." Perhaps a hint of the Depression can be detected in her interest in costs--"This is not one of the houses you use to illustrate that rents are lower on the West Side." An eighteen-room duplex was offered at $21,000 per year.
The second New Yorker contributor, "T-Square" [George S. Chappell] considers the San Remo in more strictly architectural terms and as a design by Roth "whose name must be inextricably associated with the development of this section" of Manhattan.
...the Italian baroque [is] skillfully adapted to modern conditions. Cornices are reduced to a minimum, becoming simply bandcourses, but such detail as is used is classic in derivation. The twin towers with their circular colonnades of Corinthian columns, crowned by bronze lanterns,
are fine in silhouette____ The proportions are
well-studied and the warm light brick used above the limestone substructure give a delightful effect.
Chappell also praises the watertank coverings and the innovative window design with upper and lower movable transoms.
Despite its popular success, the San Remo fell prey to the pervasive economic mayhem of the 1930s. A full year after it had officially opened, nearly a third of its apartments remained vacant, and the Bank of the United States which held its $5 million mortgage had collapsed, its officers charged with recklessly "gambling" on the San Remo. In an
effort to attract tenants rents were reduced, and some of the larger apartments were subdivided. But after a succession of owners and bankruptcies, in 1940 the San Remo was sold along with the Beresford, which was experiencing similar financial woes, for a mere $25,000 over existing mortgages.
In its near sixty-year history, the San Remo has had numerous well-known and famous tenants, among them David Nemerov and his wife, owners of Russeks Stores, and parents of Howard Nemerov, poet and critic, and Diane Arbus, photographer, Eddie Cantor, the singer and comedian, and more recently, singer Barry Manilow, and actors Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Tony Randall and Mary Tyler Moore.
Architectural Sources and Style
The San Remo is a skyscraper which, in the conservative early twentieth-century tradition, applies an historical style to a contemporary form. Roth, who had a lifelong predilection for classicizing styles (although he used others), here turned to the Late Italian Renaissance for inspiration,,. Broken pediments, both curved and triangular, cartouches, and boldly scaled pilasters and columns with composite capitals, and overlapping architectural elements—all hallmarks of the Late Italian Renaissance—are the components of the San Remo's detailing. Ruttenbaum has noted similarities in the crowning temples of the San Remo with the ancient Greek choragic monument of Lysicrates, which Roth had studied in his youth at the Chicago exposition. Certainly, there are parallels, especially in the proportions, but perhaps equally important are such Late Renaissance structures as Bramante's celebrated Tempietto in Rome, or—in terms of placement as much as form—Michelangelo's lantern atop St. Peter's dome.
Much closer to home are such general prototypes as McKim, Mead & White's Municipal Building of 1909-13, a skyscraper topped by a temple and designed in a neo-classical style.
Truly tall skyscrapers, rather than the "skyscratchers" of Roth's terminology, up until the 1920s had been almost exclusively erected as commercial structures. Roth's first very tall apartment building, the 41-story Ritz Tower of 1926, had been erected as an apartment hotel, for which less stringent building code requirements applied than for apartment houses. The Ritz Tower was exactly what the name implied—one preliminary scheme even called for a lantern clearly derived from the tower of the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio. In residential terms, this was a new building type, one which reached a fuller expression in the San Remo.
In early 1929, a new Multiple Dwelling Act was passed, allowing apartment houses of large ground area greater height and the use of towers. The San Remo, the first of the vast twin-towered West Side apartments, was designed in response to these new stipulations. An innovative design, based on Roth's experience with single-towered structures, it was quickly emulated: yet the sheer size and height of the San Remo apparently struck others as fundamentally "modern." The Century Apartments and the Majestic Apartments are exercises in the contemporary Art Deco style. Even the Normandy, Roth's own last great building combines elements of the Style Moderne with neo-Italian Renaissance motifs. Yet, as the architectural critic, Paul Goldberger (himself a resident of the San Remo) has remarked, "Roth's greatest gift was his ability to adapt Renaissance and classical details to modern building forms." 21
Description
The San Remo Apartments occupy the Central Park West blockfront from 74th to 75th Streets. A residential skyscraper, the main block of the building is 17 stories in height, with terraced setbacks from the 14th to 17th stories. Two symmetrical towers, each ten stories in height surmounted by elaborate suprastructures culminating in circular temples with lanterns give the building its dramatic profile. The building is executed in light brick. The first three stories are in rusticated limestone, lightly vermiculated at the first two stories, with smooth lower relief at the third. The facade is 26 bays wide, with two main entryways. The southern elevation is 19 bays wide, and the northern is 16. {The southern elevation is 180 feet in length, the northern, 150.) Each has a single main entrance. (There are four office entrances on the Central Park West facade, two on the south elevation, and three on the north. The towers are five bays wide on the facade and side elevations.
The rear, western elevation...which owing to its height above the side street rowhouses, is largely visible is executed in the same light brick, and is ranged around a T-shaped courtyard. The towers have terraced rear extensions. A large chimney abuts the north tower.
The facade and side elevations are articulated above the three-story base by shallow brick pilasters and slight projections signalized as pavilions by the Renaissance detailing at the upper stories. The facade of the main block of the building has a basic vertical arrangement of bays as: 1-1-1-6-1-6-1-6-1-1-1. At the terrace levels the central six bays and outermost three bays function as true pavilions between the setbacks. The towers have massive, pier-like enframements at the corners. Cornices are effectively and sparingly used to accentuate the upper stories of the main block of the building, the upper stories of the towers, and the suprastructures.
Architectural detailing, executed in stone, terra cotta and metal, is Late Italian Renaissance in character, and highlights entrances and window configurations at the upper stories. Balustrades, pilasters, engaged columns, broken pediments, both circular and triangular, garlands, urns, cartouches, scrolls, consoles and roundels are employed. The detail is executed in limestone up to the fourth story and in terra cotta above. The terraces have either terra-cotta balustrades or metal railings. The lantern is of copper. (All such detailing is described below.)
Detailing
Fenestration:
The windows are uniformly treated on the designed elevations, with metal casements featuring movable transoms above and below the principal windows. The upper transom swings out, the lower transom (or hopper) swings in. The central large windows open outward in the conventional manner. The windows have six panes (2 over 2 over 2). This innovative design was intended to facilitate the regulation of temperature and air circulation. There are some variations in width which reflect interior spaces (living rooms, bedrooms etc.) but the basic configuration remains the same, except in the second-story windows above the Central Park West entrances, and at the uppermost stories of the facade central pavilion, which are tripartite with nine panes of glass (3 over 3 over 3). On the rear elevation the windows are more varied in their treatment, with single double, triple and double leaf casement windows, some of which do not have the lower transom. A few windows have been altered, most notably on the rear tower elevations.
Main Entrances:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically located at the 6-7th bays and 20-21st bays).
A broken triangular pediment surmounts the double doors , executed in bronze and glass with paneled, solid bronze transoms. The doors are each divided into three parts, with square panels ornamented by bronze medallions and bordering acanthus leaver set in a rectilinear bronze grillework. Metal and glass lanterns flank the doorway. A double-height limestone enframement surrounds the doorway and second-story tripartite window, and is composed of flanking pilasters with composite capitals , with reliefs depicting classical urns above, and supporting a dentiled curved, broken pediment. At the center of the pediment is a large scrolled cartouche draped by a garland which is looped over a rosette at each side. The doorways have sheltering canopies on bronze supports.
North [75 St.] and south [74th St.] elevations (one, located in the 13th bay, north side, and in the 11th bay, south side).
Both have deep reveals and limestone enframements with a surmounting console table on console-like supports with a central scrolled cartouche. The single bronze and glass doors follow the same design as those on the facade and have transoms with an octagonal panel with central medallion and acanthus leaves. Lanterns flank the doorways.
Office Entrances:
Facade [Central Park West] (four, symmetrically located at the 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th bays).
These have limestone enframements and surmounting entablatures with scrolled ornamental keystones. The single doors are of bronze with a glazed upper panel and transom.
North elevation [75th St.] (three, at the 4th, 8th, and 15th bays).
These are detailed like those on the facade.
South elevation [74th St.] (two, at the 6th and 14th bays).
Set within deep reveals and enframed by the rusticated walls, each has a bronze door with a glazed upper panel and transom.
Service Entrances:
North [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (two, located at the rear of each elevation).
A rusticated wall which follows the design of the building walls and extends to the second story contains an arched doorway with a large keystone and is surmounted by a paneled overdoor. A decorative metal gate with a panel reading "Service" fills the archway. At the south elevation, a metal railing atop a brick wall extends westward along the property line.
Third Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St. ] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
The windows have limestone relief enframements with side elements in the shape of a console in profile, and rosettes. .. . .
Fourth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically placed, 5-8th bays and 19-22nd bays).
A balustraded balcony set upon four large ornamented console brackets extends for four bays. The central two bays have a limestone enframement and are separated by a smooth limestone panel. Flanking pilasters support an entablature upon which a triangular broken pediment is superimposed. At the center is a scrolled escutcheon with a garland and ornamental tablet.
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
Each has an entablature with a superimposed triangular pediment, both dentil led, and a central ornamented keystone flanked by plain stones. Pilasters and enframements surround the windows which also have a balustrade executed in high relief.
Fourth Story Cartouche:
Facade [Central Park West] (one, between the 13th and 14th bays).
A large scrolled cartouche, placed at the center of the facade, it has the completion date of the building 19—30 placed to each side.
Eleventh-Twelfth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically located at the 5-8th and 19-22nd bays).
A balustrade on Four console brackets, which visually echoes the fourth-story treatment below, extends across four bays. A double-height, two-bay wide central section is recessed, with flanking brick pilasters, in which the capitals are seemingly "overlapped" by the outer wall surface. Two embossed rosettes appear in the panel which is enframed by bandcourses between the 11th and 12th stories. Two additional embossed rosettes appear in the outer bays. A scrolled cartouche with garlands draped over rosettes, similar to those of the facade main entrances, surmount the composition.
Thirteenth to Fifteenth Story Window Enframements:
Facade (Central Park West], north [75 th St. ] and south [74 th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
Placed similarly to the window enframement of the fourth story, these three-story compositions also serve to accentuate and anchor the Central Park West corners of the building. In each,, ornamented console brackets at the 13th story level support a balustered balcony one bay wide. At the 13th story and balcony level, are bandcourses which continue along the walls, articulating the designed elevations. The 14th-story windows are surmounted by curved broken pediments and ornamented at the center by escutcheons. Garlands and floral motifs appear below the pediments, upon the window frames. The 15th-story windows are surmounted by a scrolled escutcheon. Double height brick pilasters with rosettes flank the windows and support a broken triangular pediment. Cartouches appear at the center. The band courses of the pilasters and broken pediments also continue along the wall surfaces and here help to define the three-bay wide corner pavilions. These pavilions are further defined by flanking brick pilasters with rosettes.
Thirteenth to Seventeenth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (one, at the 12-13th bays).
This composition, which signalizes the central six-bay wide pavilion, reiterates many of the elements of the four corner compositions just described, although it is two bays wide, rather than one. Ornamented consoles at the 13th story support the 14th story balustered balcony. Instead of two windows there are single tripartite windows. The 14th and 15th story windows are detailed like those at the corners, but here the broken pediment enframing the carouche is curved rather than triangular. The composition continues to the 16th and 17th stories, which are also flanked by brick pilasters. The tripartite window at the 16th story is richly enframed with a central garlanded tablet, and a broken triangular pediment. At the 17th story is a central garlanded cartouche. The central pavilion has terminating brick pilasters with embossed rosettes like those of the corner pavilions.
Twenty-third Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, set in the central bays).
These window, set mid way on the designed elevations of the towers, function as medallions on the relatively unadorned tower shafts. The windows have elaborate enframements with ornamental keystones and curved, broken pediments.
Twenty-sixth - Twenty-seventh Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St. ] and south [74th St. ] elevations, (four, set in the 2-4th bays).
Set between bandcourses and balustrade and pediment level, which continue on the wall surfaces of the towers, are these three boldly scaled three-bay wide compositions. The central bay has a projecting balustrade and above, double-height engaged columns on brackets, with foliate capitals. These columns enframe the two windows and support a curved broken pediment. At the center of the pediment is a large cartouche. The side bays have balustrades and above, double-height pilasters on podia, with foliate capitals. These pilasters flank the two windows and support triangular broken pediments.
Suprastructure Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations and the two inner faces of the towers (six, set at the second story of the suprastructure and in the penthouses).
These double-height compositions each include a framed window with flanking brick pilasters with embossed rosettes at capital-level. Above the window is a broken triangular pediment and a central escutcheon. Six small penthouses with semi-circular roofs have their facades placed above the pediments. The windows of these are curved at top and bottom and elaborately enframed and have metal grilles. They are each flanked by console brackets which support the curved pediment of the penthouse.
Temples:
North and south towers, (two, located at the top of the building).
Above the suprastructure each tower is surmounted by a circular temple of brick and terra cotta, set upon a base articulated by boldly scaled console brackets on eight buttressing pedestals. Large urns, draped with garlands, crown each pedestal and the intervening walls are ornamented with scrolled cartouches beneath balustrades. The temples, set on simple brick podia, are encircled by colonnades of smooth columns with foliate capitals. These support plain dentil led friezes beneath balustrades. Above on each tower is a circular base with copestones, which supports the crowing element — a fenestrated and electrified copper lantern, above elongated foliate scrolled consoles. (The temples and lanterns have recently been restored.)
- From the 1987 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Sunset on the River - 1867
George Inness (1825 - 1894)
The play of sunshine and shadow across the scene of cows grazing and thunderclouds in the distance creates a dynamic mood in the landscape. George Inness believed there was a direct correspondence between the natural and spiritual realms, as theorized by the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). The artist hoped that, by showing the drama and dynamism of nature, his paintings would transport viewers to a higher emotional or mental plane.
George Inness distinguished himself among the Hudson River School painters by pursuing a more modern aesthetic of landscape painting. Unlike his contemporaries, who believed in creating realistic canvases of nature's vastness, Inness felt that "paintings were not necessarily pictures, and it was the artist's function, even his obligation, by an aesthetic and expressive reorganization, to interpret nature and not merely depict it." (as quoted in N. Cikovsky, Jr. and M. Quick, George Inness, Los Angeles, California, 1985, p. 19) Inness' New York based works from the 1860s are widely admired today because they are closest to the familiar manner of Hudson River School painting in those years. Yet these works also begin to show the artist's painting philosophy of incorporating atmospheric climate and expression which brings deeper spiritual meaning into his compositions. Inness went on to produce a body of work marked by a more subjective and ultimately more modern aesthetic than that of his contemporaries. With its dramatic composition and high degree of finish, Sunset on the River is an extraordinary masterwork from this important transitional phase in the artist's career.
Painted in 1867 near the town of Leeds, New York, Sunset on the River presents an expansive view of cattle grazing in a broad pasture which slopes toward a river, partially visible on the left. On the right a stone wall borders a road, along which a covered wagon moves toward a mill with a smoking chimney near the water. From a slightly elevated vantage point, the viewer looks across the expanse to another light-struck pasture in the middle ground extending to wooded foothills, which give rise to a large mountain in the distance. Storm clouds fill the sky, dappling the land with dark streaks intermingled with bursts of light which pierce the foliage and rake across the landscape.
Inness' use of light and atmosphere in Sunset on the River evokes mood and meaning. Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., writes: "In all of the paintings of the 1860's, nature is not merely depicted straightforwardly, but is made articulate: moods of calm are emphatically peaceful, rainbows are clearly portentous, storms are dramatic and threatening, sunsets are gloriously radiant, and bleakness is unmistakably harsh and cold. In 1865, a writer remarked that Inness 'signally [possessed the power of] seizing upon the critical moment in some marked phase of nature.' The result is that one is made aware of the spiritual significance of nature through the way in which its visible forms and effects reflect some higher power." (George Inness, London, 1971, p. 38) The painting's dramatically changing sky, along with the tranquil setting of workers setting off to the mill, seems to express a sense of hope and prosperity in the wake of the Civil War. Very likely, Inness' contemporaries saw in this painting a theme that would pervade American art after the war--the return to peace, industry, and prosperity. The movement and energy of the present work's lush brushwork, paint texture and strong color choices underscore the emotional sense of calm after a storm.
Michael Quick considers Sunset on the River a stunning success of Inness' style of the 1860s. He writes: "This handsome, fully developed painting, with its dramatic lighting and clouds, is one of the most impressive of 1867, looking ahead to the more emotional interpretation of nature seen in Inness's work at the end of the decade. The view is based upon a sketch he used again in Approaching Storm, 1869. In this case, both the foreground and the distance are deeper, and the season is full summer, rather than fall. An unusual element is the mill with its smoking chimney, near what appears to be a building in ruins. Inness drew attention to the mill by both silhouetting it against the lighted field beyond and by making it the object of the road's long diagonal. Brick textile mills were numerous in the Leeds area, but this factory seems out of place in the otherwise entirely pastoral landscape. The textured foreground and the blacklighting of the trees are also unusual for works of 1867, no doubt reflecting the extra effort to add interest to this painting." (George Inness: A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. one, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2007, p. 278) His inclusion of the factory and its workers appears here to add an element of the contemporary to his idealized landscape. Where other artists of the 1850s and 1860s might choose to render more purely pastoral views, Inness embraced the new.
All of the artistic devices evident in Sunset on the River convey emotional power. The painting's dramatic recession, extreme contrasts and strong color scheme induce the spiritual response that Inness began to suggest in the 1860s, and continued to evoke in his paintings throughout his career.
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This World Class attraction was everything we expected and more. Construction has just begun on a major expansion, but that has been managed in such a way that it does not in any way detract from the experience now.
This album focuses on the artwork inside the buildings and on the other interior spaces including the Eleven Restaurant and the Gift Shop. A separate album posted a few days ago is devoted to the two April mornings that we spent exploring just some of the trails that crisscross the 120 acres of Arkansas forest around the museum.
Alice Walton and her co-creative team can be proud of the vision and execution of everything on this 120 acre site.
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"Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission.
Alice Walton, the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, spearheaded the Walton Family Foundation's involvement in developing Crystal Bridges. The museum's glass-and-wood design by architect Moshe Safdie and engineer Buro Happold features a series of pavilions nestled around two creek-fed ponds and forest trails. The 217,000 square feet complex includes galleries, several meeting and classroom spaces, a library, a sculpture garden, a museum store designed by architect Marlon Blackwell, a restaurant and coffee bar, named Eleven after the day the museum opened, "11/11/11". Crystal Bridges also features a gathering space that can accommodate up to 300 people. Additionally, there are outdoor areas for concerts and public events, as well as extensive nature trails. It employs approximately 300 people, and is within walking distance of downtown Bentonville."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Bridges_Museum_of_American_Art
crystalbridges.org/nature-trails/
...
Central Park West, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States of America
Summary
Soaring over Central Park, the profile of the San Remo is among the most important components of the magnificent skyline of Central Park West. The first of the twin-towered buildings which give Central Park West its distinctive silhouette, and one of the New York's last grand apartment houses built in the pre-Depression era, it was designed by Emery Roth, then at the pinnacle of his career as a specialist in apartment house architecture. A residential skyscraper in classical garb, the San Remo epitomizes Roth's ability to combine the traditional with the modern, an urbane amalgam of luxury and convenience, decorum and drama.
Development of Central Park West
Central Park West, the northern continuation of Eighth Avenue bordering on the park, is today one of New York's finest residential streets, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was a rural and inhospitable outpost, notable for its rocky terrain, browsing goats and ramshackle shanties. With the creation of Central Park in the 1860s, followed by Riverside Park (begun 1876), as well as a series of transportation improvements such as the Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad (1879), the Upper West Side in general experienced a period of intense real estate speculation. The 1880were the first decade of major development, and set the pattern for the Upper West Side, where rowhouses line the side streets, and multiple dwellings, commercial and institutional structures are sited on the avenues.
Not surprisingly, those avenues closest to the parks. Central Park West and Riverside Drive, were immediately considered the most desirable. (Ninth Avenue, re-christened Columbus in 1890, Tenth Avenue, renamed Amsterdam in the same year, and Broadway—the Boulevard before 1899 — were all, in varying degrees marred by cable car and elevated railway lines.)
The potential of the parkside avenues for development as prime locations led to an anticipatory increase in land values; prices rose to such extravagant heights that many speculative builders shied away from row house and tenement construction, from which they would realize relatively meager returns, while the very wealthy, who could afford to build mansions, for the most part remained on the more fashionable East Side- As a result, the development of Central Park West lagged behind the general development of the Upper West Side. It was not until the turn of the century that Central Park West's construction boom began and it emerged as a- boulevard of elegant tall apartments punctuated by impressive institutional buildings—a kind of grand proscenium to the architectural variety show of the Upper West Side.
The stage had been set By two great monuments, the American Museum of Natural History between 77th and 81st Streets, (begun 1874, architects Vaux & Mould, and a designated New York City Landmark), and the Dakota, the pioneering luxury apartments at 72nd Street (1880-84. architect Henry Hardenbergh, and a designated New York City Landmark). Yet a survey of roughly a decade later revealed that more than half the block fronts along the park from 60th to 96th Streets remained vacant or contained only old, modest frame houses. A few rather unprepossessing apartment hotels (at
least, relative to the Dakota) were constructed in the early 1890s, among them the San Remo at 75th Street, designed in 1890 by architect Edward Angel 1.2 was described by Moses King in his Handbook as "an immense and imposing edifice, finely situated on the high ground of West 75th Street and facing on the lawns, woods and waters of Central Park. The rooms . . . are all in suites"; and more recently as "a ten-story, high Victorian pile, a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque details . . . unremarkable from an architectural standpoint except for the steep pyramidal towers at its corners."
Among the other apartment hotels on the avenue, were the Beresford at 81st Street, the Majestic (architect Alfred Zucker) just south of the Dakota, both erected in the early 1890s, and the El Dorado at 90th Street of 1901. These have all been replaced by their towered namesakes of the late 1920s and early '30s, but they had already been architecturally superceded by grand apartments houses of the early 1900s—such as the Prasada (1904) at 65th Street, the Langham (1905) at 73rd Street, the Kenilworth (1908) at 75th Street. This phase in Central Park West's development was interrupted by World War I, when construction ground to a halt. The second major phase of development began with the great prosperity of the '20s producing the Art Deco towered buildings, and Roth's Beresford and San Remo Apartments which now define the skyline.
The 1920s provided a generation of aspiring immigrants with the opportunity to move up in the world, both economically and geographically. Many Jewish immigrants, refugees from Csarist pogroms, had achieved prosperity in New York by the late 1920s, and looked from the Lower East Side and the Boroughs to the Upper West Side as a cultural and architectural haven. By the mid-1930s more than half the residents of the Upper West Side from 72nd to 96th Streets were Jewish, and more than a third of these families was headed by a parent born in Europe. Emery Roth was himself a Jewish immigrant of Horatio Algeresque stamina and optimism, a family man and Upper West Sider, although he arrived by a more circuitous route than most of his neighbors.
The Architect
Emery Roth was born in 1871 in the town or Galzecs, Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he was thirteen the family's fortunes took a turn for the worse, and it was decided that young Emery, alone, would immigrate to America. Passing through Ellis Island, he continued on to Chicago where his success story began.
When still a teenager living a hand to mouth existence in Bloomington, Illinois, Roth determined to become an architect. He worked for both a local builder and a local architect. In 1889, having won a national-government sponsored contest, the Maize Competition—for which he drew a living room utilizing the corn plant as a decorative motif—Roth took his $100 prize money and set out for Kansas City. Apparently he could not find architectural employment there, but while he was still in Bloomington, had applied to join the office of Burnham & Root. Offered the job by mail. Roth moved on to Chicago and worked under Charles Atwood (who had succeeded John W. Root after his death in 1891.) Roth helped to prepare drawings for the celebrated Palace of Fine Arts. While at the fair, he met Richard Morris Hunt, the recognized dean of American architects, who offered to hire him if he ever came to New York. After the fair, with true to form optimism, Roth made his way to New York, where Hunt's casual offer was honored. Assigned to draft interior perspectives for The Breakers, the Newport mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Roth came in contact with Ogden Codman, a noted architect, interior designer and socialite. In 1895 Roth went to work for Codman, where his decorative and planning abilities were sharpened.
By 1898 Roth believed himself ready for private practice. Two young architects, Theodore G. Stein and E. Yancy Cohen, after involved negotiations, sold Roth their architectural practice for $1000. As part of the agreement, Roth was entitled to represent himself as a partner in Stein, Cohen & Roth in order to capitalize on the good will of the existing firm. In fact, Roth was on his own.
Roth's first major commission was the Hotel Belleclaire of 1901-03 on upper Broadway, a designated New York City Landmark. While it was under construction Roth was approached by Leo and Alexander Bing, Manhattan real estate developers. The Bing brothers admired the Belleclaire and commissioned Roth to design a group of five-story apartment buildings in Washington Heights. This alliance inaugurated a lifelong association.
In the following years, Roth had several commissions, among them Bancroft Hall of 1910—a student housing facility for Columbia University, and a series of religious structures, including the Congregation Ahavith Achem of 1908 in Brooklyn and the First Reformed Hungarian Church of 1916 on East 69th Street in Manhattan.
The year 1918 was a traumatic one for Roth. He lost his vision in one eye, the result of glaucoma, and nearly died in the great influenza epidemic. But the prosperity of the 1920s was to carry him into a period of great achievement. After the hiatus in construction caused by the First World War, building was again undertaken. In New York City, a 1921 ordinance exempting new residential construction from real estate taxes for the next decade, opened the door to a building boom. The Bing brothers commissioned a series of apartment buildings and hotels from Roth, many of which Ruttenbaum aptly terras "fine background buildings," while two other developers, Samuel Minskoff and Harris H. Uris commissioned Roth to design a number of handsome medium height apartment houses which the architect dubbed "skyscratchers."
In 1926 Roth in association with Thomas Hastings, the surviving partner of the eminent firm of Carrere & Hastings, designed the Ritz Tower at Park Avenue and 57th Street, a 41-story apartment hotel In a neo-Renaissance style, its extreme height making it "a symbol of a new way to live for wealthy New Yorkers." After the Ritz Tower, Roth went on to design a host of luxury residential skyscrapers, among them the Oliver Cromwell Hotel on West 72nd Street (1928), the Beresford Apartments on Central Park West, and as a consultant to Margon & Holder, the Art Deco style El dorado Apartments also on Central Park West (1929-31, and a designated New York City Landmark). From the mid-1920s on, the signature of a major Roth apartment house was its tower(s). Initially designed to conceal water tanks, they evolved in the Beresford with its three towers into a major element of the design.
In the San Remo. among Roth's finest works, the towers are carried even further, becoming an integral component of this residential skyscraper. This fusing of the functional with the aesthetic was equally characteristic of his apartment plans. Roth's sons credit their father with the creation of the foyer plan, and if not the originator he was certainly a refiner of this type. Roth's best apartments seem effortlessly interlocked, wasteful corridor space reduced to a minimum, with spacious, well-lit rooms in their stead.
Roth's last great work was the Normandy Apartments on Riverside Drive of 1938-39 (a designated New York City Landmark), by which time his sons had joined the firm. The majority of his later buildings in concession to the Depression had smaller apartments and fewer amenities, while still maintaining high standards. Roth died in 1947, and his sons continued the firm, which has been prosperous and prolific.
The San Remo
In an advertisement of May 18, 1930, in the New York Times the San Remo was heralded as:
The Aristocrat of Central Park West Apartments Designed for You Built by the builders of the Beresford
Every detail of these sumptuous apartments has been carefully planned to make living in them the last word in luxury. Only private homes have ceilings as lofty as these and rooms as- spacious. Every chamber has its own colored tile bathroom and is well-supplied with deep closets. Many have dressing rooms too. The long galleries and living rooms with fireplaces offer splendid decorative possibilities. The kitchens have been fitted with the most modern appliances. Up in the towers are apartments such as New York has never before seen with windows on all four sides and views of Central Park, the Hudson, and Westchester. Other specially designed apartments have slate terraces overlooking the park.
Six to sixteen rooms, simplex and duplex apartments H.R.H. Construction Company 11
Contemporary writers essentially concurred with this euphoric description, and were impressed by the height of the building, the twin-towered silhouette, good plans and luxurious detailing. The New Yorker magazine (a publication which in 1930 seems, at least to modern eyes, to all but ignore the 1929 Crash) featured two articles on the San Remo, one by "Penthouse" [Marcia Clarke Davenport]. Davenport is impressed by the views, the size of the terraces and rooms, and "the remarkable sun and light everywhere." Perhaps a hint of the Depression can be detected in her interest in costs--"This is not one of the houses you use to illustrate that rents are lower on the West Side." An eighteen-room duplex was offered at $21,000 per year.
The second New Yorker contributor, "T-Square" [George S. Chappell] considers the San Remo in more strictly architectural terms and as a design by Roth "whose name must be inextricably associated with the development of this section" of Manhattan.
...the Italian baroque [is] skillfully adapted to modern conditions. Cornices are reduced to a minimum, becoming simply bandcourses, but such detail as is used is classic in derivation. The twin towers with their circular colonnades of Corinthian columns, crowned by bronze lanterns,
are fine in silhouette____ The proportions are
well-studied and the warm light brick used above the limestone substructure give a delightful effect.
Chappell also praises the watertank coverings and the innovative window design with upper and lower movable transoms.
Despite its popular success, the San Remo fell prey to the pervasive economic mayhem of the 1930s. A full year after it had officially opened, nearly a third of its apartments remained vacant, and the Bank of the United States which held its $5 million mortgage had collapsed, its officers charged with recklessly "gambling" on the San Remo. In an
effort to attract tenants rents were reduced, and some of the larger apartments were subdivided. But after a succession of owners and bankruptcies, in 1940 the San Remo was sold along with the Beresford, which was experiencing similar financial woes, for a mere $25,000 over existing mortgages.
In its near sixty-year history, the San Remo has had numerous well-known and famous tenants, among them David Nemerov and his wife, owners of Russeks Stores, and parents of Howard Nemerov, poet and critic, and Diane Arbus, photographer, Eddie Cantor, the singer and comedian, and more recently, singer Barry Manilow, and actors Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Tony Randall and Mary Tyler Moore.
Architectural Sources and Style
The San Remo is a skyscraper which, in the conservative early twentieth-century tradition, applies an historical style to a contemporary form. Roth, who had a lifelong predilection for classicizing styles (although he used others), here turned to the Late Italian Renaissance for inspiration,,. Broken pediments, both curved and triangular, cartouches, and boldly scaled pilasters and columns with composite capitals, and overlapping architectural elements—all hallmarks of the Late Italian Renaissance—are the components of the San Remo's detailing. Ruttenbaum has noted similarities in the crowning temples of the San Remo with the ancient Greek choragic monument of Lysicrates, which Roth had studied in his youth at the Chicago exposition. Certainly, there are parallels, especially in the proportions, but perhaps equally important are such Late Renaissance structures as Bramante's celebrated Tempietto in Rome, or—in terms of placement as much as form—Michelangelo's lantern atop St. Peter's dome.
Much closer to home are such general prototypes as McKim, Mead & White's Municipal Building of 1909-13, a skyscraper topped by a temple and designed in a neo-classical style.
Truly tall skyscrapers, rather than the "skyscratchers" of Roth's terminology, up until the 1920s had been almost exclusively erected as commercial structures. Roth's first very tall apartment building, the 41-story Ritz Tower of 1926, had been erected as an apartment hotel, for which less stringent building code requirements applied than for apartment houses. The Ritz Tower was exactly what the name implied—one preliminary scheme even called for a lantern clearly derived from the tower of the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio. In residential terms, this was a new building type, one which reached a fuller expression in the San Remo.
In early 1929, a new Multiple Dwelling Act was passed, allowing apartment houses of large ground area greater height and the use of towers. The San Remo, the first of the vast twin-towered West Side apartments, was designed in response to these new stipulations. An innovative design, based on Roth's experience with single-towered structures, it was quickly emulated: yet the sheer size and height of the San Remo apparently struck others as fundamentally "modern." The Century Apartments and the Majestic Apartments are exercises in the contemporary Art Deco style. Even the Normandy, Roth's own last great building combines elements of the Style Moderne with neo-Italian Renaissance motifs. Yet, as the architectural critic, Paul Goldberger (himself a resident of the San Remo) has remarked, "Roth's greatest gift was his ability to adapt Renaissance and classical details to modern building forms." 21
Description
The San Remo Apartments occupy the Central Park West blockfront from 74th to 75th Streets. A residential skyscraper, the main block of the building is 17 stories in height, with terraced setbacks from the 14th to 17th stories. Two symmetrical towers, each ten stories in height surmounted by elaborate suprastructures culminating in circular temples with lanterns give the building its dramatic profile. The building is executed in light brick. The first three stories are in rusticated limestone, lightly vermiculated at the first two stories, with smooth lower relief at the third. The facade is 26 bays wide, with two main entryways. The southern elevation is 19 bays wide, and the northern is 16. {The southern elevation is 180 feet in length, the northern, 150.) Each has a single main entrance. (There are four office entrances on the Central Park West facade, two on the south elevation, and three on the north. The towers are five bays wide on the facade and side elevations.
The rear, western elevation...which owing to its height above the side street rowhouses, is largely visible is executed in the same light brick, and is ranged around a T-shaped courtyard. The towers have terraced rear extensions. A large chimney abuts the north tower.
The facade and side elevations are articulated above the three-story base by shallow brick pilasters and slight projections signalized as pavilions by the Renaissance detailing at the upper stories. The facade of the main block of the building has a basic vertical arrangement of bays as: 1-1-1-6-1-6-1-6-1-1-1. At the terrace levels the central six bays and outermost three bays function as true pavilions between the setbacks. The towers have massive, pier-like enframements at the corners. Cornices are effectively and sparingly used to accentuate the upper stories of the main block of the building, the upper stories of the towers, and the suprastructures.
Architectural detailing, executed in stone, terra cotta and metal, is Late Italian Renaissance in character, and highlights entrances and window configurations at the upper stories. Balustrades, pilasters, engaged columns, broken pediments, both circular and triangular, garlands, urns, cartouches, scrolls, consoles and roundels are employed. The detail is executed in limestone up to the fourth story and in terra cotta above. The terraces have either terra-cotta balustrades or metal railings. The lantern is of copper. (All such detailing is described below.)
Detailing
Fenestration:
The windows are uniformly treated on the designed elevations, with metal casements featuring movable transoms above and below the principal windows. The upper transom swings out, the lower transom (or hopper) swings in. The central large windows open outward in the conventional manner. The windows have six panes (2 over 2 over 2). This innovative design was intended to facilitate the regulation of temperature and air circulation. There are some variations in width which reflect interior spaces (living rooms, bedrooms etc.) but the basic configuration remains the same, except in the second-story windows above the Central Park West entrances, and at the uppermost stories of the facade central pavilion, which are tripartite with nine panes of glass (3 over 3 over 3). On the rear elevation the windows are more varied in their treatment, with single double, triple and double leaf casement windows, some of which do not have the lower transom. A few windows have been altered, most notably on the rear tower elevations.
Main Entrances:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically located at the 6-7th bays and 20-21st bays).
A broken triangular pediment surmounts the double doors , executed in bronze and glass with paneled, solid bronze transoms. The doors are each divided into three parts, with square panels ornamented by bronze medallions and bordering acanthus leaver set in a rectilinear bronze grillework. Metal and glass lanterns flank the doorway. A double-height limestone enframement surrounds the doorway and second-story tripartite window, and is composed of flanking pilasters with composite capitals , with reliefs depicting classical urns above, and supporting a dentiled curved, broken pediment. At the center of the pediment is a large scrolled cartouche draped by a garland which is looped over a rosette at each side. The doorways have sheltering canopies on bronze supports.
North [75 St.] and south [74th St.] elevations (one, located in the 13th bay, north side, and in the 11th bay, south side).
Both have deep reveals and limestone enframements with a surmounting console table on console-like supports with a central scrolled cartouche. The single bronze and glass doors follow the same design as those on the facade and have transoms with an octagonal panel with central medallion and acanthus leaves. Lanterns flank the doorways.
Office Entrances:
Facade [Central Park West] (four, symmetrically located at the 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th bays).
These have limestone enframements and surmounting entablatures with scrolled ornamental keystones. The single doors are of bronze with a glazed upper panel and transom.
North elevation [75th St.] (three, at the 4th, 8th, and 15th bays).
These are detailed like those on the facade.
South elevation [74th St.] (two, at the 6th and 14th bays).
Set within deep reveals and enframed by the rusticated walls, each has a bronze door with a glazed upper panel and transom.
Service Entrances:
North [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (two, located at the rear of each elevation).
A rusticated wall which follows the design of the building walls and extends to the second story contains an arched doorway with a large keystone and is surmounted by a paneled overdoor. A decorative metal gate with a panel reading "Service" fills the archway. At the south elevation, a metal railing atop a brick wall extends westward along the property line.
Third Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St. ] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
The windows have limestone relief enframements with side elements in the shape of a console in profile, and rosettes. .. . .
Fourth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically placed, 5-8th bays and 19-22nd bays).
A balustraded balcony set upon four large ornamented console brackets extends for four bays. The central two bays have a limestone enframement and are separated by a smooth limestone panel. Flanking pilasters support an entablature upon which a triangular broken pediment is superimposed. At the center is a scrolled escutcheon with a garland and ornamental tablet.
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
Each has an entablature with a superimposed triangular pediment, both dentil led, and a central ornamented keystone flanked by plain stones. Pilasters and enframements surround the windows which also have a balustrade executed in high relief.
Fourth Story Cartouche:
Facade [Central Park West] (one, between the 13th and 14th bays).
A large scrolled cartouche, placed at the center of the facade, it has the completion date of the building 19—30 placed to each side.
Eleventh-Twelfth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically located at the 5-8th and 19-22nd bays).
A balustrade on Four console brackets, which visually echoes the fourth-story treatment below, extends across four bays. A double-height, two-bay wide central section is recessed, with flanking brick pilasters, in which the capitals are seemingly "overlapped" by the outer wall surface. Two embossed rosettes appear in the panel which is enframed by bandcourses between the 11th and 12th stories. Two additional embossed rosettes appear in the outer bays. A scrolled cartouche with garlands draped over rosettes, similar to those of the facade main entrances, surmount the composition.
Thirteenth to Fifteenth Story Window Enframements:
Facade (Central Park West], north [75 th St. ] and south [74 th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
Placed similarly to the window enframement of the fourth story, these three-story compositions also serve to accentuate and anchor the Central Park West corners of the building. In each,, ornamented console brackets at the 13th story level support a balustered balcony one bay wide. At the 13th story and balcony level, are bandcourses which continue along the walls, articulating the designed elevations. The 14th-story windows are surmounted by curved broken pediments and ornamented at the center by escutcheons. Garlands and floral motifs appear below the pediments, upon the window frames. The 15th-story windows are surmounted by a scrolled escutcheon. Double height brick pilasters with rosettes flank the windows and support a broken triangular pediment. Cartouches appear at the center. The band courses of the pilasters and broken pediments also continue along the wall surfaces and here help to define the three-bay wide corner pavilions. These pavilions are further defined by flanking brick pilasters with rosettes.
Thirteenth to Seventeenth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (one, at the 12-13th bays).
This composition, which signalizes the central six-bay wide pavilion, reiterates many of the elements of the four corner compositions just described, although it is two bays wide, rather than one. Ornamented consoles at the 13th story support the 14th story balustered balcony. Instead of two windows there are single tripartite windows. The 14th and 15th story windows are detailed like those at the corners, but here the broken pediment enframing the carouche is curved rather than triangular. The composition continues to the 16th and 17th stories, which are also flanked by brick pilasters. The tripartite window at the 16th story is richly enframed with a central garlanded tablet, and a broken triangular pediment. At the 17th story is a central garlanded cartouche. The central pavilion has terminating brick pilasters with embossed rosettes like those of the corner pavilions.
Twenty-third Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, set in the central bays).
These window, set mid way on the designed elevations of the towers, function as medallions on the relatively unadorned tower shafts. The windows have elaborate enframements with ornamental keystones and curved, broken pediments.
Twenty-sixth - Twenty-seventh Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St. ] and south [74th St. ] elevations, (four, set in the 2-4th bays).
Set between bandcourses and balustrade and pediment level, which continue on the wall surfaces of the towers, are these three boldly scaled three-bay wide compositions. The central bay has a projecting balustrade and above, double-height engaged columns on brackets, with foliate capitals. These columns enframe the two windows and support a curved broken pediment. At the center of the pediment is a large cartouche. The side bays have balustrades and above, double-height pilasters on podia, with foliate capitals. These pilasters flank the two windows and support triangular broken pediments.
Suprastructure Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations and the two inner faces of the towers (six, set at the second story of the suprastructure and in the penthouses).
These double-height compositions each include a framed window with flanking brick pilasters with embossed rosettes at capital-level. Above the window is a broken triangular pediment and a central escutcheon. Six small penthouses with semi-circular roofs have their facades placed above the pediments. The windows of these are curved at top and bottom and elaborately enframed and have metal grilles. They are each flanked by console brackets which support the curved pediment of the penthouse.
Temples:
North and south towers, (two, located at the top of the building).
Above the suprastructure each tower is surmounted by a circular temple of brick and terra cotta, set upon a base articulated by boldly scaled console brackets on eight buttressing pedestals. Large urns, draped with garlands, crown each pedestal and the intervening walls are ornamented with scrolled cartouches beneath balustrades. The temples, set on simple brick podia, are encircled by colonnades of smooth columns with foliate capitals. These support plain dentil led friezes beneath balustrades. Above on each tower is a circular base with copestones, which supports the crowing element — a fenestrated and electrified copper lantern, above elongated foliate scrolled consoles. (The temples and lanterns have recently been restored.)
- From the 1987 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a region in western Iceland known for its dramatic landscapes. At its western tip, Snæfellsjökull National Park is dominated by Snæfellsjökull Volcano, which is topped by a glacier. Nearby, a trail leads through lava fields to black-pebble Djúpalónssandur Beach. In Stykkishólmur fishing village, the 19th-century wood-frame Norwegian House is a regional museum with a craft shop.
View from Gantry Plaza State Park
East 42nd Street, Midtown Manhattan
The Chrysler Building, a stunning statement in the Art Deco style by architect William Van Alen, embodies the romantic essence of the New York City skyscraper. Built in 1928-30 for Walter P. Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation, it was "dedicated to world commerce and industry."- The tallest building in the world when completed in 1930, it stood proudly on the New York skyline as a personal symbol of Walter Chrysler and the strength of his corporation.
History of Construction
The Chrysler Building had its beginnings in an office building project for William H. Reynolds, a real-estate developer and promoter and former New York State senator. Reynolds had acquired a long-term lease in 1921 on a parcel of property at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street owned by the Cooper Union tor the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1927 architect William Van Alen was hired to design an office tower to be called the Reynolds Building for the site. Publicized as embodying new principles in skyscraper design,*' the projected building was to be 67 stories high rising 808 feet, and it was "to be surmounted by a glass dome, which when lighted from within, will give the effect of a great jewelled sphere."-' In October, 1928, however, the office building project and the lease on the site were taken over by Walter P. Chrysler, head of the Chrysler Corporation, who was seeking to expand his interests into the real estate field.
Walter Percy Chrysler (1875-1940), one of America's foremost automobile manufacturers, was a self-made man who worked his way up through the mechanical an; manufacturing aspects of the railroad business before joining the Buick Motor Company as works manager in 1912. Because of his success in introducing new processes and efficiencies into the automobile plant, he rose quickly through the administrative ranks of General Motors (which had absorbed Buick) before personality conflicts with William C. Durant, head of General Motors, forced Chrysler to leave. In 1921 he reorganized Willys-Overland Company, and then took over as chairman of the reorganization and management committee of the Maxwell Motor Company, eventually assuming the presidency. This enabled Chrysler to introduce in 1924 the car bearing his name which presented such innovations as four-wheel hydraulic brakes and high compression motor.
Over 50 million dollars worth of cars were sold the first year, and in 1925, the Maxwell Motor Company became the Chrysler Corporation, Dodge Brothers was acquired in 1928 giving the Chrysler Corporation additional manufacturing facilities, a famous line of cars, and putting it in a position to challenge the leadership of Ford and General Motor By 1935, when Chrysler retired from the presidency of the Chrysler Corporation to become chairman of the board, the company was second in the automobile industry ir. volume of production.
It was while Chrysler was aggressively expanding his corporation in 1928 that he took over the office building project from Reynolds. In his autobiography, Chrysler said that he had the building constructed so that his sons would have something to be responsible for. He could not have been unaware, however, that the building would become a personal symbol and further the image of the Chrysler Corporation — even though no corporate funds were used in its financing or construction. To that end Chrysler worked with architect William Van Alen to make the building a powerful and striking design.
William Van Alen (1882-1954) studied at Pratt Institute before beginning his architectural career in the office or Clarence True, a speculative builder. Severs! years later while continuing his studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute 01 Design in the atelier of Donn Barber, Van Alen entered the office of Clinton * Russell as a designer. In 1908 he won the Paris Prize of the Beaux-Arts Institute and entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Atelier lLaloux. According to architect Francis S. Swales, "
His work at the Ecole indicated that the training was providing him with the mental freedom necessary to think independently, instead of merely the usual school -cargo of elements of architecture and a technique or competition by rules."0 Returning to New York in 1912 he introduced the concept of "garden11 apartments and also designed the Albemarle Building, a skyscraper without cornices. In the 1920s he became known for his innovative shop-front designs and for a series of restaurants for the Child's chain. With the Chrysler Building, Van Alen was able to apply modern principles of design to the skyscraper but at the same time created such a striking image that critic Kenneth Murchison dubbed him "the Ziegfield of his profession.
'In the 1930s he pioneered in prefabricated housing designs although they were never widely produced. Van Alen served for four years in the 1940s as director of sculpture for the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and he was a member of the American Institute of Architects and the National Academy of Design.
Work began on the Chrysler Building on October 15, 1928, when Chrysler acquire the lease, with clearance of the site. Construction proceeded rapidly; foundations to a depth of 69 feet were completed early in 1929, and the steel framework was completed by the end of September of that year.
The design of the building, however, was altered from that for Reynolds. Chrysler, in his autobiography, credits himself for suggesting that it be taller than the 1000-foot Eiffel Tower. The design of the crowning dome was also changed, and the addition of a spire, which the architect called a "vertex," made the Chrysler at 1046 feet the tallest building in the world at the time. Kenneth Murchison fancifully depicts Chrysler urging Van Alen to win the race to construct the world's tallest building.
Van Alen himself had personal reasons for achieving this goal, as a former partner, ii. Craig Severance, was constructing the Bank of Manhattan, 40 Wall Street, at the same time with the aim of making it the world's tallest skyscraper. Thinking that the Chrysler Building would be only 925 feet high, Severance added a 50-foot flagpole to his building making it 927 feet. Meanwhile, Van Alen designed the 185-foot spire which would make the Chrysler Building the tallest. The spire was fabricated, then delivered to the building in five sections, and assembled secret at the 65th floor.
In November, 1929, it was finally raised into position by a 20-ton derrick through a fire tower in the center of the building, then riveted i place, the whole operation taking about 90 minutes. This engineering feat capture the popular imagination as well as that of professionals, and it helped to further the progressive image of the Chrysler Building. However, the Chrysler lost its height distinction two years later with the construction of the Empire State Building.
The first tenants moved into the Chrysler Building in April, 1930, even though construction was not completed. Formal opening ceremonies were held on May 27, 1930 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the 42nd Street Property Owners and Merchants Association. A bronze tablet was placed in the lobby of the building "in recongnition of Mr. Chrysler's contribution to civic advancement." The building was considered finished in August, 1930, but curiously, the completion date recorded in the records of the Manhattan Building Department is February 19, 1932.
The Chrysler Building and Art Deco
Waiter P. Chrysler wanted a progressive image and a personal symbol. Van Alen strove* to create such an image using the tenets of modernism as he interpreted them. In so doing he designed a building which has come to be regarded as one of the outstanding examples of Art Deco architecture.
The term. Art Deco, which is also referred to by several different names such as the Style Moderne and Modernistic, is adopted from the Exposition International: des Arts Decoratifs et Industrie]s Modernes--an important European influence or. the American Art Deco sty!e--held in Paris in 1925.
In the period following the first World War, architects in Europe and the united States had begun to simplify traditional design forms and to use -industrial materials in innovative ways in order to characterize the modern age.
The Art Deco style seemed to lend itself particularly well to skyscraper design because the skyscraper, more than any other building type, epitomized progress, innovation, and a new modern age. Although the Art Deco style was short-lived, it coincided with a great building boom at the end of the 1920s in New York. The many-skyscrapers which were erected in the Art Deco style gave New York and its skyline a characteristic and romantic image, popularized in theater and films, which persisted until the next great building boom of the early 1960s. In the Chrysler Building, Van Alen used a variety of materials, techniques, and design forms which are characteristic of Art Deco.
The Chrysler Building rises 77 stories in a series of setbacks which accord with the regulations of the 1916 New York zoning prdinance. As a freestanding tower occupying about half a block, the building is visible from four sides. Like many Art Deco architects. Van Alen believed strongly in designing steel structures so that they would not be imitative of masonry construction.'- Also unlike many earlier skyscrapers, the design of the Chrysler did not follow the formula of a column with ornamental base, bare shaft, and ornamental capital; rather the design was to be of interest throughout the entire height.13 Both the great height of the building and the mandated setbacks aided Van Alen in making this design decision,
The first four stories of the building cover the entire site arid are faced with polished black Shastone granite at the first story and white Georgian marble above. The most striking features of this portion of the building are the two entrances, on Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Each entrance rises for h height of three stories in proscenium fashion and is enframed by Shastone granite. Set back within the deep reveals of the entrances are sets of revolving doors beneath intricately patterned metal and glass screens.
The treatment is such as to heighten the dramatic effect of entering the building --a concern of Art Deco design There is a one-story entrance on 43rd Street. Also at first story level are iarge show windows for shops, framed in metal. Windows for offices may be seen at the second, third, and fourth stories. Ornamental spandrels are set at the bases of the second story windows. The exposed metal frames of the entries and windows art of "Nirosta" steel, a kind of rust-resistant, chromium nickel steel, manufactured for the first time in the United States specifically for the Chrysler Building according to a German formula from Krupp. This use of a new. material is in keeping with Art Deco principles.
Above the fourth story, the building is penetrated on the east and west sides by light courts extending to the face of the tower, while on the north and south the structure gradually rises in a series of setbacks. The facing of the walls through the first setback at the sixteenth story is of white brick with contrast! white marble strips creating a basketweave pattern. The use of a variety of colo and textures is characteristic of Art Deco. Windows are set in a regular grid pattern. An. unusual feature of all windows in the building is that they have no reveals; frames are set flush with the walls. This was seen is another means of indicating modernity and progress.
In the next setback, ending at the twenty-fourth floor, there is a vertical emphasis with piers of white brick alternating with vertical window strips. Aluminum spandrels between the windows aid this effect. Spandrels at the twentieth twenty-first, and twenty-second floors are adorned with polished abstract relief ornament. At the corners of the twenty-fourth floor are placed conventionalized pineapples, about nine feet high, of "Nirosta" steel, which had been fabricated < the site.
The next three stories, through the twenty-seventh, form the third setback. Horizontal banding and zigzag motifs in gray and black brick contrast with the verticality of the setback below. The fourth setback, to the thirty-first story marks the emergence of the tower shaft from the lower masses. At the thirty-first floor the corners of the building are extended outward and crowned by huge ornamental Chrysler radiator caps in "Nirosta" steel, spanning about 15 feet.
The- extension was necessary to overcome the optical effect that would otherwise make the tower appear wider at the top than at the base. Also at this floor is a frieze ir. gra; and white brick of stylized racing automobiles with polished steel hub caps. Th ornamental features are overt symbols of the Chrysler Corporation and characteristic of the types of effects created by Art Deco architects.
The building had a number of innovative and desirable features. THe soundproofed office partitions were of steel made in interchangeable sections so that arranges! of any office suite could be changed quickly and conveniently. Under-floor duct systems carried wiring for telephone and electric outlets.
The elevators, specifically at Chrysler's instruction, were capable of speeds of 1000 feet per minute although city codes in effect in 1930 only allowed 700 feet per minute. The building also had three of the longest continuous elevator shafts in the world To enhance public access to the building, an underground arcade led to the IRT subway system. The connection was strongly opposed by the IRT, but Chrysler prevailed and the passageway was built at his expense. In the dome was the private-Cloud Club, which still exists, and, in the very topmost floor, a public observation deck.
On display was Walter P. Chrysler's box of handmade tools, the emblem of his enterprise and personal success. The observatory has been closed for many years.
Conclusion
Critics such as Lewis Mumford who favored the International Style denigrated the Chrysler Building for its "inane romanticism,... meaningless voluptuousness, ... /and/ void symbolism," " but it was these qualities which captured the popular imagination and helped make it one of the most famous buildings in New York. We can appreciate the comments of the editor of Architectural Porum who wrote:
It stands by itself, something apart and alone. It is simply the realization, the fulfillment in metal and masonry, of a one-man dream, a dream of such ambition and such magnitude as to defy the comprehension and the criticism of ordinary men or by ordinary standards.
The Chrysler Building still stands proudly in the New York skyline, its gleaming spire and soaring tower capturing the eye and imagination of the viewer. While it may no longer symbolize the Chrysler Corporation, it still embodies the romantic essence of the Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, with its dramatic effects, elegant materials, and vivid ornamental details. Built as a monument to progress in commerce and industry, it remains as one of New York's finest office buildings and great examples of the Art Deco style.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The ground floor interior of the Chrysler Building which the Commission designates an Interior Landmark, has been called one of the great Art Deco spaces in New York City. Built in 1928-30 according to the designs of architect William Van Alen, it provides an elegant and dramatic entrance to one of New York's great skyscrapers which had been dedicated by Walter P. Chrysler to "world commerce and industry." A variety of design features create this effect and enhance its progressive image.
HISTORY OF CONSTRUCTION
The Chrysler Building had its beginnings in an office building project for William H. Reynolds, a real-estate developer and promoter and former New York State senator. Reynolds had acquired a long-term lease in 1921 on a parcel of property at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street owned by the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1927 architect William Van Alen was hired to design an . office tower to be called the Reynolds Building for the site. Publicized as embodying new principles in skyscraper design, the projected building was to be 67 stories high rising 808 feet, and it was "to be surmounted by a glass dome, which when lighted from within, will give the effect of a great jewelled sphere."
In October, 1928, however, the office building project and the lease on the site were taken over by Walter P. Chrysler, head of the Chrysler Corporation, who was seeking to expand his interests into the real estate field.
Walter Percy Chrysler , one of America's foremost automobile manufacturers, was a self-made man who worked his way up through the mechanical and manufacturing aspects of the railroad business before joining the Buick Motor Company as works manager in 1912. Because of his success in introducing new processes and efficiencies into the automobile plant, he rose quickly through the administrative ranks of General Motors before personality conflicts with William C. Durant, head of General Motors, forced Chrysler to leave.
In 1921 he reorganized Willys-Overland Company, and then took over as chairman of the reorganization and management committee of the Maxwell Motor Company, eventually assuming the presidency. This enabled Chrysler to introduce in 1924 the car bearing his name which presented such innovations as four-wheel hydraulic breaks and a high compression motor.
Over 50 million dollars worth of cars were sold the first year, and in 1925, the Maxwell Motor Company became the Chrysler Corporation. Dodge Brothers was acquired in 1928 giving the Chrysler Corporation additional manufacturing facilities, a famous line of cars, and putting it in a position to challenge the leadership of Ford and General Motors.
By 1935, when Chrysler retired from the presidency of the Chrysler Corporation to become chairman of the board, the company was second in the automobile industry in volume of production.
It was while Chrysler was aggressively expanding his corporation in 1928 that he took over the office building project from Reynolds. In his autobiography, Chrysler said that he had the building constructed so that his sons would have something to be responsible for. 6 He could not have been unav^ure, however, that the building would become a personal symbol and further the image of the Chrysler Corporation— even though no corporate funds were used in its financing or construction, lb that end Chrysler worked with architect William Van Alen to make the building, including the ground floor interior, a powerful and striking design.
Work began on the Chrysler Building on October 15, 1928, when Chrysler acquired the lease with clearance of the site. Construction proceeded rapidly; foundations to a depth of 69 feet were completed early in 1929, and the steel framework was completed by the end of September of that year. The design of the building, however, was altered from that for Reynolds. Chrysler, in his autobiography, credits himself for suggesting that it be taller than the 1000-foot Eiffel Tower.
The design of the crowning dome was also changed, and the addition of a spire, which the architect called a "vertex," made the Chrysler at 1046 feet the tallest building in the world at the time. Kenneth Murchison fancifully depicts Chrysler urging Van Alen to win the race to construct the world's tallest building.
Van Alen himself had personal reasons for achieving this goal, as a former partner, H. Craig Severance, was constructing the Bank of Manhattan, 40 Wall Street, at the same time with the aim of making it the world's tallest skyscraper. Thinking that the Chrysler Building would be only 925 feet high, Severance added a 50-foot flagpole to his building making it 927 feet.
Meanwhile, Van Alen designed the 185-foot spire which would make the Chrysler Building the tallest. The spire was fabricated, then delivered to the building in five sections, and assembled secretly at the 65th floor. In November, 1929, it was finally raised into position by a 20-ton derrick through a fire tower in the center of the building, then riveted into place, the whole operation taking about 90 minutes. This engineering feat captured the popular imagination as well as that of professionals, and it helped to further the progressive image of the Chrysler Building. However, the Chrysler lost its height distinction two years later with the construction of the Empire State Building.
The first tenants moved into the Chrysler Building in April, 1930, even though construction was not completed. Formal opening ceremonies were held on May 27, 1930, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the 42nd Street Property Owners and Merchants Association. A bronze tablet was placed in the lobby of the building "in recognition of Mr. Chrysler's contribution to civic advancement." H It may still be seen in the 42nd Street entrance lobby. The building was considered finished in August, 1930, but curiously, the completion date in the records of the Manhattan Buildings Department is February 19, 1932.
The Chrysler Building and Art Deco
Walter P. Chrysler wanted a progressive image and a personal symbol. Van Alen strove to create such an image using the tenets of modernism as he interpreted them. In so doing he designed a building which has come to be regarded as one of the outstanding examples of Art Deco architecture. The ground floor interior is one of the great Art Deco spaces in the country.
The term Art Deco, which is also referred to by several different names such as the Style Moderne and Modernistic, is adopted from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Deooratifs et Industriels Modemes— an important European influence on the American Art Deco style— held in Paris in 1925.
In the period fallowing the first World War, architects in Europe and the United States had begun to simplify traditional design forms and to use new industrial materials in innovative ways in order to characterize the modem age. The Art Deco style seemed to lend itself particularly well to skyscraper design because the skyscraper, more than any other building type, epitomized progress, innovation, and a new modem age. Although the Art Deco style was short-lived, it coincided with a great building boon at the end of the 1920s in New York. The many skyscrapers which were erected in the Art Deco style gave New York and its skyline a characteristic and romantic image, popularized in theater and films, which persisted until the next great building boom of the early 1960s. The Art Deco ground floor interiors of these skyscrapers were equally effective, giving an air of drama to the act of entering a building.
In the Chrysler Building and its ground floor interior, Van Alen used a variety of materials, techniques, and design forms which are characteristic of Art Deco.
Three entrances provide access to the ground floor interior of the building—one each from 42nd and 43rd Streets and Lexington Avenue. The three entrance lobbies lead into the triangular main concourse with two massive octagonal piers. The shape of the concourse and the placement of the piers help to channel traffic efficiently to the four elevator halls. In his autobiography, Walter P. Chrysler claimed that he asked the architect to redesign the lobby so that "when people come into a big building they...sense a change, get a mental lift that will put them in a frame of mind to transact their business.'^* The triangular concourse was the result.
Rich materials, a characteristic feature of the Art Deco style, enhance the spatial effects and enrich the experience of entry. The walls of the entrance lobbies and main concourse as well as the octagonal piers are faced with a type of red Moroccan marble known as Rouge Flarrme.
The marble is distinguished by variegated markings in tones of buff. Complementing the marble on the walls is the yellow Sienna travertine floor set in diagonal patterns—another subtle directional device to guide the user of the building. Shop windows opening onto the entrance lobbies and main concourse as well as directory boards are elegantly framed in "Nirosta" steel, a kind of rust-resistant, chromium nickel steel, manufactured for the first time in the United States specifically for the Chrysler Building according to a German formula from Krupp.
Handsome crenellations of "Nirosta" steel—in characteristic Art Deco forms—surmount these enframements. The entrance doors, as well as the service doors, are also of "Nirosta" steel. Set between the service doors opposite the Lexington Avenue entrance is an information booth of red marble with "Nirosta" steel back rising from it.
One of the most striking and dramatic features of this interior is the lighting system. Vertically-placed panels of polished Mexican onyx are placed in a stepped pattern above the elevator halls and the three street entrances. Vertical reflector troughs of "Nirosta" steel set with lamps are placed in front of the onyx panels. As the light is reflected off these panels it is given an amber glow.
Set in front of the lights marking the entrances are vertically-placed letters forming the names of the streets outside. The octagonal piers in the main concourse also provide a light source. V-shaped recesses lined with onyx contain the same type of vertical reflector troughs and lamps as those over the entrances and elevator halls.
On the ceiling scanning the main concourse and the Lexington Avenue entrance lobby is a large mural by artist Edward Trumbull. The use of such murals was a favorite device of Art Deco designers. In addition to heightening the dramatic effect and enriching the experience of interior spaces, they also were a means of achieving the Art Deco ideal of the unity of design.
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Edward Trumbull was one of the foremost American moralists of his generation. As a student at the Art Student's League in New York he studied with Robert Raid; in London from 1906 to 1912, he was a student of Frank Brangwyn. Returning to the United States, he was commissioned to do nine panels for the Heinz Administration Building in Pittsburgh.
Among the important ccnmissions of his career, in addition to the Chrysler Building, were murals for: the Pennsylvania State Building at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, the Graybar Building, the Oyster Bar and Restaurant at Grand Central Station, the waiting rooms in Union Station in Washington, D.C., the dining rocms in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building, the cafeteria of the Kress Store at 444 Fifth Avenue, and a branch office of the Union Dime Savings Bank at Madison Avenue and 39th Street.
For Inland Steel, he painted "The Story of Steel" which was presented to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. In 1932 Trumbull was appointed Color Director for the art program of Rockefeller Center to supervise more than 40 murals and 50 sculptural pieces.
The mural in the Chrysler Building depicts "the vision, human energy and engineering ability which made possible the structure." The composition is divided into several parts, each with its own theme. A triangular panel placed over the information booth displays a large muscular Atlas figure. Radiating out from this are three bands which follow the triangular form of the main concourse. The first, showing a series of abstract patterns and lines, was supposed to symbolize primitive, natural forces.
The second, depicting construction workers and techniques, has a specific analogy to the construction of the Chrysler Building. The third shews the development of modem transportation with an emphasis on airplanes. Extending outward over the Lexington Avenue entrance lobby is a large panel with a rendering of the b building as seen from the exterior. The warm tones of the mural harmonize well with the rich colors of the marble and onyx below.
The four elevator halls are lined with the same red marble as the entrance halls and main concourse. The doors of the twenty-eight passenger elevators are a strikingly handsome Art Deco design, displaying an abstract lotus pattern executed in metal and inlaid wood veneers. The elevator cabs are of four design types.
All are abstract patterns, again executed in a variety of inlaid wood veneers. The woods include Japanese ash, English gray hardwood, Oriental walnut, dye ebonized wood, stainwood, Cuban plum pudding, myrtle burl, and curly maple. Ceiling fans in the elevator cabs are of metal, also executed in striking abstract designs. The use of such rich materials to create a luxurious and dramatic effect is characteristic of Art Deco.
The curved staircases at the north and south ends of the main concourse lead to the mezzanine at the second floor and to the basement. The use of highly polished black marble on the curved walls heightens the dramatic effect of these staircases. The railings, which follow the curve of the stairs, are of "Nirosta" steel, and the inner railings have zigzag motifs characteristic of Art Deco design set between the balusters.
At ground floor level, the railings terminate in massive red marble newel posts. The steps are of gray and black terrazzo. Handsome molded glass light fixtures hang from the ceilings above the staircases. These ceilings are finished with aluminum, leaf.
All features of the ground floor interior combine together to create one of the great Art Deco spaces in the city and country. The elements of the design and the rich materials are not only characteristic of the Art Deco style but are also same of the finest examples of their type. All appropriately enhance the progressive image of One of New York's finest office buildings.
The Chrysler Building and the Image of Progress
When completed the Chrysler Building was praised as "an expression of the:intense activity and vibrant life of our day" and as "teeming] with the spirit of modernism,...the epitome of modem business life,.. .standjing] for progress in architecture and in modem building methods." Walter P. Chrysler had sought to create the most desirable office building of the day:
The Chrysler Building is dedicated to world commerce and industry. It was created with a desire to meet the demand of business executives of today who, with their intense activities, must have the most favorable office surroundings and conditions.
The need for abundant light and air resulted in a building of fine proportions and great height. The importance of accessibility and transit facilities dictated the location. The desire for the utmost in conveniences determined the inclusion of unusual facilities of every necessity contributing to the contentment and satisfaction of the business man in his office home.
As an environment in which work may be accomplished efficiently and in comfort, it is believed the finished structure establishes a new ideal—one which will stand as a measure of comparison for office buildings of the future.
The Chrysler Building is therefore dedicated as a sound contribution to business progress.
The building had a number of innovative and desirable features. The soundproofed office partitions were of steel made in interchangeable sections so that the arrangement of any office suite could be changed quickly and conveniently. Under-floor duct systems carried wiring for telephone and electric outlets.
The elevators were not only beautiful in design but also,, specifically at Chrysler's instruction, capable of speeds of 1000 feet per minute although city codes in effect in 1930 only allowed 700 feet per minute. The building also had three of the longest continuous elevator shafts in the world. To enhance public access to the building, an underground arcade led to the IRT subway system. The connection was strongly opposed by the IRT, but Chrysler prevailed and the passageway was built at his expense.
In the dome was the private Cloud Club, which still exists, and, in the very topmost floor, a public observatory. On display was Walter P. Chrysler's box of handmade tools, the emblem of his enterprise and personal success. The observatory has been closed for many years.
Conclusion
Critics such as Lewis Mumford who favored the International Style denigrated the Chrysler Building for its "inane romanticism, .. .meaningless voluptuousness,.. ./and] void symbolism^ " but it was these qualities which captured the popular imagination and helped make it one of the most famous buildings in New York. We can appreciate the comments of the editor of Architectural Forum who wrote:
It stands by itself, something apart and alone. It is simply the realization, the fulfillment in metal and masonry, of a one-man dream, a dream of such ambition and such magnitude as to defy the comprehension and the criticism of ordinary men or by ordinary standards.
The Chrysler Building with its ground floor interior remains one of New York's finest office buildings—the elements of its design capturing the eye and imagination of the viewer.
The total design of the ground floor interior helped toe carry out Walter P. Chrysler's aim of dedicating the building to world commerce and industry. With its dramatic effects, elegant materials, and striking ornamental details, the ground floor interior of the Chrysler Building is an outstanding example of the Art Deco style— among the finest in the city and the country.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Sulawesi, formerly known as Celebes (/ˈsɛlɪbiːz, sɪˈliːbiːz/), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. Within Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger populations.
The landmass of Sulawesi includes four peninsulas: the northern Minahasa Peninsula; the East Peninsula; the South Peninsula; and the Southeast Peninsula. Three gulfs separate these peninsulas: the Gulf of Tomini between the northern Minahasa and East peninsulas; the Tolo Gulf between the East and Southeast peninsulas; and the Bone Gulf between the South and Southeast peninsulas. The Strait of Makassar runs along the western side of the island and separates the island from Borneo.
ETYMOLOGY
The name Sulawesi possibly comes from the words sula ("island") and besi ("iron") and may refer to the historical export of iron from the rich Lake Matano iron deposits. The name came into common use in English following Indonesian independence.
The name Celebes was originally given to the island by Portuguese explorers. While its direct translation is unclear, it may be considered a Portuguese rendering of the native name "Sulawesi".
GEOGRAPHY
Sulawesi is the world's eleventh-largest island, covering an area of 174,600 km2. The central part of the island is ruggedly mountainous, such that the island's peninsulas have traditionally been remote from each other, with better connections by sea than by road. The three bays that divide Sulawesi's peninsulas are, from north to south, the Tomini, the Tolo and the Boni. These separate the Minahassa or Northern Peninsula, the East Peninsula, the Southeast Peninsula and the South Peninsula.
The Strait of Makassar runs along the western side of the island. The island is surrounded by Borneo to the west, by the Philippines to the north, by Maluku to the east, and by Flores and Timor to the south.
MINOR ISLANDS
The Selayar Islands make up a peninsula stretching southwards from Southwest Sulawesi into the Flores Sea are administratively part of Sulawesi. The Sangihe Islands and Talaud Islands stretch northward from the northeastern tip of Sulawesi, while Buton Island and its neighbours lie off its southeast peninsula, the Togian Islands are in the Gulf of Tomini, and Peleng Island and Banggai Islands form a cluster between Sulawesi and Maluku. All the above-mentioned islands, and many smaller ones are administratively part of Sulawesi's six provinces.
GEOLOGY
The island slopes up from the shores of the deep seas surrounding the island to a high, mostly non-volcanic, mountainous interior. Active volcanoes are found in the northern Minahassa Peninsula, stretching north to the Sangihe Islands. The northern peninsula contains several active volcanoes such as Mount Lokon, Mount Awu, Soputan and Karangetang.
According to plate reconstructions, the island is believed to have been formed by the collision of terranes from the Asian Plate (forming the west and southwest) and from the Australian Plate (forming the southeast and Banggai), with island arcs previously in the Pacific (forming the north and east peninsulas).[8] Because of its several tectonic origins, various faults scar the land and as a result the island is prone to earthquakes.
Sulawesi, in contrast to most of the other islands in the biogeographical region of Wallacea, is not truly oceanic, but a composite island at the centre of the Asia-Australia collision zone. Parts of the island were formerly attached to either the Asian or Australian continental margin and became separated from these areas by vicariant processes. In the west, the opening of the Makassar Strait separated West Sulawesi from Sundaland in the Eocene c. 45 Mya. In the east, the traditional view of collisions of multiple micro-continental fragments sliced from New Guinea with an active volcanic margin in West Sulawesi at different times since the Early Miocene c. 20 Mya has recently been replaced by the hypothesis that extensional fragmentation has followed a single Miocene collision of West Sulawesi with the Sula Spur, the western end of an ancient folded belt of Variscan origin in the Late Paleozoic.
PREHISTORY
Before October 2014, the settlement of South Sulawesi by modern humans had been dated to c. 30,000 BC on the basis of radiocarbon dates obtained from rock shelters in Maros. No earlier evidence of human occupation had at that point been found, but the island almost certainly formed part of the land bridge used for the settlement of Australia and New Guinea by at least 40,000 BCE. There is no evidence of Homo erectus having reached Sulawesi; crude stone tools first discovered in 1947 on the right bank of the Walennae River at Berru, Indonesia, which were thought to date to the Pleistocene on the basis of their association with vertebrate fossils, are now thought to date to perhaps 50,000 BC.
Following Peter Bellwood's model of a southward migration of Austronesian-speaking farmers (AN), radiocarbon dates from caves in Maros suggest a date in the mid-second millennium BC for the arrival of a group from east Borneo speaking a Proto-South Sulawesi language (PSS). Initial settlement was probably around the mouth of the Sa'dan river, on the northwest coast of the peninsula, although the south coast has also been suggested.
Subsequent migrations across the mountainous landscape resulted in the geographical isolation of PSS speakers and the evolution of their languages into the eight families of the South Sulawesi language group. If each group can be said to have a homeland, that of the Bugis – today the most numerous group – was around lakes Témpé and Sidénréng in the Walennaé depression. Here for some 2,000 years lived the linguistic group that would become the modern Bugis; the archaic name of this group (which is preserved in other local languages) was Ugiq. Despite the fact that today they are closely linked with the Makasar, the closest linguistic neighbours of the Bugis are the Toraja.
Pre-1200 Bugis society was most likely organised into chiefdoms. Some anthropologists have speculated these chiefdoms would have warred and, in times of peace, exchanged women with each other. Further, they have speculated that personal security would have been negligible and head-hunting an established cultural practice. The political economy would have been a mixture of hunting and gathering and swidden or shifting agriculture. Speculative planting of wet rice may have taken place along the margins of the lakes and rivers. In Central Sulawesi, there are over 400 granite megaliths, which various archaeological studies have dated to be from 3000 BC to AD 1300. They vary in size from a few centimetres to around 4.5 metres. The original purpose of the megaliths is unknown. About 30 of the megaliths represent human forms. Other megaliths are in form of large pots (Kalamba) and stone plates (Tutu'na).In October 2014 it was announced that cave paintings in Maros had been dated as being about 40,000 years old. Dr Maxime Aubert, of Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, said that the minimum age for the outline of a hand was 39,900 years old, which made it "the oldest hand stencil in the world" and added, "Next to it is a pig that has a minimum age of 35,400 years old, and this is one of the oldest figurative depictions in the world, if not the oldest one."
HISTORY
Starting in the 13th century, access to prestige trade goods and to sources of iron started to alter long-standing cultural patterns and to permit ambitious individuals to build larger political units. It is not known why these two ingredients appeared together; one was perhaps the product of the other.
In 1367, several identified polities, located on the island, were mentioned in the Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama dated from the Majapahit period. Canto 14 mentioned polities including Gowa, Makassar, Luwu and Banggai. It seems that by the 14th century, polities in the island were connected in an archipelagic maritime trading network, centered in the Majapahit port in East Java. By 1400, a number of nascent agricultural principalities had arisen in the western Cenrana valley, as well as on the south coast and on the west coast near modern Parepare.
The first Europeans to visit the island (which they believed to be an archipelago due to its contorted shape) were the Portuguese sailors Simão de Abreu, in 1523, and Gomes de Sequeira (among others) in 1525, sent from the Moluccas in search of gold, which the islands had the reputation of producing. A Portuguese base was installed in Makassar in the first decades of the 16th century, lasting until 1665, when it was taken by the Dutch. The Dutch had arrived in Sulawesi in 1605 and were quickly followed by the English, who established a factory in Makassar. From 1660, the Dutch were at war with Gowa, the major Makassar west coast power. In 1669, Admiral Speelman forced the ruler, Sultan Hasanuddin, to sign the Treaty of Bongaya, which handed control of trade to the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch were aided in their conquest by the Bugis warlord Arung Palakka, ruler of the Bugis kingdom of Bone. The Dutch built a fort at Ujung Pandang, while Arung Palakka became the regional overlord and Bone the dominant kingdom. Political and cultural development seems to have slowed as a result of the status quo. In 1905 the entire island became part of the Dutch state colony of the Netherlands East Indies until Japanese occupation in the Second World War. During the Indonesian National Revolution, the Dutch Captain 'Turk' Westerling led campaigns in which hundreds, maybe thousands died during the South Sulawesi Campaign. Following the transfer of sovereignty in December 1949, Sulawesi became part of the federal United States of Indonesia, which in 1950 became absorbed into the unitary Republic of Indonesia.
CENTRAL SULAWESI
The Portuguese were rumoured to have a fort in Parigi in 1555. The Kaili were an important group based in the Palu valley and related to the Toraja. Scholars relate that their control swayed under Ternate and Makassar, but this might have been a decision by the Dutch to give their vassals a chance to govern a difficult group. Padbruge commented that in the 1700s Kaili numbers were significant and a highly militant society. In the 1850s a war erupted between the Kaili groups, including the Banawa, in which the Dutch decided to intervene. A complex conflict also involving the Sulu Island pirates and probably Wyndham (a British merchant who commented on being involved in arms dealing to the area in this period and causing a row).
In the late 19th century the Sarasins journeyed through the Palu valley as part of a major initiative to bring the Kaili under Dutch rule. Some very surprising and interesting photographs were taken of shamans called Tadulako. Further Christian religious missions entered the area to make one of the most detailed ethnographic studies in the early 20th century. A Swede by the name of Walter Kaudern later studied much of the literature and produced a synthesis. Erskine Downs in the 1950s produced a summary of Kruyts and Andrianis work: "The religion of the Bare'e-Speaking Toradja of Central Celebes," which is invaluable for English-speaking researchers. One of the most recent publications is "When the bones are left," a study of the material culture of central Sulawesi, offering extensive analysis. Also worthy of study are the brilliant works of Monnig Atkinson on the Wana shamans who live in the Mori area.
POPULATION
The 2000 census population of the provinces of Sulawesi was 14,946,488, about 7.25% of Indonesia's total population. By the 2010 Census the total had reached 17,371,782, and the latest official estimate (for January 2014) is 18,455,058. The largest city is Makassar.
RELIGION
Islam is the majority religion in Sulawesi. The conversion of the lowlands of the south western peninsula (South Sulawesi) to Islam occurred in the early 17th century. The kingdom of Luwu in the Gulf of Bone was the first to accept Islam in February 1605; the Makassar kingdom of Goa-Talloq, centred on the modern-day city of Makassar, followed suit in September. However, the Gorontalo and the Mongondow peoples of the northern peninsula largely converted to Islam only in the 19th century. Most Muslims are Sunnis.
POPULATION OF SULAWESI BY PROVINCE (2010)
South Sulawesi (46.4%)
Central Sulawesi (15%)
Southeast Sulawesi (13%)
North Sulawesi (13.0%)
West Sulawesi (6.6%)
Gorontalo (6%)
Christians form a substantial minority on the island. According to the demographer Toby Alice Volkman, 17% of Sulawesi's population is Protestant and less than 2% is Roman Catholic. Christians are concentrated on the tip of the northern peninsula around the city of Manado, which is inhabited by the Minahasa, a predominantly Protestant people, and the northernmost Sangir and Talaud Islands. The Toraja people of Tana Toraja in Central Sulawesi have largely converted to Christianity since Indonesia's independence. There are also substantial numbers of Christians around Lake Poso in Central Sulawesi, among the Pamona speaking peoples of Central Sulawesi, and near Mamasa.
Though most people identify themselves as Muslims or Christians, they often subscribe to local beliefs and deities as well. It is not uncommon for both groups to make offerings to local gods, goddesses, and spirits.
Smaller communities of Buddhists and Hindus are also found on Sulawesi, usually among the Chinese, Balinese and Indian communities.
AGMINISTRATION
The island is subdivided into six provinces: Gorontalo, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and North Sulawesi. West Sulawesi is a new province, created in 2004 from part of South Sulawesi. The largest cities on the island are Makassar, Manado, Palu, Kendari, Bitung, Gorontalo, Palopo and Baubau.
FLORA AND FAUNA
Sulawesi is part of Wallacea, meaning that it has a mix of both Indomalayan and Australasian species that reached the island by crossing deep-water oceanic barriers. The flora includes one native eucalypt, E. deglupta. There are 8 national parks on the island, of which 4 are mostly marine. The parks with the largest terrestrial area are Bogani Nani Wartabone with 2,871 km2 and Lore Lindu National Park with 2,290 km2. Bunaken National Park which protects a rich coral ecosystem has been proposed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
MAMMALS
Early in the Pleistocene, Sulawesi had a dwarf elephant and a dwarf form of Stegodon, (an elephant relative, S. sompoensis); later both were replaced by larger forms. A giant suid, Celebochoerus, was also formerly present. It is thought that many of the migrants to Sulawesi arrived via the Philippines, while Sulawesi in turn served as a way station for migrants to Flores. A Pleistocene faunal turnover is recognised, with the competitive displacement of several indigenous tarsiers by more recently arriving ones and by Celebochoerus by other medium-sized herbivores like the babirusa, anoa and Celebes warty pig.
There are 127 known extant native mammalian species in Sulawesi. A large percentage, 62% (79 species) are endemic, meaning that they are found nowhere else in the world. The largest of these are the two species of anoa or dwarf buffalo. Other artiodactyl species inhabiting Sulawesi are the warty pig and the babirusas, which are aberrant pigs. The only native carnivoran is the Sulawesi palm civet (Asian palm and Malayan civets have been introduced). Primates present include a number of tarsiers (T. fuscus, Dian's, Gursky's, Jatna's, Wallace's, the Lariang and pygmy tarsiers) as well as macaques (Heck's, the booted, crested black, Gorontalo, moor, and Tonkean macaques). While most of Sulawesi's mammals are placental and have Asian relatives, several species of cuscus, arboreal marsupials of Australasian origin, are also present (Ailurops ursinus and Strigocuscus celebensis).
Sulawesi is home to a large number of endemic rodent genera. Murid rodent genera endemic to Sulawesi and immediately adjacent islands (such as the Togian Islands, Buton Island, and Muna Island) are Bunomys, Echiothrix, Margaretamys, Taeromys and Tateomys as well as the single-species genera Eropeplus, Hyorhinomys, Melasmothrix, Paucidentomys, Paruromys and Sommeromys. Endemic sciurid genera are Hyosciurus, Prosciurillus, Rubrisciurus and Waiomys.
While over 20 bat species are present on Sulawesi, only a portion of these are endemic: Rhinolophus tatar, Scotophilus celebensis and the megabats Acerodon celebensis, Boneia bidens, Dobsonia exoleta, Harpyionycteris celebensis, Neopteryx frosti, Rousettus celebensis and Styloctenium wallacei.
Several endemic shrews, the Sulawesi shrew, Sulawesi tiny shrew and the Sulawesi white-handed shrew, are found on the island.
BIRDS
By contrast, Sulawesian bird species tend to be found on other nearby islands as well, such as Borneo; 31% of Sulawesi's birds are found nowhere else. One true endemic is the fiery-browed starling. Another endemic bird (also found on small neighboring islands) is the largely ground-dwelling, chicken-sized maleo, a megapode which uses hot sand close to the island's volcanic vents to incubate its eggs. Others include the flightless snoring rail, the Sulawesi masked owl, the Sulawesi myna and the grosbeak starling. There are around 350 known bird species in Sulawesi. An international partnership of conservationists, donors, and local people have formed the Alliance for Tompotika Conservation, in an effort to raise awareness and protect the nesting grounds of these birds on the central-eastern arm of the island.
REPTILES
The larger reptiles of Sulawesi are not endemic and include reticulated and Burmese pythons, king cobras, water monitors, sailfin lizards, saltwater crocodiles and green sea turtles. An extinct giant tortoise, Megalochelys atlas, was formerly present, but disappeared by 840,000 years ago, possibly because of the arrival of humans. Similarly, komodo dragons or similar lizards appear to have inhabited the island, being among its apex predators. The smaller snakes of Sulawesi include endemic forms such as Calamaria boesemani, Calamaria muelleri, Calamaria nuchalis, Cyclotyphlops, Enhydris matannensis, Ptyas dipsas, Rabdion grovesi, Tropidolaemus laticinctus and Typhlops conradi. Similarly, the smaller lizards of Sulawesi include nonendemic species such as Bronchocela jubata, Dibamus novaeguineae and Gekko smithii, as well as endemic species such as Lipinia infralineolata and Luperosaurus iskandari.
AMPHIBIANS
The amphibians of Sulawesi include the endemic frogs Hylarana celebensis, H. macrops, H. mocquardi, Ingerophrynus celebensis, Limnonectes arathooni, L. larvaepartus, L. microtympanum, Occidozyga celebensis, O. semipalmata and O. tompotika as well as the endemic "flying frogs" Rhacophorus edentulus and R. georgii.
FRESHWATER FISH
Sulawesi is home to more than 70 freshwater fish species, including more than 55 endemics. Among these are the genus Nomorhamphus, a species flock of viviparous halfbeaks containing 12 species that only are found on Sulawesi (others are from the Philippines). In addition to Nomorhamphus, the majority of Sulawesi's freshwater fish species are ricefishes, gobies (Glossogobius and Mugilogobius) and Telmatherinid sail-fin silversides. The last family is almost entirely restricted to Sulawesi, especially the Malili Lake system, consisting of Matano and Towuti, and the small Lontoa (Wawantoa), Mahalona and Masapi. Another unusual endemic is Lagusia micracanthus from rivers in South Sulawesi, which is the sole member of its genus and among the smallest grunters. The gudgeon Bostrychus microphthalmus from the Maros Karst is the only described species of cave-adapted fish from Sulawesi, but an apparently undescribed species from the same region and genus also exists.
FRESHWATER CRUSTACEANS AND SNAILS
Many species of Caridina freshwater shrimp and parathelphusid freshwater crabs (Migmathelphusa, Nautilothelphusa, Parathelphusa, Sundathelphusa and Syntripsa) are endemic to Sulawesi. Several of these species have become very popular in the aquarium hobby, and since most are restricted to a single lake system, they are potentially vulnerable to habitat loss and overexploitation. There are also several endemic cave-adapted shrimp and crabs, especially in the Maros Karst. This includes Cancrocaeca xenomorpha, which has been called the "most highly cave-adapted species of crab known in the world".
The genus Tylomelania of freshwater snails is also endemic to Sulawesi, with the majority of the species restricted to Lake Poso and the Malili Lake system.
MISCELLANEOUS
The mimic octopus is also present in the waters of Sulawesi's coast.
CONSERVATION
Sulawesi island was recently the subject of an Ecoregional Conservation Assessment, coordinated by The Nature Conservancy. Detailed reports about the vegetation of the island are available. The assessment produced a detailed and annotated list of 'conservation portfolio' sites. This information was widely distributed to local government agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Detailed conservation priorities have also been outlined in a recent publication.
The lowland forests on the island have mostly been removed. Because of the relative geological youth of the island and its dramatic and sharp topography, the lowland areas are naturally limited in their extent. The past decade has seen dramatic conversion of this rare and endangered habitat. The island also possesses one of the largest outcrops of serpentine soil in the world, which support an unusual and large community of specialized plant species. Overall, the flora and fauna of this unique center of global biodiversity is very poorly documented and understood and remains critically threatened.
The islands of Pepaya, Mas and Raja islands, located in Sumalata Village - North Gorontalo Regency (about 30 km from Saronde Island), have been named a nature reserve since the Dutch colonial time in 1936. Four of the only seven species of turtles can be found in the islands, the world's best turtle habitat. They include Penyu Hijau (Chelonia midas), Penyu Sisik (Eretmochelys imbricata), Penyu Tempayan (Caretta caretta) and Penyu Belimbing (Dermochelys coriacea). In 2011, the habitat was threatened by human activities such as illegal poaching and fish bombing activities; furthermore, a lot of coral reefs, which represent a source of food for turtles, have been damaged.
ENVIRONMENT
The largest environmental issue in Sulawesi is deforestation. In 2007, scientists found that 80 percent of Sulawesi's forest had been lost or degraded, especially centered in the lowlands and the mangroves. Forests have been felled for logging and large agricultural projects. Loss of forest has resulted in many of Sulawesi's endemic species becoming endangered. In addition, 99 percent of Sulawesi's wetlands have been lost or damaged.
Other environmental threats included bushmeat hunting and mining.
PARKS
The island of Sulawesi has six national parks and nineteen nature reserves. In addition, Sulawesi has three marine protected areas. Many of Sulawesi's parks are threatened by logging, mining, and deforestation for agriculture.
WIKIPEDIA
Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The Chanin Building, built in 1927-29, rises 56 stories at the comer of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Designed by the architectural firm of Sloan & Robertson with sculptural decoration by Rene Chambellan, it is a major example of Art Deco architecture in New York City. Erected under the supervision of the Chanin Construction Company, the building still serves as the organization’s headquarters.
Irwin S. Chanin (b.1892) established his firm in 1919 to build one-family houses in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, after studying engineering at Cooper union, working on subway construction in New York and Philadelphia, and participating in the construction of a poison gas factory for the U.S. Amy during World War I.
His first venture in Bensonhurst was so successful that he brought his brother Henry I. Chanin (1893-1973) into the firm, and they proceeded to build more houses and also apartment buildings in Brooklyn and then erected an office building in downtown Brooklyn. Extending their activities to Manhattan in 1924, they constructed the Fur Center Building. 'That same year the Chan ins expanded into the theater business, 'eventually building eight theaters, including the fabulous 6000-seat Roxy. The Chanins also managed a number of these theaters.
The 1400-roan Hotel Lincoln, on Eighth Avenue between 44th and 45th. Streets was completed and opened by the Chanins in 1S28. Following the completion of the Chanin Building in 1929, the firm expanded its activities into the Manhattan apartment field, building the Majestic and Century apartment houses on Central Park West. Extensive suburban building activity occupied much of the firm's tire during the 1930s and 1940s. A notable example was Green Acres, a residential park community in Valley Stream, Long Island, begun in 1936. During World War II the firm built 2000 pro-fabricated dwellings in Newport News,Virginia, five hangars at National Airport in Washington, the Naval Or dance Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland, and five Navy powder magazine buildings in Indian Head, Maryland.
Tte firm has also built numerous manufacturing buildings in the New York City area and the impressive Coney Island Pumping Station for the City of New York. By 1952 when Irwin S. Chanin was profiled in the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, the Chanin Organization was composed of approximately 25 firms and corporations engaged in architecture, engineering, and construction, and in ownership and operation of real estate.
In August 1926 the Chanins acquired a 105-year leasehold on the site of the Manhattan Storage Warehouse on the west side of Lexington Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets in order to build their new office tower. Plans were filed and work begun in 1927. When the steel structure work was completed on July 2, 1928, the Chanins followed their traditional practice of driving two gold rivets into a column on the uppermost floor. On January 23, 1929, exactly one year after Irwin S. Chanin drove the first rivet into the st.ee! frame, construction was completed—testimony to the skill of the workmen and the efficiency of the Chanin Construction Company. It was opened for business that January 29 and was hailed as "another step in the evolution of the skyscraper . At that time, it was the first major skyscraper to have been built in the area around Grand Central Terminal, anticipating a major shift in the business district of the city. Other notable skyscrapers such as the Chrysler and Daily News Buildings soon followed. Its 660-foot height was then exceeded only by the Woolworth Building and Metropolitan Life Tower in New York and the Cleveland Terminal Building in Cleveland. Irwin S. Chanin was not, however, interested in creating the world's tallest office building but rather in building an efficient, up-to-date, progressive structure that would attract the modern business man and be a credit to the Chanin firm.
To create this image, he commissioned the architectural firm of Sloan & Robertson.
Sloan & Robertson was one of the major New York architectural firms of the 1920s and '30s. John Sloan (1888-1954) studied architecture at New York University, then supervised construction for the U. S. Army In various capacities between 1900 and 1920. In private practice in 1920, he received the commission for the Pershing Square Building, 100 East U2nd Street. He formed a partnership in 1924 with T. Markoe Robertson (1878.-1962) who had been educated at Yale University and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In addition to the Chanin Building, the firm was responsible for the Graybar Building, 420 Lexington Avenue; the Maritime Exchange Building, 80 Broad Street; the 29 Broadway Office Building; the Plaza Building, 625 Madison Avenue; apartment buildings at 1 Beekman Place and 895 Park Avenue; and alterations, modernization, and an annex for the St. Regis Hotel.
The firm was also active 'in the design of buildings for hospitals and institutions, including the House of Detention for Women at 10 Greenwich Avenue, the Ward's Island Sewage Disposal Plant, the Rikers Island Penitentiary, buildings for the Harlem Hospital, and the Southampton Hospital, Architectural plans for the West Side Elevated Highway between Canal and 72nd Streets and the New York State exhibit building, marine amphitheatre and stage at the 1939 New York World's Fair were also carried out by the firm. In the Chanin Building as in so much of their work during the 1930s, they created a striking example of Art Deco architecture, using that most characteristic Art Deco building type, the skyscraper.
The Chanin Building rises 56 stories in a series of setbacks culminating in a tower, designed in accordance with the 1916 zoning ordinance. The site itself, which was bounded by streets on three sides, was governed by three sets of zoning rules. This made the tower rather than the street frontage the controlling factor in regard to massing. Critic Matlack Price praised the Chanin Building as "an impressive realization of the most hopeful predictions that were made years ago, when the zoning laws first imposed the set-back restrictions on tall structures. At once it becane necessary to design in
masses rather than in facades." The design of the tower was also influenced by the widely-publicized entry submitted by Eliel Saarinen in the competition for a new building for the Chicago Tribune (1922) .
The Saarinen design proved a fertile source for many Art Deco architects.
The first 17 stories completely cover tine plot except on the center of trie Lexington Avenue facade which is recessed above the fourth story. Major setbacks begin above the seventeenth story, forming a pyramidal base for the tower which rises uninterrupted from the thirtieth to the fifty-second story. The upper four stories of the tower are further recessed and accented with buttresses. The steel frame is clad with buff brick, terra cotta, and limestone, and is ornamented in such a way as to emphasize seme of the special functions within.
As was the customary in skyscraper design, the architects were interested in establishing a clearly-defined base for the composition and a strong interest at and relationship to the street. The first floor was intended for shops. Originally the plate glass shop windows were enclosed by bronze enframements set in Belgian black marble.
Later alterations have obscured sane of the original detail. Also at first floor level are major entrances on Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Above the first floor runs a bronze frieze telling the story of evolution. It shows different kinds of plant and animal life, beginning with low marine forms, then more complex forms, and finally birds and fish. At the second and third floors, which were intended for financial institutions, are triple window groups framed in bronze and divided between the floors by bronze spandrel panels with characteristic Art Deco ornament.
Each window group is flanked by limestone piers with ornamented terra-cotta capitals. Hie windows above the entrances are given a distinctive treatment with ornamental spandrel panels of a different design. Incorporated into the window framing are curved bronze supports holding canopies above the entrances. The canopies themselves have been altered. The fourth story is completely covered with an elaborate pattern of stylized plant forms executed in terra cotta. The use of such stylized forms is a characteristic associated with Art Deco design.
Trie ornament on these floors was designed by the noted architectural sculptor Rene Chambellan (1893-1955) in collaboration with Jacques Delamarre (b. 1907), head of the architectural staff of the Chanin Construction Company. Among the buildings for which Chambellan executed architectural sculpture were Radio City Music Hall and other buildings at Rockefeller Center, the East Side Airline Terminal, the Russell Sage Foundation Building, the Tribune Ttwer in Chicago, the Stirling Library at Yale, and the Pershing Stadium in Vincennes, France.
In the Chanin Building Delamarre was responsible for many of the details of the interior design and through the years supervised the many projects which the Chanin organization chose to design "in-house." Chambellan and Delamarre also collaborated on the design of the sculptural reliefs and bronze grilles adorning the vestibules inside the building entrances. They symbolically portray various aspects of the theme "the City of Opportunity," telling "the story of a city in which it is possible for a nan to rise from a humble station to wealth and influence by sheer power of his mind and hands." This, in fact, was a tribute to the success and achievement of Irwin S. Chanin.
Cc\ the Lexington Avenue side, a series of buttresses at the fifth and sixth stories accent the recessed portion of the facade. The form of these buttresses echoes the form of those at tine crown of the tower. Buttress forms extending from the thirtieth to the forty-ninth floor also accentuate the comers of the brick-faced tower.
The termination of the buttress forms at the forty-ninth floor indicates sore of the special functions in the floors above. The fiftieth and the fifty-first floors-now converted to office space— originally housed a theater which was to serve the theatrical division of the Chanin Organization. The Chanin offices continue to be housed in the crcKn of the tower which begins at tiie fifty-second floor. The most prominent features of the crown are the protruding buttresses which provide a distinctive termination for the tower.
Projecting ornament executed in abstract patterns at the fifty-second floor adds further interest to the Tower. Originally a battery of 212 flood-lights illuminated the crown of the tower at night adding to its dramatic effect of the skyline. This emphasis on dramatic illumination is another quality associated with Art Deco architecture, and it is characteristically displayed in one of Hugh Ferriss' noted renderings of the buildings.
When completed in 1929 the Chanin Building was praised by architectural, critic Matlack Price as being "a splendid contribution to twentieth century architecture.. .that.. .powerfully rationalizes all the novel features of this new style,-and.. .a splendid contribution to the architecture of all time because it is a good design."
The quality of the design and the ornament continue to delight and are now recognized as exemplifying the characteristics of the Art Deco skyscraper. it remains a striking visual asset to the Grand Central area and continues to function successfully as an office building.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Smailholm Tower is located at Smailholm, around five miles (8 km) west of Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Its dramatic situation, atop a crag of Lady Hill, commands wide views over the surrounding countryside. The tower is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument in the care of Historic Scotland. In June 2007 it was awarded the maximum "five-star" status as a tourist attraction from VisitScotland, a rating bestowed on only eight other sites in Scotland.
Up until 2014 I had dreamed for 30 years of getting live shots of this stunning species - then I led a tour to the Manu road in SE Peru and finally saw this magnificent creature - several individuals of subspecies A. l. depuiseti - in a site where the butterfly turned out to be relatively common. Nonetheless, the subject of this VIDEO, the dramatically crimson-spotted subspecies A. l. optima, remained exceedingly elusive until my return to eastern Ecuador the following year, when our whole group was treated to the stunning display that you can see in this footage. This male was very tame, and remained on the unpaved road for around an hour, allowing the whole group to get excellent shots. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the film. Yes, I could have trimmed the video down to only a few seconds in length, but where's the fun in that!?!? ;-) Can anyone identify the bird species with its dramatic call?
Lexington Avenue
The Chrysler Building, a stunning statement in the Art Deco style by architect William Van Alen, embodies the romantic essence of the New York City skyscraper. Built in 1928-30 for Walter P. Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation, it was "dedicated to world commerce and industry."- The tallest building in the world when completed in 1930, it stood proudly on the New York skyline as a personal symbol of Walter Chrysler and the strength of his corporation.
History of Construction
The Chrysler Building had its beginnings in an office building project for William H. Reynolds, a real-estate developer and promoter and former New York State senator. Reynolds had acquired a long-term lease in 1921 on a parcel of property at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street owned by the Cooper Union tor the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1927 architect William Van Alen was hired to design an office tower to be called the Reynolds Building for the site. Publicized as embodying new principles in skyscraper design,*' the projected building was to be 67 stories high rising 808 feet, and it was "to be surmounted by a glass dome, which when lighted from within, will give the effect of a great jewelled sphere."-' In October, 1928, however, the office building project and the lease on the site were taken over by Walter P. Chrysler, head of the Chrysler Corporation, who was seeking to expand his interests into the real estate field.
Walter Percy Chrysler (1875-1940), one of America's foremost automobile manufacturers, was a self-made man who worked his way up through the mechanical an; manufacturing aspects of the railroad business before joining the Buick Motor Company as works manager in 1912. Because of his success in introducing new processes and efficiencies into the automobile plant, he rose quickly through the administrative ranks of General Motors (which had absorbed Buick) before personality conflicts with William C. Durant, head of General Motors, forced Chrysler to leave. In 1921 he reorganized Willys-Overland Company, and then took over as chairman of the reorganization and management committee of the Maxwell Motor Company, eventually assuming the presidency. This enabled Chrysler to introduce in 1924 the car bearing his name which presented such innovations as four-wheel hydraulic brakes and high compression motor.
Over 50 million dollars worth of cars were sold the first year, and in 1925, the Maxwell Motor Company became the Chrysler Corporation, Dodge Brothers was acquired in 1928 giving the Chrysler Corporation additional manufacturing facilities, a famous line of cars, and putting it in a position to challenge the leadership of Ford and General Motor By 1935, when Chrysler retired from the presidency of the Chrysler Corporation to become chairman of the board, the company was second in the automobile industry ir. volume of production.
It was while Chrysler was aggressively expanding his corporation in 1928 that he took over the office building project from Reynolds. In his autobiography, Chrysler said that he had the building constructed so that his sons would have something to be responsible for. He could not have been unaware, however, that the building would become a personal symbol and further the image of the Chrysler Corporation — even though no corporate funds were used in its financing or construction. To that end Chrysler worked with architect William Van Alen to make the building a powerful and striking design.
William Van Alen (1882-1954) studied at Pratt Institute before beginning his architectural career in the office or Clarence True, a speculative builder. Severs! years later while continuing his studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute 01 Design in the atelier of Donn Barber, Van Alen entered the office of Clinton * Russell as a designer. In 1908 he won the Paris Prize of the Beaux-Arts Institute and entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Atelier lLaloux. According to architect Francis S. Swales, "
His work at the Ecole indicated that the training was providing him with the mental freedom necessary to think independently, instead of merely the usual school -cargo of elements of architecture and a technique or competition by rules."0 Returning to New York in 1912 he introduced the concept of "garden11 apartments and also designed the Albemarle Building, a skyscraper without cornices. In the 1920s he became known for his innovative shop-front designs and for a series of restaurants for the Child's chain. With the Chrysler Building, Van Alen was able to apply modern principles of design to the skyscraper but at the same time created such a striking image that critic Kenneth Murchison dubbed him "the Ziegfield of his profession.
'In the 1930s he pioneered in prefabricated housing designs although they were never widely produced. Van Alen served for four years in the 1940s as director of sculpture for the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and he was a member of the American Institute of Architects and the National Academy of Design.
Work began on the Chrysler Building on October 15, 1928, when Chrysler acquire the lease, with clearance of the site. Construction proceeded rapidly; foundations to a depth of 69 feet were completed early in 1929, and the steel framework was completed by the end of September of that year.
The design of the building, however, was altered from that for Reynolds. Chrysler, in his autobiography, credits himself for suggesting that it be taller than the 1000-foot Eiffel Tower. The design of the crowning dome was also changed, and the addition of a spire, which the architect called a "vertex," made the Chrysler at 1046 feet the tallest building in the world at the time. Kenneth Murchison fancifully depicts Chrysler urging Van Alen to win the race to construct the world's tallest building.
Van Alen himself had personal reasons for achieving this goal, as a former partner, ii. Craig Severance, was constructing the Bank of Manhattan, 40 Wall Street, at the same time with the aim of making it the world's tallest skyscraper. Thinking that the Chrysler Building would be only 925 feet high, Severance added a 50-foot flagpole to his building making it 927 feet. Meanwhile, Van Alen designed the 185-foot spire which would make the Chrysler Building the tallest. The spire was fabricated, then delivered to the building in five sections, and assembled secret at the 65th floor.
In November, 1929, it was finally raised into position by a 20-ton derrick through a fire tower in the center of the building, then riveted i place, the whole operation taking about 90 minutes. This engineering feat capture the popular imagination as well as that of professionals, and it helped to further the progressive image of the Chrysler Building. However, the Chrysler lost its height distinction two years later with the construction of the Empire State Building.
The first tenants moved into the Chrysler Building in April, 1930, even though construction was not completed. Formal opening ceremonies were held on May 27, 1930 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the 42nd Street Property Owners and Merchants Association. A bronze tablet was placed in the lobby of the building "in recongnition of Mr. Chrysler's contribution to civic advancement." The building was considered finished in August, 1930, but curiously, the completion date recorded in the records of the Manhattan Building Department is February 19, 1932.
The Chrysler Building and Art Deco
Waiter P. Chrysler wanted a progressive image and a personal symbol. Van Alen strove* to create such an image using the tenets of modernism as he interpreted them. In so doing he designed a building which has come to be regarded as one of the outstanding examples of Art Deco architecture.
The term. Art Deco, which is also referred to by several different names such as the Style Moderne and Modernistic, is adopted from the Exposition International: des Arts Decoratifs et Industrie]s Modernes--an important European influence or. the American Art Deco sty!e--held in Paris in 1925.
In the period following the first World War, architects in Europe and the united States had begun to simplify traditional design forms and to use -industrial materials in innovative ways in order to characterize the modern age.
The Art Deco style seemed to lend itself particularly well to skyscraper design because the skyscraper, more than any other building type, epitomized progress, innovation, and a new modern age. Although the Art Deco style was short-lived, it coincided with a great building boom at the end of the 1920s in New York. The many-skyscrapers which were erected in the Art Deco style gave New York and its skyline a characteristic and romantic image, popularized in theater and films, which persisted until the next great building boom of the early 1960s. In the Chrysler Building, Van Alen used a variety of materials, techniques, and design forms which are characteristic of Art Deco.
The Chrysler Building rises 77 stories in a series of setbacks which accord with the regulations of the 1916 New York zoning prdinance. As a freestanding tower occupying about half a block, the building is visible from four sides. Like many Art Deco architects. Van Alen believed strongly in designing steel structures so that they would not be imitative of masonry construction.'- Also unlike many earlier skyscrapers, the design of the Chrysler did not follow the formula of a column with ornamental base, bare shaft, and ornamental capital; rather the design was to be of interest throughout the entire height.13 Both the great height of the building and the mandated setbacks aided Van Alen in making this design decision,
The first four stories of the building cover the entire site arid are faced with polished black Shastone granite at the first story and white Georgian marble above. The most striking features of this portion of the building are the two entrances, on Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Each entrance rises for h height of three stories in proscenium fashion and is enframed by Shastone granite. Set back within the deep reveals of the entrances are sets of revolving doors beneath intricately patterned metal and glass screens.
The treatment is such as to heighten the dramatic effect of entering the building --a concern of Art Deco design There is a one-story entrance on 43rd Street. Also at first story level are iarge show windows for shops, framed in metal. Windows for offices may be seen at the second, third, and fourth stories. Ornamental spandrels are set at the bases of the second story windows. The exposed metal frames of the entries and windows art of "Nirosta" steel, a kind of rust-resistant, chromium nickel steel, manufactured for the first time in the United States specifically for the Chrysler Building according to a German formula from Krupp. This use of a new. material is in keeping with Art Deco principles.
Above the fourth story, the building is penetrated on the east and west sides by light courts extending to the face of the tower, while on the north and south the structure gradually rises in a series of setbacks. The facing of the walls through the first setback at the sixteenth story is of white brick with contrast! white marble strips creating a basketweave pattern. The use of a variety of colo and textures is characteristic of Art Deco. Windows are set in a regular grid pattern. An. unusual feature of all windows in the building is that they have no reveals; frames are set flush with the walls. This was seen is another means of indicating modernity and progress.
In the next setback, ending at the twenty-fourth floor, there is a vertical emphasis with piers of white brick alternating with vertical window strips. Aluminum spandrels between the windows aid this effect. Spandrels at the twentieth twenty-first, and twenty-second floors are adorned with polished abstract relief ornament. At the corners of the twenty-fourth floor are placed conventionalized pineapples, about nine feet high, of "Nirosta" steel, which had been fabricated < the site.
The next three stories, through the twenty-seventh, form the third setback. Horizontal banding and zigzag motifs in gray and black brick contrast with the verticality of the setback below. The fourth setback, to the thirty-first story marks the emergence of the tower shaft from the lower masses. At the thirty-first floor the corners of the building are extended outward and crowned by huge ornamental Chrysler radiator caps in "Nirosta" steel, spanning about 15 feet.
The- extension was necessary to overcome the optical effect that would otherwise make the tower appear wider at the top than at the base. Also at this floor is a frieze ir. gra; and white brick of stylized racing automobiles with polished steel hub caps. Th ornamental features are overt symbols of the Chrysler Corporation and characteristic of the types of effects created by Art Deco architects.
The building had a number of innovative and desirable features. THe soundproofed office partitions were of steel made in interchangeable sections so that arranges! of any office suite could be changed quickly and conveniently. Under-floor duct systems carried wiring for telephone and electric outlets.
The elevators, specifically at Chrysler's instruction, were capable of speeds of 1000 feet per minute although city codes in effect in 1930 only allowed 700 feet per minute. The building also had three of the longest continuous elevator shafts in the world To enhance public access to the building, an underground arcade led to the IRT subway system. The connection was strongly opposed by the IRT, but Chrysler prevailed and the passageway was built at his expense. In the dome was the private-Cloud Club, which still exists, and, in the very topmost floor, a public observation deck.
On display was Walter P. Chrysler's box of handmade tools, the emblem of his enterprise and personal success. The observatory has been closed for many years.
Conclusion
Critics such as Lewis Mumford who favored the International Style denigrated the Chrysler Building for its "inane romanticism,... meaningless voluptuousness, ... /and/ void symbolism," " but it was these qualities which captured the popular imagination and helped make it one of the most famous buildings in New York. We can appreciate the comments of the editor of Architectural Porum who wrote:
It stands by itself, something apart and alone. It is simply the realization, the fulfillment in metal and masonry, of a one-man dream, a dream of such ambition and such magnitude as to defy the comprehension and the criticism of ordinary men or by ordinary standards.
The Chrysler Building still stands proudly in the New York skyline, its gleaming spire and soaring tower capturing the eye and imagination of the viewer. While it may no longer symbolize the Chrysler Corporation, it still embodies the romantic essence of the Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, with its dramatic effects, elegant materials, and vivid ornamental details. Built as a monument to progress in commerce and industry, it remains as one of New York's finest office buildings and great examples of the Art Deco style.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Central Park West, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States of America
Summary
Soaring over Central Park, the profile of the San Remo is among the most important components of the magnificent skyline of Central Park West. The first of the twin-towered buildings which give Central Park West its distinctive silhouette, and one of the New York's last grand apartment houses built in the pre-Depression era, it was designed by Emery Roth, then at the pinnacle of his career as a specialist in apartment house architecture. A residential skyscraper in classical garb, the San Remo epitomizes Roth's ability to combine the traditional with the modern, an urbane amalgam of luxury and convenience, decorum and drama.
Development of Central Park West
Central Park West, the northern continuation of Eighth Avenue bordering on the park, is today one of New York's finest residential streets, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was a rural and inhospitable outpost, notable for its rocky terrain, browsing goats and ramshackle shanties. With the creation of Central Park in the 1860s, followed by Riverside Park (begun 1876), as well as a series of transportation improvements such as the Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad (1879), the Upper West Side in general experienced a period of intense real estate speculation. The 1880were the first decade of major development, and set the pattern for the Upper West Side, where rowhouses line the side streets, and multiple dwellings, commercial and institutional structures are sited on the avenues.
Not surprisingly, those avenues closest to the parks. Central Park West and Riverside Drive, were immediately considered the most desirable. (Ninth Avenue, re-christened Columbus in 1890, Tenth Avenue, renamed Amsterdam in the same year, and Broadway—the Boulevard before 1899 — were all, in varying degrees marred by cable car and elevated railway lines.)
The potential of the parkside avenues for development as prime locations led to an anticipatory increase in land values; prices rose to such extravagant heights that many speculative builders shied away from row house and tenement construction, from which they would realize relatively meager returns, while the very wealthy, who could afford to build mansions, for the most part remained on the more fashionable East Side- As a result, the development of Central Park West lagged behind the general development of the Upper West Side. It was not until the turn of the century that Central Park West's construction boom began and it emerged as a- boulevard of elegant tall apartments punctuated by impressive institutional buildings—a kind of grand proscenium to the architectural variety show of the Upper West Side.
The stage had been set By two great monuments, the American Museum of Natural History between 77th and 81st Streets, (begun 1874, architects Vaux & Mould, and a designated New York City Landmark), and the Dakota, the pioneering luxury apartments at 72nd Street (1880-84. architect Henry Hardenbergh, and a designated New York City Landmark). Yet a survey of roughly a decade later revealed that more than half the block fronts along the park from 60th to 96th Streets remained vacant or contained only old, modest frame houses. A few rather unprepossessing apartment hotels (at
least, relative to the Dakota) were constructed in the early 1890s, among them the San Remo at 75th Street, designed in 1890 by architect Edward Angel 1.2 was described by Moses King in his Handbook as "an immense and imposing edifice, finely situated on the high ground of West 75th Street and facing on the lawns, woods and waters of Central Park. The rooms . . . are all in suites"; and more recently as "a ten-story, high Victorian pile, a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque details . . . unremarkable from an architectural standpoint except for the steep pyramidal towers at its corners."
Among the other apartment hotels on the avenue, were the Beresford at 81st Street, the Majestic (architect Alfred Zucker) just south of the Dakota, both erected in the early 1890s, and the El Dorado at 90th Street of 1901. These have all been replaced by their towered namesakes of the late 1920s and early '30s, but they had already been architecturally superceded by grand apartments houses of the early 1900s—such as the Prasada (1904) at 65th Street, the Langham (1905) at 73rd Street, the Kenilworth (1908) at 75th Street. This phase in Central Park West's development was interrupted by World War I, when construction ground to a halt. The second major phase of development began with the great prosperity of the '20s producing the Art Deco towered buildings, and Roth's Beresford and San Remo Apartments which now define the skyline.
The 1920s provided a generation of aspiring immigrants with the opportunity to move up in the world, both economically and geographically. Many Jewish immigrants, refugees from Csarist pogroms, had achieved prosperity in New York by the late 1920s, and looked from the Lower East Side and the Boroughs to the Upper West Side as a cultural and architectural haven. By the mid-1930s more than half the residents of the Upper West Side from 72nd to 96th Streets were Jewish, and more than a third of these families was headed by a parent born in Europe. Emery Roth was himself a Jewish immigrant of Horatio Algeresque stamina and optimism, a family man and Upper West Sider, although he arrived by a more circuitous route than most of his neighbors.
The Architect
Emery Roth was born in 1871 in the town or Galzecs, Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he was thirteen the family's fortunes took a turn for the worse, and it was decided that young Emery, alone, would immigrate to America. Passing through Ellis Island, he continued on to Chicago where his success story began.
When still a teenager living a hand to mouth existence in Bloomington, Illinois, Roth determined to become an architect. He worked for both a local builder and a local architect. In 1889, having won a national-government sponsored contest, the Maize Competition—for which he drew a living room utilizing the corn plant as a decorative motif—Roth took his $100 prize money and set out for Kansas City. Apparently he could not find architectural employment there, but while he was still in Bloomington, had applied to join the office of Burnham & Root. Offered the job by mail. Roth moved on to Chicago and worked under Charles Atwood (who had succeeded John W. Root after his death in 1891.) Roth helped to prepare drawings for the celebrated Palace of Fine Arts. While at the fair, he met Richard Morris Hunt, the recognized dean of American architects, who offered to hire him if he ever came to New York. After the fair, with true to form optimism, Roth made his way to New York, where Hunt's casual offer was honored. Assigned to draft interior perspectives for The Breakers, the Newport mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Roth came in contact with Ogden Codman, a noted architect, interior designer and socialite. In 1895 Roth went to work for Codman, where his decorative and planning abilities were sharpened.
By 1898 Roth believed himself ready for private practice. Two young architects, Theodore G. Stein and E. Yancy Cohen, after involved negotiations, sold Roth their architectural practice for $1000. As part of the agreement, Roth was entitled to represent himself as a partner in Stein, Cohen & Roth in order to capitalize on the good will of the existing firm. In fact, Roth was on his own.
Roth's first major commission was the Hotel Belleclaire of 1901-03 on upper Broadway, a designated New York City Landmark. While it was under construction Roth was approached by Leo and Alexander Bing, Manhattan real estate developers. The Bing brothers admired the Belleclaire and commissioned Roth to design a group of five-story apartment buildings in Washington Heights. This alliance inaugurated a lifelong association.
In the following years, Roth had several commissions, among them Bancroft Hall of 1910—a student housing facility for Columbia University, and a series of religious structures, including the Congregation Ahavith Achem of 1908 in Brooklyn and the First Reformed Hungarian Church of 1916 on East 69th Street in Manhattan.
The year 1918 was a traumatic one for Roth. He lost his vision in one eye, the result of glaucoma, and nearly died in the great influenza epidemic. But the prosperity of the 1920s was to carry him into a period of great achievement. After the hiatus in construction caused by the First World War, building was again undertaken. In New York City, a 1921 ordinance exempting new residential construction from real estate taxes for the next decade, opened the door to a building boom. The Bing brothers commissioned a series of apartment buildings and hotels from Roth, many of which Ruttenbaum aptly terras "fine background buildings," while two other developers, Samuel Minskoff and Harris H. Uris commissioned Roth to design a number of handsome medium height apartment houses which the architect dubbed "skyscratchers."
In 1926 Roth in association with Thomas Hastings, the surviving partner of the eminent firm of Carrere & Hastings, designed the Ritz Tower at Park Avenue and 57th Street, a 41-story apartment hotel In a neo-Renaissance style, its extreme height making it "a symbol of a new way to live for wealthy New Yorkers." After the Ritz Tower, Roth went on to design a host of luxury residential skyscrapers, among them the Oliver Cromwell Hotel on West 72nd Street (1928), the Beresford Apartments on Central Park West, and as a consultant to Margon & Holder, the Art Deco style El dorado Apartments also on Central Park West (1929-31, and a designated New York City Landmark). From the mid-1920s on, the signature of a major Roth apartment house was its tower(s). Initially designed to conceal water tanks, they evolved in the Beresford with its three towers into a major element of the design.
In the San Remo. among Roth's finest works, the towers are carried even further, becoming an integral component of this residential skyscraper. This fusing of the functional with the aesthetic was equally characteristic of his apartment plans. Roth's sons credit their father with the creation of the foyer plan, and if not the originator he was certainly a refiner of this type. Roth's best apartments seem effortlessly interlocked, wasteful corridor space reduced to a minimum, with spacious, well-lit rooms in their stead.
Roth's last great work was the Normandy Apartments on Riverside Drive of 1938-39 (a designated New York City Landmark), by which time his sons had joined the firm. The majority of his later buildings in concession to the Depression had smaller apartments and fewer amenities, while still maintaining high standards. Roth died in 1947, and his sons continued the firm, which has been prosperous and prolific.
The San Remo
In an advertisement of May 18, 1930, in the New York Times the San Remo was heralded as:
The Aristocrat of Central Park West Apartments Designed for You Built by the builders of the Beresford
Every detail of these sumptuous apartments has been carefully planned to make living in them the last word in luxury. Only private homes have ceilings as lofty as these and rooms as- spacious. Every chamber has its own colored tile bathroom and is well-supplied with deep closets. Many have dressing rooms too. The long galleries and living rooms with fireplaces offer splendid decorative possibilities. The kitchens have been fitted with the most modern appliances. Up in the towers are apartments such as New York has never before seen with windows on all four sides and views of Central Park, the Hudson, and Westchester. Other specially designed apartments have slate terraces overlooking the park.
Six to sixteen rooms, simplex and duplex apartments H.R.H. Construction Company 11
Contemporary writers essentially concurred with this euphoric description, and were impressed by the height of the building, the twin-towered silhouette, good plans and luxurious detailing. The New Yorker magazine (a publication which in 1930 seems, at least to modern eyes, to all but ignore the 1929 Crash) featured two articles on the San Remo, one by "Penthouse" [Marcia Clarke Davenport]. Davenport is impressed by the views, the size of the terraces and rooms, and "the remarkable sun and light everywhere." Perhaps a hint of the Depression can be detected in her interest in costs--"This is not one of the houses you use to illustrate that rents are lower on the West Side." An eighteen-room duplex was offered at $21,000 per year.
The second New Yorker contributor, "T-Square" [George S. Chappell] considers the San Remo in more strictly architectural terms and as a design by Roth "whose name must be inextricably associated with the development of this section" of Manhattan.
...the Italian baroque [is] skillfully adapted to modern conditions. Cornices are reduced to a minimum, becoming simply bandcourses, but such detail as is used is classic in derivation. The twin towers with their circular colonnades of Corinthian columns, crowned by bronze lanterns,
are fine in silhouette____ The proportions are
well-studied and the warm light brick used above the limestone substructure give a delightful effect.
Chappell also praises the watertank coverings and the innovative window design with upper and lower movable transoms.
Despite its popular success, the San Remo fell prey to the pervasive economic mayhem of the 1930s. A full year after it had officially opened, nearly a third of its apartments remained vacant, and the Bank of the United States which held its $5 million mortgage had collapsed, its officers charged with recklessly "gambling" on the San Remo. In an
effort to attract tenants rents were reduced, and some of the larger apartments were subdivided. But after a succession of owners and bankruptcies, in 1940 the San Remo was sold along with the Beresford, which was experiencing similar financial woes, for a mere $25,000 over existing mortgages.
In its near sixty-year history, the San Remo has had numerous well-known and famous tenants, among them David Nemerov and his wife, owners of Russeks Stores, and parents of Howard Nemerov, poet and critic, and Diane Arbus, photographer, Eddie Cantor, the singer and comedian, and more recently, singer Barry Manilow, and actors Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Tony Randall and Mary Tyler Moore.
Architectural Sources and Style
The San Remo is a skyscraper which, in the conservative early twentieth-century tradition, applies an historical style to a contemporary form. Roth, who had a lifelong predilection for classicizing styles (although he used others), here turned to the Late Italian Renaissance for inspiration,,. Broken pediments, both curved and triangular, cartouches, and boldly scaled pilasters and columns with composite capitals, and overlapping architectural elements—all hallmarks of the Late Italian Renaissance—are the components of the San Remo's detailing. Ruttenbaum has noted similarities in the crowning temples of the San Remo with the ancient Greek choragic monument of Lysicrates, which Roth had studied in his youth at the Chicago exposition. Certainly, there are parallels, especially in the proportions, but perhaps equally important are such Late Renaissance structures as Bramante's celebrated Tempietto in Rome, or—in terms of placement as much as form—Michelangelo's lantern atop St. Peter's dome.
Much closer to home are such general prototypes as McKim, Mead & White's Municipal Building of 1909-13, a skyscraper topped by a temple and designed in a neo-classical style.
Truly tall skyscrapers, rather than the "skyscratchers" of Roth's terminology, up until the 1920s had been almost exclusively erected as commercial structures. Roth's first very tall apartment building, the 41-story Ritz Tower of 1926, had been erected as an apartment hotel, for which less stringent building code requirements applied than for apartment houses. The Ritz Tower was exactly what the name implied—one preliminary scheme even called for a lantern clearly derived from the tower of the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio. In residential terms, this was a new building type, one which reached a fuller expression in the San Remo.
In early 1929, a new Multiple Dwelling Act was passed, allowing apartment houses of large ground area greater height and the use of towers. The San Remo, the first of the vast twin-towered West Side apartments, was designed in response to these new stipulations. An innovative design, based on Roth's experience with single-towered structures, it was quickly emulated: yet the sheer size and height of the San Remo apparently struck others as fundamentally "modern." The Century Apartments and the Majestic Apartments are exercises in the contemporary Art Deco style. Even the Normandy, Roth's own last great building combines elements of the Style Moderne with neo-Italian Renaissance motifs. Yet, as the architectural critic, Paul Goldberger (himself a resident of the San Remo) has remarked, "Roth's greatest gift was his ability to adapt Renaissance and classical details to modern building forms." 21
Description
The San Remo Apartments occupy the Central Park West blockfront from 74th to 75th Streets. A residential skyscraper, the main block of the building is 17 stories in height, with terraced setbacks from the 14th to 17th stories. Two symmetrical towers, each ten stories in height surmounted by elaborate suprastructures culminating in circular temples with lanterns give the building its dramatic profile. The building is executed in light brick. The first three stories are in rusticated limestone, lightly vermiculated at the first two stories, with smooth lower relief at the third. The facade is 26 bays wide, with two main entryways. The southern elevation is 19 bays wide, and the northern is 16. {The southern elevation is 180 feet in length, the northern, 150.) Each has a single main entrance. (There are four office entrances on the Central Park West facade, two on the south elevation, and three on the north. The towers are five bays wide on the facade and side elevations.
The rear, western elevation...which owing to its height above the side street rowhouses, is largely visible is executed in the same light brick, and is ranged around a T-shaped courtyard. The towers have terraced rear extensions. A large chimney abuts the north tower.
The facade and side elevations are articulated above the three-story base by shallow brick pilasters and slight projections signalized as pavilions by the Renaissance detailing at the upper stories. The facade of the main block of the building has a basic vertical arrangement of bays as: 1-1-1-6-1-6-1-6-1-1-1. At the terrace levels the central six bays and outermost three bays function as true pavilions between the setbacks. The towers have massive, pier-like enframements at the corners. Cornices are effectively and sparingly used to accentuate the upper stories of the main block of the building, the upper stories of the towers, and the suprastructures.
Architectural detailing, executed in stone, terra cotta and metal, is Late Italian Renaissance in character, and highlights entrances and window configurations at the upper stories. Balustrades, pilasters, engaged columns, broken pediments, both circular and triangular, garlands, urns, cartouches, scrolls, consoles and roundels are employed. The detail is executed in limestone up to the fourth story and in terra cotta above. The terraces have either terra-cotta balustrades or metal railings. The lantern is of copper. (All such detailing is described below.)
Detailing
Fenestration:
The windows are uniformly treated on the designed elevations, with metal casements featuring movable transoms above and below the principal windows. The upper transom swings out, the lower transom (or hopper) swings in. The central large windows open outward in the conventional manner. The windows have six panes (2 over 2 over 2). This innovative design was intended to facilitate the regulation of temperature and air circulation. There are some variations in width which reflect interior spaces (living rooms, bedrooms etc.) but the basic configuration remains the same, except in the second-story windows above the Central Park West entrances, and at the uppermost stories of the facade central pavilion, which are tripartite with nine panes of glass (3 over 3 over 3). On the rear elevation the windows are more varied in their treatment, with single double, triple and double leaf casement windows, some of which do not have the lower transom. A few windows have been altered, most notably on the rear tower elevations.
Main Entrances:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically located at the 6-7th bays and 20-21st bays).
A broken triangular pediment surmounts the double doors , executed in bronze and glass with paneled, solid bronze transoms. The doors are each divided into three parts, with square panels ornamented by bronze medallions and bordering acanthus leaver set in a rectilinear bronze grillework. Metal and glass lanterns flank the doorway. A double-height limestone enframement surrounds the doorway and second-story tripartite window, and is composed of flanking pilasters with composite capitals , with reliefs depicting classical urns above, and supporting a dentiled curved, broken pediment. At the center of the pediment is a large scrolled cartouche draped by a garland which is looped over a rosette at each side. The doorways have sheltering canopies on bronze supports.
North [75 St.] and south [74th St.] elevations (one, located in the 13th bay, north side, and in the 11th bay, south side).
Both have deep reveals and limestone enframements with a surmounting console table on console-like supports with a central scrolled cartouche. The single bronze and glass doors follow the same design as those on the facade and have transoms with an octagonal panel with central medallion and acanthus leaves. Lanterns flank the doorways.
Office Entrances:
Facade [Central Park West] (four, symmetrically located at the 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th bays).
These have limestone enframements and surmounting entablatures with scrolled ornamental keystones. The single doors are of bronze with a glazed upper panel and transom.
North elevation [75th St.] (three, at the 4th, 8th, and 15th bays).
These are detailed like those on the facade.
South elevation [74th St.] (two, at the 6th and 14th bays).
Set within deep reveals and enframed by the rusticated walls, each has a bronze door with a glazed upper panel and transom.
Service Entrances:
North [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (two, located at the rear of each elevation).
A rusticated wall which follows the design of the building walls and extends to the second story contains an arched doorway with a large keystone and is surmounted by a paneled overdoor. A decorative metal gate with a panel reading "Service" fills the archway. At the south elevation, a metal railing atop a brick wall extends westward along the property line.
Third Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St. ] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
The windows have limestone relief enframements with side elements in the shape of a console in profile, and rosettes. .. . .
Fourth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically placed, 5-8th bays and 19-22nd bays).
A balustraded balcony set upon four large ornamented console brackets extends for four bays. The central two bays have a limestone enframement and are separated by a smooth limestone panel. Flanking pilasters support an entablature upon which a triangular broken pediment is superimposed. At the center is a scrolled escutcheon with a garland and ornamental tablet.
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
Each has an entablature with a superimposed triangular pediment, both dentil led, and a central ornamented keystone flanked by plain stones. Pilasters and enframements surround the windows which also have a balustrade executed in high relief.
Fourth Story Cartouche:
Facade [Central Park West] (one, between the 13th and 14th bays).
A large scrolled cartouche, placed at the center of the facade, it has the completion date of the building 19—30 placed to each side.
Eleventh-Twelfth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (two, symmetrically located at the 5-8th and 19-22nd bays).
A balustrade on Four console brackets, which visually echoes the fourth-story treatment below, extends across four bays. A double-height, two-bay wide central section is recessed, with flanking brick pilasters, in which the capitals are seemingly "overlapped" by the outer wall surface. Two embossed rosettes appear in the panel which is enframed by bandcourses between the 11th and 12th stories. Two additional embossed rosettes appear in the outer bays. A scrolled cartouche with garlands draped over rosettes, similar to those of the facade main entrances, surmount the composition.
Thirteenth to Fifteenth Story Window Enframements:
Facade (Central Park West], north [75 th St. ] and south [74 th St.] elevations, (four, each set at the second bay from the Central Park West corners).
Placed similarly to the window enframement of the fourth story, these three-story compositions also serve to accentuate and anchor the Central Park West corners of the building. In each,, ornamented console brackets at the 13th story level support a balustered balcony one bay wide. At the 13th story and balcony level, are bandcourses which continue along the walls, articulating the designed elevations. The 14th-story windows are surmounted by curved broken pediments and ornamented at the center by escutcheons. Garlands and floral motifs appear below the pediments, upon the window frames. The 15th-story windows are surmounted by a scrolled escutcheon. Double height brick pilasters with rosettes flank the windows and support a broken triangular pediment. Cartouches appear at the center. The band courses of the pilasters and broken pediments also continue along the wall surfaces and here help to define the three-bay wide corner pavilions. These pavilions are further defined by flanking brick pilasters with rosettes.
Thirteenth to Seventeenth Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West] (one, at the 12-13th bays).
This composition, which signalizes the central six-bay wide pavilion, reiterates many of the elements of the four corner compositions just described, although it is two bays wide, rather than one. Ornamented consoles at the 13th story support the 14th story balustered balcony. Instead of two windows there are single tripartite windows. The 14th and 15th story windows are detailed like those at the corners, but here the broken pediment enframing the carouche is curved rather than triangular. The composition continues to the 16th and 17th stories, which are also flanked by brick pilasters. The tripartite window at the 16th story is richly enframed with a central garlanded tablet, and a broken triangular pediment. At the 17th story is a central garlanded cartouche. The central pavilion has terminating brick pilasters with embossed rosettes like those of the corner pavilions.
Twenty-third Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations, (four, set in the central bays).
These window, set mid way on the designed elevations of the towers, function as medallions on the relatively unadorned tower shafts. The windows have elaborate enframements with ornamental keystones and curved, broken pediments.
Twenty-sixth - Twenty-seventh Story Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St. ] and south [74th St. ] elevations, (four, set in the 2-4th bays).
Set between bandcourses and balustrade and pediment level, which continue on the wall surfaces of the towers, are these three boldly scaled three-bay wide compositions. The central bay has a projecting balustrade and above, double-height engaged columns on brackets, with foliate capitals. These columns enframe the two windows and support a curved broken pediment. At the center of the pediment is a large cartouche. The side bays have balustrades and above, double-height pilasters on podia, with foliate capitals. These pilasters flank the two windows and support triangular broken pediments.
Suprastructure Window Enframements:
Facade [Central Park West], north [75th St.] and south [74th St.] elevations and the two inner faces of the towers (six, set at the second story of the suprastructure and in the penthouses).
These double-height compositions each include a framed window with flanking brick pilasters with embossed rosettes at capital-level. Above the window is a broken triangular pediment and a central escutcheon. Six small penthouses with semi-circular roofs have their facades placed above the pediments. The windows of these are curved at top and bottom and elaborately enframed and have metal grilles. They are each flanked by console brackets which support the curved pediment of the penthouse.
Temples:
North and south towers, (two, located at the top of the building).
Above the suprastructure each tower is surmounted by a circular temple of brick and terra cotta, set upon a base articulated by boldly scaled console brackets on eight buttressing pedestals. Large urns, draped with garlands, crown each pedestal and the intervening walls are ornamented with scrolled cartouches beneath balustrades. The temples, set on simple brick podia, are encircled by colonnades of smooth columns with foliate capitals. These support plain dentil led friezes beneath balustrades. Above on each tower is a circular base with copestones, which supports the crowing element — a fenestrated and electrified copper lantern, above elongated foliate scrolled consoles. (The temples and lanterns have recently been restored.)
- From the 1987 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Midtown East, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The Chanin Building, built in 1927-29, rises 56 stories at the comer of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Designed by the architectural firm of Sloan & Robertson with sculptural decoration by Rene Chambellan, it is a major example of Art Deco architecture in New York City. Erected under the supervision of the Chanin Construction Company, the building still serves as the organization’s headquarters.
Irwin S. Chanin (b.1892) established his firm in 1919 to build one-family houses in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, after studying engineering at Cooper union, working on subway construction in New York and Philadelphia, and participating in the construction of a poison gas factory for the U.S. Amy during World War I.
His first venture in Bensonhurst was so successful that he brought his brother Henry I. Chanin (1893-1973) into the firm, and they proceeded to build more houses and also apartment buildings in Brooklyn and then erected an office building in downtown Brooklyn. Extending their activities to Manhattan in 1924, they constructed the Fur Center Building. 'That same year the Chan ins expanded into the theater business, 'eventually building eight theaters, including the fabulous 6000-seat Roxy. The Chanins also managed a number of these theaters.
The 1400-roan Hotel Lincoln, on Eighth Avenue between 44th and 45th. Streets was completed and opened by the Chanins in 1S28. Following the completion of the Chanin Building in 1929, the firm expanded its activities into the Manhattan apartment field, building the Majestic and Century apartment houses on Central Park West. Extensive suburban building activity occupied much of the firm's tire during the 1930s and 1940s. A notable example was Green Acres, a residential park community in Valley Stream, Long Island, begun in 1936. During World War II the firm built 2000 pro-fabricated dwellings in Newport News,Virginia, five hangars at National Airport in Washington, the Naval Or dance Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland, and five Navy powder magazine buildings in Indian Head, Maryland.
Tte firm has also built numerous manufacturing buildings in the New York City area and the impressive Coney Island Pumping Station for the City of New York. By 1952 when Irwin S. Chanin was profiled in the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, the Chanin Organization was composed of approximately 25 firms and corporations engaged in architecture, engineering, and construction, and in ownership and operation of real estate.
In August 1926 the Chanins acquired a 105-year leasehold on the site of the Manhattan Storage Warehouse on the west side of Lexington Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets in order to build their new office tower. Plans were filed and work begun in 1927. When the steel structure work was completed on July 2, 1928, the Chanins followed their traditional practice of driving two gold rivets into a column on the uppermost floor. On January 23, 1929, exactly one year after Irwin S. Chanin drove the first rivet into the st.ee! frame, construction was completed—testimony to the skill of the workmen and the efficiency of the Chanin Construction Company. It was opened for business that January 29 and was hailed as "another step in the evolution of the skyscraper . At that time, it was the first major skyscraper to have been built in the area around Grand Central Terminal, anticipating a major shift in the business district of the city. Other notable skyscrapers such as the Chrysler and Daily News Buildings soon followed. Its 660-foot height was then exceeded only by the Woolworth Building and Metropolitan Life Tower in New York and the Cleveland Terminal Building in Cleveland. Irwin S. Chanin was not, however, interested in creating the world's tallest office building but rather in building an efficient, up-to-date, progressive structure that would attract the modern business man and be a credit to the Chanin firm.
To create this image, he commissioned the architectural firm of Sloan & Robertson.
Sloan & Robertson was one of the major New York architectural firms of the 1920s and '30s. John Sloan (1888-1954) studied architecture at New York University, then supervised construction for the U. S. Army In various capacities between 1900 and 1920. In private practice in 1920, he received the commission for the Pershing Square Building, 100 East U2nd Street. He formed a partnership in 1924 with T. Markoe Robertson (1878.-1962) who had been educated at Yale University and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In addition to the Chanin Building, the firm was responsible for the Graybar Building, 420 Lexington Avenue; the Maritime Exchange Building, 80 Broad Street; the 29 Broadway Office Building; the Plaza Building, 625 Madison Avenue; apartment buildings at 1 Beekman Place and 895 Park Avenue; and alterations, modernization, and an annex for the St. Regis Hotel.
The firm was also active 'in the design of buildings for hospitals and institutions, including the House of Detention for Women at 10 Greenwich Avenue, the Ward's Island Sewage Disposal Plant, the Rikers Island Penitentiary, buildings for the Harlem Hospital, and the Southampton Hospital, Architectural plans for the West Side Elevated Highway between Canal and 72nd Streets and the New York State exhibit building, marine amphitheatre and stage at the 1939 New York World's Fair were also carried out by the firm. In the Chanin Building as in so much of their work during the 1930s, they created a striking example of Art Deco architecture, using that most characteristic Art Deco building type, the skyscraper.
The Chanin Building rises 56 stories in a series of setbacks culminating in a tower, designed in accordance with the 1916 zoning ordinance. The site itself, which was bounded by streets on three sides, was governed by three sets of zoning rules. This made the tower rather than the street frontage the controlling factor in regard to massing. Critic Matlack Price praised the Chanin Building as "an impressive realization of the most hopeful predictions that were made years ago, when the zoning laws first imposed the set-back restrictions on tall structures. At once it becane necessary to design in
masses rather than in facades." The design of the tower was also influenced by the widely-publicized entry submitted by Eliel Saarinen in the competition for a new building for the Chicago Tribune (1922) .
The Saarinen design proved a fertile source for many Art Deco architects.
The first 17 stories completely cover tine plot except on the center of trie Lexington Avenue facade which is recessed above the fourth story. Major setbacks begin above the seventeenth story, forming a pyramidal base for the tower which rises uninterrupted from the thirtieth to the fifty-second story. The upper four stories of the tower are further recessed and accented with buttresses. The steel frame is clad with buff brick, terra cotta, and limestone, and is ornamented in such a way as to emphasize seme of the special functions within.
As was the customary in skyscraper design, the architects were interested in establishing a clearly-defined base for the composition and a strong interest at and relationship to the street. The first floor was intended for shops. Originally the plate glass shop windows were enclosed by bronze enframements set in Belgian black marble.
Later alterations have obscured sane of the original detail. Also at first floor level are major entrances on Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Above the first floor runs a bronze frieze telling the story of evolution. It shows different kinds of plant and animal life, beginning with low marine forms, then more complex forms, and finally birds and fish. At the second and third floors, which were intended for financial institutions, are triple window groups framed in bronze and divided between the floors by bronze spandrel panels with characteristic Art Deco ornament.
Each window group is flanked by limestone piers with ornamented terra-cotta capitals. Hie windows above the entrances are given a distinctive treatment with ornamental spandrel panels of a different design. Incorporated into the window framing are curved bronze supports holding canopies above the entrances. The canopies themselves have been altered. The fourth story is completely covered with an elaborate pattern of stylized plant forms executed in terra cotta. The use of such stylized forms is a characteristic associated with Art Deco design.
Trie ornament on these floors was designed by the noted architectural sculptor Rene Chambellan (1893-1955) in collaboration with Jacques Delamarre (b. 1907), head of the architectural staff of the Chanin Construction Company. Among the buildings for which Chambellan executed architectural sculpture were Radio City Music Hall and other buildings at Rockefeller Center, the East Side Airline Terminal, the Russell Sage Foundation Building, the Tribune Ttwer in Chicago, the Stirling Library at Yale, and the Pershing Stadium in Vincennes, France.
In the Chanin Building Delamarre was responsible for many of the details of the interior design and through the years supervised the many projects which the Chanin organization chose to design "in-house." Chambellan and Delamarre also collaborated on the design of the sculptural reliefs and bronze grilles adorning the vestibules inside the building entrances. They symbolically portray various aspects of the theme "the City of Opportunity," telling "the story of a city in which it is possible for a nan to rise from a humble station to wealth and influence by sheer power of his mind and hands." This, in fact, was a tribute to the success and achievement of Irwin S. Chanin.
Cc\ the Lexington Avenue side, a series of buttresses at the fifth and sixth stories accent the recessed portion of the facade. The form of these buttresses echoes the form of those at tine crown of the tower. Buttress forms extending from the thirtieth to the forty-ninth floor also accentuate the comers of the brick-faced tower.
The termination of the buttress forms at the forty-ninth floor indicates sore of the special functions in the floors above. The fiftieth and the fifty-first floors-now converted to office space— originally housed a theater which was to serve the theatrical division of the Chanin Organization. The Chanin offices continue to be housed in the crcKn of the tower which begins at tiie fifty-second floor. The most prominent features of the crown are the protruding buttresses which provide a distinctive termination for the tower.
Projecting ornament executed in abstract patterns at the fifty-second floor adds further interest to the Tower. Originally a battery of 212 flood-lights illuminated the crown of the tower at night adding to its dramatic effect of the skyline. This emphasis on dramatic illumination is another quality associated with Art Deco architecture, and it is characteristically displayed in one of Hugh Ferriss' noted renderings of the buildings.
When completed in 1929 the Chanin Building was praised by architectural, critic Matlack Price as being "a splendid contribution to twentieth century architecture.. .that.. .powerfully rationalizes all the novel features of this new style,-and.. .a splendid contribution to the architecture of all time because it is a good design."
The quality of the design and the ornament continue to delight and are now recognized as exemplifying the characteristics of the Art Deco skyscraper. it remains a striking visual asset to the Grand Central area and continues to function successfully as an office building.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The Chanin Building, built in 1927-29, rises 56 stories at the comer of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Designed by the architectural firm of Sloan & Robertson with sculptural decoration by Rene Chambellan, it is a major example of Art Deco architecture in New York City. Erected under the supervision of the Chanin Construction Company, the building still serves as the organization’s headquarters.
Irwin S. Chanin (b.1892) established his firm in 1919 to build one-family houses in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, after studying engineering at Cooper union, working on subway construction in New York and Philadelphia, and participating in the construction of a poison gas factory for the U.S. Amy during World War I.
His first venture in Bensonhurst was so successful that he brought his brother Henry I. Chanin (1893-1973) into the firm, and they proceeded to build more houses and also apartment buildings in Brooklyn and then erected an office building in downtown Brooklyn. Extending their activities to Manhattan in 1924, they constructed the Fur Center Building. 'That same year the Chan ins expanded into the theater business, 'eventually building eight theaters, including the fabulous 6000-seat Roxy. The Chanins also managed a number of these theaters.
The 1400-roan Hotel Lincoln, on Eighth Avenue between 44th and 45th. Streets was completed and opened by the Chanins in 1S28. Following the completion of the Chanin Building in 1929, the firm expanded its activities into the Manhattan apartment field, building the Majestic and Century apartment houses on Central Park West. Extensive suburban building activity occupied much of the firm's tire during the 1930s and 1940s. A notable example was Green Acres, a residential park community in Valley Stream, Long Island, begun in 1936. During World War II the firm built 2000 pro-fabricated dwellings in Newport News,Virginia, five hangars at National Airport in Washington, the Naval Or dance Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland, and five Navy powder magazine buildings in Indian Head, Maryland.
Tte firm has also built numerous manufacturing buildings in the New York City area and the impressive Coney Island Pumping Station for the City of New York. By 1952 when Irwin S. Chanin was profiled in the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, the Chanin Organization was composed of approximately 25 firms and corporations engaged in architecture, engineering, and construction, and in ownership and operation of real estate.
In August 1926 the Chanins acquired a 105-year leasehold on the site of the Manhattan Storage Warehouse on the west side of Lexington Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets in order to build their new office tower. Plans were filed and work begun in 1927. When the steel structure work was completed on July 2, 1928, the Chanins followed their traditional practice of driving two gold rivets into a column on the uppermost floor. On January 23, 1929, exactly one year after Irwin S. Chanin drove the first rivet into the st.ee! frame, construction was completed—testimony to the skill of the workmen and the efficiency of the Chanin Construction Company. It was opened for business that January 29 and was hailed as "another step in the evolution of the skyscraper . At that time, it was the first major skyscraper to have been built in the area around Grand Central Terminal, anticipating a major shift in the business district of the city. Other notable skyscrapers such as the Chrysler and Daily News Buildings soon followed. Its 660-foot height was then exceeded only by the Woolworth Building and Metropolitan Life Tower in New York and the Cleveland Terminal Building in Cleveland. Irwin S. Chanin was not, however, interested in creating the world's tallest office building but rather in building an efficient, up-to-date, progressive structure that would attract the modern business man and be a credit to the Chanin firm.
To create this image, he commissioned the architectural firm of Sloan & Robertson.
Sloan & Robertson was one of the major New York architectural firms of the 1920s and '30s. John Sloan (1888-1954) studied architecture at New York University, then supervised construction for the U. S. Army In various capacities between 1900 and 1920. In private practice in 1920, he received the commission for the Pershing Square Building, 100 East U2nd Street. He formed a partnership in 1924 with T. Markoe Robertson (1878.-1962) who had been educated at Yale University and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In addition to the Chanin Building, the firm was responsible for the Graybar Building, 420 Lexington Avenue; the Maritime Exchange Building, 80 Broad Street; the 29 Broadway Office Building; the Plaza Building, 625 Madison Avenue; apartment buildings at 1 Beekman Place and 895 Park Avenue; and alterations, modernization, and an annex for the St. Regis Hotel.
The firm was also active 'in the design of buildings for hospitals and institutions, including the House of Detention for Women at 10 Greenwich Avenue, the Ward's Island Sewage Disposal Plant, the Rikers Island Penitentiary, buildings for the Harlem Hospital, and the Southampton Hospital, Architectural plans for the West Side Elevated Highway between Canal and 72nd Streets and the New York State exhibit building, marine amphitheatre and stage at the 1939 New York World's Fair were also carried out by the firm. In the Chanin Building as in so much of their work during the 1930s, they created a striking example of Art Deco architecture, using that most characteristic Art Deco building type, the skyscraper.
The Chanin Building rises 56 stories in a series of setbacks culminating in a tower, designed in accordance with the 1916 zoning ordinance. The site itself, which was bounded by streets on three sides, was governed by three sets of zoning rules. This made the tower rather than the street frontage the controlling factor in regard to massing. Critic Matlack Price praised the Chanin Building as "an impressive realization of the most hopeful predictions that were made years ago, when the zoning laws first imposed the set-back restrictions on tall structures. At once it becane necessary to design in
masses rather than in facades." The design of the tower was also influenced by the widely-publicized entry submitted by Eliel Saarinen in the competition for a new building for the Chicago Tribune (1922) .
The Saarinen design proved a fertile source for many Art Deco architects.
The first 17 stories completely cover tine plot except on the center of trie Lexington Avenue facade which is recessed above the fourth story. Major setbacks begin above the seventeenth story, forming a pyramidal base for the tower which rises uninterrupted from the thirtieth to the fifty-second story. The upper four stories of the tower are further recessed and accented with buttresses. The steel frame is clad with buff brick, terra cotta, and limestone, and is ornamented in such a way as to emphasize seme of the special functions within.
As was the customary in skyscraper design, the architects were interested in establishing a clearly-defined base for the composition and a strong interest at and relationship to the street. The first floor was intended for shops. Originally the plate glass shop windows were enclosed by bronze enframements set in Belgian black marble.
Later alterations have obscured sane of the original detail. Also at first floor level are major entrances on Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Above the first floor runs a bronze frieze telling the story of evolution. It shows different kinds of plant and animal life, beginning with low marine forms, then more complex forms, and finally birds and fish. At the second and third floors, which were intended for financial institutions, are triple window groups framed in bronze and divided between the floors by bronze spandrel panels with characteristic Art Deco ornament.
Each window group is flanked by limestone piers with ornamented terra-cotta capitals. Hie windows above the entrances are given a distinctive treatment with ornamental spandrel panels of a different design. Incorporated into the window framing are curved bronze supports holding canopies above the entrances. The canopies themselves have been altered. The fourth story is completely covered with an elaborate pattern of stylized plant forms executed in terra cotta. The use of such stylized forms is a characteristic associated with Art Deco design.
Trie ornament on these floors was designed by the noted architectural sculptor Rene Chambellan (1893-1955) in collaboration with Jacques Delamarre (b. 1907), head of the architectural staff of the Chanin Construction Company. Among the buildings for which Chambellan executed architectural sculpture were Radio City Music Hall and other buildings at Rockefeller Center, the East Side Airline Terminal, the Russell Sage Foundation Building, the Tribune Ttwer in Chicago, the Stirling Library at Yale, and the Pershing Stadium in Vincennes, France.
In the Chanin Building Delamarre was responsible for many of the details of the interior design and through the years supervised the many projects which the Chanin organization chose to design "in-house." Chambellan and Delamarre also collaborated on the design of the sculptural reliefs and bronze grilles adorning the vestibules inside the building entrances. They symbolically portray various aspects of the theme "the City of Opportunity," telling "the story of a city in which it is possible for a nan to rise from a humble station to wealth and influence by sheer power of his mind and hands." This, in fact, was a tribute to the success and achievement of Irwin S. Chanin.
Cc\ the Lexington Avenue side, a series of buttresses at the fifth and sixth stories accent the recessed portion of the facade. The form of these buttresses echoes the form of those at tine crown of the tower. Buttress forms extending from the thirtieth to the forty-ninth floor also accentuate the comers of the brick-faced tower.
The termination of the buttress forms at the forty-ninth floor indicates sore of the special functions in the floors above. The fiftieth and the fifty-first floors-now converted to office space— originally housed a theater which was to serve the theatrical division of the Chanin Organization. The Chanin offices continue to be housed in the crcKn of the tower which begins at tiie fifty-second floor. The most prominent features of the crown are the protruding buttresses which provide a distinctive termination for the tower.
Projecting ornament executed in abstract patterns at the fifty-second floor adds further interest to the Tower. Originally a battery of 212 flood-lights illuminated the crown of the tower at night adding to its dramatic effect of the skyline. This emphasis on dramatic illumination is another quality associated with Art Deco architecture, and it is characteristically displayed in one of Hugh Ferriss' noted renderings of the buildings.
When completed in 1929 the Chanin Building was praised by architectural, critic Matlack Price as being "a splendid contribution to twentieth century architecture.. that.. .powerfully rationalizes all the novel features of this new style,-and.. .a splendid contribution to the architecture of all time because it is a good design."
The quality of the design and the ornament continue to delight and are now recognized as exemplifying the characteristics of the Art Deco skyscraper. it remains a striking visual asset to the Grand Central area and continues to function successfully as an office building.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a region in western Iceland known for its dramatic landscapes. At its western tip, Snæfellsjökull National Park is dominated by Snæfellsjökull Volcano, which is topped by a glacier. Nearby, a trail leads through lava fields to black-pebble Djúpalónssandur Beach. In Stykkishólmur fishing village, the 19th-century wood-frame Norwegian House is a regional museum with a craft shop.
Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The Chrysler Building, a stunning statement in the Art Deco style by architect William Van Alen, embodies the romantic essence of the New York City skyscraper. Built in 1928-30 for Walter P. Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation, it was "dedicated to world commerce and industry."- The tallest building in the world when completed in 1930, it stood proudly on the New York skyline as a personal symbol of Walter Chrysler and the strength of his corporation.
History of Construction
The Chrysler Building had its beginnings in an office building project for William H. Reynolds, a real-estate developer and promoter and former New York State senator. Reynolds had acquired a long-term lease in 1921 on a parcel of property at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street owned by the Cooper Union tor the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1927 architect William Van Alen was hired to design an office tower to be called the Reynolds Building for the site. Publicized as embodying new principles in skyscraper design,*' the projected building was to be 67 stories high rising 808 feet, and it was "to be surmounted by a glass dome, which when lighted from within, will give the effect of a great jewelled sphere."-' In October, 1928, however, the office building project and the lease on the site were taken over by Walter P. Chrysler, head of the Chrysler Corporation, who was seeking to expand his interests into the real estate field.
Walter Percy Chrysler , one of America's foremost automobile manufacturers, was a self-made man who worked his way up through the mechanical an; manufacturing aspects of the railroad business before joining the Buick Motor Company as works manager in 1912. Because of his success in introducing new processes and efficiencies into the automobile plant, he rose quickly through the administrative ranks of General Motors before personality conflicts with William C. Durant, head of General Motors, forced Chrysler to leave. In 1921 he reorganized Willys-Overland Company, and then took over as chairman of the reorganization and management committee of the Maxwell Motor Company, eventually assuming the presidency. This enabled Chrysler to introduce in 1924 the car bearing his name which presented such innovations as four-wheel hydraulic brakes and high compression motor.
Over 50 million dollars worth of cars were sold the first year, and in 1925, the Maxwell Motor Company became the Chrysler Corporation, Dodge Brothers was acquired in 1928 giving the Chrysler Corporation additional manufacturing facilities, a famous line of cars, and putting it in a position to challenge the leadership of Ford and General Motor By 1935, when Chrysler retired from the presidency of the Chrysler Corporation to become chairman of the board, the company was second in the automobile industry ir. volume of production.
It was while Chrysler was aggressively expanding his corporation in 1928 that he took over the office building project from Reynolds. In his autobiography, Chrysler said that he had the building constructed so that his sons would have something to be responsible for. He could not have been unaware, however, that the building would become a personal symbol and further the image of the Chrysler Corporation — even though no corporate funds were used in its financing or construction. To that end Chrysler worked with architect William Van Alen to make the building a powerful and striking design.
William Van Alen studied at Pratt Institute before beginning his architectural career in the office or Clarence True, a speculative builder. Severs! years later while continuing his studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute 01 Design in the atelier of Donn Barber, Van Alen entered the office of Clinton * Russell as a designer. In 1908 he won the Paris Prize of the Beaux-Arts Institute and entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Atelier lLaloux. According to architect Francis S. Swales, "
His work at the Ecole indicated that the training was providing him with the mental freedom necessary to think independently, instead of merely the usual school -cargo of elements of architecture and a technique or competition by rules."0 Returning to New York in 1912 he introduced the concept of "garden11 apartments and also designed the Albemarle Building, a skyscraper without cornices. In the 1920s he became known for his innovative shop-front designs and for a series of restaurants for the Child's chain. With the Chrysler Building, Van Alen was able to apply modern principles of design to the skyscraper but at the same time created such a striking image that critic Kenneth Murchison dubbed him "the Ziegfield of his profession.
'In the 1930s he pioneered in prefabricated housing designs although they were never widely produced. Van Alen served for four years in the 1940s as director of sculpture for the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and he was a member of the American Institute of Architects and the National Academy of Design.
Work began on the Chrysler Building on October 15, 1928, when Chrysler acquire the lease, with clearance of the site. Construction proceeded rapidly; foundations to a depth of 69 feet were completed early in 1929, and the steel framework was completed by the end of September of that year.
The design of the building, however, was altered from that for Reynolds. Chrysler, in his autobiography, credits himself for suggesting that it be taller than the 1000-foot Eiffel Tower. The design of the crowning dome was also changed, and the addition of a spire, which the architect called a "vertex," made the Chrysler at 1046 feet the tallest building in the world at the time. Kenneth Murchison fancifully depicts Chrysler urging Van Alen to win the race to construct the world's tallest building.
Van Alen himself had personal reasons for achieving this goal, as a former partner, ii. Craig Severance, was constructing the Bank of Manhattan, 40 Wall Street, at the same time with the aim of making it the world's tallest skyscraper. Thinking that the Chrysler Building would be only 925 feet high, Severance added a 50-foot flagpole to his building making it 927 feet. Meanwhile, Van Alen designed the 185-foot spire which would make the Chrysler Building the tallest. The spire was fabricated, then delivered to the building in five sections, and assembled secret at the 65th floor.
In November, 1929, it was finally raised into position by a 20-ton derrick through a fire tower in the center of the building, then riveted i place, the whole operation taking about 90 minutes. This engineering feat capture the popular imagination as well as that of professionals, and it helped to further the progressive image of the Chrysler Building. However, the Chrysler lost its height distinction two years later with the construction of the Empire State Building.
The first tenants moved into the Chrysler Building in April, 1930, even though construction was not completed. Formal opening ceremonies were held on May 27, 1930 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the 42nd Street Property Owners and Merchants Association. A bronze tablet was placed in the lobby of the building "in recongnition of Mr. Chrysler's contribution to civic advancement." The building was considered finished in August, 1930, but curiously, the completion date recorded in the records of the Manhattan Building Department is February 19, 1932.
The Chrysler Building and Art Deco
Waiter P. Chrysler wanted a progressive image and a personal symbol. Van Alen strove* to create such an image using the tenets of modernism as he interpreted them. In so doing he designed a building which has come to be regarded as one of the outstanding examples of Art Deco architecture.
The term. Art Deco, which is also referred to by several different names such as the Style Moderne and Modernistic, is adopted from the Exposition International: des Arts Decoratifs et Industrie]s Modernes--an important European influence or. the American Art Deco sty!e--held in Paris in 1925.
In the period following the first World War, architects in Europe and the united States had begun to simplify traditional design forms and to use -industrial materials in innovative ways in order to characterize the modern age.
The Art Deco style seemed to lend itself particularly well to skyscraper design because the skyscraper, more than any other building type, epitomized progress, innovation, and a new modern age. Although the Art Deco style was short-lived, it coincided with a great building boom at the end of the 1920s in New York. The many-skyscrapers which were erected in the Art Deco style gave New York and its skyline a characteristic and romantic image, popularized in theater and films, which persisted until the next great building boom of the early 1960s. In the Chrysler Building, Van Alen used a variety of materials, techniques, and design forms which are characteristic of Art Deco.
The Chrysler Building rises 77 stories in a series of setbacks which accord with the regulations of the 1916 New York zoning prdinance. As a freestanding tower occupying about half a block, the building is visible from four sides. Like many Art Deco architects. Van Alen believed strongly in designing steel structures so that they would not be imitative of masonry construction.'- Also unlike many earlier skyscrapers, the design of the Chrysler did not follow the formula of a column with ornamental base, bare shaft, and ornamental capital; rather the design was to be of interest throughout the entire height.13 Both the great height of the building and the mandated setbacks aided Van Alen in making this design decision,
The first four stories of the building cover the entire site arid are faced with polished black Shastone granite at the first story and white Georgian marble above. The most striking features of this portion of the building are the two entrances, on Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Each entrance rises for h height of three stories in proscenium fashion and is enframed by Shastone granite. Set back within the deep reveals of the entrances are sets of revolving doors beneath intricately patterned metal and glass screens.
The treatment is such as to heighten the dramatic effect of entering the building --a concern of Art Deco design There is a one-story entrance on 43rd Street. Also at first story level are iarge show windows for shops, framed in metal. Windows for offices may be seen at the second, third, and fourth stories. Ornamental spandrels are set at the bases of the second story windows. The exposed metal frames of the entries and windows art of "Nirosta" steel, a kind of rust-resistant, chromium nickel steel, manufactured for the first time in the United States specifically for the Chrysler Building according to a German formula from Krupp. This use of a new. material is in keeping with Art Deco principles.
Above the fourth story, the building is penetrated on the east and west sides by light courts extending to the face of the tower, while on the north and south the structure gradually rises in a series of setbacks. The facing of the walls through the first setback at the sixteenth story is of white brick with contrast! white marble strips creating a basketweave pattern. The use of a variety of colo and textures is characteristic of Art Deco. Windows are set in a regular grid pattern. An. unusual feature of all windows in the building is that they have no reveals; frames are set flush with the walls. This was seen is another means of indicating modernity and progress.
In the next setback, ending at the twenty-fourth floor, there is a vertical emphasis with piers of white brick alternating with vertical window strips. Aluminum spandrels between the windows aid this effect. Spandrels at the twentieth twenty-first, and twenty-second floors are adorned with polished abstract relief ornament. At the corners of the twenty-fourth floor are placed conventionalized pineapples, about nine feet high, of "Nirosta" steel, which had been fabricated < the site.
The next three stories, through the twenty-seventh, form the third setback. Horizontal banding and zigzag motifs in gray and black brick contrast with the verticality of the setback below. The fourth setback, to the thirty-first story marks the emergence of the tower shaft from the lower masses. At the thirty-first floor the corners of the building are extended outward and crowned by huge ornamental Chrysler radiator caps in "Nirosta" steel, spanning about 15 feet.
The- extension was necessary to overcome the optical effect that would otherwise make the tower appear wider at the top than at the base. Also at this floor is a frieze ir. gra; and white brick of stylized racing automobiles with polished steel hub caps. Th ornamental features are overt symbols of the Chrysler Corporation and characteristic of the types of effects created by Art Deco architects.
The building had a number of innovative and desirable features. THe soundproofed office partitions were of steel made in interchangeable sections so that arranges! of any office suite could be changed quickly and conveniently. Under-floor duct systems carried wiring for telephone and electric outlets.
The elevators, specifically at Chrysler's instruction, were capable of speeds of 1000 feet per minute although city codes in effect in 1930 only allowed 700 feet per minute. The building also had three of the longest continuous elevator shafts in the world To enhance public access to the building, an underground arcade led to the IRT subway system. The connection was strongly opposed by the IRT, but Chrysler prevailed and the passageway was built at his expense. In the dome was the private-Cloud Club, which still exists, and, in the very topmost floor, a public observation deck.
On display was Walter P. Chrysler's box of handmade tools, the emblem of his enterprise and personal success. The observatory has been closed for many years.
Conclusion
Critics such as Lewis Mumford who favored the International Style denigrated the Chrysler Building for its "inane romanticism,... meaningless voluptuousness, ... /and/ void symbolism," " but it was these qualities which captured the popular imagination and helped make it one of the most famous buildings in New York. We can appreciate the comments of the editor of Architectural Porum who wrote:
It stands by itself, something apart and alone. It is simply the realization, the fulfillment in metal and masonry, of a one-man dream, a dream of such ambition and such magnitude as to defy the comprehension and the criticism of ordinary men or by ordinary standards.
The Chrysler Building still stands proudly in the New York skyline, its gleaming spire and soaring tower capturing the eye and imagination of the viewer. While it may no longer symbolize the Chrysler Corporation, it still embodies the romantic essence of the Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, with its dramatic effects, elegant materials, and vivid ornamental details. Built as a monument to progress in commerce and industry, it remains as one of New York's finest office buildings and great examples of the Art Deco style.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report