Thank you to IQuitCountingStock for allowing me to use her beautiful photo in this picture.

 

:-)

Simon

 

iquitcountingstock.deviantart.com/

  

Strathalbyn.

A Special Survey of 4,000 acres was taken out along the Angas River in 1839 for George Hall (secretary to Governor Gawler) and William Mein and others. Land was surveyed from the mouth of the Angas along the river to about where Macclesfield is now situated. Other contributors to the Mouth of the Angas Special Survey were Strathalbyn settlers including: 806 acres purchased by Dr John Rankine, Blackwood Park; 166 acres purchased by William Rankine, Glenbarr; 410 acres purchased by Donald McLean; 81 acres purchased by Edward and Charles Stirling of Hampton and later the Lodge. William and Nicol Mein kept 728 acres for themselves but George Hall (who kept about 930 acres) was a Colonial Office employee with an eye on speculation. He also paid £4,000 for the Great Bend Special Survey along the River Murray from Morgan to Blanchetown but it was claimed this was taken for Governor Gawler but in Hall’s name to avoid scandal! But the land was not worth £1 per acre! The Meins were graziers and also took out Occupational Licenses for leasehold land in 1843. They were Scots so they donated £600 for the building fund for the Presbyterian Church in Adelaide in 1840. But in 1843 they dissolved a business partnership in Adelaide and they appear to have left the colony perhaps to join their relatives in NSW. Meins did not stay on to become Strathalbyn pioneers unlike the Rankines, McLeans and Stirlings. The other prominent early founder was William Dawson- hence the creek flowing in front of Glen Barr is the Dawson Creek which enters the Angas River in Strathalbyn. Dawson Banks is another of the grand old properties in Strathalbyn.

 

Stirlings chose their land to the north of the town and built Hampden and the Lodge; John Rankine chose his land to the north of the town and built Blackwood Park whilst brother William Rankine chose land to the south on Dawson Creek and built Glenbarr house. The first public building in the fledgling town of Strathalbyn was the Strathalbyn Hotel erected in 1840 and the second was probably St. Andrews Presbyterian Church which opened in 1844 with additions in 1869. As most of the settlers were Scottish the name chosen for the town was Scottish and the first church was Presbyterian. The first farmer to produce a crop was David Gollan. His interest in wheat led him to open the first flour mill in 1850 in the centre of the town. Mill Bridge adjacent to the flourmill bridged the Angas River. As the town progressed quickly a local council was formed in 1854 with the Stirlings, Rankines and Archibald McLean (investor in Langhorne Creek) being among the first councillors. The Stirlings were especially important to Strathalbyn. Edward Stirling (the father) joined into a partnership with (Sir) Thomas Elder and Robert Barr Smith in 1855. Stirling stayed with the company as it funded the Moonta and Wallaroo copper mines in 1861 then he withdrew but remained as an investor in the mines. The company went on to become Elder Smith and Co the most successful SA 19th century company. Edward Stirling had two sons, (Sir) Edward Stirling a famed surgeon who lived at St. Vigeans at Stirling and (Sir) Lancelot Stirling, local Member of Parliament for the Strathalbyn district, sheep and cattle breeder and company director. The Stirlings lived in the family home Hampden until it burnt down around 1870. Then they moved into the Lodge which was extended and remained the family home for Sir Lancelot Stirling after his father Edward died in 1873. Lancelot lived there until he died in 1932. The Stirlings of Strathalbyn also owned and operated Nalpa Station on Lake Albert. The Lodge is now the centre of a new suburban development at Strathalbyn.

 

From the beginning Strathalbyn prospered because of its access to water from the Angas River, its reliable rainfall, its genial climate for cropping and from the patronage of its wealthy founders. The town was laid out in 1840 and blocks sold at that time. The discovery of silver, lead and zinc at nearby Wheal Ellen mine in 1857 further boosted the growing town. The mine closed a short time later but re-opened in 1869 and operated until closure in 1888. It briefly re-opened from 1910-14 for the last phase. Until recently Strathalbyn had another zinc mine conducted by Terramin Mining which started operations in 2007. The zinc from here was sent to Nyrstar refinery at Port Pirie for smelting. The mining occurred 360 metres below the ground surface. The mine had a life of five years and closed in late 2013 ending the jobs of 115 local people. But Strathalbyn has always had a range of local industry. A foundry operated in the town from the mid 1850s as well as the usual businesses of blacksmith, saddlery etc, and the town handled coach services to Wellington via Langhorne Creek from around 1854. It was also one of the first towns in SA to have its own gas works started by David Trenouth in 1868. By 1870 the small urban centre of Strathalbyn had gas street lights! The gas works operated until 1917 when an electrical service took over power provision. From an early date Strathalbyn also had its own newspaper and printing press the Southern Argus housed in Argus House which was built 1867/68. The Southern Argus which is still published, is SA’s oldest country newspaper. In 1912 it established an offshoot - the Victor Harbor Times. In terms of transportation and the transport of goods Strathalbyn prospered as it was the terminus of the horse drawn tram service from Port Elliott and Goolwa in 1869. That is why the Terminus Hotel is so named. In 1884 that line was converted to a broad gauge rail line for steam engines and linked at Mt Barker with the line to Adelaide. Strathalbyn had a flour mill from 1850 as noted above and in the 1860s the town had its own brewery. The heyday of business boom for Strathalbyn was in the 1860s and 1870 when so many of the fine town buildings were erected. Heritage buildings are shown on map above and they include:

Commercial Street/Dawson Street.

•At the northern end of Commercial Street on the corner with North Parade is the Doctor’s Residence. 26 North Parade. Dr Herbert built a grand 8 roomed residence here in 1858. Dr Ferguson purchased it in 1869 and added and altered the verandas. Dr Shone bought it in 1897. Dr Formby took it over in 1907 and kept it until he sold it to Dr Fairley in 1979! Note the double chimneys and the ogee(S shaped) gutters above the bay windows and the 1850s French windows.

•On the northern end of Commercial Street is the Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1874. It replaced the demolished Methodist church built in 1854. Built of random stone, semi rounded windows etc. It became the only Methodist church at the time of Methodist amalgamations in 1900 .It closed around the time of amalgamation with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists in 1977. The Hall was added in 1939.

•Blackwell House, 18 Commercial Street. A two storey bluestone structure from the 1860s. It was much altered in 1912 when the parapet along the roof was removed, the slate replaced with iron and the upper balcony added.

•The former Power House 1917 –when gas works closed. Became Council Chamber 1939 when ETSA arrived.

•Coleman Mill store. Fine stone building with few windows. Built 1864. Coleman bought the mill from Gollan.

•1850 flour mill which was sold to Laucke’s in 1938. Commercial Rd and Mill Street an imposing four storey structure. Note the four storeys, purple sandstone, and little windows.

•Beside the mill is Water Villa house. The earliest part dates from 1849 and the Italianate bay window sections are 1879. David Gollan the owner of the 1850 flour mill built this as his residence. It is a mixture of stones. Note the French doors in the old original part of the house onto the veranda.

•Argus House, 1868. 33 Commercial Street. It was a print works and residence and shop.

•Post Office 1911. 37 Commercial Street.

•Savings Banks of South Australia. A fine two storey structure for the bank and manager’s residence. Built in 1930. It has rough stone, prominent gables, repeating arches, wooden doors, and terra cotta tiles.

•Church of Christ. Opened in 1873.Limestone walls, arched windows.

•Masonic Hall built in 1896 but Lodge established 1866.Additons 1912 and 1957.

 

Rankine Street/Albyn Terrace.

•Strathalbyn Police Station (1855) and Court House (1865) now the National Trust Museum.

•National Bank 2 Albyn Terrace. Squared stone blocks, two storeys and a dominant building. Elaborate porch and balcony and decorative window surrounds etc. Erected in 1869. Nearby Norfolk Island pine was planted in 1895.

•Tucker & Sons solicitors at 8 Albyn Terrace. Have a look at all the shops along Albyn Terrace a great 19th century streetscape still largely intact. It was used in the film “Picnic at Hanging Rock.”

 

High Street.

•London House general store at 7 High Street 1867. Now an antiques shop. Cobb and Co used to use the stables at the rear for the daily coaching service to Adelaide. London House had the first telephone in Strathalbyn in 1883.

•Robin Hood hotel erected in 1855 and still standing. 18 High Street.

•The Strathalbyn library 9 High Street. Opened 1922 with a classical façade with good symmetry.

•The Town Hall at 11 High Street. 1874 opened as a two storey stone structure with fancy parapet as an institute building. The parapet is supported by paired brackets.

 

Other locations- Chapel Street, East Terrace and South Terrace.

•St. Andrews Uniting Church (formerly Presbyterian) 1844 for main church with transept added 1857. Manse erected 1854. 1869 tower completed, bell donated by Edward Stirling. Clock installed 1895. Church hall on the opposite corner was built in 1911.

•Former Primitive Methodist Church 1861 was sold to the Anglican Church as a church hall in 1901 following the Methodist amalgamation. It was sold to the Foresters Lodge in 1912(when Anglicans purchased the former Catholic Church) and much later it as sold to the Scouts.

•St. Barnabas Catholic Church 2 Chapel Street. This was a late addition to Strathalbyn being erected in 1913. But Catholic services began in 1881 when a Catholic church was consecrated in Rowe St. The first priest arrived in 1906. A presbytery as built 1911 in East Tce and then church two years later. The 1881 church was sold in 1913 as Anglican parish hall called St. Barnabas. It is on the corner of Rowe and Murray street.

•Christ Church Anglican Church 7 East Terrace. The tower on Christ Church was erected from donations on the death of Sir Lancelot Stirling in 1932. The tower opened in 1933 but the church was built in 1871.

•Railway Station on South Terrace erected 1883 in time for opening of broad gauge line to Adelaide and start of branch line trains to Milang from Sandergrove siding.

•Two storey residence attached to Rowe’s foundry in South Terrace. Britannia House as it is known was built in 1855.

 

  

Supervenient Conclusions.

Spontanés audiences spéculations germinations commençant avouer,

de recurrendo ad voluptatem omnia alia remota,,

upspringing immagina agglomerato di descrivere piaceri rilevamento dimostrato,

Wiederaufnahme der lobenswerten Bedingungen Einbalsamierung Beispiele Traditionen entdeckt,

Perioada de-hap risc mulțumit durate Ventures certuri mai departe,

cyfyngiadau expirations buchesi llenyddol cyrraedd cwestiynau chwilfrydedd dyfaliadau,

ogarnęła degeneracji zniekształcony okres przerywający obowiązek przekazany,

eljárás prototípus vizsgálatok megvetendő hangok rendkívüli vállalat trükkök,

diplomatist fíor-riachtanach tionchar speciousness tremulous smaointe sásúil,

واع نظارات تداول الغضب الحفاظ الشكوك قار شخصية ل,

återupprättas uproariously plussidan verksamhet upplysta utmärkelser långt,

stjórna hert í bankanum swearing ákvæði herrar eftirgjöf sveifla ómögulegt,

endowments wallets faculties mga transaksyon prostrated philosophers Liwanag ng buwan,

限られた真理を実証する不正確な予測を矛盾の誤解が返す!

Steve.D.Hammond.

Kilroy was here is an American popular culture expression, often seen in graffiti. Its origins are open to speculation, but recognition of it and the distinctive doodle of "Kilroy" peeking over a wall is almost ubiquitous among U.S. residents who lived during World War II through the Korean War.

 

The same doodle also appears in other cultures, but the character peeping over the wall is not named Kilroy but Foo, i.e. Foo was here. In the United Kingdom, such graffiti are known as "chads". In Chile, the graphic is known as a "sapo" [toad]; this may refer to the character's peeping, an activity associated with frogs because of their protruding eyes.

 

Origins

The phrase appears to have originated through United States servicemen, who would draw the doodle and the text "Kilroy Was Here" on the walls or elsewhere they were stationed, encamped, or visited. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable notes that it was particularly associated with the Air Transport Command, at least when observed in the United Kingdom.

 

One theory identifies James J. Kilroy, an American shipyard inspector, as the man behind the signature. During World War II he worked at the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, where he claimed to have used the phrase to mark rivets he had checked. The builders, whose rivets J. J. Kilroy was counting, were paid depending on the number of rivets they put in. A riveter would make a chalk mark at the end of his or her shift to show where they had left off and the next riveter had started. Unscrupulous riveters discovered that, if they started work before the inspector arrived, they could receive extra pay by erasing the previous worker's chalk mark and chalking a mark farther back on the same seam, giving themselves credit for some of the previous riveter's work. J.J. Kilroy stopped this practice by writing "Kilroy was here" at the site of each chalk mark. At the time, ships were being sent out before they had been painted, so when sealed areas were opened for maintenance, soldiers found an unexplained name scrawled. Thousands of servicemen may have potentially seen his slogan on the outgoing ships and Kilroy's omnipresence and inscrutability sparked the legend. Afterwards, servicemen could have begun placing the slogan on different places and especially in new captured areas or landings. At some later point, the graffiti and slogan (Kilroy was here) must have merged.

 

The New York Times reported this as the origin in 1946, with the addition that Kilroy had marked the ships themselves as they were being built—so, at a later date, the phrase would be found chalked in places that no graffiti-artist could have reached (inside sealed hull spaces, for example), which then fed the mythical significance of the phrase—after all, if Kilroy could leave his mark there, who knew what else he could do?

 

Author Charles Panati says, “The mischievous face and the phrase became a national joke.” He continued to say, "The outrageousness of the graffiti was not so much what it said, but where it turned up."

 

Kilroy is still known and used today by US Servicemen. He has been seen scribbled on barriers on Main Supply Routes (MSRs) in Iraq and on warehouses in Taji, Iraq.

 

Legends

There are many legends attached to the Kilroy graffiti. One states that Adolf Hitler believed that Kilroy was some kind of American super spy because the graffiti kept turning up in secure Nazi installations, presumably having been actually brought on captured Allied military equipment. Another states that Stalin was the first to enter an outhouse especially built for the leaders at the Potsdam conference. Upon exiting, Stalin asked an aide, "Who is this Kilroy?" Another legend states that a German officer, having seen frequent "Kilroys" posted in different cities, told all of his men that if they happened to come across a "Kilroy" he wanted to question him personally. Another one states the entire gag was started by a soldier in the Army who was sick of the Air Force bragging that they were always the first on the scene; the little man and phrase then began appearing in ludicrous places to indicate that someone had, in fact, arrived prior to the Air Force.

 

The graffiti is supposedly located on various significant and/or difficult-to-reach places such as on the torch of the Statue of Liberty, on the Marco Polo Bridge in China, in huts in Polynesia, on a high girder on the George Washington Bridge in New York, at the peak of Mt. Everest, on the underside of the Arc de Triomphe, scribbled in the dust on the moon, in WWII pillboxes scattered around Germany, around the sewers of Paris, and, in tribute to its origin, engraved in the WWII Memorial in Washington D.C.

 

The Transit Company of America held a competition in 1946 offering a real trolley car to the man who could verify he was the "real Kilroy". J. J. Kilroy brought his co-workers with him to prove that he was undeniably the true Kilroy. The other forty or so men who showed up were not able to establish they were the "real" Kilroy. Kilroy gave his prize to his nine children to play with in their front yard.

   

There has been much written, and much said, by some people who have looked at all the changes that have occurred in American society in the past 20 years or so, and who have looked retrospectively to earlier history of the United States, and indeed, of the world, and come to the conclusion that there is a conspiracy of sorts which influences, indeed controls, major historical events, not only in the United States, but around the world. This conspiratorial interpretation of history is based on people making observations from the outside, gathering evidence and coming to the conclusion that from the outside they see a conspiracy. Their evidence and conclusions are based on evidence gathered in retrospect. Period.

 

I want to now describe what I heard from a speaker in 1969 which in several weeks will be 20 years ago. The speaker did not speak in terms of retrospect, but rather predicting changes that would be brought about in the future. The speaker was not looking from the outside in, thinking that he saw conspiracy, rather, he was on the inside, admitting that, indeed, there was an organized power, force, group of men, who wielded enough influence to determine major events involving countries around the world. And he predicted, or rather expounded on, changes that were planned for the remainder of this century. As you listen, if you can recall the situation, at least in the United States in 1969 and the few years thereafter, and then recall the kinds of changes which have occurred between then and now, almost 20 years later, I believe you will be impressed with the degree to which the things that were planned to be brought about have already been accomplished. Some of the things that were discussed were not intended to be accomplished yet by 1988 but are intended to be accomplished before the end of this century. There is a timetable; and it was during this session that some of the elements of the timetable were brought out.

 

Anyone who recalls early in the days of the Kennedy Presidency. . the Kennedy campaign. . when he spoke of "progress in the decade of the '60s"; that was kind of a cliché in those days - "the decade of the '60s." Well, by 1969 our speaker was talking about the decade of the '70s, the decade of the '80s, and the decade of the '90s. So that... I think that terminology that we are looking at. . . looking at things and expressing things, probably all comes from the same source. Prior to that time I don't remember anybody saying "the decade of the '40s and the decade of the '50s. So I think this overall plan and timetable had taken important shape with more predictability to those who control it, sometime in the late '50s. That's speculation on my part. In any event, the speaker said that his purpose was to tell us about changes which would be brought about in the next 30 years or so . . . so that an entirely new world-wide system would be in operation before the turn of the century. As he put it:

 

"We plan to enter the 21st Century with a running start. Everything is in place and nobody can stop us now . . ."

He said – as we listened to what he was about to present – he said:

 

"Some of you will think I'm talking about Communism. Well, what I'm talking about is much bigger than Communism!"

At that time he indicated that there is much more cooperation between East and West than most people realize. In his introductory remarks he commented that he was free to speak at this time because now, and I'm quoting here:

 

" ... everything is in place and nobody can stop us now."

That's the end of that quotation. He went on to say that most people don't understand how governments operate and even people in high positions in governments, including our own, don't really understand how and where decisions are made. He went on to say that... he went on to say that people who really influence decisions are names that, for the most part, would be familiar to most of us, but he would not use individuals' names or names of any specific organization. But, that if he did, most of the people would be names that were recognized by most of his audience. He went on to say that they were not primarily people in public office, but people of prominence who were primarily known in their private occupations or private positions. The speaker was a doctor of medicine, a former professor at a large Eastern university, and he was addressing a group of doctors of medicine, about 80 in number. His name would not be widely recognized by anybody likely to hear this, and so there is no point in giving his name. The only purpose in recording this is that it may give a perspective to those who hear it regarding the changes which have already been accomplished in the past 20 years or so, and a bit of a preview to what at least some people are planning for the remainder of this century so that we – or they – would enter the 21st Century with a flying start. Some of us may not enter that Century. His purpose in telling our group about these changes that were to be brought about was to make it easier for us to adapt to these changes. Indeed, as he quite accurately said, they would be and he hopes that we, as sort of his friends, would make the adaptation more easily if we knew somewhat beforehand what to expect.

 

"People will have to get used to change . . ."

Somewhere in the introductory remarks he insisted that nobody have a tape recorder and that nobody take notes, which for a professor was a very remarkable kind of thing to expect from an audience. Something in his remarks suggested that there could be negative repercussions against him if his... if it became widely known what he was about to say to... our group... if it became widely known that he spilled the beans, so to speak. When I heard that, first I thought maybe that was sort of an ego trip, somebody enhancing his own importance. But as the revelations unfolded, I began to understand why he might have had some concern about not having it widely known what was said, although this... although this was a fairly public forum where he was speaking, [where the] remarks were delivered. But, nonetheless, he asked that no notes be taken... no tape recording be used – suggesting there might be some personal danger to himself if these revelations were widely publicized. Again, as the remarks began to unfold, and I saw the rather outrageous things that were said – at that time they certainly seemed outrageous -- I made it a point to try to remember as much of what he said as I could, and during the subsequent weeks and months and years, to connect my recollections to simple events around me, both to aid my memory for the future in case I wanted to do what I'm doing now - record this. And also, to try to maintain a perspective on what would be developing, if indeed, it followed the predicted pattern - which it has!

 

At this point, so that I don't forget to include it later, I'll just include some statements that were made from time to time throughout the presentation... just having a general bearing on the whole presentation. One of the statements was having to do with change. People get used … his statement was:

 

"People will have to get used to the idea of change, so used to change, that they'll be expecting change. Nothing will be permanent."

This often came out in the context of a society of... where people seemed to have no roots or moorings, but would be passively willing to accept change simply because it was all they had ever known. This was sort of in contrast to generations of people up until this time where certain things you expected to be, and remain in place as reference points for your life. So change was to be brought about, change was to be anticipated and expected, and accepted, no questions asked. Another comment that was made from time to time during the presentation was:

 

"People are too trusting. People don't ask the right questions."

Sometimes, being too trusting was equated with being too dumb. But sometimes when ... when he would say that and say, "People don't ask the right questions," it was almost with a sense of regret, as if he were uneasy with what he was part of, and wished that people would challenge it and maybe not be so trusting.

 

The Real and the "Stated" Goals

Another comment that was repeated from time to time ... this particularly in relation to changing laws and customs ... and specific changes ... he said:

 

"Everything has two purposes. One is the ostensible purpose which will make it acceptable to people; and second, is the real purpose which would further the goals of establishing the new system and having it."

Frequently he would say:

 

"There is just no other way. There's just no other way!"

This seemed to come as a sort of an apology, particularly when ... at the conclusion of describing some particularly offensive changes. For example, the promotion of drug addiction which we'll get into shortly.

 

Population Control

He was very active with population control groups, the population control movement, and population control was really the entry point into specifics following the introduction. He said the population is growing too fast. Numbers of people living at any one time on the planet must be limited or we will run out of space to live. We will outgrow our food supply and we will over-pollute the world with our waste.

 

Permission to Have Babies

 

People won't be allowed to have babies just because they want to or because they are careless. Most families would be limited to two. Some people would be allowed only one, and the outstanding person or persons might be selected and allowed to have three. But most people would [be] allowed to have only two babies. That's because the zero population growth [rate] is 2.1 children per completed family. So something like every 10th family might be allowed the privilege of the third baby. To me, up to this point, the word "population control" primarily connoted limiting the number of babies to be born. But this remark, about what people would be "allowed" and then what followed, made it quite clear that when you hear "population control" that means more than just controlling births. It means control of every endeavor of an entire... of the entire world population; a much broader meaning to that term than I had ever attached to it before hearing this. As you listen and reflect back on some of the things you hear, you will begin to recognize how one aspect dovetails with other aspects in terms of controlling human endeavors.

 

Redirecting the Purpose of Sex: Sex without Reproduction and Reproduction without Sex

 

Well, from population control, the natural next step then was sex. He said sex must be separated from reproduction. Sex is too pleasurable, and the urges are too strong, to expect people to give it up. Chemicals in food and in the water supply to reduce the sex drive is not practical. The strategy then would be not to diminish sex activity, but to increase sex activity, but in such a way that people won't be having babies.

 

Contraception Universally available to All

 

And the first consideration then here was contraception. Contraception would be very strongly encouraged, and it would be connected so closely in people's minds with sex, that they would automatically think contraception when they were thinking or preparing for sex. And contraception would be made universally available. Nobody wanting contraception would be... find that they were unavailable. Contraceptives would be displayed much more prominently in drug stores, right up with the cigarettes and chewing gum. Out in the open, rather than hidden under the counter where people would have to ask for them and maybe be embarrassed. This kind of openness was a way of suggesting that contraceptions … that contraceptives are just as much a part of life as any other items sold in the store. And, contraceptives would be advertised. And, contraceptives would be dispensed in the schools in association with sex education!

 

Sex Education as a Tool of World Government

 

The sex education was to get kids interested early, making the connection between sex and the need for contraception early in their lives, even before they became very active. At this point I was recalling some of my teachers, particularly in high school and found it totally unbelievable to think of them agreeing, much less participating in, distributing of contraceptives to students. But, that only reflected my lack of understanding of how these people operate. That was before the school-based clinic programs got started. Many, many cities in the United States by this time have already set up school-based clinics which are primarily contraception, birth control, population control clinics. The idea then is that the connection between sex and contraception introduced and reinforced in school would carry over into marriage. Indeed, if young people – when they matured – decided to get married, marriage itself would be diminished in importance. He indicated some recognition that most people probably would want to be married ... but that this certainly would not be any longer considered to be necessary for sexual activity.

 

Tax Funded Abortion as Population Control

 

No surprise then, that the next item was abortion. And this, now back in 1969, four years before Roe vs. Wade. He said:

 

"Abortion will no longer be a crime. Abortion will be accepted as normal"

 

… and would be paid for by taxes for people who could not pay for their own abortions. Contraceptives would be made available by tax money so that nobody would have to do without contraceptives. If school sex programs would lead to more pregnancies in children that was really seen as no problem. Parents who think they are opposed to abortion on moral or religious grounds will change their minds when it is their own child who is pregnant. So this will help overcome opposition to abortion. Before long, only a few die-hards will still refuse to see abortion as acceptable, and they won't matter anymore.

 

Encouraging Homosexuality. Sex, Anything Goes

 

Homosexuality also was to be encouraged.

 

"People will be given permission to be homosexual."

That's the way it was stated. They won't have to hide it. And elderly people will be encouraged to continue to have active sex lives into the very old ages, just as long as they can. Everyone will be given permission to have sex, to enjoy however they want. Anything goes. This is the way it was put. And, I remember thinking, "how arrogant for this individual, or whoever he represents, to feel that they can give or withhold permission for people to do things!" But that was the terminology that was used. In this regard, clothing was mentioned. Clothing styles would be made more stimulating and provocative. Recall back in 1969 was the time of the mini skirt, when those mini- skirts were very, very high and revealing. He said:

 

"It is not just the amount of skin that is exposed that makes clothing sexually seductive, but other, more subtle things are often suggestive,"

… things like movement, and the cut of clothing, and the kind of fabric, the positioning of accessories on the clothing.

 

"If a woman has an attractive body, why should she not show it?"

… was one of the statements.

 

There was not detail on what was meant by "provocative clothing," but since that time if you watched the change in clothing styles, blue jeans are cut in a way that they're more tight-fitting in the crotch. They form wrinkles. Wrinkles are essentially arrows. Lines which direct one's vision to certain anatomic areas. And, this was around the time of the "burn your bra" activity. He indicated that a lot of women should not go without a bra. They need a bra to be attractive, so instead of banning bras and burning them, bras would come back. But they would be thinner and softer allowing more natural movement. It was not specifically stated, but certainly a very thin bra is much more revealing of the nipple and what else is underneath, than the heavier bras that were in style up to that time.

 

Technology. Earlier he said … sex and reproduction would be separated. You would have sex without reproduction and then technology was reproduction without sex. This would be done in the laboratory. He indicated that already, much, much research was underway about making babies in the laboratory. There was some elaboration on that, but I don't remember the details, how much of that technology has come to my attention since that time. I don't remember … I don't remember in a way that I can distinguish what was said from what I subsequently have learned as general medical information.

 

Families to Diminish in Importance

Families would be limited in size. We already alluded to not being allowed more than two children. Divorce would be made easier and more prevalent. Most people who marry will marry more than once. More people will not marry. Unmarried people would stay in hotels and even live together. That would be very common - nobody would even ask questions about it. It would be widely accepted as no different from married people being together. More women will work outside the home. More men will be transferred to other cities, and in their jobs, more men would travel. Therefore, it would be harder for families to stay together. This would tend to make the marriage relationship less stable and, therefore, tend to make people less willing to have babies. And, the extended families would be smaller, and more remote. Travel would be easier, less expensive, for a while, so that people who did have to travel would feel they could get back to their families... not that they were abruptly being made remote from their families. But one of the net effects of easier divorce laws combined with the promotion of travel, and transferring families from one city to another, was to create instability in the families. If both husband and wife are working and one partner gets transferred the other one may not be easily transferred. So one either keeps his or her job and stays behind while the other leaves, or else gives up the job and risks not finding employment in the new location. Rather a diabolical approach to this whole thing!

 

Euthanasia and the "Demise Pill"

Everybody has a right to live only so long. The old are no longer useful. They become a burden. You should be ready to accept death. Most people are. An arbitrary age limit could be established. After all, you have a right to only so many steak dinners, so many orgasms, and so many good pleasures in life. And after you have had enough of them and you're no longer productive, working, and contributing, then you should be ready to step aside for the next generation. Some things that would help people realize that they had lived long enough; he mentioned several of these... I don't remember them all... here are a few: Use of very pale printing ink on forms that people... are necessary... to fill out, so that older people wouldn't be able to read the pale ink as easily and would need to go to younger people for help. Automobile traffic patterns - there would be more high-speed traffic lanes. . traffic patterns that would ... that older people with their slower reflexes would have trouble dealing with and thus, lose some of their independence.

 

Limiting access to affordable Medical Care makes Eliminating the Elderly Easier

A big item – [that] was elaborated at some length – was the cost of medical care would be burdensomely high. Medical care would be connected very closely with one's work, but also would be made very, very high in cost so that it would simply be unavailable to people beyond a certain time. And unless they had a remarkably rich, supporting family, they would just have to do without care. And the idea was that if everybody says:

 

"Enough! What a burden it is on the young to try to maintain the old people … then the young would become agreeable to helping Mom and Dad along the way, provided this was done humanely and with dignity. And then the real example was - there could be like a nice, farewell party, a real celebration. Mom and Dad had done a good job. And then after the party's over they take the "demise pill."

Planning the Control over Medicine

The next topic is Medicine. There would be profound changes in the practice of medicine. Overall, medicine would be much more tightly controlled. The observation was made:

 

"Congress is not going to go along with national health insurance. That [in 1969, he said] is now, abundantly evident. But it's not necessary. We have other ways to control health care."

These would come about more gradually, but all health care delivery would come under tight control. Medical care would be closely connected to work. If you don't work or can't work, you won't have access to medical care. The days of hospitals giving away free care would gradually wind down, to where it was virtually non-existent. Costs would be forced up so that people won't be able to afford to go without insurance. People pay... you pay for it, you're entitled to it. It was only subsequently that I began to realize the extent to which you would not be paying for it. Your medical care would be paid for by others. And therefore you would gratefully accept, on bended knee, what was offered to you as a privilege. Your role being responsible for your own care would be diminished. As an aside here – this is not something that was developed at this time ... I didn't understand it at the time -as an aside, the way this works, everybody's made dependent on insurance. And if you don't have insurance then you pay directly; the cost of your care is enormous. The insurance company, however, paying for your care, does not pay that same amount. If you are charged, say, $600 on your part, they pay $300 or $400. And that differential in billing has the desired effect: It enables the insurance company to pay for that which you could never pay for. They get a discount that's unavailable to you. When you see your bill you're grateful that the insurance company could do that. And in this way you are dependent, and virtually required to have insurance.

 

The whole billing is Fraudulent

Anyhow, continuing on now... access to hospitals would be tightly controlled. Identification would be needed to get into the building. The security in and around hospitals would be established and gradually increased so that nobody without identification could get in or move around inside the building. Theft of hospital equipment, things like typewriters and microscopes and so forth would be "allowed" and exaggerated; reports of it would be exaggerated so that this would be the excuse needed to establish the need for strict security, until people got used to it. And anybody moving about in a hospital would be required to wear an identification badge with photograph and … telling why he was there … employee or lab technician or visitor or whatever. This is to be brought in gradually - getting everybody used to the idea of identifying themselves- until it was just accepted. This need for ID to move about would start in small ways: hospitals, some businesses, but gradually expand to include everybody in all places! It was observed that hospitals can be used to confine people ... for the treatment of criminals. This did not mean, necessarily, medical treatment. At that ... at that time, I did not know the word "Psycho-Prison" as in the Soviet Union, but without trying to recall all the details, basically, he was describing the use of hospitals both for treating the sick and for confinement of criminals for reasons other than the medical well-being of the criminal. The definition of criminal was not given.

 

Elimination of Private Doctors

The image of the doctor would change. No longer would he be seen as an individual professional in service to individual patients. But the doctor would be gradually recognized as a highly skilled technician ... and his job would change. The job is to include things like executions by lethal injection. The image of the doctor being a powerful, independent person would have to be changed. And he went on to say:

 

"Doctors are making entirely too much money. They should advertise like any other product."

Lawyers would be advertising too. Keep in mind; this was an audience of doctors being addressed by a doctor. And it was interesting that he would make some rather insulting statements to his audience without fear of antagonizing us. The solo practitioner would become a thing of the past. A few die-hards might try to hold out, but most doctors would be employed by an institution of one kind or another. Group practice would be encouraged, corporations would be encouraged, and then once the corporate image of medical care ... as this gradually became more and more acceptable, doctors would more and more become employees rather than independent contractors. And along with that, of course, unstated but necessary, is the employee serves his employer, not his patient. So that's ... we've already seen quite a lot of that in the last 20 years. And apparently more on the horizon. The term HMO was not used at that time, but as you look at HMOs you see this is the way that medical care is being taken over since the National Health Insurance approach did not get through the Congress. A few die-hard doctors may try to make a go of it; remaining in solo practice, remaining independent, which, parenthetically, is me. But they would suffer a great loss of income. They'd be able to scrape by, maybe, but never really live comfortably as would those who were willing to become employees of the system. Ultimately, there would be no room at all for the solo practitioner, after the system is entrenched.

 

New Difficult to Diagnose and Untreatable Diseases

Next heading to talk about is Health & Disease. He said there would be new diseases to appear which had not ever been seen before. Would be very difficult to diagnose and be untreatable- at least for a long time. No elaboration was made on this, but I remember, not long after hearing this presentation, when I had a puzzling diagnosis to make, I would be wondering, "Is this ... was what he was talking about? Is this a case of what he was talking about?" Some years later, as AIDS ultimately developed, I think AIDS was at least one example of what he was talking about. I now think that AIDS probably was a manufactured disease.

 

Suppressing Cancer Cures as a Means of Population Control

 

He said:

 

"We can cure almost every cancer right now. Information is on file in the Rockefeller Institute, if it's ever decided that it should be released. But consider - if people stop dying of cancer, how rapidly we would become overpopulated. You may as well die of cancer as something else."

Efforts at cancer treatment would be geared more toward comfort than toward cure. There was some statement ultimately the cancer cures which were being hidden in the Rockefeller Institute would come to light because independent researchers might bring them out, despite these efforts to suppress them. But at least for the time being, letting people die of cancer was a good thing to do because it would slow down the problem of overpopulation.

 

Inducing Heart Attacks as a Form of Assassination

Another very interesting thing was heart attacks. He said:

 

"There is now a way to simulate a real heart attack. It can be used as a means of assassinates."

Only a very skilled pathologist, who knew exactly what to look for at an autopsy, could distinguish this from the real thing. I thought that was a very surprising and shocking thing to hear from this particular man at that particular time. This, and the business of the cancer cure, really still stand out sharply in my memory, because they were so shocking and, at that time, seemed to me out of character. He then went on to talk about nutrition and exercise, sort of in the same framework. People would not have to ... people would have to eat right and exercise right to live as long as before. Most won't. This, in the connection of nutrition, there was no specific statement that I can recall as to particular nutrients that would be either inadequate or in excess. In retrospect, I tend to think he meant high salt diets and high fat diets would predispose toward high blood pressure and premature arteriosclerotic heart disease. And that if people who were too dumb or too lazy to exercise as they should then their dietary... their circulating fats go up and predispose to disease.

 

And he said something about diet information -about proper diet- would be widely available, but most people -particularly stupid people, who had no right to continue living anyway- they would ignore the advice and just go on and eat what was convenient and tasted good. There were some other unpleasant things said about food. I just can't recall what they were. But I do remember of ... having reflections about wanting to plant a garden in the backyard to get around whatever these contaminated foods would be. I regret I don't remember the details ... the rest of this ... about nutrition and hazardous nutrition.

 

With regard to Exercise. He went on to say that more people would be exercising more, especially running, because everybody can run. You don't need any special equipment or place. You can run wherever you are. As he put it, "people will be running all over the place." And in this vein, he pointed out how supply produces demand. And this was in reference to athletic clothing and equipment. As this would be made more widely available and glamorized, particularly as regards running shoes, this would stimulate people to develop an interest in running and- as part of a whole sort of public propaganda campaign- people would be encouraged then to buy the attractive sports equipment and to get into exercise.

 

Again... well in connection with nutrition he also mentioned that public eating places would rapidly increase. That ... this had a connection with the family too. As more and more people eat out, eating at home would become less important. People would be less dependent on their kitchens at home. And then this also connected to convenience foods being made widely available -things like you could pop into the microwave. Whole meals would be available pre-fixed. And of course, we've now seen this ... and some pretty good ones. But this whole different approach to eating out and to previously prepared meals being eaten in the home was predicted at that time to be brought about -convenience foods. The convenience foods would be part of the hazards. Anybody who was lazy enough to want the convenience foods rather than fixing his own also had better be energetic enough to exercise. Because if he was too lazy to exercise and too lazy to fix his own food, then he didn't deserve to live very long.

 

This was all presented as sort of a moral judgment about people and what they should do with their energies. People who are smart, who would learn about nutrition, and who are disciplined enough to eat right and exercise right are better people -and the kind you want to live longer.

 

Education as a Tool for Accelerating the onset of Puberty and Evolution

Somewhere along in here there was also something about accelerating the onset of puberty. And this was said in connection with health, and later in connection with education, and connecting to accelerating the process of evolutionary change. There was a statement that:

 

" ... we think that we can push evolution faster and in the direction we want it to go."

I remember this only as a general statement. I don't recall if any details were given beyond that.

 

Blending all Religions …. The Old Religions will have to Go

Another area of discussion was Religion. This is an avowed atheist speaking. And he said:

 

"Religion is not necessarily bad. A lot of people seem to need religion, with it's mysteries and rituals – so they will have religion."

But the major religions of today have to be changed because they are not compatible with the changes to come. The old religions will have to go. Especially Christianity. Once the Roman Catholic Church is brought down, the rest of Christianity will follow easily. Then a new religion can be accepted for use all over the world. It will incorporate something from all of the old ones to make it more easy for people to accept it, and feel at home in it. Most people won't be too concerned with religion. They will realize that they don't need it.

 

Changing the Bible through Revisions of Key Words

In order to do this, the Bible will be changed. It will be rewritten to fit the new religion. Gradually, key words will be replaced with new words having various shades of meaning. Then, the meaning attached to the new word can be close to the old word. And as time goes on, other shades of meaning of that word can be emphasized, and then gradually that word replaced with another word. I don't know if I'm making that clear. But the idea is that everything in Scripture need not be rewritten, just key words replaced by other words. And the variability in meaning attached to any word can be used as a tool to change the entire meaning of Scripture, and therefore make it acceptable to this new religion. Most people won't know the difference; and this was another one of the times where he said:

 

"... the few who do notice the difference won't be enough to matter."

The Churches will Help

Then followed one of the most surprising statements of the whole presentation: He said:

 

" ... some of you probably think the churches won't stand for this [and he went on to say] The churches will help us!"

There was no elaboration on this; it was unclear just what he had in mind when he said, "the churches will help us!" In retrospect, I think some of us now can understand what he might have meant at that time. I recall then only of thinking, "no they won't!" and remembering our Lord's words where he said to Peter, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and gates of Hell will not prevail against it." So ... yes, some people in the churches might help. And in the subsequent 20 years we've seen how some people in churches have helped. But we also know that our Lord's Words will stand, and the gates of Hell will not prevail.

 

Restructuring Education as a Tool of Indoctrination

Another area of discussion was Education. And one of the things in connection with education that I remember connecting with what he said about religion was – in addition to changing the Bible – he said that the classics in Literature would be changed. I seem to recall Mark Twain's writings was given as one example. But he said, the casual reader reading a revised version of a classic would never even suspect that there was any change. And, somebody would have to go through word by word to even recognize that any change was made in these classics; the changes would be so subtle. But the changes would be such as to promote the acceptability of the new system.

 

More Time in Schools, but they "Wouldn't Learn Anything."

As regards education, he indicated that kids would spend more time in schools, but in many schools they wouldn't learn anything. They'll learn some things, but not as much as formerly. Better schools in better areas with better people -their kids will learn more. In the better schools, learning would be accelerated. And this is another time where he said:

 

"We think we can push evolution."

By pushing kids to learn more, he seemed to be suggesting that their brains would evolve, that their offspring would evolve -sort of pushing evolution- where kids would learn and be more intelligent at a younger age. As if this pushing would alter their physiology. Overall, schooling would be prolonged. This meant prolonged through the school year. I'm not sure what he said about a long school day, I do remember he said that school was planned to go all summer, that the summer school vacation would become a thing of the past. Not only for schools, but for other reasons. People would begin to think of vacation times year round, not just in the summer. For most people, it would take longer to complete their education. To get what originally had been in a bachelor's program would now require advanced degrees and more schooling. So that a lot of school time would be just wasted time. Good schools would become more competitive. I inferred when he said that that he was including all schools -elementary up through college- but I don't recall whether he said that. Students would have to decide at a younger age what they would want to study and get onto their track early, if they would qualify. It would be harder to change to another field of study once you get started. Studies would be concentrated in much greater depth, but narrowed. You wouldn't have access to material in other fields, outside your own area of study, without approval. This seem to be more ... where he talked about limited access to other fields ... I seem to recall that as being more at the college level, high school and college level, perhaps. People would be very specialized in their own area of expertise. But they won't be able to get a broad education and won't be able to understand what is going on overall.

 

Controlling who has Access to Information

He was already talking about computers in education, and at that time he said anybody who wanted computer access, or access to books that were not directly related to their field of study would have to have a very good reason for so doing. Otherwise, access would be denied.

 

Schools as the Hub of the Community

Another angle was that the schools would become more important in people's overall life. Kids in addition to their academics, would have to get into school activities unless they wanted to feel completely out of it. But spontaneous activities among kids -the thing that came to my mind when I heard this was sandlot football and sandlot baseball teams that we worked up as kids growing up. I said the kids wanting any activities outside of school would be almost forced to get them through the school. There would be few opportunities outside.

 

Now the pressures of the accelerated academic program, the accelerated demands, where kids would feel they had to be part of something – one or another athletic club or some school activity -these pressures he recognized would cause some students to burn out. He said:

 

" ... the smartest ones will learn how to cope with pressures and to survive. There will be some help available to students in handling stress, but the unfit won't be able to make it. They will then move on to other things."

In this connection, and later on in the connection with drug abuse and alcohol abuse, he indicated that psychiatric services to help would be increased dramatically. In all the pushing for achievement, it was recognized that many people would need help, and the people worth keeping around would be able to accept and benefit from that help, and still be super-achievers. Those who could not would fall by the wayside and therefore were sort of dispensable -"expendable" -I guess is the word I want. Education would be lifelong. Adults would be going to school. There'll always be new information that adults must have to keep up. When you can't keep up anymore, you're too old. This was another way of letting older people know that the time had come for them to move on and take the demise pill. If you get too tired to keep up with your education, or you got too old to learn new information, then this was a signal – you begin to prepare to get ready to step aside.

 

Some Books would just Disappear from the Libraries

In addition to revising the classics, which I alluded to awhile ago -with revising the Bible, he said:

 

"... some books would just disappear from the libraries."

This was in the vein that some books contain information or contain ideas that should not be kept around. And therefore, those books would disappear. I don't remember exactly if he said how this was to be accomplished. But I seem to recall carrying away this idea that this would include thefts. That certain people would be designated to go to certain libraries and pick up certain books and just get rid of them. Not necessarily as a matter of policy – just simply steal it. Further down the line, not everybody will be allowed to own books. And some books nobody will be allowed to own.

 

Changing Laws

Another area of discussion was laws that would be changed. At that time a lot of States had blue laws about Sunday sales, certain Sunday activities. He said the blue laws would all be repealed. Gambling laws would be repealed or relaxed, so that gambling would be increased. He indicated then that governments would get into gambling. We've had a lot of state lotteries pop up around the country since then. And, at the time, we were already being told that would be the case.

 

"Why should all that gambling money be kept in private hands when the State would benefit from it?"

… was the rational behind it. But people should be able to gamble if they want to. So it would become a civil activity, rather than a private, or illegal activity. Bankruptcy laws would be changed. I don't remember the details, but just that they would be changed. And I know subsequent to that time they have been. Antitrust laws would be changed, or be interpreted differently, or both. In connection with the changing anti-trust laws, there was some statement that in a sense, competition would be increased. But this would be increased competition within otherwise controlled circumstances. So it's not a free competition. I recall of having the impression that it was like competition but within members of a club. There would be nobody outside the club would be able to compete. Sort of like teams competing within a professional league ... if you're the NFL or the American or National Baseball Leagues, you compete within the league but the league is all in agreement on what the rules of competition are -not a really free competition.

 

Encouragement of Drug Abuse to create a Jungle Atmosphere

Drug use would be increased. Alcohol use would be increased. Law enforcement efforts against drugs would be increased. On first hearing that, it sounded like a contradiction. Why increase drug abuse and simultaneously increase law enforcement against drug abuse? But the idea is that, in part, the increased availability of drugs would provide a sort of law of the jungle whereby the weak and the unfit would be selected out. There was a statement made at the time:

 

"Before the earth was overpopulated, there was a law of the jungle where only the fittest survived."

You had to be able to protect yourself against the elements and wild animals and disease. And if you were fit, you survived. But now we've become so civilised -we're over civilized- and the unfit are enabled to survive, only at the expense of those who are more fit. And the abusive drugs then, would restore, in a certain sense, the law of the jungle, and selection of the fittest for survival. News about drug abuse and law enforcement efforts would tend to keep drugs in the public consciousness. And would also tend to reduce this unwarranted American complacency that the world is a safe place, and a nice place.

 

Alcohol Abuse

The same thing would happen with alcohol. Alcohol abuse would be both promoted and demoted at the same time. The vulnerable and the weak would respond to the promotions and, therefore, use and abuse more alcohol. Drunk driving would become more of a problem; and stricter rules about driving under the influence would be established so that more and more people would lose their privilege to drive.

 

Restrictions on Travel

This also had connection with something we'll get to later about overall restrictions on travel. Not everybody should be free to travel the way they do now in the United States. People don't have a need to travel that way. It's a privilege! It was a kind of a high-handed way it was put. Again, much more in the way of psychological services would be made available to help those who got hooked on drugs and alcohol. The idea being, that in order to promote this -drug and alcohol abuse to screen out some of the unfit people who are otherwise pretty good- would also be subject to getting hooked. And if they were really worth their salt they would have enough sense to seek psychological counseling and to benefit from it. So this was presented as sort of a redeeming value on the part of the planners. It was as if he were saying:

 

"... you think we're bad in promoting these evil things -but look how nice we are- we're also providing a way out!"

 

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Enthroned Washington

 

U.S President George Washington Statue

 

There is much speculation surrounding this sculpture. the artist claims me modeled it after the great statue of Zeus Olympios, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. many people find a more similar comparison with the image if the Baphomet.

 

The figure sits, half draped, holding out a sword in his left hand, as a gesture of empowering the American people after gaining their independence. His right hand and index finger are pointing up towards the heavens.

 

Do to constant controversy, the statue has been moved around the city to 5 different location since its original unveiling in 1841.

 

It now resides with the Smithsonian and can currently be found in the National Museum Of American History. The statue sits at the western end of the main floor facing east.

 

On either side of the statue is a smaller statue, on male and one female, representing a pagan trinity. The architect (Zeus, "Father of Gods and men") is on the right. As God of the sky, he stands above the depiction of Helios (the Sun.

The goddess (Hera),is found in the left side and Washington is centered between them, representing the Perfected Man.

 

On the bottom left panel there is a depiction of Helios, the sun was personified and crowned with the shining aureole of the sun. He is depicted riding the chariot of the sun,or solar steeds, across the sky. In Roman mythology he was known as Sol, or Sol Invictus.

 

On the bottom right panel, below a small fasci, is a peculiar depiction of two small children (or cherubs). One of them lays on his stomach with his hands covering his face and his left eye peaking out between the index finger and thumb of his left hand. The other child is sitting up with a serpant wrapped around each arm. He holds one of the serpants up with his right arm and stares in its eyes. His head is adorned with a large, inverted, five pointed, blazing star, represnting Sirius.

 

In ancient Persia, the word cherub also meant serpent.

 

Poseidon's trident can be seen on the back of Washington's thrown. The armrests bear the head's of lions with legs underneath the faces and a large "Lion's Paw" at the bottom.

 

Commissioned for the centennial of President Washington's birth.

 

Sculpted by Horatio Greenough

 

Located: National Museum Of American History

1000 Jefferson Drive SW, Washington, D.C.

  

1619 Broadway, Theater District, Manhattan

 

Since its construction in 1930-31, the 11-story Brill Building has been synonymous with American music – from the last days of Tin Pan Alley to the emergence of rock and roll. Occupying the northwest corner of Broadway and West 49th Street, it was commissioned by real estate developer Abraham Lefcourt who briefly planned to erect the world’s tallest structure on the site, which was leased from the Brill Brothers, owners of a men’s clothing store. When Lefcourt failed to meet the terms of their agreement, the Brills foreclosed on the property and the name of the nearly-complete structure was changed from the Alan E. Lefcourt Building to the, arguably more melodious sounding, Brill Building. Designed in the Art Deco style by architect Victor A. Bark, Jr., the white brick elevations feature handsome terra-cotta reliefs, as well as two niches that prominently display stone and brass portrait busts that most likely portray the developer’s son, Alan, who died as the building was being planned. A remarkable number of tenants have been music publishers, but the building is also notable for attracting an evolving roster of songwriters, booking agents, vocal coaches, publicity agents, talent agents, and performers. As the popularity of big band music and jazz increased, many performers leased offices in the building, including Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, and Nat King Cole. By the early 1960s, more than 160 tenants were involved in the music industry. While not every artist associated with the so-called “Brill Building sound” actually worked at 1619 Broadway, these creative men and women produced some of early rock and roll’s most beautifully-crafted and memorable songs. Also contributing to the building’s reputation have been various commercial tenants, including such fashionable restaurants as Jack Dempsey’s and the Turf, and a succession of vast second floor nightclubs, including the Hurricane, Club Zanzibar and Bop City, where jazz briefly gained a prominent midtown venue and a wider audience in the 1940s.

 

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

 

Few office buildings in New York City are as closely associated with a single profession as the Brill Building. Built on speculation at the start of the Great Depression, during 1930-31, for the next half-century this 11-story Art Deco-style structure was synonymous with popular music and entertainment. A succession of tenants, including music publishers, talent agents, songwriters, and nightclubs, have contributed to the building’s legendary status. Not only were more than 160 music-related businesses based here by the early 1960s but music historian Ian Inglis has written that these talented artists brought “a new professionalism and maturity to rock and roll,” leading to the increased presence of women as performers and producers, as well as the development of the “singer-songwriter” – artists who compose and record their own material.

 

And Ken Emerson, author of Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era, observed: “The music publishers and songwriters who worked there routinized the creation and production of rock ‘n’ roll. They smoothed the rough edges . . . Reigning in the unruliness of rock ‘n’ roll made it safe for teenage America and profitable in the mass marketplace.”3 During this period, the Brill Building became the unofficial center of pop music in the United States. While not all of the artists and companies associated with the so-called “Brill Building sound” actually leased space here, such myths demonstrate the structure’s longstanding importance, from its early ties to Tin Pan Alley and the Big Band era to the present day.

 

The Site

 

The Brill Building occupies the northwest corner of Broadway and West 49th Street. It was named for the Brill Brothers – Samuel, Max and Maurice – who operated a Manhattan chain of men’s clothing stores for more than five decades. Founded by Samuel and Maurice Brill in late 1886, their first store was located in lower Manhattan at 45 Cortlandt Street, near Church Street. The Brills began leasing the Broadway site in 1909 and a branch opened here in October 1910. The New York Times reported:

 

The steady growth of Times Square and the adjoining streets as the business centre of Manhattan is proved this morning by the opening of a new clothing store . . . it covers half the block on the Broadway side and 75 feet in Forty-ninth Street.

 

The site was originally owned by Archibald D. and Albertina Russell, who conveyed it to the financiers Moses Taylor and Percy R. Pyne (1857-1929) in 1919. The Ruspyn Corporation was established following Pyne’s death and the lease with the Brill Brothers was extended 85 years. This set the stage for a sublease to the 1619 Realty Corporation, which agreed to erect a building of at least six stories, valued at more than $400,000. In addition, the contract stipulated that any plans be approved by the Brills.

 

Plan and Construction

 

On October 3, 1929, three weeks before the stock market crash, Lefcourt announced plans to build the world’s tallest structure at the northwest corner of Broadway and 49th Street. Representing an investment of $30 million, the Chicago Tribune reported:

 

An arrangement already settled between the builder and his client, said to be one of

the largest business institutions in the country, is that the building shall not be less

than the height announced.

 

Not only would the 1,050-foot tower be much taller than the 538-foot Lefcourt-Colonial Building – the firm’s tallest project to date – but it would also have surpassed two of the city’s loftiest structures: the 1,046-foot Chrysler Building (completed May 1930, a designated New York City Landmark) and the 927-foot Manhattan Company Building (a designated New York City Landmark). In the weeks that followed, Lefcourt may have become uneasy about such ambitious plans. Though he remained publicly optimistic about the real estate market, a December 1929 article made no mention of the Brill Building’s height.16 This suggests that he had difficulty financing the tower or that the original height was being reconsidered, and subsequently, reduced.

 

Despite a tough economic climate, the project eased forward. Lefcourt and the 1619 Realty Company finalized the purchase of the lease from the Brill Brothers in January 1930 and in March 1930 plans (NB 46-1930) for a much lower structure were submitted to the Department of Buildings. The New York Times commented: “No definite statement could be obtained yesterday regarding the reason for changing the plans.”17 Bark was identified as the architect and the owner was the Ruspyn Corporation, with Percy P. Pyne as president. It was described as ten stories tall, with a penthouse, stores, bank and offices. The estimated cost was modest, $1 million. Initially called the Alan E. Lefcourt Building, construction began in May 1930 and the exterior work was completed in late November 1930.

 

Design

 

The Brill Building is a handsome example of the Art Deco style.

 

Especially popular with New York City real estate developers from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, it grew out of Beaux Arts classicism and included decorative elements associated with structures erected at the Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs & Industriels of 1925, as well as other European styles. Prior to this period, American architects tended to find inspiration in historical forms, borrowing ideas not only from classical sources, but also from medieval and Byzantine models, as illustrated in such designated New York City Landmarks as: the New York Times Building (various architects, begun 1912) on West 43rd Street, the American Radiator Building (Raymond Hood, 1923-24) on West 41st Street, and the Bowery Savings Bank (York & Sawyer, begun 1921-23) on East 42nd Street. In contrast to subsequent architectural trends, particularly following the Second World War, Art Deco buildings are frequently distinguished by low decorative reliefs, vivid colors, and unusual materials.

 

Times Square has relatively few buildings of this style. This can be explained by the fact that most theaters were completed before 1925 when variants of neo-Classicism were at the height of popularity. With few sites open to development, only a small group of neighborhood structures would reflect the new fashion; surviving examples include: the Manufacturer’s Trust Bank (Dennison & Hirons, 1927-28, now a theater and stores) at the northwest corner of Eighth Avenue and 43rd Street; the Film Center Building (Ely Jacques Kahn, 1928-29, a designated Landmark Interior) at 630 Ninth Avenue; the Edison Hotel (Herbert J. Krapp, 1930-31) on West 47th Street; and the McGraw-Hill Building (Raymond Hood, 1930-31, a designated New York City Landmark), at 330 West 42nd Street.

 

In designing the Brill Building, Bark divided the Broadway and 49th Street facades into three distinct sections: a three-story base, a seven-story shaft, and penthouse. These elevations are faced with mainly white brick but the base, the central window bays, and the top story incorporate light-colored terra-cotta reliefs. This cast material was favored by early 20th-century architects as a less costly but attractive substitute for carved ornament. While some architects used it extensively, covering entire facades, as in the Woolworth Building (Cass Gilbert, 1910­13, a designated New York City Landmark), in most instances it was used selectively to enhance specific architectural features and to enrich setbacks on the upper floors. Though the source of this building’s terra cotta has yet to be identified, it may have been produced by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company (active 1907-43), which supplied similar decorative reliefs to several contemporary buildings in Times Square.

 

This Brill Building has mostly conventional, one-over-one fenestration, but the three-story base is almost entirely glazed with a distinctive combination of gridded and fixed window panes.

 

The main entrance was positioned at the center of the Broadway facade, opening to a small foyer and a deep hallway that leads to an elevator lobby along the west side of the building. Though the width of the entrance is relatively narrow, Bark used eye-catching materials to highlight it. Three gleaming brass-finished doors are flanked by polished black granite piers, topped with brass cruciform details that extend up and slightly cover the base of the second-story windows. The elaborate door surround features a grid of windows that resembles a ziggurat. These windows illuminate the foyer and provide visual support for the niche that contains a bust. Set on a pedestal, flanked by elaborate scrollwork and ascending panels incorporating slim vertical reliefs, the brass sculpture sits in an elaborate faceted niche, crowned by a keystone. The John Hartell Company is likely to have been responsible for executing these dazzling features since it recently had collaborated with Bark on the Lefcourt-Colonial Building.

 

At the corner of each facade, above the storefronts, the outermost window bays are flanked by double-height pilasters. These flat, brown pilasters are crowned by square reliefs that suggest capitals, a device frequently used by contemporary architects. Between the second and third floors is a continuous band of polychrome (bluish gray and pink) terra-cotta reliefs. Aligned with each set of metal-framed windows, these panels are divided into three sections. The distinctive treatment of these floors suggests that the interior spaces were designed for a specific purpose. Not only would these decorative elements attract attention to the lower floors but the continuous fenestration permitted generous views south toward the heart of Times Square.

 

To gently lead the eye up both elevations, Bark used recessed terra-cotta panels above the three center window bays. These white panels contain foliate reliefs, crowned by a wave-like horizontal band that functions as a window sill. To cap the uppermost windows, a narrower panel was used. Less tall than the rest, it has clipped corners that when viewed together with the brick pilasters suggest curtains being pulled open. At this level, the architect also added six raised terra-cotta circles above the three side window bays. The 11th floor penthouse, recessed from 49th Street and disguised by a stepped gable, incorporates a large masonry or terra-cotta bust set into a niche, flanked by round arched windows. This massing is decorative – not only does it hide the penthouse but this feature recalls the developer’s original intent to construct a much taller structure since taller buildings were generally required to have setbacks.

 

Roof-top signs also contribute to the Brill Building’s character and its historic role in Times Square. Since as early as 1934, it has served as a platform for a steel framework that supports colorful illuminated signs. Long-term advertisers have included Camel cigarettes (1934) and Budweiser beer (c. 1958). Set atop the penthouse, at an angle to Broadway, these multi-story billboards face south and enjoy great visibility.

 

The Portrait Busts

 

Above the Broadway entrance, incorporated into the brass window surround, is a small niche displaying a bust. This sculpture, as well as the slightly larger masonry (possibly terra cotta) bust installed at the penthouse level, has frequently been interpreted as a portrait of Alan E. Lefcourt, for whom the building was originally named and who died two months before the architect filed plans with the Department of Buildings. In both busts, the subject is portrayed as dressed in a three-piece suit and tie. Whereas the head in the 11th-floor niche faces directly forward, the brass bust is turned slightly to the left.

 

Figurative sculptures, set into niches and roundels, were an important part of the ecclesiastical tradition in Europe, used on church facades to represent saints and occasionally religious patrons. In the late 19th century, terra-cotta sculptures of historical figures were sometimes used to decorate the exteriors of institutional structures, such as the six large portrait heads on the Brooklyn Historical Society (1878-81, part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District) by Olin Levi Warner, and a series of portrait busts portraying figures from antiquity and physicians on the Deutsches (German) Dispensary (1883-84, a designated New York City Landmark), 137 Second Avenue, Manhattan.

 

In terms of commercial structures, the print dealer Frederick Keppel embellished the facade of 4 East 39th Street (George B. Post, 1904) with the “first permanent memorial” to the painter James McNeil Whistler,19 as well as a portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn, and above the entrance to the Gainsborough Studios (1907-8, a designated New York City Landmark), 222 Central Park South, is a bust of the 18th-century English portrait and landscape painter. In Times Square, at least two buildings display portraits connected to the performing arts: the elaborate north entrance to the Lyric Theater (Victor Hugo Koehler, 1903, now the Hilton Theater), 214 West 43rd Street, includes portraits of the light opera composer Reginald De Koven, for whom it was built, as well as Gilbert & Sullivan, and the south facade of the I. Miller Shoe Store (1926, a designated New York City Landmark) contains three full-length portraits, set into gilt niches.

 

Chosen by popular vote, these sculptures represent leading actresses in their most famous theatrical roles.

 

The busts on the Brill Building are especially unusual because of their personal nature. When former New York governor Samuel Tilden built his house on Gramercy Park (Vaux & Radford, 1881-84, a designated New York City Landmark), he decorated the lower facade with small brownstone portraits of his favorite authors. While caricatures of individuals are sometimes incorporated as building details, such as the architect, owner, and engineer flanking the elevators in the Woolworth Building, the central and conspicuous placement of the two busts on the Brill Building is notable. Born in 1912, Alan E. Lefcourt gained some notoriety at the age of twelve when his father, Abraham, gave him ownership of a $10 million office building, to be erected at the southwest corner of Madison Avenue and 34th Street. Abraham reportedly said that he wished to “inculcate in his son . . . a sense of thrift and responsibility.”

 

Alan, however, was unable to enjoy the financial returns anticipated by his father – a victim of anemia, he died in February 1930.

 

The only known contemporary account that mentions the brass bust appeared in November 1932, as part of Abraham Lefcourt’s New York Times obituary: “Alan died, he put up an eight-story building with his son’s bust over the entrance.”21 In 1990, David Dunlap speculated that the penthouse niche displays the “bust of the developer, Abraham E. Lefcourt.” More recently, in 1999, New York Times reporter Daniel B. Schneider wrote: “The subject of the two busts is uncertain . . . Evidence suggests that the one on the 11th floor is Abraham E. Lefcourt, the building’s developer, and that the other, is his son.”22 Such interpretations may be based on the fact that both died early, well before average age. While it seems likely that the brass portrait is, in fact, a memorial bust, the other bust was installed by September 1930 – more than two years before Abraham’s untimely death, suggesting that it, too, represents the son, or, perhaps, an idealized male tenant.

 

Music Tenants

 

A rental office opened in September 1930. With “new automatic-stop, high-speed elevators” and plans for a ground floor shopping lobby, early leases were reportedly signed with “public utility companies, law firms, certified public accountants and other professional interests.”23 Despite confident accounts in the press, a great many units remained vacant. Contemporary telephone directories list relatively few tenants and a 1934 photograph shows a two-story-high banner advertising “OFFICES” across windows along the east edge of the 49th Street facade. Furthermore, many windows were without shades or blinds, suggesting that considerable space remained available.24

 

The Brill Building was planned as “executive office space” with floors that could be subdivided.25 When this initial strategy failed, smaller spaces were created and leased – the kinds of offices that appeal to wide variety of businesses. It was under these circumstances that the popular music industry found a new base in New York City, from the last years of Tin Pan Alley to the dawn of rock and roll. Phone directories indicate there were approximately 100 entertainment-related tenants in 1940, and as many as 165 by 1962. These included an evolving roster of songwriters, music publishers, booking agents, vocal coaches, publicity agents, talent managers, and performers.

 

Early tenants tended to be music publishers, some with ties to Tin Pan Alley. They included the T. B. Harms Company,26 one of the earliest American firms to profit from the sale of sheet music to musical stage shows; Mills Music Inc.,27 headed by Jack and Irving Mills (aka Joe Primrose), a major independent publisher of sheet music and jazz recordings; Famous Music, established in 1928 by Famous-Lasky Pictures (later Paramount Pictures) to produce and publish songs from film musicals; Southern Music Company, founded by music scout and engineer Ralph S. Peer in 1928; Crawford Music Corporation (B. G. De Sylva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson); and lyricist/composer Irving Caesar, one of the building’s longest tenants, who wrote more than 700 songs and continued to lease space until the 1970s.

 

According to the Times Square Alliance, of more than 1200 songs performed on the popular radio and television program Your Hit Parade (1935-58), 404 songs, about a third, originated with Brill Building tenants.29 Other 1930s tenants included numerous attorneys; Hyman Caplan, a boxing promoter; theater producer George Choos; as well as the management offices of the Ben Bernie, Earl J. Carpenter, and George Olsen orchestras.30

 

As the popularity of jazz and big bands grew in the late 1930s, many popular groups, some with ties to music publishers in the building, leased offices in the Brill Building, including Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey (aka the Embassy Music Corporation, 11th story penthouse), and Duke Ellington. Ben Barton, a former vaudevillian, founded the Barton Music Corporation in 1943. A close friend of Frank Sinatra, who performed with Dorsey’s orchestra in the early 1940s, Barton’s firm published and controlled much of the singer’s best-known compositions, as did a related tenant, Sinatra Songs, until the mid-1960s.31 Vocalists Nat King Cole and Louis Prima had offices here in the 1950s, as did the influential radio disk jockey Alan Freed, Roost (later Roulette) Records, the music publishing companies Charles K. Harris and Harry von Tilzer, and the celebrated songwriting team of (Johnny) Burke & (Jimmy) Van Heusen.

 

The heyday of the Brill Building was during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Not only were there more music-related tenants here than at any other time, but these tenants helped make rock and roll music part of the American mainstream. Music historian Ian Inglis wrote: “it is one of the few buildings whose name many readily evoke a particular period or circumstance – along with, for example, the Cavern, Graceland, Studio 54, and Harlem’s Apollo Theater” (1913-14, a designated New York City Landmark and Interior). Though not every artist, songwriter, and producer associated with the building, particularly Aldon Music, actually leased offices here, a remarkable number did. In his 2003 essay on the building’s legacy, Inglis summarized:

 

Stylistically, its innovations can be credited with much of the responsibility for the increased presence of women as performers and producers of popular music, and for the development of the singer-songwriter. Industrially, its working practices and policies informed many of the changing emphases – and responses to them – characterizing the organization and implementation of the commercial operations of popular music. Creatively, it has been seen as a major source of inspiration for performers and musicians within a variety of popular music genres.34

 

One of the most significant tenants during this period was Hill & Range Songs, founded by Jean and Julien Aberbach in 1948. Located in the 11th-story penthouse, this publishing company had numerous subsidiaries, including Big Top, Rumbalero and Gladys Music. Among the talented songwriters on their staff were (Jerry) Leiber & (Mike) Stoller, who wrote numerous hit songs for Elvis Presley and other artists, as well as the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman – all members of the Rock and Roll and Songwriters Hall of Fame.35 Red Bird Records, specializing in “girl groups,” was founded by Leiber & Stoller and was based on the ninth floor during the mid-1960s. Other memorable songwriting tenants included the team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who were associated with Red Bird and other recording labels.

 

Composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David met at Famous Music in 1957 and together would write more than one hundred songs for films and Broadway productions, as well as the singers Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, and Tom Jones. David recalled:

 

The preponderance of songwriters were in the Brill Building, the energy was in the Brill Building, the publishers were there, and if you had to be someplace else, you always wound up back at the Brill sometime during the day.

 

[he and Bacharach] started out in New York and met almost every day in the Brill building for about 17 years . . . It was still filled with music publishers when we were there. We wrote in the same little room with an upright piano. Eventually, we moved back and forth between New York and Los Angeles.39

 

Starting the late 1960s and 1970s, the number of tenants in the entertainment industry began to decline – many moved to Los Angeles – with only a fraction remaining today.40 They include: Charing Cross Music, Paul Simon Music; Sound One, an audio post-production facility; KMA Music, a recording studio; Saint Nicholas Music, founded by songwriter Johnny Marks in 1949 and specializing in popular holiday songs; and Broadway Video, an entertainment company and film distributor founded in 1979 by television/film producer Lorne Michaels.

 

Commercial Tenants

 

The base was planned for retail use, with street level shops and related tenants on the second and third floors. One of the first businesses to sign a lease was Joseph Hilton & Sons, a chain of men’s clothing stores. To be located at the corner of 49th Street, the New York Times reported: “This lease, one of the largest that has been closed for many months in the Times Square district” was valued at almost $1 million.41

 

Hilton & Sons, however, never moved into the building and this space became part of a much larger store operated by Brill Brothers, the property’s lessee. Their clothing store opened in August 1932, with ample display windows, shaded by retractable awnings, extending along both Broadway and 49th Street. On opening day, an advertisement boasted that it was:

 

Distinctively a “man’s store” . . . a shopping place all his own . . . in all New York there are few men’s stores so fine . . . so modern . . . so satisfying. Men who know you, and know what you want will make you feel “at home” as soon as you enter. May we have the pleasure of showing you around? 42

 

During the 1930s, the company had as many as four branches, with stores at 49 Cortlandt Street, Seventh Avenue and 35th Street, and 41st Street, near Madison Avenue. Max D. Brill (1866­1938) retired in 1930 and Samuel Brill (b. 1859) died in 1931, leaving Maurice Brill (1869­1951) as head of the business. Brill Brothers closed in spring 1940 and the corner space was leased to the Turf Restaurant.43

 

Because of the proximity to Times Square and the second location of Madison Square Garden (Eighth Avenue and 50th Street, demolished), many of the new tenants were involved in the entertainment industry. Though the ground floor was planned for stores, the earliest tenant to open was actually a pair of movie theaters operated by the Trans-Lux Movies Corporation. Located to the right of the Broadway entrance, the New York Times said it was:

 

Constructed in modern style, with a silver and black design, the two houses have

turnstiles instead of doormen, daylight projection, and other innovations.

 

The Trans-Lux opened in May 1931, with one screen devoted to short features and the other to sound newsreels. To celebrate the opening, U.S. President Herbert Hoover wired Courtland Smith, the sponsor:

I extend congratulations on the opening of your New York theatres. The showing of new pictures throughout the country cannot but be educational and instructive. The bringing of world events into the lives of great numbers of our people will serve to promote better understanding and closer world relations.45

 

In late 1937 the theaters closed and the space was leased to Jack Dempsey.46 It was one of several businesses owned by the famed prize fighter, who held the world’s heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. With a streamlined storefront and interior, napkins described the “Broadway Bar and Cocktail Lounge” as “The Meeting Place of the World.”47 Dempsey remained a prominent celebrity and the restaurant attracted both fans and musicians. It stayed at this location until 1974, when it closed following a dispute with the building’s new owner. At this time, the New York Times described it as “one of the last survivors of the Damon Runyon era of Broadway.”48

 

In 1940, the large corner space became the Turf Restaurant, operated by Jack Joseph Amiel and Arnold Ruben. One location in a small chain, it gained particular notoriety in 1951 when Amiel’s horse, Count Turf, won the Kentucky Derby. The restaurant specialized in lobster and steak (often called Surf and Turf), as well as cheesecake. Amiel, who later became a part owner of Jack Dempsey’s, sold his interest in 1957 and the Turf closed in 1963. Popular with songwriters and musicians, Duke Ellington was a frequent customer at the Turf and aspiring actor Sidney Poitier worked as a dishwasher – his first job in New York City – during 1943.

 

Since about 1974 the corner storefront has been leased to Colony Records, also known as the Colony Record Center. Founded by Harold S. (Nappy) Grossbardt and Sidney Turk by 1948, the store was formerly located at Broadway and 52nd Street, where it developed a reputation as a gathering place for musicians. In recent decades, Colony has specialized in vintage records, sheet music, karaoke software, and souvenirs devoted to the theater district.

 

Nightclubs

 

The vast second floor was initially leased to the Paradise, a popular cabaret. Reached by stairs, located directly left of the Broadway entrance, it covered approximately 15,000 square feet and held as many as a thousand people. Planned by the celebrated architect and interior designer Joseph Urban, the cost of construction was estimated at $500,000.49 Large signs, obscuring the second-floor windows and projecting at an angle over the corner, claimed it was “America’s foremost restaurant” with the “world’s most beautiful girls.” Floorshows, sometimes called “Paradise Parades,” were accompanied by such well-known performers as the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and Glenn Miller.50

 

During the 1940s, this space housed a succession of clubs associated with the growing popularity of jazz. Some Harlem nightspots opened midtown locations, offering big band music and later bebop. The Paradise closed in late 1939 or 1940 and became the Hurricane, with “palm trees, tropical flora and fauna” evoking the Pacific Ocean island of Tahiti.51 Operated briefly by lawyer David J. Wolper, who reportedly received ownership as part of a 1942 financial settlement with a gangster, it had a troubled existence, marred by suspicious fires and “stench bombs.”52 Duke Ellington headlined at the Hurricane during 1943 and 1944 and some of these performances were aired nationally on the Mutual and Columbia Broadcasting Systems.

 

Club (Café) Zanzibar occupied the second floor from approximately 1944 to 1948. Ellington frequently performed here, as well, as did the Nat King Cole Trio, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, the Ink Spots, and Louis Jordan.53 In 1949 it became Bop City, managed by Ralph Watkins, formerly of the Royal Roost, a legendary jazz venue. He told the United Press that his staff would dress in “bop fashion,” wearing berets and polka-dot ties and that “some will sport goatees, which are popular among bop players.”54 It debuted with Artie Shaw and Ella Fitzgerald on April 14, 1949; subsequent headliners included Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, and Sarah Vaughan. The club also maintained an enlightened policy of hiring “mixed waiters,” meaning waiters of different races.55 Despite presenting celebrated performers, Bop City struggled to find a consistent audience and closed in 1950 or 1951. In subsequent years, it functioned as the Avalon Ballroom, closing around 1966.

 

Later History

 

The Ruspyn Corporation sold the building to the Inch Corporation, later known as Breecom, in 1966.56 Allan Rose’s AVR Realty Company sold it to Murray Hill Properties and Westbrook Partners in 2007, who sold the property to Stonehenge Partners, Inc. (with INVESCO Real Estate of Dallas, Texas) in November 2007.

 

The Brill Building has been featured in a handful of feature films, including The House on 92nd Street (1945) and the Sweet Smell of Success (1957), in which the gilt lobby appears, as well as in several Woody Allen productions: Broadway Danny Rose (1984), Hollywood Ending (2002), and Anything Else (2003).57

 

Description

 

The 11-story Brill Building, 1619 Broadway, is located at the northwest corner of Broadway and West 49th Street. On Broadway, the facade is divided into three sections: a three-story base, a seven-story shaft, and a single-story penthouse. The main entrance is located at the center of the ground story. Flanked by polished black granite piers, capped with elaborate brass metal work, the entrance features three brass doors with glass panels and handles on the left, surmounted by a sign for the building in capital letters set against a black background, gridded glass windows configured like a ziggurat, and a richly-decorated niche for the bust of the developer’s son set on a pedestal. The stores, located on either side of the Broadway entrance, have non-historic display windows and non-historic illuminated signage. The south storefront has a corner entrance, opening onto both Broadway and 49th Street. Established by 1964, this angled configuration incorporates cast-concrete piers.

 

The second and third stories have large windows flanked by pairs of masonry piers at either end. Each pier, as well as the simple cornice that extends above the third-story windows is tinted brown, suggesting the use of a non-historic coating. The second floor windows are slightly taller than the third story. Between the floors are pink, yellow, and blue terra-cotta reliefs. Each window bay is divided into three sections. The wide center section contains a single fixed panel above a multi-pane sash. The vertical side windows are arranged in six-over-six or nine-over­nine grids. The northernmost window on the second floor has been replaced by a non-historic, tripartite ventilation grille, with horizontal metal louvers. On the third floor, the third window bay from the corner of 49th Street has been altered by the replacement of the center fixed-panel and-sash with horizontal metal louvers.

 

The fourth through the eleventh floors are faced with white brick. There are nine pairs of one-over-one windows across each floor, flanked by continuous piers. The three pairs of windows at the center of the facade are crowned by white foliate terra-cotta reliefs that incorporate a sill on top. Above the tenth floor, these terra-cotta reliefs have no sill and feature concave corners. In contrast, the three pairs of side windows display no ornamentation other than small circular reliefs above the tenth story. The top of the stepped penthouse level is trimmed with thin bands of terra-cotta relief. At center is an elaborate faceted niche, trimmed with terra cotta, that displays a possibly limestone bust on a projecting pedestal. To either side are small arched windows, with stone or terra-cotta sills.

 

The West 49th Street facade faces south. The base and upper floors are similar to the Broadway facade, with identical white brick and terra-cotta embellishments. The west end of the ground story, which incorporates a secondary entrance and loading area, is non-historic. Above the tenth story are small circular reliefs, as well as a raised parapet at center. Near or at the west end of the 2nd, 5th, and 8th floors, the windows have been replaced with metal ventilation grilles.

 

The south end of the west (rear) facade is visible from 49th Street. Here, due to the curved east corner of the tan brick Ambassador Theater (1919-21), two rows of windows can be seen, as well as a blank brick wall that steps up toward the center of the building, and a single metal pipe on the roof. Two windows on the eighth floor contain ventilation grilles.

 

The north facade is simply treated and partly visible from Broadway and 50th Street, where the upper floors can be seen above the adjoining building, as well as part of the west (rear) facade, including an engaged structure with a single window, possibly containing stairs. To the south, at the rear of the 11th story penthouse, are two additional floors. The east and north-facing facades contain simple windows with industrial sash. The rest of the north facade (fifth to tenth floor) incorporates four sets of windows; the outer sets are grouped in pairs, the inner two sets, in groups of three. At the center of this facade is a projecting rectangular chimney shaft. Between the west pair of windows, a single metal pipe extends the full height of the façade. Most are three-over-three industrial sash, except where projecting metal ventilation ducts have been installed. On the lower floors, beside the roof of the adjoining building, the windows have vertical security bars.

 

Air conditioning units have been installed in a small number of windows, as well as some horizontal ventilation grilles. Two electric lights are attached to the center of the facade, below the seventh floor, directed down onto the adjoining roof. On the roof, set at a slight angle to Broadway, is a metal framework that displays two illuminated non-historic signs facing north and south.

 

- From the 2010 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Hunts Point, Bronx, New York City, New York, United States

 

Landmarks Preservation Commission February 5, 2008, Designation List 400 LP-2298

 

The American Bank Note Company Printing Plant, designed by the architectural firm Kirby, Petit & Green, was an important symbol of progress for the prominent securities printing firm. The leading producer of money, securities, and other types of printed and engraved products, the American Bank Note Company constructed the plant during a period when it restructured its management and expanded its production facilities. Occupying a prominent location near major transportation routes in the Hunts Point area of the Bronx, the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant has been a neighborhood focal point since its completion in 1911.

 

Architecturally, the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant recalls a time when the emerging discipline of industrial engineering was beginning to be incorporated into the exterior expression of new industrial facilities. The form of the American Bank Note Company plant, for example, which consists of a low pressroom wing adjacent to a taller “office,” was designed to accommodate a newly-engineered production line, in addition to an engraving department, similar to other printing plants of the era. Signature elements of industrial architecture, such as the saw-tooth roof and large expanses of industrial sash, allowed ample light into the interior spaces of the plant, aiding both the fine work done in the pressrooms and the meticulous hand work of the engravers. The arsenal-like exterior of the plant, which is surrounded by a brick wall, embodied a sense of strength while also providing security for the specialized printing operation.

 

The crenellated rectangular tower rising above the Lafayette Avenue wing and the articulation of the walls as massive brick piers forming multi-story arcades reinforced this fortress-like character. Such an expressive approach to industrial architecture would later be abandoned for a more severe, functional aesthetic. Upon completion, the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant was considered one of the most complete facilities of its kind, remaining in operation for nearly 75 years. Today, the expressive and monumental structure continues to serve as an important visual landmark for the Hunts Point neighborhood.

 

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

 

The Early Twentieth Century Development of Hunts Point

 

Hunts Point, along with Clason’s Point, Screvin’s Neck, and Throg’s Neck, is one of several large salt meadowland peninsulas in the Bronx which jut into the East River. Until the Civil War, Hunts Point was characterized as a rural area where prominent businessmen maintained country estates. As with many New York City neighborhoods, the creation and availability of transit routes to the Hunts Point area in the early twentieth century helped initiate development of the once-remote area. The opening of the extension of the West Side IRT subway into the Bronx in 1904 helped bring about a period of feverish land speculation southeast of Westchester Avenue near the transit line. The opening of the Intervale Avenue subway station in 1910, in particular, has been an acknowledged impetus for development near Hunts Point. The Hunts Point station of the New Haven Railroad, Harlem River branch, which had opened in the 1850s, began serving the area as a station of the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway line after 1912.

 

In addition to increased transportation options, local boosters could point to the many advantages the South Bronx offered to industry, including the excellent rail service and freight terminals of several major lines that provided the means for transporting raw materials, supplies, and finished products conveniently. There were ample sites for building in the vicinity of the waterfront or adjacent to rail lines, and the power to operate facilities was relatively inexpensive because of the easy access to coal deliveries. The growing local labor force could be supplemented by workers traveling to the Bronx via the rail and transit lines. In 1909, there were 700 factories in the Bronx; by 1912, the number of industrial operations in the borough had more than doubled. By the close of the first decade of the twentieth century, the local real estate press enthused that “a great city [was] building along Southern Boulevard.”

 

At the start of the twentieth century, most of the Hunts Point area was controlled by a small number of real estate developers, including George F. Johnson and James F. Meehan, who were developing elevator apartment houses, flats, and semi-detached houses near the subway stop. In 1908, the American Bank Note Company purchased from George F. Johnson a large tract of land on which the “Old Faile mansion” stood. Although change was already underway in Hunts Point at the time the American Bank Note Company purchased its property, the real estate industry considered that sale to be another great impetus for future development in the area.

 

Not only would the siting of the plant in Hunts Point help encourage other firms to consider the area for their industrial operations, but it was expected that the large number of skilled and highly-paid employees of the company, “a most desirable body of citizens,” would need housing and other services. The Hunts Point area was envisioned as one of mixed use, with residences located near to and north of the rail corridor and industrial establishments to the south on the point. In fact, the impending purchase of the American Bank Note Company site may have prompted Johnson and Meehan to construct rows of two-family brick houses on both sides of Manida Street, immediately to the east of the American Bank Note Company site. These buildings would soon become part of a residential area that developed northeast of the printing plant, between Garrison and Lafayette Avenues. Construction of housing, including semi-detached houses and multiple dwellings of various sizes, in Hunts Point and in the nearby area, accelerated after 1912.

 

The American Bank Note Company

 

The American Bank Note Company has long dominated the specialized field of security engraving. The company was formed in 1858 as the result of the merger of seven major note engraving companies based in several cities throughout the United States. The printing of bank notes is a unique type of printing, started during the early nineteenth century by several companies which produced paper currency for the large number of newly-established state banks. Because of the need to protect documents against counterfeiting and to prevent any losses during the course of printing and issue, the production of securities and currency differed from other types of printing. In order to produce documents that could not be easily replicated, the American Bank Note Company manufactured its own machinery and inks, developed specialized printing methods and unusual types of paper, and used vignettes and other complex designs produced by highly skilled engravers. As the preeminent security engraving firm during the nineteenth century, the American Bank Note Company produced bank notes, postage and revenue stamps, bonds, stock certificates, checks, drafts, and letters of credit for many governments and institutions. In 1891, the American Bank Note Company began producing the American Express Company’s new “Travelers Cheques.”

 

On its founding in 1858, the American Bank Note Company established its New York City headquarters in the Merchants’ Exchange Building at 55 Wall Street. The company would remain in the financial district of New York City for several decades, moving its office and plant to 142 Broadway (at the corner of Liberty Street) in 1867, and again to another new facility at 78-86 Trinity Place in 1882. A period of rapid growth during the early years of the twentieth century, however, coupled with the increased value of Lower Manhattan real estate, created the need for other New York facilities. Under the leadership of president Warren L. Green, an engraver who rose through the management ranks of the organization, the American Bank Note Company began to update several aspects of its operation. The removal (in 1908) of the company’s administrative and sales functions to a new building by Kirby, Petit & Green at 70 Broad Street, in the heart of the financial district, was the first step towards easing the space shortage. Shortly thereafter (1909-1911), plans were drawn for a new plant at Hunts Point in the Bronx, also designed by Kirby, Petit & Green. This separation of administration and production was accompanied by a restructuring and streamlining of management and a more efficient reorganization of the printing operation. The changes were related to the emerging discipline of industrial engineering, which influenced the industrial production and management of many establishments around the turn of the century.

 

When the Bronx facility was completed in 1911, the new state-of-the-art plant boasted five-hundred motors powering everything from the facility’s 200 presses to the arc and incandescent lamps located throughout the building. The company apparently maintained a private restaurant and a hospital on site, in addition to machine and carpenter shops in constant operation, a laboratory for developing special inks, and a laundry. At the time the facility was completed, the output of the plant was being shipped to almost “every quarter of the globe” including China, South America, Cuba, and Europe. The American Bank Note Company was justifiably proud, and considered itself the organization in the bank note industry with the finest office building, the best-equipped plant, the most advanced employee welfare and research programs, and the most skilled designers, engineers, and printers.

 

“The Most Complete Engraving and Printing Plant in America”

 

After considering various locations in the New York City metropolitan area, and after discussing its considerable freight delivery needs with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad – some 10,000 tons annually of mostly paper – the American Bank Note Company selected a large site in Hunts Point for the expansion of its newly decentralized operation. Located at one of the highest points in the area, just east of the Hunts Point rail station, the plant would be adjacent to small partial blocks which remained vacant for many years near the rail line, and the park-like grounds of the Monastery of Corpus Christi (established in 1889), which occupied the block to the south. These conditions, together with the irregular shape of the block, afforded a self-contained site on which security could be maintained.

 

The first plan for the printing plant, presented in May 1909, called for a group of four connected buildings placed along the perimeter of the irregularly-shaped block and a pair of towers rising above an elongated structure fronting Lafayette Avenue (see Figure 1). The multi-story buildings were intended to house various departments of the operation, while a separate storage building was sited in the yard. The design included a single entrance to the complex through which both employees and materials would pass. This early scheme for the new plant, though characteristic of nineteenth-century industrial design, was not particularly adapted to the needs of the American Bank Note Company operation.

 

By late 1909, a new layout for the facility had been adopted, one more influenced by the emerging discipline of industrial engineering and more suited to the particular needs of the printing operation. One large T-shaped structure was proposed to occupy nearly the entire block. The shift in design is representative of a change from the practice of arranging production machines into buildings of a standard size, to one of designing spaces to accommodate engineered production lines. At the time the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant was being planned, schemes for “ideal” printing plants were being published in printing trade journals. Plans, such as a two-part facility consisting of a large one-story pressroom extending behind a two-story office structure with a tower, printed in one such journal in 1909, apparently influenced the design of the American Bank Note Company facility (see Figure 2).

 

Later designs for the Bronx plant of the American Bank Note Company were similar in form to industry ideals for printing facilities, featuring a pressroom extending from an “office” wing. The ultimate design for the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant featured a long, narrow, multi-storied “office” wing located along Lafayette Avenue, which was adapted for use as the engraving and lithography departments. The press rooms were housed behind, in the large north “printing press” wing. The two acres of rumbling machinery were located on the upper level of this part of the facility, and were surrounded by a partial mezzanine and offices. The securely guarded plate storage vault, which contained more than 130,000 plates ready to print at a moment’s notice, occupied the lower level, as did several other functions. Joseph R. Ford, the company’s counterfeiter, labored for many years within the offices of the tower above Lafayette Avenue, trying to replicate the firm’s products as part of the internal security program.

 

Printers, like other manufacturers, placed a high value on economical and efficient facilities that provided ample light and ventilation. The incredible need for sufficient light in both the press rooms and the engraving department of the American Bank Note Company required that daylight supplement electric lighting in these areas. Signature elements of industrial architecture, such as the saw-tooth roof and large expanses of industrial sash, would allow ample light into the interior spaces of the plant, aiding both the fine work done in the pressrooms as well as the meticulous hand work of the engravers, and were thus incorporated into the design of the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant.

 

Although the aesthetic basis of American industrial building design was rarely strictly utilitarian, neither was it ever firmly rooted in the traditions of recognized architectural styles. In the United States, the American round-arched style, an interpretation of the Rundbogenstil style developed in Germany during the 1830s and 1840s that relied largely on brick and locally available stone, was widely used as the basis for both commercial and industrial building design. The style was largely characterized by the use of round or segmentally arched openings, pilasters and horizontal bands forming grids, elaborate brick corbelling, and molded surrounds. By the late nineteenth century, the articulation of monumental arcades had become the tradition of warehouses and other building types in New York City. The facades of the American Bank Note Company plant clearly follow in this tradition, featuring a combination of large, self-supporting brick piers forming multi-story arcades, and recessed brick spandrels.

 

Adaptations of Gothic details also became popular in both British and American industrial buildings in the early twentieth century, as architects emphasized entrances with Gothic tracery and ornament, and made visual connections between buttresses and exterior piers, considering this to be an honest expression of a building’s underlying structure. The arsenal-like exterior expression of the American Bank Note Company plant, with its central tower with crenellated parapet, and fortress-like, Gothic-inspired pointed-arch window openings, follows this tradition, while also providing the building with a “pervading sense of strength and security essential to the type of work being performed within.” The massive brick piers, according to the architects, further emphasized the company’s “strength and foreshadow the heavy construction within,” while the tower simultaneously reinforces the structure’s fortress-like character and reflects the ideal plant designs of the era. A brick wall encloses much of the block.

 

After several years of planning and construction, upon completion in 1911, the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant was considered one of the most complete facilities of its kind in the country and an important symbol of progress for the securities printing firm. The machines in the press room were powered by the most advanced means of electric drive – individual motors attached to each machine. Moreover, the new plan allowed for the expansion of the company’s commercial printing services, while also reducing production costs. In addition to the engraved currency and steel plate divisions’ production of certificates of stock, bonds, and postage stamps, the typographic division printed catalogues, booklets, folders, maps, railroad tickets, and business literature for railroads, steamship lines, and other clients.

 

In the ensuing years, the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant site would be further developed with auxiliary structures. A garage, designed by Kirby, Petit & Green, was built in a complementary design in 1910 at the corner of Garrison Avenue and Barretto Street. In 1928, the garage was nearly doubled in size and the additional space was used for ink production. A one-story addition designed by architect H.W. Butts in 1912 extended from the Lafayette Avenue wing of the plant along Barretto Street (later known as the Barretto Street wing), and would house a laundry and pulp mill. This structure, raised to a height of three stories in 1928 by architect Oscar P. Cadmus, would later provide additional space for printing presses and the machine shop, and was also designed in a manner sympathetic to the existing buildings on the site. Nearby, other facilities of the American Bank Note Company (not included as part of this designation) included a building used for employee welfare and research across Barretto Street on Lafayette Avenue (1913, W.H. Butts, architect), a distribution center (1925), and a paper storage warehouse (1949).

 

Kirby, Petit & Green

 

The firm of Kirby, Petit & Green was active during the first decade of the twentieth century. The firm’s work included two office buildings in Lower Manhattan – one for the Bush Terminal Company (ca. 1904-06, now demolished) at 100 Broad Street, and the office of the American Bank Note Company at 70 Broad Street (a designated New York City landmark). In addition to the Bronx printing plant for the American Bank Note Company (1909-1911), Kirby, Petit & Green created plans for other printing facilities, including the Hearst Building in San Francisco (1908), a nineteen-story building which housed the Examiner printing plant on its lower floors, and the new facility for the Country Life Press in Garden City, Long Island (1910), which was cited as a model factory in a park-like setting. Kirby, Petit & Green’s local work also included alterations on a Hearst-owned building near Columbus Circle in Manhattan (1909), “Dreamland” at Coney Island (ca. 1904), and several residences in New York and Connecticut.

 

The senior partner in the firm was Henry P. Kirby (1853-1915), son of an architect and builder who grew up in Seneca County, New York. Kirby trained with Thomas U. Walter in Philadelphia, had brief periods of residency in several Midwest cities, and also studied in Europe. Working for more than twenty years as chief designer for George B. Post, Kirby is considered to have had a major role in the design of the New York Times Building on Park Row (1888-1889), the Union Trust Building at 78-82 Broadway (1889-1990, now demolished), the City College Competition entry (1897), several city residences, and many other projects. During the 1890s, Compositions by Henry P. Kirby was published in Boston. Through his drawings and paintings, Kirby gained a reputation as a gifted delineator and a champion of the eclectic, romantic school of architecture.

 

John C. Petit (1870-1923) established a practice in Brooklyn during the early 1890s and is best known for his residential work in what is now the Prospect Park South Historic District. Petit was the official architect employed by the developer of the Prospect Park South area and several of his residential designs were published in Architects’ and Builders’ Magazine. Some of the finest houses in the district were designed by Petit in styles ranging from the Colonial Revival, neo-Tudor, and Queen Anne, to more uncommon examples such as the Swiss chalet and the Japanese pagoda. Petit is also responsible for the design of the All Souls Universalist Church (1905) at Ocean and Newkirk Avenues in Flatbush, in addition to rowhouses and tenements in other sections of Brooklyn. Petit maintained an architectural office through 1922.

 

James C. Green (1867-1927) attended the University of Missouri and also studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Green was the head draftsman in the office of Nathan Clark Mellen in New York City from 1899 to 1901. After leaving the firm of Kirby, Petit & Green in 1909, Green maintained an architectural practice in New York City through the early 1920s, designing large office buildings in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, in addition to a number of large residences in various states. Between approximate 1910 and 1914, Green apparently served as the architect for the building operations of William Randolph Hearst. Green also was offered, but declined, the chair of architecture at the University of Missouri.

 

Subsequent History

 

Although described in the 1939 WPA New York City Guide as “…an area of bleak residences, industrial plants, and tidal flats…,” Hunts Point’s reputation as a thriving economic zone continued to grow during the first half of the twentieth century. The opening of the New York City Produce market in 1967, the Hunts Point Meat Market in 1974, and the designation of Hunts Point as an In-Place Industrial Park in 1980, furthered the area’s viability as a location for industrial and commercial activity later in the century. Despite increased economic growth, however, the 1960s and 1970s represented a period of increasing violence and abandonment for the greater South Bronx area, and for the Hunts Point neighborhood, in particular. By the 1980s, the name Hunts Point had become largely synonymous in New York City with the urban decline ravaging so many of the nation’s inner cities at the time. This low period in the history of Hunts Point, characterized by frequent arson and mass abandonment, was further emphasized by the flight of nearly 60,000 of the area’s residents – approximately two-thirds of the existing population.

 

In 1984, the American Bank Note Company relocated its printing facilities to a more modern and secure site in Rockland County, New York. Among the numerous motivations for the move were the financial incentives being offered by the upstate town, which included a three percent discount off of the plants’ immense electric bills, made possible by a new state law which was not available for companies already established in other areas. Approximately 500 people were employed by the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant, which had occupied its Hunts Point site for more than seven decades, at the time it relocated.

 

After 1986, several neighborhood rehabilitation projects were initiated that helped to slowly transform the South Bronx back into a livable community. Zoned for industry, physically separated from the rest of the Bronx by the elevated Bruckner Expressway, and the home of waste transfer stations, warehouses, scrap metal shops, and a 1.9 million square foot food distribution center, it is not surprising that the Hunts Point neighborhood was slower to experience the resurgence. By the late 1990s, however, storefront vacancies on the area’s main street, Hunts Point Avenue, had fallen, from 60 percent in 1997 to 25 percent in 2000. The year 2000 also brought the arrival of many of the area’s first amenities in decades, if not in its history, including its first post office, the first banking service in 25 years, a primary care clinic, youth recreation center, and a new park located along the Bronx River. In 2004, the Fulton Fish Market, a former staple of the Lower Manhattan waterfront since 1853, was relocated to Hunts Point.

 

Since closing its printing operations in 1986, the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant building has served as home to a variety of tenants. Soon after the property was vacated by the American Bank Note Company, the building was used to provide space for garment manufacturing, and became known as the Bronx Apparel Center. Presently, much of the Lafayette Avenue wing of the building serves as the Bronx branch of the John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy, an alternative high school for students who have dropped out of or have been dismissed from regular schools. The current owners of the building plan to undertake a commercial adaptive reuse project.

 

Description

 

Plan & Circulation

 

The American Bank Note Company Printing Plant occupies an irregularly-shaped, sloping block bounded by Lafayette and Garrison Avenues to the north and south, and Tiffany and Barretto Streets to the east and west. The site is surrounded by brick walls along Tiffany Street, Garrison Avenue, and Barretto Street, with the main vehicular gate located along Tiffany Street, and the primary pedestrian entry at the corner of Tiffany Street and Garrison Avenue. The principal T-shaped structure features a long, narrow wing along Lafayette Avenue (ranging from four to six stories exposed above grade) and a lower, broader, perpendicular printing-press wing extending to the north (three stories above grade). A third, later wing is located along Barretto Street, and follows the curvature of the road. Primary entry into the complex of buildings is via the west facade of the printing-press wing. Additional entries into the buildings can be found along Lafayette Avenue and Barretto Street. A one-story red brick garage is located on the northeast corner of the landmark site. All three wings of the steel-framed building feature red brick exterior walls and originally featured large expanses of industrial steel-sash in window openings. Nearly all facades of the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant, including the associated garage structure and the remaining original sections of the enclosing brick wall, are laid in a five-course American bond. A small, non-historic, one-story gable-roofed metal building is located immediately north of the printing press wing.

 

Lafayette Avenue Wing

 

The Lafayette Avenue wing of the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant, while only three bays deep, runs nearly 465 feet in length along Lafayette Avenue. The Lafayette Avenue (south) facade of this wing features three-story arcades formed by substantial brick pilasters that are spanned by recessed brick spandrels, thus separating the facade into 22 equal-sized bays. An additional narrow bay flanks each end of the Lafayette Avenue facade. Each of the pilasters, which separate the bays, is capped by a stepped-brick motif that is repeated on the remaining facades of this wing. Each of the recessed, round-headed arches that span the distance between the pilasters is detailed by a single header course of brick. Beneath each arch, most of the original arched steel-sash windows with operable sections remain with simple, rectangular sills (typical for the site), although unsympathetic glazing repairs and the intrusion of through-the-wall air conditioning units and louvered vents are visible. The first and second stories of the arcades feature square-headed fenestration surrounded by brick lintels (also typical for the site) and the same simple, rectangular sills of the arched third story fenestration. The windows of the first story are substantially taller than those of the second story. Many of the original steel-sash windows with operable sections also remain along the first and second stories of the arcades, although they, too, have seen unsympathetic alterations and inclusions. Non-historic mesh security grilles have also been added to the first story window exteriors of the arcade located o the right of the central tower. At the second story, to the left of the central tower, two narrow, rectangular windows with iron security grilles appear to be original to the building, and probably serviced an interior area where less daylight and more security was requisite.

 

Directly above the arcades, the top-most story of the Lafayette Avenue facade is composed of a twobay-deep 1925 addition to the wing, constructed of materials that closely match the original. Similar to the first and second stories of the arcades, this upper story features square-headed fenestration surrounded by the typical brick lintels and rectangular sills. Some of the original steel-sash windows with operable sections remain, while several have been replaced with modern windows or have received unsympathetic alterations and inclusions. Three bays to the left of the central tower feature narrow, rectangular windows with iron security grilles and appear to be original to the addition.

 

Beneath the three-story arcades, a series of square-headed “basement” level windows is visible, although only five such windows exist to the right of the central tower due to the slope of the site. The steel-sash fenestration with operable sections of this story is flush with the brick facade and features the typical lintels and sills for the site. Modern flashing and other alterations are visible at this level, particularly to the right of the central tower where the glazing of at least one window has been entirely replaced by louvered vents, exhaust flues, and a mesh security grille. Several square headed, “sub-basement” level windows are present to the left of the central tower. Each set of the paired fenestration of this level is equivalent in width to the windows of the stories above and features the typical lintels and sills. Like the fenestration in other parts of the building, the windows here are industrial steel-sash, but do not feature operable sections. The majority of the windows are covered by mesh security grilles and also have suffered from unsympathetic repairs and replacements of glazed elements.

 

To the left of the central tower, a “sub-sub-basement” level of windows is visible below grade along a depressed areaway. The windows of this level are identical in size and placement to the windows of the “subbasement” level, and also feature the typical lintels and sills of the site. Nearly all of the original steel-sash windows of this level have been bricked-in or otherwise altered. A non-original iron fence is present along the areaway, both to the left and to the right of the central tower.

 

The narrow bays that flank each end of the Lafayette Avenue facade are articulated in a similar fashion to the rest of the facade. The majority of the windows are square-headed and align with the other windows of the facade. The windows that align with the arcades complement the design of the arcades, featuring windows that are recessed slightly from the brick facade, with the top-most windows characterized by round-headed arches. Doorways are present at ground level, accessible above two-concrete steps. Above each doorway is a large, rectangular, industrial steel-sash transom. Due to the slope of Lafayette Avenue, the narrow bay to the right of the central tower is only four stories in height, while the bay to the left is six stories tall. The transom of the left bay is presently obscured by a mesh security grille. Non-historic signage is also present above each doorway.

 

The nine-story, rectangular tower that rises through the center of the Lafayette Avenue wing is carefully articulated as a more solid volume and is divided into two equal-sized recessed, pointed-arch bays containing narrow windows. The recessed openings containing the windows widen gradually in steps as they rise to pointed-arch terminations. The pointed arches are detailed by a single header course of brick with three consecutive recessed brick arches beneath. The pointed-arch window openings are present on all four of the tower’s facades, as are the narrow, slit windows of the tower’s top-most story. Below the pointed-arch windows on all four sides, the spandrels are corbelled to meet the flanking piers and suggest balconies. The windows that align with the rounded-arch windows of the arcades to the left and the right of the central tower repeat the rounded-arch motif and are also articulated with a single header course of brick. At the ground level of the tower there are two openings, not original to the building, one a raised garage door, the other a standard doorway. To the left of the raised garage door, at both the “sub-basement” and “sub-sub-basement” levels, steel-sash windows have been replaced with glass block. All of the remaining windows of the tower retain their original steel-sash windows with operable sections and feature the typical lintels for the site. The rectangular sills beneath the windows within the bays extend beyond the window openings, spanning the width of the recessed areas. Below the third-story window openings, a balcony supported by concrete brackets spans the tower. A flagpole once rose above the tower’s crenellated parapet but is no longer extant.

 

The east and west facades of the Lafayette Avenue wing of the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant are articulated in a very similar manner to the Lafayette Avenue facade. Both the east and west facades feature substantial brick pilasters spanned by recessed brick spandrels that separate them into two equal-sized bays. A shorter, third bay to the north projects slightly from the west facade, but is recessed slightly at the east facade. The bays closest to Lafayette Avenue on both the east and west facades feature narrow, recessed rectangular windows, while the remaining openings feature the typical large expanses of industrial steel-sash windows. The typical lintels and sills are also present on both the east and west facades. The windows of the two bays closest to Lafayette Avenue, including the rounded-arch windows of the top-story of the arcades, align with similar windows along the south facade. The top-most story of the shorter, northern bays of the east and west facades also feature rounded-arch windows. On the west facade, the large, square-headed windows of the “sub-sub-basement” level have been filled in with brick. Cellular phone antennas are present on this facade, particularly along the shorter, northern bay. Attempts to camouflage the antennas as brick elements have been made. Two vehicular openings have been cut into the shorter, northern bay of the otherwise identical east facade.

 

The north facade of the Lafayette Avenue wing is similarly articulated as multiple bays separated by substantial brick pilasters. To the west of the printing press wing, nine four-story arcades are visible, each capped with a rounded-arch window opening. Recessed above the roofline, an additional two stories are visible. The fenestration of these top-most stories align with similarly placed windows along the south facade of the Lafayette Avenue wing. Many of the original steel-sash windows with operable sections still remain along the north facade, although many, particularly at the bottom-most story, have unsympathetic alterations and inclusions, including at least one roll-down security gate. Adjacent to the north facade, a sheet-metal clad chimney stands next to a small, adjoining, one-story brick structure. The chimney, though original to the site, has apparently been shortened since the time of construction. Fire escapes are visible on the north facade.

 

With the exception of the crenellated tower, the Lafayette Avenue wing of the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant features a flat roof beyond a shallow parapet. The parapet features terra-cotta coping on all sides. There have long been three bulkheads on the roof of this wing: one near the west end, one just west of the central tower, and one near the center of the wing. Non-historic lighting, cellular phone antennas, security cameras, and signage, are present throughout.

 

Printing Press Wing

 

The larger, printing press wing, located north of and perpendicular to the Lafayette Avenue wing, is articulated similarly to the Lafayette Avenue wing, divided into three-story arcades framed by shallow pilasters. The pilasters of the printing press wing terminate with square caps, rather than the stepped caps present on the Lafayette Avenue wing. The east and west facades are divided into 16 bays each. The seven bays adjacent to the Lafayette Avenue wing are somewhat taller and wider than the nine bays located to the rear (north). The difference in height is made up by slightly taller third-story windows present in the seven bays adjacent to the Lafayette Avenue wing and accommodate a partial mezzanine level inside. The north facade of the printing press wing is divided into 11 bays, while the wing is fully attached to the Lafayette Avenue wing to the south. The top-most story of the three visible facades of the printing press wing feature rounded-arch windows similar to those of the Lafayette Avenue wing. To the east, only this upper story is visible from street level, as the rest of the facade is obscured by the Barretto Street wing. The north facade is partially obscured from street level by the brick wall that surrounds the landmark site.

 

A loading platform extends along much of the west side of the printing press wing. At the main entrance to the building, which is located at the approximate mid-point of the west facade, a canopy protects four arched openings. The main entrance currently features two pairs of non-historic aluminum-framed doors, and is slightly recessed in its arched opening below a blocked transom. A non-historic iron railing presently lines the loading platform.

 

The saw-tooth roofline and numerous vents are visible above the edge of the roof parapet of the printing press wing. Several fire escapes serving the roof and upper stories are present on both the north and west facades of this wing. Many of the original industrial steel-sash windows have been replaced or altered, including the addition of through-the-wall air conditioning units. Towards the center of the north facade, a non-original third-story garage door is present. A shallow parapet surrounds the printing press wing on all four sides and is capped by terra-cotta coping, similar to the Lafayette Avenue wing.

 

Barretto Street Wing

 

The Barretto Street wing of the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant, which fills much of the space between the two primary wings and Barretto Street, complements the appearance of the two larger wings, featuring an arcaded facade separated by square-capped pilasters, and large window openings. The east facade of the Barretto Street wing is divided into 12 three-story bays. The first-story windows of each bay increase in height with the downward slope of the street, while the entire facade curves gently to the northwest following a bend in the road. The large window openings, like those present on the primary wings, span the distance between the pilasters and feature the typical sills for the site. The top-most story of east facade of the Barretto Avenue wing features rounded-arch windows similar to those of the Lafayette Avenue and printing press wings. These windows are also present on the north facade of the Barretto Street wing, which is only two bays wide. These are the only original industrial steel-sash windows present on the portions of this wing visible from the street, and at least one has been modified to accommodate a through-the-wall air condition unit. The windows of the second story were recently replaced with non-historic aluminum sash windows, while the majority of the ground floor windows along the entire expanse of this facade have been either blocked-in or painted over with murals. The entire length of the first story of the east facade has been stuccoed and painted grey.

 

Towards the north end of the east facade of the Barretto Street wing, the structure was altered to accommodate vehicular entrances and doors. An entrance bay near the south end of the east facade is a narrower variation on the wide bays of the rest of the facade, featuring a narrow, rounded-arch window at the top story. The narrow, square-headed window of the second story of this entrance bay has non-historic sashes. The presence of a doorway at the ground floor, which sits at the top of two concrete stairs, may be historic, although the actual door and the roll-down gate above it probably are not. A non-historic call box is located to the right of the doorway.

 

To the south, the Barretto Street wing is fully attached to the Lafayette Avenue wing, while to the west, this wing is only semi-attached to the printing press wing. The saw-tooth skylights of the roof are visible from Lafayette Avenue, as is the terra-cotta coping of the shallow parapets along the roofline. To the north, a flat-roofed, one-story brick addition is present, featuring the typical terra-cotta coping for the site. Non-historic lighting and signage is present throughout the east facade.

 

Related Landmark Site

 

A one-story, flat-roofed, red brick garage, located on the northeast corner of the landmark site, is also articulated similarly to the Lafayette Avenue, printing press, and Barretto Street wings of the plant, featuring a series of bays separated by shallow pilasters with stepped caps. Between the bays are a various configurations of vehicular and pedestrian doorways, and square-headed windows. All window openings are recessed the distance of a single brick course and feature the typical brick lintels and rectangular sills for the site. Non-historic alterations are evident in many of these openings. A shallow parapet surrounds the garage on all four sides and is capped by terra-cotta coping. Non-historic signage, painting, lighting, and a security camera are present throughout.

 

The brick wall, some portions of which are historic, much of which has been replaced, is stepped along much of its length due to grade changes. The wall has been further heightened in some areas by an iron railing supporting chain link fencing. The right half of a historic metal double-door is present between the gate posts of the main pedestrian entrance at the intersection of Tiffany Street and Garrison Avenue. The concrete walk with stairs which extends beyond the main pedestrian entry to the printing press wing was originally flanked by lampposts, manicured lawns, and a curved driveway extending from the vehicular entrance along Tiffany Street. Presently, the areas that were once lawns are paved for parking purposes, and none of the original lampposts remain.

 

- From the 2008 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

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Sioux Falls is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 121st-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into northern Lincoln County to the south, which continues up to the Iowa state line. The population was 192,517 at the 2020 census, and in 2022, its estimated population was 202,078. According to city officials, the estimated population had grown to 213,891 as of early 2024. The Sioux Falls metro area accounts for more than 30% of the state's population. Chartered in 1856 on the banks of the Big Sioux River, the city is situated in the rolling hills at the junction of interstates 29 and 90.

 

Sioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Founded in 1856, the city was abandoned, sacked, resettled and later grew to become a city with a 2020 Census population of 192,517 people.

 

The history of Sioux Falls revolves around the cascades of the Big Sioux River. The falls were created about 14,000 years ago when the last glacial ice sheet redirected the flow of the river into the large looping bends of its present course. Fueled by water from the melting ice, the river exposed the underlying Sioux quartzite bedrock, the hard pinkish stone of the falls. The quartzite itself is about a billion and a half years old. It began as sediments deposited on the bottom of an ancient, shallow sea.

 

The lure of the falls has been a powerful influence. A prehistoric people who inhabited the region before 500 B.C. left numerous burial mounds on the high bluffs near the river. These people were followed by an agricultural society that built fortified villages on many of the same sites. Tribes of the Lakota and Dakota, widely ranging nomadic bison hunters, arrived sometime around the 18th century. Early maps indicate they used the falls as a place to rendezvous with French fur trappers, considered the first European visitors at the falls.

 

The falls also drew the attention of early explorers. An August 1804 journal entry of the Lewis and Clark expedition describes the falls of the "Soues River." Famous pathfinder John C. Fremont and French scientist Joseph Nicollet explored the region in 1838 and also wrote a description of the falls. Both are considered second hand accounts rather than evidence of an actual visit.

 

The first documented visit was by Philander Prescott, an explorer, trader, and trapper who camped overnight at the falls in December 1832. Captain James Allen led a military expedition out of Fort Des Moines in 1844. The early descriptions of the falls were published in The States and Territories of the Great West, an 1856 book by Jacob Ferris which inspired townsite developers to seek out the falls.

 

The focus of intense land speculation activity in Minnesota and Iowa during the mid-1850s inevitably turned toward the Big Sioux River valley. Sioux Falls was founded by land speculators who hoped to build great wealth by claiming prime townsites before the arrival of railroads and settlers.

 

Two separate groups, the Dakota Land Company of St. Paul and the Western Town Company of Dubuque, Iowa organized in 1856 to claim the land around the falls, considered a promising townsite for its beauty and water power. The Western Town Company arrived first, and was soon followed by the St. Paul–based company in 1857. Each laid out 320-acre (1.3 km2) claims, but worked together for mutual protection. They built a temporary barricade of turf which they dubbed "Fort Sod," in response to hostilities threatened by native tribes. Seventeen men then spent "the first winter" in Sioux Falls. The following year the population grew to near 40.

 

Although conflicts in Minnehaha County between Native Americans and white settlers were few, the Dakota War of 1862 engulfed nearby southwestern Minnesota. The town was evacuated in August of that year when two local settlers were killed as a result of the conflict. The settlers and soldiers stationed here traveled to Yankton in late August 1862. The abandoned townsite was pillaged and burned.

 

Fort Dakota, a military reservation established in present-day downtown, was established in May 1865. Many former settlers gradually returned and a new wave of settlers arrived in the following years. The population grew to 593 by 1873, and a building boom was underway in that year.

 

The Village of Sioux Falls, consisting of 1,200 acres (4.9 km2), was incorporated in 1876 by the 12th legislative assembly of the Dakota Territory, which convened in the territorial capital of Yankton. The village charter proved to be too restrictive, however, and Sioux Falls petitioned to become a city. The city charter was granted by the Dakota Territorial legislature on March 3, 1883.

 

The arrival of the railroads ushered in the great Dakota Boom decade of the 1880s. The population of Sioux Falls mushroomed from 2,164 in 1880 to 10,167 at the close of the decade. The growth transformed the city. A severe plague of grasshoppers and a national depression halted the boom by the early 1890s. The city grew by only 89 people from 1890 to 1900.

 

Beginning in the 1880s, a 90-day residency law and lax oversight on the part of local judges concerning sworn testimony caused word to spread across the United States that a legal divorce was easily obtained in Dakota Territory. As a result, both Sioux Falls and Fargo (in later North Dakota) became known as "divorce capitals". Thousands of people traveled to the towns seeking a divorce, with the resulting divorce rate in Minnehaha County during this period being nearly three times that of the national average. Although many local residents were unhappy with the notoriety, the surge of "tourists" necessitated the construction of a number of new hotels and restaurants, and the situation brought a level of attention uncommon for towns of a similar size. Divorce laws were tightened after statehood, and the phenomenon had ended by the early 1900s.

 

With the opening of the John Morrell meat-packing plant in 1909, the establishment of an airbase and a military radio and communications training school in 1942, and the completion of the interstate highways in the early 1960s, Sioux Falls grew at a moderate but steady pace in the early and middle years of the 20th century. During this period, the city's economy was largely centered on the stockyards and the meat packing industry. Sioux Falls was home to one of the largest stockyards in the nation at the time, and the John Morrell plant was by far the largest employer in the city.

 

Beginning in the late 20th century, Sioux Falls began growing at a considerably faster pace than during previous decades. The economy became more service-based, and word began to spread about the relatively low levels of unemployment and crime. Annexations of adjacent land in Minnehaha County became common. The first annexation of land south of 57th Street from Lincoln County was in 1969 for a municipal water tower. The next annexations from Lincoln County occurred in 1978 when a couple of new subdivisions were added.

 

Several large shopping malls opened during the 1970s, and the retail and dining industry began to exert a growing influence on the city's economy. In 1981, Citibank transferred its credit card operations from New York to Sioux Falls to take advantage of recently relaxed state anti-usury laws. Several other financial companies also moved to Sioux Falls or expanded its existing business in the city, resulting in a large present-day banking and financial presence in the city. A third factor contributing to recent growth is the expansion of the local healthcare industry. The two largest hospitals in the city, Sanford Health and Avera Health, are also the two largest present-day employers in the city.

 

South Dakota is a landlocked U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota Sioux tribe, which comprises a large portion of the population with nine reservations currently in the state and has historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the 17th largest by area, but the 5th least populous, and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Pierre is the state capital, and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 213,900, is South Dakota's most populous city. The state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota (to the north), Minnesota (to the east), Iowa (to the southeast), Nebraska (to the south), Wyoming (to the west), and Montana (to the northwest).

 

Humans have inhabited the area for several millennia, with the Sioux becoming dominant by the early 19th century. In the late 19th century, European-American settlement intensified after a gold rush in the Black Hills and the construction of railroads from the east. Encroaching miners and settlers triggered a number of Indian wars, ending with the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. They are the 39th and 40th states admitted to the union; President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the statehood papers before signing them so that no one could tell which became a state first.

 

Key events in the 20th century included the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, increased federal spending during the 1940s and 1950s for agriculture and defense, and an industrialization of agriculture that has reduced family farming. Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state's population, and the area's fertile soil is used to grow a variety of crops. West of the Missouri River, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending. Most of the Native American reservations are in West River. The Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains sacred to the Sioux, is in the southwest part of the state. Mount Rushmore, a major tourist destination, is there. South Dakota has a temperate continental climate, with four distinct seasons and precipitation ranging from moderate in the east to semi-arid in the west. The state's ecology features species typical of a North American grassland biome.

 

While several Democrats have represented South Dakota for multiple terms in both chambers of Congress, the state government is largely controlled by the Republican Party, whose nominees have carried South Dakota in each of the last 14 presidential elections. Historically dominated by an agricultural economy and a rural lifestyle, South Dakota has recently sought to diversify its economy in other areas to both attract and retain residents. South Dakota's history and rural character still strongly influence the state's culture.

 

The history of South Dakota describes the history of the U.S. state of South Dakota over the course of several millennia, from its first inhabitants to the recent issues facing the state.

 

Human beings have lived in what is today South Dakota for at least several thousand years. Early hunters are believed to have first entered North America at least 17,000 years ago via the Bering land bridge, which existed during the last ice age and connected Siberia with Alaska. Early settlers in what would become South Dakota were nomadic hunter-gatherers, using primitive Stone Age technology to hunt large prehistoric mammals in the area such as mammoths, sloths, and camels. The Paleolithic culture of these people disappeared around 5000 BC, after the extinction of most of their prey species.

 

Between AD 500 and 800, much of eastern South Dakota was inhabited by a people known as the 'Mound Builders'. The Mound Builders were hunters who lived in temporary villages and were named for the low earthen burial mounds they constructed, many of which still exist. Their settlement seems to have been concentrated around the watershed of the Big Sioux River and Big Stone Lake, although other sites have been excavated throughout eastern South Dakota. Either assimilation or warfare led to the demise of the Mound Builders by the year 800. Between 1250 and 1400 an agricultural people, likely the ancestors of the modern Mandan of North Dakota, arrived from the east and settled in the central part of the state. In 1325, what has become known as the Crow Creek Massacre occurred near Chamberlain. An archeological excavation of the site has discovered 486 bodies buried in a mass grave within a type of fortification; many of the skeletal remains show evidence of scalping and decapitation.

 

The Arikara, also known as the Ree, began arriving from the south in the 16th century. They spoke a Caddoan language similar to that of the Pawnee, and probably originated in what is now Kansas and Nebraska. Although they would at times travel to hunt or trade, the Arikara were far less nomadic than many of their neighbors, and lived for the most part in permanent villages. These villages usually consisted of a stockade enclosing a number of circular earthen lodges built on bluffs looking over the rivers. Each village had a semi-autonomous political structure, with the Arikara's various subtribes being connected in a loose alliance. In addition to hunting and growing crops such as corn, beans, pumpkin and other squash, the Arikara were also skilled traders, and would often serve as intermediaries between tribes to the north and south It was probably through their trading connections that Spanish horses first reached the region around 1760. The Arikara reached the height of their power in the 17th century, and may have included as many as 32 villages. Due both to disease as well as pressure from other tribes, the number of Arikara villages would decline to only two by the late 18th century, and the Arikara eventually merged entirely with the Mandan to the north.

 

The sister tribe of the Arikaras, the Pawnee, may have also had a small amount of land in the state. Both were Caddoan and were among the only known tribes in the continental U.S. to have committed human sacrifice, via a religious ritual that occurred once a year. It is said that the U.S. government worked hard to halt this practice before their homelands came to be heavily settled, for fear that the general public might react harshly or refuse to move there.

 

The Lakota Oral histories tell of them driving the Algonquian ancestors of the Cheyenne from the Black Hills regions, south of the Platte River, in the 18th century. Before that, the Cheyenne say that they were, in fact, two tribes, which they call the Tsitsistas & Sutaio After their defeat, much of their territory was contained to southeast Wyoming & western Nebraska. While they had been able to hold off the Sioux for quite some time, they were heavily damaged by a smallpox outbreak. They are also responsible for introducing the horse to the Lakota.

 

The Ioway, or Iowa people, also inhabited the region where the modern states of South Dakota, Minnesota & Iowa meet, north of the Missouri River. They also had a sister nation, known as the Otoe who lived south of them. They were Chiwere speaking, a very old variation of Siouan language said to have originated amongst the ancestors of the Ho-Chunk of Wisconsin. They also would have had a fairly similar culture to that of the Dhegihan Sioux tribes of Nebraska & Kansas.

 

By the 17th century, the Sioux, who would later come to dominate much of the state, had settled in what is today central and northern Minnesota. The Sioux spoke a language of the Siouan language family, and were divided into two culture groups – the Dakota & Nakota. By the early 18th century the Sioux would begin to move south and then west into the plains. This migration was due to several factors, including greater food availability to the west, as well as the fact that the rival Ojibwe & other related Algonquians had obtained rifles from the French at a time when the Sioux were still using the bow and arrow. Other tribes were also displaced during some sort of poorly understood conflict that occurred between Siouan & Algonquian peoples in the early 18th century.

 

In moving west into the prairies, the lifestyle of the Sioux would be greatly altered, coming to resemble that of a nomadic northern plains tribe much more so than a largely settled eastern woodlands one. Characteristics of this transformation include a greater dependence on the bison for food, a heavier reliance on the horse for transportation, and the adoption of the tipi for habitation, a dwelling more suited to the frequent movements of a nomadic people than their earlier semi-permanent lodges.

 

Once on the plains, a schism caused the two subgroups of the Sioux to divide into three separate nations—the Lakota, who migrated south, the Asiniboine who migrated back east to Minnesota & the remaining Sioux. It appears to be around this time that the Dakota people became more prominent over the Nakota & the entirety of the people came to call themselves as such.

 

The Lakota, who crossed the Missouri around 1760 and reached the Black Hills by 1776, would come to settle largely in western South Dakota, northwestern Nebraska, and southwestern North Dakota. The Yankton primarily settled in southeastern South Dakota, the Yanktonnais settled in northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota, and the Santee settled primarily in central and southern Minnesota. Due in large part to the Sioux migrations, a number of tribes would be driven from the area. The tribes in and around the Black Hills, most notably the Cheyenne, would be pushed to the west, the Arikara would move further north along the Missouri, and the Omaha would be driven out of southeastern South Dakota and into northeastern Nebraska.

 

Later, the Lakota & Assiniboine returned to the fold, forming a single confederacy known as the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven council fire. This was divided into four cultural groups—the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota & Nagoda-- & seven distinct tribes, each with their own chief—the Nakota Mdewakan (Note—Older attempts at Lakota language show a mistake in writing the sound 'bl' as 'md', such as summer, Bloketu, misprinted as mdoketu. Therefore, this word should be Blewakan.) & Wahpeton, the Dakota Santee & Sisseton, the Nagoda Yankton & Yanktonai & the Lakota Teton. In this form, they were able to secure from the U.S. government a homeland, commonly referred to as Mni-Sota Makoce, or the Lakotah Republic. However, conflicts increased between Sioux & American citizens in the decades leading up the Civil War & a poorly funded & organized Bureau of Indian Affairs had difficulty keeping peace between groups. This eventually resulted in the United States blaming the Sioux for the atrocities & rendering the treaty which recognized the nation of Lakotah null and void. The U.S., however, later recognized their fault in a Supreme Court case in the 1980s after several decades of failed lawsuits by the Sioux, yet little has been done to smooth the issue over to the best interests of both sides.

 

France was the first European nation to hold any real claim over what would become South Dakota. Its claims covered most of the modern state. However, at most a few French scouting parties may have entered eastern South Dakota. In 1679 Daniel G. Duluth sent explorers west from Lake Mille Lacs, and they may have reached Big Stone Lake and the Coteau des Prairies. Pierre Le Sueur's traders entered the Big Sioux River Valley on multiple occasions. Evidence for these journeys is from a 1701 map by William De L'Isle that shows a trail to below the falls of the Big Sioux River from the Mississippi River.

 

After 1713, France looked west to sustain its fur trade. The first Europeans to enter South Dakota from the north, the Verendrye brothers, began their expedition in 1743. The expedition started at Fort La Reine on Lake Manitoba, and was attempting to locate an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean. They buried a lead plate inscribed near Ft. Pierre; it was rediscovered by schoolchildren in 1913.

 

In 1762, France granted Spain all French territory west of the Mississippi River in the Treaty of Fontainebleau. The agreement, which was signed in secret, was motivated by a French desire to convince Spain to come to terms with Britain and accept defeat in the Seven Years' War. In an attempt to secure Spanish claims in the region against possible encroachment from other European powers, Spain adopted a policy for the upper Missouri which emphasized the development of closer trade relations with local tribes as well as greater exploration of the region, a primary focus of which would be a search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. Although traders such as Jacques D'Eglise and Juan Munier had been active in the region for several years, these men had been operating independently, and a determined effort to reach the Pacific and solidify Spanish control of the region had never been undertaken. In 1793, a group commonly known as the Missouri Company was formed in St. Louis, with the twin goals of trading and exploring on the upper Missouri. The company sponsored several attempts to reach the Pacific Ocean, none of which made it further than the mouth of the Yellowstone. In 1794, Jean Truteau (also spelled Trudeau) built a cabin near the present-day location of Fort Randall, and in 1795 the Mackay-Evans Expedition traveled up the Missouri as far as present-day North Dakota, where they expelled several British traders who had been active in the area. In 1801, a post known as Fort aux Cedres was constructed by Registre Loisel of St. Louis, on Cedar Island on the Missouri about 35 miles (56 km) southeast of the present location of Pierre. This trading post was the major regional post until its destruction by fire in 1810.[30] In 1800, Spain gave Louisiana back to France in the Treaty of San Ildefonso.

 

In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon for $11,000,000. The territory included most of the western half of the Mississippi watershed and covered nearly all of present-day South Dakota, except for a small portion in the northeast corner of the state. The region was still largely unexplored and unsettled, and President Thomas Jefferson organized a group commonly referred to as the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the newly acquired region over a period of more than two years. The expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, was tasked with following the route of the Missouri to its source, continuing on to the Pacific Ocean, establishing diplomatic relations with the various tribes in the area, and taking cartographic, geologic, and botanical surveys of the area. The expedition left St. Louis on May 14, 1804, with 45 men and 15 tons of supplies in three boats (one keelboat and two pirogues). The party progressed slowly against the Missouri's current, reaching what is today South Dakota on August 22. Near present-day Vermillion, the party hiked to the Spirit Mound after hearing local legends of the place being inhabited by "little spirits" (or "devils"). Shortly after this, a peaceful meeting took place with the Yankton Sioux, while an encounter with the Lakota Sioux further north was not as uneventful. The Lakota mistook the party as traders, at one point stealing a horse. Weapons were brandished on both sides after it appeared as though the Lakota were going to further delay or even halt the expedition, but they eventually stood down and allowed the party to continue up the river and out of their territory. In north central South Dakota, the expedition acted as mediators between the warring Arikara and Mandan. After leaving the state on October 14, the party wintered with the Mandan in North Dakota before successfully reaching the Pacific Ocean and returning by the same route, safely reaching St. Louis in 1806. On the return trip, the expedition spent only 15 days in South Dakota, traveling more swiftly with the Missouri's current.

 

Pittsburgh lawyer Henry Marie Brackenridge was South Dakota's first recorded tourist. In 1811 he was hosted by fur trader Manuel Lisa.

 

In 1817, an American fur trading post was set up at present-day Fort Pierre, beginning continuous American settlement of the area. During the 1830s, fur trading was the dominant economic activity for the few white people who lived in the area. More than one hundred fur-trading posts were in present-day South Dakota in the first half of the 19th century, and Fort Pierre was the center of activity.[citation needed] General William Henry Ashley, Andrew Henry, and Jedediah Smith of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and Manuel Lisa and Joshua Pilcher of the St. Louis Fur Company, trapped in that region. Pierre Chouteau Jr. brought the steamship Yellowstone to Fort Tecumseh on the Missouri River in 1831. In 1832 the fort was replaced by Fort Pierre Chouteau Jr.: today's town of Fort Pierre. Pierre bought the Western Department of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company and renamed it Pratte, Chouteau and Company, and then Pierre Chouteau and Company. It operated in present-day South Dakota from 1834 to 1858. Most trappers and traders left the area after European demand for furs dwindled around 1840.

 

Main articles: Kansas–Nebraska Act, Nebraska Territory, Organic act § List of organic acts, and Dakota Territory

In 1855, the U.S. Army bought Fort Pierre but abandoned it the following year in favor of Fort Randall to the south. Settlement by Americans and Europeans was by this time increasing rapidly, and in 1858 the Yankton Sioux signed the 1858 "Treaty of Washington", ceding most of present-day eastern South Dakota to the United States.

 

Land speculators founded two of eastern South Dakota's largest present-day cities: Sioux Falls in 1856 and Yankton in 1859. The Big Sioux River falls was the spot of an 1856 settlement established by a Dubuque, Iowa, company; that town was quickly removed by native residents. But in the following year, May 1857, the town was resettled and named Sioux Falls. That June, St. Paul, Minnesota's Dakota Land Company came to an adjacent 320 acres (130 ha), calling it Sioux Falls City. In June 1857, Flandreau and Medary, South Dakota, were established by the Dakota Land Company. Along with Yankton in 1859, Bon Homme, Elk Point, and Vermillion were among the new communities along the Missouri River or border with Minnesota. Settlers therein numbered about 5,000 in 1860. In 1861, Dakota Territory was established by the United States government (this initially included North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Montana and Wyoming). Settlers from Scandinavia, Germany, Ireland, Czechoslovakia[citation needed] and Russia,[citation needed] as well as elsewhere in Europe and from the eastern U.S. states increased from a trickle to a flood, especially after the completion of an eastern railway link to the territorial capital of Yankton in 1872, and the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 during a military expedition led by George A. Custer.

 

The Dakota Territory had significant regional tensions between the northern part and the southern part from the beginning, the southern part always being more populated – in the 1880 United States census, the population of the southern part (98,268) was more than two and a half times of the northern part (36,909), and southern Dakotans saw the northern part as bit of disreputable, "controlled by the wild folks, cattle ranchers, fur traders” and too frequently the site of conflict with the indigenous population. Also, the new railroads built connected the northern and southern parts to different hubs – northern part was closer tied to Minneapolis–Saint Paul area; and southern part to Sioux City and from there to Omaha. The last straw was territorial governor Nehemiah G. Ordway moving the territorial capital from Yankton to Bismarck in modern-day North Dakota. As the Southern part had the necessary population for statehood (60,000), they held a separate convention in September 1883 and drafted a constitution. Various bills to divide the Dakota Territory in half ended up stalling, until in 1887, when the Territorial Legislature submitted the question of division to a popular vote at the November general elections, where it was approved by 37,784 votes over 32,913. A bill for statehood for North Dakota and South Dakota (as well as Montana and Washington) titled the Enabling Act of 1889 was passed on February 22, 1889, during the Administration of Grover Cleveland, dividing Dakota along the seventh standard parallel. It was left to his successor, Benjamin Harrison, to sign proclamations formally admitting North and South Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1889. Harrison directed his Secretary of State James G. Blaine to shuffle the papers and obscure from him which he was signing first and the actual order went unrecorded.

 

With statehood South Dakota was now in a position to make decisions on the major issues it confronted: prohibition, women's suffrage, the location of the state capital, the opening of the Sioux lands for settlement, and the cyclical issues of drought (severe in 1889) and low wheat prices (1893–1896). In early 1889 a prohibition bill passed the new state legislature, only to be vetoed by Governor Louis Church. Fierce opposition came from the wet German community, with financing from beer and liquor interests. The Yankee women organized to demand suffrage, as well as prohibition. Neither party supported their cause, and the wet element counter-organized to block women's suffrage. Popular interest reached a peak in the debates over locating the state capital. Prestige, real estate values and government jobs were at stake, as well as the question of access in such a large geographical region with limited railroads. Huron was the temporary site, centrally located Pierre was the best organized contender, and three other towns were in the running. Real estate speculators had money to toss around. Pierre, population 3200, made the most generous case to the voters—its promoters truly believed it would be the next Denver and be the railway hub of the Dakotas. The North Western railroad came through but not the others it expected. In 1938 Pierre counted 4000 people and three small hotels.

 

The national government continued to handle Indian affairs. The Army's 1874 Custer expedition took place despite the fact that the western half of present-day South Dakota had been granted to the Sioux by the Treaty of Fort Laramie as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. The Sioux declined to grant mining rights or land in the Black Hills, and the Great Sioux War of 1876 broke out after the U.S. failed to stop white miners and settlers from entering the region. The Sioux were eventually defeated and settled on reservations within South Dakota and North Dakota.

 

In 1889 Harrison sent general George Crook with a commission to persuade the Sioux to sell half their reservation land to the government. It was believed that the state would not be viable unless more land was made available to settlers. Crook used a number of dubious methods to secure agreement and obtain the land.

 

On December 29, 1890, the Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It was the last major armed conflict between the United States and the Sioux Nation, the massacre resulted in the deaths of 300 Sioux, many of them women and children. In addition 25 U.S. soldiers were also killed in the episode.

 

Railroads played a central role in South Dakota transportation from the late 19th century until the 1930s, when they were surpassed by highways. The Milwaukee Road and the Chicago & North Western were the state's largest railroads, and the Milwaukee's east–west transcontinental line traversed the northern tier of the state. About 4,420 miles (7,110 km) of railroad track were built in South Dakota during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, though only 1,839 miles (2,960 km) were active in 2007.

 

The railroads sold land to prospective farmers at very low rates, expecting to make a profit by shipping farm products out and home goods in. They also set up small towns that would serve as shipping points and commercial centers, and attract businessmen and more farmers. The Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway (M&StL) in 1905, under the leadership of vice president and general manager L. F. Day, added lines from Watertown to LeBeau and from Conde through Aberdeen to Leola. It developed town sites along the new lines and by 1910, the new lines served 35 small communities.

 

Not all of the new towns survived. The M&StL situated LeBeau along the Missouri River on the eastern edge of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. The new town was a hub for the cattle and grain industries. Livestock valued at one million dollars were shipped out in 1908, and the rail company planned a bridge across the Missouri River. Allotment of the Cheyenne River Reservation in 1909 promised further growth. By the early 1920s, however, troubles multiplied, with the murder of a local rancher, a fire that destroyed the business district, and drought that ruined ranchers and farmers alike. LeBeau became a ghost town.

 

Most of the traffic was freight, but the main lines also offered passenger service. After the European immigrants settled, there never were many people moving about inside the state. Profits were slim. Automobiles and busses were much more popular, but there was an increase during World War II when gasoline was scarce. All passenger service was ended in the state by 1969.

 

In the rural areas farmers and ranchers depended on local general stores that had a limited stock and slow turnover; they made enough profit to stay in operation by selling at high prices. Prices were not marked on each item; instead the customer negotiated a price. Men did most of the shopping, since the main criterion was credit rather than quality of goods. Indeed, most customers shopped on credit, paying off the bill when crops or cattle were later sold; the owner's ability to judge credit worthiness was vital to his success.

 

In the cities consumers had much more choice, and bought their dry goods and supplies at locally owned department stores. They had a much wider selection of goods than in the country general stores and price tags that gave the actual selling price. The department stores provided a very limited credit, and set up attractive displays and, after 1900, window displays as well. Their clerks—usually men before the 1940s—were experienced salesmen whose knowledge of the products appealed to the better educated middle-class housewives who did most of the shopping. The keys to success were a large variety of high-quality brand-name merchandise, high turnover, reasonable prices, and frequent special sales. The larger stores sent their buyers to Denver, Minneapolis, and Chicago once or twice a year to evaluate the newest trends in merchandising and stock up on the latest fashions. By the 1920s and 1930s, large mail-order houses such as Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward provided serious competition, making the department stores rely even more on salesmanship and close integration with the community.

 

Many entrepreneurs built stores, shops, and offices along Main Street. The most handsome ones used pre-formed, sheet iron facades, especially those manufactured by the Mesker Brothers of St. Louis. These neoclassical, stylized facades added sophistication to brick or wood-frame buildings throughout the state.

 

During the 1930s, several economic and climatic conditions combined with disastrous results for South Dakota. A lack of rainfall, extremely high temperatures and over-cultivation of farmland produced what was known as the Dust Bowl in South Dakota and several other plains states. Fertile topsoil was blown away in massive dust storms, and several harvests were completely ruined. The experiences of the Dust Bowl, coupled with local bank foreclosures and the general economic effects of the Great Depression resulted in many South Dakotans leaving the state. The population of South Dakota declined by more than seven percent between 1930 and 1940.

 

Prosperity returned with the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941, when demand for the state's agricultural and industrial products grew as the nation mobilized for war. Over 68,000 South Dakotans served in the armed forces during the war, of which over 2,200 were killed.

 

In 1944, the Pick-Sloan Plan was passed as part of the Flood Control Act of 1944 by the U.S. Congress, resulting in the construction of six large dams on the Missouri River, four of which are at least partially located in South Dakota.[83] Flood control, hydroelectricity and recreational opportunities such as boating and fishing are provided by the dams and their reservoirs.

 

On the night of June 9–10, 1972, heavy rainfall in the eastern Black Hills caused the Canyon Lake Dam on Rapid Creek to fail. The failure of the dam, combined with heavy runoff from the storm, turned the usually small creek into a massive torrent that washed through central Rapid City. The flood resulted in 238 deaths and destroyed 1,335 homes and around 5,000 automobiles.[84] Damage from the flood totaled $160 million (the equivalent of $664 million today).

 

On April 19, 1993, Governor George S. Mickelson was killed in a plane crash in Iowa while returning from a business meeting in Cincinnati. Several other state officials were also killed in the crash. Mickelson, who was in the middle of his second term as governor, was succeeded by Walter Dale Miller.

 

In recent decades, South Dakota has transformed from a state dominated by agriculture to one with a more diversified economy. The tourism industry has grown considerably since the completion of the interstate system in the 1960s, with the Black Hills being especially impacted. The financial service industry began to grow in the state as well, with Citibank moving its credit card operations from New York to Sioux Falls in 1981, a move that has since been followed by several other financial companies. In 2007, the site of the recently closed Homestake gold mine near Lead was chosen as the location of a new underground research facility. Despite a growing state population and recent economic development, many rural areas have been struggling over the past 50 years with locally declining populations and the emigration of educated young adults to larger South Dakota cities, such as Rapid City or Sioux Falls, or to other states. The Cattleman's Blizzard of October 2013 killed tens of thousands of livestock in western South Dakota, and was one of the worst blizzards in the state's history.

Tutankhamun's painted chest features scenes of the king battling Egypts enemies, on the long sides he is shown as a warrior in his chariot attacking Libyans, Hittites and Nubians (there is some speculation over whether this is mere decoration to empower the pharaoh's image, or possibly Tutankhamun may have been actually involved in battle and suffered a fatal injury). The short sides depict the king as a sphinx-like creature trampling further enemies, and whilst the decoration is beautiful in detail, it is brutal in content!

 

The most celebrated part of the Cairo Museum's collection has for the best part of a century been the incomparable treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb housed in two long galleries on the upper floor. The greatest archaeological discovery of all time, the virtually intact tomb of the young pharaoh was discovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings, undisturbed since antiquity owing to the King's relative obscurity.

 

Tutankhamun was born Tutankhaten, son and successor of the 'heretic' pharaoh Akhenaten who dispensed with Egypt's centuries old religion in favour of his new god, the sun disk he called Aten. At Akhenaten's death Tutankhaten was only nine years old and early in his reign was persuaded to restore Egypt's religion and traditions, abandoning the cult of Aten and restoring the prominence of Amun, god of Thebes, thus changing his name to Tutankhamun. His early death barely a decade later and association with his reviled father led to the young pharaoh sharing his fate in being struck from the records and lists of Kings (an act of damnatio memoriae), thus his tomb itself was quickly forgotten and hidden beneath later structures whilst those of more famous rulers were stripped bare, probably within decades.

 

Howard Carter's discovery of the still sealed tomb in 1922 caused a sensation, nothing so complete had ever been found before. The tomb itself was small by pharaonic standards, prepared in a hurry as the king died in his late teens with two main chambers and a further two side chambers crammed with artworks, treasures and furnishings, along with the king's body sealed within four gilded-wooden shrines, three superbly rich coffins and the incomparable golden mask upon his head. Better still, the pharaoh's reign in the 18th Dynasty coincided with a particularly high period for artistic achievement, meaning that so much was of the highest quality. One can only imagine the riches that must have disappeared from the much larger tombs of the more famous rulers, compared to this tiny treasure-trove!

 

Tutankhamun's collection has resided in Cairo's Egyptian Museum ever since its discovery, but by the end of 2018 will have moved again to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza (currently being prepared for partial opening later this year). The treasures will be displayed in their entirety for the first time, and many pieces have already been transferred. This visit offered us a last opportunity to view most of the major pieces in their central Cairo home for one last time.

 

For more on the 'obscure' pharaoh who millennia later became Egypt's most celebrated, see the link below:-

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun's painted chest features scenes of the king battling Egypts enemies, on the long sides he is shown as a warrior in his chariot attacking Libyans, Hittites and Nubians (there is some speculation over whether this is mere decoration to empower the pharaoh's image, or possibly Tutankhamun may have been actually involved in battle and suffered a fatal injury). The short sides depict the king as a sphinx-like creature trampling further enemies, and whilst the decoration is beautiful in detail, it is brutal in content!

 

The most celebrated part of the Cairo Museum's collection has for the best part of a century been the incomparable treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb housed in two long galleries on the upper floor. The greatest archaeological discovery of all time, the virtually intact tomb of the young pharaoh was discovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings, undisturbed since antiquity owing to the King's relative obscurity.

 

Tutankhamun was born Tutankhaten, son and successor of the 'heretic' pharaoh Akhenaten who dispensed with Egypt's centuries old religion in favour of his new god, the sun disk he called Aten. At Akhenaten's death Tutankhaten was only nine years old and early in his reign was persuaded to restore Egypt's religion and traditions, abandoning the cult of Aten and restoring the prominence of Amun, god of Thebes, thus changing his name to Tutankhamun. His early death barely a decade later and association with his reviled father led to the young pharaoh sharing his fate in being struck from the records and lists of Kings (an act of damnatio memoriae), thus his tomb itself was quickly forgotten and hidden beneath later structures whilst those of more famous rulers were stripped bare, probably within decades.

 

Howard Carter's discovery of the still sealed tomb in 1922 caused a sensation, nothing so complete had ever been found before. The tomb itself was small by pharaonic standards, prepared in a hurry as the king died in his late teens with two main chambers and a further two side chambers crammed with artworks, treasures and furnishings, along with the king's body sealed within four gilded-wooden shrines, three superbly rich coffins and the incomparable golden mask upon his head. Better still, the pharaoh's reign in the 18th Dynasty coincided with a particularly high period for artistic achievement, meaning that so much was of the highest quality. One can only imagine the riches that must have disappeared from the much larger tombs of the more famous rulers, compared to this tiny treasure-trove!

 

Tutankhamun's collection has resided in Cairo's Egyptian Museum ever since its discovery, but by the end of 2018 will have moved again to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza (currently being prepared for partial opening later this year). The treasures will be displayed in their entirety for the first time, and many pieces have already been transferred. This visit offered us a last opportunity to view most of the major pieces in their central Cairo home for one last time.

 

For more on the 'obscure' pharaoh who millennia later became Egypt's most celebrated, see the link below:-

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun

Speculation by Peter Dean (comments). Maida Vale area.

 

LS 2 / YH 1166. This bus had a windscreen and inside staircase.

 

New 7/27 for LGOC : Out of service London Transport 9/37.

 

ADC double-decker H72R : enclosed stairs: AEC A121 7.6 litre petrol engine. Ref: Ian’s Bus Stop Leyland LS LONDON 6 buses.

 

MORE 16 ROUTE.

 

Photographer unknown.

In a moment of idle speculation I wondered what would happen if I stuck the camera lens up against the eye hole in our Kaleidoscope.

 

Now I know!

 

The cartridge has shards of colored glass in it.

 

April 9, 2016 | www.breakfastinamerica.me | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

 

How it came to be:

It has been a long time since I built a "real" airplane kit, and this one here is a one-of-a-kind. After a bleak phase with lots of reading about German WWII airplane projects I found a spark to fire up a project I kept in the back of my mind for a long time: building one of these semi-fictional WWII airplanes from scratch. These astonishing designs were on the drawing boards at their time and rarely made it beyond that. Only a few reached prototype status at the end of the war, but today these partly weird designs are the basis of today's Luft '46 model kit genre: What-if airplanes, based on sketches, construction plans and pure speculation, in the case the war would have gone on.

 

At this point I want to make clear that this kit has NO political background. It is not even intended, and any Nazi symbolism is intentionally avoided and rejected. It is rather a hommage to an impressive design and, from my personal point of view, pure science fiction, based on vague historic facts.

 

Some historic background on this plane:

This plane is a Focke-Wulf study from 1941 for a heavy fighter. It was developes shortly after the Fw 190 introduction and surely influenced by the twin-boom Fw 189 reconnaissance aircraft, which became very popular due to its high agility, stable flight characteristics and toughness against enemy fire. The small "Flitzer" turbine engine fighter will surely also have had some impact, since it was on Focke Wulf's drawing boards in 1943, too.

 

This beast here would have been a much larger airplane, though: a heavy, high performance fighter built around the potent BMW 803 engine: a 28 cylinder, liquid-cooled radial engine in the 4.000 hp output range - comparable to the P&W-R-4360 Wasp Major engine (the so-called "corncob") which actually found its way into the Vought F2G Corsair but "just" put out 3.000 hp.

For reference, this Focke Wulf design was quite comparable to the US American XP-54, both in design and performance

 

The Focke Wulf fighter never received an official designation, and saw some mutation in the course of 1943. Even though the basic layout as a twin-boom, single pusher engine airplane with a tricycle landing gear was retained, the radiator placements, wing and tail shape changed.

From the original 1941 annular radiator design (a ring opening around the central fuselage), the arrangement was modified in April 1943 to a single drum radiator in the nose and, alternatively, twin drum radiators in the front ends of the tailbooms. The latter design is the layout I chose for my model, or better: where I ended up (see below).

  

Valuable sources:

Walter Schick, Ingolf Meyer: Luftwaffe Secret Projects, Fighters 1939-1945, Hinckley, 2005 (this is an English translation of the original German edition, Stuttgart, 1994, but with many colored illustrations added).

 

Sundin, Claes; Bergstroem, Christer: Deutsche Jaqgdflugzeuge 1939-1945 in Farbprofilen, Bonn, 1999.

 

www.luft46.com - a great online institution which offers many facts, information and artwork about secret German WWII airplane designs like this one - you can find a nice CG graphic of the initial 1941 design of this machine there.

 

wp.scn.ru - "Wings Palette" - a Russian website which collects plane profiles and some details about the respective machine's history. A nice reference archive, since a lot information concerning colors can be found there, too. Handling is poor, though. But once you get it, it is a great model kit building source.

  

The construction:

Anyway, this Focke Wulf design never left the drawing board, and this model here is just an interpretation of the vague design sketches I found in literature. It is also limited by the use of various existing kits as a kitbashing basis. My idea was to build a what-if version of the airplane if it had entered service, which would allow some deviations from the blueprints and also leave some room for a semi-realistic Luftwaffe livery.

 

What went into this model:

 

Grumman Panther (1:72, Matchbox/Revell):

- Main body,

- Parts of the outer wings

- Cockpit interior

- Canopy

 

Lockheed P-38E Lightning (1:72; Airfix):

- Tailbooms

- Horizontal fin

- Cockpit parts

- Landing gear

- Propeller spinners

 

Messerschmidt Me 262 A-2a (1:72, Hobby Master):

- Outer wings

- Wheels

 

Dornier Do 217N (1:72, Italeri):

- Engine cowling (rear central fuselage)

- Propellers

 

Other smaller donations:

- Kamow Ka-25 (1:72, Airfix): Vertical fins

- Chance Vought XF5U-1 (1:72, Hasegawa): Propeller spinners

- Chance Vought F4U (1:72, Matchbox): Engine block

- Messerschmidt Me-110 (1:72, Matchbox): Pilot figure

...and a lot of small stuff of unknown origin!

  

Laying the foundations

The basic choice for donation kits was quickly done: the central body would come from the Grumman F9F-4 Panther kit from Matchbox (currently released by Revell). Its overall proportions match well with the Focke Wulf design's central body and its size well, and the kit's construction with folded wings and a separate tail fin allowed easy modification for the pusher engine layout.

 

Originally, I wanted to use the Panther's jet intakes as radiator openings for a fictional (and more elegant) design alternative to the "official" radiator solutions, but I had to skip this idea (see below). The slender tailbooms come from a vintage Airfix P-38H kit and are much more slender than the Focke Wulf designs. Furthermore, the original Focke Wulf main landing gear looks as if it would retract inwards - which collided with my intial radiator ideas! Due to the pusher propeller, a much longer landing gear than the Panther's wpould be necessary, and this would have needed much bigger compartments. Enlarging them appeared too complex, and there's be actually no space with my inital wing root radiator idea. Therefore, I decided to retract the main wheels into the twin booms, and the P-38 pieces were just perfect for my ideas (and at hand). They'd undergo major modifications, though.

 

The twin booms were to be mounted onto the Panther's inner wings, and from there the rest of the model design would come when the parts were needed or available, since matching proportions for a balanced look is an important aspect when you build from scratch - a lesson I learned through varioius mecha bashings and modifications. I had some plans though: for the outer wings, for instance, I considered straight wings from a Fw 190 or parts from a Do 335 "Arrow", since these are slightly swept and would match the original drawings quite well.

  

The body parts get assembled

Work started straightforward with the tailbooms: they needed total cleaning, so that the P-38 look would disappear as much as possible: intercooolers and turbochargers had to go, and the engines were to "disappear", too. The Airfix kit is pretty old and clumsy, but offers massive material to work with. Another positive aspect is that the main landing gear compartments are complete parts, including the doors and all the inside. A neat arrangement which would later allow a switch between extended and retracted wheels!

 

The Panther's fuselage was cut open at the rear end to hold the BMW 803 engine, which requiered a new cowling. This came from a Dornier Do 217 with BMW 801 engines from Italeri, the BMW 803 dummy inside comes from a Matchbox F4U kit. The diameters of both segments were pretty equal and were easily merged with putty.

 

The Panther's front end was taken as it is, including the cockpit. The latter is actually very detailed for a Matchbox kit, with side consoles, a dashboard with instruments and even steering stick is included. I just fitted a better seat and a WWII pilot figure, which received an oxygen mask and its head was turned left for a more vivid look.

 

Since the front wheel had to be much longer than the Panther pieces I decided to use the P-38 front landing gear. Consequently, I enlarged its compartment (towards the nose, with a transplanted interior) and moved the Panther's nose guns from their original low position upwards. The kit's nose was filled with lots of lead in order to ensure a good weight on the front wheel for free standing on its tricycle undercarriage.

 

The BMW 803's contraprops had to be built from scratch. The basis were two leftover three-bladed rotors from the aforementioned Do 217 Italeri kit (they had just the correct diameter!) for the static display version, and two transparent plastic discs of the same diameter in order to mimic running propellers for photo shooting purposes in flight.

The spinners were a nightmare, though. They come from a wrecked 1:72 Hasegawa kit of a Chance Vought XF5U-1 (The "Flying Pancake"). Cut into three pieces, the three-bladed props were implanted into the spinner segments and a metal axis inserted, so that the propellers can be moved and interchanged. A plastic tube inside of the engine dummy is the respective adapter and offers a stable hold.

  

Trouble! ...and even more trouble!

As rough work progressed, some fundamental problems became obvious:

 

a) the P-38 booms were too long at their front, and their diameter was much too large. Cutting the front ends off did not help much, since I would have had to create new front covers/noses from putty and their bulky shape would look very unsinspired - way off of the Focke Wulf design! Hence, I finally decided to switch my personal design plan from the wing root intake arrangement to the authetic twin drum radiator layout from April 1943.

The Panther's air intakes would be totally closed, leaving pretty "fat" wing roots of high thickness. But since armament was supposed to be loacted in both the nose and wing roots of this machine (see below), this offered a good chance to cover the mess up a little.

Finding something to act as drum radiators was another problem that followed suit! At first I thought I'd become happy with two leftover engines from a Matchbox PB4-Y2 Privateer in 1:72 scale. These are/were actually Twin Wasp radial engines, but their diameter, the grates inside and their cooling flaps made them suited for my kit. They fitted well, but it just did not look right (see some of the WIP pics).

Heavy-hearted I skipped this approach and also built the drums radiators from scratch. I finally found some good parts in model railraod equipment: in a HO Modulars set from Cornerstone with various roof detils for industrial buildings, I found two nice "tubs" (parts for motorized vents) which were merged with lots of putty and sanding onto the clipped tail booms. The radiator arrangement inside was made up from parts from a 1:72 scale Panzer IV(!) and from the Airfix P-38 spinners. The cooling flaps are very thin Plasticard. Comparing this solution with the original plane sketches, the result looks convicing and more "realistic" than originally planned! Whew...

 

b) The wing root/twin boom area was another source of headaches, since I had to merge parts that were never supposed to meet, in places even less intended for construction. But a mini drill with a diamond cutter and epoxy putty are wonderful things!

Spacers between the Panther hull and the booms had to be made, closing a 5mm gap on each side because the propeller needed this much space between the booms. Parts of the leftover Panther kit's outer wings were the basis, and the original P-38's horizonmtal fin could be used, too. Sound simple, but almost the complete area had to be remodeled with putty.

  

The big picture becomes clear(er)

Now that the main part of the body was finished, the final missing pieces could be added and first details defined.

 

For the outer wings, I finally settled on parts from a Me 262 from Hobby Boss. These have the advantage that they are massive pieces (not two halves, as usual) and that the Me 262's engine nacelles could easily be left away. As a result, I had two thin, slightly swept wings which could easily be cut into the right length for my project. Fixing them to the P-38 tail booms was another story, though!

The original Focke Wulf design uses simpler and thicker wings, which look very similar to the Do 335. But I justify my choice with the advancements in aerodynamics since the 1943 revision of the original plane's design and the effective introduction of the Me 262 into production and service. Using these parts or a similar design for high speeds in another airplane appears plausible in order to get this machine into the air quickly, and the slender Me 262 wings blend well with the angles of the inner wings from the Panther.

 

The vertical fins also puzzled me for some time. The round P-38 fins had definitively to go, but the different Focke Wulf design sketches did not show a definitive vertical fin shape or arrangement. Since I wanted an old-fashioned, not jet-like look, I went for parts from the scrap box again. And, believe it or not, the model's retro-looking vertical fins actually come from a helicopter: from an antique 1:72 scale Kamow Ka-25 "Hokum" from Airfix!

 

The main landing gear was taken from the P-38, but the wheels come from the scrap box. I am not sure where these come from - they could come from a Douglas Skyknight from Matchbox. Since the Airfix kit's contruction offers the main landing gear to be inserted as complete units, I also used the covers for the retracted gear for the photo shootings, for some pictures in flight.

  

Armament:

Being a heavy daylight fighter, I stuck to the original 1941 design armament: four fixed 20mm MG 151/20 in the nose, plus "provision for two larger calibre cannons", plus two or four machine guns installed in the wing-roots. The firepower would have been massive!

 

For my model I adopted the four 20mm guns in the upper nose and added four 30mm MK 103 cannons in the wing roots. Since these offered now lots of space, this arrangement would make the thick wing and the blended bodywork plausible, without looking exagerrated.

The nose guns are just thin polystyrol sticks, the larger calibre guns are syringe needles cut to length with the beloved diamond cutter.

 

But beyond the guns, I also wanted to add some of the experimental air-to-air weapons that were under development against allied bomber forces in 1945. Among those was the world's probably first guided AAM, the Kramer X-4: a relatively small, wire-guided missile with a range of just 3 miles and a contact detonator.

Tests with this innovative weapon were conducted in the late war months, and the X-4 was suppoesed to be carried by e. g. Me 262 fighters. The targeting procedure would easily overstress a single pilot's capabilities, though, esp. in the heat of a bomber formation attack at high speeds. Therefore, field tests were rather performed by multi-seated planes like the Ju 88, and the X-4 did not enter serious service.

But this missile would have been a plausible weapon for this Focke Wulf design, and so two X-4s found their way with starting racks under my model's wings.

Each missile consists of nine parts and had to be built from scratch. The body is a streamlined, modern 250 lbs. Mk 81 bomb, the wings were cut from thin polystyrol. The wire spools on the wing tips are actually parts from a HO scale fence(!), the acoustic detonator nose are leftover tool handles from a 1:35 scale tank kit.

  

Livery and markings:

Being a semi-fictional design that never left the drawing board, I tried to implement a "typical" late war Luftwaffe livery. Benchmarks were Me 262 fighter paint schemes, as well as late Fw 190D-9 and Ta-152 machines. Since the plane itself was already centre of attraction, the paint job should be rather subtle, yet authentic.

 

All interior areas (cockpit, engine, landing gear) were painted in RLM 02. For the outside I ended up with a basic livery in RLM 74/75/76, using colors from Testor's Military Models and Figures range, 2071, 2084, 2085, 2086.

The upper splinter scheme with faded/mottled fuselage sides (which includes RLM 02 in order to create a soft color transition from the dark upper sides into the light RLM 76 underneath, a common practice in field conditions) was derived from a Me 262 profile. This machine also contributed the dark green (RLM 82) color fields on the nose and other fuselage parts. These would not have been standard livery, I think, rather improvised in the field. But this subtle detail prevents the plane from being all grey-in-grey.

 

The markings come from various decal sheets and were a kind of challenge. I intended to mark this machine as being part of an Erprobungskommando (test unit), or EKdo or EK, for short. But these squadrons would not have special designations, though. Prototypes woud carry a "V"-number (for Versuch/test), but I wanted a machine already in service. So I made up a semi-fictional squadron marking as a part of the late Reich defense.

 

Typical markings are the colored band at the rear fuselage, its color and scheme being associated with certain Jagdgeschwader (JG) wings, dedicated to interception tasks. The red tail band(s) denote this machine as being part of JG 1, which comprised several Staffeln/groups and squadrons with individual emblems. The JG 1's red tail band would not have been used in the late war years in real life, but, hey, it LOOKS good, and we're finally doing fictional things here! As a side note, JG 1 was the only wing (to be exact: 1./JG 1 and later, in April 1945 III./JG 1) to use the He 162 Salamender jet fighter, so JG 1 appears to be a general plausible choice for this fictional Focke Wulf fighter.

The red wave symbol should, AFAIK, mark the 2nd group of that wing, but it could also be a symbol for the pilot's rank - that's quite obscure and had not been handled consistently. For squadron markings I setlled on 6./JG 1 - the red wyvern was this group's squadron emblem.

 

Decals come from aftermarkets sheet from TL-Modellbau (superb quality) and others i e. from a MiG-25 from Hasegawa (the red bort number) or the leftover decal sheet of the Hobby Boss Me 262 (mostly stencellings and warning signs).

 

After application of the decals on the semi-matte paint, everything was sealed under matte varnish.

 

The X-4 missiles were painted in a color livery I found for a museum X-4. Other test missiles were painted in black and white, checkered. Not sure if the field use missiles would have looked that bright, but for a test unit, the blank fuselage and the hi-vis, orange fins look just right and make a nice contrast to the dull rest of the machine.

  

Finally...

Lots of work, but the result looks better and more harmonious than I expected. O.K., the Panther's fuselage and cockpit deviate from the Focke Wulf sketches - but the plane I built would have had entered service 3 years after its redesign to the drum radiator design, and details like the bubble canopy or more modern weaponry would have certainly been incorporated.

The finish is not as good as a kit "out of the box", but considering the massive putty work, this machine looks quite good :)

 

And, after all, it is a fictional design!

Reconstruction of the Terme Boxer, 2018, bronze cast, 128 x 110 x 55 cm, recostruction created by Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann (Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main, Sammlung Stäelisches Kunstinstitut)

Learn more at Smarthistory

Im Appenzeller Hinterland sind am 13. Januar die Sylvesterchläuse unterwegs, und wünschen "Es guets Neus" in der Tradition des Julianischen Kalenders.13 January, «Old New Year's Eve», the «Chläuse» make their way around the Appenzell hinterland. The origin and meaning of this ancient custom are the subject of speculation, because few written documents exist.

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officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace (Malay: Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: بروني دارالسلام), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and in fact it is separated into two parts by Limbang, which is part of Sarawak.

 

Brunei regained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984 and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. During the early 20th century, the Southeast Asian nation experienced an economic boom and underwent rapid development. Economic growth during the 1970s and 1990s, averaging 56% from 1999 to 2008, has transformed Brunei Darussalam into a newly industrialised country.

 

Brunei has one of the world's fastest growing gross domestic product at purchasing power parity. Brunei has the second highest Human Development Index among the South East Asia nations, after Singapore and is classified as a Developed Country. Islam is the official religion.

 

History

The Sultanate of Brunei ruled during the fourteenth to the sixteenth century CE. Its territory covered the northern part of Borneo and the southern Philippines. European influence gradually brought an end to this regional power. Later, there was a brief war with Spain, in which Brunei was victorious. The decline of the Bruneian Empire culminated in the nineteenth century when Brunei lost much of its territory to the White Rajahs of Sarawak, resulting in its current small landmass and separation into two parts. Brunei was a British protectorate from 1888 to 1984.

The history of Brunei before the arrival of Magellan's ships is based mostly on speculation and the interpretation of Chinese sources and local legends. Historians believe that there was a forerunner to the present day Brunei Sultanate. One possible predecessor state was called Vijayapura, which possibly existed in northwest Borneo in the 7th century (Not to be confused with the Indian state of the same name. It was probably a subject state of the powerful Srivijaya empire based in Sumatra. Another possible predecessor state was called Po-ni (pinyin: Boni)[1] By the 10th century Po-ni had contacts with first the Song dynasty and at some point even entered into a tributary relationship with China. By the 14th century Po-ni also fell under the influence of the Javanese Majapahit Empire. The book of Nagarakertagama, canto 14, written by Prapanca in 1365 mentioned Berune as a vassal state of Majahpahit. However this may have been nothing more than a symbolic relationship, as one account of the annual tribute owed each year to Majahpahit was a jar of areca juice obtained from the young green nuts of the areca palm. The Ming dynasty resumed communications with Po-ni in the 1370s and the Po-ni ruler Ma-na-jih-chia-na visited the Ming capital Nanjing in 1408 and died there. In 1424, the Hongxi Emperor ended China's maritime program, and with it its relationship with Po-ni.

 

Historical texts from the Song dynasty and archaeological evidence suggest that Po-ni was heavily influenced by Hindu civilization, as transmitted by Hindu culture in Java and Sumatra, and not directly from India. The system of writing used was a Hindu script. There was also a heavy Chinese influence, with Chinese coins dating from as early as the seventh century being found in present-day Brunei.

 

In Late Yuan Dynasty, China became chaotic, people who lived along the coastal area of Fujian, under the leadership of Ong Sum Ping's siblings, escaped to Easten Kalimantan—they landed the river mouth. When they were exhausted, they faced with the shipping crisis, someone lost their arms. After that, the Malay-Indonesian named it as the Sungai Kinabatangan-mean the place Chinese lost their arms.

 

Ong Sum Ping and his sister, and the Chinese people developed the area of Sungai Kinabatangan, and they increased their influences there. With the increase of his prosperity, Malay-Indonesian named him Raja, mean the king. Chinese named him as "Chung Ping"-mean the General. We can see that Ong Sum Ping controlled the Eastern Kalimantan apparently, especially the Chinese military power.

 

Located the northern part of the Kinabatangan area was Kesultanan Brunei, its southern area was controlled by the Indonesian, and they were declining. In the eastern part, they suffered from the invasion of Kesultanan Sulu. New King-Sultan Muhammad Shah came to the throne,he asked for the help of Ong Sum Ping, Sultan Muhammad Shah married his daughter to Ong Sum Ping, and titled him as Maharaja Lela. Muhammad Shah also admissed his brother to marry the sister of Ong Sum Ping, and titled her as Puteri Kinabatangan. Two main political power built a close allianial relationship. Under the cooperation of Ong Sum Ping and the Chinese armies, they fought against the invasion of Sulu, and Brunei prevented the fate of collapse.

 

Before 1370, Zhu Yuan Zhuang sent the representative to Brunei via Indonesia, and Brunei tributed to Ming Dynasty. This mean the strong influence of Ming Dynasty. It explained the enforcing reason of the combination of Ong Sum Ping's influence and Brunei. In these 30 years, two main powers combined quickly. Chinese expanded their influences from the Eastern Sungai Kinabatangan to Northern Borneo. They built Chinese towns, villages, in corresponding to the Kota Kinabalu nowadays.

 

In 1402, after the death of Sultan Muhammad Shah, his son-Abdul Majid Hasan came to the throne. Ong Sum Ping and Pengiran Temenggong came to the regent. Bruneian History seldom treated Hasan as the second Sultan. in 1406, after the death of Sultan Majid Hasan, there were two years of power vacuum. In this two years, Bruneian Royalties started the power struggle, and at last, Sultan Ahmad won the power struggle, Pengiran Temenggong failed. Ahmad became the second Sultan in Bruneian History. Ong Sum Ping consolidated his power again. He didn't forget China after the immigration of Brunei. He increased the Chinese Identity under the new Ming Dynasty. Thus he sent the representative with his armies to China. He landed on the coastal region of Fujian, King Yong Le was very happy. He asked for the official to organize the welcome party with Ong Sum Ping. In this trip, they saw the change of China.

 

With the advanced age of Ong Sum Ping, he didn't able to start long distance of tripm, he didn't affort to the happiness of coming back to his homeland,and he died in Nanjing. Before his death, he asked the admission to Emperor Yong Le:1. Brunei and Sungai Kinabatangan become Chinese territories, 2.named Gunung Kinabalu, 3, buried in China. Emperor Yong Le agreed and titled his son-Awang as the new king, named the mountain of Brunei as Chang Ning Mountainجبل السلام-mean Jabel Alsalam in Arabic Language.

 

1408, Awang came back to Brunei under the protection of eunuch and the officials. After the return of Awang, he succeed the influence of Ong Sum Ping in Brunei, and controlled the political power. Chinese still called them Chung Ping-General. In 1412, he tributed to Emperor Yong Le. The wife of Ong Sum Ping also buried in Brunei, thus the Malay-Indonesian also called it as Bukit Cina. The sister of Ong Sum Ping and Sultan Ahmad gave the birth of a daughter, this daughter married to Sultan Sharif Aliسلطان شريف علي(so he was Sayyidina-سيدنا), the man came from Arabian Peninsulaالشبة الجزيرة العربية, who was the descendent of Nabi Muhammad SAWالنبي محمد.

 

Until now, because of their influences, Bruneian still believed the attitude of "Ong Sum Ping was the ancestor of Brunei Royalties." Even though the Bruneian Royalties stressed more on the theories of Malay Islam Berajaملاي إسلام براج, but they didn't disagree with it, obviously they gave him positive criticism,and put his name in Silsilah Raja-Raja Brunei. In capital of Brunei—Bandar Seri Begawanبندر سري بغاوان, it had Jalan Ong Sum Pingسارع ونغ سوم بينغ, and Muzium Brunei also contained the artifacts of Ong Sum Ping. The cemetery of Ong Sum Ping's son also protected by the Bruneian government.

 

To prove the historical fact of Ong Sum Ping, Silsilah Raja-raja Sulu could be the best evidence. According to the record of Silsilah Raja-raja Sulu, At first Ong Sum Ping arrived at Brunei with many Chinese, he said that he was ordered to collect the jewellery in Sabah, and the mountain was named as Gunung Kinabalu. The legend said that some attactive animal might appear in the forest, and they ate some people. Ong Sum Ping brought the candle with his colleague, and got the jewellery at last. Ong Sum Ping got a daughter, who married with Sultan Ahmad, in year of 1375 (in corresponding to Ming Dynasty in China), the king heritaged 20 times until now, the daughter of Sultan Ahmad married with Sultan Sharif Ali, and came to the throne. He was the ancestor of Sultan Haji Hassanal nowadays.

 

According to this record, Ong Sum Ping didn't become Sultan, but his daughter married to Sultan, and became the father-in-law. Bruneian royalties adopted maternal succession system, his maternal granddaughter became the Queen of Sultan Sharif Ali, it was a fact. However, it is believed that the year might be in 1375, not in Yuan Dynasty, but in the 8th years of Emperor Hong Wu.

 

Conversion to Islam and "Golden Age"

The later history of Po-ni, or Borneo, remains somewhat obscure. By the middle of the 15th century Po-ni had entered into a close relationship with the Muslim kingdom of Malacca. This era also saw the origin of the ruling dynasty, which continues to this day. According to the Syair Awang Semaun (also spelled Simawn), Brunei's national epic poem, the present-day sultanate originated when Dewa Emas Kayangan descended to earth from heaven in an egg. He had children with a number of aboriginal maidens, and one of these children converted to Islam and became the first sultan. However, the state continued to be multicultural. The second sultan was either Chinese or married a Chinese woman. The third sultan was said to be part Arab, who are seen in South and Southeast Asia as the descendents of Muhammad.

 

The sultanate oversaw a gradual expansion of the state's influence and borders. This was accelerated with the conquest of Malacca by Portugal in 1511. Brunei benefited from the scattering of Muslim merchants and traders who were forced to use other ports. These merchants probably also helped to speed the conversion of the general population to Islam.

 

The sultanate was a thalassocracy, a realm based on controlling trade rather than land. Situated in a strategic location between China and the trading networks of southeast Asia, the state served as an entrepot and collected tolls on water traffic. The society was hierarchical, with the sultan serving as despot. His powers were limited, however, by a council of princes of royal blood. One of the council's duties was to arrange for royal succession.

 

The reign of the fifth sultan, Bolkiah (1485–1521), is often described as Brunei's "golden age". The sultanate's control extended probably over the coastal regions of modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, the Sulu archipelago, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. The sultanate's influence also spread north into the Philippines, where colonies were planted in Manila Bay. The sultan also visited Java and Malacca. At the end of Bolkiah's reign, in 1521, the first Europeans visited Brunei when Ferdinand Magellan's expedition arrived at the port. Antonio Pigafetta, a navigator on the trip, described an amazing city. The Europeans rode to visit the sultan on top of "elephants, caparisoned in silk-cloth". The inhabitants of the palace "had their loins covered with gold-embroidered cloth and silk, wore poniards with golden hilts, ornamented with pearls and precious stones, and had many rings on their fingers". The visitors were served meals on porcelain dishes.

 

Pigafetta described a city of 25,000 families living in wooden houses built on stilts to raise them above the water. At high tide, women would ride in boats selling merchandise. The sultan's palace was surrounded by brick ramparts and protected by numerous brass and iron cannons.

 

This prosperous era continued through the reign of the ninth sultan, Hassan, who is credited with developing an elaborate Royal Court structure, elements of which remain today.

 

Relations with Europeans

Brunei's relations varied with the different European powers in the region. The Portuguese, for the most part, were more interested in economic and trading relations with the regional powers and did little to interfere with Brunei's development. This does not mean that relations were always cordial, such as in 1536 when the Portuguese attacked the Muslims in the Moluccas and the ambassador to the Brunei court had to leave because of the sultan's hostility. The Portuguese also noted that the sultanate was heavily involved in the region's politics and wars, and that Brunei merchants could be found in Ligor and Siam.

 

Relations with Spain were far more hostile. From 1565 on, Spanish and Brunei forces engaged in a number of naval skirmishes, and in 1571 the Spanish succeeded in capturing Manila from the Brunei aristocracy that had been established there. Brunei raised several large fleets with the intention of recapturing the city, but the campaigns, for various reasons, never launched.[2] In 1578, the Spanish took Sulu and late in the year attacked and captured Brunei itself, after demanding that the sultan cease sending missionaries to the Philippines and, in turn, allow Christian missionaries to visit his kingdom. The invaders were forced to withdraw. The short-term damage to the sultanate was minimal, as Sulu was recaptured soon after.

 

The long-term effects of regional changes could not be avoided. After Sultan Hassan, Brunei entered a period of decline, due to internal battles over royal succession as well as the rising influences of European colonial powers in the region, that, among other things, disrupted traditional trading patterns, destroying the economic base of Brunei and many other Southeast Asian sultanates.

 

During Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II’s reign, disturbances occurred in Sarawak. In 1839, the British adventurer James Brooke arrived in Borneo and helped the Sultan put down this rebellion.

 

As a reward, he became governor and later "White Rajah" of Sarawak and gradually expanded the territory under his control. Brooke never gained control of Brunei, though he did attempt to. He asked the British to check whether or not it would be acceptable for him to claim Brunei as his own; however, they came back with bad news—although Brunei was poorly governed, it had a definite sense of national identity and could therefore not be absorbed by Brooke.

 

In 1843 an open conflict between Brooke and the Sultan ended in the latter's defeat. The Sultan recognized Sarawak's independence. In 1846, Brunei Town was attacked and captured by the British and Sultan Saifuddin II was forced to sign a treaty to end the British occupation of Brunei Town. In the same year, Sultan Saifuddin II ceded Labuan to the British under the Treaty of Labuan. In 1847, he signed the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with the British and in 1850, he signed a similar treaty with the United States. Over the years, the Sultans of Brunei ceded further stretches of territory to Sarawak; in 1877, stretches to the east of the capital were leased (later ceded) to the British North Borneo Chartered Company (North Borneo).

 

British protectorate

In 1888 Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin signed a treaty with the United Kingdom which placed the Sultanate under British protection; Britain took charge of foreign representation of the Sultanate. The Sultan had requested a British resident to be sent to Brunei as early as 1885, but his request was answered only in 1906 (treaty of 1905/1906). The task of the resident was to advise the Sultan politically. A customs office and a land office were introduced. The Brunei police force was established. In 1911, Malay schools began operating.

 

In 1929 oil was discovered at Seria. Brunei was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. Britain was unable to defend Brunei in spite of an agreement to do so[3].

 

In 1959, a new constitution was written declaring Brunei a self-governing state, while its foreign affairs, security, and defence remained the responsibility of the United Kingdom, now represented by a High Commissioner. An attempt in 1962 to introduce a partially elected legislative body with limited powers was abandoned after the opposition political party, Parti Rakyat Brunei, launched an armed uprising, which the government put down with the help of British forces. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the government also resisted pressures to join neighbouring Sabah and Sarawak in the newly formed Malaysia. The Sultan eventually decided that Brunei would remain a separate state.

 

In 1967, Omar Ali Saifuddin abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Hassanal Bolkiah, who became the 29th ruler. The former Sultan remained as Defence Minister and assumed the royal title Seri Begawan. In 1970, the national capital, Brunei Town, was renamed Bandar Seri Begawan in his honour. The Seri Begawan died in 1986.

 

On January 4, 1979, Brunei and the United Kingdom signed a new treaty of friendship and cooperation. On January 1, 1984, Brunei Darussalam became a fully independent state.

 

Geography

Brunei shares a 481.3 km border with Malaysia and has a 161 km coastline.

 

The climate in Brunei is warm, mild, and humid tropical and humid subtropical at higher altitudes with heavy rainfall. Bandar Seri Begawan's climate is humid tropical with four seasons. Summer is extremely hot (24 °C / 75.2 °F to 41 °C / 105.8 °F). Spring is cool, warm and rainy (16 °C / 60.8 °F to 26 °C / 78.8 °F). Winter is dry, rainy and cool (12 to 24 degrees Celsius). Autumn is very dry and warm (15 °C / 59.0 °F to 31 °C / 87.8 °F). Most of the country is a flat coastal plain with mountains in the east and hilly lowland in the west. The lowest point is at sea level and the highest is Bukit Pagon (1,850 m).

 

Other info

Oficial Name:

Negara Brunei Darussalam

برني دارسلام

State of Brunei, Abode of Peace

 

Independence:

January 1, 1984

 

Area:

5.765km2

 

Inhabitants:

368.000

 

Language:

Belait [beg] 700 (1995 Martin). Scattered areas in Belait District, Kampung Kiudang, in Tutong District. Alternate names: Balait Jati, Lemeting, Meting. Dialects: Related to Kiput, Baram, Tinjar. Lexical similarity 54% with Tutong 2. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Northwest, North Sarawakan, Berawan-Lower Baram, Lower Baram, Central, A

 

Bisaya, Brunei [bsb] 600 (1984 Dunn). East of Tutong 1 and east to the coast, west of Seria, a few villages near the Sarawak border. Alternate names: Bisayah, Bisaya Bukit, Visayak, Bekiau, Lorang Bukit, Basaya, Besaya, Bisaia, Jilama Bawang, Jilama Sungai, Southern Bisaya. Dialects: Lexical similarity 78% to 79% with Sarawak Bisaya, 57% to 59% with Sabah Bisaya, and 50% with other Dusunic languages. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Northwest, Sabahan, Dusunic, Bisaya, Southern

 

Brunei [kxd] 250,000 in Brunei (1984 SIL). Population total all countries: 304,000. Brunei is in the capital, Brunei-Muara District, and the coastal strip. Kedayan is in West Brunei-Muara District and Tutong District. Also spoken in Malaysia (Sabah). Alternate names: Brunei-Kadaian, Orang Bukit. Dialects: Brunei Malay, Kedayan (Kadaian, Kadayan, Kadian, Kadien, Kadyan, Karayan, Kedyan, Kedien. Kerayan), Kampong Ayer. Brunei, Kadayan, and Kampong Ayer have 94% to 95% lexical similarity with each other, 80% to 82% lexical similarity with Standard Malay. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Malayic, Malayan, Local Malay

 

Chinese, Hakka [hak] 5,253 in Brunei (2000 WCD). 44,400 speakers of all Chinese languages (1989). Alternate names: Hakka. Classification: Sino-Tibetan, Chinese

 

Chinese, Mandarin [cmn] 9,848 in Brunei (2000 WCD). Classification: Sino-Tibetan, Chinese

 

Chinese, Min Dong [cdo] 6,566 in Brunei (2000 WCD). 11.88% of ethnic Chinese. Dialects: Foochow. Classification: Sino-Tibetan, Chinese

 

Chinese, Min Nan [nan] 12,147 in Brunei (2000 WCD). Alternate names: Min Nan, Minnan. Dialects: Chaochow (Tiuchiu, Teochow), Hainan, Fujian (Hokkien). Classification: Sino-Tibetan, Chinese

 

Chinese, Yue [yue] 5,909 in Brunei (2000 WCD). Alternate names: Yue, Yueh, Cantonese. Classification: Sino-Tibetan, Chinese

 

English [eng] 8,000 in Brunei. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, English

 

Iban [iba] 15,000 in Brunei (1995 Martin). Rural areas of Belait and Tutong districts, and Temburong District. Alternate names: Sea Dayak. Dialects: Batang Lupar, Bugau. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Malayic, Malayic-Dayak, Ibanic

 

Lundayeh [lnd] 300 in Brunei (1987 Langub). 7 villages in Temburong District. Alternate names: Lun Bawang, Lun Daye, Brunei Murut, Southern Murut, Murut. Dialects: Trusan. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Northwest, North Sarawakan, Dayic, Kelabitic

 

Malay [mly] Alternate names: Standard Malay. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Malayic, Malayan, Local Malay

 

Melanau [mel] 200 in Brunei (1995 Martin). Around Kuala Belait town. Alternate names: Milanau, Milano, Belana'u. Dialects: Mukah-Oya (Mukah, Muka, Oya, Oya', Oga). Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Northwest, Melanau-Kajang, Melanau

 

Penan, Eastern [pez] East of the Baram River, Apoh River District. Alternate names: "Punan". Dialects: Penan Apoh. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Punan-Nibong

 

Penan, Western [pne] 50 in Brunei (1988 Lian). West of the Baram River. Dialects: Nibong (Nibon, Penan Nibong), Bok Penan (Bok), Penan Silat, Penan Gang (Gang), Penan Lusong (Lusong), Sipeng (Speng), Penan Lanying, Jelalong Penan. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Punan-Nibong

 

Tutong 1 [ttx] 15,000 in Brunei (1995 Martin). Population total all countries: 25,000. Central and interior Belait and Tutong districts, east of Bisaya, south of Tutong 2. Also spoken in Malaysia (Sarawak). Alternate names: Dusun. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Northwest, Sabahan, Dusunic, Bisaya, Southern

 

Tutong 2 [ttg] 12,000 (1996 Martin, Ozog, and Poedjosoedarmo). Around Tutong town on the coast and central Tutong District. Alternate names: Tutung. Dialects: Lexical similarity 54% with Belait. Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Northwest, North Sarawakan, Berawan-Lower Baram, Lower Baram, Central, B

 

Capital city:

Bandar Seri Begawan

 

Meaning of the country name:

In its full name "Negara Brunei Darussalam", "Darussalam" means "Abode of Peace" in Arabic, while "Negara" means "State" in Malay. "Negara" derives from the Sanskrit "Nagara", meaning "city."

 

Description Flag:

The national flag of Brunei was adopted on September 29, 1959 when the country was a British protectorate, and was retained when the country gained full independence on January 1, 1984, as Brunei Darussalam (State of Brunei, Abode of Peace). The flag has the Coat of Arms of Brunei in the centre, on a yellow field. The field is cut by black and white diagonal stripes, although they are officially called parallelograms.

 

Coat of arms:

The coat of arms is as follows: a crescent (symbolising Islam) joined with a parasol (symbolising monarchy), and two gloves on both sides. Below the crescent is a ribbon. On the crescent and ribbon are Arabic inscriptions translating as "State of Brunei, Abode of peace" and Brunei's motto, "Always in service with God's guidance"

 

Motto:

"Always in service with God's guidance"

 

National Anthem: Allah Peliharakan Sultan, Jawi:

الله فليهاراكن سلطن

 

Jawa Script

 

يا الله لنجوتكنله اوسيا

كباوه دولي يڠ مها مليا

عاديل بردولت منأوڠي نوسا

مميمڤين رعية ککل بهاڬيا

هيدوڤ سنتوسا نڬارا دان سلطان

الهي سلامتكن بروني دارالسلام

 

Transliteration

Jawa script

 

Ya Allah lanjutkanlah Usia

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia

Adil berdaulat menaungi nusa

Memimpin rakyat kekal bahagia

Hidup sentosa Negara dan Sultan

Ilahi selamatkan Brunei Darussalam

 

English translation

God Bless His Majesty

With A Long Life

(May he) Rule the Realm Justly and in Majesty

And Lead Our People (into) Eternal Happiness

(May) The Kingdom and Sultan Live in Peace

Lord, Save Brunei, The Abode of Peace

 

Internet Page: www.tourismbrunei.com

www.brunei.gov.bn

  

Brunei in diferent languages

 

eng | arg | bre | cat | csb | cym | dan | dsb | est | eus | fao | fin | fur | glg | glv | hsb | hun | ina | ita | jav | jnf | lin | lld | mlg | nld | nor | oci | pol | por | roh | ron | rup | sme | sqi | swa | swe | tet | tur | vor: Brunei

ces | hrv | mlt | slk | slv: Brunej

crh | gag | kaa | uzb: Bruney / Бруней

cor | wln | zza: Bruney

deu | ltz | nds: Brunei / Brunei

frp | kin | run: Bruneyi

ast | spa: Brunéi

ibo | scn: Brunai

ind | msa: Brunei / بروني

afr: Broenei

aze: Bruney / Брунеј

bam: Birineyi

bos: Brunej / Брунеј

epo: Brunejo

fra: Brunei; Brunéi

fry: Brûnei

gla: Brùnaidh; Brùnaigh; Brunai

gle: Brúiné / Brúiné

hat: Brouney

isl: Brúnei

kmr: Brûnêy / Бруней / بروونێی

kur: Brûney / بروونەی

lat: Bruneium

lav: Bruneja

lim: Broenai

lit: Brunėjus

mol: Brunei / Бруней

nrm: Bruneî

que: Bruniy

rmy: Brunei / ब्रुनेइ

slo: Bruneia / Брунеиа

smg: Bruniejus

smo: Purunei

srd: Brunèi

szl: Brůnei

tgl: Brunay

tuk: Bruneý / Бруней

vie: Bru-nây

vol: Bruneyän

wol: Brunaay

abq | alt | bul | che | chm | chv | kbd | kir | kjh | kom | krc | kum | mon | oss | rus | tyv | udm | ukr: Бруней (Brunej)

bak | tat: Бруней / Bruney

bel: Бруней / Bruniej; Брунэй / Brunej

kaz: Бруней / Brwney / برۋنەي

mkd: Брунеј (Brunej)

srp: Брунеј / Brunej

tgk: Бруней / برونی / Brunej

ara: بروني (Burūnay); بروناي (Burūnāy); البروناي (al-Burūnāy); بروني دار السلام (Burūnāy Dāru s-Salām)

fas: برونئی (Borūneʾī)

prs: برونای (Brūnāy)

pus: بروناي (Brūnāy)

uig: برۇنېي / Brunéy / Бруней

urd: برونائی (Brūnāʾī); برونائ (Brūnāʾi)

div: ބުރޫނާއީ (Burūnā'ī); ބުރުނައީ (Buruna'ī)

heb: ברוני / ברוניי (Brûney)

lad: ברוניי / Brunei

yid: ברונײַ (Brunay)

amh: ብሩነይ (Brun￩

ell-dhi: Μπρουνέι (Mproynéi)

ell-kat: Μπρουνέϊ (Mproynéï)

hye: Բրունեյ (Brouney); Բրունեի (Brounei)

kat: ბრუნეი (Brunei)

hin: ब्रुनेई (Bruneī); ब्रूनइ (Brūnai)

nep: ब्रुनाई (Brunāī)

ben: ব্রুনাই (Brunāi); ব্রুনেই (Brunei)

pan: ਬਰੂਨਈ (Brūnaī)

kan: ಬ್ರುನೈ (Brunai)

mal: ബ്രൂണൈ (Brūṇai); ബ്രൂണയ് (Brūṇay)

tam: புரூனேய் (Purūṉēy); புரூனி (Purūṉi)

tel: బ్రూనై (Brūnai); బ్రునెయ్ (Bruney)

zho: 汶萊/文莱 (Wénlái)

jpn: ブルネイ (Burunei)

kor: 브루나이 (Beurunai)

mya: ဘရူနုိင္း (Bʰáẏunaĩ̀)

tha: บรูไน (Brūnai)

lao: ປະລູໄນ (Palūnai)

khm: ប្រ៊ុយណេ (Bruyṇe); ប្រ៊ូណេ (Brūṇe)

 

 

The future terrifies me.

 

Listening to "Penthouse Suites" by Wise Blood

 

INSTAGRAM // @psychedelicanemone | photoblog

Abraxas (Biblical Greek: ἀβραξάς, romanized: abraxas, variant form ἀβρασάξ romanized: abrasax) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" (megas archōn), the princeps of the 365 spheres (ouranoi).[1] The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, and also appears in the Greek Magical Papyri. It was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms.[2] As the initial spelling on stones was Abrasax (Αβρασαξ), the spelling of Abraxas seen today probably originates in the confusion made between the Greek letters sigma (Σ) and xi (Ξ) in the Latin transliteration.

 

The seven letters spelling its name may represent each of the seven classic planets.[3] The word may be related to Abracadabra, although other explanations exist.

 

There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basilides's teaching, ancient Gnostic texts, the larger Greco-Roman magical traditions, and modern magical and esoteric writings. Speculations have proliferated on Abraxas in recent centuries, who has been claimed to be both an Egyptian god and a demon.[4]

  

Contents

1Etymology

1.1Egyptian

1.2Hebrew

1.3Greek

2Sources

2.1As an Archon

2.2As a god

2.3As an Aeon

2.4As a demon

3Abraxas stones

3.1Gallery

3.2Anguipede

3.3Origin

3.4Magical papyri

4In literature

5In popular culture

6See also

7References

7.1Citations

7.2Works cited

7.3General references

7.4Attribution

8Further reading

9External links

Etymology

Gaius Julius Hyginus (Fab. 183) gives Abrax Aslo Therbeeo as names of horses of the sun mentioned by 'Homerus'. The passage is miserably corrupt: but it may not be accidental that the first three syllables make Abraxas.

 

The proper form of the name is evidently Abrasax, as with the Greek writers, Hippolytus, Epiphanias, Didymus (De Trin. iii. 42), and Theodoret; also Augustine and Praedestinatus; and in nearly all the legends on gems. By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have Abraxas, which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones.

 

The attempts to discover a derivation for the name, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, or other, have not been entirely successful:

 

Egyptian

Claudius Salmasius (1588-1653) thought it Egyptian, but never gave the proofs which he promised.

J. J. Bellermann thinks it a compound of the Egyptian words abrak and sax, meaning "the honorable and hallowed word", or "the word is adorable".

Samuel Sharpe finds in it an Egyptian invocation to the Godhead, meaning "hurt me not".

Hebrew

Abraham Geiger sees in it a Grecized form of ha-berakhah, "the blessing", a meaning which C. W. King declares philologically untenable.

J. B. Passerius derives it from abh, "father", bara, "to create", and a- negative—"the uncreated Father".

Giuseppe Barzilai goes back for explanation to the first verse of the prayer attributed to Nehunya ben HaKanah, the literal rendering of which is "O [God], with thy mighty right hand deliver the unhappy [people]", forming from the initial and final letters of the words the word Abrakd (pronounced Abrakad), with the meaning "the host of the winged ones", i.e., angels. While this theory can explain the mystic word Abracadabra, the association of this phrase with Abrasax is uncertain.

Greek

Wendelin discovers a compound of the initial letters, amounting to 365 in numerical value, of four Hebrew and three Greek words, all written with Greek characters: ab, ben, rouach, hakadōs; sōtēria apo xylou ("Father, Son, Spirit, holy; salvation from the cross").

According to a note of Isaac de Beausobre's, Jean Hardouin accepted the first three of these, taking the four others for the initials of the Greek anthrōpoussōzōn hagiōi xylōi, "saving mankind by the holy cross".

Isaac de Beausobre derives Abraxas from the Greek habros and saō, "the beautiful, the glorious Savior".

Perhaps the word may be included among those mysterious expressions discussed by Adolf von Harnack,[5] "which belong to no known speech, and by their singular collocation of vowels and consonants give evidence that they belong to some mystic dialect, or take their origin from some supposed divine inspiration".

 

The Egyptian author of the book De Mysteriis in reply to Porphyry (vii. 4) admits a preference of 'barbarous' to vernacular names in sacred things, urging a peculiar sanctity in the languages of certain nations, as the Egyptians and Assyrians; and Origen (Contra Cels. i. 24) refers to the 'potent names' used by Egyptian sages, Persian Magi, and Indian Brahmins, signifying deities in the several languages.

 

Sources

It is uncertain what the actual role and function of Abraxas was in the Basilidian system, as our authorities (see below) often show no direct acquaintance with the doctrines of Basilides himself.

 

As an Archon

 

Gemstone carved with Abraxas, obverse and reverse.

In the system described by Irenaeus, "the Unbegotten Father" is the progenitor of Nous, and Nous produced Logos, Logos produced Phronesis, Phronesis produced Sophia and Dynamis, Sophia and Dynamis produced principalities, powers, and angels, the last of whom create "the first heaven". They in turn originate a second series, who create a second heaven. The process continues in like manner until 365 heavens are in existence, the angels of the last or visible heaven being the authors of our world.[2] "The ruler" [principem, i.e., probably ton archonta] of the 365 heavens "is Abraxas, and for this reason he contains within himself 365 numbers".

 

The name occurs in the Refutation of all Heresies (vii. 26) by Hippolytus, who appears in these chapters to have followed the Exegetica of Basilides. After describing the manifestation of the Gospel in the Ogdoad and Hebdomad, he adds that the Basilidians have a long account of the innumerable creations and powers in the several 'stages' of the upper world (diastemata), in which they speak of 365 heavens and say that "their great archon" is Abrasax, because his name contains the number 365, the number of the days in the year; i.e. the sum of the numbers denoted by the Greek letters in ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ according to the rules of isopsephy is 365:

 

Α = 1, Β = 2, Ρ = 100, Α = 1, Σ = 200, Α = 1, Ξ = 60

As a god

Epiphanius (Haer. 69, 73 f.) appears to follow partly Irenaeus, partly the lost Compendium of Hippolytus.[6] He designates Abraxas more distinctly as "the power above all, and First Principle", "the cause and first archetype" of all things; and mentions that the Basilidians referred to 365 as the number of parts (mele) in the human body, as well as of days in the year.

 

The author of the appendix to Tertullian De Praescr. Haer. (c. 4), who likewise follows Hippolytus's Compendium,[7] adds some further particulars; that 'Abraxas' gave birth to Mind (nous), the first in the series of primary powers enumerated likewise by Irenaeus and Epiphanius; that the world, as well as the 365 heavens, was created in honour of 'Abraxas'; and that Christ was sent not by the Maker of the world but by 'Abraxas'.

 

Nothing can be built on the vague allusions of Jerome, according to whom 'Abraxas' meant for Basilides "the greatest God" (De vir. ill. 21), "the highest God" (Dial. adv. Lucif. 23), "the Almighty God" (Comm. in Amos iii. 9), and "the Lord the Creator" (Comm. in Nah. i. 11). The notices in Theodoret (Haer. fab. i. 4), Augustine (Haer. 4), and 'Praedestinatus' (i. 3), have no independent value.

 

It is evident from these particulars that Abrasax was the name of the first of the 365 Archons, and accordingly stood below Sophia and Dynamis and their progenitors; but his position is not expressly stated, so that the writer of the supplement to Tertullian had some excuse for confusing him with "the Supreme God".

 

As an Aeon

 

Abraxas from Infernal Dictionary, 6th Edition, 1863

With the availability of primary sources, such as those in the Nag Hammadi library, the identity of Abrasax remains unclear. The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, for instance, refers to Abrasax as an Aeon dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Pleroma in the light of the luminary Eleleth. In several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of the luminaries (Spiritual Lights) that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth, who encounters darkness and becomes involved in the chain of events that leads to the Demiurge's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that ensues. As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abraxas, Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Pleroma that encounters the ignorance of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality.

 

As a demon

The Catholic church later deemed Abraxas a pagan god, and ultimately branded him a demon as documented in J. Collin de Plancy's Infernal Dictionary, Abraxas (or Abracax) is labeled the "supreme God" of the Basilidians, whom he describes as "heretics of the second century". He further indicated the Basilidians attributed to Abraxas the rule over "365 skies" and "365 virtues". In a final statement on Basilidians, de Plancy states that their view was that Jesus Christ was merely a "benevolent ghost sent on Earth by Abraxas".[8]

 

Abraxas stones

A vast number of engraved stones are in existence, to which the name "Abraxas-stones" has long been given. One particularly fine example was included as part of the Thetford treasure from fourth century Norfolk, England. The subjects are mythological, and chiefly grotesque, with various inscriptions, in which ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ often occurs, alone or with other words. Sometimes the whole space is taken up with the inscription. In certain obscure magical writings of Egyptian origin ἀβραξάς or ἀβρασάξ is found associated with other names which frequently accompany it on gems;[9] it is also found on the Greek metal tesseræ among other mystic words. The meaning of the legends is seldom intelligible: but some of the gems are amulets; and the same may be the case with nearly all.

  

A print from Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures (Band 2,2 page 358 ff plaque 144) with different images of Abraxas.

The Abrasax-image alone, without external Iconisms, and either without, or but a simple, inscription. The Abrasax-imago proper is usually found with a shield, a sphere or wreath and whip, a sword or sceptre, a cock's head, the body clad with armor, and a serpent's tail. There are, however, innumerable modifications of these figures: Lions', hawks', and eagles' skins, with or without mottos, with or without a trident and star, and with or without reverses.

Abrasax combined with other Gnostic Powers. If, in a single instance, this supreme being was represented in connection with powers of subordinate rank, nothing could have been more natural than to represent it also in combination with its emanations, the seven superior spirits, the thirty Aeons, and the three hundred and sixty-five cosmical Genii; and yet this occurs upon none of the relics as yet discovered, whilst those with Powers not belonging to the Gnostic system are frequently met with.

Abrasax with Jewish symbols. This combination predominates, not indeed with symbolical figures, but in the form of inscriptions, such as: Iao, Eloai, Adonai, Sabaoth, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Onoel, Ananoel, Raphael, Japlael, and many others. The name ΙΑΩ, to which ΣΑΒΑΩΘ is sometimes added, is found with this figure even more frequently than ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ, and they are often combined. Beside an Abrasax figure the following, for instance, is found: ΙΑΩ ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ ΑΔΩΝ ΑΤΑ, "Iao Abrasax, thou art the Lord".[10] With the Abrasax-shield are also found the divine names Sabaoth Iao, Iao Abrasax, Adonai Abrasax, etc.[11]

Abrasax with Persian deities. Chiefly, perhaps exclusively, in combination with Mithras, and possibly a few specimens with the mystical gradations of mithriaca, upon Gnostic relics.

Abrasax with Egyptian deities. It is represented as a figure, with the sun-god Phre leading his chariot, or standing upon a lion borne by a crocodile; also as a name, in connection with Isis, Phtha, Neith, Athor, Thot, Anubis, Horus, and Harpocrates in a Lotus-leaf; also with a representation of the Nile, the symbol of prolificacy, with Agathodaemon (Chnuphis), or with scarabs, the symbols of the revivifying energies of nature.

Abrasax with Grecian deities, sometimes as a figure, and again with the simple name, in connection with the planets, especially Venus, Hecate, and Zeus, richly engraved.

Simple or ornamental representations of the journey of departed spirits through the starry world to Amenti, borrowed, as those above-named, from the Egyptian religion. The spirit wafted from the earth, either with or without the corpse, and transformed at times into Osiris or Helios, is depicted as riding upon the back of a crocodile, or lion, guided in some instances by Anubis, and other genii, and surrounded by stars; and thus attended hastening to judgment and a higher life.

Representations of the judgment, which, like the preceding, are either ornamental or plain, and imitations of Egyptian art, with slight modifications and prominent symbols, as the vessel in which Anubis weighs the human heart, as comprehending the entire life of man, with all its errors.

Worship and consecrating services were, according to the testimony of Origen in his description of the ophitic diagram, conducted with figurative representations in the secret assemblies of the Gnostics unless indeed the statement on which this opinion rests designates, as it readily may, a statue of glyptic workmanship. It is uncertain if any of the discovered specimens actually represent the Gnostic cultus and religious ceremonies, although upon some may be seen an Abrasax-figure laying its hand upon a person kneeling, as though for baptism or benediction.

Astrological groups. The Gnostics referred everything to astrology. Even the Bardesenists located the inferior powers, the seven, twelve and thirty-six, among the planets, in the zodiac and starry region, as rulers of the celestial phenomena which influence the earth and its inhabitants. Birth and health, wealth and allotment, are considered to be mainly under their control. Other sects betray still stronger partiality for astrological conceits. Many of these specimens also are improperly ascribed to Gnosticism, but the Gnostic origin of others is too manifest to allow of contradiction.

Inscriptions, of which there are three kinds:

Those destitute of symbols or iconisms, engraved upon stone, iron, lead and silver plates, in Greek, Latin, Coptic or other languages, of amuletic import, and in the form of prayers for health and protection.

Those with some symbol, as a serpent in an oval form.

Those with iconisms, at times very small, but often made the prominent object, so that the legend is limited to a single word or name. Sometimes the legends are as important as the images. It is remarkable, however, that thus far none of the plates or medals found seem to have any of the forms or prayers reported by Origen. It is necessary to distinguish those specimens that belong to the proper Gnostic period from such as are indisputably of later origin, especially since there is a strong temptation to place those of more recent date among the older class.

Gallery

Prints from Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures (Band 2,2) page 358 ff.

Plaque 144

Plaque 144

  

Plaque 145

Plaque 145

  

Plaque 146

Plaque 146

  

Plaque 147

Plaque 147

  

Plaque 148

Plaque 148

  

Plaque 149

Plaque 149

 

Anguipede

 

Engraving from an Abrasax stone.

In a great majority of instances the name Abrasax is associated with a singular composite figure, having a Chimera-like appearance somewhat resembling a basilisk or the Greek primordial god Chronos (not to be confused with the Greek titan Cronus). According to E. A. Wallis Budge, "as a Pantheus, i.e. All-God, he appears on the amulets with the head of a cock (Phœbus) or of a lion (Ra or Mithras), the body of a man, and his legs are serpents which terminate in scorpions, types of the Agathodaimon. In his right hand he grasps a club, or a flail, and in his left is a round or oval shield." This form was also referred to as the Anguipede. Budge surmised that Abrasax was "a form of the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalists and the Primal Man whom God made in His own image".[12]

 

Some parts at least of the figure mentioned above are solar symbols, and the Basilidian Abrasax is manifestly connected with the sun. J. J. Bellermann has speculated that "the whole represents the Supreme Being, with his Five great Emanations, each one pointed out by means of an expressive emblem. Thus, from the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, forasmuch as it is written that God created man in his own image, issue the two supporters, Nous and Logos, symbols of the inner sense and the quickening understanding, as typified by the serpents, for the same reason that had induced the old Greeks to assign this reptile for an attribute to Pallas. His head—a cock's—represents Phronesis, the fowl being emblematical of foresight and vigilance. His two hands bear the badges of Sophia and Dynamis, the shield of Wisdom, and the scourge of Power."[13]

 

Origin

In the absence of other evidence to show the origin of these curious relics of antiquity the occurrence of a name known as Basilidian on patristic authority has not unnaturally been taken as a sufficient mark of origin, and the early collectors and critics assumed this whole group to be the work of Gnostics. During the last three centuries attempts have been made to sift away successively those gems that had no claim to be considered in any sense Gnostic, or specially Basilidian, or connected with Abrasax. The subject is one which has exercised the ingenuity of many savants, but it may be said that all the engraved stones fall into three classes:[14]

 

Abrasax, or stones of Basilidian origin[14]

Abrasaxtes, or stones originating in ancient forms of worship and adapted by the Gnostics[14]

Abraxoïdes, or stones absolutely unconnected with the doctrine of Basilides[14]

While it would be rash to assert positively that no existing gems were the work of Gnostics, there is no valid reason for attributing all of them to such an origin. The fact that the name occurs on these gems in connection with representations of figures with the head of a cock, a lion, or an ass, and the tail of a serpent was formerly taken in the light of what Irenaeus says about the followers of Basilides:

 

These men, moreover, practise magic, and use images, incantations, invocations, and every other kind of curious art. Coining also certain names as if they were those of the angels, they proclaim some of these as belonging to the first, and others to the second heaven; and then they strive to set forth the names, principles, angels, and powers of the 365 imagined heavens.

 

— Adversus hæreses, I. xxiv. 5; cf. Epiph. Haer. 69 D; Philastr. Suer. 32

Incantations by mystic names were characteristic of the hybrid Gnosticism planted in Spain and southern Gaul at the end of the fourth century and at the beginning of the fifth, which Jerome connects with Basilides and which (according to his Epist., lxxv.) used the name Abrasax.

 

It is therefore not unlikely that some Gnostics used amulets, though the confident assertions of modern writers to this effect rest on no authority. Isaac de Beausobre properly calls attention to the significant silence of Clement in the two passages in which he instructs the Christians of Alexandria on the right use of rings and gems, and the figures which may legitimately be engraved on them (Paed. 241 ff.; 287 ff.). But no attempt to identify the figures on existing gems with the personages of Gnostic mythology has had any success, and Abrasax is the only Gnostic term found in the accompanying legends that is not known to belong to other religions or mythologies. The present state of the evidence therefore suggests that their engravers and the Basilidians received the mystic name from a common source now unknown.

 

Magical papyri

Having due regard to the magic papyri, in which many of the unintelligible names of the Abrasax-stones reappear, besides directions for making and using gems with similar figures and formulas for magical purposes, it can scarcely be doubted that many of these stones are pagan amulets and instruments of magic.

 

The magic papyri reflect the same ideas as the Abrasax-gems and often bear Hebraic names of God.[15] The following example is illustrative: "I conjure you by Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax, and by the great god, Iaeō".[16][17] The patriarchs are sometimes addressed as deities; for which fact many instances may be adduced. In the group "Iakoubia, Iaōsabaōth Adōnai Abrasax",[16][18] the first name seems to be composed of Jacob and Ya. Similarly, entities considered angels in Judaism are invoked as gods alongside Abrasax: thus "I conjure you ... by the god Michaēl, by the god Souriēl, by the god Gabriēl, by the god Raphaēl, by the god Abrasax Ablathanalba Akrammachari ...".[16]

 

In text PGM V. 96-172, Abrasax is identified as part of the "true name which has been transmitted to the prophets of Israel" of the "Headless One, who created heaven and earth, who created night and day ... Osoronnophris whom none has ever seen ... awesome and invisible god with an empty spirit"; the name also includes Iaō and Adōnai.[16] "Osoronnophris" represents Egyptian Wsir Wn-nfr, "Osiris the Perfect Being".[16] Another identification with Osiris is made in PGM VII. 643-51: "you are not wine, but the guts of Osiris, the guts of ... Ablanathanalba Akrammachamarei Eee, who has been stationed over necessity, Iakoub Ia Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax."[16] PGM VIII. 1-63, on the other hand, identifies Abrasax as a name of "Hermes" (i.e. Thoth).[16] Here the numerological properties of the name are invoked, with its seven letters corresponding to the seven planets and its isopsephic value of 365 corresponding to the days of the year.[16] Thoth is also identified with Abrasax in PGM LXXIX. 1-7: "I am the soul of darkness, Abrasax, the eternal one, Michaēl, but my true name is Thōouth, Thōouth."[16]

 

One papyrus titled the "Monad" or the "Eighth Book of Moses" (PGM XIII. 1–343) contains an invocation to a supreme creator God; Abrasax is given as being the name of this God in the language of the baboons.[16] The papyrus goes on to describe a cosmogonic myth about Abrasax, describing how he created the Ogdoad by laughing. His first laughter created light; his second divided the primordial waters; his third created the mind; his fourth created fertility and procreation; his fifth created fate; his sixth created time (as the sun and moon); and his seventh and final laughter created the soul.[16] Then, from various sounds made by Abrasax, there arose the serpent Python who "foreknew all things", the first man (or Fear), and the god Iaō, "who is lord of all".[16] The man fought with Iaō, and Abrasax declared that Iaō's power would derive from both of the others, and that Iaō would take precedence over all the other gods.[16] This text also describes Helios as an archangel of God/Abrasax.[16]

 

The Leyden Papyrus recommends that this invocation be pronounced to the moon:

 

[24] Ho! Sax, Amun, Sax, Abrasax; for thou art the moon, (25) the chief of the stars, he that did form them, listen to the things that I have(?) said, follow the (words) of my mouth, reveal thyself to me, Than, (26) Thana, Thanatha, otherwise Thei, this is my correct name.[19]

 

The magic word "Ablanathanalba", which reads in Greek the same backward as forward, also occurs in the Abrasax-stones as well as in the magic papyri. This word is usually conceded to be derived from the Hebrew (Aramaic), meaning "Thou art our father" (אב לן את), and also occurs in connection with Abrasax; the following inscription is found upon a metal plate in the Karlsruhe Museum:[15]

 

АВРАΣАΞ

ΑΒΛΑΝΑΘ

ΑΝΑΛΒΑ

 

In literature

 

Medieval seal representing Abraxas.[20]

In the 1516 novel Utopia by Thomas More, the island called Utopia once had the name "Abraxa", which scholars have suggested is a related use.[21]

Jacques Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal (Infernal Dictionary), published in 1818, states that Abraxas (or Abracax) was an anguipede (a deity represented with snake feet) pagan God of "Asian theogonies" with a "rooster's head, dragon's feet and a whip in his hand". De Plancy says that demonologists describe Abraxas as a demon having a "king's head and snakes in lieu of feet".[8]

Abrasax is invoked in Aleister Crowley's 1913 work, "The Gnostic Mass" of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica:

IO IO IO IAO SABAO KURIE ABRASAX KURIE MEITHRAS KURIE PHALLE. IO PAN, IO PAN PAN IO ISCHUROS, IO ATHANATOS IO ABROTOS IO IAO. KAIRE PHALLE KAIRE PAMPHAGE KAIRE PANGENETOR. HAGIOS, HAGIOS, HAGIOS IAO.[22]

 

Abraxas is an important figure in Carl Jung's 1916 book Seven Sermons to the Dead, a representation of the driving force of individuation (synthesis, maturity, oneness), referred with the figures for the driving forces of differentiation (emergence of consciousness and opposites), Helios God-the-Sun, and the Devil.[23]

There is a God about whom you know nothing, because men have forgotten him. We call him by his name: Abraxas. He is less definite than God or Devil. ... Abraxas is activity: nothing can resist him but the unreal ... Abraxas stands above the sun[-god] and above the devil If the Pleroma were capable of having a being, Abraxas would be its manifestation.

 

— 2nd Sermon

That which is spoken by God-the-Sun is life; that which is spoken by the Devil is death; Abraxas speaketh that hallowed and accursed word, which is life and death at the same time. Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness in the same word and in the same act. Wherefore is Abraxas terrible.

 

— 3rd Sermon

Several references to the god Abraxas appear in Hermann Hesse's 1919 novel Demian, such as:

The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.

 

— Max Demian

... it appears that Abraxas has much deeper significance. We may conceive of the name as that of the godhead whose symbolic task is the uniting of godly and devilish elements.

 

— Dr. Follens

Abraxas doesn't take exception to any of your thoughts or any of your dreams. Never forget that. But he will leave you once you become blameless and normal.

 

— Pistorius

In James Branch Cabell's novel Jurgen (1919) in Chapter 44: In the Manager's Office, Koshchei, who made all things as they are, when identified as Koshchei the Deathless, calls himself "Koshchei, or Adnari, or Ptha, or Jaldalaoth, or Abraxas—it is all one what I may be called hereabouts." Since Jung wrote about Koshchei (see above) in 1916, and Jurgen was published in 1919, Cabell might well have been familiar with Jung's treatise when he used the name.

Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children (1981) contains a reference to Abraxas in the chapter "Abracadabra":

Abracadabra: not an Indian word at all, a cabbalistic formula derived from the name of the supreme god of the Basilidan gnostics, containing the number 365, the number of the days of the year, and of the heavens, and of the spirits emanating from the god Abraxas.

 

— Saleem Sinai

In popular culture

 

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In Marvel comics, the character Abraxas embodies the destruction of the multiverse (first appearance: 2001).

"Mt. Abraxas" is the title of the first track of occult rock band Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats's third studio album Mind Control (2013).

Abraxas appears as a demon in Charmed season 2 (1999–2000).

Abraxas appears as a demon in Supernatural season 14 (2018–2019).

In the 2008 visual novel 11eyes: Tsumi to Batsu to Aganai no Shōjo, Kukuri can summon her soul in the form of a chained guardian angel named Abraxas. When released from his chains, he becomes a godlike entity named Demiurge.

The 2018 video game Darksiders III features a demon named Abraxis.

South Korean band BTS's videos frequently mention Abraxas and much of their storyline is based around the deity.

In 1970, the second studio album of Latin rock band Santana was named Abraxas, derived from a passage in the Hermann Hesse novel Demian.

In 1987 The Abraxas Foundation was founded by Boyd Rice as a Social Darwinist think tank.

In the 2018 thriller Mandy, the "horn of Abraxas" is a sort of stone flute with magical properties. Brother Swan uses it to summon the Black Skulls, a demonic biker gang.

In the 2019 role-playing game Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Abraxas is the name of a damage-dealing Faith spell.

In the 2010 song "Lead Poisoning" by Alkaline Trio, Matt Skiba sings the line "Now I pray to Abraxas my soul to keep".

In season 1, episode 2 of Netflix's 2020 animated show The Midnight Gospel the main character, Clancy Gilroy, purchases an avatar named Braxis, which he then uses to explore alternate universes. Braxis looks like the traditional images of Abraxas where the creature has a human body and the head of a rooster. Like the traditional images, Braxis has serpents for legs and his arms are also like those in traditional representations.

In the 2018 video game Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Abraxas is the name of the legendary fiery horse the player acquires if they reach the Tier 1 level in the hierarchy of mercenaries.

In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (1997–2007), Abraxas is the name of Lucius Malfoy's father, as well as the name of a race of winged horses in the same fictional world.

In the 2015 sci-fi/action movie Jupiter Ascending, the most powerful family in the Cosmos known as the House of Abrasax.

Abraxas, in the Gnostic role of Great Archon, is the antagonist of the 2021 video game Cruelty Squad.

In the 2021 TV-adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, the Abraxas Conjecture is the name of the mathematical proof that Gaal Dornick solves using Kalle’s Ninth Proof of Folding.

In Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series (2014–2018), the similarly-named Abraxos is the wyvern mount of Manon Blackbeak.

In the 1992 Discworld novel Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, Abraxas was an Ephebian philosopher who wrote about the nature of gods in his scroll On Religion, theorising that gods died if belief in them is diverted towards a rigid, hierarchical church structure, as had nearly happened with the Great God Om due to fear of the Omnian Quisition.[24] Having survived being struck by lightning fifteen times as a result, he earned the nickname 'Charcoal'.

In the Shin Megami Tensei video game franchise (first release: 1987), Abraxas is a demon.

In the 2020 video game Genshin Impact, Abrax (also known as Aberaku no Mikoto, Chinese: 阿倍良久) was a historical figure in Enkanomiya who created the Dainichi Mikoshi, an artificial sun device whose name is described as meaning "chariot of the sun".

In the 1997 animated series Revolutionary Girl Utena by animation studio Be-Papas, Abraxas is referenced in the series soundtrack. The title being; "The God's Name Is Abraxas".

In the 1999 movie Adolescence of Utena by animation studio Be-Papas, Abraxas is referenced in the film's soundtrack. The title of the song being; "Abraxas ~ Sunny Garden".

In 2019, electronic music producers Seven Lions and Dimibo formed a psytrance trio called “Abraxis.” The project consists of a back story in which Reginald Abraxis formed the Abraxis Institute, in order to help people explore their full potential and achieve self-actualization.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraxas

Marble stele (grave marker) of a youth and a little girl, c. 530 B.C.E., marble, 423.4 cm high (The Met)

Learn more at Smarthistory

Repost

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4989/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount. Lupe Velez in The Wolf Song (Victor Fleming, 1929). Sent by mail in The Netherlands in 1932.

 

Lupe Velez (1908-1944), was one of the first Mexican actresses to succeed in Hollywood. Her nicknames were 'The Mexican Spitfire' and 'Hot Pepper'. She was the leading lady in such silent films as The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928), and Wolf Song (1929). During the 1930s, her well-known explosive screen persona was exploited in a series of successful films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934), and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez's popularity peaked after appearing in the Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalise on Vélez's well-documented fiery personality. She had several highly publicised romances and a stormy marriage. In 1944, Vélez died of an intentional overdose of the barbiturate drug Seconal. Her death and the circumstances surrounding it have been the subject of speculation and controversy.

 

Lupe Vélez was born María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez in 1908 in the city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico. She was the daughter of Jacobo Villalobos Reyes, a colonel in the army of the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and his wife Josefina Vélez, an opera singer according to some sources, or vaudeville singer according to others. She had three sisters: Mercedes, Reina and Josefina, and a brother, Emigdio. The family was financially comfortable and lived in a large home. At the age of 13, her parents sent her to study at Our Lady of the Lake (now Our Lady of the Lake University) in San Antonio, Texas. It was at Our Lady of the Lake that Vélez learned to speak English and began to dance. She later admitted that she liked dance class, but was otherwise a poor student. Denny Jackson at IMDb: "Life was hard for her family, and Lupe returned to Mexico to help them out financially. She worked as a salesgirl for a department store for the princely sum of $4 a week. Every week she would turn most of her salary over to her mother, but kept a little for herself so she could take dancing lessons. By now, she figured, with her mature shape and grand personality, she thought she could make a try at show business." She began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in 1924. She initially performed under her paternal surname, but after her father returned home from the war, he was outraged that his daughter had decided to become a stage performer. She chose her maternal surname, "Vélez", as her stage name and her mother introduced Vélez and her sister Josefina to the popular Spanish Mexican vedette María Conesa, "La Gatita Blanca". Vélez debuted in a show led by Conesa, where she sang 'Oh Charley, My Boy' and danced the shimmy. Aurelio Campos, a young pianist, and friend of the Vélez sisters recommended Lupe to stage producers, Carlos Ortega and Manuel Castro. Ortega and Castro were preparing a season revue at the Regis Theatre and hired Vélez to join the company in March 1925. Later that year, Vélez starred in the revues 'Mexican Rataplan' and '¡No lo tapes!', both parodies of the Bataclan's shows in Paris. Her suggestive singing and provocative dancing was a hit with audiences, and she soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. After a year and a half, Vélez left the revue after the manager refused to give her a raise. She then joined the Teatro Principal but was fired after three months due to her "feisty attitude". Vélez was quickly hired by the Teatro Lirico, where her salary rose to 100 pesos a day. In 1926, Frank A. Woodyard, an American who had seen Vélez perform, recommended her to stage director Richard Bennett, the father of actresses Joan and Constance Bennett. Bennett was looking for an actress to portray a Mexican cantina singer in his upcoming play 'The Dove'. He sent Vélez a telegram inviting her to Los Angeles to appear in the play. Vélez had been planning to go to Cuba to perform, but quickly changed her plans and traveled to Los Angeles. However, upon arrival, she discovered that she had been replaced by another actress.

 

While in Los Angeles, Lupe Vélez met the comedian Fanny Brice. Brice recommended her to Flo Ziegfeld, who hired her to perform in New York City. While Vélez was preparing to leave Los Angeles, she received a call from MGM producer Harry Rapf, who offered her a screen test. Producer and director Hal Roach saw Vélez's screen test and hired her for a small role in the comic Laurel and Hardy short Sailors, Beware! (Fred Guiol, Hal Yates, 1927). After her debut, Vélez appeared in another Hal Roach short, What Women Did for Me (James Parrott, 1927), opposite Charley Chase. Later that year, she did a screen test for the upcoming Douglas Fairbanks feature The Gaucho (F. Richard Jones, 1927). Fairbanks was impressed by Vélez and hired her to appear in the film with him. The Gaucho was a hit and critics were duly impressed with Vélez's ability to hold her own alongside Fairbanks, who was well known for his spirited acting and impressive stunts. Her second major film was Stand and Deliver (Donald Crisp, 1928), produced by Cecil B. DeMille. That same year, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. Then she appeared in Lady of the Pavements (1929), directed by D. W. Griffith, and Where East Is East (Tod Browning, 1929), starring Lon Chaney as an animal trapper in Laos. In the Western The Wolf Song (Victor Fleming, 1929), she appeared alongside Gary Cooper. As she was regularly cast as 'exotic' or 'ethnic' women that were volatile and hot-tempered, gossip columnists took to referring to Vélez as "Mexican Hurricane", "The Mexican Wildcat", "The Mexican Madcap", "Whoopee Lupe" and "The Hot Tamale". Lupe Vélez made the transition to sound films without difficulty. Studio executives had predicted that her accent would likely hamper her ability to make the transition. That idea was dispelled after she appeared in the all-talking Rin Tin Tin vehicle, Tiger Rose (George Fitzmaurice, 1929). The film was a hit and Vélez's sound career was established. Vélez appeared in a series of Pre-Code films like Hell Harbor (Henry King, 1930), The Storm (William Wyler, 1930), and the crime drama East Is West (Monta Bell, 1930) opposite Edward G. Robinson. The next year, she appeared in her second film for Cecil B. DeMille, Squaw Man (Cecil B. DeMille, 1931), opposite Warner Baxter, in Resurrection (Edwin Carewe, 1931), and The Cuban Love Song (W.S. Van Dyke, 1931), with the popular singer Lawrence Tibbett. She had a supporting role in Kongo (William J. Cowen, 1932) with Walter Huston, a sound remake of West of Zanzibar (Tod Browning, 1928) which tries to outdo the Lon Chaney original in morbidity. She also starred in Spanish-language versions of Universal films like Resurrección (Eduardo Arozamena, David Selman, 1931), the Spanish version of Resurrection (1931), and Hombres en mi vida (Eduardo Arozamena, David Selman, 1932), the Spanish version of Men in Her Life (William Beaudine, 1931) in which Lois Moran had starred.

 

In 1932, Lupe Vélez took a break from her film career and traveled to New York City where she was signed by Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. to take over the role of "Conchita" in the musical revue 'Hot-Cha!'. The show also starred Bert Lahr, Eleanor Powell, and Buddy Rogers. Back in Hollywood, Lupe switched to comedy after playing dramatic roles for five years. Denny Jackson at IMDb: "In 1933 she played the lead role of Pepper in Hot Pepper (1933). This film showcased her comedic talents and helped her to show the world her vital personality. She was delightful." After Hot Pepper (John G. Blystone, 1933) with Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen, Lupe played beautiful but volatile, characters in a series of successful films like Strictly Dynamite (Elliott Nugent, 1934), Palooka (Benjamin Stoloff, 1934) both opposite Jimmy Durante, and Hollywood Party (Allan Dwan, a.o., 1934) with Laurel and Hardy. Although Vélez was a popular actress, RKO Pictures did not renew her contract in 1934. Over the next few years, Vélez worked for various studios as a freelance actress; she also spent two years in England where she filmed The Morals of Marcus (Miles Mander, 1935) and Gypsy Melody (Edmond T. Gréville, 1936). She returned to Los Angeles the following year where she appeared in the final part of the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy High Flyers (Edward F. Cline, 1937). In 1938, Vélez made her final appearance on Broadway in the musical You Never Know, by Cole Porter. The show received poor reviews from critics but received a large amount of publicity due to the feud between Vélez and fellow cast member Libby Holman. Holman was irritated by the attention Vélez garnered from the show with her impersonations of several actresses including Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn, and Shirley Temple. The feud came to a head during a performance in New Haven, Connecticut after Vélez punched Holman in between curtain calls and gave her a black eye. The feud effectively ended the show. Upon her return to Mexico City in 1938 to star in her first Mexican film, Vélez was greeted by ten thousand fans. The film La Zandunga (Fernando de Fuentes, 1938) co-starring Arturo de Córdova, was a critical and financial success. Vélez was slated to appear in four more Mexican films, but instead, she returned to Los Angeles and went back to work for RKO Pictures. In 1939, Lupe Vélez was cast opposite Leon Errol and Donald Woods in the B-comedy, The Girl from Mexico (Leslie Goodwins, 1939). Despite being a B film, it was a hit with audiences and RKO re-teamed her with Errol and Wood for a sequel, Mexican Spitfire (Leslie Goodwins, 1940). That film was also a success and led to a series of eight Spitfire films. Wikipedia: "In the series, Vélez portrays Carmelita Lindsay, a temperamental yet friendly Mexican singer married to Dennis 'Denny' Lindsay (Woods), an elegant American gentleman. The Spitfire films rejuvenated Vélez's career. Moreover, they were films in which a Latina headlined for eight films straight –a true rarity." In addition to the Spitfire series, she was cast in such films as Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga (John Rawlins, 1941), Playmates (David Butler, 1941) opposite John Barrymore, and Redhead from Manhattan (Lew Landers, 1943). In 1943, the final film in the Spitfire series, Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event (Leslie Goodwins, 1943), was released. By that time, the novelty of the series had begun to wane. Velez co-starred with Eddie Albert in the romantic comedy, Ladies' Day (Leslie Goodwins, 1943), about an actress and a baseball player. In 1944, Vélez returned to Mexico to star in an adaptation of Émile Zola's novel Nana (Roberto Gavaldón, Celestino Gorostiza, 1944), which was well-received. It would be her final film. After filming wrapped, Vélez returned to Los Angeles and began preparing for another stage role in New York.

 

Lupe Vélez's temper and jealousy in her often tempestuous romantic relationships were well documented and became tabloid fodder, often overshadowing her career. Vélez was straightforward with the press and was regularly contacted by gossip columnists for stories about her romantic exploits. Her first long-term relationship was with actor Gary Cooper. Vélez met Cooper while filming The Wolf Song in 1929 and began a two-year affair with him. The relationship was passionate but often stormy. Reportedly Vélez chased Cooper around with a knife during an argument and cut him severely enough to require stitches. By that time, the rocky relationship had taken its toll on Cooper who had lost 45 pounds and was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Paramount Pictures ordered him to take a vacation to recuperate. While he was boarding the train, Vélez showed up at the train station and fired a pistol at him. During her marriage to actor Johnny Weissmuller, stories of their frequent physical fights were regularly reported in the press. Vélez reportedly inflicted scratches, bruises, and love-bites on Weissmuller during their fights and "passionate love-making". In July 1934, after ten months of marriage, Vélez filed for divorce citing cruelty. She withdrew the petition a week later after reconciling with Weissmuller. In January 1935, she filed for divorce a second time and was granted an interlocutory decree that was dismissed when the couple reconciled a month later. In August 1938, Vélez filed for divorce for a third time, again charging Weissmuller with cruelty. Their divorce was finalised in August 1939. After the divorce became final, Vélez began dating actor Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in late 1940. They were reportedly engaged but never married. Vélez was also linked to author Erich Maria Remarque and the boxers Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey. In 1943, Vélez began an affair with her La Zandunga co-star Arturo de Córdova. De Córdova had recently moved to Hollywood after signing with Paramount Pictures. Despite the fact that de Córdova was married to Mexican actress Enna Arana with whom he had four children, Vélez granted an interview to gossip columnist Louella Parsons in September 1943 and announced that the two were engaged. Vélez ended the engagement in early 1944, reportedly after de Córdova's wife refused to give him a divorce. Vélez then met and began dating a struggling young Austrian actor named Harald Maresch (who went by the stage name Harald Ramond). In September 1944, she discovered she was pregnant with Ramond's child. She announced their engagement in late November 1944. On 10 December, four days before her death, Vélez announced she had ended the engagement and kicked Ramond out of her home. On the evening of 13 December 1944, Vélez dined with her two friends, the silent film star Estelle Taylor and Venita Oakie. In the early morning hours of 14 December, Vélez retired to her bedroom, where she consumed 75 Seconal pills and a glass of brandy. Her secretary, Beulah Kinder, found the actress's body on her bed later that morning. A suicide note addressed to Harald Ramond was found nearby. Lupe Vélez was only 36 years old. More than four-thousand people filed past her casket during her funeral. Her body was interred in Mexico City, at Panteón Civil de Dolores Cemetery. Velez' estate, valued at $125,000 and consisting mostly of her Rodeo House home, two cars, jewelry, and personal effects were left to her secretary Beulah Kinder with the remainder in trust for her mother, Mrs. Josephine Velez. Together with Dolores del Rio, Ramon Novarro, and José Mojica, she was one of the few Mexican people who had made history in the early years of Hollywood.

 

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

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Henryton State Hospital is a now-closed hospital complex in Marriottsville, in southern Carroll County, Maryland, just across the Howard County line. The complex is located within Patapsco Valley State Park and along its southern end runs CSX's Old Main Line Subdivision and is very close to the Henryton Tunnel. The Henryton State Hospital center, or the Henryton Tuberculosis Sanatorium as it was called, was erected in 1922 by the Maryland Board of Mental Hygiene. It was established as a facility to treat African Americans suffering from tuberculosis.[1] This was one of the first such facilities in Maryland erected to provide African Americans with the same level of treatment as whites.

 

The original complex opened in 1922 and consisted of 6 main buildings and one utility plant. These buildings were erected between the years of 1921 and 1923. The establishment of the Henryton Sanatorium was one of the final steps in Maryland’s program to treat all of the state's tubercular patients. In the late twenties and early thirties the tuberculosis rate among African Americans in Maryland was quadruple what the rate was among whites.[1] This placed a heavy burden on the hospital to deal with the increasing number of patients. In 1938 the hospital was budgeted $270,000 for the construction of new buildings to house 200 more patients.[1] The new buildings roughly doubled the size of the overall facility, and several more municipal buildings added even more space to the complex. However, by the time the new buildings were completed in 1946, the tuberculosis rates had dropped, leaving much more room than was necessary.

 

In the decades since the facility’s closure, the Henryton State Hospital complex has become a haven for vandals, drifters, and drug addicts. The façade of most of the buildings have been extensively damaged and are covered in graffiti. Most of the windows have been broken out, making the grounds around the hospital very dangerous. The doors to all of the buildings have been broken in, allowing access to the inside. Although the furnishings and equipment were removed before the facility closed, there is still remarkable damage from people going through. Henryton has been the site of many suspicious fires since its closure, the most well-known of them taking place in the early morning of December 19, 2007.[citation needed] Henryton caught fire on April 28, 2011.[2] Initial speculation of this fire was believed to be suspicious in nature, but after fire marshalls conducted their investigation, it was believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike in the roof area.[citation needed] Firefighters arrived on the scene with heavy fire throughout the roof. Severe storms had passed through the area during the time that the fire was reported.

Henryton has suffered from extensive damage over the years

 

In this incident, the auditorium and cafeteria sections of the complex were engulfed with flames. The blaze took 80 firefighters from 3 counties to extinguish. The burned areas have since been demolished and removed. The 2011 fire affected the Physician and Nurses Cottage, destroying the roof. Visiting the Henryton State Hospital complex without the expressed written consent of the Maryland DHMH is trespassing, but the possible charges and fines seem not to deter most vandals. However, the decades of wear on the buildings without maintenance and the presence of large quantities of asbestos make Henryton a dangerous place to explore.

 

Since its closing, many attempts to purchase the land have been made, but most potential buyers, after having been approved to buy, have had their proposal for usage vetoed by local government and the like.[citation needed] The land on which the old Henryton Center rests goes on the market occasionally (every 5–6 years or so) and then is removed from the market. The state of Maryland spends a large amount of money to maintain the property minimally and occasionally patrol, and it is an expense that the state seems eager to be rid of.

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The "God Save the Kingdom" mural appeared suddenly on a wall at Ward Royal in Windsor, opposite the Windsor Yards car park, sparking immediate interest and media speculation. It features a stencil of a royal guard in a bearskin and winter coat, who is depicted holding a can of spray paint. The accompanying text, stencilled in red, reads "God save the Kingdom," with the final syllable "-dom" rendered in black graffiti, visually suggesting an alteration or addition to the traditional national anthem lyric, "God Save the King." This artistic style, subject matter, and the nature of its unannounced appearance instantly led many locals and onlookers to question if the work was by the famous anonymous street artist, Banksy.

 

The artwork's content is widely interpreted as a political commentary on the Monarchy and the current state of the United Kingdom, consistent with themes often explored in Banksy's body of work. Art experts and gallery directors have noted its resemblance to the artist's satirical style, particularly its critique of authority and power structures by using an iconic, working-class figure - the soldier - engaging in an act of rebellion (graffiti). The guardsman's use of a spray can, an accessible medium, has been seen as a symbol of resistance or an everyday person's means of creating art. Furthermore, the use of the national anthem's lyric, slightly altered, suggests a mocking or critical perspective on the monarchy, asking for the "Kingdom" to be saved rather than solely the "King."

 

Despite the considerable excitement and discussion it generated, the true authorship of the "God Save the Kingdom" mural remains unconfirmed. Banksy has a habit of claiming his new works through his official social media channels, and without a statement or post from him, its attribution is purely speculative. While some experts see the political satire and imagery as typical of Banksy, others are not convinced, pointing to differences in the font and execution style compared to his previously authenticated works. Regardless of who created it, the piece quickly became a local sensation and a "latest tourist attraction," highlighting its power to generate public dialogue about art, politics, and the Royal Family in the heart of a historically royal town.

Varanasi, also known as Benares, or Kashi is an Indian city on the banks of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh, 320 kilometres south-east of the state capital, Lucknow. It is the holiest of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) in Hinduism, and Jainism, and played an important role in the development of Buddhism. Some Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Varanasi is also known as the favourite city of the Hindu deity Lord Shiva as it has been mentioned in the Rigveda that this city in older times was known as Kashi or "Shiv ki Nagri".

 

The Kashi Naresh (Maharaja of Kashi) is the chief cultural patron of Varanasi, and an essential part of all religious celebrations. The culture of Varanasi is closely associated with the Ganges. The city has been a cultural centre of North India for several thousand years, and has a history that is older than most of the major world religions. The Benares Gharana form of Hindustani classical music was developed in Varanasi, and many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians live or have lived in Varanasi. Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath, located near Varanasi.

 

Varanasi is the spiritual capital of India. It is often referred to as "the holy city of India", "the religious capital of India", "the city of Shiva", and "the city of learning". Scholarly books have been written in the city, including the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas. Today, there is a temple of his namesake in the city, the Tulsi Manas Mandir. The current temples and religious institutions in the city are dated to the 18th century. One of the largest residential universities of Asia, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), is located here.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The name Varanasi possibly originates from the names of the two rivers: Varuna, still flowing in Varanasi, and Asi, a small stream near Assi Ghat. The old city does lie on the north shores of Ganges River bounded by its two tributaries Varuna and Asi. Another speculation is that the city derives its name from the river Varuna, which was called Varanasi in olden times. This is generally disregarded by historians. Through the ages, Varanasi has been known by many names including Kāśī or Kashi (used by pilgrims dating from Buddha's days), Kāśikā (the shining one), Avimukta ("never forsaken" by Shiva), Ānandavana (the forest of bliss), and Rudravāsa (the place where Rudra/Śiva resides).

 

In the Rigveda, the city is referred to as Kāśī or Kashi, the luminous city as an eminent seat of learning. The name Kāśī is also mentioned in the Skanda Purana. In one verse, Shiva says, "The three worlds form one city of mine, and Kāśī is my royal palace therein." The name Kashi may be translated as "City of Light".

 

HISTORY

According to legend, Varanasi was founded by the God Shiva. The Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata are also stated to have visited the city in search of Shiva to atone for their sins of fratricide and Brāhmanahatya that they had committed during the climactic Kurukshetra war. It is regarded as one of seven holy cities which can provide Moksha:

 

The earliest known archaeological evidence suggests that settlement around Varanasi in the Ganga valley (the seat of Vedic religion and philosophy) began in the 11th or 12th century BC, placing it among the world's oldest continually inhabited cities. These archaeological remains suggest that the Varanasi area was populated by Vedic people. However, the Atharvaveda (the oldest known text referencing the city), which dates to approximately the same period, suggests that the area was populated by indigenous tribes. It is possible that archaeological evidence of these previous inhabitants has yet to be discovered. Recent excavations at Aktha and Ramnagar, two sites very near to Varanasi, show them to be from 1800 BC, suggesting Varanasi started to be inhabited by that time too. Varanasi was also home to Parshva, the 23rd Jain Tirthankara and the earliest Tirthankara accepted as a historical figure in the 8th century BC.

 

Varanasi grew as an important industrial centre, famous for its muslin and silk fabrics, perfumes, ivory works, and sculpture. During the time of Gautama Buddha (born circa 567 BC), Varanasi was the capital of the Kingdom of Kashi. Buddha is believed to have founded Buddhism here around 528 BC when he gave his first sermon, "Turning the Wheel of Law", at nearby Sarnath. The celebrated Chinese traveller Xuanzang, who visited the city around 635 AD, attested that the city was a centre of religious and artistic activities, and that it extended for about 5 kilometres along the western bank of the Ganges. When Xuanzang, also known as Hiuen Tsiang, visited Varanasi in the 7th century, he named it "Polonisse" and wrote that the city had some 30 temples with about 30 monks. The city's religious importance continued to grow in the 8th century, when Adi Shankara established the worship of Shiva as an official sect of Varanasi.

 

In ancient times, Varanasi was connected by a road starting from Taxila and ending at Pataliputra during the Mauryan Empire. In 1194, the city succumbed to Turkish Muslim rule under Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who ordered the destruction of some one thousand temples in the city. The city went into decline over some three centuries of Muslim occupation, although new temples were erected in the 13th century after the Afghan invasion. Feroz Shah ordered further destruction of Hindu temples in the Varanasi area in 1376. The Afghan ruler Sikander Lodi continued the suppression of Hinduism in the city and destroyed most of the remaining older temples in 1496. Despite the Muslim rule, Varanasi remained the centre of activity for intellectuals and theologians during the Middle Ages, which further contributed to its reputation as a cultural centre of religion and education. Several major figures of the Bhakti movement were born in Varanasi, including Kabir who was born here in 1389 and hailed as "the most outstanding of the saint-poets of Bhakti cult (devotion) and mysticism of 15th-Century India"; and Ravidas, a 15th-century socio-religious reformer, mystic, poet, traveller, and spiritual figure, who was born and lived in the city and employed in the tannery industry. Similarly, numerous eminent scholars and preachers visited the city from across India and south Asia. Guru Nanak Dev visited Varanasi for Shivratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism.

 

In the 16th century, Varanasi experienced a cultural revival under the Muslim Mughal emperor Akbar who invested in the city, and built two large temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu. The Raja of Poona established the Annapurnamandir and the 200 metres Akbari Bridge was also completed during this period. The earliest tourists began arriving in the city during the 16th century. In 1665, the French traveller Jean Baptiste Tavernier described the architectural beauty of the Vindu Madhava temple on the side of the Ganges. The road infrastructure was also improved during this period and extended from Kolkata to Peshawar by Emperor Sher Shah Suri; later during the British Raj it came to be known as the famous Grand Trunk Road. In 1656, emperor Aurangzeb ordered the destruction of many temples and the building of mosques, causing the city to experience a temporary setback. However, after Aurangazeb's death, most of India was ruled by a confederacy of pro-Hindu kings. Much of modern Varanasi was built during this time by the Rajput and Maratha kings, especially during the 18th century, and most of the important buildings in the city today date to this period. The kings continued to be important through much of the British rule (1775–1947 AD), including the Maharaja of Benares, or Kashi Naresh. The kingdom of Benares was given official status by the Mughals in 1737, and continued as a dynasty-governed area until Indian independence in 1947, during the reign of Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh. In the 18th century, Muhammad Shah ordered the construction of an observatory on the Ganges, attached to Man Mandir Ghat, designed to discover imperfections in the calendar in order to revise existing astronomical tables. Tourism in the city began to flourish in the 18th century. In 1791, under the rule of the British Governor-General Warren Hastings, Jonathan Duncan founded a Sanskrit College in Varanasi. In 1867, the establishment of the Varanasi Municipal Board led to significant improvements in the city.

 

In 1897, Mark Twain, the renowned Indophile, said of Varanasi, "Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." In 1910, the British made Varanasi a new Indian state, with Ramanagar as its headquarters but with no jurisdiction over the city of Varanasi itself. Kashi Naresh still resides in the Ramnagar Fort which is situated to the east of Varanasi, across the Ganges. Ramnagar Fort and its museum are the repository of the history of the kings of Varanasi. Since the 18th century, the fort has been the home of Kashi Naresh, deeply revered by the local people. He is the religious head and some devout inhabitants consider him to be the incarnation of Shiva. He is also the chief cultural patron and an essential part of all religious celebrations.

 

A massacre by British troops, of the Indian troops stationed here and of the population of the city, took place during the early stages of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Annie Besant worked in Varanasi to promote theosophy and founded the Central Hindu College which later became a foundation for the creation of Banaras Hindu University as a secular university in 1916. Her purpose in founding the Central Hindu College in Varanasi was that she "wanted to bring men of all religions together under the ideal of brotherhood in order to promote Indian cultural values and to remove ill-will among different sections of the Indian population."

 

Varanasi was ceded to the Union of India on 15 October 1948. After the death of Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh in 2000, his son Anant Narayan Singh became the figurehead king, responsible for upholding the traditional duties of a Kashi Naresh.

 

MAIN SIGHTS

Varanasi's "Old City", the quarter near the banks of the Ganga river, has crowded narrow winding lanes flanked by road-side shops and scores of Hindu temples. As atmospheric as it is confusing, Varanasi's labyrinthine Old City has a rich culture, attracting many travellers and tourists. The main residential areas of Varanasi (especially for the middle and upper classes) are situated in regions far from the ghats; they are more spacious and less polluted.

 

Museums in and around Varanasi include Jantar Mantar, Sarnath Museum, Bharat Kala Bhawan and Ramnagar Fort.

 

JANTAR MANTAR

The Jantar Mantar observatory (1737) is located above the ghats on the Ganges, much above the high water level in the Ganges next to the Manmandir Ghat, near to Dasaswamedh Ghat and adjoining the palace of Raja Jai Singh of Jaipur. Compared to the observatories at Jaipur and Delhi, it is less well equipped but has a unique equatorial sundial which is functional and allows measurements to be monitored and recorded by one person.

 

RAMNAGAR FORT

The Ramnagar Fort located near the Ganges River on its eastern bank, opposite to the Tulsi Ghat, was built in the 18th century by Kashi Naresh Raja Balwant Singh with creamy chunar sandstone. It is in a typically Mughal style of architecture with carved balconies, open courtyards, and scenic pavilions. At present the fort is not in good repair. The fort and its museum are the repository of the history of the kings of Benares. It has been the home of the Kashi Naresh since the 18th century. The current king and the resident of the fort is Anant Narayan Singh who is also known as the Maharaja of Varanasi even though this royal title has been abolished since 1971. Labeled "an eccentric museum", it has a rare collection of American vintage cars, sedan chairs (bejeweled), an impressive weaponry hall and a rare astrological clock. In addition, manuscripts, especially religious writings, are housed in the Saraswati Bhawan. Also included is a precious handwritten manuscript by Goswami Tulsidas. Many books illustrated in the Mughal miniature style, with beautifully designed covers are also part of the collections. Because of its scenic location on the banks of the Ganges, it is frequently used as an outdoor shooting location for films. The film titled Banaras is one of the popular movies shot here. However, only a part of the fort is open for public viewing as the rest of the area is the residence of the Kashi Naresh and his family. It is 14 kilometres from Varanasi.

 

GHATS

Ghats are embankments made in steps of stone slabs along the river bank where pilgrims perform ritual ablutions. Ghats in Varanasi are an integral complement to the concept of divinity represented in physical, metaphysical and supernatural elements. All the ghats are locations on "the divine cosmic road", indicative of "its manifest transcendental dimension" Varanasi has at least 84 ghats. Steps in the ghats lead to the banks of River Ganges, including the Dashashwamedh Ghat, the Manikarnika Ghat, the Panchganga Ghat and the Harishchandra Ghat (where Hindus cremate their dead). Many ghats are associated with legends and several are now privately owned.

 

Many of the ghats were built when the city was under Maratha control. Marathas, Shindes (Scindias), Holkars, Bhonsles, and Peshwas stand out as patrons of present-day Varanasi. Most of the ghats are bathing ghats, while others are used as cremation sites. A morning boat ride on the Ganges across the ghats is a popular visitor attraction. The extensive stretches of ghats enhance the river front with a multitude of shrines, temples and palaces built "tier on tier above the water’s edge".

 

The Dashashwamedh Ghat is the main and probably the oldest ghat of Varansi located on the Ganges, close to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. It is believed that Brahma created it to welcome Shiva and sacrificed ten horses during the Dasa -Ashwamedha yajna performed here. Above the ghat and close to it, there are also temples dedicated to Sulatankesvara, Brahmesvara, Varahesvara, Abhaya Vinayaka, Ganga (the Ganges), and Bandi Devi which are part of important pilgrimage journeys. A group of priests perform "Agni Pooja" (Worship to Fire) daily in the evening at this ghat as a dedication to Shiva, Ganga, Surya (Sun), Agni (Fire), and the whole universe. Special aartis are held on Tuesdays and on religious festivals.

 

The Manikarnika Ghat is the Mahasmasana (meaning: "great cremation ground") and is the primary site for Hindu cremation in the city. Adjoining the ghat, there are raised platforms that are used for death anniversary rituals. It is said that an ear-ring (Manikarnika) of Shiva or his wife Sati fell here. According to a myth related to the Tarakesvara Temple, a Shiva temple at the ghat, Shiva whispers the Taraka mantra ("Prayer of the crossing") in the ear of the dead. Fourth-century Gupta period inscriptions mention this ghat. However, the current ghat as a permanent riverside embankment was built in 1302 and has been renovated at least three times.

 

TEMPLES

Among the estimated 23000 temples in Varanasi, the most worshiped are: the Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Shiva; the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple; and the Durga Temple known for the band of monkeys that reside in the large trees nearby.

 

Located on the outskirts of the Ganges, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple – dedicated to Varanasi's presiding deity Shiva (Vishwanath – "Lord of the world") – is an important Hindu temple and one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Shiva temples. It is believed that a single view of Vishwanath Jyotirlinga is worth more than that of other jyotirlingas. The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times. The Gyanvapi Mosque, which is adjacent to the temple, is the original site of the temple. The temple, as it exists now, also called Golden Temple, was built in 1780 by Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore. The two pinnacles of the temple are covered in gold, donated in 1839 by Ranjit Singh, the ruler of the Punjab and the remaining dome is also planned to be gold plated by the Ministry of Culture & Religious Affairs of Uttar Pradesh. On 28 January 1983, the temple was taken over by the government of Uttar Pradesh and its management was transferred to a trust with then Kashi Naresh, Vibhuti Narayan Singh, as president and an executive committee with a Divisional Commissioner as chairman. Numerous rituals, prayers and aratis are held daily, starting from 2:30 am till 11:00 pm.

 

The Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple is one of the sacred temples of the Hindu god Hanuman situated by the Assi River, on the way to the Durga and New Vishwanath temples within the Banaras Hindu University campus. The present temple structure was built in early 1900s by the educationist and freedom fighter, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, the founder of Banaras Hindu University. It is believed the temple was built on the very spot where the medieval Hindu saint Tulsidas had a vision of Hanuman. Thousands flock to the temple on Tuesdays and Saturdays, weekdays associated with Hanuman. On 7 March 2006, in a terrorist attack one of the three explosions hit the temple while the Aarti was in progress when numerous devotees and people attending a wedding were present and many were injured. However, normal worship was resumed the next day with devotees visiting the temple and reciting hymns of Hanuman Chalisa (authored by Tulidas) and Sundarkand (a booklet of these hymns is provided free of charge in the temple). After the terrorist incident, a permanent police post was set up inside the temple.

 

There are two temples named "Durga" in Varanasi, Durga Mandir (built about 500 years ago), and Durga Kund (built in the 18th century). Thousands of Hindu devotees visit Durga Kund during Navratri to worship the goddess Durga. The temple, built in Nagara architectural style, has multi-tiered spires and is stained red with ochre, representing the red colour of Durga. The building has a rectangular tank of water called the Durga Kund ("Kund" meaning a pond or pool). Every year on the occasion of Nag Panchami, the act of depicting the god Vishnu reclining on the serpent Shesha is recreated in the Kund.

 

While the Annapurna Temple, located close to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, is dedicated to Annapurna, the goddess of food, the Sankatha Temple close to the Sindhia Ghat is dedicated to Sankatha, the goddess of remedy. The Sankatha temple has a large sculpture of a lion and a nine temple cluster dedicated to the nine planets.

 

Kalabhairav Temple, an ancient temple located near the Head Post Office at Visheshar Ganj, is dedicated to Kala-Bhairava, the guardian (Kotwal) of Varanasi. The Mrithyunjay Mahadev Temple, dedicated to Shiva, is situated on the way to Daranagar to Kalbhairav temple. A well near the temple has some religious significance as its water source is believed to be fed from several underground streams, having curative powers.

 

The New Vishwanath Temple located in the campus of Banaras Hindu University is a modern temple which was planned by Pandit Malviya and built by the Birlas. The Tulsi Manas Temple, nearby the Durga Temple, is a modern temple dedicated to the god Rama. It is built at the place where Tulsidas authored the Ramcharitmanas, which narrates the life of Rama. Many verses from this epic are inscribed on the temple walls.

 

The Bharat Mata Temple, dedicated to the national personification of India, was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1936. It has relief maps of India carved in marble. Babu Shiv Prasad Gupta and Durga Prasad Khatri, leading numismatists, antiquarians and nationalist leaders, donated funds for its construction.

 

RELIGION

HINDUISM

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities and centres of pilgrimage for Hindus of all denominations. It is one of the seven Hindu holiest cities (Sapta Puri), considered the giver of salvation (moksha). Over 50,000 Brahmins live in Varanasi, providing religious services to the masses. Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganges remits sins and that dying in Kashi ensures release of a person's soul from the cycle of its transmigrations. Thus, many Hindus arrive here for dying.

 

As the home to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Jyotirlinga, it is very sacred for Shaivism. Varanasi is also a Shakti Peetha, where the temple to goddess Vishalakshi stands, believed to be the spot where the goddess Sati's earrings fell. Hindus of the Shakti sect make a pilgrimage to the city because they regard the River Ganges itself to be the Goddess Shakti. Adi Shankara wrote his commentaries on Hinduism here, leading to the great Hindu revival.

 

In 2001, Hindus made up approximately 84% of the population of Varanasi District.

 

ISLAM

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities and centres of pilgrimage for Hindus of all denominations. It is one of the seven Hindu holiest cities (Sapta Puri), considered the giver of salvation (moksha). Over 50,000 Brahmins live in Varanasi, providing religious services to the masses. Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganges remits sins and that dying in Kashi ensures release of a person's soul from the cycle of its transmigrations. Thus, many Hindus arrive here for dying.

 

As the home to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Jyotirlinga, it is very sacred for Shaivism. Varanasi is also a Shakti Peetha, where the temple to goddess Vishalakshi stands, believed to be the spot where the goddess Sati's earrings fell. Hindus of the Shakti sect make a pilgrimage to the city because they regard the River Ganges itself to be the Goddess Shakti. Adi Shankara wrote his commentaries on Hinduism here, leading to the great Hindu revival.

 

In 2001, Hindus made up approximately 84% of the population of Varanasi District.

 

OTHERS

At the 2001 census, persons of other religions or no religion made up 0.4% of the population of Varanasi District.

 

Varanasi is a pilgrimage site for Jains along with Hindus and Buddhists. It is believed to be the birthplace of Suparshvanath, Shreyansanath, and Parshva, who are respectively the seventh, eleventh, and twenty-third Jain Tirthankars and as such Varanasi is a holy city for Jains. Shree Parshvanath Digambar Jain Tirth Kshetra (Digambar Jain Temple) is situated in Bhelupur, Varanasi. This temple is of great religious importance to the Jain Religion.

 

Sarnath, a suburb of Varanasi, is a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. It is the site of the deer park where Siddhartha Gautama of Nepal is said to have given his first sermon about the basic principles of Buddhism. The Dhamek Stupa is one of the few pre-Ashokan stupas still in existence, though only its foundation remains. Also remaining is the Chaukhandi Stupa commemorating the spot where Buddha met his first disciples in the 5th century. An octagonal tower was built later there.

 

Guru Nanak Dev visited Varanasi for Shivratri in 1507 and had an encounter which with other events forms the basis for the story of the founding of Sikhism. Varanasi also hosts the Roman Catholic Diocese of Varanasi, and has an insignificant Jewish expatriate community. Varanasi is home to numerous tribal faiths which are not easily classified.

 

Dalits are 13% of population Of Varanasi city. Most dalits are followers of Guru Ravidass. So Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan is important place of pilgrimage for Ravidasis from all around India.

 

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS

On Mahashivaratri (February) – which is dedicated to Shiva – a procession of Shiva proceeds from the Mahamrityunjaya Temple to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

 

Dhrupad Mela is a five-day musical festival devoted to dhrupad style held at Tulsi Ghat in February–March.

 

The Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple celebrates Hanuman Jayanti (March–April), the birthday of Hanuman with great fervour. A special puja, aarti, and a public procession is organized. Starting in 1923, the temple organizes a five-day classical music and dance concert festival titled Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh in this period, when iconic artists from all parts of India are invited to perform.

 

The Ramlila of Ramnagar is a dramatic enactment of Rama's legend, as told in Ramacharitamanasa. The plays, sponsored by Kashi Naresh, are performed in Ramnagar every evening for 31 days. On the last day, the festivities reach a crescendo as Rama vanquishes the demon king Ravana. Kashi Naresh Udit Narayan Singh started this tradition around 1830.

 

Bharat Milap celebrates the meeting of Rama and his younger brother Bharata after the return of the former after 14 years of exile. It is celebrated during October–November, a day after the festival of Vijayadashami. Kashi Naresh attends this festival in his regal attire resplendent in regal finery. The festival attracts a large number of devotees.

 

Nag Nathaiya, celebrated on the fourth lunar day of the dark fortnight of the Hindu month of Kartik (October–November), that commemorates the victory of the god Krishna over the serpent Kaliya. On this occasion, a large Kadamba tree (Neolamarckia cadamba) branch is planted on the banks of the Ganges so that a boy acting the role of Krishna can jump into the river on to the effigy representing Kaliya. He stands over the effigy in a dancing pose playing the flute; the effigy and the boy standing on it is given a swirl in front of the audience. People watch the display standing on the banks of the river or from boats.

 

Ganga Mahotsav is a five-day music festival organized by the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department, held in November–December culminating a day before Kartik Poornima (Dev Deepawali). On Kartik Poornima also called the Ganges festival, the Ganges is venerated by arti offered by thousands of pilgrims who release lighted lamps to float in the river from the ghats.

 

Annually Jashne-Eid Miladunnabi is celebrated on the day of Barawafat in huge numbers by Muslims in a huge rally coming from all the parts of the city and meeting up at Beniya Bagh.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Strathalbyn was established by a group of Scots families hence the first and still the biggest and most important church is the Presbyterian Church now the Uniting.

 

Strathalbyn.

A Special Survey of 4,000 acres was taken out along the Angas River in 1839 for George Hall (secretary to Governor Gawler) and William Mein and others. Land was surveyed from the mouth of the Angas along the river to about where Macclesfield is now situated. Other contributors to the Mouth of the Angas Special Survey were Strathalbyn settlers including: 806 acres purchased by Dr John Rankine, Blackwood Park; 166 acres purchased by William Rankine, Glenbarr; 410 acres purchased by Donald McLean; 81 acres purchased by Edward and Charles Stirling of Hampton and later the Lodge. William and Nicol Mein kept 728 acres for themselves but George Hall (who kept about 930 acres) was a Colonial Office employee with an eye on speculation. He also paid £4,000 for the Great Bend Special Survey along the River Murray from Morgan to Blanchetown but it was claimed this was taken for Governor Gawler but in Hall’s name to avoid scandal! But the land was not worth £1 per acre! The Meins were graziers and also took out Occupational Licenses for leasehold land in 1843. They were Scots so they donated £600 for the building fund for the Presbyterian Church in Adelaide in 1840. But in 1843 they dissolved a business partnership in Adelaide and they appear to have left the colony perhaps to join their relatives in NSW. Meins did not stay on to become Strathalbyn pioneers unlike the Rankines, McLeans and Stirlings. The other prominent early founder was William Dawson- hence the creek flowing in front of Glen Barr is the Dawson Creek which enters the Angas River in Strathalbyn. Dawson Banks is another of the grand old properties in Strathalbyn.

 

Stirlings chose their land to the north of the town and built Hampden and the Lodge; John Rankine chose his land to the north of the town and built Blackwood Park whilst brother William Rankine chose land to the south on Dawson Creek and built Glenbarr house. The first public building in the fledgling town of Strathalbyn was the Strathalbyn Hotel erected in 1840 and the second was probably St. Andrews Presbyterian Church which opened in 1844 with additions in 1869. As most of the settlers were Scottish the name chosen for the town was Scottish and the first church was Presbyterian. The first farmer to produce a crop was David Gollan. His interest in wheat led him to open the first flour mill in 1850 in the centre of the town. Mill Bridge adjacent to the flourmill bridged the Angas River. As the town progressed quickly a local council was formed in 1854 with the Stirlings, Rankines and Archibald McLean (investor in Langhorne Creek) being among the first councillors. The Stirlings were especially important to Strathalbyn. Edward Stirling (the father) joined into a partnership with (Sir) Thomas Elder and Robert Barr Smith in 1855. Stirling stayed with the company as it funded the Moonta and Wallaroo copper mines in 1861 then he withdrew but remained as an investor in the mines. The company went on to become Elder Smith and Co the most successful SA 19th century company. Edward Stirling had two sons, (Sir) Edward Stirling a famed surgeon who lived at St. Vigeans at Stirling and (Sir) Lancelot Stirling, local Member of Parliament for the Strathalbyn district, sheep and cattle breeder and company director. The Stirlings lived in the family home Hampden until it burnt down around 1870. Then they moved into the Lodge which was extended and remained the family home for Sir Lancelot Stirling after his father Edward died in 1873. Lancelot lived there until he died in 1932. The Stirlings of Strathalbyn also owned and operated Nalpa Station on Lake Albert. The Lodge is now the centre of a new suburban development at Strathalbyn.

 

From the beginning Strathalbyn prospered because of its access to water from the Angas River, its reliable rainfall, its genial climate for cropping and from the patronage of its wealthy founders. The town was laid out in 1840 and blocks sold at that time. The discovery of silver, lead and zinc at nearby Wheal Ellen mine in 1857 further boosted the growing town. The mine closed a short time later but re-opened in 1869 and operated until closure in 1888. It briefly re-opened from 1910-14 for the last phase. Until recently Strathalbyn had another zinc mine conducted by Terramin Mining which started operations in 2007. The zinc from here was sent to Nyrstar refinery at Port Pirie for smelting. The mining occurred 360 metres below the ground surface. The mine had a life of five years and closed in late 2013 ending the jobs of 115 local people. But Strathalbyn has always had a range of local industry. A foundry operated in the town from the mid 1850s as well as the usual businesses of blacksmith, saddlery etc, and the town handled coach services to Wellington via Langhorne Creek from around 1854. It was also one of the first towns in SA to have its own gas works started by David Trenouth in 1868. By 1870 the small urban centre of Strathalbyn had gas street lights! The gas works operated until 1917 when an electrical service took over power provision. From an early date Strathalbyn also had its own newspaper and printing press the Southern Argus housed in Argus House which was built 1867/68. The Southern Argus which is still published, is SA’s oldest country newspaper. In 1912 it established an offshoot - the Victor Harbor Times. In terms of transportation and the transport of goods Strathalbyn prospered as it was the terminus of the horse drawn tram service from Port Elliott and Goolwa in 1869. That is why the Terminus Hotel is so named. In 1884 that line was converted to a broad gauge rail line for steam engines and linked at Mt Barker with the line to Adelaide. Strathalbyn had a flour mill from 1850 as noted above and in the 1860s the town had its own brewery. The heyday of business boom for Strathalbyn was in the 1860s and 1870 when so many of the fine town buildings were erected. Heritage buildings are shown on map above and they include:

Commercial Street/Dawson Street.

•At the northern end of Commercial Street on the corner with North Parade is the Doctor’s Residence. 26 North Parade. Dr Herbert built a grand 8 roomed residence here in 1858. Dr Ferguson purchased it in 1869 and added and altered the verandas. Dr Shone bought it in 1897. Dr Formby took it over in 1907 and kept it until he sold it to Dr Fairley in 1979! Note the double chimneys and the ogee(S shaped) gutters above the bay windows and the 1850s French windows.

•On the northern end of Commercial Street is the Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1874. It replaced the demolished Methodist church built in 1854. Built of random stone, semi rounded windows etc. It became the only Methodist church at the time of Methodist amalgamations in 1900 .It closed around the time of amalgamation with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists in 1977. The Hall was added in 1939.

•Blackwell House, 18 Commercial Street. A two storey bluestone structure from the 1860s. It was much altered in 1912 when the parapet along the roof was removed, the slate replaced with iron and the upper balcony added.

•The former Power House 1917 –when gas works closed. Became Council Chamber 1939 when ETSA arrived.

•Coleman Mill store. Fine stone building with few windows. Built 1864. Coleman bought the mill from Gollan.

•1850 flour mill which was sold to Laucke’s in 1938. Commercial Rd and Mill Street an imposing four storey structure. Note the four storeys, purple sandstone, and little windows.

•Beside the mill is Water Villa house. The earliest part dates from 1849 and the Italianate bay window sections are 1879. David Gollan the owner of the 1850 flour mill built this as his residence. It is a mixture of stones. Note the French doors in the old original part of the house onto the veranda.

•Argus House, 1868. 33 Commercial Street. It was a print works and residence and shop.

•Post Office 1911. 37 Commercial Street.

•Savings Banks of South Australia. A fine two storey structure for the bank and manager’s residence. Built in 1930. It has rough stone, prominent gables, repeating arches, wooden doors, and terra cotta tiles.

•Church of Christ. Opened in 1873.Limestone walls, arched windows.

•Masonic Hall built in 1896 but Lodge established 1866.Additons 1912 and 1957.

 

Rankine Street/Albyn Terrace.

•Strathalbyn Police Station (1855) and Court House (1865) now the National Trust Museum.

•National Bank 2 Albyn Terrace. Squared stone blocks, two storeys and a dominant building. Elaborate porch and balcony and decorative window surrounds etc. Erected in 1869. Nearby Norfolk Island pine was planted in 1895.

•Tucker & Sons solicitors at 8 Albyn Terrace. Have a look at all the shops along Albyn Terrace a great 19th century streetscape still largely intact. It was used in the film “Picnic at Hanging Rock.”

 

High Street.

•London House general store at 7 High Street 1867. Now an antiques shop. Cobb and Co used to use the stables at the rear for the daily coaching service to Adelaide. London House had the first telephone in Strathalbyn in 1883.

•Robin Hood hotel erected in 1855 and still standing. 18 High Street.

•The Strathalbyn library 9 High Street. Opened 1922 with a classical façade with good symmetry.

•The Town Hall at 11 High Street. 1874 opened as a two storey stone structure with fancy parapet as an institute building. The parapet is supported by paired brackets.

 

Other locations- Chapel Street, East Terrace and South Terrace.

•St. Andrews Uniting Church (formerly Presbyterian) 1844 for main church with transept added 1857. Manse erected 1854. 1869 tower completed, bell donated by Edward Stirling. Clock installed 1895. Church hall on the opposite corner was built in 1911.

•Former Primitive Methodist Church 1861 was sold to the Anglican Church as a church hall in 1901 following the Methodist amalgamation. It was sold to the Foresters Lodge in 1912(when Anglicans purchased the former Catholic Church) and much later it as sold to the Scouts.

•St. Barnabas Catholic Church 2 Chapel Street. This was a late addition to Strathalbyn being erected in 1913. But Catholic services began in 1881 when a Catholic church was consecrated in Rowe St. The first priest arrived in 1906. A presbytery as built 1911 in East Tce and then church two years later. The 1881 church was sold in 1913 as Anglican parish hall called St. Barnabas. It is on the corner of Rowe and Murray street.

•Christ Church Anglican Church 7 East Terrace. The tower on Christ Church was erected from donations on the death of Sir Lancelot Stirling in 1932. The tower opened in 1933 but the church was built in 1871.

•Railway Station on South Terrace erected 1883 in time for opening of broad gauge line to Adelaide and start of branch line trains to Milang from Sandergrove siding.

•Two storey residence attached to Rowe’s foundry in South Terrace. Britannia House as it is known was built in 1855.

 

Single exposure - speculation welcome on how we did it lol

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnak#Temple_of_Amenhotep_IV_(deliberately_dismantled)

 

The Karnak Temple Complex, comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BCE) in the Middle Kingdom (around 2000–1700 BCE) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305–30 BCE), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the 18th Dynastic Theban Triad, with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes, and in 1979 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the rest of the city. The Karnak complex gives its name to the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) north of Luxor.

 

Name

The original name of the temple was Nesut-Tawy, meaning "Throne of the Two Lands". Other names included Ipet-Iset, meaning "The Finest of Seats", as well as Ipt-Swt, meaning "Selected Spot", or Ipetsut, meaning "The Most Select of Places".

 

Some believe that the modern name of Karnak is derived from Arabic: خورنق Khurnaq meaning "fortified village". However, this speculation is not supported by any historical evidence.

 

The complex is a vast open site and includes the Karnak Open Air Museum. It is believed to be the second[citation needed] most visited historical site in Egypt; only the Giza pyramid complex near Cairo receives more visits. It consists of four main parts, of which only the largest is currently open to the general public. The term Karnak often is understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, because this is the only part most visitors see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Montu, and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re, and the Luxor Temple. The Precinct of Mut is very ancient, being dedicated to an Earth and creation deity, but not yet restored. The original temple was destroyed and partially restored by Hatshepsut, although another pharaoh built around it in order to change the focus or orientation of the sacred area. Many portions of it may have been carried away for use in other buildings.

 

The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued into Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming. The deities represented range from some of the earliest worshipped to those worshipped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture. Although destroyed, it also contained an early temple built by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), the pharaoh who later would celebrate a near monotheistic religion he established that prompted him to move his court and religious center away from Thebes. It also contains evidence of adaptations, where the buildings of the ancient Egyptians were used by later cultures for their own religious purposes.

 

One famous aspect of Karnak is the Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re, a hall area of 50,000 sq ft (5,000 m2) with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. One hundred and twenty-two of these columns are 10 metres (33 ft) tall, and the other 12 are 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a diameter of over 3 metres (9.8 ft). The architraves on top of these columns are estimated to weigh 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers. This would be an extremely time-consuming process and also would require great balance to get to such great heights. A common alternative theory regarding how they were moved is that large ramps were constructed of sand, mud, brick or stone and that the stones were then towed up the ramps. If stone had been used for the ramps, they would have been able to use much less material. The top of the ramps presumably would have employed either wooden tracks or cobblestones for towing the megaliths.

 

There is an unfinished pillar in an out-of-the-way location that indicates how it would have been finished. Final carving was executed after the drums were put in place so that it was not damaged while being placed. Several experiments moving megaliths with ancient technology were made at other locations – some of which are amongst the largest monoliths in the world.

 

In 2009 UCLA launched a website dedicated to virtual reality digital reconstructions of the Karnak complex and other resources.The sun god's shrine has light focused upon it during the winter solstic

 

The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes and its changing role in the culture. Religious centers varied by region, and when a new capital of the unified culture was established, the religious centers in that area gained prominence. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the Eleventh Dynasty and previous temple building there would have been relatively small, with shrines being dedicated to the early deities of Thebes, the Earth goddess Mut and Montu. Early building was destroyed by invaders. The earliest known artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided column from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re. Amun (sometimes called Amen) was long the local tutelary deity of Thebes. He was identified with the ram and the goose. The Egyptian meaning of Amun is "hidden" or the "hidden god".

 

Major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the Eighteenth Dynasty, when Thebes became the capital of the unified Ancient Egypt. Almost every pharaoh of that dynasty added something to the temple site. Thutmose I erected an enclosure wall connecting the Fourth and Fifth pylons, which comprise the earliest part of the temple still standing in situ. Hatshepsut had monuments constructed and also restored the original Precinct of Mut, that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the Hyksos occupation. She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple. One still stands, as the second-tallest ancient obelisk still standing on Earth; the other has broken in two and toppled. Another of her projects at the site, Karnak's Red Chapel or Chapelle Rouge, was intended as a barque shrine and originally may have stood between her two obelisks. She later ordered the construction of two more obelisks to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh; one of the obelisks broke during construction, and thus, a third was constructed to replace it. The broken obelisk was left at its quarrying site in Aswan, where it still remains. Known as the unfinished obelisk, it provides evidence of how obelisks were quarried.

 

Construction of the Great Hypostyle Hall also may have begun during the Eighteenth Dynasty (although most new building was undertaken under Seti I and Ramesses II in the Nineteenth). Merneptah, also of the Nineteenth Dynasty, commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court, the start of the processional route (also known as the Avenue of Sphinxes) to the Luxor Temple. The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Re's layout was the addition of the First Pylon and the massive enclosure walls that surround the whole precinct, both constructed by Nectanebo I of the Thirtieth Dynasty.

 

In 323 AD, Roman emperor Constantine the Great recognised the Christian religion, and in 356 Constantius II ordered the closing of pagan temples throughout the Roman empire, into which Egypt had been annexed in 30 BC. Karnak was by this time mostly abandoned, and Christian churches were founded among the ruins, the most famous example of this is the reuse of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III's central hall, where painted decorations of saints and Coptic inscriptions can still be seen.

 

Thebes' exact placement was unknown in medieval Europe, though both Herodotus and Strabo give the exact location of Thebes and how long up the Nile one must travel to reach it. Maps of Egypt, based on the 2nd century Claudius Ptolemaeus' mammoth work Geographia, had been circulating in Europe since the late 14th century, all of them showing Thebes' (Diospolis) location. Despite this, several European authors of the 15th and 16th centuries who visited only Lower Egypt and published their travel accounts, such as Joos van Ghistele and André Thévet, put Thebes in or close to Memphis.

 

The Karnak temple complex is first described by an unknown Venetian in 1589, although his account gives no name for the complex. This account, housed in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, is the first known European mention, since ancient Greek and Roman writers, about a whole range of monuments in Upper Egypt and Nubia, including Karnak, Luxor temple, the Colossi of Memnon, Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae, and others.

 

Karnak ("Carnac") as a village name, and name of the complex, is first attested in 1668, when two capuchin missionary brothers, Protais and Charles François d'Orléans, travelled though the area. Protais' writing about their travel was published by Melchisédech Thévenot (Relations de divers voyages curieux, 1670s–1696 editions) and Johann Michael Vansleb (The Present State of Egypt, 1678).

 

The first drawing of Karnak is found in Paul Lucas' travel account of 1704, (Voyage du Sieur Paul Lucas au Levant). It is rather inaccurate, and can be quite confusing to modern eyes. Lucas travelled in Egypt during 1699–1703. The drawing shows a mixture of the Precinct of Amun-Re and the Precinct of Montu, based on a complex confined by the three huge Ptolemaic gateways of Ptolemy III Euergetes / Ptolemy IV Philopator, and the massive 113 m long, 43 m high and 15 m thick, First Pylon of the Precinct of Amun-Re.

 

Karnak was visited and described in succession by Claude Sicard and his travel companion Pierre Laurent Pincia (1718 and 1720–21), Granger (1731), Frederick Louis Norden (1737–38), Richard Pococke (1738), James Bruce (1769), Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1777), William George Browne (1792–93), and finally by a number of scientists of the Napoleon expedition, including Vivant Denon, during 1798–1799. Claude-Étienne Savary describes the complex in rather great detail in his work of 1785; especially in light of the fact that it is a fictional account of a pretend journey to Upper Egypt, composed out of information from other travellers. Savary did visit Lower Egypt in 1777–78, and published a work about that too.

 

This is the largest of the precincts of the temple complex, and is dedicated to Amun-Re, the chief deity of the Theban Triad. There are several colossal statues, including the figure of Pinedjem I which is 10.5 metres (34 ft) tall. The sandstone for this temple, including all of the columns, was transported from Gebel Silsila 100 miles (161 km) south on the Nile river. It also has one of the largest obelisks, weighing 328 tonnes and standing 29 metres (95 ft) tall.

 

Located to the south of the newer Amen-Re complex, this precinct was dedicated to the mother goddess, Mut, who became identified as the wife of Amun-Re in the Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Triad. It has several smaller temples associated with it and has its own sacred lake, constructed in a crescent shape. This temple has been ravaged, many portions having been used in other structures. Following excavation and restoration works by the Johns Hopkins University team, led by Betsy Bryan (see below) the Precinct of Mut has been opened to the public. Six hundred black granite statues were found in the courtyard to her temple. It may be the oldest portion of the site.

 

In 2006, Betsy Bryan presented her findings of one festival that included apparent intentional overindulgence in alcohol. Participation in the festival was great, including the priestesses and the population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist. These findings were made in the temple of Mut because when Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed the warrior goddesses, Sekhmet and Bast, as some of her aspects. First, Mut became Mut-Wadjet-Bast, then Mut-Sekhmet-Bast (Wadjet having merged into Bast), then Mut also assimilated Menhit, another lioness goddess, and her adopted son's wife, becoming Mut-Sekhmet-Bast-Menhit, and finally becoming Mut-Nekhbet. Temple excavations at Luxor discovered a "porch of drunkenness" built onto the temple by the pharaoh Hatshepsut, during the height of her twenty-year reign. In a later myth developed around the annual drunken Sekhmet festival, Ra, by then the sun god of Upper Egypt, created her from a fiery eye gained from his mother, to destroy mortals who conspired against him (Lower Egypt). In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust was not quelled at the end of the battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra had tricked her by turning the Nile as red as blood (the Nile turns red every year when filled with silt during inundation) so that Sekhmet would drink it. The trick, however, was that the red liquid was not blood, but beer mixed with pomegranate juice so that it resembled blood, making her so drunk that she gave up slaughter and became an aspect of the gentle Hathor. The complex interweaving of deities occurred over the thousands of years of the culture.

 

The temple that Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) constructed on the site was located east of the main complex, outside the walls of the Amun-Re precinct. It was destroyed immediately after the death of its builder, who had attempted to overcome the powerful priesthood who had gained control over Egypt before his reign. It was so thoroughly demolished that its full extent and layout is currently unknown. The priesthood of that temple regained their powerful position as soon as Akhenaten died, and were instrumental in destroying many records of his existence.

Pyramidology (or pyramidism) refers to various religious or pseudoscientific speculations regarding pyramids, most often the Giza pyramid complex and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Some "pyramidologists" also concern themselves with the monumental structures of pre-Columbian America (such as Teotihuacan, the Mesoamerican Maya civilization, and the Inca of the South American Andes), and the temples of Southeast Asia.

 

Some pyramidologists claim that the Great Pyramid of Giza has encoded within it predictions for the exodus of Moses from Egypt, the crucifixion of Jesus, the start of World War I, the founding of modern-day Israel in 1948, and future events including the beginning of Armageddon; this was discovered by using what they call "pyramid inches" to calculate the passage of time where one British inch equals one solar year.

 

Pyramidology reached its peak by the early 1980s. Interest revived when in 1992 and 1993 Rudolf Gantenbrink sent a miniature remote-controlled robot rover, known as upuaut, up one of the "air shafts" in the Queen's Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Upuaut discovered the shaft closed off by a stone block with decaying copper hooks attached to the outside. In 1994 Robert Bauval published the book The Orion Mystery, attempting to prove that the pyramids on the Giza plateau were built to mimic the stars in the belt of the constellation Orion, a claim that came to be known as the Orion correlation theory.

Types of pyramidology

The main types of pyramidological accounts involve one or more aspects which include: metrological: theories regarding the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza by hypothetical geometric measurements numerological: theories that the measurements of the Great Pyramid and its passages have esoteric significance, and that their geometric measurements contain some encoded message. This form of pyramidology is popular within Christian Pyramidology (e.g. British Israelism and Bible Students). "pyramid power": claims originating in the late 1960s that pyramids as geometrical shapes possess supernatural powers pseudoarchaeological: varying theories that deny the pyramids were built to serve exclusively as tombs for the Pharaohs; alternative explanations regarding the construction of the pyramids (for example the use of long-lost knowledge; anti-gravity technology, etc...); and hypotheses that they were built by someone other than the historical Ancient Egyptians (e.g. early Hebrews, Atlanteans, or even extra-terrestrials)

History

Metrological

Metrological pyramidology dates to the 17th century. John Greaves, an English mathematician, astronomer and antiquarian, first took precise measurements of the Great Pyramid at Giza using the best mathematical instruments of the day. His data was published in Pyramidographia (1646) which theorized a geometric cubit was used by the builders of the Great Pyramid (see: Egyptian royal cubit). While Greave's measurements were objective, his metrological data was later misused by numerologists:

 

J. Greaves in his Pyramidographia, 1646, made an objective description of these structures, but using his measurements, some philosophers started to propose a more subjective reading of them: Kircher suggested that they had mystical and hidden meanings; Th. Shaw thought the Great Pyramid was a temple to Osiris; I. Newton created the concept of “sacred code” to denote one of the two supposed instruments used to erect them.

 

John Taylor

In his work The great pyramid; why was it built: & who built it? (1859) John Taylor described a possible connection with the dimensions of the pyramid and the golden ratio (see Kepler triangle). He also proposed that the inch used to build the Great Pyramid (see pyramid inch) was 1/25 of the "sacred cubit" (whose existence had earlier been postulated by Isaac Newton). Taylor was also the first to claim the pyramid was divinely inspired, contained a revelation and was built not by the Egyptians, but instead the Hebrews pointing to Biblical passages (Is. 19: 19-20; Job 38: 5-7) to support his theories.[8] For this reason Taylor is often credited as being the "founder of pyramidology". Martin Gardner noted:

 

[...] it was not until 1859 that Pyramidology was born. This was the year that John Taylor, an eccentric partner in a London publishing firm, issued his The Great Pyramid: Why was it Built? And Who Built it? [...] Taylor never visited the Pyramid, but the more he studied its structure, the more he became convinced that its architect was not an Egyptian, but an Israelite acting under divine orders. Perhaps it was Noah himself.

Christian pyramidology

British Israelism

Taylor in turn influenced the Astronomer Royal of Scotland Charles Piazzi Smyth, F.R.S.E., F.R.A.S., who made numerous numerological calculations on the pyramid and published them in a 664-page book Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid (1864) followed by Life, and Work in the Great Pyramid (1867). These two works fused pyramidology with British Israelism and Smyth first linked the hypothetical pyramid inch to the British Imperial Unit system.

Smyth's theories were later expanded upon by early 20th century British Israelites such as Colonel Garnier (Great Pyramid: Its Builder & Its Prophecy, 1905), who began to theorise that chambers within the Great Pyramid contain prophetic dates which concern the future of the British, Celtic, or Anglo-Saxon peoples. However this idea originated with Robert Menzies, an earlier correspondent of Smyth's. David Davidson with H. Aldersmith wrote The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message (1924) and further introduced the idea that Britain's chronology (including future events) may be unlocked from inside the Great Pyramid. This theme is also found in Basil Stewart's trilogy on the same subject: Witness of the Great Pyramid (1927), The Great Pyramid, Its Construction, Symbolism and Chronology (1931) and History and Significance of the Great Pyramid... (1935). More recently a four-volume set entitled Pyramidology was published by British Israelite Adam Rutherford (released between 1957–1972).[11] British Israelite author E. Raymond Capt also wrote Great Pyramid Decoded in 1971 followed by Study in Pyramidology in 1986.

Joseph A. Seiss

Joseph Seiss was a Lutheran minister who was a proponent of pyramidology. He wrote A Miracle in Stone: or, The Great Pyramid of Egypt in 1877. His work was popular with contemporary evangelical Christians.

Charles Taze Russell

In 1891 pyramidology reached a global audience when it was integrated into the works of Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Bible Student movement. Russell however denounced the British-Israelite variant of pyramidology in an article called The Anglo-Israelitish Question . Adopting Joseph Seiss's designation that the Great Pyramid of Giza was "the Bible in stone" Russell taught that it played a special part in God's plan during the "last days" basing his interpretation on Isaiah 19:19-20 which says - "In that day shall there be an altar (pile of stones) to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar (Hebrew matstebah, or monument) at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign, and for a witness unto the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt." Two brothers, archaeologists John and Morton Edgar, as personal associates and supporters of Russell, wrote extensive treatises on the history, nature, and prophetic symbolism of the Great Pyramid in relation to the then known archaeological history, along with their interpretations of prophetic and Biblical chronology. They are best known for their two-volume work Great Pyramid Passages and Chambers, published in 1910 and 1913.

Pyramid power

Pyramid power refers to the belief that the ancient Egyptian pyramids and objects of similar shape can confer a variety of benefits. Among these assumed properties are the ability to preserve foods, sharpen or maintain the sharpness of razor blades, improve health, function "as a thought-form incubator", trigger sexual urges, and cause other effects. Such unverified theories regarding pyramids are collectively known as pyramidology.

 

There is no scientific evidence that pyramid power exists.

Another set of speculations concerning pyramids have centered upon the possible existence of an unknown energy concentrated in pyramidical structures.

 

Pyramid energy was popularized in the early 1970s, particularly by New Age authors such as Patrick Flanagan (Pyramid Power: The Millennium Science, 1973), Max Toth and Greg Nielsen (Pyramid Power, 1974) and Warren Smith (Secret Forces of the Pyramids, 1975). These works focused on the alleged energies of pyramids in general, not solely the Egyptian pyramids. Toth and Nielsen for example reported experiments where "seeds stored in pyramid replicas germinated sooner and grew higher"

 

Although most Bible Student groups continue to support and endorse the study of pyramidology from a Biblical perspective, the Bible Students associated with the Watchtower Society, who chose ’Jehovah's Witnesses’ as their new name in 1931, have abandoned pyramidology entirely since 1928.In the 1930s, a French ironmonger[9] and pendulum-dowsing author, Antoine Bovis, developed the idea that small models of pyramids can preserve food. The story persists that Bovis, while standing inside the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, saw a garbage can inside the chamber piled with dead animals that had wandered into the structure, noticed that these small carcasses were not decaying and inferred that the structure somehow preserved them. However, Bovis never claimed to have visited Egypt.In his self-published French-language booklet Bovis ascribes his discovery to reasoning and experiments in Europe using a dowsing pendulum:

 

I have supposed that Egyptians were already very good dowsers and had oriented their pyramid by means of rod and pendulum. Being unable to go there to experiment and verify the radiations of the Keops Pyramid, I have built with cardboard some pyramids that you can see now, and I was astonished when, having built a regular pyramid and oriented it, I found the positive at the East, the negative at the West, and at the North and the South, dual-positive and dual-negative...

 

A new supposition: since with the help of our positive 2000° magnetic plates we can mummify small animals, could the pyramid have the same property? I tried, and as you can observe with the small fish and the little piece of meat still hanging, I succeeded totally.

 

In 1949, inspired by Bovis, a Czechoslovakian named Karel Drbal applied for a patent on a "Pharaoh's shaving device", a model pyramid alleged to maintain the sharpness of razor blades. According to the patent (#91,304), "The method of maintaining the razor blades and straight razor blades sharp by placing them in the magnetic field in such a way that the sharp edge lies in the direction of the magnetic lines."Drbal alleged that his device would focus "the earth's magnetic field", although he did not make it clear how this would work, or whether the device's shape or materials exerted the effect.

 

Drbal's contention that razors could be sharpened or have their sharpness maintained by alignment with Earth's magnetic field was not new. In 1933, The Times carried letters claiming, "if I oriented my razor blades…N. and S. by the compass…they tend to last considerably longer"and "The idea of keeping razor blades in a magnetic field is not quite new. About the year 1900 I found this out…."

 

Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, authors of the paranormal, visited Czechoslovakia in 1968, where they happened upon a cardboard pyramid manufactured commercially by Drbal. They met Drbal, and dedicated a chapter of their popular 1970 book Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain to pyramid power. This book introduced both the concept of pyramid power and the story about Antoine Bovis to the English-speaking world.

Popularisation

Flanagan’s book was featured on the cover and in the lyrics of The Alan Parsons Project album Pyramid. "Pyramania", a song from the album, mocked the idea of pyramid power.

 

Pyramid power was the subject of a famous spoof by Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" column in the Scientific American issue of June 1974, featuring his favorite characters Dr. Matrix and Iva Matrix.

 

The theories behind Pyramid Power convinced the Onan Family, hotel and condo developers in Gurnee, Illinois, to build the "Pyramid House" in 1977.

 

Summerhill Pyramid Winery in Kelowna, British Columbia built a four-story replica of the Great Pyramid, alleged by the winery to improve the quality of wine aged within it.

 

A religion founded in 1975, called Summum, completed the construction of a pyramid called the Summum Pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1979.

 

Pyramid power was used by the Toronto Maple Leafs and their coach Red Kelly during the 1975–76 quarter-final series, to counter the Philadelphia Flyers' use of Kate Smith's rendering of "God Bless America". Kelly hung a plastic model of a pyramid in the team's clubhouse after a pair of away defeats at the start of the series, and each player took turns standing under it for exactly four minutes. The Maple Leafs managed to win all three of their home matches before losing the series' decisive game seven.

 

Terry Pratchett's fantasy novel Pyramids incorporates elements of the theory when an industry develops based around pyramids' ability to stop time.

 

It is common in New Age magazines to see advertisements for open metal-poled pyramids large enough to meditate under. The New Age group Share International, founded by Benjamin Creme, practices a form of meditation called 'Transmission Meditation' using an open metal-poled tetrahedron in order to tune into the cosmic energy of Maitreya and other spiritual masters.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_power

 

Pseudoarchaeology

Lewis Spence in his An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920) summed up on the earliest of pseudoarcheological claims on the ancient Egyptian pyramids as follows:

 

"...in the 1880s, Ignatius Donnelly had suggested that the Great Pyramid had been built by the descendants of the Atlanteans. That idea was picked up in the 1920s by Manly Palmer Hall who went on to suggest that they were the focus of the ancient Egyptian wisdom schools. Edgar Cayce built upon Hall's speculations."

 

Ignatius Donnelly and later proponents of the hyperdiffusionist view of history claimed that all pyramid structures across the world had a common origin. Donelly claimed this common origin was in Atlantis. While Grafton Elliot Smith claimed Egypt, writing: "Small groups of people, moving mainly by sea, settled at certain places and there made rude imitations of the Egyptian monuments of the Pyramid Age."

 

Ancient astronauts

 

Several proponents of ancient astronauts claim that the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed by extraterrestrial beings, or influenced by them (e.g., through their advanced technology). Proponents include Erich von Däniken, Robert Charroux, W. Raymond Drake, and Zecharia Sitchin. According to Erich Von Däniken, the Great Pyramid has advanced numerological properties which could not have been known to the ancient Egyptians and so must have been passed down by extraterrestrials: "...the height of the pyramid of Cheops, multiplied by a thousand million—98,000,000 miles—corresponds approximately to the distance between the Earth and the sun".

Orion correlation theory

Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock (1996) have both suggested that the 'ground plan' of the three main Egyptian pyramids was physically established in c. 10,500 BC, but that the pyramids were built around 2,500 BC. This theory was based on their initial claims regarding the alignment of the Giza pyramids with Orion ("…the three pyramids were a terrestrial map of the three stars of Orion's belt"— Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods, 1995, p. 375) are later joined with speculation about the age of the Great Sphinx (Hancock and Bauval, Keeper of Genesis, published 1996, and in 1997 in the U.S. as The Message of the Sphinx).

Advanced technology

Linked to the pseudoarchaeological ancient astronaut theory and Orion correlation theory are related claims that the Great Pyramid was constructed by the use of an advanced lost technology. Proponents of this theory often link this hypothetical advanced technology to extraterrestrials but also Atlanteans, Lemurians or a legendary lost race.Notable proponents include Christopher Dunn and David Hatcher Childress. Graham Hancock also in his book Fingerprints of the Gods assigned the 'ground plan' of the three main Egyptian pyramids, in his theory to an advanced progenitor civilization which possessed advanced technology.

Alan F. Alford

Author Alan F. Alford interprets the entire Great Pyramid in the context of ancient Egyptian religion. Alford takes as his starting point the golden rule that the pharaoh had to be buried in the earth, i.e. at ground level or below, and this leads him to conclude that Khufu was interred in an ingeniously concealed cave whose entrance is today sealed up in the so-called Well Shaft adjacent to a known cave called the Grotto. He has lobbied the Egyptian authorities to explore this area of the pyramid with ground penetrating radar.

 

The cult of creation theory also provided the basis for Alford's next idea: that the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber - commonly supposed to be Khufu's final resting place - actually enshrined iron meteorites.He maintains, by reference to the Pyramid Texts, that this iron was blasted into the sky at the time of creation, according to the Egyptians' geocentric way of thinking. Alford says the King's Chamber, with its upward inclined dual 'airshafts', was built to capture the magic of this mythical moment.

 

Alford's most speculative idea is that the King's Chamber generated low frequency sound via its 'airshafts', the purpose being to re-enact the sound of the earth splitting open at the time of creation

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramidology

1619 Broadway, Theater District, Manhattan

 

Since its construction in 1930-31, the 11-story Brill Building has been synonymous with American music – from the last days of Tin Pan Alley to the emergence of rock and roll. Occupying the northwest corner of Broadway and West 49th Street, it was commissioned by real estate developer Abraham Lefcourt who briefly planned to erect the world’s tallest structure on the site, which was leased from the Brill Brothers, owners of a men’s clothing store. When Lefcourt failed to meet the terms of their agreement, the Brills foreclosed on the property and the name of the nearly-complete structure was changed from the Alan E. Lefcourt Building to the, arguably more melodious sounding, Brill Building. Designed in the Art Deco style by architect Victor A. Bark, Jr., the white brick elevations feature handsome terra-cotta reliefs, as well as two niches that prominently display stone and brass portrait busts that most likely portray the developer’s son, Alan, who died as the building was being planned. A remarkable number of tenants have been music publishers, but the building is also notable for attracting an evolving roster of songwriters, booking agents, vocal coaches, publicity agents, talent agents, and performers. As the popularity of big band music and jazz increased, many performers leased offices in the building, including Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, and Nat King Cole. By the early 1960s, more than 160 tenants were involved in the music industry. While not every artist associated with the so-called “Brill Building sound” actually worked at 1619 Broadway, these creative men and women produced some of early rock and roll’s most beautifully-crafted and memorable songs. Also contributing to the building’s reputation have been various commercial tenants, including such fashionable restaurants as Jack Dempsey’s and the Turf, and a succession of vast second floor nightclubs, including the Hurricane, Club Zanzibar and Bop City, where jazz briefly gained a prominent midtown venue and a wider audience in the 1940s.

 

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

 

Few office buildings in New York City are as closely associated with a single profession as the Brill Building. Built on speculation at the start of the Great Depression, during 1930-31, for the next half-century this 11-story Art Deco-style structure was synonymous with popular music and entertainment. A succession of tenants, including music publishers, talent agents, songwriters, and nightclubs, have contributed to the building’s legendary status. Not only were more than 160 music-related businesses based here by the early 1960s but music historian Ian Inglis has written that these talented artists brought “a new professionalism and maturity to rock and roll,” leading to the increased presence of women as performers and producers, as well as the development of the “singer-songwriter” – artists who compose and record their own material.

 

And Ken Emerson, author of Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era, observed: “The music publishers and songwriters who worked there routinized the creation and production of rock ‘n’ roll. They smoothed the rough edges . . . Reigning in the unruliness of rock ‘n’ roll made it safe for teenage America and profitable in the mass marketplace.”3 During this period, the Brill Building became the unofficial center of pop music in the United States. While not all of the artists and companies associated with the so-called “Brill Building sound” actually leased space here, such myths demonstrate the structure’s longstanding importance, from its early ties to Tin Pan Alley and the Big Band era to the present day.

 

The Site

 

The Brill Building occupies the northwest corner of Broadway and West 49th Street. It was named for the Brill Brothers – Samuel, Max and Maurice – who operated a Manhattan chain of men’s clothing stores for more than five decades. Founded by Samuel and Maurice Brill in late 1886, their first store was located in lower Manhattan at 45 Cortlandt Street, near Church Street. The Brills began leasing the Broadway site in 1909 and a branch opened here in October 1910. The New York Times reported:

 

The steady growth of Times Square and the adjoining streets as the business centre of Manhattan is proved this morning by the opening of a new clothing store . . . it covers half the block on the Broadway side and 75 feet in Forty-ninth Street.

 

The site was originally owned by Archibald D. and Albertina Russell, who conveyed it to the financiers Moses Taylor and Percy R. Pyne (1857-1929) in 1919. The Ruspyn Corporation was established following Pyne’s death and the lease with the Brill Brothers was extended 85 years. This set the stage for a sublease to the 1619 Realty Corporation, which agreed to erect a building of at least six stories, valued at more than $400,000. In addition, the contract stipulated that any plans be approved by the Brills.

 

Plan and Construction

 

On October 3, 1929, three weeks before the stock market crash, Lefcourt announced plans to build the world’s tallest structure at the northwest corner of Broadway and 49th Street. Representing an investment of $30 million, the Chicago Tribune reported:

 

An arrangement already settled between the builder and his client, said to be one of

the largest business institutions in the country, is that the building shall not be less

than the height announced.

 

Not only would the 1,050-foot tower be much taller than the 538-foot Lefcourt-Colonial Building – the firm’s tallest project to date – but it would also have surpassed two of the city’s loftiest structures: the 1,046-foot Chrysler Building (completed May 1930, a designated New York City Landmark) and the 927-foot Manhattan Company Building (a designated New York City Landmark). In the weeks that followed, Lefcourt may have become uneasy about such ambitious plans. Though he remained publicly optimistic about the real estate market, a December 1929 article made no mention of the Brill Building’s height.16 This suggests that he had difficulty financing the tower or that the original height was being reconsidered, and subsequently, reduced.

 

Despite a tough economic climate, the project eased forward. Lefcourt and the 1619 Realty Company finalized the purchase of the lease from the Brill Brothers in January 1930 and in March 1930 plans (NB 46-1930) for a much lower structure were submitted to the Department of Buildings. The New York Times commented: “No definite statement could be obtained yesterday regarding the reason for changing the plans.”17 Bark was identified as the architect and the owner was the Ruspyn Corporation, with Percy P. Pyne as president. It was described as ten stories tall, with a penthouse, stores, bank and offices. The estimated cost was modest, $1 million. Initially called the Alan E. Lefcourt Building, construction began in May 1930 and the exterior work was completed in late November 1930.

 

Design

 

The Brill Building is a handsome example of the Art Deco style.

 

Especially popular with New York City real estate developers from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, it grew out of Beaux Arts classicism and included decorative elements associated with structures erected at the Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs & Industriels of 1925, as well as other European styles. Prior to this period, American architects tended to find inspiration in historical forms, borrowing ideas not only from classical sources, but also from medieval and Byzantine models, as illustrated in such designated New York City Landmarks as: the New York Times Building (various architects, begun 1912) on West 43rd Street, the American Radiator Building (Raymond Hood, 1923-24) on West 41st Street, and the Bowery Savings Bank (York & Sawyer, begun 1921-23) on East 42nd Street. In contrast to subsequent architectural trends, particularly following the Second World War, Art Deco buildings are frequently distinguished by low decorative reliefs, vivid colors, and unusual materials.

 

Times Square has relatively few buildings of this style. This can be explained by the fact that most theaters were completed before 1925 when variants of neo-Classicism were at the height of popularity. With few sites open to development, only a small group of neighborhood structures would reflect the new fashion; surviving examples include: the Manufacturer’s Trust Bank (Dennison & Hirons, 1927-28, now a theater and stores) at the northwest corner of Eighth Avenue and 43rd Street; the Film Center Building (Ely Jacques Kahn, 1928-29, a designated Landmark Interior) at 630 Ninth Avenue; the Edison Hotel (Herbert J. Krapp, 1930-31) on West 47th Street; and the McGraw-Hill Building (Raymond Hood, 1930-31, a designated New York City Landmark), at 330 West 42nd Street.

 

In designing the Brill Building, Bark divided the Broadway and 49th Street facades into three distinct sections: a three-story base, a seven-story shaft, and penthouse. These elevations are faced with mainly white brick but the base, the central window bays, and the top story incorporate light-colored terra-cotta reliefs. This cast material was favored by early 20th-century architects as a less costly but attractive substitute for carved ornament. While some architects used it extensively, covering entire facades, as in the Woolworth Building (Cass Gilbert, 1910­13, a designated New York City Landmark), in most instances it was used selectively to enhance specific architectural features and to enrich setbacks on the upper floors. Though the source of this building’s terra cotta has yet to be identified, it may have been produced by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company (active 1907-43), which supplied similar decorative reliefs to several contemporary buildings in Times Square.

 

This Brill Building has mostly conventional, one-over-one fenestration, but the three-story base is almost entirely glazed with a distinctive combination of gridded and fixed window panes.

 

The main entrance was positioned at the center of the Broadway facade, opening to a small foyer and a deep hallway that leads to an elevator lobby along the west side of the building. Though the width of the entrance is relatively narrow, Bark used eye-catching materials to highlight it. Three gleaming brass-finished doors are flanked by polished black granite piers, topped with brass cruciform details that extend up and slightly cover the base of the second-story windows. The elaborate door surround features a grid of windows that resembles a ziggurat. These windows illuminate the foyer and provide visual support for the niche that contains a bust. Set on a pedestal, flanked by elaborate scrollwork and ascending panels incorporating slim vertical reliefs, the brass sculpture sits in an elaborate faceted niche, crowned by a keystone. The John Hartell Company is likely to have been responsible for executing these dazzling features since it recently had collaborated with Bark on the Lefcourt-Colonial Building.

 

At the corner of each facade, above the storefronts, the outermost window bays are flanked by double-height pilasters. These flat, brown pilasters are crowned by square reliefs that suggest capitals, a device frequently used by contemporary architects. Between the second and third floors is a continuous band of polychrome (bluish gray and pink) terra-cotta reliefs. Aligned with each set of metal-framed windows, these panels are divided into three sections. The distinctive treatment of these floors suggests that the interior spaces were designed for a specific purpose. Not only would these decorative elements attract attention to the lower floors but the continuous fenestration permitted generous views south toward the heart of Times Square.

 

To gently lead the eye up both elevations, Bark used recessed terra-cotta panels above the three center window bays. These white panels contain foliate reliefs, crowned by a wave-like horizontal band that functions as a window sill. To cap the uppermost windows, a narrower panel was used. Less tall than the rest, it has clipped corners that when viewed together with the brick pilasters suggest curtains being pulled open. At this level, the architect also added six raised terra-cotta circles above the three side window bays. The 11th floor penthouse, recessed from 49th Street and disguised by a stepped gable, incorporates a large masonry or terra-cotta bust set into a niche, flanked by round arched windows. This massing is decorative – not only does it hide the penthouse but this feature recalls the developer’s original intent to construct a much taller structure since taller buildings were generally required to have setbacks.

 

Roof-top signs also contribute to the Brill Building’s character and its historic role in Times Square. Since as early as 1934, it has served as a platform for a steel framework that supports colorful illuminated signs. Long-term advertisers have included Camel cigarettes (1934) and Budweiser beer (c. 1958). Set atop the penthouse, at an angle to Broadway, these multi-story billboards face south and enjoy great visibility.

 

The Portrait Busts

 

Above the Broadway entrance, incorporated into the brass window surround, is a small niche displaying a bust. This sculpture, as well as the slightly larger masonry (possibly terra cotta) bust installed at the penthouse level, has frequently been interpreted as a portrait of Alan E. Lefcourt, for whom the building was originally named and who died two months before the architect filed plans with the Department of Buildings. In both busts, the subject is portrayed as dressed in a three-piece suit and tie. Whereas the head in the 11th-floor niche faces directly forward, the brass bust is turned slightly to the left.

 

Figurative sculptures, set into niches and roundels, were an important part of the ecclesiastical tradition in Europe, used on church facades to represent saints and occasionally religious patrons. In the late 19th century, terra-cotta sculptures of historical figures were sometimes used to decorate the exteriors of institutional structures, such as the six large portrait heads on the Brooklyn Historical Society (1878-81, part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District) by Olin Levi Warner, and a series of portrait busts portraying figures from antiquity and physicians on the Deutsches (German) Dispensary (1883-84, a designated New York City Landmark), 137 Second Avenue, Manhattan.

 

In terms of commercial structures, the print dealer Frederick Keppel embellished the facade of 4 East 39th Street (George B. Post, 1904) with the “first permanent memorial” to the painter James McNeil Whistler,19 as well as a portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn, and above the entrance to the Gainsborough Studios (1907-8, a designated New York City Landmark), 222 Central Park South, is a bust of the 18th-century English portrait and landscape painter. In Times Square, at least two buildings display portraits connected to the performing arts: the elaborate north entrance to the Lyric Theater (Victor Hugo Koehler, 1903, now the Hilton Theater), 214 West 43rd Street, includes portraits of the light opera composer Reginald De Koven, for whom it was built, as well as Gilbert & Sullivan, and the south facade of the I. Miller Shoe Store (1926, a designated New York City Landmark) contains three full-length portraits, set into gilt niches.

 

Chosen by popular vote, these sculptures represent leading actresses in their most famous theatrical roles.

 

The busts on the Brill Building are especially unusual because of their personal nature. When former New York governor Samuel Tilden built his house on Gramercy Park (Vaux & Radford, 1881-84, a designated New York City Landmark), he decorated the lower facade with small brownstone portraits of his favorite authors. While caricatures of individuals are sometimes incorporated as building details, such as the architect, owner, and engineer flanking the elevators in the Woolworth Building, the central and conspicuous placement of the two busts on the Brill Building is notable. Born in 1912, Alan E. Lefcourt gained some notoriety at the age of twelve when his father, Abraham, gave him ownership of a $10 million office building, to be erected at the southwest corner of Madison Avenue and 34th Street. Abraham reportedly said that he wished to “inculcate in his son . . . a sense of thrift and responsibility.”

 

Alan, however, was unable to enjoy the financial returns anticipated by his father – a victim of anemia, he died in February 1930.

 

The only known contemporary account that mentions the brass bust appeared in November 1932, as part of Abraham Lefcourt’s New York Times obituary: “Alan died, he put up an eight-story building with his son’s bust over the entrance.”21 In 1990, David Dunlap speculated that the penthouse niche displays the “bust of the developer, Abraham E. Lefcourt.” More recently, in 1999, New York Times reporter Daniel B. Schneider wrote: “The subject of the two busts is uncertain . . . Evidence suggests that the one on the 11th floor is Abraham E. Lefcourt, the building’s developer, and that the other, is his son.”22 Such interpretations may be based on the fact that both died early, well before average age. While it seems likely that the brass portrait is, in fact, a memorial bust, the other bust was installed by September 1930 – more than two years before Abraham’s untimely death, suggesting that it, too, represents the son, or, perhaps, an idealized male tenant.

 

Music Tenants

 

A rental office opened in September 1930. With “new automatic-stop, high-speed elevators” and plans for a ground floor shopping lobby, early leases were reportedly signed with “public utility companies, law firms, certified public accountants and other professional interests.”23 Despite confident accounts in the press, a great many units remained vacant. Contemporary telephone directories list relatively few tenants and a 1934 photograph shows a two-story-high banner advertising “OFFICES” across windows along the east edge of the 49th Street facade. Furthermore, many windows were without shades or blinds, suggesting that considerable space remained available.24

 

The Brill Building was planned as “executive office space” with floors that could be subdivided.25 When this initial strategy failed, smaller spaces were created and leased – the kinds of offices that appeal to wide variety of businesses. It was under these circumstances that the popular music industry found a new base in New York City, from the last years of Tin Pan Alley to the dawn of rock and roll. Phone directories indicate there were approximately 100 entertainment-related tenants in 1940, and as many as 165 by 1962. These included an evolving roster of songwriters, music publishers, booking agents, vocal coaches, publicity agents, talent managers, and performers.

 

Early tenants tended to be music publishers, some with ties to Tin Pan Alley. They included the T. B. Harms Company,26 one of the earliest American firms to profit from the sale of sheet music to musical stage shows; Mills Music Inc.,27 headed by Jack and Irving Mills (aka Joe Primrose), a major independent publisher of sheet music and jazz recordings; Famous Music, established in 1928 by Famous-Lasky Pictures (later Paramount Pictures) to produce and publish songs from film musicals; Southern Music Company, founded by music scout and engineer Ralph S. Peer in 1928; Crawford Music Corporation (B. G. De Sylva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson); and lyricist/composer Irving Caesar, one of the building’s longest tenants, who wrote more than 700 songs and continued to lease space until the 1970s.

 

According to the Times Square Alliance, of more than 1200 songs performed on the popular radio and television program Your Hit Parade (1935-58), 404 songs, about a third, originated with Brill Building tenants.29 Other 1930s tenants included numerous attorneys; Hyman Caplan, a boxing promoter; theater producer George Choos; as well as the management offices of the Ben Bernie, Earl J. Carpenter, and George Olsen orchestras.30

 

As the popularity of jazz and big bands grew in the late 1930s, many popular groups, some with ties to music publishers in the building, leased offices in the Brill Building, including Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey (aka the Embassy Music Corporation, 11th story penthouse), and Duke Ellington. Ben Barton, a former vaudevillian, founded the Barton Music Corporation in 1943. A close friend of Frank Sinatra, who performed with Dorsey’s orchestra in the early 1940s, Barton’s firm published and controlled much of the singer’s best-known compositions, as did a related tenant, Sinatra Songs, until the mid-1960s.31 Vocalists Nat King Cole and Louis Prima had offices here in the 1950s, as did the influential radio disk jockey Alan Freed, Roost (later Roulette) Records, the music publishing companies Charles K. Harris and Harry von Tilzer, and the celebrated songwriting team of (Johnny) Burke & (Jimmy) Van Heusen.

 

The heyday of the Brill Building was during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Not only were there more music-related tenants here than at any other time, but these tenants helped make rock and roll music part of the American mainstream. Music historian Ian Inglis wrote: “it is one of the few buildings whose name many readily evoke a particular period or circumstance – along with, for example, the Cavern, Graceland, Studio 54, and Harlem’s Apollo Theater” (1913-14, a designated New York City Landmark and Interior). Though not every artist, songwriter, and producer associated with the building, particularly Aldon Music, actually leased offices here, a remarkable number did. In his 2003 essay on the building’s legacy, Inglis summarized:

 

Stylistically, its innovations can be credited with much of the responsibility for the increased presence of women as performers and producers of popular music, and for the development of the singer-songwriter. Industrially, its working practices and policies informed many of the changing emphases – and responses to them – characterizing the organization and implementation of the commercial operations of popular music. Creatively, it has been seen as a major source of inspiration for performers and musicians within a variety of popular music genres.34

 

One of the most significant tenants during this period was Hill & Range Songs, founded by Jean and Julien Aberbach in 1948. Located in the 11th-story penthouse, this publishing company had numerous subsidiaries, including Big Top, Rumbalero and Gladys Music. Among the talented songwriters on their staff were (Jerry) Leiber & (Mike) Stoller, who wrote numerous hit songs for Elvis Presley and other artists, as well as the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman – all members of the Rock and Roll and Songwriters Hall of Fame.35 Red Bird Records, specializing in “girl groups,” was founded by Leiber & Stoller and was based on the ninth floor during the mid-1960s. Other memorable songwriting tenants included the team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who were associated with Red Bird and other recording labels.

 

Composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David met at Famous Music in 1957 and together would write more than one hundred songs for films and Broadway productions, as well as the singers Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, and Tom Jones. David recalled:

 

The preponderance of songwriters were in the Brill Building, the energy was in the Brill Building, the publishers were there, and if you had to be someplace else, you always wound up back at the Brill sometime during the day.

 

[he and Bacharach] started out in New York and met almost every day in the Brill building for about 17 years . . . It was still filled with music publishers when we were there. We wrote in the same little room with an upright piano. Eventually, we moved back and forth between New York and Los Angeles.39

 

Starting the late 1960s and 1970s, the number of tenants in the entertainment industry began to decline – many moved to Los Angeles – with only a fraction remaining today.40 They include: Charing Cross Music, Paul Simon Music; Sound One, an audio post-production facility; KMA Music, a recording studio; Saint Nicholas Music, founded by songwriter Johnny Marks in 1949 and specializing in popular holiday songs; and Broadway Video, an entertainment company and film distributor founded in 1979 by television/film producer Lorne Michaels.

 

Commercial Tenants

 

The base was planned for retail use, with street level shops and related tenants on the second and third floors. One of the first businesses to sign a lease was Joseph Hilton & Sons, a chain of men’s clothing stores. To be located at the corner of 49th Street, the New York Times reported: “This lease, one of the largest that has been closed for many months in the Times Square district” was valued at almost $1 million.41

 

Hilton & Sons, however, never moved into the building and this space became part of a much larger store operated by Brill Brothers, the property’s lessee. Their clothing store opened in August 1932, with ample display windows, shaded by retractable awnings, extending along both Broadway and 49th Street. On opening day, an advertisement boasted that it was:

 

Distinctively a “man’s store” . . . a shopping place all his own . . . in all New York there are few men’s stores so fine . . . so modern . . . so satisfying. Men who know you, and know what you want will make you feel “at home” as soon as you enter. May we have the pleasure of showing you around? 42

 

During the 1930s, the company had as many as four branches, with stores at 49 Cortlandt Street, Seventh Avenue and 35th Street, and 41st Street, near Madison Avenue. Max D. Brill (1866­1938) retired in 1930 and Samuel Brill (b. 1859) died in 1931, leaving Maurice Brill (1869­1951) as head of the business. Brill Brothers closed in spring 1940 and the corner space was leased to the Turf Restaurant.43

 

Because of the proximity to Times Square and the second location of Madison Square Garden (Eighth Avenue and 50th Street, demolished), many of the new tenants were involved in the entertainment industry. Though the ground floor was planned for stores, the earliest tenant to open was actually a pair of movie theaters operated by the Trans-Lux Movies Corporation. Located to the right of the Broadway entrance, the New York Times said it was:

 

Constructed in modern style, with a silver and black design, the two houses have

turnstiles instead of doormen, daylight projection, and other innovations.

 

The Trans-Lux opened in May 1931, with one screen devoted to short features and the other to sound newsreels. To celebrate the opening, U.S. President Herbert Hoover wired Courtland Smith, the sponsor:

I extend congratulations on the opening of your New York theatres. The showing of new pictures throughout the country cannot but be educational and instructive. The bringing of world events into the lives of great numbers of our people will serve to promote better understanding and closer world relations.45

 

In late 1937 the theaters closed and the space was leased to Jack Dempsey.46 It was one of several businesses owned by the famed prize fighter, who held the world’s heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. With a streamlined storefront and interior, napkins described the “Broadway Bar and Cocktail Lounge” as “The Meeting Place of the World.”47 Dempsey remained a prominent celebrity and the restaurant attracted both fans and musicians. It stayed at this location until 1974, when it closed following a dispute with the building’s new owner. At this time, the New York Times described it as “one of the last survivors of the Damon Runyon era of Broadway.”48

 

In 1940, the large corner space became the Turf Restaurant, operated by Jack Joseph Amiel and Arnold Ruben. One location in a small chain, it gained particular notoriety in 1951 when Amiel’s horse, Count Turf, won the Kentucky Derby. The restaurant specialized in lobster and steak (often called Surf and Turf), as well as cheesecake. Amiel, who later became a part owner of Jack Dempsey’s, sold his interest in 1957 and the Turf closed in 1963. Popular with songwriters and musicians, Duke Ellington was a frequent customer at the Turf and aspiring actor Sidney Poitier worked as a dishwasher – his first job in New York City – during 1943.

 

Since about 1974 the corner storefront has been leased to Colony Records, also known as the Colony Record Center. Founded by Harold S. (Nappy) Grossbardt and Sidney Turk by 1948, the store was formerly located at Broadway and 52nd Street, where it developed a reputation as a gathering place for musicians. In recent decades, Colony has specialized in vintage records, sheet music, karaoke software, and souvenirs devoted to the theater district.

 

Nightclubs

 

The vast second floor was initially leased to the Paradise, a popular cabaret. Reached by stairs, located directly left of the Broadway entrance, it covered approximately 15,000 square feet and held as many as a thousand people. Planned by the celebrated architect and interior designer Joseph Urban, the cost of construction was estimated at $500,000.49 Large signs, obscuring the second-floor windows and projecting at an angle over the corner, claimed it was “America’s foremost restaurant” with the “world’s most beautiful girls.” Floorshows, sometimes called “Paradise Parades,” were accompanied by such well-known performers as the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and Glenn Miller.50

 

During the 1940s, this space housed a succession of clubs associated with the growing popularity of jazz. Some Harlem nightspots opened midtown locations, offering big band music and later bebop. The Paradise closed in late 1939 or 1940 and became the Hurricane, with “palm trees, tropical flora and fauna” evoking the Pacific Ocean island of Tahiti.51 Operated briefly by lawyer David J. Wolper, who reportedly received ownership as part of a 1942 financial settlement with a gangster, it had a troubled existence, marred by suspicious fires and “stench bombs.”52 Duke Ellington headlined at the Hurricane during 1943 and 1944 and some of these performances were aired nationally on the Mutual and Columbia Broadcasting Systems.

 

Club (Café) Zanzibar occupied the second floor from approximately 1944 to 1948. Ellington frequently performed here, as well, as did the Nat King Cole Trio, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, the Ink Spots, and Louis Jordan.53 In 1949 it became Bop City, managed by Ralph Watkins, formerly of the Royal Roost, a legendary jazz venue. He told the United Press that his staff would dress in “bop fashion,” wearing berets and polka-dot ties and that “some will sport goatees, which are popular among bop players.”54 It debuted with Artie Shaw and Ella Fitzgerald on April 14, 1949; subsequent headliners included Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, and Sarah Vaughan. The club also maintained an enlightened policy of hiring “mixed waiters,” meaning waiters of different races.55 Despite presenting celebrated performers, Bop City struggled to find a consistent audience and closed in 1950 or 1951. In subsequent years, it functioned as the Avalon Ballroom, closing around 1966.

 

Later History

 

The Ruspyn Corporation sold the building to the Inch Corporation, later known as Breecom, in 1966.56 Allan Rose’s AVR Realty Company sold it to Murray Hill Properties and Westbrook Partners in 2007, who sold the property to Stonehenge Partners, Inc. (with INVESCO Real Estate of Dallas, Texas) in November 2007.

 

The Brill Building has been featured in a handful of feature films, including The House on 92nd Street (1945) and the Sweet Smell of Success (1957), in which the gilt lobby appears, as well as in several Woody Allen productions: Broadway Danny Rose (1984), Hollywood Ending (2002), and Anything Else (2003).57

 

Description

 

The 11-story Brill Building, 1619 Broadway, is located at the northwest corner of Broadway and West 49th Street. On Broadway, the facade is divided into three sections: a three-story base, a seven-story shaft, and a single-story penthouse. The main entrance is located at the center of the ground story. Flanked by polished black granite piers, capped with elaborate brass metal work, the entrance features three brass doors with glass panels and handles on the left, surmounted by a sign for the building in capital letters set against a black background, gridded glass windows configured like a ziggurat, and a richly-decorated niche for the bust of the developer’s son set on a pedestal. The stores, located on either side of the Broadway entrance, have non-historic display windows and non-historic illuminated signage. The south storefront has a corner entrance, opening onto both Broadway and 49th Street. Established by 1964, this angled configuration incorporates cast-concrete piers.

 

The second and third stories have large windows flanked by pairs of masonry piers at either end. Each pier, as well as the simple cornice that extends above the third-story windows is tinted brown, suggesting the use of a non-historic coating. The second floor windows are slightly taller than the third story. Between the floors are pink, yellow, and blue terra-cotta reliefs. Each window bay is divided into three sections. The wide center section contains a single fixed panel above a multi-pane sash. The vertical side windows are arranged in six-over-six or nine-over­nine grids. The northernmost window on the second floor has been replaced by a non-historic, tripartite ventilation grille, with horizontal metal louvers. On the third floor, the third window bay from the corner of 49th Street has been altered by the replacement of the center fixed-panel and-sash with horizontal metal louvers.

 

The fourth through the eleventh floors are faced with white brick. There are nine pairs of one-over-one windows across each floor, flanked by continuous piers. The three pairs of windows at the center of the facade are crowned by white foliate terra-cotta reliefs that incorporate a sill on top. Above the tenth floor, these terra-cotta reliefs have no sill and feature concave corners. In contrast, the three pairs of side windows display no ornamentation other than small circular reliefs above the tenth story. The top of the stepped penthouse level is trimmed with thin bands of terra-cotta relief. At center is an elaborate faceted niche, trimmed with terra cotta, that displays a possibly limestone bust on a projecting pedestal. To either side are small arched windows, with stone or terra-cotta sills.

 

The West 49th Street facade faces south. The base and upper floors are similar to the Broadway facade, with identical white brick and terra-cotta embellishments. The west end of the ground story, which incorporates a secondary entrance and loading area, is non-historic. Above the tenth story are small circular reliefs, as well as a raised parapet at center. Near or at the west end of the 2nd, 5th, and 8th floors, the windows have been replaced with metal ventilation grilles.

 

The south end of the west (rear) facade is visible from 49th Street. Here, due to the curved east corner of the tan brick Ambassador Theater (1919-21), two rows of windows can be seen, as well as a blank brick wall that steps up toward the center of the building, and a single metal pipe on the roof. Two windows on the eighth floor contain ventilation grilles.

 

The north facade is simply treated and partly visible from Broadway and 50th Street, where the upper floors can be seen above the adjoining building, as well as part of the west (rear) facade, including an engaged structure with a single window, possibly containing stairs. To the south, at the rear of the 11th story penthouse, are two additional floors. The east and north-facing facades contain simple windows with industrial sash. The rest of the north facade (fifth to tenth floor) incorporates four sets of windows; the outer sets are grouped in pairs, the inner two sets, in groups of three. At the center of this facade is a projecting rectangular chimney shaft. Between the west pair of windows, a single metal pipe extends the full height of the façade. Most are three-over-three industrial sash, except where projecting metal ventilation ducts have been installed. On the lower floors, beside the roof of the adjoining building, the windows have vertical security bars.

 

Air conditioning units have been installed in a small number of windows, as well as some horizontal ventilation grilles. Two electric lights are attached to the center of the facade, below the seventh floor, directed down onto the adjoining roof. On the roof, set at a slight angle to Broadway, is a metal framework that displays two illuminated non-historic signs facing north and south.

 

- From the 2010 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Charleston est. 1670, pop. 127,999 (2013)

 

• 2-story stuccoed double tenement w/central archway to rear courtyard [c. 1977 photo] • constructed on speculation by Christ Church Parish planter William Hendrick (c. 1700-1749) • in his 1749 will he directed his executors to complete the construction of these bldgs. • ground floor had two shops accessible from the side street • archive photos -Carolina Antique Maps & Prints

 

• paved courtyard & original 1 ½-story double kitchen bldg. (visible through archway) remodeled in 1936 for use as a winter residence by Irish immigrant Emily P. Brown & her husband, Philadelphia attorney Reynolds D. Brown (1869-1956) • furnishings included a chair used at the 1787 Constitutional Convention • the converted kitchen bldg. inspired other Charlestonians to renovate former dependencies into residences - Historic Charleston Foundation

 

• by the 1920s, this was a crowded, impoverished Gullah neighborhood, its residents the families of freed slaves • because vegetables were grown in the courtyard & sold from street-facing sills & steps, this bldg. & nearby 89-91 Church St. became known as Cabbage Row, described as "Probably the vilest human habitations in a civilized land." -W.E.B. Du Bois, 1908

 

• just a block away was the home of author DuBose Heyward (1885-1940), descendant of Thomas Heyward, Jr., a wealthy planter, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence & one-time owner of an historic townhouse adjacent to this tenement [photo]

 

• the author's mother, published poet Jane Screven DuBose Heyward (1864-1939), loved Gullah music & stories, which informed much of her work, e.g., "De Happy Lan"

 

Little Sonny, Little Gal

Trabblin down de road

War is you two gwin

Wid such a funny load?

We two is bound for Happy Land,

Kin tell we war it lies?

We darsn't leabe de goose behin

Cos Sah, she allus cries.

De Happy Lan is "Long Ago"

To dose who now am old.

So tun aroun, an trabble home

Befo de night gets cold.

 

"Once the Heywards were among the richest planters of South Carolina . . . It was good fortune for literature and for young Dubose Heyward that the family joined the ranks of the newly poor after the War Between the States," said the New York Times, which also hailed him as the chronicler of the "strange, various, primitive and passionate world" of the Negro -"Goat Cart Sam a.k.a. Porgy: Dubose Heyward's Icon of Southern 'Innocence'", Kendra Hamilton

 

• Heyward's 1925 novel, Porgy, set at the other Cabbage Row tenement, moved the building to the waterfront (possibly the location of today's Rainbow Row) & renamed it "Catfish Row" • the protagonist is Goat Cart Sam, based on crippled Charleston street vendor Samuel Smalls • "World Knew him as Porgy — He died a Beggar", Tuscaloosa News, 1989 • "The Man Who Breathed Life Into 'Porgy and Bess'" -New York Times, 03/2000

 

• while writing "Porgy," Heyward described Cabbage Row as a "tradition that caused old families to care for their Negroes, to seek them out in Catfish Row when needed and to put in good words for them with the judges or officers when they were arrested."

 

• following up on the novel's success, DuBose & his wife, playwright Dorothy Heyward (1890-1961), wrote the non-musical play "Porgy," which opened on Broadway in 1927 • in 1934 Heyward & composer George Gershwin collaborated on the opera Porgy & Bess, first performed in NYC, 1935, with a cast of classically trained African-American singers • Gershwin's "Catfish Row Suite" premiered in Philadelphia, 1936 • the 1959 Porgy & Bess movie was directed by Otto Preminger • "Porgy & Bess at 80" -Wilson Quarterly

 

DuBose Heyward Epitaph, by DuBose Heyward

 

Here lies a spendthrift who believed

That only those who spend may keep;

Who scattered seeds, yet never grieved

Because a stranger came to reap;

 

A failure who might well have risen;

Yet, ragged, sang exultantly

That all success is but a prison,

And only those who fail are free;

 

Who took what little Earth had given,

And watched it blaze, and watched it die;

Who could not see a distant Heaven

Because of dazzling nearer sky;

 

Who never flinched till Earth had taken

The most of him back home again,

And the last silences were shaken

With songs too lovely for his pen.

 

HABS SC-454 • Charleston Historic District, National Register # 66000964, 1969 • declared National Historic Landmark District, 1973

Reconstruction of the Small Herculaneum Woman, 2019, marble stucco on plaster cast, egg tempera, and gold foil 185 x 56 x 65 cm, created by Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann (Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung Frankfurt, on permanent loan from Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main)

Learn more at Smarthistory

Marble stele (grave marker) of a youth and a little girl, c. 530 B.C.E., marble, 423.4 cm high (The Met)

Learn more at Smarthistory

Strathalbyn.

A Special Survey of 4,000 acres was taken out along the Angas River in 1839 for George Hall (secretary to Governor Gawler) and William Mein and others. Land was surveyed from the mouth of the Angas along the river to about where Macclesfield is now situated. Other contributors to the Mouth of the Angas Special Survey were Strathalbyn settlers including: 806 acres purchased by Dr John Rankine, Blackwood Park; 166 acres purchased by William Rankine, Glenbarr; 410 acres purchased by Donald McLean; 81 acres purchased by Edward and Charles Stirling of Hampton and later the Lodge. William and Nicol Mein kept 728 acres for themselves but George Hall (who kept about 930 acres) was a Colonial Office employee with an eye on speculation. He also paid £4,000 for the Great Bend Special Survey along the River Murray from Morgan to Blanchetown but it was claimed this was taken for Governor Gawler but in Hall’s name to avoid scandal! But the land was not worth £1 per acre! The Meins were graziers and also took out Occupational Licenses for leasehold land in 1843. They were Scots so they donated £600 for the building fund for the Presbyterian Church in Adelaide in 1840. But in 1843 they dissolved a business partnership in Adelaide and they appear to have left the colony perhaps to join their relatives in NSW. Meins did not stay on to become Strathalbyn pioneers unlike the Rankines, McLeans and Stirlings. The other prominent early founder was William Dawson- hence the creek flowing in front of Glen Barr is the Dawson Creek which enters the Angas River in Strathalbyn. Dawson Banks is another of the grand old properties in Strathalbyn.

 

Stirlings chose their land to the north of the town and built Hampden and the Lodge; John Rankine chose his land to the north of the town and built Blackwood Park whilst brother William Rankine chose land to the south on Dawson Creek and built Glenbarr house. The first public building in the fledgling town of Strathalbyn was the Strathalbyn Hotel erected in 1840 and the second was probably St. Andrews Presbyterian Church which opened in 1844 with additions in 1869. As most of the settlers were Scottish the name chosen for the town was Scottish and the first church was Presbyterian. The first farmer to produce a crop was David Gollan. His interest in wheat led him to open the first flour mill in 1850 in the centre of the town. Mill Bridge adjacent to the flourmill bridged the Angas River. As the town progressed quickly a local council was formed in 1854 with the Stirlings, Rankines and Archibald McLean (investor in Langhorne Creek) being among the first councillors. The Stirlings were especially important to Strathalbyn. Edward Stirling (the father) joined into a partnership with (Sir) Thomas Elder and Robert Barr Smith in 1855. Stirling stayed with the company as it funded the Moonta and Wallaroo copper mines in 1861 then he withdrew but remained as an investor in the mines. The company went on to become Elder Smith and Co the most successful SA 19th century company. Edward Stirling had two sons, (Sir) Edward Stirling a famed surgeon who lived at St. Vigeans at Stirling and (Sir) Lancelot Stirling, local Member of Parliament for the Strathalbyn district, sheep and cattle breeder and company director. The Stirlings lived in the family home Hampden until it burnt down around 1870. Then they moved into the Lodge which was extended and remained the family home for Sir Lancelot Stirling after his father Edward died in 1873. Lancelot lived there until he died in 1932. The Stirlings of Strathalbyn also owned and operated Nalpa Station on Lake Albert. The Lodge is now the centre of a new suburban development at Strathalbyn.

 

From the beginning Strathalbyn prospered because of its access to water from the Angas River, its reliable rainfall, its genial climate for cropping and from the patronage of its wealthy founders. The town was laid out in 1840 and blocks sold at that time. The discovery of silver, lead and zinc at nearby Wheal Ellen mine in 1857 further boosted the growing town. The mine closed a short time later but re-opened in 1869 and operated until closure in 1888. It briefly re-opened from 1910-14 for the last phase. Until recently Strathalbyn had another zinc mine conducted by Terramin Mining which started operations in 2007. The zinc from here was sent to Nyrstar refinery at Port Pirie for smelting. The mining occurred 360 metres below the ground surface. The mine had a life of five years and closed in late 2013 ending the jobs of 115 local people. But Strathalbyn has always had a range of local industry. A foundry operated in the town from the mid 1850s as well as the usual businesses of blacksmith, saddlery etc, and the town handled coach services to Wellington via Langhorne Creek from around 1854. It was also one of the first towns in SA to have its own gas works started by David Trenouth in 1868. By 1870 the small urban centre of Strathalbyn had gas street lights! The gas works operated until 1917 when an electrical service took over power provision. From an early date Strathalbyn also had its own newspaper and printing press the Southern Argus housed in Argus House which was built 1867/68. The Southern Argus which is still published, is SA’s oldest country newspaper. In 1912 it established an offshoot - the Victor Harbor Times. In terms of transportation and the transport of goods Strathalbyn prospered as it was the terminus of the horse drawn tram service from Port Elliott and Goolwa in 1869. That is why the Terminus Hotel is so named. In 1884 that line was converted to a broad gauge rail line for steam engines and linked at Mt Barker with the line to Adelaide. Strathalbyn had a flour mill from 1850 as noted above and in the 1860s the town had its own brewery. The heyday of business boom for Strathalbyn was in the 1860s and 1870 when so many of the fine town buildings were erected. Heritage buildings are shown on map above and they include:

Commercial Street/Dawson Street.

•At the northern end of Commercial Street on the corner with North Parade is the Doctor’s Residence. 26 North Parade. Dr Herbert built a grand 8 roomed residence here in 1858. Dr Ferguson purchased it in 1869 and added and altered the verandas. Dr Shone bought it in 1897. Dr Formby took it over in 1907 and kept it until he sold it to Dr Fairley in 1979! Note the double chimneys and the ogee(S shaped) gutters above the bay windows and the 1850s French windows.

•On the northern end of Commercial Street is the Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1874. It replaced the demolished Methodist church built in 1854. Built of random stone, semi rounded windows etc. It became the only Methodist church at the time of Methodist amalgamations in 1900 .It closed around the time of amalgamation with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists in 1977. The Hall was added in 1939.

•Blackwell House, 18 Commercial Street. A two storey bluestone structure from the 1860s. It was much altered in 1912 when the parapet along the roof was removed, the slate replaced with iron and the upper balcony added.

•The former Power House 1917 –when gas works closed. Became Council Chamber 1939 when ETSA arrived.

•Coleman Mill store. Fine stone building with few windows. Built 1864. Coleman bought the mill from Gollan.

•1850 flour mill which was sold to Laucke’s in 1938. Commercial Rd and Mill Street an imposing four storey structure. Note the four storeys, purple sandstone, and little windows.

•Beside the mill is Water Villa house. The earliest part dates from 1849 and the Italianate bay window sections are 1879. David Gollan the owner of the 1850 flour mill built this as his residence. It is a mixture of stones. Note the French doors in the old original part of the house onto the veranda.

•Argus House, 1868. 33 Commercial Street. It was a print works and residence and shop.

•Post Office 1911. 37 Commercial Street.

•Savings Banks of South Australia. A fine two storey structure for the bank and manager’s residence. Built in 1930. It has rough stone, prominent gables, repeating arches, wooden doors, and terra cotta tiles.

•Church of Christ. Opened in 1873.Limestone walls, arched windows.

•Masonic Hall built in 1896 but Lodge established 1866.Additons 1912 and 1957.

 

Rankine Street/Albyn Terrace.

•Strathalbyn Police Station (1855) and Court House (1865) now the National Trust Museum.

•National Bank 2 Albyn Terrace. Squared stone blocks, two storeys and a dominant building. Elaborate porch and balcony and decorative window surrounds etc. Erected in 1869. Nearby Norfolk Island pine was planted in 1895.

•Tucker & Sons solicitors at 8 Albyn Terrace. Have a look at all the shops along Albyn Terrace a great 19th century streetscape still largely intact. It was used in the film “Picnic at Hanging Rock.”

 

High Street.

•London House general store at 7 High Street 1867. Now an antiques shop. Cobb and Co used to use the stables at the rear for the daily coaching service to Adelaide. London House had the first telephone in Strathalbyn in 1883.

•Robin Hood hotel erected in 1855 and still standing. 18 High Street.

•The Strathalbyn library 9 High Street. Opened 1922 with a classical façade with good symmetry.

•The Town Hall at 11 High Street. 1874 opened as a two storey stone structure with fancy parapet as an institute building. The parapet is supported by paired brackets.

 

Other locations- Chapel Street, East Terrace and South Terrace.

•St. Andrews Uniting Church (formerly Presbyterian) 1844 for main church with transept added 1857. Manse erected 1854. 1869 tower completed, bell donated by Edward Stirling. Clock installed 1895. Church hall on the opposite corner was built in 1911.

•Former Primitive Methodist Church 1861 was sold to the Anglican Church as a church hall in 1901 following the Methodist amalgamation. It was sold to the Foresters Lodge in 1912(when Anglicans purchased the former Catholic Church) and much later it as sold to the Scouts.

•St. Barnabas Catholic Church 2 Chapel Street. This was a late addition to Strathalbyn being erected in 1913. But Catholic services began in 1881 when a Catholic church was consecrated in Rowe St. The first priest arrived in 1906. A presbytery as built 1911 in East Tce and then church two years later. The 1881 church was sold in 1913 as Anglican parish hall called St. Barnabas. It is on the corner of Rowe and Murray street.

•Christ Church Anglican Church 7 East Terrace. The tower on Christ Church was erected from donations on the death of Sir Lancelot Stirling in 1932. The tower opened in 1933 but the church was built in 1871.

•Railway Station on South Terrace erected 1883 in time for opening of broad gauge line to Adelaide and start of branch line trains to Milang from Sandergrove siding.

•Two storey residence attached to Rowe’s foundry in South Terrace. Britannia House as it is known was built in 1855.