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Nothingness is just another mental speculation (I think in this case Jean Paul Satre). There is no such state. Everything is an expansion of the energies of the Supreme Lord. The idea of nothingness is a foolish extension of the atheistic misconception that the universe is chaotic and there is nothing in control except some Darwinian principle of survival of the fittest. No wonder we are destroying the planet at an unsustainable rate.
8 Brown's Court, Burlington, Vermont USA • This 2-1/2 story, 2 x 3 bay, clapboarded and wood-shingled vernacular Queen Anne / Colonial Revival style house was probably built on speculation as a rental property by the developer, N.K. Brown. Herbert Sherman, a Wells-Richardson employee was the first resident. He was succeeded by Michael Wilson, a foreman of the Rutland Railroad who lived there until 1935. the hip-roofed block rests on a stone foundation and has a slate roof, a prominent rectangular, southwest corner tower, and a Colonial Revival front porch. The three-story tower is crowned by pyramidal roof topped by a finial, and has beltcourses of scalloped shingles beneath the eaves and between stories. The porch includes a pedimented entry, boxed posts and a shingled valance and skirt. On the left side of the front facade is a pedimented gable with wood-shingle infill, and a square, louvered vent. Outlining the facade is a projecting, molded cornice, friezeboards and corner and sill boards. The south facade is marked by a two-story, polygonal bay window with shingles between stories and scroll sawn brackets supporting a pediment with shingle infill. Sash included 1/1 windows with plain surrounds and molded lintels. – From the Nomination Form for the NRHP, by Gina Campoli and Karen Czaikowski, December 1983.
☞ This building is one of 120 contributing structures (and one object) of the 350 acre Battery Street Historic District, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (#77000098), since November 2, 1977.
• More Info: GeoHack: 44°28′29″N 73°13′05″W.
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
211 Central Park West, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The Beresford Apartments, completed in 1929 and designed by Emery Roth, then at the pinnacle of his career as a specialist in apartment house design, is one of the largest and grandest of the apartment buildings along Central Park West. Prominently located at the corner of 81st Street across from the American Museum of Natural History, it takes full advantage of its site, with two monumental facades crowned by comer towers. Executed in brick with limestone and terra-cotta detailing, the Beresford is distinctively ornamented with a sculptural program of late Renaissance inspiration which features winged cherubs, angels, dolphins and rams' heads, along with elaborate cartouches, festoons, rosettes and finials. Its vast scale and dramatic profile make the Beresford one of the most important elements on the Central Park West skyline, as well as a reminder of the heyday of luxury apartment building in New York.
Development of Central Park West
Central Park West, the northern continuation of Eighth Avenue bordering on the park, is today one of New York's finest residential streets, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was a rural and inhospitable outpost, notable for its rocky terrain, browsing goats and ramshackle shanties. With the creation of Central Park in the 1860s, followed by Riverside Park , as well as a series of transportation improvements such as the Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad , the Upper West Side in general experienced a period of intense real estate speculation. Hie 1880s were the first decade of major development, and set the pattern for the Upper West Side, where rowhouses line the side streets, and multiple dwellings, commercial and institutional structures are sited on the avenues.
Not surprisingly, those avenues closest to the parks, Central Park West and Riverside Drive, were immediately considered the most desirable. The potential of the parkside avenues for development as prime locations led to an anticipatory increase in land values; prices rose to such extravagant heights that many speculative builders shied away from row house and tenement construction, from which they would realize relatively meager returns, while the very wealthy, who could afford to build mansions, for the most part remained on the more fashionable East Side. As a result, the development of Central Park West lagged behind the general development of the Upper West Side. It was not until the turn of the century that Central Park West's construction boon began and it emerged as a boulevard of elegant tall apartments punctuated by impressive institutional buildings—a kind of grand proscenium to the architectural variety show of the Upper West Side.
The stage had been set by two great monuments, the American Museum of Natural History between 77th and 81st Streets, , and the Dakota, the pioneering luxury apartments at 72nd Street . Yet a survey of roughly a decade later revealed that more than half the block fronts along the park from 60th to 96th Streets remained vacant or contained only old, modest frame houses. A few apartment hotels had been constructed by the early 1890s, including the Hotel Beresford at the northwest corner of 81st Street across from the museum on Manhattan Square. Opened in late 1889, this original Beresford was described as the first apartment hotel to be constructed on the Upper West Side.
The property, already considered at that date, " one of the choicest and most costly on the west side of the city," had gene through a number of real estate speculators' hands. 2 The six-story hotel was constructed by Alva S. Walker, who also owned the northern portion of the Central Park West blockfront which he intended to turn into a small park " with two tennis courts in the centre, with seats around for the use of the guests." Apparently the success of the Beresford and ever rising land values prescribed a change of course, and a ten-story wing was added instead.
Among the other early apartments on Central Park West were the Majestic at 71st Street, the San Remo at 75th Street, and the El Dorado at 90th Street, which, like the Beresford, have all been replaced by their towered namesakes of the late 1920s and early 1930s. A few grand apartment buildings were constructed prior to World War I, including the Prasada at 65th, the Langham at 73rd, and the Kenilworth at 75th Street. This phase in Central Park West's development was interrupted by the war, when construction ground to a halt. The second major phase of development began with the great prosperity of the '20s, producing the Art Deco towered buildings, and Roth's Beresford and San Remo Apartments, which now define the skyline.
The 1920s provided a generation of aspiring immigrants with the opportunity to move up in the world, both economically and geographically. Many Jewish immigrants, refugees from Csarist pogroms, had achieved prosperity in New York by the late 1920s, and looked from the Lower East Side to the Upper West Side as a cultural and architectural haven. By the mid-1930s more than half the residents of the Upper West Side from 72nd to 96th Streets were Jewish, and more than a third of these families were headed by a parent born in Europe. Emery Roth was himself a Jewish immigrant of Horatio Algeresque stamina and optimism, a family man and Upper West Sider, although he arrived by a more circuitous route than most of his neighbors.
The Architect
Emery Roth was born in 1871 in the town of Gal zees, Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he was thirteen the family's fortunes took a turn for the worse, and it was decided that young Emery, alone, would immigrate to America. Passing through Ellis Island, he continued on to Chicago where his success story began.
When still a teenager living a hand to mouth existence in Bloomington, Illinois, Roth determined to become an architect. He worked for both a local builder and a local architect. In 1889, having won a national-government sponsored contest, the Maize Competition—for which he drew a living roan utilizing the com plant as a decorative motif—Roth took his $100 prize money and set out for Kansas City. Apparently he could not find architectural employment there, but while he was still in Bloomington, had applied to join the office of Burnham & Root. Offered the job by mail, Roth moved cm to Chicago and worked under Charles Atwood
Roth helped to prepare drawings for the celebrated Palace of Fine Arts. While at the fair, he met Richard Morris Hunt, the recognized dean of American architects, who offered to hire him if he ever came to New York. After the fair, with true to form optimism, Roth made his way to New York, where Hunt's casual offer was honored. Assigned to draft interior perspectives for The Breakers, the Newport mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Roth came in contact with Ogden Codman, a noted architect, interior designer and socialite. In 1895 Roth went to work for Codman, where his decorative and planning abilities were sharpened.
By 1898 Roth believed himself ready for private practice. Two young architects, Theodore G. Stein and E. Yancy Cohen, after involved negotiations, sold Roth their architectural practice for $1000. As part of the agreement, Roth was entitled to represent himself as a partner in Stein, Cohen & Roth in order to capitalize on the good will of the existing firm. In fact, Roth was on his own.
Roth's first major commission was the Hotel Bell eel aire of 1901-03 on upper Broadway, a designated New York City Landmark. While it was under construction Roth was approached by Leo and Alexander Bing, Manhattan real estate developers. The Bing brothers admired the Belleclaire and commissioned Roth to design a group of five-story apartment buildings in Washington Heights. This alliance inaugurated a lifelong association.
In the following years, Roth had several commissions, among them Bancroft Hall of 1910—a student housing facility for Columbia University, and a series of religious structures, including the Congregation Ahavith Achem of 1908 in Brooklyn and the First Reformed Hungarian Church of 1916 on Bast 69th Street in Manhattan.
The year 1918 was a traumatic one for Rath. He lost his vision in one eye, the result of glaucoma, and nearly died in the great influenza epidemic. But the prosperity of the 1920s was to carry him into a period of great achievement. After the hiatus in construction caused by the First World War, building was again undertaken. In New York City, a 1921 ordinance exempting new residential construction from real estate taxes for the next decade, opened the door to a building boon. The Bing brothers commissioned a series of apartment buildings and hotels from Roth, many of which Ruttenbaum aptly terms "fine background buildings," while two other developers, Samuel Minskoff and Harris H. Uris commissioned' Roth to design a number of handsome medium height apartment houses which the architect dubbed "skyscratchers."
In 1926 Roth in association with Thomas Hastings, the surviving partner of the eminent firm of Carrere & Hastings, designed the Ritz Tower at Park Avenue and 57th Street, a 41-story apartment hotel in a neo-Renaissance style, its extreme height malting it "a symbol of a new way to live for wealthy New Yorkers." After the Ritz Tower, Roth went on to design a host of luxury residential skyscrapers, among them the Oliver Cromwell Hotel on West 72nd Street , the San Remo Apartments on Central Park West, and as a consultant to Margon & Holder, the Art Deco style Eldorado Apartments also on Central Park West .
From the mid-1920s on, the signature of a major Roth apartment house was its tower. Initially designed to conceal water tanks, they evolved into a major element of the design. In the San Remo, among Roth's finest works, the towers become an integral component of this residential skyscraper. This fusing of the functional with the aesthetic was equally characteristic of his apartment plans. Roth's sons credit their father with the creation of the foyer plan, and if not the originator he was certainly a refiner of this type. Roth's best apartments seem effortlessly interlocked, wasteful corridor space reduced to a minimum, with spacious, well-lit rooms in their stead.
Roth's last great work was the Normandy Apartments on Riverside Drive of 1938-39 , by which time his sons had joined the firm. The majority of his later buildings in concession to the Depression had smaller apartments and fewer amenities, while still maintaining high standards. Roth died in 1947, and his sons continued the firm, which has been prosperous and prolific.
The Beresford
Officially completed on September 13, 1929, just a few weeks before the Black Friday stock market crash, the Beresford had been planned during the most halcyon days of the 1920s. It was constructed by the H.R.H. Construction Company, which also built the San Remo. In an article in the New Yorker magazine, Penthouse [Marcia Clarke Davenport] remarks that the Beresford demonstrates that one can still find "really large rooms, really high ceilings; and you can pay—very very well for them." She further admires the windows "by far the most triumphant feature," affording unobstructed views, and the "hung" ceilings without visible beams.
Die plans for the Beresford reflect the luxurious standard of living envisioned for its tenants. A number of apartments contained not only the usual maids' rooms, but "servants' halls." Other amenities were provided,
such as dressing rooms, large cedar storage closets, breakfast roans, sun porches and numerous bathrooms. Sane of the large duplex apartments were virtually the equivalent of a large townhouse, both in size and arrangement.
But the economic mayhem of the Depression years resulted in serious financial difficulties for the Beresford. In 1940, it was sold along with Roth's other grand Central Park West apartment, the San Remo, which had suffered a similar plight, for a mere $25,000 over existing mortgages, despite the fact that the combined value of these two structures has been estimated at a pre-Depression value of ten million dollars.
The Beresford has long been associated with famous tenants in the arts and shew business. It was converted to co-operative ownership in 1962.
Architectural style
The Beresford has been compared to a medieval fortress and to a grand country villa, both allusions to its commanding presence and traditional style. Although in fact a huge 20-story skyscraper with three surmounting water tanks, the blocky massive proportions of the building emphasize its Renaissance allusions. Emery Roth had a life-long predilection for classicism and eclecticism, both clearly revealed in the Beresford design, late Renaissance and vaguely Baroque details are used relatively sparingly but are key elements.
Roth's aesthetic treatment of water tanks, on many buildings merely a functional eyesore, is the salient example of the architect's ability to combine traditional architectural values and modern functional requirements. At the Beresford, the water tanks—originally planned with three "observation rooms" beneath—are transformed into elegant pavilions, and integral components of the overall design. This solution, with setbacks below, allows the corners of the facade to be perceived as tower pavilions. With Roth's next major commission, the San Remo, Roth took this concept even further, resulting in its grand twin towered profile.
The sculptural program of the Beresford deserves special note. Few buildings of its type and date have figural ornament in such profusion. Winged cherub heads adorn keystones, angels flank doorways, and high above the street and well beyond the range of the naked eye, half-figures of cherubs support cartouches and urns, while rams' heads and skulls support festoons. Best appreciated from the terraces, this detailing is a potent symbol of the architectural extravagance of the '20s.
Description
The Beresford Apartments is a 20-story skyscraper occupying the Central Park West block front between 81st and 82nd streets, with two principal elevations facing the avenue and the south. The north elevation is similarly detailed, but secondary owing to its placement. The rear elevation with a central courtyard is not ornamented. The building is constructed in buff brick with a limestone base, with sculptural detailing in limestone at the lower four stories, and in terra cotta at the upper stories, and with mission tile roofs, metal railings and grilles, and copper lanterns. There aire four main entrances, two on the south, one on the north and one on the avenue. These lead to separate elevator banks,
each elevator opening to only one or two apartments per floor. Apartments originally ranged in size from 4 to 16 roans, both simplex and duplex. One of the last of the grand apartments built prior to the Depression, the building is luxuriously detailed, both on the exterior and interior. The detail is in the style of the late Italian Renaissance. Setbacks appear at the 14th, 16th, 18th and 20th stories, providing terraces. Three water tanks in towers at the principal corners of the building are the crowning elements of the corner pavilions.
On the three street elevations, the first three stories are faced in limestone above a granite water table. The first story is separated by a bandcourse from the two above and has bush-hammered rustication. The upper two stories have smooth rustication. A broad bandcourse separates the limestone base from the main brick portion of the building. Bandcourses comprised of two terra-cotta moldings appear between the 9th and 10th stories, the 12th and 13th, and the 13th and 14th.
The fenestration on these three elevations is of one basic type with two metal casement windows, beneath a single-paned transom.
The building rises to the 14th story in an uninterrupted block, constructed to the building line. The setbacks above articulate the corner pavilions which aire surmounted by two-story penthouses and the watertank towers. Chimneys, beginning at the 18th story are centrally located, and a large chimney appears at the west end of the southern elevation.
Central Park West Elevation
This elevation is 29 bays wide with windows in groupings to the 14th story: 3-3-5-3-3-5-3-4. At the 14th story a balustraded terrace 16 bays wide is located between corner pavilions, 6 and 7 bays wide. The central 16 bay-portion continues to the 17th story above which are two further setbacks at the 19th and 20th stories. The corner pavilions on this elevation are 6 bays wide and 7 bays wide at the 14th and 15th stories; 5 bays wide each up to the 18th story and 3 larger bays each at the 19th. The two penthouse stories appear above these corner pavilions under the observation roans and watertank coverings.
A. Main Entrance: located between 15th and 16th bays.
A canopy on bronze supports, flanked by ground level plantings behind low simple metal guard rails. Double doors glazed with plain bronze muntins and mullions. Bronze and glass lanterns flanking the doorway. Doorway with limestone enframement with scrolled keystone and carved relief panels to each side, depicting Renaissance-style stands composed of acanthus leaves, symmetrically disposed and supporting a winged frontal figure of an angel playing a horn. Above, a broken lintel with a central large scrolled cartouche, with floral festoon. At second-story level a yellow marble panel with limestone enframement, with a winged cherub head in relief above a festoon suspended from rosettes, all beneath a lintel.
B.Office entrances: 2, located between 15th and 16th bays.
Set within reveals, single doors of bronze with glazed upper panel and glazed transom.
C.Balustrade: above 3rd story, 13th to 18th bays.
Carved in limestone relief, centered above main entrance, on modillions.
D.Plaque and cartouches: above 4th story, at 13th and 18th, 6th and 25th
bays.
Four scrolled cartouches enliven facade, 2 inner ones frame plaque with festoons, guttae, scrolls and cartouche, inscribed "Erected 1929".
E.Cartouche: 14th story, between 15th and 16th bays.
Above main entrance, large scale, with scrolls, set in center of balustrade . Held by flanking half-figures of winged cherubs which emerge from foliate ornament- Cherub heads atop and below the cartouche scrolls.
F.Windows: 10th and 11th stories; 3 bays wide, at 5th-7th, 13th-15th, 16th-18th, and 24th-26th bays.
Two-story groupings of windows in threes enframed by terra cotta, above bandcourse with pseudo-balustrades. Between the two stories a beribboned cartouche flanked by winged cherub heads and scrolled brackets. A rosette above the central 11th-story window of each grouping.
G.Windows: 14th and 15th stories, 3 bays wide, at 5th-7th bays, and 24th-26th bays.
located at the first setback level, groupings with rosettes beneath each window at the 14th story, a balcony projection at the central bay at this level, the rosette in an octagonal frame. The two-story composition enframed by brick pilasters supporting a triangular broken pediment. An ornamental grille at the center of the pediment. The central bays at each story with enframements. At the 14th story a curved broken pediment, with a ram's head at the center, supporting festoons, and a scroll above. The 15th story central window with cartouche and flanking festoons.
H.Windows: 19th and 20th stories, at 3rd and 27th bays.
Set in the corner pavilions, 2-story compositions with enframed windows separated by a balustrade. Pilasters at the 20th story on console brackets under a curved broken pediment, with a central segmental-arched dormer with a round-arched opening containing a grille. At the 20th story above the central window, a winged cherub head on a tablet, with festoons.
I.Cartouche: 17th story, between 15th and 16th bays.
An elaborate scrolled and beribboned cartouche, continuing central composition above the main entrance, also signalizing chimneys above. A
rami's skull at the base, with festoon.
J. Finials: above the 20th story.
Set at the corners of balustrades, at the 1st story of penthouses; urn-shaped.
Water tank towers
Octagonal, with broader faces set rectilinealy and narrower faces set diagonally. Four double-height round-arched windows above a balustrade, each flanked by engaged columns on console brackets, supporting a lintel and broken triangular pediment with a central bull's-eye opening with surmounting winged cherub head. Half-figures of cherubs emerging from foliate ornament flank and hold an urn with ram's head below. Drapery swags suspended from rosettes with a central scrolled keystone.
Interspersed by 4 square-headed blind windows surmounted by triangular broken pediments with central winged cherub heads in panels above. Beneath the windows console brackets support simple obelisk shaped finials. Copper and glass lanterns surmount the roofs.
South Elevation
This facade with two main entrances and three office doors is 30 bays wide with windows grouped in threes except in the outermost bays where there is a single pair at the east and and 2 pairs at the west, up to the 14th story, where the setbacks begin. From the 14th to 17th stories the center of the facade is 15 bays wide, flanked by 8 bays to the west and 7 to the east. Terraces appear at the 18th to 20th stories at the center. A large chimney rises from the 17th story beneath the western tower.
Main entrance: 2,at 5th-7th bays, and 23rd-25th bays.
A canopy on bronze supports, flanked by ground level plantings behind simple guard rails. Double doors with simple bronze muntins and mullions. Bronze and glass lanterns flank the doors. Doorway with limestone enframement and carved relief panels to each side, depicting Renaissance style stands of acanthus leaves, symmetrically disposed adorned with a pair of dolphins. Above, a curved broken pediment with a central scrolled cartouche, above a console bracket, ornamented with a festoon. At 2nd story level, an enframed central window with a winged cherub head beneath a lintel.
Office doors: 3, located at 14th, 19th and 28th bays. See "B." above.
Cartouches: above 4th story, at 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th bays.
Windows: 10th and 11th stories, at the 5th-7th, 11th-13th, 17th-19th, 23rd-25th bays.
See "F." above.
Windows: 14th and 15th stories, at the 5th-7th, 23rd-25th bays.
See "H." above.
Windows: 20th story, at 15th-16th bays.
Two windows with eared enframements, surmounted by a central cartouche.
Balustrade: 14th story, from the 8th to 22nd bays.
North elevation
This elevation has 29 bays in groupings of three with two additional bays at the west. A series of graduated setback terraces with curved parapet wall and metal railings appears at the westernmost five bays beginning at the 9th story and continuing to roof level.
Main entrance: 1, at 7th bay .
Single doorway, flanked by small glass and bronze lanterns. Surmounted by a cartouche set on the door enframent. A glazed transom, with metal grille, enframed, and surmounted by a garland, winged cherub head, and scroll.
Office doors: 4, at the 6th, 13th, 19th and 27th bays.
See "B." above. Cartouches: Above the 4th story at the 10th and 23rd bays.
Windows: 10th and 11th stories,
See "F." above.
Windows: 14th and 15th stories,
See "G." above.
Balustrade: 14th story, from 12th to 23rd bays.
Service Entrances: 2, at the westerly ends of the side street elevations.
Each one story in height, with round-arched doorways in a rusticated wall, with a metal grille gate, A winged cherub head keystone,
- From the 1987 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
“[1665, February] 9.—Thursday. I went to Blacky Hurst to the funerall of Thomas Blakeburne who was buryd at Winwicke.”
[From “Diary of Roger Lowe of Ashton-in-Makerfield”, Wigan Archives ref. D/DZ A58]
Blackley Hurst Hall is situated off the present-day B5207 between Billinge and Ashton-in-Makerfield. The term “Blakeleiebroc” occurs in a description of lands given by Adam de Billinge to the Canons of Cockersand Abbey in the year 1212. The “-hurst” suffix may originally have denoted a wooded hillock or copse.* There is speculation that Blackley Hurst was at one time surrounded by a moat.**
The existence of a residence at the site by the middle of the 16th century is indicated by testamentory and other documents of the Winstanley and Bankes families.*** The Hearth Tax assessments for Billinge Chapel End at National Archives ref. E179/250/11 show “Mr Blackburne of Blackleyhurst” being liable for tax on 8 hearths in 1664. Further particulars of the house and lands associated with it are given in documents concerning changes of ownership and occupation in the 17th and 18th centuries.**** By 1812 “the forlorn country-seat” was said to be “tumbling down with damp and dry-rot”.***** Mine-owner Samuel Stock, who became a tenant in 1836, seems to have embarked on a series of improvements. A site visit by the county archaeologist in 1982 found the main part of the house at that time to date from about 1840. An older building adjoining to the north, of stone up to first floor level with suggestions of (at one time) a possible timber upper storey, was sandwiched between this and another 19th century addition, and may have been a remnant of that visited by Roger Lowe in 1665. The foundations of a still earlier building were found in the yard during 1980s renovation works. Some elements of the (presumed) 17th century building are retained in the present Blackley Hurst Hall.
Thomas Blackburne (c.1622-65) completed his education at Oxford, matriculating in 1639 and becoming a Bachelor of Divinity in 1662. He was ordained in 1645 and served first at Rivington and then at Newton-le-Willows, being described by the Church Survey of 1650 as a “godly preaching minister [who] did come into the said place by ye consent of the whole chapelrie, and supplieth the cure diligently upon the Lords Dayes” (National Archives ref. C94/4). Roger Lowe heard him preach at Newton on 14 August 1664. The Winwick Registers at Cheshire Archives ref. P 158/1/2 confirm his burial on 9 February 1665 as stated by Lowe. An inventory of the goods of “Thos. Blackburn of Blackleyhurst, clerke”, some of which were said to be “at Crowlane House in Newton”, is dated 20 April 1665 but for some reason was not filed until 1669 (Lancashire Archives ref. WCW/Supra/C177A/38 ; Crow-lane House was afterwards sold by Thomas' son, William, to John Stirrup of Newton).
*British Library (Manuscript Collections) ref. Add MS 37769, fol 96b: “SCIANT, [etc.], quod ego Adam, etc., dedi, [etc.], unam porcionem terrae meae in Bulling, scilicet, medietatem de Crochurste, et tocius terrae tarn boscum quam planum infra has diuisas, a Swineputtecloch usque ad Bircheleiebroc, et ita sequendo easdem diuisas usque in Blakeleiebroc, et iterum ab eodem Swineputtecloch in transuersum per terram Galfridi Turnemerley, usque in cloch qui descendit in Bircheleibroc, Cum communione et eisiamentis feodi mei praedictae uillae pertinentibus; in puram et perpetuam, etc., quietam ab omni seculari seruicio, et liberam tarn in glandibus quam in pascuis, tarn in viridi quam in sicco, ad sustentacionem illorum qui eandem elemosinam de praedictis fratribus tenuerint; pro salute animae meae, etc. Hiis testibus”. See also Eilert Eckhart's “The Place Names of Lancashire” (Manchester UP 1922): “The place is situated at a hill”.
**“The Medieval Earthworks of the Hundred of West Derby: Tenurial Evidence and Physical Structure”, Jennifer Lewis, BAR British Series 310 (2000). William Yates depicts an enclosure of some sort on his map of 1786/7. The pond adjacent to the existing Blackley Hurst Hall and a smaller body of water to the west, both included on Richard Thornton's Tithe Map of Billinge Chapel End in 1842, may be surviving elements of a water-filled moat.
***The 12 March 1555 will of James Winstanley, now at Lancashire Archives ref. WCW/Supra/C1/61, indicates that a house existed at "bracklihurst" at that time. “The tenantes of Blackeleyhurste” are mentioned in a letter of 2 August 1597 (transcribed in “James Bankes and the Manor of Winstanley, 1595-1607”, Hist Soc Lancs & Ches Vol. 94/1942). A later “James Winstanley of Blakle horst” agreed the sale of 5 tenements to James Bankes of Winstanley on 14 June 1611 (“Early Records of the Bankes Family at Winstanley”, Chetham Soc 1973), having on 6 February that year been cited for fraud in a complaint by his father-in-law Roger Rigby (Kenyon MSS, at Lancashire Archives DDKE/1/8).
**** A series of documents included with the Gerard Estate Papers at Lancashire Archives, starting at ref. DDGE(M) 426, gives the history of the “Capital Messuage or Manor House called Blackleyhurst” from 1617 when it passed from James Winstanley to the Blackburne family. Commencing at ref. DDGE(M) 439, which is dated 1764, are details of mortgages raised on the property by Jane Crichton (née Blackburne) and her children. DDGE(M) 457 records that, on 14 March 1798, the Blackley Hurst Estate was conveyed by Messrs Geldart, The Hon Richard Jones his wife, their trustees and creditors to Sir William Gerard, Baronet. Bundled with the conveyance are lists of the Gerards' tenants and particulars of further mortgages raised on the estate up to the end of 1801.
*****From “Henry Fothergill Chorley: Autobiography, Memoir, and Letters, compiled by H G Hewlett”, Vol 1 published by Richard Bentley & Son 1873. Chorley was born at Blackley Hurst in 1808; he recalled his birthplace as “a dilapidated country-seat, near Billinge, in Lancashire, one of those which belonged to the Catholic family of the Gerards, and which was let to my father at a reduced rent....”.
Images:
Left, from top: Extract from William Yates' map of 1786/7; extract from a plan included at Lancashire Archives ref. DDGE(E) 914 with a lease to Samuel Stock of “Coal Mines in Billinge” dated 30 March 1836; tracing of a part of R Thornton's 1842 Tithe Map of Billinge Chapel End at Lancashire Archives ref. DRL 1/8; 2004 site plan; modern birds-eye view looking across the site from east to west.
Main picture: Mid-1970s view of Blackley Hurst Hall from the north-east. Samuel Stock's neoclassical addition of c.1840, since demolished, is furthest from the camera position. My thanks to Ian Bonnell for sharing the photograph taken by his father, W E Bonnell.
211 Central Park West, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The Beresford Apartments, completed in 1929 and designed by Emery Roth, then at the pinnacle of his career as a specialist in apartment house design, is one of the largest and grandest of the apartment buildings along Central Park West. Prominently located at the corner of 81st Street across from the American Museum of Natural History, it takes full advantage of its site, with two monumental facades crowned by comer towers. Executed in brick with limestone and terra-cotta detailing, the Beresford is distinctively ornamented with a sculptural program of late Renaissance inspiration which features winged cherubs, angels, dolphins and rams' heads, along with elaborate cartouches, festoons, rosettes and finials. Its vast scale and dramatic profile make the Beresford one of the most important elements on the Central Park West skyline, as well as a reminder of the heyday of luxury apartment building in New York.
Development of Central Park West
Central Park West, the northern continuation of Eighth Avenue bordering on the park, is today one of New York's finest residential streets, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was a rural and inhospitable outpost, notable for its rocky terrain, browsing goats and ramshackle shanties. With the creation of Central Park in the 1860s, followed by Riverside Park , as well as a series of transportation improvements such as the Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad , the Upper West Side in general experienced a period of intense real estate speculation. Hie 1880s were the first decade of major development, and set the pattern for the Upper West Side, where rowhouses line the side streets, and multiple dwellings, commercial and institutional structures are sited on the avenues.
Not surprisingly, those avenues closest to the parks, Central Park West and Riverside Drive, were immediately considered the most desirable. The potential of the parkside avenues for development as prime locations led to an anticipatory increase in land values; prices rose to such extravagant heights that many speculative builders shied away from row house and tenement construction, from which they would realize relatively meager returns, while the very wealthy, who could afford to build mansions, for the most part remained on the more fashionable East Side. As a result, the development of Central Park West lagged behind the general development of the Upper West Side. It was not until the turn of the century that Central Park West's construction boon began and it emerged as a boulevard of elegant tall apartments punctuated by impressive institutional buildings—a kind of grand proscenium to the architectural variety show of the Upper West Side.
The stage had been set by two great monuments, the American Museum of Natural History between 77th and 81st Streets, , and the Dakota, the pioneering luxury apartments at 72nd Street . Yet a survey of roughly a decade later revealed that more than half the block fronts along the park from 60th to 96th Streets remained vacant or contained only old, modest frame houses. A few apartment hotels had been constructed by the early 1890s, including the Hotel Beresford at the northwest corner of 81st Street across from the museum on Manhattan Square. Opened in late 1889, this original Beresford was described as the first apartment hotel to be constructed on the Upper West Side.
The property, already considered at that date, " one of the choicest and most costly on the west side of the city," had gene through a number of real estate speculators' hands. 2 The six-story hotel was constructed by Alva S. Walker, who also owned the northern portion of the Central Park West blockfront which he intended to turn into a small park " with two tennis courts in the centre, with seats around for the use of the guests." Apparently the success of the Beresford and ever rising land values prescribed a change of course, and a ten-story wing was added instead.
Among the other early apartments on Central Park West were the Majestic at 71st Street, the San Remo at 75th Street, and the El Dorado at 90th Street, which, like the Beresford, have all been replaced by their towered namesakes of the late 1920s and early 1930s. A few grand apartment buildings were constructed prior to World War I, including the Prasada at 65th, the Langham at 73rd, and the Kenilworth at 75th Street. This phase in Central Park West's development was interrupted by the war, when construction ground to a halt. The second major phase of development began with the great prosperity of the '20s, producing the Art Deco towered buildings, and Roth's Beresford and San Remo Apartments, which now define the skyline.
The 1920s provided a generation of aspiring immigrants with the opportunity to move up in the world, both economically and geographically. Many Jewish immigrants, refugees from Csarist pogroms, had achieved prosperity in New York by the late 1920s, and looked from the Lower East Side to the Upper West Side as a cultural and architectural haven. By the mid-1930s more than half the residents of the Upper West Side from 72nd to 96th Streets were Jewish, and more than a third of these families were headed by a parent born in Europe. Emery Roth was himself a Jewish immigrant of Horatio Algeresque stamina and optimism, a family man and Upper West Sider, although he arrived by a more circuitous route than most of his neighbors.
The Architect
Emery Roth was born in 1871 in the town of Gal zees, Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he was thirteen the family's fortunes took a turn for the worse, and it was decided that young Emery, alone, would immigrate to America. Passing through Ellis Island, he continued on to Chicago where his success story began.
When still a teenager living a hand to mouth existence in Bloomington, Illinois, Roth determined to become an architect. He worked for both a local builder and a local architect. In 1889, having won a national-government sponsored contest, the Maize Competition—for which he drew a living roan utilizing the com plant as a decorative motif—Roth took his $100 prize money and set out for Kansas City. Apparently he could not find architectural employment there, but while he was still in Bloomington, had applied to join the office of Burnham & Root. Offered the job by mail, Roth moved cm to Chicago and worked under Charles Atwood
Roth helped to prepare drawings for the celebrated Palace of Fine Arts. While at the fair, he met Richard Morris Hunt, the recognized dean of American architects, who offered to hire him if he ever came to New York. After the fair, with true to form optimism, Roth made his way to New York, where Hunt's casual offer was honored. Assigned to draft interior perspectives for The Breakers, the Newport mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Roth came in contact with Ogden Codman, a noted architect, interior designer and socialite. In 1895 Roth went to work for Codman, where his decorative and planning abilities were sharpened.
By 1898 Roth believed himself ready for private practice. Two young architects, Theodore G. Stein and E. Yancy Cohen, after involved negotiations, sold Roth their architectural practice for $1000. As part of the agreement, Roth was entitled to represent himself as a partner in Stein, Cohen & Roth in order to capitalize on the good will of the existing firm. In fact, Roth was on his own.
Roth's first major commission was the Hotel Bell eel aire of 1901-03 on upper Broadway, a designated New York City Landmark. While it was under construction Roth was approached by Leo and Alexander Bing, Manhattan real estate developers. The Bing brothers admired the Belleclaire and commissioned Roth to design a group of five-story apartment buildings in Washington Heights. This alliance inaugurated a lifelong association.
In the following years, Roth had several commissions, among them Bancroft Hall of 1910—a student housing facility for Columbia University, and a series of religious structures, including the Congregation Ahavith Achem of 1908 in Brooklyn and the First Reformed Hungarian Church of 1916 on Bast 69th Street in Manhattan.
The year 1918 was a traumatic one for Rath. He lost his vision in one eye, the result of glaucoma, and nearly died in the great influenza epidemic. But the prosperity of the 1920s was to carry him into a period of great achievement. After the hiatus in construction caused by the First World War, building was again undertaken. In New York City, a 1921 ordinance exempting new residential construction from real estate taxes for the next decade, opened the door to a building boon. The Bing brothers commissioned a series of apartment buildings and hotels from Roth, many of which Ruttenbaum aptly terms "fine background buildings," while two other developers, Samuel Minskoff and Harris H. Uris commissioned' Roth to design a number of handsome medium height apartment houses which the architect dubbed "skyscratchers."
In 1926 Roth in association with Thomas Hastings, the surviving partner of the eminent firm of Carrere & Hastings, designed the Ritz Tower at Park Avenue and 57th Street, a 41-story apartment hotel in a neo-Renaissance style, its extreme height malting it "a symbol of a new way to live for wealthy New Yorkers." After the Ritz Tower, Roth went on to design a host of luxury residential skyscrapers, among them the Oliver Cromwell Hotel on West 72nd Street , the San Remo Apartments on Central Park West, and as a consultant to Margon & Holder, the Art Deco style Eldorado Apartments also on Central Park West .
From the mid-1920s on, the signature of a major Roth apartment house was its tower. Initially designed to conceal water tanks, they evolved into a major element of the design. In the San Remo, among Roth's finest works, the towers become an integral component of this residential skyscraper. This fusing of the functional with the aesthetic was equally characteristic of his apartment plans. Roth's sons credit their father with the creation of the foyer plan, and if not the originator he was certainly a refiner of this type. Roth's best apartments seem effortlessly interlocked, wasteful corridor space reduced to a minimum, with spacious, well-lit rooms in their stead.
Roth's last great work was the Normandy Apartments on Riverside Drive of 1938-39 , by which time his sons had joined the firm. The majority of his later buildings in concession to the Depression had smaller apartments and fewer amenities, while still maintaining high standards. Roth died in 1947, and his sons continued the firm, which has been prosperous and prolific.
The Beresford
Officially completed on September 13, 1929, just a few weeks before the Black Friday stock market crash, the Beresford had been planned during the most halcyon days of the 1920s. It was constructed by the H.R.H. Construction Company, which also built the San Remo. In an article in the New Yorker magazine, Penthouse [Marcia Clarke Davenport] remarks that the Beresford demonstrates that one can still find "really large rooms, really high ceilings; and you can pay—very very well for them." She further admires the windows "by far the most triumphant feature," affording unobstructed views, and the "hung" ceilings without visible beams.
Die plans for the Beresford reflect the luxurious standard of living envisioned for its tenants. A number of apartments contained not only the usual maids' rooms, but "servants' halls." Other amenities were provided,
such as dressing rooms, large cedar storage closets, breakfast roans, sun porches and numerous bathrooms. Sane of the large duplex apartments were virtually the equivalent of a large townhouse, both in size and arrangement.
But the economic mayhem of the Depression years resulted in serious financial difficulties for the Beresford. In 1940, it was sold along with Roth's other grand Central Park West apartment, the San Remo, which had suffered a similar plight, for a mere $25,000 over existing mortgages, despite the fact that the combined value of these two structures has been estimated at a pre-Depression value of ten million dollars.
The Beresford has long been associated with famous tenants in the arts and shew business. It was converted to co-operative ownership in 1962.
Architectural style
The Beresford has been compared to a medieval fortress and to a grand country villa, both allusions to its commanding presence and traditional style. Although in fact a huge 20-story skyscraper with three surmounting water tanks, the blocky massive proportions of the building emphasize its Renaissance allusions. Emery Roth had a life-long predilection for classicism and eclecticism, both clearly revealed in the Beresford design, late Renaissance and vaguely Baroque details are used relatively sparingly but are key elements.
Roth's aesthetic treatment of water tanks, on many buildings merely a functional eyesore, is the salient example of the architect's ability to combine traditional architectural values and modern functional requirements. At the Beresford, the water tanks—originally planned with three "observation rooms" beneath—are transformed into elegant pavilions, and integral components of the overall design. This solution, with setbacks below, allows the corners of the facade to be perceived as tower pavilions. With Roth's next major commission, the San Remo, Roth took this concept even further, resulting in its grand twin towered profile.
The sculptural program of the Beresford deserves special note. Few buildings of its type and date have figural ornament in such profusion. Winged cherub heads adorn keystones, angels flank doorways, and high above the street and well beyond the range of the naked eye, half-figures of cherubs support cartouches and urns, while rams' heads and skulls support festoons. Best appreciated from the terraces, this detailing is a potent symbol of the architectural extravagance of the '20s.
Description
The Beresford Apartments is a 20-story skyscraper occupying the Central Park West block front between 81st and 82nd streets, with two principal elevations facing the avenue and the south. The north elevation is similarly detailed, but secondary owing to its placement. The rear elevation with a central courtyard is not ornamented. The building is constructed in buff brick with a limestone base, with sculptural detailing in limestone at the lower four stories, and in terra cotta at the upper stories, and with mission tile roofs, metal railings and grilles, and copper lanterns. There aire four main entrances, two on the south, one on the north and one on the avenue. These lead to separate elevator banks,
each elevator opening to only one or two apartments per floor. Apartments originally ranged in size from 4 to 16 roans, both simplex and duplex. One of the last of the grand apartments built prior to the Depression, the building is luxuriously detailed, both on the exterior and interior. The detail is in the style of the late Italian Renaissance. Setbacks appear at the 14th, 16th, 18th and 20th stories, providing terraces. Three water tanks in towers at the principal corners of the building are the crowning elements of the corner pavilions.
On the three street elevations, the first three stories are faced in limestone above a granite water table. The first story is separated by a bandcourse from the two above and has bush-hammered rustication. The upper two stories have smooth rustication. A broad bandcourse separates the limestone base from the main brick portion of the building. Bandcourses comprised of two terra-cotta moldings appear between the 9th and 10th stories, the 12th and 13th, and the 13th and 14th.
The fenestration on these three elevations is of one basic type with two metal casement windows, beneath a single-paned transom.
The building rises to the 14th story in an uninterrupted block, constructed to the building line. The setbacks above articulate the corner pavilions which aire surmounted by two-story penthouses and the watertank towers. Chimneys, beginning at the 18th story are centrally located, and a large chimney appears at the west end of the southern elevation.
Central Park West Elevation
This elevation is 29 bays wide with windows in groupings to the 14th story: 3-3-5-3-3-5-3-4. At the 14th story a balustraded terrace 16 bays wide is located between corner pavilions, 6 and 7 bays wide. The central 16 bay-portion continues to the 17th story above which are two further setbacks at the 19th and 20th stories. The corner pavilions on this elevation are 6 bays wide and 7 bays wide at the 14th and 15th stories; 5 bays wide each up to the 18th story and 3 larger bays each at the 19th. The two penthouse stories appear above these corner pavilions under the observation roans and watertank coverings.
A. Main Entrance: located between 15th and 16th bays.
A canopy on bronze supports, flanked by ground level plantings behind low simple metal guard rails. Double doors glazed with plain bronze muntins and mullions. Bronze and glass lanterns flanking the doorway. Doorway with limestone enframement with scrolled keystone and carved relief panels to each side, depicting Renaissance-style stands composed of acanthus leaves, symmetrically disposed and supporting a winged frontal figure of an angel playing a horn. Above, a broken lintel with a central large scrolled cartouche, with floral festoon. At second-story level a yellow marble panel with limestone enframement, with a winged cherub head in relief above a festoon suspended from rosettes, all beneath a lintel.
B.Office entrances: 2, located between 15th and 16th bays.
Set within reveals, single doors of bronze with glazed upper panel and glazed transom.
C.Balustrade: above 3rd story, 13th to 18th bays.
Carved in limestone relief, centered above main entrance, on modillions.
D.Plaque and cartouches: above 4th story, at 13th and 18th, 6th and 25th
bays.
Four scrolled cartouches enliven facade, 2 inner ones frame plaque with festoons, guttae, scrolls and cartouche, inscribed "Erected 1929".
E.Cartouche: 14th story, between 15th and 16th bays.
Above main entrance, large scale, with scrolls, set in center of balustrade . Held by flanking half-figures of winged cherubs which emerge from foliate ornament- Cherub heads atop and below the cartouche scrolls.
F.Windows: 10th and 11th stories; 3 bays wide, at 5th-7th, 13th-15th, 16th-18th, and 24th-26th bays.
Two-story groupings of windows in threes enframed by terra cotta, above bandcourse with pseudo-balustrades. Between the two stories a beribboned cartouche flanked by winged cherub heads and scrolled brackets. A rosette above the central 11th-story window of each grouping.
G.Windows: 14th and 15th stories, 3 bays wide, at 5th-7th bays, and 24th-26th bays.
located at the first setback level, groupings with rosettes beneath each window at the 14th story, a balcony projection at the central bay at this level, the rosette in an octagonal frame. The two-story composition enframed by brick pilasters supporting a triangular broken pediment. An ornamental grille at the center of the pediment. The central bays at each story with enframements. At the 14th story a curved broken pediment, with a ram's head at the center, supporting festoons, and a scroll above. The 15th story central window with cartouche and flanking festoons.
H.Windows: 19th and 20th stories, at 3rd and 27th bays.
Set in the corner pavilions, 2-story compositions with enframed windows separated by a balustrade. Pilasters at the 20th story on console brackets under a curved broken pediment, with a central segmental-arched dormer with a round-arched opening containing a grille. At the 20th story above the central window, a winged cherub head on a tablet, with festoons.
I.Cartouche: 17th story, between 15th and 16th bays.
An elaborate scrolled and beribboned cartouche, continuing central composition above the main entrance, also signalizing chimneys above. A
rami's skull at the base, with festoon.
J. Finials: above the 20th story.
Set at the corners of balustrades, at the 1st story of penthouses; urn-shaped.
Water tank towers
Octagonal, with broader faces set rectilinealy and narrower faces set diagonally. Four double-height round-arched windows above a balustrade, each flanked by engaged columns on console brackets, supporting a lintel and broken triangular pediment with a central bull's-eye opening with surmounting winged cherub head. Half-figures of cherubs emerging from foliate ornament flank and hold an urn with ram's head below. Drapery swags suspended from rosettes with a central scrolled keystone.
Interspersed by 4 square-headed blind windows surmounted by triangular broken pediments with central winged cherub heads in panels above. Beneath the windows console brackets support simple obelisk shaped finials. Copper and glass lanterns surmount the roofs.
South Elevation
This facade with two main entrances and three office doors is 30 bays wide with windows grouped in threes except in the outermost bays where there is a single pair at the east and and 2 pairs at the west, up to the 14th story, where the setbacks begin. From the 14th to 17th stories the center of the facade is 15 bays wide, flanked by 8 bays to the west and 7 to the east. Terraces appear at the 18th to 20th stories at the center. A large chimney rises from the 17th story beneath the western tower.
Main entrance: 2,at 5th-7th bays, and 23rd-25th bays.
A canopy on bronze supports, flanked by ground level plantings behind simple guard rails. Double doors with simple bronze muntins and mullions. Bronze and glass lanterns flank the doors. Doorway with limestone enframement and carved relief panels to each side, depicting Renaissance style stands of acanthus leaves, symmetrically disposed adorned with a pair of dolphins. Above, a curved broken pediment with a central scrolled cartouche, above a console bracket, ornamented with a festoon. At 2nd story level, an enframed central window with a winged cherub head beneath a lintel.
Office doors: 3, located at 14th, 19th and 28th bays. See "B." above.
Cartouches: above 4th story, at 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th bays.
Windows: 10th and 11th stories, at the 5th-7th, 11th-13th, 17th-19th, 23rd-25th bays.
See "F." above.
Windows: 14th and 15th stories, at the 5th-7th, 23rd-25th bays.
See "H." above.
Windows: 20th story, at 15th-16th bays.
Two windows with eared enframements, surmounted by a central cartouche.
Balustrade: 14th story, from the 8th to 22nd bays.
North elevation
This elevation has 29 bays in groupings of three with two additional bays at the west. A series of graduated setback terraces with curved parapet wall and metal railings appears at the westernmost five bays beginning at the 9th story and continuing to roof level.
Main entrance: 1, at 7th bay .
Single doorway, flanked by small glass and bronze lanterns. Surmounted by a cartouche set on the door enframent. A glazed transom, with metal grille, enframed, and surmounted by a garland, winged cherub head, and scroll.
Office doors: 4, at the 6th, 13th, 19th and 27th bays.
See "B." above. Cartouches: Above the 4th story at the 10th and 23rd bays.
Windows: 10th and 11th stories,
See "F." above.
Windows: 14th and 15th stories,
See "G." above.
Balustrade: 14th story, from 12th to 23rd bays.
Service Entrances: 2, at the westerly ends of the side street elevations.
Each one story in height, with round-arched doorways in a rusticated wall, with a metal grille gate, A winged cherub head keystone,
- From the 1987 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Prominently sited on the south side of West 72 Street at the foot of Riverside Park on Manhattan's Upper West Side, the Chatsworth Apartments and Annex are two exceptionally handsome apartment buildings that were constructed early in the twentieth century as luxury "housekeeping apartments" for an affluent clientele. Both structures were designed by architect John H. Scharsmith in the Beaux-Arts manner and feature exuberant French-inspired classical and Beaux-Arts detailing. , The Chatsworth Apartments: (1902 - 1904) at 344 West 72 Street, the older of the two structures, consists of two twelve-story blocks sharing a common base that extends through the block from West 72 Street to West 71 Street. The smaller Annex (1905 - 1906) at 340 West 72 Street, is a separate eight-story tower linked to the earlier building at its base. 'These two buildings, which are examples of the early twentieth century luxury apartment building, are also notable for their Beaux-Arts inspired design.. .
Development of the Upper West Side*
The Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam called the Upper West Side "Bloeraendael." Later, this area of Manhattan was known by the anglicized variant of Bloomingdale. In the early eighteenth century, Bloomingdale Road, which ran diagonally through the area approximating the course of an ancient Indian Trail main link to the city at the tip of Manhattan. The opening of the road prompted many wealthy New Yorkers to establish their country seats in its hinterland; later, the road's presence encouraged the gradual growth of small villages and hamlets along its course.
Although the Commissioners' Map of 1811 had imposed a uniform street grid on Manhattan, some fifty years elapsed before streets on the Upper West Side were actually laid out. In the interim, the bucolic character of Bloomingdale began to urbanize as its many country estates were carved into smaller farms and as numerous institutions began to establish themselves in the area. By midcentury. New York City found itself in the throes of expansion and transformation into a major metropolis. As the city's population continued to swell, mounting development pressures pushed residential development further north.! However, the bulk of this expansion was funnelled to the East Side, attracted there by existing mass transit facilities. Development in Bloomingdale proceeded slowly. Its pace was influenced by a complex interrelationship of factors which included successive waves of real estate speculation, the construction of a variety of civic improvements and, ultimately, the opening of reliable rapid transit, especially the Ninth Avenue El in 1879.
By the mid-188 0s, the pace of the Upper West Side* s residential development gathered an ever increasing momentum and by the early 1890s, the Upper West Side had become densely built up. The West 70s and 80s, in particular, had acquired .long stretches of rowhouses and this neighborhood quickly cultivated a reputation for being the Upper West Side's most desirable residential area. By the turn of the century, the Upper West Side had evolved, in the minds of many, into the city's most fashionable residential area. ^
The land occupied by the Chatsworth Apartments and Annex was originally within the Jacob Harsen farm. With the exception, of a narrow strip of land at the northerly portion of the block fronting on West 72 Street, this property remained in the Harsen family until 1873 when Jacob Harsen, M.D. conveyed it in lots and parcels. The narrow northerly strip was part of a larger parcel of land that was transferred , in 1867, to Gustavus A. Sacchi who thereafter sold it in lots and parcels.
This land, which remained vacant, was sold numerous times until it was eventually acquired by George F. Johnson. Johnson was a real estate developer active in Manhattan and the Bronx. He is credited with the development of the Hendrik Hudson Apartments in Morningside Heights area of Manhattan and was associated, in the Bronx, with much of the residential neighborhood which today comprises the Longwood Historic District. On May 14, 1903, Johnson transferred the Chatsworth Apartments site to the Johnson Kahn Company, a real estate concern of which he was a principal. A year earlier, the firm had made an application to the city's Department of Buildings for approval to erect a twelve story brick and stone apartment building according to the designs of architect John E. Scharsmith. The projected cost of this endeavor was placed; at $1,100,000- Construction commended September 23, ;1902, and the building was certified as complete on September 30, 1904.
Upon their completion, the two sections of the Chatsworth contained a total of 66 "housekeeping apartments." According! to the modest advertisements placed in numerous city newspapers to announce the opening of the Chatsworth, the building was "positively completed and ready for occupancy September First." Further, the ads noted that the Chatsworth offered apartment suites ranging in size from five rooms and bath to 15 rooms and bath. Leases, beginning October 1, 1904, ran from $900 to $5000.
plans were submitted to the Department of Buildings for approval to erect an eight-story "flat" of brick, 1imestone , and terra cotta (see figure 1, page 5), at a projected cost of $ 150,000. Once again the architect was John E. Scharsmith. Construction commenced on January 5, 1906 and the building was completed in early November. ^ In the interim, Johnson conveyed the land to the Johnson Kahn Company. The annex, when completed, contained eight large apartments, one on each floor. George Johnson, himself, occupied one of these units until his death at age 71 in 1918.16
The Apartment House
In 1901, architect Charles Israels noted that "...New York is a city of apartments." A mere thirty years earlier, the apartment house was regarded with suspicion. The private, single-family dwelling, however humble it might be, represented an entrenched ideal. "Every good Knickerbocker," observed Israels, "with even the roost modest pretensions, considered it his duty to house his family within four wells (sic) wherein he would be the sole lord and master? and the highest reach of his ambition was a brownstone front."
As the nineteenth century progressed it became increasingly difficult for many middle-class New- Yorkers .to find affordable single family houses in desirable neighborhoods. Due primarily to the high cost of vacant building lots, the construction of single family rowhouses declined. As apartment buildings became more popular, the value of available vacant land, which previously had been reserved for rowhouse construction, escalated even more dramatically. And since the cost of land was added to the purchase price of a newly constructed house, the cost of the average rowhouse soared to a point where not even the prosperous upper middle-class could afford to own their own home. *
it
Earlier in the century the subdivision of rowhouses into quarters for poor families or the conversion of single family houses to boarding houses had become common. As a result, multi- family dwelling arrangements had long been associated with some kind of deprivation or serious hardship. Those braver wealthy : families alternative to a single' family
• dwelling found themselves not only sacrificing the home values of
privacy and family unity so highly prized by the middle-class, but, also being stigmatized as irresponsible, if not immoral. If these ad hoc living arrangements were lacking in respectability, there was an even more frightening possibility: tenements. Tenements, the only model built expressly to house numerous families under one roof, were crowded, disease ridden and lacking in privacy. They were synonymous with poverty and not at all suited to middle-class sensibilities. 0
The negative connotations and the social stigma associated with multi-family living arrangements did nothing to cultivate any enthusiasm that New York's middle-class in the late nineteenth century may have had for apartment living. Before apartment living could acquire any measure of respectability and acceptance by the city's middle-class, an architectural solution mitigating the negative circumstances associated with existing prototypes had to evolve. At first, New York apartments were designed hesitantly; tenants' needs were unclear and architects' experience with the middle-class apartment house was lacking. During this period (1870s-1900), European models provided a useful reference point. Apartment houses of several types, including residential hotels, bachelor flats and French Flats, grew both in size and reputation. An admired example of an early apartment building was the Dakota, a designated New York City Landmark, designed by H. J. Hardenbergh and constructed in 1880-1884. 3 Unlike tenements and French Flats, the Dakota occupied a lot larger that 25' X 100', included more stories and was strictly intended for the well-to-do New Yorker.
Another device adopted to make the notion of apartment living more palatable was the tendency to give individual apartment houses names. This practice can be traced to English tradition where a name identified a house in locations where street numbers were lacking. * In New York, where the streets did have numbers and where every apartment building had a perfectly acceptable address, a building name served another need. Giving apartment buildings names, especially exotic ones, did confer a certain cache and a specific identity on them. 5
'Given the situation of tenants learning to live in these new apartment buildings . . . the practice of naming them eased the way> It was more comfortable to come home to the "Evelyn" than to a street number; the name gave the building a little more personality, a
little more to identify as home, and remains an identifying device for high priced apartment houses today.
The Chatsworth, of course, was no exception to this practice. The name "Chatsworth" can be traced to England. It comes from the estate of the Dukes of Devonshire which was originally built in 1552 by William Cavendish and Elizabeth Hardwick.
The surge in apartment building construction, which began in the 1870s, rose through the 1880s and 1890s to almost totally supplant new construction of private houses as a middle-class dwelling type in New York. Questions of both physical design and social mores affecting the development of acceptable apartment buildings led, by 1905, to an articulated set of "proper" planning practices for buildings as a whole as well as for the individual family units. 8 Modern equipment such as central heating, elevators, built-in bath and kitchen equipment combined with telephone, refrigeration and laundry systems to create a fully serviced building which made modern urban life a reality for Manhattan's middle classes. The Chatsworth, for example, offered a conservatory on the mansard "story," a sun parlor, billiard parlor, a cafe, a first class barbershop, ladies hair dressing parlor, a valet and tailor service. Electric bus service was also maintained along 72nd Street from Central Park West to the building. 9
Apartment House Design at the Turn of the Century
The period of classical eclecticism in American architecture beginning in the 1890s coincided almost exactly with the era of the luxury apartment building. Since architects of the era had little experience with apartment buildings they looked to contemporary, low-scale residential work for design clues to find, an an appropriate stylistic expression that would reinforced the acceptability of the apartment house as an alternative to the single family dwelling. At the turn of the century this entailed adapting classically inspired prototypes which had only recently evolved for three, four and; five story buildings to structures twice of three times as tall*
Harmon GoIdstone maintains that the process which arose to meet this challenge may well be termed "design by inflation." Bases were blown up to two, three and even four stories in height. Friezes were enlarged to include up to two full stories. Cornices were given either an exaggerated projection in an attempt to hold down the sheer mass of these buildings, or else they were lowered a few stories to accommodate an enlarged attic or mansard roof in order to reduce the building's apparent height. The shaft of the building was treated more or less with uniformity; Bandcourses, balconies and pedimented windows were introduced to relieve what otherwise would have been a monotonous expanse while such vertical elements as pilasters, tiers of bay windows or of rusticated stone were blown up into multi-story elements. GoIdstone notes that those apartment buildings which can be considered among the most successful examples of classically inspired design are those to which horizontal rhythms were the most imaginatively adapted.
The Architect
When John E. Scharsmith designed the Chatsworth Apartments and Annex, he was probably at the pinnacle of his career. It was roughly at this time that he worked on one of the few other commissions that can be solely attributed to him, the Swiss Home (1904 - 1905) at 35 West 67th Street. While Keys to the Architects of Greater New York, published 1899, Indicates that Scharsmith specialized in residential work, his only known residential work, besides the Chatsworth Apartments and Annex and the Swiss Home, is a group of five row houses at 529 - 537 West 187th Street in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.
Prior to anglicizing his surname from Schaarschmidt, probably in 1895, Scharsmith is known to have maintained an architectural office at 12 Chambers Street for a brief period before relocating to 1267 Broadway. 5 In 1893, he evidently entered into some sort of collaborative effort with architects Thorn & Wilson (also at 1267 Broadway), who are remembered as the architects of the Harlem Court House, a designated New York City Landmark, as well as numerous rowhouses and apartment buildings. While this liaison was brief, lasting roughly a year, it was sufficient enough for Thorn and Wilson and : Schaarschmidt to produce; the design for the New Criminal Court Building (replaced in 1939 by the present Tombs and Criminal Court Building).
According to directories, Scharsmith continued to maintain an architectural office at various addresses in the Madison Square and midtown areas of Manhattan until 1911.8 During this period he resided in a number of locations in Hamilton Heights. In 1912 he was still listed as an architect but no longer in Manhattan. Instead he had relocated his practice to 1910 Morris Avenue in the Bronx. 9 By 1913, Scharsmith had evidently abandoned his architectural career in favor of one in real estate. In that year directories list him as the president of J. and A. Real Estate at 2645 Jerome Avenue. Evidently this concern was a family venture for numerous family members are listed as officers of the firm. Scharsmith now resided next door at 2641 Jerome Avenue.
Architectural Description
The Chatsworth Apartments, which consists of two separate twelve-story blocks sharing a common base and entry, fills an irregular site defined by the abandoned railroad yards to its west. The tower fronting on West 72 Street and overlooking Riverside Park to the north resembles, in plan, a modified "0"
The organization of the Chatsworth's main, or West 72 Street facade, reveals a delicate interplay of both horizontal and vertical elements. The prevailing horizontal organizational theme expressed is the one of base, shaft and capital, reminiscent of the column, which helps to reduce the building's apparent height. Another effort aimed at counteracting the verticality of the building is evident in the use of specific ornamental motifs that are limited to one or two stories and not employed elsewhere on the building.
The base is of rusticated limestone and rises three stories where it is terminated with a convex frieze and a cornice. The first floor contains the building's entry which is partially obscured by a white wrought-iron porch that replaced the original entry canopy. The entry is flanked on either side by three windows. Each of these windows is capped with voussoirs and a scrolled keystone. Crowning the first floor is a frieze and a bandcourse. The fenestration at the second floor is set into molded surrounds with console brackets carrying a triangular pediment. At the third floor the fenestration is set into molded surrounds.
The mid-section, analogous to column shaft, consists of seven stories faced in russet colored brick with limestone trim and detailing. The mid-section springs from the cornice of the base and continues through a transitional zone at the fourth floor where most of the fenestration is set into molded surrounds with console brackets supporting broken triangular pediments. The fourth floor is terminated by a continuous molding course. The fifth through eighth floors, which constitute the bulk of the mid-section, is uniformly treated with fenestration set in Gibbs surrounds. Plain limestone spandrels are set between windows of each floor. The mid-section enters another transitional zone with a molded course above the eighth floor; at the ninth floor it is differentiated from the lower section by the use of solid 1imestone bays with fenestration that is articulated with either pilaster surrounds carrying a triangular pediment or a shelf lintel. At the tenth floor round arches articulate the> five center bays from which garlanded half-caryatids function as brackets supporting the heavy denticulated and modillioned cornice which terminates the midsection.
The upper section, analogous to capital, reaches down to embrace the eleventh story which is partially obscured by the wrought-iron fence of the balcony that is formed by the top of
the cornice. The fenestration at this floor is once again set into Gibbs surrounds, The keystones of these openings also serve as brackets to support a secondary cornice from which the slate mansard roof springs. The twelfth floor features molded window surrounds capped with segmental arched pediments. The top of the mansard, which contained the building's conservatory, has two sets of three-over-three over-sized windows set into molded architraves.
The facade * s more complex vertical articulation features seven bays symmetrically disposed in a subtle A-B-C-D-C-B-A rhythm. The end or, "A," bays project slightly from the base through to the mansard to suggest discreet end pavilions. These pavilions are set off from the rest of the facade by the use of paired windows at each floor except the first floor, which contains a single opening, and the ninth floor where a single story limestone faced, angled oriel rises from the keystone of the eighth floor window surround. The oriel contains three windows in separate surrounds and is supported by a garlanded human figure. These pavilions are further set apart from the rest of the composition by the use of two garlanded cartouches rather than half-caryatid brackets to support the cornice. Directly above these cartouche brackets at the eleventh floor two squat blocks break up the continuity of the balcony railing reinforcing the articulation of the end pavilions. At the twelfth floor the end pavilions are given further emphasis with window surrounds that rise two stories into the mansard roof and recall Baroque precedents. These limestone surrounds contain two pilasters flanked by two attenuated piers and surmounted by a blind niche containing a medallion with a human bust. The surround is capped with a broken triangular pediment.
The central five bays, B-C-D-C-B, contain numerous vertical elements which function to differentiate them from the end pavilions. Rusticated pilasters spring from the first floor impost blocks that consist of garlanded shields capped by festooned elk heads, rise two stories, terminate in an Ionic capital, and support a convex projecting frieze which is crowned by a cornice. Flanking each pilaster's capital are stylized console brackets embellished with garlanded human busts between which nestles an antlered animal bust. The unification of the five central bays is once again achieved at the tenth floor where the round arched openings have scrolled keystones. Further;, between each arch, rising from an impost at a point roughly; between the ninth and tenth floors, elongated half-caryatids with
-garlands rise to; support the building's main cornice |
Bays "B" and "D" are essentially similar. At the second floor of each bay is a pedimented window surround containing a garlanded cartouche in the tympanum. Tripartite-arched windows are found at the tenth floor. The most striking commonality is a six-story angled bay which rises from the base at the fourth floor and terminates in a triangular pediment at the ninth floor. The angled bays project from the brick plane of the facade with quoins marking the point of projection. The side of each bay is faced in 1imestone while its front plane is of russet brick articulated by quoins. At the fourth floor limestone cherubs seated on blocks recline against either side of each bay.
The facade * s center bay "D" differs from the two "Bs" in that it contains the entry treatment for the building. At the first floor this consists of a white wrought-iron portico which replaced the original. The portico partially obscures the main entrance to the building. At the second floor, a curved projecting balcony with a simple white wrought-iron fence projects over the entry portico below. At the eleventh, floor the "D" bay contains a series of three windows set into a common Gibbs surround while the "C" bays contained two separate window openings each of which is set into its own Gibbs surround. Above the eleventh story cornice, the "D" bay once again features a series of three grouped windows but they are set into a common, two-story-high Baroque surround. This elaborate surround is composed of a set of pilasters flanking the windows and supports a garlanded frieze and cornice from which a round-arched niche set between pilasters carrying a triangular pediment rises.
The remaining "C" bay features fenestration containing a single window opening at each story. The triangular pediment at its second floor contains no ornamentation in its tympanum while the pediment at the fourth floor is round-arched and contains a shell motif. Rising from a blind balustrade at the ninth story is a window surmounted by a shelf lintel carried on brackets. At the tenth floor a single, narrow window pierces the facade under the bay's arched opening. The single windows at the eleventh, twelfth and mansard levels are the same as those at bay "B." Bay "C" contains no angled bay nor oriel windows, but rather, is faced with brick with limestone quions.
The Chatsworth' s rear, or West 71 Street facade, rises to 13 stories and is also organized along horizontal lines expressing the theme of base, shaft or mid-section, and capital or upper section. The five bays comprising this elevation are symmetrically ordered into a vertical A-B-C-B-A rhythm. Lacking, however, is the vast amount of sumptuous Beaux-Arts ornament and sculpture that characterizes the building's West 72 Street facade.
The base consists of two stories and a transitional third floor terminated by a narrow stone band course. The first floor is faced in rusticated limestone that is punctuated by flat- arched window openings. At the second and third stories, wide projecting bands of limestone alternate with bands of multi- coursed russet brick. The fenestration is set into Gibbs surrounds. Separating these two floors are a series of band courses which herald the transitional nature of the third floor.
The mid-section, consisting of the seven stories between the transitional third and eleventh floors, is clad in russet brick that is articulated with tightly laid stone quoins. All fenestration at each of the seven floors has Gibbs surrounds and footed stone sills. Unornamented rectangular limestone spandrels are set between the windows of each level. A pair of narrow band courses, separated by a band of multi-coursed bricks set between limestone spandrels, caps the tenth floor and provides the transition to the eleventh floor. The eleventh floor is treated like the second and third floors save that the alternating horizontal bands of 1imestone and multi-coursed brick are laid flush. The window openings here are set into molded surrounds which are capped with limestone spandrels.
The upper section reaches down to embrace the transitional eleventh floor which is crowned by a bracketed cornice.' The treatment of the twelfth floor essentially mirrors that of the eleventh except that twelfth floor window surrounds are further embellished with keystones. Completing the twelfth story is a molded band course from which springs a slate covered mansard roof with window openings set into molded surrounds that are crowned with segmental; arched pediments.
The end, or "A," bays feature a single window opening at each story. At the eleventh floor, the window is flanked by cartouche brackets which lend additional support to the cornice they carry. The "B" sections of the facade have a single window at the first and second floor but feature a three-sided angled bay which originates just below the horizontally transitional third floor and rises eight stories where it is terminated by a triangular pediment. Each side of the bay contains a single window at every floor. At the eleventh, twelfth and mansard levels two separate windows punctuate the facade. The nC" bay consists of a series of three separate windows at each story. At the base, one of the window openings is actually a service entry door. At the mansard level, these windows share a common segmental pediment whose tympanum is ornamented with a foliate motif.
Although the Annex rises only eight stories, its three identical bays are ordered to echo the horizontal theme of base, shaft or mid-section and capital or upper section employed on both facades of the Chatsworth. An area way wall built of concrete blocks in a webbed pattern is a recent addition and partially obscures the first floor of the building. Entry to the annex is gained through a small pavilion located to the west and wedged in between the Annex and the Chatsworth. This pavilion, which is faced with heavily rusticated limestone, rises one story and is terminated by a cornice and a pent roof. At the center is an elaborate entry treatment consisting of a set of double-leaf wood and fifteen-light glass doors surmounted by a transom enlivened with dentils and a wreath. The doors and transom are set into a flat arched molded opening which features a bay leaf garland hood mold. Crowning the hood mold is a segmental arched pediment with dentils. Its tympanum contains a shell-like niche which protects a garlanded human bust set on C scrolls which reach down and partially obscure the hood molding. At either side of the niche are cherubs. Planking the entry composition are rectangular projecting niches, presented vertically, which contain a human figure. Cartouches rest in the frieze below the cornice.
The base of the building consists of two stories plus a
transitional third floor.. The first two floors are of heavily rusticated limestone and terminate in a frieze. The fenestration at the first floor consists of three round-arched window openings articulated by voussoirs, console keystones and tympani embellished with cartouches. The three flat arched windows of the second floor feature molded surrounds with footed sills. These windows are further set between a pair of oversized stylized console brackets with garlanded.lions heads which carry three separate shelf lintels. The third floor is faced in smooth limestone and capped by a molded band course. The fenestration pattern of this level echoes that of the first two floors. Each of the three windows is enframed by molded surrounds, bay leaf garland hood molds, a molded cornice supported by console brackets. Each window is further crowned by a stylized triangular pediment resting on small brackets.
The mid-section consists of the fourth through seventh stories and partially embraces the transitional third and eighth floors. The mid-section is clad in limestone ashlar that is also used at the third floor. It is terminated by a molded band course above the seventh floor. The regular fenestration, which is employed at the fourth through seventh floors, consists of three bays each of which contains two flat-arched openings separated by a stone mullion but unified by a common molded surround and footed sill.
The upper section begins at the eleventh floor. The transitional character of this level is somewhat apparent from its use of a limestone ashlar facade. The fenestration pattern consists of three bays, each of which contains three window openings separated by stone mullions and unified by a common molded surround. Each set of windows is placed between a stylized cartouche set into a wreath from which spring a pair of oversized brackets that rise to support the large, projecting cornice which terminates the composition.
Conclusion
Along with its other nearby Upper West Side contemporaries, the Ansonia Hotel and the Dorilton Apartments, the Chatsworth recalls an era when wealthy New Yorkers began to forsake the practice of maintaining large houses in favor of residing in luxurious apartment buildings. In the case of the Chatsworth and its Annex, architect John E. Scharsmith successfully reinforced the effect of luxury by relying on a large-scale design, an exuberant use of classical detail and a sumptuous choice of materials to produce an elaborate essay in the grand French Beaux-Arts architectural tradition. Furthermore, both buildings, due to their conspicuous siting at the foot of Riverside Park, provide an appealing and arresting visual terminus from Riverside Park, Riverside Drive and the Henry Hudson Parkway at the north. Although these buildings retain their original design and ornament, their apartments have been subdivided into smaller units. The Chatsworth and the Chatsworth Annex remain in use as apartment houses offering commanding views of the Hudson River and the Palisades.
- From the 1984 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
The legend of Lemuria is a unique blend of 19th-century scientific speculation and modern spiritual myth. It refers to a hypothetical lost continent, often placed in the Indian or Pacific Oceans, said to be home to an advanced, spiritually enlightened civilization before being destroyed by volcanic eruptions and swallowed up by the sea.
According to legend, Lemurians were telepathic beings who lived in perfect harmony with nature and utilized advanced technologies. They’re alleged to have had fabulous science, including the secret of gravity which resulted in dirigible-like airships, possessing no screws or wings or gondolas. Instead, the whole interior of the ship was utilized for passengers and freight. The pyramids were invented by “Mu,” a name used interchangeably with “Lemuria,” and popularized by James Churchward in the 1920s.
There are even Lemurian legends connected with the USA. Mt. Shasta is linked with that ancient people. Survivors of Lemuria are said to have fled to the California mountain where they established a highly advanced, multi-layered "City of Light" called Telos. Lemurians are described as seven-foot-tall beings with long hair, often seen wearing white robes and sandals, who communicate through crystals, and who possess psychic abilities such as telepathy.
Lemuria and Atlantis are described as overlapping civilizations. While Lemuria is generally considered the much older "motherland," their histories are deeply intertwined. While Lemuria’s peak is often cited between 33,000 and 13,000 B.C., Atlantis is said to have thrived and eventually reached its own peak while the last remnants of Lemuria were still sinking. As Lemuria began to be destroyed by volcanic fire and tectonic shifts, the focus of human civilization shifted toward the rising continent of Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean.
from San Francisco City Guides
The Cobweb Palace
by James Smith
Mid-nineteenth century San Francisco demanded entertainment. Pockets jingled with gold. The mines, the burgeoning shipping business, the merchant trade, and wild speculation fueled a runaway economy. Keyed to a fever pitch, the City wanted to play to blow off steam. San Franciscans were soon to show the world that they were not only getting rich, but knew how to spend it as well.
Abe Warner opened his Cobweb Palace at the foot of Meigg's Wharf on the northeast corner of Francisco and Powell Streets in 1856. His establishment earned its name by the curtains of cobwebs hanging from the rafters. Abe admired both spiders and their webs. Crowds gathered at Abe's tavern to view his extensive collection of oddities.
The Cobweb Palace displayed scrimshaw carved from sperm whale teeth and walrus tusks. Totem poles from Alaska adorned the entryway. Wonders from the Orient included Japanese No masks. War clubs and the like from the South Pacific and taxidermy of all sorts joined the collection.
Abe's live menagerie included trained parrots, monkeys, and various small animals as well as the occasional bear and kangaroo. One parrot named Warner Grandfather often spouted, "I'll have a rum and gum. What'll you have?" He swore in four languages and enjoyed the freedom of the saloon.
An old crippled sailor sat outside Abe's bar selling peanuts to young couples and children. Meant for tourists, the peanuts often found their way from little hands into the mouths of the parrots and monkeys. All manner of food and leftovers fed the bears. Abe spent almost nothing feeding his animals.
A visit to Meigg's Wharf offered a day of excitement. More than just a hangout for sailors and sea captains, Meigg's Wharf and the Cobweb Palace exuded a carnival atmosphere. On any Sunday, young couples and families strolled on the wharf, taking in the sights, visiting the shops, testing their skill at the shooting gallery, and sampling Abe's free chowder. The Palace offered a new experience for the locals and tourists: pier- side dining. The Dungeness crabs were sweet, succulent, and sure to please. Customers dined on simple fare of cracked crab, clam chowder, mussels, and an excellent local French bread.
Abe had a fancy for tawdry paintings of nudes, and reputedly collected over a thousand. Dust and cobwebs obscured most of those hung on the walls. He was a tidy man, well groomed and of good reputation, the cleanliness of his bar notwithstanding. Abe held court over all from his usual position behind the bar. Though the drink of choice at Abe's was a hot toddy made of whisky and gin boiled with cloves, he also served the finest liquors and brandies from France.
Abe Warner retired in 1897 at the age of 80. By then, the state of Meigg's Wharf reflected a serious decline in business. The shipping trade returned to the piers by the new Ferry Building where the wide Embarcadero Road and new rail lines could quickly dispatch goods.
A breakwater surrounded Meigg's Wharf in the late nineteenth century, and the later landfill to that breakwater put the location of Abe's Cobweb Palace inland. That location, 2200 Powell Street, now houses a U.S. Post Office branch, over four blocks from the Embarcadero and the Bay.
Used by permission: James R. Smith, San Francisco's Lost Landmarks, Word Dancer Press, Sanger, CA © 2005, 2007
www.sfcityguides.org/public_guidelines.html?article=70&am...
Ischia under fire
The emergency of blazes and bushfires are damaging South Italy. This is only a cause of hot weather and high temperatures? Autorithies don’t think so, and the trail of criminal intents is followed.
In Peschici on south east in Apulia, a deep crisis of blazes is explosed in the end of July where a lots of tourist of hotels and camping are escaped losing everything helped only by some fishermen during the laterness of benefit associations’ arrive . This news was the great exploit of this year for reintroduce this problem in italian journalism reports...But what does it means that criminal intents are interested in this situation?
Last week I was in Ischia, an Italian island near by Naples, here, where the racket organisation of Camorra is deeply present. Fire has start to shine in the night of Sunday on a rocky hill with few houses. Here fire was extinguished only at 12 p.m of Saturday because the difficult clime situation ( a strong wind and a sunny day) and the presence of other 137 important fires all around Campania has delay the action of benefit associations.
In Italy laws establish that on a burned ground is prohibited to do anything, but, in this duty time, Camorra and racket organizations promote their illegal building speculation. After, when a “eco moster” a great unauthorized built is done, is possibile to legalize it with a money remission.For eliminating this hard situation, the State invite regions and town damaged by this problem to create some land registries where to signal zones hit by this emergency.Today this acts of pyromaniacs are punished with 7 years of prison but is hard to find guilties.
Where Mars was observed during Winter, 1896-97.
Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. In 1894, he chose Flagstaff, Arizona as the home of his new observatory, the now famous Lowell Observatory. For the next fifteen years, he studied Mars extensively, and made intricate drawings of the surface markings as he perceived them. He was particularly interested in the canals of Mars, as drawn by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory. Lowell published his views in three books: “Mars” (1895), “Mars and Its Canals” (1906), and “Mars As the Abode of Life” (1908).
Lowell’s works include a full account of the “canals,” single and double, the “oases,” as he termed the dark spots at their intersections, and the varying visibility of both, depending partly on the Martian seasons. He theorized that an advanced but desperate culture had built the canals to tap Mars’ polar ice caps, the last source of water on an inexorably drying planet.
While this idea excited the public, the astronomical community was skeptical. Many astronomers could not see these markings, and few believed that they were as extensive as Lowell claimed. In 1909 the sixty-inch Mount Wilson Observatory telescope in Southern California allowed closer observation of the structures Lowell had interpreted as canals, and revealed irregular geological features, probably the result of natural erosion. The existence of canal-like features was definitely disproved in the 1960s by NASA’s Mariner missions. Today, the surface markings taken to be canals are regarded as an optical illusion.
Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last decade of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond Neptune. In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory, discovered Pluto near the location expected for Planet X. Partly in recognition of Lowell's efforts, a stylized P-L monogram – the first two letters of the new planet's name and also Lowell's initials – was chosen as Pluto's astronomical symbol.
Although Lowell's theories of the Martian canals are now discredited, his building of an observatory at the position where it would best function has been adopted as a principle for all observatories. He also established the program and an environment which made the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh possible. Craters on the Moon and on Mars have been named after Percival Lowell. He has been described by other planetary scientists as "the most influential popularizer of planetary science in America before Carl Sagan". Lowell is buried on Mars Hill near his observatory. [Source: Wikipedia]
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm
Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The 332 West 83rd Street House, designed by well-known architect and developer Clarence F. True, was built on speculation in 1898-99 as one house of a picturesque group of six houses on the southeast corner of Riverside Drive and West 83rd Street. Today the 332 West 83rd Street House is architecturally significant and as one of the five extant houses in this group represents the first period of development on Riverside Drive. True designed several hundred houses, primarily in groups, on the Upper West Side in the years between 1890 and 1901, and was largely responsible for promoting the development and establishing the character of lower Riverside Drive.
The houses in the group at Riverside and West 83rd Street were designed in True's signature "Elizabethan Revival" style based on French and English Renaissance prototypes and built by True's development firm, the Riverside Building Company; they are the northernmost of True's designs built along the Drive. The design of the 332 West 83rd Street House is characterized by such picturesque elements as an asymmetrically-placed bowfront, contrasting red Roman brick and limestone facing, segmentally- arched and rectangular openings, keyed surrounds, decorative ironwork, a steeply-pitched tile roof with a gable, a dormer, prominent chimneys, and end-walls. All of the houses in the group were originally designed with projecting bowfronts or bays and low stoops, but these features on the houses along Riverside Drive became the focus of an interesting legal controversy several years after construction.
As the result of a lawsuit brought by an adjacent property owner, the court ruled in 1903 that no one had the authority to place permanent encroachments onto public thoroughfares, and the owners of the houses facing onto Riverside Drive were thus ordered to remove the projections. In 1911 these facades were removed and rebuilt to follow the diagonal of the Riverside Drive property lines. The 332 West 83rd Street House (owned by Robert E. Dowling, president of the City Investing Co.) apparently was not subject to the lawsuit as it does not face the Drive. It remains unaltered in its original picturesque Elizabethan Revival design.
The Development of Riverside Drive
The Upper West Side, known as Bloomingdale prior to its urbanization, remained largely undeveloped until the 1880s. In the early eighteenth century, Bloomingdale Road (later renamed the Boulevard and finally Broadway in 1898) was opened through rural Bloomingdale and provided the northern route out of the city which was then concentrated at the southern tip of Manhattan. The Upper West Side was included in the Randel Survey of 1811 (known as the Commissioners' Map) which established a uniform grid of avenues and cross streets in Manhattan as far north as 155th Street, although years elapsed before streets on the Upper West Side were actually laid out, some as late as the 1870s and 1880s, and the land was subdivided into building lots. Improved public transportation to the area contributed to the growth and sustained development of the Upper West Side, particularly the completion in 1879 of the Elevated Railway on Ninth Avenue (renamed Columbus Avenue in 1890).
The biggest boost to the development of the West End (the area west of Broadway), however, was the creation of Riverside Drive and Park (a designated New York City Scenic Landmark). The presence of the Park and Drive was an important factor in making this area desirable for high-quality residential development. In 1865 the first proposal for converting the land on the Upper West Side along the eastern shore of the Hudson River into an ornamental park had been presented by Park Commissioner William R. Martin. The purchase of the park site and initial plans were approved in 1866. The drive, as proposed at this time, was to be a straight 100-foot wide road; however, this plan was impractical due to the existing topography. Hired by the Commissioners in 1873, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) , already distinguished by his collaboration with Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) in the successful design for Central Park, proposed an alternate scheme.
Olmsted's design for Riverside Park and Drive took into consideration the pre-existing topography, landscape possibilities, and views, resulting in a park and drive that would be amenable for horses and pleasure driving, would provide shaded walks for pedestrians, and would also allow easy access to and scenic vistas from the real estate bordering it on the east. Olmsted's plan was adopted by the Commissioners but the park was not executed under his supervision, due to his departure from New York City; it was actually developed between 1875 and 1900 by other designers including Vaux, Samuel Parsons, and Julius Munckwitz, who did not adhere to Olmsted's original scheme in its entirety. By the fall of 1879, work was completed between 72nd and 85th Streets, and Riverside Avenue (as it was called until 1908) was opened to the public in 1880.
The Drive, from West 72nd Street to approximately 129th Street, where it is effectively terminated by the viaduct and the Manhattanville fault, has a particularly strong character derived from its curves that break with the regular street grid and its location overlooking the park and the Hudson River. Riverside Park and Drive fulfilled the Park Commissioners' plans for promoting the development of the area west of Broadway. The numerous and exceptional advantages of the location, namely, its situation on a plateau, its "advantages of pure air and beautiful surroundings, glimpses of New Jersey hills . . . [and] the nearness of parks," assisted in making the area along Riverside Drive prime real estate, deserving of the highest character of residential development.
Development of the West End began slowly due to speculation, the hesitation of developers, and to the relative inconvenience of transportation compared to the area east of Broadway. By 1885, however, the whole Upper West Side had emerged as the area in the city experiencing the most intense real estate speculation. The expectation that the blocks along Riverside Drive and West End Avenue would be lined with mansions kept the value of these lots, as well as adjacent land, consistently higher and developers were willing to wait to realize profits from the potentially valuable sites.
The initial development along Riverside Drive mostly took the form of single-family town houses and rowhouses, although some freestanding mansions were built there. Luxury apartment buildings, as they gained in popularity toward the turn of the century, also appeared. Most of the single-family residences on the Upper West Side were speculatively-built rowhouses along West End Avenue and Riverside Drive the houses tended to be larger and more elegant than those on the side streets.
Architect-developer Clarence True, who characterized the Drive and its vicinity as "the most ideal home-site in the western hemisphere — the Acropolis of the world's second city," was largely responsible for the promotion of lower Riverside Drive as an attractive residential thoroughfare and his work there, like the group at 83rd Street, did much to establish the character of the area in the 1890s.
Clarence F. True and the Elizabethan Revival Style
Clarence Fagan True (1860-1928) was a prolific and well-known architect (and later architect-developer) who designed, almost solely, rowhouses and town houses and practiced mainly on the Upper West Side of Manhattan during the years from 1890 to 1901. Bom in Massachusetts, he came to New York City in 1880 and was trained in the office of Richard M. Upjohn beginning around 1881; he was listed in directories in 1884 and established his own firm in 1889. True received his commissions primarily from speculative builders and developers who were rapidly constructing houses throughout the Upper West Side.
True is documented as having designed at least 270 houses on the Upper West Side, the majority located west of Broadway between 71st and 107th Streets. Diverse and eclectic in architectural style and massing, these houses contribute greatly to the architectural character of the Upper West Side. He also designed some twenty houses in Harlem, including several now located in the Hamilton Heights and Mount Morris Park Historic Districts. In 1893 he published a prospectus of his work, Designs of 141 Dwelling Houses, in which he stated his aim of creating distinctive well- designed houses, both in interior plan and exterior appearance, that would mark a shift away from the homogeneity of the standard New York City brownstone rowhouse. True's executed work demonstrated that he succeeded in his ambitions.
True was primarily an architect of rowhouse groups. In his houses of the early 1890s, True employed a variety of contemporary architectural styles, frequently mingling them in an eclectic fashion; these included the popular Romanesque and Renaissance Revival styles, as well as the Francois I and a style he called "Elizabethan Revival" which was based on French and English Renaissance prototypes.
In 1894 True began to work in part as his own developer and later formed the Riverside Building Company. A second prospectus, fA True History ofl Riverside Drive (1899), pictured many of the houses for the Riverside Building Company, including the group of six houses at 102 to 107-109 Riverside Drive and 332 West 83rd Street which were then under construction and completed later that same year. In this prospectus True promoted the development of lower Riverside Drive:
Mr. Clarence True, who had erected houses upon some of the lower lots, became so thoroughly impressed with the possibilities of the river front as a residence district that he secured all the available property south of 84th street, and by covering it with beautiful dwellings, insured a most promising future for the Drive.
The area along and adjacent to Riverside Drive, from 75th to 85th Streets, includes the densest concentration of extant houses designed by True; many of these are now included in the West End-Collegiate and Riverside Drive-West 80th-81st Streets Historic Districts.
These houses along the Drive — including No. 332 West 83rd Street and the other houses in the corner group — are characteristic of most of True's mature work; all were designed in the architect's highly idiosyncratic and readily identifiable "Elizabethan Revival" style. True's rowhouses in this vein are typified by lively silhouettes, composed of such elements as steeply-pitched roofs that often have curved or stepped gables, chimneys, stepped end-walls, turrets, bowed fronts, projecting three-sided and square bays, and dormers.
The facades, varied within the group, also display a variety of contrasting materials, including fine brick and stone, and such features as quoins, keyed surrounds, stylized cornices, crenellation, parapets, and decorative ironwork. True's interest in the use of varied colors of building materials is also evident in the group at Riverside and 83rd — the brick colors graduate in hue from house to house, from tan to light orange to orange to red.
True was one of the architects who greatly popularized the American basement plan for rowhouse design in New York City during these years. He received much favorable notice in the architectural press of the 1890s, which published a number of his designs. Real Estate Record & Guide (1893) stated that True "has earned quite a reputation for the novelty of the ideas he has carried out in a large number of houses built from his designs on the West Side in the last few years.
The old method of high stoop construction has been abandoned ... the houses are entered almost on a level with the street." Architecture and Building (1893) noted: "The facades show great variety and taste, and the plans, many of them upon narrow lots, ingenuity and skill in arrangement.ul A History of Real Estate, Building, and Architecture in New York (1899) considered True "probably the best known New York architect designing almost entirely residential structures His
work as exemplified by his houses is a credit both to himself and the city."
True also designed several apartment houses, hote 1 s, and sma 11 commercial structures, as well as a church building in Harlem. Little is known about the end of his career, but it appears to coincide with the demise of rowhouse construction in New York City after the turn of the century. His last directory listing was in 1910, although Clarence True & Son received a listing in 1916-17. True died in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1928, and was buried in Middletown, Connecticut.
Ackerman vs. True
An interesting controversy developed around the construction of the houses at 102 to 107-109 Riverside Drive, the others in the group of which No. 332 West 83rd Street is a part, which affected the design of their main facades eleven years after completion. Clarence True had obtained permission from the Commissioner of Parks in 1898 to erect projections beyond the building lines (his designs featured low stoops, areaways, bowfronts and bays) and paid a fee based on the square footage of the projections. Building encroachments onto public property, a fairly common practice in New York City during the nineteenth century, became an increasingly debated topic at the turn of the century, however, as evidenced by the numerous lawsuits filed and by discussions in such periodicals as Real Estate Record & Guide.
A lawsuit was brought against Clarence True, after the completion of the houses at Riverside Drive and West 83rd Street, by the adjacent property owner, Charlotte Y. Ackerman, who had purchased from True the lot to the south of the group. Ackerman's case argued that the projecting bowfronts and stoops on the houses next to her property were illegal encroachments upon the public street which also diminished the value of her property through the obstruction of her view, light, and air. Ackerman won the case in 1903 on appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals, which reversed the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court's finding in favor of True.
The court ruled that New York City's ownership of streets from property line to property line was "inalienable," that an encroachment was an "appropriation of the public street for private purposes," and that no individual or agency had the authority to permit encroachments onto public property.
Thus the owners of the five houses facing Riverside Drive had to remove the projections on their buildings; the main facades were rebuilt in 1911 to follow the diagonal of the property lines. No. 332 West 83rd Street and the West 83rd Street facade of No. 107-109 Riverside Drive remained unaltered as they do not face onto the Drive and were thus apparently not subject to the lawsuit. The sixth house at 102 Riverside Drive, to the south of the existing group, was later demolished for a corner apartment building, built in 1932.
The 332 West 83rd Street House
The 332 West 83rd Street House was purchased from Clarence True's development firm in 1900 by Robert E. Dowling. Dowling was the president of the City Investing Co., one of New York City's most influential real estate firms, and negotiated some of the city's largest transactions over a forty-year period.
He regarded the construction of the City Investing Co. skyscraper (1908, Francis H. Kimball, 165 Broadway, demolished) as the highlight of his career. Dowling also served as a director of the New York Life Insurance Co., City Bank Farmers Trust Co., East River Savings Bank, and National City Realty Corp. He died at this residence in 1943. The house was sold later that year and converted to a multiple dwelling in 1944.
No. 332 is designed with a wide (nearly forty feet) four-story three- bay facade, the eastern two bays of which form a projecting three-story bowfront. The ground story is faced with coursed limestone and has a recessed segmentally-arched entrance with carved limestone reveals in the bowfront, reached by a low stoop and flanked by pilasters and surmounted by an entablature; the entrance contains the original glass and wood doors.
To the east in the bowfront is a segmental ly-arched window with leaded glass, and to the west is a segmental ly-arched service entrance, having, respectively, a wrought-iron bowed grille and a gate; below the east window is a basement window with a wrought-iron grille.
The westernmost bay has three small rectangular windows with bowed wrought-iron grilles; below this bay is a basement entrance. The areaway is bordered by a decorative wrought-iron fence. The second through fourth stories, faced with red Roman brick (smaller gauge on the bowfront) and limestone trim, have rectangular windows with keyed surrounds; those on the bowfront are separated by brick panels and stone spandrel panels.
The western window of the second story is fronted by a wrought-iron railing. The bowfront is surmounted by a stone parapet; the story above this is flanked by pilasters. The picturesque, steeply-pitched red tile roof is embellished by a dormer with finials and two small windows above the western bay and by a gable, above the bowfront, which has a window with an elaborate surround that nearly mirrors the dormer.
The roof has two prominent chimneys rising from the coping of the end-walls. All windows originally had one-over-one double-hung wood sash; these have been replaced by one-over-one aluminum sash in the western bay of the third and fourth stories and in the windows of the roof.
The 332 West 83rd Street House remains unaltered in its original picturesque Elizabethan Revival design.
- From the 1991 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The West Park Presbyterian Church is considered to be one of the best examples of a Romanesque Revival style religious structure in New York City. The extraordinarily deep color of its red sandstone cladding and the church’s bold forms with broad, round-arched openings and a soaring tower at the corner of West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue produce a monumental and distinguished presence along those streets.
The Park Presbyterian Church was founded in 1852 as the 84th Street Presbyterian Church and formerly occupied a wood chapel on 84th Street and West End Avenue. The church purchased the site of the present church at Tenth Avenue and West 86th Street in 1882 and commissioned the prominent architect Leopold Eidlitz to design a small brick chapel on the eastern end of the site on 86th Street in 1883. It was completed in 1885. The Upper West Side’s population dramatically increased during the 1880s and the church quickly outgrew the chapel. In 1889, the congregation commissioned Henry Kilburn to design a large new church and to re-design Eidlitz’s façade, creating a unified Romanesque Revival-style church complex. Kilburn was the designer of many private residences in New York, including a number in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District. The new Park Presbyterian Church was finished in 1890. The resulting building is a monumental structure which anchors an important intersection on the Upper West Side.
The West Park Presbyterian Church was formed in 1911 when the Park Presbyterian Church merged with the West Presbyterian Church, which was founded in 1829 in Greenwich Village and later moved to 42nd Street. Kilburn’s design remains intact, and building retains its visual prominence on the Upper West Side.
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
Development of the Upper West Side
Following the creation of Central Park beginning in 1858, the Upper West Side gradually became one of Manhattan’s most desirable residential neighborhoods. While the earliest row houses date from the 1870s, the first major decade of development occurred during the 1880s. Such real estate speculation was shaped by the introduction of rapid transit. Major improvements included the extension of the 8th Avenue car line along Central Park to West 84th Street in 1864, the paving and widening of the Boulevard (later renamed Broadway) in the late 1860s, and the construction of the elevated railway, which began service along 9th Avenue (renamed Columbus Avenue in 1890), with stations at 72nd, 81st, 93rd, and 104th Streets, in 1879. Alongside the railway, multiple dwellings were built, primarily five-story structures with ground-level stores. Called tenements and flats, most were leased to working-class and middle-class tenants. The side streets, to the east and west, were developed as single-family residences, mainly row houses, four and five-stories tall. Both types of buildings were designed in popular revival styles, chiefly neo-Grec and Romanesque Revival.
The significant exception to this pattern was Amsterdam Avenue (known as 10th Avenue until 1890) the neighborhood’s chief service corridor. Located between 9th Avenue and Broadway, it was an important transit route, served by a horse car line starting in 1878. Though tenements with street-level stores and an occasional hotel and storage warehouse were built on or close to the avenue, many structures were utilitarian, particularly a cluster of stables between 75th and 77th Streets. There were also a number of commercial, institutional, and religious buildings, such as the West Park Presbyterian Church, including Pubic School 87 (No. 369, demolished), New York Public Library (No. 444-446), Central Baptist Church (No. 651), Public School 93 (No.692, demolished), Holy Name R.C. Church (No. 740), East River Savings Bank (No. 743), St. Michael’s P.E. Church (No. 800), Home for Respectable Aged Indigent Females (No. 891), Public School 54 (No. 905, demolished), and the West End Presbyterian Church (No. 921-927).
West 86th Street, which is one of the wide east to west cross streets running from Central to Riverside Parks, developed as a comfortable residential address consisting of upscale row houses, flats building, and later, large apartment buildings, interspersed by an occasional commercial building or church, such as West Park.
The West Park Presbyterian Church
The Presbyterian faith, the roots of which are based on a modified form of Calvinism and a specific ecclesiastical hierarchy, was begun in Scotland in the eighteenth century. It was soon transplanted in New York with the establishment of its first congregation on Wall Street. Two other Presbyterian churches were established in New York by the late eighteenth century, one on Beekman Street known as the “Brick Church” and another in the open fields on present-day Rutgers Street. None of these early church buildings survive. Breakaway groups soon began to form their own congregations apart from the established collegiate form of worship, following factions which were being started in Scotland known as Covenanters and Seceders. In North America, these new branches became known as the Reformed Presbyterians, the Associate Presbyterians, and later the Associate Reformed Presbyterians. The number of people declaring themselves Presbyterians multiplied as did the number of buildings constructed to house the growing congregations. By 1871, the Presbyterians were the most numerous and active Protestant group in New York City, with more than ninety churches and mission chapels among the various branches.
The Park Presbyterian Church, the first Presbyterian congregation on the Upper West Side, was founded in 1852 as the 84th Street Presbyterian Church and in 1854 built a wood chapel, designed by architect and area resident Leopold Eidlitz, on 84th Street and West End Avenue. The church’s congregation, at first a mere fifteen members, struggled to grow until it hired Anson Phelps Atterbury (1855-1931) as its pastor in 1879. Atterbury was a member of the Phelps-Dodge mining family, and used his reputation to attract new members to the congregation, which also began to benefit from the increase in the population of the Upper West Side after the opening of the Columbus Avenue elevated railway at about the same time. By the early 1880s, the congregation had outgrown Eidlitz’s 84th Street chapel, and Atterbury began planning for the church’s imminent move to a new, larger brick building on Amsterdam Avenue and 86th Street. At first, a small brick chapel was built at the east end of the site in 1883. The church, which changed its name to Park Presbyterian Church in 1887, continued to grow rapidly under Atterbury’s leadership and constructed in 1889-90 the present larger sanctuary, designed by architect Henry Kilburn, incorporating Eidlitz’s earlier chapel, which was re-clad to match the new edifice.
The West Park Presbyterian Church was formed in 1911 when Park merged with the West Presbyterian Church, which was located in midtown at the time. The merged congregation made the Amsterdam Avenue church built by Park Presbyterian its home. West Presbyterian itself was founded in 1829 at 273 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village as the North Presbyterian Church, and built a sanctuary, designed by Town & Davis, in 1831-32 on Carmine Street (now demolished). Within a few years it changed its name to West. In 1860, following the northward movement of Manhattan’s population, West was relocated to West 42nd Street and soon built a Victorian Gothic-style edifice at 31 West 42nd Street (also demolished) which was completed in 1865. West Presbyterian counted a number of distinguished citizens among its membership, including Russell Sage, Jay Gould, and Alfred H. Smith, and by 1890 had become known as the “millionaires’ gate to heaven.” By the early twentieth century, commercialization of its midtown location led to the displacement of the area’s residential population and the loss of many of West Presbyterian’s members, including the prominent men mentioned above after an internal dispute. As a consequence, the two churches began competing for members and decided to merge their memberships, forming the West Park Presbyterian Church.
The Architect
Henry Franklin Kilburn (1844-1905), who designed the 1889-90 expansion of West Park that included the modification of Eidlitz’s earlier chapel, was born and educated in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and first established an architectural practice in Northampton. In 1868, he moved his practice to New York, where he designed a number of churches in addition to West Park, including the West End Presbyterian Church (1891, Amsterdam Avenue and West 105th Street), the Mt. Moriah Baptist Church (1888, 2050 Fifth Avenue), and the St. James Episcopal Church Parish House in the Bronx (1891-92, 2500 Jerome Avenue, a designated New York City Landmark). Kilburn was also the architect of many private residences, factories, stables, and theaters in Manhattan, some of which are included in various historic districts, including the Durland Riding Academy building (1900-01, 8 West 67th Street, in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District). Kilburn was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of its New York Chapter and the Architectural League.
Design and Construction of the Church
In 1883, the 84th Street Presbyterian Church purchased five building lots at the northeast corner of West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue (then Tenth Avenue) for $30,000 in anticipation of its expansion and relocation to a new church building. The Reverend Anson Phelps Atterbury, its pastor at the time, engaged Leopold Eidlitz, the prominent New York architect who had designed the church’s existing chapel on 84th Street in 1854, to plan a brick, Victorian Gothic-style chapel on the eastern end of the site. The building was completed in 1885. The western end of the lot was left open for the future expansion of the church.
In 1889, the congregation, by then having been renamed Park Presbyterian, commissioned architect Henry Kilburn to design a larger main church. To be located on undeveloped western lots, the new edifice was to incorporate Eidlitz’s chapel of 1884-85, which would be modified to complement the new wing. Kilburn’s design was a boldly-massed Romanesque Revival-style edifice faced in deep red sandstone and anchored by a soaring corner tower with a bell-shaped roof. The church would exemplify what was then a new interest in medieval Romanesque forms and palettes, such as in its heavy round arches, rock-faced stonework, massive tower, and earth-toned (reddish brown) materials. The building appears to have been inspired by the work of Henry Hobson Richardson, one of the major and most influential architects of the nineteenth century, and one of the main champions of the rugged, Romanesque Revival mode that is evident at West Park. Kilburn greatly expanded and redesigned Eidlitz’s chapel, cladding it in brownstone and adding a tower, thereby creating a much larger, unified Romanesque Revival-style church complex. The two wings now share similar features, such as triple round arch window motifs and paired fenestration in their broadly-gabled roofs.
According to articles published at the time of its completion in 1890, the West Park Presbyterian Church is faced in Longmeadow (Massachusetts) and Lake Superior (Michigan) sandstones. Longmeadow stone, also used extensive by Richardson, is fine-grained and typically a bright brick-red color with little stratification, making it easy to dress and very durable. As a result, it was used commonly as a facing stone. Lake Superior brownstone is uniform in color and texture, also making it easy to cut and dress into blocks of almost any size. Richardson favored brownstone to represent the Romantic ideal that architecture should by in harmony with the forms and colors of nature. West Park rugged stonework and earthy shades exemplify Richardsonian principals.
Construction began on April 22, 1889, the cornerstone was laid on May 16th, and the building was officially completed on June 26, 1890. The new church, which had 900 seats, was finished enough to have held its first service with much fanfare on May 18, 1890. The church’s entrance doors were featured in 1891 in The American Architect and Building News.
Later History
When the socially-progressive clergyman, Anson Phelps Atterbury was hired to lead the congregation in 1879, West Park embarked on a more than one hundred year period of activism. Atterbury promoted ethnic inclusion, inviting Chinese congregants to worship at the church at the peak of anti-Chinese hysteria in the 1880s. Seventy-five years later, the church was at the forefront of the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War and anti-nuclear arms movements of the 1960s. Later, it became one of the founding churches of the West Side Federation for Senior Housing, Inc., as well as the original site of the West Side Food Pantry and God’s Love We Deliver. The church also championed same-sex marriage rights.
The building itself has been little altered since 1890. In 1911, at the time of the consolidation of West Presbyterian and Park Presbyterian, interior alterations were performed by the architectural firm Ludlow & Peabody, but the exterior of the church remains remarkably intact. At present, the church building is unused and vacant.
Description
The West Park Presbyterian Church occupies a generally rectangular lot, located at the northeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street. The main façade, overlooking Amsterdam Avenue, is 75 feet long, while the secondary façade, which includes the earlier chapel portion, measures 125 feet along West 86th Street. The building consist of alternating gabled sections, square towers, and recessed planes, topped by a series of broadly sloping, pyramidal, or bell-shaped roofs. The facades and towers are clad in rock-faced Longmeadow brownstone, randomly coursed, and trimmed in Lake Superior redstone. Sections of the brownstone facing and many of its decorative elements are presently in a deteriorated condition. Some of the churches windows also show signs of decay.
The Amsterdam Avenue façade consists of a recessed central section, topped by a gable and flanked by a short tower on the north side and a much taller corner tower on the south side. Altogether, including the tower facades, there are five bays, some of which have paired fenestration.
Located in the recessed central section of the façade, the tripartite main entryway is approached via a flight of shallow concrete steps with a pair of cast-iron handrails. The paired, batten doors with hewn and riveted hinges in the shape of bow are deeply inset within round-arch openings flanked by bundled columns with florid capitals supporting moldings with floral carving that extend into the reveals and along the façade. Protective metal fences and gates have been installed at the entryways. The main entryway arches have compound moldings with floral carvings, and are topped by radiating voussoirs and intersecting label moldings with label-stops. The doors are topped by leaded fanlights with heavy wood perimeter moldings. Wrought-iron lamps with lenses hang above the two side doorways, while the central doorway has a forged-iron, stylized Presbyterian cross springing from its molded lintel. There is a foliated crown above the main above the main entryway; its top molding serves as the sill for the windows above.
The upper part of the recessed central section of the Amsterdam Avenue façade displays a set of three round arch windows, the center one being somewhat taller and wider than the other two. They contain leaded-glass sash (covered with protective plexi-glass), divided vertically and horizontally by a series of straight and curved wood members that are arranged as paired round-arch units supporting circular upper sash. The windows are flanked by attenuated columns with foliated capitals supporting a molded band (separated by the window openings and extending across the width of the façade). The window arches, which spring from the molded bands, have rounded moldings and voussoirs, topped by intersecting labels with stops. There is a pair of deeply-inset round-arch windows in the gable. They share a molded sill on blocky brackets (some of which are missing). The two windows are separated by a squat column with foliated capitals, from which the arches spring. The round-arch sash consist of leaded glass with wood framing. The windows have rounded moldings and voussoirs, topped by intersecting label with foliated stops, which are at the same level of short foliated molding from which the arches rise. The bottom sections of the windows are covered by sloping, non-historic, protective metal panels. The central section is topped by a broad gable with cap moldings rising from foliated stops, and is topped by a foliated pinnacle.
The north tower has a molded stone base and randomly-placed fenestration in the form of narrow, rectangular windows at the lower part of the tower (staggered as to suggest the existence of an interior stairwell), paired rectangular windows at mid section, and paired round-arch windows at the top. The molding that begins at the springline of the entryway arch extends into the lower part of the tower and serves as a sill for the lowest window. The middle windows share a prominently molded sill on blocky brackets (one of which is missing). These windows are separated by a large pier fronted by a squat column with a foliated capital that supports the center of a massive, beveled lintel below a stone relieving arch. The window openings are further embellished by foliation at the beveled lintel and jambs. Deeply recessed, leaded casements with wood frames fill the openings. There is a pair of deeply-inset round-arch windows at the top of the north tower above a molded band. They have slanted sills, now covered with non-historic protective metal sheets. The windows are separated and flanked by bundled columns with foliated capitals, supporting a continuous molded band. Compound arches with thick architraves spring from the molding, as do voussoirs and continuous molded labels. The round-arch sash consist of leaded glass with wood framing. The arches sit in a checkerboard stone field, topped by a molded cornice on large stone blocks. There is cooper flashing at the roofline. The original pyramidal roof of the north tower was removed in the mid-twentieth century.
The tall south tower, located at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street, rises up from a square, two-story base, which includes a secondary entryway facing West 86th Street. That entryway, recessed and approached by recessed steps, consists of paired batten doors, with bow-shaped hinges, that are set deeply within a round arch with radiating voussoirs and a label molding lying in a shallow gable. A protective metal fence and gate have been installed at the entryway. Paired windows sit above the gable and share a prominently molded sill on blocky brackets. These windows are separated by a large pier fronted by a squat column with a foliated capital that supports the center of a massive, beveled lintel below a stone relieving arch. The window openings are further embellished by foliation at the beveled lintel and jambs. Deeply recessed, leaded casements with wood frames fill the openings. The lower part of the tower facing Amsterdam Avenue has randomly-placed fenestration in the form of narrow, rectangular windows, staggered as to suggest the existence of an interior stairwell. The tower base is topped by wide belt course topped by a molded band that extends into the Amsterdam Avenue façade. There is a bracketed metal flagpole at the lower section of the tower on the Amsterdam Avenue side.
The four sides of the corner tower’s mid-section are the same, except the lower part of the north side and a small section of the east side are cut off by the roof of the nave. Each side has a pair of deeply-inset round-arch windows that sit in a recessed plane. They share projecting sills above an area of slanted stonework. The windows are separated and flanked by bundled columns with foliated capitals, supporting continuous molded bands. Compound arches with thick architraves spring from the molding, as do voussoirs and continuous molded labels. The round-arch sashes consist of leaded glass with wood framing. The arches sit in a checkerboard stone field, topped by a foliated cornice on large stone blocks. The outer piers rise up to form the foliated bases of bartizans. The upper section of the corner tower, which contains the church’s chimes, is distinguished by its corner bartizans topped with turrets, its tripartite arches, and bell-shaped roof. The arches, which contain louvers, are separated by smooth columns with foliated capitals, while the arches have thick architraves, rock-faced voussoirs, and continuous molded labels. The bartizans have vertical lookout holes. The tower is finished off with projecting band that wraps around all four sides and the bartizans; its serves as the sills for blind arcades that sit below molded cornices. The bartizans are topped by conical roofs coursed in stone, while a bell-shaped roof with scalloped asphalt shingles and a copper finial top the tower.
The West 86th Street façade includes the corner tower and the nave, as well as the church’s earlier wing and tower, which sit at the eastern end of the site. The facade displays a variety of window configurations and bays, some which lie in recessed planes. The ashlar base has a molding that also serves as the sill for the grouped sash at the lower part of the façade. The inset sash have leaded-glass casements (covered by protective plexi-glass panels) and are topped by foliated lintels at the nave and rock-faced, chamfered lintels at the east wing. The nave has a projecting central section, distinguished by a large rose window that is topped by a broad cross gable. The rose window has circular tracery and sash, which are obscured by protective, opaque plexi-glass panels with rectilinear divisions. The elaborate surround consists of a wide sill molding, foliated spandrels, attached columns with foliated capitals at the level of the foliated springline molding, an architrave at the upper part of the window, rough-faced voussoirs, and a molded label with foliated ends. A lancet in the gable has a molded sill, rough-faced voussoirs, and a label molding. The gable has cap moldings rising from foliated stops, and is topped by a foliated pinnacle. The other bays of the nave have paired, deeply-inset round-arch windows that share common sills above foliated panels. The windows are separated and flanked by attached columns with foliated capitals, supporting continuous molded bands. Thick architraves spring from the molding, as do voussoirs and continuous molded labels. The round-arch sashes consist of leaded glass with wood framing. The sash are obscured by protective, opaque plexi-glass panels with rectilinear divisions. The roof of the nave is covered with asphalt shingles (probably not original) with copper flashing, catches, gutters, and drainpipes. There are single-bay dormers about halfway up the slope. Sheathed in copper and asphalt shingles, they have round columns and belting at the level of the sills and lintels. Prism-glass sash fill wood frames; there are multi-pane, leaded-glass transoms. Flared, asphalt-shingle-covered roofs, above copper cornices, top the dormers. There is a wide, ashlar chimney at the rear of the nave, topped by a suspended metal cap.
The original wing and tower consist of four bays including the tower. At the base of the tower, there is a secondary entryway, consisting of paired batten doors, with bowed hinges, that are set deeply within a round arch with radiating voussoirs and a label molding lying in a shallow gable topped by a finial. A tall lancet window occupies the central stage of the tower. It has a molded sill, architrave, voussoirs, and a label molding that springs form a belt course that reaches across the façade. The sash is obscured by protective, opaque plexi-glass with horizontal divisions. There is a metal sign bracket attached to the stone. There is a pair of deeply-inset round-arch windows at the top of the tower above a molded band. The windows, which share a molded sill, are separated by a column with foliated capitals. Thick architraves spring from a continuous molding, as do voussoirs and molded labels. The round-arch sash consist of leaded glass with wood framing. This upper stage has two other visible facades, facing east and west, which are similarly articulated. The tower is topped by a clay-tile-covered pyramidal roof above a cornice. There is copper flashing and a finial. There is a bracketed metal flagpole at mid- level.
The gabled façade to the east of the 86th Street tower has grouped fenestration at the first story and round-arch, tripartite windows as it main feature at center stage (similar to the Amsterdam Avenue façade). The center window is somewhat taller and wider than the other two. They contain leaded-glass sash (covered with protective plexi-glass), divided vertically and horizontally by a series of straight and curved wood members that are arranged as paired round-arch units supporting circular upper sash. Some of the sash has been modified to accommodate air conditioners. The windows are flanked by attenuated columns with foliated capitals supporting a molded band (separated by the window openings and extending across the width of the façade). The window arches, which spring from the molded bands, have architraves and voussoirs, topped by intersecting labels with stops.
There is a pair of deeply-inset windows in the gable. They share a molded sill on blocky brackets. The sash holds single-pane glass with wood framing (the east sash modified to accommodate an air conditioner). The windows are topped by splayed lintels. The central section is topped by a broad gable with cap moldings rising from foliated stops, and is topped by a foliated pinnacle. The slate-covered roof consists of intersection hips and gables with copper flashing. There is a skylight on the southern slope and a wide, stone chimney on the west side of the roof.
- From the 2010 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
September 24, 2013 -- Speculation is growing that the wife of Huddersfield suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay is involved in the Kenyan Westgate Shopping Mall terrorist attack. The British Foreign Office is investigating suggestions that Samantha Lewthwaite, nicknamed the “White Widow”, was among the al-Shabaab militants involved in the seige. Graphic shows profile of Samantha Lewthwaite.
Ischia under fire
The emergency of blazes and bushfires are damaging South Italy. This is only a cause of hot weather and high temperatures? Autorithies don’t think so, and the trail of criminal intents is followed.
In Peschici on south east in Apulia, a deep crisis of blazes is explosed in the end of July where a lots of tourist of hotels and camping are escaped losing everything helped only by some fishermen during the laterness of benefit associations’ arrive . This news was the great exploit of this year for reintroduce this problem in italian journalism reports...But what does it means that criminal intents are interested in this situation?
Last week I was in Ischia, an Italian island near by Naples, here, where the racket organisation of Camorra is deeply present. Fire has start to shine in the night of Sunday on a rocky hill with few houses. Here fire was extinguished only at 12 p.m of Saturday because the difficult clime situation ( a strong wind and a sunny day) and the presence of other 137 important fires all around Campania has delay the action of benefit associations.
In Italy laws establish that on a burned ground is prohibited to do anything, but, in this duty time, Camorra and racket organizations promote their illegal building speculation. After, when a “eco moster” a great unauthorized built is done, is possibile to legalize it with a money remission.For eliminating this hard situation, the State invite regions and town damaged by this problem to create some land registries where to signal zones hit by this emergency.Today this acts of pyromaniacs are punished with 7 years of prison but is hard to find guilties.
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
Actors dressed as bankers were restrained with hazard tape today in a stunt calling on EU negotiators to strengthen rules intended to curb the destructive practice of food speculation.
The protest by Friends of the Earth Europe, alongside development organisations FairFin, Oxfam, SOS Faim, World Development Movement and CNCD, comes at the start of crucial negotiations on proposed EU financial reforms known as MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive).
The organisations are calling on negotiators to close loopholes in the negotiating texts to prevent banks and financial investors from driving-up food prices through food speculation.
EMD #9054
Los Angeles County, CA
HISTORY
After months of speculation, industry observers saw a fleet of SD60s arrive on BN rails carrying a slightly modified version of the blue and white scheme introduced with the original four SD60 demonstrators. In an industry first, Burlington Northern began purchasing "power by the hour" from a group of 100 SD60s owned by EMD and leased to Oakway, Inc., a subsidiary of Cornnell Rice & Sugar, a New Jersey coporation. Instead of leasing locomotives from a bank or equipment leasing company, BN purchases only the electrical energy exerted by the locomotive.
Built between October and December 1986, the units are numbered 9000-9099, and carry lettering on the cab denoting the identity of their lessor, Oakway, Inc.
As built, the units feature several options, including a winterization hatch over the lead radiator cooling fan. This feature, which could be seen on older locomotives of Great Northern and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy heritage, was reintroduced on the Oakway SD60s. By the early 1990s, the hatches were being removed. Typical of BN operating practice, an amber rotary beacon was mounted on a platform on the engineer's side of the cab roof (it was subsequently moved toward the roof centerline, and by the early 1990s, this feature was being removed). As delivered, the horn was mounted on the hood roof directly behind the cab, offset to the right. Due to crew complaints, they were quickly moved toward the rear of the unit, between the exhaust stack and front radiator fan. Other options included a snowplow (front only), and classification lights, although these began disappearing in 1995.
After initial assignments across BN's vast system, they went about moving coal out of the Powder River Basin, displacing aging U30Cs and U33Cs. Two of the more common assignments were moving coal south of Alliance to Denver, where they worked down the Joint Line to Pueblo, Colo., and on to power plants in Texas, and working the former CB&Q east-west main line out of Alliance through Grand Island and Lincoln, Neb., to midwestern power plants.
After 10 years of service, the entire 100-unit fleet is intact, although many of the units are beginning to show signs of hard usage. Their silver-painted trucks, once coated with a heavy layer of road grime, have been repainted black, and in many cases, the distinctive EMD nose herald shows signs of fading and peeling. But they continue to move the never-ending string of coal loads out of Wyoming, as EMD and BN had intended.
LEASING / MAINTENANCE
Most locomotive leases are made on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, regardless of whether the unit is moving freight or idling at a servicing facility. The Oakways, on the other hand, are leased to Burlington Northern on a kilowatt-hour basis. This means that BN pays for only the time the locomotive is in operation or service - although it costs the carrier more to operate the locomotive at Run 8 than when it is idling between runs.
Probably the most interesting thing about the Oakways is the maintenance and repair of the units. Rather than the locomotive lessor being responsible for service, the Oakways are maintained at an off-site locoation by EMD personnel. Initially, the work was done at a Colorado & Wyoming shop at Trinidad, Colo. But due to labor disputes with BN's craft unions, the work was moved to a facility adjacent to BN's shop at Murray Yard in North Kansas City, where the work was done by several craft unions under BN and EMD supervision. Eventually, the work was moved to BN's Alliance, Neb., locomotive maintenance facility.
Written by Paul K. Withers.
Harlem, Manhattan
The Washington Apartments, built in 1883-84 for the speculative developer Edward H.M. Just, was the earliest apartment building constructed in central Harlem. This eight-story brick building, with stone, iron, terra-cotta and pressed brick trim, was designed by the talented and productive architect Mortimer C. Menitt in the popular Queen Anne style, incorporating neo- Grec details. Merritt created a lively and picturesque composition using contrasting materials, and provided textural interest through the use of projecting balconies and cornices, a prominent overscaled frontispiece, and numerous decorative panels. The extension of the elevated transit lines, which by 1881 connected lower Manhattan to 129th Street, served as an impetus to the development of this area, previously the location of small farms and shantytowns. The amount of real estate speculation and new construction which occurred in Harlem from the 1880s through 1904 was unmatched in New York's history.
Harlem was transformed from a rocky and marshy backwoods to a premier middle-class neighborhood. The Washington Apartments was built at the start of this tide of development, when much of the nearby construction took the form of single-family rowhouses and occasional small flats. Throughout New York, multi- family living arrangements were just gaining acceptance among the middle and upper classes. A large apartment house such as the Washington, was quite conspicuous amid rows and rows of brownstone-fronted rowhouses. Not only does the building retain its distinctive presence in the Harlem community, it is also one of the few surviving apartment houses of the early 1880s in New York City.
Development of Harlem
That part of New York known as Harlem embraces generally the area of Manhattan north of 110th Street. The original village of Harlem was established in 1658 by Peter Stuyvesant and named Nieuw Haarlem after the Dutch city of Haarlem. Rich farms were located on the region's flat, eastern portion, while some of New York's most illustrious early families, such as the Delanceys, Bleekers, Rikers, Beekmans, and Hamiltons, maintained large estates in the western half of the area, enjoying the magnificent views proffered by Harlem Heights. Several small villages and isolated shanties were also scattered throughout the area, helping Harlem retain its rural character beyond the middle of the nineteenth century.
Harlem's stability was shaken in the 1830s. The lush farmland became depleted, worn out from decades of cultivation. Many farms were abandoned and the great estates were sold at public auction. The area became the refuge of those desiring cheap property and housing, including many newly-arrived and destitute immigrants who gathered in scattered shanty towns. However, most of the scenic topography was left untouched and the striking vistas and unspoiled country attracted fashionable downtowners on picnics and day trips, particularly after the 1860s.
It was the advent of new and better forms of transportation, as well as the rapidly increasing population of New York which brought about the change in Harlem from a rural village (population at mid-century of approximately 1500) to a fashionable middle- and upper-class neighborhood. As the population of New York City swelled after the Civil War, mounting pressures for housing pushed the development of neighborhoods further northward until, in 1873, Harlem was annexed to New York City. Although the New York & Harlem Railroad had run trains from lower Manhattan to Harlem beginning in 1837, service was poor and unreliable, and the trip was long. The real impetus for new residential development in this area came with the arrival of three lines of elevated railroads which, by 1881, ran as far north as 129 th Street.
Between the 1870s and 1910 Harlem was the site of a massive wave of speculative development which resulted in the construction of record numbers of new single-family rowhouses, tenements, and luxury apartment houses. Almost all the houses which stand in Harlem today were built during that time. Commercial concerns and religious, educational, and cultural institutions were established to serve the expanding population. Electricity came to Harlem in 1887 and the telephone arrived the following year.
The west half of Harlem, although developed slightly later, became a prosperous and fashionable neighorhood and boasted elegant homes such as the King Model Houses, later known as Strivers Row (in the St. Nicholas Historic District, West 138th and 139th Streets) and Astor Row, 8-62 West 130th Street (1880-83, all designated New York City Landmarks), as well as luxurious apartments with the most modem amenities such as the Graham Court Apartments, 1923-1937 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard (1899-1901, a designated New York City Landmark). More modest housing was built as well. The area also contained the popular Polo Grounds and the distinguished Harlem Opera House on West 125th Street. Some speculators made tremendous profits by buying and reselling land and by developing properties, including Oscar Hammerstein I, Henry Morgenthau, and August Belmont.
Development of the Washington Apartments
The land on which the Washington Apartments was constructed was typical of Harlem real estate just ripe for development. Until 1851, the property was held by members of the Benson family, descendants of Captain Johannes Benson who settled there in 1696/ Samson Adolphus Benson sold a large tract (including this property) to John Bruce, a well-to-do Brooklyn resident and hardware dealer in New York. Bruce was clearly interested in the investment possibilities as he subdivided the land and sold off lots to numerous buyers. This property was held briefly by a succession of owners, without development, until Harlem began to blossom.
Edward H. W. Just (d.1893), the developer of the Washington Apartments, was one of the speculators who profited from the tremendous early Harlem building boom. Born in Eisleben, Germany, Just arrived in New York in the 1830s. He and his brother John (and later his nephew Carl) were the owners of the Just Brothers Fine Shirt manufacturing company, which had stores in the fashionable Ladies' Mile area during the 1880s and into the 1890s. Edward Just invested heavily in Harlem property, turning his attention to real estate full time shortly before his death in 1893. He left an estate valued at more than $2 million.
The site of the Washington Apartments, at Seventh Avenue (Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard) and 122nd Street, was near the newly expanded elevated railroad line, although previous to 1883, nothing had been constructed on this block or those immediately surrounding it. An 1880 map of the area of central Harlem (Fifth to Eighth Avenues from 124th Street to 131st Street), shows several rows of brownstone-fronted, single-family rowhouses as well as many older, wood-framed houses. The only large buildings were a few churches and a grammar school. The section of central Harlem just to the south, from 117th to 124th Streets, shows very little construction of any kind, with nothing at all south of 123rd Street. An 1884 map of the same area (Fifth to Eighth Avenues, from 117th to 124th Streets) shows several rows of individual houses on 123rd and 124th Streets, as well as the elegant houses lining Mount Morris Park. The Washington is the only large apartment house in this section.
The section from 124th to 131st Streets was much more heavily built up by 1884, with many rows of masonry-fronted rowhouses, several slightly larger flat houses, several churches, stables and a grammar school. Two small, walk-up apartment houses (the Beverly and the Eisleben, also a Just property) of three and four stories, respectively, are also shown, opposite each other at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 125th Street.
Edward Just was concerned about providing solid middle-class housing in Harlem and was an advocate of the large apartment house, a building type which in 1883 had only recently begun to gain popularity and enough cache to be acceptable to New York's middle class. In 1885, in an article discussing the extensive development in Harlem, The Real Estate Record & Guide recorded primarily single-family homes under construction, while in 1893 a local magazine listed fifty-five apartment houses in Harlem.
Multi-Family Housing in New York
Although multi-family housing existed early in New York's history, this generally took the form of boarding houses, hotels, and subdivided rowhouses and was not considered desirable for respectable middle-class families. Middle-class values stressed the importance of a "home" as a refuge from the world, the significance of privacy for the family unit, and the concept that societal levels should not be mixed in living quarters. These ideas came to be modified, however, as population growth and economic factors made single-family houses too expensive or forced them to be located too far from a person's place of work. Overcrowded tenements were for the poor, but new solutions were needed for people of greater means.
By the mid-nineteenth century buildings were constructed in New York which were labelled "French Flats," so named to evoke the multi-famity residences found in Paris, in an attempt to distinguish them from common tenements. The term was recognized as a classification by the Department of Buildings in 1874 to describe multiple dwellings with apartments containing private baths and toilets. By the mid-1880s French flats were becoming accepted for middle-class residences. "Flats" became known for their more spacious accommodations, for the inclusion of more amenities, and for more architecturally distinguished exteriors than were typical of tenements. They were often built with wider street frontages than the standard twenty-five foot wide city lot, and by about 1875 could rise eight to ten stories in height with the inclusion of a passenger elevator, a relatively recent innovation.
Within ten years of the construction of the precedent- setting Stuyvesant Apartments (Richard Morris Hunt, 1869-70, 142 East 18th Street), several hundred expensive "flats" geared to the middle and upper classes had been constructed in New York, with ninety more built in the five years from 1880 to 1885. The eight-story Washington Apartments, an elevator building with a frontage of 101 feet on Seventh Avenue and an estimated construction cost of $200,000, was among this group. Today, only a few of these early flats buildings are still extant, such as the Manhattan (244 East 86th Street, 1879-80) and the Windemere Apartments (400-406 West 57th Street, 1880-81).
Mortimer C. Merritt
Mortimer C. Merritt, the architect chosen to design the Washington Apartments, was a talented and prolific designer, having produced a variety of types of buildings in numerous styles throughout New York City. Merritt (18407-1931) was born in New York and graduated from the College of the City of New York (now City College) in 1859. He was established as an architect by 1868 and always worked independently. Merritt designed many commercial structures, the most well-known being the large, cast-iron-fronted department store on Sixth Avenue for Hugh O'Neill in 1887. That building and two others by Merritt are located within the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The others are: the Ely Building at 37 East 18th Street (1896-97), a neo- Renaissance store and loft building with a brick, stone and terra-cotta front; and the granite-clad store and loft building at 53-55 West 21th Street (1901-02).
A cast-iron-fronted store and loft building designed by Merritt in 1879 at 71-73 Grand Street is located in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. Merritt worked throughout the city, and another of his designs is found on a Medieval Revival style rowhouse at 128 West 73rd Street (1883-84, in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Histric District).
The Washington Apartments
For the Washington Apartments, Merritt designed a substantial brick-fronted building facing the broad avenue. A corner building of eight stories, this was the first structure built on this block as well as the first large apartment house in central Harlem, and thus set the tone for the surrounding area. In the building's design Merritt used the Queen Anne style, which had become a popular residential style in this country in the late 1870s, particularly following the Centennial celebration of 1876 which sparked interest in America's Colonial past. First developed in England and associated with the work of architect Richard Norman Shaw, the style was modified in this country by including decorative elements typical of Colonial architecture, such as applied pilasters, pediments, and foliate friezes, and was mostly used for residential buildings.
In the Washington Apartments the quality of picturesqueness, so desirable in the Queen Anne style, has been successfully achieved by the combination of materials, including red brick with contrasting light stone at the base and trim, as well as elements of terra-cotta and iron. Fluted pilasters and colonnettes which separate and flank some of the windows are also indicative of this style. On the lively main façade, the central portion of the building is emphasized by the projections of the bays, the overscaled iron frontispiece composed of a triangular pediment with side panels embellished by sunbursts, and the series of bracketed balconies (missing their balustrades) which embellish the center windows. Both façades are further enhanced by terra cotta and pressed brick panels of foliate design, stone stringcourses, and diapered brick spandrels and panels. The addition of delicate incised ornament at the impost blocks, typical of the neo-Grec style, was common in Queen Anne buildings in New York.
When constructed, the building housed thirty middle-class families. The occupants included doctors, lawyers, bankers, public accountants, and builders, many of whom had servants who lived with them. A number of residents had offices in lower Manhattan and were able to live in Harlem and conveniently commute to work because of the recently constructed elevated railroad.
The character of Harlem changed considerably during the early years of the twentieth century. Proposed subway routes to West Harlem in the late 1890s had sparked another wave of real estate speculation which led to highly inflated market values. Tremendous numbers of new residential buildings were constructed around the turn of the century. This overbuilding resulted in extensive vacancies and artificially high rents, causing a general collapse of the real estate market in 1904-05 as loans were withheld and mortgages foreclosed.
Taking advantage of the deflated market and the housing surplus which followed, a black businessman named Philip Payton and his Afro-American Realty Company, founded in 1904, played a major role in the development of Harlem as a black community. In the aftermath of the real estate collapse, Payton acquired five-year leases on white-owned properties and rented them at higher rates to black families. African-Americans who could afford high rents had begun moving to Harlem at the turn of the century. A dramatic increase in Harlem's black population came, however, as hundreds of black families were uprooted when their homes in the Tenderloin area near 34th Street were destroyed during the 1906-10 construction of Pennsylvania Station. For the first time good housing in large quantities was available to New York's black population.
Just as Harlem had been a middle-class white community, it became a middle-class black community, with approximately 50,000 blacks living there in 1914. By 1920 the area from 130th to 140th Streets and from Fifth Avenue to Eighth Avenue was predominantly black, housing 73,000 people including two-thirds of Manhattan's African-American population. The black migration to Harlem continued to increase during the 1920s as people came from the American South and the West Indies in record numbers. The years that followed, saw the "Harlem Renaissance." By 1930 Harlem became the urban cultural center of black America, with its central location being around 125th Street.
With all the changes occurring nearby, the Washington Apartments maintained its white, middle- class residents through the 1920s. Interior changes made from 1915 through 1920 did, however, create smaller apartments so that the building, which had been constructed to house thirty families in 1883, was home to sixty-three families and a restaurant in 1932.
The Washington Apartments was sold in 1894 after the death of Edward Just. The building was purchased for investment by businessman Ross Browning, the owner until his death in 1925; Browning's heirs held it until 1936. After that, it was owned by a series of real estate corporations until it was taken over by the City in 1977. Rehabilitation began in the late 1980s.
Description
Located on the southwest corner of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard and 122nd Street, the eight-story building known as the Washington Apartments is clad in red brick highlighted by stone, iron, terra-cotta and pressed brick trim above a stone base (now painted). The building is currently unoccupied and is being rehabilitated by the New York City Department of Housing, Preservation and Development. Almost all of the windows have been replaced by double-hung, one-over-one and two-over- two, aluminum sash windows.
The main façade faces Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard and is symmetrically arranged with a wide projecting pavilion which extends through the height of the building and is crowned by an overscaled galvanized iron frontispiece. This element is formed of a triangular pediment carried on pilasters and buttressed by a split panel enhanced by a sunburst motif. Projecting iron finials (one of which is partially missing) capped by anthemia finish the composition. Originally this element was incorporated into a broad cornice (now removed) which surrounded the building above the seventh story. Beneath this frontispiece, each story in the central bay is comprised of three sets of paired windows. The central pair is joined by a small stone engaged pilaster and crowned by a shallow-arched pediment ornamented with terra-cotta designs. The flanking pairs of windows are linked by continuous stone sills and lintels.
The windows of the third through seventh stories of the central bay are fronted by stone balconies carried on brackets. Their stone balustrades have been removed.
The one-story base, with its central entranceway, is faced with rusticated stone and has a one-bay return on the 122nd Street façade. A small replacement stoop and a ramp for handicapped access have been added to the main entrance. A pair of rectangular window openings flanks the doorway within the central bay, while each of the other bays at this level also have two similar window openings, now closed by boards.
Stone stringcourses divide the building horizontally above the first, third, and fifth stories, with two-story brick piers creating vertical bays between these horizontal divisions. The stringcourses are enhanced at the third and fifth stories by panels of terra-cotta foliate ornament which also form pilaster capitals. The windows below these bands are marked by stone impost blocks incised with neo-Grec floral motifs, while the levels between have spandrels of brick diaper work framed by contrasting stone sills and lintels. The eighth-story windows are segmentally arched and have projecting brick hoods. Above the eighth story a brick corbel table supports a simple sheet-metal cornice, parts of which are missing. This façade has two historic fire escapes.
The 122nd Street façade has five bays, the easternmost bay serving as a return of the main façade and carrying the same decorative motifs. The major elements of the composition continue on this façade as well. At the central bay the paired windows of the second through sixth stories share common ornamental motifs: continuous stone sills and lintels, brick relieving arches with terra-cotta ornament, and flanking decorative brickwork suggestive of pilasters. To each side of the central bay, continuous stone sills and lintels link the windows of each bay. At the seventh story all of the windows except those in the east bay are segmentally- arched. The eighth-story windows have the same treatment as on the main façade. At the ground story, beyond the first bay, the square-headed window openings are set in brick and have stone lintels which are continuous within each bay and a stone sill course extends across the façade.
Parts of the rear and south elevations are visible above the tops of the neighboring buildings. These elevations are not ornamented.
- From the 1991 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. In 1894, he chose Flagstaff, Arizona as the home of his new observatory, the now famous Lowell Observatory. For the next fifteen years, he studied Mars extensively, and made intricate drawings of the surface markings as he perceived them. He was particularly interested in the canals of Mars, as drawn by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory. Lowell published his views in three books: “Mars” (1895), “Mars and Its Canals” (1906), and “Mars As the Abode of Life” (1908).
Lowell’s works include a full account of the “canals,” single and double, the “oases,” as he termed the dark spots at their intersections, and the varying visibility of both, depending partly on the Martian seasons. He theorized that an advanced but desperate culture had built the canals to tap Mars’ polar ice caps, the last source of water on an inexorably drying planet.
While this idea excited the public, the astronomical community was skeptical. Many astronomers could not see these markings, and few believed that they were as extensive as Lowell claimed. In 1909 the sixty-inch Mount Wilson Observatory telescope in Southern California allowed closer observation of the structures Lowell had interpreted as canals, and revealed irregular geological features, probably the result of natural erosion. The existence of canal-like features was definitely disproved in the 1960s by NASA’s Mariner missions. Today, the surface markings taken to be canals are regarded as an optical illusion.
Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last decade of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond Neptune. In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory, discovered Pluto near the location expected for Planet X. Partly in recognition of Lowell's efforts, a stylized P-L monogram – the first two letters of the new planet's name and also Lowell's initials – was chosen as Pluto's astronomical symbol.
Although Lowell's theories of the Martian canals are now discredited, his building of an observatory at the position where it would best function has been adopted as a principle for all observatories. He also established the program and an environment which made the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh possible. Craters on the Moon and on Mars have been named after Percival Lowell. He has been described by other planetary scientists as "the most influential popularizer of planetary science in America before Carl Sagan". Lowell is buried on Mars Hill near his observatory. [Source: Wikipedia]
Damascus, Syria.
I was invited to an arab-catholic wedding in Damscus along with my girlfriend and a couple of friends. We made the journey and stayed for two weeks visiting Lebanon in the process.
Syria is an arid place but what the ground has to offer is on display in it's cities. Finding something to nibble on as you walk the streets of Damascus is easy, as long as you can pay for it of course.
Quote by Charles Baudelaire.
Small amount of processing here. Some contrast and sharpness along with the Kodachrome 64 - filter in Nik pro filters for that 70's feeling.
View large on white highly recommended.
PORTRACK HOUSE
Portrack House is in Dumfries & Galloway, 3+ miles from Dumfries off the A76 and close to the River Nith.
Twisted, undulating landforms and terraces designed by Charles Jencks as "The Garden of Cosmic Speculation". Lakes designed by Maggie Keswick. Nonsense building, sculptures, kitchen garden of the six senses.
Gardens open to the public for half a day a year, usually in May/June.
This is purely speculation, that the chambers of The Great Pyramid were designed to reflect structures of the human brain, nevertheless, the imagery is eerily compelling when these cross-sections are superimposed.
Note 1: The newly discovered "cave" or void in 2017 might be symbolic of the Septum Pellucidum or the Lateral Ventricles . Scientists found the void using "muon detection".
Note 2: The newly discovered short indented tunnel above the main entrance might represent the Fovea of the Eye.
Note 3: The main idea is that only the side view of The Great Pyramid appears to resemble certain parts of the brain. It's my belief that the builders wanted to eliminate the redundancy of mirroring the spaces.
Middleton.
In one sense white settlement here began in 1849 when the first 80 acre section of land was purchased by Thomas Higgins for land speculation. Higgins had taken up a large estate along Currency Creek further inland in 1840 upon which he built his Higginsbrook homestead. But when a canal was proposed to link Goolwa and Freeman’s Knob (Port Elliot) and then a railway he took the opportunity to indulge in some land speculation along its coastal route. He purchased one 80 acre section. Work began on the railway in 1851 (long before the feasibility of river transport up the Murray was resolved) and it was completed in 1853 with a crossing point which needed double tracks so that the horse drawn trains could pass. This spot was named Middletown. In 1869 when the horse railway was extended to Strathalbyn its track bypassed Goolwa and joined the Port Elliot tracks at Middleton. With a siding constructed in 1854 a small town began to emerge here and Higgins’ land speculation paid off when he subdivided some land for town blocks in 1856. He named it Middleton (not Middletown). A small store had opened in 1854 and the largest building in Middleton the Bowman flourmill was completed in 1855 before the town was created. Bowman’s flourmill was added to in the 1860s. The town of Middleton took shape from 1857 with an early Congregational Church (1859) and the Bible Christian Methodist church opening in 1863, a brickworks being established in 1857 and the Middleton Inn opened in 1859 and the original town school room started up in 1861 at 6 William Street. Much later the Education Department was established in 1875 and a fine bluestone Gothic style state school was erected in the town in 1880. It closed in 1968 and became part of the pioneer hall – the original institute erected in 1901.
The large three storey flourmill still exists in Middleton next to the important railway siding. It its heyday wheat milled here was shipped as flour up the Murray River from Goolwa to the Darling and to the goldfields of Bendigo from Echuca. The extension of the railway line to Strathalbyn in 1869 expanded the wheat growing areas that could service the flourmill. When the train line was converted from horse power to steam engines and linked to Port Adelaide through Mt Barker Junction in 1884 Middleton declined and the flourmill with it. At that time the Strathalbyn line was redirected to Middleton through Goolwa. The original flourmill owners was William Bowman. William had cropping acreages at Finniss along the Finniss River and he farmed in the Milang area from 1844 to 1854 before he set up the flourmill in 1855. William Bowman appears to have created Bowmans & Co around 1869 with Alexander Bowman to operate the mill into the 1870s. William Bowman and his mill went into insolvency in January 1886 when competition from Port Adelaide saw its gradual demise. William was dead by March 1886. New millers took over and the mill finally closed in 1915 when the labour supply dwindled as men enlisted for World War One. The last miller was Henry Ellis. When the rail line came from Strathalbyn the station was directly opposite the flourmill. Public meetings were held as early as 1858 in the Bowman flourmill urging a railway line from Strathalbyn to Middleton.
The notable buildings of Middleton are Fortuna a superb Georgian house with symmetry and simplicity that looks as if it was erected in the 1860s. After the inauguration of the Strathalbyn to Middleton railway in 1869 a new general store with five sides in a Romanesque style with rounded windows was attached to Fortuna House. It later became a post office, a temperance hotel, a shop and in more recent decades a cafe and gallery. Fortuna is now privately owned as a residence. Mindacowie House was built as a Temperance Hotel. John Abbott of Glenford farm at Middleton built Mindacowie for his sisters Jessie and Ruth in 1899. They ran it as a Temperance Hotel for several decades. In latter years it has been a bed and breakfast establishment but is now a residence. The old Bible Christian Methodist Church has closed (1971) as a church but was operated as a restaurant a few years ago but is now a residence too. It opened in 1863.
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm
Despite Recent Withdrawals & Speculation That They Will Not Be Around For Much Longer National Express West Midlands Still Operate Around 100 Mercedes-Benz O405N Vehicles. This Example Is Pictured Here Still In Travel West Midlands Livery At Merry Hill Bus Station, Brierely Hill, West Midlands. Currently Based At Wolverhampton Garage 1660 T660 FOB Is Seen Laying Over Before A Return Journey To Wolverhampton On Route 81
20.02.14
Actors dressed as bankers were restrained with hazard tape today in a stunt calling on EU negotiators to strengthen rules intended to curb the destructive practice of food speculation.
The protest by Friends of the Earth Europe, alongside development organisations FairFin, Oxfam, SOS Faim, World Development Movement and CNCD, comes at the start of crucial negotiations on proposed EU financial reforms known as MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive).
The organisations are calling on negotiators to close loopholes in the negotiating texts to prevent banks and financial investors from driving-up food prices through food speculation.
In August 1887 a post office called Halfway was opened on the Alexander Stalker ranch in northeast Oregon.
Much speculation has been made in regard to origin of the name, with the following suggestions made: halfway between Pine and Carson, halfway between Baker and Cornucopia, halfway between Baker and Brownlee and halfway between Brownlee and Cornucopia.
A cursory look at a map of the region shows those possibilities to be unlikely. The most compelling explanation is the ranch, hence the post office, was originally located at a point midway between Pine and Cornucopia.
As with many early post offices, the post office was located in private residences and was subject to the movements of the local population before its current location was established.
In 1999, Internet commerce and dot-com startup company half.com approached local city officials in Halfway about a proposed publicity campaign.
In what Time magazine describes as one of the top ten publicity stunts of all time, half.com, in exchange for $100,000 cash and computers for their school, bought the town's identity for the year 2000.
On Jan. 19, 2000, in a live telecast on NBC's Today television program, Halfway officially became half.com, America's first dot-com city.
The marketing scheme was a resounding success for the company, which was purchased by Internet auction site eBay later that year for a reported $350 million. Recently one of the two "Welcome to half.com" signs that formerly greeted visitors was sold on an eBay auction for $1,000.
Josh Kopelman, founder of half.com and the man who successfully convinced the town's 350 or so residents to change its name, won the auction over 45 other bidders.
Middleton.
In one sense white settlement here began in 1849 when the first 80 acre section of land was purchased by Thomas Higgins for land speculation. Higgins had taken up a large estate along Currency Creek further inland in 1840 upon which he built his Higginsbrook homestead. But when a canal was proposed to link Goolwa and Freeman’s Knob (Port Elliot) and then a railway he took the opportunity to indulge in some land speculation along its coastal route. He purchased one 80 acre section. Work began on the railway in 1851 (long before the feasibility of river transport up the Murray was resolved) and it was completed in 1853 with a crossing point which needed double tracks so that the horse drawn trains could pass. This spot was named Middletown. In 1869 when the horse railway was extended to Strathalbyn its track bypassed Goolwa and joined the Port Elliot tracks at Middleton. With a siding constructed in 1854 a small town began to emerge here and Higgins’ land speculation paid off when he subdivided some land for town blocks in 1856. He named it Middleton (not Middletown). A small store had opened in 1854 and the largest building in Middleton the Bowman flourmill was completed in 1855 before the town was created. Bowman’s flourmill was added to in the 1860s. The town of Middleton took shape from 1857 with an early Congregational Church (1859) and the Bible Christian Methodist church opening in 1863, a brickworks being established in 1857 and the Middleton Inn opened in 1859 and the original town school room started up in 1861 at 6 William Street. Much later the Education Department was established in 1875 and a fine bluestone Gothic style state school was erected in the town in 1880. It closed in 1968 and became part of the pioneer hall – the original institute erected in 1901.
The large three storey flourmill still exists in Middleton next to the important railway siding. It its heyday wheat milled here was shipped as flour up the Murray River from Goolwa to the Darling and to the goldfields of Bendigo from Echuca. The extension of the railway line to Strathalbyn in 1869 expanded the wheat growing areas that could service the flourmill. When the train line was converted from horse power to steam engines and linked to Port Adelaide through Mt Barker Junction in 1884 Middleton declined and the flourmill with it. At that time the Strathalbyn line was redirected to Middleton through Goolwa. The original flourmill owners was William Bowman. William had cropping acreages at Finniss along the Finniss River and he farmed in the Milang area from 1844 to 1854 before he set up the flourmill in 1855. William Bowman appears to have created Bowmans & Co around 1869 with Alexander Bowman to operate the mill into the 1870s. William Bowman and his mill went into insolvency in January 1886 when competition from Port Adelaide saw its gradual demise. William was dead by March 1886. New millers took over and the mill finally closed in 1915 when the labour supply dwindled as men enlisted for World War One. The last miller was Henry Ellis. When the rail line came from Strathalbyn the station was directly opposite the flourmill. Public meetings were held as early as 1858 in the Bowman flourmill urging a railway line from Strathalbyn to Middleton.
The notable buildings of Middleton are Fortuna a superb Georgian house with symmetry and simplicity that looks as if it was erected in the 1860s. After the inauguration of the Strathalbyn to Middleton railway in 1869 a new general store with five sides in a Romanesque style with rounded windows was attached to Fortuna House. It later became a post office, a temperance hotel, a shop and in more recent decades a cafe and gallery. Fortuna is now privately owned as a residence. Mindacowie House was built as a Temperance Hotel. John Abbott of Glenford farm at Middleton built Mindacowie for his sisters Jessie and Ruth in 1899. They ran it as a Temperance Hotel for several decades. In latter years it has been a bed and breakfast establishment but is now a residence. The old Bible Christian Methodist Church has closed (1971) as a church but was operated as a restaurant a few years ago but is now a residence too. It opened in 1863.
A woman, a brawl, and a bloody death
The little township of Henderson was abuzz with speculation on the morning of October 14, 1902.
Its occupants awoke to the news that a man's body had been found lying in a pool of blood, alone in a paddock.
Police soon established the identity of the deceased.
He was Jeremiah Driscoll – a 35-year-old gumdigger who'd lived at Don Buck's camp, a short distance from where he gasped his last breath.
The camp was notorious as a den of iniquity and was home to numerous exconvicts employed by its owner Francisco Rodrigues “Don Buck” Figueira. Many had arrived there straight from Mt Eden prison after being given free passage out west and the promise of work and accomodation.
Driscoll was typical – a drifter who'd spent much of his adult life in and out of trouble – no stranger to jail or violence.
The full extent of his criminal past is unclear but records show a Jeremiah Driscoll up before the courts numerous times over a 20-year period charged with vagrancy, larceny, robbery, assault and drunkeness in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
It is no surprise to learn that he appeared in court on the day before his death fully expecting to receive a short custodial sentence on a charge of bad language.
So he was in doubt in high spirits when the magistrate dismissed the case and let him walk free.
Driscoll headed back west to share the news with friends, including Alice Hartley – a woman he'd been living with for a number of months.
Alice was not expecting to see him so soon and had already switched her romantic attentions to a man named John Baxter.
Both were in a hotel at 10pm on the evening of Driscoll's return when Alice made her new arrange- ments known. Driscoll was outraged and threatened both parties with violence. Baxter responded by throwing him out of the pub.
Witnesses told police about the altercation after Driscoll's corpse was located a few hours later and Baxter soon found himself in court facing a charge of murder.
He said Driscoll had made good on his earlier threats by attacking him with an axe later in the evening.
Baxter said he'd punched Driscoll directly in the face – a powerful blow that dropped his assailant and ultimately resulted in death.
The jury had its doubts over the accussed's version of events and spent five hours deliberating over his fate.
But no one could agree on a verdict and a second trial was held a few weeks later.
The new jurors took just five minutes to find Baxter not guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter charge saying he'd used reasonable force to protect himself from harm.
Baxter was let loose and the case was laid to rest.
Driscoll was buried at Waikumete Cemetery.
What about the other players in the story? An Alice Hartley of Henderson Valley appeared before the courts in 1915 aged 49 on charges of prostitution and breaking a prohibition order. The arresting police officers said she'd been seen “accosting” several men in Cook St and doing a “shocking good trade”.
www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/local-blogs/tales-fro...
Death After Hotel Drinking Session
An inquest on the body of Jeremiah Driscoll was held at Henderson yesterday. The accused, John Baxter was not in attendance.
William Mathieson, licensee of the Henderson Hotel, deposed that the deceased came into his bar on Monday after the arrival of the evening train. Among others in the bar at the time a woman named “Trixie” Hartley and three men.
The witness heard a smack, and looking around saw the woman put her hand up to her face and Driscoll run outside. Baxter and others followed him but returned to the bar again shortly with the deceased, who remained at the hotel until 9.45 then left about the same time as Baxter and others left for a house at Kennedy's camp.
Witnesses saw Baxter the following morning after Driscoll's body had been found. He told witness that when they went to Kennedy's, “Trixie” and Driscoll started to wrangle and he (Baxter) to Driscoll that he wasn't wanted and that he ought to “get” out. At that, deceased rushed away, picked up an axe and using bad language threatened to “do for” Baxter, and came for him. Baxter then “hauled off” and knocked Driscoll down and walked inside the house. When deceased left the hotel he was quite sober.
Alice Hartley, a single woman, deposed to having lived with deceased for the past two years. She corroborated the evidence of the previous witness as to the disturbance in the hotel. When they got to Kennedy's deceased asked her to leave and go to their home at Buck's camp but she refused to go and deceased attempted to strike her.
Baxter interferred, saying “The girl is welcome here, but you are not”. He then caught Driscoll by the shoulders and put him out on to the verandah. Witness heard deceased say “I have an axe here and I will kill you”.
When Driscoll picked up the axe Baxter hit deceased over the left eye and knocked him down, Driscoll then got up and went away on the road.
Constable Gordon gave evidence as to seeing the body of deceased lying on raised ground between the roadway and the fence in Smythe's paddock about 75 yards from Kennedy's house.
The jury returned a verdict to the effect that death was due to the blow delivered by John Baxter. The foreman stated that in arriving at this verdict the jury did not consider that murder was premeditated.
Source: from the files of the New Zealand Herald, 100 years ago. 14/10/2002
Plot 71: Alice Beatrice Hartley (?) bur. 22/7/1916 (R.C.)**
The rows 11 to 16 in Anglican F are what is known as ‘Potters Fields’, they were used to bury some of the people whose families were unable to afford burial costs, were institutionalised or unidentified at the time of burial. These plots were common graves with many having several individuals interred in each. It is believed that they are narrower and closer together and, because they were not paid for, permanent grave markers were not permitted to be erected.
It is now no longer known where these rows start or find individual plots of which some are now been protected by native trees, flax and gorse.
**plot details sourced through N.Z.S.G. N.Z. Cemetery Records
Ischia under fire the first photo that I take during the beginning of the blaze
The emergency of blazes and bushfires are damaging South Italy. This is only a cause of hot weather and high temperatures? Autorithies don’t think so, and the trail of criminal intents is followed.
In Peschici on south east in Apulia, a deep crisis of blazes is explosed in the end of July where a lots of tourist of hotels and camping are escaped losing everything helped only by some fishermen during the laterness of benefit associations’ arrive . This news was the great exploit of this year for reintroduce this problem in italian journalism reports...But what does it means that criminal intents are interested in this situation?
Last week I was in Ischia, an Italian island near by Naples, here, where the racket organisation of Camorra is deeply present. Fire has start to shine in the night of Sunday on a rocky hill with few houses. Here fire was extinguished only at 12 p.m of Saturday because the difficult clime situation ( a strong wind and a sunny day) and the presence of other 137 important fires all around Campania has delay the action of benefit associations.
In Italy laws establish that on a burned ground is prohibited to do anything, but, in this duty time, Camorra and racket organizations promote their illegal building speculation. After, when a “eco moster” a great unauthorized built is done, is possibile to legalize it with a money remission.For eliminating this hard situation, the State invite regions and town damaged by this problem to create some land registries where to signal zones hit by this emergency.Today this acts of pyromaniacs are punished with 7 years of prison but is hard to find guilties.
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. In 1894, he chose Flagstaff, Arizona as the home of his new observatory, the now famous Lowell Observatory. For the next fifteen years, he studied Mars extensively, and made intricate drawings of the surface markings as he perceived them. He was particularly interested in the canals of Mars, as drawn by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory. Lowell published his views in three books: “Mars” (1895), “Mars and Its Canals” (1906), and “Mars As the Abode of Life” (1908).
Lowell’s works include a full account of the “canals,” single and double, the “oases,” as he termed the dark spots at their intersections, and the varying visibility of both, depending partly on the Martian seasons. He theorized that an advanced but desperate culture had built the canals to tap Mars’ polar ice caps, the last source of water on an inexorably drying planet.
While this idea excited the public, the astronomical community was skeptical. Many astronomers could not see these markings, and few believed that they were as extensive as Lowell claimed. In 1909 the sixty-inch Mount Wilson Observatory telescope in Southern California allowed closer observation of the structures Lowell had interpreted as canals, and revealed irregular geological features, probably the result of natural erosion. The existence of canal-like features was definitely disproved in the 1960s by NASA’s Mariner missions. Today, the surface markings taken to be canals are regarded as an optical illusion.
Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last decade of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond Neptune. In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory, discovered Pluto near the location expected for Planet X. Partly in recognition of Lowell's efforts, a stylized P-L monogram – the first two letters of the new planet's name and also Lowell's initials – was chosen as Pluto's astronomical symbol.
Although Lowell's theories of the Martian canals are now discredited, his building of an observatory at the position where it would best function has been adopted as a principle for all observatories. He also established the program and an environment which made the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh possible. Craters on the Moon and on Mars have been named after Percival Lowell. He has been described by other planetary scientists as "the most influential popularizer of planetary science in America before Carl Sagan". Lowell is buried on Mars Hill near his observatory. [Source: Wikipedia]
Balthasar de Monconys (1611-1665) was a French physicist and judge, born in Lyon. In 1618, Monconys' parents sent him to a Jesuit boarding school in Salamanca, Spain, as a plague had broken out in Lyon. Monconys was deeply interested in metaphysics and mysticism, and studied the teachings of Pythagoras, Zoroastrism, and Greek and Arab alchemists. From a young age, he dreamed of travelling to India and China. However, he returned to Lyon after finishing his studies. At the age of thirty-four years old he was finally able to leave behind the safety of his library and the theoretical speculation of the laboratory, and become a tireless traveller in Europe and the East.
Monconys travelled to Portugal, England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Istanbul and the Middle East with the son of the Duke of Luynes. Even in his very first journey to Portugal, it is obvious that in each city Monconys is very soon able to connect with mathematicians, clergymen, surgeons, engineers, chemists, physicians and princes, to visit their laboratories and to collect “secrets and experiences”.
After Portugal, Monconys travelled to Italy, and finally departed to the East, to study the ancient religions and denominations, and meet the gymnosophists. In 1647-48 he was in Egypt. Seeking the Zoroasters and followers of Hermes Trismegistus, he reached Mount Sinai. In Egypt, the 17th century European was lost in a labyrinth of small and winding streetlets, and discovered different cults and religions, the diversity of ethnicities and their customs: Turks, Kopts, Jews, Arabs, Mauritans, Maronites, Armenians, and Dervishes. He followed several superstitious suggestions and discovered marvellous books of astronomy in Hebrew, Persian and Arabic. Later on, after his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he crossed Asia Minor and reached Istanbul, from where he planned to travel to Persia. For once more in his life however, the plague forced him to change his course; he left for Izmir, and returned to Lyon in 1649.
Fron 1663 to 1665 Monconys travelled incessantly between Paris, London, the Netherlands and Germany. He visited princes and philosophers, libraries and laboratories, and maintained frequent correspondence with several scientists. Finally, after consequent asthma attacks he passed away before his travel notes could be published.
His travel journal (1665-1666) was edited and published by his son and by his Jesuit friend J. Berchet. The journal is enriched by drawings which testify to the wide scope of Monconys' interests. Monconys collected a vast corpus of material which includes medical recipes, chemistry forms, material connected to the esoteric sciences, mathematical puzzles, questions of Algebra and Geometry, zoological observations, mechanical applications, descriptions of natural phenomena, chemistry experiments, various machines and devices, medical matters, the philosopher's stone, astronomical measurements, magnifying lenses, thermometres, hydraulic devices, drinks, hydrometres, microscopes, architectural constructions and even matters connected to hygiene or the preparation of liquors.
The third volume includes a hundred and sixty-five medical, chemical and physics experiments with their outcomes as well as a sonnet on the battle of Marathon. There are five detailed indexes for the classification of the material. At the same time, this three-volume work permits the construction of a list of names (more than two hundred and fifty) of scholars, physicians, alchemists, astrologists, mathematicians, empirical scientists and other researches. From Monconys' text and correspondence a highly interesting network emerges, as it is possible for specialists of all disciplines to reconstruct the contacts between scientists and scholars of Western Europe, for a period spanning more than a decade in the mid-17th century.
Monconys' work is written in a monotonous style, but nevertheless possesses a perennial charm, as it is a combination of a travel journal and a laboratory scientist's workbook. The drawings accompanying the text make up a corpus of material unique in travel literature.
Written by Ioli Vingopoulou
Fransız asıllı fizikçi ve yargıç Balthasar de Monconys (1611-1665) (okunuş: Baltazar dö Monkoni) Lyon şehrinde doğar. Yaşadığı kentte 1618 yılında veba salgını baş gösterince, ailesi onu Salamanka şehrine bir Cizvit yatılı okuluna gönderir. Metafizik ve gizemcilik (mistisizm) için yoğun ilgi duyan Monconys, Pythagoras öğretilerini, Zerdüştlüğü, hatta Yunan ve Arap simyacıların eserlerini okur. Daha küçük yaştan beri Hindistan ve Çin'e kadar ulaşmayı düşlemesine karşın eğitimini tamamladıktan sonra Lyon'a geri döner ve nihayet 34 yaşındayken kütüphane güvenliğini ve teorik laboratuvar bilgilerini terkedip kararlı bir biçimde Avrupa ve Doğu'ya seyahat etmeye başlar.
Monconys, Luynes dükünün oğluyla birlikte Portekiz, İngiltere, Almanya, İtalya, Alçak Ülkeler (Hollanda), İstanbul ve Orta Doğu'ya seyahat eder. Daha ilk yolculuğundan (Portekiz'de) uğradığı her şehirde kısa zamanda matematikçi, rahip, cerrah, mühendis, kimyager, doktor ve prens gibi çeşit çeşit insanlarla bağ kurup laboratuvarlarını ziyaret ederek "sır ve tecrübeler" derler. Yazdığı metinde bu süreci izlemekteyiz. Portekiz'den sonra ilk kez olarak İtalya'ya gider ve nihayet çeşitli dogmaları, eski dinleri ve "gymnosophist"leri (çıplak bilgeler) incelemek üzere Doğu'ya doğru yola çıkar. 1647-48 yıllarında Mısır'da bulunmaktadır; Zerdüştçüler ve Hermes-Thot (Hermes Trismegistus) müritleriyle karşılaşmak için Sina dağına kadar ulaşır. Mısır'da 17. yüzyılın bu Batı Avrupalısı daracık sokakların oluşturduğu labirent içinde yitip, türk, kıptî, yahudî, arap, moritanyalı, maruni, ermeni, derviş gibi binbir çeşit dogma ve mezhep, milliyet ve kültürel adet keşfeder. Batıl inançlara uyar, ibranice farsça yada arapça dillerinde yazılmış şahane gökbilim kitapları keşfeder. Kutsal Yerlere hacılık ziyaretinin ardından Anadolu'yu boydan boya geçip İstanbul'a varır. Buradan İran'a gitmeyi planlar. Ancak veba salgını bir kez daha onu kaçmaya zorlar; İzmir'e geçip oradan 1649 yılında Lyon'a döner.
Monconys 1663'ten 1665'e kadar hiç ara vermeden Paris, Londra, Hollanda ve Almanya arasında mekik dokuyup prens ve filozoflarla konuşur, çeşitli kütüphane ve laboratuvarları ziyaret eder ve birçok bilim adamıyla yoğun bir mektuplaşma sürdürür. Ancak sonunda üstüste geçirdiği astım krizlerinden sonra seyahat notlarının kitap olarak basılmış halini göremeden ölür.
Sözkonusu yayın (1665-1666) Monconys'nin oğlu ve dostu Cizvit rahip J. Berchet tarafından hazırlanmıştır. Monconys'nin geniş bir ilgi alanına sahip oluşu günlüğünü tamamlayan desenlerle kanıtlanmaktadır. Derlemiş olduğu çeşitli ve zengin malzeme içinde: ilâç reçeteleri, kimyasal formüller, gizli ilimlerle ilgili malzeme, matematik bilmeceleri, cebir ve geometri problemleri, zoolojiye (hayvan bilimi) ilişkin gözlemler, mekanik uygulamalar, doğa fenomenleri betimlemeleri, kimyasal deneyler, makineler, tıp konuları, felsefe taşı, astronomi ölçümleri, büyüteçler, termometreler, su tesisatıyla ilgili cihazlar, içkiler, hidrometreler, mikroskoplar, mimarî yapılar, hijyen ve likör yapımı gibi konular var.
Kitabın üçüncü cildinde işlenen konular arasında 165 tane fizik kimya ve tıp deneyi ve sonuçları, ve Maraton muharebesi hakkında bir sone yer almaktadır. Bu içeriğin sınıflanması için kitaba beş tane ayrı çözümlemeli dizin eklenmiştir. Aynı zamanda, Monconys'nin üç ciltlik eserinden upuzun bir isimler katalogu da (250'den fazla isim) elde edilebilir. Bu isimler yazar ve düşünür, doktor, simyacı, astrolog, matematikçi, deneyci ve çeşitli uzman araştırmacılara aittir. Monconys'nin metninden ve mektuplaşmalarından, 17. yüzyıl ortalarında özellikle batı Avrupa'da, 20 yıldan fazla bir süre için, tüm bilim uzmanlarının yeniden birleştirebileceği son derece ilginç bir bilimler arası ilişki ağı ortaya çıkmaktadır.
Monconys'nin yazış uslubu tekdüze olmakla birlikte, bir laboratuvar araştırmacısının seyahat günlüğü ile gözlem defterini bir arada bulundurması açısından eşsiz bir cazibeye sahiptir. Metne eşlik eden desenler seyahat edebiyatı yayınlarında rastlanan ender türden bir malzeme oluşturmaktadır.
Yazan: İoli Vingopoulou
Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The 107-109 Riverside Drive House, originally designed by well-known architect and developer Clarence F. True, was built on speculation in 1898- 99 as one house of a picturesque group of six houses on the southeast corner of Riverside Drive and West 83rd Street. Today the 107-109 Riverside Drive House is architecturally significant and as one of the five extant houses in this group represents the first period of development on Riverside Drive. True designed several hundred houses, primarily in groups, on the Upper West Side in the years between 1890 and 1901, and was largely responsible for promoting the development and establishing the character of lower Riverside Drive. The houses in the group at Riverside and West 83rd Street were designed in True's signature "Elizabethan Revival" style based on French and English Renaissance prototypes and built by True's development firm, the Riverside Building Company; they are the northernmost of True's designs built along the Drive. The trapezoid-shaped 107-109 Riverside Drive House is prominently located on the corner and has wide facades of over forty feet; its design is characterized by such picturesque elements as contrasting orange Roman ironspot brick and Ihnestone facing, an elaborate entrance with a low stoop, round-arched and rectangular windows, keyed surrounds, decorative ironwork, prominent chimneys, crenellation, and a tile roof. This house was originally designed with a three-quarter-round comer tower and projecting three-sided bays on both sides, but these features facing Riverside Drive (along with those of the adjacent houses) became the focus of an interesting legal controversy several years after construction. As the result of a lawsuit brought by an adjacent property owner, the court ruled in 1903 that no one had the authority to place permanent encroachments onto public thoroughfares, and the owners of the houses in the True group facing onto Riverside Drive were thus ordered to remove the projections. In 1911 the facades were removed and rebuilt to follow the diagonal of the Riverside Drive property lines. No. 107-109 (owned by Charles Austin Bates, a successful businessman) was partially rebuilt with the original materials by the firm of Tracy, Swartwout & Litchfield; the West 83rd Street facade apparently was not subject to the lawsuit as it does not face the Drive and remains unaltered. As seen today, although the 107-109 Riverside Drive House reflects the work of two architectural firms, it basically remains a successfully modified version of the original picturesque Elizabethan Revival design.
The Development of Riverside Drive
The Upper West Side, known as Bloomingdale prior to its urbanization, remained largely undeveloped until the 1880s. In the early eighteenth century, Bloomingdale Road (later renamed the Boulevard and finally Broadway in 1898) was opened through rural Bloomingdale and provided the northern route out of the city which was then concentrated at the southern tip of Manhattan. The Upper West Side was included in the Randel Survey of 1811 (known as the Commissioners' Map) which established a uniform grid of avenues and cross streets in Manhattan as far north as 155th Street, although years elapsed before streets on the Upper West Side were actually laid out, some as late as the 1870s and 1880s, and the land was subdivided into building lots. Improved public transportation to the area contributed to the growth and sustained development of the Upper West Side, particularly the completion in 1879 of the Elevated Railway on Ninth Avenue (renamed Columbus Avenue in 1890).
The biggest boost to the development of the West End (the area west of Broadway), however, was the creation of Riverside Drive and Park (a designated New York City Scenic Landmark). The presence of the Park and Drive was an important factor in making this area desirable for high-quality residential development. In 1865 the first proposal for converting the land on the Upper West Side along the eastern shore of the Hudson River into an ornamental park had been presented by Park Commissioner William R. Martin. The purchase of the park site and initial plans were approved in 1866. The drive, as proposed at this time, was to be a straight 100-foot wide road; however, this plan was impractical due to the existing topography. Hired by the Commissioners in 1873, Frederick law Olmsted (1822-1903), already distinguished by his collaboration with Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) in the successful design for Central Park, proposed an alternate scheme. Olmsted's design for Riverside Park and Drive took into consideration the pre-existing topography, landscape possibilities, and views, resulting in a park and drive that would be amenable for horses and pleasure driving, would provide shaded walks for pedestrians, and would also allow easy access to and scenic vistas from the real estate bordering it on the east. Olmsted's plan was adopted by the Commissioners but the park was not executed under his supervision, due to his departure from New York City; it was actually developed between 1875 and 1900 by other designers including Vaux, Samuel Parsons, and Julius Munckwitz, who did not adhere to Olmsted's original scheme in its entirety. By the fall of 1879, work was completed between 72nd and 85th Streets, and Riverside Avenue (as it was called until 1908) was opened to the public in 1880.
The Drive, from West 72nd Street to approximately 129th Street, where it is effectively terminated by the viaduct and the Manhattanville fault, has a particularly strong character derived from its curves that break with the regular street grid and its location overlooking the park and the Hudson River. Riverside Park and Drive fulfilled the Park Commissioners' plans for promoting the development of the area west of Broadway. The numerous and exceptional advantages of the location, namely, its situation on a plateau, its "advantages of pure air and beautiful surroundings, glimpses of New Jersey hills . . . [and] the nearness of parks," assisted in making the area along Riverside Drive prime real estate, deserving of the highest character of residential development.
Development of the West End began slowly due to speculation, the hesitation of developers, and to the relative inconvenience of transportation compared to the area east of Broadway. By 1885, however, the whole Upper West Side had emerged as the area in the city experiencing the most intense real estate speculation. The expectation that the blocks along Riverside Drive and West End Avenue would be lined with mansions kept the value of these lots, as well as adjacent land, consistently higher and developers were willing to wait to realize profits from the potentially valuable sites.
The initial development along Riverside Drive mostly took the form of single-family town houses and rowhouses, although some freestanding mansions were built there. luxury apartment buildings, as they gained in popularity toward the turn of the century, also appeared. Most of the single-family residences on the Upper West Side were speculatively-built rowhouses; along West End Avenue and Riverside Drive the houses tended to be larger and more elegant than those on the side streets. Architect-developer Clarence True, who characterized the Drive and its vicinity as "the most ideal home-site in the western hemisphere — the Acropolis of the world's second city," was largely responsible for the promotion of lower Riverside Drive as an attractive residential thoroughfare and his work there, like the group at 83rd Street, did much to establish the character of the area in the 1890s.
Clarence F. True and the Elizabethan Revival Style^
Clarence Fagan True (1860-1928) was a prolific and well-known architect (and later architect-developer) who designed, almost solely, rowhouses and town houses and practiced mainly on the Upper West Side of Manhattan during the years from 1890 to 1901. Born in Massachusetts, he came to New York City in 1880 and was trained in the office of Richard M. Upjohn beginning around 1881; he was listed in directories in 1884 and established his own firm in 1889. True received his commissions primarily from speculative builders and developers who were rapidly constructing houses throughout the Upper West Side. True is documented as having designed at least 270 houses on the Upper West Side, the majority located west of Broadway between 71st and 107th Streets. Diverse and eclectic in architectural style and massing, these houses contribute greatly to the architectural character of the Upper West Side. He also designed some twenty houses in Harlem, including several now located in the Hamilton Heights and Mount Morris Park Historic Districts. In 1893 he published a prospectus of his work, Designs of 141 Dwelling Houses, in which he stated his aim of creating distinctive well- designed houses, both in interior plan and exterior appearance, that would mark a shift away from the homogeneity of the standard New York City brownstone rowhouse. True's executed work demonstrated that he succeeded in his ambitions.
True was primarily an architect of rowhouse groups. In his houses of the early 1890s, True employed a variety of contemporary architectural styles, frequently mingling them in an eclectic fashion; these included the popular Romanesque and Renaissance Revival styles, as well as the Francois I and a style he called "Elizabethan Revival" which was based on French and English Renaissance prototypes. In 1894 True began to work in part as his own developer and later formed the Riverside Building Company. A second prospectus, [A True History of! Riverside Drive (1899), pictured many of the houses for the Riverside Building Company, including the group of six houses at 102 to 107-109 Riverside Drive and 332 West 83rd Street which were then under construction and completed later that same year. In this prospectus True promoted the development of lower Riverside Drive:
Mr. Clarence True, who had erected houses upon some of the lower lots, became so thoroughly impressed with the possibilities of the river front as a residence district that he secured all the available property south of 84th street, and by covering it with beautiful dwellings, insured a most promising future for the Drive.
The area along and adjacent to Riverside Drive, from 75th to 85th Streets, includes the densest concentration of extant houses designed by True; many of these are now included in the West End-Collegiate and Riverside Drive-West 80th-81st Streets Historic Districts. These houses along the Drive — including No. 107-109 and the other houses in the corner group at 83rd Street — are characteristic of most of True's mature work; all were designed in the architect's highly idiosyncratic and readily identifiable "Elizabethan Revival" style. True's rowhouses in this vein are typified by lively silhouettes, composed of such elements as steeply-pitched roofs that often have curved or stepped gables, chimneys, stepped end-walls, turrets, bowed fronts, projecting three-sided and square bays, and dormers. The facades, varied within the group, also display a variety of contrasting materials, including fine brick and stone, and such features as quoins, keyed surrounds, stylized cornices, crenellation, parapets, and decorative ironwork. True's interest in the use of varied colors of building materials is also evident in the group at Riverside and 83rd — the brick colors graduate in hue from house to house, from tan to light orange to orange to red.
True was one of the architects who greatly popularized the American basement plan for rowhouse design in New York City during these years. He received much favorable notice in the architectural press of the 1890s, which published a number of his designs. Real Estate Record & Guide (1893) stated that True "has earned quite a reputation for the novelty of the ideas he has carried out in a large number of houses built from his designs on the West Side in the last few years. The old method of high stoop construction has been abandoned ... the houses are entered almost on a level with the street." Architecture and Building (1893) noted: "The facades show great variety and taste, and the plans, many of them upon narrow lots, ingenuity and skill in arrangement." A History of Real Estate. Building, and Architecture in New York (1899) considered True "probably the best known New York architect designing almost entirely residential structures .... His work as exemplified by his houses is a credit both to himself and the city."
True also designed several apartment houses, hotels, and small commercial structures, as well as a church building in Harlem. Little is known about the end of his career, but it appears to coincide with the demise of rowhouse construction in New York City after the turn of the century. His last directory listing was in 1910, although Clarence True & Son received a listing in 1916-17. True died in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1928, and was buried in Middle town, Connecticut.
Ackerman vs. True
An interesting controversy developed around the construction of the houses at 102 to 107-109 Riverside Drive which affected the design of their facades eleven years after completion. On July 28, 1898, Clarence True applied, by letter, to the Commissioner of Buildings, Thomas J. Brady, for a foundation permit for six, five-story houses. According to his accompanying plans, each of the six structures partly extended beyond the property line, due to the oblique angle of the Drive, by incorporating stoops, areaway walls, and projecting bays arid bowfronts. On August 8, Brady returned a permit to True granting him permission "to construct the foundation work provided for new buildings on E. S. Riverside Drive bet. 82 & 83 St. as per plans...." On August 16, True filed an application for the erection of these six new buildings (NB 730-1898), five fronting Riverside Drive and one fronting West 83rd Street. The Department of Buildings issued an objection to the application on September 15, stating that "projections beyond building lines are unlawful." True then obtained a letter from George C. Clauson, Commissioner of Parks, dated November 21, which granted consent "to the erection of projections on six proposed buildings" and exacted a fee based on the square footage of each projection. On November 28, True filed an amendment to the application which mentioned "consent from Park [sic] Department for projection beyond building lines is filed this date with
plans & etc " The structures were completed a year later in November
of 1899.
Building encroachments onto public property, a fairly common practice in New York City during the nineteenth century, became an increasingly debated topic at the turn of the century, as evidenced by the numerous lawsuits filed and by discussions in such periodicals as Real Estate Record & Guide. A lawsuit was brought against Clarence True, after the completion of the houses at Riverside Drive and West 83rd Street, by the adjacent property owner, Charlotte Y. Ackerman, who had purchased from True the lot to the south of the group. Ackerman's case argued that the projecting bays, bowfronts and stoops on the houses next to her property were illegal encroachments upon the public street which also diminished the value of her property through the obstruction of her view, light, and air. Ackerman won the case in 1903 on appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals, which reversed the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court's finding in favor of True. The court ruled that New York City's ownership of streets from property line to property line was "inalienable," that an encroachment was an "appropriation of the public street for private purposes," and that no individual or agency had the authority to permit encroachments onto public property. Thus the owners of the five houses in the group facing Riverside Drive had to remove the projections on their buildings.
In 1911 the main facades of these houses were completely removed and rebuilt to follow the diagonal of the Riverside Drive property lines. No. 103 and No. 104, both altered by the architectural firm of Clinton & Russell, and No. 107-109, altered by Tracy, Swartwout & Litchfield, were rebuilt using the original materials and retaining many architectural elements; No. 105 received a new facade designed by Bosworth & Holden. No. 332 West 83rd Street and the West 83rd Street facade of No. 107-109 remained unaltered as they do not face onto the Drive and were thus apparently not subject to the lawsuit. The sixth house at 102 Riverside Drive, to the south of the existing group, was later demolished for a corner apartment building, built in 1932.
The 107-109 Riverside Drive House
The 107-109 Riverside Drive House was purchased from Clarence True's development firm in 1901 by Charles Austin Bates, a successful businessman, and his wife, the former Belle Brandenburg. Bates began his New York career in advertising in 1893, and established the Bates Advertising Co. in 1903. Later he turned to finance, forming the Knickerbocker Syndicate and the Fidelity Bond & Mortgage Co. (1909). The Colorado-Yule Marfcle Co. (1905), which quarried, cut, and finished "the largest and most reliable deposit of high-grade white marble known to exist in the world," was an important venture financed by Bates. In 1908 he also organized and became president of the Rutherford Rubber Co.
An application for alterations to No. 107-109 was filed in December of 1910 (Alt. 2798-1910) and the changes were carried out by the architectural firm of Tracy, Swartwout & Litchfield in 1911. Tracy & Swartwout was formed in 1900 by Evarts Tracy (1869-1922) and Egerton Swartwout (1871-1943), both alumni of Yale and former draftsmen in the office of McKim, Mead & White. From 1904 to c. 1911 they were joined by James Reily Gordon, and the firm achieved prominence with a number of public buildings across the United States, including the U.S. Post Office-Courthouse, Denver (1908-14), and Missouri Capitol, Jefferson City (1912-15). From about 1909 to 1912 the firm was known as Tracy, Swartwout & Litchfield, with the inclusion of Electus Darwin Litchfield (1872-1952). Litchfield, a graduate of the Stevens Institute of Technology, had worked in the offices of Carrere & Hastings and Lord & Hewlett. After leaving this firm, he formed his own and also became involved in town planning and housing issues, notably Yorkship Village, near Camden, N.J., a community created by the Emergency Fleet Corp. during World War I. The Tracy & Swartwout partnership ended with Tracy's death, though Swartwout continued to practice until 1941.
No. 107-109 was owned from 1921 to 1931 by Roraualdo Sapio, an Italian conductor, opera coach, and accompanist who worked with a number of leading opera singers. The house was converted to a multiple dwelling in 1937.
No. 107-109 is prominently located on the corner, on a trapezoid-shaped lot, with wide facades of approximately forty-two feet. The original design, executed in orange Roman ironspot brick and limestone trim, featured a five-story three-quarter-round corner tower and projecting three-sided bays on each side capped by a steeply-pitched tile roof. The Riverside Drive facade was dismantled in 1911, removing part of the tower and one projecting bay, and was skillfully rebuilt using the original materials as a flat wall following the diagonal of the property line. The picturesque, unaltered West 83rd Street facade, geometrically complex, is designed with an asymmetrically-placed three-and-a-half-story projecting stone three-sided bay on the eastern half, which abuts the remaining half-round portion of the corner tower.
The ground-story entrance, located at the intersection, is an elaborate stone frontispiece embellished with carved stonework, colonnettes, niches, and a recessed and molded round-arched doorway with wrought-iron and glass doors. To the east in the bay is a service entrance surmounted by a pointed-arch transom with a wrought-iron grille. The door is a replacement. The areaway has stone entrance posts and a wrought-iron fence with a gate. The majority of the windows are rectangular, ornamented by keyed surrounds with drip molds, and have one-over-one double-hung wood sash, with the exception of the small square upper windows of the bay and the ground-story corner window, which is round-arched and has a molded surround, leaded glass, and decorative wrought ironwork (an elaborate tympanum and a bowed grille). The diagonally-placed windows of the bay also have leaded glass. The second-story corner window is fronted by a wrought-iron railing. The facade is capped by a crenellated parapet, the tower also with banding; the red tile roof has a hipped dormer above the bay and a dormer (still at its original angle to the street) above the tower. The Riverside Drive facade continues the decorative scheme of the rest of the building; the northern bay is the flattened section of the tower and two bays of windows exist at the south where there was formerly a projecting bay. The ground story has a wide stone watertable. Ground-story windows are round-arched while the rest are rectangular, and all have surrounds similar to (and the ground and second stories have wrought ironwork similar to) those on the other facade. The roof (at its original angle to the street) has three prominent banded chimneys, the northern two forming an end-wall, a hipped dormer parallel to the facade (added or rebuilt in 1911), and a small round portion of the upper tower remaining at the south end.
The 107-109 Riverside Drive House, incorporating the work of two architectural firms in the house of 1898-99 and its alteration of 1910-11, remains a success fully modified version of the original picturesque Elizabethan Revival design.
Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The Century Apartments, extending along the entire blockfront of Central Park West between West 62nd Street to West 63rd Street, anchors the southern end of one of New York City's finest residential boulevards, tfith twin towers rising 300 feet from the street, this building is one of a small group of related structures that help give Central Park West its distinctive silhouette. Designed in 1930 by Irwin S. Chanin of the Chanin Construction Company, the Century Apartments is among the most sophisticated residential Art Deco buildings in New York and is a major work by one of America's pioneering Art Deco designers.
Built in 1931, the Century was among the last buildings erected as part of the early 20th-century redevelopment of Central Park West. Central Park West, a continuation of Eighth Avenue, runs along the western edge of Central Park. Development along this prime avenue occurred very slowly, lagging substantially behind the general development of the Upper West Side. When Frederick Law Olmsted laid out Central Park he saw that the presence of the park would raise the value of land immediately adjacent to it. Olmsted expected these areas to develop as prime residential streets. Land speculation did indeed occur on Central Park West. However, the west side of the park never attracted the extremely wealthy people who could afford the inflated prices of land bordering on the park. Thus, while the side streets of the Upper West Side were built up with rows of speculative houses, Central Park West remained largely undeveloped.
A survey of Central Park West published in February 1893 shows that of the three blocks between 60th and 96th Streets (the American Museum of Natural History, located between 77th and 81st Streets is counted as one block) nineteen were either totally vacant or contained old shanties and frame houses. Other blocks were partially vacant. South of 71st Street every blockfront was empty except for the southernmost frontages which contained the Durland Riding Academy and the Van Norman Institute. 1
The earliest residential improvement on Central Park West, and one of its great architectural monuments was the Dakota, a designated New York City Landmark, at 72nd Street. Built in 1880-84, this eight-story building established Central Park West's character as a street of multiple dwellings. In 1890, by which time the Dakota had been joined by two apartment hotels, the St. Remo on 75th Street and the Beresford on 81st Street, as well as several flat houses, real estate broker F. R. Houghton noted that:
Central Park West seems to have only one future— it is destined to become an avenue of grand apartment houses and hotels. Everything tends that way. It is too public a thoroughfare to become a private residential avenue 3
However, it wasn't until several years later that Central Park West experienced the construction boom that Houghton had predicted.
The first concentrated building boom on Central Park West occurred at the turn of the century when a significant number of elegant residential and institutional buildings were erected south of 96th Street. These include some of the finest apartment houses in New York, such as the Prasada (1904) at 65th Street, the Langham (1905) at 73rd Street, the Kenilworth (1908) at 75th Street, and the St. Urban (1904) at 89th Street, as well as such institutional structures as the Ethical Culture Society School and Meeting House (1902, 1909) at 63rd and 64th Streets, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (1903) at 65th Street, the Second Church of Christ, Scientist (1898) at 68th Street, the Congregation Shearith Israel Synagogue (1895) at 70th Street, the Universalist Church of the Divine Paternity (1898) at 76th Street, and the Progress Club (now the Walden School, 1902) at 88th Street.
The presence of these fine apatment buildings and institutions on Central Park West reflects the coming of age of the Upper West Side. The Upper West Side had developed in the final decades of the 19th century as an enclave of upper middle-class life. Affluent middle-class families were attracted to the area by the quality of its housing, the presence of Riverside Park and Central Park, and by the accessibility of the neighborhood. As the Upper West Side became more and more desirable, developers began to build on the more expensive sites bordering the parks, and Central Park West began to be transformed into an elegant avenue of tall buildings that contrasted dramatically in scale to low rise residential Fifth Avenue. 4
In 1909 the new Central Park West apartment houses and institutions were joined by one of New York City's most sumptuous buildings, the New Theatre designed by Carrere & Hastings. This elegant limestone structure extended along the entire blockfront between 62nd Street and 63rd Street and was erected to house a subsidized theater company that would be artistically and physically separate from the commercial theaters centered around Times Square. This was not a successful artistic venture and the effort to establish a classical theater company at the New Theatre failed. In 1911 the theater was renamed the Century and it became a commercial house, albeit one located far from the commercial theater center. In 1920 the Shubert Organization gained control of the theater, and they managed it until its sale to the Chanin Construction Company in 1930.
During World War I construction on Central Park West slowed, but between 1920 and 1931 the area was transformed as the vacant sites were filled and many of the early apartment hotels and flats were replaced by new apartment houses. This final phase of Central Park West's development culminated in 1929-31 with the construction of the four twin-towered buildings that gave Central Park West its characteristic skyline. The distinctive form of the Century at 62nd and 63rd Streets, the Majestic (1930) at 71st-72nd Streets, the San Remo (1929) at 74th-75th Streets, and the Eldorado (1929) at 90th-91st Streets has come to symbolize the high quality of residential design of New York's Upper West Side.
Two of these great twin-towered buildings, the Majestic and Century, are Art Deco style structures designed and constructed by Irwin S. Chanin, one of New York City's leading builders and a pioneer in the design of Art Deco buildings in America. Irwin Salmon Chanin was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Soon after his birth the family returned to its native Ukraine, remaining there until 1907 when they moved back to Bensonhurst. Chanin graduated from Cooper Union in 1915 having studied engineering and architecture. His earliest employment was as an engineer working on subway construction in New York and Philadelphia. In 1919, after a brief stint in the army, Chanin began his building activities by constructing two houses in Bensonhurst. The success of this modest venture led to the construction of other one- and two-family houses in Bensonhurst as well as the formation of the Chanin Construction Company. In 1924 Chanin entered the real estate field in Manhattan with the erection of the Fur Center Building.
Also in that year Chanin began the construction of the first of a series of Broadway theaters. These theaters— all designed by architect Herbert Krapp—the 46th Street, Biltmore, Mansfield (now Brooks Atkinson), Royale, Majestic, and Masque (now Golden) have excellent sightlines and acoustics and only a single balcony; they remain among the finest Broadway houses. Chanin also built three large movie houses—the Loew's Coney Island (1925), Reilly & Hall, architects; the Roxy (1927), Walter Ahlschlager, architect; and the Beacon (1927-28), Walter Ahlschlager, architect. In 1925 Chanin spent four weeks in Paris visiting the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes. This decorative arts exhibition had a profound influence on American architecture as American architects began to adapt the ornamental forms they had seen in Paris to their buildings. The first architects In the United States to use what have come to be known as Art Deco forms on major architectural works were Chanin and Ely
Jacques Kahn, both of whom had visited the Paris exhibition.^ Art Deco motifs first appear in Chanin's work at the Lincoln Hotel (now the Milford Plaza Hotel) built in 1927 as part of a complex of buildings that included the Royale, Majestic, and Masque Theatres.
The Lincoln was a traditionally styled structure designed by Schwartz & Gross. For the lobby and dining room, however, Chanin designed Art Deco wall panels and furnishings. The Lincoln Hotel interiors were followed by the Chanin Building of 1927-29 located at the southwest corner of East 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. At the time the Chanin Building was designed, Chanin was not a registered architect. Chanin hired Sloan & Robertson, a rather conservative architectural firm responsible for the nearby Graybar Building, to examine the plans prepared by the Chanin Construction Company* Sloan & Robertson were only responsible for the exterior form of the building. Chanin personally supervised the decoration of the building. The building is filled with French-inspired Art Deco motifs, many executed under Chanin's direction by French-trained sculptor Rene Chambellan.
In 1930 Chanin became a registered architect and he was responsible for the design of the two Central Park West apartment buildings, but both projects had their genesis in plans for other building types. In April 1929, the Chanin Construction Company purchased the old Hotel Majestic on Central Park West between 71st Street and 72nd Street, intending to replace the old structure with a 45-story hotel.^ As designed, this was a dramatically-massed Art Deco structure, but the building situation in New York following the stock market crash precluded the construction of such an ambitious and risky project. In June 1930 it was announced that a 29-story twin-towered apartment house would rise on the site. According to Chanin, the design of this building was somewhat experimental—he wished to see if Art Deco forms would be accepted for a residential building.
Chanin's official involvement with the Century site began on May 28, 1929, when it was announced that the Chanin Construction Company would purchase the entire city block bounded by Broadway, Central Park West, West 62nd Street, and West 63rd Street. The site included the Century Theatre on Central Park West, Daly's Theatre on 63rd Street, and an apartment house and two garages on Broadway. Chanin announced that he would build a 65-story skyscraper on the site, that would, according to the New York Times, "be revolutionary in design and use."8 The Century Theatre was the property of the Shubert Organization, and in order to acquire the Central Park West site, Chanin was forced to sell them his interest in the Royale, Masque, and Majestic Theatres. The Shubert Organization had purchased a half interest in these theaters in 1928 and, according to Chanin, had had an interest in acquiring full control.
In August 1929 Chanin announced specific plans for the newly acquired Century Theatre site. He proposed to build an office and hotel that would be "an innovation in international relations."^ The building, to be known as the Palais de France, was to house the French consulate and tourist board, and the offices of French commercial firms. Chanin was to design the new building which would be in a "modern French [style] adapted to the exigencies of American skyscraper construction.In other words, this was to be an Art Deco style building using forms similar to those already in evidence at the Chanin Building. The building was to have three stories of permanent exhibition space for the display of French manufactured goods and for an international display of automobiles, airplanes, and yachts. There would also be shops on the ground floor. The next 27 stories were to be a hotel, while the top 30 stories were to be the French offices.
The conception of a Palais de France for New York reflects Chanin's interest in France and French culture. He wished to provide a building where French and American art and commerce could be united. While Chanin was impressed with European, and particularly French, modern design, he felt that America had successfully adapted these forms to create its own design idiom:
While Europe is the motherland in the development of the so-called modernistic tendencies in design, it is my own opinion that America is rationalizing these ideas and is making them fit into the scheme of things more successfully than Europe. I did not see abroad'any modernistic interiors or furniture that approaches either in beauty or usefulness that which is becoming fairly common in New York.H
The Palais de France was to unite a modern American structure with the finest modern French products.
Chanin and banker S.W. Straus traveled to France to arrange the sale of the Century site to the French. Negotiations seemed to be progressing, but no money was forthcoming from French banks, and in October 1930, Chanin announced that the Palais de France scheme had been dropped and that he would build a twin-towered apartment house similar in concept to the Majestic, then under construction. This building was to contain small apartments of from two to seven rooms "to meet the demand for this type of housing accommodation along Central Park West."12 According to Irwin Chanin the Century's apartments are smaller than those of earlier buildings because of the difficulty in renting large apartments during the Depression. The earlier Majestic had large apartments, some of which were difficult to rent and so the Century was planned with smaller, but still carefully laid out units.^ The Century, designed a year after the Majestic, is considered by Chanin to be a finer work.
He particularly noted that the crown of Century is a more complex creation and that the building has finer bay windows and balconies, and special glass.
The Century was the last of the four great Central Park West twin-towered apartment buildings. It is these buildings which prompted the New York Times to write that the west side "skyline bids fair to be ere long as beautifully fantastic as it is where the river mingles in the bay."^-^ The tower forms of the Century, Majestic, San Remo, and Eldorado came about as a result of the multiple dwelling law passed by the New York State Legislature in 1929. This law mandated an increase in yard and court area, but allowed residential buildings to rise higher than before, legalizing setbacks and towers in this building type for the first time. The bill limited the height of street walls to time the width of the street, but, on plots of over 25,000 square feet, allowed towers that could rise up to three times the width of the street.
The Century is a sophisticated essay in "modern American" or Art Deco design. The facade exhibits a complex balance of horizontal an^ vertical elements that creates a dynamic design tension. The nineteen-story superstructure forms a street wall that hugs the lot line on all three main elevations and lines up with the older pre-1929 buildings on Central Park West, while the towers rise up to proclaim the advent of a new zoning scheme and a modern style of architecture. The bands of tan and light brown brick, the long corner windows, and the cantilevered balconies lend a strong horizontal force to the design, but these are balanced by the vertical thrust of the projecting bowed window bays with their vertical brick ornament, by the rust-colored brick spandrel panels, and by the recessed window bays of the towers. The geometric masses that crown the towers also display this complex balance of horizontal and vertical forms.
On a smaller scale, the pattern of window mullions echoes the balance of horizontal and vertical elements found elsewhere. This is particularly true at the corner solaria with their strong horizontal mullions and rhythm of narrow and wider vertical mullions. These solaria are an important feature of the Century's design, and they, along with the other windows of the building, were equipped with a special imported English glass that allowed ultra-violat rays Into the apartments. Much of the Century's interest lies in the manipulation of such structural features as the brickwork, windows, bays, and balconies. Ornament, placed sparingly on the exterior, is used to highlight major focal points of the building such as the entrances, setbacks, and crowns. It is the crowns, visible from Central Park and as far east as Fifth Avenue, that are, appropriately, given the most dramatic ornamental form. The buttressed crowns with their corner fins and arched rear projections are one of New York City's major architectural adornments.
When it opened, the Century contained 417 suites and 1,688 rooms. Among its special features were sunken drawing rooms with fireplaces, creak-proof floors of walnut and selected hardwoods, free standing showers, duplex suites, and lobbies adjacent to the three entrances that displayed the finest in contemporary American design. In addition, there was a private landscaped garden located within the U-shaped plan of the building. The garden walls are faced with the same brick used for the street facades, reflecting Chanin*s effort to have the eighty-foot wide garden take on the form of a street, so that when residents looked out of their garden windows they did not have the feeling of living in a dark court.
The quality of the Century's design and its location near Hidtown offices and the theater district have attracted many prominent tenants including members of the Chanin family, Ethel Merman, Lee Shubert, Nanette Fabray, Jack Dempsey, Joey Heatherton, Mark Connolly, Theodore Sorensan, Carol Lawrence, Robert Goulet, Bill Cullin, and Leo Lindy (of cheesecake fame).
Description
The Century Apartments faces onto Central Park West between 62nd and 63rd Streets and extends back 250 feet on both side streets. The massing of this 30-story building is divided into a massive nineteen-story base that runs along the lot line on all three elevations and a pair of tall towers set at the Central Park West corners. The structure rests on a low rose-colored granite watertable, above which is a one- and two-story ochre-colored stone base. In the center of the Central Park West facade, the one-story stone base is pierced by the main entrance. The lobby is entered through a pair of glass doors protected by stylized geometric Art Deco style grilles of "white metal." The doors are set within a modest white metal enframement. The entrance ensemble is surrounded by the same rose-colored granite used on the watertable. This surround is framed by quoin-like forms ending in raised vertical moldings. To either side of the entrance are window groups and doors leading to professional apartments.
There are stores at either corner. The storefronts are not original, but they are set within the original openings. The commercial space at the 62nd Street corner was originally planned to house a bank, but due to the Depression the two-story space remained vacant. After World War II the space was divided and an apartment was created .on the second floor.
In its massing and ornamentation the Century Apartments displays a sophisticated balance between horizontal and vertical elements. Vertically, the main mass of the symmetrical apartment house can be divided,into five pavilions, each separated by shallow bow windows. The three central sections are faced with a tan brick that was chosen because of its resemblance to the color of limestone. The facade is enlivened with wide bands of light brown brick set between all of the windows with the exception of those beside the vertical bowed bays at either end. The central pavilion, above the entrance, is articulated by two windows on each of the floors between two and fifteen (exterior floor numbers may not always correspond with the interior numbering system). As with all of the windows of the building the sash consists of metal casements. Each window is divided into several movable and stationary panes by thin metal mullions.
The balance between the vertical and horizontal mullions echoes the overall balance of the building. In the central section each window consists of two movable casements. Long rectangular panes flank the casements while four stationary panes are set above and four jalousie windows are set below. There are concrete sill bands below each window.
Flanking the central section and separated from it by pairs of bowed window bays are pavilions that consist of pairs of small single casement windows and a double casement. The bowed bays rise vertically from the second floor. Bands of tan and light brown brick are located between the bays of each pair. The bowed window of each apartment is set below the level of the other windows indicating the presence of sunken drawing (living)rooms. Each of the bow windows Is divided into five parts with three narrow casements flanked by stationary panes. There are fixed transoms above and jalousies below. The bays are enlivened by the use of rust-colored brick spandrels ornamented with vertical bands of projecting bricks laid at an angle.
The rows of angled bricks continue the vertical Lines of the window mullions. Each window in the bay has a concrete sill and a brick lintel.
The corner sections of the building are faced entirely in tan brick and are articulated by large glass solaria. The end pavilions are separated from the central portion of the building by single bowed bays identical in form to those already described. These bays rise to the seventeenth floor, two stories higher than the central bays. Each solaria consists of eight windows on Central Park West and three on the side street. With the exception of the end panes on Central Park West all of these are movable casements. These large window groups have strongly articulated horizontal metal mullions and a rhythm narrow and wider mullions.
The sixteenth through nineteenth floors form a transitional zone between the main mass of the building and the towers above. Each of these floors contains cantilevered concrete balconies guarded by metal railings ornamented with Art Deco style chevron patterns.
The twin towers soar upwards to the ornamental crowns that identify the building from afar. The towers are faced with tan brick with light brown bands at the corners. The windows, with their metal mullions, are of the type discussed above. On Central Park West, beginning above the twentieth floor, the four central windows of each tower are ornamented by bold goemetric brick patterns. At the thirtieth floor each tower sets back to form the unique top that gives the Century its distinctive, recognizable silhouette. Like the massing and ornamentation of the facades and^the arrangement -a£»ithe windows _ these crowns exhibit a complex interaction of horizontal and vertical elements. Each consists of a main geometric mass (housing a water tower) that is supported by buttresses. The vertical thrust of the buttresses is countered by concrete "fins that straddle each corner of the towers.
At the northwest corner of the north tower and the corresponding southwest corner of the south tower arched projections with incised channels rise almost to the roofline (that to the south has been poorly rebuilt). These add to the dynamic silhouette of each tower.
The side street elevations of the Century step down in accordance with zoning rules. There are four major levels on each side street elevation, each of which is topped by projecting concrete balconies. The tan brick facades are interrupted in three locations by pairs of ornamental rust-colored brick window spandrels. On the ground floor are a succession of doors leading to professional offices and secondary residential entrances similar in design to that of the front elevation. At the rear, on each street, are geometric Art Deco gates leading to the service entrances. Geometric water tower pavilions, similar in form to the tower crowns, are located above the roofline of each side street facade.
The main mass of the Century is laid out on a U-shaped plan with a central garden that is visible from the public park and drive of the Lincoln Plaza Apartments off Broadway. The inner elevations of the Century are faced with the same tan brick used elsewhere and are articulated with a similar fenestration pattern. The use of the same face brick on the private inner court that was used for the public facades was unusual and evinces a desire on Mr. Chanin's part to design and build a building of the highest residential quality. The court created by the U-shaped plan was laid out as a garden for the enjoyment of the tenants. This garden, with its four brick pylons, survives.
There have been only two serious alterations to the Century since its completion. These are the alteration to the arched fin of the south tower, previously noted, and the removal of the original windows and brickwork from the twentieth and twenty-first floors of the Central Park West elevation of the south tower. Other alterations have occurred to the windows of the north tower penthouse and to several other apartment windows.
The Century Apartments stands today as a testament to the vision of architect and builder Irwin S. Chanin. In its characteristic twin-towered form, it remains one of the landmarks of Central Park West and is one of the major Art Deco style apartment buildings in America.
- From the 1985 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
How Architecture Learned to Speculate
Mona Mahall and Asli Serbest
December 2009
For the first time, the speculative in architecture becomes a topic of critical research. It is investigated, not as idealistic but as strategic acting within endless modernity. This modernity implies that speculation, as strategic acting, is not only applied to economic, but also to political, and aesthetic values. The consequences? Values become mobile, valuations become a play with high and low, authors (architects) become winners or losers, and culture becomes fashion.
Including projects by Michael Najjar, Matthieu Laurette, NL Architects, PARA-Project, visiondivision, MVRDV, Aristide Antonas, David Schalliol, Kevin Bauman, FAT, David Trautrimas, JODI, Bernard Gigounon, Ralf Schreiber, Gitta Gschwendtner, Pascual Sisto, Darlene Charneco, Seyed Alavi, Helmut Smits, Ant Farm, 100101110101101.ORG, Caspar Stracke, and OMA.
ISBN: 978-3-00-029876-9
Number of pages: 246
Measurements: 19 x 12 x 1,1 cm
Ischia under fire the first photo that I take during the beginning of the blaze
The emergency of blazes and bushfires are damaging South Italy. This is only a cause of hot weather and high temperatures? Autorithies don’t think so, and the trail of criminal intents is followed.
In Peschici on south east in Apulia, a deep crisis of blazes is explosed in the end of July where a lots of tourist of hotels and camping are escaped losing everything helped only by some fishermen during the laterness of benefit associations’ arrive . This news was the great exploit of this year for reintroduce this problem in italian journalism reports...But what does it means that criminal intents are interested in this situation?
Last week I was in Ischia, an Italian island near by Naples, here, where the racket organisation of Camorra is deeply present. Fire has start to shine in the night of Sunday on a rocky hill with few houses. Here fire was extinguished only at 12 p.m of Saturday because the difficult clime situation ( a strong wind and a sunny day) and the presence of other 137 important fires all around Campania has delay the action of benefit associations.
In Italy laws establish that on a burned ground is prohibited to do anything, but, in this duty time, Camorra and racket organizations promote their illegal building speculation. After, when a “eco moster” a great unauthorized built is done, is possibile to legalize it with a money remission.For eliminating this hard situation, the State invite regions and town damaged by this problem to create some land registries where to signal zones hit by this emergency.Today this acts of pyromaniacs are punished with 7 years of prison but is hard to find guilties.
08/10/2012. Campaigners from the World Development Movement protest outside Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, calling on George Osborne to support regulation to stop bankers betting on food prices. Food speculation has been blamed for exacerbating recent spikes in food prices.
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm