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This Structure chair's organic shape shell is made in a low-density integral polyurethane solid-colored foam material. The smooth surface of the chair's inner shell conforms to the body to allow seating comfort.
The Structure chair was part of the "Polish Red Dots" exhibition, which showcased award-winning Polish Red Dot designs. The exhibition, at WIPO's Geneva headquarters from May 27 to 31, 2013 was organized jointly by WIPO and the Government of Poland.
Design: Przemyslaw "Mac" Stopa.
Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License..
At 11:39AM on January 23, 2019 the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the 900 block of S Kenmore in Koreatown for a reported structure fire. 45 firefighters handled a non-injury fire in a two story four-plex in 23 minutes.
Photo Use Permitted via Creative Commons - Credit: LAFD Photo - Eric French
LAFD Incident: 012319-0696
Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk
Teōtīhuacān reached its peak from the 1st to the mid-6th century C.E. The main structures include the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, Avenue of the Dead, and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent). Teotihuacan was home to as many as 125,000 people. The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Aztecs long after the city had been abandoned c. 550 C.E. The original name is lost.
Gerry Leone named this town on his Bona Vista Railroad after a model railway hobby hero, former MR editor Linn Westcott. There's a bronze statue of Westcott in the town square at left. Gerry built the depot for his "Master Builder - Structures" certificate in the NMRA Achievement Program, and it features a fully-detailed interior. Look for a series on building this town in future issues of Model Railroader magazine.
Gerry is our guest on Episode 32.
Go to Page with image in the Internet Archive
Title: Anatomical atlas : illustrative of the structure of the human body
Creator: Smith, Henry H. (Henry Hollingsworth), 1815-1890
Creator: Horner, William E. (William Edmonds), 1793-1853. Special anatomy and histology
Publisher: Philadelphia : Blanchard and Lea
Sponsor: Open Knowledge Commons and Harvard Medical School
Contributor: Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
Date: 1867
Language: eng
Description: Half-title: Anatomical plates
Title vignette
"An accompaniment to the text of the work entitled 'Special anatomy and histology, by Wm. E. Horner, M.D.'"--Pref
First edition published 1844
If you have questions concerning reproductions, please contact the Contributing Library.
Note: The colors, contrast and appearance of these illustrations are unlikely to be true to life. They are derived from scanned images that have been enhanced for machine interpretation and have been altered from their originals.
Read/Download from the Internet Archive
About Bliss Dance
Bliss Dance by Marco Cochrane sculpture is a unique sculpture using cutting edge design; an unabashedly breathtaking modern sculpture in structure and balance. One that celebrates humanity, and in particular the feminine beauty, power and strength that emerges when women are safe and free to be themselves.
Carefully crafted by a staff of structural engineers to simultaneously withstand and enhance elements such as the high winds of nature and the human interaction she will nurture, Bliss Dance was built of steel weighing 7,000 lbs. and consuming a space 40 feet by 30 feet by 12 feet in size using two triangulated layers of geodesic structures enshrouded with a "skin" of stainless steel mesh.
CNET Article:
Bliss Dance weighs 7,000 pounds, is 97 percent air, and has 55,000 welds made by hand in a warehouse on San Francisco's Treasure Island. "No robots were used in the production," the artist, Marco Cochrane, joked in an interview with CNET on Wednesday.
The design, created using a low-tech pantograph modeling tool without the assistance of design software, is based on the structures of geodesic domes and has 4,500 ball joints attached to the steel mesh "skin" with screws. The sculpture, featuring a dancer balanced on one leg, is supported by six I-beams buried two feet under the surface in a radial pattern.
There are 27 multi-LED lights placed throughout the inside of the sculpture, and external lights as well. The shifting colored LED lights are controlled from an iPad touch screen using a specially created program.
"When it's lit from the inside it looks hollow, and lit from the outside it looks solid," Cochrane said. "When there's a combination of those, it gets crazy."
Those who missed seeing the sculpture at Burning Man will get a chance to see it in person when it goes on tour, Cochrane said. He's also planning for next year's sculpture, which will be even bigger.
Sand, silt, clay and organic matter bind together to provide stucture to the soil. The individual units of structure are called peds.
The disturbing thing about this is not so much that the chemistry is wrong or incomplete but that there doesn't seem to be any internal checking that different things are different. i.e. WA doesn't seem to have a concept that two different named chemicals should have different structures.
This is a structure that they are building at a bus stop I go to very often. This is the first step in the construction process.
Tensile Structure Systems’ project at the University of Maryland made the Winter 2020 cover of Architecture DC Magazine (www.aiadc.com). We are very proud of our work on this #facade screening project. The link to the online flip book is: flipbook.hbp.com/Winter2020/
Closing panel at Gigaom Structure Connect: "How We Made It", featuring several IoT entrepreneurs. Pictured here:
Christina Mercando, Ringly
Jason Johnson, August
Peter Hoddie, Marvell Semiconductor (Kinoma)
Bettina Chen, Roominate
Giles Bouchard, Livescribe
Phil Bosua, LIFX
Stacey Higginbotham, Gigaom
Conference theme:
BUILDING THE INTERNET OF THINGS
Connecting our homes and business to the internet will disrupt businesses, improve efficiency and usher in an era of disruption not seen since the beginning of the web.
At 1:01AM on April 16, 2020, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire in the 12000 block of W Victory Blvd in North Hollywood. The first arriving fire companies found a large, one, story commercial building with fire showing.
An immediate offensive operation ensued; fire attack worked to make entry into the building while the truck company headed to the roof for vertical ventilation. However, approximately 10 minutes into the incident, the lack of progress towards the seat of the fire and concern for the structural integrity of the structure caused the incident commander to order the transition to the defensive mode.
With all crews out of the building and off the roof, master streams were put into place. Ladder pipes and large hand lines poured copious amounts of water into the fire from the exterior. While the bulk of the fire was extinguished approximately one hour into the incident, difficult to reach pockets of fire remained and continued to flare up.
The 8,111 square foot building, built in 1957, was doing business as a ‘dollar store’ and had a significant fire load (amount of contents inside the structure). This environment presented challenges to the firefighters as they worked to safely reach the seat of the fire.
Nearly 100 firefighters, under the command of Assistant Chief Corey Rose, battled through the night. At 3:06AM (two hours and four minutes into the incident), the incident clock was turned off and firefighters continued working to address the remaining hot spots.
LAFD Arson and Counter-Terrorism section responded, per protocol for a fire of this size, to conduct the cause investigation and it remains an active investigation. No injuries were reported.
LAFD Incident: 041620-0039
© Photo by Mike Meadows
Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk
A tour through the history of the Diocese of Würzburg
The were the first Christians in and around Würzburg at least since the mission of the Irish missionaries Kilian, Kolonat and Totnan who around 689 suffered the martyrdom. Boniface the creation of stable church structures is due to him. A center of earlier Christianization probably the monastery Karlburg at Karlstadt (district of Main-Spessart) may have been, which is associated with the Sacred Immina, as well as the of the Holy Leoba, a relative of Boniface, directed monastery of Tauberbischofsheim.
Burkard - the first bishop of Würzburg
End 741, no later than 742, consecrated archbishop Boniface Burkard first bishop of Würzburg. Burkard founded the St. Andrew's Abbey, on whose ground today stands the over 950-year-old parish church of St. Burkard. The life of faith in Franconia seems to have taken a rapid rise: Würzburg the Gospel soon proclaimed at the Upper Main, Steigerwald as well as with the Saxonians in Central and Northern Germany. The Diocese of Paderborn, from Main missionized, still today the Holy Kilian reveres as second patron.
In the Middle Ages, Würzburg had a high rank: imperial and court days took place, the wedding of emperor Frederick Barbarossa, also a German national council (1287). Numerous religious communities settled here; 1221 was born in Würzburg the first Franciscan monastery north of the Alps.
Reformation and Peasants' War brought changes
Würzburg under bishop Bruno saw the stable time of the Empire; later the conflicts in the Investiture Controversy, in which Bishop Adalbero played a prominent role. Also of social and religious grievances the city was not spared, in the aftermath of which Reformation and Peasants' War brought profound changes. A victim of the sectarian clashes was the martyr priest Liborius Wagner - now a warning voice for reconciliation.
To consolidation and a revival led the diocese especially bishop Julius Echter of Mespelbrunn. In addition to the Juliusspital other hospitals and charitable institutions emerged. Were promoted education and school system, in 1582 founded the university. Deep wounds inflicted the conflicts of the Thirty Years War. Swedish troops occupied the fortress Marienberg.
Baroque time - golden period
This confusion in the 18th century was followed by a long period of peace and prosperity. The Baroque era let flourish art and culture to amazing accomplishments. The art-minded prince-bishops from the house of Schönborn brought skilled artists to Würzburg. The construction of the residence and the Baroque transformation of the city began. On the country-side local artists created serene baroque churches. Church life flourished in solemn processions, festive liturgies and exhilarated music.
As a result of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the Bishopric of Würzburg perished with other ecclesiastical territories. The secularization of 1803 also the cultural and charitable commitment of many monasteries ended.
1821 the Diocese of Würzburg arose newly
From now on church life sought new paths. 1848, for the first time the German bishops met in Würzburg for an Episcopal Conference. New religious communities emerged which tackled the social distress of the industrial age. The Catholic associative network began to constitute itself and to become influential.
In the culture war since 1871, the Catholic Church stood under state pressure. Then there were conflicts in the course of theological education, the First Vatican Council and the anti-modernism. After the misery of the First World War and the inflation period, the church struggle of the Third Reich in Lower Franconia became very violent. The solidarity of Catholics with their church and bishop Matthias Ehrenfried was demonstrated in the upturn of pilgrimages to the grave of Kilian from the year 1935 on.
The consequences of World War II
On March 16, 1945, with the city of Würzburg also the churches were reduced to a pile of rubble. Bishop Matthias Ehrenfried died in 1948; he was succeeded by bishop Julius Döpfner. 1957 Döpfner was appointed bishop of Berlin. His successor, Josef Stangl, who guided the destinies of the diocese until 1979, for his paternal and benevolent nature today is still remembered of many Catholics.
In 1967, the rebuilding of the cathedral was completed. A response to the new challenges of the church by the presence found the Second Vatican Council, which was attended by bishop Josef Stangl and auxiliary bishop Alfons Kempf. For the implementation of the Council's decisions in Germany, the synod of the dioceses of the Federal Republic worked from 1972 to 1975 in Würzburg Cathedral. In 1968, the Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Diocese of Würzburg met for the first time. The involvement of the laity in the Church henceforth will become increasingly important. 1979 Dr. Paul-Werner Scheele in the long line of Würzburg chief shepherds became the 87th bishop. On 14 July 2003, after almost 25 years of fruitful ministry for the Diocese of Würzburg, Pope John Paul II. the age-related resignation of Dr. Paul-Werner Scheele as bishop of Würzburg accepted.
On September 19, 2004, Dr. Friedhelm Hofmann in Würzburg Kiliansdom in the office of bishop was inaugurated. Pope John Paul II. him on 25 June 2004 88th Bishop of Würzburg had appointed.
Ein Rundgang durch die Geschichte des Bistums Würzburg
Die ersten Christen gab es in und um Würzburg spätestens seit der Mission der irischen Glaubensboten Kilian, Kolonat und Totnan, die um 689 den Märtyrertod erlitten. Bonifatius ist die Schaffung stabiler kirchlicher Strukturen zu verdanken. Ein Zentrum früher Christianisierung dürfte auch das Kloster Karlburg bei Karlstadt (Landkreis Main-Spessart) gewesen sein, das mit der heiligen Immina in Verbindung gebracht wird, sowie das von der heiligen Lioba, einer Verwandten des Bonifatius, geleitete Kloster Tauberbischofsheim.
Burkard - der erste Bischof von Würzburg
Ende 741, spätestens 742, weihte Erzbischof Bonifatius Burkard zum ersten Bischof von Würzburg. Burkard gründete das St. Andreas-Kloster, auf dessen Grund heute die über 950 Jahre alte Pfarrkirche St. Burkard steht. Das Glaubensleben in Franken scheint einen raschen Aufschwung genommen zu haben: Würzburg verkündete das Evangelium bald am Obermain, im Steigerwald sowie bei den Sachsen in Mittel- und Norddeutschland. Das Bistum Paderborn, vom Main aus missioniert, verehrt heute noch den heiligen Kilian als zweiten Patron.
Im Mittelalter hatte Würzburg einen hohen Rang: Reichs- und Hoftage fanden statt, die Hochzeit Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossas, auch ein deutsches Nationalkonzil (1287). Zahlreiche Orden siedelten hier; 1221 entstand in Würzburg das erste Franziskanerkloster nördlich der Alpen.
Reformation und Bauernkrieg brachten Veränderungen
Würzburg sah unter Bischof Bruno die stabile Zeit des Kaisertums; später die Auseinandersetzungen im Investiturstreit, in denen Bischof Adalbero eine herausragende Rolle spielte. Auch von sozialen und kirchlichen Missständen blieb die Stadt nicht verschont, in deren Folge Reformation und Bauernkriege tiefgreifende Veränderungen brachten. Ein Opfer der konfessionellen Auseinandersetzungen war der Märtyrerpriester Liborius Wagner - heute ein Mahner für Versöhnung.
Zu Konsolidierung und neuer Blüte führte das Bistum vor allem Bischof Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn. Neben dem Juliusspital entstanden andere Spitäler und karitative Einrichtungen. Gefördert wurden Bildung und Schulwesen, die Universität 1582 gegründet. Tiefe Wunden schlugen die Auseinandersetzungen des Dreißigjährigen Krieges. Schwedische Truppen besetzten die Festung Marienberg.
Barockzeit - Blütezeit
Diesen Wirren folgte im 18. Jahrhundert eine lange Zeit des Friedens und der Blüte. Die Barockzeit ließ Kunst und Kultur zu erstaunlichen Leistungen aufblühen. Die kunstsinnigen Fürstbischöfe aus dem Haus Schönborn holten qualifizierte Künstler nach Würzburg. Der Bau der Residenz und die barocke Umgestaltung der Stadt begannen. Auf dem Lande schufen heimische Künstler heitere Barockkirchen. Das kirchliche Leben blühte in feierlichen Prozessionen, festlichen Liturgien und beschwingter Musik.
Als Folge der französischen Revolution und der napoleonischen Kriege ging das Hochstift Würzburg mit anderen geistlichen Territorien zugrunde. Die Säkularisierung von 1803 beendete auch das kulturelle und karitative Engagement vieler Klöster.
1821 entstand das Bistum Würzburg neu
1821 entstand das Bistum Würzburg neu. Fortan suchte das kirchliche Leben neue Wege. 1848 trafen sich in Würzburg die deutschen Bischöfe erstmals zu einer Bischofskonferenz. Neue Ordensgemeinschaften entstanden, die sich der sozialen Not des Industriezeitalters annahmen. Das katholische Verbandswesen begann sich zu konstituieren und einflußreich zu werden.
Im Kulturkampf ab 1871 stand die katholische Kirche stark unter staatlichem Druck. Dazu kamen die Konflikte im Zuge der theologischen Aufklärung, des Ersten Vatikanischen Konzils und des Antimodernismus. Nach dem Elend des Ersten Weltkriegs und der Inflationszeit wurde der Kirchenkampf des Dritten Reiches in Unterfranken sehr heftig. Die Solidarität der Katholiken mit ihrer Kirche und Bischof Matthias Ehrenfried zeigte sich im Aufschwung der Wallfahrten zum Kiliansgrab ab dem Jahr 1935.
Die Folgen des Zweiten Weltkriegs
Am 16. März 1945 sanken mit der Stadt auch Würzburgs Kirchen in Schutt und Asche. Bischof Matthias Ehrenfried starb 1948; sein Nachfolger wurde Bischof Julius Döpfner. 1957 wurde Döpfner zum Bischof von Berlin ernannt. Sein Nachfolger Josef Stangl, der bis 1979 die Geschicke des Bistums lenkte, ist wegen seiner väterlichen und gütigen Art bei vielen Katholiken bis heute unvergessen.
1967 war der Wiederaufbau des Domes vollendet. Eine Antwort auf die neuen Herausforderungen der Kirche durch die Gegenwart fand das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil, an dem Bischof Josef Stangl und Weihbischof Alfons Kempf teilnahmen. Für die Umsetzung der Konzilsbeschlüsse in Deutschland arbeitete die gemeinsame Synode der Bistümer der Bundesrepublik von 1972 bis 1975 im Würzburger Dom. 1968 trat der Diözesanrat der Katholiken im Bistum Würzburg erstmals zusammen. Das Engagement von Laien in der Kirche wird fortan immer wichtiger. 1979 wurde Dr. Paul-Werner Scheele der 87. Bischof in der langen Reihe der Würzburger Oberhirten. Am 14. Juli 2003, nach fast 25 Jahren fruchtbaren Dienst für das Bistum Würzburg, nahm Papst Johannes Paul II. den altersbedingten Amtsverzicht von Dr. Paul-Werner Scheele als Bischof von Würzburg an.
Am 19. September 2004 wurde Dr. Friedhelm Hofmann im Würzburger Kiliansdom in das Amt des Bischofs eingeführt. Papst Johannes Paul II. hatte ihn am 25. Juni 2004 zum 88. Bischof von Würzburg ernannt.
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard with photography by Irving Underhill of New York. His initials are in the bottom right corner of the photograph. The card was produced in the United States.
On the back of the card the publishers have printed:
'The Metropolitan Building
facing Madison Square
presents one of the singularly
attractive sights of New York
City at night.
This magnificent marble
structure, the home of the
greatest life insurance
corporation in the world,
towers majestically over
Madison Square, the most
popular gathering place in
the heart of New York City'.
Irving Underhill
Irving Underhill (1872 - 1960) was one of the most notable commercial photographers in New York City during the first half of the 20th century.
Irving produced work that was frequently featured on postcards and in numerous publications while he was alive, and his work continues to be exhibited and receive recognition long after his death.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (colloquially known as the Met Life Tower) is a skyscraper occupying a full block in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in NYC.
The building comprises two sections: a 700-foot-tall (210 m) tower at the northwest corner of the block, at Madison Avenue and 24th Street, and a shorter east wing occupying the remainder of the block bounded by Madison Avenue, Park Avenue South, 23rd Street, and 24th Street. The block measures 200 feet (61 m) from north to south and 445 feet (136 m) from east to west.
The South Building, along with the North Building directly across 24th. Street, comprises the Metropolitan Home Office Complex, which originally served as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
The South Building's tower was designed by the architectural firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, and erected between 1905 and 1909.
Inspired by St. Mark's Campanile in Venice, the tower features four clock faces, four bells, and lighted beacons at its top. It was the tallest building in the world until 1913.
The tower originally included Metropolitan Life's offices, and since 2015, it has contained a 273-room luxury hotel known as the New York Edition Hotel.
The tower was designated as a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1989, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The east wing was designed by Lloyd Morgan and Eugene Meroni, and constructed in two stages between 1953 and 1960. The east wing is also referred to as One Madison Avenue.
When the current east wing was built, the 700-foot tower was extensively renovated as well. In 2020, work started on an addition to the east wing, which will be designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and be completed in 2023 or 2024.
Architecture
The first section of the original 11-story, full-block east wing was completed in 1893. The tower was a later addition to the original building, constructed between 1905 and 1909.
The original home office building was replaced with the current building, designed by Lloyd Morgan and Eugene Meroni, between 1953 and 1957. The complex is one of the few remaining major insurance company "home offices" in New York City.
The Tower
The tower rises 700 feet (210 m) to its pinnacle. It has a footprint measuring 75 feet (23 m) north-south along Madison Avenue and 85 feet (26 m) west-east on 24th Street.
The Metropolitan Life Tower is surprisingly is older than its model, since St. Mark's Campanile collapsed in 1902 and was replaced in 1912. It is also more than twice as large as St. Mark's Campanile.
Like the façades of many early skyscrapers, the tower's exterior was divided into three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column—namely a base, shaft, and capital—in both its original and renovated forms.
These three sections include usable space inside, and are collectively 660 feet (200 m) tall. The tower is topped by a 40-foot-tall (12 m) pyramidal roof, which is slightly set back and contains a cupola and lantern.
The tower was originally sheathed in Tuckahoe marble, provided by the main contractor, the Hedden Construction Company. However during the 1964 renovation, plain limestone was used to cover the tower and the east wing, replacing LeBrun's old Renaissance Revival details with a streamlined, modern look. The tower was designed with oversized exterior details to make it seem smaller than it actually was.
Some 7,500 short tons of steel were used in the tower's structural frame. The footings of the tower are 60 feet (18 m) deep, supported by twelve columns on the edges and eight columns inside the plot, and anchored to a layer of bedrock between 28 to 46 feet (8.5 to 14.0 m) deep.
The main columns at the tower's corners measure 2 by 2 feet (0.61 by 0.61 m). They bear structural loads of up to 10.4 million pounds (4,700,000 kg) when wind pressure is taken into account. The structural steel frame of the tower, and of its former east wing, is encased in reinforced concrete.
The marble and brickwork used in the building is anchored to the structural steel frame, while the floors are made of inverted concrete arches. As a consequence of all the marble used in the Met Life Tower, it weighed about 38,000 short tons when first built, or about twice as much as the Singer Tower.
Façade
The base of the tower comprises the first and second stories. The lowest portion of the façade along Madison Avenue and 24th. Street contains a 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) water table made of granite, which wraps around to the east wing.
At the first floor, there are two rectangular show windows and a small doorway on Madison Avenue, and two show windows flanking a larger entrance on 24th. Street.
When the tower was built, the base comprised the first through fifth stories. A large cornice was located above the fourth story, and smaller cornices above the second and fifth stories. The original ornamentation on the rest of the tower was relatively restrained, except around the clock faces.
The 1960's renovation replaced the marble between the first and fifth stories, and between the 20th. and 36th. stories, with limestone.
The "shaft" of the tower spans the 3rd. through 28th. floors. The southern façade of the tower contains windows only above the 11th. story, and the eastern facade contains windows above the 12th. story, because the former east wing was located below these floors.
On each floor, the "shaft" contains three sets of three windows per side. The exception is at the 25th. through 27th. floors, where the building's clock faces are located.
The Clock
A clock face is centered on all four sides of the tower from the 25th. through 27th. floors. Each clock face is 26.5 feet (8.1 m) in diameter, while the numerals on the clock faces are four feet (1.2 m) tall. The minute hands weigh 1,000 pounds (450 kg) and are 17 feet (5.2 m) long, while the hour hands weigh 700 pounds (320 kg) and are 13.33 feet (4.06 m) long.
The mechanism was controlled by electricity, a novelty upon the tower's completion. The master clock, which controlled the large clock faces as well as a hundred other clocks in the same complex, was located on the first floor of the former home office, and ran with a maximum error of five seconds per month.
The clock faces, which were made from reinforced concrete, were the largest in the world upon their completion. Blue glazed tiles run along the circumference of each face; in addition, there is a tiled corona at the center of each face.
The clock faces contain ornamentation by Pierre LeBrun, and include dolphins and shells on the spandrels at each face's corner, as well as marble wreaths with fruit-and-flower motifs on the faces themselves.
The Roof
The pyramidal roof of the tower is topped by a peristyle and cupola. The roof comprises the 39th. and higher floors, and is set off by a cornice at the 39th.-story level. Dormer windows protrude from the roof on the 39th. through 43rd. floors.
The 44th. floor is illuminated by two small windows on each side, located between ribs that rise to support a square viewing platform on the 45th floor. The 46th. and 47th. floors comprise a two-story-tall peristyle, supported by eight columns.
The 48th. floor contains a gold-colored aluminum cupola with eight windows. The topmost level is the 49th. floor, which consists only of a platform with a gold-colored aluminium railing.
The 41st through 45th floors are accessible only by a staircase. The viewing platform was originally publicly usable, receiving 120,000 visitors from around the world between 1909 and 1914.
The tower contains four bells within the peristyle. These include a 7,000-pound (3,200 kg) B♭ bell on the west, a 3,000-pound (1,400 kg) E♭ bell on the east, a 2,000-pound (910 kg) F♮ bell on the north, and a 1,500-pound (680 kg) G♮ bell on the south. The bells were the highest in the world at the time of their construction.
The bells are respectively struck by hammers weighing 94, 71, 61, and 54 pounds (equivalent to 43, 32, 28, and 24 kg respectively). A fifth hammer, weighing 131 pounds (59 kg), strikes the 7,000-pound bell each hour. The smaller hammers strike the bells every 15 minutes.
An eight-sided, 8-foot-wide (2.4 m) beacon is located at the top of the cupola. As designed, the white lantern is lit after 10:00 p.m., and momentarily turns off every 15 minutes when red and white lights flash the time. The beacon was one of a few broadly visible features of the New York City nighttime skyline until the mid-20th. century.
Interior of the Tower
When built, the tower section featured granite floors and metal interior furnishings, though there was very little wood trim, unlike other contemporary structures. The lower floors contained bronze grillwork and doorways, especially around the elevators, while on the upper floors, ornamental iron is used for the metalwork around the elevators.
The second-floor spaces contained offices of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and contained white marble wainscoting, plaster cornices, marble mantels, etched-glass doors facing the executive offices, and red mahogany door, wall, and window panels.
Each of the tower's floors are up to 5,400 square feet (500 m2) in area, smaller than the floor areas of most other nearby office buildings.
During the 1960's renovation, the tower was fitted with more modern furnishings such as air conditioning, acoustic ceiling tiles, and automatic elevators, to match the new eastern wing. Marble floors were one of the few holdovers of the previous decor.
The staircase leading to the top floors of the tower also retains its original decoration, including cast-iron railings, ceramic-tile wainscoting, marble stair treads, and landings with mosaic-tile floors.
Repurposing of the Tower
Since 2015, the tower section has been a 273-room luxury hotel called the New York Edition Hotel, with per-night hotel room rates starting at $600. Most of the historic detail in the interior was removed in the individual hotel rooms, but there are some remaining vestiges, such as the original scalloped ceilings.
On the second floor is an upscale restaurant called The Clocktower, a Michelin-starred eatery headed by British chef Jason Atherton. The restaurant has a dining area, a separate bar, and a room with a billiards table, and is only accessible through the building's lobby.
One Madison Avenue
The east wing is at One Madison Avenue, and was fourteen stories tall when completed in 1955. It extends east to Park Avenue South, covering nearly the entire block, and originally had nearly 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m2) of interior space.
As of 2020, the stories above the ninth floor are being demolished, and an 18-story glass-faced office tower is being built over the roof of the ninth floor. The glass addition is separated from the roof of the 1955 structure by large diagonal steel trusses.
One Madison Avenue's internal structure consists of a steel frame. The lowest two floors contain a granite façade, while the remaining stories contain a façade of Alabama limestone, as well as stainless-steel spandrels between each window.
The lobby of One Madison Avenue was combined with that of the clock tower when the east wing was originally constructed. It consists of floors and walls made of white marble and darker-marble accents, as well as a sheet rock ceiling with lighting panels, and stainless-steel doors and trim.
A replica of the original home office's board room was built on the 11th. floor of the east wing, and featured mahogany wainscoting, a coffered ceiling, and leather covering the walls.
When the glass addition is completed in 2023 or 2024, it will contain event areas, a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) food market, and a 9,000-square-foot (840 m2) tenants' lounge and fitness center.
One Madison Avenue is connected to the Metropolitan Life North Building by a preexisting tunnel. Until 2020, the buildings were also connected by a sky bridge on the eighth floor.
There were also many amenities for employees, including a library, auditorium, gymnasium, and medical and dental offices. There was also a recreational space on the roof of the home office's 23rd. Street portion, and through the larger complex's extensive system of kitchens and dining rooms, the company offered free lunch to every employee between 1908 and 1994.
Though the home office accommodated 14,500 workers by 1938, they were split up into different social hierarchies, with immigrants in service jobs, women in seamstresses' and cleaners' jobs, and native-born workers of both genders in white-collar jobs.
Building of the Tower
Plans for the proposed clock tower were filed with the New York City Department of Buildings in January 1907. At the time, the tower was to rise 690 feet (210 m) above ground, with 48 usable stories, or 50 in total.
By February 1908, thirty-one stories of the tower had been built. The lower floors of the Metropolitan Life Tower were occupied by May 1908. The tower was topped out the following month, although the tower was not completed until 1909, with one of its original tenants being the National Kindergarten Association.
The tower had cost $6.58 million, and the expanded complex had 2,800 workers at the time of the tower's completion. Metropolitan Life officials held a jubilee dinner in January 1910 to celebrate the tower's completion.
The tower was the world's tallest building until 1913, when it was surpassed by the Woolworth Building in Tribeca. A 1914 company history estimated that the entire complex could accommodate 20,000 visitors and tenants per day.
The Tower in the 21st. Century
In March 2005, SL Green Realty bought the clock tower, intending to convert it to apartments. The east wing at One Madison Avenue was part of the sale, but would not be converted to apartments, being leased to Credit Suisse First Boston until at least 2020.
In May 2007, the tower and adjacent air rights were sold for $200 million to Africa Israel Investments. In 2011, Tommy Hilfiger and a partner signed a contract to buy the clock tower for $170 million, planning to transform it into Hilfiger's first hotel, with luxury condominiums. However, Hilfiger backed off the project in September 2011.
Africa Israel then sold the tower to Marriott International in October 2011 for $165 million. Marriott announced in January 2012 that it was converting the tower to the New York Edition Hotel, one of three boutique hotels in the Edition line. The Edition hotels were sold in January 2013 to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for $815 million. The New York property was conveyed to its new owner on its completion. Marriott continues to manage the hotels under long-term contract, and the New York Edition Hotel opened in May 2015.
Image Enhancement
Metropolitan Life intended the tower to promote the company's image, with company president John Rogers Hegeman calling the building "a symbol of integrity".
As such, the tower was surrounded by publicity. It was featured on the front of prominent magazines such as Scientific American, as well as on the sides of corn flake boxes, coffee packets, and cars. Metropolitan Life valued the free publicity surrounding its skyscraper at over $440,000 (equivalent to $13 million in 2021). The company also published three oversized monographs with images featuring the building, in 1907, 1908, and 1914.
The tower figured prominently in Metropolitan Life's advertising for many years, illustrated with a light beaming from a lantern at the top of its spire and the slogan "The Light That Never Fails".
While other life insurance companies used sculptural representations for their respective symbols, Metropolitan Life used the building itself to represent the company's work and ideals.
Critical Appraisal of the Building
Though not structurally distinctive, the Metropolitan Life Tower nevertheless was highly scrutinized. The design of the tower won critical acclaim within the American architectural profession.
The American Institute of Architects' New York chapter called the clock tower "the most meritorious work of the year" upon its completion. The writer Roberta Moudry observed that "the tower appeared from Madison Square Park as an entity unto itself", distinct from other tall structures nearby, and at the time of its construction, "served as a timely large-scale public declaration of civic stature and ethical responsibility".
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission described the original home office's design as doing "much to establish Metropolitan Life in the eyes and the mind of the public."
In a company history book written shortly after the building's completion, Metropolitan Life characterized the structure as "the most beautiful home office in the world".
Members of the public also viewed the clock tower positively, with one anonymous reviewer calling the clock "a reassuring melody to hear on a trustworthy schedule". One newspaper columnist stated that when the clocks' hands were taken apart for cleaning in 1937, "letters poured in, asking what went on".
On the 11th. December 1984, to celebrate the building's 75th. anniversary, the United States Postal Service issued a pictorial cancellation that depicted the Metropolitan Life Tower, which was available only on that day.
Things seen at this year's Strathbungo Window Wanderland.
I especially liked the architectural effort at Greek Thomson's old house
This is the Wilkes-Barre Connecting RR bridge, known as "The Gauntlet" on Norfolk Southern's Sunbury Line. It has this interesting concrete structure on the Kingston side of the bridge. It's the only one like it, and it has "1949" in the concrete on the top. Does anyone know what this is? I know there have been several bridges at this spot. If it's an old bridge support, why was the top part added in 1949? Please leave a comment if you have ideas or info.
Niofoin / Nionfoin / Nioufouin (etc many various spellings seen) between Boundiali and Korhogo is famous for its Senoufo mudbrick fetish houses.
In the Niboladala neighborhood, the origin of Niofoin, most of the structures are traditional mud huts with thatched roofs. Among the elongated and peaked mud barns / granaries, typical in this region of Africa, and the huts of the neighbors of Niboladaba, there are two buildings known as the “fetish houses” with their imposing thick straw roofs rising higher than the others. These two monumental sacred houses guard the two fetishes that protect the town; Diby and Kalegbin. (NB - there is some interesting information on this village on the following website: kumakonda.com/en/niofoin-ivory-coast/ )