The Castro Verde is an absolutely magical area. The rolling Steppe habitat comes to life in Spring and a whole range of colours can be seen. The landscapes are open and rolling, making the sky look big and wide. The region does not receive many visitors and are very tranquil. In spring the land comes to life with the sound of Blackbirds, Calandra Larks, Quail too name but a few. I was lucky to see Great Bustard, Little Bustard, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Lesser Kestrel, Lesser-Short-toed Lark, Thekla Lark, Nightingale, Melodious Warbler were just some of the birds I added to my list in this region. I also saw an Iberian Hare. It is a great place to relax in.

   

algarvebirdman.com/

   

1. Special Protection Area (SPA) Castro Verde

  

This vast area (790 square kms) of rolling steppe land is a complete contrast to the Algarve and highly recommended for a day trip, being only around an hour’s drive north. Comprising the largest expanses of the steppic grassland plains in Portugal that form a mosaic with wide savannah-like open Holm Oak montado woodlands. Throughout the year the whole area is absolutely enchanting, both for its birds and the outstanding scenery that never fails to induce a vow to return. This seemingly never-ending wilderness is lush and liberally coated with wildflowers in the winter and spring, while in the summer and autumn the area becomes extremely arid and often desert-like. The SPA Castro Verde is one of the most important areas in Europe for sought after species like Lesser Kestrel, Great and Little Bustards and Black-bellied Sandgrouse. The area also supports a great diversity and high density of raptors, which includes nearly all of Portugal’s breeding species.

   

What to see when, around Castro Verde

  

During spring and early summer the best grasslands resound with the impressionable sound of Calandra Larks and the incredibly abundant Corn Buntings, while Montagu’s Harriers, Lesser Kestrels and Black Kites arrive to breed in quantity and become common birds in these pristine habitats. Great and Little Bustards display in early spring the latter being at its easiest to see at this time of year. Short-toed, Booted and Bonelli’s Eagles all breed in the general area and use the grasslands as regular hunting grounds. Other species that breed in this region include Stone-curlew, Great Spotted Cuckoo, European Roller, European Bee-eater, Pallid Swift, Woodlark, Short-toed, Crested and Thekla Larks, Tawny Pipit, Crag Martin, Black-eared Wheatear, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Cetti’s, Great Reed and Melodious Warblers, Woodchat and Southern Grey Shrikes, Golden Oriole and Spanish Sparrow as well as the omnipresent Azure-winged Magpies and Hoopoes.

   

Both Collared Pratincole and Gull-billed Terns occur in the area regularly and sometimes breed, depending on the water levels at key sites. In an undisclosed area Spanish Imperial Eagles have recently set up territories and by employing great care and patience they can often be seen soaring over the area. Simon supplies all his observations to the team that is monitoring this exciting re-establishment. Eurasian Black and Eurasian Griffon Vultures use the area almost daily on their searches for carrion, involving birds of a non-breeding age and one cannot help but prophesise the eventual colonisation of the Eurasian Black Vulture in this admirably suitable area.

  

Outside the breeding season the absence of the summer visitors is compensated by the arrival of an array of winter birds that join the many attractive resident species, including the omni-present bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Calandra Larks and resident raptors. Red Kites occupy in considerable numbers and its not at all unusual to see over 30 individuals are in a day, Hen Harriers hunt over the grasslands in good numbers too while the occasional Peregrine or Merlin add further interest to the raptors. Eurasian Black and Eurasian Griffon Vultures are more regularly seen outside the breeding season, as are Spanish Imperial Eagles due to dispersal of younger birds from Spain. Golden Eagle is more wide ranging at this time of year too and 1st year birds are often recorded. Large numbers of wintering Lapwing and Golden Plover settle here and Skylarks and Meadow Pipits become truly abundant. Around 1000 Common Cranes occur, often feeding on fallen acorns in the open Holm Oak woodlands from late October to March (the highest count in the winter of 2007-8 revealed 1300 inds)

 

This region is well worth visiting all the year round but during the incredibly hot July and August, when birding is often uncomfortable and the heat-haze can make for frustrating viewing, seriously early starts are recommended. On these days we can include a short afternoon visit to Castro Marim (see “Wetlands”). For the most enthusiastic, a 2-3 day tour is ideal and can be easily arranged together with attractive and economic accommodation in the area. This will give ample time for the more difficult species and permit a deeper appreciation of this superb area.

   

Access in the SPA Castro Verde

  

Important information (particularly relevant to the observation of Great Bustard):

  

It is thanks to the Liga da Proteção da Natureza (LPN www.lpn.pt) for the continued existence of high quality steppic habitats in this region. In 1993 the LPN purchased 5 properties in this area (total: 1700ha.) at a time when the whole region was under imminent threat of becoming forested with non-native eucalyptus forest. This would have meant the loss of one of the most important areas of its kind in Europe. Not only did the LPN manage to prevent this from happening on land they purchased but also, through a successful lobby, actually caused a complete turn around within the government and achieved SPA status for the whole area in 1993. The LPN continue to work with the implementation of wide-ranging nature protection projects, notably a long-term program centred on the conservation of the pseudo-steppe habitats within the SPA; “ O Programa Castro Verde Sustentavel”.

 

Unfortunately, excessive pressure from visiting birdwatchers in recent years has driven the LPN to prohibit free access onto their land (all entrances have large green gates labelled LPN and usually clear signs depicting a design with a Little Bustard’s head and a tractor). These gates should always be closed but as some local farmers tend to leave them open it encourages un-informed birders to just drive in. (Always close them if you see them open!). Due to the increasing numbers of visiting birdwatchers and the proximity of the tracks to Great Bustard leks some disturbance has been unavoidable. Sadly, a few people have even walked across managed habitats in the breeding season, usually in attempts to get closer photographs. Because of this, the LPN have desperately been trying to halt access onto their land - this has been difficult because of lenient Portuguese laws and also because local farmers need to have access to their land by thoroughfare. There has even been a recent case of attempted egg collecting (not birders), which was investigated by the local police and Interpol.

  

Great Bustards will just not tolerate approach within at least 500 metres and if they are displaying any disturbance of this nature will cut down display time and consequently, reduce their breeding success. As the LPN is almost solely responsible for the dramatic increase in this, by far the largest Great Bustard population in Portugal, these recent trends have become a cause for concern and are counter-productive to their ongoing habitat management etc. Understandably, some birdwatchers just do not realise the consequences of pushing too close and making these creatures fly - just once a day in the breeding season can have a marked effect on their population. The great majority of birdwatchers don't mean to be selfish but in actual fact one cannot closely approach these birds without disturbance. If you should be lucky enough to encounter Great Bustards outside of the LPN land, please observe the following:

 

Great Bustard observation code as practiced and encouraged by the LPN

 

1.Keep to an absolute minimum distance of 5-600 metres when at all possible.

2. Stay part of the car - ie; get out but don’t separate one-self visually.

3. Stay on tracks

4. Keep movements very gentle and be very quiet

5. Keep observations to less than around 20 mins

6. Drive away slowly

 

In this way one can enjoy the Great Bustards without making them nervous

   

LPN Castro Verde Environmental Education Centre:

  

“Centro de Educação Ambiental de Vale Gonçalinho”

 

Simon strongly suggests to anyone visiting the area for the first time to make a visit to this centre; it’s an ideal way to start the day being only some 10 mins drive north-east from Castro Verde.

 

Tel: (00351) 286 328 309 (Usually closed on Sundays and Mondays).

 

One can visit this centre freely from 9am - 5 pm. There are free walking trails here that are very good for Little Bustard, European Roller, Lesser Kestrel and Calandra Lark and to a lesser extent, Great Bustard and Black-bellied Sandgrouse. The charming staff speak excellent English and will give birdwatching advice for the whole region, including details of recent interesting sightings.

Books and T-shirts etc. are available for purchase in the small

shop, as well as a selection of free informative leaflets (donations welcome!).

  

At the centre one can easily become a member of the non-profit making LPN and help them with their many conservation projects. Through advance booking, the LPN will take small groups (up to 6) to see the wildlife of the region including the Bustards etc. Note that as over the years Simon has led voluntary trips for members of the LPN and SPEA and regularly supplies data from the region, he has a special arrangement for entering some LPN land in the SPA Castro Verde.

 

To reach the Centro de Educação Ambiental de Vale Gonçalinho:

Take the Beja road (IP2) from Castro Verde - soon one will see an adjacent (the old road) road to the right. Get on this at the first opportunity at around 2.5 kms from Castro Verde. Continue in the Beja direction and after around another 2 kms a well-made track to the right is clearly signposted for the centre. Drive down here for approx 1 km (looking out for Calandra Larks and Little Bustards!)

until you come to a long white building - you are at the centre.

   

Some conservation dependent species of the SPA Castro Verde

  

The Castro Verde region is the most important area in Portugal for a number of rare and endangered birds that depend totally or partially on extensive steppic habitats. The sustainability of these depends largely on man’s influence. The major threats are; intensification of agriculture through modern farming methods, the reduction of traditional grazing pastures and afforestation. Below is some general information and up to date facts and figures about the conservation of some of the most important species that are found in the Castro Verde region and its environs.

  

Great Bustard

 

According to an extensive and rigorous survey of the Great Bustard population in Portugal in 2005 this fabulous species recently suffered some small extinctions in a couple of areas but had increased overall. This increase is largely due to the existence of one large high-quality area – the SPA Castro Verde. Here the total number of 1,093 individuals counted in 2005 represents nearly 80% of the Portuguese total – a marked increase since the last major census in 2002 when 912 individuals were detected. Countrywide, the major threats to Great Bustard in Portugal were identified as; agricultural intensification, afforestation as well as collision with power lines, illegal hunting and road building. In the Castro Verde region, where the LPN works with local farmers to achieve environmentally sustainable agricultural practices and habitat management, the main cause for concern are power lines – 19 Great Bustards were found to have collided with them between October 2004 and September 2005. Undoubtedly the Castro Verde region is as good as anywhere in the world for observing this shy and vulnerable species although due to its extreme sensitivity, especially during the breeding season it is imperative that visiting birdwatchers respect access rules to private land and follow the observation code set out by the LPN (see above).

 

Citation: Leitão, D; Jolivet, C; Rodriguez, M and Tavares, J., eds Bustard Conservation in Europe in the last 15 Years: current trends, best practices and future priorities. Birdlife International, 2006.

   

Little Bustard

 

The LIFE-nature funded project: “Project Tetrax – Conservation of Little Bustard in the Alentejo” included intensive surveys of both the breeding and wintering population. Also, and importantly, action plans with the co-operation of local farmers and central administration were developed. The breeding population census (2003-2005) showed that the SPA Castro Verde was by far the most important single area for this species, holding 3440 displaying males. Data collected also revealed densities as high as 9.8 males per 100 hectares, which is the highest recorded anywhere and further highlights the crucial importance the area has for grassland species in general. As this survey forms a baseline for future monitoring it is not yet possible to conclude an actual trend for the Little Bustard population in Portugal, although the initial results indicate a substantial increase in comparison to previous fieldwork. It is likely however, that the increased coverage and the high data quality collected during this project have largely clouded any reliable comparison with the past. As with many steppe-land species the main threats identified during Project Tetrax were agricultural intensification and afforestation. If these changes to land use are not halted it is believed, despite the present large population in Portugal that Little Bustard could be threatened with extinction in the short to medium term.

 

Citation: Leitão, D; Jolivet, C; Rodriguez, M and Tavares, J., eds Bustard Conservation in Europe in the last 15 Years: current trends, best practices and future priorities. Birdlife International, 2006.

   

Lesser Kestrel

 

Due to drastic reductions in the breeding populations of this charming falcon the Lesser Kestrel is considered an endangered species. The LPN has been working closely with this species throughout Portugal since 1993 when the national population had hit a low of less than 150 pairs. Now, thanks to the efforts of the LPN there are over 450 breeding pairs in Portugal and are still increasing. Presently, the SPA Castro Verde holds over 70% of the country’s population. Between 2002 and 2006 the LPN launched a Life-nature project: “Re-establishment of the Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanii) in Portugal”. Among the many actions taken by the LPN the provision of new nesting sites and the improvement of old ones have benefited this colonially nesting species. Meanwhile, ongoing deals with landowners that promote friendly farming practices have substantially increased the amount of insect prey so important to this migratory falcon. During the project’s 4 years the incredible figure of 2797 juveniles were ringed and preliminary understanding indicates that most of these return to their birthplace.

 

Citation: Henriques, I & Alcazar, R. 2006. Um olhar sobre o Peneiriero-das-torres (Falco naumanii) do projecto LIFE-Natureza Peneiriero-das-torres – “Recuperação de Peneiriero-das-torres (Falco naumanii) em Portugal. LPN, Lisboa, Portugal.

   

Black-bellied Sandgrouse

 

This is another scarce species that is entirely restricted to large and undisturbed areas of steppe-type habitats. Again this bird’s stronghold in Portugal is the SPA Castro Verde, which holds more than half of the total national population. There are now believed to be more Black-bellied Sandgrouse than previously thought in Portugal, although the population is almost certainly less than 1000 individuals. It is an extremely difficult species to census – a recent study in the region of Morão in central-east Portugal revealed that over 300 individuals are now known to be resident. A reliable census of their situation in the whole of Portugal is awaited. The Black-bellied Sandgrouse is a notoriously elusive species that demands, maybe more than any other in the region, previous experience in order to be seen. The usual view is of small groups in flight that are flushed unknowingly by the observer, their atmospheric flight calls giving them away. Views on the ground, if at all, are nearly always at great distance as this bird will usually get up and fly on approach to within 1 km. only to settle even further away!

   

Montagu’s Harrier

 

The first Montagu’s Harriers return to the SPA Castro Verde to breed from as early as late February where they occupy most of this enormous area. From mid-March this easily seen raptor becomes quite literally abundant and due to its apparent lack of fear, delights observers as they quarter at low level over the grasslands and cereal crops of the region. In a single day it is not unusual to see 20 different individuals. Thanks to LPN’s efforts with the local farmers their habitat has improved in recent years and their nest sites protected from machinery during harvest time, which often coincides with the times that unfledged young are still in the nest. Interestingly, a pair of Marsh Harriers has been breeding in similar cereal-steppe habitats, which is quite normal in Eastern Europe but practically unheard of in the west where they are almost exclusively confined to reedbeds.

  

European Roller

 

Only around 100 pairs breed in Portugal, being much more scarce than many visitors imagine. The European Roller has suffered considerable declines over much of its range and once again, the decline of suitable habitat due to modern agricultural practices is the key factor. This much sought after species is a staggeringly colourful migrant and flight views never fail to leave an unforgettable impression on the observer. The SPA Castro Verde has the highest density of breeding pairs in the country, partly due to the placement of nest boxes and breeding walls for Lesser Kestrel by the LPN in suitable habitat and partly because of the ideal conditions that this area presents. It is a fairly late migrant, the first birds tending to arrive around the 1st week of April with occasional sightings considerably earlier. The European Roller, despite its colours is not always easy to see and is absent from many apparently suitable areas. A visit to a known breeding site is the most reliable method!

  

Calandra Lark

 

This, the largest of all larks is another specialist of the interior arid areas of Portugal where it is rather patchily distributed. The winter flocks can comprise of many 100’s of birds while in late winter these split up to occupy favoured sites. Even in the breeding season Calandra Lark is gregarious – breeding in loose colonies when it is normal to witness the memorable sight and sound of various birds in slow-motion song flight at their favoured spots. Their distinctive sounds are an integral part of the best habitats in the region and one will find that their presence coincides with other sought-after species of the region. Short-toed Larks, Tawny Pipits and Black-eared Wheatears often occupy the same areas as this species.

   

Common Crane

 

A large proportion of the European wintering population resides in central-western Iberia with most occupying favoured areas in the Spanish Extramadura. Portugal receives its portion though, confined mainly to central-eastern areas on the Spanish border and around Castro Verde. Well over 1000 Common Cranes winter in the SPA Castro Verde, arriving in numbers around late October and leaving by mid-March. Despite their numbers it is rather difficult to find them in their preferred feeding areas below the extensive Holm Oak montado woodlands, where they feed on fallen acorns. The best strategy for success is to stakeout one of their roosting sites, with care not to cause any interruptions that can cause considerable stress when incoming groups are settling. The sight and sound of wild Common Cranes assembling to roost must be one of the most awe-inspiring spectacles that nature has to offer.

  

Black-shouldered Kite

 

The stronghold in Europe for this enchanting raptor are the interior wooded plains of the western Spanish Extramadura and its natural continuation in Portugal’s Alentejo. In winter they can sometimes be seen hunting over the open plains of the Castro Verde region but this is not their breeding habitat. This is a bird of savannah-like Holm Oak montado-type woodland interspersed with cereal crops. This habitat forms a large part of the SPA Castro Verde and well-travelled visitors to the area in the dry season often comment on its uncanny resemblance to the African savannah. Although quite a common resident species it is becoming apparent that after the breeding season, many birds vacate the searing heat of mid-summer. It is then, that they often hunt in the periphery of wetlands and other cooler coastal areas of the Alentejo and especially, in the Lisbon region. By mid-autumn most of the local breeders are back in territory and are usually easily seen from then and to the end of the breeding season.

 

Visually Oregon City seems either too dark or to bright, e.g. here the new lights on the bridge made the river seem very dark visually, but photographically it balanced out very nicely, only masked/brushed in some shorter exposures bits of the brightest bridge lights to get it to balance out. From a fun night in Oregon City with the PDXNightowls. NB18360-62

We went to the National Leprechaun Museum yesterday and was so surprised at how visually stunning it was!!!! totally unexpected :) www.leprechaunmuseum.ie

I think I may have mentioned this before, but the big joke in my most intimate crowd of friends is "Oh that's Karen... she sees things VISUALLY". (beat) (beat) (beat) Duh-uh!

 

It's my own fault. I think it mighta been at the Thanksgiving table a few years ago when I- without adequate aforethought- blurted out in the middle of a conversation "Well that's because I see everything visually". Meaning that I'm more highly attuned to visual stimuli than to anything else in a given situation. If the light's too bright- in my opinion- in a room I will have a hard time concentrating on what is being said until I adjust it. Certain colors- or color combinations- will make my teeth clench. I can remember minute details of the rooms of houses I was in years ago even when I can't call to mind the name of the host. And visual chaos, other than of course my own clutter, will render me incapable of productivity... and even my own visually cacophonous environment will get to me when it reaches a certain point. Didn't have my camera with me on my walk home today from my nutritionist appointment, so of course I saw two dozen imaginary oblong frames over perfect photo ops through my built-in organic viewfinder in the course of two miles.

 

I'm sure the visual bunch around here can relate!

 

For some reason this penchant of mine seems particularly acute near the holidays. In both good and bad ways. I love, for instance, how illumination can be used so beautifully to set mood for the "dark of winter" holidays that hover around the solstice. And I have a healthy appreciation for some good old fashioned kitsch... good thing in my neighborhood! But I have no tolerance for the "over the top" sensibilities of the "bigger is better" crowd. Last night when I was over at Matt's for the weekly viewing of my favorite show "Pushing Daisies"- beloved by me mostly for it's fabulous visual sense, but also it's slightly absurd point of view- I hit my limit of bad holiday advertising visuals in less than three hours. A new record I believe. Luckily, I have a significant counterbalance in memories of holidays past.

 

Last week when I was making pies the day before the holiday, with a buncha friends and family laughing and talking at a table across the room, just the act of looking down into the bowl at the pastry blender mixing fat and flour conjured up a breathtaking remembrance of the barren front yard and manual water pump of my Indiana grandmother. As a very young child I would sit on her ramshackle sagging porch staring out at that pump while we waited impatiently for the pie-day treat she always made us... little individual piecrusts to eat plain and salty and warm from the oven. And then, as always happens when that visual comes to mind, I remembered too how her kitchen looked when my grandad would take a bath in the galvanized tub, with water from the pump heated in kettles on the stove while she was baking the pies. If I was paid to I don't believe I could recall the timbre of my grandfather's voice, or what kind of fillings grandma put in the full-sized piecrusts.... but I could paint you an accurate picture of that front yard, and can draw a groundplan of that kitchen with its farmhouse table and well-used butter churn and the hole in one of the sagging floorboards that you had to avoid. It's not that I didn't love them.... it's that my visual memories overwhelm most of the others.

 

There's another visual memory I was trying to describe to Matt recently. Much harder to describe. One Christmas Eve when I was maybe 8 or 9 or 10 years old, and we lived in a happy but crowded small duplex, I escaped to the tiny bathroom- the only room with a lock on the door- to elude the party downstairs and the inevitable festive chaos for a few minutes. It had snowed that day, which prompted some of the celebration below, and in there, with the lights turned off, the quality of the light that came through the venetian blinds- reflected off the cold white untrammeled-as-yet snow twenty feet below- had a serenity and a magical quality to it that I've never forgotten. Almost blue, but feeling both warm and cool at the same time. Bright enough that there must have been a full moon, though I don't recall seeing it. The din belowstairs seemed far away for a moment, and there was a feeling of promise to it that I know had to do with anticipation of Christmas, but that felt- in that moment- something more portentous than that.

 

I bring this one up because, over the many years since that night, maybe once every few years, I will be in a dark room somewhere and the quality of the light will immediately transport me back to that moment.... and I'll see it again as if I'm a child sitting in that tiny bathroom, just hours before Santa's anticipated arrival by sleigh. It's a very happy feeling.

 

Not all of the visual memories are holiday related, of course. Seeing lavendar growing anywhere near silver artemesia will bring to mind herbalist Adelma Simmons- now long dead- bending over a row of her plants in her signature capelette and skullcap tackling an unwanted weed. Any image hereabouts of a straight highway through a desert will recall to me precisely the way New Mexico looked over the dashboard of our rental car when Matt introduced me to the beauty of that part of the country via route 40. My friend Zen Granny posted a photograph from a mountaintop in Switzerland recently that brought back a memory of sitting on a misty mountaintop high above lake Lucerne so vivid and clear that I swear I could feel the chill in the air that I felt there 34 years ago. I've been known to miss my bus stop when someone on the route reminds me of my mother, and I get lost in a photorealistic picture in my head of a day she was across from me on the Newington to Hartford bus explaining to a newcomer where the best bargains were to be found in the area. I was a sullen teenager at the time too embarrassed to sit next to my mom, but not so jaded that I don't remember the exact way the late afternoon sun sat on her shoulder, or the grateful smile of the mousy blond woman in the incongruous black fishnet stockings who- though she didn't know it at the time- was being inducted into the exclusive cabal of my mother's G Fox & Company cronies.

 

Oh, you know I could go on and on, but I'll spare you the tedium. Sometimes this acute visual memory feels like a curse, but most of the time I'm grateful for it. Would I trade it for some of the memories that are less developed in me? ...names. ...dates. ...how to make money reliably. Those would be tempting ones to have. But not if I'd have to give this one up. Even if my friends do make fun of me for it.

Perhaps the most visually compelling element in the Over mansion is this exquisitely detailed Classical inspired porch pediment. It combines lines from Classical Antiquity with Georgian era details reinterpreted though early 20th century eyes and tastes. Although merely part of an architectural statement, I view this as a genuine artistic statement worthy of careful study to fully appreciate the Old World workmanship from this era over a century ago. The stylized symmetrical Georgian Revival window at the center of the pediment was missing for a while but an exact replica was made for a previous restorer. Over 20 years of careful restoration work has gone into this mansion and continues.

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Contact : photos [at] handisport.org

In the seed processing plant at Bidasem, workers visually examine and manually sift maize seed on a conveyor belt, picking out material such as damaged or spoiled seed or pieces of cob. After initial cleaning and sorting, all seed that goes through the plant passes through quality control. If a sample from a batch is found to more have more than 2% impurities, they are either separated out by hand like this or using a gravity table. The batch is then resampled to ensure a clean bill of health to continue processing.

 

Bidasem is a small seed company based in the central Mexican plains region known as the Bajío. It produces approximately 10,000 bags of maize seed a year, each holding 22.5kg, as well as producing wheat and oat seed and marketing seed of other crops. Despite their small size, Bidasem and similar companies play an important role in improving farmers’ livelihoods. “Our aim is to provide farmers with quality seed at accessible prices, that is adapted to the conditions we have here in the Bajío. It’s a great satisfaction, when farmers achieve the yields they need,” says director general María Esther Rivas.

 

“Without CIMMYT, we couldn’t exist,” says Rivas. She sells four different maize hybrids, all formed from freely-available CIMMYT parent lines. “Really the most important thing is to produce your own hybrids, and for us it wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have the germplasm from CIMMYT. What we’re currently producing is 100% CIMMYT.” The relationship between Bidasem and CIMMYT is now deepening through participation in the MasAgro initiative, which includes training courses for seed companies and collaborative trials to evaluate the best seed.

 

Photo credit: X. Fonseca/CIMMYT.

 

For more on seed production at Bidasem, and CIMMYT's role in providing the best seed, see CIMMYT's 2012 e-news story The seed chain: producing better seed for small farmers, available online at: www.cimmyt.org/en/newsletter/598-2012/1398-the-seed-chain....

Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

 

The Windermere, constructed in 1880-81, is significant as the oldest-known large apartment complex remaining in an area that was one of Manhattan's first apartment-house districts. With its exuberant display of textured, corbelled, and polychromatic brickwork, the Windermere complex is a visually compelling, imposing, eclectic, and unified group of three buildings anchoring the southwest corner of Ninth Avenue and West 57th Street. Adding to its significance is the Windermere's role in the history of women's housing in New York City. In the late 1890s, in an era in which housing options for single, self-supporting women were relatively limited, the Windermere was recognized as a remarkable home for a substantial population of these so-called "New Women." As such, it appears to have anticipated later residential projects in the city catering specifically to bachelor women.

 

Upon its completion, the Windermere, which is attributed to architect Theophilus G. Smith, stood within an area that had been sparsely settled only ten years before. By the mid-1880s, this area was home to several prominent examples of the apartment house, which was then a new and evolving residential building type. Today, the Windermere and the later, 1883-85 Osborne (a designated New York City Landmark) are the only- known large apartment houses or large apartment complexes dating from this district's early years.

 

The seven-story Windermere buildings are of impressive scale, topped by story-high cornices, and crowned, at No. 400 West 57th Street, by a high, false pediment with an inset, blind brick arch. Although they vary in width, the three Windermere buildings are united by common materials, decorative elements, and design into an asymmetrical group combining features of the Queen Anne style with brick polychromy and horizontal banding typical of the High Victorian Gothic, and with Romanesque elements including round- arched windows and the round arches of the Windermere's massive, machicolated cornices.

 

Among the Windermere's most notable features are the three-story bowed oriels at No. 400 West 57th Street; the segmental arches used as a framing device on both the 57th Street and Ninth Avenue facades; the use of contrasting Ohio stone trim; and the robust, channeled brick pilasters, which corbel upon reaching the cornices. Changes to the buildings over the years have included the addition of windows at the cornice level on the Ninth Avenue façade, and alterations to the ground floor of No. 400, including the removal of the original paired entrance portico and stoop, and the resurfacing of the façade with stone veneer. The Windermere's primary facades, which remain substantially intact after nearly 125 years, are among the features that distinguish the Windermere as an outstanding example of a large apartment complex of its time.

 

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

 

The Early New York Apartment House

 

Although merchants in Colonial New York lived "over the store" with their families, servants, and apprentices, by the early nineteenth century, new residential neighborhoods were developing away from Lower Manhattan's business district. By the 1830s, with the weakening of the apprentice system, New York's wage- earners found lodging in boarding houses, rented rooms, or the early tenement buildings, while artists and merchants typically lived in private three- or four-story rowhouses. But by 1860, New York's skyrocketing population - which increased from 33,171 in 1790 to more than half a million in 1850 - had pushed private- house prices out of the reach of most members of the middle class. By 1866, those who could not afford their own houses included "professional men, clergymen, shopkeepers, artists, college professors, and upper-level mechanics." Some middle-class families adapted by moving into boarding houses, but living with other families in a subdivided former rowhouse conflicted with the era's middle-class values, which stressed the "individual private house as the protector of family privacy, morality, and identity." In the years following the Civil War, new types of multiple dwellings emerged to cater to those of greater means than the poor or working-class, who remained largely confined to the tenement or rooming house.

 

Among New York's first apartment houses were two designed by Richard Morris Hunt: the Stuyvesant Apartments (1869-70, demolished) at 142 East 18th Street, and Stevens House (1870-72, demolished), on the south side of 27th Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway. Buildings such as these led one observer to write in 1874 that "the successful establishment of a few elegant apartment houses for the rich demonstrated to those of moderate means the possibility of multiple tenancy without the risk of social debasement."

 

Although the Panic of 1873 slowed the construction of flats buildings in New York, construction took off, with an improving economy, after 1876. (As opposed to tenements, in which residents shared bathing facilities and toilets, both flats buildings and apartment houses had self-contained suites of rooms; the latter term generally referred to the more luxurious buildings, particularly those with elevators.) Between 1875 and 1879, approximately 700 new flats buildings were erected in New York; 516 were built in 1880 alone. By 1880, "the French flat, catering to the middle class, was a fixture of the city's architecture." Relatively few of these new buildings were architecturally distinguished; nevertheless, a "revolution in living," as the New York Times deemed it in 1878, was occurring, and by the mid-1880s, more New Yorkers lived in multiple dwellings than in rowhouses.

 

Most of the early flats buildings were located on the Upper East Side, east of Third Avenue. But as the city's architects moved, in the late 1870s, toward the creation of the "mammoth apartment house," much of the new apartment house construction occurred in the Ladies' Mile district and in "the new apartment district west of the luxury quarter." This area in the West 50s and low West 60s, largely undeveloped in the early 1870s, was bordered on the east by Fifth Avenue, then the city's poshest residential street; it was above the infamous Tenderloin, and east of the Lower West End, a working-class neighborhood between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues that would later become known as San Juan Hill. The extension of the Sixth Avenue Elevated to West 58th Street, and of the Ninth Avenue Elevated through the Upper West Side in the late 1870s, sparked the area's growth, particularly along West 59th Street; the pioneering apartment house there was the Bradley (John G. Prague, 1877, demolished), a luxury building at 30 West 59th. Nearby, directly on Fifth Avenue between West 52nd and West 53rd Streets, was a slightly earlier luxury building, the first Osborne (Duggin & Crossman, 1876, demolished), which was considered at the time to be "the finest apartment house in New York."

 

Despite their importance as early luxury apartment houses, both the six-story, six-bay-wide Bradley, and the five-story, seven-bay-wide Osborne, were relatively modest in scale. By the late 1870s, numerous medium-sized and larger apartment houses would fill the blocks of this rapidly developing area. To these were added the 80-foot-high, seven-story Windermere, in 1881.

 

The early 1880s would see a huge leap in apartment-house scale and sophistication, epitomized by such massive structures as the eleven-story new Osborne (James E. Ware, 1883-85, a designated New York City Landmark) at Seventh Avenue and West 57th Street; and by the Central Park Apartments, or "Spanish Flats" (Hubert, Pirsson & Co., 1883, 1885, demolished), a complex of eight, ten-story buildings located east of Seventh Avenue between West 58th and West 59th Streets. Farther uptown, on Eighth Avenue between West 72nd and West 73rd Streets, Edward Clark would build the Dakota (Henry J. Hardenburgh, 1882-84, a designated New York City Landmark), the first major residential building on the Upper West Side. Construction of such large apartment buildings was halted soon afterwards, however, as the 1885 passage of the Daly Law limited dwelling houses to 80 feet in height on the avenues, and 70 feet on side streets. These height restrictions would remain in effect until 1901.

 

During its early years, the apartment house remained "an experiment," as "what constituted the best or the most convenient or the most luxurious flat had to be subjected to constant revision, for there was no body of experience or literature to guide either architects or architectural critics." Architects drew upon various styles, often mixing them together. Developers and architects sought to strike a balance between communal living and the privacy of the rowhouse, in a climate in which the apartment house's long-term success was not a foregone conclusion. In 1877, with large numbers of vacancies in the Albany and Osborne, the Real Estate Record concluded that apartment houses were failing to draw the "better class of people" from private houses; by the mid-1880s, with the Dakota half-vacant, the Spanish Flats a financial failure, and numerous examples existing of unprofitable apartment-house ventures, some concluded that "the majority of upper- middle- and upper-class people still preferred houses over apartments."

 

By 1885, during the early years of the New York apartment house, the "new apartment district" west of Fifth Avenue had seen the construction of a diverse array of medium and large apartment houses, from the early luxury Bradley building, to numerous five- and six-story buildings like the Albany and Sonoma, to massive, towering apartment houses and apartment complexes like the 1883-85 Osborne and the Central Park Apartments. The Windermere, with its imposing bulk - its massive, story-high cornice and false pediment making it appear even larger than its seven-story height - is distinguished from the modestly scaled, pre-1885 residential buildings remaining in the area. Older than the Osborne Apartments to its east, the Windermere constitutes the oldest-known large apartment house or large apartment complex remaining in this district. With the exception of the Manhattan (Charles W. Clinton, 1879-80) at Second Avenue and East 86th Street, the Windermere may be the oldest large apartment house or large apartment complex remaining in New York City today.

 

Construction and Early History

 

Located at the southwest corner of Ninth Avenue and West 57th Street, the Windermere is comprised of three separate buildings - a corner building and two narrower buildings to its west - all of which are faced with red Philadelphia brick and trimmed with tan and black Philadelphia brick, stone, and tile. Although these buildings vary in width and have distinctive facades, the use of the same materials on all facades and the display of common decorative features - such as horizontal banding elements that extend across the Ninth Avenue façade and carry over to the West 57th Street facades of all three buildings - endow the Windermere with the appearance of a unified group. Press accounts from the early years of the Windermere often implied that it was a single building, or reinforced the conception of the three buildings as part of a common complex by using the Windermere name to refer to separate individual buildings. The 1899 G.W. Bromley map showed the complex as a single large building labeled "Windemere."

 

While in 1867, the lots between 55th and 59th Streets, and between Eighth and Tenth Avenues, held only a few scattered buildings, by 1879, the area had begun to fill in with structures. Still, at the end of the 1870s, the Windermere site, which was valued at $22,500 in 1880, had not been built upon.

 

Construction on all three buildings proceeded concurrently, with work on the corner building beginning on July 26, 1880, and the other two started on August 17, 1880. The three buildings would vary in size, with the corner building, extending for 115 feet along Ninth Avenue and 50 feet along West 57th Street, being the largest. It would house three families on each of its upper floors and two on the first floor, or a total of 20 families, and would also have two ground-floor stores. The center building would be only 20 feet wide, and would house one family on each of the first five floors; the upper two stories were "to be used as drying rooms or by families on [the] top stories of [the] adjoining house." The 30-foot-wide, westernmost building would house a total of 14 families - two on each floor. In total, the Windermere would contain 39 units.

 

All three buildings were completed on August 30, 1881. William E. Stewart was listed as their owner, and Theophilus George Smith as their architect. An attorney, Nathaniel A. McBride, was also involved with the project; all three men, at the time of the Windermere's construction, were listed as being at the same address, 152 Broadway.

 

Little information has been found on other building projects that McBride, Stewart, and Smith may have been involved with in New York City. McBride was born around 1842, and although a lawyer by profession, he was listed as a "real estate speculator" in the early 1900s. Stewart, a New York City native, was also a lawyer. Smith, listed only once in city directories as an architect, and at other times as a surveyor or civil engineer, designed a handful of tenements and rowhouses on the Upper West Side between 1877 and 1881.

 

In April 1881, several months before its completion, the Windermere was profiled in a New York Times article on "the growing West Side." It was described, along with several other new buildings, as representative of the high-quality construction occurring in the area west of Fifth Avenue and north of 42nd Street, which was then undergoing rapid urbanization. In addition to the completion of new elevated railroad lines, additional factors spurring apartment house construction in the area, according to the Times, were that "times are good, money is plentiful and cheap, and capitalists and owners of property are encouraged by these circumstances to improve their real estate." As described in the article, each Windermere apartment of seven to nine rooms would be

 

"furnished with a buffet, sideboard, and pier glass. For the convenience of tenants who do not wish to cook in their own apartments, large kitchens are situated in the basement. Three hydraulic elevators, which are to run day and night, will be provided. The building will be heated with steam throughout, and a telephone connecting with all parts of the City will be placed at the disposal of all tenants. Electric bells in all the suites communicate with the janitor's rooms, and an automatic electric fire-indicator will notify the janitor of the breaking out of a fire in any part of the building, even if the tenants of the burning apartment are out."

 

The article also mentioned the provision of automatic fire-gongs in the inner courtyard and the suites, "abundant" fire escapes, and a rear passageway allowing for deliveries, as well as the presence of uniformed "hall boys" who were "to be on duty day and night."

 

It is unclear whether the Windermere was conceived of as a luxury apartment complex. According to a second-story floor plan filed near its time of construction, only two elevators were provided - in the corner and westernmost buildings - making the middle building a walk-up and its suites, technically, flats. Despite this, the middle building's flats were spacious, consisting of eight rooms each, including front and back parlors, a sitting room, and three bedrooms, as well as two fireplaces. The apartments in the westernmost building lacked the middle building's sitting room, extra parlor, and second fireplace, but had an additional bedroom. There were slight variations among the corner building's apartments, each of which had seven rooms.

 

The Times article gave the impression of the Windermere as a high-class apartment complex, mentioning its $350,000 cost and including it among buildings that were "to be first class in every particular." The promised amenity of telephone service likely would have been considered a luxury feature, as it was new at the time. In 1882, Real Estate Record called the "Windmere" (sic) a "magnificent apartment house" in telling of its sale by Nathaniel McBride; one year later, it included apartments there among a "list of first-class apartments unrented" in "most of the principal apartment houses in the city." The prices listed for the Windermere's available apartments, however, were considerably lower than for those in buildings like the Berkshire, Gramercy, or Palermo; seven- and nine-room suites at the Gramercy, for example, rented for $2,000 to $3,000 annually, while the Windermere's rooms were listed at between $600 and $1,100.

 

It seems likely that the presence of the noisy and sooty Ninth Avenue elevated train only a few feet from the Windermere's east façade would preclude the Windermere from achieving luxury status; the Windermere was also well west of most of the luxury apartment houses of the time, such as the Bradley and the Vancorlear (Henry J. Hardenburgh, 1879, demolished), which were located two blocks or more to the east. Finally, the promise of the owners, before construction was completed, to "furnish coal to the tenants at summer prices all the year round," implies a cost-consciousness among prospective tenants that would presumably be out of place in a true luxury apartment complex.

 

The Windermere, in its early years, attracted tenants that, if not wealthy, could be considered comfortably middle class. Among those living in the corner building (No. 400 West 57th Street) in 1890 were the superintendent, Henry Sterling Goodale; a druggist; an artist; three brokers; and a lawyer. Those living in the center building included Charles H. Harvey, who served as a delegate to the New York State Democratic Convention in 1894. Among the residents of the westernmost building (No. 406) were a company president, a trunk merchant, and a minister. Also living at the Windermere in its early years were the superintendent of the Protestant Episcopal City Mission (in 1887), and the president of the city's board of health (also in 1887).

 

By the end of the decade, the Windermere would attract attention as an unusual residential complex catering to the "New Woman."

 

The Post-Goodale Windermere

 

Henry Sterling Goodale left New York in 1900, apparently moving to Amherst Massachusetts, where he died in 1906. Although Goodale's reasons for leaving are unclear, he may have been driven away, at least in part, by a fire that occurred at the Windermere in 1899. Although the fire did not spread far, "the observatory and the greater part of Goodsell's (sic) apartments were destroyed," the New York Times reported.

 

With Goodale's departure, changes appear to have occurred at the Windermere. The building may have been undergoing renovations in 1900: the U.S. Census of that year shows only four families living in the 400 building, none in No. 404, and four families in No. 406. The families in No. 400 included a doctor, his wife, and son; a male head of household with two daughters and one female boarder; a civil engineer, who lived with his wife and daughter, and a servant; and a druggist who had been present in the building in 1890 and who lived with his wife and a servant. The families in No. 406 included a doctor, his wife, and two daughters; a minister who had been in the building in 1890, and who was there in 1900 with his four daughters; a male doctor, living alone; and an engineer, his wife and daughter, and their male boarder, who was a doctor.

 

Fires plagued the Windermere during the first decade of the twentieth century. After a major fire in 1907, the Times reported that the tenants of the Windermere were "mostly women."

 

By 1910, the area that the Windermere was in - north of 44th Street and west of Eighth Avenue - was losing population, as the new subways spurred the development of, and drew tenants to, attractive new apartment houses in Harlem and other areas of northern Manhattan. In 1912 Real Estate Record and Guide characterized the area between Seventh and Tenth Avenues and between 14th and 70th Streets as a "tenement and dwelling" district, distinguishing it from areas of "high class dwellings and apartments" north of 70th Street on the West Side and along the eastern side of Central Park.

 

The 1910 census gives the first clear picture of the building's tenant make-up following Goodale's departure. No. 400, the corner building, had approximately 40 residents, about 38 of them boarders. About 25 of the boarders were single women; typical occupations included stenographer, telephone operator, cashier, nurse, dressmaker, and saleslady. There were also three models; one of them, Amelia Rose, was profiled in a 1905 New York Times article on the "Evolution of the New York Artist's Model." Rose, who had posed for Charles Dana Gibson when she was eight years old, was "one of the best-known models in New York," modeling for, among others, Mary Lawrence Tonetti, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Daniel Chester French. Three of the male boarders were actors.

 

In 1910, the middle building, No. 404, apparently continued to be vacant. No. 406 appears to have remained almost entirely as individual flats, with 12 of the 14 flats occupied. Ten of the 12 families had boarders living under a male or female head of household; four of the families with boarders had at least one child. Of those households with boarders, seven had at least one female and at least one male boarder. The female boarders of No. 406 included two stenographers and two clerks, a nurse, a dressmaker, and a wax master; the male boarders included a railroad conductor, several chauffeurs and waiters, and two medical students, as well as a museum clerk, detective, hotel worker, plumber, doctor, and a driver for a milk company.

 

Between 1910 and 1920, the population of the Windermere exploded to approximately 225 residents. About 150 people were living at No. 400, within about 15 households; almost all of these households included "roomers," with one having ten, and another fifteen. Of No. 406's approximately 12 households, eight were headed by a husband and wife, and only one of them took in roomers. The 1920 Census showed a precipitous decline in the number of single women at the Windermere; only about 18 self-supporting women, with occupations including shopper, clerk, nurse, saleslady, laundress, and cashier, were living in all three buildings in that year. This trend in occupancy held in 1930, as relatively few women who were working outside the home lived at the Windermere. The occupations of the approximately 22 single working women included waitress, jeweler at the Tiffany store, general work at a hospital, waitress, operator at a factory, department store clerk, actress, and nurse.

 

The presence of a wax master and three actors in the Windermere in 1910 indicates that the building retained some artistic flavor into the 20th century. In 1905, Lillie Spencer, an artist and the daughter of the English-born painter Lilly Martin Spencer (1822-1902) was reported to be living there. Later residents would include Quinto Magnani (1897-1974), who composed the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera "The Argonauts" and who lived in the Windermere in 1929; and writer, painter, photographer, and sculptor May Mott-Smith (1879-1952), who lived at the Windermere from 1944 until her death. From to 1954 to 1958, the corner building was the home of Alonzo Hanagan (1911-1999), better known as Lon of New York, and his photography studio. Lon, known for his pioneering photographs of the male physique - which were both taboo and illegal in the 1940s and '50s - "created iconic images that both glorified the physiques of some of the most well-known bodybuilders of the time and documented the golden era of the sport," according to Reed Massengill. Lon moved to the Windermere, where he set up his studio in a large first-floor apartment, on the recommendation of Lou Elson, who also lived in the building and published the physique magazine Tomorrow's Man. Lon and Elson, working together, would launch four new physique magazines between 1954 and 1957. Later residents of the Windermere would include the actor Yaphet Kotto (1937- ) and silver screen icon Steve McQueen (1930-1980).

 

The Windermere was in the news in the 1980s when the building's agent, manager, and superintendent were convicted as part of a conspiracy to harass tenants into leaving the building. In 1998, the Times reported that the Windermere, at that time, had 165 single-room occupancy units and eight apartments; in 2002, it reported that only about a half-dozen tenants remained.

 

Design

 

With its seven-story Ninth Avenue and 57th Street facades topped by story-high cornices and crowned, on the 57th Street façade of the corner building by a one-story-high false pediment, the Windermere is notable, in part, for its impressive scale. This quality, along with its display of Queen Anne-, High Victorian Gothic-, and Romanesque Revival-style elements, and the exuberant corbelled, textured, and polychromatic brickwork of

 

both primary facades, make the Windermere a visually compelling, imposing, and eclectic architectural complex.

 

The Windermere's eclecticism is typical of large, 1880s apartment buildings. According to Elizabeth Cromley, in that decade, architects of large apartment houses sought "an individualism of style" to "mark out a large apartment block from nearby buildings.... Architects of the 1880s apartment houses favored eclectic styles ... which in turn served as identifying markers for apartment buildings." It was common for these new buildings, as does the Windermere with its segmented and complexly ornamented and textured facades, to exhibit "disjunctiveness," with "architectural details creat[ing] variety and disrupting] a single unified image.

 

The Windermere is comprised of three adjoining seven-story buildings. The functional independence of these buildings is made clear on their 57th Street facades, where they are separated from each other by brick pilasters. The presence, at each building, of a separate entrance portico and stoop - portions of which remain today, at Nos. 404 and 406 - also distinguishes the buildings from each other, as does the individualized handling of their window openings and window types. No. 400, the large corner building, is the only one to have three-story oriel windows; like No. 406, it also features square-headed windows paired below segmental arches. Both of these buildings differ in fenestration not only from each other but from the middle building, No. 404, which has neither the oriels nor the paired, square-headed windows.

 

Although each building features a massive brick cornice with corbelled brick arches, crowned by a heavy stone cymatium, the differing sizes and spacing of the arches, the projection of the middle building's roofline above the two other rooflines, and the prominent false pediment atop No. 400, also set off each building from the others. Each of the 57th Street facades is essentially symmetrical, except in the off-center placement of No. 404's entryway, but the three facades vary in width, with No. 400 the widest at 50 feet, No. 406 next at 30 feet, and No. 404, the middle building, the narrowest at 20 feet. Together, these three symmetrical facades combine to create, on 57th Street, a distinctive and picturesque, asymmetrical composition that is unified by common massing, materials, and design elements, but that communicates each building's independence. The Ninth Avenue elevation is similar to that of 57th Street in the manner in which shared ornament, features, and fenestration are brought together to create an expansive, asymmetrical, but unified façade.

 

The asymmetrical massing of the Windermere is representative of the Queen Anne style, as is the building's picturesque roof silhouette. The most distinctive feature of the roofline, which varies in height on both the Ninth Avenue and 57th Street elevations, is the false pediment on top of the 57th Street façade of the corner building. This pediment, which mimics the gables typically found on Queen Anne buildings, features the often-seen Queen Anne motif of a contrasting, inset arch, which is realized here in tan-colored brick. The oriel windows on the 57th Street façade are also representative Queen Anne-style features; semicircular in plan and supported by stone ancons, they recall, in simplified form, the oriel of Bruce Price's 1878 flats building at 21 East 21st Street. Other features consistent with the Queen Anne include the Windermere's red, Philadelphia-brick body and contrasting stone trim, the channeling on the chimney near the north end of the Ninth Avenue façade, and the manner in which the chimney corbels outward near its peak.

 

The chimney shares this channeling and corbelling with the Windermere's robust brick pilasters, which break down the 57th Street and Ninth Avenue facades into divisions of two and three bays. The channeling, also present on the body of the building, and the pilasters themselves, which are also consistent with the Queen Anne style, provide depth to the façade; they also provide surface texture, as does dogtoothed brick laid in horizontal and soldier courses, in panels below selected windows, and as infill between segmental arches and the square- headed window heads below. (The grouping of square-headed windows below a segmental arch, as at the fourth floor on the 57th Street façade, is another often-seen Queen Anne motif.)

 

Typical of the Romanesque Revival style, which was often combined with the Queen Anne on New York City rowhouses, are the Windermere's round-headed windows. At the fourth floor on both the 57th Street and Ninth Avenue facades, the extrados of these arches are trimmed with stone. Also typical of the Romanesque Revival are the round arches of the primary facades' monumental, machicolated cornices.

 

In designing the Windermere, Smith also drew upon the then-waning High Victorian Gothic style. The most representative High Victorian Gothic features of the Windermere are its bold constructional polychromy and its horizontal banding, achieved chiefly through the use of tan- and black-colored, and dogtoothed brick courses, and Ohio stone belt courses, that contrast with the facades' red brick, and tan-colored decorative brickwork in diamond-, cross-, and zigzag-shaped motifs below the fifth floor on both primary facades. Additional color is provided by a band of diamond-patterned, blue-and-white tile on the 57th Street façade. These High Victorian features are complemented by more generic Gothic Revival elements, including the quatrefoils present on the extant entrance porticos of Nos. 404 and 406, and the label moldings that are implied in stone at the fifth floor on the 57th Street façades of Nos. 400 and 406, and at the fifth-floor windows on the Ninth Avenue façade.

 

Smith's decision to use pilasters to break up both facades, including the 115-foot expanse of the Ninth Avenue façade, into the two- and three-bay divisions typical of rowhouses, may have represented a conscious effort to appeal to and comfort prospective tenants. In 1880, the large middle-class apartment house was still a new phenomenon, and as historian Elizabeth Cromley points out, designing one for prospective tenants who saw the rowhouse as the norm presented special challenges. "Since the private house had been the only kind of architecture that provided mid-century New Yorkers with the image of home," she writes, "designers of apartments were faced with serious problems. How were they to make larger-than-house-size multiple dwellings fit that image?" It was not unusual, into the 1880s, for new apartment houses and apartment complexes, including the Central Park Apartments, to have multiple entrances; by using these entrances to, in effect, break down large buildings or complexes into smaller components, architects may have been seeking to assuage tenants who were used to smaller-scale residences.

 

In these early years of the flats and apartment house, architects also drew upon rowhouse imagery, as in the 1878 flats building at 21 East 21st Street, which "rested comfortably within the image of a house." An unrealized 1874 proposal by Henry Hudson Holly for a "family hotel" similarly included seven separate entrances, all with high stoops, "to create the impression of a row of houses, comforting to families made uneasy by multiple dwellings." In this climate, in which architects were finding their way towards a new vocabulary for the large apartment house, and in which the rowhouse was the chief symbol of home for middle-class New Yorkers, it may well have made sense for Smith to draw upon rowhouse imagery to attract prospective tenants. With its Ninth Avenue and 57th Street facades broken down into two- and three-bay divisions, its multiple entrances - off-center at No. 404, and originally paired at No. 400, possibly to give the impression of two entrances to adjoining, three-bay houses - and its stoops, the Windermere appears to exhibit a tension between the rowhouse and the emerging large apartment house that would be appropriate for a new apartment house of its time.

 

Differentiating the three buildings from each other may have assisted the Windermere's owners in targeting each one to different clienteles. This appears not to have been an uncommon practice at the time: at the Florence, completed in 1878 at Fourth Avenue and 18th Street, three different classes of residents were expected to occupy its 42 suites, including bachelors, families, and young married couples. The presence of oriel windows at the corner building of the Windermere, for example, may have represented an effort to make that building more attractive to higher-paying tenants and to distinguish them from those living in the adjoining walk-up flats building.

 

Description

 

Ninth Avenue

 

The Windermere's asymmetrical, 115-foot long Ninth Avenue façade is divided into five large bays. Each of these bays is essentially symmetrical, except for the second-northernmost bay; there, the two windows per floor are slightly off center. Each of the five bays is defined by channeled brick pilasters. The northernmost three of these pilasters appear to have been removed below the second floor's sill level; the other three pilasters run from below the second story's stone sill course to the top of the Ninth Avenue cornice. The northernmost bay of the Ninth Avenue façade is split by a chimney, which projects from the façade and features channeling, dogtoothed brick panels and courses, and recessed brick panels. The chimney extends from a point that is horizontally in line with the springlines of the second-story's round window arches to the top of the cornice, where it has six channels and corbels outward, ultimately piercing the cymatium. The other pilasters on the Ninth Avenue façade, except for the second-southernmost, engage the cymatium rather than piercing it. The central bay's roofline rises slightly above the rooflines of the other bays.

 

The window openings on the Ninth Avenue façade are horizontally and vertically aligned, and are grouped in a pattern, from south to north, of 3-2-3-2-2. Round-arched window openings with brick voussoirs and stone springers and keystones, are present at the second and sixth floors. Round-arched window openings with brick voussoirs, without keystones, and with stone extrados trim, are present in the southernmost, central, and second-northernmost bays at the fourth floor. At the second floor, these window openings are above a stone sill course; the round-headed openings at the fourth floor are above a stone ledge; and the windows at the sixth floor have stone sills. Square-headed window openings with stone lintels are present at the third, fifth, and seventh floors, and at the fourth floor, where they are placed below segmental arches with stone springers in the second-southernmost and northernmost bays. At the third and seventh floors, these windows have stone sills; at the fifth floor, they are above a stone ledge located at sill level. At the square-headed window openings, two additional courses of stone - one just below lintel level, and other just above sill level - are present in between and flanking the windows. At the fifth floor windows, a stone course is present just above sill level, in between and flanking the windows; stone blocks wrap the window heads in a form recalling that of a label molding.

 

The second floor of the Ninth Avenue façade is similar in design and use of materials to the corresponding floor of the 57th Street façades. Three single courses of tan brick, interrupted by the façade's windows and pilasters, run horizontally between the sills and lintels. A stone sill course also runs the length of the façade, pierced by its pilasters.

 

At the third floor, in all of the bays except the northernmost, brick channeling is present between the windows. Zigzag, cross-shaped, diamond-shaped, and other decorative elements in tan brick flank, and are located between, the window openings in the three central bays. Cross-shaped elements in tan brick flank are located between the outer window openings and their flanking pilasters in the southernmost bay. A single course of tan brick runs across the façade at the third floor, interrupted by the window openings, pilasters, channeling, and chimney. Running across each of the bays below the third-floor windows' sills is a single soldier course of dogtoothed brick.

 

At the fourth floor, in the northernmost and second-southernmost bays, the Ninth Avenue façade features square-headed window openings, each of which is located below a segmental arch. The area between the windows' lintels and the arches above is filled with dogtoothed brickwork. In the second-southernmost bay, the window openings are not centered below their arches, and three single courses of tan brick run horizontally between the window openings and between the openings and their flanking pilasters. In the northernmost bay, each window opening is centered below its arch; two single courses of tan brick run horizontally between the openings, as does a course of stone, which is horizontally aligned with the stone springers of the fourth floor's round-headed windows. A diamond-shaped element in tan brick is present between the two northernmost window openings. A stone ledge runs across the fourth floor, pierced by every pilaster and by the chimney. Below this ledge, beneath each window, is a dogtoothed brick panel. In the southernmost, third-southernmost, and second-northernmost bays, round-headed window openings similar to those on the corresponding floor of No. 404 West 57th Street are present. The arches feature stone springers with brick voussoirs and are without keystones. Their extrados are trimmed with stone. Triangular decorative elements in tan brick are present above the window openings, horizontally placed between the openings and abutting the pilasters.

 

At the fifth floor, channeling is present between, and flanking, the window openings. A stone ledge runs the length of the façade, pierced by the southernmost and third-northernmost pilasters.

 

The sixth floor is similar in design and use of materials to the corresponding floor of the 57th Street façade, with five dogtoothed brick courses abutting the seventh-floor window sills above. A single stretcher course of tan brick runs directly below the dogtoothing. Two pairs of tan-brick courses run horizontally between the sill and lintel levels, sandwiching two rows of brick dogtoothed soldier courses.

 

The seventh floor is similar in design and use of materials to the corresponding floor of the 57th Street facade, with alternating rows of stretchers and brick dogtoothed courses above the lintels, and four single courses of tan-brick banding, and channeling between the sills and lintels.

 

The Ninth Avenue facade is crowned by a broad stone and brick cornice, which is topped by a large cymatium. It is pierced by four window or door openings, one in each of the four southernmost bays. At the central bay, corbelled brickwork supports a stone belt course, from which ten arches with brick voussoirs spring. These arches' extrados are trimmed with stone. The cornice at the southernmost bay has ten round arches with stone springers; below the two northernmost arches are circular openings. The cornice at the second-southernmost bay has eight round arches with stone springers; below all except the northernmost arch are circular openings. The cornice at the second-northernmost bay has nine round arches with stone springers; the cornice at the northernmost bay has eight round arches with stone springers; below all of these arches are circular openings.

 

All of the window openings in the northernmost bay have been bricked up. All of the window openings in the four southernmost bays at the second, third, and fifth floors have been covered over. Ten windows - six one-over-ones, two one-over-twos, and two two-over-twos - are present at the fourth floor. Seven windows - five one-over-ones, one two-over-one, and one two-over-two - are present at the sixth floor. Three windows - one two-over-two and two one-over-ones - are present at the seventh floor. Windows or doors are present in two of the four openings at the cornice level.

 

A metal fire escape is attached to the facade in the second-southernmost bay. It extends from the second floor to the cornice level, where a metal platform runs the length of the three central bays. Graffiti has been written on the facade at the second through seventh floors in the second-southernmost bay, and below the second-floor sill level.

 

No original material appears to remain at the ground floor on the Ninth Avenue facade. The setback entrance to the upper floors of No. 400 is located there, and is surrounded by metal panels. There are two storefronts, both currently vacant; one is metal, and the other is covered with stone veneer. Stone or brick veneer, or metal, cover most of the ground floor facade.

 

No. 400 West 57th Street- South Facade

 

On the partially visible, secondary south facade of 400 West 57th Street, four window openings are present at each of the second through seventh floors. Most of these window openings have been covered over. Three window openings are present at the cornice level, including one tripartite window. These openings do not appear to be original to the building and may indicate the existence of a rooftop addition behind them.

 

- From the 2005 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Visually, the finished look is one of pure line with few design elements. The atmosphere is one of pure tranquillity during the day; the reflection of sky in the water and very little to distract the eye. At night the lighting scheme creates a magical pathway fading into the distance, and always there is the gentle sound of running water.

 

Part of a larger scheme, these clients wanted an ultra-simple, minimalist waterfeature on two levels. The main material used was a pale cream Travertine detailed with a dark slate-grey.

 

At the lower level, a canal runs across the garden. The main steps are accessed by stepping stones across the water.

 

The upper level features two rills. Water flows away from the house and cascades via two stainless steel waterfalls onto the lower level beyond, aerating and purifying. The paving features LED flush lighting to highlight the edge of the scheme and the steps and all three bodies of water are floodlit discreetly below the water surface.

 

The only plant material is six ball-shaped box trees, providing a simple, sculptural look to this otherwise angular scheme.

High on a hill in Helensburgh, overlooking the River Clyde, sits what is universally regarded as Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s finest domestic creation.

 

The Hill House is a visually arresting mix of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Scottish Baronial and Japonisme architecture and design.

 

Mackintosh designed nearly everything inside the Hill House too, from the decorative schemes and the furniture to the fittings and contents.

 

His wife, Margaret Macdonald, designed and made many of the textiles as well as a beautiful fireplace panel. Much of the house has been restored so it looks almost exactly as it did in 1904 when its first residents, Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie and his family, moved in.

 

The beautiful, formal gardens have also been restored in line with the early designs, using plants that would have been available at the time.

From "Postcards for the visually illiterate" / "Ansichtkaarten voor visueel ongeletterden"

 

Learning to see things as they are.

 

Zuster/Sister

Duif/Dove

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This elderly man is visually impaired and hard of hearing. He's reading the Psalms from a volume with large print, and has a strong magnifying glass. I noticed that every few minutes, he paused to rest and reorient himself.

 

The ancient temple in Jerusalem [2nd temple] was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Some believe it was destroyed because of causeless hatred. Others believe that the temple will be rebuilt, when there is causeless love.

 

ISO 100, 76mm, f/6.3, 1/200s. Focus was on the magnifying glass.

Marilyn Rushton, a well-known Burnaby citizen, is awarded with the province’s newest honour, the Medal of Good Citizenship.

 

Rushton is honoured for her for inspirational life of service to the visually impaired community, her contributions to families with blind and visually impaired children, and her energetic support for the musical community.

 

Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016IGR0025-001407

The White River Badlands of South Dakota consist of a scenic landscape of differentially weathered and eroded, nonmarine sedimentary rocks of Tertiary age. The most visually-striking areas have been set aside as an American national park (Badlands).

 

The simplified stratigraphic succession in Badlands National Park is:

Sharps Formation (Oligocene)

Brule Formation (Oligocene)

Chadron Formation (Eocene)

Chamberlain Pass Formation (Eocene)

Fox Hills Formation (Cretaceous-Paleocene?)

Pierre Shale (Cretaceous)

 

The Brule and Chadron Formations make up the White River Group, which along with the overlying Sharps Formation, are the principal scenery-making units in the White River Badlands. Light-colored volcanic ash beds are present in the succession, as are numerous reddish-colored paleosol ("fossil soil") horizons. The Pierre Shale at the base of the exposed succession is a marine unit.

 

The White River Group weathers and erodes relatively quickly into a rugged landscape with steep slopes, little to no soil, and little to no vegetation. These are the characteristics of badlands topography - "bad" referring to its unsuitability for farming.

 

Nonmarine fossils are relatively common in the White River Group - principally fossil mammals and other vertebrates. Fossils in the Chadron Formation indicate a swampy, near-sea level environment. The overling Brule Formation produces fossils consistent with a grassy prairie environment. The transition from low-elevation swamp to higher-elevation prairie in this area coincides with the uplift of the Rocky Mountains during the late stages of the Laramide Orogeny.

 

Erosion rates in the White River Badlands indicate that the landscape started to appear about half-a-million years ago and will disappear about half-a-million years from now. The landscape has about a one million year lifespan.

----------------------------------

Online pub. covering the geology of Badlands National Park:

pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/0035/pdf/of03-35.pdf

 

PSDTUTS is a website about Photoshop Tutorials.

 

There are many reasons to like this footer.

 

Visually, it is clear and confident. Yes, it's using reverse text but doesn't make you squint to read it. It shouts out 'friend websites' (eg Function - great site too), outlines copyright info, invites ideas and links to other related sites.

 

Improvements

 

1. Add keywords - while the advantages of using keywords in footers are debatable, it makes sense from a make-the-most-of-what-you've-got point of view to include key keywords in footers. It's also good for usability - if people are using certain keywords in their searches then repeating these keywords in your footer will help them find what they're looking for.

 

2. Add content cross-promotion - this doesn't have to get heavy and ugly. Obvious opportunities revolve around Recency, Popularity, Interaction. Tabbing could be implemented.

 

3. Navigational opportunities - key article tags, sections, Back to home, ^ Top.

 

Beautiful website though. Check it out. PSDTUTS

 

Any other suggestions? Post them below.

  

For more of this sort of stuff:

Read strategy stuff with Mark Pollard

Follow Digital Strategy on Twitter

 

Screenshot 15 December 2008

The waterdrops left on leaves always fascinate me. They give much vitality to the plants, even visually!

Visually identical to the Jenoptem models, this example came in great condition but out of collimation. Performance is not as good as my Jenoptem 7x50, image goes soft towards the edge of the field quicker than I would expect from this model. Still has the great Zeiss smell though!

Usable with Spectacles =No

The Hammond Typewriter Company, New York, NY:

 

odel 1b, as collectors name it, is mechanically similar to model 1. However, with the wooden top deck gone, visually, this fine typewriter takes on a whole new look. Model 1b, is scarcer than model 1.

 

The Martin Howard Collection

www.antiquetypewriters.com

Really, a visually spectacular place.

Everything about it seems to be on an epic scale. Loved the drive from LA down through Nevada. Really, if you go to the States you have to go to Vegas.

I took this shot across from my hotel as I was going to find some breakfast.

I want to go back and take a lot more photographs but doubt that's possible. Holidaying in the US is bloody expensive.

The whole concept of visually updating cars on a yearly basis has always seemed a bit extravagant to many people outside of the U.S. Whereas our cars could look pretty much the same year on year before finally being replaced in America sheet metal changes were often done after 12 months in a continuous effort to get people to buy the latest seasons vehicle.

One one hand you could say it got potential buyers to continually seek out your latest products and on the other it would bring about the term "built in obsolescence" making a pretty new purchase seem old hat! It must have caused a nightmare with model makers even now but I guess also a goldmine of potential for maximising a certain casting with only minimal changes.

This is the second Auto World Buick Estate Wagon Santa brought me this Christmas yet being a 1975 example and not a 1974 means its front panel and grille have been altered accordingly. Everything else looks pretty much the same meaning a true 1/64 scale Station Wagon laden with lashings of chrome and gaudy fake wood appliqué. I absolutely love this type of model and Auto World seem to be very good at making them! Mint and boxed.

I don't typically buy anything from the Revoltech series, mostly likely because the licenses that they play with aren't usually my thing. However, once in a while, an interesting figure pops up.

 

For the last little while, one of the more visually impressive sublines from the Revoltech is the Figure Complex: Amazing Yamaguchi line featuring various beloved X-Men characters sculpted by Yamaguchi Katsuhisa. I know a Wolverine and Magneto were released, and a Gambit will be released. I also believe the line has moved onto at least non-X characters with the recently solicited Iron Man.

 

Obviously, this figure is none of those - this is Psylocke.

 

For someone that likes figures and toys, it's surprising how few comics I've read. My introduction to the character was from the original Capcom Vs. Game, X-Men: Children of the Atom in all her uninhibited bouncy glory.

 

The character naturally has a long and storied past that I'd probably lose much sleep over if I actually tried to research. I believe that "too long, didn't read" version of it is that she is a mutant (duh) named Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, the sister of Captain Marvel. Through a series of events such as self sacrifice and transference of mental capacities, she ends up in a body of an Japanese woman who is the brain dead wife of the leader of the Hand, an assassin clan, and is brainwashed into become one of them. She develops Psionic powers (ability to form things out of mental energy, mostly for her being blades), and eventually breaks free of this brainwashing, and that, friends is the genesis of the X-Men character Psylocke.

 

None of that matters, of course. I bought the figure because the previews made her look really, really, good, and Psylocke herself being a very sharp character design with long flowing purple hair and her purple kind-of-there outfit. While it's been out for probably 6 months now, I only recently got mine because I insist that the guy who sold it to me bring it to me personally... even if I had to wait six months.

 

If you've never watched gameplay of Psylocke, just think slinky female ninja dressed in purple capable of making various energy things. And, as mentioned, the prototype pictures show cased that very well. So, how did it do?

 

Well, let's start from the top.

 

Psylocke comes with the figure, two face plates (one neutral, one smiling), a sheathed katana, an empty sheath, twin katanas, twin energy katanas, twin Psyblades, 4 sets of hands, a detachable sash, and a dynamic stand with both a peg connector, along with a clamp that I guess would give you a bit more height with your aerial stuff but I never actually used it. I personally would have like an additional angry/attacking face plate because as it is, she's a bit too serene looking.

 

Also kind of neat is that on the cardboard insert (and side flaps of the box) are full colour prints of I guess what comic art inspired this particular design.

 

The Revoltech joint system is a bit different from the Figma and Figuart systems.. at least I guess they are, and at the very least this one is.

 

Articulation is very, very, very good. I cannot emphasize how much you can get this figure to do despite it's small size. The trade off is that some of the joints look really weird when not positioned properly, specifically the shoulders and knees, which are double or triple joints depending on which one we're talking about. Whomever designed the tray for holding Psylocke really didn't do the figure any favours to say the least. However, the amount of knee bend and chest press that this figure more than overshadows this first impression issue, and that range or movement is something you want for a figure like Psylocke.

 

In addition to the aforementioned, all your standard points of articulation are present. Bonus ones include a toe swivel, articulation for her sash, thigh swivel, independent neck and head articulation, and hair that can be lifted to all for greater neck movement, with the latter head/neck related items allowing for some great crouching poses.

 

Sadly, while her shoulders worked out just fine despite their wonky appearance, her ass suffers from the dreaded "thigh separation" scenario where the movement of the legs creates an unsightly gap where the thigh meets the back of the body, particularly notable given that she doesn't wear pants. But, again, at least the trade off is great articulation.

 

Psylocke I guess would technically be the action figure (or at least middle of the pack Japanese figure) equivalent of a Butterface release. To be fair, it is generally what was promised on the box, so I don't really have anyone to blame but myself for buying her if this was the key aspect that ruins the experience for me. Both the prototype and the final item feature the same round almost featureless face with the undersized nose.

 

No it's other things that serve not only as a topic of discussion, but also kind of give you a feeling as to why Figma and Figuarts are kind of priced the way they are.

 

Psylocke has an MSRP of about 6,000 Yen, which is about the price of your run of the mill Figuart, with Figma coming in closer to what.. 7,000 if not more these days? The releases are about the same size, but lets remember that Figuarts have no stand and very few accessories, and clearly Psylocke destroys any run of the mill Figuart figure in terms of value.

 

Part of the pricing on everything is of course the cut paid for the actual license, but it's not like a Marvel license is particularly cheap. So what else is there?

 

It pretty much comes down to paint.

 

If you look closely, you'll probably notice that Psylocke has no paint whatsoever on her fleshy bits. Not only does this look a bit meh, but it makes photographing her a major pain in the ass, especially if you're trying to bring out details.. like her nose and eye sockets. You'll notice that the paint masking on her leg bands isn't bad, but there are more weak spots than on its Figma and Figuarts competitors, especially if we're talking about figure with a relatively simple colour scheme. Some minor paint issues were also spotted on her neck piece, but those are primarily paint transfers. There were also some areas with paint overspray, but it wasn't anything bootleg bad, just something worth noting.

 

Her translucent purple hair is also a big seller for this figure. The overall final product is pretty good, but if you look closely (and in the instance of the back of her head, not even that close), you'll notice some very rough spots that I don't know were a QC issue or a design flaw. By comparison, nothing this was spotted on either KOS-MOS or T-ELOS, both of which are at least 7 years older than Psylocke.

 

For what it is worth, her effect parts are very well done, particularly her Psiblades with the gradient from cold to warm Purple. The quality of the stand itself is, from my analysis, more solid than a Figma stand, mostly due to a combination of better plastic, a thicker arm, and better designed joints. There were also no issues with regards to rough plastic finishes other than the aformentioned hair problems.

 

One other issue that I read about was the face plate itself. Some owners seem to be indicating that due to the way the face is mounted on the head (friction based, one slot, straight above the face) the figure arrived with the socket on the hair already worn out and wouldn't hold the face in place, or would be in danger of doing so in the future. I didn't have that issue on mine, but I do understand where they're coming from with these statements.

 

I should probably also mention the eyes. Those who are familiar with the Hot Toys world will know the term PERS, which is their fancy term for eyes that can be moved on the sculpts to facilitate an even greater amount of posing. Amazingly this figure also features eyeballs that can be moved, though it's not as complicated as the PERS system. This is actually pretty neat given the size of the eyeballs, though you might want to ditch the included white pick in favour of a tiny screw driver or something to move the eyes as I believe the 90 degree bend actually makes it harder to manipulate the eyes into the right direction.

 

In the end, a very good release, and probably the best Psylocke action figure I've ever seen.. of course, the only others I have seen are the Marvel Legends one which again, aren't bad given the price. Those looking for a more legit comic sculpt need not apply here, naturally.

 

But there is no doubt that this is a sharp looking figure, and for the price it comes with quite a few goodies. It just lacks that final bit of spit polish that would push it from being very good to being outstanding. Still, if you like your ninjas purple and slinky, you can't go wrong.

New lego instruction!) pacific rim . Zane mech inspired with atlas destroyer (visually created by @francescobog87 with this amazing body work) (link in my bio) #legopacificrim #lego #mech #legomech #legomecha #ninjago #legoninjago

A recent exhibition at the Museum of Quilts & Textiles, which closed Aug. 8:: “Hawaii’s Alfred Shaheen: Fabric to Fashio” is a celebration of the legacy of textile designer and master fabric printer Alfred Shaheen, the origins of the Hawaiian print and the fusion fashion aesthetic it spawned. This is the first major retrospective exhibition of Hawaiian textiles and aloha wear manufactured by Alfred Shaheen on the island of Oahu over a 40-year period.

 

Alfred Shaheen wed technological innovation to socially responsible business practices in the service of revitalizing Pacific Island/Asian textile traditions to forge a fusion fashion design aesthetic now recognized worldwide as a visual marker – not only of a transnational Hawaiian culture – but of a West Coast "American" lifestyle that is informal, environmentally aware, and multi-cultural. Shaheen pioneered a silk-screening method, professionally trained his employees, and mined the visual iconography of Hawaii's multi-ethnic community to create a new design aesthetic.

 

The exhibit features 100+ objects drawn from the collection of Camille Shaheen-Tunberg, the artist's daughter. Stunning yardage representing the textile designs Shaheen produced, and key examples of the garments that visually conjure Hawaii's complex cultural history will fill all three of the Museum's main galleries. In addition to textiles, the exhibit will showcase archival photos and ads that illuminate how the textiles and garments were designed, manufactured and marketed.

 

Rapid Yellow.

The BF Falcon was built from Oct 2005- Feb 2008. Visually very similar to the BA it replaced. FPV built performance models for Ford.

Engines were unchanged with the new BF FPVs, but all models received new body kits, new wheels and brembo brakes.

Sedans available were the GT and GT-P V8s and the Turbo 6 cyl F6 Typhoon. Utes were the V8 Pursuit and Super Pursuit also the Turbo 6 cyl F6 Tornado.

This car, the 6 cyl Turbo F6 was introduced by Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) in 2004 on the BA Mk II, it was based on Fords XR6 Turbo 4.0 but got a modified FPV airbox (with Dual Ram Air intakes), higher strength conrods, larger air to air intercooler, high flow exhaust system and higher capacity fuel pump giving it 270kw.

With the 2006 BF Mk II, the Fairmont Ghia based Force 6 and Force 8 became available.

 

An area of natural outstanding beauty.

жж DSC_9821

The kit and its assembly:

Well, this one is another Group Build submission, this time the RAF Centenary GB at whatifmodelers.com. I used this occasion to tackle a build that I had on my list for a long time, and it also offered the opportunity to apply an exotic, yet reality-inspired, paint scheme.

 

The kit is the vintage 1965(!) Revell kit, in its 2007 re-incarnation. Not a lot of aircraft, and building the whole thing basically from struts that hold everything together is not an easy task - you need patience.

 

The kits was left mostly OOB (well there’s not much mass to change…), I just modified the nose section, so that the idea of a downward-tiltable machine gun became visually plausible, and I added some 0.5mm styrene sheet to the flanks and to the floor, simulation retrofitted armor plates.

Another modification concerns the propeller; following common practice at the aircraft’s era, this is just a second two blade propeller (IIRC from a Sopwith Triplane) stuck onto the original one, so that a staggered four blade propeller was created. Makes the aircraft look a little beefier.

 

The real horror started with the rigging process, though, and in order to avoid damage I painted the model before the delicate work started. Rigging was done, as usual, with dark grey sprue material – and the DH.2 needs lots of it!

  

Painting and markings:

The paint scheme was inspired by the trial schemes that were actually applied to some Sopwith Salamander attack aircraft in July 1918, even though, AFAIK, none of these was used in front line use. However, the scheme’s concept (Orfordness Report E30/A) of “depicting” trenches and the rough frontline “landscape” on an aircraft and other details like asymmetric roundels in order to confuse enemies and impede aiming is pretty unique, and this build was a great occasion to apply it.

I was able to dig up some information concerning the camouflage trials and the colors that were used:

the upper tones were mixed individually from a few basic colors, and I did follow a similar approach in order to achieve a unique and pretty retro look. The colors are/were:

 

“Light Earth” (White, Indian Red and Raw Sienna); I went for Humbrol 62 (Sand), which is a bright, almost orange tone. I did some mixing experiments and the color turned either into a pink of skin tone, or into a yellow-ish tan, depending on the mix ratios. After that, Humbrol 62 appeared to be a convenient OOB option, since I found mixing for the lightest camouflage tone hazardous.

 

“Green” (Ultramarine Blue, Chrome Yellow and Raw Sienna); I used a 1:1 mix of Humbrol 80 (Grass Green) and 170 (Brown Bess), with a little 15 (Midnight Blue) added.

 

“Dark Purple Earth” (from Indian Red, Ultramarine Blue and White); I settled on a 1:1 mix of Humbrol 68 (Purple) and 98. Sick result!

 

The undersides, landing gear and struts were painted in “Light Green Grey” (Mixed from White, Chrome, Brunswick Green and Indian Red); I’d assume that the tone would be very similar to Sky, but I used Tamiya XF-71 (Flat Grey Green, a.k.a. IJN Grey), which is a bit darker and more greenish.

 

According to the Orfordness Report E30/A, the lower wings’ upper surface carried, by tendency, patterns with considerably more Light Earth - probably an early attempt of counter-shading? All the upper colors were furthermore separated through black lines, 2-4” wide, which were done with acrylic Revell 09 (Anthracite) and a thin brush.

 

On some aircraft the wings’ undersides were painted differently – some had upper and lower wings’ undersides painted black, while some only had the lower wings painted in this fashion. Because of the odd look I went for the “lower-wings-in black-only” option, painted with Revell 06 (Tar Black), which is actually a very dark grey.

 

This all results in a REALLY distinct and colorful look - it’s almost sad that the DH.2 offers so little surface to apply the scheme, which is a faithful adaptation of the Orfordness Report E30/A recommendations.

 

In order to make the exhaustive rigging process easier, all major surfaces were painted and weathered, and decals (gathered from various sources, none is OOB) were applied, so that only some minor repairs had to be made.

 

Toute reproduction sur un support imprimé ou publication sur internet devra faire l'objet d'une demande expresse auprès du service communication de la Fédération Française Handisport.

–

Toute utilisation ainsi autorisée devra mentionner le crédit photo (voir nom du fichier ci-dessus : “©…” ou métadonnées de la photo dans sa taille originale).

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Contact : photos [at] handisport.org

Never let who you are limit what you can do. I honestly believe that anyone can accomplish anything in life if they have the will to do it.

 

Pictured are two runners seen at the Ma On Shan Promenade after they have finished their run and are walking home. One of the men is visually impaired. But he is able to run outside with the help of a guide runner. A cotton rope binds their hands together, thus allowing the visually impaired athlete to be able to run out in open air.

 

I have never seen anything like this before. Hong Kong is awesome. And very accessible. Crazyisgood. SML Love.

 

# SML Data

+ Date: 2013-02-08 11:20:37 GMT+0800

+ Dimensions: 3196 x 4794

+ Exposure 1/200 sec at f/5.6

+ Focal Length: 102 mm

+ ISO: 640

+ Flash: Did not fire

+ Camera: Canon EOS 7D

+ Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM + Canon EF 1.4x Extender III

+ GPS: 22°25'14" N 114°13'27" E

+ 中國香港馬鞍山海濱長廊 中国香港马鞍山海滨长廊 Ma On Shan Promenade, Hong Kong, China

+ Serial: SML.20130208.7D.21490

+ Workflow: Lightroom 4

+ Series: Crazyisgood

 

“領跑員 Guide Runner + 視障運動員 Visually Impaired Athlete” / Crazyisgood / SML.20130208.7D.21490

/ #Crazyisgood #CCBY #SMLPhotography #SMLUniverse #SMLMen #SMLProjects

/ #中國 #中国 #China #香港 #HongKong #馬鞍山 #MaOnShan #人 #people #男 #Men #街 #Street #攝影 #摄影 #photography #run #體育 #体育 #運動 #运动 #sports

Castlerigg Stone Circle is one of the most visually impressive prehistoric monuments in Britain, and is the most visited stone circle in Cumbria. Every year thousands of people visit it to look, photograph, draw and wonder why and when and by whom it was built. The stone circle is on the level top of a low hill with nice views to the towns in the valleys. There are 38 stones in a circle approximately 30 metres in diameter. Within the ring is a rectangle of a further 10 standing stones. The tallest stone is 2.3 metres high. It was probably built around 3000 BC - the beginning of the later Neolithic Period - and is one of the earliest stone circles in Britain. It is important in terms of megalithic astronomy and geometry, as the construction contains significant astronomical alignments. Although its origins are unknown it is believed that it was used for ceremonial or religious purposes.

***

Cercul de pietre de la Castlerigg este unul dintre cele mai imporante monumente preistorice şi cel mai vizitat de acest fel din Cumbria. In fiecare an, mii de persoane vin sǎ priveascǎ, sǎ fotografieze, sǎ deseneze şi sǎ se întrebe când, de ce şi cine construit bizarul ansamblu. Cercul de pietre se aflǎ pe o platformǎ situatǎ pe vârful unui deal de micǎ înǎlţime, cu privelişti frumoase cǎtre oraşele din vale. Ansamblul este format din 38 de pietre aşezate într-un cerc cu diametrul de cca. 30 metri. In interiorul cercului se aflǎ un dreptunghi alcǎtuit din 10 pietre. Cea mai înaltǎ piatrǎ are 2.3 metri. Ansamblul a fost construit probabil la începutul perioadei neolitice (în jurul anului 3000 î.Ch.) şi este unul dintre cele mai vechi cercuri de piatrǎ din Marea Britanie. Este un monument important din punct de vedere al astronomiei şi geometriei megalitice, întrucât construcţia conţine unele similitudini astronomice semnificative. Deşi originea ansamblului nu este cunoscutǎ, se presupune cǎ a fost folosit în scopuri ceremoniale şi religioase.

 

visitcumbria.com/kes/castlerigg-stone-circle.htm

 

Visually Speaking: The People's Photographer

Brooklyn Public Library

Noelle Flores Théard

Joseph Rodriguez

Jamel Shabazz

www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/visually-speaking-people-ce...

Seaton is a seaside town on the south coast of England close to the border between Devon and Dorset facing onto Lyme Bay.

 

Seaton is set in a landscape which is visually stunning and environmentally precious.

 

It stands at a unique point on the 95-mile long Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site, the Jurassic Coast. Seatons uniqueness along the Jurassic Coast is that it is the only town from which all three Eras of rocks in this 185 million–year ‘geological walk through time’ can be visited.

 

Seaton Bay is at the mouth of the Estuary of the River Axe where the River flows down the Axe Valley and into the Bay.

 

On the east side of the estuary are the much younger Greensand rocks of Haven Cliff. To the west are the red mudstone cliffs of the Triassic period and the white chalk cliffs of the Cretaceous period.

 

The estuary of the river Axe, although once wide and deep enough to be a safe haven for shipping has since the 14th century silted up and narrowed. This was due to the east to west tidal drift creating a big shingle beach, land reclamation of the river bank and the silting up of the river bed.

 

Although there is still a small harbour it is now used mainly for recreational purposes as it is a ‘tidal’ drying harbour only suitable for yachts, small recreational craft and the local fishing boats.

 

seatonbay.com/about-seaton/

Visually interesting cage with a fake crow .

Some time ago, I posted an image of my own adaptation of a Rubik's cube into a tactile cube for the blind.

 

Well, today I got this brand new Rubik's Cube. It's a cube that is intended for the blind and visually impaired, but can be solved by the sighted, too. It's got its usual coloured tiles with the addition of the 3D shapes on them, so it can be solved visually or just by touch. It's absolutely fantastic! And what I like most about it is that this cube can connect blind and sighted people in a fun activity!

 

Keep the comments clean! No banners, awards or invitations, please!

These two GT models from two successive years illustrate the similarities and differences. Both have the special ‘GT’ badge on the front fender behind the front wheel well. Similarly, the word ‘Mustang’ appears as individual block letters enclosed within the GT stripe that adheres to the rocker panel.

 

They both have the auxiliary fog lights, another standard GT feature within their respective grille openings, visually connected to a bright horizontal crossbar integrated with the frame around the galloping Mustang emblem. However, the 1965 models also have a vertical bar above and below the emblem whereas the 1966 models lack the vertical pieces.

 

Of course the grille mesh in the 1965 models have a honeycomb style pattern that it shared with non-GT models. The grille mesh on the 1966 models’ pattern was more like the mortar lines seen on a brick wall.

 

The license plate has been altered for privacy. It does not necessarily have a 360 hp engine.

The blue one does bear the emblem for the 289 High Performance engine, though. The owner stated that this one has been retrofitted with that engine however.

 

The maroon one bears the 289 V8 emblem, the common one that represents the non-High Performance versions.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Grumman Mohawk began as a joint Army-Marine program through the then-Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), for an observation/attack plane that would outperform the light and vulnerable Cessna L-19 Bird Dog. In June 1956, the Army issued Type Specification TS145, which called for the development and procurement of a two-seat, twin turboprop aircraft designed to operate from small, unimproved fields under all weather conditions. It would be faster, with greater firepower, and heavier armor than the Bird Dog, which had proved very vulnerable during the Korean War.

 

The Mohawk's mission would include observation, artillery spotting, air control, emergency resupply, naval target spotting, liaison, and radiological monitoring. The Navy specified that the aircraft had to be capable of operating from small "jeep" escort class carriers (CVEs). The DoD selected Grumman Aircraft Corporation's G-134 design as the winner of the competition in 1957. Marine requirements contributed an unusual feature to the design: since the Marines were authorized to operate fixed-wing aircraft in the close air support (CAS) role, the mockup featured underwing pylons for rockets, bombs, and other stores, and this caused a lot of discord. The Air Force did not like the armament capability of the Mohawk and tried to get it removed. On the other side, the Marines did not want the sophisticated sensors the Army wanted, so when their Navy sponsors opted to buy a fleet oil tanker, they eventually dropped from the program altogether. The Army continued with armed Mohawks (and the resulting competence controversy with the Air Force) and also developed cargo pods that could be dropped from underwing hard points to resupply troops in emergencies.

 

In mid-1961, the first Mohawks to serve with U.S. forces overseas were delivered to the 7th Army at Sandhofen Airfield near Mannheim, Germany. Before its formal acceptance, the camera-carrying AO-1AF was flown on a tour of 29 European airfields to display it to the U.S. Army field commanders and potential European customers. In addition to their Vietnam and European service, SLAR-equipped Mohawks began operational missions in 1963 patrolling the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

 

Germany and France showed early interest in the Mohawk, and two OV-1s were field-tested by both nations over the course of several months. No direct orders resulted, though, but the German Bundesheer (Army) was impressed by the type’s performance and its capability as an observation and reconnaissance platform. Grumman even signed a license production agreement with the French manufacturer Breguet Aviation in exchange for American rights to the Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft, but no production orders followed.

 

This could have been the end of the OV-1 in Europe, but in 1977 the German government, primarily the interior ministry and its intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), showed interest in a light and agile SIGINT/ELINT platform that could fly surveillance missions along the inner-German border to the GDR and also to Czechoslovakia. Beyond visual reconnaissance with cameras and IR sensors, the aircraft was to be specifically able to identify and locate secret radio stations that were frequently operated by Eastern Block agents (esp. by the GDR) all across Western Germany, but primarily close to the inner-German border due to the clandestine stations’ low power. The Bundeswehr already operated a small ELINT/ECM fleet, consisting of converted HFB 320 ‘Hansa’ business jets, but these were not suited for stealthy and inconspicuous low flight level missions that were envisioned, and they also lacked the ability to fly slowly enough to locate potential “radio nests”.

 

The pan and the objective were clear, but the ELINT project caused a long and severe political debate concerning the operator of such an aerial platform. Initially, the Bundesheer, who had already tested the OV-1, claimed responsibility, but the interior ministry in the form of the German customs department as well as the German police’s Federal Border Guard, the Bundesgrenzschutz and the Luftwaffe (the proper operator for fixed-wing aircraft within the German armed forces), wrestled for this competence. Internally, the debate and the project ran under the handle “Schimmelreiter” (literally “The Rider on the White Horse”), after a northern German legendary figure, which eventually became the ELINT system’s semi-official name after it had been revealed to the public. After much tossing, in 1979 the decision was made to procure five refurbished U.S. Army OV-1As, tailored to the German needs and – after long internal debates – operate them by the Luftwaffe.

 

The former American aircraft were hybrids: they still had the OV-1A’s original short wings, but already the OV-1D’s stronger engines and its internal pallet system for interchangeable electronics. The machines received the designation OV-1G (for Germany) and were delivered in early 1980 via ship without any sensors or cameras. These were of Western German origin, developed and fitted locally, tailored to the special border surveillance needs.

 

The installation and testing of the “Schimmelreiter” ELINT suite lasted until 1982. It was based on a Raytheon TI Systems emitter locator system, but it was locally adapted by AEG-Telefunken to the airframe and the Bundeswehr’s special tasks and needs. The system’s hardware was stowed in the fuselage, its sensor arrays were mounted into a pair of underwing nacelles, which occupied the OV-1’s standard hardpoints, allowing a full 360° coverage. In order to cool the electronics suite and regulate the climate in the internal equipment bays, the OV-1G received a powerful heat exchanger, mounted under a wedge-shaped fairing on the spine in front of the tail – the most obvious difference of this type from its American brethren. The exact specifications of the “Schimmelreiter” ELINT suite remained classified, but special emphasis was placed upon COMINT (Communications Intelligence), a sub-category of signals intelligence that engages in dealing with messages or voice information derived from the interception of foreign communications. Even though the “Schimmelreiter” suite was the OV-1Gs’ primary reconnaissance tool, the whole system could be quickly de-installed for other sensor packs and reconnaissance tasks (even though this never happened), or augmented by single modules, what made upgrades and mission specialization easy. Beyond the ELINT suite, the OV-1G could be outfitted with cameras and other sensors on exchangeable pallets in the fuselage, too. This typically included a panoramic camera in a wedge-shaped ventral fairing, which would visually document the emitter sensors’ recordings.

 

A special feature of the German OV-1s was the integration of a brand new, NATO-compatible “Link-16” data link system via a MIDS-LVT (Multifunctional Information Distribution System). Even though this later became a standard for military systems, the OV-1G broke the ground for this innovative technology. The MIDS was an advanced command, control, communications, computing and intelligence (C4I) system incorporating high-capacity, jam-resistant, digital communication links for exchange of near real-time tactical information, including both data and voice, among air, ground, and sea elements. Outwardly, the MIDS was only recognizable through a shallow antenna blister behind the cockpit.

 

Even though the OV-1Gs initially retained their former American uniform olive drab livery upon delivery and outfitting in German service, they soon received a new wraparound camouflage for their dedicated low-level role in green and black (Luftwaffe Norm 83 standard), which was better suited for the European theatre of operations. In Luftwaffe service, the OV-1Gs received the tactical codes 18+01-05 and the small fleet was allocated to the Aufklärungsgeschwader (AG) 51 “Immelmann”, where the machines formed, beyond two squadrons with RF-4E Phantom IIs, an independent 3rd squadron. This small unit was from the start based as a detachment at Lechfeld, located in Bavaria/Southern Germany, instead of AG 51’s home airbase Bremgarten in South-Western Germany, because Lechfeld was closer to the type’s typical theatre of operations along Western Germany’s Eastern borders. Another factor in favor of this different airbase was the fact that Lechfeld was, beyond Tornado IDS fighter bombers, also the home of the Luftwaffe’s seven HFB 320M ECM aircraft, operated by the JaBoG32’s 3rd squadron, so that the local maintenance crews were familiar with complex electronics and aircraft systems, and the base’s security level was appropriate, too.

 

With the end of the Cold War in 1990, the OV-1Gs role and field of operation gradually shifted further eastwards. With the inner-German Iron Curtain gone, the machines were now frequently operated along the Polish and Czech Republic border, as well as in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, monitoring the radar activities along the coastlines and esp. the activities of Russian Navy ships that operated from Kaliningrad and Saint Petersburg. For these missions, the machines were frequently deployed to the “new” air bases Laage and Holzdorf in Eastern Germany.

 

In American service, the OV-1s were retired from Europe in 1992 and from operational U.S. Army service in 1996. In Germany, the OV-1 was kept in service for a considerably longer time – with little problems, since the OV-1 airframes had relatively few flying hours on their clocks. The Luftwaffe’s service level for the aircraft was high and spare parts remained easy to obtain from the USA, and there were still OV-1 parts in USAF storage in Western German bases.

 

The German HFB 320M fleet was retired between 1993 and 1994 and, in part, replaced by the Tornado ECR. At the same time AG 51 was dissolved and the OV-1Gs were nominally re-allocated to JaboG 32/3. With this unit the OV-1Gs remained operational until 2010, undergoing constant updates and equipment changes. For instance, the machines received in 1995 a powerful FLIR sensor in a small turret in the aircraft’s nose, which improved the aircraft’s all-weather reconnaissance capabilities and was intended to spot hidden radio posts even under all-weather/night conditions, once their signal was recognized and located. The aircrafts’ radio emitter locator system was updated several times, too, and, as a passive defensive measure against heat-guided air-to-air missiles/MANPADS, an IR jammer was added, extending the fuselage beyond the tail. These machines received the suffix “Phase II”, even though all five aircraft were updated the same way.

Reports that the OV-1Gs were furthermore retrofitted with the avionics to mount and launch AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs under the wing tips for self-defense remained unconfirmed, even more so because no aircraft was ever seen carrying arms – neither the AIM-9 nor anything else. Plans to make the OV-1Gs capable of carrying the Luftwaffe’s AGM-65 Maverick never went beyond the drawing board, either. However, BOZ chaff/flare dispenser pods and Cerberus ECM pods were occasionally seen on the ventral pylons from 1998 onwards.

 

No OV-1G was lost during the type’s career in Luftwaffe service, and after the end of the airframes’ service life, all five German OV-1Gs were scrapped in 2011. There was, due to worsening budget restraints, no direct successor, even though the maritime surveillance duties were taken over by Dornier Do 228/NGs operated by the German Marineflieger (naval air arm).

  

General characteristics:

Crew: Two: pilot, observer/systems operator

Length: 44 ft 4 in (13.53 m) overall with FLIR sensor and IR jammer

Wingspan: 42 ft 0 in (12.8 m)

Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m)

Wing area: 330 sq. ft (30.65 m²)

Empty weight: 12,054 lb (5,467 kg)

Loaded weight: 15,544 lb (7,051 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 18,109 lb (8,214 kg)

 

Powerplant:

2× Lycoming T53-L-701 turboprops, 1,400 shp (1,044 kW) each

 

Performance:

Never exceed speed: 450 mph (390 knots, 724 km/h)

Maximum speed: 305 mph (265 knots, 491 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)

Cruise speed: 207 mph (180 knots, 334 km/h) (econ cruise)

Stall speed: 84 mph (73 knots, 135 km/h)

Range: 944 mi (820 nmi, 1,520 km) (SLAR mission)

Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,620 m)

Rate of climb: 3,450 ft/min (17.5 m/s)

 

Armament:

A total of eight external hardpoints (two ventral, three under each outer wing)

for external loads; the wing hardpoints were typically occupied with ELINT sensor pods, while the

ventral hardpoints frequently carried 300 l drop tanks to extend loiter time and range;

Typically, no offensive armament was carried, even though bombs or gun/missile pods were possible.

  

The kit and its assembly:

This build became a submission to the “Reconnaissance” Group Build at whatifmodellers.com in July 2021, and it spins further real-world events. Germany actually tested two OV-1s in the Sixties (by the German Army/Bundesheer, not by the air force), but the type was not procured or operated. The test aircraft carried a glossy, olive drab livery (US standard, I think) with German national markings.

However, having a vintage Hasegawa OV-1A in the stash, I wondered what an operational German OV-1 might have looked like, especially if it had been operated into the Eighties and beyond, in the contemporary Norm 83 paint scheme? This led to this purely fictional OV-1G.

 

The kit was mostly built OOB, and the building experience was rather so-so – after all, it’s a pretty old mold/boxing (in my case the Hasegawa/Hales kit is from 1978, the mold is from 1968!). Just a few things were modified/added in order to tweak the standard, short-winged OV-1A into something more modern and sophisticated.

 

When searching for a solution to mount some ELINT sensor arrays, I did not want to copy the OV-1B’s characteristic offset, ventral SLAR fairing. I rather settled for the late RV-1D’s solution with sensor pods under the outer wings. Unfortunately, the OV-1A kit came with the type’s original short wings, so that the pods had to occupy the inner underwing pair of hardpoints. The pods were scratched from square styrene profiles and putty, so that they received a unique look. The Mohawk’s pair of ventral hardpoints were mounted, but – after considering some drop tanks or an ECM pod there - left empty, so that the field of view for the ventral panoramic camera would not be obscured.

 

Other small additions are some radar warning sensor bumps on the nose, some extra antennae, a shallow bulge for the MIDS antenna on the spine, the FLIR turret on the nose (with parts from an Italeri AH-1 and a Kangnam Yak-38!), and I added a tail stinger for a retrofitted (scratched) IR decoy device, inspired by the American AN/ALG-147. This once was a Matchbox SNEB unguided missile pod.

  

Painting and markings:

For the intended era, the German Norm 83 paint scheme, which is still in use today on several Luftwaffe types like the Transall, PAH-2 or CH-53, appeared like a natural choice. It’s a tri-color wraparound scheme, consisting of RAL 6003 (Olivgrün), FS 34097 (Forest Green) and RAL 7021 (Teerschwarz). The paints I used are Humbrol 86 (which is supposed to be a WWI version of RAL 6003, it lacks IMHO yellow but has good contrast to the other tones), Humbrol 116 and Revell 9. The pattern itself was adapted from the German Luftwaffe’s Dornier Do 28D “Skyservants” with Norm 83 camouflage, because of the type’s similar outlines.

 

A black ink washing was applied for light weathering, plus some post-shading of panels with lighter shades of the basic camouflage tones for a more plastic look. The cockpit interior was painted in light grey (Humbrol 167), while the landing gear and the interior of the air brakes became white. The scratched SLAR pods became light grey, with flat di-electric panels in medium grey (created with decal material).

The cockpit interior was painted in a rather light grey (Humbrol 167), the pilots received typical olive drab Luftwaffe overalls, one with a white “bone dome” and the other with a more modern light grey helmet.

 

The decals were improvised. National markings and tactical codes came from TL Modellbau sheets, the AG 51 emblems were taken from a Hasegawa RF-4E sheet. The black walkways were taken from the Mohak’s OOB sheet, the black de-icer leading edges on wings and tail were created with generic black decal material. Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

An interesting result, and the hybrid paint scheme with the additional desert camouflage really makes the aircraft an unusual sight, adding to its credibility.

Visually parsing the more complex motion that will result from the easeInBounce above will likely require more time than the more simplistic easeInQuad curve. (Both these curves and their associated code can be found on easings.net.)

 

Designing Interface Animation: Meaningful Motion for User Experience, Head, Val, 2016. New York: Rosenfeld Media rosenfeldmedia.com/books/designing-interface-animation

11 x 14 limited edition print by visually impaired artist Michael A. Williams

© Visually Inspiring Photography

www.visuallyinspiringphotography.com

37 – William E & Mary W Sawtelle Residence. 2082 S Harvard Blvd. 1907. Sumner P Hunt and Arthur Wesley Eager.

 

When architectural historians hear of a house designed by Hunt & Eager visually what comes to mind is what was known then as the “Elizabethan” style. Today we call it Tudor. But here is an anomaly in their repertoire. For the Sawtelle family, Hunt and Eager designed a mansion in a Prairie style with Mission Revival touches. The effect is striking and rare. Wm Sawtelle was a wealthy banker and landholder who donated the land for the Sawtelle Solder’s Home, and for whom the former city of Sawtelle was named, as well as a major street of his named.

 

West Adams Heights

 

“Nowadays we scarcely notice the high stone gates which mark the entrances on Hobart, Harvard, and Oxford streets, south of Washington Boulevard. For one thing, the traffic is too heavy, too swift; and then, again, the gates have been obscured by intrusions of shops and stores. At the base of the stone pillars appears the inscription “West Adams Heights.” There was a time when these entranceways were formidable and haughty, for they marked the ways to one of the first elite residential areas in Los Angeles. . . In the unplanned early-day chaos of Los Angeles, West Adams Heights was obviously something very special, an island in an ocean of bungalows—approachable, but withdrawn and reclusive—one of the few surviving examples of planned urban elegance of the turn of the century.”

 

- Carey McWilliams, “The Evolution of Sugar Hill,” Script, March, 1949: 30.

 

Today West Adams Heights is still obviously something special. The past sixty years, however, have not been kind. In 1963 the Santa Monica Freeway cut through the heart of West Adams Heights, dividing the neighborhood, obscuring its continuity. In the 1970’s the city paved over the red brick streets and removed the ornate street lighting. After the neighborhood’s zoning was changed to a higher density, overzealous developers claimed several mansions for apartment buildings. Despite these challenges, however, “The Heights,” as the area was once known, has managed to regain some of its former elegance.

 

The West Adams Heights tract was laid out in 1902, in what was then a wheat field on the western edge of town. Although the freeway now creates an artificial barrier, the original neighborhood boundaries were Adams Boulevard, La Salle Ave, Washington Boulevard, and Western Avenue. Costly improvements were integrated into the development, such as 75-food wide boulevards (which were some of the first contoured streets not to follow the city grid), lots elevated from the sidewalk, ornate street lighting, and large granite monuments with red-brass electroliers at the entrance to every street. These upgrades increased the lot values, which helped ensure the tract would be an enclave for the elite.

 

One early real estate ad characterized the neighborhood stating: “West Adams Heights needs no introduction to the public: it is already recognized as being far superior to any other tract. Its high and slightly location, its beautiful view of the city and mountains make t a property unequaled by any other in the city.”

 

The early residents’ were required to sign a detailed restrictive covenant. This hand-written document required property owners to build a “first-class residence,” of at least two stories, costing no less than two-thousand dollars (at a time when a respectable home could be built for a quarter of that amount, including the land), and built no less than thirty-five feet from the property’s primary boundary. Common in early twentieth century, another clause excluded residents from selling or leasing their properties to non-Caucasians.

 

By the mid 1930’s, however, most of the restrictions had expired. Between 1938 and 1945 many prominent African-Americans began to make “The Heights” their home. According to Carey McWilliams, West Adams Heights became known “Far and wide as the famous Sugar Hill section of Los Angeles,” and enjoyed a clear preeminence over Washington’s smart Le Droit Park, St. Louis’s Enright Street, West Philadelphia, Chicago’s Westchester, and Harlem’s fabulous Sugar Hill.

 

West Adams Heights, now also known as Sugar Hill, played a major role in the Civil Rights movement in Los Angeles. In 1938 Norman Houston, president of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, and an African-American, purchased a home at 2211 South Hobart Boulevard. Legal Action from eight homeowners quickly ensued. During that period, other prominent African-Americans began to make Sugar Hill their home – including actress Hattie McDaniels, dentists John and Vada Summerville, actress Louise Beavers, band leader Johnny Otis, and performers Pearl Baily and Ethel Waters, and many more. On December 6, 1945, the “Sugar Hill Cases” were heard before Judge Thurmond Clark, in LA Superior Court. He made history by become the first judge in America to use the 14th Amendment to disallow the enforcement of covenant race restrictions. The Los Angeles Sentinel quoted Judge Clark: “This court is of the opinion that it is time that [African-Americans] are accorded, without reservations and evasions, the full rights guaranteed them under the 14th Amendment.” Gradually, over the last century people of nearly ever background have made historic West Adams their home.

 

The northern end of West Adams Heights is now protected as part of the Harvard Heights Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). The Historic West Adams area of Los Angeles (which includes West Adams Heights) boasts the highest concentration of turn-of-the-century homes west of the Mississippi, as well as the highest concentration of National Historic Landmarks, National Register of Historic Places, National Historic Districts, State Historic Landmarks, Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monuments, and Historic Preservation Overlay Zones in the city. The entirety of West Adams Heights should be nominated as a National Register Historic District, for the quality of homes, the prominence of the architects, notoriety of the people who lived in the neighborhood, and the role it played in civil rights.

 

Perhaps a quote adapted from a fireplace mantle in the Frederick Rindge mansion best symbolizes the optimism which exists in West Adams: “California Shall be Ours as Long as the Stars Remain.”

 

Palais Württemberg - Hotel Imperial

1, Kärntner Ring 16

Architects: Arnold Zenetti, Heinrich Adam

1862 - 1865

The client - The Palais turns into hotel - War, soviet occupation - Reopening

Facade - Portal - Grand Staircase

(if you want like to see many more pictures please go to the link at the end of page!)

History - the builder

The Imperial Hotel began its history as a palace. It emerged as one of the first buildings on one of the best and most expensive grounds, with unobstructed views to the Karlskirche.

Even for a Adelspalais (noble palace) it was very representative. The room was divided wastefullly: Just the grand staircase would have provided space for two apartments in a normal apartment building. Who had built this way, did not have to pay attention to his money.

The client was according to this an illustrious figure: Closely related to the Württemberg Royal Family (1806 establishing the Kingdom of Württemberg) came Duke Philipp of Württemberg (1838 - 1917), son of Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm of Württemberg 1838 in the French Neuilly into the world.

His mother, a princess of Orleans, died a few months after Philip's birth, so he was baptized and brought up by his grandparents, the French citizen-king Louis Philippe, the last official King of France and his wife, Queen Marie Amelie, in Paris.

Duke Philipp of Württemberg

With ten years Philip had with the royal family in 1848 to flee from the revolting crowd of the capital and he returned to Bayreuth.

His father had later again married, to the displeasure of the Son, because the marriage was morganatic: she was his housekeeper.

Philip pursued a military career.

Shell Palais Württemberg

Wedding with (female) Habsburg

In the great conflict between Austria and Prussia, he was on the side of the Habsburgs and counted as one of the losers of Hradec Kralove (Königgrätz).

The Württemberg were on par with Europe's most powerful royal houses. Philip asked for the hand of the youngest sister of Empress Elisabeth, Princess Sophie, but the marriage did not materialize.

Finally, his love brought him to Vienna, the Duke married into the Habsburg family.

In 1865 he married Archduchess Marie Therese (1845 - 1927), daughter of Archduke Albrecht (Monument Albertina ramp), granddaughter of Archduke Charles, the victor of Aspern (Memorial Heldenplatz).

The wedding took place in the court chapel of the Hofburg in Vienna.

Wedding with Habsburg

Together they moved into the newly completed palace on the Ringstrasse.

It was built in 1863-65 by the Munich architect Arnold Zenetti, according to the plans of Heinrich Adam (grave Central Cemetery).

His wife had recently suffered a severe stroke of fate: her mother had so strongly caught a cold during the funeral of her brother that she died as a result. And soon should burn her sister Mathilde alive.

This one had dressed a gown made ​​of Indian muslin for the theater. This type of material was impregnated at that time with glycerol to give the fabric more fullness.

Before leaving the theater she wanted to smoke a cigarette. When suddenly her father, who had strictly forbidden her smoking came in, she hid the cigarette behind her baggy dress. The highly combustible, glycerol impregnated fabric immediately went up in flames.

Floor Plan 1st storey

The view to the Charles Church was lost

A clear view to the Charles Church was lost by the building of the Musikverein.

The Duke could not enjoy his palace for long. Because behind it, to the Karlsplatz, there was a leafy park, which gave a clear view over to Charles Church.

But when he returned from Hradec Kralove, one was just digging the foundation of the Musikverein. 1870 was the "temple of music" finished and the beautiful view history.

Musikverein, on your left, behind the Imperial Hotel

That should have been the reason that Philip the following year sold his palace. I think this is one of the many "tales", because all the reception rooms were on the side of the ring road. If the view would have been sooo important to him, he would have also had laid out on the back of the Palais 'comfortable' rooms. Anyway, he moved to Strudelhof in the 9th District, a cheaper solution, it was the question here of a spacious villa. Incidentally, it is also told that he had gambling debts and therefore he could not afford the expensive palace on the Ringstrasse anymore.

Summer residence

Duke Philip, who did not feel quite at home in Vienna, lusted after a summer residence in the Salzkammergut.

(The Salzkammergut is a resort area located in Austria. It stretches from the City of Salzburg eastwards along the Austrian Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains, spanning the federal states of Upper Austria, Salzburg, and Styria. The main river of the region is the Traun, a right tributary of the Danube. The name Salzkammergut literally means "Estate of the Salt Chamber" and derives from the Imperial Salt Chamber, the authority charged with running the precious salt mines of the Habsburg Monarchy.)

In addition to hunting around Gmunden the Duke dedicated his passion to the emerging photography.

The architect Heinrich Adam built for the Duke and Duchess in 1872 Villa Maria Theresia in Altmünster according to a French model high above the Lake Traun.

In the summer of 1875 they moved in, 1878-80, the chapel was rebuilt by Heinrich von Ferstel.

Summer residence in Altmünster in Gmunden

As the succession of the Stuttgart parent house fell on Philip's son Albrecht, Philipp moved in 1905 with his family to the Stuttgart Prince Palace. After his death in 1917 his widow Maria Theresa spent her lonely summers preferably in Altmünster until she died for herself in 1927.

The Palais becomes Hotel

The palace was in 1872 in the hands of the Budapest hotelier Johann Frohner. As businessman he sensed with the approaching World's Fair his chance.

And he knew that there was a lack of representative lodging in Vienna, so he turned the magnificent building into a hotel.

At the opening Emperor Franz Joseph I also was invited, which was served a cake. It is said that he had it appreciated, so was the Frohner cake, now called Imperial Torte, born. The special thing about it: it is square.

An original recipe of the Imperial Torte from the 19th Century, however, is not handed down. She is known for only a few decades. At that time it was begun to offer it as a house cake at Café Imperial.

Several years ago was launched a marketing campaign and it was accomplished that the Imperial Torte today is sent around the world and one, according to the house, needs a total mass of 40 tonnes per year for it.

Imperial square cake

Café Imperial, recording 1941

The conservatory

The courtyard becomes a winter garden.

Donauweibchen (Danube maiden) copy

Frohner had a sense for staging. The glass-covered courtyard became a dining room with conservatory flair.

In the middle was a copy of the Danube female from the city park. Today she is at the end of the grand staircase.

The newspapers were ironed so guests did not have ink on their fingers. And the butler service is available to this day.

Who has once looked into it, knows why we put most of our state guests there - it is just not a "normal" hotel, but still a palace, one of the most magnificent!

Between the lobby and the Café Imperial runs a narrow passage where the house's history is told in pictures and text. And it is also worthwhile to study the guest list shown there.

Lobby to Frohner times

2 World War II, Soviet occupation

The war and the occupation had left its mark on the house. Here, since Adolf Hitler took his accommodation at his few visits to Vienna, the hotel had to be equipped accordingly.

On the side of Canovagasse one built an underground bunker, but not in the usual way.

It was just the road dug up, the bunker built into a pit and then the road above concreted again.

Hitler rises from the Imperial

During the Allied air raids on Vienna here many people found refuge, especially the Vienna Philharmonic from neighboring Musikverein.

After the war, the Soviets used the house as an office building. As they moved out of here again after the occupation time, the house was practically empty.

About the state of the Imperial, in which they left it in the mid-fifties, there are different statements.

It appears that the shape of the house may not have been much worse than the other districts of the Soviet Army.

In the stuccolustro of the main staircase of the Imperial a soldier has immortalized himself with a small doodle.

Left: the people cheering in front of the Hotel Imperial on 15 March 1938

Swastika flags near the Hotel Imperial

Reopening of the hotel

The large portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph at the end of the stairs, a symbol of a reactionary attitude, remained untouched over the years .

Even as the Imperial again was a hotel, considered Russian politicians the house as a kind of ideological hereditary leasehold.

Only U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger broke this monopoly, as he with his Soviet colleague Andrei Gromyko in Vienna lived at a meeting at the Imperial.

Because Gromyko did not want to spend the night with the representative of a capitalist world power under one roof, he departed angrily in the Soviet Embassy. Also for other state guests, the Imperial is recommended as the first address.

Re-opening of the hotel in 1958

Rooms at the Hotel Imperial in the then modern 50's style

Guests

The fact that the English Queen Elizabeth here took up accommodation during her visit to Vienna, was felt as a great honor because the Queen slept on visits abroad only rarely in hotels.

Therefore one replaced the by no means not unrepresentative furnitures of her suite against those from the Imperial Furniture Collection. And for the duration of her stay hung pictures from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in her premises.

Thus, the Queen could at least feel a touch of monarchical past. Finally, the hotel management did remove the seating from the lobby. No one should have the opportunity to insult the Queen, by just remaining seated in front of her.

Queen Elizabeth greets from the balcony of the hotel, in 1969

Plaque Rainer Maria Rilke

Plaque Richard Wagner

Inscription:

During 1916, Rainer Maria Rilke visited in the Hotel Imperial almost daily his "Unforgettable Café" and met here Oskar Kokoschka, Karl Kraus and Adolf Loos.

Austrian Society for Literature

Inscription:

Richard Wagner was at the end of the year 1875 with his family for nearly two months guest of this hotel to prepare for the performance of his operas Tannhäuser and Lohengrin.

The Vienna Schubertbund 50th Anniversary of the death of the artist, 1933

(Sculptor Robert Ullmann)

Facade

Important strictly historicist Palais, 1862-65 built by Arnold Zenetti and designed by Heinrich Adam. Monumental free-standing building of the beginning of strict historicism in forms of neo- Renaissance.

The main façade has a 6-axle central projection, which is further emphasized by the three-axis portal.

In 1928, the house was extented on the ring road by two floors. The attic was converted into a continuous balcony on the 4th floor.

1946, the portal has been simplified and the three-aisled hall (lobby) rebuilt to current form.

Floor plan 6th storey

1988 - 1994 followed ​​a general refurbishment and the roof extension (Maurizio Papiri), which on the back of the palace was not very successful.

Portal

3 -axis portal above statues representing sovereign virtues.

As the duke had guarded the house round-the-clock, originally flanked two sentry house the wide entrance, which was designed for the entrance of the carriages.

The six-axle central projection visually protrudes a little bit and is rich decorated. The effect is mainly due to the generously employed sculptures of the portal and gable zone.

The statues above the entrance are from Franz Melnitzky and represent personalized Herschertugenden (souvereign virtues): wisdom - old man, lorbeerbekränzt (laurel-adorned) and scroll of honor - Woman with coat of arms, Justice - sword, strength - club.

In addition to the figures, by the same artist have been made reliefs, which were destroyed in 1946, as well as the lunettes.

Statues (ruler virtues)

Hotel entrance: reliefs and lunettes in 1946 destroyed

Wisdom

Honor

Justice

Strength

Above the balconies and windows of the first floor can be found the from the Orient stemming griffin motif: two griffins flanking each of them a vase. The lion's griffon, his head and body seem like that of a lion, but he has the wings of an eagle, he was apostrophized in antiquity as the guardian of the gold. Here he was reinterpreted as the guardian of the house.

In the triangular gable of the roof is an allegory of the house Wuerttemberg to see with the heraldic animals of the house, the deer and the lion. The very striking roof no longer exists, but it fell victim to the fact the hotel was increased in the 20th Century.

Grand Staircase

Former court (later conservatory, lounge today)

At the times of the Württemberg the palais still hand an open courtyard in the middle. This court allowed, as with all other buildings of that era, the coachmen to turn there after they get off their customers in the driveway.

So the coaches for this had sufficient space, the outrageously expensive main staircase had to be moved to the side. Who enters the hotel lobby of the Imperial today, does not immediately recognize the noble work, but he must climb a few stairs to the right. Such intricateness were then accepted.

The grand staircase leads to the main floor only. The stairs to the upper floors are designed very much simpler. Because here only circulated staff.

Grand Staircase

Grand Staircase piano nobile

Lobby

www.viennatouristguide.at/Palais/ringstrasse/wuerttemberg...

There are three Ashfords, really. The modern newtown, Swindonesque newbuilds stretching into the countryside; the Victorian railway town, all neat rows of brick buit houses and the station, and then there is the old town, timber-framed houses along narrow lanes, with St Mary standing towering above all but the modern office blocks.

 

The west end church was given over to a Christmas Fayre, but is also used now as a concert venue, while under the tower westwards is still in use as a church, with many of its ancient features left alone by the Victorians.

 

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A stately church in a good position set away from the hustle and bustle of this cosmopolitan town. The very narrow tower of 1475 is not visually satisfactory when viewed from a distance but its odd proportions are hardly noticed when standing at its base. The church is very much the product of the families who have been associated with it over the centuries and who are commemorated by monuments within. They include the Fogges and the Smythes. The former is supposed to have wanted to create a college of priests here, but by the late fifteenth century such foundations were going out of fashion and the remodelling of the church undertaken by Sir John Fogge may have just been a philanthropic cause. Unusually, when the church was restored in 1860 the architect Ewan Christian kept the galleries (he usually swept them away), but Christ Church had yet to be built and the population of this growing town would have needed all the accommodation it could get. Even in 1851 1000 people had attended the church in a single sitting. The pulpit, designed by Pearson, was made in 1897.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ashford+1

 

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THE TOWN AND PARISH OF ASHFORD

LIES the next adjoining to Hothfield eastward. It is called in Domesday both Estefort and Essetesford, and in other antient records, Eshetisford, taking its name from the river, which runs close to it, which, Lambarde says, ought not to be called the Stour, till it has passed this town, but Eshe or Eschet, a name which has been for a great length of time wholly forgotten; this river being known, even from its first rise at Lenham hither, by the name of the Stour only.

 

A small part only of this parish, on the east, south and west sides of it, containing the borough of Henwood, alias Hewit, lying on the eastern or further side of the river from the town, part of which extends into the parish of Wilsborough, and the whole of it within the liberty of the manor of Wye, and the borough of Rudlow, which adjoins to Kingsnoth and Great Chart, are in this hundred of Chart and Longbridge; such part of the borough of Rudlow as lies adjoining to Kingsnoth, is said to lie in in jugo de Beavor, or the yoke of Beavor, and is divided from the town and liberty by the river, near a place called Pollbay; in which yoke there is both a hamlet and a green or common, of the name of Beavor; the remainder of the parish having been long separated from it, and made a distinct liberty, or jurisdiction of itself, having a constable of its own, and distinguished by the name of the liberty of the town of Ashford.

 

ASHFORD, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, was part of the possessions of Hugo de Montfort, who had accompanied the Conqueror hither, and was afterwards rewarded with this estate, among many others in different counties; in which record it is thus entered, under the general title of his lands:

 

¶Maigno holds of Hugo (de Montfort) Estefort. Turgisus held it of earl Godwin, and it is taxed at one suling. The arable land is half a carucate. There is nevertheless in demesne one carucate, and two villeins having one carucate. There are two servants, and eight acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth twenty five shillings; when he received it, twenty shillings; now thirty shilling.

 

The same Hugo holds Essela. Three tenants held it of king Edward, and could go whither they would with their lands. It was taxed at three yokes. The arable land is one carucate and an half. There are now four villeins, with two borderers having one carucate, and six acres of meadow. The whole, in the reign of king Edward the Confessor, was worth twenty shillings, and afterwards fifteen shillings, now twenty shillings.

 

Maigno held another Essetisford of the same Hugo. Wirelm held it of king Edward. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is four carucates. In demesne there are two, and two villeins, with fifteen borderers having three carucates. There is a church, and a priest, and three servants, and two mills of ten shillings and two pence. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth seventy shillings, and afterwards sixty shillings, now one hundred shillings.

 

Robert de Montfort, grandson of Hugh abovementioned, favouring the title of Robert Curthose, in opposition to king Henry I. to avoid being called in question upon that account, obtained leave to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, leaving his possessions to the king; by which means this manor came into the hands of the crown. Soon after which it seems to have come into the possession of a family, who took their name from it. William de Asshetesford appears by the register of Horton priory to have been lord of it, and to have been succeeded by another of the same name. After which the family of Criol became owners of it, by whom it was held by knight's service of the king, in capite, by ward to Dover castle, and the repair of a tower in that castle, called the Ashford tower. (fn. 1) Simon de Criol, in the 27th and 28th year of Henry III. obtained a charter of free warren for this manor, whose son William de Criol passed it away to Roger de Leyborne, for Stocton, in Huntingdonshire, and Rumford, in Essex. William de Leyborne his son, in the 7th year of king Edward I. claimed and was allowed the privilege of a market here, before the justices itinerant. He died possessed of this manor in the 3d year of Edward II. leaving his grand-daughter Juliana, daughter of Thomas de Leyborne, who died in his father's life-time, heir both to her grandfather and father's possessions, from the greatness of which she was stiled the Infanta of Kent, (fn. 2) though thrice married, yet she died s. p. by either of her husbands, all of whom she survived, and died in the 41st year of Edward III. Upon which this manor, among the rest of her estates, escheated to the crown, and continued there till king Richard II. vested it, among others, in feoffees, for the performance of certain religious bequests by the will of king Edward III. then lately deceased; and they, in compliance with it, soon afterwards, with the king's licence, purchased this manor, with those of Wall, and Esture, of the crown, towards the endowment of St. Stephen's chapel, in the king's palace of Westminster, all which was confirmed by king Henry IV. and VI. and by king Edward IV. in their first years; the latter of whom, in his 7th year, granted to them a fair in this town yearly, on the feast of St. John Port Latin, together with all liberties, and to have a steward to hold the court of it, &c. In which situation they continued till the 1st year of Edward VI. when this collegiate chapel was, with all its possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, where these manors did not continue long; for that king, in his 3d year, granted the manor of Esshetford, with that of Wall, and the manor of Esture, to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, to hold in capite; and he, in the 2d and 3d of Philip and Mary, sold them to Sir Andrew Judde, of London, whose daughter and at length heir Alice, afterwards carried them in marriage to Thomas Smith, esq. of Westenhanger, commonly called the Customer, who died possessed of them in 1591, and lies buried in the south cross of this church, having had several sons and daughters, of, whom Sir John Smythe, of Ostenhanger, the eldest, succeeded him here, and was sheriff anno 42 Elizabeth. Sir Thomas Smith, the second son, was of Bidborough and Sutton at Hone, and ambassador to Russia, of whom and his descendants, notice has been taken in the former volumes of this history; (fn. 3) and Henry, the third son, was of Corsham, in Wiltshire, whence this family originally descended, and Sir Richard Smith, the fourth, was of Leeds castle. Sir John Smythe, above-mentioned, died in 1609, and lies buried in the same vault as his father in this church, leaving one son Sir Thomas Smythe, of Westenhanger, K. B. who was in 1628 created Viscount Strangford, of Ireland, whose grandson Philip, viscount Strangford, dying about 1709, Henry Roper, lord Teynham, who had married Catherine his eldest daughter, by his will, became possessed of the manors of Ashford, Wall, and Esture. By her, who died in 1711, he had two sons, Philip and Henry, successively lords Teynham; notwithstanding which, having the uncontrolled power in these manors vested in him, he, on his marriage with Anne, second daughter and coheir of Thomas Lennard, earl of Sussex, and widow of Richard Barrett Lennard, esq. afterwards baroness Dacre, settled them on her and her issue by him in tail male. He died in 1623, and left her surviving, and possessed of these manors for her life. She afterwards married the hon. Robert Moore, and died in 1755. She had by lord Teynham two sons, Charles and Richard-Henry, (fn. 4) Charles Roper, the eldest son, died in 1754 intestate, leaving two sons, Trevor-Charles and Henry, who on their mother's death became entitled to these manors, as coheirs in gavelkind, a recovery having been suffered of them, limiting them after her death to Charles Roper their father, in tail male; but being infants, and there being many incumbrances on these estates, a bill was exhibited in chancery, and an act procured anno 29 George II. for the sale of them; and accordingly these manors were sold, under the direction of that court, in 1765, to the Rev. Francis Hender Foote, of Bishopsborne, who in 1768 parted with the manor of Wall, alias Court at Wall, to John Toke, esq. of Great Chart, whose son Nicholas Roundell Toke, is the present possessor of it; but he died possessed of the manors of Ashford and Esture in 1773, and was succeeded in them by his eldest son John Foote, esq. now of Bishopsborne, the present owner of them. There are several copyhold lands held of the manor of Ashford. A court leet and court baron is regularly held for it.

 

THE TOWN OF ASHFORD stands most pleasant and healthy, on the knoll of a hill, of a gentle ascent on every side, the high road from Hythe to Maidstone passing through it, from which, in the middle of the town, the high road branches off through a pleasant country towards Canterbury. The houses are mostly modern and well-built, and the high-street, which has been lately new paved, is of considerable width. The markethouse stands in the centre of it, and the church and school on the south side of it, the beautiful tower of the former being a conspicuous object to the adjoining country. It is a small, but neat and chearful town, and many of the inhabitants of a genteel rank in life. Near the market place, is the house of the late Dr. Isaac Rutton, a physician of long and extensive practice in these parts, being the eldest son of Matthias Rutton, gent of this town, by Sarah his wife, daughter of Sir N. Toke, of Godinton. He died in 1792, bearing for his arms, Parted per fess, azure, and or, three unicorns heads, couped at the neck, counterchanged; since which, his eldest son, Isaac Rutton, esq. now of Ospringeplace, has sold this house to Mr. John Basil Duckworth, in whom it is now vested. In the midst of it is a large handsome house, built in 1759, by John Mascall, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1769, and was buried in Boughton Aluph church, bearing for his arms, Barry of two, or, and azure, three inescutcheons, ermine; and his only son, Robert Mascall, esq. now of Ashford, who married the daughter of Jeremiah Curteis, esq. is the present owner, and resides in it. At the east end of the town is a seat, called Brooke-place, formerly possessed by the family of Woodward, who were always stiled, in antient deeds, gentlemen, and bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron, sable, between three grasshoppers, or; the last of them, Mr. John Woodward, gent. rebuilt this seat, and died possessed of it in 1757; of whose heirs it was purchased by Martha, widow of Moyle Breton, esq. of Kennington, whose two sons, the Rev. Moyle Breton, and Mr. Whitfield Breton, gent. alienated it to Josias Pattenson, esq. the second son of Mr. Josias Pattenson, of Biddenden, by Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Felix Kadwell, esq. of Rolvenden; he married Mary, daughter of Mr. Henry Dering, gent. of this parish, and widow of Mr. John Mascall above-mentioned, by whom he has no issue, and he is the present owner of this seat, and resides in it. There have been barracks erected lately here, which at present contain 4000 soldiers. The market is held on a Saturday weekly, for the sale of corn, which is now but little used; and a market for the sale of all sorts of fat and lean stock on the first and third Tuesday in every month, which has been of great use to prevent monopolies. Two fairs are annually held now, by the alteration of the stile, on May 17, and Sept. 9, and another on Oct. 24; besides which, there is an annual fair for wool on August 2, not many years since instituted and encouraged by the principal gentry and landholders, which promises to prove of the greatest utility and benefit to the fair sale of it. That branch of the river Stour which rises at Lenham, runs along the southern part of this parish, and having turned a corn mill belonging to the lord of this manor, continues its course close at the east end of the town, where there is a stone bridge of four arches, repaired at the expence of the county, and so on northwards towards Wye and Canterbury. On the south side of the river in this parish, next to Kingsnoth, within the borough of Rudlow, is the yoke of Beavor, with the hamlet and farm of that name, possessed in very early times, as appears by the register of Horton priory, by a family of that name, one of whom, John Beavor, was possessed of it in the reign of Henry II. and was descended from one of the same furname, who attended the Conqueror in his expedition hither. The parish contains about 2000 acres of land, and three hundred and twenty houses, the whole rental of it being 4000l. per annum; the inhabitants are 2000, of which about one hundred are diffenters. The highways throughout it, which not many years ago were exceeding bad, have been by the unanimity of the inhabitants, which has shewn itself remarkable in all their public improvements, a rare instance in parochial undertakings, and by the great attention to the repairs of them, especially in such parts as were near their own houses, are now excellent. The lands round it are much upon a gravelly soil, though towards the east and south there are some rich fertile pastures, intermixed with arable land, and several plantations of hops; but toward the west, the soil is in general sand, having much quarrystone mixed with it, where there is a great deal of coppice wood, quite to Potter's corner, at the boundary of this parish.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large handsome building, consisting of three isles, with a transept, and three chancels, with the tower in the middle, which is losty and well proportioned, having four pinnacles at the top of it. There are eight bells in it, a set of chimes, and a clock. In the high chancel, on the north side, is the college John Fogge, the founder of the college here, who died in 1490, and his two wives, the brasses of their figures gone; but part of the inscription remains. And formerly, in Weever's time, there hung up in this chancel six atchievements, of those of this family whose burials had been attended by the heralds at arms, and with other ceremonies suitable to their degrees. Underneath the chancel is a large vault, full of the remains of the family. On the pavement in the middle, is a very antient curious gravestone, having on it the figure in brass of a woman, holding in her left hand a banner, with the arms of Ferrers, Six masctes, three and three, in pale; which, with a small part of the inscription round the edge, is all that is remaining; but there was formerly in brass, in her right hand, another banner, with the arms of Valoyns; over her head those of France and England quarterly; and under her feet a shield, being a cross, impaling three chevronels, the whole within a bordure, guttee de sang, and round the edge this inscription, Ici gift Elizabeth Comite D' athels la file sign de Ferrers . . . dieu asoil, qe morust le 22 jour d'octob. can de grace MCCCLXXV. Weever says, she was wife to David de Strabolgie, the fourth of that name, earl of Athol, in Scotland, and daughter of Henry, lord Ferrers, of Groby; and being secondly married to John Malmayns, of this county, died here in this town. Though by a pedigree of the family of Brograve, she is said to marry T. Fogge, esq. of Ashford; if so, he might perhaps have been her third husband. Near her is a memorial for William Whitfield, gent. obt. 1739. The north chancel belonged to Repton manor. In the vault underneath lay three of the family of Tuston, sometime since removed to Rainham, and it has been granted to the Husseys; Thomas Hussey, esq. of this town, died in 1779, and was buried in it. In the south chancel are memorials for the Pattensons, Whitfields, and Apsleys, of this place; and one for Henry Dering, gent. of Shelve, obt. 1752, and Hester his wife; arms, A saltier, a crescent for difference, impaling, on a chevron, between three persons, three crosses, formee; and another memorial for Thomasine, wife of John Handfield, obt. 1704. In the north cross are several antient stones, their brasses all gone, excepting a shield, with the arms of Fogge on one. At the end is a monument for John Norwood, gent. and Mary his wife, of this town, who lie with their children in the vault underneath. The south cross is parted off lengthways, for the family of Smith, lords of Ashford manor, who lie in a vault underneath. In it are three superb monuments, which, not many years since, were beautified and restored to their original state, by the late chief baron Smythe, a descendant of this family. One is for Thomas Smith, esq. of Westenhanger, in 1591; the second for Sir John Smythe, of Ostenhanger, his son, and Elizabeth his wife; and the third for Sir Richard Smyth, of Leeds castle, in 1628: all which have been already mentioned before. Their figures, at full length and proportion, are lying on, each of them, with their several coats of arms and quarterings blazoned. In the other part of this cross, is a memorial for Baptist Pigott, A. M. son of Baptist Pigott, of Dartford, and schoolmaster here, obt. 1657, and at the end of it, is the archbishop's consistory court. In the south isle is a memorial for Thomas Curteis, gent. obt. 1718, and Elizabeth his wife; arms, Curteis impaling Carter. Under the tower is one for Samuel Warren, vicar here forty-eight years, obt. 1720. The three isles were new pewed and handsomely paved in 1745. There are five galleries, and an handsome branch for candles in the middled isle; the whole kept in an excellent state of repair and neatness. There was formerly much curtious painted glass in the windows, particularly the figures of one of the family of Valoyns, his two wives and children, with their arms. In the south window of the cross isle, and in other windows, the figures, kneeling, of king Edward III. the black prince, Richard, duke of Gloucester, the lord Hastings. Sir William Haute, the lord Scales, Richard, earl Rivers, and the dutchess of Bedford his wife, Sir John Fogge, Sir John Peche, Richard Horne, Roger Manstone, and—Guildford, most of which were in the great west window, each habited in their surcoats of arms, not the least traces of which, or of any other coloured glass, are remaining throughout this church. Sir John Goldstone, parson of Ivechurch, as appears by his will in 1503, was buried in the choir of this church, and gave several costly ornaments and vestments for the use of it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol7/pp526-545

  

258 Broadway, Civic Center, Downtown Manhattan, New York City, United States of America

 

The Rogers, Peet & Company building is an eight-story neo-Renaissance style commercial and office building designed by the firm of John B. Snook & Sons. Constructed in 1899-1900 for clergyman Eugene A. Hoffman, the building was occupied by Rogers, Peet & Co., a well-known retailer of men’s and boys’ clothing, for a period of more than 70 years. The Rogers, Peet & Co. building is an early example of a steel skeleton-framed skyscraper influenced by the Chicago school of architects, and stands out among a group of important early skyscrapers located in the vicinity of City Hall, New York’s original skyscraper district, for its clear articulation of the structural grid and restrained use of stylized classical ornament. Constructed using the latest in fireproofing technologies, the building expresses its structural steel framing in the wide window bays on the east and north facades that are divided by strong vertical brick piers and recessed cast-iron or brick spandrels. The building is clad in stone and buff brick and crowned by a deep molded and denticulated copper cornice. In 1909 a three-bay addition to the building was constructed on Warren Street, executed by the firm of Townsend, Steinle & Haskell but continuing the original design. During a long and prolific career, architect John B. Snook (1815-1901) designed numerous buildings in New York City as well as several others in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Westchester County, and New Jersey. In 1887 Snook’s three sons and a son-inlaw joined him in practice, thus establishing the firm of John B. Snook & Sons. It remains unclear what role the elder Snook played in the design of the Rogers, Peet & Company Building, but the building nevertheless represents a culmination of the architect’s 64-year career of designing and building commercial structures.

   

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

 

Development of the Drygoods District in Lower Manhattan

 

During the 1840s, the commercial development of Broadway and the surrounding streets of Lower Manhattan increasingly displaced residents in this area as the street became the city’s leading commercial artery. Alexander Turney Stewart, an Irish immigrant who became one of New York’s wealthiest merchants, opened his first store at 283 Broadway in 1823, selling Irish lace and notions. As his business expanded, Stewart moved to increasingly larger quarters on Broadway opposite City Hall Park. In 1845 he acquired a site at Broadway and Reade Street, and began construction of a new store building designed by Joseph Trench and John Butler Snook that eventually occupied the entire block front between Chambers and Reade Streets. The new

 

A.T. Stewart store was the largest retail establishment in the city and employed a novel arrangement in which different categories of merchandise were separated into individual departments, setting a precedent for the development of the American department store. While most early nineteenth-century commercial buildings had brick and stone facades, the Stewart store was faced with marble above a cast-iron store front with huge plate glass windows. Almost immediately, Stewart’s new marble palace became the favored store of New Yorkers and visitors alike. Imitators soon followed and, within a few years, Broadway and its side streets from City Hall Park to Canal Street became lined with marble, brownstone, and cast-iron commercial palaces.

 

As the new retail district began to develop on Broadway in the late 1840s and 1850s, the wholesale dry goods merchants who had been located on Pearl Street near the South Street Seaport began to move their businesses to Broadway and the blocks to the west between Dey Street and Park Place. To a large extent this move was prompted by the growing popularity of the North (Hudson River) piers which were better able to accommodate the large steam-powered vessels used for coastal and transatlantic shipping. Two major railroads established freight depots in the area during the 1850s and several other railroads built terminals in New Jersey where goods were off-loaded for transshipment across the river to the West Side piers.

 

This increase in trade and relocation of transportation facilities coincided with a city project in 1851 widening Dey and Cortlandt Streets between Broadway and Greenwich Street that made large tracts of cleared land available for redevelopment. Within the space of two years, Dey and Cortlandt Streets were almost entirely rebuilt with store and loft buildings for wholesale dry goods businesses and similar buildings were going up on Park Place, Vesey Street, and Church Street. According to the Daily Tribune, "forthwith commenced a most astonishing migration. [The] whole mercantile community seemed to have woke from a long sleep." Over the next twenty years the wholesale dry goods trade continued to move northward into the blocks west and north of City Hall Park where merchants could take advantage of the new transportation facilities in the area. In the late 1860s, Trow’s New York City Directory observed that “The drygoods dealers, who constitute the largest business district of New York, appear to have permanently settled down upon that district of the city included between Broadway and West Broadway and extending from Park Place to Canal Street. This is the great center of the wholesale jobbers, auctioneers, and importers.”

 

The history of the Rogers, Peet & Company building site, located at the southwest corner of Broadway and Warren Street, followed closely the patterns of development that shaped the dry goods district during the 19th century. In 1827 the site was purchased from Trinity Church by Garrit Storm, a wealthy grocer and descendent of an old Dutch family in New York. The property passed in 1852 to Storm’s daughter, Glorvina Russell Hoffman, whose husband Samuel Verplanck Hoffman commissioned architect John B. Snook to design and construct a five-story commercial “palace” to replace the existing three row houses. Snook’s design, featuring a ground-story colonnade, pedimented window lintels, and a bracketed cornice, was directly influenced by the A.T. Stewart store, standing just a block north across Broadway. For many years after the building’s completion in 1854, it was known as the home of Devlin & Co., one of the first clothing houses to locate on Broadway. In 1889 when Devlin & Co. moved to a new store on Union Square, following the northward trend of retail along Broadway, the men’s clothing firm of Rogers, Peet & Company moved into the building at 258-260 Broadway (3-5 Warren Street), occupying the basement, first, and second floors.

 

Rogers, Peet & Company

 

During the second half of the 19th century, the American clothing industry underwent a dramatic shift from custom-made clothing to pre-manufactured clothing as a result of industrial expansion and the corresponding growth of urban and national markets. An important element in this change was the emergence of advertising as an industry in its own right. For most of the 19th century, bombastic or outright false ad copy had been the norm in the retail trade, and the expectation among consumers. But as mass-production of standardized goods began to take hold, and as technology improved to facilitate mass communication, companies responded by modernizing their merchandising and advertising practices.

 

Rogers, Peet & Company was founded in 1874, when Broadway clothing merchants Marvin N. Rogers and Charles B. Peet joined their respective businesses to take advantage of the growing market for ready-made men’s clothing. The other founding members of the firm, which dealt primarily in retail but also ran a wholesale operation, were Frank R. Chambers and William R. H. Martin. Following the pioneering example of John Wanamaker’s retail establishment of the 1860s and 1870s in Philadelphia, Rogers Peet early on adopted a fixed-price, quality-guaranteed policy and began to rely on truthful advertising as a primary marketing tool. An 1876 newspaper article noted the firm’s huge inventory, low prices, and use of price tags, a novelty in retail at that time. The growing emphasis on honesty, respectability, and customer service in retail was reflected in the partners’ decision, in 1886, to introduce an employee profit-sharing system as a means of encouraging professionalism, salesmanship, and productivity. By the 1890s, Rogers, Peet & Co. had gained widespread recognition for these forward-thinking business strategies, and especially for their innovative and popular advertising style.

 

Partner Frank R. Chambers (1850-1940) oversaw advertising for Rogers Peet from 1880 until 1915, writing much of the ad copy himself, and gave this simple advice on advertising: “Tell the truth. Understate. Never overstate.” The breadth, diversity, and creativity of Rogers Peet advertising demonstrated their commitment to the medium as a key to business success. In addition to publishing numerous richly-illustrated catalogs and booklets replete with detailed descriptions of clothing and accessories and advice on style, the firm advertised daily in newspapers, in theater playbills, on posters, and on street cars. A typical Rogers Peet newspaper ad of the 1890s featured a single column of text—conveying matter-of-fact information about the quality, style, and price of an item, delivered in an informal, upbeat tone using colloquial language and the familiar second-person mode of address—paired with a simple, eye-catching cartoon-style illustration that often played humorously on some aspect of the item being advertised. The Rogers Peet style of advertising stood out in contrast to the conventional clothing ad of the late 19th century, which usually featured a box of declarative text and a stock illustration, if any at all, and thus was quickly established as a standard to be emulated in the nascent advertising industry.

 

Many Rogers Peet ads were illustrated in-house, which was more expensive than using stock “cuts” (graphics) provided by a manufacturer, but allowed for the development of a consistent and identifiable graphic style.. In what might be considered an early recognition of the 20th-century marketing concept of branding, a trade writer described the Rogers Peet style in 1915, writing:

 

Everything that goes out of the store, including the boxes, bundles and envelopes, is utilized for attractive, refined, and dignified advertising. By tricks of type and designing a certain definite individuality is given to each piece of advertising, so that, however diversified the use to which it is put, it can be recognized at a glance. This idea is one that is gradually appealing to more advertisers as time goes on.

 

In 1940 Joseph H. Appel, an early advertising director at Wanamaker’s, wrote a glowing appraisal (in salesman’s lingo) of Rogers Peet’s early achievements in advertising:

 

An interesting and outstanding example of the application by other advertisers of the Wanamaker-John E.Powers [Wanamaker’s first director of advertising] advertising copy principles has been for many years the Rogers Peet Company, New York clothiers, whose unique single-column ads have been familiar for decades... the Rogers Peet ads have caused comment for many years and have retained unchanged their typographical and advertising individuality and form for a longer period of time than perhaps any other advertising in America (about 60 years).

 

The original Rogers Peet store was located at 487 Broadway, on the southwest corner of Broome Street. Within five years the firm had expanded to a second location on Broadway, and within ten years had opened a third Broadway location. In 1889, Rogers, Peet & Company opened their fourth store in the Snook-designed building at Broadway and Warren– thereafter known as their Warren Street store. By the 1950s, there were four Rogers Peet stores: the Warren Stree store, the Union Square store, a Fifth Avenue store at 41st Street, and a second Fifth Avenue store, at 48th Street.

 

The New York Skyscraper of the 1890s

 

During the 19th century, commercial buildings in New York City evolved from four-story structures modeled on Italian Renaissance palazzi to much taller skyscrapers. Made possible by technological advances, tall buildings challenged designers to fashion an appropriate architectural expression. Between 1870 and 1890, nine- and ten-story buildings transformed the streetscapes of lower Manhattan. During the building boom following the Civil War, building envelopes continued to be articulated largely according to traditional palazzo compositions, with mansarded and towered roof profiles. New York's tallest buildings— including the seven-and-ahalf-story Equitable Life Assurance Co. Building (1868-70, Gilman & Kendall and George B. Post) at Broadway and Cedar Street, the ten-story Western Union Building (1872-75, George B. Post) at Broadway and Liberty Street, and the ten-story Tribune Building (1873-75, Richard M. Hunt), all now demolished — incorporated passenger elevators, iron floor beams, and fireproof building materials. Beginning in the later 1870s, tall buildings were characterized by flat roofs and a variety of exterior arrangements, often in the form of multi-storied arcades. The period through the 1880s was characterized by stylistic experimentation in which office buildings in New York incorporated diverse influences. Fireproofing was of paramount concern as office buildings grew taller, and by 1881-82 systems had been devised to "completely fireproof" them. Ever taller skyscrapers were made possible by the increasing use and refinement of metal framing. In 1888-89, New York architect Bradford Lee Gilbert used iron skeleton framing for the first seven stories of the 11-story Tower Building at 50 Broadway (demolished). Beginning around 1890, architects began producing skyscraper designs that adhered to the tripartite baseshaft-capital arrangement associated with the classical column, a scheme that became commonly employed in New York. As steel skeleton framing was adopted for tall buildings in New York, architects and engineers introduced caisson foundations which carried the weight of the skeleton frame down to bedrock. Architects [Francis H.] Kimball & [G. Kramer] Thompson and engineer Charles Sooysmith were leaders in this effort with the Manhattan Life Insurance Co. Building (1893-94, demolished), 64-66 Broadway, credited with being the first skyscraper with a full iron and steel frame, set on pneumatic concrete caissons. This was followed by the American Surety Co. Building (1894-96, Bruce Price), 100 Broadway, also with Sooysmith, which was the first New York skyscraper with a full steel frame, set on pneumatic concrete caissons, and is today a designated New York City Landmark. An additional consideration in office building design was to provide maximum light and ventilation, for which contemporary architects devised several solutions, including interior and exterior light courts.

 

John B. Snook & Sons and Townsend, Steinle & Haskell

 

John Butler Snook, born in England, immigrated to the United States and by 1835 was established in New York City as a carpenter/builder, then as an architect in partnership with William Beer in 1837-40. By 1842, Snook found work with Joseph Trench, and they later formed the firm of Trench & Snook, which helped introduce the Anglo-Italianate style to New York with buildings such as the A.T. Stewart Store (1845-46, a designated New York City Individual Landmark) at 280 Broadway, the country’s first department store and the catalyst and architectural precedent for commercial development of lower Broadway. With Trench’s departure for California in the 1850s, Snook rose to head the firm. He became a prolific architect-builder who designed structures of all types, in virtually every revival style, and expanded his practice into one of the largest in New York. The first Grand Central Terminal (1869-71, demolished) was one of his best-known works. In 1887, Snook took his three sons, James Henry (1847-1917), Samuel Booth (1857-1915), and Thomas Edward (1864?-1953), and a son-in-law, John W. Boyleston (1852-1932), into his office and the firm’s name was changed to John B. Snook & Sons. Examples of Snook’s work—and that of the firm of Snook & Sons—are also located in the Expanded Carnegie Hill, Gansevoort Market, Greenwich Village Extension, Ladies’ Mile, NoHo, SoHo-Cast Iron, Tribeca East, Tribeca West, Upper East Side, and Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic Districts. A handful of buildings designed by Snook still stand in the vicinity of City Hall; prominent among these are the A.T. Stewart store at 280 Broadway (1845-46, Joseph Trench & Co.; additions, Trench & Snook, 1850-51 and 1852-53; Frederick Schmidt, 1872; Edward D. Harris, 1884; 1921,) and the cast-iron commercial building at 287 Broadway (1871-72), both designated New York City Landmarks.

 

The firm of (Robert Samuel) Townsend, (Charles Albert) Steinle & (William Cook) Haskell formed in 1906, and is known for having designed several large apartment buildings in the Upper West Side-Central Park West Historic District, as well as commercial buildings, stores, lofts and offices in lower Midtown. Notably, the firm designed more than one building for, or on behalf of, the Rogers Peet Company. Apart from their 1909 addition to the Warren Street store, the architects were commissioned to design the Marbridge Building at 1328 Broadway (between 34th and 35th streets), completed in 1906 and housing a Rogers Peet store from its opening until 1922, and the building at 479 Broadway, completed in 1915 and housing a Rogers Peet store from its opening until the clothing firm’s final days in 1978.

 

Design and Construction of the Rogers, Peet & Company Building

 

On December 4, 1898, a catastrophic fire destroyed the building at 258 Broadway, and severely damaged its neighbors to the south, the Home Life Insurance Company Building (256257 Broadway,1892-94, Pierre Le Brun of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, a designated New York City Landmark) and the Postal Telegraph Cable Company Building (253 Broadway, 1892-94, Harding & Gooch, a designated New York City Landmark). The fire began in the basement of 258 Broadway, which was used by the Rogers Peet Company as a store room. In the wake of the fire, critics of skyscrapers cited the extensive damage to the upper floors of the 16-story Home Life building as evidence in the case against creating tall buildings, while supporters of modern fireproofing technology argued that the Home Life building’s structure, as well as that of the Postal Telegraph building, had actually withstood the fire well and indeed prevented further spread of the fire.

 

It was in this climate of heightened public awareness of safety concerns and general uncertainty about the future of tall buildings in New York City that the owner of the property at the southwest corner of Broadway Warren Street set out to redevelop the site. Eugene A. Hoffman, a prominent and wealthy clergyman associated with the General Theological Society, appropriately chose as architects John B. Snook & Sons, the firm of the man Hoffman’s father had commissioned to design the first major commercial building for the site. The Snook & Sons office was located across Warren Street from the site, at 261 Broadway. The new building at 258 Broadway was to be a retail and office building occupied by commercial and professional tenants. Rogers, Peet & Company would occupy the basement and first two floors, with the store at street-level and show rooms above. Plans submitted to the Buildings Department early in 1899 called for an eight-story, steel-skeleton framed structure with a concrete-and-steel grillage foundation, riveted steel I-beams and girders supporting brick curtain walls, floors constructed of hollow, terra cotta-tile flat arches filled with concrete, and a flat asphalt roof. The building’s interior was designed to be open in plan on the ground floor, with an elevator bank and stairs along the south wall towards the front of the building, as well as an interior light court on the south wall above the fourth story to provide light to the interior offices. The upper stories were partitioned into offices accessed through a double-loaded central corridor running east-west. The main building entrance and a storefront entrance were located on Broadway, and the second-story was devoted to cast-iron show windows.

 

Constructed in just under a year and completed in April of 1900, the eight-story, steel-framed Rogers, Peet & Co. building embodied the latest technologies in skyscraper construction. Snook & Sons’ completed design for the Rogers, Peet & Co. building was notable principally for a strong expression of the structural steel frame on the building’s exterior, the defining characteristic of the Chicago school and comparatively rare in early New York skyscrapers. The structural grid of the Rogers, Peet & Co. Building is articulated by thin projecting masonry piers rising from the second story to the cornice, and wide window bays framed by spandrels, pilasters and thin mullions; the high ratio of window to wall area was made possible by the non-load bearing walls.

 

In addition to its spare appearance, the building is visually distinct from its skyscraping neighbors of the 1890s because it does not conform to the established base-shaft-capital composition. The steel columns supporting the building at the ground story were originally recessed behind the storefront (with the exception of a corner pier), giving the upper stories a floating appearance ; moreover, limestone rustication at the second and third stories gave the appearance of a proper base, but the “shaft” of the fourth through eighth stories, clad in buff brick, is bisected by a substantial entablature at the sixth story. Thus, a horizontal division of one-two-three-two stories is created. A similar effect is seen on the facade of 890 Broadway, completed by Snook & Sons a year earlier than 258 Broadway, in 1899. Architecture critic Montgomery Schuyler apparently called this facade treatment “wild work,” because of how it appeared to flout the popular base-shaft-capital scheme. At 258 Broadway, plain brick piers divide the building’s Broadway facade into two wide window bays. On the second and third stories, show windows are framed by cast-iron pilasters and divided by a deep cast-iron spandrel featuring a Greek key; the cast iron shows an unusual level of detail, giving the material a sumptuous quality. Above the third story, brick spandrels are decorated with terra-cotta plaques featuring stylized anthemia, foliate ornament, and escutcheons. The spandrels at each story accentuate the building’s horizontal framing members. Ornament is confined to the classical motifs decorating the spandrels, pilasters, mullions, and sixth-story entablature, but the main building entrance on Broadway is framed by a grand Italian Renaissance-inspired surround. Another prominent feature of the Chicago skyscraper was the flat roof, which is emphasized at 258 Broadway by a boldly projecting molded-copper cornice. A photo from c. 1938 shows a free-standing sign reading “Rogers Peet Company” on the roof of the building.

 

The Warren Street facade continues the rational scheme of the Broadway facade, with a slight variation in the wider window bays divided by brick piers and cast-iron mullions. The proportions of the original Snook & Sons building were altered when it was extended by three bays in 1909. Architects Townsend, Steinle & Haskell were retained to expand the existing building to occupy the three adjacent lots to the west, nos. 7, 9, and 11 Warren Street, which Rogers, Peet & Co. had leased for this purpose. A secondary entrance in the seventh bay of the Warren Street facade was part of the new design, and the architects gave this entrance a door surround that was almost identical to the Broadway entrance, but a shade less grand.

 

It remains unclear what role the elder Snook played in the Rogers, Peet & Co. building project, however it is likely that his participation was very minimal given his age at the time. Snook & Sons’ design for the new Rogers Peet building was primarily functional, defined by the parameters of the corner site, the newest construction methods then available (the steel skeleton-frame), and current standards in retail and office facilities. When compared with the original John B. Snook-designed commercial structure that stood on the site, the Rogers, Peet & Company building reflects the evolution of commercial architecture in New York, beginning with the grand “palazzi” of the mid-19th century and culminating in the modern skyscraper.

 

Later History

 

The Rogers, Peet & Company Warren Street store stayed in business from its re-opening in 1900 until the late 1970s. Rogers, Peet & Co. remained an independent retail house until 1962, when it was acquired by Cluett, Peabody & Co., Inc., manufacturers of the Arrow label in men’s clothing. The Rogers, Peet & Co. brand remained strong until the 1970s, when the urban retail landscape began to change as a result of widespread retail consolidation, suburban growth and the increasing popularity of malls, and competition from emerging national chains. Other challenges to an old-fashioned retail house such as Rogers Peet were changing tastes in men’s fashion and the increasing acceptability of casual clothing for the workplace. The Rogers, Peet & Co. Warren Street store closed its doors c. 1976, and by 1978 no Rogers Peet stores remained in New York. By 1981 the upper floors of the Rogers, Peet & Company building had been converted into apartments, with six or seven units per floor, and during the 1980s the ground-level storefront was occupied by Strawberry, a New York-based regional chain of popularly priced women’s clothing. A bank currently occupies the ground floor, which has been altered with a contemporary storefront of polished-granite veneer and plate glass.

 

Description

Broadway (east) Facade: two bays; facade clad in buff brick and stone with cast-iron and terra cotta trim; facade divided vertically by three piers rising from the second story to the cornice; piers are rusticated limestone at second and third stories, brick above; facade divided horizontally by stone entablatures at the first, third and sixth stories; main entrance with stone door surround resting on a granite plinth in first bay of the ground story, and a non-historic storefront in the second and third bays; main entrance door framed by double-surround; inner surround composed of molded returns and rosette-decorated paneling, and an entablature supported on scroll-brackets with volutes and central acroterion; decorative metal grille framed by bead-and-reel molding and eared anthemia above entablature; outer surround composed of paneled pilasters resting on plinths; pilasters have egg-and-dart molding at bases, bead-and-reel molding and stylized anthemia on shafts, and molded capitals decorated with more stylized anthemia, egg-and-dart molding and a water-leaf motif; pilasters support a molded entablature with decorative bands of raised circles with a water-leaf motif, dentils, and egg-and-dart molding; large window opening in each bay of second through eighth stories; window openings contain three windows separated by cast-iron pilasters or mullions (c. 1938 photographs shows double-hung windows); window openings have spandrels of cast-iron (at third story) and brick with terra-cotta plaques decorated with stylized classical motifs (at fifth, sixth, and eighth stories); deeply projecting pressed-metal cornice with egg-and-dart molding and dentils; possibly historic wooden water tank visible on roof from City Hall Park.

 

Alterations: original decorative bronze gate and grille at Broadway entrance removed; non-historic bronze double-door with five-light operable transom at Broadway entrance; plastic plaque and metal clete affixed to Broadway door surround; contemporary storefront infill, including boxing-out of the ground-story structural piers (1990s); replacement window sash; non-historic metal door and metal paneling at Warren Street entrance; roof-top addition/bulkhead visible on roof from City Hall Park. Warren Street (north) Facade: seven bays; seventh bay, with Warren Street entrance, is slightly narrower; repeats design of Broadway facade, except for wider window bays; window openings contain two paired windows separated by brick pilasters, each pair of windows divided by a cast-iron mullion; metal grille in a scallop pattern in fifth bay of storefront, above transom bar; glass transom above Warren Street door, metal grille in a scallop pattern above entrance. Alterations: contemporary ground-story storefront continues from Broadway facade. West facade (partially visible): red-brick party wall with engaged piers; windows; chimney. Alterations: satellite dish, antenna, and two vent heads visible on roof towards rear of building.

 

- From the 2010 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

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A blind man relaxes in the foyer of Unión Nacional de Ciegos del Perú, a social club for the visually impaired in Lima, Peru. Unión Nacional de Ciegos del Perú, one of the first societies for disabled in Latin America, was established in 1931 to provide a daily service for blind and partially sighted people from the capital city. The range of activities includes reading books in a large Braille library, playing chess or using a computer adapted for visually impaired individuals. As the majority of the blind does not have a regular job, the UNCP club offers them an opportunity to learn and lately, to provide massages to the club visitors and thus generate some income. © Jan Sochor Photography

© Visually Inspiring Photography

www.visuallyinspiringphoto​graphy.com

I don't typically buy anything from the Revoltech series, mostly likely because the licenses that they play with aren't usually my thing. However, once in a while, an interesting figure pops up.

 

For the last little while, one of the more visually impressive sublines from the Revoltech is the Figure Complex: Amazing Yamaguchi line featuring various beloved X-Men characters sculpted by Yamaguchi Katsuhisa. I know a Wolverine and Magneto were released, and a Gambit will be released. I also believe the line has moved onto at least non-X characters with the recently solicited Iron Man.

 

Obviously, this figure is none of those - this is Psylocke.

 

For someone that likes figures and toys, it's surprising how few comics I've read. My introduction to the character was from the original Capcom Vs. Game, X-Men: Children of the Atom in all her uninhibited bouncy glory.

 

The character naturally has a long and storied past that I'd probably lose much sleep over if I actually tried to research. I believe that "too long, didn't read" version of it is that she is a mutant (duh) named Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, the sister of Captain Marvel. Through a series of events such as self sacrifice and transference of mental capacities, she ends up in a body of an Japanese woman who is the brain dead wife of the leader of the Hand, an assassin clan, and is brainwashed into become one of them. She develops Psionic powers (ability to form things out of mental energy, mostly for her being blades), and eventually breaks free of this brainwashing, and that, friends is the genesis of the X-Men character Psylocke.

 

None of that matters, of course. I bought the figure because the previews made her look really, really, good, and Psylocke herself being a very sharp character design with long flowing purple hair and her purple kind-of-there outfit. While it's been out for probably 6 months now, I only recently got mine because I insist that the guy who sold it to me bring it to me personally... even if I had to wait six months.

 

If you've never watched gameplay of Psylocke, just think slinky female ninja dressed in purple capable of making various energy things. And, as mentioned, the prototype pictures show cased that very well. So, how did it do?

 

Well, let's start from the top.

 

Psylocke comes with the figure, two face plates (one neutral, one smiling), a sheathed katana, an empty sheath, twin katanas, twin energy katanas, twin Psyblades, 4 sets of hands, a detachable sash, and a dynamic stand with both a peg connector, along with a clamp that I guess would give you a bit more height with your aerial stuff but I never actually used it. I personally would have like an additional angry/attacking face plate because as it is, she's a bit too serene looking.

 

Also kind of neat is that on the cardboard insert (and side flaps of the box) are full colour prints of I guess what comic art inspired this particular design.

 

The Revoltech joint system is a bit different from the Figma and Figuart systems.. at least I guess they are, and at the very least this one is.

 

Articulation is very, very, very good. I cannot emphasize how much you can get this figure to do despite it's small size. The trade off is that some of the joints look really weird when not positioned properly, specifically the shoulders and knees, which are double or triple joints depending on which one we're talking about. Whomever designed the tray for holding Psylocke really didn't do the figure any favours to say the least. However, the amount of knee bend and chest press that this figure more than overshadows this first impression issue, and that range or movement is something you want for a figure like Psylocke.

 

In addition to the aforementioned, all your standard points of articulation are present. Bonus ones include a toe swivel, articulation for her sash, thigh swivel, independent neck and head articulation, and hair that can be lifted to all for greater neck movement, with the latter head/neck related items allowing for some great crouching poses.

 

Sadly, while her shoulders worked out just fine despite their wonky appearance, her ass suffers from the dreaded "thigh separation" scenario where the movement of the legs creates an unsightly gap where the thigh meets the back of the body, particularly notable given that she doesn't wear pants. But, again, at least the trade off is great articulation.

 

Psylocke I guess would technically be the action figure (or at least middle of the pack Japanese figure) equivalent of a Butterface release. To be fair, it is generally what was promised on the box, so I don't really have anyone to blame but myself for buying her if this was the key aspect that ruins the experience for me. Both the prototype and the final item feature the same round almost featureless face with the undersized nose.

 

No it's other things that serve not only as a topic of discussion, but also kind of give you a feeling as to why Figma and Figuarts are kind of priced the way they are.

 

Psylocke has an MSRP of about 6,000 Yen, which is about the price of your run of the mill Figuart, with Figma coming in closer to what.. 7,000 if not more these days? The releases are about the same size, but lets remember that Figuarts have no stand and very few accessories, and clearly Psylocke destroys any run of the mill Figuart figure in terms of value.

 

Part of the pricing on everything is of course the cut paid for the actual license, but it's not like a Marvel license is particularly cheap. So what else is there?

 

It pretty much comes down to paint.

 

If you look closely, you'll probably notice that Psylocke has no paint whatsoever on her fleshy bits. Not only does this look a bit meh, but it makes photographing her a major pain in the ass, especially if you're trying to bring out details.. like her nose and eye sockets. You'll notice that the paint masking on her leg bands isn't bad, but there are more weak spots than on its Figma and Figuarts competitors, especially if we're talking about figure with a relatively simple colour scheme. Some minor paint issues were also spotted on her neck piece, but those are primarily paint transfers. There were also some areas with paint overspray, but it wasn't anything bootleg bad, just something worth noting.

 

Her translucent purple hair is also a big seller for this figure. The overall final product is pretty good, but if you look closely (and in the instance of the back of her head, not even that close), you'll notice some very rough spots that I don't know were a QC issue or a design flaw. By comparison, nothing this was spotted on either KOS-MOS or T-ELOS, both of which are at least 7 years older than Psylocke.

 

For what it is worth, her effect parts are very well done, particularly her Psiblades with the gradient from cold to warm Purple. The quality of the stand itself is, from my analysis, more solid than a Figma stand, mostly due to a combination of better plastic, a thicker arm, and better designed joints. There were also no issues with regards to rough plastic finishes other than the aformentioned hair problems.

 

One other issue that I read about was the face plate itself. Some owners seem to be indicating that due to the way the face is mounted on the head (friction based, one slot, straight above the face) the figure arrived with the socket on the hair already worn out and wouldn't hold the face in place, or would be in danger of doing so in the future. I didn't have that issue on mine, but I do understand where they're coming from with these statements.

 

I should probably also mention the eyes. Those who are familiar with the Hot Toys world will know the term PERS, which is their fancy term for eyes that can be moved on the sculpts to facilitate an even greater amount of posing. Amazingly this figure also features eyeballs that can be moved, though it's not as complicated as the PERS system. This is actually pretty neat given the size of the eyeballs, though you might want to ditch the included white pick in favour of a tiny screw driver or something to move the eyes as I believe the 90 degree bend actually makes it harder to manipulate the eyes into the right direction.

 

In the end, a very good release, and probably the best Psylocke action figure I've ever seen.. of course, the only others I have seen are the Marvel Legends one which again, aren't bad given the price. Those looking for a more legit comic sculpt need not apply here, naturally.

 

But there is no doubt that this is a sharp looking figure, and for the price it comes with quite a few goodies. It just lacks that final bit of spit polish that would push it from being very good to being outstanding. Still, if you like your ninjas purple and slinky, you can't go wrong.