St Michael Queenhithe

St. Michael Queenhithe was a church in the City of London located in what is now Upper Thames Street. First recorded in the 12th century, the church was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666. Rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren, it was demolished in 1876.
History.
London had seven churches named after the Archangel Michael in the Middle Ages, of which five were rebuilt after the Great Fire. Queenhithe is still the name of the ward which the church was located in, and a dock on the Thames near to the church.
The earliest reference to the church is as "St Michael Aedredeshuda" in the 12th century (Aethelredhyth being an earlier name for Queenhithe). The church was also recorded as "St Michael upon Thames, St Michael in Huda, St Michael de Hutha Regina" and "St Michael super Ripam Regine".
John Stow described it as “A convenient church but al the monuments therein are defaced.”
During the Great Fire, Charles II and the future James II “came down from Whitehall by boat to Queenhithe and, from a high rooftop, saw dwellings, Company halls and churches blazing.” The flames soon engulfed St. Michael Queenhithe.
The church was rebuilt, incorporating some of the old walls, between 1676 and 1686 at a cost of £4375. The parish was combined with that of Holy Trinity the Less, also destroyed in the Fire, but not rebuilt.
Uniquely for a Wren church, a famous painter contributed to its decoration. According to Malcolm in London Redivivum, the church officers thanked Sir James Thornhill – father-in-law of Hogarth and painter of the grisailles on the ceiling of St Paul’s Cathedral for his “liberality in repairing and improving the painting which adorned the altar” in 1721. This was later destroyed.
In 1779 a new organ was provided by George England and Hugh Russell.
Due to the move of population from the City to the suburbs in the second half of the nineteenth century, the church became redundant and the last service held in December 1875. The church was demolished in 1876 under the Union of Benefices Act 1860. The parish was combined with that of St James Garlickhythe, which also received much of the church fittings. The proceeds of the sale of St. Michael Queenhithe were used to build St Michael's Church, Camden Town.
The site of St. Michael Queenhithe now partly lies under the northern carriageway of Upper Thames Street, where it is crossed by a footbridge, whilst the churchyard to its north now lies under the western part of Fur Trade House, completed in 1972. There is a plan to redevelop the area as a hotel.
Architecture.
St. Michael Queenhithe had its main front on the south and east facing the Queenhithe dock. It was five bays long from east to west and three bays long from north to south. The lower level of windows were round-headed and separated from the upper tier of circular windows by swags.
The entrance lobby and the vestry were built at a lower level than the body of the church.
The tower, on the northwest corner, was surmounted by a steeple reminiscent of a ziggurat, with five steps ascending on four sides to a pointed leaded spire rearing from the dais. At the top of the spire was a vane in the shape of a three-masted barque, of the type used to carry corn – a reference to the chief cargo unloaded at the nearby dock. Just underneath the ship was a brass sphere that could hold a bushel of grain.
After the church was demolished, the vane remained in situ perched on a miniature spire. It was moved to the top of the newly restored spire of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey in 1962, where it remains today.


La Samaritaine

La Samaritaine (French pronunciation: ]) is a large department store in Paris, France, located in the first arrondissement. The nearest métro station is Pont-Neuf, directly in front at the quai du Louvre and the rue de la Monnaie. The company was owned by Ernest Cognacq and Marie-Louise Jaÿ who hired architect Frantz Jourdain to expand their original store. It started as a small apparel shop and expanded to what became a series of department store buildings with a total of 90 different departments. It has been a member of the International Association of Department Stores from 1985 to 1992.
It is currently owned by LVMH, a luxury-goods maker. The store, which had been operating at a loss since the 1970s, was closed in 2005 purportedly because the building did not meet safety codes. Plans for redeveloping the building involved lengthy complications, as the representatives of the store's founders argued with new owners LVMH over the building's future as a department store or a mixed-use development. The revamped La Samaritaine is due to re-open its doors in February 2021 with retail offerings targeted at affluent consumers, restaurants, and a boutique hotel that includes a penthouse suite with its own private swimming pool. The building has been listed since 1990 as a "monument historique" by the French Ministry of Culture.
Construction history.
Architect Frantz Jourdain was originally hired to assist in the remodeling and expansion of the existing store building, known as Magasin 1. However, as the store's success continued to grow, Cognacq decided to expand into a building across the street, Magasin 2, which became the site for the Samaritaine as designed by Jourdain. The construction of the building was done in stages, partly because the store had to continue to remain open in order to bring in revenue. Much of the building was brought to the site prefabricated, allowing the construction to occur rapidly. The building was proposed in 1905 and after five years of construction, the building, filling the entire block from rues de la Monnaie, Arbre-Sec, des Petres, and Baillet, was complete in 1910. The original store, Magasin 1, was eventually updated with a steel and glass structure to match Magasin 2, which was located across the street.
By the time the department store was completed in 1910, new movements, such as Fauvism, Cubism, and Werkbund, had come about and devalued the style of the Samaritaine. In the 1920s, Cognacq requested for expansions of the department store. City officials allowed for the expansions with the stipulation that Cognacq follow their specifications which centered around the utilization of a more current architectural style. This was done with little opposition as both Cognacq and Jourdain were aware that the original style of the building was outdated. During this reconstruction and expansion phase, the glass domes and decorative ironwork were removed. The new addition was a collaboration between architects Jourdain and Henry Sauvage, completed between 1926 and 1928, which featured cream colored stone and was of the Art Deco style. Similar to the original building in that it made use of the exposed steel however, its focus was much more geometry-based. At the end of construction, the Samaritaine eventually consisted of four different Magasins of department stores reaching eleven stories in total.
La Samaritaine was bought in 2001 by LVMH, the luxury-goods company that had just previously purchased Le Bon Marché. On 15 June 2005, in order to update the 19th-century building to modern standards of security, or for purposes of restructuring, as the labor unions believe, the department store was closed. LVMH selected the Japanese architectural firm SANAA to renovate the building. Implementation of the new design has been blocked a number a times by local authorities for failure to adhere to planning requirements and for lack of visual compatibility with the surrounding buildings. In June 2015, one of the Rivoli building permit is finalized and in September of the same year construction began. This modern construction of the Samaritaine is designed to feature a hotel, restaurant, a brewery, cafes, offices, and housing and is projected to be complete in 2019.
Design.
Jourdain's membership in multiple societies heavily influenced his personal architectural theory and design choices for the Samaritaine. Jourdain was the president of the Societe du Nouveau during the height of the Art Nouveau movement. The building's original design heavily embodies the ideals of this artistic style. While the skeletal structure of the department store is constructed of steel and glass, the building contains many applied adornments which lessen the harshness of its rigid structure. The building's exterior has two domes made of glass brick that light up in the nighttime. The extended verticals of the domes, sectioned into eight sides, accentuate the height of the building and draw the viewer's eye to the top of the store. The facade of the building consists of ceramic panels in brightly colored hues of yellow, white, green, and gold. The word "Samaritaine", as well as some of the available merchandise and ware, are displayed around the facade of the building in colorful enamel using an elaborate lettering. Dispersed around these signs are colorful naturalistic flower motifs, which continue to the interior design of the building as well. The interior features decorative iron staircases, glass tile floors, and frescoes using the repeated floral motif. These elements encompass both ornament and functionality which are core principles of the Art Nouveau movement. The foundational ideas of Art Nouveau, and the Samaritaine, led the way to the modern movements of the 1920s.
The Department Store as a Type and Consumerism.
The main fundamental difference that distinguishes the department store from other stores is its offering of low-priced, mass-produced goods of a wide variety. Prices were able to be placed just slightly above wholesale as the volume of sales was able to compensate for the small margin. Typically, department stores are located centrally within a city and are in close proximity to transportation. Different department stores targeted people of different class distinctions. However, their main audience is the middle-class city dwellers who were highly conscious of their status. The Samaritaine, in particular, targeted the working class who constantly traveled through the first arrondissement for work. The goal of the department store is to move the consumer through the building and to its upper floors in order to maximize the number of counters an individual has to pass. This posed as a bit of a challenge as their target audience was so used to shopping along the street level at various small boutiques. Architects had to entice these shoppers by utilizing grand and decorative elements to allure consumers to explore the building.
Features.
The department store is constantly changing to keep up with the architectural trends, yet remains somewhat constant in its appearance as a building type. The design and decor of the building played a major role in enticing the human desire for the consumption of material goods. The common use of iron allowed for minimal skeletal structure and therefore maximized the amount of light that could flow through the interior and allowed more room for the circulation of customers. Many of the structural elements utilized reference to the international exhibition halls built a few years before the original department stores. Another common feature is the monumental stair design, a design element of the first department store, Bon Marche. It was later installed in the Samaritaine as well as other department stores constructed at the turn of the century. The Samaritaine also had the common department store design feature: the light court. The skeletal steel structure allowed for a maximum square footage of glass windows which was intentionally located at the center of the building to bring in ample natural light. The glazed corner rotunda became another crucial element of Parisian department store architecture. It served as a large space for display cases that could be seen by many pedestrians waiting on the street corner. The corner rotunda was also utilized as the entrance of the building, leaving the consumer with two options of vastly-stretching display windows upon entering the building. Finally, the use of a dome structure, and their strategic placement, was useful in identifying the department store as a type. The two domes of the Samaritaine create a sight line between the Seine and the left bank.
Consumerism.
The organization of each individual department within the stores is based on consumption patterns. For example, impulse items, such as jewelry and cosmetics, were placed on the street floor. This would encourage consumers to make quick impulse buys upon entering or right before leaving the store. Also, demand items, such as children's clothing or household goods, were located on the upper levels. This would force consumers to move past all of the lower level departments before they reached their desired location, maximizing the opportunity for the individual to make an unplanned purchase. Once the Samaritaine consisted of four Magasins, the first was dedicated as a department store solely for women's clothing while the other three were for items such as supplies and tools.


St Mary le Strand

St Mary le Strand is a Church of England church at the eastern end of the Strand in the City of Westminster, London. It lies within the Deanery of Westminster (St Margaret) within the Diocese of London. The church stands on what is now a traffic island to the north of Somerset House, King's College London's Strand campus, and south of Bush House (now also part of King's College London). It is the official church of the Women's Royal Naval Service, and has a book of remembrance for members who have died in service. The nearest tube station is Temple, with the now-closed Aldwych station nearly opposite the church. It is known as one of the two 'Island Churches', the other being St Clement Danes.
History.
The church is the second to have been called St Mary le Strand, the first having been situated a short distance to the south. The date of its foundation is unclear but it was mentioned in a judgment of 1222, when it was called the Church of the Innocents, or St Mary and the Innocents. It was pulled down in 1549 by Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, to make way for Somerset House. The parishioners were promised a new church, which was never built, forcing them to move to the nearby church of St Clement Danes and afterwards to the Savoy Chapel. The site now occupied by the modern church was formerly occupied by a great maypole which had been the scene of May Day festivities in the 16th and 17th century but was severely decayed by the early 18th century.
The new St Mary le Strand was the first of the twelve new churches built in London under the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, at a cost of some £16,000. Construction began in February 1714 under the architect James Gibbs, being his first major project following his return from Italy. The steeple was completed in September 1717, but the church was not consecrated for use until 1 January 1724, by Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London, when the Rev. John Heylyn became first rector of the rebuilt church. Bonnie Prince Charlie is alleged to have renounced his Roman Catholic faith in the church to become an Anglican during a secret visit to London in 1750. John Dickens and Elizabeth Barrow, the parents of Charles Dickens, were married here in 1809.
The church narrowly escaped destruction twice during the 20th century. At the start of the 20th century the London County Council proposed to demolish the church to widen the Strand; a campaign involving the artist Walter Crane succeeded in averting this, although the graveyard was obliterated and the graves moved to Brookwood Cemetery. The London Blitz of the Second World War caused much damage to the surrounding area but again the church avoided destruction, though it did suffer damage from a nearby bomb explosion.
Architecture.
The architecture of St. Mary le Strand proved controversial from the outset and the architect later expressed unhappiness at the way that his plans had been altered by the Commissioners. According to Gibbs, the church was originally intended to be an Italianate structure with a small campanile over the west end and no steeple. Instead of the latter, a column 250 feet (76 m) high surmounted with a statue of Queen Anne was to have been erected a short distance to the west of the church. A great quantity of stone was purchased and brought to the spot, but the plan was abandoned on the death of the queen in 1714. Instead, the architect was ordered to reuse the stone to build a steeple, which fundamentally altered the plan of the church. Gibbs explained:
The extravagant Baroque ornamentation of the exterior was criticised at the time, and matters were not helped when one of the decorative urns surmounting the exterior of the church fell off and killed a passer-by during a procession in 1802. The prominent situation of the church has also been problematic; even in the 18th century, parishioners complained of the traffic noise.
Even so, the church — Gibbs' first public building — won him considerable fame. The interior of the structure is richly decorated with a plastered ceiling in white and gold, with a ceiling inspired by Luigi Fontana's work in the church of Santi Apostoli and Pietro da Cortona's Santi Luca e Martina, both in Rome. The porch was inspired by Cortona's Santa Maria della Pace. The walls were influenced by Michelangelo and the steeple shows the influence of Sir Christopher Wren.


Church of St Nicholas, Hinxworth

The Church of St Nicholas is a Church of England parish church in the village of Hinxworth in Hertfordshire and is a Grade II* listed building dating mostly to the 14th century. The church comes under the Diocese of St Albans.
The church is dedicated to St Nicholas and almost certainly stands on the site of an earlier church; however, there is no mention of a priest at Hinxworth in the Domesday Book. The West tower and battlemented nave are 14th century with 15th century alterations and are built of flint rubble with clunch dressings. The chancel, which was rebuilt in about 1830, is of early 19th-century red brick chequered with stone dressings. The tower is in two stages with angle buttresses and battlements. The gabled South porch dates to the 15th century. The chancel measures 20 ft. by 16 ft., the nave 42 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft., the west tower 10 ft. 6 in. square, and the south porch 12 ft. by 10 ft.
St Nicholas' has an aisleless nave with a late 19th-century panelled roof supported on four 15th-century carved wooden corbels. In the splay of the North nave window and in the south-east corner of the nave are two unusual canopied niches. Beside the north window is a 14th-century spiral staircase, now blocked at the top, which originally led up to the now lost rood screen. The west arch is of about 1350 and has semi-octagonal shafts. The original chancel arch was demolished in about 1440 and a mis-shaped replacement was built about 2 ft further east. The clerestory was raised at the end of the 15th century, and a new low-pitched roof was installed above it. The chancel has a panelled ceiling with simple bosses, while the stained-glass windows are mid-19th century.
Two monumental brasses can be found in the chancel, with that high on the north wall being mid-15th century and believed to be the figures of Simon Ward, 1453, and his wife, 1481; that on the floor of a man, woman and six children is said to be of John Lambard, Alderman of London (died 1487), the eldest daughter was supposedly Elizabeth (better known as Jane Shore, mistress of Edward IV of England). The pulpit is mid-18th century with fielded panels, near which is a 16th- or early 17th-century Rector's chair. The small octagonal baptismal font in the west is mid-19th century. There are six bells with the treble by Mears & Stainbank (1908); the second by John Briant of Hertford (1820); the third and fourth by Miles Graye (1651); and the fifth and tenor by John Briant (1825 and 1820). These bells and the tower were restored between 1981 and 1986 with money given in response to a BBC Radio Appeal by author Monica Dickens, who had lived in the village before her marriage, and with funds raised by the Friends of the Church. The church has been Grade II* listed since May 1968.


Old England (department store)

 The Old England department store was a large retailer in downtown Brussels, Belgium, partially housed in a famous, important Art Nouveau building constructed by the Belgian architect Paul Saintenoy in 1898–99. Today its former buildings house the Musical Instruments Museum (MIM), founded in 1877, which forms part of the group of Royal Museums for Art and History (RMAH).
History.
From 1886 onwards, the company's primary location was actually in the main building of the former Hôtel de Spangen, a complex of residences built mostly by Corneille Juste Philibert Philippe, Count of Spangen, between 1775 and 1782 on the Place Royale/Koningsplein in central Brussels. The property was eventually sold and partitioned to several different enterprises, including a hotel, and eventually the Old England company, which successively acquired more of the complex in stages in 1905, 1909, and 1911. In 1913, Old England completed renovations that demolished the 18th-century interiors in order to better accommodate its retail functions.
Paul Saintenoy.
The building was designed by the architect Paul Saintenoy, was strongly influenced by the architecture of Victor Horta, Paul Hankar, and the rationalist architectural theories of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, also famous for his work restoring Gothic buildings. Horta and Hankar's buildings laid the groundwork for the widespread development of the style called Art Nouveau in Belgium and France. Horta's buildings in particular made free and conspicuous use of industrialised methods of construction, with steel frames and large-scale glass panels as infill, allowing for interiors to be bathed in light and in large measure dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior. This became a preferred technique for the construction of retail shop windows and department stores, to encourage the practice of window-shopping.
Though Saintenoy was not nearly as famous as Horta, Hankar, Henry van de Velde or Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, the four most noteworthy practitioners of Art Nouveau in and from Belgium, he was well known at the turn of the century for his numerous buildings that use the style, most notably several smaller townhouses around Brussels, most of which still survive today and form part of the city's important heritage centred around the style.
Art Nouveau Branch of Old England.
 The Old England department store opened a new branch location not far from its original building on the Place Royale in 1899, designed by Saintenoy in concert with the engineer E. Wyhovski. Using a steel superstructure, he negotiated the rather narrow lot that sloped significantly and curved along the line of the street, designing six-story building that used a main facade balanced around a projecting central oriel bay itself crowned by a high arched attic. The building's expansive curtain walls of glass over the entire facade maximise the influx of natural light, which is accented by the octagonal oriel tower at the northwest corner of the building that begins on the fourth floor and terminates in a lacy steel pergola that uses the structural frame of a cupola's spire. Its ornament, painted a dark green like the rest of the structure, curves around the frame to create supporting brackets that mimic the forms of vines and tendrils of plants, hallmarks of the "industrial" type of Art Nouveau design.
The structure thus constitutes an essay in the structural properties of iron and steel that maximises its utility as a department store. The vibrant green colour, accented by the yellow and orange enamelled signage proclaiming the store's name, set it off from the light masonry and stucco structures around it, functioning thus as a landmark in the streetscape. The large expanses of glass for the exterior envelope allowed potential customers to easily and casually peruse the items from the street, ultimately drawing them inside to shop more aggressively, and providing a modicum of transparency in the process of selling by declaring implicitly that the company had nothing to hide from consumers.
None of these architectural strategies were new for the department store or retail shop as a building type, but Saintenoy's Old England store is one of the earliest examples of the bare iron/steel-and-glass curtain-wall facade being employed on such a large scale (most earlier department stores had clad their metal frame in some kind of masonry, at least on the facade). Horta would employ the same strategy on his famous "À L'Innovation" store in Brussels, completed in 1901, as would Henry Gutton on his "Grand Bazar de la rue de Rennes" in Paris, a branch of the "Magasins Réunis" department store chain, finished in 1907.
Subsequent History and Transformation.
The building was bought by the Belgian government in 1978 after Old England moved out in 1972. It took over fifteen years to complete restoration and renovation work on the structure, which really began in 1989, and was in fairly bad shape. The same year, it was listed as a protected monument by the Monuments and Sites Directorate of the Brussels-Capital Region. The Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) moved into the structure between 1989 and 1994. Its exhibits include significant sections on Brussels' role in the history of manufacturing musical instruments, including the birthplace of the saxophone as the home of Adolphe Sax.


Villa Kokkonen

Villa Kokkonen is a residential building located in Järvenpää, Finland, notable for having been designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto for the composer Joonas Kokkonen.
Background.
Villa Kokkonen is one of only a few private residential buildings, and the only artist's home, designed by Aalto.
Despite being at the height of his professional reputation in the late 1960s, Aalto did not charge anything for his design. Kokkonen, in turn, dedicated his cello concerto, which he had composed in his newly-completed house, to Aalto, as a token of his gratitude. As a result of the project, and their contemporary memberships of the Academy of Finland, the two became firm friends.
Villa Kokkonen forms part of the wider artist community on the shores of Lake Tuusulanjärvi.
Kokkonen lived in the house until his death in 1996, after which the City of Järvenpää purchased it from his estate. It is now open to the public as a museum, for guided tours and as a concert and event venue.
Design.
The initial design was sketched on a white tablecloth of the restaurant where Aalto and Kokkonen were dining after visiting the site. The main design work was carried out in 1967-69.
The building is broadly fan-like in shape, and comprises three main sections: living and dining areas; study, centred around a grand piano; and private quarters including kitchen and bedrooms. There is also a small attached apartment for staff.
Separate buildings on the plot include a garage, sauna with adjacent guest accommodation, as well as a swimming pool.
The main building and sauna are constructed of logs, with exterior cladding of dark-stained wood boards.


Ivy Manor Inn

The Ivy Manor Inn is an inn in Bar Harbor, Maine. It was built as a home in 1936, for local physician Dr Weymouth, and has been an inn since 1997.
Built in the Tudor style, the inn has 18 rooms including six cottages. The inn also includes the William Tell Lounge, a whiskey, wine and beer bar open to the public.
Notable previous owners of the inn are Judi and Bob Stanley. They originally ran it for 16 years (from 1996 to 2012) before moving to Sarasota, Florida, for four years to be near their daughter, Michelle Ettinger, for whom the inn was once named, and her children. They took the inn's restaurant to a AAA Four Diamond rating. They returned in 2016, but the following year they received an offer for the inn, which they accepted. The Stanleys returned to Sarasota, where they opened Pascone's Ristorante in July 2018.
The inn was updated and the restaurant eliminated under the new ownership. In the spring of 2019, the new owners built six Tudor cabins on the property and converted the dining room to guest rooms.
The property is open seasonally from May to October.


First National Bank (Columbus, Georgia)

First National Bank, also known as Bank of Columbus, is a historic building in Columbus, Georgia. It is a cast iron office building built for the Bank of Columbus at cost of $50,000 and used by the bank during 1860–66. After the bank apparently went bankrupt, the building was bought at auction for $28,000 by the Georgia Home Insurance Company. It was used by various banks since, including by First National Bank of Columbus in 1974. It was known to locals as the Iron Bank. It is located at 1048 Broadway.
The building was featured on a 50 cent paper note issued by the Bank of Columbus. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The building's cast iron front and cast iron cage were shipped from New York and Pittsburgh.


Horse Barn (Bryce Canyon, Utah)

The Horse Barn at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, is a rustic structure built in 1929, shortly after the National Park Service assumed control of the new park lands from the U.S. Forest Service. The Park Service set about improving facilities in the park, using a design by the Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an example of NPS design work of the late 1920s.
The barn measures about . The wood frame building is covered in weatherboards and rests on a concrete slab. The west side features a board-and-batten entry door with a small vision light. with a four-by-four light sliding window on the main level and a four-light hopper window in the gable. The east side includes a four-by-four light sliding window on the main level and a board-and-batten door for hay in the gable. The south side includes board doors flanked by four-by-four sliding windows and a paneled entry door at the south end. The interior of the barn has been converted to a mechanic's shop. It consists of two small rooms and one large room, with board wall finishes in the small rooms and gypsum wallboard finish in the larger room. The barn has been moved from its original location to a small collection of NPS and Utah Parks Company structures that were moved to the site from the 1950s. The original site was close to the present Old National Park Service Housing Historic District.
The barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 25, 1995.


Wythenshawe Hall

Wythenshawe Hall is a 16th-century medieval timber-framed historic house and former manor house in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England, five miles (8 km) south of Manchester city centre in Wythenshawe Park. Built for Robert Tatton, it was home to the Tatton family for almost 400 years. Its basic plan is a central hall with two projecting wings.
In the winter of 1643–44 the house was besieged by Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War. Despite the stout defence put up by Robert Tatton and his fellow Royalists, the defenders were overwhelmed by the Roundheads' superior weaponry.
Rebuilding work was carried out at the end of the 18th century, and various additions made in the 19th century, including a walled garden, an ice house, glass houses and a tenant's hall. Wythenshawe Hall and its surrounding parkland were donated to Manchester Corporation in 1926, and in 1930 it was opened to the public as a museum.
The building was badly damaged in an arson attack in March 2016; repairs were expected to be completed by late 2019.
History.
A pre-1300 charter mentions an enclosed deer park in Wythenshawe where the Tatton family owned land in 1297. Around 1540, Robert Tatton of Chester built Wythenshawe Hall as the Tatton family residence. The timber-framed Tudor house was the home of the family for almost 400 years. and may originally have had a moat.
The hall was besieged during the English Civil War over the winter of 1643–44 by Robert Duckenfield's Parliamentarian forces. It was defended by Royalists led by Robert Tatton until the Roundheads brought two cannons to the hall from Manchester, leading to the Royalist surrender on 27 February 1644. The Parliamentarian's subsequently confiscated Wythenshawe Hall, but it was returned to the Tatton family on payment of a fine of just over £700. After recovering the estate, the family expanded it to about .
In 1924 Robert Henry Grenville Tatton inherited the Wythenshawe estate. There was interest from Manchester Corporation, who wanted land to build a garden suburb, ostensibly to rehouse tenants from slum clearance. By April 1926 Wythenshawe Hall and of its surrounding estate had been sold to Ernest and Shena Simon, who donated them to Manchester Corporation "to be used solely for the public good". Later that year the corporation purchased the rest of the estate, and went on to build one of the largest housing estates in Europe on the land.
Repairs were made to the hall in the 1950s, and it was listed as a Grade II* structure on 25 February 1952. Its former stable block, to the west of the hall, was Grade II listed in 1974.
The roof of the hall and an upper floor were severely damaged by a fire that started at around 3:30 am on 15 March 2016; the clock tower was also damaged. On 23 March, Jeremy Taylor of Wythenshawe was charged with arson in connection with the fire. In July 2017, after changing his plea and admitting guilt, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The hall was added to the Heritage at Risk Register in October 2016. A planning application to restore the building was submitted in November 2016, with the intention of keeping as much of the original material as possible; , the building was scaffolded and undergoing repairs under a protective roof.
Architecture.
The hall was partially rebuilt between 1795 and 1800 by Lewis Wyatt. It was altered around 1840 possibly by Edward Blore. Additions included a walled garden, an ice house, and glass houses. In the Victorian era the dining room was refurbished and a tenant's hall was added.
The timber-framed manor house has a hall with two projecting wings, and a porch and dais bays. The entrance hall (also known as the ante-room) is thought to have previously been a chapel, which was subsequently turned into a billiards room, before becoming an entrance hall in the 1870s.
Museum.
In 1930, the hall was turned into a museum and art gallery. Most of the hall's original furniture was removed by the Tatton family in 1926 when they moved out, and most of the furniture and paintings displayed in the hall during its time as a museum were from the Manchester City Galleries collection.
Until 2007 a re-enactment of the 1643 siege of Wythenshawe Hall by Cromwell's troops was staged every July.
By 2004 the hall was only open once a week for four months in the year and in 2010 closed completely as a result of council spending cuts. One proposition was that Manchester City Council could sell the building to the National Trust. In summer 2012 the hall re-opened for 10 days for the Wythenshawe Games. A friends group was established in September 2012 to hold monthly open days and regular events at the hall. Furniture installed by the friends group (including a four-poster bed engraved with the Tatton family crest) was not damaged by the fire.
Park.
Wythenshawe Park occupies of land surrounding the hall in Northern Moor. The park contains a mix of woodland, bedding, borders, grassland and meadows, sports and games facilities, and Wythenshawe community farm and a horticulture centre North Lodge, the Grade II listed gate lodge on the park's northern boundary was built in the Tudor style in the mid to late 19th century. A Grade II listed bronze statue of Oliver Cromwell on a granite plinth and pedestal in the park is dated 1875, and was originally located at Deansgate.
References.
Notes
Citations


Bielefeld Opera

The Bielefeld Opera is the venue of "Städtische Bühnen Bielefeld" (Municipal Theatre Bielefeld) in Bielefeld, Germany. It is a "Dreisparten Haus" (three-department house), offering plays, music (opera, musical theatre), and ballet. The main performance venue is the "Stadttheater am Niederwall" (Municipal Theatre at the Lower Wall), built in 1904 and extensively renovated from 2004 to 2006. It is the largest theater in East Westphalia, offering 500 performances annually. It is under the direction of Michael Heicks; its resident orchestra is the 72-member Bielefeld Philharmonic Orchestra that also performs symphonic concerts at the .
History.
Plans to build an opera house in Bielefeld were laid in 1885 by a foundation set up the widow of the founder of the Crüwell Tobacco Company. Bernhard Sehring was chosen as architect and construction was started in 1901 on the Niederwall. The Art Nouveau building was inaugurated with a performance of Carl Maria von Weber's "Der Freischütz" on 3 April 1904.
The financial crisis in the 1920s led to discussions about reducing the number of employees or amalgamating with neighboring theaters in Münster and Osnabrück. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Director Max Cahnbley was fired and replaced by Leon Geer. The building was rebuilt in 1937 but badly damaged during the bombing of Bielefeld on the night of 26 October 1944.
It proved difficult to restart normal theater life immediately after the war as the British administration forbade drama performances. Nevertheless, the opera house reopened on 1 December 1945 with a performance of Mozart's "The Magic Flute". During the renovation of the building in 1960, it was decided not to renew the Art Nouveau façade; it was reconstructed for the 75th jubilee in 1979.
The Theater Foundation Bielefeld was founded in 2001 with the purpose of renovating the building again at a cost of €23 million. It was closed in 2004 for two years, but the opera ensemble continued to perform in the Rudolf-Oetker-Halle. The opera house reopened on 19 September 2006, with a performance of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro".
"Opernwunder".
Between 1975 and 1998, under Director Heiner Bruns and dramaturge Alexander Gruber, the Bielefeld Opera became internationally renowned as the "Bielefelder Opernwunder" ("Bielefeld Opera miracle"), producing a series of successful rediscoveries and premiere performances. The team, which included John Dew as stage director, Gottfried Pilz as stage designer; Rainer Koch, David de Villiers, and Geoffrey Moull as conductors, helped Bielefeld Opera attract attention of the national German and British press; critics from "Gramophone", the "Financial Times", and New York ("Opera News") became regular visitors.
Programming philosophy.
In addition to operas like "Lohengrin", "Così fan tutte", "Der Rosenkavalier" and "Aida", several dramaturgical "leitmotifs" were to be found in the programming of the "Opernwunder" years of the Bruns era. A number of operas from the "Entartete Kunst" (Degenerate art) period were performed for the first time since being banned by the Nazis in the 1930s. Publishers and opera house staff recreated lost orchestral materials for productions of Bohuslav Martinů's "Julietta", Karoly Rathaus' "Fremde Erde", and Ernst Toch's "Der Fächer". German romantic operas that had been lost since the 19th century were given new life, thus the rediscovery of Robert Schumann's "Genoveva", Louis Spohr's "Faust" and Carl Maria von Weber's "Die drei Pintos" for the operatic stage. Some operas from abroad received their European premieres in Bielefeld, such as John Adams' "Nixon in China" and Shulamit Ran's "Der Dybbuk". The Bielefeld Opera also produced a number of world premieres, including Nikolai Karetnikov's "Till Eulenspiegel" and 's "Das stille Zimmer".
Operatic productions.
Nearly half of all new productions of the Bielefeld Opera between 1980 and 1998 were of innovative operas, including:
CD recordings.
The Bielefeld Opera has produced the following complete opera recordings:


Toledo railway station

The Toledo railway station is a railway station in Toledo, Spain, which was designed by architect Narciso Clavería y de Palacios in the Neo-Mudéjar style.
The railway reached Toledo in 1858. The original station was of functional design. The present station opened in 1919 or 1920. It was designed to echo the historic architecture of the city. The central section is flanked by two side naves, one of which is adjacent to the clock tower, which imitates the style of Toledo church towers.
The station has been declared a Property of Cultural Interest and classified as a monument.
It was restored in the twenty-first century in connection with the inauguration of the Madrid–Toledo high-speed rail line in 2005. The old line along the Tagus valley in the direction of Aranjuez has been dismantled, and Toledo no longer has a conventional line.
Gallery.
The railway company responsible for the construction of Toledo station, the "Compañía de los Ferrocarriles de Madrid a Zaragoza y Alicante", also built other stations in Neo-Mudejar style such as that of Aranjuez.


St Michael Paternoster Royal

St Michael Paternoster Royal is a church in the City of London. The original building, which was first recorded in the 13th century, was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The church was rebuilt under the aegis of Sir Christopher Wren. However St Michael’s was severely damaged during the London Blitz in the Second World War. It was restored between 1966 and 1968.
In 1423 Richard "Dick" Whittington, the fabled Lord Mayor of London, was buried within its precincts; although the tomb is now lost.
History.
Pre-Great Fire London had seven churches dedicated to the Archangel Michael, all but one (St Michael le Querne) of which were rebuilt after the Great Fire. The earliest record of St Michael’s is as "St Michael of Paternosterchierch" and is dated 1219. The suffix comes from its location on Paternoster Lane, (now College Hill), which, in turn was named after the sellers of paternosters – or rosaries – based there. The suffix "Royal" is first recorded in the next century and refers to another nearby street, now vanished, called "Le Ryole", which was a corruption of La Reole, a town in Bordeaux. This street was so named due to the presence of numerous wine merchants.
A local resident in the early 15th century was Richard Whittington, four times Lord Mayor of London. One of his earlier philanthropic acts, made in 1409, was to pay for the rebuilding and extension of St Michael Paternoster Royal after a vacant plot of land was acquired in Le Ryole. He later founded the College of St Spirit and St Mary within the church, so that St Michael's became a collegiate church, i.e. it was administered by a college of priests, in this case five, instead of a rector. It was commonly known as Whittington's College, or Whittington College. (The college was relocated from College Hill to Highgate Hill c. 1820s, and removed again in 1966 to Felbridge, West Sussex.)
Adjacent to the church, Whittington also founded an almshouse. The college was dissolved by Edward VI in 1548; but was re-established in a new entity a few years later under Queen Mary. The title seems in any case to have persisted for the church, giving the names of College Street, and College Hill. The almshouse moved to Highgate in 1808 and later to its present location in East Grinstead in 1966.
Sir Richard was buried in St Michael’s in 1423 on the south side of the altar near his wife, Alice. John Stow records that Whittington’s body was dug up by the then Rector Thomas Mountain, during the reign of Edward VI, in the belief that he had been buried with treasure. He was not, so Mountain took his leaden shroud. The grave was dug up again during the reign of Mary I and his body re-covered in lead. An attempt to find his grave in 1949 did uncover a mummified cat, but no Lord Mayor's body.
Other worthies buried in the pre-Fire church were William Oldhall (d. 1459) Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Mayors John Yonge (d. 1466) and William Bayley (d. 1524), Peter Blundell (d. 1601) founder of Blundell's School, (mentioned in Blackmore's novel "Lorna Doone") and the Cavalier poet John Cleveland (d. 1658).
After the church’s destruction in the Fire, the parish was united with that of St Martin Vintry, also destroyed but not rebuilt. Construction of a new church began in 1685 (one of the last of the 51 churches to be rebuilt) and stopped in 1688 owing to the financial uncertainty associated with the Glorious Revolution. Building began again the next year, supervised by Wren's master mason Strong: it was finished in 1694. Its steeple was built between 1713 and 1717. The cost of the rebuilding totalled £8,937.
A monument to another Lord Mayor, Sir Samuel Pennant, sculpted by Michael Rysbrack, survives from 1750. Pennant died from jail fever caught from prisoners in the court dock.
St Michael’s underwent a number of renovations in the 19th century, by James Elmes in 1820, William Butterfield in 1866 and Ewan Christian in 1894. Their work was lost on 23 July 1944 when the church was hit by a V1 flying bomb, leaving only its walls and tower.
Services continued in the remaining shell until 1955. A proposal by the diocese to demolish the walls and preserve the tower only was successfully opposed by the City of London Corporation, and the church restored by Elidir Davies between 1966 and 1968. It is the latest City church to be restored.
St Michael’s was reopened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 19 December 1968 as the Headquarters of the Mission to Seamen (now Mission to Seafarers), an Anglican organisation which supports chaplains in ports around the world. It is also supported by City Livery Companies.
St Michael Paternoster Royal is a chapel within the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London and since 2018 the office of the Bishop of London has been based there.
Architecture.
St Michael’s is rectangular in plan, with only the west front on College Hill being slightly out of true. Before the Second World War the south front was hemmed in by buildings. Following bomb damage, these buildings were cleared and Whittington Garden laid out on their site, so that St Michael’s main façade is now on the south, along Upper Thames Street. The south front is faced with Portland stone and has six round-headed windows with cherub keystones. The less prominent north and east fronts are of brick. The roof is balustraded.
The entrance is through the tower in the southwest corner. This has a round-headed window at the lowest level, then a circular window, then a square-headed belfry window. At the top is a pierced parapet with square urns on the corners. The stone spire was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and is similar to those of St Stephen Walbrook, St James Garlickhythe and, to a lesser extent, the west towers of St Paul’s Cathedral. It is an open octagon formed by eight Ionic columns, each with its own entablature and topped by an urn. Above this is another, smaller, octagon with another eight columns with urns. Above the second octagon is a tiny dome surmounted by a pennant vane. The height of the tower and steeple is 128 ft.
St Michael Paternoster Royal was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
Interior.
St Michael’s interior is partitioned, reflecting the church’s dual purpose. The west of the building, roughly corresponding with the plan to the original 13th-century church, accommodates a hall, vestibule and the offices of the Mission to Seafarers.
The chapel is housed in the larger, eastern, part of the church. The east wall includes three stained glass windows designed by John Hayward in 1968. The main window depicts St Michael trampling a red-winged Satan. The windows on either side show the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus and Adam and Eve with St Gabriel and the serpent. On the south wall, another stained glass window depicts Dick Whittington with his cat.
The reredos is original, with four Corinthian columns and two flaming urns. Before it are seventeenth-century Baroque statues of Moses and Aaron, moved here from All-Hallows-the-Great on that church’s demolition in 1894: the statues’ hands were blown off in the war and have been replaced; Moses previously held a pointer, indicating the Decalogue, while Aaron held a censer – he now raises his hands in a blessing.
Also from All-Hallows-the-Great is the elaborate chandelier, marked "Birmingham 1644". The organ case is a replica of the 1749 organ case taken from All-Hallows-the-Great but destroyed in the War. It houses a Noel Mander organ, as well as, in front of the organ gallery, a rare contemporary representation of King William III's arms.
The pulpit, communion rails and lectern date from the seventeenth century, but the rest of the woodwork was installed in the 1960s.


Moraine Park Museum and Amphitheater

The Moraine Park Museum and Amphitheater, also known as the Moraine Park Lodge and the Moraine Park Visitor Center, are located in Moraine Park, a glaciated meadow between two moraines in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The two structures were built to serve visitors to the park, and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum was built in 1923 by Imogene Green MacPherson as the center of her private tourist development, and was then known as the Moraine Park Lodge. The National Park Service purchased the property in 1931 and demolished the surrounding cabins in following years. The amphitheater was designed and built in 1935, with the design by the NPS Branch of Plans and Designs and the construction by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The lodge was reworked in 1934-35. Both structures adhere to the National Park Service Rustic design ethic of the time, with stone and log construction.
Imogene Green MacPherson first homesteaded the site in Moraine Park in 1903, naming the land "Hillcrest". In 1905, newly married, she expanded with a lodge, dining hall, stable and some cabins for guests. Paying guest began to arrive in 1910. Mrs. MacPherson continued to operate the resort after the death of her husband in 1919, and was involved in the campaign for the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park. After her death in 1928, her family continued to run the lodge until its purchase by the Park Service.
The amphitheater is built about one hundred feet from the lodge, with seating interspersed with trees. A projection booth and screen once existed, but were removed. An elaborate arrangement of stone gutters and culverts provides drainage.
The Moraine Park Lodge adjoins the William Allen White Cabins historic district.
The museum features interactive natural history exhibits, with themes including geologic processes, glaciation, weather and climate, ecosystems, and human impact. The park offers environmental education programs based on similar themes. The lodge building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 8, 1976. The listing was expanded to include the amphitheater on June 15, 2005.
Moraine Park meadows.
The valley of Moraine Park was formed when an ancient glacial lake silted up and drained, forming a flat meadow. The soil is too moist to support most trees but supports grasses, willows, and aspens. The Big Thompson River flows through this valley after coming down glacier-carved Forest Canyon. This habitat area is characterized by ponderosa pine, aspen, and douglas-fir forests, as well as a few large and small meadows. Moraine Park is also a popular place to watch elk, because many elk congregate here for the fall rut.
See also.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Larimer County, Colorado


List of colonial buildings in Bandung

Colonial buildings in Bandung include those that were constructed during the Dutch colonial period of Indonesia. The period started with the founding of Bandung in the beginning of the 20th century, which is relatively young compared to other Indonesian cities. The list is divided into the colonial architectural styles: Traditionalism (before 20th century), Dutch Rationalism (1900s-1920s), and Modernism (1920s-1930s).
Colonial architecture in Bandung is dominated with Modernist architecture, apparent in buildings such as civic buildings and offices. Bandung contains one of the largest remaining collections of Modernist building (Dutch "Nieuwe Bouwen") in the world. European city planning based on garden city concept were implemented in the north part of Bandung, which is still apparent today in the architecture of the residences and villas. Most buildings in Bandung are designed by architects who lived and worked in Bandung, many of them were educated in The Netherlands. Some of the architecture were influenced with Indonesian architecture, and also North-American and British-Indies influences in the Modern architecture of pre-independent Indonesia.
Below is a list of colonial buildings found in Bandung. The list is sorted alphabetically according to its official (often, local) name. The list can also be sorted to each category.
Buildings which undertook complete renovation which resulted in different form are listed separately to distinguish the different architectural form.
Traditionalism (before 20th century).
A small number of colonial buildings, mostly an original governmental function, were built in the 19th century in Neoclassical Indies Empire style (collectively known as Traditionalist movement) around the founding time of Bandung. Few early 19th-century buildings in the most developed tropical style of Indische stijl existed in Bandung, one of them is the residence of the assistant-residence, which was unfortunately demolished in 1926 for a new municipal office.
Indische Empire style continued to the early 20th century. Architect consultant 'Hulswit-Fermont, Batavia and Ed.Cuypers, Amsterdam' (Eduard Cuypers) introduced neoclassical language in the architecture of private banks. Characteristic for the architectural conception of this bank building is entrance portico with double columns crowned by composition capitals, a cornice and tympanum; the order of the facade-windows combined with columns and composition capitals.
Dutch Rationalism (1900s – 1920s).
The early 20th century was characterized by the introduction of new technological method of construction. The period saw the effect of a new beginning when the colony is exposed to private initiatives and enormous population growth. Many new private houses were built during this time all over Indonesia. The preferable architecture style were eclectic, sometimes Romantic, combination of Dutch and Javanese style.
A new style, known as Dutch Rationalism, flourished in the Netherlands as well as in the Indies; the subsequent style in the tropical climate of Indonesia is known as New Indies Style. It is largely introduced by Moojen from Batavia, who was largely influenced by the works of Berlage. The style is the result of the attempt to develop new solutions to integrate traditional precedents (classicism) with new technological possibilities. It can be described as a transitional style between Traditionalists and the Modernists.
Modernism (1920s-1930s).
The period saw the emergence of Modernism and its varieties, namely Art Deco, Nieuwe Bouwen, Amsterdam School and other variations. The same period, in 1929, Bandung approved the 'Framework plan' city planning, which covered an area of 12,758 ha, divided in plans for mainly the Northern- and partly the Southern areas of the town. This fosters the development of early 20th-century modern architecture in Bandung.
Art Deco evolved from earlier Dutch Rationalism. The form is symmetrical and exudes technological progress and glamour, with rich color and bold geometric shapes. In Bandung, Art Deco often manifested in the decorative element in the street facades, often hiding an ordinary building with a helm roof and covered with tiles; these architecture is mostly the product of rebuilding and upgrading of commercial buildings in the 1920s and 1930s.
In the following period between late 1930s and 1940s, Art Deco evolved into a new style known as Nieuwe Bouwen (Dutch term for Modernism) or Functionalism. Instead of creating decorative style on the facade, the architect creates style in the clear arrangement of space. The preference is to use universal form such as cylinder or curving horizontal lines. No Where else in Indonesia are the influences of the 'Modern movement' in architecture observable as in the City of Bandung. Albert Aalbers is the most representative expression of Nieuwe Bouwen in Indonesia, and many of his masterpieces - such as Savoy Homann Hotel (1939), Denis Bank (1936), and the "Driekleur" (1937) - were located in Bandung. The style is characterized by its openness, its sleek facade lines, and strong spatial effect on the exterior. Bandung contains one of the largest remaining collections of Art Deco-Nieuwe Bouwen buildings in the world.
Also included in this period are those architects who implemented the principles of native art of building in Indonesia, such as those designed by Henri Maclaine Pont.


Old New York Evening Post Building

The Old "New York Evening Post" Building is the former office and printing plant of the "New York Evening Post" newspaper located at 20 Vesey Street between Church Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1906-07 and was designed by architect Robert D. Kohn for Oswald Garrison Villard, who owned the Post at the time, and is considered to be "one of the few outstanding Art nouveau buildings" ever constructed in the United States.
The fourteen-story, stone-veneer building is "reminiscent of the buildings that line the boulevards of Paris", and was not copied from an existing building. It features three tall bays of cast-iron framed bow windows, separated by pale limestone piers. There is an elaborate copper-covered mansard roof, two stories high and four elaborate sculpted figures. The statues depict the "Four Periods of Publicity"; two are by Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore, and two by the architect's wife, Estelle Rumbold Kohn. The New York Evening Post occupied the building until moving to the New York Evening Post Building in 1926.
The building, which was later called the Garrison Building, was designated a New York City landmark in 1965, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission was headquartered in the building from 1980 to 1987.
References.
Notes


Sultanahmet Square


Purdue State Bank

The Purdue State Bank Building is a historic structure in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, designed by American architect and Frank Lloyd Wright's mentor Louis Sullivan. Completed in 1914, the bank is the smallest and least expensive of Sullivan's "Jewel Boxes," a series of Midwestern banks designed in the modern style at the end of his career. Built on a tiny, trapezoidal lot between two streets, the structure is less ornamental than most of the architect's other work, including only a few terra cotta panels. The building cost $14,600 to be constructed, of which only about 10% was paid to Sullivan, barely covering his expenses. A local paper at the time referred to Sullivan as "one of the most noted bank architects in the United States."
During the 1950s, a stone portion was added to the back of the building and the original doorway was converted into a window and then an ATM. The building is located one block away from Purdue University and currently houses a branch of Chase bank.


Strand Cinema

The Strand Arts Centre is an independent four-screen cinema in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is one of the two remaining independent cinemas in Belfast, alongside the Queen's Film Theatre. It is located on the Holywood Road. It has long been acclaimed for being one of the cheapest cinemas in Belfast.
Opened in 1935, the cinema's art-deco design was influenced by its proximity to the nearby shipyard of Harland & Wolff, featuring curved walls and portholed foyer. The cinema underwent various unsympathetic renovations throughout the 1960s and 1970s. From 1984 to 1987, The Strand was re-opened as a live concert venue by local businessman, Ronnie Rutherford. In 1999, the building was restored to its original Streamline Moderne style, and remains a landmark in east Belfast. Following its restoration, the Strand won a RIBA Architecture Award.
The Strand originally built for an English Unions Cinema chain, and consisted of a single screen. The first film to be shown in the theatre was Bright Eyes featuring Shirley Temple.
The Strand is one of the venues for the Belfast Film Festival, during which it screens classic films. During the 2005 festival the cinema celebrated its 70th birthday by screening "A Night to Remember", the 1958 film about the sinking of RMS "Titanic", built by Harland & Wolff.
In 2012, The Strand once again offered live theatre as it did in the past, beginning with The Strand Star search, a talent show to find new acts for its new variety nights.
References.
http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/features/film/ten-things-you-might-not-know-about-strand


Gershwin Theatre

The Gershwin Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan in the Paramount Plaza building. The theatre is named after brothers George Gershwin, a composer, and Ira Gershwin, a lyricist. It has the largest seating capacity of any Broadway theatre with 1,933 seats, host to large musical productions. The Gershwin has been home to the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical "Wicked" since October 30, 2003.
History and architecture.
Designed in an modernist Art Nouveau style by set designer Ralph Alswang, it is situated on the lower levels of a towering office complex built at an estimated cost of $12.5 million on the site of the historical Capitol Theatre. Escalators lead from the street level through-block passageway entrance to the expansive lobby, home to The American Theatre Hall of Fame. With a 65-foot wide adjustable proscenium arch and 80-foot wide stage, it is one of the largest Broadway stages, ideal for very large musical productions. A large orchestra with stadium seating, and mezzanine fill the expansive auditorium. It opened as the Uris Theatre on November 28, 1972 (named for the building developer Uris Buildings Corporation) with the musical "Via Galactica" starring Raul Julia. It proved to be an inauspicious start for the venue, with the first show to lose a million dollars closing after only seven performances. From 1974 to 1976 it served as a concert hall for limited engagements by a number of legendary pop music and jazz performers, before it began to host large musical productions with "Porgy and Bess" in 1976. The venue was host to the Tony Awards in 1983, 1984, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1999. During the 37th Tony Awards ceremony held June 5, 1983, the theatre was rechristened to honor the Gershwins. The Gershwin was heavily modified for the Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Starlight Express" in 1987, a massive production costing over $8 million. "Starlight" would go on to run nearly 800 performances at the Gershwin.
The theatre has been closed as of March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It does not plan on opening until January 3, 2021.
Box office record.
"Wicked" set a box office record for the Gershwin Theatre. The production grossed $3,411,819 over nine performances for the week ending December 30, 2018.


Church of San Vicente, Toledo

The Iglesia de San Vicente is a medieval church located in Toledo (Castile-La Mancha, Spain), it appears as a parish already in 1125, although, there is documentation that speaks of its being founded by Alfonso VI shortly after his conquest of the city in 1085.
The current building is the result of successive reconstructions, transformations and additions. The oldest element preserved is the mudejar apse. Judging by its structure, the apse does not appear to be earlier than the 13th century. It follows a type very similar to that of another church in Toledo, Cristo de la Vega, in which the exterior stands out, and the straight section, which precedes the apse proper. Another feature consistent with that date is the use of friezes in the corner, separating horizontally the bodies of arches, and the same typology of arches, which repeats the folded half-points and the horseshoe pointed, covered by lobed, appearing in the Cristo de la Vega.
The whole was disfigured by adding, on the axis, a large Baroque shield and opening two spans, for illumination of the main chapel and a crypt. In the interior it conserves the double archery that runs the perimeter of the apse, simple blind arches of horseshoe. To the right, taking advantage of the thickness of the wall, has incorporated a small Gothic chapel, with vault of crossery, of beginnings of the 14th century.
Once the parish was abolished in 1842, the building now houses the Circle, part of the Toledo Museum of Art.


Church of St Margaret of Antioch, Bygrave

The Church of St Margaret of Antioch is the Anglican parish church for the village of Bygrave in Hertfordshire. Dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, the church has been a Grade II* listed building since 1968 and comes under the Diocese of St Albans.
The site of the church dates from at least Saxon times with two phases of Saxon construction from the 8th to 10th centuries. Some Romano-British pottery, pre-dating the present church by several centuries, was found under the north nave wall during excavations in 1993 indicating a much earlier settlement on this site. Pevsner states that the bricks in the East angles of the nave are Roman. The walls are clunch with brick and flint rubble and are plastered. The chancel measures 25 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 6 in., the nave 31 ft. by 20 ft. 6 in., and the south porch 6 ft. by 5 ft., with all dimensions being measured internally. The nave is the earliest part of the church, and belongs to the 12th century, the chancel to the latter part of the 14th century, and the west turret to the 15th century, at which time windows were altered and the rood stair was built. On the south side of the chancel is a 14th-century moulded and arched piscina, and on the north side is an arched niche for a tomb.
The church has carvings of the ancient game of nine men's morris on the frames of the chancel windows. There are fragments of wall paintings on the West and North chancel walls that date from the 14th century. The nave has a window in each of its north, south and west walls consisting of two cinquefoiled lights under square heads. The glass is modern and includes a stained glass Millennium Window of 2001 by Michael Lassen. The north doorway has been blocked while the south doorway is of the 12th century, but has been considerably restored. The south porch dates to the 18th century. The small semioctagonal turret against the west wall on the south side of the west window gives access to the bell, which is dated 1718.
The octagonal baptismal font is 15th century and stands on a square base. The sides of the basin have rectangular sunk panels, carved with the instruments of the Passion of Christ while round the stem are displayed angels holding shields. The font's wooden cover is Gothic of about the 18th century. The rood screen dates to the 15th century and has a carving of the Royal Arms on the cornice dating to the end of the 17th century. The altar and communion rails also date to the 17th century. The church has some 15th-century bench ends with poppy heads together with some plain old seating. A few fragments of 15th-century glass have been set in the nave windows.
The pulpit is Victorian but incorporates panels dating to the 15th century, while fixed to it is a 17th-century wrought-iron hour-glass stand. By the west wall of the churchyard is an old stone coffin without a lid.
A notable rector here was George Coke who went on to be the Bishop of Hereford.
The Church is open at weekends only and the key is available from the churchwardens.


Union Temple of Brooklyn

The Union Temple of Brooklyn is a Reform synagogue located at 17 Eastern Parkway between Underhill Avenue and Plaza Street East in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, across the street from the Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It is the result of the merger of two nineteenth century congregations, K. K. Beth Elohim and Temple Israel. The synagogue is led by Rabbi Stephanie Kolin.
The building was designed by Arnold Brunner and completed in 1929 as the community house for a planned temple next door, which was never built because of the Great Depression; the 11-story building has been used for the congregation's worship since, except, in the past, on High Holy Days, when the Brooklyn Academy of Music was utilized. In 1942, a theatre in the building was remodeled to be a sanctuary.
In 2015 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
K. K. Beth Elohim.
Founded in 1848 by German and Alsatian Jewish immigrants living in the village of Williamsburgh, K.K. Beth Elohim was the first Jewish congregation established in Brooklyn and the first on Long Island. It is a member congregation of the Union of Reform Judaism.
The congregation first worshiped in a private home on Marcy Avenue. In 1860 a former church building on South First Street was purchased and remodeled for use as a synagogue, it was afterwards used as a school offered elementary education in English and German, in both secular and religious subjects. The school closed when public education began in Brooklyn.
A new synagogue was built on Keap Street south of Division Avenue in 1876. Known as the Keap Street Temple, for many years it was the largest synagogue in Brooklyn. It is among the oldest synagogue buildings still standing in the United States.
Temple Israel.
Temple Israel was founded in 1869. Until 1872 services were held in the Y.M.C.A. building on the corner of Fulton Street and Galatin Place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In that year the congregation purchased a former church building on Greene Avenue. Temple Israel dedicated a larger and more magnificent new building on the corner of Bedford and Lafayette Avenues in 1891.
Union Temple.
Temple Israel and K.K. Beth Elohim merged in 1921, deciding to erect a new temple in the newly fashionable location of 17 Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn). Plans were drawn up by Arnold Brunner for a Classical temple with an adjacent eleven-story community house. The community house was erected first, and dedicated in 1929. Because of the Great Depression, the planned Temple was never built. Instead, the congregation continued to worship in the Community House. During the High Holy Days the congregation worshiped at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 1942, the theater on the ground floor of the Community House was remodeled as a sanctuary, designed after the old synagogue in Essen, Germany burned by the Nazis.
Victim of anti-semitic hate speech.
On November 1, 2018, events at Union Temple were cancelled after "Kill All Jews" and graffiti was found inside. New York mayor Bill de Blasio said it was "the vilest kind of hate.". Police accused James Polite, a Brooklyn native.
Tenants.
The German School Brooklyn (GSB), a German government-recognized German international school, is on the facility's fifth floor. The school is not a part of the temple's congregation even though it shares a building. Grades K-3 are scheduled to remain at the temple while grades 4 and onwards are scheduled to move to a renovated property in Crown Heights.
References.
Notes


Brno main railway station

Brno main railway station (Cz: "Brno hlavní nádraží", abbreviated as "Brno hl. n.") is the principal railway station in Brno, the largest city in the Moravia and the second largest in the Czech Republic. The railway station is situated in the city centre on the former fortification wall circuit, within walking distance of the most important city buildings. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the Czech Republic, having been in operation since 1839.
History.
First railway station.
Brno main railway station was built in 1838, one of the first railway stations in the world. It was the terminus on the line from Vienna to Brno, one of the branches of Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway. On 16 November 1838 it was put into operation for trials and exhibitions, and on 7 July 1839 it became fully commercially operational. It was initially designed as a terminal station by Austrian architect Anton Jüngling.
Second railway station.
The railway station became a through station after construction of the rival Northern Railway (Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways) in 1849. As soon as the traffic at the railway station, which was occupied by two competing companies, started to grow, some space limitation caused by bevelled shape between two segments of a polygonal principle Brno Ringstrasse.
Third railway station.
At the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries the side wings of individual companies were connected with a single Concourse (entrance hall), which served to both of them. The author of this partially Art Nouveau building was architect Josef Oehm. The hall has an outline of 18x25 metres. The oldest transverse subway leads in its axis under the platform 4. The hall construction was finished in 1904. Railway station was partially and surfacing (visual only) modernized in 1947 by architect Bohuslav Fuchs, the last time in 1988.
Description of the railway station.
Brno railway station is combined. It has 4 through platforms with 6 lines and 2 terminal platforms. In total 6 platforms. Through platforms are 415 and 310 metres long and in ground plan are curved into the letter S. Terminal platforms are straight and 350 metres long. The width of platforms is 9 metres and more. Their covering is simple, historical.
Routes.
Brno main station is an important station on the pan-international corridor passing through the country (Děčín – Prague – Pardubice – Brno – Břeclav), with international trains serving the station to and from Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. It is also located on five other lines, three of which carry intercity trains:
Future plans.
Currently Brno station is approaching at full capacity and therefore in need of expansion, however its location on the edge of the historic center of the city prevents that. Capacity problems are just in one part of the railway station, on the southern station head (switch system), where is a regional transport. The question of how to cope with the substance of railway station has been being discussed for several decades. The idea of moving railway station to the new location, 550 metres southern, emerged already in the 1920s. It was after a sudden increase of transport capacity between 1923 and 1924 (26% more). Such an increase has never happened again. Experts who worked for Brno before World War II abandoned this idea. Later on this idea reappeared several times in the new contexts. In 1970 railway station was relieved from freight transport which was transferred to the modernized track on the South. Since then the railway station has been intended purely for passenger transportation.
The city council have made plans to build a new station in a remote location – 960 metres southeast from the city where personal and cargo transport would be reunited again. This possibility is confronted with a continuous opposition of experts and public. Already in 2004 this situation invoked a citizens-initiated referendum. However, this referendum did not become binding for city because of the insufficient turnout (25%). Legislation required 50% turnout at that time. The overwhelming majority of 85% of voters was for keeping railway station on the current place. Nowadays citizens have initiated a new referendum, which will be held simultaneously with regional and senate election on the 7 and 8 October 2016. According to the [[Czech law|current legislation]] only 35% turnout is sufficient for legally binding outcome of the referendum.
External links.
[[Category:Art Nouveau architecture in the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Art Nouveau railway stations]]
[[Category:Transport in Brno|Hlavní nádraží]]
[[Category:Railway stations in South Moravian Region]]
[[Category:Railway stations opened in 1839]]
[[Category:Anton Jüngling railway stations]]
[[Category:Transport infrastructure completed in 1904]]


Annette Strauss Square

Annette Strauss Square is an outdoor performance facility in the AT&T Performing Arts Center, located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). It is the city's premier outdoor performing arts venue and a defining feature of the Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park. Annette Strauss Square hosts a variety of outdoor events ranging from concerts to theatrical and dance performances to multi-day festivals, accommodating audiences of up to 5,000.
History.
Artist Square opened in 1989 as a lawn and performance pavilion constructed by the City of Dallas. The $1.8 million project, one of the early venues in the growing Arts District, was temporary in nature and built as a public forum for local visual and performing artists who couldn't afford more elaborate venues. It consisted of a main stage, sloping lawn and a smaller platform stage set in a grassy plaza. The original plan called for a black box theater and a small artists' compound containing galleries and studio space, but these were never completed. The site regularly drew 200,000 visitors each year to concerts, dance events and festivals.
In 1998 the facility was renamed "Annette Strauss Artist Square" for Annette Strauss, the late former Mayor of Dallas who was a passionate supporter of the arts and the Dallas Arts District.
As the AT&T Performing Arts Center took shape, a new permanent facility (designed by architectural firm Foster and Partners with Dallas based Good Fulton & Farrell serving as Architect of Record) was designed for the same general area. The original venue closed in 2005 and was rededicated "Annette Strauss Square" in the northwest corner of the new Center in September 2010.


Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire

Doddington Hall is, from the outside, an Elizabethan prodigy house or mansion complete with walled courtyards and a gabled gatehouse. Inside it was largely updated in the 1760s. It is located in the village of Doddington, to the west of the city of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England.
History.
Doddington Hall was built between 1593 and 1600 by Robert Smythson for Thomas Tailor, who was a lawyer, the Recorder to the Bishop of Lincoln. It is a grade I listed building. The facade is wide, but the house is only a single room deep at the centre. In the 12th century the manor of Doddington was owned by the Pigot family who sold it to Sir Thomas Burgh in 1450, and eventually to John Savile of Howley Hall in Leeds. In 1593, he sold the manor house to Thomas Tailor who commissioned the present house. It was inherited by his son, and then his granddaughter Elizabeth Anton who married Sir Edward Hussey of Honington in Lincolnshire. Their son Sir Thomas Hussey inherited in 1658. Sir Thomas's three daughters were his co-heiresses when he died in 1706. Mrs Sarah Apreece was the surviving heiress and on her death in 1749, her daughter Rhoda, wife of Captain Francis Blake Delaval (the elder) of Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland, inherited. It then passed to her second son, Sir John Hussey-Delaval, and he had improvements made to the Hall in 1761 by Thomas and William Lumby of Lincoln. John's younger brother Edward Delaval inherited in 1808, and his daughter, Mrs Sarah Gunman, who inherited on her father's death in 1814, left the Hall to Lieutenant Colonel George Jarvis in 1829. On his death it passed to his cousin the Rev Robert Eden Cole, and it remains in private ownership today. In the mid 20th century the Hall was restored by Laurence Bond and Francis Johnson.
The Hall's contents, including textiles, ceramics, porcelain, furniture and pictures, reflect 400 years of unbroken family occupation. It is surrounded by of walled and wild gardens with flowering from early spring until autumn.
The Hall and Gardens are open to the public, with facilities for private tours and school visits. A temple designed by Anthony Jarvis in 1973 stands in the gardens. Summer concerts and occasional exhibitions are held in the Long Gallery. Other businesses have been developed on the estate such as the sale of Christmas trees, weddings, a Cycle shop with cafe and a farm shop selling local produce.
The parkland and gardens of Doddington Hall are listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
The Doddington tapestries.
In 1762, Sir John Hussey Delaval covered every inch of the Holly Room – even the back of the doors – with tapestries showing country scenes. The tapestries were made in Flanders in the early 17th century.
Ghosts.
Daniel Codd in "Haunted Lincolnshire" claims that Doddington Hall is haunted by a girl who threw herself from the roof whilst being pursued by a lustful squire: each autumn her ghost screams in terror as it falls from the roof, a cry often heard as a hiss or high-pitched scream which can be heard to those in the adjacent gardens and graveyard. The surrounding lanes and villages are rumoured to be haunted by the squire and his horse-drawn carriage, searching for the girl but to no avail.
In popular culture.
The Hall was featured on an episode of "An American Aristocrat's Guide to Great Estates" on the Smithsonian Channel and Amazon Prime Video. It first aired in 2020.


Konzerthaus, Vienna

The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and innovative musical styles.
In 1890, the first ideas for a "Haus für Musikfeste" (House for music festivals) came about. The idea of the new multi-purpose building was to be more interesting to the broader public than the traditional Vienna Musikverein. In addition to the concert hall, the first drawings by Ludwig Baumann for the "Olympion" included an ice-skating area and a bicycle club. In an attached open air area, 40,000 visitors would be able to attend events. Although the drawings were not accepted, today an ice skating area is situated right next to the building.
The Konzerthaus was finally built between 1911 and 1913. The architects were Fellner & Helmer; the work was done in cooperation with Ludwig Baumann.
Performance facilities.
The building is about 70×40 meters and had originally three halls, in which there can be simultaneous concerts, since they are sound-proofed. The original Art Nouveau building was partly destroyed during renovations and adaptions, but the building was reconstructed from original sketches in the 1970s. A historic organ was installed in the Konzerthaus by the Austrian firm Rieger in 1913. Between 1997 and 2000 the house was completely renovated.
Program.
The Konzerthaus has the Vienna Symphony, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Wiener Singakademie and the Klangforum Wien in residence. Several subscriptions also include concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic and other organizations.
The "Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft" also conducts several festivals during the year:
History.
The Historic Concert for the Benefit of Widows and Orphans of Austrian and Hungarian Soldiers was held at the Konzerthaus on January 12, 1918. Its patrons were Kaiser Charles and Empress Zita, with posters designed by Josef Divéky.


Meyendorff Castle

Meyendorff Castle or Meindorf Castle (Мeйендорф or Мeйндорф) is a Châteauesque architectural extravaganza constructed at the turn of the 20th century to Pyotr Boytsov's designs as a private residence of the Swedish-Baltic German , (a cadet line of the Baltic German noble house of Uexküll). Its location () is between Barvikha and Odintsovo along Podushkinskoye Highway () in Odintsovsky District, Moscow Oblast west of Moscow. The castle was built from 1874 to 1885.
History.
The Meindorf family established their estate including the castle Barvikha or the "castle of Baroness Meyendorf" () here in 1904 prior to the Russian revolution of 1917. In 1908 under the Russian ambassador to Denmark, , Baron F. M. Meyendorf became a diplomat with rank as a Russia state advisor (equivalent to a colonel) and became the first secretary of the Russian diplomatic mission to Denmark which was a very esteemed honor because Czar Nicholas II mother, the Czarina Maria Fyodorovna, was born a Danish Princess Dagmar of Denmark.
After the outbreak of the Great War the owners of the castle left Russia for abroad.
After the October Revolution the castle was occupied by Vladimir Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders. In 1935 the grounds were declared a high-profile, exclusive sanatorium. Mikhail Bulgakov, Sergey Korolyov and Yuri Gagarin were among those who vacationed at Barvikha. There is also a World War II cemetery marked by Yevgeny Vuchetich's miniature copy of his Mamayev Monument.
During Vladimir Putin's visit to the castles of the Loire valley in 2002, Jacques Chirac commented that Russia had nothing to compare with these French castles. Putin directed his staff to find a castle near Moscow and restore it. At only 20 minutes from Moscow, his staff transferred ownership of Bavikha to the as the residence of the President and remodeled the manor to the grandest in Russia when it opened for use in November 2008. The is officially called "State Residence Barvikha" () since November 2008 but others (RIA Novosti and Echo Moscow) refer to it as "Meyendorf Manor" or "Meyendorf Castle".
In the 21st century Barvikha Castle has been designated a country residence of the President of Russia. It was there that the Meyendorff Declaration of 2008 was signed by the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan ending the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.


Scarborough Town Hall

Scarborough Town Hall, originally St Nicholas House, is a red brick Jacobean Revival mansion in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, currently used as a municipal building for the Borough of Scarborough and an events venue. It was built in the 19th century as a home for John Woodall, a prominent local businessman, and then converted and extended for municipal use in 1903. Situated overlooking the South Bay, it is a grade II listed building.
History.
The origins of local government in Scarborough date to a charter granted by Henry II in 1163. An ancient town hall based on Sandside, facing the harbour on a site now occupied by the former Bethel Mission Chapel, moved in 1800 to William Newstead's Assembly Rooms on Long Room Street (now St Nicholas Street). This was the Corporation's seat until 1867, when a new town hall and courthouse were opened in Castle Road. By 1898, this too was considered inadequate and the Corporation sought a new town hall site.
The mansion which was to become the town hall was St Nicholas House, which was commissioned by John Woodall – part of a prominent and successful Scarborough family – to replace his previous home, 22 Long Room Street. The date and architect of the construction appears to be contested; research by Scarborough Civic Society suggests it was by Henry Wyatt in 1844, while the listing description from Historic England ascribes it to W B Stewart, 1869–70. It cost approximately £2,300 () at a time when Scarborough's population was 18,377.
In 1898 – by which point the population had grown to 33,776 and needed further resources for administration – John Woodall's son, John W Woodall, whose portrait hangs inside the building's foyer, and who had inherited the property in 1879, put forward and sold St Nicholas House to the Corporation. It paid £33,575 () for the building; this price also included other properties on the cliff which have been demolished. The house needed work to make it suitable for use as a town hall, and this was designed by the newly appointed borough engineer and surveyor Harry W Smith in 1898–1903. This involved a new east wing to fit new rooms such as departmental offices and the council chamber. The cost of conversion was about £19,500.
An official opening ceremony took place on 28 July 1903, during which Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, formally opened the Town Hall – the ceremonial key used is displayed in a cabinet inside the building – and unveiled a new bronze statue of Victoria by Charles Bell Birch in gardens outside. The memorial statue, which is separately grade II listed, is the only statue of a public figure in Scarborough.
Later history.
Further extensions were made in King Street and St Nicholas Street in 1962–64 in a standard modern office block style. This is used as further accommodation for the borough council and as a "customer first centre".
Scarborough Town Hall is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II listed building, having been designated on 8 June 1973. Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing, and is applied to "buildings that are nationally important and of special interest".
A proposed plan to sell the Victorian building and move to a new out-of-town purpose-built site was considered by the Conservative-run Scarborough Borough Council in March to July 2012. It was estimated that maintenance of the building could cost £5.7 million over the following 25 years and that an estimated £1.7 million would be needed for an IT upgrade. Though the plan was rejected, the office accommodation was considered too large, in poor condition and costing too much to bring up to standard, leading to a second plan in December 2012 to reduce office space by up to 71 per cent. A sum of £90,000 was invested in a complete replacement of the security system of the Town Hall in 2018.
Five of Scarborough Town Hall's historic rooms are licensed for weddings and other civil ceremonies, giving the Council a stream of income to help conserve and maintain it.
Architecture.
The Town Hall takes the form of a Jacobean-style mansion with two-storeys plus attic, of red brick with stone dressings, string courses, cornice and parapet, whose main south front is set on a strapwork balustraded terrace to public gardens. Along this main front are Dutch gabled bays to the left and centre, and to the right, a pair of square turrets with leaded ogee domes, between which is a large stained-glass oriel window. Another Dutch gabled block at the western end forms the main entrance from St Nicholas Street. The doorway is flanked by engaged stone Ionic columns on pedestals, topped by an entablature with a cartouche with pyramid finials.
Internally, the Town Hall features a Civic Parlour, Mayor's Parlour, Mayoral Corridor, Committee Room and Council Chamber. These are all lavishly decorated in a style Edwardian municipal grandeur, with plaster ceilings, fine carpets, and hardwood furniture and panelling; the Council Chamber also has an intricate wooden arched ceiling and raised public gallery.


Arborfield Hall

Arborfield Hall was a large country house on the banks of the River Loddon near the village of Arborfield in Berkshire.
History.
The manor house, which originally stood on the site, was occupied by the Bullock family from the early 13th century. It was acquired by Edmund Standen in 1589 and passed to his son, William Standen, who rebuilt the house in Jacobean style in 1603. A stable block was added in 1654. The manor house was sold to Pelsant Reeves, a Master in Chancery, in 1730 and it remained in the Reeves family until George Dawson, a descendant, demolished it in 1832. George Dawson commissioned a new hall in 1837 but sold it to Sir John Conroy, Controller of the Household of the Duchess of Kent, in 1842. The new hall was bought by Thomas Hargreaves, a businessman who became High Sheriff of Berkshire, in 1855 and it remained in the Hargreaves family until 1926. The hall was then bought at auction by the Allsebrook family. It was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and then acquired by the University of Reading after the war: the university demolished it in 1955.


Ibex House

Ibex House is an eleven storey Art Deco office building on the east side of the City of London, just to the north of the Tower of London. It was designed by Fuller, Hall and Foulsham in the Streamline Moderne style, with curved corners and distinctive horizontal bands of faience cladding and black-framed fenestration. Construction started as a speculative development in 1935 and the building was completed in 1937. It became a Grade II listed building in 1982.
The building occupies about , almost half of the narrow block running between the Minories to the west and Mansell Street to the east, with Portsoken Street to the south and Haydon Street to the south. It has an elongated H- or I-shaped footprint, with blocks towards the east and west joined by a long thin central block. The arrangement provides ample natural light to the office space within. Most of the building rises to seven or eight upper floors, with top floors stepped back, plus a ground and lower ground floor and basement.
It was built using a steel frame with distinctive strips of faiance cladding, black on the ground floor and buff on upper floors, between long strips of windows with black metal frames and horizontal glazing bars. Pevsner mentioned its "Long bands of glass, whizzing round curved corners". Curved glazed projections at the centre of the north and south façades run from the first to the top floor. The centre of the façade above the main west entrance is emphasised with a vertical black faience strip with glazing, running from the first to the top floor, with similar vertical black faience strips above entrances in the sides of the east and west blocks. The building houses of commercial and office space, occupied by a variety of businesses, including the main offices of PLP Architecture. The ground floor alongside the Minories contains a number of retail units, which for many years included a public house and a sandwich bar. Until recently, most of the lower ground floor and basement was occupied by a Virgin Active health club.
As a largely unchanged example of a late 1930s office building, it became a Grade II listed building in 1982 in recognition of its architectural integrity.
The building was restored by the architects Rolfe Judd in 1994-94, and sold around 2019 for a price of around £121 million.