Kesher Israel (Washington, D.C.)

Kesher Israel (Hebrew: קשר ישראל, "Kinship of Israel," also known as the Georgetown Synagogue) is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.. The congregation is over 100 years old and its worshipers have included prominent politicians, diplomats, jurists, journalists, and authors.
History.
In 1910, six local Jewish merchants organized the Georgetown Hebrew Benevolent Society, which began to conduct religious services above a storefront on M Street, NW. A year later, this kernel, now numbering 50 families, founded Kesher Israel Congregation, which thus became the seventh synagogue organized in the nation's capital. In 1915, the congregation acquired, renovated, and began to meet in a premises at 2801 N Street, NW. The current synagogue building, which was constructed in 1931 on that site with a construction budget of $28,000, is a contributing property to the Georgetown Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The synagogue also administers two congregational cemeteries, one in Anacostia and the other in Capitol Heights, Maryland.
Kesher Israel is the last of the city's original pre-war Orthodox synagogues located in walking distance of downtown Washington. Beginning in the 1950s, as the local Jewish community grew exponentially, all the others relocated uptown or to suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. This demographic trend, coupled with the passing of the founding generation, reduced Kesher Israel's membership in the 1960s to the point where it was difficult to ensure daily "minyanim". The synagogue, however, experienced a renaissance beginning in the late 1970s, spurred by young urban professionals who were moving to Georgetown and nearby neighborhoods, including the West End, Foggy Bottom, Dupont Circle, Burleith, and even those further afield like Adams-Morgan, Kalorama and Rosslyn, across Key Bridge in Arlington County, Virginia. Its current membership now stands at approximately 250 families and singles. Kesher Israel also attracts many students enrolled at nearby Georgetown University and George Washington University.
Following the signing of the Camp David Accords in September 1978, members of the Israeli delegation to the subsequent Blair House negotiations, including Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer Weizman, attended "Kol Nidre" services at the synagogue.
Kesher Israel attracted national media attention during the 2000 U.S. presidential election when a member, Senator Joseph Lieberman, was selected as the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States. When the Senate scheduled important votes on Shabbat, Lieberman walked nearly from the synagogue to the United States Capitol, a trek he made over 25 times during his Senate career.
Author Herman Wouk, who joined Kesher Israel upon relocating to Washington when he began to research his novels of World War II, called it "the best little "shul" in America" and "a haven of true "Yiddishkeit" at the center of the finest neighborhood in Washington." It was due to his long association with the community that Kesher Israel was commonly known in Washington as "Herman Wouk's synagogue." Wouk recalled Kesher Israel one last time in his final book and memoir, "Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author" (2015), stating that “The little old synagogue at one end of N Street was our kind of "shul".”
Rabbinic leadership.
Early years.
After it was founded, the Georgetown Hebrew Benevolent Association hired Elias Stolar as "minister and Hebrew teacher" and "recognized religious leader." Born in Russia in about 1881, he was referred to as "reverend," a widely used title at the time for synagogue functionaries who were not ordained rabbis.
The synagogue's first spiritual leader was the Polish-born, British-trained Rabbi George (Gedaliah) Silverstone, who concurrently served Ohev Sholom Congregation (then located at 5th and I Streets, NW). He remained with both congregations until he announced his intention to make "aliyah" to the Land of Israel in 1923. While he made several return trips back to Washington after that, Rabbi Silverstone died in Jerusalem in 1944 and was buried on the Mount of Olives.
Rabbi Silverstone was a vice president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, a director of the Hebrew Sanitarium of Denver and the Hebrew Home for the Aged of Washington and a member of B'nai B'rith. He also founded the first "Talmud Torah" in Washington and many of his sermons refer to the poor state of Jewish education. An active Zionist, he attended the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903 as a delegate from Belfast before he emigrated to the United States.
From 1925 to 1949.
The first rabbi named to lead Kesher Israel on an exclusive basis was Rabbi Jacob Aizer Dubrow, a Chabad "hassid", who was appointed in 1925 and remained with the synagogue until his death in 1944 at the age of 64. Born in Žlobin in what is today Belarus, he was one of the original students of the fifth Lubavitcher "rebbe", Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, at the Tomchei Temimim "yeshiva" in Lyubavichi, where he studied for seven years. After receiving "semikhah", Rabbi Dubrow became the "melamed" of the son of the Skverer "rebbe" before becoming a "rosh yeshiva" in a town near Kiev. He then served as a rabbi and "posek" in a number of Ukrainian "shtetlekh" before leaving for Baltimore in 1924.
Rabbi Dubrow's main focus was education. He instituted daily Talmud classes, both at the synagogue and at the Hebrew Home for the Aged, and an afternoon "Talmud Torah" for the synagogue's children, hiring Rabbi Oscar Summer as their teacher. He was also one of four Washington rabbis who initiated the establishment of the city's first Jewish day school, the Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington (now known as the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy). Rabbi Dubrow also organized a congregational "hevra kadishah". He is remembered in Chabad for being instrumental in facilitating the wartime evacuation of the sixth Lubavitcher "rebbe", Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, from German-occupied Warsaw in 1940 by interceding, together with several rabbinic colleagues, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a number of senators.
Rabbi Dubrow's first wife died after their arrival in the United States. He was survived by his second wife, five daughters and his only son, who had remained in the Soviet Union and would fall in battle as a soldier in the Red Army near the close of the war. Another married daughter had predeceased him. During his funeral at Kesher Israel parts of Pennsylvania Avenue, two blocks away, had to be closed off in order to accommodate the crowds that came to pay their last respects. Rabbi Dubrow bequeathed in his will that his personal library of religious books was to be auctioned off after his death and the money raised be donated to help support the poor of Jerusalem. Mention of this final act of charity was etched into his gravestone. He was buried in Kesher Israel's Capitol Heights cemetery.
Rabbi Dubrow was succeeded by Rabbi I. Meckler (1945–1946) and Rabbi Sidney Shulman (1946–1949).
From 1950 to 1988.
Rabbi Philip L. Rabinowitz was appointed rabbi of Kesher Israel in 1950. Born Jeruchom Fiszel Arje Rabinowicz in Łomża, Poland in 1920, he left home at the age of 18, with World War II looming on the horizon, to study at an American yeshiva, the Hebrew Theological College in Chicago, Illinois, where he would receive "semikhah". An older brother emigrated to the Land of Israel in 1933 but his other relatives, including his parents, were murdered in the Holocaust.
At Kesher Israel Rabbi Rabinowitz focused on three objectives: to study and teach Torah, sustain the daily "minyanim" and watch over the welfare of his community. His home was always open to anyone in need, even strangers, and he helped assure that the community was spiritually enriched. He was instrumental in founding the Washington "Beit Din" (rabbinical court) and the "Vaad HaKashrut," Greater Washington's kosher food supervisory body.
On the evening of February 28, 1984, Rabbi Rabinowitz, a 63-year-old widower who lived alone, was murdered in his West End home by an unknown assailant shortly after returning from "Maariv". His bludgeoned body was found the next morning on the floor of his small study by four congregants whose concern was raised by his atypical absence from that morning's incomplete "Shaharit" "minyan" (had he attended, he would have been the tenth). It is presumed that the rabbi knew his murderer because he was always careful to peek out the window pane in order to check the identity of whoever rang his doorbell before opening the door. Moreover, while the door was closed and unlocked, there was no evidence of forced entry or robbery.
The case was never solved and remains open to this day.
An estimated one-thousand mourners attended Rabbi Rabinowitz's funeral held on the morning of March 1 at the synagogue, including the Israeli ambassador, Dr. Meir Rosenne, who delivered one of the eulogies. He was buried in Israel one day later next to his wife, who died unexpectedly from natural causes in 1978. He was survived by a son, a daughter, several grandchildren, and his brother.
An "eruv" encompassing Georgetown, adjacent neighborhoods and all of downtown Washington was established by the congregation in 1990 and named in Rabbi Rabinowitz's memory. The Hebrew Academy, where he taught from 1958 to 1979, named its "Kollel" "Beit Midrash" in memory of the rabbi and annually presents its Rabbi Philip Rabinowitz Memorial Award for Excellence in "Limudei Kodesh" to outstanding students.
Rabbi Rabinowitz was succeeded by Rabbi Rod Glogower (1985–1988).
From 1989 to 2014.
Rabbi Dr. Barry Freundel was named to the pulpit of Kesher Israel in 1989. He would soon develop a reputation as "a brilliant scholar," a "profound" orator and an authority in several areas of "halakha", including "eruvim," which he assisted in constructing in a number of cities, including Washington.
In early October 2014 the lay leadership of Kesher Israel and the National Capital Mikvah, an independent facility located in an adjacent synagogue building that Freundel had been instrumental in founding in 2005, delivered to the police a suspicious clock radio that was placed in the "mikvah" shower room, disappeared and suddenly appeared again."Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity, the board of directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials," the synagogue and "mikvah" boards wrote in a joint statement. "Throughout the investigation, we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so."
On October 14, Freundel was arrested for recording women showering using the clock radio, which was equipped with a hidden video camera. He was suspended without pay upon his arrest and then fired. The synagogue board immediately directed its attention to the victims of his actions by arranging a support group led by a licensed psychologist and consultations with therapists, as well as organizing a closed community meeting with Cathy L. Lanier, Washington's chief of police.
On December 2, a student at Georgetown University Law Center, where Freundel taught a seminar on Jewish law, filed a lawsuit against Kesher Israel, as well as Georgetown University and the National Capital Mikvah. The unnamed student, who had written a term paper on the "mikvah," seeks class action status and claims that the defendants turned a blind eye and failed in their responsibility to protect students from the rabbi, whose behavior she claims, was becoming ever more bizarre and who was mistreating women subjected to his authority. On December 18, a student at Towson University, where Freundel also taught, added her name to the lawsuit, claiming that Freundel encouraged her to take a "practice dunk" in the "mikvah" as part of her studies, even though she was not Jewish and had no interest in converting. She was joined by another woman who had been converting to Judaism under Freundel's auspices and who had likewise been encouraged by Freundel to take a "practice dunk." They added the Rabbinical Council of America as a defendant as well. In August 2016, the class action lawsuit was amended to add the Beth Din of America as a defendant, bring the total number of institutions named as defendants to four.
The synagogue board responded with this statement: "Kesher Israel's leadership is deeply concerned about the harm caused by Rabbi Freundel's actions—of which we did not and could not have known—and for the personal welfare of all those individuals who may have been violated. The lawsuits that were recently filed are completely without merit. Our energies remain focused on working towards healing our community and building a vibrant future for Kesher Israel."
Freundel ultimately pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism and was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison and fined $13,000.
On October 22, 2018, a class action lawsuit against Freundel and four religious organizations named as defendants – Kesher Israel, the National Capital Mikvah, the Rabbinical Council of America, and the Beth Din of America – was settled for $14.25 million.
From 2015.
In July 2015 the congregation hired Rabbi Dr. Avidan Milevsky as its part-time interim spiritual leader. Milevsky, an associate professor of psychology at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, was the author of five books and previously served as interim rabbi of Ner Tamid Greenspring Valley Congregation in Baltimore. The Milevsky family made "aliyah" to Israel a year later.
On March 16, 2017, the synagogue announced the appointment of a full-time replacement, Rabbi Hyim Shafner, who had been serving for the previous 13 years as a congregational rabbi in St. Louis. He formerly served for eight years as the Hillel chaplain at Washington University in St. Louis and, before then, worked for a year in the Jewish community in Mumbai, India.


Glyndebourne Opera House


St Michael and All Angels Church, Barton Turf

St Michael and All Angels is the Church of England parish church of Barton Turf in the county of Norfolk in England. See Inside here. It stands about a kilometre south-west of the village in the midst of a plantation of trees. Particularly notable for its surviving paintings, the church is listed with Grade I.
Architecture and Decor.
The building was at first constructed in rather an undistinguished Perpendicular style, possessing a tower at the west end of the church. The church is best known for the twelve panels of its late-Gothic rood screen, rivalled in quality only by the rood screen of St. Helen's Church in Ranworth. The twelve panels, probably from between 1440 and 1450, appear to have been influenced by Flemish work, and depict St. Apollonia, St. Zita, St. Barbara, and the nine choirs of angels. (The representations of the Dominions and the Seraphim were defaced during the English Civil War, most likely due to their inclusion of “papistical” symbols such as the tiara and a censer). In the South Nave there are more recent (ca. 1490) representations of King Henry VI, St. Edmund, St. Edward the Confessor, and St. Olaf.
The church holds a pipe organ built in 1835 by T.C. Bates. The single-manual instrument has 5 registers (C-g3: Open Diapason 8', Clarabella 8', Stopt Diapason Bass 8', Principal 4', Flute 4').


Le Trident (theatre)

Le Trident is a group of three theatres in the city of Cherbourg-Octeville, within the Manche department of Normandy, in northern France.
The theatres were made a 'scène nationale' on 14 October 2002, after the merger of the Théâtre de Cherbourg-Scène Nationale and the Théâtre de la Butte-CCPO.
Theatres.
The three theatres are:


Hietzing station


Belly River Ranger Station Historic District

The Belly River Ranger Station Historic District in Glacier National Park includes several historic structures, including the original ranger station, now used as a barn. The rustic log structures were built beginning in 1912. Other buildings include a woodshed, built in 1927 to standard National Park Service plans and a cabin used as a fire cache.
The ranger station building is similar to those at Sherburne and Upper Lake McDonald, with the ranger's office and quarters downstairs and space for guests in the loft. The station is one of the oldest locations, established in 1912 and staffed by District Ranger Joe Cosley. It remains the only ranger station in Glacier which cannot be accessed by road. The present barn was the original 1912 ranger station.
The woodshed is a standard National Park Service design, built according to standard drawing G811. Woodsheds were an essential element of early ranger stations, providing shelter from the snow for work and storage. The fire cache, which is used to house fire-fighting tools, was built in 1928 and used for accommodations for a time, then converted to fire cache use. It is substantially similar to the Kintla Lake fire cache.
There is no utility power at Belly River. Propane is used for heat, cooking and refrigeration.


Petite Galerie of the Louvre


Wales (Dinwiddie County, Virginia)

Wales is a historic house and site in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, near Petersburg, Virginia. It has a date of significance of 1730. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The area listed was and includes four contributing buildings and two contributing structures.
The main house is a five-part Palladian architecture composition and is a Virginia Historic Landmark.


Grand Canyon Park Operations Building

The Grand Canyon Park Operations Building was built in 1929 on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park. It is significant as an example of a National Park Service building designed to blend harmoniously with the natural surroundings, in the National Park Service Rustic style. The Operations Building was designed to replace the Superintendent's Residence as the park headquarters. It was in turn replaced by a newer building in 1967, and presently functions as the headquarters for park law enforcement. The building was designed by the National Park Service Landscape Division under the direction of Thomas Chalmers Vint, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark for its design significance.
Description.
The Park Operations Building is a two-story structure, with rubble Kaibab limestone construction to the sill level of the first floor and wood frame construction above. The building is dominated by massive battered rubble piers extending to the second floor sill level, with three large peeled log corner posts at each corner. It is crowned by a shallow-pitched roof with deep, bracketed eaves. A 1938 restroom addition is constructed in a similar manner, with sympathetic use of form and materials. The gabled roof runs back from the principal elevation, which features a ribbon of windows at the second floor and a central entrance door flaked by windows at the first floor.
Little remains of the original interior, which was substantially renovated in 1938 and several times later. The lobby, however, remains substantially intact, with a large stone fireplace whose chimney supports log ceiling beams.
The Operations Building is one of the earliest and largest examples of Park Service rustic design at the Grand Canyon, part of the largest developed area in a U.S. national park. The Grand Canyon Village ensemble was developed with a consistent and original design theme in a style unique to the Park Service, in opposition to the eclectic style of park concessioners at the El Tovar Hotel.
Historic designations.
The Park Operations Building was declared a National Historic Landmark on May 28, 1987, reflecting its status as a prominent example of rustic construction in the national parks. It is included in the Grand Canyon Village National Historic Landmark District.


Ordrupgaard

Ordrupgaard is a state-owned art museum situated near Jægersborg Dyrehave, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The museum houses one of Northern Europe’s most considerable collections of Danish and French art from the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
History.
Ordrupgaard was originally a county home built between 1916–1918 by Wilhelm Hansen and his wife Henny Nathalie Soelberg Jensen (1870-1951). Wilhelm Peter Henning Hansen was the Danish general representative of the English based Life Insurance Gresham for two decades. In 1896, he founded the Danish based life insurance company Dansk Folkeforsikringsanstalt. Later, he also founded the internationally oriented insurance company Mundus. In 1905, Danish insurance company Hafnia appointed to their managing director. He held the office until 1936.
Wilhelm and Henny Hansen bought a large piece of land by Ordrup Krat, near Jægersborg Dyrehave, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Between 1916 and 1918 they built their stately home Ordrupgaard, designed by architect Gotfred Tvede (1863–1947). At the same time an extensive park was laid out by landscape gardener Valdemar Fabricius Hansen (1866–1953). Ordrupgaard was inaugurated on 14 September 1918. In his opening speech, Wilhelm Hansen declared that the collection would be left to the Danish State.
In 1922, Wilhelm Hansen suffered a massive financial and personal loss. "Landmandsbanken", in which the Consortium had taken loans for the purchase of art works, collapsed. In order to pay off his debt Wilhelm Hansen sold more than half of his French collection – approximately 82 pieces. Among these were important works by Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet and Paul Gauguin. Many of these works are now housed at the "Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek" in Copenhagen and "The National Museum of Western Art" in Tokyo. Wilhelm Hansen overcame the crisis and from 1923 to 1933 compensated for his losses by buying new, specifically French paintings, which are still at Ordrupgaard.
After the death of Wilhelm Hansen in 1936, his widow Henny Hansen lived on alone at Ordrupgaard. At her death in 1951, she left the collection, the house and the park to the Danish State, as Wilhelm Hansen had wished. In 1953, Ordrupgaard was opened to the public as a state-owned art museum.
On 30 August 2005, Ordrupgaard inaugurated the new extension designed by the Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid (1950–2016). The extension measures 1,150 sq.m. and has improved the space, climate and security conditions so that Ordrupgaard is now able to present special exhibitions at an international level. The extension is constructed in glass and black lava concrete joined together to form a deconstructivistic and organic body.
Collection.
Danish Arts Collection.
Wilhelm Hansen established his collection of Danish art covering the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century during the period of 1892 to 1916. The Danish Golden Age is comprehensively represented by works by, amongst others: Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Christen Købke, Johan Thomas Lundbye, P.C. Skovgaard and Wilhelm Marstrand. The main part of the collection, however, testifies to Wilhelm Hansen’s interest for contemporary art with works by artists such as: L.A. Ring, Vilhelm Hammershøi and Theodor Philipsen, not forgetting the Fynbo Painters Johannes Larsen, Fritz Syberg and Peter Hansen, Wilhelm Hansen’s childhood friend.
French Fine Arts Collection.
During World War I, Wilhelm Hansen focused his interest on French art. From 1916 to 1918 he purchased French paintings, pastels, drawings and sculptures, thus laying the foundation for an actual art museum.
It was Wilhelm Hansen’s great wish to acquaint the Danes with French 19th-century art. His first purchases were paintings by Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir. Wilhelm Hansen’s main focus was on French Impressionism. In order, however, to put Impressionism into perspective, his collection also comprised the genres immediately preceding and following. Thus, Ordrupgaard is able to show Eugène Delacroix, representing Romanticism, Théodore Rousseau (the Barbizon School), Gustave Courbet (Realism), Édouard Manet (Modernism), and Paul Gauguin (Symbolism).
When purchasing French art, Wilhelm Hansen often took advice from the French art critic Théodore Duret (1838–1927).
Furniture and Handicrafts Collection.
Parallel to Wilhelm Hansen’s interest in Danish and French art was his interest for furniture and handicrafts. He was especially interested in ceramics, chandeliers and furniture executed by architect, sculptor and ornamental artist Thorvald Bindesbøll (1846–1908).
Buildings.
Ordrupgaard was originally built as a three-winged trellised country mansion in the neo-classical style. The gallery which houses the French collection is connected to the main building by a small conservatory. Additionally a porter’s lodge, a driver’s residence (now demolished) and a coach house (now named "Lavendelhuset"/ The Lavender House) were erected. A shed and a small half-timbered summerhouse comprise the rest of the original buildings on the estate.
Park.
The Park at Ordrupgaard is laid out in the English style with a smaller French-inspired rose garden, originally adorned by a ceramic fountain by Jean Gauguin (now placed in the conservatory due to conservational reasons).
The Park at Ordrupgaard originally functioned as a kitchen garden as well as a flower garden. The extensive produce and the many fruit trees sustained the family with fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year while the rest of the grounds were used for leisure and contemplation.
From the summerhouse could be viewed, at the far end of the park (where now there is a meadow) a small lake encompassing an island complete with rowing boat. There were also small ponds around the grounds, which have since been filled in.
Finn Juhl House.
From 1941 to 1942, furniture designer Finn Juhl (1912–1989) designed and furnished his own house next door to Ordrupgaard. The house is one of the first functionalistic one-family houses in Denmark. Here Finn Juhl lived until his death in 1989. Finn Juhl’s widow Hanne Wilhelm Hansen left the house and its interior unchanged. On 3 April 2008, the house opened as a separate, additional part of Ordrupgaard Art Museum, thanks to a private donation from Birgit Lyngbye Pedersen.


William Eugene Drummond

William Eugene Drummond (March 28, 1876 – September 13, 1948) was a Chicago Prairie School architect.
Early years and education.
He was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of carpenter and cabinet maker Eugene Drummond and his wife Ida Marietta Lozier. The family relocated from Newark to Chicago in 1886; William was ten. The Drummonds settled on the West Side of Chicago, in Austin, at 813 Central Avenue. William Drummond grew up in the village of Austin and attended the Austin public schools. The Drummond family house is standing as ot underwent at the hands of William and Eugene. William learned much in the remodeling of the family house. He and his father built the present house around and over the old house, with the family still living in it. The family owned the house until 1966. William was fifteen years older than his brother Frank; there were five girls between them. All seven Drummond children grew up in the village of Austin.
William Drummond was admitted to the University of Illinois School of Architecture in 1899, at the same time that fellow Prairie School architect Walter Burley Griffin was attending there. However, financial difficulties forced Drummond leave after one year.
Prairie School years.
Thereafter, Drummond began working in Chicago in the firm of architect Louis Sullivan. Several months later, he went to work for Frank Lloyd Wright. Drummond would serve as the chief draftsman for several well-known Wright's commissions, including the home of Edwin and Mamah Borthwick Cheney in Oak Park, the Frederick Robie House in Chicago, the Susan Lawrence Dana House in Springfield, IL, and the Larkin Company Administration Building in Buffalo. Drummond obtained his architect's license in 1901. In the years 1901–1905 he worked for Wright part-time while also working full-time for Richard E. Schmidt (1901–1902) and Daniel H. Burnham (1903–1905). Drummond returned to full-time employment with Wright from 1905 to 1909, when disagreement about pay caused him to leave Wright's studio. But Drummond was a key figure in Wright's studio during its most productive Prairie years. As Wright's son, John, relates:
“William Drummond, Francis Barry Byrne, Walter Burley Griffin, Albert McArthur (Albert Chase McArthur), Marion Mahony, Isabel Roberts and George Willis were the draftsmen. Five men, two women. They wore flowing ties, and smocks suitable to the realm. The men wore their hair like Papa, all except Albert, he didn’t have enough hair. They worshiped Papa! Papa liked them! I know that each one of them was then making valuable contributions to the pioneering of the modern American architecture for which my father gets the full glory, headaches and recognition today! ”
In 1907 Drummond married Clara Alice McCulloch Christian (1874–1938), a woman several years his senior whose first husband died of tuberculosis. Their union produced three sons: Robert, William and Alan. In 1910, Mary Roberts, Isabel Roberts’ mother, sold the property next to their celebrated River Forest, IL, Isabel Roberts House, to their friend and associate William Drummond, who built his own Prairie style home there.
Private practice.
Upon parting ways with Wright, Drummond went into private practice, even though he had already undertaken his first commission in 1908, the First Congregational Church of Austin. In 1912 he went into partnership with Louis Guenzel (1860–1956), who had been a draftsman for Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Isabel Roberts worked for Guenzel and Drummond for about a year. The partnership dissolved just after the start of World War I, in 1915.
Drummond continued his independent practice thereafter, designing churches, residences and small commercial buildings in the Prairie style, his work in the pure Prairie idiom culminating in the delightfully elegant Brookfield Kindergarten (also known as the Hilly House) of 1920 in Brookfield, Illinois.
Drummond was among those who submitted designs in the famous 1922 competition for the Chicago Tribune Building. His entry is daringly original, with a huge tri-parti rectangular crown, perforated and carved in such a way that it defies conventional architectural descriptive terms. With oversize urn forms at the base of the crown, scooped recesses and geometric ornament at its summit, the building offered a dynamic melding of Prairie and Art Moderne that, had it been chosen, would have become an immediate and vibrant landmark on the Chicago skyline, without harking back to any historic style (as did the winning entry by architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood). Drummond's design still looks innovative ninety years later and compares favorably to early 21st century skyscraper design.
The prevailing view of his later career is that, as the public taste changed during the 1920s, Drummond's work bore fewer of the hallmarks of the Prairie School. Instead, his work was sometimes characterized by English cottage and Tudor elements, many in River Forest, typified by the Edward W. Scott Residence (1928) with its massive chimney, steeply pitched gables and paired multi-story bay window towers, and by the River Forest Public Library (1928–1930).
William Drummond took part in the planning commission of River Forest throughout the 1920s and 1930s, while also remodeling several of Wright's designs. Shortly before his death on September 13, 1948, Drummond published a book detailing a plan to redesign the United States Capitol. Drummond's final resting place is Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois.


Monastery of St. Simeon Stylites the Younger

The Monastery of St. Simeon Stylites the Younger () lies on a hill roughly southwest of Antakya and to the east of Samandağ, in the southernmost Turkish province of Hatay. The site is extensive but the monastery buildings are in ruins.
The monastery commemorates the "pillar saint", Simeon Stylites the Younger (521–597) and marks the last of several pillars on top of which he lived his life. According to one version, he lived on this pillar for the final 45 years of his long life. He preached from the top of it. Miraculous healing were attributed to him and he was venerated as a saint even while he was still alive. Until the thirteenth century the place was a pilgrimage destination.
Within the cruciform monastery site, the ruins of three churches can be seen. The first contains the remnants of mosaics while the second was richly ornamented. The third is more basic and was probably used by monks, The base section of the pillar on which Simeon lived can still be seen, surrounded by an octagonal space.
The monastery gave its name to the nearby settlement of Seleucia Pieria, known today by its Turkish name, Samandağ.


Robbers Cave State Park

Robbers Cave State Park is a state park in Latimer County, Oklahoma. It is located north of Wilburton, Oklahoma, on State Highway 2. Originally named Latimer State Park, it received its current name in 1936. It is located in the scenic, hilly woodlands of the Sans Bois Mountains of southeast Oklahoma. This park is a favorite of rappellers, equestrians, hikers and outdoor lovers. The park and adjoining wildlife management area covers more than and includes three lakes. It offers visitors acres of discovery and enjoyment including trout fishing in season, boating, hunting, mountain biking, trails for hikers and horses, sandstone cliffs for climbing and rappelling, and fall foliage viewing. In addition, Robbers Cave is historically notable as a former hideout for infamous outlaws Belle Starr and Jesse James.
History.
The area surrounding the present-day park has been a hunting ground for hundreds of years. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest people were related to the builders of the Spiro Mounds. By the 1600s, the Osage and Caddo tribes dominated the area. French hunters and explorers also visited, leaving their mark by naming some of the prominent geographic features, which are still used.
In 1850 the area of Robbers Cave was assigned to the newly established Sans Bois County, a part of the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.
After the Civil War, this area became legendary for sheltering fugitives from the law. Some of these included Jesse James and Belle Starr. Other fugitives included the Dalton Gang, the Youngers and the Rufus Buck Gang.
In 1929, Carlton Weaver, an editor and politician from Wilburton, donated 120 acres of land near Robbers Cave to the Boy Scouts of America for a campground. The warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary arranged for skilled prison inmates to construct camp improvements, including a kitchen and several other buildings, from rock quarried nearby. The new facility was named Camp Tom Hale, for a McAlester resident and Boy Scout supporter. The camp was adjacent to a tract of land that Weaver had leased to create a game preserve. Weaver later donated the preserve to the Oklahoma Fish and Game Commission.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was organized in 1933. Supervised by the National Park Service, the CCC built a bathhouse, cabins, trails, group camps, shelters, and roads. In 1937, CCC and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) created Lake Carlton, named for Carlton Weaver.
In 1987, the park initiated the first annual Robbers Cave Fall Festival, and the Robbers Cave Bluegrass Festival began in 1988. In 1994, Oklahoma converted the bathhouse to a nature center. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NR 96000489) in 2002.
Park facilities.
The park encompasses three lakes: Lake Carlton, Lake Wayne Wallace and Coon Creek Lake. These were created by dams built on Fourche Maline Creek, a tributary of Poteau River. The combined surface area of the three lakes is .
RV sites, tent sites and equestrian campsites are available and lodging facilities at Robbers Cave State Park include the Belle Starr View Lodge, several cabins and two group camps. Leashed pets are allowed in the park and in some cabins. Picnic tables, comfort stations with showers, boat ramps, a swimming beach, swimming pool with bathhouse, playgrounds, miniature golf, hiking trails, horseback riding stables, paddle boat rentals, small grocery store, on-site restaurant, and a nature center with naturalist programs and exhibits round out the park's facilities. Two tennis courts, a basketball court and a walking track are also available a few miles from the park. Several miles of trails are scattered throughout the park. Horses can be rented to follow the trails. One of the trails is northwest of the cave area and travels around Lost Lake.
The Boy Scout camp within the park was the site of Muzafer Sherif's Robber's Cave study on realistic conflict theory.
Fees.
To help fund a backlog of deferred maintenance and park improvements, the state implemented an entrance fee for this park and 21 others effective June 15, 2020. The fees, charged per vehicle, start at $10 per day for a single-day or $8 for residents with an Oklahoma license plate or Oklahoma tribal plate. Fees are waived for honorably discharged veterans and Oklahoma residents age 62 & older and their spouses. Passes good for three days or a week are also available; annual passes good at all 22 state parks charging fees are offered at a cost of $75 for out-of-state visitors or $60 for Oklahoma residents. The 22 parks are:


Craigie Flour Mill Historical Marker

The Craigie Flour Mill Historical Marker is a wayside rest on Minnesota State Highway 78 in Otter Tail County, Minnesota. The site was designed by landscape architect Arthur R. Nichols and built by the National Youth Administration and the Minnesota Highway Department. The style is National Park Service Rustic architecture.
The plaque on the site reads:
Craigie Flour Mill. Near this spot James Craigie of Aberdeen, Scotland, who came to Otter Tail County about 1868 built the first grist mill in the county in 1870. The mill stones and wheel were imported from Scotland. Craigie and his wife were drowned in Otter Tail Lake in 1872 and after long litigation the mill was torn down.
This text was originally printed on a steel sign, measuring 3 feet by 5 feet, which was erected by the Otter Tail County Historical Society and dedicated at a meeting on June 25, 1939 that attracted more than 2000 people. The steel plaque was replaced the following year with the more permanent wayside rest and monument.
The wayside rest is typical of the designs built by the Minnesota Highway Department around that time, with a curved drive that pulls off the main highway and a monument at the middle of the drive. The millstones and the iron water wheel are incorporated into the monument, though, which are an unusual feature for the historical markers designed by Nichols. The "Fergus Falls Daily Journal" reported that a Mr. Mathews had pulled the millstones from the nearby Balmoral Creek.


Oldenburg Hauptbahnhof

Oldenburg Hauptbahnhof (originally "Oldenburg Centralbahnhof") is the main passenger station in the city of Oldenburg in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is a through station, with seven platform tracks. Its large reception hall was built in the Art Nouveau style.
It is one of two stations in Oldenburg open to passengers, the other one being the newly-constructed "Oldenburg-Wechloy" suburban rail station opened in 2015 in the vicinity of the University of Oldenburg. Older stations, including Ofenerdiek and Osternburg, have had their passenger service gradually removed over the course of previous decades.
History.
The first railway in the capital of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg was the line from Oldenburg to Bremen via Delmenhorst opened by the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg State Railways on 15 July 1867. On 3 September 1867, a line was opened from Oldenburg to Heppens (later renamed Wilhelmshaven), financed by the Prussian government. The line was operated by the Oldenburg State Railways, which in 1913 bought the line from Prussia, placing an enormous burden on the state's budget. On 15 June 1869, the Oldenburg–Leer line was opened. On 15 October 1875, the Oldenburg State Railways opened the Oldenburg–Osnabrück line.
The first Oldenburg station was planned to be built in today's Cäcilienplatz. In 1868, it became clear that the proposed building would be too small for the growing demand. Therefore, the project was never realized. Instead, a converted freight shed served as Oldenburg's station for twelve years.
On 21 May 1879, the Central Station was finally inaugurated as the first "real" station in Oldenburg at the site of the present station. It was a neo-Gothic building designed by the renowned architect Conrad Wilhelm Hase. It was considered one of the most romantic railway buildings in Germany.
Today's Oldenburg station was inaugurated on 3 August 1915 without much ceremony after four years of construction. The magnificent Art Nouveau building was designed by the architect, Friedrich Mettegang. A separate building was planned for the Grand Duke of Oldenburg to board trains, called Prince Hall. As part of the new building the tracks were raised by about 3.25 meters. The building was placed at the edge of the tracks, so that the station could be rebuilt as a through station. Up to that time, travellers who wanted to continue past Oldenburg had to change trains.
In 1992 the line was electrified from Oldenburg to Leer.
Connections.
The station's track 1 is next to the main building and it has three Island platforms, numbered as tracks 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. Track 2 is a through track without a platform.
Train services.
The following services currently call at the station:
The main long-distance service through Oldenburg is an InterCity service operating at two-hour intervals to Leipzig via Hanover. In addition, Intercity-Express trains operate once a day on several routes.


Shaw House, Berkshire

Shaw House is an important example of an early symmetrical H-plan Elizabethan mansion, located at Shaw, on the north-eastern outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire.
History.
The manor house of Shaw, Shaw House was built by the wealthy cloth merchant, Thomas Dolman, and completed in 1581. It is famous for its reputation as King Charles I's headquarters during the Second Battle of Newbury. However recent research has proved that, despite being at the centre of the fighting, the King never went to the house. Other Royals have visited, most notably Elizabeth I. In the 1720s, it was acquired by the flamboyant James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. Although it was not the principal residence of the Duke, the family evidently spent some time in the area and the second Duke bought a wife at a sale in Newbury.
After the first Duke's death in 1744 the dowager duchess lived at Shaw House till her death in 1750. Her step-son sold the property soon afterwards to the Andrews family. It was the childhood home of the historian, James Pettit Andrews. For many years it was a school.
The house is currently owned and managed by West Berkshire Council as a conference venue and public attraction.
Restoration.
Following a major restoration Shaw House opened to the public in 2008. It is also a conference venue and home to West Berkshire's Registration Service for Births, Deaths and Ceremonies. Work began in 2005 after the mansion was awarded more than £4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund. English Heritage and Vodafone also contributed to the £6m project.
Visitors can now enjoy a programme of events and activities whilst wandering the house and spending time in the exhibitions and family corner. The House is open most weekends and some school holidays.


Thomas Holt House

The Thomas Holt House is a property in Brentwood, Tennessee that dates from c.1840 and that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It has also been known as Holtland.
It includes Greek Revival, Central hall plan and other architecture.
When listed the property included one contributing building and one contributing structure on an area of .
The NRHP eligibility of the property was covered in a 1988 study of Williamson County historical resources.
Like the John Seward House and the James Sayers House, also NRHP-listed, it has a main entrance with Greek Revival details, including a two-story portico.


Grand Canyon Village Historic District

Grand Canyon Village Historic District comprises the historic center of Grand Canyon Village, on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. The district includes numerous landmark park structures, many of which are National Historic Landmarks themselves, or are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town design as a whole is also significant for its attention to integration with the Grand Canyon landscape, its incorporation of National Park Service Rustic design elements, and for the idiosyncratic design of park concessioner structures such as the El Tovar Hotel.
Design and history.
Grand Canyon Village was planned by the National Park Service to be a comprehensive development for tourism on the South Rim. It is the largest example of Park Service town planning extant in the national park system. Initially centered on the terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway, the village expanded as both the Park Service and the park concessioner, the Fred Harvey Company, built or expanded facilities. Initial development was centered on the El Tovar Hotel and the Bright Angel Lodge, both concessioner-operated facilities. The El Tovar was opened in 1905 as a destination hotel on the canyon rim by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, who owned the Grand Canyon spur. A new train depot was built next to the hotel by the railway in 1909. Nearly all early development at the village was undertaken by concessioners.
In 1910, while the Grand Canyon was still designated a national monument, Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger suggested that a plan be established before further development took place at the South Rim. Mark Daniels, the general superintendent of the parks from 1914, called for similar comprehensive planning to establish water and sewer systems, power distribution and telephone networks. A 1924 master plan by National Park Service landscape architect Daniel Ray Hull established a "village square" at the intersection of the railroad and east road just below the El Tovar. The first park administration building was established there. Hull used the local topography, dictated by Bright Angel Wash valley's topography, with residential neighborhoods on two small hills divided by a branch of the Bright Angel drainage, away from the main south entrance road down Bright Angel and keeping hotel development in the area of the Bright Angel Camp and the El Tovar. Another square or plaza was intended where the new south entrance road approached the rim, surrounded by another administration building, a post office, and a proposed museum. Over time, the plaza became a parking area. Treatment of residential areas varied, including use of bungalows. Park Service housing was arranged so that automobile access was to the rear, with the house fronts oriented to a central communal space. Grand Canyon Village is one of the earliest uses of this arrangement in a planned community, predating its use at Radburn, New Jersey by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright. Housing for Fred Harvey Company personnel was arranged in a more traditional street-facing arrangement, with a parallel system of alleys for access to garages at the rear of the lots.
Much of the work that was accomplished in the late 1930s was done by Civilian Conservation Corps labor, particularly the landscaping, which involved the transplantation of native vegetation into areas that had been disturbed by construction.
Contributing structures.
Many of the contributing features and structures in Grand Canyon Village are simple landscape structures such as sidewalks, retaining walls and culverts. The canyon rim stone wall is the principle defining feature of the area, constructed in stages between 1905 and 1934. 44 such structures have been identified as contributing features, mostly built of local Kaibab limestone.
The district includes a number of significant structures, some of them National Historic Landmarks in their own right, with several others individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The buildings can be divided into two categories: the fanciful structures built by park concessioners, many of which were designed by Mary Colter, and the more restrained examples of National Park Service Rustic architecture designed by Hull and Thomas Chalmers Vint for park administration and housing. Concessioner structures include:
Park Service structures include:
Other contributing buildings include dormitories, service shops, a jail, a firehouse, the park hospital, a post office and two schools. Non-contributing structures include the Thunderbird and Kachina lodges between the Bright Angel Lodge and the El Tovar.
Landmark designation.
The village's initial listing on the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 1975 included 39 buildings, then was expanded in 1982 to include the Bright Angel Lodge and an additional 25 buildings. The district was declared a National Historic Landmark District on February 18, 1987. On October 24, 1995 the district was again expanded to include the historic center of Grand Canyon Village. The present district includes 247 buildings, 55 landscape structures and three sites. The NRHP district differs from the NHL district by its inclusion of two non-contiguous cemeteries, not part of the NHL since they have no association with park architecture.


St Lawrence Jewry

St Lawrence Jewry next Guildhall is a Church of England guild church in the City of London on Gresham Street, next to Guildhall. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. It is the official church of the Lord Mayor of London.
History.
Medieval era.
The church was originally built in the twelfth century and dedicated to St Lawrence; the weathervane of the present church is in the form of his instrument of martyrdom, the gridiron. The church is near the former medieval Jewish ghetto, which was centred on the street named Old Jewry. From 1280 it was an advowson held by Balliol College, Oxford.
Sir Thomas More preached in the old church on this site.
17th century.
In 1618 the church was repaired, and all the windows filled with stained glass paid for by individual donors.
The medieval church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and rebuilt by Christopher Wren between 1670 and 1687. The parish was united with that of St Mary Magdalen, Milk Street, which was not rebuilt. The church is entirely faced in stone, with a grand east front, on which four attached Corinthian columns, raised on a basement, support a pediment placed against a high attic. George Godwin, writing in 1839, described the details of this facade as displaying " a purity of feeling almost Grecian", while pointing out that Wren's pediment acts only as a superficial adornment to the wall, rather than, as in Classical architecture, forming an extension of the roof.
Inside, Wren's church has an aisle on the north side only, divided from the nave by Corinthian columns, carrying an entablature that continues around the walls of the main body of the church, where it is supported on pilasters. The ceiling is divided into sunken panels, ornamented with wreaths and branches. The church is 81 feet long and 68 feet wide.
20th century.
The church suffered extensive damage during the Blitz on 29 December 1940, and after the war the City of London Corporation agreed to restore it as Balliol College had no funds to do so. It was restored in 1957 by Cecil Brown to Wren's original design. It is no longer a parish church, but a guild church, the advowson transferred to the City as its official church.
The church was described by Sir John Betjeman as "very municipal, very splendid." It was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
The church was the burial place of John Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury; and of merchant Francis Levett, as well as the site of the wedding of his niece Ann Levett, daughter of William Levett, Dean of Bristol and former Principal of Magdalen Hall, Oxford .
The church is used by the New Zealand Society UK, who celebrate Waitangi Day here in February each year.
Catherine Ennis was the organist here until her death on 24 Dec. 2020.


Morley Old Hall

Morley Old Hall is a Grade I-listed moated manor house built in the sixteenth century in the village of Morley Saint Peter, some twelve miles from the cathedral city of Norwich, Norfolk, England.
The house was created circa 1600 by John Sedley, an architect to Henry VII. It is built to a U-shaped floor plan in two storeys with two storeys of attics. Constructed in brick with plain-tiled roofs it is completely surrounded by a moat.
In recent years the house has been owned by Field Marshal Sir Edmund Ironside, Commander in Chief of Home Forces during the Second World War and, in the 1970s, by Janet Shand Kydd, the first wife of Peter Shand Kydd, stepfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Before its sale in 2001 the hall was nearing dereliction, and one main wall had collapsed into the moat. In May 2009, it was put up for sale for £2.65 million. Following approximately £1m of renovation work by the new owners, Richard and Alison Warden, it was again put up for sale in April 2012 for £3 million.


Iver Grove

Iver Grove is a country house in Iver in Buckinghamshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.
History.
The house, which was designed by John James in the Palladian style, was built for Lady Mohun and completed in 1724. It was acquired by Admiral Lord Gambier in 1802 at which time the garden was full of unusual pansies. After use as a Polish refugee camp during the Second World War, it fell into disrepair and was acquired by the Ministry of Works in 1957 and was subsequently restored. It was bought by Mr and Mrs James Howie Mitchell in 1961 and by Sir Tom Stoppard and his wife, Miriam Stoppard, in the 1970s and they sold it on again in 1997.


Assumption Cathedral, Bangkok

The Assumption Cathedral () is the principal Roman Catholic church of Thailand, located at 23 Oriental Avenue, New Road, in the Bang Rak District of Bangkok. It is the main church of the Archdiocese of Bangkok. It was visited by Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis during their trips to Thailand in 1984 and 2019.
History.
Assumption Cathedral is located within 100 meters of the Oriental Hotel and the French Embassy, and the original building was the result of the request from a French missionary, Father Pascal in 1809 and the work of a French architect which saw the cathedral completed in 1821 during the reign of King Rama II. The cathedral was named Assumption after the Virgin Mary and she is commemorated at the church during The Feast of the Assumption, on St. Mary's Day on 15 August.
Throughout the latter half of the 19th century, the church and surrounding area played an important role for Christian missionaries arriving in Bangkok, particularly after 1860. The cathedral is part of a series of buildings which consist of Assumption Convent School (Thailand), Catholic Mission of Bangkok, Assumption Printing Press and rectory which were inhabited by the missionaries during their time in the city.
However around 1909 or 1910 the church underwent significant reconstruction and was rebuilt in the romanesque style between 1910 and 1918. The church has a relatively tall rectangular structure with a red brick exterior which stands out against its surrounding white buildings. The tall square towers flank the main entrance. Inside is a high ceiling adorned with many ornate decorations. Construction costs were largely covered by a local catholic businessman, Mr Low Khiok Chiang (also known as Jacobe) who owned the nearby Kiam Hoa Heng & Company, a Chinese Teochew family business.
In 1942, during World War II, nearby buildings were destroyed by allied bombing which resulted in serious damage to the church. It underwent extensive restoration shortly afterwards, and was partly refurbished in the 1980s and 1990s. Stained glass windows are now used in the cathedral today.
Assumption Cathedral had been visited by two supreme pontiffs. First, in May 1984 the cathedral welcomed Pope John Paul II and on the 22nd of November 2019, Pope Francis visited the cathedral during his apostolic visit to Thailand where he conduct the holy mass with catholic youth from around the country, given that the church is the center of the Roman Catholic diocese there.
The church is open seven days a week. Services for mass on Sundays are held at 6am, 7:30am, 8:30am, 10am and 5pm.
Special places.
The significant part of the Cathedral is in the crypt underneath the Sanctuary which kept the remains of the bishops and the missionaries including that of Fr Nicholas Boonkerd Kitbamrung who was proclaimed a martyr by Pope John Paul II on 5 March 2000 in Vatican. His relics were transferred to the shrine built in the compound of St. Peter’s church in Sampran, Nakornprathom Province. There still remains a special altar devoted to him on the left side of the Cathedral.
Besides being a place of worship and for performing sacred ceremonies, the role of the Assumption Cathedral is the church of the head of the local diocese which was led by Cardinal Michael Meechai Kitboonchu. The Cathedral is used to celebrate functions such as ordination of deacons, priests and bishops, and is said to be the centre of Catholics in Thailand.
Notable visitors.
Visitors include, on 4 May 1946, King Ananda Mahidol with his younger brother, then-Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej. Pope John Paul II visited on 10 May 1984. On 22 July 1995, Princesses Soamsawali and Bajirakitiyabha visited the Cathedral during a religious ceremony for the soul of the late King’s mother. In 2002 the Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and his consort Srirasmi visited the Catholic community at the Assumption Cathedral.
Nearby sites.
Three schools are situated in the compound of the Cathedral: The Assumption College, the Assumption Convent and the Assumption Suksa. There used to be a seminary and a printing house. Many offices of the Catholic organizations used to be nearby the Cathedral.
Events.
A ceremony held in the cathedral was that of the proclamation of Blessed Father Nicholas Boonkerd as Priest and Martyr.


Helmingham Hall

Helmingham Hall is a moated manor house in Helmingham, Suffolk, England. It was begun by John Tollemache in 1480 and has been owned by the Tollemache family ever since. The house is built around a courtyard in typical late medieval/Tudor style. The house is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England, and its park and formal gardens are also Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
History.
The present Helmingham Hall may have been initially constructed in 1510 on the site of an earlier house called Creke Hall. The exterior was altered between 1745–1760, again in 1800 by John Nash, and in 1840. The original half-timbered walls have been concealed by brick and tiles. The house is surrounded by a moat 60 feet wide, over which it is reached only by two working drawbridges, which have been pulled up every night since 1510. These were originally operated with a windlass but in recent years this has been replaced by an electric motor.
In addition to the house and gardens, several other buildings and structures on the estate are listed Grade II. The garden wall to the south west of the hall, two urns and a male and female statue, a sundial and an obelisk, the tea rooms, bridge, game larder, and revetment are all listed Grade II.
The gate lodge to the north east of the hall and the left and right front lodges are also listed Grade II, as is the entrance gateway and piers between the front lodges.
The Church of St Mary on the edge of the park has connections with the Tollemache family dating back to the Middle Ages.
Gardens.
The house is not open to the public and Helmingham is best known for its fine garden, which is open to the public from May to September. It is a semi-formal mixed garden with extensive borders, a rose garden, a knot garden, a parterre and an orchard. Beyond the garden there is a park with herds of red and fallow deer.
Lady (Alexandra) Tollemache is a garden designer who works under the name Xa Tollemache. She supervises the gardens at Helmingham and has also worked on the Millennium Garden at Castle Hill in Devon, Dunbeath Castle in Scotland, and the Cloister Garden at Wilton House.
Treasures of Helmingham.
The Tollemaches of Helmingham own one of the only two English Orpharion viols. Their instrument is dated 1580 and bears the label of John Rose, a 16th-century English viol-maker. Of the four John Rose viols which survive, this is the only one in private hands. It is believed to have been made for Queen Elizabeth I who presented it to them during one of her visits to Suffolk.
The "Tollemache lute manuscript" was acquired from the Helmingham Hall collections and sold by Sotheby's in 1965 to Robert Spencer. It was written by Henry Sampson. Robert Spencer, the present owner of the manuscript, maintains "Tollemache" in its common reference, despite the change of owner.
In media.
In May 2018 the hall was the venue for BBC One's "Antiques Roadshow".
The hall was used as both the interior and exterior of the stately home, Matcham, in the Merchant Ivory film, "The Golden Bowl."
It also appeared in the 2019 BBC documentary "Danny Dyer's Right Royal Family".


Caltanissetta

Caltanissetta (; ) is a "comune" in the central interior of Sicily, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Caltanissetta. Its inhabitants are called "Nisseni".
In 2017, the city had a population of 62,797. It is the 14th largest "comune" in Italy measured by area, the sixth highest "comune" in Italy by elevation (568 m), the second highest elevation in Sicily after the city of Enna (912 m).
Its patron saint is Archangel Michael.
Geography.
The town lies in an area of rolling hills with small villages and towns, crossed by the river Salso. It borders on the municipalities of Canicattì, Delia, Enna, Marianopoli, Mazzarino, Mussomeli, Naro, Petralia Sottana, Pietraperzia, San Cataldo, Santa Caterina Villarmosa, Serradifalco and Sommatino. Its "frazioni" are the villages of Bifaria, Borgo Petilia, Borgo Canicassè Casale, Cozzo di Naro, Favarella, Prestianni, Villaggio Santa Barbara, Santa Rita and Xirbi.
Territory.
Caltanissetta dominates the whole valley of the river Salso, which extends to include the nearby Enna. Morphologically it matches the surrounding area, very harsh and composed of limestone and clay. The city lies between three hills (Sant'Anna, Monte San Giuliano, and Poggio Sant'Elia), which form a basin which comprise part of the historical centre and South.
The "Maccalube" of Terrapellata.
The "Maccalube" (singular: "Maccaluba", from Arabic "maqlūbah", '(a land) that turns over', from the verb "qalaba" 'to turn over, to turn upside down, to invert') are a particularly rare phenomenon of sedimentary volcanism occurring in the Terrapellata area of Caltanissetta, the so-called Hill of the Volcanoes, near the village of Santa Barbara. This is an area of barren hills, with a colour ranging from white to dark grey, where mud volcanoes of around one meter in height rest on volcanic sediment.
The phenomenon is related to the presence of extensive underground clay deposits, interspersed with layers of salt water.
Maccaluba is created by ejection of methane gas bubbles under pressure.
When gas breaks through the clay deposits, it creates channels as it rises to the surface. These channels permit the clay sediment and water to travel, especially when they are pressured from beneath.
The consistency of the soft clay and water 'sludge' erupting as a mixture then forms a clay cone on the surface, the top of which is similar in appearance to a volcanic crater. These formations remains soft for some time, unlike the igneous rock eruptions and cones often associated with volcanoes such as Mount Etna.
The Maccalube Emergency of August 2008.
On 20 August 2008 a State of Emergency was declared because of events involving the Santa Barbara district in Caltanissetta in the preceding days.
During the morning of August 11, 2008 geological instability caused the opening of rifts in the ground surface, varying from ten centimetres to a metre in diameter. Damage to buildings occurred in two areas up to distant, the Maccalube and in the western part of the City Centre.
These damages were made worse by an eruption of clay-mud, water and gas which occurred some hours later that same day. For seven minutes, a sizable eruption created a mud deposit thick and wide, across a large area.
On August 19, the first manifestations of further Maccalube eruptions appeared on top of the mud layer, where water and mud had been ejected by the previous eruption.
The Terrapelata phenomenon has been known for at least two centuries.
The local Abbot, Salvatore Li Volsi (1797–1834), an expert in natural and agricultural sciences, wrote "Sul vulcano aereo di Terrapilata in Caltanissetta" ("Regarding the aerial volcano of Terrapelata in Caltanissetta"). He describes similar events which had occurred between 1783 and 1823, which he attributed to large-scale instability in the area.
In recent decades these events have gradually become less violent, creating relatively inactive Maccalube, rather than violent eruptions and rifts in the terrain.
As of September 2008: 68 craters out of 98 were said to be active; 17 were dormant; those remaining were thought to have solidified.
The events of August 11 are similar to those of February 14 and 15, 2002. Those of August were characteristic of a more severe eruption and of instability of the terrain beneath the populated area of the town. These events had, in the past, extended even further into the city area; but they had never before happened at the same time as eruptions.
History.
Caltanissetta's origins can be traced back to 406 BC, when admiral Nicia of Hamilcar's siege force from Carthage established a fort at the site, later called "Castra Nicia" (Fort Nicia).
After the Second Punic War, "Castra Nicia" came under Roman rule, but as in the rest of Sicily, the influence of the invaders remained superficial.
In AD 829, the city was occupied by the Saracens. The Carthaginian name, similar to the Arabic word "nisā’" (meaning 'women') resulted in the Saracen name "Qal‘at al-Nisā’" ('Fort of the Women'), since Italianized to "Caltanissetta". The settlement was captured by the Normans in 1086. A charter was granted to the town in accordance with Count Roger Borsa's vast plan for the urbanisation of Sicily, and the urban plan that is still in evidence today was laid out.
After the Norman occupation the city was under the rule of the Hohenstaufen, the Anjou and the Aragonese kings, who gave it the title of 'County'. It was here that Frederick II of Sicily was proclaimed king. The city was the seat of another Parliament which aimed to settle the disputes which had arisen during the reign of Frederick III (1355–1377).
In 1406 Caltanissetta became a fiefdom of the noble Spanish family Moncada, which already owned the Estate of Paternò, and subsequently the area fell into great decay. Construction of the Cathedral began in 1539, and, notably, in 1566 a bridge was built over the Salso River. In this period the city began to expand outside the walls, with creation of the new areas of "Santa Flavia", "San Rocco degli Zingari" and "San Francesco". These included the medieval village of Arab origin. The areas were separated by two roads which crossed roughly perpendicularly to a central square (now Piazza Garibaldi): the current Corso Vittorio Emanuele (west-east) and the Corso Umberto I (north-south).
On July 8, 1718 the city was assaulted by Piedmontese troops, causing large loss of life to the population. In 1787 Johann Wolfgang Goethe visited Caltanissetta.
In 1812, the Moncada seignory ended after a rule of 406 years, when the feudal constitution was abolished and Caltanissetta was turned into the 22nd Comarca of Sicily. In 1819 the city was declared to be the Capital of the province. However one year later it was sacked as a punishment for its loyalty to the House of Bourbon. In 1844 it was elevated to a Bishopric seat.
After many Nisseni had taken part in his Thousands deeds, Giuseppe Garibaldi entered the city, together with Cesare Abba and Alexandre Dumas, père. On October 22 of the same year a Plebiscite declared Caltanissetta to be part of the new Kingdom of Italy.
After the Unification of Italy the area experienced an economic boom, largely due to extensive mining of sulfur. The mining was accompanied by various misfortunes: on the 27th of April 1867 47 people died due to a fire-damp explosion in the "Trabonella" mine; 65 miners died on November 12, 1881 in "Gessolungo" mine because of an explosion; and another 51 died in 1911 in "Deliella" and "Trabonella" mines.
In 1875, however, the population rose up against the Prefect, who was subsequently fired. On April 8, 1878 the city was connected to a railway, ending the historical difficulties in reaching it. Three years later the King Umberto I visited Caltanissetta along with his wife Margherita of Savoy and his son Victor Emmanuel III.
During the Second World War, as part of the Allied landing in Sicily( in July 1943), Caltanissetta suffered several bombings during which 351 civilians were killed. On July 10, 1943 U.S. 3rd Infantry troops landed in Licata and 8 days later, on 18 July they entered and occupied the city. The U.S. 1st infantry landed in Gela some hours later and advanced toward Catania to meet the U.S 45th Infantry, which had landed near Scoglitti.
Economy.
Caltanissetta's economy remained heavily reliant on agriculture until the 19th century, when sulfur mining industry began
extensively. 275 sulfur mines were created in the province, employing 32,000 workers.
Fratelli Averna SpA, a firm in the city, produces the Amaro Averna, a liqueur sold throughout Italy and beyond.
Nevertheless, Caltanissetta has long been stricken by poverty, especially its West side.
Main sights.
The city's monuments include:
Caltanissetta has three museums: the Diocesan Museum; the Mineralogical Museum; the Regional Archeological Museum. The latter holds displays mostly from prehistoric times and includes finds from archeological digs conducted in the 1950s. These include vases and tools from the Bronze Age, and early Sicilian ceramics.
Sites in the neighbourhood of Caltanissetta include:
1407 saw the castle become the property of the Moncada family from Spain, and thus began the Castle's subsequent period of decline. Having been deemed unsuitable as a noble residence, it was used only for military functions. At the end of the 15th century, the castle dungeons were used as prisons. In 1567 a strong earthquake caused the collapse of the castle. Only the ruins of two towers, still visible today, remained standing.
Transport.
Caltanissetta is served by the A19 motorway Palermo-Catania, with an exit linking to the Town Centre via a highway. The town has two railway stations: Caltanissetta Centrale on the Caltanissetta-Agrigento line and Caltanissetta Xirbi, on the Palermo-Catania line.
Media.
Caltanissetta is also the site of a Short-wave transmitter, broadcasting RAI. (The Long-wave transmitter was shut down in 2002).
Sport.
Caltanissetta is home to the Nissa F.C. A.S.D.Nissa Football Club, now playing in the Prima Categoria/First Division, i.e. level seven of the Italian Football League.
The city also hosts "Città di Caltanissetta" Tennis Tournament, part of the ATP Challenger Tour.


Bochum-Dahlhausen station

Bochum-Dahlhausen station is located in the Dahlhausen district of Bochum in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The station building dates from the time of the First World War.
History.
The origins of this station date back to 1863, when the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company opened a branch line from Essen-Überruhr via Essen-Steele Ost station (originally Steele station) to Dahlhausen on 21 September 1863. This line is now considered to be part of the Wuppertal-Vohwinkel–Essen-Überruhr railway, between Überruhr and Essen-Steele Ost junction, and the Essen-Überruhr–Bochum-Langendreer railway between Essen-Steele Ost and Dahlhausen.
It was primarily used for freight, but on weekdays, passenger carriages were also attached. When the line was extended to Hattingen in 1866, a small station building was built in Dahlhausen. On 10 October 1870, the Bochum-Dahlhausen–Bochum Langendreer line (also known as the Hasenwinkel coal line) was opened as a standard gauge railway. The communities of Dahlhausen and Linden were involved in the construction of a new station building that was completed in 1875. By this time, the Ruhr Valley Railway was already open to Hagen. Therefore, the building soon proved to be too small.
Consequently, in 1913 the Prussian state railways division at Essen ("Königlich-Preußische Eisenbahndirektion Essen") began building a larger station that it had been planning since 1910 on the double-track Dahlhausen–Steele line behind a levy bank to prevent flooding by the Ruhr. During the First World War, the station was built using prisoners of war, and inaugurated on 28 February 1917.
Post-war period.
With the end of the mining industry in the Ruhr valley, the Ruhr Valley Railway lost its significance. A depot that was 800 metres west of Bochum-Dahlhausen closed in 1969.
Since 1977, the former locomotive depot has housed the Bochum Dahlhausen Railway Museum, the last fully preserved steam locomotive depot in Germany.
The station building was closed in 1979, because only S-Bahn trains have operated on the line to Hattingen since 1974. Finally, in 1994, the building was heritage-listed. An investor has been allowed to restore the facade and roof in the Art Nouveau style. The main hall has been restored to the style of the 1920s. In the late 1990s, the building housed a hotel, which operated under the name of "Dampflok" (steam engine). It was damaged by a fire, and since then, the historic station building was unused until 2009.
Since 1 September 2009, the former station building has been operated as "One World Station", a forum for cultural activities, by a non-profit organisation, "ProKulturgut.Net".
In addition to the passenger station, Dahlhausen had a marshalling yard, which is now completely dismantled. On one part of the former railway tracks, a housing estate ("Ruhrauenpark"), has been created, with the first houses going on sale in 2005.
Future.
It is planned to modernise and rebuild Bochum-Dahlhausen station to make it accessible for the disabled from 2014, at a cost of €4.3 million. The renovation will also improve links between buses and trains.
Services.
Dahlhausen station today consists of three tracks on two platforms. Tracks 1 and 2 are primarily used for normal S-Bahn traffic, while track 3 is used for museum services operated by the Bochum Dahlhausen Railway Museum.
In the immediate vicinity of the station building, a single-track tram line of the Bochum tram network terminates in the pedestrian zone near the station. Line 318 is the only direct tram connection from Dahlhausen to Bochum Hauptbahnhof.
It is also served by four bus lines (345, 352, 359 and 390). The trams and buses are operated by BOGESTRA.


Siberian Baroque

Siberian Baroque is an architectural style common for ambitious structures in 18th-century Siberia, where 115 stone churches in Siberia were recorded in 1803, most of which were built in this provincial variant of the Russian Baroque, influenced by the Ukrainian Baroque and in some cases even incorporating lamaist motifs. Most of the buildings were preserved in Irkutsk, Tobolsk and Tomsk. An original interior of a Siberian Baroque structure survives only in the Feast of the Cross Church in Irkutsk.
Siberian churches of the 18th century, like most of and Baroque buildings, are astylar. The refectory and belfries are joined at the western side. Paintings in Siberian Baroque buildings are typically becoming smaller in its dimension (A. Yu. Kaptikov called this technique the "Baroque advanced form"). Decorativelly it features foreign exotic motifs, likely of eastern origin (examples are arrow-shaped and "flaming" cornices, stupa-like forms and dharmacakras).
History.
In the 17th century stone was used in Siberia as a building material only in Tobolsk and Abalak. Those were old Russian buildings with elements of the "uzorochye". In the manner of Naryshkin Baroque is the earliest stone building in Tyumen – the Annunciation church (constructed from 1700–04, and destroyed in the Soviet period, it has been under reconstruction). Just thereafter, the Trinity monastery was built mostly in Ukrainian Baroque due likely to the Ukrainian origin of Siberian hierarchs. The next Siberian churches included some remarkable elements of Ukrainian Baroque, for example the vertical-vaulted architecture. Some literature describe the similarity of the earliest Tobolsk monuments with Uralian churches of the very first 18th century, like the Dormition of the Mother of God monastery in Dalmatovo and the cathedral in Verkhoturye (the only one of its type representing Stroganov architecture).
One of the first stone structures on the eastern Siberia includes the Dormition of the Mother of God monastery in Nerchinsk (1712), the Transfiguration of the Saviour in Posolskoye (1718), the church of the Saviour and the Epiphany church, both in Irkutsk, the Epiphany church and the Voyevoda house in Yeniseysk and the Saviour monastery in Yakutsk.
Research history.
The most original monument of Siberian Baroque is the Feast of the Cross church in Irkutsk (1747–1758); "the best example of Siberian Baroque, with its originality in cultural-semantic and ethno-stylistic stratifications". Its Buddhist decors aroused interest under scientists and researchers already in the pre-revolutionary Russia. The unique monument was compared with the pompous stone round churches of Solikamsk and Solvychegodsk. Igor Grabar saw in that church a late provincial resume of the Moscow "uzorochya", with its striving for "painting". He wrote that "its naive combination echoes Moscow and Ukraine, which is fancifully weaved into a densely inwrought tapestry, with a peculiar odour of the neighbouring East".
The term "Siberian Baroque" was created by Irkutsk local historian D. A. Boldyrev-Kazarin in 1924, When mentioning the possibility of the participation of Buryat workers, Boldyrev-Kazarin said, that in Siberia "some details of Mongolian and Chinese architecture have well-known forms of kokoshniks", while "Khanty, Tatar and Bukharian" influences determine the special decor of churches in Ishim, Yalutorovsk and Tara.
The issue of the relationships between Eastern and Ukrainian Baroque and Siberian Baroque of the 18th century was also researched in the Soviet times. Some found a "Buryat decor" in Irkutsk churches, and if judging their size and construction, they were built by architects of the Northern Russian cities Totma and Veliky Ustyug. According to T. S. Proskuryakova, early Siberian church architecture divides between two "subregional types": Western Siberian (Tobolsk, Tyumen, the area behind the Ural mountains) and Eastern Siberian (Irkutsk). H. Yu. Kaptikov also uses that sorting system. He sees in Siberian architecture of the 18th century one of the provincial schools in Russian Baroque, along with Totma-Ustyug, Vyatsk and Uralian.


Erskineville Town Hall

The Erskineville Town Hall is a landmark civic building in Erskineville, a suburb of Sydney. It stands at 104 Erskineville Road. It was opened in 1938 in the Inter-war Georgian revival style by Lindsay Gordon Scott. The Town Hall was the seat of Erskineville Municipal Council from 1938 to 1948 and was the seat of the South Sydney Councils from 1968 to 1982 and 1989 to 2003. Since 2004 the town hall has been a community centre for the City of Sydney servicing the local area.
History and description.
The original Erskineville Town Hall was built on an adjacent site in the 1880s following the incorporation of the Macdonaldtown Municipal Council in 1872. The original town hall replaced a small building which had been used for meetings since incorporation, described in "The Sydney Morning Herald" as one that could "scarcely be termed a council-chamber, much less a town hall. An insignificant weatherboard structure, about 50ft by 16ft, containing one apartment only, is all the accommodation possessed. In it the council clerk transacts the ordinary business of the borough, and it also does duty as a council-chamber." The purpose-built Victorian style design Town Hall was designed by architects, Drake and Walcott, who had also designed the Leichhardt Town Hall and were commissioned by the council in March 1889. Built by Thomas Johnson, of Ultimo, the hall was completed in 1890 and the council first met there in February 1890. In 1893, Macdonaldtown was subdivided and the suburb of Erskineville was established, with the name changing to be the "Erskineville Municipal Council".
Second Town Hall.
By the 1930s, with the announcement of the widening and realignment of Erskineville Road, the Victorian-era town hall was set to be demolished. As a consequence, Erskineville Council commissioned plans for a new town hall on a site adjacent to the old hall. In 1936, an initial design by Sydney Architect Lindsay Gordon Scott was accepted. This design was an ambitious one, including two stories and a 75-foot-high clock tower. This design however was found to be too expensive and grand for a small municipality in a primarily working-class area of Sydney and was revised to be the current design of a single storey building without the tower in a similar red brick Georgian revival style. In a tribute to the former council chambers, glass from the original town hall was incorporated into the new offices.
On 1 December 1937, the Mayor of the council, Alderman J. W. Elliott, laid the foundation stone and nearly year later, on 26 November 1938, the Secretary for Public Works and Minister for Local Government, Eric Spooner MLA, officially opened Erskineville Town Hall with the Mayor at that time, Alderman N. McGuinness. However, even this simpler redesign of the town hall found criticism with the Sydney Morning Herald demanding to know how the Council could justify spending £5000 on their "luxurious chamber" when they wouldn't pay for the immunisation of children against diphtheria.
The new town hall was the home of Erskineville Council until its abolition in 1948 and was a community centre until 1968 when the then "Municipality of Northcott" was established in the area which became the Municipality of South Sydney and then the City of South Sydney. The town hall was its seat until its abolition in 1983 and became the seat of the reestablished South Sydney Council in 1989. It served this role until late in 2003 when the South Sydney City Council resolved to move the Council Chambers to the South Sydney Civic Centre at Lawson Square in Redfern.
Restoration.
With the merging of the City of South Sydney with the City of Sydney in 2004 however, the town hall became primarily a community centre for the local area. In 2005 Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore commissioned refurbishment and restoration works for the town hall which included gas-powered air-conditioning and solar energy and improved disability access for the building. On completion of this restoration in March 2013, Lord Mayor Moore declared: "Apart from showing you the work we’ve done here, it's also an opportunity to show you how this rejuvenated Town Hall – still going strong in its 75th year – can work for your community. [...] This local landmark can now serve your community into the future." The Town Hall is now also on the City of Sydney heritage register "as a fine example of the growth of small municipal councils in NSW during the 1870s to 1940s and one of three town halls from the same period ─ the others are at Petersham and Rockdale ─ that feature art deco influences, a central clock tower and a classical entry portico."


Former National Westminster Bank, Spring Gardens, Manchester

The former National Westminster Bank in Spring Gardens, Manchester, England, is an Edwardian bank building constructed in 1902 for Parr's Bank by Charles Heathcote. The bank is in a "bold Edwardian Baroque" style. It is a Grade II* listed building as of 25 February 1952.
The bank is built of red sandstone with a corner tower and cupola, Doric columns supporting nothing but ornamental brackets, and hooded gables. The vast plate glass windows designed to illuminate the banking hall are particularly striking, each with "a large round-headed window filling the width of each bay, with moulded head, scrolled keystone, and plate-glass glazing with enriched bronze 'ferramenta' including a horizontal mid-panel, bottom panels with stained glass, and arched upper lights with margin panes".
The interior is "amongst the most opulent of any of the date surviving in Manchester, and for that matter, in London". The foyer has mahogany panelling, whilst the main banking hall is walled with green marble. The stained glass, some of which is original, and the ironwork on the exterior are Art Nouveau.
The bank is now a bar.


A Fireproof House for $5000

"A Fireproof House for $5000" is an article and house design by Frank Lloyd Wright published in the "Ladies' Home Journal" in April 1907. It is Wright's third and final publication in the journal following "A Home in a Prairie Town" and "A Small House with 'Lots of Room in It'" from February and July 1901, respectively. The drawings for the house were also included in Wright's 1910 Wasmuth Portfolio "(Plate XIV)".
Design.
Frank Lloyd Wright was not the only voice advocating for fireproof homes in the early twentieth century; from 1902 to 1908, Thomas Edison was also experimenting with designs for mass-produced houses as part of the Edison Portland Cement Company. The notion of concrete houses was further popularized in several books by the Atlas Portland Cement Company. The appeal of concrete dwellings was not only the resistance to fire, but also to insects, moisture, and the effects of weather. The walls, floors, roof, and chimney of Wright's design were to be constructed of reinforced concrete or as Wright stated: "a masonry monolith...interlaced with steel fibres". Interior partitions were specified as plaster over either metal lath or three-inch clay tile blocks. Unlike the house shell, the interiors were to have been outfitted with more combustible wood millwork, casework, and flooring.
As the title of the article suggested, Wright intended the house to be relatively inexpensive. He determined 5000 US dollars to be the best balance between low cost and quality, low-maintenance construction. However, at a time when the average American salary was less than $700 a year and Gustav Stickley was advertising houses in "The Craftsman" that could be built for as little as $2000 to $4000, Wright's design was still only affordable for middle-class households. Nevertheless, economy was one of the key considerations in conceiving the plans. Cost cutting features included a compact, two-story floor plan which measured square plus a narrow entry and stairway extension. The four sides were also designed identically, so that a single set of concrete forms could have been used — only minor modifications would have been required to accommodate the stairwell. Interior spaces were pared down as much as possible by eliminating the back stairwell, butler's pantry, and food pantry, by limiting circulation space on both levels, and by combining all public spaces into a single, combined living room and dining room. In typical style, Wright also did away with the attic, however defied his own doctrine by giving the dwelling a full basement storeroom.
In addition to durability and expense, Wright incorporated such factors as thermal comfort into the design. First, he indicated that concrete construction would keep the house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Concrete walls have greater thermal mass than walls of wood, and thereby lessen temperature fluctuations during the day and throughout the year. Furthermore, the roof overhang would have reduced overheating by shading part of the walls in summer. A third feature was perhaps the most innovative: Wright specified that the ceilings for the second floor rooms be installed eight inches below the roof slab. The resulting air space was to be fed by vents beneath the eaves and exhausted through the chimney to create a constant stream of moving air. Modern homes often use a similar soffit and ridge vent combination to keep the attic and the floor below cooler. Yet, at the time of publication, most wood houses lacked attic ventilation because buildings were not constructed as tightly as those built in recent years. The monolithic construction of the Fireproof House would have prevented most natural air infiltration, making the ventilated air space a necessity.
The layout of the Fireproof House is a response to the American Foursquare, a format popular across the United States in the early 1900s. The Foursquare and Fireproof House shared the common cause for simpler, more economical design. The typical American Foursquare was a simple two-story box divided into four equal quadrants per floor. On the main level, the entrance hall and living room occupied the front corners, while a dining room and kitchen split the back of the house. Three or four bedrooms and a bathroom fit into each quadrant of the upstairs. Wright modified this basic plan by shifting the stairs and entrance to a less prominent location at the side of the house, allowing the living room an entire half of the first floor. The wall between the dining room and living room was removed to create a single L-shaped room "(see floor plans at right)".
Built examples.
By Frank Lloyd Wright.
Wright was never commissioned to construct the Fireproof House exactly as it had appeared in the "Ladies' Home Journal," but several variations of the design were built in the following years. Most of the houses were erected with stucco covered wood-framed walls, and so were not "fireproof" in any way.
Related designs.
Prior to publishing "A Fireproof House", Wright designed and constructed two houses with very similar floor plans. The first was the Robert M. Lamp House (1903) in Madison, Wisconsin, followed by the Charles A. Brown House (1905) in Evanston, Illinois.
In 1909, Wright designed three compact houses for an unexecuted subdivision for Edward C. Waller with floor plans that resemble the Fireproof House and Ravine Bluff rental properties. These houses also appeared in the Wasmuth Portfolio on Plate XLVIII. He also reused the basic Foursquare layout for at least three models of his later American System-Built Homes.


Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House

The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is an opera house (one of four venues in the AT&T Performing Arts Center) located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA).
Designed as a 21st-century reinterpretation of the traditional opera house, the Winspear seats 2,200 (with a capacity of 2,300) in a traditional horseshoe configuration.
The facility is the home of The Dallas Opera (which until the 2008/2009 season performed at the Music Hall at Fair Park) and the Texas Ballet Theater. The AT&T Performing Arts Center also produces original programming and partners with local and national organizations to present a wide range of other cultural performances at the venue. These offerings include music, dance, Broadway shows, concerts and lectures.
The Winspear Opera House includes the Nancy Hamon Education and Recital Hall, a space that can be used for smaller performances seating audiences up to 200, as well as classes, rehearsals, meetings and events.
History.
Groundbreaking for the AT&T Performing Arts Center and Winspear Opera House was held in October 2006. The venue was designed by Foster and Partners (principal architect: Spencer de Grey) and made possible in part by a $42-million gift from Margot and Bill Winspear, for whom the facility is named. The London firm Sound Space Design (principal acoustician: Robert Essert) developed the acoustical design of the opera house and the acoustics were engineered specifically for performances of opera and musical theater. Theatre planning and theatre equipment design were by Theatre Projects Consultants. The stages were also equipped with appropriate flooring for performances of ballet and other forms of dance.
The opera house was presented to the public with tours and performances during the center's opening week, October 12 – 18, 2009. The first opera performance took place on October 23, 2009 with Verdi's "Otello", conducted by Graeme Jenkins.
Design Features.
The Annette and Harold Simmons Signature Glass Façade wraps around the building, creating a transparency between the opera house and the surrounding Performance Park. An wide section of the glass façade is retractable to a height of , literally opening up the Grand Lobby, Cafe and Box Circle-level Restaurant to Performance Park.
The Grand Portico, radiating from the opera house on all sides, provides shade over of the Performance Park. The solar canopy's louvers are arranged at fixed angles following the path of the sun. By eliminating most direct sunlight on the façade and by creating a cooler microclimate around the building, the canopy significantly reduce the energy requirements of the Winspear Opera House.
In May 2009 artist Guillermo Kuitca was commissioned to design the stage curtain. The design abstracts the seating plan for the Winspear's Margaret McDermott Performance Hall and reproduces this image onto the curtain itself.
A key design feature is the 318-rod chandelier located inside the performance hall, named The Moody Foundation Chandelier. The chandelier hangs 50 feet below the ceiling. Starting Friday, June 28, 2013, the traditional pre-performance ascent of The Moody Chandelier has been accompanied by an exclusively adapted piece “The Light” by American composer Philip Glass. Once retracted into the ceiling, it leaves the impression of a star lit night, as each rod has the ability to "twinkle." The acrylic rods are illuminated by three primary color LEDs which allows the chandelier to be lit in virtually any color.


Stanley Prison

Stanley Prison (c. January 1937, previously known as Hong Kong Prison at Stanley) is one of the six maximum security facilities in Hong Kong.
History.
Built in 1937, Stanley Prison is currently the oldest institution still in service (the oldest prison built in Hong Kong was Victoria Prison, which ceased operation on 24 December 2005) and houses both male adult convicted prisoners and male adult remand prisoners. It was set up by the then Prisons Department, and is now administered by the Correctional Services Department. The maximum capacity of the prison is 1,511 and it has over 800 staff and officers. Stanley Prison, at the time of its construction, was considered to be one of the finest prisons in the British Empire. It was a modern structure built of stone, concrete and steel and consisted of six cell blocks set behind an 18-foot wall. It was originally designed to house 1,500 prisoners.
Before Hong Kong officially abolished the death penalty in 1993, Stanley Prison had been a place of execution that saw the execution of criminals between 1946 and 1966. Although the law did not change until 1993, the last execution that was carried out in Stanley Prison was in November 1966. (This figure (122) does not include the large number of prisoners who were killed by the Japanese during the occupation of Hong Kong in World War II—see below.) The area which once housed the gallows has now been replaced with the prison hospital.
Japanese occupation.
Hong Kong fell to the invading Japanese on Christmas Day 1941 following a brief but brutal conflict. During the Japanese occupation, the grounds of the prison were used as part of Stanley Internment Camp. It was a place of torture and execution, with Mateen Ansari, who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his heroism in resisting the Japanese, as one of the most famous victims. During the Japanese invasion of China, refugees crawled across the border to Hong Kong and many became hawkers on the streets. Those who were caught were sent to Stanley Prison and soon the inmate population grew to over 3,000, well over its limits.
Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum.
Adjacent to Stanley Prison is the Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum. The museum is housed in a two-storey building next to the parade ground of the Staff Training Institute of the Correctional Services Department in Stanley. It has an area of 480 square metres with a collection of some 600 artefacts.