Koca Mustafa Pasha Mosque

Koca Mustafa Pasha Mosque (; also named "Sünbül Efendi Camii") is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque by the Ottomans, located in Istanbul, Turkey. The church, as the adjoining monastery, was dedicated to Saint Andrew of Crete, and was named Saint Andrew in Krisei or by-the-Judgment (, "Monē tοu Hagiοu Andreοu en tē Krisei"). Although heavily transformed during both the Byzantine and the Ottoman eras, it is one among the few churches in Istanbul still extant, whose foundation goes back to the sixth century.
Location.
The building lies in the Istanbul district of Fatih, in the neighborhood of Kocamustafapaşa, along "Koca Mustafa Paşa Caddesi". It is placed inside the walled city, and not far from the church of Saint John of Stoudion, on the slopes of the seventh hill of Constantinople near the sea of Marmara.
History.
Byzantine period.
At the beginning of the 5th century, Princess Arcadia, sister of Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408–450), ordered the construction, near the Gate of Saturninus, of a monastery dedicated to Saint Andrew. The building, named also "Rodophylion" () lay about west of the gate. The monastery was later converted into a nunnery, mentioned for the first time in 792. The monastery of Saint Andrew was known under the appellation "by-the-Judgment", after the place where it lay, named "the Judgment" (, "hē Krisis"). Saint Andrew of Crete, a martyr of the fight against Byzantine Iconoclasm, killed on 20 November 766 in the Forum Bovis because of his opposition to the iconoclastic policies of Emperor Constantine V (r. 741–775), was buried there. Due to his popularity after the final triumph of Orthodoxy, the dedication of the church changed from Saint Andrew the Apostle to him. During the second half of the ninth century, Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) wholly rebuilt the church, which possibly had been damaged during the iconoclastic fights.
Around 1284, Princess Theodora Raoulaina, niece of Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) and wife of "protovestiarios" John Raoul Petraliphas, rebuilt the monastery and the church, deserving the appellation of second "ktētorissa". She spent the last fifteen years of her life in the monastery, and was buried there. Neglected during the Latin occupation of Constantinople, two Russian pilgrims visiting Constantinople in 1350 and between 1425 and 1450 mention the church, affirming that Saint Andrew was worshiped by many who were afflicted by sickness. At the beginning of the fifteenth century the surrounding area of the monastery was covered with vineyards, confirming the decline of the city.
Ottoman period.
After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople the monastery, known by the Turks as "Kızlar Kilisesi" ("women's church"), continued to be inhabited for a while. Between 1486 and 1491 "Kapicibaşi" (and later Grand Vizier) Koca Mustafa Pasha, executed in 1512, converted the church into a mosque. Some years later, the building of the monastery was endowed by his son-in-law, Şeih Çelebi Efendi as Tekke for the Dervishes of the "Halveti" order. The dervishes were led at that time by the Sufi Master Sünbül Efendi. His türbe, a popular destination for Muslim pilgrims, lies next to the mosque, which is also named after him. At the beginning of the sixteenth century there were quarrels between Sultan Selim I and Şeih Çelebi, since the sultan wanted to pull down part of the monastery to build the Topkapı Palace. He died in 1559 and his wife Safiye Hatun were both buried in a türbe in the yard of the mosque, near the türbe of Mustafa Pasha. Several Halveti Sheiks were buried in the cemetery behind the Mosque.
Also in this period was born the tradition related to a chain hung to a cypress tree. The cypress is since long dead but still stands - together with the chain - inside a small round building in the yard of the mosque. The chain was swung between two people who were affirming contradictory statements, and the chain was said to hit the one who was telling the truth.
This is one among many surviving folk tales concerning the mosque (like those about the "çifte Sultanlar", the "twin Sultans"), all with Byzantine roots. They testify the merge between Ottoman and Greek popular culture and beliefs.<br>
At the beginning of the 17th century, "Defterdar" (treasury minister) Ekmekçizade Ahmet Paşa (d. 1618) let build a Medrese, the gates of the complex, a "zaviye", and a mekteb (school). About one century later "Hekimbaşı" (Sultan's chief physician) Giridli Nuh Efendi (d. 1707) closed the Tekke and enlarged the Medrese, while in 1737 "Kızlar Ağası" Hacı Beşir Ağa erected in the yard a column-shaped fountain. The earthquake of 1766 destroyed the dome of the building: it was rebuilt in 1768. During the 19th century, Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839) rebuilt the porch. In 1847–1848, Sultan Abdülmecid I (r. 1839–1861) let the wall which encircles the complex be rebuilt. Some years later two fountains were erected in the yard of the mosque. Finally, in 1953, the building was restored again.
The tradition to light up the minaret of the mosques on the eve of the anniversary of the birth of Prophet Muhammad ("Mawlid al-Nabi") was born in the Koca Mustafa Mosque.
Architecture.
The building was originally of the ambulatory type, and is oriented in east-northeast - west-southwest direction. It has a central dome and a three apses, placed of the east side. An esonarthex and exonarthex are placed in the west side. On the other three sides the dome was originally surrounded by arcades surmounted by barrel vaults. During the Ottoman period the building underwent important alterations. The entrance is on the north side, where the Ottomans built an arcade covered by five domes. After the earthquake of 1766, the central dome was rebuilt. It is circular inside, octagonal outside, and rests on a high drum pierced by eight windows.
On the north and south sides of the main dome, two half domes were added during the Ottoman period. They are also both pierced by three large windows, which outside look like dormers. All the domes rest on arches. The eastern arch sustaining the main dome is prolonged into a barrel vault bema, flanked by niches which originally led to the Prothesis and Diaconicon. Only the "diaconicon", covered with a cross-groined vault, survives. The west arch sustaining the dome is filled in with a triple arcade resting on two marble columns topped by cubic capitals.
The inner narthex is divided into three bays. The north one is covered with an Ottoman dome. The central one is surmounted by a barrel vault, while the south one is surmounted by a cross groined vault. The last two are Byzantine.
The outer narthex is divided into five bays, the three central corresponding with those of the inner narthex. The central bay is covered by a central saucer dome resting on pendentives. It is separated by the two intermediate bays by columns set against pilasters. These two bays are covered with groined vaults put on ionic capitals, which resemble those used in the Church of Saints Sergius and Baccus. The two external bays are surmounted by central saucer domes and are separated from the others by projecting pilasters.
The exterior is clearly Ottoman. It is made with finely dressed and polished stone, with no tiles, and has a stone moulded cornice. Above the drum of the halfdomes there is a stone molded cornice. The square base of the drum and the dome itself are faced with polished stone alternating with courses of three bricks set in a thick bed of mortar. Also the dome is crowned with a stone molded cornice. The roof is covered with lead.
The Byzantine monastery has disappeared completely, except for an underground cistern which lies southeast of the mosque. A beautiful Byzantine carved door frame, possibly of the sixth century, belonging to the Medrese, has been brought to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.
Despite its architectural significance, the building has never undergone a systematic study.


8 Canada Square

8 Canada Square (also known as the HSBC Tower) is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. The building serves as the global headquarters of the HSBC Group.
Design and construction.
Having been commissioned by the owners of the Canary Wharf Site to do the outline design prior to gaining site-wide outline planning permission, and because he had designed HSBC's last head office at 1 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, Sir Norman Foster (now Lord Foster of Thames Bank) was appointed as architect.
Construction began in January 1999, with work beginning on the installation of the 4,900 glass panels commencing in the summer of 2000. The work was carried out by Canary Wharf Contractors. In May 2000, three workmen were killed in a crane accident.
The topping out ceremony took place on 7 March 2001, with the hoisting in of the final steel girder attended by bankers, journalists and contractors. The first HSBC employees began work in the building on 2 September 2002, with phased occupation completed by 17 February 2003, and the building's official opening, by Sir John Bond, taking place on 2 April 2003.
Financial cost.
Counting from its official opening in April 2003, it was only four years before difficulties emerged in managing the building and its associated costs. In April 2007, HSBC Tower was sold to Spanish property company Metrovacesa, becoming the first building in Britain to be sold for more than £1bn.
After re acquired ownership of the building in December 2008, HSBC once again sold the building, this time to the National Pension Service ("NPS"), the public pension fund for South Korea, on 13 November 2009. HSBC's income statement on completion declared a gain of approximately £350million resulting from the transaction.
In December 2014, Qatar Investment Authority, completed the purchase of this building at an undisclosed price, but the building was expected to fetch more than £1.1 billion (US$1.73 billion). NPS was advised by the estate agents Jones Lang LaSalle and GM Real Estate.
Stephen and Stitt.
8 Canada Square has a pair of bronze lions guarding the main entrance. These are copies of a pair nicknamed "Stephen" and "Stitt" which have stood outside the Bank's Headquarters at 1 Queen's Road Central in Hong Kong since 1935. The Hong Kong lions are named after yet another pair of lions that guarded the Bank's Shanghai headquarters on The Bund after it opened in 1923.
The lions were cast within sight of the development by the Bronze Age Sculpture Casting Foundry in Limehouse.


Mayfield Downtown Commercial District

The Mayfield Downtown Commercial District is a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The listing was increased in 1996.
The original area included 77 contributing buildings; the increase added 21 more.
It includes the Graves County Courthouse, built in 1888 at cost of $40,000, the fourth courthouse at the location.


Metropol (Berlin)

The Metropol, formerly Neues Schauspielhaus (), at 5 Nollendorfplatz in the Schöneberg district of Berlin was built in 1905 as a theatre and concert hall (the Mozartsaal) in the then-fashionable Art Nouveau style. In 1911 the Mozartsaal was converted into a cinema with 925 seats.
From the beginning of World War I the theatre turned into an operetta stage until in 1927, Erwin Piscator and Tilla Durieux opened their "Theater am Nollendorfplatz" in the building. Piscator created critical performances by playwrights like Ernst Toller and Walter Mehring, with artists like Bertolt Brecht, George Grosz and John Heartfield at times working with him. Piscator's theater went bankrupt in 1929, and he emigrated in 1931. After the Nazi takeover the house became an operetta theatre once again, now under the direction of Harald Paulsen.
While the auditorium was destroyed in World War II, the facade as well as the cinema survived and in 1951 was renamed the Metropol. Since 1977 it has been used as a discothèque and became a famous music club during the 1980s heyday of West Berlin, frequented by bands like Depeche Mode, Morrissey, The Cross, The Human League and Front 242. For a short time in 2000 it was the location of the KitKatClub and in 2005 the architect Hans Kollhoff remodeled the interior as the "Goya" night club. In 2019 it was reopened as the Metropol.
Cultural references.
Wim Wenders's 1987 film "Wings of Desire" includes a segment filmed during a Nick Cave concert in this venue.
Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava used the building (and the existing logo of the Metropol-discotheque) in "Demons".


All Saints Church, Barrowby

All Saints Church is a Grade I listed Anglican church in Barrowby, Lincolnshire, England. The church is west from Grantham on a hillside overlooking the Vale of Belvoir, and to the south of the A52. All Saints is in the ecclesiastical parish of Barrowby and Great Gonerby.
History.
A church and its priest at Barrowby is mentioned in the "Domesday" account.
During the suppression of the monasteries All Saints' medieval stained glass was destroyed, as was, in 1561, a rood screen with its attached gilded crucifix and figures of Mary and St John, and the Easter Sepulchre. The suppression also caused the breaking-up of the altar stones and the sale of the altar cross and candlesticks.
Thomas Hurst was rector of Barrowby from 1629, having been born here in 1598. Chaplain to Charles I, he spent the First English Civil War with the Royalists, during which time, in 1644, he lost his living, which was sequestrated and given to Robert Ram, Minister of Spalding, Lincolnshire, who was chaplain in the Parliamentary army. He was reinstated in 1660. He died on 17 March 1674 and is memorialized in the church. A further notable minister was James Menteath, who became rector in 1759. He was a Snell scholar between 1736 and 1741 as a contemporary scholar of Adam Smith, and "…may have been in the 'good company' Smith met in that place. Like Smith, he responded to the furore over tar-water, and tried drinking it himself, to his moderate benefit, he thought…"
Before the early 19th century a church band played for All Saints' services, after which a church organ was installed. New pews were added: "after being many years in a mutilated condition, the old pews were removed, and the church was restored, beautified and refitted with neat open benches of pine". During the latter half of the 19th century restoration was carried out on the spire and roof, and a new organ and choir stalls were installed, while stained glass was fitted into late 14th-century windows. The Rev. George Earle Welby (rector from 1849) founded the village’s church school, and gave the church its c. 1891 timber-framed lychgate, now a Grade II listed structure.
Architecture.
All Saints is a limestone ashlar and ironstone church with a Westmorland and Welsh slate roof. Its tower is of Decorated style with an octagonal spire containing two tiers of lucarnes. The tower contains six bells.
The church' north aisle dates from the late 13th century, its north windows being of Perpendicular style. There are north and south arcades. The north is in two parts that comprise two bays each; the south has four bays with octagonal piers – the pier details could be of an earlier date than the exterior. The windows in the aisles are of Decorated style. In the earliest part of the chancel is a 13th-century priests' door, the chancel itself having Decorated and Perpendicular windows. In the chancel’s outer wall is part of an interlaced pattern, probably Anglo-Saxon, and probably taken from a cross shaft. The porch is 15th century and contains stone benches. A 13th-century piscina and three sedilia, restored in the 19th century, are on the interior south side. The font is octagonal and Perpendicular, with two-light windows in its stem, through which can be seen the image of a devil. The bowl itself has eight three-light windows. The screen too is Perpendicular. The octagonal oak pulpit is 19th century, possibly constructed with old wood taken from the previous rood screen. "Pevsner" notes a 1696 chalice and paten, and an 1808 alms basin by Peter and William Bateman. There are brasses to Nicolas Deen (d. 1479), and the wife (d. 1508) of James Deen, and a tablet to the family of Dr Hurst, Chaplain to Charles I, dated 1674. The Hurst tablet inscription reads: "Dr Hurst hath Iyeing within this chancel seven children namely, Anne, Lewis, Mary, Elizabeth, Charles, Sarayh, and Anna. This is to their memory 1675".
"Cox" (1916) notes:
"The church… standing on high ground, commanding fine views of the Vale of Belvoir, has a fine spire and is chiefly of Dec. date, but there is an E.E. door-way and some lancets. The octagonal font, c. 1340, is a noteworthy Dec. example enriched with tracery ; the singular feature is that the shaft is hollow and perforated and contains within it some grotesque carvings of demons, probably representing the ejection of sin by the grace of Holy Baptism. There are effigies in brass to Nicholas and Katherine Deene, the lady in butterfly headdress, and their nine sons, c. 1479 ; and to James Deene (effigy lost), 1498, and to Margaret his wife, 1500".
"Kelly's Directory" of 1885 describes the church, its history and living as:
The church of All Saints is a building of the Early English and Decorated periods, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles and a tower, with spire containing 5 bells : the font is a particularly rich and beautiful specimen of Decorated work, panelled and elaborately carved : portions of the rood screen, displaced, remain : there is a brass to Nicholas Deene (temp. El. IV.) and Katherine (Pedwardine), his wife, with effigies of both, and of nine sons : and another brass to James Deene, grandson of the foregoing Nicholas, 1498, and Margaret (Armine), his wife, 1500 : the effigy of James Deene is lost, but that of his wife, clad in an heraldic mantle, remains : there are three other slabs, despoiled of their brasses : there is a monument of later date to Dr. Hurst, formerly rector of Barrowby and Headenham, [sic] and chaplain to Charles I. ; he was plundered, imprisoned and ejected on account of his loyalty to the king, but eventually died here in 1674: the church was restored in 1854, and an organ chamber was added in 1870 : the east window, a Perpendicular one of three lights, has recently (1884) been filled with stained glass, the centre light by the vicar, the others by subscription, the total cost being £140. The register dates from the year 1538. The living is a rectory, yearly value £1,200, including 420 acres of glebe, and residence, in the gift of the Duke of Devonshire K.O. and held since 1849 by the Rev. George Earle WeIlby B.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, rural dean.


Wakefield Cathedral

Wakefield Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of All Saints in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, is one of three co-equal Anglican cathedrals for the Diocese of Leeds and a seat of the Bishop of Leeds. Originally the parish church, it has Anglo Saxon origins and after enlargement and rebuilding has the tallest spire in Yorkshire. Its spire is the tallest structure in the City of Wakefield.
The cathedral was designated a Grade I listed building on 14 July 1953.
History.
The cathedral, situated in the centre of Wakefield on a hill on Kirkgate, is built on the site of a Saxon church, evidence of which was uncovered in 1900 when extensions to the east end were made. A church in Wakefield is mentioned in the "Domesday Book" of 1086. In 1090 William II gave the church and land in Wakefield to Lewes Priory in Sussex and shortly after that a Norman church was built.
The Norman church was rebuilt in 1329, and apart from the tower and spire, rebuilt and enlarged in 1469. The church was reconstructed and altered at various times and its spire, damaged in a violent gale, was renewed in 1823. Up to the 16th century the church was known by the Anglo Saxon "All Hallows" and after the Reformation changed to "All Saints".
All Saints' Church was largely rebuilt in the Perpendicular Gothic style in the early 15th century and, after years of neglect in the 18th century, owes its current late mediaeval appearance to a Victorian restoration by George Gilbert Scott and his son John Oldrid Scott between 1858 and 1874. In 1888, the Diocese of Wakefield was created and All Saints' Church became the cathedral of the diocese. It still serves as a parish church, meaning that until 2000 the head of the chapter of canons was called the provost, rather than the dean. The Treacy Hall built in memory of Bishop Eric Treacy was completed in 1982.
In January 2000 a parish boundary change brought the chantry chapel, on Wakefield Bridge, into the care of the cathedral.
In 2005 Queen Elizabeth II visited the cathedral to distribute Maundy money.
In 2012 the cathedral, with £1.58 million of Heritage Lottery funding, had raised £2.5 million to restore and reorder the nave which was to be cleared of its oak pews to create an open space for worship, public events and celebrations. A decision to charge VAT on restoration work on historic buildings in the 2012 budget caused concern that the project would be halted or delayed.
Its archives are held at West Yorkshire Archive Service in Wakefield.
Structure.
The cathedral walls are clad in ashlar sandstone. On the south wall is a porch, with a wrought iron gate and a sundial over the door arch. The wall of the north aisle is the oldest part of the church dating from about 1150. The nave piers date from the 12th and 13th centuries and the arcade and chancel arches date from the 14th century. The late 15th-century chancel now serves as the choir. The nave's original stone vaulted roof has been replaced with wood. The 15th-century wooden ceilings over the nave and aisles have carved bosses.
The current chancel, a transept and St Mark's Chapel were built at the east end in 1904 to designs by John Loughborough Pearson and completed by his son, Frank L Pearson. The 20th-century chancel has a stone vaulted roof.
The cathedral's large four-stage west tower has angle buttresses and a very tall crocketed spire behind an embattled parapet with crocketed corner pinnacles and at tall, is the highest spire in Yorkshire.
The Treacy hall was added to the cathedral in 1982 and functions as a chapter house. Among other things it contains offices, the cathedral shop and a café.
Fixtures and fittings.
The cathedral's windows have some panel tracery. None of the medieval stained glass survives and most of the cathedral's glass was created by Charles Eamer Kempe who created many windows over 50 years. His windows are reminiscent in colour of those of the late Middle Ages, darker on the north wall with Old Testament themes and lighter on the south side where he placed New Testament figures.
The cathedral has a 17th-century rood screen and above it a rood by Ninian Comper completed in 1950. The font dates from the mid 17th-century and the pulpit from 1708. Eleven of the 15th-century choir stalls, the gift of Thomas Savile, have misericords and other carvings including a green man and mythical beasts.
The reredos is the work of John Oldrid Scott and possibly incorporates earlier works while the high altar is by Frank Pearson. Some furniture in St Mark's Chapel is by Robert Thompson, the 'Mouseman'. The cathedral has a fine collection of church plate. A monument to Lyon Pilkington dates from about 1700 and other memorial tablets are from the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The organ built by Abbott and Smith in 1902, has a case made in 1743. It was rebuilt by John Compton in London in 1951-52 and rebuilt and restored by Phillip Wood and Sons of Huddersfield in 1985.
The cathedral tower has a ring of 14 bells including a 35-1-0 cwt, (note C) tenor, a flat 6th (note B flat), and extra treble (note A), to give a light 10 in (note F) (tenor 14 cwt). No more than 12 bells are usually rung at any one time. Practices range from rounds and call changes on six up to "Surprise Maximus". The bells are rung on Sundays, and to mark special occasions such as weddings and national events such as the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
Dean and chapter.
As of 1 January 2021:
Music.
Wakefield Cathedral Choir, directed by James Bowstead (Acting Director of Music), consists of boys, girls and men who perform at the cathedral and have appeared on BBC One's "Songs of Praise" and BBC Radio 3's "Choral Evensong". In 1992 Wakefield Cathedral became only the second cathedral in Britain to accept female choristers.
The cathedral has had five organists since 1888, of which Jonathan Bielby, MBE was the longest serving organist in an English cathedral. Since 2020 the Assistant Organist has been Dr. Robert Pecksmith. Previous organists have included composer Newell Smith Wallbank. Assistant organists have included William Frederick Dunnill and John Scott.
References.
Notes
Citations
Bibliography


Vinalhaven Public Library

The Vinalhaven Public Library is the public library serving the island community of Vinalhaven, Maine. It is located at 6 Carver Street in downtown Vinalhaven, in a small architecturally distinguished Prairie School building built in 1906 with financial support from Andrew Carnegie. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
Architecture and history.
The Vinalhaven Public Library stands near the eastern end of Vinalhaven's commercial downtown area, at the junction of Carver, Chestnut, and Main Streets. The building is a single-story structure, built out of quarry-faced granite and covered by a hip roof. The roof has extended eaves with exposed rafters, with a chimney rising near the left wall. The main entrance is in the center of the facade facing Carver Street, recessed under a round arch in a projecting section topped by a flat parapet. A high stringcourse runs beneath a narrow band of square windows on either side of the entrance. The interior has a central librarian's desk with flanking reading rooms, and original wooden shelving on the walls.
Vinalhaven's public library originated in 1887, when Governor Joseph R. Bodwell, owner of one of Vinalhaven's granite quarries, made a pledge to provide space for a library if funds were raised to establish one. A private circulating library was added to this early collection in 1890, and was established in Vinalhaven's Memorial Hall in 1895. The present building was constructed in 1906, funded in part by a grant from Andrew Carnegie. It was designed by the firm of George A. Clough and Herbert L. Wardner, and is the only Prairie School library design in the state.


Damaidi

Damaidi (; "literally: Big wheat field"), is the location of 3,172 sets of early Chinese petroglyphs, carved into the cliffs which feature 8,453 individual figures. Cliff carving expert Li Xiangshi stated that "The pictographs are similar to the ancient hieroglyphs of Chinese characters and many can be identified as ancient characters," Another expert said " "Through arduous research, we have found that some pictographs are commonly seen in up to hundreds of pictures in the carvings," said Liu Jingyun, an expert on ancient Oracle Bone characters. The size, shape and meanings of the pictographs in different carvings are the same." These pictographs may be the origin of Chinese characters.
Damaidi itself is a small village located in Zhongwei in Central China, set amid the Weining Mountains on the north bend of the Yellow River.
Cliff carvings.
The carvings at Damaidi, which date back 7,000-8,000 years, feature environmental as well as social themes. There are carvings of the sun and moon along with other celestial bodies as well as of people hunting, herding and fighting. Archaeologists believe that some of these symbols (over 1,500) bear a resemblance to ancient hieroglyphs of Chinese characters. If dating estimates of the carvings are correct, this would push back the origins of Chinese writing (previously dated only as far back as the Jiaguwen Oracle Bone inscriptions found at Anyang) from 1200 BC to 6600 BC-6200 BC.


Place de Ville

Place de Ville is a complex of office towers in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It consists of four office buildings: Place de Ville A, B, and C; and the 'Podium' building, which houses a shuttered "piggy-back" cinema enveloped with functional office space. The complex also has two large hotels, the Delta Ottawa City Centre (410 rooms) and Ottawa Marriott Hotel (487 rooms). The buildings are linked by an underground shopping complex. Place de Ville C is the tallest building in Ottawa. It was once advertised as "Ottawa's glittering answer to the Toronto Dominion Centre and Place Ville Marie".
History and development.
The complex is located in downtown Ottawa on Albert Street between Kent Street and Lyon. Towers A and B are located on the south side of Queen Street while tower C is on the north of Queen. The buildings are mostly home to various federal government workers, with the Department of Transport, headquartered in Tower C, being the largest tenant.
For almost a century the area had been home to the city's streetcar garages. The streetcar system was closed in 1959. The land was purchased later by developer Robert Campeau. He conceived an ambitious plan to recentre Ottawa's downtown on the site. The scheme faced several barriers, the most important of which was that for many years buildings in downtown Ottawa faced a 45.7 metre (150 foot) height restriction so the Peace Tower would dominate the skyline. Despite strong opposition from Ottawa mayor Charlotte Whitton, the rule was changed to allow the only somewhat taller Towers A and B to be constructed. These two towers were completed in 1968. That same year Campeau began lobbying to build the much taller Tower C. Originally hoping to build a 145-metre (475 foot) tower (which would have made it about 42 storeys), although approved by the city, the National Capital Commission allowed it to only be 112 metres (367 feet) (29 storeys), but it was, and remains, the tallest building in the city.
In the early 1980s Campeau proposed building a fourth even taller tower but a deep recession and a glut of Ottawa office space ended these plans. The buildings also began to suffer a variety of problems including asbestos, mould, a fire and allegations of Sick Building Syndrome. In the late 1980s Towers A and B were gutted and completely renovated. Campeau's business empire was also struggling and after failed expansion attempts in the United States his company collapsed. In 1996 its remnants, including Place de Ville, were bought by the Reichmann's Olympia and York (O&Y).
In 2000 O&Y announced that work would begin on a third phase of the Place de Ville complex. This would consist of two new towers one 18 storeys and the other 12. They would be built on the large parking lot across from Tower B. Several other downtown building projects and another economic downturn put these plans on hold, however. In February 2005 O&Y announced it would be selling most of its Canadian holdings, including Place de Ville.
Transportation.
Since September 14, 2019, the complex is directly linked to Lyon Station of the Confederation Line which is situated underground between the two phases of Place de Ville. One entrance is integrated into the south façade of the Podium building, while a second entrance can be found within the underground shopping concourse.
The complex boasts the city's largest underground parking garage with space for 974 cars.
Future developments.
Place de Ville is now managed by Brookfield Properties. Plans have been filed with the City of Ottawa to replace the 4 storey 'Podium' building with a 19 floor office tower. A two storey link would connect tower C with this new building and include wider, brighter escalators to the underground concourse.
Brookfield also owns a large surface parking lot taking up half a block across Kent Street from Place de Ville phase I that could see construction of over half a million square feet of office space. The parking lot will be partially closed during the construction of the Confederation Line to allow the builders to use the lot as a staging area and a central point from which to dig the downtown subway portion of the system.


Wales Co-operative Mercantile Institution

The Wales Co-operative Mercantile Institution (also known as Wales Commercial Mercantile), located at 150 N. State St. in Wales, Utah, was built in 1894. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
It is a one-story Western false-front-style building.


Oratory of San Francesco Saverio del Caravita

The Oratory of San Francesco Saverio del Caravita (St. Francis Xavier “del Caravita”) is a 17th-century baroque oratory in Rome, near the Church of Sant’Ignazio in rione Pigna. It is home to the Caravita Community, an international English-language Catholic community in Rome.
History.
San Nicola de Forbitoribus.
The current oratory is built over the ruins of the late twelfth century Church of "San Nicola de Forbitoribus". The earliest reference to San Nicola is in the "Ordo of Cencius Camerarius" of 1192.
"Forbitoribus" apparently refers to the Confraternity of the "Forbiciai" – the "scissors-makers" and manufacturers of knives. It was a common practice in the 12th century for churches to be sponsored by specific guilds or artisans’ associations, such as Saint Benedict of the Kettle-Makers ("de Caccabis"), Saint Mary of the Blacksmiths ("de Ferraris"), Saint Nicholas of the Lime Burners ("Calcarariorum"), Saint Nicholas of the Rope Makers ("Funariorum").
The Church of San Nicola is referenced in a bull of Pope Urban V (1362-1370).
On 1 September 1405, the church and bell tower were struck by lightning and suffered considerable damage.
On 14 September 1551, Pope Julius II entrusted the Church to the Camaldolese monks, who established a monastery adjacent to the church dedicated to Saint Anthony of Egypt.
By 1631, the Society of Jesus had established itself next door with the "Collegio Romano", and sought to expand nearby to accommodate the active sodalities and lay congregations regularly meeting in the College. The Jesuits acquired the property from the Camaldolese in exchange for a site near Piazza Venezia. The Camaldolese relocated to San Romualdo, and the Jesuits set about demolishing the older church and monastery in favor of a new oratory.
Pietro Gravita, SJ.
The current oratory was built by the Jesuit Pietro Gravita, from 1631-1633, with the financial support of a number of noble families who resided in the neighborhood near the Pantheon. Construction was inaugurated on 8 September 1631 with the blessing of Bishop Emilio Altieri, an alumnus of the "Collegio Romano" and Bishop of Camerino, La Marche, from 1627-1666. Created a cardinal in 1669, Bishop Altieri was elected Pope Clement X in 1670.
The oratory was originally dedicated to "Santa Maria della Pietà" (Our Lady of Pity) in addition to the great Jesuit missionary Saint Francis Xavier. Under Gravita "it attracted as many os 20,000 communicants a day". It was the first nocturnal oratory in Rome.
Father Gravita was from Terni, and the difference in dialect was apparently enough that the Romans changed the pronunciation of his name to "Caravita". After his death in 1658, the oratory also became known as the oratory “of the Caravita”.
The lay congregations.
One of the first purpose of the Oratory of St. Francis Xavier was the "Missione Urbana," a Jesuit outreach funded by charitable donation, focused on the evangelization and catechesis of farmers and others who came into the Roman markets from the outlying farmlands, which lacked proper pastoral care.
Soon several confraternities, sodalities, and lay congregations began to use the oratory to support their work, including the "Mantelloni", a lay penitential confederacy at the "Collegio Romano" known for its excessive displays of self-mortification.
Another that quickly gained appeal for the students of the "Collegio Romano", and which met at the Oratory "del Caravita", was the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, founded in 1563 by a Belgian Jesuit, Jean Leunis.
In 1584, Pope Gregory XIII had ratified the sodality of the Roman College as the "prima primeria", or primary unit, to which all other sodalities were to be affiliated, creating a universal structure for these movements. This became a model for the relationship of the other congregations and sodalities, causing the Oratory del Caravita to become the centre of Jesuit-sponsored lay movements known as "Congregazione della Santissima Communione Generale", Congregations of General Holy Communion, known for their emphasis on frequent reception of Holy Communion and Eucharistic processions.
In addition, each of these movements emphasized a deep spiritual life of meditation and examination of conscience. Many had a strong charitable orientation, and embraced a broad spectrum of the population: farmers, lawyers, artisans, students, aristocrats, and the guilds.
At the height of their activity, there were nine such organizations housed in the Caravita Oratory, including the first to open membership to women. Each had its own meeting space in the Oratory, but on Friday evenings all would come together for common devotions and formation with the Jesuits who studied or taught at the neighboring "Collegio Romano".
Caravita’s mission was consistent with the pastoral strategy of the Jesuits’ founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Whereas monasteries and convents of monks and nuns were in the countryside, Ignatius and the early Jesuits were in the heart of the city where, alongside the elegant palazzi of Rome’s nobility, there was suffering and need. It was here that Ignatius developed a strategic program for Jesuit ministries: hearing confessions, preaching, teaching, but also caring for the poor and victims of the plague, as well as ministering to prostitutes and steering them into houses of reformation.
In 1773, with the suppression of the Society of Jesus, the oratory was under the care of the Fathers of the Holy Faith (later called “Fathers of the Faith of Jesus”), with the help of the Vincentians. These attempted to maintain the Ignatian vision and mission strategy in the absence of the Jesuits. After the restoration of the Society in 1813, the Oratory was used as the center of activity for all Jesuit lay associations in Rome, until falling into disuse in 1925.
Art and architecture.
Architecture.
The façade has two orders of pilasters. The second level has windows surmounted by unusual quadrilobal oval apertures and is crowned by a balustraded attic in which an iron cross is in the middle of four flamboyant travertine vases. The interior is an ideal example of Roman Jesuit architecture with its single nave preceded by an atrium, and its emphasis on visibility (clear sight lines to view the altar and Holy Eucharist) and audibility (the centrality of preaching and catechesis in Jesuit mission). This is classically seen in the Mother Church of the Jesuits, the Church of the Gesù where Baroque architecture was born, but is also seen in miniature at Caravita – an architectural plan following the same principles.
Caravita was completely rebuilt between 1670 and 1677, probably under the guidance of architect Giovanni Antonio de’Rossi, and was once again dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, and the Madonna della Pietà as indicated in the inscription about the entrance on the Oratory’s façade.
Of particular interest are the seventeenth century benches along the wall which are of sculpted walnut. The two holy water fonts in the Atrium (see at left) are made in the form of a crab with the bronze crucifix in the claw – a symbol of Francis Xavier. The Oratory leads to small rooms, including the "Ristretto degli Angeli" above the Atrium – a room where the Sodality of the Roman College used to meet, with handsome decorations in stucco by Giovanni Battista Maini which he completed in 1745-1746. Today that room, along with several others upstairs, is occupied by the Roman choral group "Il Coro del Lunedì".
In 1716, to facilitate passage of the Jesuits across the street, a skybridge was built connecting the old Roman College to Caravita, over the "Via del Collegio Romano". It is known as the "Arco dei Gesuiti" (Arch of the Jesuits).
Frescoes.
In the year 1670 as part of the restoration and in honor of the sacred image of the Mother of Mercy ("Mater Pietatis"), a fresco attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi which came from the ancient Church of San Rocco all’Augusteo was donated to Caravita. In 1677 it was placed in the apse and crowned by the Vatican Chapter. Today it is found near the organ just to the left of the old sanctuary. To the right near the entrance to the sacristy, one finds a relic of Saint Francis Xavier encased in a silver reliquary.
Also conserved are the seventeenth-century frescoes depicting the "Life of Saint Francis Xavier," located in the atrium and executed by various artists on a design by Lazzaro Baldi (1624-1703), while the main altarpiece dating from the eighteenth century is by Sebastiano Conca and depicts the "Holy Trinity and Saint Francis Xavier".
Music.
The organ located upstairs in the Gallery was built in 1790 by the distinguished Priori Family – one of the most important organ builders in Rome at the end of the eighteenth century and throughout all of the nineteenth. The organ at Caravita is defined as “pre-Romantic” – a decisively transitional instrument with respect to the Baroque organ more commonly found in Rome. It is a simple structure of only one keyboard with twenty-three keys and only eight pedals. It was renovated and tuned in 2012.
It is said that Frescobaldi may have played on that organ. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a teenager when he performed at Caravita in 1770 on an earlier organ, prior to the installation of the Priori instrument. Caravita is mentioned in two ironic sonnets composed by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli: "L’ineggno dell’Omo" written in dialect (Romanesco) and "Li frateli Mantelloni," on 18 and 19 December 1832.
Caravita Community.
History.
In 2000, the Jesuits responsible for the Church of Sant’Ignazio sought to begin an English-language liturgy for pilgrims coming to Rome during the Great Jubilee Year. Rather than simply offer an English Mass near the pantheon, the community's founding members sought to revive the original mission of the Oratory for the support and development of lay formation and ministry with an Ignatian spirituality and vision for outreach from the center of Christ and the Church to the frontiers and margins.
The Caravita Community was formed, and opened the doors of the Oratory again on 15 October 2000. Since then, it has been mostly used by an international English-speaking group, mainly consisting of expatriates from around the Anglophone world, particularly the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria and Canada. Regular membership is composed largely of academics, leaders of religious communities, diplomats, and staff of international NGOs based in Rome.
The community has a special outreach to English-speaking pilgrims in Rome as well, so there are often as many or more visitors as locals.
Pastoral leadership.
The staff includes:
Others who have served in sacramental ministry here over the years include Most Rev. Donald Bolen, Bishop of Saskatoon; Very Rev. Donald LaSalle, vicar-General of the Montfort Missionaries; Very Rev. James Hentges, Rector of the Crosier Fathers Community at San Giorgio in Velabro; Daniel Madigan, SJ; Jerome Hall, SJ; and Mark R. Francis, CSV, president of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
A Pastoral Council was founded in 2005 and includes a number of active laity and religious in Rome, among whom are theologians, leaders of religious congregations, diplomats, and veteran "vaticanisti".
Mission and activity.
The Caravita Community is known primarily for its commitment to hospitality for pilgrims and visitors, to quality liturgy marked by noble simplicity, and to ecumenical partnerships and outreach. It also maintains an occasional lecture series, concerts, and other musical events, and a commitment to social justice and charitable service.
On 14 April 2013, the Caravita Community entered into an Ecumenical Covenant with the Anglican Centre in Rome, directed by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See. This covenant reflects the reality of ecumenical commitment that was inspired by the Jubilee efforts at ecclesial reconciliation that has been a part of the Community since its inception. It has served as the site of services and welcome and farewell for the representatives to the Holy See of both the Anglican Communion and the World Methodist Council since 2008, and other receptions such as that following Pope Francis' audience with the International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference in Rome in 2014. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Cardinal Walter Kasper presided at an ecumenical vespers on 20 November 2009. Several joint services, including the annual Ash Wednesday service of Churches Together in Rome, have taken place at Caravita, as well as "ecumenical relationships in the service of peace in war-torn parts of the world".
From February to July 2019 the oratory hosted an exhibition for the Migrants Foundation, displaying great pictorial works inspired by the theme of migration.
The oratory is also used every other week for a Spanish-language liturgy.


Lilford Hall

Lilford Hall is a Grade I listed Jacobean stately home in Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom. The 100-room house is located in the eastern part of the county, south of Oundle and north of Thrapston.
History.
It was started in 1495 as a Tudor building, with a major Jacobean exterior extension added in 1635 and a Georgian interior adopted in the 1740s, having of floor area.
The Hall was originally part of Lord Burghley's estate, then the Powys family (Baron Lilford) from 1711 to 1990. Lilford Hall is now the seat of the Micklewright family, only the third family in over 500 years to live permanently at the Hall. Lilford Hall and the associated parkland of is specifically located along the River Nene for around a mile, and north-west of the village of Lilford, part of the parish of Lilford-cum-Wigsthorpe and Thorpe Achurch. The land which was turned into the parkland was mentioned in the Domesday Book, and owned by King David I of Scotland at that time.
The Manor of Lilford was acquired in 1473 by William Browne a wealthy wool merchant and landowner from Stamford, from the estate of Baron Welles who was beheaded by King Edward IV for treason. William Browne passed on the Manor of Lilford to his only child Elizabeth in 1489, and the Hall in a Tudor style was built in 1495 by William Elmes (the elder) who was Elizabeth's son.
The Hall was thereafter acquired for the Powys family in 1711 by Sir Thomas Powys who was Attorney General to King James II, and the chief prosecutor at the famous trial of the Seven Bishops. Alterations were made in the 18th century by the architect Henry Flitcroft for his grandson Thomas Powys. His son, Thomas Powys, was created the first Baron Lilford by the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger.
The main exterior of Lilford Hall is a Jacobean-style gentry house of the 1630s built by William Elmes (the younger) in 1635, related closely with Thorpe masons through its parallels with other neighbouring houses such as Kirby Hall and Apethorpe Palace. Its plan is traditional and arranged around a 'U-shaped' court with the hall entered by a screens passage, the Great Chamber placed over the hall, leading to the principal apartment that terminated with the Great Bed-chamber.
Its development by successive generations of the Powys family, who acquired the property in 1711, respected the old house, but each stage has a clarity that is clearly legible and contributes to the whole. Apart from the construction of the pair of balancing stable wings by Henry Flitcroft and the successive addition of small-scale extensions in the form of additional storeys to the east end of the two wings, works were confined to alterations within the house and remodelling.
The Jacobean house is considered as of considerable significance, and Flitcroft's Georgian alterations in the 1740s are of a similar status. The outstanding contribution is that of Flitcroft in the c 1740s with his insertion of a comprehensive set of 18th-century interiors that not only transformed the principal rooms into a sequence of Palladian spaces, but brought light into the heart of the building. The play of the sequence of 18th-century rooms within the structure of the Jacobean house is one of the most notable features of the house.
The play between these 18th-century interiors and the Jacobean exterior is a major feature of Lilford Hall. The alterations of the early 19th century are of some significance as are William Gilbee Habershon's work in the 1840s. However, the latter was primarily concerned with the exterior and the integration of the garden with the house. Of more significance is the extension of the house in 1909 by William Dunn and Robert Watson of Dunn & Watson whose proposals extended the north and south ranges in an imaginative way reminiscent of other Scottish architects such as Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer.
The significance of the house is enhanced by its association with firstly Thomas Powys who was created 1st Baron Lilford in acknowledgement of his role as a politician between 1774 and 1794, secondly the 3rd Baron Lilford who was a Lord of the Bedchamber to King William IV from 1831 to 1837 and then Lord-in-Waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) in the Whig administration of the 2nd Viscount Melbourne from 1837 to 1841, and finally through the association of the parkland with ornithological pursuits, particularly those of the 4th Baron Lilford.
The relationship of the Hall to its setting is also notable, particularly because of the integration of the house with the pleasure grounds and deer park. Lilford Park was formalised between 1747 and 1776 by Flitcroft by removing all of the existing village (12 houses and the vicarage) as well as St Peter's Church, which buildings were all located south of the Hall. The remains of the church were then used to build a folly near the Achurch end of the Park.
At present, Lilford Park comprises pleasure grounds surrounding the Hall of around 100 acres to the west of the Park, a former deer park of also around 100 acres to the north of the Park, and woods of 150 acres to the east and south of the Park.
The Park also still contains several aviaries built for Thomas Powys, 4th Baron Lilford, a prominent ornithologist. The 7th Baron Lilford restocked the aviaries around 1970, containing more than 350 birds of 110 species, and opened the Park to the public.
In the autumn of 1990 Lilford Park was closed to the public, and the Hall and Park has since 2004 been owned by the Micklewright family and used by them as a private residence. The Lilford family own Bank Hall in Lancashire, which featured on the first series of the BBC's "Restoration" series in 2003.
The 4th Baron Lilford was a founder of the British Ornithologists' Union in 1858 and its president from 1867 until his death. He was also the first president of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society. Lilford travelled widely, especially in the Mediterranean Region and his extensive collection of birds was maintained in the grounds of Lilford Hall. His aviaries featured birds from around the globe, including rheas, kiwis, pink-headed ducks and even a pair of free-flying lammergeiers. He was responsible for the introduction of the little owl into England in the 1880s.
During the Second World War Lilford Hall served as nurses' quarters for USAAF 303rd Station Hospital which was in the park. After the war, the former hospital buildings in the park were used for a Polish school called Lilford Technical School from 1949 and 1954.
The hall and park was the subject of the 27 January 1900 issue of "Country Life" Illustrated, and also a location for the BBC television series "By the Sword Divided" made in the 1980s. In 1969, erotic artist Penny Slinger used the hall in one of her best-known works.
Lilford Hall was listed as Grade I in 1967; associated buildings and features are Grade II. The house remains on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register; graded as C - slow decay, in a poor condition. Some repairs have been carried out, but further works, notably to the roofs and stables, are required.
Lilford Hall was placed for sale in June 2020 for £10 million. A report by "Country Life" stated that the main house provided "comfortable living accommodation", but that "the rest of the 32,400sq ft house has been unoccupied for 50 years and now needs complete renovation, as do the Georgian pavilions ... and various historic outbuildings".


Ripon Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, commonly known as Ripon Cathedral, and until 1836 known as Ripon Minster, is a cathedral in the North Yorkshire city of Ripon. Founded as a monastery by Scottish monks in the 660s, it was refounded as a Benedictine monastery by St Wilfrid in 672. The church became collegiate in the tenth century, and acted as a mother church within the large Diocese of York for the remainder of the Middle Ages. The present church is the fourth, and was built between the 13th and 16th centuries. In 1836 the church became the cathedral for the Diocese of Ripon. In 2014 the Diocese was incorporated into the new Diocese of Leeds, and the church became one of three co-equal cathedrals of the Bishop of Leeds.
The cathedral is notable architecturally for its gothic west front in the Early English style, considered one of the best of its type, as well as the Geometric east window. The seventh-century crypt of Wilfrid's church is a significant example of early Christian architecture in England. The cathedral has Grade I listed building status.
Background.
There has been a stone church on the site since 672 when Saint Wilfrid replaced the previous timber church of the monastery at Ripon (a daughter house of Saint Aidan's monastery at Melrose) with one in the Roman style. This is one of the earliest stone buildings erected in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria. The crypt dates from this period.
People have been going to worship and pray at Ripon for more than 1,300 years. The cathedral building is part of this continuing act of worship, begun in the 7th century when Saint Wilfrid built one of England's first stone churches on this site, and still renewed every day. Within the nave and choir, you can see the evidence of 800 years in which master craftsmen have expressed their faith in wood and stone.
History.
Today's church is the fourth to have stood on this site. Saint Wilfrid brought stonemasons, plasterers and glaziers from France and Italy to build his great basilica in AD 672. A contemporary account by Eddius Stephanus tells us:
Saint Wilfrid was buried in this church near the high altar. Devastated by the English king Eadred in AD 948 as a warning to the Archbishop of York, only the crypt of Wilfrid's church survived but today this tiny 7th-century chapel rests complete beneath the later grandeur of Archbishop Roger de Pont l’Evêque’s 12th century minster. A second minster soon arose at Ripon, but it too perished — this time in 1069 at the hands of William the Conqueror. Thomas of Bayeux, first Norman Archbishop of York, then instigated the construction of a third church, traces of which were incorporated into the later chapter house of Roger's minster.
The Early English west front was added in 1220, its twin towers originally crowned with wooden spires and lead. The east window was built as part of a reconstruction of the choir between 1286-8 and 1330, and was described by architecture critic Pevsner as a 'splendid' example of the series of large Decorated gothic windows constructed in Northern England. Major rebuilding had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses but resumed after the accession of Henry VII and the restoration of peace in 1485. The crossing tower was rebuilt after it collapsed in an earthquake in 1450 but was never completed. Between 1501 and 1522 the nave walls were raised higher and the aisles added. The church's thirty-four misericords were carved between 1489 and 1494. The same (Ripon) school of carvers also carved the misericords at Beverley Minster and Manchester Cathedral. But in 1547, before this work was finished, Edward VI dissolved Ripon's college of canons. All revenues were appropriated by the Crown and the tower never received its last perpendicular arches. It was not until 1604 that James I issued his Charter of Restoration.
During the civil war, much of the stained glass was smashed and some of the statues were destroyed.
Cathedral status.
The minster finally became a cathedral (the church where the Bishop has his cathedra or throne) in 1836, the focal point of the newly created Anglican Diocese of Ripon — the first to be established since the Reformation.
Dean and chapter.
As of 30 December 2020:
Music.
The current director of music is Andrew Bryden, with Tim Harper as Assistant Director of Music.
Organ.
The cathedral has a fine organ by Harrison and Harrison, which is a rebuild of the original Lewis instrument dating from 1878. The organ is on the screen and has casework by Gilbert Scott. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register. The organ last underwent a major refurbishment in 2013. These works included a thorough cleaning and repair of all pipe work.
Organists.
In 1447, the organ at Ripon Cathedral was played by a priest, Thomas Litster. Notable organists have included composers Charles Harry Moody and Ronald Edward Perrin.
Bells.
A ring of 12 bells with an additional 'flat sixth' bell is hung in the south-west tower. A diatonic ring of ten bells was cast in 1932, and three additional bells were installed in 2008 with two new trebles being added to give a diatonic ring of twelve, and an additional 'flat sixth' bell to give a light ring of eight.


Torre Cepsa

The Torre Cepsa (renamed in June 2014, before was Torre Bankia)() is a skyscraper located in the Cuatro Torres Business Area in Madrid, Spain. With a height of and 45 floors, it is the second tallest of the four buildings in the Cuatro Torres Business Area complex, surpassed by Torre de Cristal by less than a metre. It is the second tallest building in Spain and the 4th tallest building in the European Union.
Designed by Lord Foster, it was first known as Torre Repsol and would have served as headquarters for Repsol YPF oil and gas company. During the construction of the tower, Repsol decided to change the location of its future headquarters and the financial institution Caja Madrid purchased the building for €815 million in August 2007.
In 2016 it was bought by Amancio Ortega, Europe's richest man and founder of global fashion group and Zara owner Inditex (ITX.MC), for €490 million euros through his property investment arm, Pontegadea Inmobiliaria, one of the biggest property companies in Spain. He purchased the tower from Abu Dhabi tycoon Khadem al-Qubaisi, whose fund had exercised a last-minute purchase option from Spanish lender Bankia (BKIA.MC), its previous owner.
It was built by a joint venture of Dragados and Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas.


Hunsdon House

Hunsdon House is a historic house in Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Harlow. Originally constructed in the 15th century, it was most notably the estate of Henry VIII of England. It has been rebuilt several times since then, and is no longer as grand as it was in the Tudor era. It is a Grade I listed building.
Early history.
It was originally constructed of brick in 1447 by Sir William Oldhall in the shape of a tower, but as Oldhall supported the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, he was stripped of the property by the Lancastrian Henry VI. Upon the Yorkist Edward IV's accession to the throne in 1471, the land was returned to the Oldhall family. John Oldhall then died in the Battle of Bosworth and with the Lancastrians back in power, the estate was taken over by Henry VII. Henry traded it to his mother Margaret Beaufort for Old Soar Manor in Kent in 1503. After the deaths of Margaret and her husband Edmund Tudor, her son Henry VII gave it to Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk in 1514. Howard's son reduced the height of the tower for safety reasons in 1524.
Tudor era.
When Henry VIII retook possession in 1525 after Howard's death, he set about expanding the house into a palatial estate in the Tudor style, complete with royal apartments and even a moat. Although he visited frequently and enjoyed hunting in the deerpark, the house was mainly used for his children, especially Mary, who lived there until her accession to the throne. She even inherited the house after the death of her father and kept it until her death. Prince Edward notably spent much time at Hunsdon, most famously in 1546 when his portrait was painted with the house in the background. made her cousin Henry Carey the first Baron Hunsdon, after granting the house to him in 1559.
In 1623, the house suffered a structural failure during a sermon given by a local friar to an audience of about 300 people in an upper chamber. The floor collapsed, resulting in 94 deaths. The incident was known as "The Fatal Vespers".
Recent centuries.
The manor stayed in the Carey family for over 100 years, after which it passed to the Bluck family and then the Calvert family. Much of Henry VIII's expansions were torn down in the early 17th century, and the moat was filled some time in the 18th century. The house was rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century, but 1860 renovations by Nicolson Calvert changed much of the architecture to an Elizabethan style. One last renovation in 1983 revealed some of the 15th-century brickwork. The current house is less than a quarter of its size under Henry VIII.
Today the building is Grade I listed , privately owned and not open to the public. It is possible to view the exterior from public footpaths when walking the area.


Hard Labor Creek State Park

Hard Labor Creek State Park is a 5,804 acre (23.49 km²) Georgia state park located between Bostwick and Rutledge. The park is named after Hard Labor Creek, a small stream that cuts through the park. The creek's name comes either from slaves who once tilled the summer fields, or from Native Americans who found the area around the stream difficult to ford. The park plays host to an 18-hole public golf course, which offers a pro shop, driving range, rental cars, and senior citizen discounts. Rocky Creek provides many of the water hazards on the course including the 14th hole with its signature water wheel.
General information.
Hard Labor Creek State Park is a 24-hour passable by way of paved local surface roads non-gated state park. It is the home of two group camps, Camp Rutledge and Camp Daniel Morgan, both centered on the Lake Rutledge. A second lake, Lake Brantley, occupies the northwestern area of the park. This lake was named for a Brantley family killed by Native Americans in 1813. Both the camps and the lakes were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
Camp Daniel Morgan was the filming location of four movies, Summer of My German Soldier (1978), "Little Darlings" (1980), "Poison Ivy" (1985), and "" (1986). Kristy McNichol starred in the first two. Cynthia Nixon of "Sex and the City" fame, who played "Sunshine" in "Little Darlings" returned to the nearby town of Rutledge, Georgia in 2005 to film a part in the Emmy winning movie "Warm Springs"; a part in which she too was nominated for an Emmy award.
Camp Rutledge is also the location of the long-running summer camp for the youth of Peachtree Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, Georgia, the largest Presbyterian Church (USA) in the United States. Camp Rutledge is also used by the youth of Roswell Presbyterian Church.
Hard Labor Creek State Park is the location of Hard Labor Creek Observatory; a facility of Georgia State University, Atlanta Georgia.
Camp Rutledge was leased for many years by the Atlanta Jewish Community Center during the 1950s up through 1962 as a site for its summer camp program serving Jewish youth from the Atlanta area as well as the southern United States. Its use by the AJCC was ended with the acquisition and development of Camp Barney Medintz near Cleveland, Georgia.
The Camp Rutledge facilities were recently examined by the TAPS Ghost Hunters team to see if the camp and the surrounding forest is haunted by nature spirits.
The park was temporarily utilized as an isolation and monitoring site for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 with no place to self-quarantine. Only two patients stayed at the site, before a new site was opened at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center outside of Forsyth on March 24.


Casa Cosmana Navarra

Casa Cosmana Navarra () is a 17th-century aristocratic townhouse in Rabat, Malta. The building belonged to Cosmana Navarra (1600-1687), for whom it is named until date, who was the main benefactress of the rebuilding of the Rabat parish church of St. Paul. The house is found in front of the parish church opposite the Wignacourt Museum. Most of the building was converted into a restaurant, namely the Ristorante Cosmana Navarra.
Location.
"Casa Cosmana Navarra" is found at 28 St. Paul’s Street in Rabat, Malta, next to Rabat's parish church and close to The Wignacourt Museum.
History.
Casa Cosmana Navarra was one of the few residential houses built in the 17th century in Rabat, the suburb of Mdina, as building outside fortified cities was not encouraged. Cosmana Navarra (born Guzmana Cumbo; when married, Cassar; known by her mother's surname as Navarra) was the daughter of Gakbu Cumbo and Cornelia Cumbo (née Navarra), of the Cumbo-Navarra family. On 22 June 1625, at the age of 25, she married her only lifetime husband Lorenzo Cassar in the (previous) Cathedral of Imdina. The marriage was childless, in which case gave Cosmana Navarra more time to dedicate for the building of her house and the restructuring of the parish church in Rabat, Malta. Cosmana Navarra was a devotee of St. Paul and this is shown by her interest and actions involved with the St. Paul pilgrimage site in Rabat of St. Paul’s Cave (Grotto), at the now Wignacourt Museum. She was a main philanthropist for the re-construction of the parish church that was aimed to receive several pilgrims from Europe; that can be considered a historic development in tourism in Malta. She made sure that Casa Cosmana Navarra and the Wignacourt Museum are both featured as the main building at opposite sides of each other in front the church, of which both are corner buildings. Through her father her surname was Cumbo and with marriage she became officially Cassar but she was always referred to by her mother's surname as Navarra.
Cosmana was the mastermind after the various parts of the rebuilding of St. Paul Parish Church that stands just outside her cornered townhouse, Casa Cosmana Navarra. The new design on the church was given to Lorenzo Gafa according to Cosmana's choice. Works on the parish church started in 1653 but stopped shortly in 1662, to then continue in 1664. A document dated to 19 April 1664 says that Cosmana paid 1700 scudi for the continuation of the project which had stopped in 1662. In 1666 the San Anton Chapel was finalized and received the blessing of the local Bishop Lucas Buenos; this is known by a letter sent to her by the bishop, dated on 10 July 1666. Eventually Cosmana had paid for the titular painting of the church in 1678, followed by the church patio (or courtyard) a year later in 1679. Cosmana had written to Grandmaster Nicolas Cotoner in order to sell her a nearby land next to the parish church, of which acquisition could extend and ameliorate the church and surrounding, but at her disappointment this was initially denied. Historically there was always a conflict between the Order of St. John and Roman Catholic priests in Malta in which case this also included issues related to St. Paul's Cave (Grotto). In 1680 Grand Master Gregorio Carafa conceded to give the property next to the church to Cosmana, allowing her to build the Chapel of St. Stephen as part of the parish church's side chapels, on condition of having his portrait at the church. Sometimes later she even added the Chapel of St. Publius to the parish church. In 1683 Cosmana paid for the construction of an underground for St. Paul's Grotto, and for the new baroque facade of the parish church seen just outside her house.
Cosmana died on 30 January 1687 when she was 87 years and was interned at the San Anton Chapel, that is found inside the St. Paul Parish Church. Her ambitious plan for the reconstruction of the parish church was finished before her death. In remembrance of her as the founder and philanthropist of the parish church there are at least two art works depicting her inside the church; one features her next to "Casa Cosmana Navarra" and the parish church. Significantly these paintings feature: the side patio (Zuntier) of the parish church and the designs (plans) of the church in her hands. These images were intentionally painted to convey a message of her being the projects' main philanthropist; it significantly lead to her house, Casa Cosmana Navarra, to be featured first inside the church as a painting, and secondly (after demolishing several other houses to build the church’s patio) physically let her house featuring in an outstanding position next to the church. In 1735, artist Gio Nicola Buhagiar, was commissioned to paint her of which painting is found in the sacristy of San Anton Chapel where she rests. The family's coat-of-arms features on several objects and places such as on Cosmana's tombstone and painting at the Parish Church, on silver artifacts which she left as doury to the Roman Cathoclic Church in Malta and on the inside of Casa Cosmana Navarra's main entrance door. Costmana wrote her doury in 1675 with local notary Nicola Allegretto.
Architecture.
Casa Cosmana Navarra is considered as a traditional Maltese townhouse. It has a vernacular and modern facade, that includes a closed timber balcony and two neoclassic columns uncommon to the time. In the inside it features some baroque architecture including the coat-of-arms of the family, the decorative archways from a room to the other upstairs, and features in the former courtyard (now a room as well). It has several spacious rooms inside. Most of the building is a restaurant and open to the public.
Ristorante Cosmana Navarra.
Since the 20th-century Casa Cosmana Navarra has been a restaurant specializing in pizza and pasta. It was initially run by Maltese people but more recently is run by an Italian family. The restaurant is found on Trip Advisor. The restaurant is run by Chef Jonathan Castellari since 2014. The restaurant offers a "park and ride" service to reach the place for customers who use cars in order to address parking issues. This initiative was supported by the Government of Malta and is considered a positive initiative by Minister of Transport Evarist Bartolo.


All Saints Church, Crondall

All Saints Church is an Anglican parish church in the village of Crondall, Hampshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building and stands at the highest point in the village. Much of the church dates from the Norman period, although the original central tower was replaced by a brick one at the north-east corner in 1659 and some alterations, particularly to the fenestration, the nave arcades and transepts, and the north porch, were made in two stages during the 19th century.
According to Pevsner it is "a puzzle church and an extremely powerful one", while it has also been called "one of the finest parish churches in the country" and the "cathedral of North Hampshire" (Rev. Charles Stooks). Of the 19th-century restoration of the building, Simon Jenkins states that "for once the Victorian does not emerge the winner, especially in the chancel", which latter Betjeman terms "splendid".
History.
Anglo-Saxon.
An Anglo-Saxon church from the 9th century was built on the site of the current Norman church. At this time Alfred the Great owned the manor and hundred of Crondall, and the rector of Crondall had responsibility for the entire area of the hundred, which covered much of what is north-east Hampshire today, including Long Sutton, Aldershot and Yateley parishes all the way down to the Harrow Way. This responsibility continued after the Conquest, with Walkelin, the Bishop of Winchester, owning Crondall in 1086.
Domesday Book in 1086 gave the church's value as 20 shillings, but the only archaeological evidence of it today is a flint wall under the north transept and a blocked wall on the outside of the southern transept.
Norman.
Archaeological work carried out under the nave arcade uncovered an earlier Norman church built on the foundations of the Anglo-Saxon church than the one we see today, constructed at roughly the same time as the Norman motte and bailey at Barley Pound. The current church was built in around 1170 on the order of Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and King Stephen's half brother, possibly with the help of masons who had completed their work on Winchester Cathedral.
On the exterior, the south door and arch, west doorway, blocked north aisle window and string course are all Norman. The Romanesque arches of the nave were constructed on the foundation of the earlier Norman church, with the Transitional chancel being added at the end of the 12th century, probably being started around 1170, and the whole church being completed by the end of the century. The chancel has a quadripartite ribbed vault, with modern plaster between the ribs. The central boss is of the Lamb of God. There was a central tower,
which was removed in 1659, the thrusting out of the responds between choir and nave being visible today, as are distortion in the vault ribs of the chancel.
The west doorway was constructed in c. 1200; Pevsner remarks on its "richly moulded arch", which is capped by a sculpted head.
 The font in the nave is thought to be 12th century, although the anonymous church guide, as well as Jenkins (who comments it is "as shapeless as a Henry Moore"), claim that it comes from the original Anglo-Saxon church.
13th–16th century.
Until 1284 the avowson (the right to appoint vicars to the church) accompanied ownership of Crondall manor, but in that year John of Pontoise, Bishop of Winchester, gained control of appointments of rectors to Crondall (the rector in turn appointing a vicar) in return for the Priory and Convent of St Swithun gaining control of a number of manors. This right was changed in 1318, when the avowson of Crondall was granted to the Chapel of St Elizabeth, Winchester, although it is uncertain whether this, or the 1334 grant to the Priory and Convent of St Swithun, was realised. The rectory and avowson of Crondall were granted by Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, to the Hospital of St Cross in Winchester in 1446, a right it retained even after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
There are three Crusader crosses on the east jamb of the doorway in the north porch, one of which might have been carved in the 13th century by Sir Alexander Giffard of Itchell Manor, who kept a vigil at the altar of the church before embarking on crusade. On the opposite doorway are crosses which by tradition are pilgrims' crosses made by pilgrims on the nearby Pilgrims' Way from Winchester to Canterbury before visiting the tomb of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.
In 1538 the church became Anglican on Thomas Cromwell's injunction, following which the wall paintings inside the church were whitewashed, all candlesticks and images were removed, a wooden table replaced the stone altar and a Bible in English used for services, now conducted in English.
The windows on the southern side of the chancel date from the 14th century.
There is a fine brass on the chancel floor to Nicholas de Kaerwent (vicar 1361–81; d. 1381), Rector of Crondall, which incorporates Fylfot crosses on the stole.
Two family tombs in the chancel recesses date from this period. The Gifford tomb on the south side ("Gyfford"; "Giffard") (1563) has the inscription: "Hereunder lyeth the body of John Gyfford Esquyer heyre aparant of Sir Wyll[ia]m Gyfford Knyght who had to wyfe Elizabethe one of the dawghters of Sir George Throkmarton Knight and had by her issue fyve sonnys and viii dawghters and so changyd this mortall lyfe the fyrst day of May in the yere of our Lorde God 1563 on whose soule Jesu have m'cy". The Paulet tomb on the north (1558) is to Sir George Paulet (d. 1532), a commissioner to the Dissolution and the younger brother of William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester. Many of the inscriptions on this tomb have been erased, some deliberately.
17th–18th century.
In 1643 Parliamentarian soldiers seized the church under Colonel Birch, CIO to Major-General Sir William Waller. The building was soon heavily defended with entrenchments, and the church was further defaced. In subsequent years numerous sightings of the ghosts of Parliamentarian soldiers in the church's graveyard were reported, particularly of a mounted trooper who is said to disappear through a doorway having ridden up the avenue of limes.
A new bell frame was placed in the Norman tower in 1642, two additional bells were added and the roof covered with 1,200 lbs of lead. By 1657 there was sufficient concern about the stability of the Norman tower following this work that it was decided to bring it down and a new tower of four stages, detached from the church itself and modelled on the tower of St Matthews, Battersea, was built in its place in 1659. This work, which cost £428, took 32 men, 110,000 bricks and 62 loads of sand, and the old church was connected to the new tower by two timber galleries, "as if part of a Shakespearean theatre". The tower – a "proud tower", according to Betjeman – has a number of arched doorways and windows, and is capped by four octagonal pinnacles on the belfry. The six bells in the tower date from 1616 and 1619 (Henry Knight; the second bell from 1619 has been recast); 1650 (uncredited); and two, including the tenor, 1788 (Robert Wells). The clock in the north face of the tower was replaced in 1876 by one in the east face.
19th century.
There were two periods of building in the 19th century. The first, overseen by Benjamin Ferrey in 1847, saw the replacement of the galleries and pews, as well as the windows of the clerestory and the aisle, termed "wretched travesties of 12th-century style". Two lancet windows replaced the 15th-century window in the west wall, although the original remains. Pevsner states that the north doorway comes from this rebuilding. In his plan for the rebuilding, both transepts had rows of seats, the northern one being reserved for children. A much great set of alterations were carried out in 1871 by George Gilbert Scott, Jr., with the majority of work being done in the chancel, where the floor was raised and oak choir stools placed, and work done on the east fenestration. The outside walls of the church were also surfaced in cement stucco, which was removed post 1997 as it retained water, and a Bevington organ positioned in front of the west window.
20th century.
Very little work was done until 1971, when vicar John Hunt directed the removal of the organ and the installation of a new swell organ, with a console near the font (placed in the south transept in 1997). The roof of the chancel and the nave was releaded and the church also gained a modern heating system.


Rainthorpe Hall

Rainthorpe Hall is a Grade I listed Elizabethan country mansion near Tasburgh in Norfolk, England, about south of Norwich. It is notable for its medieval stonework, wood carvings, rare 17th-century leather wall-coverings and 19th-century Victorian mirrors. The hall's grounds extend to 18.7 acres.
There is evidence that the Hall dates back to the 15th century or earlier in some form and that most of the original structure was destroyed by a fire around 1500. In 1579, the lawyer Thomas Baxter purchased the property and set about adding to it and altering it to include two new wings, before selling the property in 1628. The next owner of note was Frederick Walpole, youngest son of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford, who purchased the property in 1852; his influence on the house can be seen in the hall chimney, stone windows and stained glass.
Colonel Sir Charles Harvey, who later became the 2nd Baronet Harvey of Crown Point, Trowse, Norfolk, bought Rainthorpe Hall in 1878, and the following year constructed the stable block and the castellated gardener's cottage which sits to the right of the property. Harvey added the five bay window extension at the front in 1885.
After this, Rainthorpe Hall was purchased by the economist J Maurice Hastings, who, according to his good friend, Maurice Bowra, held "wild parties" at the Hall. The Hall was subsequently inherited by his son, George Hastings, who sold it to the barrister and businessman Alastair Wilson QC in 1990.


Haremere Hall

Haremere Hall is a Grade I listed Jacobean building near Etchingham, East Sussex.
Location.
The hall is approximately in size and sited in an grounds. It is around 12 miles north of Hastings and the grounds overlook the River Rother.
History.
There has been a dwelling on the site of what is now Haremere Hall since the 12th century. The current building dates from the early 1600s. James Temple, one of the judges at the trial and subsequent execution of King Charles I, resided in the hall in the 1620s. By the end of the century, it had been occupied by the Busbridge family, relations of the Temples by marriage.
John Lade, friend of the Prince Regent regularly visited the hall in the 19th century. The hall was purchased by Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn in 1957. Following his death, it was the home of his widow Jacqueline, the dowager Lady Killearn.
The house became Grade I listed in 1961. In 2011, aged 102, the dowager Lady Killearn attempted to put the property on the market for around £1.65 million but was prevented from doing so by her son, Victor.


Central Fire Station, Yangon

Central Fire Station, Yangon () is a colonial-era landmark in Yangon, Myanmar of historical significance, and designated on the Yangon City Heritage List. The building continues to be used as a fire station.
The building was built in 1912, designed by the British firm United Engineers Limited. It was built to house Rangoon's fire brigade, which had been established by the Rangoon Municipal Committee in 1883. The municipality acquired a plot of land on Sule Pagoda Road at a cost of 40,000 rupees. The building, built in the Edwardian style, is noted for its octagonal watchtower, and was one of the first iron-frame buildings in Yangon.


San Pietro, Frascineto

San Pietro (Church of St Peter) is a Byzantine style, Roman Catholic church located in the town of Frascineto, Province of Cosenza, region of Calabria, Italy.
History.
The church was built in the 10th-century, and was property of Basilian Order monks until the 18th century. The nave, with two aisles, is oriented towards the west and has an apse, cupola and presbytery that are typically Byzantine. The church is presently deconsecrated. The dome is layers and roofed in tiles.


Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof

Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the German city Darmstadt. After Frankfurt Hbf and Wiesbaden Hbf, it is the third largest station in the state of Hesse with 35,000 passengers and 220 trains per day.
Built in a late art nouveau style, the station was finished 1912 as one of the major works of architect Friedrich Pützer. The station replaced two separate and increasingly inadequate stations located at the "Steubenplatz", around a km closer to the city centre in the east.
History.
The predecessors of Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof were two separate stations in today's Steubenplatz (), which were built by two railway companies in the 19th century when Darmstadt was connected to the rail network: the Main-Neckar station, a through station on the Frankfurt–Heidelberg line, opened in 1846, and the Ludwig station, a terminal station on the Mainz–Aschaffenburg railway, opened in 1858.
The space at both stations became very cramped as a result of the increase in traffic at the end of the 19th century. Due to urban growth in Darmstadt, all space at the stations had been used, so that the necessary extensions of the old sites were not possible and the separation into two stations made operations difficult and road traffic on the level crossing of the Main-Neckar Railway over Rheinstraße created an obstruction to traffic.
Planning.
Beginning in 1901 four different designs were developed, focused primarily on a solving the problems of managing traffic, and subsequently discarded. In 1905, the city and the Prussian-Hessian Railway division in Mainz finally agreed on a fifth draft. It stipulated that a new through station would be built on a then green-field site about 800 metres west of the old stations. The greater distance from the city centre would be compensated by providing a connecting tram. The post office would have its own railway post office north of the entrance building, connected by the "Post Bridge" ("Poststeg"), its own covered bridge, to trains at the mail and baggage platforms below it. The Post Bridge was demolished in 1994.
The tracks in the southern part of the station precinct were placed in a cutting so that the streets could be built over it. The same was true of the station building: passengers enter the station building at street level, pass through the station on the same level and reach the platforms by stairs from an overpass (for some years there have also been lifts). Parallel to this there was a separate overpass for luggage and the express freight service (this was converted in the last renovation into a bicycle parking garage). The northern tracks of the station precinct are on an embankment as the station site slopes down to the north.
An architectural competition was announced for the construction of the station building. At the express request of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, the new station would be built by a modern master builder ("Baumeister"), not a style architect ("Stilarchitekten"). Kaiser Wilhelm II refrained for diplomatic reasons from intervening on the issue, although he intervened in the design of many other station buildings on the Prussian state railways.
A total of 75 designs were submitted. Friedrich Pützer and Friedrich Klingholz each received a second prize. The contract was awarded in 1908 to Friedrich Pützer. It took him two years to complete his designs, into which he also incorporated some good ideas from the designs of his competitors.
Construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1912 at a total cost of 17 million marks. At that time, the experts made a fairly cautious judgements about the new building: "it has some very efficient services, but no great ideas." Today the building is regarded as groundbreaking and it is protected as a monument.
A water tower was built at the Dornheimer Weg bridge to supply the locomotives with water in 1910. This building, which was set to be demolished in 1978, is also now under monument protection.
Architecture of the entrance building.
The station represents the traditionalist architecture of Pützer, as was typical for railway buildings at the time. The design elements on the facade and the interior are reminiscent of the then fashionable Art Nouveau style.
The station building was renovated from 1998 to 2002, requiring intensive conservation. The 94 metres long and 34 metres wide platform area has ten platform tracks and was renewed in 2005–2008 for approximately €31 million. Lifts were installed on the passenger overpass over the platforms to connect with the platforms below, supplementing the stairs, so that the station was accessible for the handicapped for the first time. The elevated platform overpass was extended to accommodate a shopping centre in 2000 with finance from the city of Darmstadt; this also allows access to the district to the west, which is the location of the seat of the European Space Operations Centre, among other things.
A special feature is the so-called "Fürstenbahnhof" (“princely station”) in the south of the station building, which has since developed into a facility for public transport. It had the usual waiting rooms for this purpose, sanitary facilities, a spacious driveway and its own entrance to platform 1, the princely platform. Its solid wall with numerous Art Nouveau features is largely preserved. The former Bahnpolizei (railway police) were located here before the last renovation of the entrance building. In mid-2010, the "Fürstenbahnhof" restaurant was opened to the public in the princely station.
In 1972, the former twelve signal boxes were replaced by a modern signal control centre.
Rail services.
Long-distance.
The station is on the long-distance network of Deutsche Bahn, although the majority of traffic on the north–south long-distance routes runs on the Mannheim–Frankfurt railway. Several Intercity and Intercity-Express lines connect the city directly to Karlsruhe, Stralsund (via Hanover and Hamburg) and Salzburg (via Stuttgart and Munich).
An ICE Sprinter also operates in the morning from Darmstadt to Berlin via Frankfurt.
Regional services.
Darmstadt station has been served by Rhine-Main S-Bahn lines S3 and S4 since 1997. Other regional connections are available to Frankfurt via (Langen), Wiesbaden (via Groß-Gerau and Mainz), Aschaffenburg (via Dieburg and Babenhausen), Mannheim and Heidelberg (via Bensheim and Weinheim) and Eberbach (via Groß-Umstadt Wiebelsbach). The lines to Riedstadt-Goddelau (via Griesheim) and Groß-Zimmern (via Roßdorf), on the other hand, have been closed for a long time. The Pfungstadt Railway ("Pfungstadtbahn") to Pfungstadt was reactivated at the beginning of the 2011/2012 timetable on 11 December 2011. It is served by the extension of services on the Odenwald Railway ("Odenwaldbahn") from Darmstadt station to Pfungstadt as RB 66.
Other public transport.
The station is connected by trams and buses to the urban transport network and served by regional bus lines. There is also a direct bus to Frankfurt Airport. Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof is just east of the city's major roads: Autobahnen (Bundesautobahn 5 and Bundesautobahn 67). Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof is on the main west–east road the Bundesstraße 26. A few blocks aways is the main north–south road the Bundesstraße 3.


The Temple (Atlanta)

The Temple (formally, the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation) is a Reform synagogue in Atlanta, Georgia. The oldest Jewish congregation in Atlanta, it was established in 1860 to serve the needs of German-Jewish immigrants. The Temple, designed by Philip Trammell Shutze in a Neoclassical style, was completed in 1931.
Previous temples of the congregation were located at:
During the 1950s and 1960s The Temple became a center for civil rights advocacy. In response, white supremacists bombed The Temple on October 12, 1958, with no injuries. While arrests were made, there were no convictions. Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Ralph McGill's outraged front-page column on the Temple bombing won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing. The Temple as well as the bombing event was used as a central theme in the film "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989).


St Vedast Foster Lane

Saint Vedast Foster Lane or Saint Vedast-alias-Foster, a church in Foster Lane, in the City of London, is dedicated to St. Vedast (Foster is an Anglicisation of the name "Vaast", as the saint is known in continental Europe), a French saint whose cult arrived in England through contacts with Augustinian clergy.
History.
The original church of St Vedast was founded before 1308 and was extensively repaired by 1662 on parochial initiative. The poet Robert Herrick was baptised here in 1591.
Although the church was not completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, it was so badly damaged that it was included in the list of 50 or so churches that required reconstruction by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The main part of the church was rebuilt 1670–1673 on the old walls at a cost of £1,853, 15s the cheapest of all Wren's City commissions. 6d. Some parts of the medieval fabric were incorporated, most noticeably the south wall which was revealed by restoration in 1992–3.
The tower, on the other hand, survived in its original state until 1694 when it was pulled down, and a new one erected (possibly on its mediaeval lower stages) in 1695–98. The three-tier spire, considered one of the most baroque of all the City spires, was added in 1709–12 at a cost of £2,958, possibly to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor, whose correspondence with the churchwardens also survives, but whose drawings do not. With this late completion date, it was possibly the last of Wren's city churches to be finished.
 Wren's church was gutted a second time by firebombs during the London blitz() of 1940 and 1941. A proposal by Sir Hugh Casson to leave this and several other churches as roofless ruins to serve as a war memorial was not implemented. The post-war restoration within the old walls and re-roofing was undertaken by Stephen Dykes Bower from 1953 under the new rector, Canon Charles B. Mortlock. The Parochial Church Council at the time included Sir John Betjeman and the organ builder Noel Mander.
Dykes Bower re-ordered the interior in a collegiate chapel style with seating down each side with a side chapel in the former South aisle, and squared the old walls which were not rectangular in plan so that the altar now faces the nave squarely. He made an almost imperceptible taper in the pews and floor pattern, to give a false perspective towards the altar, making the church look longer than it is. Dykes Bower designed the fine plaster ceiling, in the style of the late seventeenth century, which is embellished with gold and varnished aluminium leaf. Fittings from other destroyed City churches, including the richly carved pulpit from All Hallows Bread Street and the font and cover from St Anne and St Agnes were incorporated into the new design. Dykes Bower commissioned the Whitefriars glass windows in the East End, showing scenes from the life of St Vedast. These windows use opaque glass to hide tall buildings behind and to disguise the fact that the East wall is a wedge in plan. The work was completed in 1962. An aumbry above the south chapel altar is by Bernard Merry.
Dykes Bower also built a small Parish Room to the North East of the church in 17th-century style and a Georgian-style rectory, adjacent to the church, on Foster Lane in 1959 – in the first floor room of which is an important mural by Hans Feibusch on the subject of Jacob and the Angel. A niche in the internal courtyard of the rectory contains a carved stone head of Canon Mortlock by sculptor Jacob Epstein. Mortlock gave the eulogy at Epstein's funeral in 1959.
The church is noted for its small but lively baroque steeple, its small secluded courtyard, stained glass, and a richly decorated ceiling. It also has a ring of six bells, cast by Mears and Stainbank in 1960. They were recast from the mixed peal (of which the earliest dated back to 1671) which were all cracked in the bombing of 1941.
Organ.
The current organ was originally built by John Harris (the son of Renatus Harris) & John Byfield in 1731 for St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange. That church was demolished in 1840, and its newly built replacement, St. Bartholomew, Moor Lane housed the organ from 1841. The church was in turn demolished in 1902; the organ found its way to St. Alban-the-Martyr, Fulham, (built 1894–6) in 1904; and lastly to St. Vedast in 1959. It was restored and enlarged in 1962 by Noel Mander, re-using the Harris case. It has one of the oldest soundboards still in use in the country.
The previous organ was by J.W. Walker, installed at the West end of the church in 1853. It was enlarged by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd and moved to the East end in 1885. It was destroyed during the incendiary bombing on 10 May 1941. It replaced one built by Crang & Hancock in 1774.
Listed building status.
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950. The rectory was listed as a Grade II building on 15 July 1998.


Buildwas Bridge