Thames Wharf Studios

Thames Wharf Studios, in Hammersmith, London, was originally an industrial site containing the Duckham's oil facility overlooking the River Thames in Hammersmith. It was acquired by the Richard Rogers Partnership in 1983, which converted the industrial complex of redundant 20th century warehouses into offices, workshops, housing and a restaurant.
History.
Duckham was founded by Alexander Duckham in 1899 and established a good reputation in the field of lubrication for industrial machinery and motor vehicles. By the early 1920s the Duckham range of oils was officially recommended by more than 60 British car manufacturers. Production and product research had started with 10 men at a small works in Millwall. The company moved to Hammersmith in 1921, and major expansions occurred in 1940 and 1948. Another works was established in Birmingham during World War II, and by the late 1960s Duckham had become the largest selling brand of motor oil in the country. The company was bought by BP in 1970, and the works at Thames Wharf were closed in 1979.
The site was developed as architectural practice offices, lettable workshops and office units (within the refurbished warehouse blocks) and new housing. The Richard Rogers office's double-height entrance lobby has been developed as an informal gallery where project models are exhibited on steel racks. Throughout the building new elements are expressed in a bold industrial manner, often using primary colours. On the ground floor of the site is The River Café, which opened in 1987. The café looks out over a private landscaped area that extends to the river walkway. The two-storey rooftop extension to the office space, shaped like a 'bread bin', was designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, an architectural practice that had offices in the Thames Wharf complex but has since moved to Island Studios, 22 St Peter's Square. Completed in 1991, the extension’s great semi-circular roof provides a lightweight expression of the activities carried out below.
Present day.
Founder partner of the Richard Rogers Partnership and RIBA past president, Marco Goldschmied sold his share of the freehold interest in 2010. The remainder of the freeholds have been owned since 2007 by two Guernsey companies and a pension fund which acquired John Young and Richard Rogers' share of the freehold interests in 2007. Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, formerly the Richard Rogers Partnership, remain as tenants, as do The River Café who both have leases expiring in December 2015.
In 2009 the first floor office space was let by Thames Wharf Studios's consultants, Frost Meadowcroft, to Pokémon the video and card game company. Other current tenants include Green Dot Ltd, the UK subsidiary of Grüne Punkt GmbH, a Europe wide waste recycling company, Clicked Creative Ltd, a digital media company, international law firms McAllister Olivarius and HRO Grant Dawe LLP.


San Giovanni Theristis

The Monastery of San Giovanni Theristis , is an Orthodox Christian monastery in Bivongi, Calabria (province of Reggio), southern Italy. It is part of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese for Italy.
History.
Calabria was part of the Byzantine Empire until the 11th century. A Greek monk, St. John Theristus, operated in the Stilaro Valley during the 9th century. His "aghiasma" ("holy font") became a popular center of local pilgrimage, and here a Byzantine monastery was founded in the 11th century. After the Norman conquest of southern Italy, it developed as one of the most important Basilian monasteries in southern Italy, maintaining its splendour until the 15th century, with a rich library and numerous art treasures.
It lived a phase of decline until 1579, when the founding of the Basilian Order of Italy restored it as the main Basilian center in southern Calabria. However, in the 17th century brigandage damaged the monastery, and the monks decided to moved to a bigger monastery outside the walls of Stilo, carrying with them the relics of the namesake saint. In the early 19th century, after the Napoleonic conquest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, it was acquired by the "comune" of Bivongi, who sold it to private owners. In 1980 it was sold back to the municipal authority and, in the 1990s, restored to the Italian Basilian Order. In 2001, the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I visited the monastery and returned here the saint's relic from Stilo.
In July 2008, the city council of Bivongi has granted the use of the church for 99 years to the newly formed Romanian Orthodox Church in Italy.
Description.
The edifice is an example of transition between the Byzantine and Norman styles in architecture in southern Italy. Norman elements include the four corner pilasters closed by four arches, which support the dome, two of them being ogival.
Clearly Byzantine is the exterior, in particular in the external walls, in the fake columns of the apse, which forms ogival arches, and in the 16 small columns decorating the dome's tambour. The interior also houses traces of Byzantine frescoes, such as that portraying St. John Theristis.


St. James Hotel (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

The St. James Hotel is an historic, 12-story hotel in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by Horace Trumbauer and was built in 1901, with an addition being constructed in 1904.


Rainbow Terrace

Rainbow Terrace, now known as Lullwater Estate, is the Mediterranean-style Atlanta mansion built for Lucy Beall Candler Owens Heinz (1882–1962), daughter of Coca-Cola co-founder Asa Griggs Candler. The architect was G. Lloyd Preacher, the architect of Atlanta City Hall. It is located at what is now 1610 Ponce de Leon Avenue in the Druid Hills Historic District.
Henry Heinz was shot by a burglar at Rainbow Terrace in 1943. A domestic servant was convicted of the crime, but rumours persisted that a relative murdered him.
The mansion itself is now divided into condominiums, and is now surrounded by townhouses, all together forming a complex.
There are reports that the house is haunted.


Tara Hall

Tara Hall is a Georgian manor house in the village of Wellington, in Prince Edward County in Ontario, Canada. It was built by merchant and postmaster Archibald McFaul between 1837 and November,1839. McFaul named the house "Tara Hall" after the ancient Irish legend of Tara's Banquet Hall at the Hill of Tara The Hall is a well-preserved example of Regency-era Georgian architecture in the United Empire Loyalist style. unique to the region. It is listed on the register of historic buildings of Prince Edward County and is protected under the "Ontario Heritage Act" of the Province of Ontario and has been described as “an outstanding achievement in its day”
Construction.
Tara Hall is constructed from brick laid five deep in the decorative Flemish bond fashion. The bricks used in Tara Hall were manufactured in Rochester, New York and made the Lake Ontario crossing as ballast in McFaul's schooners on the return journey after delivering agricultural produce to the United States. The corners of the building are set with large tooled limestone quoins. The front of the building features wide Venetian windows with splayed stone lintels above a stone band course separating the storeys. At some time prior to the 1870s a long pagoda-roofed veranda was added running the length of the building. Only photographs and trace impressions of the veranda's supports remain.
Interior.
A rare groin vault ceiling arches over the main entrance hall and intact 19th-century plaster ceilings with mouldings unique to each room are found throughout. The manor contains a total of seven fireplaces venting through five chimneys. On the ground level, the east side of the structure contains a double length salon which converts with three 10 foot tall folding doors into a parlour and a morning room. There is evidence that the morning room opened onto a greenhouse or orangery, possibly a late Victorian addition, since removed. On the west side is a large dining hall and to the rear of that, a study. The dining hall and parlour both open onto the long front veranda through two sets of French doors with sidelights. On the upper floor, reached by a graceful curved staircase is a transverse hallway running east-west to the ground floor's north-south. Across from the upper landing is the neo-classical pilastered doorcase entrance to Tara Hall's ballroom. Off the hallway are the master suite and four additional bedrooms as well as a servants' passage leading back to maids quarters and a separate staircase down to the kitchens in the rear. A one-storey tail housed the winter kitchen and beyond this the summer kitchen and a smaller coach house though these buildings were lost to fire. Below the winter kitchen is the root and wine cellar. In a separate building set further back on McFaul's 38 acre lot, a large coach house and stable once stood which was shared with St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church. Above the winter kitchen were quarters for two servants. Two additional houses were constructed adjacent to the property on Town Line Road (now County Road 2) to house McFaul's additional employees and their families. Directly across from Tara Hall stands McFaul's original blacksmith shop which predates the hall.
The Secret Tunnel and the Underground Railway.
There is purported to have been a secret tunnel running from Tara Hall to St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church, 160 metres due north, which may have been used to shuttle fugitive slaves fleeing the United States. With many ports and frequent maritime traffic from the United States, the underground railroad was active in Prince Edward County and the church's involvement in Tara Hall and its location directly opposite Wellington's large shipping pier made it well suited for the purpose. However, due to the secrecy surrounding the underground railway, it is difficult to find documented proof. An alternate version of the tunnel story attributes the secret passage to the Fenian Raids of 1866.
Tara Hall in the Nineteenth Century.
As the most prominent building in Wellington, Tara Hall was famous for lavish parties which could last for several days
In 1844, Tara Hall was sold by McFaul to the Catholic Church for £1,000. The church used it as a Catholic boarding school for the next twelve years when the church failed to pay the mortgage and McFaul foreclosed and reoccupied the residence in 1856. McFaul lived at Tara Hall until his death in January 1864.
In the late nineteenth century, Tara Hall hosted Masonic functions including the historic commemoration of the cornerstone of the new Wellington Lodge in 1889.
Tara Hall Today.
Through the 20th and into the 21st centuries, Tara Hall has been well maintained and cared for and is largely intact in every detail as the elegant manor house it was in the 1830s.


Manila Jai Alai Building

The Manila Jai Alai Building was a building designed by American architects Welton Becket and Walter Wurdeman that functioned as a building for which jai alai games were held. It was built in the Streamline Moderne style in 1940 and survived the Battle of Manila. It was considered as the finest Art Deco building in Asia, until its demolition. It was demolished in 2000 upon the orders of the Mayor of Manila Lito Atienza amidst protests, to make way for the Manila Hall of Justice, which was never built.
Design.
The building was located adjacent to the old Legislative Building now the National Museum of Fine Arts. Composed of four storeys, the building's Sky Room was "the place to be seen" in its day. The building's cylindrical glass facade was meant to evoke the velocity of the game, which was then a craze in the city. The building was damaged during the Battle of Manila during World War II but was repaired.
Decline.
While the Sky Room became a venue of meetings and receptions during the Commonwealth and early years after Independence, the building had degenerated into a place of game-rigging, syndication and other forms of cheating. Several murders have been said to have occurred there, as disputes on gambling on the results of jai alai games were prevalent. In 1986, the game per se was banned in the country due to allegations of game fixing.
Demolition.
When Lito Atienza was elected Mayor of Manila in 1998, he immediately undertook several urban renewal projects in the city. One of the targets was the demolition of the now decrepit Jai-Alai Building. The vicinity had been taker over by vagrants, and the games transferred to Harrison Plaza in Malate, Manila. An effort by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the National Historical Institute (NHI), the Heritage Conservation Society and other heritage conservationists opposed the demolition. Atienza, a frequent bettor on jai alai in his youth, would replace the building with a new building for the city's courts. The conservationists attempted to at least save the building's facade, but were rejected since aside from being inconsistent with the intended function as a court and the building's association with gambling, the facade would be incompatible with the new building's neoclassical style.
Post-demolition.
The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) was given the lot where the building once stood in 2005. The new building for city's courts, on the other hand, will be built on the site of the old GSIS building near Manila City Hall along Arroceros street, beside SM City Manila. On August 22, 2012, there was a so-called "ground-breaking" for a new House of Justice hall on the lot with the GSIS old building, the eighth such ceremony. The "ground-breaking" was symbolic and did not signal the start of construction as bidding for the engineering, design and construction had not taken place yet.
The demolition led to the passage of the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 and other efforts to preserve historic buildings, which has had mixed results.
The vacant lot behind the building became the site of the Torre de Manila, which was completed in 2019. It became controversial in itself because of the building being in the sightline of the Rizal Monument.


Oratorio dei Filippini

The Oratorio dei Filippini (Oratory of Saint Philip Neri) is a building located in Rome and erected between 1637 and 1650 under the supervision of architect Francesco Borromini. The oratory is adjacent to the Chiesa Nuova Santa Maria in Vallicella, the mother church of the congregation. In front of the two sides was a small closed square, now integrated in the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.
History.
The congregation of the Filippini already had one of the most well-decorated Baroque churches in Rome, and the order had planned to build an oratory, as well as residential quarters, adjacent to the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) located in crowded central Rome. Originally, Ortario dei Filippini was also meant to be a place for the Filippini to practice their own, unique, inventive style of prayer. Borromini won a competition for designing the structure against many including Paolo Maruscelli. He was employed in the task for 13 years, often a testy process. By 1640, the oratory was in use, and by 1643, the library, called the "Biblioteca Vallicelliana", was complete. Borromini later became occupied by the construction of many components of the building such as the façade, two courtyards, the refectory, recreational rooms, the Biblioteca Vallicelliana, and the clock tower. Camillo Artucci became the designer after Borromini left the job in 1650 due to conflicts with the Fillipini Congregation.
Description.
Exterior
Though the facade is large compared the structures behind it, it was meant to be second best to the adjacent church in terms of materials and size.
The facade provides a summary of Borromini's characteristics of innovations style, both austere and technically rigorous. The main body is divided into five parts by pilasters following a concave curve. In the central part, a dynamic appears between the lower level, whose curve moves outward, and the upper level which curves inward. This panel-clad façade of the Oratorio dei FIlippini was designed to mimic the human body with open arms for those wanting to worship there. The façade is decorated with upper and lower pilasters with Corinthian capitals.
At the corner of the oratory, on the Piazza dell'Orologio, Borromini raised a turret with a clock (1647-1649).
Interior
Inside the oratory is articulated by half columns and a complex rhythm of pilasters.
Today, a room in the Oratorio dei Filippini, known as the Sala Borromini, functions similarly to a town hall as meetings and debates are held there.
The Ortario dei Filippini features a library called Biblioteca Vallicelliana which is distinguished by a staircase with a depiction of a Bellonian priest. In the staircase leading up to the library one can admire the full scale plaster models of Alessandro Algardi's reliefs of "The Encounter of Attila and Pope Leo" (the finished marble is in St. Peter's Basilica) and "The Miracle of Saint Agnes" (executed by Algardi's assistants Ercole Ferrata and Domenico Guidi; the marble version, destined to become the main altarpiece in Sant'Agnese in Agone was never made).
The shape of the music hall inside Oratorio dei Filippini lends itself to acoustics and the distribution of sound. The long, rectangular design allows sound to bounce off of the walls and fill the room effectively. The high, curved ceiling pushes sound down to the audience below. This is important because the Filippini used music as an integral part of their prayer and worship.


West Maling

West Maling is a heritage-listed former residence and now ecclesiastical centre and administration building located at 663-665 King Georges Road, Penshurst, Georges River Council, New South Wales, Australia. Its design is attributed to Richard Norman Shaw who is likely to have influenced its design, and built by Charles Halstead the supervising architect. It is also known as West Maling (Revival Life Centre) and Weigall House. The property is owned by Australian Evangelist Association. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History.
Penshurst.
Early botanist Dr Robert Townson (1763-1827) received one of the first land grants in this area. The he was granted in 1808, were west of the present King George's Road, extending to today's Boundary Road. In 1809 he received another north of his original grant. His property passed to John Connell in 1830, whose name was taken for a subdivision of the land in 1869. J. C. and E. P. Laycock acquired the land and carried out the subdivision, which they called 'Connell's Bush', the western part of which was bought by Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (who had large land holdings in the district before 1861 and bought the south-western section of Townson's 1808 grant). Located on the Illawarra railway line between Hurstville and Mortdale.
The early work in this area was timber-cutting and small farming. The railway came through in 1886 and opened up the suburb as a residential area: the platform was established in 1890. A former Governor-General of Australia, Lord de L'Isle, whose family seat in England is Penshurst Place, visited the suburb in 1961 during his term of office (1961–65). Penshurst in Kent has the same misty quality that Penshurst, Sydney had in earlier times, when southerly winds blew a sea mist across from Oatley Bay on the Georges River. Today the larger number of buildings in the area make this quality less evident.
West Maling.
West Maling on King Georges Road (formerly Belmore Road) was built in 1889 for Albert Bythesea Weigall, a former Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School and was originally named Weigall House. Weigall lived there until 1912.
Weigall was born in Nantes, France in 1840 and later became possibly the most famous headmaster of Sydney Grammar School, a position he enjoyed and held with notable success from 1866-1912. He built West Mailing as his home on top of a hill in Penshurst where it still has a commanding view over Botany Bay.
This grand mansion in the Elizabethan Tudor style is thought to be a rare example of the work of the English architect, Richard Norman Shaw. Its construction was supervised by local architect, Charles Halstead, the final cost being A£3,561, 10 shillings and tuppence.
It is conspicuous amongst the many red brick mansions of Sydney's late Victorian period because of the Federation Queen Anne style of its architecture and the quality of its detail. It is an exceptional and rare example of that period from the mid-1860s onwards which was popularised by the English architects, William Eden Nesfield and Richard Norman Shaw and their followers. It appears to be the earliest Queen Anne design to appear in Sydney.
The original garden was set out during the Federation period and from the beautiful wrought iron carriage gates set between pillars a privet hedge extended along Penshurst Avenue. Some of this had to be removed in 1983 to allow builders access to build the underground chapel and avoid damaging these gates.
The Weigall family enjoyed an elegant lifestyle. A broad front garden once separated the house from King Georges Road, until part was resumed by Kogarah Council for road widening in December 1970.
The history of ownership is uncertain between 1912 and 1960.
The property had been lived in by a succession of families until 1953.
On 27 August 1953 the property was bought by the Oblate Fathers, a Roman Catholic Order of Priests devoted to religious education and counselling. From here they conducted what was virtually a Theological Correspondence School which, pre-computers, required the installation of a printing press. Their lifestyle was spartan. Each father slept on a stretcher bed alongside his massive oak desk where he worked during the day but in spite of their frugal lifestyle, high maintenance costs and rising rates forced the Oblate Fathers to relocate.
On 17 May 1972 the property was sold to Norman Lloyd Armstrong of Sylvania, Gordon Barnard Gibbs of Wentworthville, both Ministers of Religion, and Mrs Ruth Margaret Harvey of Caringbah, as Trustees for the Revival Life Assembly. This is an Assemblies of God Church, a non-denominational religious group worshipping in an evangelistic charismatic way. The ballroom in became a chapel but as church membership grew there was a need to increase in size the meeting area.
In 1981 Kogarah Council sought advice from the Heritage Council in relation to the proposed erection of a new chapel in the front garden of the property. Whilst the existing building was not to be physically affected by the proposed chapel, Kogarah Council considered that the design and location of it could significantly detract from the appearance of the building. At that time West Maling was the administrative and ecclesiastical centre of the Australian Evangelistic Association and is known as its Revival Life Centre.
The Heritage Council considered the matter and an Interim Heritage Order was placed over the property on 31July 1981. Following liaison and consultation between the Australian Evangelistic Association and the Heritage Council and employment of an architect, a satisfactory chapel was designed and built.
In 1983 architects Noel Bell and Rose-Marie Willett of Noel Bell Ridley Smith & Partners were given a brief to design a chapel which would accommodate 350 people and at the same time preserve the house and protect the century-old trees that surrounded it. This was accomplished by building the chapel underground beneath a car park at the front of the building. Constructed of concrete and coloured deep brown to blend with the warm toned brickwork of West Maling, the new chapel has galleries which bring its capacity up to 400 people.
The project also sought to provide minister's offices, book and tape library and a mothers' room for infants. The problem of providing the required accommodation plus parking on the site for 31 cars and a one-way road system, seemed at first insoluble, as the garden formed an important part of the property's character. A separate low-key building with minimal impact on existing structures and landscape features was chosen. The natural fall of the land to the south and presence of a former tennis court at a lower level to the house suggested a design in which the bulk of the new building could be cut into the hillside so the roof of the building could act as a natural extension to the main garden front without visually obstructing West Maling. This roof was then designed to act as a car parking area with access to the original circular drive and entry gates. In general terms the existing landscaping was substantially retained and supplemented with new trees to restore the enclosure of West Maling along the Penshurst Avenue frontage.
In recognition of its historic and architectural significance a Permanent Conservation Order was placed over the property on 2 December 1983.
The new chapel was sited to allow for preservation of as many mature trees as possible. The roof serves as a car park, backed by a row of brush box (Lophostemon confertus), so does not detract from the stately old house. The colour of the new building matches the old in its rendered finish and the descending entry steps are partly concealed by a pergola festooned with potato vine (Solanum jasminoides). One of the trees removed for construction was a large jacaranda. A semi-mature golden false-cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Crippsii') in a circular bed opposite the front door also added to the gold and green theme. In consultation with the architects and clients Mary Davis designed the gardens which were to enhance the new building while relating to the Tudor (Revival) style residence and the clients' requirements relating to ongoing maintenance. A yellow, white and blue colour scheme was used, Kentia palms (Kentia spp.) in shady areas and blue and white Cape leadwort (Plumbago capensis) used extensively. The privet hedge was removed and replaced with plumbago. New trees include jacaranda, golden honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos 'Sunburst') and evergreen magnolia (M.grandiflora). Low maintenance shrubs included Abelia x grandiflora and A.g.'Variegata', sweet box (Murraya paniculata), St.John's wort (Hypericum patulum), bird-of-paradise flowers (Strelitzia spp.)(already existing on site) and golden breath-of-heaven (Diosma). Below the brush box trees shrubs and ground covers of heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica), box (Buxus microphylla), some existing tree ferns (Cyathea sp.), kaffir lilies (Clivia miniata), peacock iris (Dietes grandiflora), cast-iron plants (Aspidistra elatior), variegated spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum 'Variegatum') and periwinkle (Vinca major) have been planted in drifts.
In 1984 through the Heritage Assistance Program a dollar for dollar grant of $6,000 was provided to the Revival Life Centre Church to assist in the repainting of West Maling.
Today West Maling is a vibrant religious centre and because of the purpose for which it was used over many years, it has survived undamaged and in excellent condition.
West Maling was transferred to the NSW State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Description.
A broad front garden once separated the house from King Georges Road, until part of the frontage was resumed by Kogarah Council for road widening in 1970. Wrought iron gates between rendered pillars open onto an entry drive with bull nosed brick edging.
To the front and sides of the house, the original garden and driveways remain. Mature pines, Prunus sp., palms and an avenue of brush box (Lophostemon confertus) are the predominant planting.
The fine mature trees in the North-east corner of the site (i.e.: corner of King Georges Road and Penshurst Avenue)(black bean (Castanospermum australe), Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara), Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla), silky oak (Grevillea robusta), 7 existing camphor laurels (Cinnamommum camphora), Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla) and the mature Himalayan cedar and Norfolk Island pine immediately to the north-west of the new chapel (1982) are unaffected by the new work and are retained.
A 1/1983 landscape plan (Mary Davis Landscape Consultant) notes existing trees (all of the above ones plus) including on the north-east boundary (King Georges Road side) 2 existing Ochna serrulata, further south (adjoining the new chapel) existing palm seedlings, Cotoneaster pannosa, aged juniper (recommended to be replaced later with a black bean), existing oleander (near steps off King Georges Road to access the new chapel).
This plan notes on the south of the side lawn east of the house (near the new chapel) an existing juniper (Juniperus sp.), and another Himalayan cedar (closer to the house). On the southern boundary (by the new chapel) it notes 4 existing African olives (Olea europaea var. Africana), 1 heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica), 2 existing tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica), Philodendron selloum, and further west, a fruit salad plant (Monstera deliciosa).
In the south-western corner (car parking area) it notes 5 existing brush box (Lophostemon confertus), a red hibiscus, existing golden cypress (Cupressus brunniana 'Aurea'), climbing roses and picking garden running along the western boundary to the north. In the north-western corner still on the western boundary it notes existing red and white oleanders (Nerium oleander cv.s), and an existing Browallia sp. On the northern (Penshurst Road) boundary it notes an existing privet hedge (recommended for replacement with one of Plumbago auriculata). Flanking the original driveway entrance on this boundary it notes an existing Port wine magnolia (Michelia figo) on the west, and a Bougainvillea trailli on the eastern side. In the circular bed in the carriage loop is an existing golden dwarf cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana cv., possibly C.l.'Crippsii'.
Lawns (presumably original are on the north of the house and to the east of the drive in the north-eastern corner.
Around the house, the Davis plan notes on the northern facade, a bed containing existing (and recommended new) roses, a "Cecile Brunner" rose existing on a pergola at the north-eastern corner of the house, a perennial picking garden featuring Shasta daisies, perennial phlox, gold and white tall bearded Iris, Canterbury bells etc. To the south-eastern corner of the house is an existing picking garden beside an area of lawn, 2 existing camellias, existing stone paved area with a well in it. South of the house is another paved area, with an existing African olive, pruned to shrub size. Azaleas must have existed then in the front perennial garden, as these were recommended for transplanting behind (west of) the house in expanded garden beds in front of blank walls and plumbing on wall surfaces).
The new chapel was sited to allow for preservation of as many mature trees as possible. The roof serves as a car park, backed by a row of brush box (Lophostemon confertus), so does not detract from the stately old house. The colour of the new building matches the old in its rendered finish and the descending entry steps are partly concealed by a pergola festooned with potato vine (Solanum jasminoides). One of the trees removed for construction was a large jacaranda. A semi-mature golden false-cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Crippsii') in a circular bed opposite the front door also added to the gold and green theme. In consultation with the architects and clients Mary Davis designed the gardens which were to enhance the new building while relating to the Tudor (Revival) style residence and the clients' requirements relating to ongoing maintenance. A yellow, white and blue colour scheme was used, Kentia palms (Kentia spp.) in shady areas and blue and white Cape leadwort (Plumbago capensis) used extensively. The privet hedge was removed and replaced with plumbago. New trees include jacaranda, golden honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos 'Sunburst') and evergreen magnolia (M.grandiflora). Low maintenance shrubs included Abelia x grandiflora and A.g.'Variegata', sweet box (Murraya paniculata), St.John's wort (Hypericum patulum), bird-of-paradise flowers (Strelitzia spp.)(already existing on site) and golden breath-of-heaven (Diosma). Below the brush box trees shrubs and ground covers of heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica), box (Buxus microphylla), some existing tree ferns (Cyathea sp.), kaffir lilies (Clivia miniata), peacock iris (Dietes grandiflora), cast-iron plants (Aspidistra elatior), variegated spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum 'Variegatum') and periwinkle (Vinca major) have been planted in drifts.
House:
West Maling is one of the purest examples of the Queen Anne style evidenced. It is therefore likely to be a copy of an English residence. The work of British Architect Norman Shaw is likely to have influenced its design.
Constructed in a warm brick in English bond, it is a particularly attractive two storey residence featuring steeply pitched slate roofs, ornate brick chimneys, stained glass windows and Tudor influenced battening. The gable ends are of timber and stucco.
The verandah features timber posts with ornamental brackets and the chimneys rising high above the high gabled roof are a dominant feature. Admission to the house is through a massive cedar panelled front door set into a sandstone arch with Gothic flutings.
The entry porch is decorated with mosaic artistry. Interior doors are between three and four inches thick and have arched heads set into inverted arch architraves which are said to appear more Medieval than Elizabethan.
A pair of stained-glass Inglenook windows date the building to AD 1889.
The ballroom retains the original set of six stained-glass windows depicting English poets and essayists: Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakspeare (sic), John Milton, John Bunyan, Edmund Spicer and Francis Bacon. Facing these windows is a low dais on which musicians once performed. This room in later years became a chapel. The joinery includes carved cedar mantelpieces, the one in the dining room having a carved panel bearing a crest and the motto "Semper Fidelis" (always faithful), and some rooms have pressed metal ceilings.
Internally and externally virtually all the original joinery remains. Of particular interest is the pointed arch shape to the top of the doors and the fireplaces and inglenook in the living room.
Chapel (1983):
Underground structure with roof top car parking. Concrete construction coloured deep brown to tone in with house. Galleries bring its seating capacity to 400.
Condition.
As at 8 February 2006, the setting modified significantly by 1982 underground chapel and above-roof parking, and additional car parking to the south-west (rear) of the house/property. Several trees removed.
Internally and externally virtually all the original joinery remains as do the original driveways and gardens.
Modifications and dates.
1982 - approval to construct a 350 seat chapel below ground at the side (south-east) of the building near to King Georges Road, with off street parking above it on the rooftop. Removal of trees: a young jacaranda, a number of conifers bordering the old access lane near the S-E boundary, a spruce within the old tennis court area and 2 brush box trees to enlarge the driveway area and provide additional parking at the rear of the house.
Heritage listing.
As at 15 March 2006, West Maling has a high level of aesthetic significance at a state level as one of the purest examples of the Queen Anne style of architecture existing today and it is thought to be the first of its type of residence built in Australia. Its significance is enhanced by its retention internally and externally of virtually all the original joinery, its original driveways and part of its original gardens.
It has historical associations with Albert Bythesea Weigall, the first headmaster of Sydney Grammar School, having been built in 1889 for his residence.
The site has acquired social significance at a local level for its continued use by the Revival Life Centre as a church since the 1980s and prior to this time its use as a monastery.
West Maling was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.
The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.
It was built in 1889 for Albert Bythesea Weigall, the first headmaster of Sydney Grammar School.
The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.
West Maling is one of the purest examples of the Queen Anne style of architecture existing today and is thought to be the first of its type of residence built in Australia.


Palazzo della Consulta

The Palazzo della Consulta (built 1732–1735) is a late Baroque palace in central Rome, Italy, that since 1955 houses the Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic. It sits across the Piazza del Quirinale from the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic, the Quirinal Palace.
History.
Prior to the 17th century, a palace had been erected for the Cardinal Ferrero during the reign of Pope Sixtus V. The Pope Clement XII (Corsini) commissioned the present palace from Ferdinando Fuga, and it was completed in 1737 to house the secretariat of the "Sacra Congregazione della Consulta" (which served as the main council of state of the Papal states and tribunal) as well as the "Segnatura dei Brevi", as well as two corps of Papal Guard units. From 1798 to 1814, the palace was used as the Prefecture of Rome. In 1849, during the Roman Republic, it was the home of the ruling Triumvirate. After the annexation of the Papal States to the Kingdom of Italy, from 1871 to 1874, Prince Umberto I and his wife Margherita of Savoy lived here. From 1874 to 1922, it housed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from 1924 to 1953 it housed the Ministry of Colonies. In 1955, it became the home of the Constitutional Court of Italy.
Fuga ordered the two-storey facade with a piano nobile whose windows have low arched heads set in fielded panels, over a ground floor with low mezzanine. On the lower story the panels have channeled rustication and rusticated quoins at the corners. Pilasters are applied only to the central three-bay block, which barely projects, and to the corners. The roof-line of the facade is topped by a large coat of arms of the Corsini pope, and is similar to the one of Fontana di Trevi. Lower down, at the entrance, a King of Italy installed his coat of arms.
The interiors have undergone a series of fresco decorations over the centuries. The initial 18th-century frescoes by Antonio Bicchierai and Giovanni Domenico Piastrini, are nearly vanished except for a few allegorical figures in the apartments of the Cardinals. In 1787, the new Cardinale dei Brevi, Cardinal Romoaldo Braschi-Onesti, had the palaced redecorated by Bernardino Nocchi, which was also nearly lost except for frescoes on the "Myth of Proserpine" in the "Salone Pompeiano" and decoration in the ceiling of the "Studio dei Giudici" depicting charity and the four virtues. The Savoy monarchy had frescoed completed by Domenico Bruschi, Cecrope Barilli and Annibale Brugnoli.


Grace Building, Sydney

The Grace Building is a heritage-listed building of the Federation Skyscraper Gothic style that houses a bar, hotel, cafe and restaurant and is located at 77-79 York Street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia.
Designed by Morrow and Gordon and built by Kell & Rigby during the late 1920s, it was opened in 1930 by Grace Brothers, the Australian department store magnates, as their headquarters. "The building was designed to use the first two storeys in the manner of a department store. The remaining storeys were intended to provide rental office accommodation for importers and other firms engaged in the softgoods trade". Inspired by the neo-Gothic Tribune Tower in Chicago—headquarters of the "Chicago Tribune"—the building was of the Art Deco architectural style and had state-of-the-art innovations and facilities for the time.
The Grace Building has served various purposes since its opening; it was sublet to the Australian Commonwealth government in the early 1940s and later became the Sydney headquarters of the U.S. armed forces under General Douglas MacArthur during the Pacific War. After World War II, it continued to be used for government administration purposes and was compulsorily acquired by the Commonwealth in November 1945.
Extensive renovation and restoration during the 1990s resulted in the return of many of the building's original features, including light fittings, lifts, stairwells, high pressed-metal ceilings, marble floors, wide hallways, and elegant decorative ironwork. The Grace Building was listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate in 1980 and placed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The building was purchased for redevelopment in 1995 by the Low Yat Group of Malaysia. Since June 1997, it has operated as a luxury hotel known as "the Grace Sydney".
History.
Sydney had become Australia's largest and most populous city by the early 1900s, thus assuming its position as Australia's leading financial city and one of the most prosperous cities in the Asia-Pacific region. The First World War had since ended and Australia's immigration was high–with many of its settlers choosing Sydney as their home. It was constructed as a headquarters and department store for the Grace Brothers chain, who had a long and illustrious history of serving Sydney, particular its upper class gentry. Founded by English immigrants Albert Edward and Joseph Neal Grace, in 1885, the first Grace Brothers store was a modest building located on George Street. After their accenting to power, a major store was opened on Broadway, outside of the central business district.
In 1926, the Grace brothers purchased a block of land on the corner of York, Clarence and King Street, on which the "jewel crown" of their business empire would be built. They believed the site was perfectly positioned for the building that they planned would become "The Showpiece of the Company", with new public transport routes and the coming Sydney Harbour Bridge turning York and Clarence Streets into the major city thoroughfares that they are today. Company letterhead billed the building as being "...on the Harbour Bridge Highway." Broadway, location of the other Grace Bros. building, had been affected by the shift of the city's commercial district toward Circular Quay in the 1920s and the changing public transport routes away from Sydney's South end, and so the Grace Building would become the company's saviour. The Grace Building was officially opened by Sydney Lord Mayor Ernest Marks on 3 July 1930. Its designed was heavily influenced by the Chicago's Tribune Tower, another remnant of 1930s art deco architecture in the United States.
York Street, however, did not become the shopping thoroughfare the Grace Brothers had envisaged and, combined with the effects of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the building never lived up to expectations. By the onset of the Second World War Grace Bros. was experiencing difficulty in leasing office suites and much of the space was allocated to government departments. In 1943 the Grace Building was requisitioned under national security regulations by the Federal Government for use as headquarters by the Supreme Commander of allied forces in the south-west Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur. In 1945, the Grace Building was compulsorily acquired by the Commonwealth. In 1995, it was purchased by the Low Yat Group of Kuala Lumpur for adaptive reuse as a 382-room hotel, opening in 1997. It remains a hotel to this day.
Description.
A fine example of commercial Gothic, with a soaring vertical emphasis and prominent "Gothic" corner tower, complete with flying buttresses, pointed windows and quatrefoils. Sheathed in glazed cream terra cotta, details are picked out in green. Decoration is limited, skyscraper fashion, to the summit and lower portion of the building. The street level facade has been altered, but the facade above the awning remains intact.
Condition.
Physical condition good. Archaeological potential is low.
Heritage listing.
As at 1 October 1997, The Grace Building is historically significant because of its associations with the retail boom of the 1920s. It epitomises the optimism and dynamism of that period as well as the subsequent economic collapse and Great Depression. It is also associated with the World War II presence of United States military forces in Australia and with General Douglas MacArthur in particular. It is architecturally significant because it is Sydney's finest example of the skyscraper gothic style which illustrates the American influence on Australian commercial architecture and is a distinctive landmark in the city. It was one of the most significant works of Morrow and Gordon, a leading architectural firm of that period. The Grace Building is technically significant because of the unusual reinforced concrete slab and beam construction and the glazed architectural terra cotta cladding.
Grace Building, Sydney was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.
The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.
The Grace Building is historically significant because of its associations with the retail boom of the 1920s and epitomises the optimism and dynamism of that period as well as the subsequent economic collapse and Great Depression. It is also associated with the World War II presence of United States military forces in Australia and with General Douglas MacArthur in particular.
The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.
It is architecturally significant because it is Sydney's finest example of the skyscraper gothic style which illustrates the American influence on Australian commercial architecture and is a distinctive landmark in the city. It was one of the most significant works of Morrow and Gordon a leading architectural firm of that period.
The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
The Grace Building is technically significant because of the unusual reinforced concrete slab and beam construction and the glazed architectural terra cotta cladding.


The George Hotel, Crawley

The George Hotel, also known as the George Inn and now marketed as the Ramada Crawley Gatwick, is a hotel and former coaching inn on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. The George was one of the country's most famous and successful coaching inns, and the most important in Sussex, because of its location halfway between the capital city, London, and the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton. Cited as "Crawley's most celebrated building", it has Grade II* listed status.
It is known that a building called the George has existed on the site since the 16th century or earlier, and many sources date the core of the existing inn to 1615. The George Hotel has three principal sections, facing east and running from south to north parallel with Crawley High Street. Nothing of the exterior is original, except perhaps for parts of the tiled roof. The hotel contains 84 rooms and 6 meeting rooms with a capacity of up to 150, regularly used for conferences, weddings, exhibitions, seminars and training sessions. The present structure is made up of disparate parts of various dates: the inn expanded to take in adjacent buildings as its success grew in the 18th and 19th centuries. Major changes took place in the 1930s, and the annex was knocked down in 1933.
The inn has been associated with royalty, bareknuckle prizefighting, smuggling among other things, and has been the subject of novels and paintings. It was central to the plot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mystery novel "Rodney Stone", written in 1896. John George Haigh, a notorious serial killer in the 1940s known for his "acid bath" murders, stayed at the hotel on numerous occasions, and dined there on the day he killed one of his victims. The hotel is also reputedly haunted by the ghost of a nightwatchman, Mark Hurston (or Hewton) and other curious figures.
History.
Medieval history.
At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086 there was no manor or village of Crawley, but the thickly forested area was gradually being cleared and settled. The land on which the village of Crawley developed—a sloping site with higher land to the south, at the point where the Low Weald rises to become the High Weald—was probably owned by William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey as part of one of the manors to the south.
During the Norman era in the late 11th and 12th centuries, a nucleated village began to appear, prompted by the development of a north–south "High Street" forming part of a longer route from the capital city, London, to the port of Shoreham on the English Channel coast. This replaced an earlier northeast–southwest route linking local farms to the older settlement of West Green, about west of Crawley, because a north–south route could take advantage of an area of drier, harder land formed by an outcrop of sandstone from the Hastings Beds that jutted into the sticky, waterlogged Weald Clay, which predominated around West Green and Crawley.
The main road quickly became established, and Crawley was a natural stopping place almost exactly halfway between the coast and London. Its development into an urban area was assured when King John granted a charter for a market in 1202. St John the Baptist's Church was founded a few decades later, a manor house was built in the late 14th or early 15th century, and the local iron industry brought further prosperity. Buildings appeared on both sides of the High Street, which widened significantly as it passed the manor house and church, and the market's position on a long-distance through road enabled it to thrive.
16th–17th century.
The first mention of The George appears in 1579, when landowner Richard Covert died and passed on an area of land (a "tenement") to his son. This necessitated a payment to the Lord of the manor. The tenement bore the name of The George, and was situated in a valuable position: in the centre of Crawley, on the west side of the High Street (and just inside the parish of Ifield, a nearby village; the boundary between Ifield and Crawley parishes ran along the middle of the High Street). The building on the land was almost certainly an inn at that time, and many sources assert that its oldest parts date from about 1450. Its centre section, an open hall-house of a type common in the area, may be even older, possibly late 14th century.
An early remodelling came in 1615, when a timber-framed extension was built on the south side, a new jettied cross-wing was added at the front and a stone fireplace was installed. This bears the date 1615 (although this may have been carved later), and has carvings and arches. An inventory dated 1689, carried out when the owner died, revealed that the George Hotel had 15 bedrooms, two parlours, a kitchen, a bakery, a small brewery, stables, a barn, a back yard and a cellar. Meanwhile, a gallows was erected outside the hotel, partly spanning the High Street; one end was attached to the top floor of the building.
Until the 18th century, the narrow, waterlogged road northwards from Crawley towards Reigate and London could only be used by horses, and even then only with difficulty; it was impassable for carriages, carts and other wheeled vehicles. Trade was being affected, demand for travel between Crawley and London was growing (by the late 17th century it was one of several towns in Sussex to be served by scheduled packhorse-drawn goods wagons to and from the capital), and the nearby market towns of Horsham and East Grinstead threatened to overtake Crawley in importance. (Like Crawley, they each had two licensed taverns in 1636, when an inventory of Sussex's 61 licensed premises was drawn up.) In 1696, one of England's first turnpike Acts was passed, which allowed tolls to be collected to pay for repairs and improvement. A tollgate was built at the north end of Crawley, which gave its name to the present neighbourhood of Northgate.
18th–19th century.
The growth of Brighton as a fashionable seaside resort from the mid-18th century was also invaluable to Crawley's prosperity: it lay directly south of Crawley, and replaced Shoreham as the main focus of north–south traffic. In 1770, the section between Lowfield Heath (north of Crawley) and Brighton was turnpiked, and for the first time the full length of the London–Brighton road was properly constructed and maintained. The journey by horse and carriage now took about eight hours, and Crawley was perfectly placed to become a daytime or overnight stopping point. Within a few years, about 60 coaches were making the journey every day, and The George—as the town's largest and best-equipped hotel—became "the recognised halfway house between London and Brighton".
Artist Thomas Rowlandson's aquatint of 1789, "An Excursion to Brighthelmstone in 1789" (the title uses Brighton's original name), shows The George Hotel prominently. It is the earliest artistic depiction of Crawley, and shows a riotous horse auction underneath the original gallows. The horses were reputedly seized from smugglers apprehended in the area, which was notorious for that activity at the time. Bareknuckle prizefighting was also a major local attraction from which The George benefited: nearby Crawley Down and Copthorne were "the most renowned battlefields in the south of England", and The George itself became "the hub of the pugilistic universe". Tens of thousands of people of all classes—including members of the Royal Family (such as the Prince Regent), statesmen and famous playwrights—would visit Crawley Down or Copthorne Common to watch and bet on extremely violent contests which could last for hours; the George was invariably used as the base from which to visit these illegal bouts. Other famous visitors of this era included Lord Nelson—whose sister lived in the nearby village of Handcross— Queen Victoria, who on one occasion was stranded overnight when her carriage broke down, and the Prince Regent, whose patronage of Brighton and regular travelling of the London–Brighton road indirectly brought about the upturn in fortunes experienced by Crawley in general, and the George Hotel in particular, during the 18th century. In this era, it was one of Britain's best-known and most important coaching inns, and it held "the premier position" among Sussex's many such establishments.
Also by this time, the former gallows had been converted into an inn sign that soon became a landmark, and some structural and exterior alterations were made—the first of many over the subsequent years. The earliest known photograph of the George, dated 1867, shows a dilapidated building of several uncoordinated parts: it had expanded over the years to take in buildings on each side of the original medieval inn, and it was considered a purely functional building with no obvious architectural merit. By this time, the coaching era was in terminal decline because of the increasing popularity of rail travel; a line was opened between London and Brighton in 1841, with a station at Three Bridges just east of Crawley, and the town centre received its own branch line and station in 1848. Despite this, Crawley High Street remained busy as the town continued to grow, and The George underwent more renovation and was extended further. In particular, an old (possibly 18th-century) free-standing building which stood in the middle of the wide High Street, and which was once used as a candle factory, was acquired by the George's owners and became an annex. It was this building, rather than the main part of the hotel, which accommodated Queen Victoria when she was forced to stay overnight. Cycling for leisure purposes became a fad in the late 19th century, and the London–Brighton road was a popular route; the George became a regular stopping point for groups of cyclists.
20th century to present.
Major changes took place in the 1930s. The annex was knocked down in 1933, and the site in the middle of the High Street was converted into a bus stop and a car park for the hotel (itself removed since the street's pedestrianisation in the early 21st century). The gallows sign was replaced with a replica, and two smaller facsimiles were added in the car park, which was also flanked by four medieval-style lanterns. Meanwhile, wide-ranging renovations to the hotel itself made the building look even older than it did before; all structural changes took its medieval character into account and were made in a complementary style, making all the disparate parts of the hotel "look an integrated whole".
Soon after World War II, Crawley was designated as England's second New Town by the Labour government of Clement Attlee, who passed the New Towns Act 1946. Housing, industry and offices developed rapidly around the core of the old town; despite early fears that historic buildings (including The George Hotel) would have to be destroyed, most of the historic High Street was preserved. The growth of nearby Gatwick Airport from a little-used airstrip into an international airport provided further impetus, and by the start of the 21st century Crawley had become a regional centre with 100,000 people—compared to a population of about 7,000 before World War II. Demand for hotel space grew continuously, and The George was extended to the rear and began marketing itself as the Gatwick George Hotel. As of it is branded Ramada Crawley Gatwick.
The George Hotel was listed at Grade II* by English Heritage on 21 June 1948. Such buildings are defined as "particularly important" and "of more than special interest". As of August 2013, it was one of 12 Grade II* structures, and 100 listed buildings and structures of all grades, in the Borough of Crawley. Since the New Town was established, Crawley has been split into 13 neighbourhoods, and all listed buildings in the borough are described on the council's schedule of listed buildings as being in one of these neighbourhoods; the George Hotel is classed as being in West Green, and is one of six listed buildings in that neighbourhood.
Architecture.
The George Hotel has three principal sections, facing east and running from south to north parallel with Crawley High Street. Despite uncertainty over its early history, the building is generally agreed to have 15th-century origins, which are most evident in the northernmost bay. This section has a much lower roofline than the rest of the hotel, although the whole building is two-storey. The northern section is believed to have been a two-bay open hall-house with a parlour wing; their thick wooden roof beams (in the form of crown posts), blackened by smoke, and timber-framed walls survive. The centre section was the south wing of the original building; it would have been the service area to the hall-house, with kitchen facilities and similar, and formed a cross-wing with large joists and a cellar. The rear wall has braces which suggest the former existence of a rear entrance leading to the stables behind. A stone fireplace inside may be as old as the date carved on it—1615—but the inscription is believed to be more recent.
None of the exterior is original, although parts of the tiled roof may be. It is laid with slabs of Horsham stone—a local material commonly used on old roofs in the Crawley area. The façade is mostly tile-hung to the first floor with timber framing below. The entrance is gabled and has a canted bay window of 18th-century origin. The southern part of the façade is stuccoed and topped by a parapet. It is probably an 18th-century refacing of an older building (or buildings) incorporated into the hotel as it grew.
The hotel, now known as Ramada Crawley Gatwick, has 84 rooms, including singles, doubles, twin rooms, family rooms and four-bed rooms. Its six meeting rooms, with a capacity of up to 150, are regularly used for conferences, weddings, exhibitions, seminars and training sessions. There is also a Thai restaurant, a Chinese buffet and a Roman Empire-themed cocktail bar.
Notable associations.
Mark Lemon, the first editor of the satirical magazine "Punch", lived on the High Street in Crawley from 1858 until his death in 1870. He became an important figure in Crawley society, and was generous with his time and money: for example, in 1863, he organised and paid for festivities at The George Hotel and the nearby White Hart Inn to celebrate the wedding of Edward, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. A blue plaque outside the George commemorates his time in the town.
The hotel was central to the plot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mystery novel "Rodney Stone", written in 1896. Sussex's bareknuckle prizefighting tradition was a central theme, and the novel described at length the build-up to a fight involving the eponymous narrator's friend Boy Jim, including the moment they arrived at "the high front door of the old George Inn, glowing from every door and pane and crevice, in honour of the noble company who were to sleep within that night". Jem Belcher, one of several real bareknuckle fighters who featured in fictionalised form in the novel, trained Boy Jim at the hotel.
John George Haigh, a notorious serial killer in the 1940s known for his "acid bath" murders, stayed at the hotel on numerous occasions, and dined there on the day he killed one of his victims.
Haunting.
The hotel is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a nightwatchman, Mark Hurston (or Hewton), who died by drinking poisoned wine—either planted to trap a recurring intruder to the inn, or adulterated by a guest angered at being woken by him. It has been reported that a locked broom cupboard has been found open, strange figures have been seen, and electric lights have turned on and off.


Rutland Jewish Center

The Rutland Jewish Center is a synagogue and religious community center at 96 Grove Street in Rutland, Vermont. It is located in the former H. H. Baxter Memorial Library building, a Richardsonian Romanesque structure that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Programs and services.
The Rutland Jewish Center (RJC) provides a variety of cultural and educational services to the Jewish community of the Rutland area. It offers both adult and children's classes, the latter including Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah training.
Architecture and building history.
The RJC building is a cruciform structure, built out of grey marble quarried in West Rutland and laid in irregular courses. Prominent features include the arched entrance portico at the corner of Grove and Library Streets, and the multi-stage square tower that has an open top stage, each side featuring a pair of round-arched openings separated by a round column. The building was constructed as a library in 1889 by Mary E. Roberts Baxter in honor of her husband, Horace Henry Baxter, a New York City financier and part-owner of the Rutland Marble Company. The building was designed by Brunner & Tryon, and was opened to the public in 1895.
In 1927, the building was purchased by Congregation Adath Israel, which had been formed in Rutland in 1911. The domed section of the library was repurposed for use as the main synagogue. The building has since been sympathetically enlarged.


Sun Life Building

The Sun Life Building () is a historic , 24-storey office building at 1155 Metcalfe Street on Dorchester Square in the city's downtown core of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The building was completed in 1931 after three stages of construction. It was built exclusively for the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. Although the then-new head office of the Royal Bank of Canada at 360 Saint Jacques Street in Montreal was taller by several floors, the Sun Life Building was at the time the largest building in square footage anywhere in the British Empire. The Sun Life Building went through three different stages of construction, the first one starting as early as 1913, but it was not until 1931 that its main 24-storey tower was erected, thus completing the project.
Construction.
The stages of construction were as follows:
Today, the "Sun Life" is Montreal's 17th tallest building and stands in the middle of the central business district centred on Dorchester Square, dwarfed by neighbouring Place Ville Marie and the nearby CIBC Tower.
Previous structure.
The first Sun Life Building, designed by Buffalo architect Richard A. Waite, was built in 1889 and expanded by Robert Findlay in 1890. The red brick building was home to Sun Life until 1913, when the company moved to the first stage of the newer building.
Operation Fish.
During the Second World War, during Operation Fish, Britain's gold reserves and negotiable foreign securities were secretly packed in crates labelled 'Fish' and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada. The securities, arriving at Halifax on July 1, 1940, were locked in an underground vault three stories beneath the Sun Life Building, guarded around the clock by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The gold was shipped on to Ottawa. The extremely secretive United Kingdom Security Deposit, operating in the vault, arranged for the sale of Britain's negotiable securities on the New York Stock Exchange over the next few years to pay for Britain's war expenses. The 5,000 Sun Life employees never knew what was stored away beneath them. None of the cargo went missing and no information about the operation was ever leaked.


Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret

The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret at 9a St Thomas Street is a museum of surgical history and one of the oldest surviving operating theatres. It is located in the garret of St Thomas's Church, Southwark, in London, on the original site of St Thomas' Hospital.
History.
There is little information about operating theatres at Old St Thomas from its foundation till the 18th century. The church that contains the Old Operating Theatre Museum was built at the end of the 17th century, when the hospital and church were largely rebuilt by Sir Robert Clayton, president of the hospital and a former Lord Mayor of the City of London. He employed Thomas Cartwright as architect. (Cartwright was master mason to Christopher Wren at St Mary-Le-Bow). The new church was fitted out with a large garret constructed in the 'aisled-barn' tradition. Very little information exists about the Garret except that it was fitted with wooden storage racks, and was described as "the herb garret" in 1821. Dried heads of opium plants were found in the rafters. It is likely that the garret was used by the hospital's resident apothecary to store and cure medicinal herbs.
In 1822 part of the herb garret was converted into a purpose-built operating theatre. This strange situation resulted from the fact that the female surgical ward abutted the garret. Previously operations took place on the ward. Windows were also provided for the Garret at the same time, suggesting that its function changed from storage to a working environment. It may have been used as a recovery ward.
In 1859, Florence Nightingale became involved with St Thomas's, setting up on this site her famous nursing school. It was on her advice that the hospital agreed to move to a new site when the Charing Cross Railway Company offered to buy the hospital's land. In 1862, the hospital began the move to its present site at Lambeth and the operating theatre was closed. The theatre lay undiscovered until 1957.
Usage.
The patients were mainly poor people who were expected to contribute to their care if they could afford it. Rich patients were treated and operated on at home rather than in hospital. The patients at the Old Operating Theatre were all women.
Until 1847, surgeons had no recourse to anaesthetics and depended on swift technique (surgeons could perform an amputation in a minute or less), the mental preparation of the patient, and alcohol or opiates to dull the patient's senses. Thereafter, ether or chloroform started to be used. The Operating Theatre had closed down before antiseptic surgery was invented. The majority of cases were for amputations or superficial complaints as, without antiseptic conditions, it was too dangerous to do internal operations.
A description of the students packing the theatre to witness an operation has been left by a St Thomas surgeon, John Flint South:
Patients put up with the audience to their distress because they received medical treatment from some of the best surgeons in the land, which otherwise they could not afford. Wealthy patients of the surgeons would have been operated on, by choice, at home, probably on the kitchen table.
The risk of death at the hands of a surgeon was greatly increased by the lack of understanding of the causes of infection. Although cleanliness was a moral virtue, descriptions suggest that a surgeon was as likely to wash his hands after an operation as before. The old frock coats worn by surgeons during operations were, according to a contemporary, 'stiff and stinking with pus and blood'. Beneath the table was a sawdust box for collecting blood. The death rate was further heightened by the shock of the operation, and because operations took place as a last resort, patients tended to have few reserves of strength.
The modern museum.
The museum consists of:
The museum is a member of the London Museums of Health & Medicine.
The building is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.
The nearest London Underground station is London Bridge; it is also a National Rail station.
Herb Garret.
The Herb Garret was so called by the Grand Committee of St Thomas' Hospital when, in 1821, they ordered that an operating theatre be built in the garret of the church to serve the patients of the hospital.
Little is known of its function beyond its name and the discovery of poppy heads in the rafters. It was presumably used to store and dry herbs for the hospital's apothecary. At about the same time as the operating theatre was built, the garret was reroofed and dormer windows inserted. It has been conjectured that this may suggest the garret changed use, perhaps becoming a recovery ward.
In 1962, after 100 years of disuse, the garret and operating theatre were opened to the public as the current museum.


Inmos microprocessor factory

The Inmos microprocessor factory, also known as the Inmos factory, is a building in Newport, Wales, UK which was originally built as a microprocessor fabrication plant for Inmos. Since 2017 the site has been operated by Newport Wafer Fab. The architects of the award-winning high-tech building were the Richard Rogers Partnership. Construction began in 1980 and was completed by 1982. The factory was the first building in Wales to be designed by Richard Rogers. Later, he would design the Senedd building in Cardiff, which is the debating chamber for the National Assembly for Wales.
Design and construction.
Inmos Limited commissioned the Richard Rogers Partnership, now known as Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, to design its UK microprocessor manufacturing facility at Newport. The design criterion was for a fast construction, so that it was ready for operation within one year of starting. Richard Rogers until then was known for designing the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Lloyd's building in London. The main contractor for the construction of the building was Laing Construction, the structural engineers were Anthony Hunt Associates, the services engineers were YRM Engineers and the quantity surveyors were GA Hanscomb Partnership.
The technical requirements were that it would house controlled conditions for the production of electronic microchips, a service area for various offices and a staff canteen, all under one roof. The Inmos factory was designed to be a model factory that could be constructed in a variety of locations. The speed of the design process and construction time of the building were critical. The single-storey building was designed to be fabricated off-site, and assembled on the Newport site.
The building is divided into clean and "dirty" areas. The cleanroom being for microchip production and the dirty area for all others services in the building. The building has a central spine which is wide and from which all the services and production area emanates from eight bays with the potential to increase this to 20 bays. Suspended beams span 40m from the central spine with masts along the length of the building allowing for a post-free area, and so providing a flexible interior and the possibility of large work areas. Reyner Banham, the architectural critic and writer, said of the Inmos factory that it was "the first really challenging building of the 1980s."
Usage.
Although the building was originally commissioned by Inmos, by July 1984 Thorn EMI had taken over Inmos. Thorn EMI later sold Inmos to SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV in March 1989. A management buyout took over the factory in 1999, renaming the business, European Semiconductor Manufacturing Limited. In March 2002, the factory was sold to International Rectifier Company (GB) Limited, then later in January 2015 it was acquired by Infineon Technologies, under its subsidiary company IR Newport Ltd. In September 2017, Infineon sold the site Neptune 6 Limited, under its subsidiary company of Newport Wafer Fab Limited.


Greenway Wing (Supreme Court of New South Wales)

The Greenway Wing of the Supreme Court of New South Wales is a heritage-listed courthouse located at the junction of King and Elizabeth Streets, in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Francis Greenway, Standish Lawrence Harris, and James Barnet and built from 1820 to 1828. It is also known as Sydney Supreme Court House (Old Court House) and Old Court House. The property is owned by the Department of Justice and Attorney General, departments of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History.
The original Old Supreme Court House was designed by the colonial architect Francis Greenway under Governor Macquarie. Designed in 1819 and building began in 1820, Greenway was dismissed before the building was completed in 1828. The building was occupied by the Supreme Court in 1827. Additions were designed by Barnet in the 1860s. This building forms part of the centre axial group designed by Greenway with the Hyde Park Barracks and St James' Church that cover a historical period from 1801 to 1826, and 1851 to 1875.
Description.
The Old Supreme Court building is a two-storey rectangular building which consists of the original Georgian building with an additional loggia and cornice added in 1868 which gives the building a Victorian Italianate appearance evident in the arched colonnade and raised parapet concealing the roof. Original Greenway elements include windows, fine detail, recessed wall panels, arches, cedar joinery, staircase and cupola. This wing along with the Old Registry and Banco Rd Court from the Supreme Court Group. Other accommodation include Sheriffs office, legal rooms, judges chambers, library/conference rooms, chief executive offices, toilets. The Old Supreme Court is constructed in face sandstock brick with rendered moulded details and slate roofing. The exterior materials include brick and render, with slate roofing.
The building is in a good condition. Major additions designed by Barnet include the loggia, later timber additions.
Heritage listing.
As at 30 June 2011, the Greenway Wing Old Supreme Court building is located at the corner of Elizabeth and King Streets has historic significance as one of the three remaining Greenway designed buildings in the immediate area, the others are the Hyde Park Barracks and St James' Church. The building has aesthetic significance as a design of Australia's first trained architect, Francis Greenway, and as a fine rare and largely intact, if modified, example of the Old Colonial Georgian style as used in a judicial building. The building as historic and social significance as part of the early colonial legal system and as part of Macquarie's vision for Sydney. The site is significant as the location chosen for Macquarie's first Georgian public School which was apparently modified during construction to accommodate the Supreme Court. Representative of the style as used in a courthouse building and representative of the importance given to judicial buildings in the early days of the colony.
There are substantial later additions by James Barnet. It is prominently sited and forms a major part of the Court group in Queen's Square and part of the earliest civic group with the Hyde Park Barracks and St James' Church.
Sydney Supreme Court House was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.


Church of Saint Francis of Assisi

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Igreja de Sao Francisco de Assis, commonly known as the Igreja da Pampulha) is a chapel in Pampulha region of Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It was designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the organic modern style. It is the first listed modern architectural monument in Brazil and consists of four undulating concrete parabolas with outdoor mosaics. The interior hosts a mural by Candido Portinari, and the exterior features a landscape designed by Roberto Burle Marx.
The curved lines of the church enchanted artists and architects, but scandalized the city's conservative culture. Despite its completion in 1943 and Juscelino Kubitschek's call for its consecration, the church was not consecrated until 1959. For 14 years, the ecclesiastical authorities, led by Antonio dos Santos Cabral, prohibited the chapel from providing Catholic services.
As of July 2016, the church is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, part of the Pampulha Modern Ensemble, a collection of Niemeyer buildings in Pampulha.
History.
The church was controversial from the beginning. The mayor of Belo Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek, was the patron of the project. Niemeyer said that he was inspired by the French Poet Paul Claudel's statement: "A church is God's hangar on earth," but "Time" Magazine wrote that the Archbishop of Belo Horizonte, Antonio dos Santos Cabral, saw it as "the devil's bomb shelter." Archbishop Cabral opposed both its unorthodox architectural and artistic forms, particularly the mural behind the altar of St. Francis with a dog depicting a wolf, painted by Candido Portinari. He proclaimed the church "unfit for religious purposes."
A later mayor of Pampulha tried to have it condemned and demolished and when that failed, abused it by filling it with altars and monuments of various styles that did not fit the building. It was finally taken over by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage. After the church was refurbished by Niemeyer, Auxiliary Archbishop João Rezende Costa (Archbishop Cabral was in virtual retirement by then) finally agreed that the church has "great artistic significance and a spiritual atmosphere" and it was consecrated. He consecrated the church in April 1959, saying "Now we can feel the wonderful art created here in homage to the Creator."
Architecture.
The chapel is considered the masterpiece of Niemeyer's Modern Ensemble at Pampulha. In this project, Niemeyer experimented with reinforced concrete, abandoning the architecture of slabs on columns and creating a parabolic concrete vault—a form until then only used in hangars. The concrete vault serves as both the structure and the enclosure, eliminating the need for masonry. With this project, Niemeyer started what would become the guiding principle of his later works: an architecture dominated by the plasticity of reinforced concrete in bold, unconventional, striking forms.
The interior features the Stations of the Cross, made up of 14 panels by Candido Portinari, considered one of his most characteristic works. Alfredo Ceschiatti carved the bronze bas-reliefs of the baptistery. On the exterior, the figurative art panels are by Portinari and the abstract ones are by Paulo Werneck. The exterior walls are covered in pastel ceramic tiles in shades of light blue and white, forming abstract designs. The distinctive landscape of the church is the work of Roberto Burle Marx, a longtime Niemeyer collaborator. The little church of Pampulha is one of the most well-known "postcard scenes" of Belo Horizonte.
Heritage status.
The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi has been recognized as a heritage site by the Minas Gerais State Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IEPHA-MG) as of 1984, the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) as of 1997, and the Municipal Cultural Heritage Board of Minas Gerais.
The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2016. It is part of the Pampulha Modern Ensemble, a UNESCO-designated collection of Niemeyer buildings in Pampulha.


Wangjing SOHO

Wangjing SOHO () is a complex of three curvilinear asymmetric skyscrapers in Wangjing in Beijing, China, between central Beijing and Beijing Capital International Airport. According to Zaha Hadid, the project's architect, it is a "welcome and farewell to Beijing". The towers contain both office and retail space. Originally the SOHO was designed as a two-tower complex but due to height concerns it was redesigned as a three-tower project featuring towers of lower maximum height. One of the more than a dozen properties developed by SOHO China, the complex officially opened on 20 September 2014. The tallest of the three towers is the third-tallest woman-designed building in the world.
Design.
The structure was designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid. According to "The Telegraph" the curvilinear walls of the towers evoke "dancing Chinese fans", while "Der Spiegel" describes the three tower complex as "resembling curved sails that appear to swim across the surface of the Earth when viewed from the air". "Architecture News Daily" ("Arch Daily") describes it as "three curved towers whose “shimmering”, metallic skin unifies the complex as each volume appears to “dance” around each other." Pan Shiyi, Chairman of the Board of SOHO China, said in an interview that the design of Wangjing SOHO was meant to evoke the image of Koi, a traditional Chinese symbol of wealth, luck, health and happiness.
The double-curvature panels required by the architectural design were used as models in a software programme using Visual Basic operating in a Rhino environment which could subsequently generate flat and single-curvature panels based on the analysis of the local curvature morphology of the original double-curvature panels. The software-driven panel-generation method was used to facilitate the rationalisation of manufactured sheet metal panels and to comply with higher demands in terms of cost requirements and manufacturing complexity.
Imitation of the design.
According to "Der Spiegel", the design of the Wangjing SOHO has been pirated, by the Meiquan 22nd Century building (美全22世纪) located in the Chinese city of Chongqing. Satoshi Ohashi of Zaha Hadid Architects mentioned that the Chongqing project may have obtained details of the SOHO project in digital form. The Meiquan complex is expected to finish ahead of the Wangjing SOHO project and this development has put pressure on Hadid to speed-up her plans to finish her SOHO project ahead of the competing towers in Chongqing. Ohashi mentioned that Zaha Hadid Architects had taken legal measures against Chongqing Meiquan Properties Ltd.
Yet You Yunting, a lawyer practising in Shanghai, specialising in intellectual property cases, and founder of an online journal covering Chinese copyright laws, had found that great similarities existed between the two projects and that there was a good legal case for the Zaha Architects to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against the other company. He also mentioned that: "But even if the judge rules in favor of SOHO, the court will not force the defendant to pull the building down. But it could order the payment of compensation."
On 14 May 2012 the companies which built the two projects, SOHO China and Chongqing Meiquan held a press conference during which the Chongqing Meiquan representative stated that the inspiration behind the design of the Meiquan 22nd Century project were "the cobblestones on the bank of the Yangtze River by which Chongqing was built". Pan Shiyi, the Wanjing SOHO representative, countered that the design of the Wanjing towers was meant to evoke the Koi fish and declared his intention of filing a lawsuit, saying that intellectual property had to be protected in China. During the press conference the Chinese Intellectual Property commission was present and issued a report at the end of the event. The developer of the Chongqing Meiquan project later wrote in the company blog: “Never meant to copy, only want to surpass.”
Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas told "Der Spiegel" that the rapid growth of Chinese cities has led to the appearance of architects who "copy and paste" architectural elements from other designs and create new composite designs. Koolhaas calls these architects "Photoshop designers" and says: "Photoshop allows us to make collages of photographs -- (and) this is the essence of (China's) architectural and urban production…. Design today becomes as easy as Photoshop, even on the scale of a city." Zaha Hadid's reaction was more philosophical; she said that it would be "quite exciting" if the cloned designs came up in the future with "innovative design mutations".


William Jasper Johnson House

The William Jasper Johnson House is a historic house at the junction of Lakeshore Road and Honeysuckle Avenue in Bull Shoals, Arkansas. Located just north of the junction, it is a modest single-story frame structure, finished in drop siding and resting on stone piers. Its form is that of a typical vernacular Ozark single pen, with a side gable roof and shed-roof porch across the front. The house was built about 1900 by William Jasper Johnson, who had married the daughter of a prominent local landowner. It is one of the few surviving reminders of the area's early settlement history.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.


Knighton Gorges Manor

Knighton Gorges Manor was one of the grandest manor houses on the Isle of Wight. Located in the hamlet of Knighton, near Newchurch, it is reported to be one of the most haunted locations on the Isle of Wight.
The Elizabethan-Tudor style house's history has been a saga of tragic events. It started with a ghastly note of Hugh de Morville, an escapee who resided there after murdering Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury, on 27 December 1170, along with his three other comrades in crime Reginald Fizure, Richard Brito and William Tray, then the death of Tristram Dillington in 1718 under mysterious circumstances and finally, 100 years later, followed by another tragic event of the owner of the Manor, George Maurice, destroying the manor in 1821 on his own volition (before his death), purely as a parental annoyance and spiteful action, to his daughter marrying a clergyman, against his wishes thus preventing her from owning the manor.
These events have also generated reportedly paranormal events occurring at the manor location, witnessed in the form of the destroyed manor house itself appearing in an apparition form, ghost of Sir Tristram riding a ghostly horse each year on the anniversary of his death, and sighting of animal-like gargoyles on top of each gatepost at the entrance to the manor site.
History.
Sir Hugh de Morville(d.1202) fled to the house after taking part as 1 of 4 knights in the murder on 29 December 1170 of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. He fled thence to Knaresborough Castle, Yorkshire, which was held by him. The manor was owned by the de Morvilles until 1256 when Ralf de Gorges acquired it by marriage, which is where the name Knighton Gorges comes from.
The early 13th-century holders were a family of De Morville, of whom John or Ivo de Morville died in 1256, leaving a daughter and heir Ellen married to Ralph de Gorges, who survived her husband and was in possession of the manor at the end of the century.
She died in 1291–2, leaving a son Ralph, who in 1305 leased the manor to William de Caleshale and his wife for the term of their lives. The manor seems to have reverted to Ralph de Gorges before 1316. Ralph (afterwards Sir Ralph) and his wife Eleanor had one son Ralph, who died without issue, evidently before 1330–1, when Sir Ralph settled the manor in tail-male on two younger sons of his daughter Eleanor, who had married Theobald Russell of Yaverland.
William, the elder of the two, died without issue and the manor was delivered to his brother Theobald Russell in 1343. He appears thereupon to have assumed the name de Gorges, and as Theobald de Gorges was sued in 1346–7 by Elizabeth widow of Ralph de Gorges the younger for the manor. Judgement was given in Elizabeth's favour, but as she had no issue by Ralph the manor reverted to Theobald, who was in possession in 1362. He (then Sir Theobald) died in 1380 and the manor passed successively to his sons Sir Randolf, who died in 1382, Bartholomew, who died in 1395–6, and Thomas, who died in 1404.
Thomas left a son John, who only lived to be fifteen, and left his brother Theobald, a boy of ten, as heir in 1413. Sir Theobald Gorges was in possession of the manor in 1462, and probably died without issue, as the manor passed to the heirs of Thomas Russell, greatgrandson of Theobald Russell and Eleanor de Gorges by their eldest son Ralph Russell of Yaverland. Thomas Russell's heir was his cousin John Haket, son of his aunt Alice. John Haket's daughter and heir Joan married John Gilbert, and the manor passed with Wolverton in Brading in the Gilbert family until 1563, when George Gilbert sold it to Anthony Dillington. Anthony's son Sir Robert died in 1604, leaving it to his nephew Robert. Sir Tristram Dillington, great-grandson of the lastnamed Robert, was the last of the direct line.
Dying without issue in 1721, Tristram left his sisters Mary and Hannah as heirs. Hannah died intestate. Mary died unmarried, leaving the estate in common between her nephew Maurice Bocland and her niece Jane wife of John Eyre. General Maurice Bocland was in possession of the manor in 1750 and died in 1765, when it descended to his nephew George Maurice Bissett, who held the manor at the beginning of the 19th century.
In 1820, the house was burnt and demolished by Bisset, and has not been rebuilt.
George Young was in possession of the remaining estate in 1878, and the land as of 1912 was held by Mr. Edward Carter, who acquired it under the will of his father, also named Edward.
The site of the house is now private, and a holiday cottage exists upon the estate in one of the remaining outbuildings.
Architecture.
The house was a remarkably good example of Tudor work. All that is now left of the house is the two stone gateposts as the house was burnt and demolished in 1820 by George Maurice Bisset to prevent his daughter inheriting it after she had married a clergyman without Bisset's consent.
The manor facing north had large square windows (no painted glass windows), which are divided by stone mullions. The rooms were of large size and elegantly designed. The drawing room on the first floor was a capacious room with a long gallery in the north front. Lighting in the house was poor as it had a low roof. A coat of arms dated older than the manor house also decorated the windows.
In its hay days the manor house was visited by Sir Henry of England who gave detailed description of the manor in his "History of the Isle of Wight". It was the favoured haunt of the fashionable society of artists, writers and administrators including Sir Richard Worsley, Captain of the Isle of Wight, the latter's association resulted in a scandal and disgrace.
Haunting.
Knighton Gorges is a cornerstone of the local ghost-story industry, as the house has long been said to reappear at times in ghostly form. Several books including "The Ghosts of Knighton Gorges" have been published especially covering the ghosts of the manor. Locals have also reported seeing animal-like gargoyles on top of each gatepost; these figures, if ever they existed, were removed many years ago and all that is left is plain stone. Further along the road to the south near the old waterworks there are identical pillars from the former Knighton Gorges upon which the owner has placed modern gargoyles. As there have been many stories of the ghostly reappearance of these statues, alleged sightings may be due to the confusion created thereby.
The area is said to be haunted by various ghosts and is a popular stop for ghost tourists. One story often told is that of Sir Tristram Dillington, M.P. for Newport, who is thought to have committed suicide after taking to gambling heavily after the death of his wife. His valet is said to have concealed the nature of his death by placing his corpse upon his horse, Thunderbolt, and driving it into the lake, ensuring that the property was not forfeited (so that an inquest could be avoided). The story is that the ghost of Sir Tristram rides a ghostly horse each year on the anniversary of his death, which occurred on 7 July 1721.
Sightings of a man standing next to the fence next to the water works, and a lady dressed in a dark ankle length frock by the entrance pillars have recently been recorded by the shepherd and witnessed by passers by. Electrical equipment notably cameras have failed to operate in certain corners of the estate.
References.
"This article includes text incorporated from William Page's "A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5 (1912)", a publication now in the public domain"


Longmire Buildings

The Longmire Buildings in Mount Rainier National Park comprise the park's former administrative headquarters, and are among the most prominent examples of the National Park Service Rustic style in the national park system. They comprise the Longmire Community Building of 1927, the Administration Building of 1928, and the Longmire Service Station of 1929. Together, these structures were designated National Historic Landmarks on May 28, 1987. The administration and community buildings were designed by National Park Service staff under the direction of Thomas Chalmers Vint.
Administration Building.
The Longmire Administration Building is the largest and most architecturally significant of the three structures. The two-story building features heavy boulder rubble construction to the sill line of its second floor windows, with log-frame construction above. The building is entered through a front porch constructed of unusually heavy peeled logs. As the park's administrative headquarters it housed the offices of the park superintendent and engineering support activities. After the construction of a new headquarters just outside the park's boundaries under the Mission 66 program, the Administration Building became a visitor contact point and maintenance headquarters.
Behind the entry porch, a pair of doors give access to a reception room furnished with a stone fireplace. A conference room and offices are housed on the upper level, with the basement contains mechanical equipment and a jail cell. The exterior corners of the building are buttressed with stone pilasters at the corners. Log planks sheathe the upper level above the sill, giving the appearance of log construction.
Community Building.
The Community Building was the first to be built and set the tone for the area. The T-Shaped frame building houses a large community room measuring about by , with a subsidiary wing housing toilets and staff quarters. A deep porch occupies one bay in front of the community room. Exterior walls are finished with log-slab veneer. The community room's interior features exposed scissor-truss log roof framing, with a large stone fireplace at one end. The masonry of the fireplace is distinctive, with roughly squared stone in the lower portion giving way to round glacial boulders. The other end of the room houses a small stage in a bay projecting from the end of the building. Original furnishings include light fixtures and log tables resembling those at the Paradise Inn. The living quarters were renovated in 1964 and retain little of their historic fabric. The interiors of the housing wing were excluded from the National Historic Landmark nomination. The lower level is used as a kitchen, with two apartments on the upper level.
Service Station.
The 1929 Service Station provided gasoline and basic services to park visitors. The front half of the building is a drive-through covered bay with supports on the gas island, with an office in the other half behind, the whole crowned by a steeply-pitched attic. Stone-faced concrete extends from grade level to sill level. The frame wall above is clad with log slab siding, while the roof is clad with cedar shingles. A small apartment is housed in the attic, accessible by an exterior stairway.
The Longmire Buildings form a part of the Longmire Historic District, which is itself within the Mount Rainier National Park National Historic Landmark District, comprising the entire park.
The Administration Building and Service Station are close together near the road, while the Community Building is across the Nisqually River. The construction of all three was supervised by Ernest A. Davidson, a Park Service landscape architect assigned to Mount Rainier. Vint chose to feature the Community Building and the Administration Building in his 1938 "Park and Recreation Structures" publications, an influential series of three volumes devoted to rustic park structures that influenced state and national park design through the 1930s. The Service Station stands as an almost unique example of rustic architecture for that building type.