1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Mint (facility)
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A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins that can be used in currency. The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins, in the beginning, hammered coinage or cast coinage were the chief means of coin minting, with resulting production runs numbering as little as the hundreds or thousands. In modern mints, coin dies are manufactured in large numbers, with the mass production of currency, the production cost is weighed when minting coins. For example, it costs the United States Mint much less than 25 cents to make a quarter, metals were well suited to represent wealth, owing to their great intrinsic value and their durability, divisibility and rarity. The first mint was established in Lydia in the 7th century BC, for coining gold, silver. The Lydian innovation of manufacturing coins under the authority of the spread to neighboring Greece. Some of the earliest Greek mints were within city-states on Greek islands such as Crete, at about the same time, coins and mints appeared independently in China and spread to Korea and Japan. The manufacture of coins in the Roman Empire, dating from about the 4th century BC, the origin of the word mint is ascribed to the manufacture of silver coin at Rome in 269 BC at the temple of Juno Moneta. This goddess became the personification of money, and her name was applied both to money and to its place of manufacture, Roman mints were spread widely across the Empire, and were sometimes used for propaganda purposes. The populace often learned of a new Roman Emperor when coins appeared with the new Emperors portrait, Ancient coins were made by casting in moulds or by striking between engraved dies. The Romans cast their larger copper coins in clay moulds carrying distinctive markings, not because they knew nothing of striking, casting is now used only by counterfeiters. The most ancient coins were cast in bulletshaped or conical moulds, the blank or unmarked piece of metal was placed on a small anvil, and the die was held in position with tongs. The reverse or lower side of the received a rectangular mark made by the sharp edges of the little anvil. Subsequently the anvil was marked in ways, and decorated with letters and figures of beasts. The spherical blanks soon gave place to lenticular-shaped ones, the blank was made red-hot and struck between cold dies. One blow was usually insufficient, and the method was similar to that used in striking medals in high relief. With the substitution of iron for bronze as the material for dies, about 300 AD, in the Middle Ages bars of metal were cast and hammered out on an anvil. Portions of the sheets were then cut out with shears
3.
United States Mint
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The United States Mint produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money, the Mint was created in Philadelphia in 1792, and soon joined by other centres, whose coins were identified by their own mint marks. There are currently four active coin-producing mints, Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, the Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and originally placed within the Department of State. Per the terms of the Coinage Act, the first Mint building was in Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States, today, the Mints headquarters are in Washington D. C. It operates mint facilities in Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point, New York and a bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Official Mints were once located in Carson City, Nevada, Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Washington, D. C. and even in Manila. Originally part of the State Department, the Mint was made an independent agency in 1799 and it converted precious metals into standard coin for anyones account with no seigniorage charge beyond the refining costs. Under the Coinage Act of 1873, the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury and it was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States in 1981. Legal tender coins of today are minted solely for the Treasurys account, the first Director of the United States Mint was renowned scientist David Rittenhouse from 1792 to 1795. The position was held most recently by Edmund C, moy until his resignation effective January 9,2011. Henry Voigt was the first Superintendent and Chief Coiner, and is credited with some of the first U. S. coin designs. Another important position at the Mint is that of Chief Engraver, the Mint has operated several branch facilities throughout the United States since the Philadelphia Mint opened in 1792, in a building known as Ye Olde Mint. With the opening of branch mints came the need for mint marks, the first of these branch mints were the Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana branches. Both the Charlotte and Dahlonega Mints were opened to facilitate the conversion of gold deposits into coinage. The Civil War closed both these facilities permanently, the New Orleans Mint closed at the beginning of the Civil War and did not re-open until the end of Reconstruction in 1879. During its two stints as a facility, it produced both gold and silver coinage in eleven different denominations, though only ten denominations were ever minted there at one time. A new branch facility was opened in Carson City, Nevada, in 1870, it operated until 1893, like the Charlotte and Dahlonega branches, the Carson City Mint was opened to take advantage of local precious metal deposits, in this case, a large vein of silver. Though gold coins were produced there, no base metal coins were
4.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
5.
David Rittenhouse
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David Rittenhouse was a renowned American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman and public official. Rittenhouse was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the first director of the United States Mint, Rittenhouse was born in a small village within Philadelphia called Rittenhousetown. This village is located near Germantown, along the stream Paper Mill Run, when his uncle William Rittenhouse died, Rittenhouse inherited his uncles set of carpentry tools and instructional books. Using his uncles tools, he began a career as an inventor, also at a young age, Rittenhouse showed a high level of intelligence by creating a working scale model of his great-grandfather William Rittenhouses paper mill. He built other scale models in his youth, like a working waterwheel and he was self-taught from his familys books, never attended elementary school, and showed great ability in science and mathematics. When Rittenhouse was 13 years of age, he had mastered Isaac Newtons laws of motion, when he was 19, he started a scientific instrument shop at his fathers farm in what is now Valley Forge Medical Center & Hospital, located in East Norriton Township, Pennsylvania. His skill with instruments, particularly clocks, led him to construct two orreries, the first for The College of New Jersey, the second for the College of Philadelphia. Both of these still exist, with each being held by their original recipients, one in the library of the University of Pennsylvania. Astronomers who had been studying the planet Venus chose Rittenhouse to study the path of Venus in 1769. Rittenhouse was the person to study the mysterious planet, as he had a personal observatory on his family farm. His telescope, which he himself, utilized grating intervals. His telescope is similar to some modern-day telescopes. Rittenhouse served on the American Astronomical Society, and this was another factor in being chosen to study Venus, throughout his life he had the honour to serve in many different clubs and committees. In 1768 he was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society and he served as librarian, secretary, and after Benjamin Franklins death in 1790, he became Vice president then served as president of the society until 1796. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts, another one of his interests was the Royal Society of London of which he was a member. It was very rare for an American to be a member of this exclusive British society, in 1786 Rittenhouse built a new Georgian-style house on the corner of 4th and Arch streets in Philadelphia, next to an octagonal observatory he had already built. At this house, he maintained a Wednesday evening salon meeting with Benjamin Franklin, Francis Hopkinson, Pierre Eugene du Simitiere, Thomas Jefferson wrote that he would rather attend one of these meetings than spend a whole week in Paris. He married Eleanor Coulston February 20,1766, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Ester, Eleanor died February 23,1771, at age 35 from complications during the birth of their third baby, who died at birth
6.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
7.
William Strickland (architect)
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William Strickland, was a noted architect in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Nashville, Tennessee. A student of Benjamin Latrobe and mentor to Thomas Ustick Walter, Strickland was one of the founders of the Greek Revival movement in the United States, William Strickland was born in Navesink, New Jersey. In his youth, he was a painter, illustrator for periodicals, theatrical scene painter, engraver. His Greek Revival designs drew inspiration from the plates of The Antiquities of Athens. Strickland and Latrobe competed to design the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, Strickland, who was still copying classical prototypes at this point, won with an ambitious design modeled on the iconic Parthenon of Athens. Proud of the building, Strickland had it included in the background of his 1829 portrait by Philadelphia society painter John Neagle, Stricklands evolving talent and confidence is seen in the later Merchants Exchange. Also in Philadelphia, the Merchant Exchange is built on classical example — for example and it was to be located on a triangular plot at the intersection of two major thoroughfares between the waterfront and the business district. The elegant, curved east façade faces the waterfront, and reflects the carriage and this elevation is unique — Greek Revival, but modern — while a more staid and formal elevation can be found on the west side, facing Third Street. One of Stricklands last Philadelphia designs and among his smallest, the building is now occupied by National Mechanics Bar and Restaurant. Strickland also executed works in styles, including very early American work in the Gothic Revival style, including his Masonic Hall and his Saint Stephens Church. He also made use of Egyptian, Saracenic and Italianate styles, Strickland was also a civil engineer and one of the first to advocate the use of steam locomotives on railways. In 1835, the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad hired him to survey a route from Wilmington, Delaware, later that year, he was named chief engineer of the Delaware and Maryland Railroad. Strickland designed and built the Delaware Breakwater, the first breakwater in the Western Hemisphere, several architects and engineers of note began or developed their careers in Stricklands employ, including Thomas Ustick Walter and John Trautwine. Strickland died in Nashville and is buried within the walls of his final, and arguably greatest work, holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church, Philadelphia, also known as the former St. Johns Episcopal Church. Second Bank of the United States, Philadelphia, Second Chestnut Street Theatre -1822 -1856 Musical Fund Hall, The Musical Fund Society, Philadelphia -1824. Wyck House -1824 Triumphal Arches for Lafayettes visit -1824 Second Congregation Mikveh Israel Synagogue, United States Naval Asylum, Philadelphia - 1826–33. Restoration of the tower of Independence Hall, Philadelphia -1828, first Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, -1828 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia -1829 Arch St. Theater -1829 Second Philadelphia Mint, Philadelphia - 1829–33. Blockley Almshouse -1835 Merchants Exchange, Philadelphia 1832–34, sussex County Courthouse, Georgetown, Delaware Grace Church, Keswick, Virginia
8.
Ancient Greek architecture
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Ancient Greek architecture is best known from its temples, many of which are found throughout the region, mostly as ruins but many substantially intact. The second important type of building that all over the Hellenic world is the open-air theatre. Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished by its highly formalised characteristics, both of structure and decoration, nikolaus Pevsner refers to the plastic shape of the temple. placed before us with a physical presence more intense, more alive than that of any later building. The architecture of ancient Rome grew out of that of Greece, the successive styles of Neoclassical architecture and Greek Revival architecture followed and adapted Ancient Greek styles closely. The mainland and islands of Greece are rocky, with deeply indented coastline, the most freely available building material is stone. Limestone was readily available and easily worked, there is an abundance of high quality white marble both on the mainland and islands, particularly Paros and Naxos. This finely grained material was a contributing factor to precision of detail. Deposits of high quality potters clay were found throughout Greece and the Islands and it was used not only for pottery vessels, but also roof tiles and architectural decoration. The climate of Greece is maritime, with both the coldness of winter and the heat of summer tempered by sea breezes and this led to a lifestyle where many activities took place outdoors. Colonnades encircling buildings, or surrounding courtyards provided shelter from the sun, the light of Greece may be another important factor in the development of the particular character of ancient Greek architecture. The light is extremely bright, with both the sky and the sea vividly blue. The clear light and sharp shadows give a precision to the details of landscape, pale rocky outcrops and this clarity is alternated with periods of haze that varies in colour to the light on it. In this characteristic environment, the ancient Greek architects constructed buildings that were marked by precision of detail, the gleaming marble surfaces were smooth, curved, fluted, or ornately sculpted to reflect the sun, cast graded shadows and change in colour with the ever-changing light of day. Historians divide ancient Greek civilization into two eras, the Hellenic period, and the Hellenistic period, during the earlier Hellenic period, substantial works of architecture began to appear around 600 BC. Before the Hellenic era, two cultures had dominated the region, the Minoan, and the Mycenaean. The Mycenaean culture, which flourished on the Peloponnesus, was different in character. Its people built citadels, fortifications and tombs rather than palaces, following these events, there was a period from which few signs of culture remain. This period is often referred to as a Dark Age
9.
Franklin Peale
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Benjamin Franklin Peale, usually Franklin Peale, was an employee and officer of the Philadelphia Mint from 1833 to 1854. Although Peale introduced many innovations to the Mint of the United States, Peale was the son of painter Charles Willson Peale, and was born in the museum of curiosities that his father ran in Philadelphia. For the most part, Franklin Peales education was informal, though he took classes at the University of Pennsylvania. He became adept in machine making, in 1820, he became an assistant to his father at the museum, and managed it after Charles Peales death in 1827. In 1833, Peale was hired by the Mint, and was sent for two years to Europe to study and report back on coining techniques and he returned with plans for improvement, and designed the first steam-powered coinage press in the United States, installed in 1836. Peale was made Melter and Refiner of the Philadelphia Mint that year, eckfeldts labor allowed Peale to run a medal business using Mint property. This sideline eventually caused Peales downfall, conflicts with Engraver James B, Longacre and Melter and Refiner Richard Sears McCulloh led to Peale being accused of misconduct, and he was dismissed by President Franklin Pierce in 1854. In retirement, Peale continued his involvement in and leadership of many civic organizations, David Bowers suggests that the facts of Peales career allow writers to draw very different conclusions about him. Benjamin Franklin Peale was born October 15,1795, to painter Charles Willson Peale and his second wife, as well as pursuing his art, Charles Peale ran a museum of curiosities housed in Philosophical Hall in Philadelphia, home of the American Philosophical Society. The boy was born in the quarters in the museum. He was given the name Aldrovand, after the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi, the father was a member of the American Philosophical Society, and in February 1796 brought his young son to a meeting, and asked the members to select another name for the child. They decided on Benjamin Franklin Peale, naming the boy after the Societys founder, Society legend holds that the boy was given the name while placed in the chair of the president of the Society, which had been donated by Franklin. Franklin Peale was one of sixteen children his father would have by his three wives, Elizabeth Peale died when Franklin was eight years old, but his father soon remarried, and the child was thereafter cared for by his stepmother. He was given little classroom education, though he did some time at a local school in nearby Bucks County, as well as at Germantown Academy. For the most part, his education was informal, as was usual in the Peale family, with the student given the means to study what interested him, in Franklin Peales case, he made toys as a boy, and surveyed his fathers farm near Germantown. Although he lacked the talent of some of his brothers, such as Titian Peale. At age 17, Peale began to work for the Delaware cotton factory of William Young, on the Brandywine River and he was an apt student, becoming adept as a turner, founder, and draftsman. He was tolerated in his desire for a career by his father
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Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
11.
James Knox Taylor
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James Knox Taylor was Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912. His name is listed ex officio as supervising architect of hundreds of buildings built throughout the United States during the period. The son of H. Knox and Mary Taylor, he was born in Knoxville, Illinois and he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a classmate of William Martin Aiken, who would precede him in the position of Supervisory Architect, and Cass Gilbert. After graduation, he worked in the New York City office of Charles C, haight and later with Bruce Price. In 1882 he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota where he formed a partnership with Gilbert and they built many homes and churches. Subsequently, they designed the Pioneer and Endicott Buildings, in 1893 he moved to Philadelphia and formed a partnership with Amos J. Boyden. In 1895 he got a job with Aiken, the Supervisory Architect, in 1897, following a Civil Service Commission examination, he became the Supervisory Architect, the first architect promoted from within. In 1893 Missouri Congressman John Charles Tarsney introduced a bill that allowed the Supervisory Architect to hold competitions among private architects for major structures, competitions under Taylors supervision included the Alexander Hamilton U. S. Custom House, James Farley Post Office, Cleveland Federal Building, Post Office and Courthouse and U. S. Customhouse among others. The competitions were met with enthusiasm by the community but were marred by scandal. In 1913 the act was repealed, in 1912, Taylor returned to MIT for two years as director of the department of architecture, then moved to Yonkers, New York, where for several years he continued practicing. In 1928, he retired to Tampa, Florida, where he died the following year, local architects are often credited as well. As the head of a government office, Taylors direct involvement with any of these projects is open to question. A partial list of works include, Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital,1908 Pioneer and Endicott Buildings. Post Office and Court House, San Francisco, now the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,1905 U. S. Custom House, Houston 1907-1911 Old Post Office,1908 Old Post Office/Museum of Ceramics,1908 Gainesville, Florida Post Office,1909 Webster City, Post Office,1910 Post Office Building,1910 U. S. Post Office and Courthouse, 1910–12 U. S
12.
Louis Comfort Tiffany
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Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau, Tiffany was affiliated with a prestigious collaborative of designers known as the Associated Artists, which included Lockwood de Forest, Candace Wheeler, and Samuel Colman. Tiffany designed stained glass windows and lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass, ceramics, jewelry, enamels and he was the first Design Director at his family company, Tiffany & Co. founded by his father Charles Lewis Tiffany. Louis Comfort Tiffany was born in New York City, the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany and Company and he attended school at Pennsylvania Military Academy in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Eagleswood Military Academy in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. His first artistic training was as a painter, studying under George Inness in Eagleswood, New Jersey and Samuel Colman in Irvington and he also studied at the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1866–67 and with salon painter Leon-Adolphe-Auguste Belly in 1868–69. Bellys landscape paintings had a influence on Tiffany. Tiffany started out as a painter, but became interested in glassmaking from about 1875, in 1879, he joined with Candace Wheeler, Samuel Colman and Lockwood de Forest to form Louis Comfort Tiffany and Associated American Artists. The business was short-lived, lasting four years. The group made designs for wallpaper, furniture, and textiles and he later opened his own glass factory in Corona, New York, determined to provide designs that improved the quality of contemporary glass. Tiffanys leadership and talent, as well as his fathers money and connections and he commissioned Tiffany, who had begun to make a name for himself in New York society for the firms interior design work, to redo the state rooms, which Arthur found charmless. The Tiffany screen and other Victorian additions were all removed in the Roosevelt renovations of 1902, a desire to concentrate on art in glass led to the breakup of the firm in 1885 when Tiffany chose to establish his own glassmaking firm that same year. The first Tiffany Glass Company was incorporated December 1,1885, in the beginning of his career, Tiffany used cheap jelly jars and bottles because they had the mineral impurities that finer glass lacked. When he was unable to convince fine glassmakers to leave the impurities in, Tiffany used opalescent glass in a variety of colors and textures to create a unique style of stained glass. Use of the glass itself to create stained glass pictures was motivated by the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement. Tiffany, Duffner and Kimberly, along with La Farge, had learned their craft at the same glasshouses in Brooklyn in the late 1870s. In 1889 at the Paris Exposition, he is said to have been Overwhelmed by the work of Émile Gallé. He also met artist Alphonse Mucha, in 1893, his company also introduced the term Favrile in conjunction with his first production of blown glass at his new glass factory. Some early examples of his lamps were exhibited in the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago, at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, he won a gold medal with his stained glass windows The Four Seasons He trademarked Favrile on November 13,1894
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