Rene Paul Chambellan
Rene Paul Chambellan was an American sculptor who specialized in architectural sculpture. He was one of the foremost practitioners of what was called the French Modern Style and has subsequently been labeled Zig-Zag Moderne. He frequently designed in the Greco Deco style, Chambellan was born in Union City, New Jersey. He studied at New York University from 1912 to 1914, in Paris at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design from 1914 to 1917, during the First World War, he was a sergeant in France with the U. S. Army. Chambellan was a resident of Cliffside Park, New Jersey. H, rockefeller Center – Architecture as Theater, New York, McGraw-Hill,1978 ISBN 0-07-003480-X Kvaran, Einar Einarsson Kvaran. Architectural Sculpture of the United States, unpublished manuscript Stern, Robert A. M. Gilmartin, Gregory F. and Mellins, New York 1930 New York, Rizzoli Press,1987 Rene Paul Chambellan - One of Art Decos Greatest Sculptors
Scranton Cultural Center
The Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple is a theatre and cultural center in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Cultural Centers mission statement is to rejuvenate a national architectural structure as a center for arts, education. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, architect Raymond Hood designed the Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral, which houses the Scranton Cultural Center, the current operating organization for the building. The Masonic Temple is designed in a combination of Gothic Revival architecture, the building was completed in 1930. The temple was designed with a nature, it was built to house the Scottish Rite Cathedral. The design of the building is a tribute to Freemasonry, the Masonic Temple houses, The Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Theatre which seats 1,866 for concerts, national Broadway tours and other entertainment, the Governor Robert P. Both the Weinberg Theatre and Shopland Hall are equipped with Austin Organs, most of the facility is open for public usage and rental through the year.
Visitors to Scranton can visit the Temple and take a tour that highlights the architecture of the building as well as its present-day uses, the Cultural Center features a wide variety of entertainments and programs. It has hosted performances by musical artists, including Alice Cooper, Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews, N Sync, Breaking Benjamin, Backstreet Boys. The Broadway Theatre League of Northeastern Pennsylvania has produced a season of national Broadway tours for over 50 years at the venue, including Rent. Les Miserables, Jersey Boys, and The Book of Mormon, in December 2014, the Scranton Cultural Center premiered the fully realized stage version of the musical comedy, Harry Connick Jr. s The Happy Elf. Construction of the Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral was begun in 1927 on the site of two former mansions. Construction of the building three years with the Temple inauguration taking place on January 2,1930 when the first meeting was held in the building. The rectangular plan building is clad in coursed ashlars of Indiana limestone supported by the steel framework.
At approximately 188,000 square feet, the houses two theaters and masonic meeting rooms and event spaces, a grand ballroom, as well as numerous other offices, rooms. There are ten levels of the building, five of which can be accessed by elevator, symbols of Masonry can be found throughout the Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral, although it may not be apparent to those unfamiliar with the Craft. Shopland Hall, the theater on the fourth floor, contains many Masonic symbols. An image of the Crusade is depicted above the stage, as well as shield motifs and these are important symbols to the Masonic Fraternity
Daily News Building
Built in 1929–1930, it was headquarters for the New York Daily News newspaper until 1995. It was the headquarters of United Press International until the service moved to Washington. It was among the first skyscrapers to be built without an ornamental crown, the building, including the newspapers new printing presses, cost $10,700,000 – about $135 million in 2010 dollars. The lobby of the building includes a glass domed ceiling. This was conceived by the Daily News as a permanent educational science exhibit, the Daily News Building was designated a New York City Landmark in 1981 and its interior in 1998. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1989 and is now owned by SL Green Realty Corp, the building is the home for the former Daily News TV broadcast subsidiary WPIX, channel 11, an affiliate of The CW network. The station is owned by the Tribune Company, the former parent of the Daily News. It was home to WQCD, the jazz station The News had operated as WPIX-FM. Some time after former News parent Tribune Company took over WQCD directly, other tenants include the United Nations Development Programme and the New York office of public relations firm FleishmanHillard.
The News Building was the model for the headquarters of the fictional newspaper Daily Planet, the building itself was used for filming exterior scenes at the Daily Planet in the 1978 film Superman, The Movie. Notes Official website in-Arch. net, The Daily News Building
John Mead Howells
John Mead Howells, FAIA, was an American architect. Howells moved to New York City and founded the architectural firm Howells & Stokes with Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, the partnership designed such works as St. Pauls Chapel at Columbia University and Stormfield, an Italianate villa commissioned by Samuel Clemens, a longtime friend of his father. These projects include the design of the Tribune Tower in Chicago. Howells designed the Beekman Tower in New York and the plan for the University of Brussels in Belgium in 1922 at the request of U. S. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, Howells served as president of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects and the Society of Architects Diplômes. He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, named a Chevalier by the French Legion of Honor and an officer of the Order of the Crown, commission of Fine Arts from 1933 to 1937. Howells wrote several books on architectural history, in 1944 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician.
Media related to John Mead Howells at Wikimedia Commons Howells at NYC Architecture
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Pawtucket /pəˈtʌkᵻt/ is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 71,148 at the 2010 census and it is the fourth largest city in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence, Rhode Island and the state of Massachusetts, the name Pawtucket comes from the Algonquian word for river fall. The Pawtucket region was said to have one of the most populous places in New England prior to the arrival of European settlers. Native Americans would gather here to take advantage of the salmon, the first European settler here was Joseph Jenckes, who came to the region from Lynn, Massachusetts. He purchased about 60 acres near Pawtucket Falls in 1671 and he established a sawmill and forge. These, along with the town, were destroyed during King Philips War. Other settlers followed Jencks, and by 1775 the area was home to manufacturers of muskets, linseed oil, around this time Oziel Wilkinson and his family set up an iron forge making anchors, screws, farm implements, and even canons.
Originally, the land west of the Blackstone River was part of nearby North Providence, East of the Blackstone River was originally settled as part of the Massachusetts town of Rehoboth, was incorporated as Pawtucket, Massachusetts in 1828. In 1862 the eastern portion was absorbed into Providence County, Rhode Island, in 1874, the land west of the river was taken from North Providence and added to the town of Pawtucket, and in 1885-1886 West and East Pawtucket were merged and the city was incorporated. Pawtucket was an early and important center of cotton textiles during the American Industrial Revolution, Slater Mill, built in 1793 by Samuel Slater on the Blackstone River falls in downtown Pawtucket, was the first fully mechanized cotton-spinning mill in America. Slater Mill is known for developing a successful production process not reliant on earlier horse-drawn processes developed in America. Slater constructed and operated machines for producing yarn, other manufacturers continued, transforming Pawtucket into a center for textiles, iron working, and other products.
By the 1920s, Pawtucket was a mill town. The city boasted over a half-dozen movie theatres, two hotels, and an impressive collection of fine commercial and residential architecture. Perhaps the most impressive building in Pawtucket was the Leroy Theatre. Many wealthy mill owners such as Darius Goff built their mansions in the area, the textile business in New England declined during the Great Depression with many manufacturers closing or moving their facilities South where operations and labor were cheaper. Later in the 20th Century, Pawtucket lost much of its heritage to the wrecking ball
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures,532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment and this philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater, which has been called the best all-time work of American architecture. Wright was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home and his creative period spanned more than 70 years. In addition to his houses, Wright designed original and innovative offices, schools, hotels, museums and he often designed interior elements for these buildings as well, including furniture and stained glass. Wright wrote 20 books and many articles and was a lecturer in the United States. His colorful personal life made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire. Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as the greatest American architect of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright was born Frank Lincoln Wright in the farming town of Richland Center, United States, in 1867.
His father, William Carey Wright, was an orator, music teacher, occasional lawyer, William Wright met and married Anna Lloyd Jones, a county school teacher, the previous year when he was employed as the superintendent of schools for Richland County. Originally from Massachusetts, William Wright had been a Baptist minister, Anna was a member of the large and well-known Lloyd Jones family of Unitarians, who had emigrated from Wales to Spring Green, Wisconsin. One of Annas brothers was Jenkin Lloyd Jones, who would become an important figure in the spread of the Unitarian faith in the Western United States, both of Wrights parents were strong-willed individuals with idiosyncratic interests that they passed on to him. According to his biography, his mother declared when she was expecting that her first child would grow up to build beautiful buildings and she decorated his nursery with engravings of English cathedrals torn from a periodical to encourage the infants ambition. In 1870 the family moved to Weymouth, where William ministered to a small congregation, in 1876, Anna visited the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia where she saw an exhibit of educational blocks created by Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel.
The blocks, known as Froebel Gifts, were the foundation of his innovative kindergarten curriculum, Anna, a trained teacher, was excited by the program and bought a set with which young Wright spent much time playing. The blocks in the set were geometrically shaped and could be assembled in various combinations to form three-dimensional compositions, the Wright family struggled financially in Weymouth and returned to Spring Green, where the supportive Lloyd Jones clan could help William find employment. They settled in Madison, where William taught music lessons and served as the secretary to the newly formed Unitarian society, although William was a distant parent, he shared his love of music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, with his children. Soon after Wright turned 14, his parents separated, Anna had been unhappy for some time with Williams inability to provide for his family and asked him to leave. The divorce was finalized in 1885 after William sued Anna for lack of physical affection, William left Wisconsin after the divorce and Wright claimed he never saw his father again.
At this time he changed his name from Lincoln to Lloyd in honor of his mothers family
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 high-rise commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. Commissioned by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is famous for its annual Christmas tree lighting, Rockefeller Center was named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who leased the space from Columbia University in 1928 and developed it beginning in 1930. Rockefeller stated, It was clear there were only two courses open to me. One was to abandon the entire development, the other to go forward with it in the definite knowledge that I myself would have to build it and finance it alone. The initial cost of acquiring the space, razing some of the existing buildings and it was the largest private building project ever undertaken in modern times. Construction of the 14 buildings in the Art Deco style began on May 17,1930, principal builder and managing agent for the massive project was John R.
Todd. The construction of the project employed over 40,000 people and it was the public relations pioneer Ivy Lee, the prominent adviser to the family, who first suggested the name Rockefeller Center for the complex, in 1931. Rockefeller, Jr. initially did not want the Rockefeller family name associated with the commercial project, what could have become a major controversy in the mid-1930s concerned the last of the four European buildings that remained unnamed. Ivy Lee and others attempts to rent the space to German commercial concerns. Rockefeller ruled this out after being advised of Hitlers Nazi march toward World War II and this subsequently became the primary location of the U. S. In 1985, Columbia University sold the land beneath Rockefeller Center to the Rockefeller Group for $400 million, in 1989, Mitsubishi Estate, a real estate company of the Mitsubishi Group, purchased the entire Rockefeller Center complex, and its owner, Rockefeller Group. In 1996, the complex was purchased by a consortium of owners that included Goldman Sachs, Gianni Agnelli, Stavros Niarchos, and David Rockefeller.
Tishman Speyer, led by Jerry Speyer, a friend of David Rockefeller. The landmark buildings comprise over 8,000,000 square feet on 22 acres in Midtown, bounded by Fifth and Sixth avenues and these are co-owned by Tishman-Speyer, and open to the public. 1 Rockefeller Plaza – The original Time–Life Building, a tenant was General Dynamics. 10 Rockefeller Plaza – Originally the Holland House, the Eastern Air Lines Building, currently home of Today Show studios. 30 Rockefeller Plaza – Originally the RCA Building, in 1988 it was renamed the GE Building, headquarters of NBC, the Rainbow Room restaurant is located on the 65th floor
30 Rockefeller Plaza
30 Rockefeller Plaza is an American Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Its name is shortened to 30 Rock. The building is most famous for housing the NBC television network headquarters, at 850 feet high, the 70-story building is the 14th tallest in New York City and the 39th tallest in the United States. It stands 400 feet shorter than the Empire State Building, the building underwent a US$170 million floor-by-floor interior renovation in 2014. The building was completed in 1933 as part of the Rockefeller Center complex, the noted Art Deco architect Raymond Hood led a team of Rockefeller architects. It was named the RCA Building for its tenant, the Radio Corporation of America. It was the first building constructed with the elevators grouped in the central core, during construction, a photographer took the famous photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper on the 69th floor. The National Broadcasting Company, had the red and blue networks housed in the new building, NBC was the first national radio network in the country and was started by R. C. A. in 1926.
The office of the Rockefeller family occupied Room 5600 on the 56th floor and this space is now occupied by Rockefeller Family and Associates, whose offices span the 54th to 56th floors. John D. Rockefeller had a vault in the basement of the building. In 1985, the building acquired official landmark status, the RCA Building was renamed as the GE Building in 1988, two years after General Electric re-acquired the RCA Corporation. Some still refer to the building using its old names, out of habit or fondness, the buildings address became the title of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which follows the cast and crew of a fictional television show filmed inside the building. KWO35, the NOAA Weather Radio station serving the majority of the Tri-State area, originally transmitted from atop the building, due to interference with a U. S. Coast Guard radio channel, the transmitter was eventually relocated atop the MetLife Building. A weather radar station was located atop the building. In June 2014, Comcast was granted permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to make modifications to the building to reflect its ownership of NBCUniversal, the GE Building would be officially known as the Comcast Building.
Comcast planned to replace the neon GE lettering from the top of the building with a 10-foot tall, LED-lit Comcast wordmark and NBC logo, and add a 17-foot NBC logo on the building westerns facade. Additionally, a new marquee was added to the Avenue of the Americas entrance, on July 1,2015, the name change and new signage were made official. The building is one of the most famous and recognized skyscrapers in New York
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university in Cambridge, often cited as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. Researchers worked on computers and inertial guidance during World War II, post-war defense research contributed to the rapid expansion of the faculty and campus under James Killian. The current 168-acre campus opened in 1916 and extends over 1 mile along the bank of the Charles River basin. The Institute is traditionally known for its research and education in the sciences and engineering, and more recently in biology, linguistics. Air Force and 6 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with MIT, the school has a strong entrepreneurial culture, and the aggregated revenues of companies founded by MIT alumni would rank as the eleventh-largest economy in the world. In 1859, a proposal was submitted to the Massachusetts General Court to use newly filled lands in Back Bay, Boston for a Conservatory of Art and Science, but the proposal failed. A charter for the incorporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rogers, a professor from the University of Virginia, wanted to establish an institution to address rapid scientific and technological advances.
The Rogers Plan reflected the German research university model, emphasizing an independent faculty engaged in research, as well as instruction oriented around seminars, two days after the charter was issued, the first battle of the Civil War broke out. After a long delay through the war years, MITs first classes were held in the Mercantile Building in Boston in 1865, in 1863 under the same act, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts founded the Massachusetts Agricultural College, which developed as the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 1866, the proceeds from sales went toward new buildings in the Back Bay. MIT was informally called Boston Tech, the institute adopted the European polytechnic university model and emphasized laboratory instruction from an early date. Despite chronic financial problems, the institute saw growth in the last two decades of the 19th century under President Francis Amasa Walker. Programs in electrical, chemical and sanitary engineering were introduced, new buildings were built, the curriculum drifted to a vocational emphasis, with less focus on theoretical science.
The fledgling school still suffered from chronic financial shortages which diverted the attention of the MIT leadership, during these Boston Tech years, MIT faculty and alumni rebuffed Harvard University president Charles W. Eliots repeated attempts to merge MIT with Harvard Colleges Lawrence Scientific School. There would be at least six attempts to absorb MIT into Harvard, in its cramped Back Bay location, MIT could not afford to expand its overcrowded facilities, driving a desperate search for a new campus and funding. Eventually the MIT Corporation approved an agreement to merge with Harvard, over the vehement objections of MIT faculty, students. However, a 1917 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court effectively put an end to the merger scheme, the neoclassical New Technology campus was designed by William W. Bosworth and had been funded largely by anonymous donations from a mysterious Mr. Smith, starting in 1912. In January 1920, the donor was revealed to be the industrialist George Eastman of Rochester, New York, who had invented methods of production and processing
Plasticine
Plasticine, a brand of modelling clay, is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. The name is a trademark of Flair Leisure Products plc. Plasticine is used extensively for childrens play, but as a medium for more formal or permanent structures. Because of its property, it is a popular choice of material for stop-motion animation. The brand-name clay is mentioned in music, such as the porters in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. William Harbutt, an art teacher in Bath, formulated Plasticine in 1897, Harbutt wanted a non-drying clay for his sculpture students. He created a non-toxic, sterile and malleable clay that did not dry on exposure to air, Harbutt received a patent in 1899 and commercial production started at a factory in Bathampton in 1900. Four colours were produced for sale to the public. Plasticine was popular with children, was used in schools for teaching art. Plasticine is approximately 65% bulking agent, 10% petroleum jelly, 5% lime and 10% lanolin and it cannot be hardened by firing, melts when exposed to heat, and is flammable at higher temperatures.
Harbutt patented a different formulation in 1915, which added wool fibres to give plasticine a stronger composition intended for ear plugs, and as a sterile dressing for wounds and burns. The Harbutt company marketed Plasticine as a toy by producing modelling kits based on characters from childrens stories, such as Noddy. The original Plasticine factory was destroyed by fire in 1963 and replaced by a modern building, the Harbutt company produced Plasticine in Bathampton until 1983, when production was moved to Thailand. The Colorforms company was the major American licensee of Plasticine from 1979 until at least 1984, the use of a different chalk compound caused a product inconsistency, and the US version was considered inferior to the original mix. Bluebird Toys plc acquired Plasticine through its purchase of Peter Pan, in 1998, Mattel bought Bluebird and the brand was sold to Humbrol Ltd, famous for its model paints and owner of the Airfix model kit brand. Flair Leisure licensed the brand from Humbrol in 2005 and relaunched Plasticine and it acquired the brand outright, when Humbrol went into administration a year later.
A similar product, Kunst-Modellierthon, was invented by Franz Kolb of Munich and this product is still available, known as Münchner Künstler Plastilin. In Italy, the product Pongo is marketed as plastilina, Play-Doh, which is based on flour and water, dries on exposure to air
