28 Days of Flowers, Gardens and Parks, Day 3

Today’s installment has views from May, 1967 of The Royal Botanic Garden located in the southwestern part of London. The garden is commonly referred to as Kew Gardens. For more information on the gardens go to: http://www.kew.org

For an interactive view of Kew Gardens check out this web site:

http://www.explore-kew-gardens.net/blackBack.htm

 

Incidentally, Kew Gardens is celebrating its 250th Anniversary this year.

 

 

For an introduction to this series, check out Day 1:

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=97693

 

 

 

Above: a close-up of a Rhododendron.

 

 

 

Above: a view of one of Kew Garden’s many conservatories.

 

28 Days of Flowers, Gardens and Parks, Day 2

For Day 2, I am showing some additional photos from the Chelsea Flower Show in London, May, 1967.

 

For an introduction to this series, check out Day 1:

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=97693

 

Above: a display by Bees of Liverpool and Chester primarily of lilies.

 

Above and below: two different Clematis displays at the show.

 

 

Below: a beautiful mixed flower display by Ponton of Kirknewton, Midlothian.

 

 

 

 

28 Days of Flowers, Gardens and Parks, Day 1

Here in my region of the Northeast, the snow has been sitting on the ground for over a month with more predicted this week. As much as I love the snow covered scenery, I have started to get restless thinking about Spring.

 

For those those Open Salon members who are from snowy areas and others who simply like horticulture I am posting 28 days of photos from my archives showing a range of flowers, gardens, parks, greenhouses, flower shows and the like.

 

In July, I posted about my great grandparents’ garden on Long Island, NY that is no longer in existence. You can find that here:

The Beautiful Garden That Bit The Dust

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=4873

 

 

For my first day, I have some photos taken in 1967 by my maternal grandfather who was relatively well known in the U.S. horticultural world back in the fifties and sixties, as well as being a dentist in New York City. In May of ’67 he went on a three week tour of various points in Europe to see the various gardens and parks there. Photos from this trip will be the beginning of this series for a week or so.

 

These are scanned from 42 year old slides so they are not as crisp as a digital photo would be.

 

 

Below are three photos taken at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, May 1967. The bottom photo gives you a sense of the greenhouses that housed the flower show, as well as, a look at some London garden enthusiasts of the time.

 

Above: Dahlias.

 

 

Above: a variety of lilies, if I have my facts right, as this slide was not labeled.

 

 

 

Francesca, this day’s for you

Yesterday was the day when I finally made it to the Guggenheim to see the retrospective of my classmate, Francesca Woodman.

While I had seen most of the photos before in several books it was a special experience to see the prints firsthand. In addition, videos she had created were played in a loop and those I had not seen except for one or two. Also, large scale diazo prints were on display that truly need to be seen in person to appreciate their scale and special qualities.

It was also interesting to note the majority of the work shown was produced while she was a student at our school. It would appear that the RISD school environment was the perfect catalyst to turn on her creativity the most.

Below, this unlabeled shot from the ’77 RISD yearbook appears to me to be a photo of Francesca during a photo critique of another student’s work:

The Guggenheim as seen yesterday afternoon:

The current museum program which includes Francesca’s retrospective:

Her “mug” shot from the RISD student and faculty photo ID book I have from my college days:

We shared an English class (we were studying Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady with RISD teacher Philip Bailey) together in the spring of 1977 and I would look over her way and realize she was staring at me on numerous occasions. One day she came up to me after class and asked for a copy of the Roman Vishniac poster I had designed and produced for the school (RISD). I said I had some extra copies at my desk across the street. She followed me out the building and across North Main Street to the graphic design building where my studio space was located. Who was to know what would happen with her in the next few years (suicide, sadly) and her later tremendous fame. 35 years to the time we were in class her retrospective opened at the Guggenheim.

My copy of The Portrait of a Lady purchased in the RISD bookstore at the beginning of second semester, 1977–possibly the same printed edition she had, as well.

The poster for visiting RISD lecturer Roman Vishniac I gave her a copy of:

Francesca’s photo (circa 1976-77) that includes Charlie, the model, and herself as the female in the shot. From reading about her work I discovered that she often had someone (quite often Sloan Rankin, her classmate and friend) push the shutter button on the camera after the scene was set up and she was in it, as may have been the case in the photo below:

The best drawing of the series I made in freshman year drawing class of Charlie. (The sketch is about 20″ in width.)

During the ’76-’77 school year Francesca lived at 109 North Main Street above Pilgrim Mills which was just one block directly down College Hill from my apartment. The attractive and classical looking building is shown below the map. Her friend, Sloan, lived directly across Meeting Street from the kitchen and bedroom side of my apartment (my building actually fronted on Benefit Street).

To sum this all up it was a moving experience to see the retrospective yesterday afternoon. Once again, I was reminded how Francesca cut short her life at age 22 and, sadly, it was in Manhattan where she passed on in 1981 that her special retrospective was on view 31 years later. So much talent for such a young age and as others have already said elsewhere, we will never know what other great work she would have created had she decided to not take her life.

Color photos and text are ©2012 by B+Co., Inc.

Providence: Part Six

In September, 1972 when I started in as a freshman at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) an architectural studio class commenced during that semester that would have an important impact on the future of Providence over a decade later.

The class, taught by Professor Gerald Howes was looking at ways to improve transportation within the city, the prospect of high-speed rail service on the Northeast Corridor which would service the city and greenspaces being developed within the city business district and along the waterways that traverse the downtown. At the time I knew a student who was in the class and I heard about what they were doing in “real time.”

While the class did not envision that Amtrak would move the tracks north towards the State House, their work showed the way towards uncovering the Providence River and developing a pedestrian-friendly waterfront.

Through the book dealer in Providence that I purchased the 1959 Providence Urban Study book from, I was also able to buy an old copy of the 1974 “Interface: Providence” book that was produced by the RISD architectural class.

I have photographed the oversized book to show the ideas generated in the class. It’s the treatment of the riverfront that really stands out as a forerunner of what ultimately occurred in Providence. It is not often that students participate in a class that helps reshape a city, but this was the case in 1972-1973.

 

The cover shows an old illustration of the salt tidal cove that once graced the downtown but was later filled in over time. The class was inspired partly by this old feature of the city and created new waterfront and green areas that recalled the earlier time in the city’s history. Ultimately, the waterfront was changed to create what has become part of the attraction for visitors coming to Providence.

 

The photo on the right shows the huge parking lot that had existed between downtown and the Statehouse,

The front and back cover showing the old view of the city with the tidal cove still present.

 

Transportation discussion for downtown.

A concept sketch that looks quite like today’s riverfront.

 

A sketch showing the proposed park between the Statehouse and downtown.

A concept sketch showing the waterfront opened up for the enjoyment of residents and visitors, not too different than today’s reality, however, the WWI monument was moved south to the State Supreme Court building plaza and the Citizen’s Bank building was erected approximately where the monument is shown here.

 

Above and below: concepts for improving Union Station. In present day reality the old station is a mixed-use space and a new railroad station is now just below the Statehouse to the north.

 

Above: an overview for improving the riverfront area and quite similar to how the area was changed in the early ’90s.

Below: the concept for a park in front of the Statehouse showing the proposed cove pond.

 

Above: concepts for improving the greenspace of downtown.

Below: contemporary aerial photo showing the downtown business district, the Statehouse, the new railroad station, Providence Place Mall and the riverfront as finally realized. (Courtesy: Google Earth)

 

Providence: Part Five

For Part Five of my Providence series, I am discussing a study and publication that was developed in the late 1950s. Through a book dealer in Providence, I was able to purchase a copy of the 1959 publication “College Hill: A Demonstration Study of Historic Urban Renewal.” This study and publication was funded by a combination of federal, city and private foundation sources.

College Hill is located just east of Providence’s downtown business district. It is the home of both Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. The publication contains a photographic inventory of the area’s significant hsitoric structures and lays out concepts for integrating modernist architecture with existing historic structures. This plan was never acted upon, but its significance was to set in motion the restoration of hundreds of old homes and commercial buildings many of which dated back to the 1700s and 1800s.

Looking at the concept of the modernist low-rise and high-rise structures one is reminded of changing tastes over the last fifty years in urban renewal concepts. It was to Providence’s benefit that there was never the funding available to carry out the modernist approach and the essential historic fabric of College Hill remained intact with just the incursion of some modern buildings here and there in the two college campuses.

Overall for Providence the lack of funds to raze older buildings and replace them with newer structures is what helped to make Providence the “Renaissance City” that became a popular tourist destination starting in the early ’90s.

 

Benefit Street, recognized nationally for its mile long collection of historic homes and institutional structures.

An aerial view showing the area of College Hill. The Brown University campus is located in the central area of the photo. (Courtesy of Google Earth)

 

The cover of the 1959 study of College Hill.

Below are random pages showing sample historic inventories and proposals for urban renewal by mixing modernist architecture of that period with the older historic structures. The plan called for some older structures to be razed in parts of the study area.

 

 

 

 

Detail illustration showing new architecture overlooking the city.

 

 

Detail showing a mix of ’50s style low-rise housung with older residential structures.

 

Additional concepts for low-rise and historic homes.

A modernist tower proposed for a street lined with historic homes.

Additional views of historic homes and newly created low-rise housing.

 

Providence: Part Four

 

While there has been a great deal of restoration and renovation around Providence there has also occurred deterioration of buildings and structures. One such structure is an old railroad bridge that I first saw when I was a freshman at RISD. In fact, I spent a few months drawing it from nearly every angle that I could as the main part of my drawing class that year. While the bridge was in good condition when I knew it, the structure is no longer used and is in a permanently raised state. There is deterioration to the wooden railroad ties and quite a lot of graffiti. The railroad line was discontinued around 1978.

 

Back in 1972 and 1973 when I was sketching there, a number of short freight train of three or four cars that would come along. An operator was on duty named Norman during the weekdays, and I got to know him fairly well. He was an old timer who had been the bridge operator for more than a decade. He was present when a fire broke out some years earlier and it was so severe that some of the rails became warped. He gave me some background on the mechanics of the bridge and stories about his time there, as well.

 

I have all of the sketches saved that I ever made of the bridge along with many color and monochrome photos, and even a black and white video showing the bridge lowering and lifting which was shot on the old Sony reel to reel format of that time period.

 

I’ve been interested to find others who clearly like the look and the history of the bridge just as I did so many years ago. I have found a number of recent photos on the web and even a great 360 degree panoramic view looking to towards the bridge and the East Providence end beyond.

Here’s the url:

http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/worldwidepanorama/wwp906/html/DietrichNeumann.html

 

In addition, I found a New Haven Railroad discussion forum in which the bridge had been described by someone extremely knowledgeable about it which follows here:

 

“The Seekonk River Bridge is a Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge. The span would roll back, up and away from the horizontal position on a rolling quandrant (the similar in appearance bascule-type bridge rotated on a horizontal trunion; both completed their movement with the span in a near vertical position). The Seekonk bridge was built (in an opened position to allow for river traffic) by the Phoenix Bridge Company and went into service with the opening of the East Side Tunnel in November 1908. The lift span is 135 feet with a clear width between fenders of 90 feet. The width of the bridged section of the river is 1,150 feet; eleven deck plate girder spans complete the bridge. The bridge was built to bring the PW&B trains to Union Station but the NYNH&H also had the bottleneck at Pawtucket in mind (an insufficient two track line ran through the center of the city with several grade crossings slowing movements). The tunnel and bridge provided a route between Union Station and East Junction that avoided the Pawtucket problem (Northup Ave. classification yard had not yet been built). The Pawtucket problem was solved several years later when the New Haven relocated the line from Woodlawn to Boston Switch, depressed the tracks, eliminated the grade crossings, and four tracked the line. The tunnel therefore did not have as much traffic as its potential allowed.”

 

This bridge is an important part of Providence’s rail history and it’s unfortunate that such a key element should be allowed to rust and rot away.

 

 

Below: a vintage postcard of the bridge I purchased on Ebay. The bridge operator’s building is clearly visible in this old color photo.

 

 

 

 

Below: three photos from a group of 24 color photos I shot in 1973 when the bridge was fully operational and prior to today’s graffiti covered situation that is found on the structure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aerial view showing the bridge’s location on the Seekonk River. Towards the center of the photo is College Hill, the location of Brown University and RISD. Beyond is the Providence River and downtown Providence. The highway on the left is I-195. (Both aerial photos are courtesy of MassGIS/Google Earth.)

 

 

 

 

A closer look at the bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

A series of spring, 1977 photos I took of the bridge showing it to be in excellent condition. These were the last photos I took of the bridge.

 

 

A close-up view of the tracks when the bridge was raised.

 

 

 

A photo showing the view towards East Providence with the bridge raised.

 

 

 

A more recent photo found on the web showing the present condition of the bridge. No longer present is the small building where the bridge operator worked during weekdays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text and personal photos number 1 through 6 are ©2008 by B+Co., Inc.