LaurieAnnie's photos with the keyword: tower

The Cathedral The Cathedral of Monreale is the greatest of all the monuments of the wealth and artistic taste of the Norman kings in northern Sicily. It was begun about 1170 by William II, and in 1182 the church, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, was, by a bull of Pope Lucius III, elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral. The outside of the Arab-Norman cathedral is plain, except the aisle walls and three eastern apses, which are decorated with intersecting pointed arches and other ornaments inlaid in marble.The archiepiscopal palace and monastic buildings on the south side were of great size and magnificence, and were surrounded by a massive precinct wall, crowned at intervals by twelve towers. This has been mostly rebuilt, and but little now remains except ruins of some of the towers, a great part of the monks' dormitory and frater, and the splendid cloister, completed about 1200. This last is well preserved, and is one of the finest Italian cloisters both for size and beauty of detail now extant. It is about 170 sq. feet, with pointed arches decorated with diaper work, supported on pairs of columns in white marble, 216 in all, which were alternately plain and decorated by bands of patterns in gold and colors, made of glass tesserae, arranged either spirally or vertically from end to end of each shaft. The marble caps are each richly carved with figures and foliage executed with great skill and wonderful fertility of invention, no two being alike. At one angle, a square pillared projection contains the marble fountain or monks' lavatory, evidently the work of Muslim sculptors. The church's plan is a mixture of Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic arrangement. The nave is like an Italian basilica, while the large triple-apsed choir is like one of the early three-apsed churches, of which so many examples still exist in Syria and other Oriental countries. It is, in fact, like two quite different churches put together endwise. The outsides of the principal doorways and their pointed arches are magnificently enriched with carving and colored inlay, a curious combination of three styles - Norman-French, Byzantine and Arab.The basilican nave is wide, with narrow aisles. Monolithic columns of grey oriental granite (except one, which is of cipollino), evidently the spoils of older buildings, on each side support eight pointed arches much stilted. The capitals of these (mainly Corinthian) are also of the classical period. There is no triforium, but a high clerestory with wide two-light windows, with simple tracery like those in the nave-aisles and throughout the church, which give sufficient (if anything too much) light. The other half, Eastern in two senses, is both wider and higher than the nave. It also is divided into a central space with two aisles, each of the divisions ending at the east with an apse. The roofs throughout are of open woodwork very low in pitch, constructionally plain, but richly decorated with color, now mostly restored. At the west end of the nave are two projecting towers, with a narthex (entrance) between them. A large open atrium, which once existed at the west, is now completely destroyed, having been replaced by a Renaissance portico. It is, however, the large extent (6,500) and glittering splendour of the glass mosaics covering the interior which make this church so splendid. With the exception of a high dado, itself very beautiful, made of marble slabs with bands of mosaic between them, the whole interior surface of the walls, including soffits and jambs of all the arches, is covered with minute mosaic-pictures in brilliant colors on a gold ground. The mosaic pictures are arranged in tiers, divided by horizontal and vertical bands. In parts of the choir there are five of these tiers of subjects or single figures one above another. Although not so refined as mosaics in Cefalù and the Palazzo dei Normanni, the cathedral interior nevertheless contains the largest cycle of Byzantine mosaics extant in Italy.The half dome of the central apse has a colossal half-length figure

The [archaeological] museum [in Giardini-Naxos, Sicily] is next to the ancient Greek town area. Open from 9am up to an hour before sunset. The Museum is close to Capo Schisò and the modern harbour of Giardini Naxos, on the border with the archaeological area of the ancient town of Naxos, which can also be reached from the museum itself, through an exhibition route, which partly following an important road of the 5th c. BC, takes you up to the western side of the walls. The museum is divided into three buildings, two of which are dedicated to the exhibition. Building "A" was constructed in the 70s when the museum was founded, and building "B", the embattled tower of the Bourbon blockhouse, whose large pieces of walls still stand. The museum illustrates the history of the Greek colony of Naxos, also considering the prehistorical evidences which prove the human presence in the site from the Neolithic up to the arrival of the Greeks, as well as the findings within the territory (Cocolonazzo di Mola, Monaci cave, Fiumedenisi, Malvagna). Naxos was founded in 734 BC by the Calcidians, who had sailed from the Greek island of Eubea led by Theocles. The town, developed along the route which boats coming from Eubea followed to reach Ischia to trade with the Etruscans, was the heart of the Calcidian spread in Sicily, and from here Theocles moved to found Leontinoi and Katane. The history of the town, marked by the rivalry with the powerful Siracusa, was quite short and it disappeared in three centuries, when it was destroyed by Dionysius of Siracusa in 403 BC. The collections are mostly composed of finds from the excavations which have been carried since 1953 in the site of the ancient colony. A few materials found at the turn of the century come from the Archaelogical Museums of Palermo and Siracusa, and very recently, from Heildeberg University Museum which receded a fragment of arula with sphinxes, bought in 1902 by F. von Duhn in Taormina and perfectly reconnected to the one exhibited in Naxos. The large number of handmade pottery is evidence of the different phases of life in the town, its commercial relations and its material culture. The figured and architectural terracottas, the antefixes with Silenian masks attest the thriving of a sacred monumental architecture at the beginning of the 6th c., as well as the presence of lively workshops which produced terracotta objects. Various artefacts are evidence of settlements along the coast dated back to the Byzantine period. Other items found in this area are also displayed, such as the beautiful bronze helmet made in Moio, in the Alcantara Valley, during the Hellenistic period. Part of the exhibition is dedicated to underwater findings, such as several anchor stocks and some transport amphoras. The arrangement follows chronological criteria Ground floor - The prehistoric period - Items found at the turn of the last century - The oldest phase of the colonial settlement: late-geometrical ceramic materials of Corinthian and Eubeian-cicladian productions, as well as imitations; outfits found in the northern necropolis; archaic transport amphoras of different production, all reutilized as graves First floor - Coins dated back to the 5th c. BC from the northern district of the town - The sacred areas of the town: architectural covers and antefixes with Silenian masks - The archaic and classic settlement, the necropoli of the 5th c. BC, and those of the Hellenistic period (3rd c. BC) Embattled tower of the Bourbon blockhouse - Underwater finds (anchor stocks, millstones, amphoras) Text and more information about individual artifacts from: www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/dirbenicult/musei/mu...

The [archaeological] museum [in Giardini-Naxos, Sicily] is next to the ancient Greek town area. Open from 9am up to an hour before sunset. The Museum is close to Capo Schisò and the modern harbour of Giardini Naxos, on the border with the archaeological area of the ancient town of Naxos, which can also be reached from the museum itself, through an exhibition route, which partly following an important road of the 5th c. BC, takes you up to the western side of the walls. The museum is divided into three buildings, two of which are dedicated to the exhibition. Building "A" was constructed in the 70s when the museum was founded, and building "B", the embattled tower of the Bourbon blockhouse, whose large pieces of walls still stand. The museum illustrates the history of the Greek colony of Naxos, also considering the prehistorical evidences which prove the human presence in the site from the Neolithic up to the arrival of the Greeks, as well as the findings within the territory (Cocolonazzo di Mola, Monaci cave, Fiumedenisi, Malvagna). Naxos was founded in 734 BC by the Calcidians, who had sailed from the Greek island of Eubea led by Theocles. The town, developed along the route which boats coming from Eubea followed to reach Ischia to trade with the Etruscans, was the heart of the Calcidian spread in Sicily, and from here Theocles moved to found Leontinoi and Katane. The history of the town, marked by the rivalry with the powerful Siracusa, was quite short and it disappeared in three centuries, when it was destroyed by Dionysius of Siracusa in 403 BC. The collections are mostly composed of finds from the excavations which have been carried since 1953 in the site of the ancient colony. A few materials found at the turn of the century come from the Archaelogical Museums of Palermo and Siracusa, and very recently, from Heildeberg University Museum which receded a fragment of arula with sphinxes, bought in 1902 by F. von Duhn in Taormina and perfectly reconnected to the one exhibited in Naxos. The large number of handmade pottery is evidence of the different phases of life in the town, its commercial relations and its material culture. The figured and architectural terracottas, the antefixes with Silenian masks attest the thriving of a sacred monumental architecture at the beginning of the 6th c., as well as the presence of lively workshops which produced terracotta objects. Various artefacts are evidence of settlements along the coast dated back to the Byzantine period. Other items found in this area are also displayed, such as the beautiful bronze helmet made in Moio, in the Alcantara Valley, during the Hellenistic period. Part of the exhibition is dedicated to underwater findings, such as several anchor stocks and some transport amphoras. The arrangement follows chronological criteria Ground floor - The prehistoric period - Items found at the turn of the last century - The oldest phase of the colonial settlement: late-geometrical ceramic materials of Corinthian and Eubeian-cicladian productions, as well as imitations; outfits found in the northern necropolis; archaic transport amphoras of different production, all reutilized as graves First floor - Coins dated back to the 5th c. BC from the northern district of the town - The sacred areas of the town: architectural covers and antefixes with Silenian masks - The archaic and classic settlement, the necropoli of the 5th c. BC, and those of the Hellenistic period (3rd c. BC) Embattled tower of the Bourbon blockhouse - Underwater finds (anchor stocks, millstones, amphoras) Text and more information about individual artifacts from: www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/dirbenicult/musei/mu...

The Beauchamp Tower Henry III and his son, Edward I, are to be attributed to the creation of the Beauchamp Tower. Henry III is responsible for many of the towers and structures in the Tower of London, with eight wall towers built during the latter part of his reign. It was during Edward's reconstruction of the western section that he replaced a twin-towered gatehouse built by Henry with the Beauchamp Tower around 1275-81. Architecturally, the large amount of brick used, as opposed to solely that of stone, was innovative at its time for castle construction. The tower takes its name from Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, imprisoned 1397-99 by Richard II. The three-storey structure was used often for prisoners of high rank. Of special interest are the inscriptions carved on the stone walls here by prisoners. The most elaborate is a memorial to the five brothers Dudley, one of whom was Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey. This unhappy pair were executed in 1554 Text from: www.toweroflondontour.com/beauchmp.html

The Beauchamp Tower Henry III and his son, Edward I, are to be attributed to the creation of the Beauchamp Tower. Henry III is responsible for many of the towers and structures in the Tower of London, with eight wall towers built during the latter part of his reign. It was during Edward's reconstruction of the western section that he replaced a twin-towered gatehouse built by Henry with the Beauchamp Tower around 1275-81. Architecturally, the large amount of brick used, as opposed to solely that of stone, was innovative at its time for castle construction. The tower takes its name from Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, imprisoned 1397-99 by Richard II. The three-storey structure was used often for prisoners of high rank. Of special interest are the inscriptions carved on the stone walls here by prisoners. The most elaborate is a memorial to the five brothers Dudley, one of whom was Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey. This unhappy pair were executed in 1554 Text from: www.toweroflondontour.com/beauchmp.html

The Beauchamp Tower Henry III and his son, Edward I, are to be attributed to the creation of the Beauchamp Tower. Henry III is responsible for many of the towers and structures in the Tower of London, with eight wall towers built during the latter part of his reign. It was during Edward's reconstruction of the western section that he replaced a twin-towered gatehouse built by Henry with the Beauchamp Tower around 1275-81. Architecturally, the large amount of brick used, as opposed to solely that of stone, was innovative at its time for castle construction. The tower takes its name from Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, imprisoned 1397-99 by Richard II. The three-storey structure was used often for prisoners of high rank. Of special interest are the inscriptions carved on the stone walls here by prisoners. The most elaborate is a memorial to the five brothers Dudley, one of whom was Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey. This unhappy pair were executed in 1554 Text from: www.toweroflondontour.com/beauchmp.html

The Queen's House The Queens House was built about 1530, probably for Queen Anne Boleyn, but she lived there only as a prisoner for 18 days awaiting her execution. The second queen of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I, she was beheaded on Tower Green by a French executioner for alleged infidelity; it is said she felt the French more skilled at the task of beheading. As a princess interned at the Bell Tower, Elizabeth I was permitted to dine here. Despite the presence of these and future Queens, the building was known until 1880 as the Lieutenant's Lodgings. It is a very fine example of half timbered Tudor architecture. Within a few years of completion, a floor was inserted at second storey level in the lofty hall making what is known as the Council Chamber. The chamber has a magnificent 16 century rafted ceiling and contains an elaborate tablet commemorating the Gunpowder Plot erected in 1608 by the then Governor, Sir William Waad. In this room Guy Fawkes was interrogated and after torture on the rack in the White Tower, signed a confession incriminating his fellow conspirators. Adjoining the Council Chamber is a room in which William Penn, the famous Quaker who founded the state of Pennsylvania, was once a prisoner. And in modern times the notorious Rudolph Hess, Nazi leader and German deserter during World War II, was imprisoned here. Text from: www.toweroflondontour.com/queensh.html

Hearst Tower in New York City, New York is located at 300 West 57th Street on Eighth Avenue, near Columbus Circle. It is the world headquarters of the Hearst Corporation, bringing together for the first time their numerous publications and communications companies under one roof, including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and the San Francisco Chronicle, to name a few. The former six-story headquarters building was commissioned by the founder, William Randolph Hearst and awarded to the architect Joseph Urban. The building was completed in 1928 at a cost of $2 million and contained 40,000 sq. ft. The original cast stone facade has been preserved in the new design as a designated Landmark site. Originally built as the base for a proposed skyscraper, the construction of the tower was postponed due to the Great Depression. The new tower addition was completed nearly eighty years later, and 2000 Hearst employees moved in on 4 May 2006. [1] The tower – designed by the architecture firm of Foster and Partners and constructed by Turner construction – is 46 stories tall, standing 182 m (597 ft) with 80,000 m² (856,000 ft²) of office space. The uncommon triangular framing pattern (also known as a diagrid) required 9,500 metric tons (10,480 tons) of structural steel – reportedly about 20% less than a conventional steel frame. Hearst Tower was the first skyscraper to break ground in New York City after September 11, 2001. The building received the 2006 Emporis Skyscraper Award,[1] citing it as the best skyscraper in the world completed that year. Hearst Tower is the first green building completed in New York City, with a number of environmental considerations built into the plan. The floor of the atrium is paved with heat conductive limestone. Polyethylene tubing is embedded under the floor and filled with circulating water for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Rain collected on the roof is stored in a tank in the basement for use in the cooling system, to irrigate plants and for the water sculpture in the main lobby. The building was constructed using 80% recycled steel. Overall, the building has been designed to use 25% less energy than the minimum requirements for the city of New York, and earned a gold designation from the United States Green Building Council’s LEED certification program. The atrium features escalators which run through a 3-story water sculpture titled Icefall, a wide waterfall built with thousands of glass panels, which cools and humidifies the lobby air. The water element is complemented by a 70-foot (21.3 m) tall fresco painting entitled Riverlines by artist Richard Long. The cascading glass escalators in the lobby of Norman Foster’s new Hearst Tower, which carry the ladies of Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, and Harper’s Bazaar to their offices, also offer a view up their skirts. Some editors were concerned enough that they warned members of their staff prone to wearing trendy mini-minidresses or ballooning short skirts to take care to keep their legs closed. “It’s the visitors that see the ‘view,’ ” said one editor. “A lot of tourists walk in from the streets to see the building.” Other employees were more blasé. Says Marie Claire editor-in-chief Joanna Coles, “I know we’ve got some great views from Hearst Tower, but I was not aware of the one from the bottom of the escalators. We’ll have to add that to our docent notes. As for me, I don’t wear minis.” Besides, noted another editor, “I’m not sure it’s that much of a problem considering the fact that I can probably count the number of straight men who work in the building on one hand.” Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Tower_(New_York_City)

Hearst Tower in New York City, New York is located at 300 West 57th Street on Eighth Avenue, near Columbus Circle. It is the world headquarters of the Hearst Corporation, bringing together for the first time their numerous publications and communications companies under one roof, including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and the San Francisco Chronicle, to name a few. The former six-story headquarters building was commissioned by the founder, William Randolph Hearst and awarded to the architect Joseph Urban. The building was completed in 1928 at a cost of $2 million and contained 40,000 sq. ft. The original cast stone facade has been preserved in the new design as a designated Landmark site. Originally built as the base for a proposed skyscraper, the construction of the tower was postponed due to the Great Depression. The new tower addition was completed nearly eighty years later, and 2000 Hearst employees moved in on 4 May 2006. [1] The tower – designed by the architecture firm of Foster and Partners and constructed by Turner construction – is 46 stories tall, standing 182 m (597 ft) with 80,000 m² (856,000 ft²) of office space. The uncommon triangular framing pattern (also known as a diagrid) required 9,500 metric tons (10,480 tons) of structural steel – reportedly about 20% less than a conventional steel frame. Hearst Tower was the first skyscraper to break ground in New York City after September 11, 2001. The building received the 2006 Emporis Skyscraper Award,[1] citing it as the best skyscraper in the world completed that year. Hearst Tower is the first green building completed in New York City, with a number of environmental considerations built into the plan. The floor of the atrium is paved with heat conductive limestone. Polyethylene tubing is embedded under the floor and filled with circulating water for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Rain collected on the roof is stored in a tank in the basement for use in the cooling system, to irrigate plants and for the water sculpture in the main lobby. The building was constructed using 80% recycled steel. Overall, the building has been designed to use 25% less energy than the minimum requirements for the city of New York, and earned a gold designation from the United States Green Building Council’s LEED certification program. The atrium features escalators which run through a 3-story water sculpture titled Icefall, a wide waterfall built with thousands of glass panels, which cools and humidifies the lobby air. The water element is complemented by a 70-foot (21.3 m) tall fresco painting entitled Riverlines by artist Richard Long. The cascading glass escalators in the lobby of Norman Foster’s new Hearst Tower, which carry the ladies of Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, and Harper’s Bazaar to their offices, also offer a view up their skirts. Some editors were concerned enough that they warned members of their staff prone to wearing trendy mini-minidresses or ballooning short skirts to take care to keep their legs closed. “It’s the visitors that see the ‘view,’ ” said one editor. “A lot of tourists walk in from the streets to see the building.” Other employees were more blasé. Says Marie Claire editor-in-chief Joanna Coles, “I know we’ve got some great views from Hearst Tower, but I was not aware of the one from the bottom of the escalators. We’ll have to add that to our docent notes. As for me, I don’t wear minis.” Besides, noted another editor, “I’m not sure it’s that much of a problem considering the fact that I can probably count the number of straight men who work in the building on one hand.” Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Tower_(New_York_City)

Cardiff Castle (Welsh: Castell Caerdydd) is a medieval castle and Victorian revival mansion, transformed from a Roman fort, in the capital of Wales. There were three successive Roman forts on the site of Cardiff Castle, most notably a late 3rd century structure, some walls of which can still be seen today. One of the gates was reconstructed in Victorian times. Cardiff Castle was built for Robert Fitzhamon in 1091, on the site of and incorporating some walls of the previous Roman fort, although it was mostly of timber in the usual motte and bailey style. His son-in-law, Robert of Gloucester, rebuilt in stone, including the twelve-sided keep which can still be seen today. Robert, Duke of Normandy who was imprisoned there by his younger brother, King Henry I from 1106 until 1134. In 1158 it was the scene for a daring kidnapping carried out by one Ifor Bach (Ivor the Little). In the Welsh Revolt of 1183, the castle was attacked and much damaged, but an expected siege nearly a hundred years later, during the reign of Llywelyn the Last, never emerged. Gilbert de Clare had refortified many of the defences in readiness. The Despenser family held the castle throughout the 14th century. In 1317, Llywelyn Bren was imprisoned there for revolting against the English and executed in a most humiliating manner. Four years later, the castle was taken by a combined force of marcher lords attempting to overthrow King Edward II. During Owain Glyndŵr's reign, his supporters took the castle in 1404 and set the city alight. Later it came into the possession of the Beauchamp Earls of Warwick, who built the living quarters along the western wall including the Octagon Tower. King Henry VII gave it to his uncle, Jasper Tudor in 1488. By 1550, the castle was held by the Herberts who added further embellishments. They held the castle for the King during the Civil War, but it was eventually taken by Parliamentary forces. In 1776, it passed to the Earl of Bute. The family made various alterations, inlcuding landscaping by Capability Brown. In the early 19th century the castle was enlarged and refashioned in an early Gothic Revival style for John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute by Henry Holland. But its transformation began in 1868 when the 3rd Marquess commissioned William Burges to undertake a massive rebuilding which turned the castle into a 19th century fantasy of a medieval palace, with a series of rooms that, perhaps, constitute the highest achievement of later Victorian Gothic Revival design. The coming together of the Marquess, enormously rich, early Catholic convert and steeped in a romantic vision of the mediaeval world and Burges, pre-eminent art-architect, committed Goth and hugely-talented designer forged one of the great patron/architect relationships and led to a succession of dazzling architectural triumphs of which Cardiff Castle is the greatest of all. Rebuilding began with the Clock Tower, planned 1866-1868 and begun in 1869. The towers continue westward, the Tank Tower, the Guest Tower, the Herbert Tower and the Beauchamp Tower, part Burges, part Holland, part 15th and 16th century, creating a skyline, best observed from Bute Park, that echoes Burges' unbuilt design for the Law Courts and presents a visually-stunning image of a mediaeval city. Within the Castle, the succession of sumptuous apartments; the Winter and Summer Smoking Rooms, the Chaucer Room, the Arab Room, Lord Bute's Bedroom, the Roof Garden, repeatedly illustrates Burges' supreme skill as an art-architect. Taking complete control of the designing, the building, the decoration and the furnishing of the apartments, and using his favoured team of Nicholls, Crace, Lonsdale, Burges created a suite of rooms in a unique Gothic Revival style that is unrivalled. The castle was later given to the city of Cardiff by the Bute family in 1947. It is now a popular tourist attraction, and houses a regimental museum in addition to the ruins of the old castle and the Victorian reconstruction. It sits in the expansive grounds of Bute Park. The castle has hosted a number o

The clock-tower acts as an entrance gate to the part of the city that historians call "the 15th century area". Dating back to the 12th century, the tower was razed to the ground during a French invasion under Louis XIV in 1676. What can be admired today is a reconstruction by the people of Taormina in 1679, who added a large clock to the tower. Studies carried out over the years, however, have shown that the foundations of the tower in large square blocks of Taormina stone date back further than the first construction date of the tower. It can therefore be supposed that the first tower was built on the ruins of an older defence wall which would have dated back to the origins of the city, in other words the 4th century B.C. text from: www.gate2taormina.com/taormina_en.htm

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, occasionally referred to as Flushing Meadows Park, is located in northern Queens, New York City, USA, roughly at the intersection of the Long Island Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway. It is the second largest public park in the City of New York and was created as the site of the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair and also hosted the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. It is run and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park is part of Queens Community Board 4. The 1,255 acre (5 km²) park was created from the former dumping ground characterized as "a valley of ashes" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The site, known at the time as the Corona Ash Dumps, was cleared by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, in preparation for the World's Fair. Faced with the problem of disposing of the mountains of ashes, Moses strategically incorporated a significant portion of the refuse into the bases of the Van Wyck Expressway that runs along the eastern side of the park, and the nearby Jackie Robinson Parkway, and the Long Island Expressway that divides the park into north and south halves. Some of the buildings from the 1939 Fair were used for the first temporary headquarters of the United Nations from 1946 until it moved to its permanent headquarters in Manhattan in 1951. The former New York State building was used as the UN's General Assembly during this time. This building was later refurbished for the 1964 Fair as the New York City Pavilion, featuring the Panorama of the City of New York, an enormous scale model of the entire city. It is currently the only surviving building from the 1939 fair, and the home of the Queens Museum of Art, which still houses, and occasionally updates, the Panorama. The Unisphere, built as the theme symbol for the 1964/1965 World's Fair, is the main sculptural feature of the park. It stands on the same site occupied by the Perisphere during the 1939/1940 World's Fair. The US Open tennis tournament takes place in Flushing Meadows Park at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center; its center court is Arthur Ashe Stadium and its secondary stadium court is Louis Armstrong Stadium. Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, sits at the north end of the park. Rental boats are available for rowing on the park's two lakes, Meadow and Willow, which feed into the Flushing River and thence into Flushing Bay. Bicycling paths extend around Meadow Lake and connect to the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. The many recreational playing fields and playgrounds in the park are used for activities that reflect the vast ethnic mix of Queens; soccer and cricket are especially popular. The park is also the home of Queens Theater in the Park, the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Museum of Art, "Terrace on the Park" (a banquet and catering facility, the Fair's former helipad), and an indoor ice skating rink. The New York State Pavilion, constructed as the state's exhibit hall for the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair, is also a feature of the park. However, no new use for the building was found after the Fair and the structure sits derelict and decaying. The other buildings left for a while after the Fair's conclusion to see if a new usage for them could be found, such as the United States Pavilion, have subsequently been demolished. One such parcel became the site of the Playground for All Children, one of the first playgrounds designed to incorporate normal and handicap-accessible activities, a design competition won by architect Hisham N. Ashkouri and completed in 1981. It was refurbished and reopened in 1997. On June 24, 2005, the park hosted the Reverend Billy Graham on what he stated was his last tour in North America. A $55.2 million project to build an Olympic-sized indoor pool and an NHL regulation-sized skating rink will be completed by Fall 2007. The site, which will be utilized by schools, leagues, and community members of all ages, will be Parks & Recreation’s first in Queens. The complex includes a number of special

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, occasionally referred to as Flushing Meadows Park, is located in northern Queens, New York City, USA, roughly at the intersection of the Long Island Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway. It is the second largest public park in the City of New York and was created as the site of the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair and also hosted the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. It is run and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park is part of Queens Community Board 4. The 1,255 acre (5 km²) park was created from the former dumping ground characterized as "a valley of ashes" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The site, known at the time as the Corona Ash Dumps, was cleared by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, in preparation for the World's Fair. Faced with the problem of disposing of the mountains of ashes, Moses strategically incorporated a significant portion of the refuse into the bases of the Van Wyck Expressway that runs along the eastern side of the park, and the nearby Jackie Robinson Parkway, and the Long Island Expressway that divides the park into north and south halves. Some of the buildings from the 1939 Fair were used for the first temporary headquarters of the United Nations from 1946 until it moved to its permanent headquarters in Manhattan in 1951. The former New York State building was used as the UN's General Assembly during this time. This building was later refurbished for the 1964 Fair as the New York City Pavilion, featuring the Panorama of the City of New York, an enormous scale model of the entire city. It is currently the only surviving building from the 1939 fair, and the home of the Queens Museum of Art, which still houses, and occasionally updates, the Panorama. The Unisphere, built as the theme symbol for the 1964/1965 World's Fair, is the main sculptural feature of the park. It stands on the same site occupied by the Perisphere during the 1939/1940 World's Fair. The US Open tennis tournament takes place in Flushing Meadows Park at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center; its center court is Arthur Ashe Stadium and its secondary stadium court is Louis Armstrong Stadium. Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, sits at the north end of the park. Rental boats are available for rowing on the park's two lakes, Meadow and Willow, which feed into the Flushing River and thence into Flushing Bay. Bicycling paths extend around Meadow Lake and connect to the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. The many recreational playing fields and playgrounds in the park are used for activities that reflect the vast ethnic mix of Queens; soccer and cricket are especially popular. The park is also the home of Queens Theater in the Park, the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Museum of Art, "Terrace on the Park" (a banquet and catering facility, the Fair's former helipad), and an indoor ice skating rink. The New York State Pavilion, constructed as the state's exhibit hall for the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair, is also a feature of the park. However, no new use for the building was found after the Fair and the structure sits derelict and decaying. The other buildings left for a while after the Fair's conclusion to see if a new usage for them could be found, such as the United States Pavilion, have subsequently been demolished. One such parcel became the site of the Playground for All Children, one of the first playgrounds designed to incorporate normal and handicap-accessible activities, a design competition won by architect Hisham N. Ashkouri and completed in 1981. It was refurbished and reopened in 1997. On June 24, 2005, the park hosted the Reverend Billy Graham on what he stated was his last tour in North America. A $55.2 million project to build an Olympic-sized indoor pool and an NHL regulation-sized skating rink will be completed by Fall 2007. The site, which will be utilized by schools, leagues, and community members of all ages, will be Parks & Recreation’s first in Queens. The complex includes a number of special

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, occasionally referred to as Flushing Meadows Park, is located in northern Queens, New York City, USA, roughly at the intersection of the Long Island Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway. It is the second largest public park in the City of New York and was created as the site of the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair and also hosted the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. It is run and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park is part of Queens Community Board 4. The 1,255 acre (5 km²) park was created from the former dumping ground characterized as "a valley of ashes" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The site, known at the time as the Corona Ash Dumps, was cleared by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, in preparation for the World's Fair. Faced with the problem of disposing of the mountains of ashes, Moses strategically incorporated a significant portion of the refuse into the bases of the Van Wyck Expressway that runs along the eastern side of the park, and the nearby Jackie Robinson Parkway, and the Long Island Expressway that divides the park into north and south halves. Some of the buildings from the 1939 Fair were used for the first temporary headquarters of the United Nations from 1946 until it moved to its permanent headquarters in Manhattan in 1951. The former New York State building was used as the UN's General Assembly during this time. This building was later refurbished for the 1964 Fair as the New York City Pavilion, featuring the Panorama of the City of New York, an enormous scale model of the entire city. It is currently the only surviving building from the 1939 fair, and the home of the Queens Museum of Art, which still houses, and occasionally updates, the Panorama. The Unisphere, built as the theme symbol for the 1964/1965 World's Fair, is the main sculptural feature of the park. It stands on the same site occupied by the Perisphere during the 1939/1940 World's Fair. The US Open tennis tournament takes place in Flushing Meadows Park at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center; its center court is Arthur Ashe Stadium and its secondary stadium court is Louis Armstrong Stadium. Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, sits at the north end of the park. Rental boats are available for rowing on the park's two lakes, Meadow and Willow, which feed into the Flushing River and thence into Flushing Bay. Bicycling paths extend around Meadow Lake and connect to the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. The many recreational playing fields and playgrounds in the park are used for activities that reflect the vast ethnic mix of Queens; soccer and cricket are especially popular. The park is also the home of Queens Theater in the Park, the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Museum of Art, "Terrace on the Park" (a banquet and catering facility, the Fair's former helipad), and an indoor ice skating rink. The New York State Pavilion, constructed as the state's exhibit hall for the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair, is also a feature of the park. However, no new use for the building was found after the Fair and the structure sits derelict and decaying. The other buildings left for a while after the Fair's conclusion to see if a new usage for them could be found, such as the United States Pavilion, have subsequently been demolished. One such parcel became the site of the Playground for All Children, one of the first playgrounds designed to incorporate normal and handicap-accessible activities, a design competition won by architect Hisham N. Ashkouri and completed in 1981. It was refurbished and reopened in 1997. On June 24, 2005, the park hosted the Reverend Billy Graham on what he stated was his last tour in North America. A $55.2 million project to build an Olympic-sized indoor pool and an NHL regulation-sized skating rink will be completed by Fall 2007. The site, which will be utilized by schools, leagues, and community members of all ages, will be Parks & Recreation’s first in Queens. The complex includes a number of special

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, occasionally referred to as Flushing Meadows Park, is located in northern Queens, New York City, USA, roughly at the intersection of the Long Island Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway. It is the second largest public park in the City of New York and was created as the site of the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair and also hosted the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. It is run and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park is part of Queens Community Board 4. The 1,255 acre (5 km²) park was created from the former dumping ground characterized as "a valley of ashes" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The site, known at the time as the Corona Ash Dumps, was cleared by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, in preparation for the World's Fair. Faced with the problem of disposing of the mountains of ashes, Moses strategically incorporated a significant portion of the refuse into the bases of the Van Wyck Expressway that runs along the eastern side of the park, and the nearby Jackie Robinson Parkway, and the Long Island Expressway that divides the park into north and south halves. Some of the buildings from the 1939 Fair were used for the first temporary headquarters of the United Nations from 1946 until it moved to its permanent headquarters in Manhattan in 1951. The former New York State building was used as the UN's General Assembly during this time. This building was later refurbished for the 1964 Fair as the New York City Pavilion, featuring the Panorama of the City of New York, an enormous scale model of the entire city. It is currently the only surviving building from the 1939 fair, and the home of the Queens Museum of Art, which still houses, and occasionally updates, the Panorama. The Unisphere, built as the theme symbol for the 1964/1965 World's Fair, is the main sculptural feature of the park. It stands on the same site occupied by the Perisphere during the 1939/1940 World's Fair. The US Open tennis tournament takes place in Flushing Meadows Park at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center; its center court is Arthur Ashe Stadium and its secondary stadium court is Louis Armstrong Stadium. Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, sits at the north end of the park. Rental boats are available for rowing on the park's two lakes, Meadow and Willow, which feed into the Flushing River and thence into Flushing Bay. Bicycling paths extend around Meadow Lake and connect to the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. The many recreational playing fields and playgrounds in the park are used for activities that reflect the vast ethnic mix of Queens; soccer and cricket are especially popular. The park is also the home of Queens Theater in the Park, the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Museum of Art, "Terrace on the Park" (a banquet and catering facility, the Fair's former helipad), and an indoor ice skating rink. The New York State Pavilion, constructed as the state's exhibit hall for the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair, is also a feature of the park. However, no new use for the building was found after the Fair and the structure sits derelict and decaying. The other buildings left for a while after the Fair's conclusion to see if a new usage for them could be found, such as the United States Pavilion, have subsequently been demolished. One such parcel became the site of the Playground for All Children, one of the first playgrounds designed to incorporate normal and handicap-accessible activities, a design competition won by architect Hisham N. Ashkouri and completed in 1981. It was refurbished and reopened in 1997. On June 24, 2005, the park hosted the Reverend Billy Graham on what he stated was his last tour in North America. A $55.2 million project to build an Olympic-sized indoor pool and an NHL regulation-sized skating rink will be completed by Fall 2007. The site, which will be utilized by schools, leagues, and community members of all ages, will be Parks & Recreation’s first in Queens. The complex includes a number of special

Forest Hills Gardens is a private community located in Forest Hills, in the New York City borough of Queens. The area consists of a 142-acre development, fashioned after a traditional English Village, that is one of the country's oldest planned communities and the most prominent American example of Ebenezer Howard's Garden city movement. The community, founded in 1908, consists of about 800 homes, townhouses, and apartment buildings, mostly in Tudor, Brick Tudor or Georgian style, in a parklike setting designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., son of noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and partner in the Olmsted Brothers firm. Architect Grosvenor Atterbury proposed an innovative construction method: each house was built from approximately 170 standardized precast concrete panels, fabricated off-site and positioned by crane. The system was sophisticated even by modern standards: for example, panels were cast with integral hollow insulation chambers. The streets (today private) were fully laid-out in 1910, many of them winding specifically to discourage through-traffic. Though Forest Hills Gardens is private property, it is not a gated community and through traffic, both automotive and pedestrian, is permitted. Street parking, however, is restricted to community residents. The project was not completed, however, until the mid-1960s when the last remaining lots were developed. Although most of the buildings consist of single-family homes, the development also includes some garden-apartment buildings and retail space. Today, the area contains some of the most expensive housing in the borough of Queens. One of the more famous residents is Geraldine Ferraro. In 1913, the West Side Tennis Club moved from Manhattan to Forest Hills Gardens. The U.S. Open and its predecessor national championships were held there until 1978, making the name "Forest Hills" synonymous with tennis for generations. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Hills_Gardens,_Queens