So many dates feature prominently during a walk of the church and property of Trinity Episcopal Church in Saugerties, N.Y. A large Bible from 1857, with delicate pages, is behind the church pulpit. A lectern contains four intricately carved wooden images of the evangelists such as St. Mark as a wooden lion and John as […]
Entries Tagged as 'Beyond Gotham'
Trinity Episcopal’s Storied History
August 31st, 2022 · 4 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Tags: architecture·art·historic preservation·Hudson Valley·spiritual places
Olmsted’s Gift of Magnificent Places
May 30th, 2022 · No Comments · Beyond Gotham
Consider what Frederick Law Olmsted created in his lifetime. Central Park is the most iconic, the beautiful jewel “Greensward” that Olmsted and his partner, the architect Calvert Vaux, designed and created over 18 years, 1858 to 1876. After the Civil War, Olmsted reunited with Vaux to plan and fashion the gem of Prospect Park as […]
Slavery in Ulster County: A Fuller Story
February 21st, 2022 · No Comments · Beyond Gotham
The Covid pandemic is exacting a horrible toll, yet history shows us perseverance and purpose. The pandemic has been a brutally difficult time, provoking much suffering and death, and it continues to do so. We each know of precious ones lost; a doctor, nurse, or other health care worker enduring deaths and illnesses among their […]
Tags: Hudson Valley·landmarks·new york·women
A New Act for the Loew’s Jersey Theatre
August 10th, 2021 · No Comments · Beyond Gotham
Nearly a century into its existence and spared demolition in the 1980s through the efforts of the city and a committed residents’ group, a magnificent historic Jersey City theater is on the verge of new life. When it opened in the autumn of 1929 as motion pictures were continuing to explode into a huge entertainment […]
On View: Lewis Hine’s Power and Vision
June 30th, 2021 · 2 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Lewis Hine sought to save innocent children who toiled for long, brutal hours in factories, mills, mines, canneries, and farms, and in the streets, using a singular device: his camera. Working her fifth season, Ann Parion, 13, carried 60 pounds of berries from the fields to the sheds at Newton’s farm in Delaware. At age […]
Tags: art·Hudson Valley
Renewal On Track At Newark Penn Station
April 12th, 2021 · No Comments · Beyond Gotham
Newark has its own Pennsylvania Station – and it’s getting a renewed lease on life. On the day that the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) opened its new, spacious, and grand Pennsylvania Station in Newark, on March 23, 1935, dignitaries, railroad executives and workers, and some 5,000 people gathered for a ceremony of much fanfare. Those on […]
Tags: architecture·cities·New Jersey
The Capitol: Desecration and Resilience
January 19th, 2021 · 2 Comments · Beyond Gotham
We have witnessed an attempted murder – of our democracy. We have watched the scenes of raging and violence, each worse than the one on view before. It occurred over hours of pain and chaos in a hallowed place, as Congressman Eric Swalwell termed it, the “sacred chamber” that is at the heart of democracy […]
Tags: landmarks·Presidents·Washington
Bill Aimed At Halting Trump Design Edict
July 20th, 2020 · No Comments · Beyond Gotham
The Trump Administration may soon order that all new major federal buildings look like 21st century renditions of Greek temples or the U.S. Capitol. But a new bill from a Democratic Congresswoman could head the Administration off at the pass. The news first came out in February that Donald Trump and his Administration were going […]
Tags: architecture·landmarks·Washington
A Time To Go To Historic Places – Virtually
June 5th, 2020 · No Comments · Beyond Gotham
Solidity. That is the message the IRT Powerhouse conveyed to someone who was very much in need of it during the spring of 1994, the very first times I walked near this mammoth building on Eleventh Avenue. Its massiveness, solidity, strength, and grace were awe-striking to a single person standing before it on the full […]
Tags: landmarks
Trump’s Bid To Dictate Architectural Style
March 16th, 2020 · 2 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Carol Ross Barney designed the Oklahoma City Federal Building to “let the materials” create a “strong and beautiful presence.” Indeed, it’s an agile structure that even at just three stories soars and opens in a graceful way to the surrounding green spaces that honor the 168 people who perished in the 1995 bombing at the […]
Sacred Sites, Priceless Opportunities
May 18th, 2019 · 14 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Amid the bustling Lower East Side, a place today with a millennial scene, gleaming glass buildings, and expensive cafes, the old remains, and in fact, finds ways to renew itself. The 132-year-old Eldridge Street Synagogue sits unpretentious in its presence. The structure is strong and commanding in a gentle way, inviting a long look and […]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·new york·spiritual places
Rondout Walks: Listen to the Stories
July 7th, 2018 · 2 Comments · Beyond Gotham
A look around Kingston’s Rondout neighborhood reveals many signs of the buildings’ lives. Walk past a storefront or home and you can see how well-tended and cared for many places are. The signs, shapes, materials, or features convey a structure’s past as well as its present life. What isn’t visible as often to the eye […]
Tags: architecture·art·historic preservation·Hudson Valley·stone
Sacred Sites: Spring’s Rite of Reverence
May 5th, 2018 · No Comments · Beyond Gotham
Tomorrow is the second day of the annual Sacred Sites Open House throughout New York State. From the 1842 Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on eastern Long Island to the 1905 First Baptist Church of Niagara Falls at the northwest tip of New York, dozens of Sacred Sites are open to the public this weekend. More than […]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·new york·spiritual places
Join in Walks of Kingston’s Rondout
October 10th, 2017 · 4 Comments · Beyond Gotham
If one personified Kingston’s Rondout neighborhood as a storyteller, you might well be inclined to pull up a chair and listen for many hours. In this compact Hudson Valley neighborhood of city blocks and winding streets, hills and paths, architectural gems and eye-catching details, and waterfront setting, you can see, sense, and discover a microcosm […]
Tags: architecture·art·historic preservation·Hudson Valley·stone
A Subway Powerhouse Speaks To Today
March 11th, 2017 · 4 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Sometimes a message of resilience can come in an instant, and often not predictably. The IRT Powerhouse on 11th Avenue isn’t giving a speech or waving a flag, and it’s not a talking head seeking to shout a point of view at passersby or boast of its strength. Yet, the sight of this 1904 building […]
Tags: architecture·cities·historic preservation·manhattan·midtown·new york·terra cotta
Speak Up on the Hudson River Barge Plan
December 5th, 2016 · 4 Comments · Beyond Gotham
The Hudson River is a bucolic, beautiful, and mighty river. Yet at various times, human activities have threatened the natural balance, splendor, and sustainability of this vital treasure. This is one of those times to speak up for the river. The shipping industry is proposing that the Coast Guard construct sites on the Hudson River […]
Tags: Hudson Valley·nature·new york
Trump’s Danger, Hillary’s Challenge
October 21st, 2016 · 6 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Each day, we hear support and rationalizations from Donald Trump’s surrogates and various fellow Republicans concerning his extreme, impulsive, and threatening conduct and speech. What does it say, however, when Trump repeatedly claims that the election is rigged due to “widespread” voter fraud and then refuses to say if he will accept the results if […]
Tags: Presidents·women
A Newburgh Church Embodies Resilience
August 26th, 2016 · No Comments · Beyond Gotham
In the center of Newburgh is the oldest church building in the city. In good times and bad, particularly through the turmoil of the 1960s and the demolition of more than a thousand buildings in the city for so-called urban renewal in the early 1970s, St. George’s Episcopal Church on Grand Street has remained steadfast. […]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·Hudson Valley·spiritual places·stone
Women Who Made the Way Before Hillary
July 29th, 2016 · 4 Comments · Beyond Gotham
“We the people” finally became much more of a reality for women when Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States yesterday. She is the first woman to secure a major party nomination in the Presidential election. To say that this moment has been a long time coming is understatement. […]
Tags: Presidents·Washington·women
Spring’s First Sightings: A Meditation
April 8th, 2016 · 2 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Turn off the clock and look at those tree branches, and feel the wind blowing through them. The outdoors provides the lungs of life. Each day what is outdoors vitalizes my life, with breath, space, and an exhalation into a wider world. That is so much why it beckons one to walk, to feel my […]
Tags: meditations·nature·seasons
