History on a Fence

The new infrastructure emerges on Kingston Rd,
delivering the first watts to customers.

You have to be observant when walking around Toronto. I have discovered beautiful sculptures in gardens and architectural oddities all over the city, but today I discovered a history lesson. Carlton/Church & Yonge is the closest subway stop and we use it a lot. Carlton is a major street and is very busy, so we started walking down Wood Street which is parallel to Carlton and only two blocks long, so it is quiet and not used a lot We walk this route every time we go to the subway, and I noticed an interesting fence around a parking lot, but today I actually stopped and looked a bit closer at the fence. I discovered a history lesson was displayed in photographs and plaques as you walked down along the fence, giving interesting historical lessons on Toronto Hydro. I am assuming the parking lot is for Toronto Hydro vehicles or employees. 

I think the design of the fence is actually a map of some of Toronto’s streets and is interesting on it’s own, but the photos with their write-ups incorporated into the design of the fence were a unique feature, giving glimpses into the story of Toronto Hydro from 1910 to 1951. 

I would have missed this little history lesson except that Regis had forgotten something back at the condo, so I was walking slowly down the street waiting for her and I had time to actually look a the fence and read the little plaques where we would have normally just walked quickly by on our way somewhere else. 

Slowing down and noticing what is around you Can lead to interesting discoveries. 

Pieces of History

I went for a walk in Point Pleasant Park the other day and instead of following the paths through the park and along the shore of the harbour, I walked down to the large monument of the anchor to take a photo. I discovered that the chain attached to the anchor trailed off down the rocky beach, disappearing into the water as if a sunken ship was out there under the surface. It was an interesting photo, but what I noticed were the many man-made items scattered among the rocks on the beach.

Walking among the rocks on the beach, it is hard not to wonder what these objects were once part of. I found granite slabs cut into perfect building blocks, some showing the drill holes used to split the rock. There were chunks of brick walls and single bricks smoothed round by the waves. I found timber with bolts still attached and large pieces of rusted metal of unknown origin.

How did these relics from former Halifax buildings get here? Did they just wash up on the shore, or were they dumped here when buildings were demolished to make room for new ones. Did these chunks of Halifax history originate here in the park as part of it's heritage protecting Halifax Harbour during times of war, or were they dumped here?

Hundreds of people enjoy Point Pleasant Park every day but most simply walk on the paths in the park,(You are encouraged to remain on the paths I think), but you find some interesting things when you stray off the beaten paths and experience the unexplored areas. 

Below are photos of some of the 'Stuff' I found. 

A Singing Tower

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Listening to the Bells

Singing Tower

The Bok Tower Gardens are located in central Florida on one of the highest points of land in the area. Although it is called Iron Mountain, it is actually more of a hill, but for Florida it provides a beautiful location for this National Historical Landmark. Built by Edward W. Bok the publisher of Lady’s Home Journal, the tower and surrounding gardens were built in the 1920’s. The 250 acre site contains many different gardens containing rare and endangered Florida plants, and trails and roads allow you to wander through the site.

Although not originally part of the gardens, a neighboring estate

built by Charles Buck of Bethlehem Steel as his winter get-a-way has been added and it was an excellent guided/self-guided tour. This Mediterranean style mansion is spectacular, with hand carved doors, all different as well as a different patterned tile floor in every room. One interesting feature is the main staircase which has a different hand-painted tile pattern on every stair riser. As we are down here in Florida escaping the cold north, it was interesting to see how the rich and famous “snowbird”.

Main Stairway in Pinewood Estate

The centerpiece of this beautiful garden is the 205 ft. Singing Tower. Made of different marble the tower has a pink tint, and contains beautiful sculptures and art-deco windows allowing the music from a 60 bell carillon to reach most of the park twice a day. Pools, including a reflecting pond that allows the entire tower to be reflected in the water surround the tower. Originally Mr. Bok wanted Pink flamingos living in the park to coordinate with the pick marble, but they were unable to survive the cold of central Florida.

Surrounding the tower are numerous comfortable benches allowing guests to sit and enjoy the daily concerts by world renowned carillonneurs. On our visit we got to hear Polish carillonneur Anna Kasprzycka. A very pleasant way to spend a beautiful Florida afternoon; sitting in a garden with carillon music drifting through the trees and flowers.

Beautiful Palm in the garden

Part of the Children's Garden

Beautiful Tile Floors in Pinewood Estate

Wildlife in the Garden

Broken Sewer

At the Museum

Tiles Under the Bench

What do you do when everything goes wrong with your dream of opening a restaurant? That is what happened with the family who owns the Museo Archeologico Faggiano. They bought a nice old building in Lecce that they got for a good price because it needed plumbing work. No problem they were renovating anyway . . .Well it turned out that the problems went right back to the actual sewer pipe going to the city sewer. Only problem was they could not find the pipe, so a major digging project was undertaken in the basement. The search for the elusive sewer pipe ended up excavating the entire basement and WAY more. In the process they also uncovered 1000 years of history buried under their house. Under their “bargain” building was a series of natural caves and tunnels containing pottery and artifacts from all the way back to before there was a city here. As well these caves had been used as burial sites.

The dream of a popular Italian restaurant was forgotten and the house became a major archeological site. The family turned their building into a museum open to the public. Many of the major finds such as Greek urns and pottery went to the Provincial museum in Lecce (We went their first actually), and the house was converted so that visitors could explore the various levels of the caves and dig sites.

Going Down . .

This is a private museum, so you do not have wide stairways and fancy displays. Here you climb down rickety stairs to tiny underground caves. The spaces under the house go over two stories down, so you climb way down underground to see the caves used as burial sites 1000 years ago. As you climb down you see how the caves were buried and houses built on top. Underground caves had been turned into cisterns for water storage, but I doubt they even knew that under there were buried long dead Greeks and Romans.

Climbing Up

Then once you came back to the surface you could climb up to the rooftop and tower to look out over the current city of Lecce, and explore the original house with antique furnishings and original building structure. All through the house were pieces of pottery embedded in the plaster and walls, but I suspect this was more for effect than actual historical accurate building methods.

Some Historical Bottles?

As we entered the museum we were met by a little old lady who took our money and directed us to the numbered displays and gave us a pretty good English guide paper. Although she spoke no English she managed to reassure us that we could walk on the glass floor panels revealing the subterranean caves and excavations, and she insured we were following the correct order of displays. Me, who tends to wander on my own as I see things that interest me, was herded back on track a couple of times. Unlike the attendant at the “Provincial” museum where I felt under constant watch, here Grama was only being helpful.

Oh, by the way, the washroom worked fine, so I guess they did finally sort of that plumbing and sewer issue.

Crumbling City

Our Building Entryway

Budapest is a beautiful city; I am amazed at how many old interesting historic buildings I discover every time I take a stroll around. I see buildings decorated with elaborate stonework and sculptures, and wonder what they must have been in their prime. They are now offices or apartments, but surely such elaborate design must have been something important. As you walk into the building where the apartment is, you see high arched ceilings and decorative glass accents. The central courtyard has real stained glass windows on every floor. This building has been extensively renovated and restored but retains it’s 1850 flavor. Other buildings in the neighborhood and around the city have not fared so well. The Ruin Pub I wrote about earlier occupies a crumbling shell of a deserted building, and there are a number of buildings looking very dilapidated in this area.

Leaky Window?

Crumbling Building

Fortunately, Budapest encourages the restoration of older building rather than tearing them down. I believe there is a bylaw of some sort limiting the height of buildings, and there are no skyscrapers in the city center; you must look out to the outskirts to see modern glass buildings. Interestingly, although we are on the “4^th” floor, I count six levels below this apartment. Apparently the first floor is partly below street level so is ½ floor and does not count, next is MF, and then I think they count from “0”, so the bylaws are a bit vague . . . Efforts are being made to restore the old buildings, and just down the street I have been watching the progress as new thermal windows, modern doors and new marble trim is being worked into an old building.

 

The downside of this is that there are many crumbling buildings. The stone in many of the buildings lasts forever (well almost . . . ), but the masonry is only good for so long before it starts to crumble. You see many chipped and crumbling corners, doors that no longer close like they used to, and old windows with gaps beside them. You can see where missing stone work has been replaced with brick and cement to “look” correct for a few years. It looks to me as if the repairs over the years were not up to the original standards, as the expense was too great, but the result is many building looks pretty good, but a closer examination shows some are crumbling around the inhabitants.

Repairs needed

On one hand, it is lovely to see the old buildings being maintained and restored, showing Budapest as the beautiful city it was, and still is, but I wonder how long these buildings will last. For example, I notice that the new windows I saw being installed were being made to fit old openings using spray foam insulation; energy efficient perhaps, but will it last another 100 years, and that nice marble trim being added to the building was literally being glued onto old stone and concrete.

I don’t have any answers . . . I guess that when you spent a few weeks visiting one place you start to notice things, and you have seen my pictures of old doors and I’ve written before of my love of detail. So I wander, I notice and I wonder. . .