Author: Ms. R.

In a land of giant birds, carnivorous marsupials, and walking fish, the strangest animal you will encounter in Tasmania might be a Japanese macaque. An enclosure in the middle of Launceston’s City Park is home to a number of the small, social primates. City Park dates back to the 1820s, when it was established by the Launceston Horticultural Society. Ownership was transferred to the Launceston City Council in 1863. The park was expanded to include several buildings, a conservatory, and……

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Down an unassuming side street between Hove and Brighton, there is an odd stone archway. If you go through the archway, you will find a pleasant little courtyard and garden sandwiched between the road and the back of the Old Market Theatre. With its cobbled floor, lush greenery, statues, and pretty mosaics, this odd corner of the city feels more like Italy than England. Waterloo Street Arch and Gardens dates back to the 1820s, when architects Amon Wilds and……

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Not far from the western shore of Brooklyn sits an unusual house. The exterior is designed out of uncut stone and the asphalt roof undulates like rolling hills, appropriate given that the house was built to conform to the land it was constructed on. The Gingerbread House was designed by James Sarsfield Kennedy and completed in 1917. Kennedy designed other structures in Brooklyn including the Picnic House in Prospect Park and several homes throughout Prospect Park South. But none had……

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The Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois, provide both an oasis of peace and a connection to Japanese heritage. Begun in 1978 on John R. Anderson’s residential property, the story of its development by landscape architect Hoichi Kurisu is unique. Hoichi Kurisu was six years old when an atomic bomb was dropped on his hometown of Hiroshima. Luckily, the landscape protected him and his family—a mountain separated their home from the bombing site. Kurisu went on to study landscape design and construction……

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The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse sits in the middle of the Hudson River between the towns of Hudson and Athens. The lighthouse was constructed in 1874 to warn passing ships of the Middle Ground Flats, skinny silt islands that were completely submerged at high tide. Congress approved around $35,000 for the construction of the lighthouse. Its location in the middle of the river required creative engineering. Almost 200 wooden pilings were driven into the riverbed and a granite pier was built……

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A small group of artists, carrying engraving tools, torches, and other supplies, assembled at the base of the towering limestone outcrop, near the mouth of a dark cave. Together, they entered the lightless space. For 40 minutes they wormed through passages and scrambled over speleothems. Their juniper-branch torches cast a warm, flickering light and shed bits of charcoal like bread crumbs along the trail. Nearly a quarter-mile from the cave entrance, they reached their canvas: a rugged limestone wall,……

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Around 1923, the governor of Jalisco, José Guadalupe Zuno, constructed his house in one of the wealthiest areas of Guadalajara. To decorate the front door, he included engravings of various communist ideals of the time.  The house was intended to be a French chalet, but his friends (including the muralists Orozco and Siqueiros) convinced him to make it a neocolonial mansion. The door is a critique of capitalism at that time. Among the decorations on the door are hammers,……

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