The island eventually known as Sea Isle was first purchased by Joseph Ludlam in 1692 for use as a grazing pasture. The island changed almost overnight when Charles K. Landis purchased it in 1880; intent on creating a seaside resort. After adding a railroad and hotels; tourists soon followed. The boardwalk hosted beach parties; clam bakes; and bicycle; sack; and even motorcycle races. Wedged between the Atlantic Ocean and the back bays; commercial fishing companies shared the waters with casual anglers. Recreational sailing; yacht racing; and sport fishing have long been popular with Sea Isles year-round residents and visitors alike. Sea Isle City Revisited showcases the rich maritime and recreational history of this New Jersey coastal town.
#1131055 in eBooks 2014-05-01 2014-05-01File Name: B00K1ZV2HY
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A Master of the English BaroqueBy Rob HardyThe strange architecture of Nicholas Hawksmoor; particularly his churches in London; has survived neglect and the Blitz; but more importantly; they have survived their authorrsquo;s disparaged reputation. The buildings and the reputation are the two subjects of _From the Shadows: The Architecture and Afterlife of Nicholas Hawksmoor_ (Reaktion Books) by architectural historian Owen Hopkins. Turning an architectrsquo;s reputation around takes several generations; for Hawksmoor; it took a couple of centuries for him to be recognized as one of the greatest and most original of English architects. Hopkins is a fan of the buildings; and is good at explaining how strange they are; and how they must have been especially so for Hawksmoorrsquo;s contemporaries. For us; they are old and come with the respect we attach to old buildings; although that respect was not always paid to these oddities. In a very peculiar outcome; Hawksmoorrsquo;s name has become famous because he has in the past few decades been fictionally depicted as a magus or occultist who instilled murky black magic into his buildings. The strange twists of fame are an important theme here.Hawksmoor ought to be appreciated for his admirable factual characteristics. He learned his craft as a clerk to Christopher Wren. He designed six churches in London; which are the buildings most closely considered here. Hopkins traces the style of these buildings from the architecture of the Primitive Christians; through native British Gothic; although there are no flying buttresses or pointed arches. These are distinctly Baroque buildings. His master Christopher Wren produced Baroque with rationality; Hawksmoor is Baroque with mystery. There are weird shifts of arrangement or scale; and the masses and volumes are handled in novel ways. The buildings are not like any others; and the critics in Hawksmoorrsquo;s time and afterwards knew it. Before he died in 1736; the Palladians came into the architectural fashion of order and restraint; and condemned Hawksmoorrsquo;s work as eccentric; irrational; and capricious. Hawksmoorrsquo;s reputation fell; although the churches stood. In the twentieth century; British architects saw the buildings with new eyes; and set upon Hawksmoorrsquo;s rehabilitation. Many of the churches were lovingly restored. Hawksmoor had nothing to do with the occult; but fictional portraits of him in the novel _Hawksmoor_ and in the graphic novel _From Hell_ branded him that way; making him famous for wrong reasons.The fictional (and fictitious) depiction of Hawksmoor points out that there is no other architect that might have been the starting point for such departures. ldquo;Few if any other architects have produced work that is so singular; so obviously out of the ordinary; so dominant over their murky and overlooked locations;rdquo; Hopkins writes. His book is full of pictures (of course; not enough) to illustrate his appreciation for the strange buildings and for the strange fate of the reputation of the architect. Hawksmoorrsquo;s reputation; readers of this admiring volume will agree; will never fall again.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A beautiful; well written book that is a pleasure to ...By Anthony E. FrederickA beautiful; well written book that is a pleasure to read. As for the subject; Hawksmoor; what could be better!
