National Register of Historic Places – Circadianreflections Blog

Thursday Doors 28/52

July 14, 2016July 13, 2016Posted in Architecture, National Register of Historic Places, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, Point Reyes National Seashore, Ranches, Thursday DoorsTagged Alligator Lizard, Architecture, Best Pad Lock, Door knob, Doors, National Register of Historic Places, Nature, Nikon, Photography, Pierce Point Ranch, Point Reyes National Seashore, Thursday Doors, Tule Elk Males29 Comments

Last week-end while in Point Reyes National Seashore I went out to Pierce Point Ranch which is where the road ends heading north in the park. I was planning to hike out to see the herd of Tule Elk, but it was so foggy reports from hikers returning from the trail said they’d not seen or heard the Elk. So, instead of hiking I stayed at the ranch and took photographs of some of the buildings and doors.

For the History Buffs:

“The Ranch was constructed by Solomon Pierce in the 1860’s. It was the most successful “butter rancho” in Point Reyes Township.

In the 1880’s the ranch was leased to a series of tenants, and in the mid 1930’s it was sold to the McClure family which operated it’s Grade B dairy until the about 1945, when dairy ranching ceased after 90 years.

The complex includes the 1869 and earlier sections of the two-story main house, the tank house, school, woodshed, carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, dairy, horse barn, slaughter house, hay barn, hog sheds, and pens. It represents the most extensive surviving historic complex in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The Pierce Point Ranch on Tomales Point ceased operations in 1973. Three years later, Congress authorized creation of the wilderness area incorporating that ranch as habitat for the reintroduction of Tule Elk. Beginning in 1980, NPS invested in the rehabilitation of the ranch core, citing it as the best example of a nineteenth century west Marin dairy ranch. Pierce Point Ranch was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and was subsequently opened to the public as an interpretive site.“~http://wikimapia.org/100600/Pierce-Point-Ranch

Dairy/Long Barn Doors:

Long Barn Doors Pierce Point Ranch

The Dairy/Long Barn- It was so foggy the sky was white so, I converted this image to Black and White.

Long Barn Pierce Ranch

another image of the Dairy and shed with a couple more doors.

Dairy Barn Pierce Point Ranch

This might be the school house,

Pierce Point Ranch Point Reyes National Seashore

Closer look of door of possible school,

Door to building at Pierce Point Ranch

A closer look at that door knob, and pad lock,

Door knob and Best Lock Pierce Point Ranch

Here’s an image of a male Tule Elk that I took here back in 2012. Can you see the velvet hanging off his antlers around his face? He’s scratching it off and polishing his antlers. I saw him on Bachelors Hill.

Tule Elk Male

The Bachelor’s; There were quite a few of them that year. They were also pretty far away. My lens was stretched beyond its limits that day too.

Tule Elk Males

The only wildlife I saw while at the ranch Saturday was an Alligator Lizard sunning itself.

Alligator Lizard

It was a great day despite the fog and no Elk.

Nikon Df w/ Nikkor 28-105mm| Delkin Digital Film, and Lumix FZ200, Lexar Digital Film,

The 2012 images were made with the Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 70-300mm VR, SanDisk Digital Film

This post is part of Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors. If you love doors and would like to see the doors others are posting, or post doors you’ve photographed and join other door lovers from around the world click here.

At the end of Norm’s latest Thursday Door post is a little Blue Link-up/View button click it to be taken to a page with all the links to view all the posts, and add your own if you’re a door enthusiast too.

More to come…

Thursday Doors 24/52 Carnegie Lakeport Library

June 16, 2016June 16, 2016Posted in Architecture, National Register of Historic Places, Nikon, Nikon DF, Photography, Thursday Doors, Travel, Travel and Tourism, Travel PhotographyTagged Andrew Carnegie, Architecture, Carnegie Lakeport Library, National Register of Historic Places, Nikon, Photography, Thursday Doors, Travel and Tourism27 Comments

My friends and I arrived in Lakeport, CA a day before our Grebe boating trip because, we had a 3 hour drive to get there, and a 5:30 a.m. boarding time Sunday morning.

We spent Saturday afternoon birding in Clear Lake State park, then went to dinner at a local Thai place, and finally we wrapped up the day in Library Park on the lake front for sunset. Image here. If you’re a foodie and in the area, and like/love Thai food; hit me up for this place. It’s great!

Before setting up for sunset I spotted a door I really wanted to photograph. It turned out to be a Carnegie Library Door!

Door

The Lakeport Library Committee submitted Carnegie’s ” Schedule of Questions” hoping they would qualify for a grant. The Carnegie Corp. approved an $8,000.00 grant in 1914. Construction started in 1917 and was completed in 1918.

Carnegie Lakeport Library

The lake was actually all the way up here prior to dredging for Yolo County’s Power Plant which built Clear Lake Dam also in 1914. White & Co., investment bankers in New York financed YWP’s dredging in Clear Lake and filling in the area along Lakeport’s waterfront. Owners of the new land deeded their property to Lakeport for a city park.

The library and building might have been lost to a fire in 1953 had not librarian Gertrude Benson smelled the smoke and called the Fire Department! It was an electrical fire which started in the attic. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire before major damage occurred.

In 1986 the county library moved from the cramped Carnegie to a new library on High Street in Lakeport.

In 2008 the Carnegie Library was entered into the National Parks Service’s National Register of Historic Places.

Just after the lights came on at the Gazebo, and the colors in the sky faded T, and Dali were hailing me from my reverie to come see it. They know me so well. They knew I’d want a photograph of that. 🙂

Library Park Gazebo Lakeport CA

In 2014 the building was vacant. The city contracted with Garavaglia Architecture, Inc. to prepare a Feasibility Study to see what needed to be done to preserve and save the building, and put to it other use.

The plaque/sign beside the door reads: City of Lakeport

CARNEGIE LIBRARY

I can’t make out the small font below that- then

LAKEPORT REDEVLOPMENT AGENGY

Redevelopment

Housing

Economic Development

CITY ATTORNEY

I could not find any current information about the building beyond 2014 in my surfing the Internet. I don’t know if it’s in use now or still vacant. It looks quite old and in need of some TLC en mon avis.

I love the lamps, which were in the design tastes of Carnegie’s secretary James Bertram. They symbolized enlightenment.

“Every Library was simple yet formal and entered through a prominent doorway, nearly always accessed by a staircase which symbolized a person’s elevation by learning.” ~Wiki-pedia.org

I really love how people think of that stuff ahead of time and incorporate it in their plans during the design/planning stage. Me. I never think of stuff like this ahead of time. It’s always a day, or month later!

Carnegie was a Scottish-American business man and philanthropist. There were 2,509 Carnegie libraries built between 1883, and 1929. 1,689 were built in the United States of America. ~ Wiki-pedia

The History Buffs can find a pretty thorough history of the Carnegie Lakeport Library’s History here.

At the end of Norm’s latest Thursday Door post is a little Blue Link-up/View button click it to be taken to a page with all the links, or add your own.

Nikon Df| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8| Delkin Digital Film| Tripod| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Thursday Doors 19/52 Ainsley House

May 12, 2016May 12, 2016Posted in Architecture, Campbell CA, Flowers, Historic Buildings, National Register of Historic Places, Photography, Thursday DoorsTagged Ainsley House, Campbell CA, Carriage House, Flowers, John Colpitts Ainsley, Morgan Gallery, National Register of Historic Places, Thursday Doors37 Comments

For my Thursday Doors post this week I visited Ainsley House located a couple of miles from me in Campbell, CA. A little history about Campbell, and the house.

“Campbell, CA is small city located in Santa Clara County, and Silicon Valley. It’s bordered on the east, and north by San Jose, on the south by Los Gatos, and on the west by a small portion of Saratoga, and San Jose (which is where I live).

Campbell was founded by Benjamin Campbell, after whom the city was named. He came to California in 1846 with his father, William Campbell. William started a sawmill in Saratoga and surveyed the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara. In 1851, Benjamin bought 160 acres (0.65 km²) in southern Santa Clara Valley and cultivated hay and grain on it. This area later became Campbell’s historical downtown core.” ~ Wiki-pedia

This area was largely farm land and orchards in the 1800’s.

” In 1886 John Colpitts Ainsley, and Englishman, immigrated to California and made his fortune here in the canning of fresh fruit, which was almost exclusively exported to England. In 1925, he and his wife Alcinda, built this retirement home in the English Tudor Revival style.

The house is both a symbol of his success and a time capsule of the 1920’s. The house and most of the furnishings were donated to the City of Campbell by the Ainsley’s granddaughters, Geraldine Lloyd Hicks and Georgene Lloyd Bowen.”~ The Campbell Museum Foundation Ainsley House Front Door

The house was built in 1925. The house originally sat in the southwest of their 83 acre orchard on the corner of Hamilton and Johnson (now Bascom) Avenues. The historic home was moved to its present location at 300 Grant Street in Downtown Campbell in 1990.

Since its relocation it has been restored to its original 1920’s appearance inside and out.

Today the Ainsley House is a city run historic house museum open to the public.

The Ainsley House Campbell, CA

The carriage house is now the Morgan Gallery. It offers free exhibits and videos detailing the history of Campbell.

Ainsley House Carriage House Morgan Gallery

Since the museum/house was closed I wasn’t able to get in to see the inside or the backyard, but the Ainsley Volunteer Garden was open so, I popped in there and took a several images of the lovely flowers growing there.

Sunflower

Are these Button Willows? They’re lovely! Tall, and they spread out. They’d be too much for my yard I’m sorry to say.

I don’t know what this flower is either, but it has a lovely cone like center. Is it a Dahlia?

Ainsley House Garden

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm micro lens| Tripod & Hand-held| Delkin Digital Film

At the end of Norm’s latest Thursday Door post is a little Blue Link-up/View button click it to be taken to a page with all the links, or add your own.

More to come…

Historic Alviso, CA: Thursday Doors 4/52

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016Posted in Alviso CA, Historic Buildings, National Register of Historic Places, Photography, Santa Clara County, Thursday's DoorsTagged Alviso CA, Bayside Canning Company, Doors, Historic Buildings, National Register of Historic Places, Photography, Santa Clara County, The Laine Store, Thursday Doors, Tilden-Laine House16 Comments

Last Sunday while I was out birding I knew I needed to get my Door image sorted out for Thursday Doors this week, and as I drove through Alviso to get to the Wildlife Refuge I thought,

” There’s some old and probably interesting doors in Alviso! I’ll take a spin through the old Cannery area to see what I find.”

For the History Buffs:

Alviso, CA. is the northern boundary of San Jose, CA, and the Southern boundary of San Francisco Bay. It once was an independent city, but in 1968 the town voted to consolidate with the city of San Jose, CA. Alviso has no US Mail delivery service. Residents have to go to the Post Office to collect their mail.

Alviso is 13 ft below sea level and had severe flooding in the 80’s, and again in the 90’s. There was 10ft of water in parts of Alviso. The Guadalupe River, and Coyote Creek both end in Alviso and empty into the Bay via Alviso Slough, and Mud Slough. Many homes and businesses were ruined in those floods.

There are few businesses in Alviso today. It’s largely residential, and marsh land.

Speaking of marshland: Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Alviso is part of 6 other wildlife refuges in the Bay Area. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the first urban National Wildlife Refuge established in the United States, is dedicated to preserving and enhancing wildlife habitat, protecting migratory birds, protecting threatened and endangered species, and providing opportunities for wildlife-oriented recreation and nature study for the surrounding communities.

Now onto the Doors! 🙂

Here’s the front door of the Tilden-Laine House.

Tilden Laine House Front Door

Here’s how the whole house looks:

It’s style is called Italianate Victorian. The home dates back to the early 1900’s. According to Wiki-Pedia it’s still owned by the Laines.

Tilden-Laine House Alviso CA

Right next door is what was once The Laine Store. The Tilden family ran the store from 1865-1912. In the 1920’s it became a Chinese Gambling hall.

The Laine Store Alviso CA 2016

I read that the flood watermark was over the top of the doors! On the Wiki page I linked to below are two images of the Laine store one from 1981, and the other from 2007. It’s pretty interesting to see how much the building has aged in that time. The Laine Store is a Registered Historical Landmark.

After the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1909 the Precita Canning Company moved to Alviso and reorganized and changed their name to the Bay Side Canning Company. It hasn’t been used since 1936. The city is letting the buildings decay.

Bayside Canning Co Doors

The last time I was there back in 2010 or 11, I was shooting portraits I had the model right up near the wall. Now there’s fencing all around the property. The murals tell the story of Alviso’s history.

Bayside Canning CO

This building below with the two doors I just liked. I can’t find any information about it, but the street is residential though this building doesn’t look like it was a house. It looks like it’s being used for storage today.

Doors White Building Alviso

There are more doors and buildings I would like to photograph here! For more information and history see the link below.

~ history and info gleaned from Wikipedia Pedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alviso,_San_Jose,_California#History

This post is part of Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors. Click here to see all the doors shared this week.

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm | Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Hand-held| PS CC 2015

MM2/11 Whaler’s Cabin

May 19, 2015May 19, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, California State Parks, Monochrome Madness2, Museums, National Register of Historic Places, Whaler's CabinTagged Black and White Photography, California State Parks, Monochrome Madness2, National Register of Historic Places, Point Lobos State Park, Whalers Cabin9 Comments

Over the week-end I joined my friend Hai who was hosting a Meet-Up Photography trip to Point Lobos State Park in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA. A lot of people canceled at the last-minute so there were only 5 of us; which was a lot of fun, and made it easy for everyone to stay together. The weather wasn’t perfect, but there wasn’t a lot to complain about either. We had an overcast sky most the day with occasional bits of blue peeking out of the fog, and clouds, there was no wind, and the ambient temperature was perfect for hiking.

For Leanne Cole’s weekly Monochrome Madness2 this week I’m sharing an image I made of Whaler’s Cabin.

It was built over 160 years ago by Chinese Fisherman. It overlooks Carmel Bay, and Whaler’s Cove.

My image shows the side of the cabin with a huge Monterey Cypress tree growing up against the wall of the cabin. I really liked how the branches frame the little window. The upper branch framing the window looks as if it split, but it’s still alive! The Monterey Cypress trees, and the Cypress grove here in the park is one of two groves, and they are the only two that remain on Earth. The other grove is across Carmel Bay at Cypress Point.

Today the cabin houses the Whaler’s Museum which houses some Whaling Tools, and artifacts. I made the image below of some of the things inside the Museum back in May 2010. Can you imagine how heavy that scuba diving suit must be?

Outside the cabin there are whale bones, and the huge “try pots” that were used to boil the Whale blubber to render oil.

The Cabin is a Registered National Historic Landmark, and you can read more about its history here.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| developed in: CS6, Silver Efex Pro 2, and Perfect Black and White

More to come…

MM2-1 “Whenever you wear your hat, your day will be special”~Margo Nickel

March 8, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, Historic Buildings, Intentional Camera Movement, Monochrome Madness2, National Register of Historic Places, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Women in HatsTagged All rights reserved, Black and White Photography, Candids, Intentional Camera Movement, Monochrome Madness2, National Register of Historic Places, Street Photography, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Woman in a Straw Hat11 Comments

I’m going to participate in Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 52 project this year. I’m a little apprehensive, and unsure if I’ll be able to complete all 52 weeks, and produce good work, but I’m going to try!

Yesterday a photographer friend of mine Dali, a colleague of his, and myself went up north to San Rafael, CAto photograph the last Frank Lloyd Wright commissioned building before heading to San Francisco for the Chinese New Year Parade.

The building is the Marin County Civic Center building. I was shooting the escalator when this woman came down the stairs so, I quickly recomposed to make this image.

Need to work on: I wish I had slowed the shutter speed down just a touch slower though. I wanted her to have a bit more motion blur showing movement. I’ll have to practice more street photography to get better at ICM and people blur.

I have a few more images from the Marin County Civic Center Building, and lots from the Chinese New Year Parade I’ll be sharing soon.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra Fast Speed Digital Film| Hand-held| developed in CS6 and Nik Suite’s Silver Efex Pro 2

More to come…

Park Hill Condominium Complex ( St Joseph’s Hospital, San Francisco)

October 22, 2014Posted in Architecture, Black and White Photography, Challenges, National Register of Historic Places, Photography, PhotowalksTagged 5-Day Black and White Photography Challenge, Architecture, Black and White Photography, National Register of Historic Places, San Francisco CA, Spanish Renaissance Revival Architecture, ST Joseph's Hospital2 Comments

This is my 5th and Final image for the 5-Day Black and White Photography Challenge.
It is an image I made in the Summer of 2012 while hiking the staircases of San Francisco. By mid afternoon the fog started to roll in over the hills.

The building is Old St Joseph’s Hospital which was built in 1928. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Today the building is a Condominium Complex.

I’m supposed to issue the challenge to another photographer. I challenge Harold Austin

Nikon D700| AF-D Nikkor 28-105mm| hand-held

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