ASIAN DECORATION IDEAS

The Kiss (Le Baiser / Il Baccio), 1907 Framed Art Print by Gustav Klimt, Image size: 10.75"" x 13.75""

Evoking the Byzantine luxuriance of form, Klimt was a master of conveying sensuality and mystery through decorative texture and tracery. The sumptuous gold patterns found in The Kiss make it a unique symbol of romance.
Artist: Gustav Klimt
Title: The Kiss (Le Baiser / Il Baccio), 1907 Framed Art Print
Frame: 1 3/8"" Embossed Antique Gold
Mat: french vanilla/Pear
Image Dimensions: 10.75 in. W x 13.75 in. H
Outside Frame Dimensions: 18.12 in. W x 21.12 in. H
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936 Woodycrest Avenue, West Concourse, Bronx, New York City, New York, United States


This elegant Beaux-Arts style building, prominently sited on a bluff overlooking the Harlem River Valley, was constructed in 1901 -02 as a home for abandoned and needy children. It was one of a number of important buildings for major charitable New York City institutions built in the Bronx at the turn of the century. The Society was founded in 1834 to aid impoverished women and children and was run entirely by women except for a small board of male counselors. In the mid-nineteenth century the Society established its offices and children's home just north of Madison Square in Manhattan. By the turn of the centuiy the rising value of Manhattan real estate and the desire to have a modem facility prompted the Society to move to Highbridge, which was then being developed as a fashionable suburban neighborhood following the opening of the new Macomb's Dam Bridge.

The building's architect, William B. Tuthill, was a prominent designer of public and residential buildings, including Carnegie Hall. His design for the new home incorporated a pavilion plan, favored for hospital and institutional buildings of the period because it provided excellent light and ventilation. Skillfully massed and terraced to disguise its size and richly decorated in the fashionable Beaux Arts style, the building appears to be a large mansion rather than an institutional structure. Its gray brick, stone, and terracotta facades are embellished with rustication, elaborate window surrounds, garlanded console brackets, and molded cornices.

The symmetrically massed facade facing Woodycrest Avenue is treated as a recessed entrance court framed by projecting comer pavilions and features an richly-decorated arched entrance surmounted by a balcony. The rounded bays on the south and east sides of the building, the terraced massing of the building on the hillside site, and the red tiled mansard roof punctuated by arched dormers, paneled chimneys and balustrades create a picturesque effect. On Woodycrest Avenue, the elaborate stepped masonry and wrought iron fence, terraced flower beds and double-staircase add distinction to the property.

The American Female Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless merged with another charity and moved to Rockland County in 1974. The building was redeveloped in 1991 by Housing & Services, Inc. as the Highbridge- Woodycrest Center, a licensed health care facility for families and single persons with AIDS.

Description

The (former) American Female Guardian Association and Home for the Friendless Woodycrest Home is located on a steeply sloping irregular mid- block lot which has a frontage of 236 feet along Woodycrest Avenue and is bordered on the south by Macomb's Dam Park. The massive Beaux Arts style building is constructed of gray brick, stone, and terra cottaandemploys a modified T-shaped plan. The front portion of the building facing Woodycrest Avenue is treated as a large four-and-one-half-story mansion which is richly decorated with classical motifs and capped by red-tiled mansard roof with galvanized-iron arched dormers and paneled chimneys. Behind the main block, the rear portion of the building is terraced into the downward sloping hillside. It has a number of low projecting extensions topped by terraces including the rear two-and-one-half-story wing with a rounded bay that originally housed the dining room and chapel and the northern one-story wing that previously housed the stables and now houses a staff lounge and service areas. Side courts at the intersection of the front and rear parts of the building ensured that the two main stair cases received adequate light.

In 1989-91 the building was converted to a residential care facility for families and single persons with AIDS. At that tims the masonry was repaired and cleaned. Most of the windows retained their original wood moldings and arched first-story windows retained their decorative transoms; however, the historic one- over-one wood sash windows were replaced with one- over-one vinyl-covered aluminum sash. Changes were made to the doors and windows at the rear of the building. New metal and glass doors were installed. On the mansard, deteriorated sections of the cornice, gutter, and domers were repaired or replaced. Missing terra-cotta tiles at the front of the mansard roof were replaced with tiles from less visible portions of the roof. (They were replaced with terra-cotta-colored asphalt shingles.) At the rear of the building, a new elevator shaft and fire escapes were installed and the parapet around the flat areas of the roof was rebuilt and covered with standing seam aluminum. New mechanical equipment was installed on the roof and at the basement. Security lights and cameras were installed.

Due to the building's large size and complex plan, this description begins with the four-story-and- basement mansarded front block, then discusses the re

We replaced the hideous fluorescent under-cabinet fixture with a small halogen one, mounted some shallow stainless shelves and repainted where necessary. Aside from considering an aquarium for that lefthand corner of the desk, it's done.