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Eyesore
An eyesore is something that is largely considered to look unpleasant or ugly. Its technical usage is as an alternative perspective to the notion of landmark. Common examples include dilapidated buildings, graffiti, litter, polluted areas, and excessive commercial signage such as billboards. Some eyesores may be a matter of opinion such as controversial modern architecture (see also spite house), transmission towers or wind turbines. Natural eyesores include feces, mud and weeds. Effect on property values In the US, the National Association of Realtors says an eyesore can shave about 10 percent off the value of a nearby listing. Remediation Clean-up programmes to improve or remove eyesores are often started by local bodies or even national governments. High-profile international events such as the Olympic Games may trigger such activity. Others contend that it is best to address these problems while they are small, since signs of neglect encourage anti-social behaviour s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
22 Jermyn Street
22 Jermyn Street is the address of the site of several former hotels, including the Eyrie Mansion and an eponymously named luxury hotel in London, England. Jermyn Street is in St James's in the centre of London's West End, 75 yards from Piccadilly Circus. History Jermyn Street began construction in 1664. The first house was built on the site of 22 Jermyn Street in about 1685 and, during the 18th century, it was occupied by tradesmen who served the grandees of St James's Square. Since 1685, it functioned as a hotel, with tradesmen supplementing their incomes by sub-letting the top rooms as residential chambers to "wealthy men-about-town." By 1861, 22 Jermyn Street was the residence of Italian silk merchant Cesare Salvucci. Around 1876, it was purchased by a military tailor amongst whose lodgers were banker Theodore Rothschild. The current building was constructed in the 1870s as the home of an English gentleman and came under the ownership of the Togna family from 1915. Henry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Turbines
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. Wind turbines are an increasingly important source of intermittent renewable energy, and are used in many countries to lower energy costs and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. One study claimed that, wind had the "lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions, the least water consumption demands and the most favorable social impacts" compared to photovoltaic, hydro, geothermal, coal and gas energy sources. Smaller wind turbines are used for applications such as battery charging and remote devices such as traffic warning signs. Larger turbines can contribute to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid. Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of sizes, with either hor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landmark
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or features that have become local or national symbols. Etymology In Old English, the word ''landmearc'' (from ''land'' + ''mearc'' (mark)) was used to describe a boundary marker, an "object set up to mark the boundaries of a kingdom, estate, etc." Starting around 1560, this interpretation of "landmark" was replaced by a more general one. A landmark became a "conspicuous object in a landscape". A ''landmark'' literally meant a geographic feature used by explorers and others to find their way back to their departure point, or through an area. For example, Table Mountain near Cape Town, South Africa, was used as a landmark to help sailors navigate around the southern tip of Africa during the Age of Exploration. Artificial structures ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vandalism
Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term finds its roots in an Enlightenment view that the Germanic Vandals were a uniquely destructive people, as they sacked Rome in 455 AD. Etymology The Vandals, an ancient Germanic people, are associated with senseless destruction as a result of their sack of Rome under King Genseric in 455. During the Enlightenment, Rome was idealized, while the Goths and Vandals were blamed for its destruction. The Vandals may not have been any more destructive than other invaders of ancient times, but they did inspire English poet John Dryden to write, ''Till Goths, and Vandals, a rude Northern race, Did all the matchless Monuments deface'' (1694). However, the Vandals did intentionally damage statues, which may be why their name is associated with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federation Square
Federation Square (marketed and colloquially known as Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy railway lines and across the road from Flinders Street station. It incorporates major cultural institutions such as the Ian Potter Centre, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the Koorie Heritage Trust as well as cafes and bars in a series of buildings centred around a large paved square, and a glass walled atrium. History Background Melbourne's central city grid was originally designed without a central public square, long seen as a missing element. From the 1920s there were proposals to roof the railway yards on the southeast corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets for a public square, with more detailed proposals prepared in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1960s, the Melbourne City Council decided that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium. When opened in 1999, it was the List of largest buildings#Largest usable volume, fifth largest building in the world by usable volume. The exhibition was open to the public from 1 January to 31 December 2000. The project and exhibition were highly contentious and attracted barely half of the 12 million customers its sponsors forecasted, and so were deemed a failure by the press. All the original exhibition elements were sold or dismantled. In a 2005 report, the cost of the Dome and surrounding land (which increased to 170 acres from the initial offering of the 48 acres enclosed by the Dome) and managing the Dome until the deal was closed was £28.7 million. The value of the 48 acres occupied by the Dome was estimated at £48 million, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wasp (magazine)
''The Wasp'', also known as ''The Illustrated Wasp'', ''The San Francisco Illustrated Wasp'', ''The Wasp News-Letter'' and the ''San Francisco News- Letter Wasp'', was an American weekly satirical magazine based in San Francisco. Founded in 1876, it closed in 1941, the name of the magazine having been changed several times in the interim. Background ''The Wasp'' was founded as a weekly satire magazine in San Francisco in 1876 by the Bohemian expatriate Francis Korbel and his two brothers, who also founded the Korbel Champagne Cellars. The first issue was published on August 5, 1876. The lead artist until 1883 was George Frederick Keller. The magazine was somewhat unusual at the time, owing to the Korbels' expertise in mass-producing color lithographs in print, a process they had come to master in their first business, the manufacture of labeled cigar boxes. The magazine was sold in secret in 1881 to Charles Webb Howard, who hired Edward C. Macfarlane as publisher. Ambrose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. The structure links San Francisco—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula—to Marin County, California, Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 in California, U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. It also carries pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and is designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95. Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Wonders of the World, Wonders of the Modern World, the bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California. The idea of a fixed link between San Francisco and Marin had gained increasing popularity during the late 19th century, but it was not until the early 20th century that such a link became feasible. Joseph Strauss (engineer), Joseph Strauss served as chief engineer for the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fer''" (French for "Iron Lady"), it was constructed as the centrepiece of the Exposition Universelle (1889), 1889 World's Fair, and to crown the centennial anniversary of the French Revolution. Although initially criticised by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, it has since become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognisable structures in the world. The tower received 5,889,000 visitors in 2022. The Eiffel Tower is the most visited monument with an entrance fee in the world: 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015. It was designated a in 1964, and was named part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site ("Paris, Banks of the Seine") in 1991. The tower is tall, about the same height as an 81- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federation Square (SBS Building)
Federation Square (marketed and colloquially known as Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy railway lines and across the road from Flinders Street station. It incorporates major cultural institutions such as the Ian Potter Centre, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the Koorie Heritage Trust as well as cafes and bars in a series of buildings centred around a large paved square, and a glass walled atrium. History Background Melbourne's central city grid was originally designed without a central public square, long seen as a missing element. From the 1920s there were proposals to roof the railway yards on the southeast corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets for a public square, with more detailed proposals prepared in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1960s, the Melbourne City Council decided that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landmark
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or features that have become local or national symbols. Etymology In Old English, the word ''landmearc'' (from ''land'' + ''mearc'' (mark)) was used to describe a boundary marker, an "object set up to mark the boundaries of a kingdom, estate, etc." Starting around 1560, this interpretation of "landmark" was replaced by a more general one. A landmark became a "conspicuous object in a landscape". A ''landmark'' literally meant a geographic feature used by explorers and others to find their way back to their departure point, or through an area. For example, Table Mountain near Cape Town, South Africa, was used as a landmark to help sailors navigate around the southern tip of Africa during the Age of Exploration. Artificial structures ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demolition
Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for reuse purposes. For small buildings, such as houses, that are only two or three stories high, demolition is a rather simple process. The building is pulled down either manually or mechanically using large hydraulic equipment: elevated work platforms, cranes, excavators or bulldozers. Larger buildings may require the use of a wrecking ball, a heavy weight on a cable that is swung by a Crane (machine), crane into the side of the buildings. Wrecking balls are especially effective against masonry, but are less easily controlled and often less efficient than other methods. Newer methods may use rotational hydraulic shears and silenced rockbreakers attached to excavat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
