Delicious, Delightful, DeLand's Athens Theater

A 1921 Italian Renaissance Revival palazzo has graced North Florida Avenue in DeLand for more than a century.  The Athens Theatre also stands as a tribute and memorial to its architect, Murry S King, who was considered in his lifetime The Dean of Orlando architects. The Athens Theatre continues to hold a place of highest esteem in the built environment of Central Florida. 

 

A visit to the theatre, whether to simply enjoy its lovely exterior, or to attend a performance in its beautiful interior, is always worthwhile.

 

The theatre is constructed of russet color brick with limestone color detailing as well as red brick accents. The symmetrical façade is balanced and pleasing to the eye. 

 

The visitor is welcomed to the theatre by a triple-arched entry in the central part of the facade. The middle arch holds the box office and the other two arches are the entrance doors. Above these is the marquee, with the curved sign that says “Theatre”.  This marquee partly obscures the triple square windows that balance with the triple entry arches below. Above them is a rectangular inset dating to the building’s creation that says: Athens.

 

On either side of the entry are large shallow rectangular niches, framed in a contrasting red brick with white accents; these are used to displayed posters of current or future productions. Above these, are very tall, rounded windows, shaped like the central portion of a Palladian window, which echo the arched curves of the main entrance.

 

Above these features is as a continuous attic story, with rectangular windows using a combined cross and x design. This motif was popular in Beaux Arts architecture and also often employed in civic Prairie Style architecture. Above these is a large limestone color cornice, allowing the eye to visually pause as it looks upward. But the eye then continues upward to the red brick parapets with gently curved arches above each of three sections of the façade, so that the arch theme that began at the main entry doors and was continued by the large windows is concluded against the sky. This is a very pleasing and harmonious effect, in what is essentially a Beaux Arts style composition, that has elements both Italian Renaissance and Prairie style.

 

Prairie style? Yes, especially noticeable in the corner of the display windows. The horizontal sill, water table, and cornice, emphasizing the horizontal, which was a hallmark of the Prairie style. The vertical embellishments at the top center of each of the four brick pilasters. Which include four faces that look down on the passerby, and four caduceus. 

 

Sprinkled attractively here and there are white tiles that enliven the brick. The cartouche in the central parapet arch is especially pleasing in this regard.

 

The DeLand community was especially proud of this exterior design for number of years, so that one would hardly guess that a very bizarre transformation took place in the middle of the 20th century, when the entire façade above the street level was sheathed in what was thought at that time and very modern and stylish design, with a gigantic sign, announcing the Athens as the central part of the facade, and very large display spaces on either side. All of the windows were obscured, and a new shallow angled marquee was created that spanned the entire building. Happily all of this has been cleared away, during major restoration, so that the original design can be seen, appreciated, and enjoyed for future generations.

 

Up near the cornice, there are four identical sculpted faces below each of which is a caduceus, that is, a staff entwined by two aches with wings. It is not clear why the architect chose these. More expected for the decoration of a theater might have been mask of tragedy and comedy, perhaps. Or depictions of the muses of the lively arts from antiquity. The face seems to be that of the Greek god Pan, indicated by the curly horns on their head. Although Dionysus is another possibility. 

 

Continuing our study of the decoration, our eyes go to the shield forming the central cartouche, upon which is a date number, 1921, the date the theatre construction began.  

 

The limestone color decorations are most likely architectural terra-cotta ornament, created to resemble limestone.  This was an exterior material of choice in the first quarter of the 20th century.  It is highly probable that the ornamentation was made by the American Terra-Cotta Company owned by William Day Gates (also the makers of Teco Pottery). The skillful modeling of the four faces at the cornice look to be the work of their gifted artisans. 

 

Not incidentally, the tallest building in the world at that time, the Woolworth Building, is entirely clad in architectural terra-cotta, as is the famous Flatiron Building, also in Manhattan.

 

The interior is in keeping with the exterior, with arched themes in the two large private box openings, the curve of the proscenium, and the curving forms of the balcony railing.  Elegant multi-globed chandeliers are suspended from the coffered ceiling.  There is a lovely bas relief above the proscenium in which six muses of Greek mythology are depicted in what resembles Wedgwood Jasperware.   The simple and elegant design is finished in a rich color scheme of red and cream.  

 

Murry S. King

 

Murry S. King (1870-1927) was a native of Western Pennsylvania who conducted his architectural career there, and more significantly in Central Florida.  King is considered the Dean of Orlando Architects, and was the first person to receive a license from the Florida chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  In addition to his influential and impressive body of work, King was the leader of a collection of significantly likeminded architects practicing in Central Florida during the boom decade of the 1920s.  This Orlando Group of architects worked to create an architecture that was appropriate to the Florida environment.  In “The Florida Circle” of May 1924, they described it (in part):

 

"Just as architects of old created styles to harmonize with their environment, so have the architects of Florida been creating, from native motifs, a style that is carefully adapted to the climatic conditions and surroundings of the state. This style has an individuality all its own…” 

 

Murry S. King designed many other notable works in Central Florida, including the Angebilt Hotel (27 N. Orange Ave.), the Beardall Residence (700 Euclid Avenue), the Woodruff Residence (236 S. Lucerne Circle E,), and his last work, the Orange County Regional History Center (formerly the Orange County Courthouse].

 

King was adept at many different architectural effects, such as his Spanish Revival Park Lake Presbyterian Church neoclassical Orange County Courthouse. 

 

 

Pounds Building is Every Ounce a Treasure

 

Winter Garden, Florida, has a beautiful stroll-able downtown, complete with median plantings down the center of Plant Street, an interactive water feature, and a vintage caboose, as well as the trademark town clock. Many restaurants and shops beckon visitors as they explore this vibrant small town. 

When you get to the corner of West Plant Street and South Lakeview Avenue, you have arrived at the Pounds Motor Company Building.  An identifying bronze tablet tells you something of the significance of the building.  

 

A pioneer in advocating gasoline farm equipment (as opposed to mule powered) Hoyle Pounds established his business at the corner of Plant and Lakeview.  In addition to farm tractors he also sold Ford automobiles.  The building he commissioned from David Burns Hyer is still in use one hundred years later.

 

David Burns Hyer was one of a dozen or so architects practicing in Central Florida in the 1920s.  Hyer had come to the Orlando area from Charleston, South Carolina, and would return there again as the decade and the Florida land boom ended.  He counted among his clients innovative Central Florida go-getters like Hoyle Pounds., who among other achievements, invented the rubber tractor tire.

  

The impression the building gives is one of basic simple solid construction. You might say, no frills.  And that was intentional.  The Pounds Motor Company Building was created to showcase, sell, and service farm equipment and cars made by the Ford Motor Company, as well as to dispense first Texaco and thereafter Gulf Oil gasoline.  The resultant work by architect Hyer fulfilled all of those functions and also contributed to the streetscape “look” of Winter Garden.  It fits the location and the needs of the client.

 

Today, the causal observer might have a tendency to overlook the elements of the design that made it successful inside and out.  The exterior red brick is practically maintenance free for the owner, and is also part of a group of red brick structures that give Winter Garden its signature look.  The Pounds Building holds its own and is in harmony with other nearby structures on Plant Street including the contemporaneous Edgewater Hotel.  

 

The front elevation of the Pounds Building is immediately understood.  The big plate glass display windows flanking the central doors tell us that something was to be showcased there, for anyone who happened by.  Correct.  Tractors would have temped the owners of groves and farms from the surrounding area.  Above, a string of nine large windows indicated that the work going on inside was well lighted by the Florida sunshine.  It was a good location for the machine shop, providing employees with a space that was more comfortable, and therefore more productive. Along the roofline, there was a nod to Mediterranean or Spanish style, a stepped parapet that has a horizonal line modulated by verticals.  

 

One also notices the trapezoidal capitals on the brick piers.  They give visual interest, and yet their function is mainly  structural.  The corner at Plant and Lakeview was once an open, covered filing station for vehicles to pull into, between those brick piers.  Vintage photos show it featuring a round topped gas pump.  

 

Along the South Lakeview elevation, one sees several large garage door openings.  Only the one closest to the corner of Lakeview and Tremaine remains unchanged since its inception – it is mufti-hinged, paneled wood.  One can envision the other openings, now boarded up, being exactly the same.  

Along the second floor the large windows, like the ones on the front, continue in groups of threes, giving a geometric pattern on this long side of the building.  Similar windows were on the long opposite wall of the building where the Garden Theater now stands.

 

The Pounds Motor Company Building was designed solidly, to last. A worthy goal for an industrial / commercial building.   It has done exactly that, serving its original owners from 1926 and serving its current owners since 1985.  The Pounds building has affinities to the most famous early 20^th century automotive industrial building, the Packard Automotive Plant in Detroit by Albert Kahn.  Modern, efficient, with clean horizontal lines rendered in red brick, the celebrated Packard plant was the inspiration for industrial buildings for decades thereafter, including this one.

About the Architect:

David Burns Hyer

 

David Burns Hyer was born in Charleston, SC, on March 21, 1875 to parents James S. and Ella Payne Hyer.  His early education was in the Charleston schools, and while still a boy he began working in the office of S. Louis Simons.  When Simons merged with a partner to create Simsons-Mayrant Company in 1892, Hyer remained in their employ, until he founded his own architectural practiced. 

 

In his professional life, Hyer maintained offices in Charleston SC except in the 1920’s when his office was in Orlando FL.  Many fine examples of his work in South Carolina remain to this day.

 

In Central Florida, he worked with architect John Arthur Rogers before establishing his own practice in Orlando.  Hyer’s masterpiece is the ideally situated Grace Phillips Johnson mansion “O-Po-Le-O” (“House Between the Waters”) on the isthmus between Lake Concord and Lake Adair.  A grand Mediterranean Revival estate, it is visible from I-4 across Lake Concord, and is locally known as “The Swan Boat House”.  The house continues in private hands and is exceedingly well maintained.  Hyer’s commercial work in Florida incudes the Pounds Motor Company Building (1926)  in Winter Garden, a Prairie-meets-Mediterranean brick building that has been carefully preserved by its owners since the 1980s, Burkett Engineering. Other works by Hyer in Florida are continuing to be identified. When he returned to Charleston permanently, he left James Gamble Rogers II in charge of his Florida work that had not yet been completed. 

 

In 1904, Hyer married Susan Yeadon Mazyck.  They were the parents of four children: David B. Jr., Yeadon M., Robert P., and Helen.

 

Throughout his life Hyer was accorded the nickname “Neighbor” because invariably he greeted others in that friendly way.  He was said to have been of a most congenial disposition, which surely served him well in the pursuit of his profession. He had many repeat clients, and they were glad to wait however long it might take him to prepare his designs, even if at a more leisurely pace than other architects. Hyer was an avid golfer and was constantly trying to improve his game. 

 

Late in life Hyer had one leg amputated. He was awaiting an adjusted leg prosthesis when, after a brief illness, he died in Charleston on December 11, 1942 at the age of 67.  He is buried alongside his wife in the old historic Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.

(Do you have a photo of David Burns Hyer?  I would love to have a copy.  Please get in touch with me.  Thanks!)

"123123"....

“123123….” 

That’s what Ginger said to Fred when she was “teaching him” to dance the waltz (!) in the RKO musical “Swing Time”. 

Ginger is a music instructor, and Fred wants to get to know her, so he pretends he cannot dance.  They try doing "123123" and Fred ends up falling on the floor.  

They then sing  “Pick Yourself Up. Dust Yourself Off. Start All Over Again!” 

But when they try the 123123 again, and they both fall flat.

Ginger tells Fred, "No one could teach you to dance in a million years. Take my advice and save your money." 

Which, unfortunately, is overheard by her boss, Mr. Gordon, who promptly fires her.

In order to save her job, Fred asks her to show him the "step" that she taught him, and then says, "Shall we try it right through...?"

What follows is arguably their best dance number - and one of those numbers they were famous for, where they (ha!) “make it up as they go along”. They waltz, tap, leap, and swing around the dance floor, exhibiting a great deal of joy.  We are mesmerized by their dancing, as well we should be.

Classic fun stuff!  

"123123" is ALSO the number for the last day of this year: 12/31/23. 

Ok. Lots can be said:

First: 2024 is at hand: "Shall we try it right through...?"

Second: Waltz your way into the New Year. 

Third: Make it up as you go along. 

Fourth: You’re a whole lot better at this dance of life than anyone suspects! 

And, remember: If you slip: “Pick Yourself Up. Dust Yourself Off. Start All Over Again!” (The song from the dance number was composed in 1936 by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields). 

P. S. If you haven’t seen this "Heaven, Sheer Heaven" dance number, you can watch it on YouTube. Go for the five minutes clip to get the whole scene. 

Fort Street Presbyterian Church, in Detroit, Michigan - 175 Years Old

1849 = 175 Years

Fort Street Presbyterian Church, in Detroit, Michigan, is an absolutely impressive church. In 2024 they are celebrating their 175^th anniversary.  My work with the church began with Pastor Garrett Longmann.  From the conversations we had together, emerged a new hymn for them. 

The anniversary hymn I created for them is called: “Christ, Who Once Beckoned”.  I sent it to them on November 15, 2023. 

Garrett got back to me on November 16^th. He told me that they have a new music director Patrick Kuhl, and that Patrick would respond directly regarding the new hymn.

  I had an email from Patrick on November 21, 2023, saying that he approves and plans to use the hymn to the familiar tune i suggested, JERUSALEM.

 

The gorgeous photos of this incredible church building were made by Helmut Ziewers for Historic Detroit. 

Hamilton Union Presbyterian Church - 200th Anniversary

Hamilton Union 1824 – 200 years.

Celebrating 200 years, the Hamilton Union Presbyterian Church is located in Guilderland, New York.  

Carol Scott is Choir Director and Organist. We began planning the anniversary hymn a few months ago.  From its inception, we envisioned that Carol would write a new tune to go with my new anniversary text.  

Thereafter, I wrote and sent to Carol “With Tenderness, You Shaped The Past”. Carol liked the hymn, and plans to write the new tune for it.

Also, as you can see from the photograph of the interior of the sanctuary, this congregation sings from the correct blue 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal.  Good for them!

Wekiva Presbyterian Church Has Longest Running Sunday Morning Worship Webcast in Internet History

Back in mid-2004, while serving as the senior pastor of Wekiva Presbyterian Church in Longwood, Florida, and while dreaming about new initiatives for the church, an idea began to form in my mind...

I was trying to think of how we might reach others who for one reason or another were not able to be with us in person on a Sunday morning  

Now, I knew that TV broadcast was one way, but the cost of setting up such a ministry seemed out of the realm of possibility.  

I also remembered fondly from my Pittsburgh roots that the Rev. Dr. Hugh Thomson Kerr had initiated regular radio broadcasts of worship at Shadyside Presbyterian Church, during his tenure there - the first church anywhere to do so.  It would be great to do as he did (a minister I have long considered among the very finest ever).  But, again, the cost of a weekly radio broadcast seemed daunting.

Fortunately, my thoughts moved from the past to the present day.  

One was hearing that businesses were having meetings virtually, rather than in person.  If a business meeting could happen via computer, I wondered if perhaps worship meetings on Sunday morning would be able to do the same.

I don't pretend to be technically savvy but I know someone who is very much so....  David Larson who is the youngest Charter Member of Wekiva Presbyterian Church.  So sometime in the summer, I asked him if he would be willing to look into the possibility of our doing worship on the internet each Sunday.  Dave liked the idea, and said he would research it.

After having done so, he told me that it wasn't possible.  That the technology wasn't there.  

I was naturally disappointed, but of course understood.  So I put that idea completely out of my mind.

Fast forward a few months later.  One fine day, Dave telephoned me.  After we had said our hellos, without further ado, he said, "We can do it!"  

I - having forgotten about my earlier request - said, "Do what?"

Dave explained that he had done more research.  That a member of his staff had a brother in Puerto Rico who had managed to do live worship in his church there, for a special occasion, and that fortuitously, Dave's office and computer hardware were just within the proper distance to allow the webcast to be sent there and then broadcast on the internet from there. 

He asked me to visit him at his office so he could explain it in more detail.  Which I did.  And which he did.

You know those visuals of a rocket scientist at a huge blackboard working out an intricate equation?  It was like that.  A huge whiteboard was in Dave's conference room.  While I sat watching, he started at the left, and began making his way to the right.  Numbers. Diagrams.  Arrows. They filled the board.  It was totally impressive.  

And I was t totally lost, after the first few markings Dave wrote...

When he got to the far end of the whiteboard, he turned around toward me grinning, and said, "There you have it!"

I could tell he was expecting a wise and informed response.  What I did manage to say was this, pointing first to the left end of the board: "So you video the worship service there..." and then pointing to the far right of the board, "And the worship service appears on people's home computer, there."

"Exactly!" Dave said.  With a huge smile.  

So we had the plan. 

Being Good Presbyterians, we took the plan to the Session of the church for their approval. 

And we set the first Sunday in January 2005 as our launch date.  Which went off as it should have, and began a live worship webcast that Wekiva had continued each week, up to today - and on to the future.  

It is good that what was brand new then has become a universal aspect of churches everywhere, now.  I am glad to have been a part of its inception.  

There's a sequel to the story, which I will add at some time in the future.  

Hermon Presbyterian Church - Bethesda, Maryland - Anniversary Hymn

If you live in metropolitan DC you may already recognize the Hermon Presbyterian Church.  It is the quintessential white frame church with a center tower at the doorway, that you will see depicted in many illustrations, especially at Christmas time.  It looks like a child's drawing of "The way churches are supposed to look".

If you are looking for a small church worship and community and you're in the DC area, you should visit. The congregation has a full mission ministry, and is a very welcoming place.

They are about to celebrate a milestone anniversary, and I am glad to be part of it, even if remotely, by having written an anniversary hymn for them to sing.  

It is great to be able to be with the church in spirit, if not in person, for their special day.  Here is how the new hymn came into being:

I worked with Andrew Corson, who is a church Elder and who grew up in the church. In response to my request for idea starters, Andrew provided Hermon’s beautiful and thoughtful Welcome Statement, as well as some photos of the current restoration work being done on the church.  Andrew indicated that they like singing ROCK OF AGES, A MIGHT FORTRESS, and GOD OF AGES. So I selected from those ROCK OF AGES, to which I wrote their new anniversary hymn called: “God of Blessings, On This Day…” and emailed it to him in early December.  I'm looking forward to hearing how the congregation enjoys singing it.