Showing posts with label public spaces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public spaces. Show all posts

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Cultural Gardens: Part III

Happy 2011 to everyone! It's been a long several months for me, but I'm back in the new year and ready to post both some old and some new photos.

During the month of November, I thought that I might be leaving Cleveland for other pastures. Of course, that would have spelled a quick end to this blog. Thankfully for the blog, it was not meant to be, and instead some opportunity came about locally. That has kept me a little too busy to post, but I'm finally getting settled enough to devote some time online again.

Picking up where we left off in October, here is the third installment of new and exciting changes in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. This time around I wanted to show some new renovations to existing gardens. Along with all the new additions in the past decade, so many of the cultural gardens have seen a lot of love and care that they might not have gotten at some points in previous years.

First off, over the summer, the Estonian Garden got a little face lift in the form of a new stone path from the road and a new raised planter in the middle of the path.


Here you can see the text of a poem inscribed at the base of the planter.



The Irish Cultural Garden also got a big change, courtesy of a huge new fountain.


Along with the fountain, there are a number of black stone memorials to famous people of Irish ethnicity. And of course the beautiful garden and paths surrounding it all!


In the next couple days I'll have one more installment on the Cleveland Cultural Gardens before we move on to other parts of Cleveland and the surrounding region.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

A new public space in University Circle

Time for Sunday's real post! The past several months, every time I traveled along East Boulevard through University Circle, I passed a small construction site at the corner of Wade Oval Drive, right next to the Botanical Gardens. For the longest time it looked like it was going to be a curvaceous entrance sign, as there were wooden forms for concrete to be poured. Finally a few weeks ago it was revealed as a long curving bench inlaid with mosaic tile.


While I was at Case alumni events on Saturday, I found out that it is a memorial plaza dedicated to the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones. In my photos you can see the bronze statue of her that is seated on one part of the bench.


It's a great space that combines functional seating, attractive art, and the memory of a leader who was so beloved by many people.