A Pew End Finial

The Chapel has elaborately carved pew and kneeler ends.  I will ease you into it by just showing one pew end finial up close. 

The donor of this pew end carving was a marine insurance company.  The finial shows a policyholder and agent shaking hands over the insurance policy they just signed.  (This is Hartford, the Insurance Capital of the world, after all . . . )

J. Gregory Wiggins of Pomfret, Connecticut, designed and carved 66 out of the 78 pew and kneeler ends between 1932 and his death in 1956.  The last dozen were designed by the chairman of the Trinity art department (John C. E. Taylor) and carved by Erwin Dressel.

Inside the Trinity College Chapel

I have shown the Trinity College Chapel's beautiful exterior before.  For the next week or so, I am going to take you inside.

You are in for a treat.  Really.  I mean it.

For a warm-up, here is the entrance, from the inside.

Saint Patrick's Day

My heritage is more Irish than anything else.  How can I not show a St. Patrick's Day image?

Capitol West

Do you remember my post of Classy Smart and Manly?  The posters are on an abandoned office building adjacent to the Asylum Avenue exit off U.S. Route 84.  You saw it from another perspective yesterday.
This is one of the most visible spots for travelers passing through Hartford.  The windows from the building have all disappeared.  You can see straight through the building.  What a terrible first impression Hartford makes on visitors!

The Connecticut men's basketball team was knocked out of the NCAA tournament last night in a first round game.  They fell far behind in the first half and never could climb their way out of the hole they dug.  The women's team plays on Saturday.  I need to shift my loyalties in the men's tournament over to Ohio State.

Derelict Building

The City of Hartford finally bought the empty Capitol West building in late 2011 after years of community pressure.  It should be taken down some time this year.

Great Hall

The Great Hall at the Wadsworth Atheneum underwent a long restoration.  It is now gray and exhibits modern art.  Before, the walls were red and it showed huge historic and biblical paintings.  (The paintings gave Susie nightmares.)

I liked it better before.

This hall is in the Morgan Building, given by J. P. Morgan in honor of his father.

International Women's Day

Come to think of it, I wasn't finished with the Wadworth Atheneum after all.

The International Women's Day was on March 8.  I was in the middle of my "close up" series and decided not to interrupt it.  So, belatedly I am showing paired works portraying very different women.  They reside side-by-side in the great hall of the Wadsworth Atheneum . . . which you will see tomorrow.