FLORIDA NEWS - Bok Tower Gardens
Bok Tower Gardens by Rhonda McCann
Edward W. Bok
The story behind Bok Tower Gardens is one of unprecedented historical significance. First, it is one immigrant's extraordinary gesture of gratitude to thank his adopted country for the opportunities he was given. Second, it is remarkable that this one man was able to assemble and inspire the most famed artisans of his generation to work collaboratively to create “a spot of beauty second to none in the country” that has continued to inspire visitors for generations.
The beginnings of Bok tower Gardens date back to 1863 and the birth of Edward William Bok in Den Helder, Netherlands. Bok came to the United States with his family at the age of six, not knowing the language, customs or culture. However, Bok's outgoing personality and enterprising spirit helped him become a model for successful adaptation to the new country and modern times. He overcame numerous challenges to become an outspoken leader who helped shape ideas, values and priorities of the emerging American Middle Class. In many ways, Bok acted as a mediator between the Victorian world and modern society. His life story epitomizes the history of immigration, the influence of journalism on society, social and environmental advocacy, as well as the American Dream.
The young Edward Bok attended Brooklyn Public Schools and discovered early on he could earn money by identifying a need then fulfilling it with an earnest spirit and hard work. He held several simultaneous jobs to help support his family while attending school. He mastered a schoolboy's English, but realized that seven years of public education were hardly basis on which to build the work of a lifetime. So, he became absorbed with self education. He wanted to know how prominent men become successful and what they had in common. Through various jobs Bok came in contact with some of the foremost men of all time, including William Vanderbilt, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison. He went to the library to read about them and eventually saved enough money to buy his own set of encyclopedias. Bok was inspired to learn that many of these now-famous men not only had limited educational experiences similar to his own, but also very modest beginnings.
In 1886, Bok founded The Bok Syndicate Press, which in 1889 led to his becoming the editor of The Ladies Home Journal, the most prestigious woman's magazine of the day. As a young immigrant, Bok and his brother gave up their playtime to help their ailing mother with cooking, cleaning, and household chores. Bok's personal experience with “women's work” gave him valuable insights that helped him create a monthly bible of cooking, gardening, home management and style. Under his leadership, the magazine became one of the most successful and influential publications in America and the first magazine in the world to have over one million subscribers. After a stellar 30 years career, Bok retired in 1919. A year later, he published The Americanization of Edward Bok, which won the Gold Medal of the Academy of Political and Social Science and the Joseph Pulitzer Prize for the best autobiography.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Bok emerged as a champion of social causes, a pioneer in the fields of prenatal education, childcare and even public sex education. He was a well-respected environmental activist who was instrumental in helping save Niagra Falls and raising it's profile as a popular national landmark. In the 1920's Bok also was interested in preserving Florida's Tiger Creek, a pristine blackwater stream that runs through the state's oldest and highest landmass- the Lake Wales Ridge.
Bok was a thoughtful man who believed in promoting world peace, nature preservation and culture. He founded numerous awards and civic enterprises. Bok also anonymously donated significant amounts of money to support cultural efforts.
During visits from their Pennsylvania residence to their winter retreat near Lake Wales, Florida, Mr. Bok became enchanted with the beauty and vistas from nearby Iron Mountain. At 298 feet above sea level, one peninsular Florida's highest point offered views of dramatic sunsets. Awed by the tranquility of the area , Bok wanted to create a place that would “touch the soul with it's beauty and quiet,” and chose it as a perfect setting for a bird sanctuary.
The Masters Behind the Masterpiece
Bok commissioned a cadre of master artisans and hundreds of laborers to help him create the masterpiece now known as Bok Tower Gardens.
Pivotal to Bok's plan to create the Gardens was the participation of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the most distinguished landscape architect of the generation. He was the son of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture and designer of New York City's Central Park. After graduating from Harvard, Olmsted Jr. worked with his father on the Biltmore Estate and eventually landscaped many of Washington D.C.'s most prominent landmarks, including the White House, Jefferson Memorial, Washington National Cathedral and the National Zoo.
In 1923, Olmsted embarked on his mission to transform Bok Tower Gardens from a sand hill into one of the nation's most beautiful garden sanctuaries. For the next five years, Olmsted Jr. and his team diligently planted a mix of native and exotic plants that would thrive in the humid climate and lend a tropical feel of the native oak hammock.
Edward Bok commissioned Milton B. Medary to design and build the carillon Tower. The Lake Wales project was an opportunity for Medary to adapt traditional Gothic design and incorporate unique elements that represented Florida's nature. His solution was an art deco and neo-Gothic tower built with a steel frame structure encased in beautiful coquina stone from St. Augustine, Florida, and pink and gray marble from Tate, Georgia. The Tower features sculpted finials, balconies, an arched entrance way and elaborately carved screens, friezes, tiles, metal work and sundial.
Lee O. Lawrie was selected to design the elaborate marble sculptures that adorn the Tower. Lawrie was a self-taught sculptor who earned a bachelor of fine arts from Yale and taught there until 1919. He received eight national awards and emerged as one of the nation's foremost stone sculptors specializing in Gothic Revival themes. Some of his most famous works are the “Atlas” statue at Rockefeller Center in New York City and the famous George Washington that stands in Cleveland Park in Washington, D.C. And the Nebraska State Capital.
Lawrie's series of Tower sculptures represent themes of nature, humanity, the Bible, and philosophy. The structural details are mostly compromised of American birds and plants, along with depictions of a man sowing a garden, a man feeding cranes, Adam and Eve and the serpent. Upper balconies feature carved eagles with folded wings, and the panel depicts doves carrying laurel or oak branches as symbols of peace, goodwill and strength. Besides various flowers and trees, there are cranes, herons, eagles, seahorses, jellyfish, fin fish, peacocks, pelicans, flamingos, geese, swans, fox, storks, tortoise, hares, and baboons.
Samuel Yellin founded Samuel Yellin Metalworks in 1909 and became a major figure in the early 20thcentury Arts movement and one of the most admired designers of decorative ironwork. Bok enlisted Yellin to create several elements to adorn the carillon Tower. Yellin designed the brass door and the wrought iron gates on the north side of the Tower. The great door depicts the Biblical creation, the Book of Genesis, starting with the creation of light and ending with Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden. The sundial on the south side represents time with the 12 zodiac signs representing months and Roman numerals representing hours of the day. At the bottom of the sundial is President Calvin Coolidge's speech “dedicated and presented for visitation for the American people” that commemorated the 1929 dedication of the Gardens.
J. H. Dulles Allen created the massive, intricate and colorful tiles that adorn the openings of the bell chamber allowing the sounds of the bells to fill the Gardens. He also designed the tile floor of the Founder's Room just inside the Tower. Through skillful craftsmanship of metal and tile, Dulles Allen transformed birds, turtles, and other plants and animals into a unique piece of art. The colorful tiles found only on the top third of the Tower depict the perfect balance between nature, species, and gender. In addition to his work at the Gardens, Dulles Allen's work can be seen at the Organization of American States building in Washington, D.C., and the Reynolda House(in the Museum of American Art) located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
John Taylor Bellfounders, Ltd. Of Loughborough, England, cast the bells of the Bok Tower Garden's famed carillon. The company has been making bells since the middle of the 14th century and remains today one of the largest bell foundries in the world. Taylor's five-toned principle of bell tuning produces a unique purity and sweetness of tone. This practice of tuning allows the bell to sound with a fullness and mellowness that sets Taylor bells apart from any other cast bronze bells. The firm is the creator of the largest bell in Britian, which hangs in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Taylor bells also ring throughout the world at the Washington National Cathedral, the Chapel at Duke University in North Carolina; the City Hall in Cape Town, South Africa; and in Sydney and Canberra, Australia.
Historic Bok Tower Gardens has had only 4 carillonneurs since 1928. With only 200 carillons in the United States, professional carillonneurs are an elite group. The Garden's first carillonneur, Anton Brees, served from 1928 until 1967, the second, Milford Myhre, served from 1968 to retirement in 2004 after 36 years. In 1991, Terrence served as the Gardens' first assistant and was succeeded by William De Turk in 1993. De Turk was appointed director of carillon services in 2004. A native of the Philadelphia area, he received a bachelor of music degree from Heidelberg College in Tiffon, Ohio, and a Master of music degree from the University of Michigan. In 1974, he was the first carillon scholar at the Bok Singing Tower. He has performed in recitals throughout the United States, Canada and Europe and received many honors including the Berkeley Medal from the University of California at Berkeley for distinguished serves to the carillon.
Edward Bok presented this extraordinary gift in 1929 as an enduring token of his appreciation for the opportunities he had been given. It was never his intent to have his name on the Among Edward Bok's many outstanding contributions, some people, including his own son, believe that Bok Tower Gardens remain his greatest idea.
“..(it) is the greatest idea my father ever had, the most lasting and the most significant. All others that he had, but one (the Philadelphia Award), have ceased for one reason or another.
His sanctuary, a pure gift to the American people without a hint that in visiting it they would in any way become a captive audience, is unique among his ideas. It was not built as a church, a theater, a school, a forum, or a platform. It was built... in dedication to the repose of the human spirit.”
Curtis Bok, Pennsylvania Supreme Court judge & son of Edward W. Bok at Bok Tower Gardens' 50th Anniversary
Bok Tower Gardens, located approximately 55 miles southwest of Orlando and 60 miles east of Tampa, near Lake Wales, Florida. Throughout the year, there are numerous events designed to draw visitors to the Gardens. These events include various concerts featuring folk music, jazz, orchestras, and the carillon bells of the Tower. The most popular is the semi-annual Concert Under the Stars, given in the evening once in the Fall and once in the Spring. The event draws hundreds of visitors to the large field in front of the Tower for an outdoor picnic and features music from both the symphony orchestra and carillon bells. Carillon concerts are featured daily at 1 & 3 p.m. Recorded carillon concerts are played at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and every half hour following.
Edward W. Bok
The story behind Bok Tower Gardens is one of unprecedented historical significance. First, it is one immigrant's extraordinary gesture of gratitude to thank his adopted country for the opportunities he was given. Second, it is remarkable that this one man was able to assemble and inspire the most famed artisans of his generation to work collaboratively to create “a spot of beauty second to none in the country” that has continued to inspire visitors for generations.
The beginnings of Bok tower Gardens date back to 1863 and the birth of Edward William Bok in Den Helder, Netherlands. Bok came to the United States with his family at the age of six, not knowing the language, customs or culture. However, Bok's outgoing personality and enterprising spirit helped him become a model for successful adaptation to the new country and modern times. He overcame numerous challenges to become an outspoken leader who helped shape ideas, values and priorities of the emerging American Middle Class. In many ways, Bok acted as a mediator between the Victorian world and modern society. His life story epitomizes the history of immigration, the influence of journalism on society, social and environmental advocacy, as well as the American Dream.
The young Edward Bok attended Brooklyn Public Schools and discovered early on he could earn money by identifying a need then fulfilling it with an earnest spirit and hard work. He held several simultaneous jobs to help support his family while attending school. He mastered a schoolboy's English, but realized that seven years of public education were hardly basis on which to build the work of a lifetime. So, he became absorbed with self education. He wanted to know how prominent men become successful and what they had in common. Through various jobs Bok came in contact with some of the foremost men of all time, including William Vanderbilt, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison. He went to the library to read about them and eventually saved enough money to buy his own set of encyclopedias. Bok was inspired to learn that many of these now-famous men not only had limited educational experiences similar to his own, but also very modest beginnings.
In 1886, Bok founded The Bok Syndicate Press, which in 1889 led to his becoming the editor of The Ladies Home Journal, the most prestigious woman's magazine of the day. As a young immigrant, Bok and his brother gave up their playtime to help their ailing mother with cooking, cleaning, and household chores. Bok's personal experience with “women's work” gave him valuable insights that helped him create a monthly bible of cooking, gardening, home management and style. Under his leadership, the magazine became one of the most successful and influential publications in America and the first magazine in the world to have over one million subscribers. After a stellar 30 years career, Bok retired in 1919. A year later, he published The Americanization of Edward Bok, which won the Gold Medal of the Academy of Political and Social Science and the Joseph Pulitzer Prize for the best autobiography.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Bok emerged as a champion of social causes, a pioneer in the fields of prenatal education, childcare and even public sex education. He was a well-respected environmental activist who was instrumental in helping save Niagra Falls and raising it's profile as a popular national landmark. In the 1920's Bok also was interested in preserving Florida's Tiger Creek, a pristine blackwater stream that runs through the state's oldest and highest landmass- the Lake Wales Ridge.
Bok was a thoughtful man who believed in promoting world peace, nature preservation and culture. He founded numerous awards and civic enterprises. Bok also anonymously donated significant amounts of money to support cultural efforts.
During visits from their Pennsylvania residence to their winter retreat near Lake Wales, Florida, Mr. Bok became enchanted with the beauty and vistas from nearby Iron Mountain. At 298 feet above sea level, one peninsular Florida's highest point offered views of dramatic sunsets. Awed by the tranquility of the area , Bok wanted to create a place that would “touch the soul with it's beauty and quiet,” and chose it as a perfect setting for a bird sanctuary.
The Masters Behind the Masterpiece
Bok commissioned a cadre of master artisans and hundreds of laborers to help him create the masterpiece now known as Bok Tower Gardens.
Pivotal to Bok's plan to create the Gardens was the participation of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the most distinguished landscape architect of the generation. He was the son of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture and designer of New York City's Central Park. After graduating from Harvard, Olmsted Jr. worked with his father on the Biltmore Estate and eventually landscaped many of Washington D.C.'s most prominent landmarks, including the White House, Jefferson Memorial, Washington National Cathedral and the National Zoo.
In 1923, Olmsted embarked on his mission to transform Bok Tower Gardens from a sand hill into one of the nation's most beautiful garden sanctuaries. For the next five years, Olmsted Jr. and his team diligently planted a mix of native and exotic plants that would thrive in the humid climate and lend a tropical feel of the native oak hammock.
Edward Bok commissioned Milton B. Medary to design and build the carillon Tower. The Lake Wales project was an opportunity for Medary to adapt traditional Gothic design and incorporate unique elements that represented Florida's nature. His solution was an art deco and neo-Gothic tower built with a steel frame structure encased in beautiful coquina stone from St. Augustine, Florida, and pink and gray marble from Tate, Georgia. The Tower features sculpted finials, balconies, an arched entrance way and elaborately carved screens, friezes, tiles, metal work and sundial.
Lee O. Lawrie was selected to design the elaborate marble sculptures that adorn the Tower. Lawrie was a self-taught sculptor who earned a bachelor of fine arts from Yale and taught there until 1919. He received eight national awards and emerged as one of the nation's foremost stone sculptors specializing in Gothic Revival themes. Some of his most famous works are the “Atlas” statue at Rockefeller Center in New York City and the famous George Washington that stands in Cleveland Park in Washington, D.C. And the Nebraska State Capital.
Lawrie's series of Tower sculptures represent themes of nature, humanity, the Bible, and philosophy. The structural details are mostly compromised of American birds and plants, along with depictions of a man sowing a garden, a man feeding cranes, Adam and Eve and the serpent. Upper balconies feature carved eagles with folded wings, and the panel depicts doves carrying laurel or oak branches as symbols of peace, goodwill and strength. Besides various flowers and trees, there are cranes, herons, eagles, seahorses, jellyfish, fin fish, peacocks, pelicans, flamingos, geese, swans, fox, storks, tortoise, hares, and baboons.
Samuel Yellin founded Samuel Yellin Metalworks in 1909 and became a major figure in the early 20thcentury Arts movement and one of the most admired designers of decorative ironwork. Bok enlisted Yellin to create several elements to adorn the carillon Tower. Yellin designed the brass door and the wrought iron gates on the north side of the Tower. The great door depicts the Biblical creation, the Book of Genesis, starting with the creation of light and ending with Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden. The sundial on the south side represents time with the 12 zodiac signs representing months and Roman numerals representing hours of the day. At the bottom of the sundial is President Calvin Coolidge's speech “dedicated and presented for visitation for the American people” that commemorated the 1929 dedication of the Gardens.
J. H. Dulles Allen created the massive, intricate and colorful tiles that adorn the openings of the bell chamber allowing the sounds of the bells to fill the Gardens. He also designed the tile floor of the Founder's Room just inside the Tower. Through skillful craftsmanship of metal and tile, Dulles Allen transformed birds, turtles, and other plants and animals into a unique piece of art. The colorful tiles found only on the top third of the Tower depict the perfect balance between nature, species, and gender. In addition to his work at the Gardens, Dulles Allen's work can be seen at the Organization of American States building in Washington, D.C., and the Reynolda House(in the Museum of American Art) located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
John Taylor Bellfounders, Ltd. Of Loughborough, England, cast the bells of the Bok Tower Garden's famed carillon. The company has been making bells since the middle of the 14th century and remains today one of the largest bell foundries in the world. Taylor's five-toned principle of bell tuning produces a unique purity and sweetness of tone. This practice of tuning allows the bell to sound with a fullness and mellowness that sets Taylor bells apart from any other cast bronze bells. The firm is the creator of the largest bell in Britian, which hangs in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Taylor bells also ring throughout the world at the Washington National Cathedral, the Chapel at Duke University in North Carolina; the City Hall in Cape Town, South Africa; and in Sydney and Canberra, Australia.
Historic Bok Tower Gardens has had only 4 carillonneurs since 1928. With only 200 carillons in the United States, professional carillonneurs are an elite group. The Garden's first carillonneur, Anton Brees, served from 1928 until 1967, the second, Milford Myhre, served from 1968 to retirement in 2004 after 36 years. In 1991, Terrence served as the Gardens' first assistant and was succeeded by William De Turk in 1993. De Turk was appointed director of carillon services in 2004. A native of the Philadelphia area, he received a bachelor of music degree from Heidelberg College in Tiffon, Ohio, and a Master of music degree from the University of Michigan. In 1974, he was the first carillon scholar at the Bok Singing Tower. He has performed in recitals throughout the United States, Canada and Europe and received many honors including the Berkeley Medal from the University of California at Berkeley for distinguished serves to the carillon.
Edward Bok presented this extraordinary gift in 1929 as an enduring token of his appreciation for the opportunities he had been given. It was never his intent to have his name on the Among Edward Bok's many outstanding contributions, some people, including his own son, believe that Bok Tower Gardens remain his greatest idea.
“..(it) is the greatest idea my father ever had, the most lasting and the most significant. All others that he had, but one (the Philadelphia Award), have ceased for one reason or another.
His sanctuary, a pure gift to the American people without a hint that in visiting it they would in any way become a captive audience, is unique among his ideas. It was not built as a church, a theater, a school, a forum, or a platform. It was built... in dedication to the repose of the human spirit.”
Curtis Bok, Pennsylvania Supreme Court judge & son of Edward W. Bok at Bok Tower Gardens' 50th Anniversary
Bok Tower Gardens, located approximately 55 miles southwest of Orlando and 60 miles east of Tampa, near Lake Wales, Florida. Throughout the year, there are numerous events designed to draw visitors to the Gardens. These events include various concerts featuring folk music, jazz, orchestras, and the carillon bells of the Tower. The most popular is the semi-annual Concert Under the Stars, given in the evening once in the Fall and once in the Spring. The event draws hundreds of visitors to the large field in front of the Tower for an outdoor picnic and features music from both the symphony orchestra and carillon bells. Carillon concerts are featured daily at 1 & 3 p.m. Recorded carillon concerts are played at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and every half hour following.
