Transcript
FACTS ABOUT
The Singing Tower and Sanctuary
LAKE WALES, FLORIDA
Also Items of Interest About
Lake Wales, Florida
"THE CITY OF THE CARILLON"
The following descriptions of Mr. Edwards W. Bok's Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower are taken from addresses given by Major H. M. Nornabell, Director of the Sanctuary and reprinted in a copyrighted booklet by The Highlander Publishing Co., Lake Wales.
"Why has Mr. Edward W. Bok given to the people this beautiful Sanctuary and its wonderful Singing Tower?"
The answer is best found in the prologue to "The Americanization of Edward Bok" and in his "Two Persons." There he tells how the Dutch government entrusted the care of a dangerous sandbar off the Dutch coast to hid grandfather. Infested with pirates, and as barren of all vegetation as the most arid spot on earth, nevertheless order was not only established there, but more. Both his grandparents were true lovers of beauty, and by their own art and persistence planted the island so wonderfully with trees and shrubs, they changed their sandbar into a haven of beauty, where birds rested on their journey across the North sea, thus saving the lives of thousands. Humans came also to this Sanctuary from the world over for inspiration.
The message left by these grandparents, "Make you the world a bit more beautiful and better because you have lived in it," became Mr. Bok's own inspiration throughout his life in America with his many services to his fellow men. But he did not find the place to fully realize his grandparents' message until he walked one evening from his home at Mountain Lake to Iron Mountain. The sun was setting and the moon rising at its full. Standing between those two ancient symbols of man's ideals and his activities Mr. Bok felt that this mountain once hallowed by the worship of the Indians of Florida who used to meet here each spring to reverence the Great Spirit, was the place to establish a Sanctuary for birds and humans, and with its beauty help each of you to make your own world a bit more beautiful and better because you have lived in it.
Why Is It Called A Singing Tower?
This is the traditional name of a carillon tower. From early medieval times in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the North of France, Watch towers were erected from which sentinels could see the flooding of the dykes or the coming of invaders. In such a crisis the blowing of a horn by a watch would summon people to the threatened danger.
Gradually a bell replaced the horn. Then clocks were introduced into the towers and bells were struck to mark the passing hours. More bells were added, then chimes on which simple tunes were played at the quarter hours, and more fully before the big bell struck the hour. Slowly through the succeeding centuries still more bells were added until in the 17th century, that majestic instrument, the carillon was evolved.
Those towers were of international importance in the community life, calling their people to war, to peace, to prayer, to work and to feast. As each country saw its national history reflected in the architecture of the tower, as well as in the music of the bells, both became a single unit to its folk and known as a "Sing-ing Tower." When you hear the carillon at the Sanctuary send out its glorious melodies from the tower's height, (some 205 feet) you will also lose the idea of the tower as just a building, or of the bells as bells. Instead you will fell the whole unit alive, a wonderful singing force, the noblest expression of democratic music, a true Singing Tower.
Regarding the pronunciation of carillon, it is generally accepted as good English to pronounce carillon with the "o" and in atom, The player is a carillonneur with the last syllable sounded as "eur" in chauffeur.
"The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth-
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth."
[Photo caption] Resurrection Garden in Sanctuary
What Is A Carillon?
An exact definition demands too many details of the technique of tower music. "It is enough to say a carillon is a set of bells tuned to the intervals of the chromatic scale, that is, proceeding entirely by half tones, the compass being three octaves or more, the lowest bell being often many tones, so that in the highest octaves the weight of each bell is but a few pounds and all the bells hang "dead" or fixed, that is, so as not to swing."
Many people do not realize the difference between a carillon and a chime.
"A Chime, ring, or peal, is a set of bells not more than 8, 10 or 12 in number tuned to the notes of the diatonic scale (that is, proceeding by a definite order of tones and half tones.") The carillon is played on a keyboard or clavier, similar to an organ piano.
Our carillon has 71 bells with 53 notes, or four and one-half octaves. The total weight of the bells is 123,264 pounds. The tenor bell alone weighs 11 tons and the smallest 12 pounds. It is one of the finest and largest carillons ever cast, and was made at the John Taylor & Sons Bellfoundry at Loughborough, England.
In materials and motifs the Singing Tower often partakes directly of Florida itself. The coquina rock used in the lower walls was excavated at National Gardens north of Daytona. Coquina rock is historic to Florida and was used by the Spaniards in the old fort at St. Augustine in 1638. Also a Florida motif is found in the grill of colored faience in the lancet windows. There through a richly colored series of under sea forms like the jelly-fish and sea-horse, the development of life is traced through flora and fauna reaching the trees and birds of the upper panels and centering in a relief that shows "man's dominion over all."
Similarly the carvings of birds on the marble band encircling the tower above the great North Door, and the pinnacles which replace the gargoyles of European Gothic, show the cranes, flamingos and native birds of Florida. Wherever possible, the architect, Milton B. Medary, and the builders, Horace Burrell & Sons, have used Southern material in the construction of the Tower. Both the gray marble at its base called "Creole" which is cut to suggest the outline of bells, and also the pink "Etowah" marble are from the Tate Quarries of Georgia.
The Tower weighs 5,500 tons and is securely anchored to a reinforced concrete mat, 2 feet 6 inches thick. This in turn is supported by 160 reinforced concrete piles, driven to varying depths from 13 feet 2 inches to 24 feet 10 inches below ground. The Tower rises from its foundation, 51 feet wide at its base to the majestic height of 205 feet 2 inches. In gradually changing form and tapering lines it becomes octagonal at the top but 17 feet wide. The North Door is of copper bronze, hand-wrought, by Samuel Yellin, centering in its rich design the various motifs of the Sanctuary and the Tower.
The latter is surrounded by a moat. This with the planting and its reflection pool will keep it at on with the Sanctuary itself. The interior of the tower will not be open to the public as it will be private to the carillon and its player.
The Sanctuary and the Singing Tower were dedicated to the public by President Calvin Coolidge on February 1, 1929.
The carillon is played from the middle of December to the middle of April on schedules days each year.
The carillonneur is the famous Anton Brees, formerly of Antwerp, Belgium, who is in residence at Lake Wales from December to May each year. During the summer months he presides over the keyboard of the Duke University Carillon at Durham, North Carolina.
In giving this wonderful Sanctuary and noble Singing Tower to the public, Mr. Bok asks only one thing of the people. Will the public cooperate with him in the care of the Sanctuary? Will they, as well as its appointed wardens, be guardians of its quiet, its flowers and its birds? Will visitors not pick the flowers, feed or frighten the birds or make the Sanctuary a picnic ground for any form of refreshment whatever? Especially they are asked not to scatter paper or rubbished about, and in walking keep to the grass paths. This one place where visitors are asked, "Please keep ON the grass." Gentlemen are expected to wear their coats when in the Sanctuary.
The Sanctuary grounds are open to the public throughout the entire year from 8 o'clock in the morning until 5 o'clock in the afternoon.
The Bells are best heard at a distance preferably some 200 yards from the Tower.
"I, who have seen the martyrdom of the historic Singing Tower of Ypres and now the birth of this truly magnificent Singing Tower of Florida, fully realize what it will mean to you and to all the future generations of America" writes Major H. M. Nornabell, director of the Sanctuary.
[photo caption] Clock Tower and Part of the Business District
Lake Wales "The City of the Carillon" -is one mile from the famous Singing Tower and Sanctuary, and is rightfully the host city to hundreds of thousands of Tower visitors each year.
POPULATION GROWTH
1920 -- 796
1925 -- 2,747
1930 -- 3,399
1935 -- 4,292
THERE ARE REASONS
Lake Wales is large enough to have the city advantages and small enough to get the feel of the open spaces and to know folk.
Lake Wales is the nearest city to the exact geographic center of the State of Florida which makes it an ideal spot to locate in and enjoy the fascinating long and short drives in every direction.
The Scenic Highlands, familiarly called "The Ridge" extends south through central Florida for about 90 miles. The elevation is from 150 to 324 feet above sea level, Iron Mountain at Lake Wales being 324.9 feet said by the United States Bureau of Geological Survey to be "the highest spot yet known in Florida." The Ridge is the backbone, the skyline and also the hub and crossroads of Florida.
[photo caption] Crystal Lake Surrounded by Parks and Playgrounds One Block from Business District
Lake Wales lies very near the center of the Ridge and the center of Imperial Polk County, the richest county per capita in the United States, according to government figures. Here the glorious sunshine of the winter months permits an out-door life in a picturesque rolling country dotted with beautiful lakes amid countless groves of orange and grapefruit trees redolent with fruit blossoms. The climate is mild but buoyant, and the days filled with sunshine-life.
Lake Wales is the center of the great citrus industry of Florida. Within a ten mile radius are planted more than 25,000 acres of orange, grapefruit and other citrus trees, the largest citrus cultivation in a similar area in the world.
primarily Lake Wales is a city of homes but also has six good hotels, open year round, modern apartment houses and other accommodations for visitors for either a short or a long visit.
The people of Lake Wales extend to you an invitation to visit our city and enjoy our assets which go to make Lake Wales a good year-round city in which to live.
Our back country is substantial and productive, our business is good, our taxes are reasonable and our people are happy. You are invited to become one of us.
For further literature and information write to the
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
LAKE WALES, FLORIDA
FACTS ABOUT
The Singing Tower and Sanctuary
LAKE WALES, FLORIDA
Also Items of Interest About
Lake Wales, Florida
"THE CITY OF THE CARILLON"
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