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A year ago, Licata became the fourth member of a group of garden bloggers with an attitude. Garden Rant ...is one of my favorites: A blend of gossip, news, crusade and, yes, raw rant, it blows the cobwebs out of gardening's mustier corners.

–Adrian Higgins,
Washington Post

... co-curators Elizabeth Licata and Amy Cappellazzo have magnificently transcended the limitations of what is, at bottom, a show of books. ...Preciousness—the bane of such exhibitions—is nowhere in evidence.

–Richard Huntington,
Buffalo News

"Garden Walk Buffalo: A Celebration of Urban Gardens," is a tour guide into dozens of gardens during the annual event held the last full weekend in July. It's knowingly written by Buffalo Spree editor Elizabeth Licata, and packed with gorgeous photographs...

–Mark Sommer,
Buffalo News

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Art Writer

The Art of the Bridge

"Of all the works of man, there is not any one which unites so well with natural scenery, and so heightens its beauty, as a bridge, if any taste, or rather if no bad taste, be displayed in its structure. This is exemplified in the rude as well as in the magnificent, by the stepping stones or crossing plank of a village brook, as well as by the immortal works of Trajan."

-Robert Southey

If Southey was writing in the sound-bite era, he might simply have said "It's hard to build an ugly bridge." And he would be right. Through the simple facts of their being built over water and framed by the meeting of land and river, bridges automatically have great scenic potential. For centuries, great architects have capitalized on this potential, from the Romans, who specialized in magnificent concrete vaults and arches, such as the Pont du Gard in Nimes (c.1st century, A.D.) to 20th century architects such as John Augustus Roebling, who created the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge (1855) and the Brooklyn Bridge (1883). Roebling died of tetanus after crushing his foot while surveying for the Brooklyn Bridge; his son completed the project in his name. Roebling is famous for his "spun in position" cables that were used for the Railway Suspension Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge and every major suspension bridge built since (until recently). the Brooklyn Bridge was the first to use steel rather than wrought iron wires. The Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge had such a spectacular location (within site of the Falls) and such a deceptively fragile and delicate appearance, that countless printmakers and photographers memorialized it. Thankfully so, as it had to be replaced in 1896 due to increased railway traffic, probably not anticipated in those early years of rail transportation. Bridges were built very frequently over the Niagara River during the 19th century, many of them beautiful, most of them now known to us only through prints and early photography. One of them, The Falls View or Upper Steel Arch Bridge (1898), was destroyed in 1938 by a record ice jam. Another early bridge, the Lewiston and Queenston Suspension Bridge (1850) was destroyed by a 1864 gale when its guy wires were inadvertently left unfastened.

Yes, bridges came and went in those days but all, regardless of their temporary or experimental nature, were heralded with great excitement. Both engineers and public alike took understandable pride in spanning such a famous and formidable body of water. Phrases like "The Largest in the WORLD!!!" (from the poster for the short-lived 1850 Lewiston Bridge) and "this astonishing scheme," and "the grandeur of such a conception," were commonly used by architects and engineers to describe their projects. It was a Canadian engineer, Sir Richard Bonnycastle, who said in 1836 that bridges over Niagara should "combine the magnificent and the useful." Judging from the prints, photographs, and surviving structures, most of the early Niagara bridges lived up to this ambitious but appropriate aspiration. The only surviving 19th century bridge, the Niagara Railway Arch (1896-97), now known as the Whirlpool Bridge, is a handsome and sturdy replacement for Roebling's Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge.

Although they lack the romantic fragility of those past structures, even our contemporary bridges--notably the Rainbow (1941) and Lewiston-Queenston (1962) use simple steel arch designs that have an elegance of their own. It is unfortunate that the ugly duckling in this 20th century group, the asymmetrical Peace Bridge (1926), is the one now being duplicated for the 21st century. It is even more unfortunate that, now that suspension bridges have been improved to the point where they can withstand hurricanes, we are not taking the opportunity to revive the Niagara suspension bridge, now known only in historical archives. The proposed Freschi-Lin single pylon, curved cable suspension bridge is an excellent example of the beauty a suspension bridge can bring to a river crossing. It would be a nice architectural change from the steel arch monopoly now dominating the river and a timely reminder of an era when vision was applauded, not suppressed.

It is still possible, as Sir Richard Bonnycastle believed, to "combine the magnificent and the useful." We owe that not only to ourselves, but to the legacy of visionary engineers and architects like Roebling who risked not just their careers but their lives to make bridges that lived up to the grandeur of the river they crossed.

The historical information in this column is drawn from the exhibition catalog Spanning Niagara: The International Bridges 1848-1962, which accompanied the traveling exhibition of that name organized by the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University in 1985. Acknowledgements are due to Ralph Greenhill, curator and essayist and Sandra Olsen, Museum Director.

Artvoice, 1998

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