Bok Tower Gardens carillon
— bells walking down the ridge at three.
Not only on a wall.
Bok Tower Gardens carillon, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“A 205-foot pink-and-grey marble tower on the highest ground in peninsular Florida. Sixty bronze bells, the heaviest near twelve tons, cast in Loughborough, England. Edward Bok built it as a thank-you to the country that took him in. The recital begins at one and again at three, and the orange groves below carry the sound for a mile.
The place, in three passes.
Bok Tower Gardens sits on Iron Mountain, a sandy ridge 298 feet above sea level, the highest point in peninsular Florida. Dutch-American editor Edward W. Bok commissioned the site as a gift to the American people and dedicated it in February 1929 with President Calvin Coolidge present. Architect Milton B. Medary designed the Singing Tower; Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. designed the surrounding gardens of live oak, sabal palm, magnolia, and azalea. The tower and gardens were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993 and remain open daily near Lake Wales in Polk County.
Medary's tower rises 205 feet in pink Etowah marble from Georgia, grey Creole marble from Tampa Bay, and coquina rock. Lee Lawrie carved the sculptural panels: herons, pelicans, flamingos, and the signs of the zodiac. The brass door beneath the south face is the work of metalworker Samuel Yellin. The structure stands on a tidal reflecting pool ringed by a moat, so the marble seems to float above the water at the foot of the slope.
The 60-bell carillon was cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough, England, and ranges from a 16-pound treble to a bourdon of more than 11 tons. Daily 60-minute recitals run at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., with shorter clock-tune pieces every half hour. Resident carillonneur Geert D'hollander has held the post since 2012, following a line back to founding carillonneur Anton Brees. The recital tradition has continued without break since the 1929 dedication.
