Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

337 results found

Devils Tower National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Devils Tower National Monument, 1,347 acres (546 hectares), overlooking the Belle Fourche River, NE Wyo.; it was the first designated U.S. national monument (1906). Devils Tower, 865 ft (264 m) high a...

Makkah Royal Clock Tower

(Encyclopedia)Makkah Royal Clock Tower: see Abraj Al-Bait. ...

Lamb, John

(Encyclopedia)Lamb, John, 1735–1800, American Revolutionary leader, b. New York City. Prior to the Revolution he was a leader of the Sons of Liberty in New York and helped form the New York committee of correspon...

skyscraper

(Encyclopedia)skyscraper, modern building of great height, constructed on a steel skeleton. The form originated in the United States. By convention, a skyscraper is a building that is used primarily for human h...

Rosenwald, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Rosenwald, Julius rōˈzənwôld [key], 1862–1932, American merchant and philanthropist, b. Springfield, Ill. He was president (1910–25), and later chairman of the board, of the mail-order house o...

Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson

(Encyclopedia)Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson, 1868–1941, American educator, b. Andrews, Ind., grad. Univ. of Indiana, 1891, Ph.D. Columbia, 1905. He was a pioneer writer in the history of American education and ser...

Giralda

(Encyclopedia)Giralda hērälˈdä [key], the famous tower adjoining the Cathedral of Seville, Spain. It was built (1163–84) to serve as minaret to the main mosque of Seville, on the site of which the cathedral n...

Big Ben

(Encyclopedia)Big Ben, the bell in the Parliament tower (Westminster Palace), London, England. It was named for Sir Benjamin Hall, commissioner of works when the bell was installed in 1856. The name is often used t...

spire

(Encyclopedia)spire, high, tapering structure crowning a tower and having a general pyramidal outline. The simplest spires were the steeply pitched timber roofs capping Romanesque towers and campaniles. In later Ro...

campanile

(Encyclopedia)campanile kămpənēˈlē, Ital. kämpänēˈlā [key], Italian form of bell tower, constructed chiefly during the Middle Ages. Built in connection with a church or a town hall, it served as a belfry ...