Disappointed Tourist
Ellen Harvey

Author: admin

5Pointz

Aston, Birmingham, UK

Rebuilt 1957

Arbol de la Noche Triste

Mexico City, Mexico Burned 1980 This is a tree in the center of Mexico City. Under this tree the Spaniard Hernan Cortes – aka el Conquistador, cried as he was defeated by the Mexicas. He then went on to win against the Mexicas and conquered Mexico for the Spanish. The tree stayed there over centuries. […]

Atlantis

Location unclear Earthquake & Flood I want to visit an impossible place. Anon. Atlantis (Ancient Greek: Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in Plato’s dialogues discussing the hubris of nations. Atlantis is mentioned as having been an enemy of ancient Athens and also as having sunk beneath the sea after an earthquake. The reality of Atlantis […]

Balmville Tree

Balmville, Newburgh, New York, USA Felled 2015 The Disappointed Tourist: Balmville Tree, Ellen Harvey, 2024. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 24 x 18″ (61 x 46 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. Balmville without its tree is not Balmville. Anon The Balmville Tree was the oldest known eastern cottonwood in the Eastern United States. Local legend had it that […]

Bay Point

Bay Point, New Jersey, USA Expropriated 2017 The Disappointed Tourist: Bay Point, Ellen Harvey, 2024. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. I grew up here. Blue Acres bought up the houses and we were forced to move. They demolished all the houses which was devastating. Now […]

Bed & Breakfast

Tipperary, Ireland Closed 1977 The Disappointed Tourist: Bed & Breakfast, Ellen Harvey, 2023. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. This was the house I grew up in. It had 15 rooms and my mother ran it as a Guest House. She kept it beautifully and it […]

Birmingham Central Library

Birmingham, UK Demolished 2015 The Disappointed Tourist: Birmingham Central Library, Ellen Harvey, 2024. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. A brutalist classic! Anon. Birmingham Central Library was the main public library from 1974 until 2013, when it was demolished and replaced by the new Library of Birmingham. […]

Blockbuster Video

USA Closed 2014 The Disappointed Tourist: Blockbuster Video, Ellen Harvey, 2024. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. Blockbuster video was an American video rental store chain, founded by David Cook in 1985 as a stand-alone video rental shop that grew into a national store chain. At its peak in […]

El Bosque Encantado

La Garita, Alajuela, Costa Rica Closed 1995 The Disappointed Tourist: El Bosque Encantado, Ellen Harvey, 2021. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 24 x 18″ (61 x 46 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. The “Bosque Encantado” was one of the most important amusement parks in the 70’s and 80’s in Costa Rica. I was 3 or 4 […]

Chacaltaya Glacier

El Alto, Bolivia Melted 2009 I picked the glacier in Bolivia out of pure vicarious pleasure — my dearest lovely twin boys traveled there to 5000 metres above sea level to the place where the glacier had melted away to see the disused ski lift – they were sending back pictures for me to learn […]

Christchurch Greyfriars

London, England, UK Bombed 1940 The Disappointed Tourist: Christchurch Greyfriars, Ellen Harvey, 2021. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 24 x 18″ (61 x 46 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. Requested by Fred C. & Victoria P. Christchurch Greyfriars, also known as Christchurch Newgate Street, located in London opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, was a church built to […]

Didcot A Power Station

Oxfordshire, UK Demolished The Disappointed Tourist: Didcot A Power Station, Ellen Harvey, 2021. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. Iconic industrial site I would see on journeys to the SW of England. Mark G. Didcot A Power Station was a coal and gas-fired power plant designed by […]

Eighty Acres Neighborhood

Elsmere, Glassboro, New Jersey, USA Demolished 1930s The Disappointed Tourist: Eight Acres Neighborhood, Ellen Harvey, 2021. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard. These images (available from the Library of Congress) were captured by photographer Arthur Rothstein for a national photography project by the Farm Security Administration, […]

Gare de Saint Germain en Laye

France Demolished 1972 For me that train station represented the gateway to my vacation time, most of it spent in our family home, located in the countryside of Haute Marne, near the dividing line between Champagne & Burgundy. As you know, train stations carried much more ‘weight’ in Europe than they did here.  As my […]