THE AUDUBON -BOLLELIN o1 
“Make you the world a bit better and more beautiful because you 
have lived in it,” they told him. Bok did not forget. 
_ Fifty thousand persons attended the state dedication of the Singing 
tower December 2, when listeners came from miles across the peninsula. 
Officials are prepared to handle a greater crowd February 1. 
The singing tower is 205 feet high. It has a framework of steel, 
similar to that of a modern skyscraper. 
Milton B. Medary of Philadelphia, American architect who designed 
the tower, created a plan that resulted in a changing wall. 
The tower is square for about three-fourths of its height, when each 
square corner ends in a balcony formed of carved slabs of marble which 
meet at the base of a huge figure of an eagle with folded wings, symbolic 
of the sanctuary for birds. 
*k *k * 
From this point, the tower takes on octagonal form, the eight but- 
tresses which rear from the base drawing slightly in as they rise to the 
top and end in gigantic figures of cranes. 
Chief among the exterior carvings are the huge panels showing 
Florida bird life. These surround the base of the tower about the north 
door at a height of thirty feet. The panels form balconies between the 
marble buttresses and are carved entirely through the stone, giving the 
effect of a grille. | 
Balconies on four sides at a height of 120 feet are designed of marble 
in conventional form. These balconies are reached through doors which 
are part of large faience grilles. At the height of 160 feet are the four 
balconies which surmount the corners of the coquina masonry. The 
large figure of an eagle with folded wings is placed at the exact corner, 
flanked on each side with a panel with doves as the chief figures. 
Slightly above this point the marble buttresses taper inward. 
In each of the eight spaces between the buttresses which outline the 
top of the tower is a huge faience grille, these depicting the creation 
and man’s dominion over nature. Adam and Eve are the dominant 
figures in a setting of trees. 
Surmounting the tower are eight cranes, each fifteen feet high, which 
form the pinnacles with which the buttresses terminate. 
The tower commands a view of thirty miles in each direction. It is 
situated in the heart of the bird sanctuary, which covers an entire small 
mountain. The whole has been given by Mr. Bok to the American 
people as a place of rest and peace for humankind as well as birds. 
