All Hallows Guild Carousel

Traveling Carousel
Awaiting the opening of the Spring Flower Show
Nearest city Washington, District of Columbia
Coordinates 38°55′43″N 77°4′15″W / 38.92861°N 77.07083°WCoordinates: 38°55′43″N 77°4′15″W / 38.92861°N 77.07083°W
Area less than one acre
Built 1890
Built by Merry-Go-Round Company of Cincinnati
Architectural style Other
Governing body Private
NRHP Reference # 97001116[1]
Added to NRHP September 11, 1997

The All Hallows Guild Carousel or simply the Traveling Carousel is a historic carousel housed at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. since 1963. Previously, it was a "county fair" carousel that moved with traveling carnivals throughout the United States. The rare all-wood carousel was likely built in the 1890s by the Merry-Go-Round Company of Cincinnati and has a rare caliola with brass pipes that was built by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda, New York in 1937.

Since 1963 the carousel has been owned by the All Hallows Guild of the National Cathedral and was used several times per year at fund raising events and then disassembled for storage. More recently, the carousel has been assembled and used only once a year at the Guild's Spring Flower Show.[2]

There are 24 animal figures on the carousel plus two chariots. The animals are formed into 12 pairs. The animals include a single lion, zebra, and elephant, pairs of goats, camels, and deer, four standing horses, and nine jumping horses, which rise and fall as the carousel rotates. They are brightly painted and hand-carved in the European tradition.[3]

A gasoline engine located near the 16 foot (4.9 m) center pole drives the carousel. A yellow and white canopy covers the structure and is topped by a small flag.[2]

The All Hallows Guild Carousel is one of only two carousels listed on the National Carousel Census in the District of Columbia. The other, the Smithsonian Carousel on the National Mall, is a larger, non-traveling carousel with 60 wood and metal composition figures built fifty years after the All Hallows Guild Carousel.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Callcott, Stephen (1997). "NRHP Registration Form, All Hallows Guild Carousel". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 National Carousel Census, accessed May 2, 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to All Hallows Guild carousel.