Posts tagged architecture
The Winchester Mystery House was commissioned by widow Sarah Winchester, after a medium told her that if she did not continue building a house forever, she would die. The result is a strange 7 story mansion (reduced to four stories after the 1906 earthquake) with dead ends, traps, false fireplaces, and more:
She believed her only chance of a normal life was to build a house, and keep building it. If the house was never finished, no ghost could settle into it. The house contains many features that were utilized to trap or confuse spirits. There are doors that are small or lead nowhere and windows that look into other parts of the house. The mansion may be huge but there are only two mirrors in the whole place. This is because Sarah believed that ghosts were afraid of their own reflection.
The house has about 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms, 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys, 2 basements and 3 elevators.
Cliff House (1896-1907) has had five major incarnations since its beginnings in 1858. In 1896, Adolph Sutro built a new Cliff House, a seven story Victorian Chateau, called by some “the Gingerbread Palace”, below his estate on the bluffs of Sutro Heights. Great throngs of San Franciscans arrived on steam trains, bicycles, carts and horse wagons on Sunday excursions.
The House burned to the ground on the evening of September 7, 1907.
Pavilion of the City of Casablanca, International Fair of Casablanca, Morocco, 1960
(Jean-François Zevaco and E.J. Duhon)
The Parthenon, Athens, from the East (1860) byFrancis Frith (British, 1822–1898)
Photography by brokenview
Ecole Maternelle Pajol is a four-classroom kindergarten in Paris’s 18th arrondissement that joyfully showcases how colour and education are a true dream team. I love how Parisian architects Palatre & Leclère restored the 1940′s building. The front retains its vintage brick beauty while the back explodes with vibrant patterns and colourful activities. The interiors are equally joyful with bold hallways, bright furniture/building materials and a dotted ceiling I just love.
Wells Cathedral and Wesminter Abbey by Frederick Henry Evans (1853-1943).
Biblioteca Angelica, Rome, Italy
