|
The Winchester House What do you do when you're the widow of the owner of Winchester Arms and subsequently rake in more money than you know what to do with during the heady days of tax-free America? Build a grand house of course. But along the way you get a superstitious turn that the ghosts of everyone killed by your late husband's guns are knocking around so you spirit proof your house into a sprawling seven storey mansion. It lost four of them during an earthquake in which the house's unique floating foundation spared it from total destruction.  Features include countless tacked on additions where needed. Windows inside the place, including one that was especially designed to cast rainbows over a room - and then installed into an indoor room and countless references to the number 13, even going so far as to have chandeliers modified to support the right amount of candles. tons of images here. It's quite hard to describe how utterly bizarre the inside of this place is. Fonthill Abbey What happens should you inherit a million pounds during the early 1800's? William Beckford knew. Kindle your inner romantic, and build this Gothic Revival monstrosity, pitting the long suffering James Wyatt to design it for you.   These images are not exaggerating, this place was immense. The front door was thirty feet and allegedly made to feel more imposing by hiring a dwarf footman. To keep out people a massive wall dubbed "the barrier" rose at twelve feet and had the cozy addition of iron spikes. It took sixty fires burning during summer to keep the place warm as even bedrooms were little more than icy cells. Yet Beckford entertained nobody despite serving food for twelve people around the fifty foot dining table. In an effort to get it up in time they used an experimental "roman cement" which often crumbled to bits and even when finished the place kept making really unsettling groans. The tower collapsed six times. James Wyatt was also pretty insane in his ways. His Gothick styles were eventually given a term to describe their resulting ambiance; 'gloomth'. For King George III's palace at Kew he produced an imposing structure dubbed "the Bastille" and was to featured a new building material for the day; cast iron.
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2015 12:42
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 01:09 |
|
|
Pile of Kittens posted:Time for a historical architectural failure!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2015 07:07
|
|
|
That's acutely closer to reality than you might think. A friend of mine had a lecturer during their architecture courses who pretty much taught that as a way to get inspired.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2015 08:21
|
|
|
Feminition posted:(real talk: stay at the vdara if you do go to vegas)
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2015 01:50
|
|
|
It's a green screen so you can comp in the house you want when showing the relatives  The set from Intolerance also has inspired archelogical digs. You can also visit Mos Espa, which is still standing after shooing ended on Phantom Menace.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2015 02:48
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 01:09 |
|
|
If you want fire hazard there was an old building that went up recently that turned out to have had used seaweed as insulation.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 9, 2016 05:49
|
|