Every historic building has a story to tell
There is a small wooden chair in the front hall of my childhood home. Made of cherry or walnut, it is a nice little chair, but unremarkable except for its story. From an early age, I knew the chair traveled strapped to a horse through the Cumberland Gap in the 18th century. I fervently wanted (read more)
I’m a firm believer in the arts and literature as a necessary component of life. Although my artistic ability never quite manifested (even using rulers, I struggle to draw a straight line), I’ve read voraciously since an early age and books remain one of my chief passions. During a recent week of work in West (read more)
The story of an urban landscape, I think, is in part told by its roads. Historian John R. Stilgoe, in his treatise on the man-made American landscape, said that “16th century Europeans saw the road as not good or evil but as enticingly mysterious.”[1] I ascribe to that theory – and often explore both those (read more)
A vacation never really seems like a vacation to me unless it involves the ocean and a cocoon of soft, inviting beach. Perhaps it is growing up in a land-locked state that stimulates this desire to flee to the coast and water (yes, I know the Bluegrass has the greatest length of navigable waterways and (read more)
As the product of a rural environment, having cut my teeth (and prompted a few more gray hairs on my parents’ heads) on winding country roads, I’ve always been aware of the stories behind the names of those roads. Family names, nearby waterways, topographical features – and mills – all figure into many a historic (read more)
Oxford, first settled by Saxons, and now populated with students, tourists, and harried residents, is one of my favorite towns in Britain – and is a different town, I think, for each person who visits. The University of Oxford dates to the 12th century, and the architecture of the colleges and town combine for a (read more)
Categories: Architecture, England, English Heritage, Tourism
Tags: Ashmolean, Blackwell's, Bridge of Sighs, England Travel, Oxford
Last night, while having dinner with my parents, I groaned in mock despair, as the inevitability of genetics was driven home once again – there is no doubt whose daughter I am! Mannerisms, temperament – these traits can, sometimes, be traced back to our families of origin. And other things too, crop up in the (read more)
My bowling skills are near non-existent. At a nephew’s birthday party a few years ago, I demonstrated a spectacular lack of grace by falling face first onto the slippery bowling lane. Despite my public humiliation (my nephews found it incredibly amusing), I have a great appreciation for both bowling alleys and a very ancient sport. (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Kentucky architecture, Louisville
Tags: Bowling, Bowling Alleys, Butchtown, Louisville, St. Joseph Church, Vernon Club
I’m a voyeur. At least where historic buildings are concerned – don’t worry, I’m not standing in front of your windows… I restrict my historic house lust to buildings actually open to the public. (Or abandoned houses in my native land, but that’s another story.) Combine my penchant for historic architecture with being a recovering (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Country house, England, Tourism
Tags: Brideshead Revisited, Castle Howard, Death Comes to Pemberley, Evelyn Waugh, John Vanbrugh, Yorkshire
Romance never goes out of style. Your views on the subject may change, depending on age and experience, but romance figures large in the human condition – and in architecture. The Romantic movement in America roughly spans the period from 1820 to 1880 – a time of great change in our young country. Even as (read more)
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