On the Road: Newport, Rhode Island

04/25/2019•architecture, art, Rhode Island

Chateau-Sur-Mer

Once of the earliest grand houses in Newport, Chateau-Sur-Mer was built in 1852 and later expanded and remodeled.

The ballroom is one of two rooms that retain the original French style. Most of the main rooms of the house were redone in the Eastlake style when it was expanded by architect Richard Morris Hunt.

The Chateau was built by William Wetmore, who made his fortune through the China trade, an occupied by his family until the early 1960s. The grand hall was added by Hunt.

The library was designed and built by Luigi Frullili, an Italian designer. The ceiling was constructed in Florence, disassembled, and reassembled in the Chateau.

Frullili also designed the dining room, which had leather wallpaper.

The lower side of the staircases are painted with a continuous tree of life that grows to the third floor. Jut was used for the surface to paint.

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Bird

10/23/2017•ancient, art, Spain

Bird House

Roman mosaic tile floor, House of the Birds, 2nd-century, Italica, Spain

Italica, a Roman colony in western Andalusia, was founded in 206 BCE as a settlement for Roman soldiers. Italica rose to prominence in the 1st- and 2nd-centuries, during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Trajan and Hadrian, both of whom were born in Italica. Several 2nd-century houses, with elaborate mosaic floors, have been excavated in the Hadrianic city (new city). The floor in the House of the Bird Mosaic consists of 35 small squares, each containing a different bird, surrounding a larger, central scene. According to our tour guide, the center square was stolen. Because it was never built over, this elite quarter is unusually well-preserved, with remains of spacious houses, cobbled streets, an aqueduct, and a sewer/drainage system. Portions of the drains can still be seen.

Join Frank’s Tuesday Photo Challenge: Bird

Travel Theme: Numerals

08/20/2017•architecture, Culture, history

1737

Luykas Van Alen home, built 1737, Columbia County, New York

The Dutch cultural and architectural influence was strong throughout New York’s Hudson River Valley in the 17th and 18th centuries. Fort Nassau, the first Dutch settlement in North America, was founded in 1614 near present day Albany. South of Albany, towns such as Kinderhook, Ghent, Claverack, and Rhinebeck began to dot the map. By 1664, the Dutch had lost control of its American colony to the British. The Dutch colonial architecture style continued in the Hudson Valley. In 1737, Luykas Van Alen built his home in what is now Columbia County, one mile south of Kinderhook, New York. Brick was used for a decorative shell. Spread across several bricks, iron wall anchors secured the brick shell to the interior wood posts and beams. Sometimes the wall anchors also showed the date of construction, in this case 1737. The Van Alen home is one of few surviving examples of buildings that used true Dutch architectural practices.

Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1967, the restored Luykas Van Alen house is a house museum representing 18th century rural Dutch farm life in the Hudson River Valley. The Van Alen house, operated by the Columbia County Historical Society, is open seasonally from July to October. Check the Columbia County Historical Society web page for days and hours.

Join Ailsa’s Travel Theme: Numerals