Tuesday, March 31, 2009
This past weekend I was able to see a classic cult film, Harold and Maude (1971). While I loved the movie, what really caught my eye was the house of Harold's mother, Mrs. Chasen. 
The house really reminds me of the work of John Woolf: mainly because of that canopy over the front door. (Read this great article from Vanity Fair about Woolf by Matt Tyrnauer HERE). Classic Woolf, don't you think? From what I could find HERE though, the house is actually the The Rose Court Mansion in Hillsborough and many of the scenes were shot inside, even using the actual butler from the house in the movie!
The home is extremely eclectic inside, but French styles dominate. This study, seen above was off the main living room where all of the dates Harold takes, set up by his mother, take place.
1971....but this could be a home today for the most part, don't you agree? The classic white lenox lamps, the beautiful chair in the background, simple drapes, big windows. I just loved this room!
The classic lenox lamp is used throughout the room as are potted orchids. The couch is a bit dated but still stylish: simple white linen with an interesting trim. My poor pictures don't capture the beautiful painted paneling in this room either.
Here you see that chair again...the clothes are definitely dated even if the room is not...
I loved the pelmets over the curtains - so perfect for a mansion of this caliber.
Yes, the yellow ragweed flowers are dated as is the victorian style table but you catch a better glimpse of the beautiful paneling in this room and the chinoiserie statue. Check out the checked B&W marble tiled hallway! classic!
From the next room over, you get a better glimpse of the living room. I love the 2 stylish 20's era portrait as well as the game-table in the corner; Another great white chair as well! Just ignore Harold's fake suicide attempt here in this photo with his feet up in the air.....just like his mother did!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Last week I met Samantha from the blog 'Pretty Lovely Things' here in DC for coffee and to chat about design and blogging. She's a local interior design student and has recently started a really great blog about her many interests: fashion, art and design included. Read about our conversation online at her blog HERE
Thanks, Sam!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
This past thursday I attended the DC launch party of Barry Dixon's rug collection at Timothy Paul. I had been in the bedding and home store of Timothy Paul up the street but had never been into the carpet showroom so I was excited to see it!
I had always admired their throw pillows they had in the window, I was happy to see them up close -so beautiful!!
We got there really early, straight from work, and got to take some pictures before the party started and talked to Barry Dixon a bit about his inspiration behind most of the collection. 
All of the different designs are very personal to Barry, picked up from his travels. Ideas came from pieces of tooled leather picked up in bazaars and the pattern of leaves on a forest floor.
The colors are all beautiful, muted tones without being bland. Many of the rugs are available in different color-ways as well.
His beautiful book was also on display: I was at the book launch party for that and blogged about it HERE.
While Dixon's were the primary focus, a few others not by the designer were also featured. I loved this deep rich reddish-orange rug.
If you're ever in DC, visit Timothy Paul -the rug showroom is only a block away from the bedding and home store. Visit them online HERE.Friday, March 27, 2009
I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend planned! These pictures were taken yesterday by a friend at work and I just loved how they turned out. We had lots of fog yesterday morning which is always thicker near the river and canal here in Georgetown. I love how you can see the fog lift in these photos when the sun comes out, all taken within a minute. So dramatic!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Leah came over last weekend to check out my place and chat for awhile. She's a great photographer and really captured my apartment well, no easy feat in such a small space! We had so much fun talking it hardly felt like an interview at all!
I'll be on vacation for a couple weeks, enjoying some sun, sky and time with family, and therefore taking a break from my daily and weekly web pages. In the meantime check out my 33 favorites and the other quality links on the sidebar.
Posts will resume in two weeks.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Deshpande Center for Social Entrepreneurship in Hubli, India, 2009. If you know the architect of this building, please put it in a comment on this post.
There are many more photos of the DCSE Building in bavadekar praveen's Flickr set.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose
With the sidebar links growing every week, I've decided to add a category at the top with my current favorites, the web pages (primarily blogs) that I look to daily or almost daily, whatever the case may be. This list will definitely morph over time as my interests change, as pages fade away, or as other pages' tastes diverge from mine. Please don't take it personally if your page isn't there or if it falls off. It's a subjective list there to help those overwhelmed by the loooooong list below it.
Why 33? Well, my aim at first was 20, but it was too difficult to limit myself to that number. Just over thirty seemed to work, and I'm a sucker for repetition and palindromes.
So here's the list, also added to the top of my sidebar links.
:: Arch Daily
:: Archinect
:: Architect's Newspaper
:: ArchitectureMNP
:: ArchNewsNow
:: [the belly of an architect]
:: BLDGBLOG
:: Brand Avenue
:: BUILD Blog
:: City of Sound
:: Coudal
:: Design Observer
:: dezain.net
:: Edificial
:: Fantastic Journal
:: HTC Experiments
:: Landscape+Urbanism
:: Lebbeus Woods
:: Life Without Buildings
:: loud paper
:: Pentagram
:: Polar Inertia
:: Pruned
:: PYTR 75
:: The Sesquipedalist
:: sit down man...
:: SpaceInvading
:: Strange Harvest
:: Super Colossal
:: things magazine
:: Tropolism
:: varnelis.net
:: Where
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Orangery at Dumbarton Oaks is attached to the main house via the breezeway I pictured on Monday. However, it dates back to the mid 19th century when it was a freestanding structure and was later connected to the house in the 1923 remodel.
The architect matched the federal style applied to the structure with this beautiful detailed brickwork. Like elsewhere on the estate, the lanterns are intricate ironwork with delicate leaves and swirls. The french doors must be 8 1/2' tall; Love the transoms too!
Here is a detail of the cornice and one of the transom windows.
The interior has a 150 yr old fig tree (vine?) that encompasses the entire room, covering everything. You can see it here above the entrance to the space from the breezeway and how it wraps the entire space below.
So lush and green, the same hexagonal clay tiles are on the floor.
The lanterns are almost hidden behind all the plants. The way an orangery should be!
Two very proper french terra cotta sphinx's flank the front door. All of the plants live in large terra cotta pots.
Each wall between french doors & transoms has a beautiful medallion or plaque. I love the way the fig tree has grown around them.
If you're ever free and find yourself in Georgetown, stop in to see the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks!Walking down Lexington Avenue in the Upper East Side earlier today, I came across Archivia Books, a newish (open since November, 2007) bookstore specializing in architecture, art, design, decorative arts, gardens, interiors. While small in terms of square footage, the shop packs plenty of books, with a very good selection of architecture books along one wall.
The majority of architecture books are high-end, with the usual Phaidon and Taschen behemoths alongside various monographs, abundant regional titles (a lot focusing on Kentucky, for some reason), and a fair number of picture books of historical architecture, fitting the store's speciality. A few of the titles that caught my eye (below, l-r) were Contemporary Houses by Antonio Corcuera, Paradise Lost: Persia from Above by Georg Gerster, and New Prefab Architecture by Sergi Costa.
My NYC Bookstores list has been updated, with Archivia Books tied for 11th.
Monday, March 23, 2009
I realized it's been too long since my last china of the week post; Count this one as china of the month!
Facedown you get a better look at the odd petal shape of the plate. It's so useful having it here on the coffee table as another place to set a drink or snack without having to worry about staining a magazine or making a mess. Why didn't I think of this earlier?My weekly page update:
Seminar II in Olympia, Washington by Mahlum Architects.
This week's book review is Integrated Design in Contemporary Architecture by Kiel Moe.
Lots of unrelated links for your enjoyment (the next weekly page update won't be for another three weeks):
Into the Loop
Architecture blog with projects both into the loop and out of the loop. (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)
The Pocket Square
"Fashion, architecture, literature, criticism." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)
design / politics
"A blogsite for everyone dedicated to the design of cities and environments." (added to sidebar under blogs::urban)
Ctrl-N/ journal
"On cities, mapping, psychogeography and the experience of places." (added to sidebar under blogs::urban)
In and About the City...
"The urban experience, chicago and beyond." (added to sidebar under blogs::urban)
Bad British Architecture
"This aggression will not stand." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)
Digital Urban
"Modelling, visualizing and communicating urban environments." (added to sidebar under blogs::urban)
Vanishing STL
"Chronicles of the vanishing urban landscape of St. Louis." (added to sidebar under blogs::urban)
ChicTip.com
"Your ticket to stylish living." (added to sidebar under blogs::design+technology)
Criticalismo
"Writings on architecture (and other trivial things) by Rafael Gómez-Moriana." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
This past weekend I visited Dumbarton Oaks, a house museum and gardens in Georgetown. While we were too late for the tour of the house (seriously, once a week a tour of only 15 people?? come on!) we were able to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather and explore the extensive gardens. 
Surrounded by beautiful bricks walls, the estate currently houses 10 acres (a huge piece of property for right in the city!).
The house was built in 1800 and was later remodeled in the Federal style seen today in 1923 by the last owners of the house, Robert and Mildred Bliss. They donated it to Harvard University who runs it as a museum, library and famous gardens. Seen above is the main entrance to the museum, which is connected to the house and contains Byzantine and pre-columbian artifacts as well as an extensive research library.
Here you can see the breezeway between the Orangery (which I will blog about later this week, a magnificent room!!) and the house.
This is the interior of the breezeway, a charming space with stucco (concrete?) walls, clay floors and amazing ironwork (like all over the estate). Everything seems to be original to the 1923 remodel which is fantastic: all the hardware, light fixtures, ironwork, etc. Just wait till you see the Orangery!
The rear of the house is probably my favorite view. It faces lawns which step down to Rock Creek Park. 
Since the gardens are so important, one feature I loved was that each doorway had a bootscrape. What a great detail!
The stonework around the estate is cohesive overall, but each portion still has its own character. It begins as very formal nearest the house, seen above, and becomes more natural the further from the house you walk.
You can see that spring has sprung -the trees are in bloom!
Even the cherry blooms! A whole section of the garden is devoted to them.
To the other side of the house on a lower terrace is a swimming pool with this loggia off it. See the same materials, hexagonal clay tile floors, stucco walls and groin vaults.
This loggia is reached by this unusual staircase which surrounds a fountain. Rather than pour, the water drips naturally - a very peaceful spot! 
This fountain (and after the stairs) make it a perfect spot to rest which is why the bench above is located at the base.
The estate is formed of numerous gardens or outdoor 'rooms' which are reached by stairs from one another all terracing down to a stream.
One of the common motif's throughout the garden is the sheath of wheat which is a symbol in the coat of arms of the Bliss family.
The gardens were designed over many years by Beatrix Farrand, a great friend of Mildred Bliss, between 1922 and 1947.
This unusual tree is in the center of another room. Notice the mangled limbs and visible roots! Creepy!!
One of the many garden structures had these cute squirrel statues crowning it!
One of the more formal 'rooms' contained this beautiful fountain, surrounded by a ring of trees 16' in diameter which are trimmed to be 16' high! Talk about attention to detail!
There were 3 of these garden structures above with unusual clay tile roofs built of rough stone walls in an ashlar pattern. These are the furthest structures from the house and you can see how both the stonework and the architecture itself becomes less formal.
I loved these little statues: the fruits are metal as are the turtles holding up the stone boat.
These were near the pool terraces walls and probably contain pool machinery. I'd like to think gnomes live in them though! so cute!
Look for my post on the Orangery later this week: I hope you enjoyed the highlights of the garden from my perspective!
