Sunday, August 17, 2008

WHAT IS YOUR FOLLY? ARCHITECTURAL AMUSEMENT

Photos courtesy of Antique Collectors' Club/Garden Art Press
In case you did not travel to the European countryside this summer, I have a treat for you.

A folly, a building created for pleasure, can be whimsical and wild architectural feats. A new book from The Antique Collectors Club/Garden Art Press, Follies of Europe: Architectural Extraveganzas, covers 18th Century classical, 19th Century Romanticism, modernist and individual styles of follies across Europe through today. Follies were photographed in Italy, Madrid, Pottsdam, many parts of England, Antwerp, Austria, Russia and Portugal, every building was captured through stunning images by Nic Barlow.
Many were never finished, are crumbling in disrepair, especially those in England, where many were built. Others, however, have been spectacularly maintained and the details put into the materials and craftsmanship are astonishing. Castle crenelations, shell inlay, mosaics and stone used in the most dramatic ways are awesome to visit as an armchair traveller.


The Chinese House at Stowe near Buckingham, England, of 1738



The Chinese Pavillion at Jardinesde Aranjuez, outside Madrid from 1729


The Pineapple, Dunmore House, Airth build in 1791, can be rented out and who would turn away the chance to stay in the most eccentric structure in Scotland?


Pagode de Chanteloup,the Loire region of France from 1774

1 comment:

Topsy Turvy said...

Thanks for the sneak peek of this book. I love follies, and these are great!

-Lana