Sunday 18 September 2011

Writing your own history - Strawberry Hill

In a city like Perth where there isn't an extensive history of Western European culture it could be understandable that you may want to create your own; build up a family tree and ties to a place that would not otherwise exist.

In a city like London, this is unnecessary, and yet it is exactly what Horace Walpole did when he decided to establish an ancestral seat at Strawberry Hill in the leafy Twickenham.

Muntz, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, from the South, 1758

Intrigued by the remains of medieval castles, monasteries and the historic family seats of his friends, he decided to adapt a couple of attached houses and transform them into a Gothic-inspired masterpiece that would later serve as inspiration for his Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto. 



Saturday 10 September 2011

A thoroughly modern home. (Homewood)

I have a reputation of liking old stuff.
Old houses, old fashions, old novels, old religions...

So when my photo albums from the UK show photos of The Homewood people get a little confused.


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