The gravid but still sparkling Mistress
Sinister's mention of turrets got me thinking about houses. Actually, it
doesn't take much to get me thinking about houses. If I were an architect, I'd be
working on single-family homes and maybe the odd townhouse, and to hell with the
money and prestige being in public buildings. I like looking at house-plans and
home magazines, though you couldn't tell it by looking at my own
place.
My idea of what a house should be (Not a home. Houses are what
builders and decorators create, the physical structure, You can only create a home
by living in it.) can be summed up as "rambling". I picture the ideal house as
being a bit Victorian in structure, with lots of rooms and corridors to wander
about. This probably derives from having grown up in a small rowhouse in NE
Philadelphia then spending my last year and a half at college in the large
Victorian houses in University City in West Philadelphia. I have recurring dreams
that I'm in my parents' house, or my grandparents' and find a secret passage into
huge sunny rooms and decks in the attic and on the roof.
My idea of
hell is one of those layouts with a big open area in the middle for the living
room, dining room and kitchen, master bedroom on one side, other bedrooms on the
other side, everything visible if you're standing in the middle of a house. I like
houses you can't assess at a glance. I want nooks and crannies and a feeling of
there always being somewhere else to go. Open and spacious houses are fine to a
degree, but I want at least some walls so I can believe there's something
wonderful unseen on the other side. I like two (or more) story houses more than
ones all on a level, unless the latter are very spread out. I like having more
than one path through the house, like in those New Orleans houses where everything
opens off a long corridor, but the rooms also connect to each other. I wouldn't
even mind a secret staircase.
I want unique architectural details,
with big wood doors and stained glass windows, possibly even a modicum of
gingerbread trim. Rudder and I own a lot on an airpark, and hope to build a house
there someday with a cupola on top, to watch the planes rise off the runway. I
like wood and stone, though I might choose their modern imitators for fire safety
-- parts of the airpark were hit by the vicious fires out there last summer. I
don't want a garage that takes up most of the facade, though I would like
one with room for three cars and some workspace, so it will have to be in a
separate building or carefully placed, maybe opening sideways.
This
mostly covers just the facade and floorplan -- I've got loads to write about what
I want inside, so this will have to continue to another entry.