URBUS & COUNTRYSIDE

Elizabeth Gaskell 1851
portrait by George Richmond

Elizabeth Gaskell was a writer and friend of Charles Dickens.  She wrote for his journal, Household Words.

In 1855's North & South (one of those novels you can read again and again), Gaskell has set her story in both the North and South of England... and the setting steals the show.

The South is a place of countrysides, gentry, gardens and church-based morality.  The North is a place of urban proximities, industry, hard conditions and business ethics.

Throughout the story, a young woman from the South is first accosted by and then eventually enticed by the ways of the North.  It is a story of modernity.

"North and South" Illustration by
George Du Maurier, engraved by
Joseph Swain.
Image via Wikimedia Commons

...and to eat it, too.

As modern people, we want both!

Prosperity and leisure.  
Urbus and countryside.  
Practicality and inspiration.  
Manmade cities and Godmade nature.  
Sophistication and an unaffected manner.  
Education and following the gut.  
Books/culture and money/smoke.   
Mercy and justice.  
Tradition and progress.  
Luck and hard work.   
Heart and “having a bit of spirit.”

Even as a kid, I used to dream one day of a having a place in the country and a place in the city.  I wish that for my kids now, to be able to experience both and appreciate the energies of both.  Urgency and peace.

Watch It

I highly recommend the read, but there's also an excellent 2004 BBC adaptation for film with Richard Armitage (a.k.a Thorin Oakensheild) & Brendan Coyle (a.k.a. Mr. Bates).  You can stream it on Netflix or Amazon.

ally

CAN BUILDINGS CHANGE AMERICA?

Check out this great PBS program (and its associated online content) called

10 Buildings That Changed America.

What do you think?  Can what we build elicit change?

Can buildings change:

• how we live (sprawl)
• how we work (manufacturing)
• how we travel (stress)
• how we see ourselves as Americans (not subject to monarchy)
• whether we ourselves only as Americans or also as citizens of the world (internationalism)
• whether we are prepared to accept complexity in place of perfection (postmodernism)
• whether our community feels well-established or unstable (Romanesque)

             ?

Virginia State Capitol by Thomas Jefferson
Image courtesy of jimbowen0306 via Flickr

Three Notes:

1.  The film shows that Wright worked under Sullivan; but Sullivan also worked under Richardson and Venturi worked under Eero Saarinen.

2.   I learned something, too: I had no idea that the "regional indoor shopping mall" was originally intended as an alternative to sprawl.  Seriously?

3.   Postmodernism can literally offer a cartoon version of history: Graves's Disney HQ in Burbank casts the seven dwarves as caryatids.

-ally

CHOCOLAT & OCTAGRAMS

I finally found the tile I've been looking for.

Thirteen years ago, I saw a movie called Chocolat with Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Johnny Depp, Lena Olin, Carrie Anne Moss and many other amazing actors in smaller roles (Leslie Carron!).

It's a lovely, moody film, gorgeously set and beautifully shot, with wonderful music by Rachel Porter. Juliette Binoche and her daughter blow into town and set up a chocolate shop, right before Lent.  I love stories about shaking things up a bit!  This film remains one of my very favorites of all time.

And that shop!  Judi Dench walks in the first time and calls the decor "early Mexican brothel."  And that floor!  It reminds me of what I like about old buildings: handmade, durable, and never without craftsmanship.

an approximation of the
tile from the movie set

I've been looking on and off over the years, and I think I finally found something close in an 8"x8"!
It's at Grenada Tile, out of Miami & L.A.  They're still hand-making their tiles, and their online tool allows you to customize your choice to an impressive degree.

I'm quite pleased with how close it is.  I'm not terribly thrilled about the cost, though.  It came out to just under $20/sf including shipping to Salt Lake City, with a 100sf minimum.  That's certainly more than I planned on spending on a new kitchen floor... but what a floor!

I'm sorely tempted: and with an inspiration like Chocolat, I shouldn't be surprised.

-ally

P.S.  Did you know that this shape is called an "octagram?"  Who knew?

DR. LUCY WORSLEY, I AM A FAN

History of the Home

I watched a great BBC documentary on YouTube called History of the Home, based on a book by the eminent & witty curator/hostess Dr. Lucy Worsley, "If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home.”

There are four episodes, one each on the

• kitchen, 
• living room, 
• bathroom and 
• bedroom. 

The program's breadth is from medieval times to the present and secondary topics included the changing roles of women, pre-industrial housekeeping & hygiene methods, the results of various taxes on what homes looked like… wow, I am making this seem very dry.  It’s actually highly entertaining!

Another History

I then watched another on women called Harlots, Housewives & Heroines (Restoration Period) that's really good, too.  I'm enjoying the segment called "at home" better than the one called "at court," because the court ladies were salacious!
She's witty, hip, is great on camera, and can breathe life into historical subjects.  Well done.

this one is on the Tsars

-ally