Home for the holidays? After that’s all wrapped up, how about decompressing with a trip through one of our favorite historic houses? Though some people believe I’ll go to hell for this, you might even want to play one of my favorite historic house tour games: What’s that? Just pick some random item in a room–there’s usually good stuff sitting on the mantel–and ask the guide what it was used for. (It’s not really mean mean. I always smile when I ask the questions and I apologize when I ask a stumper.)
Joining us for this Three-fer Friday trip through America’s historic homes is Caroline Tiger, a Philadelphia-based freelance writer who writes about quite the wide range of topics but really loves writing about design, France, and Philadelphia. Do yourself a favor and give her super stylish blog, design-phan, a read.
The slightly overstated droop in its roof and deliberately exaggerated tapering of its sandstone walls give the structure a cartoonish look. Photo by barnyardbbs via Flickr (Creative Commons license).
The Wharton Esherick Museum on a forested hilltop in Valley Forge, PA, resembles a fairytale cottage. Esherick, a pioneer of the Studio Furniture movement, thought buildings should appear to grow from their surroundings. His walls taper like trees.
Every beam, shelf, and piece of sculpture–gleaming from years and layers of boiled linseed oil–was crafted by Esherick while he lived and worked here from the 1920s till his death in 1970. The man had a sense of humor. A docent told me the sculpture of a young woman sheepishly covering her crotch (“Adolescence”) immortalizes his daughter’s embarrassment over her parents’clothing-optional lifestyle. His kids, who turned their father’s home into a museum, left everything as it was. A dogeared copy of Walden still occupies the bookshelf over his bed.–Caroline Tiger
Imagine yourself here. Photo by Sophia Dembling.
How do I choose a favorite? The glorious mansions of Newport, Rhode Island? New York’s Tenement Museum, where my great-uncle Sam Jaffe was born? (Cool, right?) Or back to Oklahoma and the Selman Guest Ranch, where I had breakfast one day last year. The cozy 1920s ranch house, set on 14,000 spectacular acres is filled with unpretentious memorabilia from 100 years of Selman ranchers (Sue Selman and her progeny currently run it). It is among the most evocative houses I’ve ever visited, redolent of Oklahoma history as lived by one family. I wandered the rooms while breakfast sizzled fragrantly on the griddle and snapshots from an imagined past flitted through my mind.–Sophia
One of the Biltmore's 43 bathrooms. Photo courtesty of southerntabitha via Flickr (Creative Commons license).
OK, so it stretches the definition of “house” a bit. But, two years after my visit to Asheville, North Carolina‘s Biltmore Estate for Land Rover Experience Driving School, I’m still daydreaming of the parties (some elegant, others raucous) I would love to throw there. As I passed through a few dozen of the house’s 250 rooms, it was easy to picture groups of friends gathered in the library (stocked with 10,000 books), throwing strikes in the bowling alley, or drinking it up in the basement room that Cornelia Vanderbilt and friends painted with crazy murals during their own party. Though, as far as houses go, the Biltmore is planted firmly at massive–it’s America’s largest private home–it felt surprisingly cozy. And, oh, that library.–Jenna
Land Rover driving school? I want to hear more!
Despite it being relatively close to me, I’ve never visited Biltmore. The price of admission was always just enough to keep me from stopping in. One of these days I’ll throw caution to the wind…
It really is very hard to imagine 250 rooms.
Chris — They run driving schools all over the world–and I totally recommend it. It’s a) very useful–you learn to handle all kinds of off-road techniques and b) SO MUCH FREAKIN’ FUN. At one point I had the car (a top of the line Range Rover, thank you very much) tipped up at a 40 degree angle (on the right side) as I banked a turn. Love love loved it. Would love to go back.
And Chris and Kristin — I had no idea what to expect of the Biltmore. To be honest, I didn’t think much about it before I went as my mind was completely on the driving school. But the house tour was a fantastic surprise. (It was at holiday time so it was also quite beautiful–though I could have done with less carolers as I went through the house.) Along with just the complete opulence and wonder of the place (the antiques! the, I think, 65 fireplaces!), there were lots of interesting innovations to see–including, if I’m remembering correctly, intercom systems and ways to protect different parts of the building with fire doors and all sorts of other things. And that library. Oh, that library.