Favourite Historical Places
 

I just thought that it might be nice if we shared some of our favourite historical places, so that we can enlighten each other of historic beauties they may not yet have found.
I'll go first:
The Crystal Palace, Hyde Park( later moved to Sydenham ), London, England

A truly monumental feat for 1851 Victorian England that attracted visitors from all over the world, even after its initial purpose for the Great Exhibition of 1851 was over.

Sadly, only a ruin remains. although one thing I'd like to know is; How does a building made almost entirely of glass and iron burn down?

http://history1800s.about.com/od/em...bition-1851.htm - This was a truly stunning building, I would have loved to have seen it still standing in all its splendour today, but even if it had survived the fire of 1936, I have no doubt that it would have been bombed during WW2. Apparently, it inspired a later building in NY. I’ve got a copy of a book called ‘Derelict London’ and the ruins of Crystal palace feature in it. Apparently there were even aquariums filled with tropical fish. It must have been truly amazing and a great statement of British engineering. I’ve even found a video showing pics of its construction, splendour and demise; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yow5E_v7MgE

Oh My, the Palace was amazing... I've learned about it at my history of art clasess. Its iron lace reminds me of an Eiffel Tower, which also was made for the Great Exhibition. Yes, these was great times for architecture...

I would like to introduce something different. It's a building near my school. It's called "Central house" and it was made in arts and crafts style in 1910. It has an asymmetrical facades, windows in various shapes and heavy balconies with iron railings. Many years ago there was a cinema, modern hotel with electricity, restaurant and bookshop. Now it's a tenement house with antique shop an barber downstairs. I see the Central House almost every day, but I'm not bored - I love art nouveau and all these ornaments. What's more - The Central House is located close to the beautiful monastery's gardens and... my favourite oriental bar

Sorry for the pictures, I cant post them, so here's the link:
http://www.mmzamosc.pl/artykul/zdje...ntralny-0#photo

Wow! That place looks stunning! Thanks for sharing the link with all the pictures of it. There's so many beautiful features to admire on the building, I can see why you like it so much. I once saw a house for sale in London that had an Art Nouveau sunroom. The glass in the windows was arranged in a swirly pattern, although there was very little trace of Art Nouveau anywhere else in the house.

I've always had an affinity for the Taj Mahal , of Agra, India, just how the domes are, how the Minarets frame it, how its beautifully reflected in that pool of water, and how it was made to remember his dead wife... Its beautiful...

I've been to the Taj Mahal, I went as part of a school trip a few years back when we went backpacking across India. The Taj Mahal was impressive, but I was more taken with the gardens and buildings around it. They're never really shown as much as the Taj Mahal itself. It's weird to think that if the man who built the Taj Mahal hadn't been thrown in jail for use of slave labour, then he would have built a Taj Mahal for himself, but in black, directly across the river. I've attached some pics that I took while I was there so that you can see how beautiful some of the other buildings there are. I took a lot of pics while I was there, lol.

Woah it's lovely... What's that reddy-sandy coloured building? I'm interested...

The reddy-sandy coloured building are the gatehouses and various other buildings situated around the Taj Mahal Complex. To get to the Taj Mahal you have to pass through the building from the first two pictures. Then the other two reddy-sandy coloured buildings are other entrances through the wall that surrounds the Taj Mahal and is wonderous gardens around the Taj Mahal.

Oh awesome! Today I walked around some magical gardens around the gardens of the palace of Pena, Sintra (Near Lisbon) I have photos, but I can't get them off my BlackBerry without my laptop....

Its a 19th century building built by the Portuguese Royal Family (Or more specifically the Queens King Consort, who was a member of the Saxe-Coburg Gotha family!)

Google it! Its beautiful, great vistas too...

Wow, the Palace is awesome, it looks like multiple styles/houses all knocked in to one. Here's some pics I've just googled for those that are interested:


I hope you're having a great time out there Samuel. It would appear you are very lucky to visit such an extraordinary place, I think I'm a bit jealous of you...
You certainly didn't take all the hot weather with you when you left, we are having an absolute scorcher back here in England. It's currently 32c at 7pm, I went to Frinton beach and so was lucky enough to cool down in the sea breeze and go for a walk along the gorgeous old house-lined avenues. But back at home, a few miles in land, it got to about 35c!

Woah, its actually been in the mid-low 20s out here! The lovely Atlantic moderating things for me, Lisbon is definitely a must-visit for architecture, especially the towns of Sintra (and Mafra apparently too!) I went to the Castle (Castell due São Jorge) , which appenrently dates originally to around 600BC! (Most of its only Mediaeval, with some Moorish remaints)

PS: The town of Sintra apparently has two palaces (well actually I know, I saw the other one driving up!)

PPS: Be careful of the toll roads, its very disorientating!

Wow that palace is hands down amazing!

I personally love Gaudi's stuff though it's a question if his works actually count as "historic" since Sagrada Familia would only be finished in 2016. But I'd definitely consider buying a house built by him - Casa Vicens (if only I had a million euros lying around).

Something must be terribly wrong with European weather lately. I went to the UK a week ago and temperatures were more than 30 C which from what I know never happens. And now back home it's also the same while the hottest it usually gets is around 25.

Yes, something is wrong with the weather. I can't I'm complaining much though. It's nice to have the warm climates of places abroad without having to go abroad. Aparently a deadly African heatwave is on its way though, so tourists in Europe should be/are being warned of the risks. I hope that there wont be a great loss of life, but many people in England have already died from the heat. There' also been many wild fires, in Scotland of all places! So as nice as the warmth is to some people, it is deadly to others.

Yeah, things aren't right, but as I say ALOTBSOL.

I'm really looking forward to this festival on the 4th August!

Anyway... Woah! Just flicking through the images (cala vicens), it looks pretty cool!

I'm going to be honest, (Pena) inside there wasn't much, but its all being restorated so that's good!

I just love it when google accidentally points me to something brilliant.

Wooden Churches of Maramureş, Romania (more here)


I was impressed by their unique architecture. From what I gather the style resulted as a response to certain limitations of building Orthodox churches and were mostly built from 17th to 19th century.

That's amazing! I've never seen anything before like it. That's a real gem.

How'd you come across it, what were you supposed to be searching for?

It never seems to happen to me.,.

They're just like the Scandanavian/Nordic Stave Churches found further west/nort-west a few centuries earlier, I think Volvenom said they were from about the 12th or 13th century.

Yeah, those are quite similar. I thought I must have seen similar design somewhere just couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Samuel, I was looking for an article National Geographic did few years back on one of the regions of Romania, so admittedly this wasn't absolutely random.

Ahh yeah, I see your point Fergus. They are in a children's atlas in my bedroom...

Blueberry, ahh yeah, I find many things like that. I once found a website all about British Roads when all I wanted was a diagram of a Motorway intersection...

OK, I have a habit of not doing historical, but I went to the Parque due Naçiones today, which was built to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Vasco de Gama's voyage to India! I mean it was great architecturally, but they looked really drab after 15 years...

Speaking of India, here's another place I visited in India; Gandhi Smriti, it's the place where Gandhi was shot dead.
Gandhi Smriti, New Delhi, India

It's a really peaceful place consdering it's right in the city of New Delhi. It's like a paradise, and they have Ganhi's last footsteps set in stone so visitors can see them, they lead from the the house out to where he was shot on the lawn, which has had a shrine erected in that very position.

The gardens are very mature and so it was difficult for me to get a good shot of the whole house. It's quite an interesting style, I'm not really sure what it would be defined as, but it was just as beautiful a place in the sun and the storm that followed just as we were leaving it.

Woah, its amazing <3_<3

But yeah, went to Mafra yesterday. There's an old palace/monastery/cathedral there that bankrupted the nation. Legend has it, the king ordered 6 bells from a Flemish bell-maker, and when the bell maker asked whether he'd be able to afford it, the king doubled his order.

Holy sh*t it's huge!

Aparently it's called the Palácio Nacional e Convento de Mafra. Take a look here for more pics.

Yeah, it only took an hour to get around it (though a third is closed to the public. Ohh the hours I'll be spending getting it all off my BlackBerry... (The middle is actually some kind of French garden, I mean on either side, the centre area is the cathedral.. Its got a little box so that the king could get out of his bed and attend mass or the like, its amazing.

Inside it's quite plain really, and there's a room where the chairs are made out of deer horns and pelts... Not quite to my taste.

A horn room?
Queen Victoria's holiday house has a horn room too:
Osborne House, East Cowes, Isle of Wight

It also has a room decorated almost entirely in ivory:

It even has its own private beach and a Swiss Chalet where her children learned to cook, clean, garden and grow food and vegetables for themselves:

I loved my visit there many years ago, it's a truly gorgeous place, you can see more pics of the place on google; here.

Woah, it looks foreign in a way.. Like a mixture of south of France, Brighton pavilion and something Moorish... Is it still inhabited by royalty today?
I must add it to my to-visit list!

Anyway, probably my last visit to a historical building this holiday, I went to Jeronimos Monastery, where nearby is the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera house of Lisbon, The Belem tower. I went into the marine museum next door, it was fascinating, it had a nice section on the decolonisation era, yay! (And a world map from the 1600s)

That's because Osborne House is one of the first/earliest Italianate style homes of the Victorian era. I don't believe it's still inhabbited. It's just a museum really nowadays. It does still have its original elevator though. It's quite impressive to see although they don't use it much anymore.

Ooh, well it looks amazing. The queen don't know what she's missing out on! It actually looks liveable compared to some palaces I've seen... Maybe a project to take on when I consider myself worty (on sims)

I guess it being an early itslianate is important?

Well, Italianate was one of the key Victorian styles, although it wasn't nearly as popular over here as it was in the USA. But it's a style that is usually associated with America, even though it started over here and was inspired by Italian architecture. Well the Queen can't live at Osborne because she doesn't own it. We do, or rather the state owns it.

Oh ok, I'm not hot on which styles are which really, it's not my strong point. All I know is about what is nice, and what is beautiful.

So queen Victoria gave it to the state in her death, or was it one of her descendants?

There isn't that much in the way of historic buildings round here, except if you count the well and the church. But there used to be an estate here, but I think a fire destroyed it in the 1950s… the gate lodge is still fully intact. There's now an ambulance centre, my primary school, the playing field and a 70s or 80s housing estate... Shame really. But you guess things happen…

But back to favourite historic places. I'm not sure.

A gatehouse? Ooh, sounds interesting, and yet the fate that fell upon the main house was all too common, it's a shame really.
Queen Victoria left it to her children, but they didn't want it, so her eldest son; King Edward, gave it to the state with in a year of her death.
There's another wonderfully creepy and beautiful old house near me, it's on a street of terraces and really stands out, you can see it here. There's a house of an almost identical design further along the street, although it has been modernised.
Another old house I've just thought about is Moot Hall, on the seafront in Clacton-On-Sea, Essex:

It was built in the 1920s/1930s although it looks much older because it was built out of a much older Tudor/Elizabethan home that was being demolished.
Staying in Clacton, The Royal Hotel is another of my favourite historic places.

It was affectionately known as "Big Blue" and featured on the tv show "The Hotel Inspector" as it was being restored to its former grandeur as a hotel, although it was never finished and looks quite sorry for itself on Clacton's seafront.

Oh right... Yeah, I know between 1930 and 1980 Thousands of Country homes were demolished… Often replaced by a load of ugly, bleak newbuilds.


Talking about Clacton and homes, my Nan Really likes the look of 2 homes on EastCliff Ave/Third Ave, One on Holland Road and one in Holland-on-sea (not intirely sure where)

Yeah, the gatehouse was built in "1889 AD, its above the door and is right next to a Dual Carriageway near my school, and there's some "Listed Trees" which can't be chopped… So there's lots of evidence dor an old estate.

I really like the Garden District in Clacton, it has the posh avenues Frinton has, without the huge price tags, and some of the houses are still really nice an original, I've seen some for sale that still have their original 1920s/1930s/1940s bathrooms and kitchens. They're really something quite special. It was really distracting learning to drive there when I was constantly surrounded by nice old houses, and then the locals have no road safety sense, so they just step out in front of moving cars, expecting them to stop. It really keeps you on your toes.

Oh the joys of listed trees... Some I've seen are just rotten and dangerous, but others I can understand why you wouldn't want to let them be cut down.
There's some really nice old Oak trees in a village near me; Mistley:

One of them is known as "Old Knobbley", we have a similar one in our garden, but we have a swing hanging from it. It's really quite special, especially on a warm summers day/evening.

Yeah, my old Year 6 (Grade 5 for North Americans) Teacher told us about it, since she was born in the area... She passed away the december after I left... Alas.

These are really tall trees, definately not oaks, and they are all lined in a row...

There is this old Asylum, which was left disused in the late 70s, after being used for around 80 years.
NOw there's a High-Security Prison on the site...
Less than a mile from my house!

We have an old mental asylum in Colchester; Severall's:


It's a huge and beautiful old site although it's in severe disrepair, it's only a matter of time before mother nature takes it away. It's a shame really as the whole place was very interesting in its heyday, if you can call it that. It was entirely self sufficient, if it was still in a good state of repair and the fences were all secure it would be the perfect shelter in a zombie appocalypse; a grand old building providing shelter and safety as well as fresh food, clean water and electricity, completely independent of the outside world. I probably watch too much of The Walking Dead...

Woah, (I use that word a lot don't I?) It looks like it's been stricken by a zombie apocalypse itself or something out of Life After Humans We need more self-suffiecient structure, maybe I could make something self sufficient, one day, when I'm older, and rich enough. I guess it'll be in sims until then,

I plan on owning a large historic home one day, I'd like to make it energy efficient (with proper insulation and having existing windows altered to make them double-glazed rather than replacing them completely), and then make the house almost entirely self-sustainable. My best friend is going of to Cambridge University to study engineering. Then he could use my old house as a flag-ship for his renewable energy projects. I'd also like to make it "zombie proof", just incase

^you can double glaze preexisting windows?
I'd GOD FORBID love to have lots of Solar Panels on my house, but I'd do it Artfully, not like, Yeah, just splash some solar panels here, a solarPanels there, oops just made a character full house a nightmare!

Really, I probably wouldn't make my main house, a historic one, maybe my hsecond home, or something. As much as I like historic buildings, I like a modern, open way of life, because, if I was going to restore, I'd do it very faithfully. Plus, if like the challenge of designing my house from the ground up.

It's very rare to see existing single-glazed windows double-glazed as it can involve taking the whole frame apart, so you loose the decades/centuries of paint that accumulates, hence why it is never approved for listed buildings and is more expensive than just replacing them altogether, which is the choice for unlisted buildings. If the building is listed then you can have a second layer of glazing/windows built on the internal side of the existing windows, although this isn't generally favoured as it can be very ugly and the orignal windows on the outside often get neglected. The other option is to do as the Americans do and fit storm windows for the winter months, which is basically an external version of the previous option.

As for renewable energy, it's not just solar panels, with further developement wind turbines could be better. A renewable source of hot water can come from running the water through pipes stretching out under the ground. My neighbours have them installed for the house at the top of our lane which they are fixing up. basically they had to dig a bunch of trenches going through the garden and bury a bunch of pipes in them. Then the ground will somehow heat the water.

I'd love to have a big old house as my main home. I'd have a big one with a good amount of land, and with a few outbuildings and cottages too. That way I can have some beautiful traditional gardens with a greenhouse/orangery and walled garden. Then I can open them to the public when they are at their best and maybe have like a little cafe in the grounds or something. I'd then rent out the cottages/gate lodge and rent out the larger formal rooms in the house for events such as conferences and weddings. Then the house could make the money for its own upkeep as well as the energy to run it. I just know that if I have any children, they wont have the enthusiasm for history and old buildings that I do, so money will be the thing that is needed to persuade them to keep my dream going after I am gone. God knows how I am going to make the money to buy such a house in the first place...

Wind turbines? I'm not going to do what they did off the Clacton Coastline, jees "Bloody Eyesores" - that's what my grandad calls them… And how would I get them small enough to be like, idk, normalish? I'm not having a blooming 50m white pole stuck at the end of my garden, killing pidgeons and bats left right and centre!

Oh and Geothermal? I didn't think essex was... Volcanic? Enough for that, they are only employed in Cornwall in the UK!

To Quote Abba, as I frenquently do, on Twitter "Money Money Money, always funny, in a rich man's world"

It's not geothermal, I don't know what it is, but the pipes are only run about a foot or two below the surface.
But anyway, I've thought of another historical place that might be of interest:
The Ancient House, Ipswich, Suffolk

This is one seriously old girl that still sports her Tudor/Medieval finery. She dates back to the 15th Century(1400s) and is very lucky to still be standing. She had to endure very little 'Georgianisation' and 'Victorianisation'. But by the 1970s it was looking like she wouldn't be standing for much longer, she's is one of the key buildings in Ipswish's Buttermarket and that part of town would look very different without her. Her pargeting is simply stunning and she is well worth a visit; original built as a merchant's house, the pargeting displays Tudor impressions of the continents Asia, Africa, America and Europe, but now she is a shop. So you are able to go in and explore the many rooms she has, all packed with features from all the periods that this grand ol' girl has seen. I always go in and see her when I'm in Ipswich. I very rarely buy anything from the actual shop, but I just wonder around and admire the place for what it is and the history it has.

If you ever find yourself in Suffolk, Ipswich is well worth a visit, there are so many beautiful historical places to see, my list could go on and on...

Prospect Cottage, Dungeness, Kent


I like Dungeness because when you think of England, you don't think of deserts, but surprisingly, it does have a desert; Dungeness, on the coast of Kent. Prospect Cottage is very popular with artists, which is very understandable when you see its setting and its garden. it's also one of the few cottages there that wasn't originally an old railway carraige. There are quite a few other historical buildings in Dungeness such as the lighthouses and various other cottages that are formed from old railway carriages. And then there's the nuclear powerplant, which oddly enough, doesn't look out of place.
I've gathered a selection of images to illustrate just how odd a place Dungeness is:
(Be warned, there's quite a lot...)

The Carson Mansion, Eureka, CA

A very famous west-coast Victorian home; you can see many interior pictures and read a bit about its history here.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The whole city seemed to be packed with great historic architecture around every corner. I completely fell in love with it. Apart from avoiding murderous cyclists and trams I really enjoyed just walking around the streets admiring all the buildings, canals and sights. One of my favourite buildings had to be the Palace/City Hall, as pictured above. The reality of the city isn't what its reputation would have you believe.

oooooh. I wanna go see Hatley Castle!







edited to add: I found some floor plans. I might try to make this if I can fit it in a 64x64 lot....

sooooooo bewteeeful

Wow, built in 1908 it's not what you'd usually expect to find in BC, Canada, but wow, it's gorgeous. I remember seeing/reading about it before somewhere. It kind of reminds me of somewhere I visited in the west coast of Scotland.

I agree. It's got something old world about it. I think that's why I love it so much.

Out here in the west, we don't expect to find something like this, especially something built in the 1900s!

James Dunsmuir is a Scottish name, I think, so his ancestors were probably Scots.
The architect was Samuel Maclure, another Canadian. but Maclure looks like another Scottish name to me. Dunno.

Mostly, what I know of Scotland is what I see googling, and what I saw watching Monarch of the Glen:
the countryside is awe-inspiring; the castles are stunning; and that accent is dreamy, very sexy.

It's on Vancouver Island, which has a distinctly British feel to it. Originally it was a separate colony from mainland British Columbia, though now Victoria is the provincial capital. (Isn't that a lovely name for a provincial capital? But it entails a ferry ride to get to the capital from the largest city.)


There are loads and loads of Scottish Canadians. I believe the same Dunsmuir family are responsible for some other famous buildings: Robert (father of James) caused Craigdarroch Castle (also near Victoria), and Alexander (another son of Robert) had this neoclassical revival house built in Oakland (California):


One side of my ancestors come from there but I have never been, yet. I agree about the accent! And there's music.

EDIT: as to Maclure, the name can be Scottish or Irish, and if Scottish, those Maclures are affiliated with Clan MacLeod. Trivia: MacLeod is the name I'll use in a future issue of a Comic, being a flashback to the 19th century American prairie. (It is a pun. MacLeod is pronounced, and in America sometimes spelt, McCloud -- which means the same as de Noube. So Janet will get to play her possible ancestor Jennie MacLeod.)

Bagpipes. I love bagpipes. I love fiddles and woodwinds, too. So, it's possible that I like traditional Scots music...

My best to Janet. I hope she isn't stuck wearing a corset.

Going off topic; a big part of my family is Scottish, and I've spent many summers, springs, autumns and winters in various parts of Scotland. I must say that it's true what they say about Scotland in that once you've seen one part of it; you've seen all of it. While it is undeniably a beautiful landscape, one place is very much like the rest, depending on where you are. The accent on the other hand can be a novelty which wares off. When Scots get excited the rate at which they speak can increase dramatically making it difficult to distinguish what they are actually saying. But when it comes to architecture; they really know what they're doing; the average proportions of a Scottish home are far grander than their English relatives, even that of the lower classes during the Industrial Revolution. However; the city of Glasgow recently lost one of its most iconic buildings:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...w-west-27556659

The Glasgow School of Art.

Going back to the Scottish-Canadian theme; there's the very gorgeous Scottish Rite Club in Hamilton, OT

I shall bring a sense of humour and some patience. The term "Scots" is said to encompass a number of different dialects (not merely accents, but dialects) which aren't even necessarily mutually intelligible once the speakers get really excited. Of the tongue-twisting song McGinty's Meal and Ale, it is said:

I hope they either rebuild it, or that they replace it with something just as lovely.
Here in Missoula, every time one of our older, more graceful buildings drops, they replace it with something thick, clumsy, and unimaginative.

I guess it depends on how much of the structure is redeemable/stable after all the rubble has been cleared. It's a shame about all that gorgeous woodwork that has been lost.

I wonder if schools could get involved, places where students learn to carve wood and/or cut mouldings and do other woodwork.
It could be a win-win:
For credit and experience, the masters and their students could reconstruct the woodwork;
the cost for rebuilding would be greatly reduced;
and the community at-large wouldn't lose (well, at least not entirely) this gorgeous piece of history.

I'm hoping their there might also be experienced artisans willing to donate time, as well.

So pretty. I love old buildings...

This is Poznan in Poland.

Wow, those are some impressive sites and structures! I've always been curious about the multiple-tiered roofs, is it a purely decorative thing or does it serve a practical purpose like ventilation?
One place I found recently was Little Hall in Lavenham, Suffolk:


Next to it you'll find Lavenham Guildhall:


The village of Lavenham is filled with hundreds of crooked medieval beauties such as these, it's no wonder it was chosen as 'Godric's Hollow' in some of the Harry Potter films. One house used in filming was the De Vere House:


One final building of note in Lavenham has to be the Lavenham Priory:

The Hay Wain (Flatford Mill, Suffolk)
 

While I've been out and about this summer, I decided to pay another visit to the site of the historic house that featured in John Constable's famous painting 'The Hay Wain':



The historic house in question was Wily Lott's house and the site, Flatford Mill, is now owned by the National Trust, and there are numerous beautiful historic buildings to have a wonder around, including: