Way, way, way up on my "favorite things in life" list is a truly whimsical building.
If you've read any of the "Wilfair" books this may not come as huge revelation. I like anything that's offbeat, pretty much, but a building is such a major undertaking, requiring the skills and efforts of so many, that to come across one that is truly different is a joy. There's an incorrect theory, in my mind, that if something is hard to do, and takes a long time, then it too often resembles other things in its group or class; the people behind the project choose to play it safe, given the time and cash it has taken to build.
So when a huge building walks its own path? I'm tickled.
I recently wrote about three California buildings that a) are famously spooky and b) inspire me in different ways. They're probably the Golden State's top three most famous houses, Halloween edition. wealhtheow will know about the first, myrandaroyann is a fan of the third, and Erika has likely heard about the second (and has likely visited, if I know her history-loving spirit).
This is the Carson Mansion, in Eureka, a quintessential real-world whimsical building. It's so wonderfully eerie it regularly appears in stock art as "haunted house." It's that tall tower that does it, in my opinion. If ever a house looks like it was built for a movie set, it's this one. Paging the Addams Family!
Do you love the Carson like I do? I think the Finley family should buy a bed-and-breakfast that looks like this, only all the doors are in the ceilings.
cr: Don Forthuber
