Way back when I first got my new camera, my intention was to "house blog".   I fully intended to take pictures of houses I love to look at or those I hate.  I love looking at houses, inside and out.  I find it fascinating to see how they are designed and how they work or don't work.

I've been watching the show Holmes on Homes lately.  It's fabulous.  In one of the episodes he makes the brilliant observation that we have got everything turned around in modern house building.   Houses are now built from the "inside out".  In other words, they are more worried about the rooms inside and don't give a moment's thought to how the outside looks, how it works, what problems it might have...

He is so right. Witness the "house" that appears to be a large garage with something tacked onto the back.  No aesthetic appeal at all - yet people buy them.  Those houses make me want to gag!

Sorry, enough, I could go on forever about bad looking houses...

Oddly enough I've been taking the occasional house shot, but most of them haven't made the blog because of space and time.   

This house may be the one to get me back on that track. Just look at it...



I have no idea how old the oldest part is, the siding is certainly newer, but the brick chimney is old.  It looks as if they have added to it multiple times over the years. 

I love the various odd angles.  I love the 2 old front gates.  I love the overgrown shrubbery.  All of it. 

This is a house that makes you wonder... who has lived there?  How many rooms?  What were the people like when it was first built?  Are there unexplored nooks and crannies?

One could write an entire book based in a house like this.  It's wonderful.  But the picture from the front is a bit deceiving.  Walk around the shrubbery and have a look at the rest of the place - oh yeah and the tree - good grief!



It's huge!  I can't get a good shot of the other side because of the overgrown shrubs.  However, it has more oddly angled add ons on the other side. 

Of course it's not the most beautiful house in the world, but it has that certain something that catches the attention and makes you wonder...

Posted by: Teresa in House Blogging at 08:37 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Yes, it makes me wonder which cocktail of recreational drugs the designer was on ...

I was a building inspector, back in the early '90s, and hated that type of construction.  I can see so many roofing issues - and opportunities for nigh-untraceable leaks.

The inside never seems to match the outside, btw.  I can't tell you how many houses I inspected which had dizzying "total sq.ft." figures, with a myriad of claustrophic, postage-stamp-sized rooms.  It boggled the mind.

And then there were the mismatched styles, because some well-heeled homeowner wanted them - and the architect wanted to eat.  I'll have to blog, sometime, about the Tudor castle with gothic cathedral interior design, right down to the 3-story flying buttresses in the living room.

Keep taking those pictures, ma'am - I love 'em!

Posted by: Rev. Paul at December 03, 2009 09:04 PM (nsa5d)

2 LOL - I love to look at them, could never live in most of them!  I know what you mean about the roof.  We had some weird gable issues in our last house - talk about leak problems - ARG! 

Now I want to hear all about the castle. 

Posted by: Teresa at December 04, 2009 12:01 AM (ZCuP9)

3 I always try to figure out in what order the add ons were done with houses like that.  There is one we pass when going to the in laws that not only has been added to many times, but the house is on a hill... the house climbs the hill!  It fasinates me.

Posted by: patti at December 04, 2009 07:42 AM (ykXWv)

4 It's like one of those houses inhabited by an insane architect... who couldn't stop building on...  bet there's a staircase to nowhere in that house somewhere...

I like it.

Posted by: Pam at December 04, 2009 10:01 AM (l6NIn)

5 Patti, that's one of the things we do too.  Although I have to say this one is the most elaborate pile I've seen in quite a while.  I'd love to see the one you're talking about - it sounds like a most excellent site to see. LOL.

Pam -  I totally agree.  And can't you see a mystery story set in a house like this.  It just cries out for something to "happen" and everyone dashing from room to room trying to find stuff. 

Posted by: Teresa at December 04, 2009 12:24 PM (ZCuP9)

6 Yes, I was just thinking that it would be fantastic for exploring inside. At least, I imagine it would be. I wonder if there are any secret passages?

Posted by: Julie at December 05, 2009 02:23 AM (bZwJp)

7 http://www.mcescher.com/

Posted by: Yabu at December 05, 2009 03:39 PM (VxNeS)

8 Ugh - not attractive!  Goodness - can you imagine cleaning it??

Posted by: Richmond at December 07, 2009 09:46 PM (v02Um)

9 Julie - the secret passage thing is what I was thinking.

Yabu - ROFLMAO.

Rich - you couldn't pay me enough to live in the place and have to clean it... Ugh Indeed!

Posted by: Teresa at December 07, 2009 11:47 PM (ZCuP9)

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