Page 35 - Second Empire News Today

The Home Front: Belmont’s Historic District Commission John Kolis Settled in 1636 and incorporated in 1859, there is a lot of history packed into the 4.7 square miles of Belmont, “The Town of Homes.” 60% of Belmont’s 10,000 homes were built before 1940. Preserving the history of the town’s architecture is, in large part, the responsibility of the Belmont Historic District Commission. The commission creates an inventory of historic properties in the town and makes determinations of sig...

  Westminster Palace, London Westminster Palace truly needs no introduction—the magnificent building that towers over the River Thames was designed by Sir Charles Barry after the Great Fire of 1834 that destroyed most of the previous structure. The new Westminster Palace was inspired by Gothic architecture that would later come to symbolize the Victorian age. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Getty Images Windsor Castle, London While Winds...

Dr. Daniel D. Reiff Special to The Citizen The splendid major historic homes in Auburn of the 19th and early 20th century — from Federal, Greek Revival and Gothic Revival through Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles — are outstanding testaments to the artistic and cultural achievements of the city’s builders, architects and owners. But of equal importance, for the overall “look” of Auburn, is the wealth of attractive modest homes...

Malmaison in the sky Malmaison is familiar to many as the château of the Empress Josephine in Rueil-Malmaison, eight miles west of Paris. In 1978, though, Malmaison moved to New York—figuratively speaking—in the form of Roger Prigent’s fabled Malmaison Antiques, which introduced French Empire furnishings of the highest quality to the United States. An insatiable—yet discerning—collector who refers to Josephine as “the first lady of the world” and once bought a white Cadillac just...

Rhode Island Rescues Photograph by Gavin Ashworth. All photographs courtesy of the Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport, Rhode Island. The story of the Preservation Society begins with the mission to rescue Hunter House (Fig. 1) and the question put to financier George Henry Warren Jr. after its purchase by his wife, Katherine Warren: “Well, you’ve got this house, now what are you going to do with it?” In 1945, Newport stone carver John Howard Benson became alarmed that Hunter ...

Could anyone tell me what the architectural style of my house would be considered?  It was built around 1880

Behind the lost streets of the south side of Lafayette Square Parade Place...did it actually even exist? 1 Nicholson Place, c. 1945 Julius Pitzman is known for designing most of the famous private streets in St. Louis, starting with Benton Place in Lafayette Square. But he also surveyed large portions of St. Louis, leaving his mark on a wide swath of the city, and not just in exclusive neighborhoods. Pitzman worked on Lafayette Square over the course of several decades, even into the earl...

© shproteg/Fotolia The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable statues in the United States. It is often seen as a symbol of freedom and justice, core principles in the United States’ Declaration of Independence from the British Empire in 1776. But why did sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi choose to make Liberty a woman? And why, in particular, one who looks as she does, solemn and composed?  When Bartholdi drafted his first designs for the Statue of Liberty about 1870, person...

Doug Childers/Homes Correspondent Editor’s note:  This is the second in an occasional series called “Top Blocks,” which looks at individual city blocks that have historic or architectural significance. These days, we’re used to seeing residential blocks get built out fairly quickly, often with little architectural diversity from house to house.  The 2700 block of East Broad Street in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood is different.  Construction th...

New book explores Wesleyan and evolution of High Street in Middletown FacebookTwitterEmail 1of3 East Hampton architect Alain Munkittrick is coauthor of “Middletown’s High Street and Wesleyan University,” part of the Images of America series. Middletown municipal historian Deborah Shapiro, not pictured, former executive director of the Middlesex County Historical Society, also wrote it.Contributed photo / Alain MunkittrickShow MoreShow Less 2of3 Middletown municipal historian Deborah Shapi...