"Ludwig did not set out to copy the entire Palace of
Versailles; in fact, he conceived Herrenchiemsee as
something of a shell, in which only two rooms were of
consequence--the State Bedroom and the Hall of Mirrors. He
commissioned architect Georg Dollmann and, later, Julius
Hofmann, to faithfully duplicate the center block and side
wings, He eventually wished to include to longer auxiliary
wings containing the chapel and court theater, but money ran
short before these schemes could be executed. The king never
intended that all the rooms should be completed: From the
beginning, Herrenchiemsee was to be a set piece into which
certain rooms were to be introduced. Their bare plaster
walls, bricked up windows, and vaulted stone ceilings only
served to fill out the space behind the palace's facade,
providing an eerie contrast to the extravagant rooms of the
piano nobile. By the fall of 1885, the palace was ready for
a royal visit.
--Greg King, THE MAD KING: A BIOGRAPHY OF LUDWIG II OF
BAVARIA, pp. 241-2
Earlier today, while driving to the local post office (which
is within a large local shopping center, which years ago was
the site of Heinz Manufacturing), I passed by what until a
year or two ago was a K-Mart. For some reason the entrance
to this place was wide open, and inside was an enormous,
cavernous space. I thought to myself, "Gosh, the interiors
of these stores are so ephemeral." Then I thought, might it
not be interesting if homes were treated/designed like BIG
BOX stores. Now, thinking of Herrenchiemsee, why can't all
BIG BOXES look like Versailles on the outside and empty
shells on the inside. Or, is that what is kind of already
happening, and Ludwig was a "dreamer" just a head of his
time.
[I haven't been able to confirm this story yet, but,
according to an older cousin of mine, what turned out to be
the beginnings of NASA was in a building once within the
Heinz Manufacturing complex. Sometime in the 1940s, she got
a government secretarial job (because she was fluent in
German) working for a Dr. Schuster (or some German name like
that), who was a rocket scientist or something. She was
sworn to secrecy at the time. Now, my cousin has been known
to embellish things, so I really don't know how 'secret' or
related to the future NASA this place was, but, it did
exist, and she did work there.]
--
The Design-L list for art and architecture, since 1992...
To subscribe, send mailto:design-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To signoff, send mailto:design-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Visit archives: http://lists.psu.edu/archives/design-l.html
Versailles; in fact, he conceived Herrenchiemsee as
something of a shell, in which only two rooms were of
consequence--the State Bedroom and the Hall of Mirrors. He
commissioned architect Georg Dollmann and, later, Julius
Hofmann, to faithfully duplicate the center block and side
wings, He eventually wished to include to longer auxiliary
wings containing the chapel and court theater, but money ran
short before these schemes could be executed. The king never
intended that all the rooms should be completed: From the
beginning, Herrenchiemsee was to be a set piece into which
certain rooms were to be introduced. Their bare plaster
walls, bricked up windows, and vaulted stone ceilings only
served to fill out the space behind the palace's facade,
providing an eerie contrast to the extravagant rooms of the
piano nobile. By the fall of 1885, the palace was ready for
a royal visit.
--Greg King, THE MAD KING: A BIOGRAPHY OF LUDWIG II OF
BAVARIA, pp. 241-2
Earlier today, while driving to the local post office (which
is within a large local shopping center, which years ago was
the site of Heinz Manufacturing), I passed by what until a
year or two ago was a K-Mart. For some reason the entrance
to this place was wide open, and inside was an enormous,
cavernous space. I thought to myself, "Gosh, the interiors
of these stores are so ephemeral." Then I thought, might it
not be interesting if homes were treated/designed like BIG
BOX stores. Now, thinking of Herrenchiemsee, why can't all
BIG BOXES look like Versailles on the outside and empty
shells on the inside. Or, is that what is kind of already
happening, and Ludwig was a "dreamer" just a head of his
time.
[I haven't been able to confirm this story yet, but,
according to an older cousin of mine, what turned out to be
the beginnings of NASA was in a building once within the
Heinz Manufacturing complex. Sometime in the 1940s, she got
a government secretarial job (because she was fluent in
German) working for a Dr. Schuster (or some German name like
that), who was a rocket scientist or something. She was
sworn to secrecy at the time. Now, my cousin has been known
to embellish things, so I really don't know how 'secret' or
related to the future NASA this place was, but, it did
exist, and she did work there.]
--
The Design-L list for art and architecture, since 1992...
To subscribe, send mailto:design-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To signoff, send mailto:design-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Visit archives: http://lists.psu.edu/archives/design-l.html