Category Archives: Fabriques

Portmeirion 1. Introduction

People don’t always get Portmeirion (Fig. 1). For example, it has been argued that it is a proto-Post-Modernist work, created by an architect trying to subvert the modernist norm long before Venturi and Scott-Brown came on the scene. But this … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Arts and Crafts Movement, Baroque Gardens, Elizabethan Architecture, English Gardens, Fabriques, Garden History, Town and Village, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On Water-spouts. Chastleton House

At Chastleton House there is a dovecote in the field over the road that is all that remains of another house there (Fig. 1). It dates from 1762. It is square in plan, with four arches on the ground floor … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Arts and Crafts Movement, Elizabethan Architecture, Fabriques, Montacute, Uncategorized, Villa Castagna | Leave a comment

The Scale of Schloss Luisium in the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm

Looking at Montacute through the autumn leaves I was reminded of Schloss Luisium near Wörlitz. I have always like the way this little vertical building is tucked away in the woods. It struck me as a delightful miniature building, and … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Baroque Gardens, Design, Fabriques, Garden History, Montacute, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

On Dragon Spouts

I first noticed dragon spouts in Krakow, in the Wavel castle courtyard, and have kept an eye out for them since. You can just see them in the general view of this amazing courtyard, with it loggia supported on classical … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Fabriques, Montacute, Villa Castagna | Leave a comment

On Elizabethan Windows

Elizabethan windows can for practical purposes be defined as windows, often in the form of a bay, divided into tall vertical strips by mullions, and normally crossed by a single horizontal mullion high up, so that the upper panels are … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Arts and Crafts Movement, Elizabethan Architecture, Fabriques, Montacute, Uncategorized, Villa Castagna | Leave a comment

Highgrove’s Berninian Fabrique

A new book on Highgrove arrived today, by Bunny Guinness. I was interested to see if one feature was illustrated there—the Oak Pavilion—as it does not appear in any other book and they don’t let you take photos. Indeed, it … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Baroque Gardens, English Gardens, Fabriques, Town and Village | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On Garden Sculpture: Giant Milk Crates

Gardens are the acid test of sculptural genres. One popular genre is the overscaled object, such as the giant milk crate currently proposed as a public sculpture in Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald tracked down the designer of the original … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Art, Baroque Gardens, Fabriques, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Fabriques: principles of design

A fabrique is a small garden structure that has no functional purpose, but exists only to make a visual and cultural statement. (This does not preclude it having a function, but if its form is dictated by its function it … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Baroque Gardens, Fabriques, Uncategorized, Villa Castagna | Leave a comment

On Fabriques and Monstrous Future Ruins

‘Someone, he [Austerlitz] added, ought to draw up a catalogue of types of buildings listed in order of size, and it would be immediately obvious that domestic buildings of less than normal size—the little cottage in the fields, the hermitage, … Continue reading

Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Book Commentaries, Comment, Fabriques, Town and Village | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Garden of Bagatelle, Paris

Visit to Bagatelle, May 2011 Bagatelle was a disappointment. Partly it was the effort getting there. My guidebook rather unhelpfully listed various metro stops and left it at that, and it was off the edge of their map. I made … Continue reading

Posted in Baroque Gardens, Design, Fabriques, Garden History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment