Yikes!

So, this is a little more difficult to do. Not that it's hard to write, but I cannot find time to get here. I am in my last semester for my bachelor degree in history. And, I have to write my Senior Paper. Twenty-one pages. It has been rough for me because I have never written a paper this long. AND, I did get that promotion at The Tanner House Museum, so I am working more too. HOWEVER, I am not going to give up!

Now, I am looking at master's programs. The two that I like are Prescott College and University of Leicester. Both will be for Master's in Art History. Prescott has a design your own program, and U of L has a Master's in Country Houses. Hmmmmm. to decide is such a pain!

Detail of "Annunciation" by Van DerWedenn Ca.1450

How I deciphered this painting...

While I am just now learning how to blog, I have loved houses all my life. So, I thought that I would give a little detail on how I get some of my information from paintings. And, to use one of the paintings that I featured yesterday, I will be able to break it down just a little bit.

When I look at paintings, I look at clothing, hairstyles and also the setting. During the middle ages, religious painting held supreme. But what is so important for a house historian is that they were set in contemporary settings. Most of these settings were of houses of the patrons, who were generally well to do. This tells me how the houses were set up, and how they were decorated.

Here is Van DerWedenn's painting "Annunciation" painted in Ca. 1450.

(Oil on Canvas)

The main focus of course is on Gabriel and Mary.

As a side note, look at their clothing. Long and sumptuous.

Mary is neeling near a stool where a beautiful fabric covers the possibly plane bench.

It looks like a silk damask.

There's so many things that I want to look at, but where do I start to tell you?

The next thing, may be the biggest. The red covered bed takes up most of the room. There is a canopy and the portion in the back is completely covered by the same material to create a full headboard. There is something hanging, a portrait perhaps?  Or, most probably an icon considering the time and church.

What I also want to point out is the roping that holds the canopy to the ceiling. It was not nailed, but literally strung up.

See how they are attached to the inside of the beams, and how there are many locations to make sure that it was hung in an aesthetically pleasing, and meticulously precise manner?

And, look at the very long cord that connects the bed canopy to the opposing wall by the use of a metal hook. This too shows that the interiors were very well thought out.

I love the fact that there is a beautifully ornate bedside chair and chest right next to the bed. The chair is very narrow, but beautifully carved. The Cabinet may be a commode because of the water basin and pitcher sitting on top. What ever it was, this too had carvings and detailed metal work.

If we go directly up we find an incredibly beautiful chandelier complete with candles. It looks like it may have been pewter, but I cannot be certain. It certainly was held to the ceiling securely.

And, more lighting was above the fireplace. This was a swivel candelabra Again, it looks like it may have been pewter. And, look at the detail. This definitely looks Victorian to me!

Now this part I found very interesting. There is a long, very ornately carved Gothic bench right in front of the fireplace. The carvings are absolutely phenomenal. I wonder if they moved it in front of the bed, facing the fire, during the winter months!

Just look at the detail. An intricate foiled archway on the bottom side, with two un-detailed above. All along the bottom front there are beautiful detailed circles within square panels. There are even diamond quatrefoils carved in the back.

But also, look at the pillows. You can buy these today! Plain red plumped with the karate chop in the top center of each.

I think that I will do the architectural details on another day because I feel like they are very important, in and of, themselves. The interior decorations were plainly not boring. They made sure that they had beautiful things just like we do today. Some styling was a bit different perhaps, but not all! No boars heads, no swords or shields. I think that our ideas of medieval interiors actually came from the Romantic and/or Victorian ideals of their times, and it has just continued through in the  idealism of most people today.

Paintings used for the paper of "Middle Ages Decorative Interiors"

Pictures that I used as primary sources for my paper on Medieval interiors.

You can read the entire paper here...Middle Ages Decorative Interiors.


There was not a lot of informative sources, so I used paintings. I have to say, that it really was a lot of fun studying them to detail!.

This one isn't from the time, but it is representative. And, I love it!

Artwork Bibliography:

Campin, Robert. Annunciation Triptych. http://learnearnandreturn.files.

wordpress.com/2011/03/584px-campin_annunciation_triptych.jpg. (accessed March 20, 2012).

Christine de Pisan Presents her Work to Isabeau of Bavaria. C. 1420. Oil on Canvas.

http://www.virtue.to/articles/home_companion.html. (accessed February 14, 2012).

DerWedenn, Van. 1450 Oil on canvas. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/

weyden/annunc.jpg. (accessed February 14, 2012).

Donor. C. 1400.In “Patronage and the Status of the Artist”. N.d.

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/patronage-and-the-status-of-the-artist.html. (accessed February 28, 2012).

German Feast, The. 1400’s. http://www.virtue.to/articles/home_companion.html. (accessed

February 15, 2012).

van Eyck, Jan . The Arnolfini Portrait. 1434. Oil on canvas. In “Daily Artist”.

http://dailyartist.blogspot.com/2010/12/jan-van-eyck-c-1395-july-9-1441.html. (accessed March 25, 2012).

Van derWeden. 1450 Oil on canvas. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/

weyden/annunc.jpg. (accessed February 14, 2012).

What's A Folly?

What exactly is a folly?

A folly is a deliberate piece of architecture created to look like a ruin. This was very popular during the Romantic movement in the 1800's.

Here is Wimpole's Folly. Take a look at the way that it is made.The left obviously resembles crumbling ruins, while the tower looks almost new. There is the lighter concrete area that looks like crosses and I think is supposed to be faux arrow-slits.

Grotto Hill was created to to look like ruins.

Grecian follies were also very popular.

Follies were also made as temples. See any resemblance to places that are created today?

Emulation of Greek Palaces - Research Paper

Taylor Speer-Sims
May 21, 2012

Emulation of Greek Palaces 

            Many groups of people lived in Greece throughout time. These people had such creativity in their buildings. Small homes turned into palaces, and then went further into the designs of palace-temples. Other contemporary cultures began emulating the Greek styles. Later societies found their love of Grecian design and began to reproduce or reinterpret these ideas. Contemporaries, as well as subsequent societies, emulated the palaces of Greece.           

People that lived in the area that was later to be known as Greece were not Greeks. However, they thought of this area as their home. So, to them they were. The point of geographical location was more important than the origination of their ancestry for this paper. Paleolithic people of Greek were certainly living on the Greek homeland.

            Paleolithic people of millions of years ago found their way to Greece from the East. Greece had been the thoroughfare of people transverse to the rest of Europe. The cave complex of Lakonis showed evidence of use throughout time. There are overlapping hearths by the Neanderthals.  Extremely rich cultural remains indicated the multitudes of hominids that used the caves as domiciles throughout an immensely large period of time, possibly up to the Neolithic period.[1]

            The people of the Neolithic era concerned themselves more with farming than ostentatious housing. This time, in Greece, was thought to be from 5000 to 3200 BCE. They were farmers that had a terrestrial diet with little marine, or even animal, consumption. The bones of these early farmers reveal a vitamin deficiency that point to possibly a vegan style lifestyle.[2] By 5800 BCE houses of stick and mud were found in small groupings. Later in the Neolithic period, ca. 5500 BCE, the one-room houses were made with stone foundations and clay and timber roofing.  The settlements of Dimini, ca. 4000 BCE, had been built as encircling enclosures that were used for the distribution of land.[3]

            The first Greek speaking people arrived in their homeland around somewhere between ca. 2100 BCE and 1600 BCE.[4] These Bronze-Age Greeks found that it was the elite that had the greatest access to bronze and other metals, including those of a precious nature. Wealth allowed the beginnings of separation of classes due to possession of precious items. As the economy in Greece increased, the population grew. This created more separation of classes. The rulers grew in wealth, as well as power.[5]

            The powerful ruler of Lerna had the largest house within the Bronze settlement. Though, considered less advanced than the houses of the Near East, it was still quite sophisticated. Many artifacts of high quality have been found within the ruin that indicated that he was a ruler of a complex society. This early mansion was within an enclosure of  a strong fortification and other monumental buildings. Lerna’s ruling chief had lived in one of the earliest forms of palaces.[6]

            The very first true palace in Greece was not the huge labyrinth at Knossos. The evidence is that the world-renowned Palace of Knossos that was rediscovered in the 1930’s had a smaller, yet similar predecessor. There was a cellular multi-cell building with the same L-shape along with the central courtyard.[7] Built in EMIIA, or the 18^th century BCE, the Palace at Valiliki had been in use throughout most of the Minoan period.[8] The labyrinth style of rooms adjacent to one another was used again, but in a larger scale at Knossos.[9]

            Knossos was begun ca. 1700 BCE and completed around 2000 BCE by King Minos, son of the gods Zeus and Europa. This was the central palace for the entire Minoan state.[10] The many level palatial complex held amazing columns and incredible painted/frescoed walls. There were common areas as well as the throne room, sanctuaries, the treasury and warehouses. The Royal villa included a Little Pavilion, which were the royal residences. And, a very important new feature was the open-air theater and entry courtyard. The capacity, of which, held at least five hundred spectators at one time.[11]

            Minos’ brother, Radamanthis had Phaistos as his kingship seat. Also the sight of the great wise man Epimenidis.[12] This Cretan city-state’s palace complex followed in the great Knossos and was started in 1900BCE,[13] Phaistos was the wealthiest city during the time of Minos and even assisted with the Trojan war.[14] The palace proper was extremely extensive. It covered an area approximately 8,000 square meters. The original burnt, but was then rebuilt as a much smaller, but more monumentally decorated building. Again, this site continued with the open-air theater, as well as a central courtyard and entry courtyard.[15]

            The third largest city-state, and thus palace in Crete at this time was Malia. It was also started ca. 1900 BCE. Following the same cycle of boom as Knossos and Phaistos, it collapsed in ca. 1650 BCE by unknown reasons. Also just as Phaistos, the palace was rebuilt was immediately rebuilt and then again was destroyed about two hundred years later. This palace, too, followed the same plan, labyrinth building styles with the warehouses and such, including the open-air theater, courtyard and entry courtyard.[16]

            Courtyard style palaces continued with the Greeks. Tiryns was built in the 14^th century BCE. Tiryns had an upper, middle and lower citadel following the earlier building rings of the earlier Greeks. There were public spaces and a private wall-painted palace.[17] The palace, and the surrounding town were both expanded in 1250 and then again 1225 BCE. The palace was abandoned in the 12^th century BCE, but then reoccupied as a temple in 498 BCE.[18] Indeed, the walls of Tiryns were considered by the Helens to have been so monumental that no human could have built them, it was the work of the Cyclopes race. It was here that the new entryways were developed into a well-structured span that many others emulated. There were three methods of spanning: Post and lintel, corbelled arch and arch.[19]

Mycenae was the next great evolution for the Greek palaces. Both Mycenae and Tiryns represented the époque of Mycenaean civilization.[20] Architectural sculptures here were phenomenal. The idea of the Lion Gate was said to have been of Near Eastern origin, the fact that other, later, Cretans used this same symbol as a relief, then followed by the Greeks indicate a Greek identity more than an oriental.[21] The walls of the entry courtyard, as well as the palace had reliefs of beautiful, colorful paintings that contradicted the severity of the stonework.[22] Mycenae, too, had been built in three stages of outer fortified circles.

Another Mycenaean palatial complex was Pylos. Called he Palace of Nestor, it was begun somewhere between 1300 and 1200 BCE. Pylos was the best preserved, out of all of the early palaces on, or near, Greece. This palace had absolutely amazing wall friezes. Interestingly, this palace had floor frescoes as well as those on the walls.[23] Pylos was the last of the Crete palaces, and Greece moved into palatial temples instead of domiciles.

With the changing into the large palace-temples, architectural styles matured. Ordered elevations included platforms, colonnades along with their superstructures. The first orders were the Doric and Ionic. Both order names were generated from the area of Greece from which they originated. The Doric order, from mainland Greece, remained the most popular. The Ionic was from the Aegean Islands. They were not isolated to the area from which they originated, but were both found throughout the area.[24]

The stylobate was the uppermost course of the platform for both the Ionic and Doric Orders. Fluting marked the columns, then having two or three parts in most cases, although there have been monolithic pieces found. The Doric Order had a plane capital while the Ionic had one that curled under itself, scroll like, on both sides. The Doric did not have a base, while the Ionic did. There were differences in the pediments and raking cornices. Again plane for Doric, the Ionic had square blocking throughout both the cornice and the raking pediments.[25]

There is an addition to the Orders by the newer Corinthian Capital. This was the capital of the columns, and it had a double row of acanthus leaves with tendrils and flowers wrapped around a bell shape echinus. Not a true order, the architects substituted the capital for the scrolled capital in the Ionic Order. It was created in the second half of the fifth century BCE by a sculptor named Kallimachos. Rarely used before the mid-fourth century by the Greeks. However, once the architects realized that this capital eliminated the problem of having more than one column at the corner of a buildings because of the four similar sides, it became a preferred style toward the end of later periods.

Blocking continued in the cornices in the Entablature of the Ionic Orders, and the Doric had a type of molded horizontal projection. Doric friezes had three vertical bands spaced by equal distances and the Ionic Friezes were left open for sculptures. The architrave was the weight-bearing element that distributed the weight of the roof equally.[26]

Large Egyptian architecture predated that of the Greeks, however there was at least one instance where the Egyptians emulated the Greeks. Tell el-Amarna was built by  Akhenaten ca. 1352-1336 BCE. This was obviously within the time of trade with the Greek cultures. Frescoed floors of the palace at Tell el- Amarna were the first for the Egyptians.[27] Akhenaten had changed the look and feeling of Egypt when he moved the capital from Thebes to his new city.[28] Obviously his architects were inspired by Greek paintings of Greek wildflowers when these are compared with the Egyptian Floor Fragment from the Egyptian palace that was placed in the Oriental Institute of Chicago. There similarities are huge. The style of the floor fragment was not the typical Egyptian, but was painted just like those of the Greek book Da Materia Medica of Dioskorides. While this book was written later, it was a copy earlier Greek paintings.[29] Egyptians also copied the forums of the Greek city-states.[30]

The obvious Greek influence on Egypt was the entire city of Alexandria. Alexander the Great founded the city with his architect, Dinocrates who was originally from Macedonia. Dinocrates gave Alexander a drawing of a temple that he had designed. Not being able to build such a structure at the location of gift, Alexander was on the lookout for a suitable location. When he came across and observed “a harbor safe by nature, an excellent center for trade, cornfields… and the great usefulness of the mighty river Nile, ordered him (Dinocrates) to build the city of Alexandria, named after the king.”[31]

The Assyrians also had paintings on their walls in the palace of Khorsabad. The Greeks did not inspire the painted walls of the palace, but the they did inspire the palace entrance itself. Khorsabad had an entry courtyard that resembled that of those of the labyrinth palaces. Khorsabad was built in 721 BCE, millennia after those of Mycenae.[32] Even though there were some differences, the fact remains that the earliest entry courtyards were from Greece, not from the Orient.

Oriental Persians also copied Greek architectural styles in one of their palaces. Again, just like the Egyptians, the Persians copied, and used, the Greek forums.[33] Deioces required a palace for himself that he considered to be suitable to his rank. Xerxes condescended this wish as he allowed Deioces to take his throne as ruler of Agbatana. The Medes, the people of the area, built the place with “walls of… great size and strength, rising in circles one within the other…. The royal palace and the treasuries standing within the last. The circuit of the outer wall is very nearly the same with that of Athens.”[34] And, with the ever-increasing circles of the Persian palace it also resembled the circling nature of the Greek Dimini village of 4000 BCE.

Temple palaces of the Etruscans were direct descendants of Grecian styles. They resembled the Greek stone-gabled roofed temples. They also had columns that were almost identical to the Doric Order. The differences were that they were mad of wood, unfluted and had no base. However, in appearance, the resemblance to the Greek temples was very similar.[35]

The very next in line for Greek palatial architectural decadency were the Romans. They took the basic Orders and made Romanized changes. Greek forums and theaters were enlarged to accommodate more people.[36] Roman changes also included the entry from the circumference of the building to only the front stairwell. The Romans also emulated Greek decoration of their housing. In both Pompeii and elsewhere, the “elite identity… combines the basics of Roman building forums with Greek subjects and decorative styles.”[37] Meaning that the painting frescoes within the houses of the Roman elite were of Greek palatial ornamentation design. In fact, almost all Roman designs originated from either Etruscan or Grecian designs. And, while the Etruscans emulated the Greeks, going further, that means that Roman designs were almost entirely of Greek origin.

Grecian designs went further throughout time. The heirs to the Greek dynasty included almost all of Europe. The Normans built keeps with encircling fortifications that bespoke of the early Greek Dimini. Europe, in the 18^th century, had a Greek fascination with the neo-classic palaces such as the Russian Gatchina Palace, Poland’s Pulawy Palac Marynki and Tabley House in Great Britain.[38] Even the United States of America had their connection with Grecian palatial temples. The White House, The U.S. Capital building and many different mansions such as Andalusia in Pennsylvania and Greenwood Plantation in Louisiana are the embodiment of the Greek palaces.[39]

There are two arguments to the idea that the palaces of other societies emulated the Greeks. The first was that there were palaces and temples elsewhere. The other was that the non-Greeks could have come up with these same ideas; frescoed walled houses, frescoed floors, painting styles, circular palace enclosures and entry courtyards. Both of these arguments would have been true. However, the people of Greece did come up with all of these ideas first. And, they were definitely in contact (either directly or indirectly) with people of the Orient, Rome, Europe and America. This clearly shows that even if these other individuals, or groups, would have come up with those very same factors, they did so afterwards. Which means that the conceptions were only original to those that created them, the Greeks.

Emulation was the highest form of flattery. People from all over the Near-East, Europe and America fell in love with different portions of Grecian temples. The fortification concept of encircled enclosures was part of many fortification designs. Grecian style entry courtyards were popular in the Orient. Frescoed walls were popular through the 18^th century, and beyond. The most coveted architectural element of all was the different Orders. These were popular from Ancient Greece all the way to today. Without a doubt, people around the globe, throughout time, duplicated the palaces of Greece.

Bibliography:

 

“Abstract”, Abstract of  “Bioarchaeological Inferences from a Neolithic Ossuary from

Alepotrypa Cave, Diros, Greece” by Anastasia Papathanasiou, Clark Spencer Larsen and Lynette Norr.  in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology,  Vol 10, Issue 3, (May/June 2000), 210-228.  2012. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1099-1212(200005/06)10:3%3C210::AID-OA523%3E3.0.CO;2-2/abstract. (access May 19, 2012).

“Abstract”, Abstract of “Late Pleistocene Archaeological and Fossil Human Evidence from

Lakonis Cave, Southern Greece.” By Eleni Panagopoulou, et al. in Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol 29, No. 3-4 (January 2004), 323-349. 2012. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/jfa/2004/00000029/f0020003/art00005. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1099-1212(200005/06)10:3%3C210::AID-OA523%3E3.0.CO;2-2/abstract

Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns.” World Heritage. Dec. 1999.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/941. (accessed May 21, 2012).

Dishner, Jackie. “Greek Revival Architecture.” HGTV: Front Door. January 2008.

http://www.frontdoor.com/buy/greek-revival-architecture/1041. (accessed May 22, 2012).

“Greenwood Plantation.” 2004. http://www.greenwoodplantation.com/intro.html. (accessed

May 22, 2012).

Herodotus. “The History of Herodotus.” 440 BCE. Quoted in “Modern History Sourcebook”,

Fordham University. Last modified August 1998. http://www.fordham.edu/

Halsall/ancient/herodotus-history.txt. (accessed May 21, 2012).

Jenkins, Simon. England’s Thousand Best Houses. New York: Penguin Group, 2004.

Kleiner, Fred. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume 1, 13th 

Ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010.

“Malia.” Ancient-Greece.org. 2012. http://www.ancient-greece.org/archaeology/malia.html.

(accessed May 21, 2012).

Levi, Peter. Atlas of the Greek World. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2000.

Don Nardo, ed. The Complete History of  Ancient Greece. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven

Press, 2001.

Papdimitriou, Alkistis. “History” Odysseus. 2007. http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/

3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2382. (accessed May 21, 2012).

Pollio, Vitruvius. “The Ten Books on Architecture.” 15 BCE.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g74AMOQxvJ8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA16&dq=vitruvius+treatise+on+architecture&ots=WmlIYORhbW&sig=Xu51f93C8qR0psYufgC14v8V2Fc#v=onepage&q=etruscan&f=false. (accessed May 22, 2012).

“Pylos Project, The” MARWP. N.d.  http://marwp.cla.umn.edu/marwp/pylos.html. (accessed

May 21, 2012).

Speer-Sims, Taylor. “Fragment Fever” (Research paper for class, American Military

University, March 2012.)

---- “Khorsabad Palace: Not So Bad, Actually Fantastic.” (Research paper for class,

American Military University, March 2012.)

“Time Periods”. Ancient Greece. 2012. http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Neolithic/. (accessed

May 21, 2012).

Vanorsow. “Roman Houses as Greek Palaces.” Teaching Company. May 31, 2010.

http://teachingcompany.12.forumer.com/a/7-roman-houses-as-greek-palaces_post2743.html. (accessed May 22, 2012).

Originally written for class at American Military University.

---

[1] “Abstract”, Abstract of “Late Pleistocene Archaeological and Fossil Human Evidence from Lakonis Cave, Southern Greece.” By Eleni Panagopoulou, et al. in Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol 29, No. 3-4 (January 2004), 323-349. 2012. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/jfa/2004/00000029/f0020003/art00005. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1099-1212(200005/06)10:3%3C210::AID-OA523%3E3.0.CO;2-2/abstract

[2] “Abstract”, Abstract of  “Bioarchaeological Inferences from a Neolithic Ossuary from Alepotrypa Cave, Diros, Greece” by Anastasia Papathanasiou, Clark Spencer Larsen and Lynette Norr.  in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology,  Vol 10, Issue 3, (May/June 2000), 210-228.  2012. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

/doi/10.1002/1099-1212(200005/06)10:3%3C210::AID-OA523%3E3.0.CO;2-2/abstract. (access May 19, 2012).

[3] “Time Periods”. Ancient Greece. 2012. http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Neolithic/. (accessed May 21, 2012).

[4] Don Nardo, ed. The Complete History of  Ancient Greece. (San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 2001.), 35.

[5] Ibid, 36.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid, 39.

[8] “Valiliki” Minoan Crete: Bronze Age Civilization. N.d. http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/

minoan/vasiliki.htm. (accessed May 21, 2012).

[9] Sarah Pomeroy, et al. Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, 3^rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.), 27.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Jiri Burian, et al. The Grand Tour: Homes of Kings. ( New York: HBJ Press, 1978.), 152.

[12] “Phaistos: Palace and Archaeological Site. .” Interkriti. 2012. http://www.interkriti.org/

crete/iraklion/phaistos.html. (accessed May 21, 2012).

[13] Pomeroy, 27.

[14] “Phaistos”.

[15] Ibid.

[16] “Malia.” Ancient-Greece.org. 2012. http://www.ancient-greece.org/archaeology/malia.html. (accessed May 21, 2012).

[17] Alkistis Papdimitriou. “History” Odysseus. 2007. http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2382. (accessed May 21, 2012).

[18] “Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns.” World Heritage. Dec. 1999. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/941. (accessed May 21, 2012).

[19] Fred Kleiner. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume 1, 13th Ed. (Boston: Wadsworth, 2010.), 77.

[20] “Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns.”

[21] Kleiner, 79.

[22] Ibid, 77.

[23] “The Pylos Project” MARWP. N.d.  http://marwp.cla.umn.edu/marwp/pylos.html. (accessed May 21, 2012).

[24] Kleiner, 96.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Mark Hirsh. Personal interview with author March, 2012.

[28] Taylor Speer-Sims. “Fragment Fever” (Research paper for class, American Military University, March 2012.)

[29] “Fragment of a Painted Floor.” Plaster, pigment. New Kingdom Dynasty 18, Reign of Akenaten, ca. 1352-1336 BCE. Tell el-Amarna, Maru Aten, 22 ½ x 27” Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL – Personal visit by author.; Peter Levi. Atlas of the Greek World. (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2000.), 191.

[30] Vanorsow. “Roman Houses as Greek Palaces.” Teaching Company. May 31, 2010. http://teachingcompany.12.forumer.com/a/7-roman-houses-as-greek-palaces_post2743.html. (accessed May 22, 2012).

[31] Vitruvius Pollio. “The Ten Books on Architecture.” 15 BCE. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g74AMOQxvJ8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA16&dq=vitruvius+treatise+on+architecture&ots=WmlIYORhbW&sig=Xu51f93C8qR0psYufgC14v8V2Fc#v=onepage&q=etruscan&f=false. (accessed May 22, 2012).

[32] Taylor Speer-Sims. “Khorsabad Palace: Not So Bad, Actually Fantastic.” (Research paper for class, American Military University, March 2012.)

[33] Vanorsow.

[34] Herodotus. “The History of Herodotus.” 440 BCE. Quoted in “Modern History Sourcebook”, Fordham University. Last modified August 1998. http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/herodotus-history.txt. (accessed May 21, 2012).

[35] Kleiner, 145.

[36] Vanorsow.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Simon Jenkins. England’s Thousand Best Houses. (New York: Penguin Group, 2004.), 89.

[39] Jackie Dishner. “Greek Revival Architecture.” HGTV: Front Door. January 2008. http://www.frontdoor.com/buy/greek-revival-architecture/1041. (accessed May 22, 2012).; “Greenwood Plantation.” 2004. http://www.greenwoodplantation.com/intro.html. (accessed May 22, 2012).

Originally written for research paper for class at American Military University.

Martin Mitchell Mansion

Naperville, Illinois built in 1883

I went to visit with my mom. Interestingly it is free to enter if you are local! Built by George Martin II in 1883, it was a showcase for the local wealthy entrepreneur who had the brick and limestone business that literally built Chicago after the Great Fire. It is the only original building still on its building site within Naper Settlement.

Back door with cellar door

Carrage entrance

This is where the carraige riders would alight.

Not the steps that are high off the ground.

 Above every window and door there is the limestone that made George Martin II wealthy.

Also, notice the frosted glass pane with the name "Martin".

All above photos taken by author.

Parlor

 This wallpaper was original to the house.

My mom says that it is the prettiest paper that she has ever seen in her life.

Photo does not due it justice. Flocked blue with silver filigree.

Above two photographs:

http://www.napersettlement.org/postcard.aspx

They wouldn't let me take pictures on the inside, but I wish that I could have taken pictures of two rooms for you.

The Kitchen floor is amazing. It is strikingly striped, with white ash and black walnut intermittently.

And, the upstairs front room has what they call a "Turkish Nook". This is in the front of the house where the solarium usually is. It is interesting because there is a cot covered in a bedspread with a small tapestry hanging above it. There is a Moroccan floor lamp opposite with a Spanish carved Dantesca chair. A tapestry hangs to one side of the window gathered with a tassel. This was the Mitchell's upstairs parlor.