tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170852285107502075.post1231686896108201825..comments2024-03-28T09:54:05.932-07:00Comments on BIG OLD HOUSES: Civility in the WildJohn Foremanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05062464473900774511noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170852285107502075.post-16573662400219301842021-11-20T22:50:38.443-08:002021-11-20T22:50:38.443-08:00Great reading yoour blog postGreat reading yoour blog postDebrahttps://www.debraolsen.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170852285107502075.post-47412163051388902602012-11-13T13:19:26.323-08:002012-11-13T13:19:26.323-08:00I grew up near Oneonta, but never heard of Hyde Ha...I grew up near Oneonta, but never heard of Hyde Hall until I had lived in NYC for 20 years. What a great treat, and what an unknown treasure! <br /><br />The day I went on a guided tour there, it was just myself and the tour guide. Since I was actually interested in everything, and knew enough about local history, and architecture, to have an intelligent conversation, the guide and I had a great time, going well beyond the allotted time frame. <br /><br />I haven't been able to get back since, and I can see much has been done, but I consider it one of my favorite house museums, as well. It's a treasure, and long may it stand.Suzannenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170852285107502075.post-85588375036526920232012-11-04T15:51:03.082-08:002012-11-04T15:51:03.082-08:00Love your posts, follow your blog religiously, I a...Love your posts, follow your blog religiously, I am a great fan of architecture (both old and new) and would like to see this dizzy floor plan in person. One of my favorite Big Old Houses is Coe Hall in Upper Brookville NY. I've seen the grounds, and the main rooms, but never upstairs. Have you?Rob Sudarshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12435722284651401603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170852285107502075.post-45511577908068079392012-10-22T14:05:16.065-07:002012-10-22T14:05:16.065-07:00Thanks John for the exceedingly detailed visit - w...Thanks John for the exceedingly detailed visit - which is a most welcomed specialty you've been consistently providing to "us", your readers.<br /><br />Having been raised in the Village of Cooperstown I've been to HH so many times I cannot even count. I'm always amazed as to how utterly devoid of sound that inner courtyard is when you're in it. Almost spooky yet on any day that isn't cloudy or overcast it gives off a fair amount of light into the 'home'. <br /><br />The modern access bridge is a shame in that it really isn't terribly sympathetic to the structures but it beats a repeat of the prior flood that wiped out the prior span over the brook.<br /><br />For the volume of people who visit Cooperstown either for baseball, lake activities, museum, or the Opera each summer I've never seen a large audience of people doing the tour. A shame as it really is a unique gem.Kellsboro Jackhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/27332539@N07/sets/72157628434782509/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170852285107502075.post-12691608563877933962012-10-19T03:20:58.413-07:002012-10-19T03:20:58.413-07:00Truly an anomaly in the United States, Hyde Hall i...Truly an anomaly in the United States, Hyde Hall is at once a grand and rambling 'country house' in the British sense, while representing an 'organic' genuineness and a directly circumstantial relation-to-place.<br />It's grandeur is especially arresting in its almost 'primitive' (in the absolute best sense of this word) and non-derivative character.<br />It bears a provocative oblique kinship to that other great anomalous American house, Jefferson's Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va.<br />Unlike the Virginia house, Hyde Hall lacks any perceivable 'conceptual' imprint, and displays itself as an astoundingly willful yet pragmatic unselfconscious response to function and circumstance, yet projecting a remarkable almost 'conflicting' simultaneous symbolism in its individual parts.<br />Further, Hyde Hall lacks the superficial and indeed often anonymous artificiality seen in so many subsequent American great houses. To go there is to experience the refreshment offered by that rapidly vanishing commodity: 'specific place'.<br />A wonderful and insightful tour you have provided! I'm headed there once again in the coming month and will enjoy seeing the newly restored 'tin top', gatehouse. Alas, that new steel arched-truss bridge is a very unfortunate addition!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170852285107502075.post-22864084057398354612012-10-18T21:46:35.478-07:002012-10-18T21:46:35.478-07:00Okay, so now you have nailed it. Hyde Hall is one...Okay, so now you have nailed it. Hyde Hall is one of my absolute favorite house museums in America. I first visited it 25 or so years ago when much of it was an absolute wreck, and dangerous to walk through, shortly after the Friends acquired it. The work "they" have done in the meantime is nothing short of heroic. I've visited it half a dozen times over the years, and have been thrilled to see the progress made at bringing this old girl back to life. But since my last visit -- two years ago -- the gatehouse has been restored from a derelict state, and (more recently) the chandeliers have been restored and rehung in the DR and drawing room. The period lighting at HH is particularly noteworthy, and is the subject of much interest of those who appreciate such things I understand. Huzzah to those who have made what seemed to be an impossibly daunting task -- the rescue of HH -- a reality. One thing of note: the reproduction hanging in the drawing room of the SFB Morse painting of the interior of the Louvre, which the Terra Foundation now owns (the original that is) and that once (and now once again) hangs at Hyde Hall. Rgds, ReggieReggie Darlinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04044215790585354363noreply@blogger.com