Temple of Apollo, Schwetzingen

The gardens of Schloss Schwetzingen, in Schwetzingen, Germany, are world renowned, even more so than the palace, as they are preserved from the mid 18th century and feature a number of unique areas. The first of these is the Temple of Apollo.

The gardens are a mixture of Italian and English styles, popular at the time, and the temple is set atop terraced walls. Set inside the garden folly is a statue of the Greek god Apollo, the god of the Arts and of light.

They look down to an Italianate fountain which ends at a rounded lawn, perfect as an outdoor amphitheater.

 The guardrails have a beautiful verdigris finish with gilded suns set at the posts. The details of even such a small corner of the gardens are astounding!

Next week I'll bring some special structures from the Garden at Schwetzingen. I hope this leaves you with a taste of whats to come!

Inside the Villa della Regina; an 18th century chinoiserie fantasy

Located high in the hills above Turin, Italy, and surrounded by luscious Italianate gardens is the royal Savoy palace known as the "Villa della Regina".  Despite damage from WWII and years of neglect the villa has remained a fantastic example of the exotic 18th century chinoiserie style.

The building has been the property of the country since 1994 and maintenance is directly funded by visitors ( so make sure to visit! ). The views of Turin alone would be worth the trip.

Above you can see the highly terraced gardens with the house nestled into the hillside creating a protected entry court.

 The views down to Turin are stunning!

 I love these highly terraced, architectural gardens.

 The fountain at the entrance is large enough to be a pool!

 The fountain above is stunning even when not running.

 This teahouse terminates the view up the hillside.

The real thing to see here however are the interiors, preserved from the 18th century in all of their exotic-ness.

 The boiseries in many of the rooms contain panels of chinoiserie wallpaper.

 The details are gorgeous

 and the scenes intriguing.

Very few examples of the original furniture exist but the above cabinet gives one a taste of what once was.

 The room above has a bit of everything: rococo, chinoserie, Pompeian scenes, etc.

In the above enfilade you can tell just how big this place is although not all of the rooms retain their original decoration.

The rooms which still boast their frescoes make up for it though. Have you ever seen anything so fanciful?

The ceilings in most cases are more interesting than the walls.  Let this be a lesson to all of us; no more boring white ceilings!

 You almost need a microscope to take in all of the detail.

Some of the rooms have lost their original decoration but retain the plasterwork like above for a more modern look.

Comparing the same room's ceiling from 2 different angles shows one what a difference the decoration makes.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into the Villa della Regina and found something to inspire you! Thanks again to my Penpal for sharing these gorgeous images. As always click on the photos to view in greater detail.

Can you rebuild the past? The Berlin Schloss

A debate has raged in Berlin for the past 2 decades over whether to rebuild the historic Berlin Schloss or City Palace on historic Museum Island. Badly damaged during WWII, the communists tore down the palace in 1950 to make way for their Palace of the Republic, a hideous steel, glass, & asbestos multi-use structure which was recently, in-turn, torn down.

The Schloss had served as a public art museum since 1918 but was started in 1443 as a royal palace. Constantly renovated over hundreds of years, the exterior stayed fixed to the baroque period while the interiors reflected the styles of the day. The dome was rebuilt in the mid 19th century by none other than the architect Karl Shinkel in collaboration with Stuler.

Many people have debated rebuilding the historic structure because they claim it has overtones of the previous monarchy, but what monument in Europe isn't tainted by history? In these photos you see photographs of a model of what is currently under construction taken by my Australian Penpal at the neighboring Bode Museum in Berlin.

What these people seem to want is a building of our own age -much as the communists wanted in their construction of the Palace of the Republic. Would they want someone like Frank Gehry (heaven forbid) to build something that doesn't match the historic area in the center of the city and would be reviled in 10 years time (as well as now)?

The compromise has come about that the exterior will be built to closely match the former palace with modern interiors which will house a modern, non-western art museum. The costly exterior recreation will be done mainly through private donations which have nearly been fulfilled and plans to be finished in 2019.

The undertaking is gargantuan as can be expected for such a massive building site. The exterior carved stonework has been meticulously copied from historic photos and paintings. Each piece must be modeled full-size in clay (which takes about a month) and approved by a panel before being carved in sandstone by masons (each small piece can take up to 2 months by one artisan).

 Here you can see 1 of 43 required eagles which will adorn the facade.

The workmanship is amazing; encouraging to know it exists in this day and age! The sandstone cartouche above took a mason 2 months to complete. Talk about job security!

Above you can see construction from last month. What do you think -would you have decided to rebuild the historic palace to fit within this historic district or hired a modern day architect to build something new?
See more images of the building's past and future HERE.
This article in the WSJ details the controversy in more detail.

Chinese wallpaper at the Baths at Badenburg, Nymphenburg Park.

Whilst on his travels my Australian penpal stopped at Nymphenburg where the park is full of fascinating follies. Built in 1722 by Joseph Effner the Baths (or sauana) was the focal point of the park.

I love that the building is set in a lawn of daisies. I hate the American preference for pristine green lawns; give me wildflowers!

 The main room right when you enter is the banqueting hall.

The ceiling frescoes were badly damaged by the bombing of Nymphenburg during WWII but have been recently restored.

 I love these mirrored niches mirroring the transoms over the french doors. Both transoms and niches hold a collection of busts.

 The baths are shockingly opulent. The balcony above was for people to observe those in the pool below.

The most amazing part of this pavilion though are the original but recently restored hand-painted Chinese wallpaper in the 4 rooms of the "Elector's apartment".

 This room featured beautiful pink tea-stained and emerald green birds and flowers.

Another room features a more scenic Chinese wallpaper.

 The details are fascinating.

 The colors also are amazingly vivid.

 The houses in this wallpaper are the main attraction.

The park is full of beautiful follies and looks like a great place to spend a day.  Thanks to my penpal for sharing his travels with us all!

Charles M Schulz Museum

While many readers of ArchitectDesign probably think I'm a boring, dry architect, I do have my whimsical side which comes out now and again on the blog. While in California last month I made sure to visit the Charles M Shulz Museum in Santa Rosa.

Designed by C. David Robinson architects, the post-modern building expresses this whimsy through its design. Charles Schulz himself was involved with the design before his death.

In the nearby separate gift shop building are a number of exhibits, one of which was an exact Lego replica of the museum. Compare the 2 photos above, the likeness is amazing!

The gift shop itself is worth a visit.

Located between the museum and the gift shop is a whimsical hockey rink and Warm Puppy Cafe which Charles Schulz would visit everyday and still in operation.

 The black and white facade of the museum echoes the cartoons made famous by Schulz.

Life-size statues of snoopy and the gang are littered around the grounds.

Charles Schulz's office where he drew decades worth of his cartoons was installed piece by piece into the 2nd floor of the museum; a period piece if you ever saw one!

 The colors throughout the museum echo the cartoon strips.

Artworks based on the Peanuts series are to be found throughout the museum as well as many of the original cartoons and stories behind them.

 I loved this 'Snoopy' version of the famous Knoll Bertoia chair.

The 'backyard' is a playful place to rest and enjoy the weather. One of my favorite pieces in the museum wasn't connected with the comic strip at all but rather was a wall mural Schulz created for his daughter early in his career which the current homeowners donated to the museum.

Any visit to northern California isn't complete without a stop to the Charles M Schulz museum in Santa Rosa; it will be sure to put a smile on your face!