Follies and other fun or unusual buildings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FollyIn architecture, a folly is a building constructed strictly as a decoration, having none of the usual purposes of housing or sheltering associated with a conventional structure. They originated as decorative accents in parks and estates. "Folly" is used in the sense of fun or light-heartedness, not in the sense of something ill-advised.
Thinking of my british hermit I got to thinking about these fun little buildings.
Could you consider these folly's? If so these are by far the best folly's in the world.
You know I guess when you think about it you could. They are for decorative purposes only.
Although the obelisk does have some other significance.
They have been very prominant throughout history. Aren't they a popular free mason symbol??? They seem to serve no real purpose.
http://www.crystalinks.com/obelisks.html
http://i-cias.com/e.o/obelisk.htm
Park Guell, by Antoni Gaudi, at Montana Pelada, Barcelona, Spain, 1900 to 1914.
Photo by Michael-Leonard Creditor. © Michael-Leonard Creditor, available from Artifice Images
more Gaudi:
Bishop's Castle
Bishop Castle
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2047
Field review by the editors.
Rye - Beulah, Colorado
For 40 years, Jim Bishop has been building a castle on a mountainside in central Colorado. "Did it all myself, don't want any help," he says mechanically as he unloads a pile of rocks that he's hoisted to the 70-foot level on one of the castle towers.
Every year since 1969, Bishop has single-handedly gathered and set over 1000 tons of rock to create this stone and iron fortress in the middle of nowhere. Bishop calls it "a monument to hardworking people" and "America's biggest, one-man, physical project." "I always wanted a castle. Every man wants a castle," Bishop continues, his voice a broken record, answering the same questions he's obviously been asked thousands of times before.
It hasn't been easy. For most of those 40 years Bishop was engaged in a running battle with Washington bureaucrats over the rocks that he used, which came from the San Isabel National Forest that surrounds the castle property. Bishop felt that they were his for the taking, the government wanted to charge him per truckload.
Another bone of contention that stuck in Bishop's craw belonged to the Colorado state Chamber of Commerce, which refused to list Bishop Castle as an attraction in its official tourism guides.
Happily, those angry years are in the past. Both Uncle Sam and the Colorado Chamber now recognize that Bishop's dementia concretia is marketable, and that he's transformed some heavy, unwanted rocks into pure tourism gold.
The castle is a popular spot. "I been here three times," said one visitor. "I'm taking my kids to see what one man can do," said another. Other popular comments: "He's crazy," "Where does he get the time?" and "Where does he get the money?"
Bishop's goal is to complete his castle before he dies. He has no thought of slowing down. Although the castle is still just a hollow shell of cemented rocks and ornamental ironwork (Jim Bishop's regular line of business), his future plans include a moat and a drawbridge, a roller coaster mounted on the castle's outer wall, a balcony big enough to hold an orchestra, and a second castle for Phoebe, his wife.
"I want to live as long as I can and keep building that castle bigger and bigger and bigger."
Note: By 2005, Jim had added a large metal mesh dome on top of the castle, which rotates when visitors run in it. Visitor Janet advised "You are free to explore the castle on your own, which is both exciting and scary since you are walking very high up on open, wrought iron platforms and bridges."
World's largest release of liabity:
for more pictures go to: http://www.stevegarufi.com/bishopcastle.htm
more of Jim's homemade signage and pictures.
that is so cool!
Here is another castle built by only 1 man:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Castle
He would have some help in the form of someone driving the truck, etc. But the cutting and moving of the stones was all his own handiwork.Coral Castle is a stone structure created by the Latvian-American eccentric Edward Leedskalnin north of the city of Homestead, Florida in Miami-Dade County at the intersection of U.S. 1 (South Dixie Highway) and Southwest 157th Ave. The structure comprises numerous megalithic stones (mostly limestone, formed from coral), each weighing several tons.[1]
Leedskalnin claims to have figured out the "secret" of the Egyptians, and was reportedly able to levitate the stones. Lord knows how it would be done, but he was always muttering about his "sweet sixteen", which some mathmeticians believe refers to resonant EM waves.The grounds of Coral Castle consist of 1,100 tons of stones found in the forms of walls, carvings, furniture and a castle tower. While commonly referred to as being made up of coral, it is actually made of oolite, also known as oolitic limestone. Oolite is a sedimentary rock composed of small spherical grains of concentrically layered carbonate that may include localized concentrations of fossil shells and coral. Oolite is found throughout southeastern Florida from as north as Palm Beach County to as south as the Florida Keys.[10] Oolite is often found beneath only several inches of topsoil such as at the Coral Castle site.
The stones are fastened together without any mortar. They are simply set on top of each other using their immense weight to keep them together. However, the craftsmanship detail is so skillful that the stones are connected with such precision that no light passes between the seams. The eight foot tall vertical stones that make up the perimeter wall have a uniform height. Even with the passage of decades and a direct hit on August 24, 1992 by the Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, which leveled everything in the area, the stones have not shifted.
Many of the features and carvings of the castle are notable. Among them are a two-story castle tower that served as Leedskalnin's living quarters, walls consisting entirely of eight foot high pieces of coral, an accurate sun dial, a Polaris telescope, an obelisk, a barbecue, a water well, a fountain, celestial stars and planets, and numerous pieces of furniture. The furniture pieces included are a heart-shaped table, a table in the shape of Florida, twenty-five rocking chairs, chairs resembling crescent moons, a bathtub, beds and a royal throne.
The Thirty Ton Stone.
What is most remarkable about the contents of the Coral Castle is the massive size of the stones used throughout the construction, all the more remarkable when one considers that a single man assembled the entire site using only primitive tools. With few exceptions, the objects are made from single pieces of stone. The stones on average weigh more than the stones found in the Pyramids of Egypt. The largest stone weighs 30 tons, which is over three times the size of the heaviest stone found in the Great Pyramid of Giza.[11] Leedskalnin may have well been aware of this as the 30 ton stone is capped by a stone that closely resembles the gabled roof of the King's Chamber in the Pyramid of Khufu.[12] Two of the stones are monolithic and stand twenty-five feet high above the ground which make them taller than any stone found in Stonehenge.[13][14][15]
A nine-ton revolving gate is the most famous structure of the castle and was documented on TV's In Search of..., and That's Incredible! The gate is carved so precisely that it fits within a quarter of an inch of the walls on both sides. It was so well-balanced that a child could open it with the push of a single finger. The mystery of the gate's perfectly balanced axis and the amazing ease with which it revolved lasted for decades until the gate suddenly stopped working in 1986. At that time, a team of engineers was brought in for consultation. In order to remove the gate, six men and a fifty ton crane were utilized. Once the gate was removed, the engineers discovered how Leedskalnin had centered and balanced the nine-ton piece of rock. Leedskalnin had drilled a hole from top to bottom of the eight-foot-tall gate with no electric tools and inserted a metal shaft. The rock rested on an old truck bearing. It was the rusting out of this bearing that resulted in the gate's failure to revolve. The nine-ton gate, complete with new bearings, and a replaced shaft was lifted and set back into place on July 23, 1986.[16] The gate failed again in 2005 and was subsequently repaired, however it does not rotate with the same ease it once did.
Who knows, but it is a great mystery, and one heck of a good monument.
More images:
I admire that kind of dedication and creativity.
Hal would like a word.Originally Posted by Kmun
"Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak."-Reverend Martin Luther King
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