Homes. If you didn’t know what the inside of yours looked like, you do now.
The old adage, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” originated in Germany, but was first written in English by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who described the pull that often brings us back to our childhood home.
My grandmother grew up on Louisville’s historic Frankfort Avenue in the house on the right. She went on to become a mother of five, the world’s best birthday party thrower, and an open cockpit biplane pilot, among other things. Today, I currently live in the apartment building on the left. The apple has rolled mere feet two generations later. I have no immediate plans to fly a small aircraft though.
We’ve spent a lot of time inside our various abodes lately, and this new way of life doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Like most, I have maintained some sense of sanity by going on bike rides, runs, and walking the same two or three routes around my neighborhood about six thousand times.
In doing so, I’ve learned that the Clifton neighborhood was developed over the course of 60 years; houses dating back to the 1860s sit right next to homes built in the 1910s. No matter the year, it seems that all residences were built in Victorian styles. This type of architecture spread throughout North America during this period.
As a child, I would spend countless hours using blocks to construct perfect, towering castles before my brother swooped in to demolish them just as the last precious piece was put in place. Along with my love for him, my architectural interest stopped there. A casual survey reveals, though, that the Victorian styles refer to none other than the reign of Queen Victoria, which lasted until 1901.
One style in North America was Queen Anne, which was known for asymmetrical facades, round or polygonal towers, classical columns, and a porch covering the primary entrance area. These characteristics are markedly present in the houses that occupy my daily quarantine walks.
Though the Clifton neighborhood is fertile ground for Victorian architecture, Old Louisville actually contains the largest collection in the world. Consisting of 48 city blocks, it sits between downtown and the University of Louisville campus, and between 1883 and 1886, 260 Victorian homes valued at a total of $1.6 million were constructed. Ah, the glory days. The neighborhood also contains the highest concentration of residential homes with stained glass windows in the U.S., according to the always accurate Wikipedia.
The Victorian era was eventually followed by Edwardian, which included lighter colors and less complex patterns. Not as interesting, I think, so we'll stop there.
In my mom’s kitchen was a quote by Samuel Johnson that read, “To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which all enterprise and labor tends.” There are certainly restrictions and very real consequences of this time, but I’m trying to appreciate the relative comfort and ease of life at home, too; the slowing down that it provides.
Whether yours is big or small, Queen Anne or utterly chaotic, let's all try our best to enjoy it. Indeed, there were those before us who constructed and cared so that we might be living.