kim said

Castle Envy VI: Citizen Kane's Xanadu

I thought that any home built in the 20th century in California and dubbed "castle" would have more in common with the Snow White domicile at Disneyland than a European chateaux, so I've always been a bit of a snob about Hearst Castle. I'll have to admit I was wrong. This weekend G. surprised me with a trip to Cambria and San Simeon for a tour of the mansion. The pools alone were worth the entrance fee and Cary Grant visited the place 90 times (wooing the ladies at 2am in the indoor pool, this by his own account).  Hearst had a mania for collecting art and antiques and unlike your typical estate tour, most of it still covers the walls (and floors and ceilings for that matter).

The castle's architect Julia Morgan is responsible for over 60 buildings (indexed here) and was the first woman to  complete her engineering degree from UC California and the first woman to study at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

Tip: The Little Market just off the beach in nearby Cayucos is filled with yummy gourmet goodies both sweet and savory. I tried a little brown sugar and almond cookie sprinkled with sea salt and it was an inspired combo.

Castle Envy V: Ice Castles

"...the House of Ice appears in poems about dreams. It is believed to have inspired the 'sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice' in Coleridge's 'Kubla Khan.' Thomas Moore the nineteenth century poet-satirist, wrote of a dream ball in the House of Ice, hosted by Tsar Alexander I and attended by the entire Holy Alliance. When the castle and its occupants start to melt, 'some word,' like 'Constitution'--long/Congealed in frosty silence,' drips from the tongue of Prussia's king." (The Ice Renaissance, The New Yorker)

In St. Petersburg a recreation of Empress Anna's ice palace described above was recently built and then destroyed before it could even melt. The directors Valery Gromov and Svetlana Mikheyeva planned to charge honeymooners four thousand dollars to spend their first night of connubial bliss snug in the carved ice bed within the frozen palace.

Castle Envy IV

From the January issue of Arthur Magazine in "The Further Adventures of Dr. Moustache and the Egyptian Gentleman" by Daniel Chamberlin:

"The most spectacular of the ruins in this area of Syria is undoubtedly Krak de Chevaliers, a 12th-century fortress that lived up to every expectation that I have ever had for a castle... The castle feels like Lord of the Rings and the Crusades and the old Lego castle building sets all at once."

T.E. Lawrence called Krak de Chevaliers, "Perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world." More here.

Image: Krak de Chevaliers
Related: Castle Envy III

Castle Envy III

This month's W magazine profiles the 18th Duchess of Alba of Spain who divides her time among six different palaces, including a 15th c. "Moorish extravaganza" with 11 courtyards. The Duchess has 47 titles, including one that proclaims her the only person allowed to " ride into the immense Seville Cathedral on horseback." Also, she "does not have to kneel before the Pope."  The article continues: 

In addition to her two marriages, the Duchess... has supposedly enjoyed numerous affairs with a succession of bullfighters, flamenco dancers and other handsome men...She caused a near scandal in 1978 by marrying  Jesus Aguirre, a handsome former Jesuit priest eight years her junior.

Image: Palacio de las Duenas

From the Archives: Castle Envy Part I and II, Matadors and the Bloggers Who Love Them, "in the grand tradition of Heath Ledger, Paul Bettany, and Richard Chamberlain"

Castle Envy Part II

In addition to the lovely Toddington Manor, the latest issue of W (cover: Kate Moss) featured an inside look at Haddon Hall, a medieval house dating from the 12th century and owned by Lord Edward Manners' family for 450 years. From the article:

After a peek inside, Henry James wrote that "of every form of sad desuetude and picturesque decay does Haddon Hall contain some delightful example."

Among other interesting facts, the W article reveals that a romantic elopement occurred there in 1563 and the first English fork (now in the V&A Museum) was employed in the home's banqueting hall in 1632. Along with Chatsworth Estate and other locations, parts of the new Pride and Prejudice adaptation were filmed at  Haddon Hall.

Related: The Real Pemberley?

Castle Envy Part I

The November W reports that  British artist Damien Hirst has shelled out $5.5 million for the "crumbling" 19th c. Toddington Manor in Gloucestershire. The 124-acre estate includes the 300-room gothic revival manor and this perfectly haunted looking chapel. According to an article in the Guardian UK, Toddington was almost turned into a luxury hotel prior to Hirst purchasing it. Repairs to the manor are estimated at $18 million.

from the Archives: Library Envy,  Library Envy Part II