The roof that screams bloody murder
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Today we’re talking about the Mansard Roof on Second Empire houses. These double-pitched roofs can be seen in a lot of horror media: The Addams Family, Psycho, Wednesday, Stranger Things, Lovecraft Country, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, It, Nope, Locke and Key, and The House with a Clock in It’s Walls.
We try tracing back the origin of this house being scary by talking about Wednesday, Charles Addams, Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock, Edward Hopper, and of course a New Deal project.
The thumbnail is a photo I took at the Hudson Athens Lighthouse.
If you want to see me build a Second Empire house in the Sims check out my Patreon. I will probably be building this in mid-October.
/ kendragaylord
Sources:
The World of Charles Addams (1991)
A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia & Lee McAlester (1984)
Alfred Hitchcock Trailer (1960)
• Psycho Trailer (1960)
Psycho House Locations
www.thestudiot...
Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography by Gail Levin (1996)
Edward Hopper & Cape Ann: Illuminating an American Landscape by Elliot Bostwick Davis (2023)
The Gingerbread Age by John Maass (1957)
West Temple Apartments
hdl.huntington...
Arthur Rothstein 1940 Photos for Farm Security Administration - Library of Congress
www.loc.gov/se...
Styles go through four stages: 1. New and popular. 2. Old and tacky. 3. Forgotten. 4. Vintage and popular.
Just like Gen X, although we are yet to reach our 'vintage and popular' phase . :))
@@bluewren65 isn't that kind of happening now with the whole kate moss grunge/heroin chic coming back?
@@Steph-zo5zk Those of us old enough to remember heroin chic shudder at the thought. I knew plenty of heroin junkies at that time, it was not chic.
You know why City Hall in Philly is still standing? By the mid-20th century it was considered an outdated, outrageously ugly, excessively ornate, ludicrously expensive-to-maintain folly; demolition was considered until the city discovered that this eldritch monstrosity of a building had been so solidly constructed that they couldn’t afford to tear it down.
The way I worded it was weird… “yet to be razed.” But I love that the reason it survived was because it was too hard to take down. Another win for monstrosities!
It’s in the Baroque style. As in Philadelphia is expensive and left me baroque.🤪😉😜😄
@@kendragaylordIt’s amazing. The fact that the statue of William Penn on the top looks, from the proper angle, as though he’s waggling his bits at the city is just, well, it sums up Philly perfectly.
Lived there for a bit and this was the first thing to come to mind
@@samfeldman1508 gold
Kendra we're lucky to have you!! I'm so glad you've found success
😊 Every video is a delight
we all know attics are the spookiest part of the house- basements are the scariest part. mansard roof means more attic means more spooky. simple as. But seriously great video!
I love when I find a new UA-camr with a niche I know nothing about, and video by video, I gain insight into a field I'd never really given a second thought. You always manage to tie your videos back into the real world in a way that really resonates.
And just in time for spoooooky season too!
One of the reasons the mansard roofed tower can seem off putting. Is that it's quite bulky at the top, it's cut short making it more menacing. It feels less like somewhere you'd like to look out of, but somewhere that is looking down on you.
They have such weird proportions, but I love them more for it!
Its funny how they were created with the intention to make more use of the house space, when it seems contemporary houses are about *less* use of a space: pointless foyers, large bathrooms, L shaped kitchens that encourage a dining table, when it seems family dinner at a table isnt even common anymore, spare bedrooms, porches that are just for show. The past was optimistic about space usage, while it feels its all a facade now, even from inside the house
Also think about the attic in modern houses. One of my hobbies is looking at vintage house plants and houses from the '30s and '40s and up to the '50s but usually not past the '60s (which all call themselves modern in their own publications) have attic storage. Some have staircases leading to an unfinished attic, that the homeowner can finish later on their own time and as money allows. Some of the houses have a pull-down staircase with an unfinished attic that can be used for storage. Modern houses have different building styles that make it impossible to have an accessible attic. Because the idea is the homeowner will sell their thousand square foot home and not use all of the space in their home to make it more spacious. It depresses the heck out of me when I drive by new home construction sites and the only space used for living is the main floor because the attic is unusable and there is no basement (which really bugs me because I live in a tornado prone area and all of the new " affordable housing" is on a slab instead of having a basement or even access to a storm shelter?).
Congratulations on the 100K creep, you deserve it! You are such a well-researched, thoughtful presenter
And dryly funny, too!
Mansard Roofs are scary. They have crappy snow load capabilities, they leak, constantly, and are a maintenance nightmare. Any home owner should be terrified seeing one. If the idea of shoveling your roof when it snows is scary, these roofs should be a nightmare to you.
I don’t know much about architecture so correct me if I’m wrong here, but couldn’t you just construct it like they do the flat lines of ultramodern homes where the actual roof is pitched with a raised lip that looks flat?
Nah.
@@eos_aurora I think I know what you're talking about, maybe. You'll see that sometimes on newer buildings designed to fit into historic areas, but it isn't a true Mansard roof.
This comment is endorsed by carpenter gothic gang!
Just install those propane heaters for patios on roof and you don't have to shovel snow.
I live on the top floor of a flat with an octagonal turret, mine has a lead onion topped dome with a weather vein on top, the building is old red brick, with sandstone window surrounds and sandstone detailing and intricately decorated wood bargeboards. It is in the middle of a town centre, with beautiful victorian and edwardian architecture and it's great for people watching with a 270 degree view, especially as there are mutiple pubs around. When they have live singers on I just open my window and get a live concert. At times when it's stormy outside and you're looking down your nose at the people below or just listening to the thunder and rain on the windows it is very atmospheric.
this comment transported me into a different place, love it.
@@jule4772 it is lovely and means I have a mini dining area, that I also use as a work desk when working from home.
This sounds like Europe. And it sounds lovely ❤
@@aksez2u I'm in England
@@Alex-cw3rz Ah. Sounds positively charming 😊
I didn't know the Addams family was a comic first. Filing your fence to make it sharper is fn funny
Yup. And none of the characters in the comics had names until it was made into a TV show back in the 60s.
Kendra I think you’re marvelous, really a terrific storyteller. Your approach is always specific to point in time and unfolds forwards and backwards giving weight to that point in time, it’s present, it’s history and it’s future. Great style Dear!
It would be interesting to see your take on the Maitland house from Beeteljuice, before and after the Deetz family moved in.
(Also the second empire style is my favorite and there's this abandoned-looking one in Weedsport, NY I dream of buying and restoring one day)
Hey Kendra, I love your videos. I'd love it if you did a video on the garden district houses in New Orleans. I recently started reading Anne Rice and her descriptions are so lucious, but I'm a brit so my imaginings have no reference point (except the humidity, I know exactly what that feels like!) Spooky books + Houses = Kendra Gaylord video?
I am from southern Louisiana and I would love this too!
Yes! And maybe how some of those architectural influences can be found on Disneyland's haunted mansion.
In media I always see that decay is always highlight by uterlising old grander buildings in a state of disrepair, isolation. The juxtiposition highlights what is being said from loss, decay etc. Fight Club's building is the opposite of the 90s dream apartment for example.
Mansard Roof by Vampire Weekend: a classic. 😁
“There isn’t an easy way to find that out, so instead I chose a hard way that doesn’t tell you that much.”
My entire (short-lived) academic career in a nutshell.
At 12:11, the Vermont mansard is 106 Main St, Putney VT 05346. It's condos now but we'll maintained.
Thank you!! Last year I finished the Historic Preservation program at the University of Vermont and I was racking my brain to try and remember if I had seen that house. I haven't been to Putney.
Thank you for this! The internet is so incredibly cool!
What gets me is that the empire in "Second Empire" is that of Napoleon III, who completely rebuilt Paris into what it is today. Mansard roofs are common in Paris, but don't look spooky on the Champs d'Elysee. I suppose context is everything.
I wonder if it's because in the U.S. a lot of towns aren't very densely populated, and the buildings are spread out more than Paris so they look kinda lonely comparatively especially in a rural or small town setting. So yeah, basically what Kendra said. I feel if they were in more densely populated areas they wouldn't look as eerie.
I think the future architectural style for horror will be the ultra-modern Frank Lloyd Wright style. It's the perfect setting for "technology goes awry" horror and "soulless super rich person does horrifying things" terror.
Ahh!! The old city hall building still stands in Lincoln, Nebraska (935 E O St)! It was built around 1860-1870. It’s no longer city hall, that was moved closer to the capital building- I think it’s just business now. But it still stands with its beautiful roof! The building was left unlocked a couple of years ago, and I actually got to check out the roof! Very scary, but oh so historic!
My favorite horror movie house is the titular Monster House. I'd love to see you do a video on it, especially since it doesn't feel like an actual house style, more like they had to figure out how to anthropomorphize a house and give it architecture that would create an appropriately creepy face. Although, now that I've looked up an image of it, it does appear to have a Mansard-inspired roof.
your bookshelf in the background is vibrating menacingly
All the books are chatting about their thoughts on Second Empires. (But actually thank you for pointing out, I need to check my focus settings)
Now I cant unsee it😂
Could it be the use of image stabilization whilst the camera is mounted on a tripod? It can do funny things.
Dang it! Why did you have to point that out? 😂
Mansard roofs came about due to French property tax rules. The Carrez Law taxed properties based on usable floor square footage. Attics were specifically excluded. Having a steeply sloped roof gave you a whole extra usable floor for which you did not have to pay tax. Tax rules explain a lot of architectural features. London has many rowhouses with bricked up windows because homes were taxed on the number of windows.
I'm surprised you didn't bring up McDonald's! I still remember when all of the McDonald's near me had the mansard roof design, I always thought they looked so cute and inviting. Using aesthetics to make children feel secure in a fast food establishment designed to get them addicted to nutritionally void slop? Now that's scary.
I love your videos and specifically your soft voice and the lack of backing music makes it so clear and calming to listen to ❤
I am glad to see your videos. Even before watching them I get a little lift.
Is the fashion for new house designs cycling as regularly or rapidly as it was between say 1900 vs. the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s? We don't have the same stark generational divide between "old and weird" vs. "new and comfortable". (And the houses that feel old in a run-down and uncomfortable way today are usually because they were simply small and cheaply built in the 50s-60s.)
My favourite spooky house is one I was fortunate enough to live in; it has a mansard roof but isn’t Second Empire: Belcourt Castle, in Newport, RI.
As much as I loved living in the house itself, I also loved the opportunities changing seasons provided in finding new views of it, such as approaching the house along the ‘back streets’ in the autumn and catching glimpses of the roof looming in the distance with its many oval dormer windows gazing across the balding tree canopy like watchful eyes.
I miss those times immensely; I greatly appreciate this video and all your other videos!
That’s so cool! Why/how were you able to live there?
@@thereadingwriter4197 A fancy grandaunt of mine was acquainted with the family and I became enamoured with the house. I visited on my own as a teenager and was befriended by the lady who owned it and later in my early twenties she invited me to move in and help out; I lived (and worked) there for two years doing conservation, restoration, tours, and events. It was sold over a decade ago but I’ve been back a few times as a consultant and also as a guest. Looking back, the Belcourt years are definitely the golden ones of my life (so far!).
Those second empire cottages are adorable.
I'm not sure about that picture of a house from Brewster, NY, but I used to live in a house in Brewster that is similar enough that, upon looking at that picture, I gasped and pulled up google street view. I don't THINK they're the same house -- the porch is different (obviously redone at some point, but still different) and the house I lived in didn't have the fancy trim, but I can say for sure that there is at least one house with a roof almost exactly like that one still standing in that town!
I've been researching the Panic Room house this week which briefly features a mansard roof (though we only see it from the inside in the film). Perfectly timed video for me!💜
You’re honestly my favorite UA-camr
How you left alone that footnote with "crowning indignity" and "Uglified Renaissance"...such restraint.
The suburban McMansion will be the new horror house, but they will not last long due to the poor material quality. OSB and water do not play well together.
Conversely, many mansard roofs were built with slate roofs, nailed down with copper nails, and flashed with copper, which gave these roofs potentially a 100 year lifespan. Neglected perhaps, but they survived to be that creep old house due to those beautiful and durable slate roofs.
Always delighted to have one of your videos pop up in my subs. Thank you so much for putting the time and skill into researching, scripting, and presenting one marvelous story after another.
There's a vlogger, Escape to Rural France, who is restoring a "Belle Epoque" (Art Nouveau) chateau, that was once a summer house for posh Parisian parties. It has a mansard roof, and a tower above the front entrance with a "Witch's Hat" roof. It's the first time this kind of house hasn't been creepy to me, likely because there was a fire forty years ago that burned out the interior and it's hard to be unsettled by an old house with no guts and a forest growing inside. The mansard part of the roof has its rafters, OSB cladding and membrane layer, but the black slate roof tiles won't be installed until the Witch's Hat roof is ready for tiling. The Witch's Hat installation ran into trouble last week, but I'm almost certain that the moaning wind was just the edge of Storm Boris. Almost. Certain. ;)
Not me on zillow looking for a spooky house 😅
I adore your videos. John Maas’s book is wonderful. He had a great sense of humor. My favorite haunted house is Casper’s Art Nouveau style Whipstaff Manor. The set designers said they deliberately wanted a different style haunted house for the ‘90s other than Second Empire. Keep up the amazing work!
My significant other calls these "Scooby Doo houses" lol
I feel like the current style of spooky house is one with enormous amounts of glass that leaves the inhabitants exposed. Gives me the shivers 😬
I just found this channel recently, you make these topics interesting even though I have no interest in these topics.
Hi! I live in a Second Empire building that was converted to apartments within the last 15 years. Neighbourhood legend is that it's "very, very haunted," particularly the top floor where I live. I love my spot in the windowseat under our curved dormer windows.
Your channel is one of the last redeemable reason left to remain on the internet.
The Adams family, Edward Hopper, and masford roofs! This video has it all!
Your videos are not only informative and interesting, they cheer me up, because of your wonderful offbeat sense of humor. When I see there's a new one, I feel happy in anticipation.
When I think of spooky houses, my first thought is of the schoolhouse in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. I think it's because the way he filmed it, again from a low angle looking up, evoked a similar sense of isolation to Hopper's painting.
It's interesting that Disneyland's Haunted Mansion has nary a mansard roof (perhaps because of its proximity to New Orleans Square), but the Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris certainly does.
I am not interested in architecture whatsoever, yet I love your videos 😂
The quarter-circle windows in the house from the Amityville Horror comes to mind. That was a Dutch Colonial, a type of house which already has a creepy reputation.
If you're a mansard roof fan, a trip to Virginia City and Carson City, Nevada is worth your time. Awesome video Kendra.
St. Louis has the most mansard roofs i believe. There's entire neighborhoods with them. Lafayette Square.
They are super common to me,but they are still always impressive. Hopefully I'll manage to get one someday.
not me eyeballing the Realm of Magic roofs in the Sims4 going mmhmm, someone got that memo I see. Love this video. I think my favourite is the Locke & Key house. I really want to see the sims house you come up with! Get that on the gallery ^_^
Wow, I was not expecting a Weatherford, Texas mention here. I'm gonna start actively looking for these roofs now.
Excellent video! My hometown used to have several Mansard roofs, but only one remains. A second one is sort of still there, but the entire facade including the mansard was covered in flat brown brick in the 1950s. And it's the most visible building on the main square, yuck.
I definitely think 1970s/80s architecture is the new creepy. Awkward proportions on the exterior, dark plywood paneling and shag carpet all over the interior.
sad to see neither of my second empire cornerstones mentioned (the renwick gallery in washington dc and main building at vassar college in poughkeepsie, ny). anywhere in poughkeepsie/the hudson valley broadly you'll find some unbelievable second empire gems; the vassar campus is also chock full of them! mansard roofs (and the buildings under them, and edward hopper) are near and dear to me so i'm glad you gave them some love !! 💗
I enjoy these videos so much. I like the Mystery Shack from Gravity Falls. It seems bigger on the inside than on the outside.
Morticia was probably expecting a reverse vacuum!
They literally did that in the recent animated Addams Family movie. Lurch uses the vacuum to blow dust over everything.
Great video-- but my favorite Mansard roof is the Meet Me in St. Louis house: not scary. I live in a 1940 Tudor with a small Mansard and railing over the front door-- I think the style morphed into a sort of Hollywood Regency style too--
just subbed this is exactly the niche content i’m looking for
You make niche-knowledge so unbelievably exciting. Please write a book
Really cozy video and great research, Kendra. Thank you for sharing things that we've all thought about but never really learned about.
"censored so I don't have to look at a spider" thank you!
It does feel like a lot of the photos you used here, and Hopper's paintings, are capturing a liminal space and time. Where these giants, rich buildings that can house a dozen people comfortably, are left empty.
There was a video that I saw a while ago that delved into the architectural similarities of classic haunted houses, I think it was called "Why are all haunted houses Victorian houses" or something like that. The video explained that a lot of early visual mass media was created in the early 20th century by people who were kids in the late 1800's. In that time period, there was a lot of minor economic crashes and bank failures as a result of a lack of financial regulations, which meant that there were a lot of people making quick fortunes, building giant mansions, and the losing all of their wealth, leaving their giant Mansard roof topped houses to fall into ruin. The people who were the kids scared by those old decaying houses grew up to create movies, TV shows, comics, and theme parks, filled with a visual shorthand inspired by their childhood observations. Non-haunted depictions of this late 19th century American architecture can be seen in pop culture products like the movie version of "The Music Man" and Main Street in Disney Land, which was directly inspired by Walt's childhood memories from that time period.
I lived in one for a while - on the roof floor. Basically, it was a three floor building rented out as apartments - stairs came up the center, dividing the bottom floors in half, then stopped in the center of the roof floor.
Imagine a donut of living space, with four corners bitten out. Balcony on the back, windows on all sides, weird little closets and stuff. It was ancient, and a total slum.
You do live with a fear that someone could be living in the donut of insulation space around the donut of living space - possible and spooky. Somebody did squat in the basement once, so not even out of the question.
Honestly though, I thought it was a blast. Set up like that, the roof floor is a perfect flat for 1-3 people.
Thanks for the interesting video! I’ve previously heard the word ”mansardi” in Finnish used for what my googling told me is called a gambrel, so it reminds me of that that angled two-sided roof that’s really common here in northern Europe and pretty much the opposite of spooky :D
is this gonna be a series for autumn!!?? spooky houses and buildings series!! Oh I really hope so, lol
My shock when I realize that a 1923 critic talking about an "1890 mansion" is probably using the same tone as a 2023 critic talking about a "1990 mansion".
Fascinating and informative as always.
Gothic / gothic horror uses this same visual language, usually paired with a fraught woman in flowing clothing trying to make her escape. Check out the covers of The House at Swansea by Alicia Grace, Hell House by Richard Matheson, Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp... there's so many more besides these.
W00t! Almost 100k. Good job on a great channel!
I love your outfit so much and the spooky vibes of the video are perfect.
My favourite sit down, stop, relax, watch and listen channel.
Thank you for refreshing takes on the built environment❤
Always love your videos!! Excited for you to reach 100k soon 🥳🥳
I'm so old, all I see is ice dams and leaks but young me would have jumped at the chance to buy an Adams Family house.
My house is from 1890. It’s not a rich person house. It was made for the people who worked on the Erie Canal (not those who built it, just people who worked there) We don’t have an attic and don’t have a full-size basement. This video inspired me to maybe put on a mansard roof when our inevitably needs replacing.😀
Fascinating. I recently went to a little vacation community in the forest of the Pacific Northwest. Very powerful HOA, land started being developed in the early 1980s, I think. Nearly every house/McMansion was designed in a sort of faux-log cabin style, maybe with some stonework. But there was one house that stood out like a sore thumb, I don't know how the plans got approved, maybe it was built so early the HOA hadn't made any rules yet (or maybe the rules were made in reaction to this house). This house could best be described as a Miami Vice coke mansion. Incredibly 80s. White and pink concrete, rounded corners, even had neon running lights. If wonder if that will be the new look for haunted houses in 75 years.
We have a quite a few of those roofs here in Pennsylvania. I never knew what they were called, thank you!
I grew up in a fabulous mansard roofed house with a tower containing a widow's walk overlooking the Hudson River. It's a beloved "favorite house" in the village and I dearly wish our family still owned it. Children never walked up the gravel driveway for Halloween, terrified it was the Addams Family house. And it was haunted. Actually. I eventually wrote a sweet little ghost story published in "December Tales" about it. I'm still a sucker for the design style.
1:40 nice thing reference 🙃😋
Also, McMansions are already scary enough irl lol
13:00 They actually used the Fourth Ward Schoolhouse as inspiration for the Phantom Manor attraction in Disneyland Paris!
This is so funny to me, because most of the mansard (or mansard adjacent) roofs I've seen repeatedly are from Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls and Charmed and Addams Family, and all of them are either cosy or funny (or both) so my association with such roofs has always been so positive ☺️☺️ not to mention, before this video I only knew that first mansard house painting by Edward Hopper, besides Nighthawks, and both those paintings are so heartwarming to me as well... It is such a strange realisation to understand that these were supposed to be shorthand for creepy 🙈
Wiki: Parisian law had been in place since 1783, restricting the heights of buildings to 20 metres (65 feet).The height was only measured up to the cornice line, making any living space contained in a mansard roof exempt. A 1902 revision of the law permitted building three or even four storeys within such a roof. 😉
Mansard roofs were already becoming common in the 1600s, so take that with a grain of salt.
"censored so i don't have to look at a spider" i have never understood someone more
another kendra gaylord banger!
I’m envisioning a horror movie set in an entirely black and white modern farmhouse
you mentioned the roof style affording extra living space for more people, and it was popular in the mid-19th century. I wonder if part of the impression of the house was due to the extra living space was for servants, sometimes indentured. The scary aspect may be from the perspective of the servants who were contracturally tied to the house. I have no evidence of this, but it is a thought that occurred to me. I personally like the style, particular in the modern era where the extra space above may be ideal for a home office for teleworking.
Yay!!! My favorite UA-cam channel uploaded again! Love the video as always, I had never realizes this style of roof is in horror so much... but that's so true when I'm thinking of a scary house it has a mansard roof! But I was also thinking how pretty they are...
Weird too, when I was little I always pictured grocery stores with those kinds of roofs too. Like old timey ones and with red and white striped awnings. I'd always make grocery stores in the sims look like that... or at least tried too lol!
Oh and congrats to almost 100k! You deserve it!
Ahh! This is my favorite type of roof! So excited to see this!
I would love for you to do something on vintage houses that knew they were tied on space yet they tried to cram as much into that space. I.e attics that are framed in a way that you can use the attic and aren't trussed like modern addicts are now.
Or take a 1950s bathroom that had a revolving cup holder and toothbrush holder that slid into the wall, with scales that could be hinged and put hidden in a wall until you need it and then it hinges out. Telescoping arms that came out to hold towels when needed and then pushed back into the wall when not. Basically the whole line of Hall- Mack products. There's also a nice ergonomic video on kitchens that the US government made I believe. I can't remember what it's called and I don't have a link to it. But I've never seen a kitchen as ergonomic or well designed as that even the modern ones. Where the modern ones think a well designed kitchen equals lots of walking
The way this woman had increased my vocabulary and labeled all of these ...words like "dormer windows" that makes me sound so much more better at words than I could ever imagine.
Yeah it was a pun. But I can't stop saying more better it's really more funner. Lol
A little bit off topic, but it was surprising to find that Hopper's contemporaries thought of the mansard roof houses as ugly. Nowadays, everybody would rush to save the buildings from the 1880s while calling the destruction of the "ugly" brutalist architecture, which, in my neck of the woods, is mostly represented by houses that were built to fit as many people as possible.
Dollar general storefronts should be the next horror design...
Congrats on 100k! I love your videos.
Someday when I'm rich and famous, I'm going to live an in Elvira-style Second Empire House with the creepiest gnarled trees out front. The kids will be terrified of me and my gay witchy ways all year but brave the tangle of weeds broken only by odd otherworldly sculpture to knock on the front door on October 31st because I give out the best candy in the neighborhood and also demonic possessions.
Rooting for you to hit 100,000 soon, any day now!
the thematically appropriate spooky season Kendra Gaylord video yes absolutely
Great video. Always enjoyable and informative. Any plans for the 100K sub accomplishment?
I hope we get a collection of her cheesiest jokes on the channel so far 🎉
In my city (in Europe) at least, this roof style feels to be getting built more, precicely because it adds additional living space. There are limitations on height of the buildings that can be built and this is a perfect way to get in an additional floor. They might not be exactly traditional, many opting for less decorated exteriors, as is the tendency in contemporary architetcture. In an urban setting, these roofs also don't bring to mind the associations they do on wooden mansions or single houses. They are a very nice visual departure from bland, functionalist exteriors, even though the purpose they are being used is explicitly pragmatic.
I’m a Kendra enthusiast!! You always succeed at making the most mundane things fascinating!!
Double-commenting just to say -- thank you for getting me to care about something I wasn't truly aware existed until this video.
Life has been chaotic lately, and having these videos is great. Thanks!
The desolation/lonliness of these homes is directly tied to the boom & bust era of American history. Land booms would entice (or sometimes push) people further & further west, with frontier dreams of making it rich in a new government allotted homestead. Arid weather, over-tilling, and poor irrigation would end the excitement of a land rush in the realities of drought & famine, and as the mid 1800s went on settlers would either go back to the cities or push further west. Their abandoned towns scattered throughout North & South Dakota, the Midwest & the South would hold all that context and meaning: the history of failure on the frontier- that I think people in the 1920s would have a strong collective memory/association with. (It would have been their parents who abandoned those failed settlements).
I’m actually in the middle of reading Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraiser, which outlines these land rushes in tremendous detail through the biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The architecture mentioned in it is usually about the small homes & shacks built on the earliest settlements. But I really think you’d appreciate the material & all the rich historial content, I highly recommend :) btw love this channel & ur podcast!!