This home is located in the "Crocus Hill" neighborhood (near well-known Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota.) The house is impressive, but what I really like is the fanciful chimney construction:
Credit for both photos to ColleeninHawaii, via her Flickr photostream.
Reposted from 2013 to add a photo of the famous crooked spire on the Parish Church of St Mary and All Saints, in Derbyshire, England:
- because reader Dr. Mieke's comment cracked me up...
"Legend has it the spire will straighten when a virgin gets married in the church..."
I suspect the spire will be that way for a long time.
Interesting - I have a photo somewhere of an old minaret in Berat, Albania that's built the same way. Lovely!
ReplyDeletePrompted by your comment I typed "twisted chimney" into Google Image search, and found lots of them. I could probably extend the post with more info. Maybe later.
DeleteIf you like that, you'd *love* Hampton Court.
ReplyDeleteNice twist!
ReplyDeleteIn the same vein, there are a lot of twisted church spires in Europe and even twisted spire windows. I was running a random search into Google Image, just like you and came across this (I have no idea where it is though):
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2009/360/6/8/Manastirea_Curtea_de_Arges_by_moisEdy.jpg
Heh :-) I agree with the two Anonymouses above. I really like Chesterfield church in Derbyshire, England. Legend has it the spire will straighten when a virgin gets married in the church...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4691
I have to wonder whether 21st century stone masons have inherited the knowledge to create the twisted spire/window in Anonymous 12:42's comment. I would hope so.
ReplyDeletegem
Anon 12:42;s window is in the Mănăstirea Curtea de Argeș, Romania and definitely worth a follow up post. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtea_de_Arge%C8%99_Cathedral
ReplyDeleteThe twisted spire in Chesterfield is a result of it having being built using wet timber. I've been inside it and heard so from the verger who shows you around.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of twisted spires in Europe however are built so intentionally.
There are a whole bunch of twisted chimneys, posts supporting roofs, etc. in Torrance California. There once was a builder who constructed Ichabod Crane's Restaurant with all kinds of fanciful brickwork, and then went on to do the same type of brickwork in homes all over town. The restaurant is now King's Hawaiian. Hence, there are or at least were not too long ago masons in this area with the knowledge to construct twisted masonry.
ReplyDeleteAnd no one yet has noticed the slate tiles that are slipping and how some are missing. I hope the owners know, Stan. A stitch in time saves nine and all that. It would not be a simple or safe job to fix it, unless they hired one of those cranes used on small building sites, or is there another way?
ReplyDeleteThose don't look like slate to me; in this part of the country they would probably be fiberglass/asphalt shingles, but they should be secured, because they could be capping a ridge vent. It wouldn't be that hard to access them; an experienced professional roofer would just climb out the upper window and walk up to the upper roof. It's a pretty steep pitch there, but I should think it would be manageable without special equipment.
DeleteI'll readily accept your estimation of the ease in fixing their problem; I was guessing from my own perspective that it wouldn't be easy, but is there any way to ensure they are aware of it? Over here in Australia, slate roofing that looks like that was quite common during a historical period before the invention of clay or concrete tiles and corrugated tin. I'd never heard of fibreglass/asphalt shingles.
Delete"is there any way to ensure they are aware of it?"
DeleteI don't know who they are (or how old the photograph is). I doubt they are readers of TYWKIWDBI, so the best alternative solutions would be for a local reader of the blog who normally drives down Summit Ave to swing by their house and knock on the door, or for someone ambitious to identify them using Google Maps and a few more searches, and give them a phone call.
The building is 313? Ramsey St, Saint Paul, Minnesota. StreetView here: http://goo.gl/maps/9MYiU. The original photo was taken in 2007, and the streetview photo in 2009. It's hard to tell whether the roof has been fixed or not, but you'd hope so.
DeleteInteresting German Bethlehem Presbyterian Church next door too: http://www.cassgilbertsociety.org/works/german-bethlehem-pres/
It's difficult to tell from Google Streetview whether the tiles have been fixed or not, but the photo was taken in 2007, so the chances are pretty good.
The building is the Ramsey Professional Building - built in 1890small offices for let.
Ignore that last line...
DeleteIt has just come to my attention that my mother's family owned this home in the 1920's and 1930s. Is there any record of the families that have lived there
ReplyDeleteI'll bet chimneysweeps hated them.
ReplyDeleteThe Chesterfield (the town with the crooked spire) football club are nicknamed "The Spireites! And people from the town are often called that now too.
ReplyDeleteThere are many leaning churches around the UK. Always fun to see one!!