This January, in the absence of a class to attend (or not) at Sturt Summer School, I have been tasking myself to spend long periods in the studio, and I also picked up a small project to visit the historical houses I have not been to.
Last week was Elizabeth Bay House, which I enjoyed, I didn’t take many pictures, but the ones I did take are below (ending with the photo of green bottles). This week Vaucluse House. in 2016 Cathie and I went to see Meroogal.
Elizabeth Bay House has been set up to reflect what it was like to live in 1839 – 1845. Vaucluse House is positioned in a similar era: 1827–1853, but is much larger and has many more rooms.
Elizabeth Bay is all about the dome and the staircase. Vaucluse House’s front parlour is beautifully ornate. I of course realised that much of what I saw made sense because of my recent rewatch of Bridgerton and of course Downton Abbey (set in the 20th century, but with similar surroundings).
Elizabeth Bay’s windows, with light bubbles in the glazing, were lovely, and an insanely beautiful view of the Harbour, which they maximised from most of the windows. But Vaucluse House, on the harbour masked the view in favour of creating a “pleasure garden”. The windows were also asymmetrical. I’m working on a few terrace house pieces right now so I’m looking at windows a bit!
Next week I’m off to Elizabeth Farm. Don’t know where this will go, but now I’m off to review the Meroogal posts!
