Comments by "Andrew Brendan" (@andrewbrendan1579) on "This House" channel.

Ken, this was terrific. I had a friend who has since passed and who lived in Levittown. She told me that Mr. Levitt would drive through the place to make sure people were taking proper care of their properties. I'm old enought to remember the Monkees song "Pleasant Valley Sunday" which seems to be a criticism of suburbia, but for the people who first lived in such places, people who had gone through the Great Depression and a World War (some of whom may have been Holocaust survivors and war brides) moving into Leavittown must have been almost like going to Heaven. I was sorry to learn of the racial segregation, but not surprised. "Levit" sounds like it might be Jewish name yet I wonder if Jews were also restricted. The movie has a reference to churches, but no mention of synagogues.
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The present appearance of Drayton Hall is impresssive enough, but imagine this place when it was a lived-in, functioning home. Not the most glamorous part of the site, but the privy reminded me of a video I saw elsewhere on You Tube: it was a video about exploring a deserted and rundown 18th century mansion somewhere in the eastern part of the United States. Remarkably the brick privy was still intact and the camera showed a view of the interior. It was large and could accommodate a number of people at the same time though I'm sure there were men's and women's sides to the structure. Instead of having the usual seating arrangement with round holes where people could relieve themselves, that part of the privy was broken up so that some parts were higher than others so people of different heights, children or adults for example, could more comfortably and conveniently take care of their needs. I've never seen that attention to detail in such a humble, functional structure.
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I could live in that house. It's big and grand yet simple and on a reasonable scale. I liked how in one of the photographs we can see clothing drying out on the clothes line!
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The outside of the house, well, to put it politely, is not for me. Far too busy. The inside: very nice! I'd like to get a look at the books in the library and see what titles are there. I wonder if the people who work in and maintain the house ever read those books.
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The Titanic and also the Olympic had interiors that I would have been comfortable living in. The Britannic, the third and last of the Olympic-class trio would have been a little too ornate for my .tastes. --- Ken, I would enjoy more This House videos about the interiors of ocean liners. Some people really did live aboard ocean liners. My particular favorite is the post-World War II Ile de France. We can see so much of this ship inside and out in the movie "The Last Voyage" released in 1960.
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In a constantly changing and growing city, to keep a private home for very long at that location was maybe unrealistic. I can see having a family enclave of several houses as an arrangement that could last for a generation or two, but beyond that, not really.
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Not as large, but another town in waste is Gary, Indiana. Part of my family lived there for many years and I was born there, but I have no intention of ever going back.
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@ThisHouse Thanks for the reply and information, Ken! I"m catching up with you: this is really in relation to your video about the Robie house. Here's another fun fact: in the 1974 disaster movie "The Towering Inferno" the skyscraper the Glass Tower was inspired by the Frank Lloyd Wright drawing or plan for a "mile-high skyscraper". Speaking of Show business, actress Anne Baxter was the granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright. Also at Indiana University where I work a new building just opened: it's a 1956 design by Mies van der Rohe. The building is small, spare and......cost $55million dollars!
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I second the motion! The Gardo house in Salt Lake City was a remarkable place yet I've only learned of it in the past few years.
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@cherylbusch6236 Terrific comparison to "The Heiress". I found the novel dry and unmemorable but the movie....wow!
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Gorgeous place. And so many outstanding photographs. I wonder that the story is just behind the photographs; who made the decision to document the house so thoroughly and so well. I noticed that circular opening in the floor in the rotunda area and that a higher metal railing had been placed around the original railing. Good idea; that first railing looked nice, but someone leaning over to admire the rotunda could have taken a terrible fall.
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@mudphloodphilly2456 I think Stephen King is an excellent writer. I've always enjoyed his work including his non-fiction/autobiographical book "On Writing -- A Memoir of the Craft". Though the fictional Rose Red and real-life Ronaele look much alike maybe that was because of decisions made by the TV production people. If the name Rimbauer may have been inspired the name Trumbauer I think it would be an interesting example of real life being the basis for something in fiction. As someone who has written fiction myself I see nothing wrong with that.
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I agree. Even houses such as the ones in this video haven't lasted long in urban areas and not always as private home as intended. I think it was in the book "The Earth Shook, the Sky Burned" that it was mentioned that at least some of the house on Nob Hill were already in "...semi-public use" when the earthquake occurred.
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I was just mentioning that in my own comment! I've read "My Brother's Keeper" and it's a terrific book and a real cautionary tale.
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How is it that I've been intrested in for years in American mansions and the people who lived in them yet have never heard of this place? --- My favorite part of the mansion is the stair landing that also served as a library. I like seeing a place serve more than one purpose. I work at a university that has a building with one of the staircases at the end of the building. There is a landing with floor to ceiling windows looking right into the branches of a tree. Years ago I would use those stairs and think what a great sitting room that space could be. Now? It's accessible only in the event of an emergency escape, a wonderful space used and enjoyed by no one.
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After so much was removed from the house, was anyone living in it?
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An appalling loss and waste. I'm not all enthusiastic about Victorian houses, but this one really was pleasing to the eye. The house reminds me of how I pictured the Crain mansion when I read "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson.
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"...not in a garish or overpowering manner". I'd say that's a good description. OK, throw copies of Architectural Digest at me, but I find the interior of the house way too busy and even landscaping seen in old pictures is to cluttered. In one picture if looked like the front of the house was largely covered with ivy. I didn't care for any of the inteiors, but the outside is quite nice.
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That is extreme.
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@kridder1018 Thanks!
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I'd like to see the white paint taken off of the interior woodwork. I suspect that when the house was new the interior was quite different from what it is now. I wouldn't be surprised if the carved wood is even mor elaborate under the paint.
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@paco7992 I figure it was a mix of people: that some people in Tuxedo Park were hardworking entrepreneurs who had worked their way up while others were born into comfortable lives. Too I never said the residents would farm the property themselves; even someone in reduced circumstances in Tuxedo Park could probably afford to have someone do that work.
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One of my favorite lines is after Angelique who has been dead for six months but without decay comes back to life in her coffin and says to her twin sister Alexis who said the body must be destroyed, "....someone must be destroyed, but it won't be me. It will be you". Then when Angelique has taken Alexis's place she says to Quentin, "Angeliques body must be destroyed...and the sooner the better". That scene is on You Tube along with many other "Dark Shadows" videos.
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I love houses and the study of architecture but this place would have been too much for me! A few years ago I read the biography William A. Clark's daugher Huguette, "Empty Mansions". It was fascinating reading. Huguette owned houses and apartments she didn't even use, one of which she never set foot in. Had the house bee kept in the family I wonder if Huguette would have owned it, kept it in good condition but never used it; just having a house maintained and ready for...no one.
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@jazzythecat918 Oh, my gosh. That is amazing that Mr. Levit would restrict his own people from living in the houses he built. You have to ask what kind of thinking or "logic" went into that.
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The original house is outlandish, what I would call a house on steroids. How could anyone feel at home there?
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Is this house in the famous Westmoreland-Portland Place neighborhood? The last bedroom shown is my favorite room of the house; with that indirect light and blue walls it looks like a great place for one of my favorite pasttimes: taking a nap!
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This place is a winner. I liked all of it. Even the stables could be turned into a beautiful residence.
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Louise Brooks, the silent-film actress who later became the acclaimed author of the collection of autobiographical essays "Lulu in Hollywood". One of the memoirs is "Marian Davies' Niece" and much of that section of the book is about being a visitor at San Simeon. If anyone is interested in the Hearst Castle, Louise Brooks' recollections are must reading.
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Well, the house is....interesting. Wasn't there a murder at Belcourt or a death situation with a contested will back in the 1980;s? As I recall, the handyman had become very involved with the elderly lady of the house and got her to go out in society and have a good time but there was concern that he was taking advantage of her. I remember watching an A&E network show, I think it was "City Confidential", that dealt with the case and I'm sure it involved people who lived and worked at Belcourt.
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I think my favorite room was just that simple upstairs bedroom though the whole house is outstanding.
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@roberthaworth8991 We don't know a lot about the day-to-day lives of the Collyers, what may have started the hoarding. Could have been various things, maybe a combination. Some years back I read Matt Paxton's book "The Secret Lives of Hoarders" and he mentioned three things that often occur with hoarders: a high level of anxiety; a painful or traumatic event such as a divorce, the death of a loved one or being estranged from a loved one; a family history of hoarding. When it comes to the Collyers specifically, I wonder if the inbreeding may have been a factor. From watching "Hoarders" I've seen a number of episodes in which the hoarding was triggered by the death of the hoarder's mother.
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The second house for me and in particular the living room. I could spend many happy hours there alone or with friends.
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Ken, this is a way-out coincidence, but here goes: At 11: 47 the surviving chimney of the Hopkins mansion has a shape or silhouette similar to that of the Glass Tower skyscraper in the disaster movie the "The Towering Inferno" which takes place in San Francisco. In the 1974 movie a fire breaks out in the world's tallest building on the night of its dedication.
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Though it was mentioned that the house has bathrooms, was that a chamber pot that I saw by the fireplace in Mr. and Mrs. Twain's bedroom?
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I've seen some photos of the Tiffany interiors of the White House. If we could have seen those interiors in color photographs...! Not everyone liked the Tiffany style. I've read that when Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House he not only had the Tiffany glass screen removed but ordered it broken into "...a million pieces"! Margaret Truman said that looking at photos of the East Room that had Tiffany elements added to the "Steamboat Gothic" of the Grant era gave her a headache! I have mixed reactions to Tiffany creations, but would sure like to go back in time to visit the White House while it had Tiffany interiors.
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@vicrothman1402 I'm glad T.R.'s Presidential order wasn't carried out. Is there any informatin about where the screen went and if it still exists?
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I noticed the checkerboard pattern to the entrance hall floor. I heard that the checkerboard design or layout has a connection to Freemasonry. Ken, maybe you or one of the viewers knows more about this: is the floor design just for decoration or did Henry Pratt have a connection with the Masonic Lodge?
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I'm a book lover, but I'll choose the parlor as my favorite room...but I would take some books in there with me! --- I believe Father Divine and his organization acquired the Lorraine Hotel which I think came to be known as the Divine Lorraine Hotel. Last I heard the the deteriorating hotel was being restored. Not related to the house, but, Ken, would it be possible to increase the volume of the audio in your videos?
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I was maybe nine years old when I was inside the West Baden Springs Hotel. It was used for a business school at that time. I have a faint recollection of being a few steps into the area under the dome and looking up at the rooms above us. We didn't see much else and I don't recall anything else of the under-the-dome area. Maybe my young mind couldn't take in such a huge space indoors!
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I noticed that too. The house looked seriously run down in some of the photos and the windows in the library seemed to be bending. In one picture it looked like a window had been boarded up from outside.
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