Nemours as an estate in a relatively undeveloped area had to be self-sufficient, like many country houses of the time (and today no doubt).
One enters the estate via a long drive with an allee of trees (seen at the top of the map below) before reaching the entry court, seen below with a #3 at the English gates.
Unmarked on the map, directly behind the gates from the house is a beautiful marble fountain with a fairy-tale like tower in the background.
Was this some sort of folly for Dupont's grandchildren I wondered? I had visions of a playroom at the top of the tower with a Rapunzel theme.
Bronze turtles feed the marble fountain.
It turns out to be much more utilitarian than all of that: the tower is filled with machinery and is the pump and water tower for the estate!
A local stone base with tall stucco shaft, matching the house, is topped with an ornate wooden structure. Notice the clock and weather vane too!
A very grand and picturesque necessity but maybe a tad disappointing for me; I still want Dupont's office at the top or at least the aforementioned playroom!.
Nemours as an estate in a relatively undeveloped area had to be self-sufficient, like many country houses of the time (and today no doubt).
One enters the estate via a long drive with an allee of trees (seen at the top of the map below) before reaching the entry court, seen below with a #3 at the English gates.
Bronze turtles feed the marble fountain.
A new thru road through an adjacent farm passes near an abandoned silo that I had imagined a similar treatment as the water tower. Now there is just a concrete shaft, so it needs a finishing top, and I was thinking of one very similar in concept to this. Unfortunately the sides of the column do not slope in this case. But the Nemours tower is a wonderful example of decorating a utilitarian structure.
ReplyDeleteRemarkably beautiful nonetheless for such a utilitarian structure!
ReplyDeleteI think this is delightful! Would such a structure get built today? I doubt it. I imagine instead a humongous black or white cube visible on top of a building.
ReplyDeleteI love the structure. This water tower brought me back to much younger years... Our summer home in Eze Village, small village on the hills near Nice, featured a free standing water tower which was turned into my bedroom. I used to have nightmares that the tower would fill in with water...
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