So here's a post close to my heart and upbringing and a sort of weird coincidence. When I was a little boy we lived in a suburb of Pittsburgh that had a wonderful library called B.F. Jones memorial library. 
Housed in a beautiful Beaux Arts building from the heyday of the small mill towns in the teens or 20s surrounding Pittsburgh built by the industrial robber barons, the rooms are large and airy. The windows are beautifully large bronze windows and the ceilings are coffered and intricate and also in bronze; the walls are covered in beautiful marbles which keep it cool year round without air-conditioning. 
The main spaces inside the door are seperated by large ornate bronze screens or fences copied from one in a European cathedral (so the story goes). The original childen's library was off of these large grand spaces and was a small cozy wood paneled room with a big fireplace and stained glass windows - one of the granddaughters of the original BJ Jones had a children's hour and would read books here (cute little old lady). I would always imagine this is my house, which rooms would serve which purposes (and had it figured out pretty well!)
Years later I would meet her in college when I was an usher for our theater department and she had season tickets. This heiress's life mission was this library and children's education in a small town outside of Pittsburgh. The entire basement of this large magnificent building was devoted to childen's books - it was entirely marble clad as well and had a fountain (to a small boy you can imagine how cool that was). This was my favorite place to visit as a child and was among the first stirrings in me from a tender age to love beauty of spaces and in particular this type of Beaux Arts architecture which is still so important to me.
So years later while also in college, I had a favorite house that was seemingly abandoned for years. I would drive BLOCKS out of my way to pass it and make sure no one had vandalized it or hadn't torn it down and one day -slowly - someone started to restore it.I was simultaneously excited but disappointed that it wasn't me. Unfortuantely I don't have pictures of it in its current glory -but I have these shots of it under construction. It was a lovely chateauesque townhouse on a double lot with lots of windows and just beautifully done. Not too big, not too small - with a walled courtyard between the carriage house and the house in the rear.
B.F. Jones 1st house before he built the huge mansion next to it (that you can see in red stone behind it) which is now part of the Local community college campus.
Guess who's house this was....just guess.........
B.F. Jones 1st house before he built the huge mansion next to it (that you can see in red stone behind it) which is now part of the Local community college campus.Small world, isn't it; everything is connected! Thank you B.F. Jones!
The funny thing was it included some of my favorite comedic actors from TV (which was a bit confusing really; the piemaker from 'pushing up daisies' as the main character!). 
The movie is breathtakingly beautiful and receives 5 stars for that - captures the exoticness of India, the sahara, china, europe and our imaginations but also the seediness of Los Angeles in the 20s!
I don't want to spoil the plot (which is auxilary to the scenery and costumes anyway) but you can read more about it at their official website 
LOOK AT THE VIEW.........omg - that terrace!!!
Oh -and did I mention the living room is 53' x 19' ? Thats bigger than the footprint of a lot of townhouses.......
The kitchen makes me very very happy indeed -all that beautiful dark wood and that chandelier! The chandelier takes it from boring and minimalist to a jewel box of a kitchen. I also like that the kitchen is seperated from the living room -it would be too cavernous of a space otherwise. I enjoy a seperate kitchen space.......
the image that started it all from an insurance ad
While the chateau is on Long Island (and recently was for sale for between $ 5-7.5 million depending where you look) it started out life across the Atlantic as a wing of a chateau. In 1928 Ashbel H. Barney had it shipped lock stop and barrel to the Gold Coast. Rumored (but proven to not be the case as it was at another chateau) to be the lovenest of Voltaire and one of his lovers, Madame de Chatelet, it is sometimes named after the author. Fokelore is stronger than fact in most cases......
18 years later and this is still my dreamhouse. Unfortunately I was unable to find any interior photos other than one but I can always imagine what the interior is like :-) I love the creeping green, lush gardens and the limestone pavers throughout. The moss covered stone is original (even the MOSS was shipped across the pond) -they did things right during the jazz age!
Read more about the property online at 
This past weekend I was in Boston and stopped by the Boston Public Library, one of my favorite buildings in the city. Designed by McKim, Meade and White and finished in 1895, the building faces Copley Square, the heart of the city, showing the importance of libraries. The facade was modeled after that of the Palazzo della Cancelleria.
the interior courtyard
why aren't plaques this beautiful and artful anymore?
the cafe off the exhibition space
the church-like reading room
upper hall at the top of the staircase
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