Bye Bye Baby

Rest in peace, Baby. We were so sad to see you go on 10/29/15. Julius misses his little Baby, but you're in a better, restful, peaceful place.

Iron and Coal, Petroleum and Steel

Now through October 25, 2015, there's a fabulous art exhibit titled Iron and Coal, Petroleum and Steel: Industrial Art From the Steidle Collection at the Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA. The image above is from Rockwell Kent's Power...for the Wheels of Progress.

  ~ Rockwell Kent's Power...for the Wheels of Progress - 1945 ~

 ~ A closeup of the passenger ~

The painting above was one of my favorites in the collection. It shows trains dumping slag. To learn more about this process, you can watch a neat video about trains dumping slag at Bethlehem Steel in 1994 at this link.

~ Steel by Edmund Marion Ashe (painted before 1942) ~

From the permanent collection is this magnificent Portrait of George Washington by artist Rembrandt Peale. With a name like Rembrandt, it has to be good.

Steampunk

If there's one word that comes to mind for the building and contents of the Henry Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA, it's steampunk. Mom, if you're reading this, steampunk is a genre of science fiction that features old machinery rather than advanced technology.

This building, which was designed by Mr. Mercer, is made out of concrete. Who would have guessed? Again, the guy had a thing for concrete.

It's a hoarder's heaven of tools, old gadgets, machinery, you name it. 

 The staircases throughout the museum were phenomenal.Very grandiose in a concrete kind of way.

The contents in this part of the museum were gracefully arranged, albeit very cluttered. Items hang from the ceiling and railings. If Salvador Dali were alive, he'd love the chaos of this place.

~ An old stagecoach ~

~ An old whaleboat ~

~ Cigar store Indian ~

 ~ Julius ~

~ Apothecary bottles ~

~ Mr. Mercer ~ 

~ Mr. Mercer and his beloved dog, Rollo ~

~ A statue of Rollo in the Mercer Museum ~

~ A view of the outside of the Mercer Museum ~

Moravian Pottery and Tile Works

After all these years of driving by this magnificent building and never having stopped, it was well worth the trip to the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works. Right down the road from Henry Mercer's Fonthill Castle, this building is also a concrete masterpiece. Mr. Mercer obviously had a thing for concrete and tiles.

This is one of the rooms directly next to the gift shop on the first floor. The tour began with a short video explaining the history of the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works. 

My dad would go nuts for all the old tools hanging on these walls and throughout the building.  

This is a work space in the corner of the same room on the first floor. What a nice space!

~ Tiles ~

~ Tiles ~

 

~ And more tiles ~

 This room houses many of the large furnaces used for firing the tiles.

 

~ Molds for tile making ~

 

~ More molds ~

~ A view looking outside ~

This is a view from the outside balcony looking toward the highway. 

This is a view from the balcony looking toward Fonthill Castle. 

~ Concrete and tiles ~

 

~ Smokestack ~

 

 ~ A closeup of the same smokestack ~

Only an artist would put this much attention to detail into a smokestack. Way to go, Mr. Mercer!

~ The last room on the tour ~

Fonthill Castle

As my friend noted on Friday when we visited Henry Mercer's Fonthill Castle, "I have a new appreciation for concrete." If you want to see concrete, concrete, and more concrete, make it a point to visit Fonthill Castle, the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, and the Mercer Museum, all of which are in Doylestown, PA.

Built between 1908 and 1912, Henry Mercer's Fonthill Castle is made of hand-mixed concrete.  Many of the rooms contained built-in desks made of concrete.  Fonthill Castle contains 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, 32 staircases, and over 200 windows.

Rooms are decorated with Mr. Mercer's handcrafted tiles and tiles from all around the world. I enjoyed seeing the Delft tiles in one of the main rooms on the first floor as it brought back good memories from a trip to The Netherlands.

 

 ~ The lush, green grounds of Fonthill Castle ~

 

Afraid of the threat of fire, Henry Mercer chose to build Fonthill Castle out of concrete. Concrete, however, holds the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. Only a few of the rooms now contain air conditioning. It was a bit warm throughout the castle, but not uncomfortable.

I'm most certain this is the carriage house. You can rent this building for special occasions, such as weddings.

I was able to sneak a picture from the inside of this building. 

This is a view of the back of Fonthill Castle from an outside terrace overlooking the grounds.

~ Another view from the back terrace ~

~ Another view from the back terrace overlooking part of the castle and part of the carriage house ~

Look at that beautiful, blue Bucks County sky!

~ The tree-lined drive leading to and from Fonthill Castle ~