Art Deco Entrance
Why do homeowners spend so much time in designing their home? Usually, a homeowner has seen many kinds of homes and though they have been exposed to many styles, they develop their own style by using their creative imagination. An iconic addition to a home has always been taken to the next generation of architecture as the spiral staircase. There are several spiral staircases which come to mind when thinking of this iconic home addition.
Iconic Spiral Staircases
- Loretto Chapel, New Mexico
- Vatican Museums, Rome
- Museo de Pobo Galego, Spain
- The Garvan Spiral Stairs
- The Great Fire Monument, London
The spiral staircase adds a sense of mystery to a home since its design seems to fold in on itself while progressing upward or downward in a direct or non-direct way. The spiral staircase is even used in art quite often to depict a passageway between different dimensions.
The Fireplace
Besides using fireplace mantels as a place to hang Christmas stockings or for Santa Claus to slip down the chimney, the fireplace has become a classic and iconic addition to a home. It can set a fireplace off just the right way. There are many materials you can use for a fireplace, with wood and stone being the most popular choices. Your color choices are varied also. You can make the mantel stand out, or blend it in with its surroundings.
A person only needs to think of the classic fireplace in the movie Citizen Kane by Orson Wells. In the movie, Charles Foster is standing in front of his stone fireplace in this huge mansion with only one person living in it and the fireplace itself is at least 25 feet wide. It brings back the classic image of the fireplace in history. Fireplaces are still being used in home designs today. Below is a shortlist of some historic iconic fireplaces of note.
- Smoking Room of Titanic
- White House Dining Room
- Sistine Chapel Fireplace
- The Balmoral Scotland
- Adlon Kempinski Hotel
Iconic Bathtubs
Bathtubs have traditionally been a place of privacy and rest, but there are some places in the world where architects have taken advantage of the fantastic geographic views to add another dimension to the view from the sacred site of a private bath. Below is a shortlist of places in which architects have made it possible to allow the topography to bring greater joy and relaxing moment to those who use their private bathtubs.
- Mandarin Oriental Hotel, New York City
- 12 Apostles Hotel, Cape Town
- Jade Mountain, Saint Lucia
The Study
There are many amenities to consider which make a home an iconic place. We can think of the study within the house of Ernest Hemingway, where the room is so intimate, yet comfortable. There we see the lounge chair with ottoman, the small desk with and bookshelf. Lastly, on the walls of Hemingway’s study are the heads of wild animals, a sport he loved even in advanced age.
Doors and People Linked
Another iconic addition to the home is the doors. When we hear 221 Baker Street, it takes us directly to the front door of the fiction character of Sir Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, detective. Again, the opening of J.R. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings and we come across the tiny door of Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit. Is it the door that characterizes the character, the person, or the adventure that we are taken on when we enter.
In Batman, Bruce Wayne has front doors, sliding doors, hidden doors opened by the piano, doors that lead to his secret life as Batman. Doors take on a general nature when added to the person who lives behind its entrance. The door to the modern home is a place where all the members of the family enter and are have security from the passing activities of the world they leave behind when the day is over.
On the other hand, a door can help us to enter into a new dimension as the door to the transporter on Star Trek. We do not use a door, but once the characters are transported, they are often surprised where they find themselves.
