Last week I wrote about Mercer Tiles (read the post HERE) and thought I would share a bit about Fonthill, the home of Henry Mercer (renaissance man!). 
Fonthill was built between 1908 and 1912 as a realization of Mercer's dream. It took 8 workers and a horse named Lucy to finish the house of reinforced concrete. You can see the arts & crafts movement very strongly in the design. It is stepping away from industrialization and towards a simpler time when everything was made by hand. If you came upon this house, you would think you had stepped into the english countryside and found a home that was built and added upon for generations. It has 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, 32 stairwells and over 200 windows; Big dream house!
What other type of house would you expect from a gifted tile-maker, archeologist, academic & writer, collector of primitive building tools and architect who was a pioneer in the field of reinforced concrete construction (thats a mouthful!)
As it is concrete in a far from friendly climate, you can see the patchwork that is neccesary to keep the house in one piece due to the freeze and thaw cycles; I think this just adds to the charm though. I love the red painted window frames, don't you? They add so much!If you were to build your dream house, what would it look like, like Fonthill perhaps?
Visit Fonthill's official website HERE.
I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door. Joan Crawford
Samuel Mockbee (1944-2001) was a very famous architect: not neccesarily for his own buildings but for the studio he created at Auburn University, the Rural Studio.
House with wall made out of cardboard scraps
Lily Friedlander addition - Atlanta, GA.
interiors of a chapel -which utilized 80 Chevy Caprice windshields at the cost of $120
Yancey Chapel interior, 1995, made from concrete and old tires! 
the Hale County animal shelter 
restroom at Pearl Landing
He was aiming to inspire these poor communities into something greater: they deserved better than substandard housing and a substandard life in a rich country. All of the recipients were so proud of their houses and many helped in the construction of them.
the 'butterfly' house
bottles cast into this wall of this house in Masons Bend, AL. provide light.
detail of home created from old license plates adhered to a waxed cardboard frame.
Many of you have probably heard of Fonthill and the Mercer Museum outside of Philadelphia -the eccentric concrete buildings by Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930). One of the things he was best known for was his tile work.
The tiles are in prominent buildings all around the world -but the largest collection of them is at the Pennsylvania state Capitol building in Harrisburg ( even the Casino in Monte Carlo has Mercer tiles!)
Here you can see a large selection of tiles adorning a fireplace in the Mercer Museum. I think you can see the strong similarity between these unique tiles and the German stove plates which he collected. There are a large number of these (seen below) still in the Mercer collection.
Below is the Mercer Museum ( too beautiful to not post!).
The courtyard was beautifully kept and filled with orange trees (like most of the city) -great for a mid-day snack! I highly recommend this hostel / hotel (make sure to get a private room with private bath, it is a hostel after all!) It was very inexpensive at 28-30 Euro a night! You can find information about it online at 
This beautiful brunch was featured in a beautiful country house in Worstershire. Isn't it a great place to spend a cold winter's day?
