Fascinating Documentary About a Delicious Monstrosity; Das Geheimnis des Hauses Mantin
by pinkagendist
“Maison Mantin was commissioned by Louis Mantin, a wealthy man from Moulins, who wanted to showcase his art and antiques collection. It was designed by a noted local architect, René-Justin Moreau (April 28, 1858 – September 18, 1924), in collaboration with his father, Jean-Bélizaire Moreau (1828–1899), also an architect, and built in 1893.
Mantin bequeathed the mansion to the town of Moulins in his will, written before his death in 1905. The will stated that the house be kept intact, so as to show to visitors in 100 years “a specimen of a bourgeois home of the nineteenth century”.
Consequently, the house was kept shuttered for over a century, with all its original contents, and fell into disrepair. After extensive restoration, it was opened as a museum, and a showcase for the eclectic taste of its former owner.”
Casa de Indianos
The architecture is deliciously hideous. The interiors, however, house a superb collection. All four parts of the documentary are available here. It’s in German (spoken slowly and clearly), but just seeing the images is worthwhile. They show some interesting befores and afters and the house through time. Spain also has a strain of delicious monstrosities. They come in the form of Casas de Indianos. ‘Indianos’ were Spaniards who emigrated to Latin America and then returned to Spain after becoming wealthy.
A while back I saw one such monstrosity that I fell in love with. It’s known as the Palace of O Corgo (aka Pazo de Adai). It was built by General Tella during the dictatorship in a mishmash of absurd styles and happened to be owned by a fellow art/antiques dealer who also used the house as a showroom. It’s still on the market and for a very reasonable price considering the size and materials. Nothing but the best for the general. Granite pillars, parquet de Versailles, carved wood decoration on the ceilings… Unfortunately (as I constantly whine about), Mike insists that even the house we’re in now is too big for us, so not much of a chance of getting him to agree to one of these. Plus, he hates the architecture.
The weather forecast says it’s going to rain heavily on Friday. Meanwhile the sky is blue and the temperature is 20º C.
The house might be an excessive size for the two of you, but what about your art? If you have people over to sell them a piece, you’re not just selling a painting/tapestry/sculpture/whatever, you’re selling the entire experience. As soon as they see the building that houses the art, they’ve already started evaluating how much it’s worth, and they keep judging (you) right up until they’ve signed the check. A two-bed, two-bath cottage doesn’t make sense for the type of work you do, even if it’s plenty of room for two adults and a few dogs.
We’re trying to find a compromise. In the end I think I’ll be able to trick him. There’s a place we both like which he says is too big and I said we could turn part of it into a guest or rental apartment. By the time we’re in… I’ll stuff it full of furniture and he’ll forget about it.
The important thing is to be in town and to not have a huge garden that needs maintenance and the place we like offers both.
Rain is still forecast for Friday. I didn’t realise that until I read your post. I bet it won’t be raining in my pueblo though. It’s a bit like Southern California, it never rains there.
Ricky has a good point about the image of what you are selling. We are the converse. Some people actually told us they thought he would be expensive as a decorator because he drove a Series III Land Rover (I mean 1974 for goodness sake). And when we moved from a terraced house to a semi-detached, it was even worse. No-one even considered that the money wasn’t coming from decorating to move house, it was my bloody salary. And that incidentally, is blatant sexism, assuming the man earns most of the money.
It looks like a Scottish castle by the way.