Adore A Door: Belleman 441, Amsterdam

Adore A Door: Kingston, New York

This dutch door is the entrance to the Senate House State Historic Site, found in New York’s first capitol, Kingston.

Senate House, Kingston New York

“Built in 1676 only 12 years after the British assumed control of New York from the Dutch, the house reflects both the building traditions of the original Dutch colonists and the gradual acceptance of English construction styles.*”  The wooden door is fastened with a ring pull, knocker, and door strap hinges of varying lengths, all most likely made of iron.  The transom window above allows light into the entryway vestibule.  A seam can be seen extending across the door’s center, splitting it into two parts that can be opened separately or together.

In October of 1777, after the Battle of Saratgoga, the British army burned much of Kingston to the ground.  The Senate House, along with much of Kingston, was rebuilt a hundred years later.  “In 1887, the State of New York paid $8,000 to acquire the property, which quickly became a central community museum.^”

Enjoy — Livin’ Love

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*"Senate House." NPS.Gov. May 21 2012. <http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/kingston/k2.htm>

^The Palisades Park Conservancy.  May 21 21012. <http://www.palisadesparksconservancy.org/historic/9/>

Adore A Door: Old San Juan

Old San Juan

Found amidst a sea of color, this vibrant red door can be spotted in the historic area of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.  The bright primary color beautifully offsets the earthy red of the brick wall and neutral white of the cracked cement.  Ropes hang down from the semicircular vented transom window above.  Perhaps the best accessory is the empty beer bottle unassumingly placed on the step.

Adore A Door: The Moxie Spot

This clever door, located on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, NY, is intended for people of all sizes.  What was once an old hardware store has found new life as The Moxie Spot, a family restaurant offering food, games, and entertainment.  The entrance is a door within a door within a door, each made of copper and each having its own porthole window.  Patrons can choose their entry based on their size or mood.  Perhaps you’re feeling adventurous and want to try squeezing your way in the bottom, or maybe you’ll stand on your tippy toes and enter with the grown-ups.  Makes you think — where did door size standards come from?  Who decided and what was this decision based on?  How has this changed throughout time?  Either way, this door certainly breaks from monotony.

The Moxie Spot – Photo Courtesy of Vandeberg Architects

Adore A Door: The Secret Garden

The exterior of the playhouse at The Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, Long Island is every little girl’s dream.  Pink stucco walls frame picture perfect pane windows.  The slate eyebrow roofline curves into the slightest smile at the edges, finished with a chimney on top.  The surrounding gardens and pebble pathway have a natural look, and give the house a magical quality.  This is the ultimate place to share secrets, tea parties, and memories that will last a lifetime.

The Planting Fields Arboretum Playhouse in Oyster Bay, New York

For more information on The Planting Fields Arboretum, visit their website, or check out the amazing blog, Old Long Island.

Adore A Door: A Revolving Revolution

In honor of Earth Day, today’s post sheds light on a recent sustainable innovation. Two companies have separately conceived of a way to turn the kinetic energy expended on pushing a revolving door into electricity.

The Energy-Generating Revolving Door at Driebergen-Zeist Station — photo courtesy of Boon Edam

Driebergen-Zeist railway station in The Netherlands sets quite an example for green design.  The station has undergone a recent renovation headed by RAU, an architecture firm specializing in ecological buildings.  What is particularly special here is the installation and implementation of the first working, public, electricity-generating revolving door, by Boon Edam.  How does it work?  By simply pushing through it!  Energy is created by turning the panels, which are wired to a monitoring system and output source.  The end result: the illumination of the LED lights in the ceiling of the station.

                      

LED scales can be found inside the revolving door, indicating the amount of energy being produced at any one time.  Inside the station, a large display exhibits the total amount of energy generated, helping encourage passengers to utilize the alternative energy source and feel accomplished by their contribution.  The device had been calculated to save around 4600 kWh per year, about the same amount of energy needed to run a water heater for a family of four for an entire year.

FluxxLab, of New York City, is trying its hand at an energy-generating door in the United States.  Their ‘Revolution Door’ can be installed in any new or previously existing revolving door by using their newly conceived central core, mechanical/electrical system, and output device.  A prototype was demonstrated at the Eyebeam’s FEEDBACK Exhibition, which took place in March 2008.  The turning of the Revolution Door lit up the entrance to the exhibit.

Fluxxlab Revolution Door – photo courtesy of Inhabitat

If only we could install such devices in every building in a city like New York!  Just think how much non-fossil fuel based, human powered, “renewable” energy we could harness!  The opportunities abound.

Adore A Door: The Old Garage

Today has been a glimpse into summer: a beautiful and sunny 75 degree afternoon with the occasional but perfectly timed breeze.  Today’s picture is an homage to the warm days to come, the days when the sun wraps you in its caress and leaves your cheeks kissed with color.  Those days when you can just walk for hours on end with no destination in mind.  Days when you are bound to discover something unusual.

Around the bend of an unkempt path, leads us to double, barn-style doors.  The building is in disarray.  Plants can be seen growing from the roof and between the paving stones.  The hardware has rusted and the wood has weathered from decades of neglect.  Some windows have broken while others remain intact.  How peculiar.  Aha.  A padlock.  Though we cannot enter, curiosity cannot help me from wondering what’s inside.  Time to turn back.  We’ll take many adventures like this soon.

Another sunny day has since brought me back to this spot, except sadly, this structure no longer stands.  These doors once provided the entrance to the garage at the old Henry Carnegie Phipps estate in Old Westbury, New York, known as Spring Hill.  Since the property was sold, most of the buildings here have been demolished.  However, the mansion wall and the old stables remain and are actually quite breathtaking.  Modern ruins like these are harder and harder to come by as the years pass on.  Thanks to the hard work of historic preservationists, not all have been forgotten.  There is plenty left to discover on summer days to come.

To check out more photos, read more about Spring Hill, or to simply find information on just about any old estate on Long Island, check out the wonderful and incredibly informative blog Old Long Island.

Adore A Door: Reclaim and Reuse

It’s no secret that reclaimed wood is all the rage in interior decorating and design.  Prices for aged wood have skyrocketed as demand has only increased.  Barn doors in particular have become quite the coveted “found object” of choice.

This photo is from The Brooklyn Home Company, an amazing team of designers, developers, and builders who do stunning work.  This barn door has been installed as an unexpected bathroom entrance.  The beautifully aged wood looks great against a painted white wall with white accents.  The dark metal track adds some contrast by framing the wall.

The use of reclaimed wood is not only environmentally responsible, it also can breath new life into a number of spaces.  And not a problem if you’re not in the mood to spend a pretty penny on the fancy stuff — any old door can be used for countless purposes.

The following photo comes from Colin Faulkner.  It is a great example of how to use a regular old door to create a much more interesting interior.  Check out the old hardware and what seems to be an old mail slot.

Feeling creative?  Try hanging the door horizontally to create a large shelf.  Lean an old, shabby one against a wall for decoration.  Maybe line a whole bunch of doors up in a creative and abstract way as a new wall.  Doors can be made into desks, tables, headboards, benches, cabinets, and the list goes on.  So next time you walk by an old door, consider what a little elbow grease and some imagination can do.

Need some inspiration?  Check out this great collection of refurbished door photos at Dishfunctional Design.

Adore A Door: Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal

This carved wooden entryway can be found at Swayambhunath Stupa, or Monkey Temple, in Kathmandu, Nepal.  The detail is exceptional.  Decorative wood carvings are quite abundant in Nepal; each skillfully carved by hand and each unique.

Door at Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu Nepal

Adore A Door: Wakehurst Place, West Sussex, England

Wakehurst Place is a mansion originally built in 1590 by Sir Edward Culpeper*.  The wooden door has aged beautifully, with small glass panes in the upper portion (most likely separated by lead).  Glass windows were rare in these times, as they were quite expensive; it wouldn’t have been unusual for windows to be reserved just for the door’s upper reaches.  The door is set inside a decorative carved sandstone exterior with an overhead lamp just inside.  The house is bursting with detail and is an exceptional example of Elizabethan architecture

Looking at the gardens from inside Wakehurst Place

The door’s exterior at Wakehurst Place

Wakehurst is now part of the Royal Botanical Gardens.  It is situated on 450 acres of beautifully manicured gardens, and is home to The Welcome Trust Millennium Seed Bank, the largest collection of wild flora in the world.  As part of an effort to conserve species at risk of extinction, this seed bank aims to uphold genetic diversity amongst vegetation most necessary for environmental sustainability and survival.  According to the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens website, “the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP) – a network of 120 partners in 54 countries – hit its first target of collecting and banking seed from 10 percent of the world’s wild plant species in safe storage.”  Their next goal is to hit 20% by 2020.  To get involved in the project, visit the Kew’s website here.

The gardens are nothing short of breathtaking: an absolute must see if in the south of England.  Don’t forget to say hello to the friendly sheep.

Sheep at Wakehurst

*Lower, Mark Antony. A Compendious History of Sussex: topographical, archaeological, and anecdotical. G.P. Bacon, 1870. P. 10