OLANA
A couple of weeks ago we decided to go for a drive and visit Olana and the town of Hudson.
Olana was the home of Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), a famous American landscape painter during the time and one of the major figures in the Hudson River School. Olana (named after a fortressed city in ancient Greater Persia) is an eclectic villa composed of many styles, which overlooks parkland and a working farm designed by the artist. As well, the residence has a wide view of the Hudson River valley, the Catskill Mountains and the Taconic Range. The stone, brick, and polychrome-stenciled villa at Olana is an unusual mixture of Victorian structural elements and Middle-Eastern decorative motifs from different times and places. Moorish elements blend with contrasting Italianate themes. And although Church never actually made it to Persia, the Middle-Eastern architecture is apparent.
We took a tour of both the upstairs and downstairs of the residence, much of which has been painstakingly restored to its original state. Olana is now a state historical site and therefore photographs of the inside were not allowed for “security reasons”. For more information, visit their website at www.olana.org.
Here are some photos of Church’s work. As you can see, his paintings are absolutely magnificent and the detail is extraordinary -- keep in mind most of his work is done on very large canvasses. I highly recommend taking a trip to Olana as these photos absolutely do not do it justice. And the inside of Church's home is remarkable.
It has recently come to my attention that the branch fence is called a Wattle Fence. Wattle fences may be one of the oldest types of fencing still in use today. They were used in England long before Medieval times. Traditionally the fences are built from straight, slender, flexible suckers or saplings of the willow tree up to 1-1/2" diameter.
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