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Guédelon Castle: New Medieval Chateau Rises in France

LordWanker

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[video=youtube;86p1N-Jm-AQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86p1N-Jm-AQ&feature=player_embedded[/video]

To all those constantly whining about the pseudo-chateaux being erected around Toronto, this is how it should be done, something that has not been attempted for hundreds of years is slowly appearing – a full scale medieval chateau is being painstakingly built entirely by hand using building methods faithful to those from the medieval world.
 
It's a fascinating project. But I would argue that quality historicism can be built using modern tools to speed things up, so long as it's true to the materials, forms, and details of the past style it's recreating. It would be cool if all among the countless cookie cutter townhouse developments in the city, we'd see authentic historicism with leaded windows, fine wood trim, and perhaps even the use of stone.

Historicism just opens up so many possibilities for building a great city. Imagine if a developer or government could accurately rebuild a Victorian landmark demolished in the 1960s for some banal modernist as part of a new development. If the strip malls and garages along Victorian arterials replaced outstanding buildings from the 19th century, then why not rebuild? The possibility may be hard to imagine given the ongoing tragedy of the Duke's site but there's a lot of money to be made in redevelopment and contrary to what the Duke's case might suggest, plenty of people care about the look of their buildings.

There's a lot of development sites in the city so I know that there's a lot of opportunities for the finest buildings in contemporary styles. But sometimes, no modern building can replace a striking building in a historic area, especially if part of its appeal was an intricately detailed spire. Historicism allows for an interesting and to this date, rarely explored in Toronto, avenue for city beautification.

It might take projects like this castle in France for people to realize just how much is possible.
 
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I'll partially agree, junctionist. It'd be really nice if developments in the city (and in other cities like Montreal,) could be built to look historic, for stylistic or neighborhood reasons, instead of some weird contemporary mishmash. I wouldn't go as far as to try to re-create a Victorian-era house, but take plenty of guidelines. I think that the very historic-looking style is one that still has a lot of charm to this day, and one that should probably be tried more often than just another block.
 

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