 |  |
 |  |
Farms usually have names. When I was growing up, I lived on a farm called 'Dolwendee', named after the town in Wales from which my maternal grandmother came as a war-bride in 1919. Houses, though, don't usually have a name. Not nowadays. However, in the '20s and '30s they seemed to. In my suburb of Paddington, many of the name plates date from that period.
When I was in my late teens I read a series of Australian books by George Johnstone, beginning with 'My Brother Jack'. This was set in Melbourne. This is when I first came across the house name which I use as my title for this post.
17 comments:
Lovely photos, I always think of Sydney as a very modern city, nice to see some of older parts.
Lovely post Julie. In Caracas where I am originally from many houses have a name as part of the address.
I like the fact that the farms have a name, it gives us only very rarely...
Servus says
Kvelli
That's a lovely selection! Wish they still do it nowadays.
Regarding you comment: although this is a tiny country (92,090 Km2), the habitat variety is amazing, from the lush green (http://jm-inthewild.blogspot.com/2010/08/temperate-forest-ii.html) to the sand dunes (http://jm-inthewild.blogspot.com/2011/01/sand-dunes.html).
I love these photos preserving the past. The photo at the top left, capturing the doors and colored glass, is special.
I'm quite smitten with the first photo, Julie. The house names are very prosaic, nothing sweet like "Blossom Cottage" or tricky like your "Emoh ruo"! - but I like the doors. I can just see myself coming home to one of those doors.
Very interesting post today.
-- K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
If the farm did not have a name, a young boy came up with the less than inventive but quite descriptive, Windy Hill.
But then they would want to grow a black and red football team on it, Andrew!
Always wondered where Dolwendee came from. Thought it may have been the name of the house you were in when you started this blog.
The plan of my semi shows I live in Omeo which means mountain and is a gold mining town in the Victorian alps. Next door is Mitta Mitta, meaning little waters. Would like to get the name plate remade one day.
There is a lovely set of terraces on Glebe Point Road all with name plates of Tasmanian rivers. Name plates are wonderful little things which many people are renovating. The 'Sandringham' one here is one of 8 over in Cascade St which include:
Harborn, Onslow, Egerton, Greensborough, and Sutton. No idea what they represent.
Nobody here gives their house a name, unless you're William Randolph Hearst of Michael Jackson. There is a house just down from mine occupied by a couple named Gross (originally Groß, I assume) with an azuela-style tile next to the door reading Casa dos Gross. I think it's a bit odd.
A wonderful collection of doorways and names.
OMG - I know someone who's got a blog called Dolwendee!
"... besotted with shabbiness ..."
does that include people?
*beam*
especially people, especially if they live within cooee of the Grampians!
All of the older homes in the Blue Mountains have names ... hence my home Burnbrae. I have been told by the local historians that was how homes were identified before street numbering. So perhaps the same applied in the city.
Certainly the old postcards from the 1890s which were found behind the fireplace facade are addressed as housename, street name, town.
I've been thinking of doing a series on house names ... perhaps I should do that as a way of getting Blue Mountains Journal moving again ... it's way to wet to go bush walking at the moment.
The only names on houses around here are "The Roeder Home" or "The Williams House" or other boring who-built-this-historical-home banality. I've always wanted to give my house a name, but until it's worthy of something more romantic I'll just keep calling it A Work in Progress.
Where I live many of the properties have names. My place is called Bergdalen. I think it was my great grandparents that picked the name. It means the valley near the hill.
Post a Comment