Talk:Howland Cultural Center

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[edit] Norwegian? No.

A contemporary quote from Hunt about the "Norwegian-ness" of the design would set such a very unusual design source in a more solid context. Without such an affirmation from Hunt, the structure's patterned polychromatic brickwork, exposed beams, broken rooflines with multiple gables, would have been assessed by a contemporary as "Quaint", a style designation eschewed by those writing blurbs for NRHP. The "quaint style" is part of the Aesthetic Movement. Though he had visited Switzerland in the 1840s, wasn't Richard Morris Hunt personally unfamiliar with Norway? The era of photographic repertories was in its infancy. Comparable structures in the 1870s were being produced by W. Eden Nesfield, Norman Shaw (in his pre-1880 work) and other British architects. No trace of Hunt's French Beaux-Arts training is discernible here, in a structure that is essentially an Arts and Crafts chalet.--Wetman 07:10, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Many comparable details can be seen in the roughly contemporary railroad station at Obertshausen in Hesse, Germany: asymmetrical details, polychrome brick, bargeboards, dormers, multiple gable ends, one even with a lunette. segmental arch-headed windows, etc. I don't struggle to enter this information in the article.--Wetman 05:02, 15 September 2007 (UTC)