Geeze, one post after another! You’d think I had nothing better to do!
This morning we continued our search for les affolantes. For those who haven’t read every word of this blog, the affolantes are houses built on the banks of the Seine in the late-1800s/early-1900s, by affluent Parisiens mostly, as summer houses. They are amazing. (see Affolantes).
We went to the small village of La Rochette, which is the next town north of us here. It has a long road that goes along the Seine and there are quite a few simply beautiful houses on that road. Some are affolantes, built in the time mentioned above, others are newer. Mostly, we like the affolantes and not so much the newer homes. These houses all overlook the Seine. For some of them, trees have grown up to block the view, but others have unobstructed views of the river. (You can click on a picture to see it full-size.)
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- The first affolante we saw on our walk.
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- Love the sun room!
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- Another affolante.
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- Between the two previous houses is this ugly place. What architect would present this to a client and what client would accept the design? This would be flat ugly anywhere, but between those two beautiful houses? Appalling.
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- This is a guest house! We’re trying to figure out how to get invited.
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- Now this is what I call a gate!
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- Really, when you start with such a beautiful building on the left, couldn’t you add a slightly more attractive garage? Really?
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- Roses!
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- More Roses!
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- Roses, roses, roses everywhere!
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- And some sweet peas.
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- Front door of a house in La Rochette built 1905-1910 by a Parisien architect who lived in it with his family.
(I’ve thought about their name: les affolantes, which translates as “frightening” or “crazy.” I thought that was strange, but realized that sometimes when I see a huge, modern, 5,000 sq ft house, in the States, my response can be, “Geeze, that’s crazy,” or “Man, that is frightening!” Well, these houses were the equivalent of those modern monstrosities 125 years ago, so I understand their name.)