Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Antique Tastes


One of Marysville's attractions is the Koester House, with its museum and somewhat strange gardens. German immigrant Charles (Karl?) Koester arrived in town in 1860 and soon made a name for himself. He ended up becoming the town banker, built a very fancy house by the standards of the day and filled the garden with reproductions of, I don't know, Greece-Roman-Renaissance-Baroque sculpture.  The garden isn't very big, the pieces seem thrown together in a crowded way, and yet it tells us something. What were the tastes of the well-to-do 150 years ago? The place seems very foreign in a prairie filled with corn fields.




4 comments:

s.c said...

You wonder how he get them there.

Bill said...

The sculptures are nice especially in the light you captured them in.

William Kendall said...

That third one particularly catches my eye.

Jack said...

Probably not too different from the tastes of nouveau riche today, though today's nouveau riche can hire decorators.