Going for the Gold on 9th Street
The folks at this 9th Street brownstone in Park Slope aren’t letting the recession, or the sudden cultural distaste for gilt and glamour, get in the way of their renovation. They’re restoring their bracketed cornice to all its gold leafed glory. Such attention to detail!
The folks at this 9th Street brownstone in Park Slope aren’t letting the recession, or the sudden cultural distaste for gilt and glamour, get in the way of their renovation. They’re restoring their bracketed cornice to all its gold leafed glory. Such attention to detail!
I like gaudy. Can’t wait to finish my tacky blue and gold living room.
Hey, when you say “gold leaf” do you really just mean “gold paint”? Gold leaf would be ex-pen-sive!
Neat idea.
Dave, don’t blame the French, have you ever been to Vienna? Prague? St Petersburg? Rome?
Actually, the Russians are the biggest lovers of gilding, but I guess we know that from some of the Bath Beach houses we have seen here.
That would be largely the French, sam. We all know about their decadent society and their profligate use of gold leaf.
“Restoring” is not the right word, as the cornice was most likely never gilded (though anything is possible). Often, cornices were painted to look like masonry, so brown is a distinct possibility here. (Sometimes, too, sand would be added to the paint to enhance the stone-like effect.)
Accurate or not, they’re doing a nice job. And for the historic purists, paint is paint – it can always be undone (on wood at least – masonry is a different issue).
Even a post on gold leaf on a cornice would eventually turn into a race/religion issue on brownstoner!!!!
I agree that it is actually quite attractive but of course our Protestant/Puritan Brooklyn ancestors would never ever have done this sort of thing. Gilding was done by the decadent (and often Catholic) societies of Europe. Henry James’s novel “The Europeans” has an interesting passage about the newly arrived haute-bourgeoise continentals visiting their American relatives, whom they had heard were very rich, and upon entering their home they wondered why there was not even a single bit of gold leaf anywhere.
Very nice. Though I wonder if it was in fact originally that way? If so, great, but it looks a little gaudy to my eye. To each his own.
A bit gaudy but nevertheless attractive, although I don’t know that it’s historically accurate (which may not matter much, since 9th, bet. 5th & 6th isn’t in the PS HD).
I get a good view of it while working out at the Y, across the street.