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Folly: Architecture. a whimsical or extravagant structure built to serve as a conversation piece, lend interest to a view, commemorate a person or event, etc.: found esp. in England in the 18th century.
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I remember going for a ride with an artistic friend in the English countryside and then, driving around a bend in the road, he said ‘look at that wonderful folly' - I had NO earthly idea what he was talking about; what I saw was a piece of a ruined castle. So he proceeded to enlighten me about the amazing, whimsical buildings known as ‘follies'. Imagine building a building just for fun, for no other reason than that it would look good, enhance the view, or remind the observer of a favorite place such as Italy or the Orient. I have seen it described thus: ‘If a building makes you stop, and scratch your head, and ask yourself "Why?", then there is a good chance that it is a folly.' They are at times curious, bizarre, unusual, idiosyncratic, eccentric, outrageous or simply odd. They can be buildings that may at some point have served a purpose - and are often left as ruins, or part of buildings. Often they are originally built as memorials (pictured is ‘Alfred's Tower' commemorating Alfred the Great). 
It can be a structure that emanated from an obsession with a certain style, such as the great ‘Pineapple' in Dunmore in Scotland (pictured at top), which was built in the late 18th century when the obsession with things exotic was in its heyday in the British Isles. Sometimes it is simply a building of very questionable taste that remains for its sheer whimsy - or as a tourist attraction. The Irish Potato Famine of 1845-49 led to the building of several follies. The concept of a welfare state was still many years in the future, and at that time reward without labour, even to those in need, was seen as misguided. However, to hire the needy for work on useful projects would deprive existing workers of their jobs. Thus, construction projects termed "famine follies" came to be built. These include: roads in the middle of nowhere, between two seemingly random points; screen and estate walls; piers in the middle of bogs; etc. Sometimes a folly is a very cleverly disguised building with a purpose, such as the famous ‘House in the Clouds' on the Suffolk coast of England. A novel invention from American, a ‘water tank' (until then water pressure was generally obtained by a mill or a pump) was built in the 1920's in the tourist village of Thorpeness, but naturally one wouldn't want an ugly tank disfiguring the much-admired view. So the water tank was disguised as an everyday clapboarded house with pitched roof, chimneys and sham windows, perched incongruously on top of a sixty foot tower. A real house known as ‘The Gazebo' was built underneath it, and of course many people wondered who would want to live in a house with all that water rushing up and down. However, it has never lacked for tenants. A writer of children's poems, Mrs. Malcolm Mason loved it and one of her poems, inspired by her house, was called "The House in the Clouds" which has since given the folly its name. It is now available for rent as a vacation home!   Another folly is this service station in the shape of a teapot in Zillah, Washington, built in the 1920's as a roadside attraction.
In modern times many buildings in Las Vegas, made to resemble other buildings such as the pyramids, can be considered follies, as well as almost every building in Disneyworld!  Probably a good contender for the ‘building in poorest taste' award is ‘The world's largest ketchup bottle', a water tower in Colinsville, Illinois.
All pictures of follies in the UK are courtesy of British Heritage. The Ketchup bottle and Tea Kettle are from Wikipedia. For more on Follies, read ‘FOLLIES, GROTTOES AND GARDEN BUILDINGS' by Gwyn Headley and Wim Meulenkamp (ISBN 1-85410-625-2)
 | Dutch by birth but widely travelled since my late teens. Married for 25 years to an American musician, with a grown son and living in sunny Southwest Florida, I now call myself 'semi-retired' so that I can justify spending all waking hours in the pursuit of growing blooming tropical plants, most specifically Plumeria. |
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Subject: Wonderful article!
Posted by tabasco (from Cincinnati (Anderson, OH) on May 5, 2008 at 7:19 PM:I enjoyed reading your article about 'Follies'!
One of our favorite pastimes when we lived in the UK was mapping out wonderful 'Folly' sites and taking Sunday drives through the countryside looking for them. I wish I still had the photos we took of our 'collection'.
For us there is nothing more exciting than a good "Folly" in the garden but we rarely see them here in Ohio gardens. Part whimsy, part substance, part romance. I wish there were more of these creative garden eccentricities here! What a great invention for the landscape.
The closest thing to a 'folly' I have come across lately are the "Extreme Birdhouses" built by a fellow member here on DG. [HYPERLINK@www.extremebirdhouse.com]
Very creative too! ...
Subject: The Collinsville Ketchup Bottle
Posted by Potagere (from Farges
(France)) on May 5, 2008 at 6:57 AM:How lucky we are that "taste" is relative.
Deeply affected by the loss of a major employer in 1978 (even then companies fled to "lower cost" locations!), Collinsville converted the company's water tower to this replica of a 1949 catsup bottle as had been produced by the fleeing company.
Irony combined with a quirky tourist draw. And a real piece of traditional "Americana" (see "The Eccentric Guide to the United States" by Jim Davidson, which documents a trove of these oddly American eccentricities.)
I paid my way through university in the 1960s pumping gas at "Hat 'n Boots" (see attached, copyright Georgetown Community Council, Hat n' Boots project), so maybe my own taste has been accordingly affected.
On the other hand, I am not a fan of either garden gnomes or garden "globes".
While, at the same time, when I was a boy we had a neighbour who constructed an elaborate garden "wishing well" of cut and polished pieces of petrified wood.
Today, such a construction would "shudder" my personal sense of taste.
But, as a 12-year-old boy, this marvelous construction was one of the things that opened my eyes and mind to the many different options that existed out there for me to explore and the myriad possibilities for the expression of "beauty". I loved it. And if I saw another one today, I would admire the craftsmanship that created it and, I hope, respectfully honour the inspiration that propelled it.
I have tried to preserve this delight in options and differing visions in the many gardens I have created around the world.
Finally I guess it's "To each their own".
But let's all hesitate to use the phrases "poor taste" or "poorest taste".
We'll all (the whole world) get along better that way.
Potagere ...
Subject: Tea Kettle Gas Station
Posted by AnalogDog (from Mountlake Terrace, WA) on May 4, 2008 at 8:35 PM:I have gotten gas there in Zillah, WA. A great station with true character. Not that I have been there recently, I am talking about 20 years ago. ...
Subject: Folies à la Française
Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on May 4, 2008 at 12:31 AM:Hello Dutchlady,
I knew about folies in France but for us they are only buildings part of a garden like all the numerous small boudoirs and hidden little rooms rich folks used to have scattered among their large parks, mostly for pleasure purpose (I will not give details here...) then it became part of the garden setting.
JJ ... Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on May 4, 2008 at 10:48 AM: Very interesting article, Dutchlady, thank you! ... Posted by Islandshari (from Kwajalein
(Marshall Islands)) on May 4, 2008 at 6:35 PM: Hetty what fun! One of our favorite things to do on road trips is just go looking for odd or eccentric structures...now I know to call them "follies". Thanks!
Yokwe,
Shari ... Posted by Lenjo (from Mount Angel, OR) on May 4, 2008 at 11:45 PM: JJ, any pictures?
Dutchlady, very interesting read. ... Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on May 4, 2008 at 11:57 PM: Lenjo,
Sorry, no pics, I live on Reunion and though we have great gardens here no follies except in people's head... ... Posted by Lenjo (from Mount Angel, OR) on May 5, 2008 at 12:36 AM: Excuse my ignorance, JJ, but explain what is Reunion? ... Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on May 5, 2008 at 8:26 AM: Hey Lenjo,
Sorry about it, Reunion island is a rather small place unknown to many, you will find it on a map if you draw a line between Mauritius (West of Australia) and Madagascar. It is a French over-sea deparment, I wrote my first article for DG about the area, check at [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]
JJ ...
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