This weekend catch Building 173 at the Peabody Essex Museum as part of the third annual Salem Film Fest. According to the festival and film websites, Building 173 explores three generations of life in downtown Shanghai via seven families who lived in apartment Building 173 at some point since the 1930's. 

The intersection of architecture and the lives of those who inhabit it fascinates me. This is why I'm a fan of house museums. Merge your Film Fest visit to the Peabody Essex Museum with a tour of Yin Yu Tang, the Museum's remarkable example of Chinese domestic architecture from the rural village of Huang Cun, originally built more than two centuries ago. I wrote about Yin Yu Tang here. Wouldn't it be fascinating if the PEM produced a film about life in rural, southeastern China through the stories of the lives lived within Yin Yu Tang? Every building has a tale to tell. Imagine yours.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Click on this photo to see it in the KHS photo note cards/prints gallery.Some folks have visions of sugar plums as the holidays draw near.  My visions tend more toward New England’s vernacular barns, boat houses, sheds, and folk houses surrounded by snow.  With this winter photo of a favorite Connecticut tobacco barn, I wish you all a warm and hearty holiday season.  Cheers.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Don't miss Patti Moreno, Roxbury's "Garden Girl", speaking about urban gardening and sustainability on December 16, 6:00 pm at the Boston Public Library's Rabb Hall as part of the Boston Society of Architects Exploring Design free lecture series. 

Patti can be found on GardenGirlTV.com and in her ezine Urban Sustainable Living promoting back-to-basics sustainable gardening, farming, and homemaking practices for the city and suburbs.  For me, to be a house enthusiast is to be a garden enthusiast.  Each contributes to the other, much as my mother's in-town house and garden do.  If you haven't the time or opportunity to attend the Boston Public Library event, check out Patti's online offerings.  You'll find plenty of food for thought.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

KHS Photography is happy to be part of the Salem Open Studios tour this year.  The event is Saturday, December 12 from 10:00 am-6:00 pm and features 26 artists at 17 locations.  Print out the event map and explore the work and spaces of Salem's creative community.  I'll have framed and matted prints plus note cards available for purchase, a fire in the hearth, and the door to my loft studio in the c. 1768 Captain Edward Allen house open.  Tell a friend and drop by.

Alexander Esty, Unidentified house, c. 1855, Courtesy of Historic New EnglandFor those of us who grew up here, the older homes of New England typically have the first and greatest architectural influence on us.  Those who move to New England later in life often quickly come to appreciate the unique language the houses of New England speak.  It’s a language worthy of study and appreciation which is exemplified in Drawing Toward Home, Designs for Domestic Architecture from Historic New England now on show at the Boston University Art Gallery.

Since I mostly draft by hand, as all architects did prior to the advent of computer-aided drafting, it was with great delight that I perused the architectural drawings from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries on display at B.U.  Most are presentation drawings while some are study drawings meant primarily for the architects’ review.

Well known and little-known architects are represented in the 100 exhibited drawings culled from Historic New England’s collection which contains the work of more than 400 architects.  I found myself drawn to three striking drawings which collectively reflect three areas of interest to architects: constructed elements relative to landscape; the house: its plan, exterior elevations, sections and representation in perspective; and its interior.

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