Lee’s World
New England November 2007
For
my birthday, I boarded a plane bound for New England. I stayed at the
Sheraton Hotel, Boston, for
five nights (another bargain through
Priceline's "Name your price" option).
What a beautiful
city, Boston proved to be. Sandwiched in
between the modern buildings were the historic buildings which predated the
American Revolution - the Old State House, the Old North Church amongst
them. The first snow of Winter hit whilst I was there, and Boston Common and
the Backbay Fens were something straight out of a Christmas card scene.
The view from
the Prudential Tower at dusk
was well worth taking in. Highlights of the city proved to be the tour of
the State House taking in the House and Senate chambers, Boston Public
Library, the first public library in the States, shopping in Newbury Street,
the snow
glistening in Commonwealth Avenue, and the Isabelle Stewart Gardner venetian
palace museum.
Frank Lloyd
Wright designed two homes in New
Hampshire
- in Heather Street, Manchester NH. One of them was available to tour - the
Zimmerman House, one of Wright's Usionian houses. The other - the Kalil
House, almost next door, was for sale at around $2m, a little out of my
price range. The Zimmerman House proved to be a real gem, and for a Wright
home you could actually imagine living in. The tour takes around 2 hours and
is bookable through the Currier Museum,
Manchester.
Walter
Gropius, as well as being the founder of Bauhaus, taught architecture at
Harvard University, having had to flee Nazi Germany. He built his
home in
the small town of Lincoln, MA. The house was a stark contrast to the
countryside, a white box on the hillside, near the beautiful Waldron Pond.
Cambridge, MA,
just across the Charles River from Boston, was a delight. The
city is home to two very prestigious academic institutions - Harvard
University and MIT. Harvard was a gem, with classic Queen Anne architecture
and the beautiful Memorial Chapel, as well as the only building designed by
the Swiss architect, Le Corbusier. MIT has a range of modern buildings
including the outstanding
Stata
Center by Frank Gehry. It was a whole mishmash of levels, finishes, angles,
etc - just what you expect from Gehry. Elements resembled the Guggenheim in
Bilbao, whilst others were more the Prague dancing building.
Boston - and the surrounding area - proved to be well worth a visit. And so far I think I have only just scratched the surface.