Random Steampunk Images

[J. Wilhelm]

I've posted this picture twice in this forum already, but I don't get tired of it as it belogs to my Alma Mater;  Here's the Littlefield House, the residence of a former Confederate and benefactor of the University of Texas, which was founded in 1883.

My God that is beautiful....  

You'll laugh about this;  The owner of the residence, George Littlefield, was a prominent cattle-trade businessman and held some important rank in the Confederate forces during the Civil War.  After the Civil War he became one of the primary benefactors of the University of Texas, and as such he held a great deal of clout regarding the architecture of the university, among other things.

Legend has it that Littlefied was a little bit of a "fruitcake," shall we say?. He was absolutely paranoid about the "Yankees," coming to invade the South again.  So he instituted some bizarre rules regarding the entrance of every building at the university: All main entrances to buildings would be oriented toward the south, presumably to slow down the progress of an invasion   Furthermore, all the statues at the university would face southward (!)   .

These rules were followed at the university for the greater part of the Century, and I think the practice ceased sometime in the late 1980's or early 90's.

But that's not the funny part.  The legend has it that he would make his servants stay on the balconies of the second floor at night, with lanterns, just in case they spotted "Yankee" forces down the road.  

*I think* that for some time, the house was occupied by a sorority. Today it's used as office space    and it's right next to Guadalupe Blvd., right at the edge of campus, which is best described as Austin's answer to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury.

[Professor Ross]

I've posted this picture twice in this forum already, but I don't get tired of it as it belogs to my Alma Mater;  Here's the Littlefield House, the residence of a former Confederate and benefactor of the University of Texas, which was founded in 1883.

My God that is beautiful....  

You'll laugh about this;  The owner of the residence, George Littlefield, was a prominent cattle-trade businessman and held some important rank in the Confederate forces during the Civil War.  After the Civil War he became one of the primary benefactors of the University of Texas, and as such he held a great deal of clout regarding the architecture of the university, among other things.

Legend has it that Littlefied was a little bit of a "fruitcake," shall we say?. He was absolutely paranoid about the "Yankees," coming to invade the South again.  So he instituted some bizarre rules regarding the entrance of every building at the university: All main entrances to buildings would be oriented toward the south, presumably to slow down the progress of an invasion   Furthermore, all the statues at the university would face southward (!)   .

These rules were followed at the university for the greater part of the Century, and I think the practice ceased sometime in the late 1980's or early 90's.

But that's not the funny part.  The legend has it that he would make his servants stay on the balconies of the second floor at night, with lanterns, just in case they spotted "Yankee" forces down the road.  

Wow...

[The Squire]

Another Littlefield story:

George Littlefield had a "Deodar Cedar" (Cedrus deodara), or "Himalayan Cedar" imported from the Himalayas and planted on the property. Littlefield even had the soil where the tree was to be placed dug up and replaced with Himalayan soil.

http://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2002/littlefield.html

[The Squire]

About 1830.

[Atherton A. Aylward]

A...revolving hat?

I think I'm in love.

[NeuroDancer]

This gizmo sits outside the old Johnson Creamery building in Bloomington, Indiana. I'm guessing it's a cream separator or some such.

[von Corax]

This gizmo sits outside the old Johnson Creamery building in Bloomington, Indiana. I'm guessing it's a cream separator or some such.

Looks more to me like a pump or compressor of some sort. A cream separator is a centrefuge, and usually looks more like a washing machine than this.

[Argus Fairbrass]

         

[Templar]

The marchantandmeffre photos are just stunning. The theatres!!! I want to live in them or haunt them! I spent my childhood working in such places...they need saving!!! Sorry rant over. Made me cry to see them.
If I could work out how to post photos I know some great places.

[NeuroDancer]

von C: Probably right. "Cream separator" was a guess, based on an assumption that this was something used in the Creamery. Stands to reason they would also have pumps and such. Or it could be unrelated. I bet someone in town knows exactly. Still, the thing has always help an odd appeal. 

Love your tagline! 

[Agamemnon Magillicutty]

that would be the scene inside my garage, right this very minute.

the stove was just picked up this past weekend, it is a Sears, Roebuck and Co. For $85

we have a matching one from Montgomery Ward's

[Antipodean]

Lost in time - Hasard Cheratte in Belgium. Old Coal mine build in 1880 and by now since 40 years abandoned......

Bang slap in the middle of a nice residential area.

That has to be the best looking lift shaft tower I have ever seen, many steamy possibilities.

I could see these turned into apartments with the old mine lift repurposed to service them - Or used to park cars in the basement    I wish I had the money....
Lots of links on the Interweb

Full steam ahead Mr Sulu

Couple of Large Photos

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Links

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-itje/sets/72157600299468710/
http://www.vergane-glorie.nl/fotopag/cheratte.html#
http://www.luxurbex.com/gallery-hasard-cheratte.html
http://urbex-it.blogspot.com/2007/05/b-cheratte-hasard-cheratte.html
http://www.boreally.org/en/photography/abandoned-building/friche-hasard-cheratte-chevalement-ancien-435.html

[Argus Fairbrass]

I hope you don’t think I was trying to derail the obvious aesthetic appreciation going on in this thread with my little jape there earlier.

I’ve lived in very old buildings of one type or another for most of my life. The house I mainly grew up in was built before Napoleon was born.
I stayed in a new flat for a little while last year. It was pleasant enough but I couldn’t seem to feel comfortable.

A couple of the houses I’ve lived in have had magnificent genuine period fireplaces in the main rooms. These always fascinated me as a kid.
Anyway this inspired me to run a net search for Steampunk fireplaces. And I came across this page, which I thought might interest those of you that haven’t seen it.

http://www.victorianfireplaces.com/blog/tag/steampunk-fireplace/

And of course the link leads to Jake Von Slatts’web site. Talented and obviously connected chap that he is.

http://steampunkworkshop.com/visit-steampunked-home

 I’ve linked to the article but here are some pics anyway.

I think I made myself slightly unpopular by pooh-poohing Rushes’ Hughes and Kettner guitar amplifiers in another thread lol.

Personally, if I had the cash to have a Steampunk themed amp or stage set designed. I think I’d commission this Gentleman to make them.

[mattig89ch]

oh this is from that steam punk house that was featured on...that....show....personally, I think they did an amazing job, just didn't go far enough.

[Prof. Edward Penrose]

Behold! The cover of my personal favorite Steampunk album from the French band EZ3kiel: Naphtaline (2007). This cover lead me to listen to the album, back in 2008 ... I just fell in love with their sound!

[DrArclight]

How about these nice machines:

 

The Crimestoppers organization I'm a member of owns a building that was a large grocery warehouse back in the late 1800's, early 1900's.  Inside the building are these huge room-sized walk in "coolers".  The coolers were primitive refrigerators that used ammonia as the refrigerant.  The machines in the pics above are the compressors that drove all 8 of the room size coolers.  You can see from the massive fly-wheels that they were originally made to be run by either steam engines or an external gasoline engine with a large belt drive.  They were later converted to electric drive.  The warehouse currently serves as a haunted house that we use as a fundraiser every year.  We were going to move one of those compressors inside the main building to use as a "boiler" in the Freddy Kruger room, but the weight turned out to be more than any of the easily accessible equipment could handle.

[Athanor]

Prybars, steel wedges, 7lb sledgehammers, gas pipe rollers and comealongs, used right, will move ANYTHING!

[Arceye]

You'd be amazed what you can roll on lengths of round steel bar.

[groomporter]

The water tower pics made me think of the "witch's tower" in Minneapolis

Affectionately known as the “Witch’s Hat,” the Prospect Park Water Tower acts as a unique visual landmark identifying the surrounding community. Situated at the highest elevation in Minneapolis, it was originally built in 1914 to improve water pressure for the hilly Prospect Park neighborhood. City engineer F.W. Cappelen designed the water tower to be a metal tank interior standing 320 ft. tall with a holding a capacity of 150,000 gallons of water. The tower is crowned with a conical cap of steeply pitched green tile which acts as a roof. Directly beneath the roof, an octagonal Romanesque-arched belvedere surrounds the tower top, giving it a medieval feel. The water tower served the neighborhood until 1952 before advancements in technology rendered it obsolete. While the observation deck is only open one day a year, the tower still stands as a symbol and a source of pride for the Prospect Park neighborhood.

[akumabito]

Tricycle project, found on the aetherweb..

[Capt. Dirigible]

These images may well have already been posted elsewhere here but I couldn't find them..so..here are a selection of brilliantly sculpted (and in some cases painted) miniatures by David Thomas

Spoiler (click to show/hide)