1. Not one, but two Victorian maritime forts going up for auction next month
To be auctioned at Savills on 18 June, they have been under the same ownership for the last 12 years and were restored by businessman Mike Clare as unusual boutique stays.
Lot 499, No Man’s Fort, between the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, was converted into a 23-suite hotel with crew quarters, a restaurant and bar for up to 200 guests, a pub and a nightclub.
Spitbank, lot 498, is the smaller of the two, located in the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour. It operated as a nine-suite hotel. Both hotels shuttered during the pandemic.
Both forts have a guide price of £1m each.
More found on The Spaces.
2. A Communist-era rail line in Budapest operated by children aged 10-14
Found on Kottke.
3. This Art Nouveau Elevator
Found on Tumblr.
4. Washing and drying Rugs in Iran
Found Archeology and Civilizations.
5. A Lost Typeface found on the Shore of the Thames
In March 1917, Cobden-Sanderson declared publicly that Doves Press was closed, and its type had been “dedicated & consecrated” to the River Thames. “Nobody actually quite got it,” Green says. “And Cobden-Sanderson writes a letter to the solicitor saying, ‘No, I wasn’t talking figuratively. The type is gone.’” He didn’t want Walker to have access—or anyone else, for that matter.
Remarkably, Cobden-Sanderson recorded in his journals the exact date and location that he dumped the type into the water, which took him 170 trips to discard in its entirety. With each load weighing around 15 to 20 pounds, that’s a lot of metal. For 98 years, the type remained on the riverbed, much of it washed away over the decades or sunken into the silt as the tidal flow continually rose and fell.
Ten years ago, for type enthusiast Robert Green, a once-in-a-lifetime find emerged from the Thames… When the search concluded, Green and the team recovered a total of 151 sorts, or individual pieces of type, out of a possible 500,000. Green has a hunch that, deep down, Cobden-Sanderson didn’t want the type to disappear into ultimate obscurity, or he wouldn’t have detailed exactly where he had thrown it. A
Full article found on This is Colossal.
6. London Streets In The 1980s
Found on London Inheritance.
7. A Duchesse
Ever been wandering around a historic home and spotted one of these unusual seating contraptions? A Duchesse, also known as a “Duchesse en bateau” (duchess on a boat) was used for lounging and private reading. There’s also the Duchesse Brisée (broken Duchess) which is in 2 or 3 parts (one seat with the foot rest. Or two seats with a middle footrest). These were made for women, the original purpose was to keep any cold draft off the feet in an era when heat was provided only by fireplaces.
Found on the Gilded Age Society. You might also be interested in the Secret History of the Conversation Chair.
8. King Gustav III of Sweden, wearing quite the outfit (1779)
Found on Wikimedia.
9. Take a minute to meet this eccentric Prince at his castle
Prince Stash Klossowski de Rola – find him on Instagram or Substack, and he has a podast too.
10. Family Inherit painting, randomly come across the building in the painting while on a trip
My wife inherited some of her uncle’s original art from the 1980’s. This watercolor was a personal favorite of ours. Last weekend, we visited an 1800’s era village a few hours away, and took pictures of the old buildings and other interesting stuff. A few days later, our daughter was looking at the painting and said “weren’t we just there?” We hadn’t noticed at the time that this building was the same as in her uncle’s painting. She even, by chance, captured it at about the same angle.
Found on Reddit.
11. This railing on gazebo in Naples has braille describing the view for blind people
Found on X.
12. Ashtrays and Coin-operated “Tel-a-chairs” in the Los Angeles Greyhound bus terminal, 1969
Found on Reddit.
