Horror Vacui House
The term horror vacui, or abhorrence of the void, was used in the Middle Ages to explain all manner of pneumatic and hydrological wonders. Nature was repulsed by absence, and would try to fill it at all costs. Hence the air pump and water siphon.
Horror vacui was also an aesthetic value embraced by Victorian decorators and best expressed in an extraordinary private home and museum in Seattle known as “Steve’s Weird House.” The contents of the unusual house include circus sideshow exhibits, a collection of antique toasters, exotic taxidermy, quack medical devices, funerary paraphernalia, a “library of curious and esoteric tomes,” and a vast trove of Victorian artifacts.
Don’t miss the virtual tour.
[Acknowledgments to Ursi]
November 3rd, 2006 at 2:49 pm
I will be eternally in awe of Steve’s decorating prowess.
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:06 pm
A woman would have to be seriously weird to want to dust that lot.