MTM

I'm still leafing through Larry Millet's guide to Twin Cities Architecture (see June archives and My Absence Parts 1 & 2). Recently I came across this entry:

S.E. Davis ("Mary Tyler Moore") House 1894

A Queen Anne house that became a local icon by virtue of its association with the popular Mary Tyler Moore Show. An exterior shot of the house identified it as the location of Moore's apartment.

Of course that show aired in the 1970's, as Victoriana experienced reappreciation. Gingerbread made for suitably hip digs. Now days the beautiful young are cast in gleaming cubes, stark fields of white*, and the Queen Anne is relegated by the tastemakers to cameos in Horror movies like Pacific Heights or supernatural fare such as Charmed.

On the other hand, maybe the Victorian styles (along with the preceding Gothic Revival) have always served as a backdrop for fright night. My 6-year old associate turned up some architectural typecasting in a silver age Fantastic Four.

In the story that introduces Agatha Harkness, Franklin Richards governess, and a witch, a most exuberant structure is rendered by penciller Jack Kirby.
















There's several captivating interior drawings as well, the setting a bit fussy of course, and overdecorated.

*Actually by the 1890's, a few interiors were being painted all white, though masses of color still prevailed.

Come to mention it, doesn't the Thing look a bit Richardsonian?