Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 55, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1919 — DESIGNED FOR THE CURIOUS [ARTICLE]

DESIGNED FOR THE CURIOUS

Not Hard to Trace Origin and Reason for the Gazebo in Architectural Designs. No name could be more descriptive than gazebo for a building, whether ft assume the form of a tower op- bal-’ cony, which was erected for the purpose of enabling anyone to gaze about; and there is no need to hunt through tlie pages of-a— foe-the -origin of so obvious a term. Curiosity is j common to the race,*and contrivances of nil kinds have been called for throughout the.ages, and will continue to !>e. to enable people to pry into their neighbors’ affairs: and architectural Solutions or the problem must always be as. interesting as iJiry have fri-queoMy proved most picturesque: Doubtless in tlie remotest antiquity such means of prying were in vogue, and the hanging gardens of Babylon may have presented replicas of the towers of Kent or Chambers; hut we will go nd further back for examples :?hTffi“l%n^SW s TTTS Puny s’ as' we know, were of a very inquiring turn Xpf mind, andre most appropriately commemorated at Como, their supposed birthplace, on the west front of the cathedral, hy a sculptured representation of each engaged in looking out of a window.- Thus it was that when Pliny the Younger built his celebrated villa he gave it two towers, and as they could be used neither for defense in such a place nor for smoking rooms jjt such a period, we can only suppose them to have been erected to serve as gazebos when* he could -look-iint> t-ho-groupds of his neighborsand watch.their incomings and outgoings.- ,T. Travenor Perry in Architect (England).