Le Manoir a l’Envers

envers.jpg

The only place of amusement which was an unqualified success was Le Manoir a l’Envers (The Upside-Down Manor). One entered this building through the roof. The furniture was suspended in the air and in the drawing-room people could walk round a chandelier whose lamps illuminated their feet; through the ventilator holes of the cellar there was a view of the surrounding district.

Philippe Jullian, The Triumph of Art Nouveau (1974).

A slight return to the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900; don’t think you escape so easily. Complaints will be referred to the word “obsessions” at the top of this page.

To date this is the only decent picture I’ve seen of the Upside-Down Manor and I’ve yet to find a credit for the architect. This seems surprising considering Philippe Jullian’s remarks about the success of the attraction but something of this nature wouldn’t feature prominently in the official guides or catalogues. Most of the printed matter produced for the exposition exudes the high seriousness of nations posturing and preening before each other, frivolities and entertainments were pushed to the margins.

For more upside-down houses, go here.

Previously on { feuilleton }
Suchard at the Exposition Universelle
Esquisses Décoratives by René Binet
Le Palais de l’Optique, 1900
Exposition Universelle films
Exposition jewellery
Exposition Universelle catalogue
Exposition Universelle publications
Exposition cornucopia
Return to the Exposition Universelle
The Palais Lumineux
Louis Bonnier’s exposition dreams
Exposition Universelle, 1900

6 thoughts on “Le Manoir a l’Envers”

  1. I’d have thought everyone involved with The Poseidon Adventure was taking their cues from the novel on which the film was based.

    I’m not very keen on much that Irwin Allen produced although Poseidon was better than some. I used to enjoy the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV series but then you’ll enjoy anything with submarines and monsters when you’re 8.

  2. I can still remember the shaking of the seats from sensoround when I saw Earthquake at the movies. They were pretty bad films storywise but they were the most impressive ones for young adolescent boys until Star Wars and Spielberg took over the summer movie franchises a few years later.
    I remember being fanatical about Lost in Space probably because it was one of the few TV shows I remember seeing in Spanish in Argentina before the family moved to the land of Oz.

    Other IA atrocities Alice in Wonderland with an American cast. Glad I never saw this.
    Imagine making a movie using the Marx Bros and then not putting them in the same scene together.
    http://www.iann.net/movies/story_of_mankind/

  3. Yes, a friend and I enjoyed Earthquake solely on account of the destruction and its sound gimmick. Lost in Space didn’t get repeated very much here, Land of the Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea were on more often. Fairly sure I haven’t seen The Story of Mankind, I think I’d remember Dennis Hopper playing Napoleon!

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