The Haunted Mansion, May 1984
Halloween is almost here, and what could be more appropriate than some photos of the exterior of the original Haunted Mansion? These are courtesy of Lou and Sue, from the trove of images Lou took back in 1984.
The word "stately" definitely applies to the grand plantation-style home with its neoclassical columns. The "column and pediment" part of the façade looks like s stretched-out Acropolis. Or NEcropolis?
My grandma always loved magnolia trees (there were several on the boulevard outside her home until the city inexplicably ripped them out), I love them too.
This is what I consider to be the quintessential view of the Mansion, as seen right after passing through the brick and iron entry (with the famous plaques). The wrought iron is so cool, I'd love to walk around that upper balcony. It looks like it might be slightly reduced in scale compared to the floor level, not sure if it is 5/8 or not. And the third level is for people who like to walk around all hunched over.
The thought occurred to me that the interior of the Mansion doesn't seem to have many hints to its New Orleans origins, but then I wondered what those hints would even be. Mint juleps everywhere? OK, so my thought was a dumb one, I'll own up to it.
Fun detail; the drainpipe is painted the same green as the wrought iron, except for when it crosses the cornice (probably the wrong word but you know what I mean).
Thank you, Lou and Sue!
18 comments:
Major-
It might very well be cornice. I think the part underneath it is the skirtboard, but then again... Deceptively 'stately' it certainly appears to be; and yet on the inside, things are a bit different.
Thanks to Lou & Sue.
Have the large louvered panels just outside the entrance, been in place since day one? I'm assuming their purpose is to get the guest's irises to begin to constrict, and prepare them for the even dimmer lighting inside? Or are they simply to keep the guests outside, from looking into the foyer? I'm just wondering if they are original, or if the designers discovered a need for them later.
I love the architecture of the original Haunted Mansion. I'm glad that it is unique to Disneyland, and that it was not replicated in the other parks.
Thanks Lou, Sue, and Major, for sharing these wonderful Perry Pics®!
I've always loved the exterior of this structure - so many neat angles and details. It's a photographer's dream. It's only inside that it turns into a nightmare...
TM!, it doesn't look like those louvered panels were there at the very beginning but were added well before the Mansion opened. Here it is in October 1963 sans louvers, but by November 1967 it had been be-louvered. Not sure what has to do with guests' flowers, but it's good to brainstorm all possibilities when looking for an answer to a question.
Nice HM pics. I for one can also appreciate the cornice-crossing drainpipe. It reminds me of when you see a manhole cover with a traffic line painted over it, except more than half the time it seems like the paint isn't lined up with the line on the road!
As for the inspiration of the house, I'm sure that most if not all of you know this, but if not...
I love the Disneyland Haunted Mansion! One thing that I never thought about is that it's actually pretty small. In fact, it's much too small to house the rooms we see on the attraction (even if they were logically laid out and didn't need room for Doombuggy tracks). The ballroom scene alone would never fit in that house! What makes the house look so large are the porches. If you pulled those off, not only would people want to kill you, but you would see a very small building indeed. By the way, "real" southern mansions had porches for much the same reason. It made the house look twice as big, and they were great for sleeping during the hot summers. I wouldn't try sleeping on the HM porches, however... The ghosts would never leave you alone!
Postcardworthy. Postcardworthy, I say!
Stu, the discrepancy in size between the outside and inside is all part and parcel of the hauntedness!
Who can't love a house with a widows walk. They ought to have them here in Tucson. The lonely, soon to be widow, gazing across the Sonoran desert, waiting to her man to return from Tombstone.
Lovely pics Major, thanks.
PS Leave it up to a city to tear up Magnolia trees. They do inexplicable things here too, like tear down a historic building to build an ugly, ubiquitous Starbucks or something.
The second image reminds me of the photo of the Haunted Mansion in some of the 1970's Disneyland INA Guide booklets.
Thanks Lou and Sue. These are a real treat.
Pretty photos today of my favorite attraction, I hope there are more in this series. It’s hard to get nice uncrowded shots around the front of the house. Thanks Lou & Sue and Major.
Well, I suppose you could be unenthusiastic about these photos, but you would be a fool.
These are really postcard-worthy and capturing many interesting details that I previously overlooked.
Tokyo, nice catch on the louvers, I'm pretty sure these are added just for the purpose you note, keep the lighting dim near the doorway. I have often been dazzled by the contrast of broad day and the interior on entry and haven't registered the beautiful detailing in the anteroom before the stretch room(s). It is a whole project in itself.
Andrew, thanks for the link to the Nomenclature blog. I knew most of this story from the Long-Forgotten blog, but there are details in your link that aren't in L-FB.
Long-Forgotten cites the (intentional) discrepancy between interior and exterior, of course this can't be experienced until one enters. There are other subtle differences between exterior and interior detailing which is mostly unaccounted for in any coherent narrative. Probably because the HM "story" wasn't initially meant to be coherent. See Long-Forgotten for all the details.
One refinement worth mentioning is that the cornice trim with the projecting corbels (and other similar details) are painted in several differing shades of white, with darker shades on the undersides of the trim to emphasize the shadow lines and make the house look more foreboding, even in bright daylight. The effect is that the trim is all one color with emphatic three-dimensional appearance. Seriously, who would think of something so subtle?
Major, in terms of architectural trim, the upper reach of the trim where the gutter is located, would be called the "cornice" or "eave", but the lower edge of the second floor balcony is more properly an "entablature", but I will accept "cornice" for that location also. Greek temples did not have a corresponding term for second floor balcony edges, so it seems fair to use either term.
The wide flat board under the cornice shape at the balcony is either the "frieze" or the "architrave" depending on the detailing. The HM trim is not as complex as a full-on Greek temple, and so some of the terms and parts are interchangeable or merged.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/beginners-guide-greece/a/greek-architectural-orders
Major, L+S, thanks for starting the week out with a bang, or a "boo".
JG
Nanook, yeah, back in the days of architecture classes I probably knew a lot more of those terms. But that was a LONG time ago. You mean something is going on inside? Like a kid’s party or something?
TokyoMagic!, I noticed those louvered panels too, I’m glad you asked about them because I forgot to. I agree, it’s nice that our mansion is unique. The one in Florida is nice, but I like Anaheim’s the best (being biased, of course)!
Chuck, thanks for doing the research! Normally I might have, but being away from home makes everything just that much more inconvenient. I love my iPad, but it is no replacement for my real computer.
Andrew, the OCD part of me always wants to line up those manhole cover stripes! Thanks for the link to Jason Schultz’s article, I read it long ago but it is still amazing.
Stu29573, you’re right, the actual house is not that big, but don’t forget that you do go up into the attic, and at some point you go outside to the graveyard. BUT... even so, you’d expect a house to be four times larger to hold that ballroom. Hey maybe someday they’ll let guests spend the night on the Haunted Mansion porches for $400 a night?!
Melissa, yes, the ghastliness is all part of the package!
DrGoat, it would be cool if they could have a ghost walking around the widow’s walk, but I think that the conceit is that we don’t see any actual ghosts until after Madam Leota. And it killed me when they cut down the magnolias on our street, it seemed to be for no good reason; they were 50 years old at least.
K. Martinez, hmm, I don’t remember a Haunted Mansion image in any of the INA booklets; but then again, I forget lots of stuff! I’ll have to check mine out when I get home.
Kathy, for now these are the only Mansion shots from Lou and Sue, but I know that Sue has MANY more photos to scan. Maybe there are more among those!
JG, I have also had a hard time adjusting to the dimly lit interior, those summer days are so darn bright! But it gives me an excuse to go on the ride twice, once in the day, and again at night. You mention the Haunted Mansion “story”; I really don’t believe there was much more than the web of a story at the beginning. Part of the fun for decades was people wondering what each thing meant, and what the back story was. Well, now the Imagineers want to tell us, which ruins it. Once the mystery has been explained, there is no mystery. I’ve seen quotes from people saying that it’s Disney’s storytelling that makes all the difference. In movies, sure. But I truly believe. that it is better to leave more stuff unexplained. Thank you for the term “entablature”!
Major, one of the best features of the Long-Forgotten blog is the lengthy exposition of how the HM "story" started out as an illustrated narrative, and then a contrasting humorous thread was added (perhaps to soften the dark them of the original story) and then all the various ideas were separated out in favor of a loose association of scenes and tropes that no longer had a consistent narrative thread.
The old Imagineers (the good ones) knew that the human need to create consistency would cause the audience to create their own links and explanations that would be more entertaining and more engaging than being "told" the "right interpretation".
There is a similar breakdown between the Pirates movie and the Pirate ride, the ride has more consistent narrative than the HM, but still doesn't try to explain all the scenes. The movie has to have a narrative story, or it wouldn't be a movie, and so a lot of plot points are added to tie scenes together that were not needed in the ride due to Marc Davis' shorthand humor.
JG
Chuck, thanks for the pics and the answer to my question. As for the irises, they were plastic and could be purchased over at the Main St. Flower Market. Buy you are right, they don't have anything to do with the Haunted Mansion. ;-)
Great link, Andrew! Preservation Maryland has also written about the home recently. Looks like it was unfortunately torn down in 1967.
Thank you, Major and fellow Jr. Gorillas, for the nice comments, and laughs and links!
Kathy, I'll look for more HM photos/slides, and send them to the Major, to share here. Hopefully, I'll find more.
Hey, Major, while you're away - who's watching your mansion? And your Lipizzans?
Sue
Even though I’m an east Coaster, even though the Florida Mansion is set in my beloved Hudson Valley, even though we get the real show all year with no holiday overlay, and even though the ride is slightly longer, I still say the California Mansion is superior in every way that really counts,
Disneyland Haunted Mansion Replica that was for sale in 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSOF5j1_9oQ
You could really have fun decorating the inside of this house...
Wow; think of the possibilities!
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