tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post1824224155352866810..comments2024-03-27T15:11:31.862-07:00Comments on Daytonian in Manhattan: A House Where Art was Created -- 61 Perry StreetTom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-37589120635643247592013-08-06T17:46:06.556-07:002013-08-06T17:46:06.556-07:00I think you're right. That's for that. I...I think you're right. That's for that. I'll be a bit more discriminating in my pine cones and pineapples going forward! great info.Tom Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-57577448869784635072013-08-06T06:04:22.733-07:002013-08-06T06:04:22.733-07:00Tom, thank you for your wonderful curiosity, resea...Tom, thank you for your wonderful curiosity, research, and writing. Your deep dives into a particular location never cease to surprise and engage me. This is one of my favorite NYC architecture/history blogs. <br /><br />About your reference to "newels with their cast pineapples—the symbol of hospitality": I've often seen similar items referred to this way, but I think in many of these cases it's a pine cone, not a pineapple. One clue is the lack of tuft at the top.<br /><br />The similarity isn't just visual but etymological. Quoting Mary Miley Theobald in the Colonial Williamsburg Journal from Winter 2008: <br /><br />"[T]he English called the fruit a “pine-apple,” a word heretofore interchangeable with “pine-cone,” because it so resembled the pinecones they knew. The pinecone had strong and ancient ties to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine—-Bacchus to the Romans—-who carried a thyrsus, a staff entwined with grape vines and topped by a pinecone. That association relates to the use of pine resin in wine making. Since classical times, the pinecone has symbolized fertility and regeneration and has been used as a decorative motif. It is the pinecone that the colonists were using in their decorative arts, evoking the classical symbolism that they, educated in the classics, would have understood well."<br />(From http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter08/stuff.cfm)<br /><br />One can see some pineapples represented in that period and after, with the tuft (see, e.g., http://www.history.org/almanack/life/christmas/dec_pineapple.cfm)<br /><br />To my untutored eye those newels look more like classical pine cones than pineapples.<br /><br />Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02237034266142298061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-78342670264517781532013-06-18T18:31:15.751-07:002013-06-18T18:31:15.751-07:00Have never read so much history about residential ...Have never read so much history about residential areas, but this blog highlights a very interesting house. Brick-style homes evoke a certain feel into a place. It's homey yet strong. Anyway, thanks for this informative write-up. Great job for this.Spencer Bradleyhttp://www.gate-away.com/noreply@blogger.com