Back to The Drawing Board
Back to The Drawing Board
Back to The Drawing Board - S3 E3 - The Architecture of Romance: Celebrating Love Through Iconic Structures
Imagine the color pink embroiled in a light-hearted dispute, setting the stage for a journey through the emotive world of architecture and love. As Phil Wontner-Smith, with my intern Theo by my side, we meander through stories where passion has left an indelible mark on structures around the globe. Feel the love that crafted the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum that not only celebrates the union between Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal but has become a symbol of India itself. Explore the delicate balance between cultural narratives and architectural marvels, as we reflect on how the built environment can echo the eternal song of love.
The romance doesn't end with ancient wonders; it's alive in the laughter-filled debate over Italy's geographical identity and the musings on Verona's alleged balcony that immortalized Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. We weave tales of famed balconies and British Museum escapades, even veering into a galaxy far, far away with a nod to Star Wars politics. Through this tapestry of conversation, we examine how architecture not only captures the heart but also holds a mirror to the cultural zeitgeist of romance that persists through the ages.
As the curtains close on this Valentine's Day edition, we cast a spotlight on the communal spirit that art and architecture inspire. Join us in expressing gratitude for the shared passion that fuels our discussions and the laughter that punctuates them. We extend an invitation for further engagement, celebrating the creative journey and the collective experiences that shape our dialogues about art, history, and the human condition—all of which are, at their core, an ode to love.
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Why is this pink?
Phil :Is it a Valentine's Day special?
Theo:Not pink enough.
Phil :Yeah, well, I didn't have it very pink and I got a little bit upset. Hello and welcome to Back to the Drawing Board, an architecture podcast for architects and students. I'm your host, phil Wontner-Smith, an architect and director at PWS Architecture and Design and this is my love ofno my intern, Theo. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to Season 3 Episode 3 or 4, because we're recording these not in order, apparently.
Theo:Well, Valentine's Day is the third day.
Phil :Wednesday Exactly.
Theo:Yeah, Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Tuesday.
Phil :So this is the Valentine's Day special, in case that didn't give it away.
Theo:Yeah.
Phil :And we're going to be talking today about buildings and love.
Theo:We're only talking about love. Yeah, what do you love, phil? I personally love it when you wake up in the morning, you don't put your socks on and you sit down for breakfast and the yoghurt isn't off.
Phil :What do you love Going off on a tangent? Apparently, I don't know.
Theo:Phil needs a lovey. Can you feeldo you know what love is I?
Phil :want to know what lovey You've got a wife. Yeah, we say I love my wife, I love my kids. I just don't know what to pick.
Theo:So you're more ahead than I am. Yeah, but I can't just go In the game.
Phil :I don't want to pick the obvious. Love my kids, love my wife. I like my job, love my job, even Do you. I tolerate my job, be sure about that. I like having three meals a day and a roof over my head. Yeah, but that's not love.
Theo:You know what is love Designing a building for your favourite wife.
Phil :Your favourite wife.
Theo:I know when you have multiple, but one of them just stands ahead of the shoulders, above the rest, and she bears 14 of your kids, but on the 14th kid she sadly passes away. So you build for her one of the most incredible, well-known monuments across the globe and the most important cultural symbol in all of India the greatest mosque ever to be built, the Taj Mahal.
Phil :That's love. Honestly, I've never been more impressed by you. That was incredible.
Theo:I will probably put some pictures up.
Phil :So what we've got in terms of this Valentine's Day special is different ways in which architecture and love go together, so not necessarily just focusing on buildings that have been built for lovers, for wives, for husbands, for whatever.
Theo:Buildings which have had their meanings changed by it. Which culture my microphone's too far away which have had now it's oh no, are we still going? Yeah, we're still good.
Phil :The buildings that have had their meanings changed. They've given a cultural significance just based on love, which obviously will come to an end, and obviously we have now jumped off with the Taj Mahal in. Agra, India.
Theo:Yep, and so it was built.
Phil :In case you didn't catch it before that seamless transition.
Theo:Thank you so much. It was built by Emperor Shadahan for his beloved wife Mum Taj Mahal, which is where obviously Mahal comes from Yep. Do we know what Taj means yes.
Phil :Do we have a translation for that? No, excellent.
Theo:It's something like epic. It's to say that she's the chosen one around the palace to say she is the superior wife, basically, which is, I mean, fair play?
Phil :14 kids Jesus.
Theo:And every element of this thing is some natural Guessing they didn't have a TV license.
Phil :No, they didn't, and the construction began in 1632. I didn't realise it was that old.
Theo:It took 12 years to build the tomb itself and then a further 10 years to finish the rest of this complex.
Phil :Which is insane. The Taj Mahal crown of the palace.
Theo:Yeah, that's her saying. She's like yeah.
Phil :I love the fact that it's a mausoleum.
Theo:Yeah.
Phil :What a way to do it. Is it a mosque?
Theo:Yeah, well, I think there's a mosque included. Comes with it. Yeah, and there was a rumour that he was going to have, because it's built along the river something. Yeah, I'm guessing you have some information up there.
Phil :Well, it's a bank of the river Yamuna.
Theo:Yeah, it was said. So this whole temple is completely pure white except from the gold details on the exterior. And it was said he was going to build an identical one out of black marble for when he died. But then he got overrun by his son and his son buried him. He put his the emperor's tomb next to his wife's tomb. Bear in mind, the whole building was built symmetrical. Her tomb was built in the centre.
Theo:And his was built just off to the side, and apparently it's the only part of the entire thing which isn't symmetrical. How?
Phil :absurd is that that's brutal.
Theo:At least he was dead before he found out.
Phil :You're going to need to fact check that, just in case. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, there you have it.
Theo:One note this picture's off the tomb.
Phil :Yeah, it fell fair enough.
Theo:So it's one of them things that anyone who's there right now can tell us.
Phil :Yeah, well bloody hell.
Theo:That's incredible.
Phil :I mean. So there's a lot of like. Obviously it gets millions of visitors every year. It's become one of the prominent images associated with India and it's become a symbol of India itself. Yeah, imagine making a building that symbolises your entire nation.
Theo:Yeah, I'd be mint. It's like you think what famous building is there in India? The Taj Mahal? Yeah, it's insane, and it's such, it's massive. Is it the biggest mosque? I mean it is.
Phil :No, most of it. It probably possibly may have been at some point. Well, the building that's next to it's the mosque, isn't?
Theo:it. Yeah, true, true, true. But I mean, you just look at it and you think I would love the Lego model. For a while, the Lego model was the biggest Lego set around and then it got trumped by, I believe, the Millennium Falcon.
Phil :Yes, which, if you're listening, hannah, you still need to finish building. Yeah, that'd be nice, excellent. I mean, when you suppose, when you think of love, there are some languages that may come to mind, such as French which leads us onto the Pointe d'Es Arts.
Theo:Somebody don't speak.
Phil :French Pointe d'Es Arts in Paris, France.
Theo:So this is the bridge that leads into the Louvre, across the river Seine and into the Louvre, and then on the other side of it you can see, kind of off in the distance, Notre Dame, unless recently there's been a fire and they're still rebuilding it. But that's meant to be. That's due to be finished. But that wouldn't have happened right, no, no, no, that's I like that way to try to claim that as our own. Just don't show any toilets and it's legit.
Theo:No yeah, that's Tars, I'm not talking about that anymore. The Notre Dame Cathedral is due to be rebuilt this year.
Phil :Yes, I know Like finished yeah, which is pretty good.
Theo:But yeah, the Pointe d'Es Arts, which is the correct French pronunciation, is this bridge that leads across the Seine to the Louvre, and it's famous for having love locks on it, for what people? Have done to it. It was never built as like a love symbol and it wasn't even like. It wasn't even an original idea for people to put it on that bridge. It had already been done. But if you look for bridges where people have put love locks on, that's like the first one that comes up.
Phil :Yeah, yeah.
Theo:And it's famously actually been quite bad for the bridge.
Phil :Yes.
Theo:It's broken it, it's warped it and they've had to. I think they had to rebuild it in the 80s, but I think that was a separate thing. I think that was from Warrantay and that was originally built with nine archers and now it's only got seven.
Phil :But that was that because the weight of the locks crumbled two of them? Oh no, because it was done by Napoleon that had commissioned nine. I'm not sure it feels like a fact that I know that may or may not be right.
Theo:You got that computer there, Phil.
Phil :I see it should probably Google, it, shouldn't it? Yeah, yeah, quick everyone on to Wikipedia. Phil's used to being Google, so actually having to Google things themselves is Between 18802 and 1804, under the government of Napoleon Bonaparte, a nine arch metallic bridge for pedestrian pedestrian, sorry was constructed at the location of the present day Monda Arts, mont Des Arts. This was the first map bridge in Paris. The engineers Louis-Alexandre de Cassart and Jacques Dylan Dylan initially conceived a bridge that would resemble a suspended garden, with trees, banks or flowers, benches.
Theo:It doesn't do that.
Phil :It doesn't anymore. I'm trying to look at this. They've got some photos of it from like 1887, where I think it's the original nine per 10.
Theo:Oh right, Does it have Maybe.
Phil :I don't think it does.
Theo:I mean, the main thing you find is these love locks, because it's got these railings. And you look at the pictures of it and you think that's a solid wall. Yeah, it's literally like got to the place. Have you ever been?
Phil :No, no we went we went with unions, I want to say second year to Paris and from what I remember, between the drinking we went to places like that. Obviously we went to the Louvre and the Octodrium and all that kind of stuff, looking at various architecture across Paris. But that was a really interesting thing because you kind of there's a point where you start walking across it and you sort of see them and you can't help but kind of be a bit nosy and look at the names that are on it and so see, like all of these, Jacquem and Linda it puts Claude and Claudette.
Phil :It really puts into like perspective, because you don't often feel this. When you're, even like in a big building, like a big library or a visit center, you don't often feel that millions of people have been or are there.
Theo:Yeah. Whereas with that there's almost like an obvious People have been here, yeah, and to think that's been cleared so many times, and then it's like still like completely being recovered again.
Phil :Has it actually been cleared before? Is it?
Theo:Yeah, I was watching a little video about it earlier and it came up with it. It was cleared in 2010. Brackets not by the government and I was like, okay, but yeah, yeah, because it's broken the bridge before it's broken the railings and they've had to repair it.
Phil :In February of 2014.
Theo:Because they're just so heavy because they're they steel locks and obviously one's not that bad. But when you cover it, yeah, I mean it's not meant to have so.
Phil :In February of 2014, it was estimated that there were over 700,000 locks, 24 with the 2014 summer tourism season. Many thousands more have since been added, creating serious safety concerns for the city authorities and aesthetic issue for Parisians.
Theo:Get over it Aesthetically. I mean, when I think of love locks and a bridge, my my mind instantly goes to the high level bridge across the time. Yeah, now I've seen love locks on there before. I think you could have gone to the time bridge, but sure, whatever.
Phil :So by 2014,. Concern was being expressed about the possible damage that the weight of the locks was doing to the structure of the bridge. In May, the newly elected mayor I'm not going to try and pronounce it Announced that she was to.
Theo:It's going to be something like John.
Phil :Yeah, it's Anne Hidalgo Hidalgo. Hidalgo, that sounds Italian to me.
Theo:Announced that she was taking her first.
Phil :First deputy mayor, Bruno you know, with finding alternatives to love locks. In Paris in June, promises about just actually staying with someone.
Theo:In June, part of the parapet of the bridge collapsed under the weight of the power of the power locks that I imagine you put a lock on a bridge to symbolize your eternal love and then someone just goes and chops it off. You see sort of a pair of bolt cutters and think, oh, does that release you.
Phil :Probably you think you legally obliged to go back with a bolt cut when you break up with them.
Theo:Yeah, yeah, I was in 2015.
Phil :It's estimated over a million locks have been placed, weighing approximately 45 tons. That's ridiculous, isn't it? Bloody hell? Street artists such as various people, jace El Cede, brusque and Pantonio, have been chosen to paint the new panels. That replaces the old railings with locks.
Theo:Oh, so they're actually going to Apparently, so yeah, put panels on so that you can't attach locks to it. That's a shame, isn't it? That's a shame that I mean for a nice reason. It's kind of been ruined.
Phil :Yeah, there's a few things like it's some pop culture right now. There's some pop culture references in here, so you've got. The bridge was used in the last scene of the 1990 1995 film Sabrina and appeared on the 2004 finale of Sex on the City Bridges also.
Theo:I know how you love sex in the city.
Phil :Oh yeah.
Theo:Yeah, can't get enough of it.
Phil :The bridge has also been featured in 2013 Hollywood Heist Adventure. Now you see me, that's a good one. That was a good film, actually. I'll give you that.
Theo:They played with cards in that and Mark Zuckerberg was in it.
Phil :Was he the Lizard?
Theo:King himself? I'm sure he was, wasn't he one of the Wizards? I don't know.
Phil :One of the Wizards magician you actually Googling. I don't think he was. I think you think of Jesse Eisenberg or whatever he's called.
Theo:Yeah, Mark Zuckerberg.
Phil :Right, ok.
Theo:Oh, and the Hulk was in it as well. Yeah, Matt Ruffalo, yeah. I didn't realize the Hulk was in it. While we're in France, let's take a trip down south to Italy. Let's go on, france, let's leave.
Phil :South to Italy, see which is.
Theo:Spanish for yes.
Phil :Yeah, I know, but I'm sure that if you yeah, it goes really into a scrooge, for sure.
Theo:And of course, Are you on it? Maybe not directly South, because Spanish is Spain's directly underneath it, but it's down. I was gonna say, when you said, see, I was like yes, Europe's like, I mean Italy's, like the tip of the South of Europa. I can feel the audience.
Phil :Yeah, it's 100% not, it's slightly South, I'll give you that, but it's-. It's completely South. It's mostly East.
Theo:Yeah, southeast, have you ever heard of that? It's East. We're South of Glasgow, but we're also East. I work with idiots. I hate you so much. Right, you can be South and East. You can be two directions from something.
Phil :Yeah, I know, but you went. If we go South of France, well, if you go South of France, Well, you'll be in the water.
Theo:I'm sorry.
Phil :Yeah, you're either drowning in Africa or in Spain.
Theo:Or in.
Phil :Italy.
Theo:You're gonna go East? All right, let's go South East or France, Make things complicated, Just say East. Let's go to Italy. Listen who likes Shakespeare? Not me.
Phil :No Southern border of France hits onto Italy. The Eastern border does.
Theo:What about the Southern part of East Monaco? Tell me which country that's in. Anyway, let's take a journey out of France. Oh, you've ruined it.
Phil :I can show you though.
Theo:Phil, do you like reading? What's your favorite book? Do you like romance novels? No Tragedies.
Phil :You love a tragedy.
Theo:I just like the outcome of tragedy. Yeah, and one of my favorite tragedies is Romeo and Juliet. I wonder what gave him that Shakespeare lad that inspiration for that scene where Romeo's confessing his love to Juliet on that balcony. What would you call that balcony?
Phil :You could call it Juliet's balcony, Juliet's balcony. Yeah, we, yeah. Have you ever designed? None of them. Oh God, we are. We shoehorn them into the water.
Theo:We love a Juliet balcony. How about you just work? In my room, the audience is currently designing a Juliet balcony, our new audience.
Phil :Yeah, oh yeah, I know which one she's on about.
Theo:Luckily, we introduced the audience to themselves in episode two, so they'll understand.
Phil :Yeah, they'll get this reference. If you're a long-time listener, you'll understand.
Theo:Yeah, how long-time listeners from three episodes ago. Oh, no one One episode ago. Hi Mom, oh God Jesus. Anyway, this one was. I mean, the balcony existed before Shakespeare used it as inspiration for it.
Phil :Do we know that? No, or are we just saying it? It's a Gothic-style 1300s house of museum with a stone balcony. That is said to have inspired Shakespeare, so I'm going to assume it came first.
Theo:I mean, it was from England, wasn't it, so you might have never seen it.
Phil :Yeah that, and if he did see it he'd probably be in the British Museum because he'd have stolen it.
Theo:Yeah, true that, true that. Anyway, that was built. Did you like that one? Did you? I like the political correctness of this forecast the what. We don't know that much about politics.
Phil :No, I know about the politics in episodes one, two and three of Star Wars. That's how far as I get.
Theo:Yeah.
Phil :That's all the politics you need.
Theo:That's all the politics you need. It's just space politics, damn right. You could talk about the love in Star Wars, right?
Phil :That's not.
Theo:Incest, incest Upred.
Phil :Yeah, no.
Theo:So obviously this thing had been built. And then war shakes beer. You might have heard of him.
Phil :You have Came along, wrote a book about it and bridge on any English speaker will, because that's probably what they've been taught to learn in school.
Theo:But yeah, basically it was suddenly written into the most important English pop culture that this one balcony symbolizes love. Yeah, it's like that's a pretty powerful way to do it, never mind having loads of people decide this is the bridge to go to the lock. You live on to this one one geezer, shakespeare will. One geezer will, big will. What lad will Just when? Yeah, big lad Bill just went. Look love. And where are they all love? Where are they all Romeo?
Phil :And Romeo went oh, I'm here, Charlie I think it's probably when you think to yourself what's like the most iconic scene of Of a love romance novel, it's got to be the bit of Juliet going. Wherefore are they all?
Theo:Yeah, and how many times has that been ripped off by family guy?
Phil :And Simpsons and every other, every other thing. Yeah, film, television, radio, everything. So I'm still stalling that because it's iconic. And the irony is that we're stealing the iconic scene from someone who stole the iconic idea from somewhere else, namely Verona.
Theo:Well, the whole thing was set in fair Verona, which I assume is why this balcony in Verona is assumed. Do you reckon it's like the only balcony in Verona? It can't be, it can't, it cannot be, it could, could, is it All right, guys? Quick Google search.
Phil :Is this the only balcony? Many balconies in Verona, but I think, since it's obviously become part of like a ceremonious pilgrimage that people go on for lovers to go on to go and see this balcony, You're allowed to stand on it, are you?
Theo:Oh, that's going to be even worse than going in the leaning tower of Pisa, that's good. People stand going like that, doing the Hamlet pose, that's going to come.
Phil :That's the wrong pose.
Theo:Where do you reckon Tempest Island was based?
Phil :on. Do you reckon we need to? We should go to the balcony and get a foot. Would just change all of the branding, At least to the Juliet balcony together. Doing the speech. Yeah, absolutely when for when for Art thou feel, where for Art thou feel Romeo.
Theo:She smells a bit of fishy. When she met when for Art thou.
Phil :Where for Art, thou Warthew? Come with me across the seas, across the Atlantic, probably across France, again to the Empire State Building in none other than the Big Apple itself. You were soon.
Theo:You were soon, you were soon.
Phil :I think they're probably the most iconic way in which this has been forced into pop culture as a love icon. It's been an affair to remember and sleepless in Seattle, I think it's King.
Theo:Kong. In case you haven't guessed, we're talking about the one, the only, and Elf.
Phil :Empire State Building and Elf the White. Oh, elf, it's returned as Empire State Building the White.
Theo:Yeah, I mean that was the fact that it's our deco from the 20s kind of helps, because that's such a luxury romance style.
Phil :It was a love of craft and making. Yeah, exactly.
Theo:They were making love to that craft and then like already Not to be confused with Lovecraftian. Yeah, it's like obviously it wasn't a symbol of love, but you could look at it and think that and then clearly so many filmmakers have, and because it's such an iconic building in the New York skyline, it is like the building for the New York skyline, never mind One World Trade Center, which is like bigger than it.
Phil :Yeah it's, you think of it and you're gonna think about it Well, it was a trendsetter for architecture to come in the middle of the world.
Theo:I thought that was a crazy building. I thought crazy building was first.
Phil :If you wanna talk about the setting trends, 1930, I was the tallest from 1930 to 1931. Super seeded by the Empire State Building, so I'm assuming it came first.
Theo:Construction started 1930.
Phil :Yeah, so it's. I mean, yeah, there's no two ways around it. It's a pretty iconic building. Yeah, I like that. Your notes say it's been turned into a symbol of romance in films such as Sleeper since the Elf.
Theo:Well, yeah, Cause that's where he finds his dad. And love isn't always about romantic love. Sometimes it's about unconditional love, which Elf's dad, buddy the Elf's dad, learned about throughout the film. I've never seen Elf, oh my God.
Phil :Yeah.
Theo:You've never seen.
Phil :I've never seen Elf. Ironically, when we Hanwood Han and I, got engaged unofficially, we did think about doing a trip to New York to do an official engagement.
Theo:New York. You've got to do ice skating around the base of it.
Phil :Can you imagine me ice skating, can you?
Theo:Yes.
Phil :Can the audience stop laughing please? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I wouldn't even be that gracious, it would just be, oh ice.
Theo:I need to turn my things off because everyone's trying to.
Phil :Yeah, I'm getting loads of phone calls.
Theo:I'm so popular you can't be popular. Oh, you won't get that. You won't get that. You don't get anything. You're without joy, phil. But yeah, I mean, empire State Building was never built as a symbol of love and it was never created as a symbol of love by one simple thing in the way that Juliet's balcony was by that one play, and in the way that Taj Mahal was built for.
Phil :Roma, purposefully as a symbol of love.
Theo:Yeah, it was. It's by so many, by just being such an iconic building. People have changed it through pop culture, through all sorts of movies, and it's set that trend of it's set a trend for itself of being a romantic symbol. It's one of them things you could go to and propose to someone. I think in the great TV show how I Met your Mother. Someone has proposed it but I could be wrong so I'm not gonna. Don't call me.
Phil :So they even do Valentine's Day celebrations.
Theo:Makes so much sense that includes tower lighting giveaways.
Phil :Month long special offers for visitors. During the February months you can set up and pay for specific services to allow you to propose at the Empire State Building called the Happily Ever Empire Package. It must be booked at least 24 hours in advance.
Theo:They should call it Happily Empire After.
Phil :Up to three people proposal packages could be scheduled per day. Oh sorry, I thought it was gonna say up to three proposals. No, as in. Like three people could be involved in the proposal Guys.
Theo:Well, yeah, because one person could be filming it, or maybe they're just polyamorous. Bit of a triple I rate that.
Phil :Cut that, that would never happen.
Theo:That would never happen. Um, it's pretty wicked, if you ask me.
Phil :But yeah, I mean in 1931, it was the tallest building in the world, eclipsing both the Chrysler building and the Eiffel Tower. It's still the fourth tallest building in the world.
Theo:No, it can't be, it can't be Top five.
Phil :I was just looking at eight fascinating facts from thecollectorcom. So it was once the tallest building in the world.
Theo:No, it's not Once the tallest. No, I mean it's not currently.
Phil :Sorry, no, it's not currently. It was once the tallest building in the world. It's gonna roll in the top 50. It's height of 381 meters or 440. Oh, if you take the spiring to consideration, 443 meters.
Theo:One-wheel trade center is six, so it's not gonna be any higher than that.
Phil :It's six. Yeah, just six meters tall.
Theo:No, no, it's the sixth tallest in the world.
Phil :I'm gonna say the fourth, it's exactly 1,776 meters tall, because independents. Oh wow, Do you not know that? No, I didn't know that.
Theo:Yeah, so it was a very important thing. Imagine accidentally building the spire like one foot two tall.
Phil :Oh dude, it was designed by Shreve Lamman Harmon. Yeah, exactly. The architect Shreve, lamman, harmon were responsible. Do you know what's really weird? I know like I love things like the flat iron and stuff, but I didn't realize. I don't even know who that was designed by until now. We're responsible for creating the buildings that Connick designed. Architect William Lam was the chief architect and he modeled the design on two of his earlier projects Winston Salem, the Reynolds building in North Carolina and a Karu Tower in Cincinnati. Art Deco is designed based on a pencil.
Theo:Yeah, yeah.
Phil :The Art Deco design is based on a pencil.
Theo:Yeah.
Phil :It took 20 months to complete. Isn't that the one with the iconic picture of the guys on the steel and midair eating lunch?
Theo:Chrysler. Is that the Chrysler? Is it not the Empire?
Phil :Oh well, the lobby is a historical landmark. It's upper mast was once a mooring mast for airships.
Theo:Really.
Phil :Yeah, I'm looking at a really badly drawn hand picture of it, not that I could draw a hand any better. The Empire State Building was damaged during World War II. A bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, triggering a huge explosion, causing a fire in several of the buildings' upper levels. Putty hell and then eight. King Kong helped secure the Empire State Building's fame. In 1933, king Kong movie secured the building's fame. In the film's final scene, the giant ape climbs a colossal tower while airplanes attempt to bring him down, creating one of the most memorable and iconic movie sequences of all time. And, as Theo says, that is one of the ultimate love scenes. Are you okay there, buddy? It's the Chrysler. It's the Chrysler.
Theo:Ah no, is it? I mean, I'm sure it's the Chrysler. I'll didn't wanna tell us.
Phil :Lunchtop. Lunchtop of Skyscraper is what the image is called. It's in Manhattan. It was closed at Easton's Parvon, promoting the skyscraper during the construction of the Rockefeller Center.
Theo:Oh, we were really wrong.
Phil :Yeah, I know we were miles out. Yeah, we were really a couple of years out.
Theo:And we probably weren't that far geographically.
Phil :No, no, because it's also in New York.
Theo:They've got a beam atop it. Now, atop They've got a beam on top. They have a beam atop the picture where you can go and sit on it and take your picture with it. Jesus, that's funny. So while we're in New York in America, we're gonna take a trip over on a plane to Las Vegas and look up at one of the famous attractions and think how nice it would be if we were in the real place. And while we're looking at this fake replica of the Eiffel Tower, we're gonna fly back and up to France. I wondered where that was going at first.
Phil :I'm gonna say that that strip along Las Vegas is basically the British Museum of Buildings. Stole everyone else's stuff and claim it as our own.
Theo:They've got the Arc de Triomphe in there, I'm pretty sure the Pyramids of Giza, yeah, like Giza, and so much more. But we're not talking about that. We're talking about the Eiffel Tower. I think it must be one of the most proposed in front of buildings ever.
Phil :I always see people doing oh, we're going to go to Paris and there's like couples that I've been friends with since like, or couples that I know have been together for long enough that I think I'll probably get engaged soon, as soon as they announce that. That's it.
Theo:Yeah, you think you go into France. You go into Paris, pretty Paris you're probably going to propose at the Eiffel Tower. Paris is truly the city love with the most proposals.
Phil :All right yeah.
Theo:Okay, it says there are between 7,000 and 10,000 proposals at the Eiffel Tower every year 10,000.
Phil :What's 10,000 by 365?
Theo:That's got to be what it says there are five to 10 documented proposals every day.
Phil :Jesus what.
Theo:I mean without being the documented ones. There are probably 20 every day according to this.
Phil :I'm pretty sure, like in 1887 when it was first built, that wasn't there.
Theo:It was a temporary structure. It was built for the World's Fair in Paris.
Phil :Yeah, paris was first named after Mr Gustave Eiffel himself.
Theo:Yeah, it was the lead engineer, Obviously. You look at that thing. They only had one architect in the team and he designed the cafe in the middle. Apparently he had to fight for it. It's not meant to be a tour. You meant to look at it, you're not meant to go in it. He's like come on, guys, let's do a cafe.
Phil :The Iron Magician is what he was.
Theo:He was really famous for working with steel in that very beautiful way. I wonder, why? Have you seen the Eiffel Bridge? Or is that just kind of what it's known as because he designed it? The one I'm actually looking at is called the Garabit Viaduct, which is made out of this beautiful red steel. It is very hot.
Phil :A symbol of Paris with 2.5 million rivets.
Theo:But yeah, that was something that was never built for love and it was never built to last, unlike love. Do you think love's meant to last? I do. What is love, baby? Don't hurt me, don't hurt me.
Phil :I'm trying to find a reason for why it's become like that symbol. There's a lot of things saying that it's. From any angle that you look at it, it's got two props that come together into one, which I think is I think.
Theo:Paris is known of the city of Amor, or love for you. Non-biolinguals.
Phil :French, french being the language of love.
Theo:Yeah, exactly it's. Somehow France has managed to make itself all lovey-dovey and Paris has managed to get even more, and it's not even like, in terms of buildings, the most iconic city, like when you've got somewhere like Rome. Why isn't Rome, but Rome's the city of religion, probably. But, no, let's face it, Jerusalem is the city of religion.
Phil :I stopped listening for two seconds and we've gone to Jerusalem. Apparently, you can have a proposal program with light projections. Themed phone call. Parisian bubble A themed phone call? Yeah, I don't ask, I'm asking. Parisian bubble lined with heart-shaped balloons and special love notes on post-its? That's intense. Yeah, it's a bit far, so I'll say phone call, photo call. Sorry guys.
Theo:What's the themed phone call Someone. You give them their number, they ring up and they go. Did you say yes and you go? Yeah and they go good.
Phil :So you can get a souvenir to declare or maintain your undying love. A silver or gold bracelet, cuff bracelet or the parfum or pretty cases for ladies, cuff.
Theo:Sorry, can I just check? Isn't the standard symbol of your undying love a ring?
Phil :Yes, I was just trying to see if there's any more like reasoning behind it. It just says, like things like Eiffel Tower made with love. Gustav Eiffel, the engineer and designer behind his beautiful creation, was a total romanticer heart. He married at the age of 30, having waited to meet the love of his life. Then, tragically, his wife passed away only 15 years later. As many do to deal with the grief, he poured his time and energy into his work. He spent the last 30 years of his life at the Eiffel Tower, making incredible scientific achievements and advancements, including an apartment at the Tower's summit where he entertained guests and where he often spent the night. Because Gustav never remarried, many say that the Eiffel Tower became his second wife.
Theo:That is romantic. And then, as I, scroll through.
Phil :It's like people like to take photos of the thing. People like to propose at the top of it, people like to propose in front of it.
Theo:It's poison, perhaps it's phallic, and for that reason, oh for God's sake.
Phil :There are several stories of romance at the Eiffel Tower, from tragic love to one woman who tried to marry the Tower.
Theo:Oh, I heard about that.
Phil :I wonder if I heard about that.
Theo:Yeah, there's this last trailer. Well, I mean, you've said it, you tried to marry the Tower.
Phil :Oh right, I didn't know that.
Theo:I assume there's more to the story, but One in apparently according to Instagram.
Phil :Sorry, yeah, according to Instagram. One in 679 proposals on Instagram are at the Eiffel Tower Bloody hell.
Theo:Well, we've done Europe, but we live in England, in the United Kingdom. I think we should take a pop-skip and a ferry across the tunnel, get in a nice car, drive up the coast up to Glasgow, where we can visit the House for an Art Lover, and that's designed by the one and the only Charles Rennie McIntosh. He designed it with his wife for a competition.
Phil :This isn't in the journals.
Theo:No, it's not Call them. Yeah his wife was an artist and she was named Margaret McDonald.
Phil :Start that again.
Theo:Charles Rennie McIntosh designed House for an Art Lover with his wife. For his wife she was called Margaret McDonald, she was an artist, and so the idea was the interior was kind of designed for her. It wasn't actually built until about 90 years after he died, which is some tragic love story in itself, but it was designed for a competition being run by this German company, and they were disqualified House Ein's Kunstfoundes or Art Lover's House. And they were disqualified because there weren't enough visual renders of it.
Phil :Oh, nice yeah.
Theo:But yeah, it's a very intense building when you look at all of the symbolism. Basically, the two of them had a bit of a thing for the female parts and so any symbolism from his worker, from her worker, all represented it and you can see it in the windows. It's meant to be.
Phil :In the windows.
Theo:In the wall.
Phil :How is it so? How is it in the windows? I'm looking at the front elevation of it now. It's massive.
Theo:Well, on their stained glass things, some of them are plain. You got to find the ones.
Phil :Okay, so I'm looking for something in particular.
Theo:Yes.
Phil :Okay, I've given up already.
Theo:But the way the curves are, it's all very much inspired. Our work is based off very natural human forms, which kind of gives it that more intense. Romantic might not necessarily be the correct word, but it's certainly passionate and their passion definitely went into that building.
Phil :So how did it manage to get? So? It's designed in 1901 and opened in 1996. How the heck did it manage to get to a point where someone, 95 years later, went? I think we should design, we should build this building.
Theo:Charles Rennie McIntosh is the icon of Glasgow.
Phil :No, I know that.
Theo:All of his works had been so famous. It was like, going well, we've got his plans for the building, we've got all of the details for the building, let's make it. So the design work is original, it's all his design, but obviously it was built after his death. It's almost one of them like Vincent van Gogh, becoming famous once he died.
Theo:It kind of he'd become famous. He died and they went well. We still have unbuilt designs. We still have the correct site available. We have all the materials available. So they built it and it's now used as a wedding venue. Tell me what's more romantic than that? Design the house for your wife and years after your death, it's used for other people to get married.
Phil :And if other people symbolize their love.
Theo:It's. I wonder, has it ever been?
Phil :For more than 80 years, mcintosh's concept remained merely that, an unrealized design on paper, until 1989. Graham Roxborough I'm going to say the consulting engineer responsible for restoring McIntosh's interiors in nearby uh, craigie Craigie Hall had the idea to finally build the house for an art lover. The drawings it's McIntosh produced, although very detailed for a competition entry, were not intended as technical plans from which an actual house could be built, and the task of interpreting, turning them into reality, was challenge faced, uh, which faced Roxborough's team of architects, led by Professor Andy McMillan, then the head of architecture at McIntosh's world renowned Glasgow School of Art.
Theo:Yeah, that's pretty romantic.
Phil :Pretty impressive.
Theo:Yeah, I love that he is. He is like the stable of Glasgow architecture.
Phil :Well, if you founded the school of art, what do you expect?
Theo:Yeah, Well, well.
Phil :I loved that.
Theo:I love you, oh don't.
Phil :I wish you ruined things.
Theo:I think. On that note, thank you for watching. Good night.
Phil :Thanks for joining us on the.
Theo:Valentine special of 24.
Phil :You don't do that.
Theo:Thanks for joining us on this episode. If you're listening on any podcast and platforms, please consider leaving us a review. If you're watching on YouTube, like, comment and subscribe. Follow us on Instagram at back to the drawing board IG.
Phil :And please consider subscribing to our Patreon for as little as one pound a month for bonus content, longer episodes and to help build our community.
Theo:We'll see you next time when we return back to the drawing board.
