This October, in honor of Halloween, we’re talking about the Mansard Roof on Second Empire houses. These double-pitched roofs can be seen in a lot of horror media: The Addams Family, Psycho, Wednesday, Stranger Things, Lovecraft Country, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, It, Nope, Locke and Key, and The House with a Clock in It’s Walls.
We try tracing back the origin of this house being scary by talking about Wednesday, Charles Addams, Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock, Edward Hopper, and of course a New Deal project.
The thumbnail is a photo I took at the Hudson Athens Lighthouse.
If you want to see me build a Second Empire house in the Sims check out my Patreon. I will probably be building this in mid-October.
https://www.patreon.com/kendragaylord
Sources:
The World of Charles Addams (1991)
A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia & Lee McAlester (1984)
Alfred Hitchcock Trailer (1960)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps8H3rg5GfM&t
Psycho House Locations
https://www.thestudiotour.com/wp/studios/universal-studios-hollywood/backlot/current-backlot-sets/psycho-house/
Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography by Gail Levin (1996)
Edward Hopper & Cape Ann: Illuminating an American Landscape by Elliot Bostwick Davis (2023)
The Gingerbread Age by John Maass (1957)
West Temple Apartments
https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll2/id/6302/
Arthur Rothstein 1940 Photos for Farm Security Administration - Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/search/?fa=partof:lot+342%7Clocation:nevada%7Clocation:virginia+city