Color of Space 1

Another goal for weekly posts is to share some thinking that I have been doing for years about color. At Parsons I taught a class called the Color of Space which discussed the critical thinking behind the choice of color though out history. Each week I hope to bring forth a space that illustrates the concept that the color was a primary consideration to the architecture not an afterthought. The first example is George Washington's house Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon is one of the most important historical color analysis in the country. The stories of Mr Washington's involvement are fascinating. The during first renovation to the house Washington requested the very current Prussian Blue. It was very fashionable but very few people could handle it with expertise and Washington was forever disappointed with the streaky, modeled results in his small dining room. Years later, during the next renovation he choose the verdigris green. He was obviously looking for a similar result as the Prussian Blue and look to the color green to "calm the eye". Its fascinating that almost all of the house has color themes of the verdigris green and Mr. Washington worked so hard to perfect it.