Posted at Sep 30/2008 08:16PM:
tpl: Zach, no idea if this is useful, but I came across it. I thought the relationship between each room, and the dynamics of the Victorian social sphere, had a possible bearing on your project. Flanders, 2003, 'The Victorian House: Domestic Life from Childbirth to Deathbed.'
Posted at Oct 26/2008 07:02PM:
Alexandra.ulmer:
This could possibly tie into your theme of 'Door Knocker as Class Symbol.' During the Algerian War, French imperialists had a special knock, whose pounding resembled the syllables for "Algeria is French." I don't know if they used a door knocker... but they might have!
Also, two guys in my dorm have put a door knocker on their room. Everyone in the dorm laughed about it, and seem to find it archaic, which may tie into your other approach idea. I could photograph it, if you're interested. It hangs beneath a scribbled-on whiteboard and scratches.
Posted at Oct 26/2008 09:00PM:
Emma Whitford: Interesting how one can tell the difference between a polite knock and an impatient knock. Think difference between tap and incessant banging.
Posted at Oct 26/2008 09:47PM:
caroline: From looking at the pictures you have up, I am interested in the symbolism behind a given individual door knocker. Why does someone choose the design they do? For example, why does a colonial house on Charlesfield have a pineapple door knocker?
Posted at Oct 26/2008 11:05PM:
mark: The door knocker for my apartment has the peep hole built into the back plate of the knocker. Announcement and surveillance in one object.
Posted at Oct 26/2008 11:54PM:
Ana Escobedo: This may be out of your scope, but maybe look at when the doorbell overtook the doorknocker as the most common form of "knocking"?
Posted at Oct 28/2008 01:30AM:
Lindsay: I'm really interested in what you brought up about door knocker v. fist. I think there are circumstances when it's painful to knock with one's fist, and in those cases, a door knocker saves you from that discomfort, especially when the door is thick and you have to knock really hard to be heard. However, based on some of the pictures of door knockers you put up (The Old House on Door Knockers), there are some that look pretty uncomfortable to use, like the pinecone one. Where do we draw the line between functionality and art? Is the pinecone-shaped knocker meant to be used, or just looked at? Does one still get the same or a similar experience when one looks at the door knocker, but rings the doorbell?
Also-- you might want to go trick-or-treating on Friday and get up close and personal with some door knockers in Providence.
Posted at Oct 29/2008 11:23AM:
gareth: I always saw a door knocker as the central focal point of the entry way to a house. From front to porch to door to knocker, everything converges on that one spot. This could tie into your idea that, even though archaic, the knocker is still prominent in some architectural designs (over the doorbell).
DoorKnocker_Paper.doc