Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Concrete Houses!

Charles Macdonald Concrete House Museum


Charles Macdonald was quite the artist with an interesting way of seeing life. 
He firmly believed in the virtues of cement as a building material. 
At the time it was cheap, and nearly anyone could purchase it. 
This home in Centreville was originally part of his cement plant, 
then the second floor was added and it was turned into a home. 
It now serves as a museum, which unfortunately, needs an awful lot of love and attention. 







The cement was reinforced with iron and driftwood. This included the portico over the front door, the staircases, counters and in one of his homes, even the bathtub. 
I read that the bathtub was very smooth. If not, I suppose you would never need a loofah. 


The stairway was curving and carpet has been added to each level. 
He did a lot of color. 

He had built his own table, umbrella stand and many other items in the house. 


 Yard Art was not forgotten~
He created animals, birdbaths, furniture, flower pots, mushrooms and all kinds of work for the yard.

Mr. Macdonald was a Socialist in his political thinking. During the great depression he had his workers build 5 summer cottages at Huntington Point as a make work project. Four of them still remain. The fifth one was torn down to make way for a more modern structure in 1985.





 One thing for sure.....
there is no lack of color.
Gorgeous location right
on the Bay of Fundy.


The Bay of Fundy

If you were to turn right around from where I was standing to take the last picture you would be looking at the Bay of Fundy at low tide.
 Who can resist a walk on the beach? Not I!!
This was a very rocky, yet beautiful beach!




I found two pieces of glass on this entire beach. 
One was a clear piece and the other was this marble. 

There are basically 4 schools of thought as to why so many marbles end up in the sea~
  1. Marbles were used as ballast for ships, but were dumped in harbours before coming to dock.     
  2. Children played with marbles on the beach years ago. I know my dad played a lot of marbles....
  3. Painters added marbles to their paint to mix it. Throw the paint can in the dump/ocean..............
  4. In the 1800's a bottle was invented using a marble as a stopper. Drink liquid, toss bottle.
I didn't think I'd ever find a marble. They are rare. 
I found one this day on the Bay of Fundy and I found one the day before on the Eastern Shore. 

I'm a lucky duck!!   




1 comment:

  1. All the structures here are concrete. I love all of your pictures. So different from what we are experiencing, but so beautiful! Love you Sid!

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