Going Medieval

Sometimes curiosities are built, as today's tour will show.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet

(00:27):
of Curiosities. Let's be honest. Homeownership can be a mixed blessing.
On the one hand, it's a huge milestone in one's life,
often feeling like a defining moment of becoming an adult.
On the other hand, owning a home means no longer

(00:49):
relying on a landlord to fix common issues. Are your
cabinets old and chipped? Need your hot water heat replaced?
It's all on you now, and it can get expensive.
It sounds painful, for sure, But remember the word mortgage
is old French and it literally means death pledge. But
homeownership comes with freedom too, especially the freedom to change

(01:10):
what you don't like about where you live. And Russ
knew that he hailed from Lexington, Massachusetts, and got his
start as a cameraman for Boston Public Television back in
the nineteen sixties. While working on Julia Child's series The
French Chef. Russ master the art of doing more with less.
He used a small studio and spare equipment to shoot
their episodes in a single take, with no room for error.

(01:33):
It gave the show an authentic feel, and it paved
the way for others like it to come from there,
Russ climbed the corporate letter, going from cameraman to director
and then to producer. He was always looking for the
next French Chef, some educational program with a charismatic host
showing the audience how to do everyday things, and he

(01:53):
found such a person in Norman. Born in Rhode Island
in ninety nine but raised in Massachusetts, Norman had gotten
a taste of a carpenter's life when he was only
nine years old. You see, his father was also a
carpenter and taught his son everything he knew. On Christmas
Eve of nineteen fifty eight, he invited Norman to join
him on a job installing hardwood floors in a client's home.

(02:16):
They placed a skill saw upside down on an old
milk crate to slice the boards, and used cut nails
or squared off nails with blunt heads to hold them
in place. It was a little old fashioned, but it
made for a sturdy floor that would last a lifetime.
From then on, Norman was never seen without a hammer
or a saw in his hand. He spent his weekends

(02:37):
and summers off from school apprenticing under his father and
learning the trade. He took shop safety very seriously and
adhered religiously to that philosophy of measured twice cut once. Eventually,
Norman struck out on his own doing jobs all around Massachusetts,
including one four television producer Russ. He had wanted a

(02:57):
barn built on his property, and so he reached out
to Norman to construct it. When the job was finally done,
Russ was gobsmacked by the craftsmanship. It was the finest
barn he had ever seen, so he knew that Norman
would be the perfect person for the project that he
had been planning. The station he worked for had recently
purchased a dilapidated home built in eighteen sixty in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

(03:20):
It only cost seventeen thousand dollars, but the planned renovations
would be extensive and expensive. His idea was to film
the restoration over the course of thirteen episodes to be
aired on w g b H in Boston. Norman, though
had no television background, but Russ had one more ace
up his sleeve. He recruited another expert named Robert to

(03:40):
act as host for the program. The series debuted on
w g b H in nineteen seventy nine and became
an immediate hit, with Robert and Norman showing the audience
a real behind the scenes look at what it took
to restore a one hundred year old house. Years before
homeowners would love it or list it, or travel the
world in search of the perfect time me home. They

(04:00):
could watch a couple of regular d I wires on
TV and learned straight from the kinds of people who
might fix up their homes one day. And Russell Morash
placed that responsibility on Roberts and Norman, otherwise known as
Bob Vila and Norm Abram, who would become synonymous with
their little program called This Old House. Over the years,
other tradesmen and women would join the cast, but the

(04:23):
heart and soul of the show would always be Norm Abram,
clad in his trademark plaid shirt. It was announced this
year that Norm is leaving This Old House after forty
three years and more than a thousand episodes. He taught
homeowners and television audiences how to do everything from framing
a deck to replacing a staircase. Home improvement television just

(04:45):
won't be the same without him, but we'll always have
reruns for decades worth. In fact, all courtesy of the
house that norm built. There's a reason people say they

(05:09):
don't make them like they used to, and our culture
of mass produced and disposable goods, it can be difficult
to find something made today that's as strong and long
lasting as its equivalent made decades ago. From clothing and
appliances to cookware and tools, the things from the past
are still used today because they were made to last,
and the sentiment extends beyond what we consume. Certain architecture

(05:31):
has withstood the test of time as well, such as
the Colisseum in Rome and Notre Dame in France, and
if you tour Great Britain you'll find numerous medieval castles
dotted throughout. Many of these structures were built during the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, such as Kilkenny Castle in Ireland.
The techniques used by the Irish there were adopted from
the Normans who built these castles in Ireland using smooth

(05:53):
cut stones rather than the more commonly used wood. This,
of course made them more impervious to enemy attacks. The
stones were all chiseled by hand into the shapes needed
for construction, with wooden scaffolding erected to allow workers to
build upward, much like they used today. Some castles were
built using a dry stone method, meaning that the rocks

(06:13):
were simply stacked on top of one another in an
interlocking pattern until the different walls and sections were complete. Unfortunately,
that also meant that they were more susceptible to attacks
as well as damage from the elements. Castles built with
mortar between the bricks, however, allowed for a better seal
and stronger walls regardless of the techniques used. Though, these
castles were constructed by teams of mason's working together for

(06:36):
years at a time, but one castle eschewed all of that.
It was built by just two men, standing today as
a testament to their passion and maybe their obsession. They
had originally tried building the castle in secret, away from
the prying eyes of village elders. Unfortunately, the higher it grew,
the more attention it received. The village wanted to know

(06:57):
more about the structure and how tall the men planned
to build it. For one, this castle was developed with
more cutting edge techniques than others had been. They utilized
steel rods embedded inside concrete blocks to reinforce the structure.
They also carved out eighty eight windows around its perimeter,
all of which were left open to the environment. The
goal was to increase air circulation and let various weather

(07:19):
phenomena blow in and out. By the time the castle
shell was complete, the two men had poured about seven
million pounds of concrete and built a castle roughly fifty
feet tall. As for the inside, they hired a carpenter
to outfit the interior with all sorts of intricate woodwork,
such as staircases and pews. It took him three years
to complete, and those who walked its halls afterward said

(07:42):
it didn't feel like they were inside a castle at all.
The castle is still around two by the way, but
visiting this strange hybrid building doesn't require a trip to
Ireland to see it. The builders, Rusty Ikes and Otis Sadler,
broke ground back in ninety four in a little town
called St. Augustine, Florida. Castle Otis, and that's with three

(08:04):
tas mind you, was created as a landscape sculpture, not
as a dwelling place. They had no intention of living
inside the castle, which the town designated as a garage anyway.
They simply wanted to construct an homage to Christianity, going
so far as to consult with historians at the Catholic
Diocese of Northeast Florida for the interior would work. Today,

(08:25):
Castle Otis stands tall, overlooking the floor to landscape. It
was even granted an award by the American Institute of
Architects in which called it a new landmark. Visitors hoping
to catch a glimpse of the interior can come to
Castle Otis on the last Sunday of each month for
a special service. All are welcome, regardless of their faith,

(08:46):
and those lucky enough to get inside can see the
handiwork done by the carpenter that Ikes and Sadler had hired.
Oh and about that carpenter, his name was, in fact
carpenter Lee Carpenter. To be precise and to be onst
I feel like they really nailed that choice. I hope

(09:07):
you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and

(09:29):
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,