Forestiere Underground Gardens
- Forestiere Underground Gardens
Forestiere Underground Gardens Located at 5021 West Shaw Avenue in Fresno, California are an unusual manmade creation built by Baldasare Forestiere, an immigrant from Sicily, over a period of 40 years from 1906 to until his death in 1946. The gardens, while subterranean, have many skylights and catchbasins for water. There is a wide variety of hybrids and grafted trees, and the underground temperature helps guard against frost. It is operated by members of the Forestiere family through the Forestiere Historical Center, and can be considered a spectacular and unconventional example of vernacular architecture.
For a fictionalized account of Forestiere and his lonely obsession, see the short story "The Underground Gardens" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, published in The New Yorker, (May 25, 1998).
ee also
* Hermit House, a unique residence located in Herzliya, Israel with intricate mosaics entirely constructed by one man over thirty years.
* Watts Towers in Los Angeles, a collection of 17 interconnected structures, built by Italian immigrant Sabato ("Sam" or "Simon") Rodia
*Nitt Witt Ridge a house in Cambria, California constructed in a similar style.
*Ferdinand Cheval, a french postman who constructed an "ideal palace" out of rocks in his spare time.
External links
* [http://www.undergroundgardens.info/ Forestiere Underground Gardens]
* [http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/forest.htm Baldasare's Magnum Opus]
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