cherub

Not a self-portrait ... surely an achievement! but instead, one of the statues on the terrace in front of the house: the one, indeed, that's smaller than the others, and is under the spiral staircase going up to the desk, and is generally rather overlooked - but part of the whole mock-Italian aura that the house carries with it.   That once again reminds me why Reyner Banham's book on Los Angeles made such a huge impact on me when I first came to the city - I think in 1988 - since, somehow, he made me understand that the whole eclecticism of the architecture was, in some post-modern way, tied in with the place making one feel free about the choices in taste that one made - and hence, free to (re)invent oneself.   Normandy mansion?   Check.   Concrete and plate glass?   Check.   Spanish hacienda?   Check.   Twee English cottage?   Check.   Renaissance villa, complete with terrace, cypress trees, and little classical statues?   Most definitely check.