Folly

Folly

In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs. In the original use of the word, these buildings had no other use, but from the 19th to 20th centuries the term was also applied to highly decorative buildings which had secondary practical functions such as housing, sheltering or business use.

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Famous quotes containing the word folly:

    He who has been impoverished for a long time ... who has long stood before the door of the mighty in darkness and begged for alms, has filled his heart with bitterness so that it resembles a sponge full of gall; he knows about the injustice and folly of all human action and sometimes his lips tremble with rage and a stifled scream.
    Stefan Zweig (18811942)

    Most women’s intelligence tends more to the improving of their folly than their reason.
    François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)

    The preserve of ambition and folly in pursuit of illusion, or ... delusion.
    Derek Jarman (b. 1942)