Famous Caves

July 28, 2010 4:57 PM

Feeling like you need something to balance the scent of sandalwood and musk after reading this list of famous man caves (including Jefferson's study, Douglass' office, Edison's library, and Roosevelt's trophy room)? If so, you may be interested in seeing the inner sanctums of some of history's most influential women. Check out Eleanor Roosevelt's living room (picture/info), Marie Curie's laboratory (picture/info), Margaret Mead's room in Samoa (picture/info), Maya Angelou's parlor (picture/info), Susan B. Anthony's study and bedroom (more pictures and info), Georgia O'Keefe's sitting room (picture, info), Helen Keller's childhood bedroom (picture, info), and Frida Kahlo's studio (picture 1, picture 2/info).

Previous historic or just plain cool rooms on Mefi: Famous writers' rooms. Arty hotel rooms. Anne Frank's secret annex.

posted by emilyd22222 (23 comments total)

Visited Seneca Falls on vacation last week and toured Elizibeth Stanton's house.
posted by Mblue at 5:05 PM on July 28, 2010

Can we just agree as a species to never use the term "Man Cave" unless it is literally a cave full of men?
posted by The Whelk at 5:08 PM on July 28, 2010 [13 favorites]

that being said Queen Victoria's room at Brighton Palace was fascinating. Very simple and spartan (aside from the super-mattress) while Albert had a rooms upon rooms of ornate double-gilt bookish ostentation
posted by The Whelk at 5:10 PM on July 28, 2010

Can we just agree as a species to never use the term "Man Cave" unless it is literally a cave full of men?

I would expect that a cave composed of men or a cave in a man would also both fit the bill, albeit more disturbingly.
posted by GuyZero at 5:12 PM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

"Man Cave" should also fit the bill as a euphemism for.. well..
posted by selenized at 5:24 PM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Have to say I'm hating the terminology too.
posted by JHarris at 5:25 PM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

"Man Cave" should also fit the bill as a euphemism for.. well..

or um, or never mind, forget I said anything.
posted by Mblue at 5:32 PM on July 28, 2010

As long as we can still keep talking about priest holes.
posted by newmoistness at 5:42 PM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

As long as we can still keep talking about priest holes.

As in "glory, glory hole-elujah"?
posted by vorfeed at 6:03 PM on July 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

I have a a major fetish for what I think of as 'personal studies' and think this is an amazing post. In an era of cubicles, it's the personal productive space that helps people retain their uniqueness.

Mine is coming along, but isn't quite there yet. I've got the illuminated manuscript fragment, great grandad's bookstand, original System Shock concept art, and a near-complete collection of Solzhenitsyn's works... now I just need a really cool antique blotter then I will be totally there.
posted by TheManChild2000 at 6:25 PM on July 28, 2010

Somehow, this post won't feel complete without A Room Of One's Own.
posted by hippybear at 6:29 PM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hemingway wins hands down.
posted by resiny at 6:56 PM on July 28, 2010

Someone somewhere needs to write a good biting article/book/polemic/rant on the rise of the term "man cave" and how a media room/tv room/den became so firmly and distinctly gendered (as if women couldn't be interested in big, crisp TVs, sports, or anything so terribly uncouth, and as if men didn't really have real presence in their own homes and had to be relegated to one out-of-the-way space like an embarrassment who mars an otherwise "perfect" home). I suspect HGTV, the construction and real estate industry, and changing gender roles (and their eddies) are to blame.

In any case, whenever I get in the mood to clean or straighten up my studio, I like to browse through the studio and art studio tags on Flickr and see how other people have organized their studios. It makes me envious and enervated. And a total idea thief. I also covet Anne Spencer's little writing cabin (outside and inside - scroll down for picture.)
posted by julen at 7:18 PM on July 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

Sandalwood is a right manly scent. Why is that?
posted by Mister_A at 7:22 PM on July 28, 2010

None of these feature POÄNG chairs, unlike my awesome mancave, and thus are not worth mentioning.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:49 PM on July 28, 2010

Speaking of Hemingway . . . Sloppy Joe's 30th Annual Hemingway Look-Alike Contest Winner. The 'Papa' 2010, Charles Bicht of Vero Beach, FL.
posted by RoseyD at 8:30 PM on July 28, 2010

None of these feature POÄNG chairs, unlike my awesome mancave, and thus are not worth mentioning.

I AM SITTING IN A POÄNG CHAIR RIGHT NOW THEY ARE AWESOME ALSO INEXPENSIVE

Nice post, by the way, emilyd22222. I will check out each and every one of these links.
posted by zinfandel at 8:37 PM on July 28, 2010

Also worth mentioning that we can thank Jackie Kennedy for almost the entirety of the modern White House. (Little known fact, but the White House was gutted to its frame in the late 1940s)
posted by schmod at 9:03 PM on July 28, 2010

I think Marie Curie's laboratory is haunted......
posted by schmod at 9:05 PM on July 28, 2010

...by radiation.
posted by The Whelk at 9:14 PM on July 28, 2010

Writers' Rooms, from the Guardian. I loved this series, and wish they had continued it.
posted by jokeefe at 11:08 PM on July 28, 2010

Also, the Bronte Parsonage Museum.
posted by jokeefe at 11:11 PM on July 28, 2010

Marie Curie's lab reminds me of this abandoned gym in Russia.

And I want a place that looks like Susan B. Anthony's house on the outside, and Frida Kahlo's on the inside.
posted by zinfandel at 11:59 AM on July 29, 2010