Me: ugh, modern landmark architecture is just rich people showing off how much money they have.

[martyb4@mastodon.social]

@daveybot Aye, pineapples laddie.

[acb@mastodon.social]

@daveybot In 18th-century Scotland, pineapple-themed motifs in architecture and furnishings would have been the equivalent of diamond-iced gold lettering on gangsta-rap album covers: a very unsubtle brag about one’s (claimed) financial means

[akamran@indieweb.social]

@daveybot it's impressive but the lack of windows on the ground floor is worrying. (And weren't windows taxed? So a recurring expense, and therefore a bigger brag?)

[huntingdon@mstdn.social]

@daveybot

Good taste and money do not often go hand-in-hand. Donald Trump is simply an extreme example of the disconnect.

[daveybot@mastodon.scot]

@akamran to be honest it’s basically a folly: There’s not really anything TO it other than a few simple rooms! Rather delightful all the same, though.

You can stay in it, even: https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/properties/pineapple/

[daveybot@mastodon.scot]

@acb I’d quite like it if they restored the heated glass houses which used to line either side of this edifice and actually grow some pineapples in there again, but the carbon cost would be - I can only assume - absolutely insane. So I can understand why they don’t.

Still, the crabapples they now have growing in the garden instead really don’t have quite the same vibe.

[akamran@indieweb.social]

@daveybot I wish I could!

[grantpe@tech.lgbt]

@daveybot well, far enough back it was about showing off how much power you had, rather than simply money.

[cstamp@mastodon.social]

@daveybot Well, in fairness, those were a sign of wealth at one time, weren’t they? Only rich could afford them?

[daveybot@mastodon.scot]

@CStamp exactly my point, yes!

[cstamp@mastodon.social]

@daveybot Rich will rich.

[daveybot@mastodon.scot]

@CStamp Indeed! Or, as a former child of Scotland once so wisely wrote: “same as it ever was…”

[ciarani@mastodon.green]

@CStamp @daveybot I learnt from a digression in this lovely podcast about a rental car that people used to rent pineapples.

“They cost thousands, so people would rent them and just walk around with it as a status symbol. Like: "Look at me, flexing on all you poor people, I got a pineapple and you don’t. I need you to see me walking around with this pineapple, but I can only have it so long because I got to get this thing back by 4 o’clock or they’ll charge me extra.”

https://www.everythingisalive.com/episodes/alzo-rental-car

[whitecattamer@mastodon.online]

@CiaraNi @CStamp @daveybot I learned a couple years ago that people rent rims - as in, car wheel rims - so we’re definitely the same critters we’ve always been.

[ciarani@mastodon.green]

@WhiteCatTamer People rent car wheel rims - that's a new one to me!

@CStamp @daveybot

[adriano@lile.cl]

@daveybot "We had the choice between windows on the ground floor or the pineapple dome. Easy decision."

[morino_pottery@mastodon.social]

@daveybot Rhode Islanders would love this palace

[farah@beige.party]

@akamran @daveybot Thats where the swingers’ club meets weekly

[akamran@indieweb.social]

@farah @daveybot

[ajn142@infosec.exchange]

@daveybot @arclight and apparently you can rent it... that's like the world's largest swinger beacon

As of 2024, one can rent the gardeners' quarters and the pineapple summerhouse as a holiday home.