Seldom House
The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle. New York: Henry Holt, 2010.

In addition to providing me with inspiration for the garden scenes, Levens Hall’s exterior inspired Seldom House’s exterior, with adjustments. It’s grim enough, and it’s also from the right era (Elizabethan for the most part).

Although Seldom House is similar to Levens Hall, its windows tend to be smaller. (At least, they aren’t like the wonderful bay windows on the right.) Also, it’s a different color: brown, like the Haworth buildings below.

This is the kind of window Tabby has in her room, with its panes throwing harlequin lights on the floor.

This is a different face of Levens Hall.

Snowshill Manor, although in the wrong part of England, is in the right timeframe, and it provided inspiration for the exterior of Seldom House too. The side you're seeing was built around 1500 and not much modified by later owners. Look at how scarce windows are on this house! Seldom House has a few more windows than this, although small and widely scattered.

A closeup of Snowshill Manor showing the slate shingles (and a nice sundial).

Here’s a view of old-town Haworth, the Brontës’ hometown, showing its typical Yorkshire building details. Seldom House is made of gritstone, like the buildings here. Gritstone is a coarse-grained sedimentary rock that comes in various colors depending on the location of the quarry. In Haworth, the gritstone buildings are brown, and I chose this color for Seldom House, too.

This is a famous public house just a few yards from the Brontës’ home, where Branwell Brontë went to drink and carouse with his friends.

And here is another old public house within a block of the Brontës’ house. Poor Branwell!

A narrow little street like this is what I had in mind outside Ma Hutton’s knitting school.

Several interiors inspired Seldom House’s rooms. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures in most of the houses. This is more grandiose than the spaces in Seldom House, but you can see how the weapons have been displayed in these elaborate fans (those are helmets at the center); also, you can see the hunting trophy and the pewter dishes arranged on the wall. The enormous buffet is the sort of thing Himself and Tabby could hide in if the center part were also enclosed.

The upper floors of Ripley Castle, in north Yorkshire, also inspired Seldom House.

I love the little window seat, the studded chest, and the various displays of armaments here. Ripley Castle actually does have some small cannonballs sitting in hollows on top of tables. The windows here are typical of the sort Seldom House has.

Here's an example of a kitchen hearth—minus the glorious fire, of course!

All photographs copyright 2009 by Joseph R. Dunkle