AA-2026-1E1ADB
On the image
Someone in the 1950s decided that a backyard needed a decorative water wheel, the kind of ornamental structure that suggests both picturesque rusticity and the owner's leisure time to build it. The wheel stands next to a small shed painted in muted colors, surrounded by cultivated flower beds in rigid rows—dahlias or similar formal bloomers in white, yellow, and orange—all tended with the precision of someone who believed that gardening was a form of domestic achievement. Tall evergreens frame the scene like a theater backdrop, and the whole composition reads like a modest recreation of the quaint cottages that appeared in magazine spreads, the kind that promised that postwar prosperity meant you could have your own decorative past right in your yard. The wheel itself is a toy-scale replica of something that once did actual work; here it does nothing but stand and look charming, which was apparently the point.
Visually related — by likeness
Garden Folly with Water Wheel, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-1E1ADB. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/garden-folly-with-water-wheel-1950s.
@misc{aaAA20261E1ADB,
title = {Garden Folly with Water Wheel, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-1E1ADB},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/garden-folly-with-water-wheel-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Garden Folly with Water Wheel, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-1E1ADB UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/garden-folly-with-water-wheel-1950s ER -
From the community
Identifications, corrections, and discussion from readers — reviewed by a librarian before appearing here.
Sign in to add an identification, correction, or comment.
No notes yet — be the first to add what you know about this image.