architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, a folly is a

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-century

English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

ing and

French landscape garden The French landscape garden () is a style of garden inspired by idealized romantic landscapes and the paintings of Hubert Robert, Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, European ideas about Chinese gardens, and the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau ...

ing often featured mock

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Architecture of ancient Rome, Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete ...

s, symbolising classical virtues. Other 18th-century garden follies imitated

Chinese temples Chinese temple architecture refer to a type of structures used as place of worship of Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, or Chinese folk religion, where people revere ethnic Chinese gods and ancestors. They can be classified as: * '' mi� ...

Egyptian pyramids The Egyptian pyramids are ancient masonry structures located in Egypt. Most were built as tombs for the pharaohs and their consorts during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old and Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Middle Kingdom periods. At least 138 identi ...

, ruined

medieval castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

s, or Tatar tents, to represent different continents or historical eras. Sometimes they represented rustic villages, mills and cottages, to symbolise rural virtues. Many follies, particularly during times of famine, such as the Great Famine in Ireland, were built as a form of

poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

, to provide employment for peasants and unemployed artisans. In English, the term began as "a popular name for any costly structure considered to have shown

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

in the builder", the ''Oxford English Dictionary'''s definition. Follies are often named after the individual who commissioned or designed the project. The connotations of silliness or madness in this definition is in accord with the general meaning of the French word ; however, another older meaning of this word is "delight" or "favourite abode". This sense included conventional, practical buildings that were thought unduly large or expensive, such as

Beckford's Folly Fonthill Abbey—also known as Beckford's Folly—was a large Gothic Revival country house built between 1796 and 1813 at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire, England, at the direction of William Thomas Beckford and architect James Wyatt. It was bu ...

, an extremely expensive early

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

country house that collapsed under the weight of its tower in 1825, 12 years after completion. As a general term, "folly" is usually applied to a small building that appears to have no practical purpose or the purpose of which appears less important than its striking and unusual design, but the term is ultimately subjective, so a precise definition is not possible.

Characteristics

The concept of the folly is subjective and it has been suggested that the definition of a folly "lies in the eyes of the beholder". Typical characteristics include: * They have no purpose other than as an ornament. Often they have some of the appearance of a building constructed for a particular purpose, such as a castle or tower, but this appearance is a sham. Equally, if they have a purpose, it may be disguised. * They are buildings, or parts of buildings. Thus they are distinguished from other garden

ornaments An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Ornamental turning *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals tha ...

such as

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. * They are purpose-built. Follies are deliberately built as ornaments. * They are often eccentric in design or construction. This is not strictly necessary; however, it is common for these structures to call attention to themselves through unusual details or form. * There is often an element of fakery in their construction. The canonical example of this is the sham ruin: a folly which pretends to be the remains of an old building but which was in fact constructed in that state. * They were built or commissioned for pleasure.

History

Follies began as decorative accents on the great estates of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, but they flourished especially in the two centuries that followed. Many estates had ruins of monastic houses and (in Italy) Roman villas; others, lacking such buildings, constructed their own sham versions of these romantic structures. However, very few follies are completely without a practical purpose. Apart from their decorative aspect, many originally had a use which was lost later, such as hunting towers. Follies are misunderstood structures, according to The Folly Fellowship, a charity that exists to celebrate the history and splendour of these often neglected buildings.

Follies in 18th-century French and English gardens

Follies () were an important feature of the

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

and

in the 18th century, such as Stowe and

Stourhead Stourhead () is a 1,072-hectare (2,650-acre) estate at the source of the River Stour in the southwest of the English county of Wiltshire, extending into Somerset. The estate is about northwest of the town of Mere and includes a Grade I list ...

in England and

Ermenonville Ermenonville () is a commune in the Oise department, northern France. Located near Paris, Ermenonville is notable for its park named for Jean-Jacques Rousseau by René Louis de Girardin. Rousseau's tomb was designed by the painter Hubert Robe ...

and the

gardens of Versailles The Gardens of Versailles ( ) occupy part of what was once the ''Domaine royal de Versailles'', the royal demesne of the Palace of Versailles, château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the Palace of Versailles, palace, the gardens cover so ...

in France. They were usually in the form of Roman temples, ruined Gothic abbeys, or Egyptian pyramids.

Painshill Park Painshill (formally Painshill Park) is a restored 18th-century English park and landscape garden in Cobham, Surrey, England. It was designed and created between 1738 and 1773 by the owner, Charles Hamilton. Painshill is Grade I- listed and is ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

contained almost a full set, with a large Gothic tower and various other Gothic buildings, a Roman temple, a hermit's retreat with resident hermit, a Turkish tent, a shell-encrusted water grotto and other features. In France they sometimes took the form of romantic farmhouses, mills and cottages, as in

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

's Hameau de la Reine at Versailles. Sometimes they were copied from landscape paintings by painters such as

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...

and

Hubert Robert Hubert Robert (; 22 May 1733 – 15 April 1808) was a French painter in the school of Romanticism, noted especially for his landscape paintings and capricci, or semi-fictitious picturesque depictions of ruins in Italy and of France.Jean de Cayeux ...

. Often, they had symbolic importance, illustrating the virtues of ancient Rome, or the virtues of country life. The temple of philosophy at Ermenonville, left unfinished, symbolised that knowledge would never be complete, while the temple of modern virtues at Stowe was deliberately ruined, to show the decay of contemporary morals. Later in the 18th century, the follies became more exotic, representing other parts of the world, including Chinese

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

s, Japanese bridges, and

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

tents.

Famine follies

The Great Famine of Ireland of 1845–1849 led to the building of several follies in order to provide relief to the poor without issuing unconditional handouts. However, to hire the needy for work on useful projects would deprive existing workers of their jobs. Thus, construction projects termed "famine follies" came to be built. These included roads in the middle of nowhere, between two seemingly random points, screen and estate walls, piers in the middle of bogs, etc.

Examples

Roman ruin Schoenbrunn Sept 2007 panoramic

Small Gloriette - Sch%C3%B6nbrunn Palace

Follies are found worldwide, but they are particularly abundant in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Australia

* Eastlink hotel, in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Austria

* Roman ruin and

gloriette A gloriette (from the 12th-century French meaning "little room") is a building in a garden erected on a site that is elevated with respect to the surroundings. The structural execution and shape can vary greatly, often in the form of a pavili ...

s, in the park of

Schönbrunn Palace Schönbrunn Palace (Austrian German, German: Schloss Schönbrunn ) was the main summer residence of the House of Habsburg, Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, the 13th district of Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning "beautiful spring") ha ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Belgium

* Hassenspark toren in the Hassenspark in

Vilvoorde Vilvoorde (; ; ; historically known as ''Filford'' in English) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city in the Halle-Vilvoorde district (''arrondissement'') of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Bra ...

Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( ; ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also ...

Canada

Dundurn Castle Dundurn Castle is a historic neoclassical mansion on York Boulevard in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The house took three years and $175,000 to build and was completed in 1835. The forty-room house featured the latest conveniences of the day, in ...

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

Czech Republic

* Series of buildings in

Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape The Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape (also Lednice–Valtice Area or Lednice–Valtice Complex, ) is a cultural-natural landscape complex of in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It comprises the municipalities of Lednice, Valt ...

(UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

) * Chinese Pavilions in chateau gardens in

Vlašim Vlašim (; ) is a town in Benešov District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. Vlašim is known for the Vlašim Castle and its English landscape garden, English park. Administrative division Vla� ...

Děčín Děčín (; ) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It is the seventth largest municipality in the country by area. Děčín is an important traffic junction. Administrative division Děč ...

Krásný Dvůr Krásný Dvůr () is a municipality and village in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. Administrative division Krásný Dvůr consists of seven municipal parts (in brackets population ...

France

* Chanteloup Pagoda, near

Amboise Amboise (; ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Today a small market town, it was once home to the French royal court. Geography Amboise lies on the banks of the river Loire, east of Tours. It is also about awa ...

Désert de Retz The Désert de Retz is a garden on the edge of the forêt de Marly in the commune of Chambourcy, in north-central France. It was created at the end of the 18th century by the aristocrat François Racine de Monville on his estate. The architect B ...

, folly garden in Chambourcy near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(18th century) *

Parc de la Villette The Parc de la Villette () is the third-largest park in Paris, in area, located at the northeastern edge of the city in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, 19th arrondissement. The park houses one of the largest concentrations of cultural venues ...

has a number of modern follies by architect

Bernard Tschumi Bernard Tschumi (born 25 January 1944 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Son of the well-known Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and a French mother, Tschumi is a dual French ...

. * The Ideal Palace of

Ferdinand Cheval Ferdinand Cheval (; 19 April 1836 – 19 August 1924), often nicknamed Facteur Cheval ("Mail Carrier Cheval") was a French mail carrier who spent 33 years building Le Palais idéal (the "Ideal Palace") in Hauterives, in southeastern France.

Hauterives Hauterives () is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. It is home to Ferdinand Cheval's self-made Palais idéal. Geography The Galaure flows southwest through the middle of the commune. Population See also *Communes o ...

, seen as an example of naive architecture. * Hameau de la Reine, in the park of the

Château de Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines Department of Île-de-France region in France. The palace is owned by the government of F ...

* The

Grottoes of Ferrand The Grottoes of Ferrand (French language, French: ''Grottes de Ferrand'') are a series of 17th-century artificial grottoes on the estate of the Château de Ferrand in Saint-Hippolyte, Gironde, Saint-Hippolyte, Gironde, in southwestern France, near ...

, in Saint-Hippolyte,

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

Germany

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe is a landscape park in Kassel, Germany. The area of the park is , making it the largest European hillside park, and second largest park on a hill slope in the world. Construction of the ''Bergpark'', or "mountain park", bega ...

water features * Lighthouse in the park of

Moritzburg Castle Moritzburg Castle () or Moritzburg Palace is a Baroque palace in Moritzburg, in the German state of Saxony, about northwest of the Saxon capital, Dresden. The castle has four round towers and lies on a symmetrical artificial island. It is name ...

near

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

* Mosque in the

Schwetzingen Castle Schwetzingen Palace is a schloss in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Schwetzingen was the summer residence of the Electors Palatine Charles III Philip and Charles IV Theodore (of the House of Wittelsbach). It is situated in Schwetzinge ...

gardens * Pfaueninsel artificial ruin,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Ruinenberg The Ruinenberg is a hill in the Bornstedt (Potsdam), Bornstedt borough of Potsdam, located north of Sanssouci Park. In 1748, the Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian king Frederick the Great had a water tank with a capacity of around built on top to supp ...

near

Sanssouci Park Sanssouci Park is a large park surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, built under Frederick the Great in the mid-18th century. Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, the surroundings were included in t ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Hungary

* Bory Castle at

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; ; ; ; Serbian language, Serbian: ''Стони Београд''; ), known colloquially as Fehérvár (), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the Regions of Hungary, regional capital of C ...

* Taródi Castle at

Sopron Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely. When ...

* Vajdahunyad vára in the

City Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorporate ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

India

* Overbury's Folly,

Thalassery Thalassery () (also called Tellicherry) is a city and municipality on the Malabar Coast in Kannur district in the state of Kerala, India, bordered by the districts of Mahe and Kozhikode. Thalassery municipality has a population of just under ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Rock Garden of Chandigarh The Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a sculpture garden in Chandigarh, India. It is also known as Nek Chand Saini's Rock Garden of Nathupur after its founder Nek Chand Saini, a government official who started building the garden secretly in hi ...

Ireland

* Ballysaggartmore Towers,

County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...

* Carden's Folly *

Casino at Marino The Casino at Marino is a Neo-Classical summer or pleasure house, originally located in the grounds of Marino House in Dublin, Ireland. Sometimes described as a folly, it was designed by Scottish architect William Chambers and executed by Sim ...

Conolly's Folly The Conolly Folly (), a.k.a. The Obelisk, is an obelisk structure located between Celbridge, Leixlip and Maynooth in County Kildare, Ireland. It was built in the mid-18th century by the Conolly family, then owners of the Castletown Estate. It ...

and The Wonderful Barn on the same estate * The Corrig Spire in

Portarlington, County Laois Portarlington, historically called Cooletoodera (from ), is a town on the border of County Laois and County Offaly, Ireland. The River Barrow forms the border. Portarlington is around west of Dublin. The town was recorded in the 2022 census ...

Killiney Hill Killiney Hill () is the southernmost of the two hills which form the southern boundary of Dublin Bay, the other being Dalkey Hill. These two hills form part of Killiney Hill Park. Crowned by a monument, Killiney Hill is 153 metres high and has v ...

, with several follies * Larchill in

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

, with several follies *

Powerscourt Estate Powerscourt Estate (), located in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland, is a large country estate which is noted for its house and landscaped gardens, today occupying . The house, originally a 13th-century castle, was extensively altered durin ...

, which contains the Pepperpot Tower *

Saint Anne's Park Saint Anne's Park () is a public park situated between Raheny and Clontarf, suburbs on the northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is owned and managed by Dublin City Council. The park, the second largest municipal park in Dublin, is formed from pa ...

, which contains a number of follies * Saint Enda's Park, former school of

Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, Irish poetry, poet, writer, Irish nationalism, nationalist, Irish republicanism, republican political activist a ...

, contains several follies * The Jealous Wall at Belvedere House near Mullingar, County Westmeath * Waterloo Round Tower near Blarney, County Cork

Italy

* La Scarzuola,

Montegabbione Montegabbione is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Terni in the Italian region Umbria, located about southwest of Perugia and about northwest of Terni. Montegabbione borders the following municipalities: Fabro, Ficulle, Monteleone ...

* The

Park of the Monsters The Sacro Bosco ("Sacred Grove"), colloquially called Park of the Monsters (Parco dei Mostri in Italian), also named Garden of Bomarzo, is a Mannerism, Mannerist monumental complex located in Bomarzo, in the province of Viterbo, in northern Lazio, ...

(Bomarzo Gardens) * Il Giardino dei Tarocchi near

Capalbio Capalbio is a (municipality) in the Province of Grosseto in Tuscany, Italy, located about south of Florence and about southeast of Grosseto. Capalbio borders the following municipalities: Manciano, Montalto di Castro (Lazio) and Orbetello. It ...

Jamaica

* Three follies were built on Folly Estate, Port Antonio, in 1905. They are now in ruins.Follies Magazine #108, "My Folly Folly Folly: a Jamaican Journey"

Malta

Lija Belvedere Tower The Lija Belvedere Tower () is a Belvedere (structure), belvedere in Lija, Malta. It was built in the 19th century as a folly within a private garden, and it is now located on a roundabout. History The belvedere tower was built in 1857 as a foll ...

Poland

* Roman aqueduct,

Arkadia, Łowicz County Arkadia () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nieborów, within Łowicz County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies approximately east of Łowicz and north-east of the regional capital Łódź Łódź is a c ...

Temple of the Sibyl The Temple of the Sibyl (in Polish, ''Świątynia Sybilli'') is a colonnaded round monopteral temple-like structure at Puławy, Poland, built at the turn of the 19th century as a museum by Izabela Czartoryska. History The "Temple of the S ...

Puławy Puławy (, also written Pulawy) is a city in eastern Poland, in Lesser Poland's Lublin Voivodeship, at the confluence of the Vistula and Kurówka River, Kurówka Rivers. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County. The city's 2019 population was Cen ...

Romania

Iulia Hasdeu Castle The Iulia Hașdeu Castle is a folly built in the form of small castle by historian and politician Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu in the city of Câmpina, Romania. Work on it began in 1893, after Hasdeu's daughter, Iulia Hasdeu, died at the age of ...

Russia

* Ruined towers in Peterhof,

Tsarskoe Selo Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the town of Pushkin. Tsarskoye Selo forms ...

Gatchina Gatchina (, ) is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies south-south-west of St. Petersburg, along the E95 highway which links Saint Petersburg and Pskov. Population: It was pr ...

, and Tsaritsino *

Creaking Pagoda The Creaking Pagoda (Скрипучая беседка), also known as the Chinese Summer House (Китайская беседка), is a small summer house located between two ponds in Tsarskoe Selo, Russia. It stands in on the boundary separat ...

and

Chinese Village Villages (), formally village-level divisions () in China, serve as a fundamental organizational unit for its rural population (census, mail system). Basic local divisions like neighborhoods and communities are not informal, but have defined bo ...

in Tsarskoe Selo * Dutch Admiralty in Tsarskoe Selo

Spain

* El Capricho, Comillas (Cantabria)

Ukraine

* Ruins in Arboretum Oleksandriya, Oleksandriia, Bila Tserkva

United Kingdom

England

File:RushtonTriangularLodge.jpg, Rushton Triangular Lodge, Northamptonshire, England, built in the late 16th century to symbolise the Holy Trinity File:Wimpole folly (1).jpg, Wimpole's Folly, Cambridgeshire, England, built in the 1700s to resemble Gothic-era ruins File:The Beacon Staunton Country Park.JPG, ''The Beacon'': One of the remaining follies at Staunton Country Park originally commissioned by George Thomas Staunton and designed by Lewis Vulliamy

Scotland

* The Caldwell Tower, Lugton, Renfrewshire * Captain Frasers Folly (Uig Tower) Isle of Skye * Dunmore Pineapple, Falkirk * Hume Castle, Berwickshire * Kinnoull Hill, Kinnoull Hill Tower, Perth, Scotland, Perth * McCaig's Tower, Oban, Argyll and Bute * National Monument, Edinburgh, National Monument, Edinburgh * Shaw Monument, Prestwick * The Temple near Castle Semple Loch, Renfrewshire

Wales

* Clytha Castle, Monmouthshire * Derry Ormond Tower, Ceredigion * Folly Tower, Pontypool, Folly Tower at Pontypool * Paxton's Tower, Carmarthenshire * Portmeirion, known as the setting for several television productions including ''The Prisoner'' series * Gwrych Castle, Conwy County Borough

United States

* Bancroft Tower, Worcester, Massachusetts * Belvedere Castle, New York City * Bishop Castle, outside of Pueblo, Colorado * Coral Castle, Homestead, Florida * Hofmann Tower in Lyons, Illinois * Kingfisher Tower, Otsego Lake (New York) * Korner's Folly, Körner’s Folly, Kernersville, North Carolina * Lawson Tower, Scituate, Massachusetts
Newman's Castle
Bellville, Texas * Parthenon (Nashville), The Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee * Vessel (structure), Vessel, New York, New York * Watts Towers, Watts, Los Angeles

References

Bibliography

* Barlow, Nick, et al.
Follies of Europe
', Garden Art Press, 2009, * Barton, Stuart. ''Monumental Follies'' Lyle Publications, 1972 * Folly Fellowship, The. ''Follies Magazine'', published quarterly * Folly Fellowship, The. ''Follies Journal'', published annually * Folly Fellowship, The. ''Foll-e'', an electronic bulletin published monthly and available free to all * Hatt, E. M. ''Follies'' National Benzole, London 1963 * Headley, Gwyn. ''Architectural Follies in America'', John Wiley & Sons, New York 1996 * Headley, Gwyn & Meulenkamp, Wim. ''Follies — A Guide to Rogue Architecture'', Jonathan Cape, London 1990 * Headley, Gwyn & Meulenkamp, Wim. ''Follies — A National Trust Guide'', Jonathan Cape, London 1986 * Headley, Gwyn & Meulenkamp, Wim., ''Follies Grottoes & Garden Buildings'', Aurum Press, London 1999 * Howley, James. ''The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland'' Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1993 * Jackson, Hazelle. ''Shellhouses and Grottoes'', Shire Books, England, 2001 * Jones, Barbara. ''Follies & Grottoes'' Constable, London 1953 & 1974 * Meulenkamp, Wim. ''Follies — Bizarre Bouwwerken in Nederland en België'', Arbeiderpers, Amsterdam, 1995 * Stewart, David. "Political Ruins: Gothic Sham Ruins and the '45." ''Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians''. Vol. 55, No. 4 (Dec. 1996), pp. 400-411.

External links

* {{Authority control Folly buildings, Building types Landscape garden features Landscape design history