Welcome to Villa Akbar one of the most hideous examples of overindulgence I've seen this side of Kuwait. Trust me there are many many other ones that I know of but this one is close to my house. This monument has been under construction for years, I guess the owner keeps on finding new crap to add to it which means it may never be finished.
You can see the villa from 30 highway on the right side when going to Salmiya. I'm having trouble figuring out what the style is, considering there are busts of Julius Caesar, Mozart, a water boy and da Vinci's The birth of Venus. That about covers the history of the world all located at this guy's house. Maybe he bought a bulk load of busts off eBay and that's what he got. Ha! Ha!
The side view of the house with lions and another Roman painting.
One of the front gates and the painted wall.
Front view of the house.
The birth of Venus and her friend the Roman wine server?
And finally the back view.
Quick! Someone call Oprah and have her buddy Nate take a flight to Kuwait and help this poor guy out with some decorating tips!!!!
OMG! My husband pointed this one out the other day, commenting, "that's a nice one". I threw up in my mouth a little bit before I started chuckling.
ReplyDeleteThat's really a "wow" property! Words are not enough to describe how magnificent and beautiful this place is. Who actually owns the place? I will be waiting for your response. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteKuwait Apartments
u took great pictures. i'll refer to some of them.
ReplyDeletefirst of all, i just want to say that i understand art and architecture and this is why this house is a very interesting case study to me. design & architecture students should visit it and b tested on their understanding of style. now i begin...
they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. and i am sure that this house is seen by its owner as a masterpiece. and in a way, it is a masterpiece. it is a monument in the kitsch style. kitsch is a genre. it does not mean "ugly". this house is not "ugly" . when u go to see this house, something will make you want to look more and more. it draws you. seriously! i saw this house up close the other day and thought it was extremely interesting. i encourage people to go c it. whether people love ot or hate it, this house has potential to b a local landmark. it is so over the top.
to appreciate the experience of looking at this wild creation, u shoukld c it as an art installation instead of a house. it is art because the owner is personally involved in creating a collage of many different styles. the design of the facade and windows and columns is not uniform. there are neo classical elements and other unudentifiable forms.
most interesting and peculiar are the heads, busts and statues which are placed around the house. u c roman emperors, greek gods and goddesses (like athena/zeus),michael angelo's david, a statue version of botticelli's venus, mannequin pis (belgian pissing boy from brussels), & even beethoven (see photo. he is a man in a bowtie next to roman emperor hadrian?)
there are also relif sculptures narrating a fight between a man and a bull (hercules or theseus and the bull). the bull is carrying a nude female on its back. this is from an unrelated myth (europe & the bull). so it is confusing. above that is a relief of a victory & celebration of an androgenous figure riding a horse. above all that is a relief of flying angels.
if you ask me, all this symbolism is a narrationof the "artist/owner" to us (the world). he/she is telling us that Power, conflict & love are main themes of this house/life.
this artist/owner is clearly flamboyant and dramatic and doesnt give a crap about what people say. he/she does what they like. this person doesnt follow rules and doesnt care if the woerld thinks he does not understand them.
i credit the owner of this house for going all the way without compromise.
i'd like 2 add that the execution of the busts as well as everything else (and, i almost forgot, the dozens of horses & horse heads), is quite poor. but that's what u get when u go to statue.com (most of the busts referenced in this article are on there)
ReplyDeletefor perfect busts, better go to metropolitan/louvre or british museum shop.
this house would not b a landmark in the real world but, LOCALLY SPEAKING, this house is a "kitsch masterpiece/monument". it dethrones the house in dahyat abdulla al salem with the two lions. after a nearly 30 year reign (kuwait couldnot stop talking about it in the 80's- calling it "beyt il asnam"- owners had to pull down the topless female statues carrying grapes)... and with a much much lower budget ... villa akbar has achieved the impossible.
hahahahaaahaahaahahahahaha
ReplyDeleteI’ve seen this house couple of times and I know it’s too much to handle for some people with the decoration and all but I LOVE IT!! I like how the house is different from the others it’s very eye catching and I studied design history and I love how architecture advanced and changed throughout the years and this house makes me feel like it’s been dipped into a big bowl of all the vintage or old designs/architecture (I don’t know how to explain this but I hope you get it..my English kinda sucks😂) so basically what I’m saying is that this house is like going into a time machine..and I love the crowed decorations and the statues I think they’re beautiful..I’d LOVE to meet the owner and talk about the house and his love for architecture and design history and art 😂 it’s honestly a masterpiece in my eyes..and for the tenth time I’m really in love and into design history I’m a graphic design student and I took design history and fell in love with the art of each era and the architecture...I wish that I had a time machine just to see how our architecture and design progressed..but that’s just a wish and time machines don’t exist..(maybe)
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