Home’s Forgotten Spaces #2 — The Paris Clocktower
by Keara22HI, HSM team writer
Home has a lot of “forgotten” places in it — some of them public, some of them private. Lovingly assembled and beautiful to look at, they nonetheless seem to be little more than footnotes in Home’s brief but colorful history.
This series aims to throw a new spotlight upon these forgotten places. And the latest space to be examined: the Paris Clocktower apartment.
Paris, before the skyscrapers, the Cold War, and the Euro problems: it was personified by the music of Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, and Maurice Chevalier. The first time I saw the Paris Clocktower, I recognized the time when the Eiffel Tower could be seen from every corner of Paris. This was the time before the skyscraper construction took over and the atmosphere became filled with the fragrance of concrete instead of Tuilleries Gardens flowers.
Before you think I’m exaggerating or somehow romanticizing the past: keep in mind I was there. I saw it and experienced it firsthand.
Decorating this apartment reminded me of the ‘habit’ of that era in Paris: the “cinq a sept” romance. Wealthy businessmen would disappear after work each evening from cinq (5PM) to sept (7PM) for a rendez-vous with their mistress – before trudging home to the wife and children. In this short video, I have shown the world of the demi-monde (mistress) who is losing her lover to the ravages of time. And the song, “Je Ne Regrette Rien” (I regret nothing) by Edith Piaf sums up her existence far better than long strings of dialog ever could. For those of you who can lose yourself in another era, another way of life, the Paris Clocktower awaits you. And so does Edith Piaf’s music.
If you have a personal estate or public space which you feel deserves rediscovery, list it in the comments section below. You might find it covered in this series! Just tell us why it is meaningful to you.
March 15th, 2012 by keara22hi | 12 comments
Keara is also known in Home as DarthGranny. She is a wicked little old lady with a wild sense of humor.
I love the video.
I must point out (since I worked on it) that the clock does tell time. Since you see it from the back, it looks odd, but it is right based on your machine’s time.
There is also traffic down below.
This was one of our early efforts that got lost in a barrage of apartments released all at once. It took over a year for Europe to catch up and release it.
It embodies our early effort to make Home less static.
I would love to know how you got that Paris skyline to look exactly like it did in 1964. That IS (or was) the view from the penthouse suite at the Prince des Galles Hotel on Avenue Georges Cinq.
Our concept artists and environmental artists were amazing. These guys were working on Home one week and SOCOM or Resistance the next. It was a magical time.
One can use the active bat in your belfry item and have three pretty little bats flitting about your Paris Clock space.
Also, using the Ghostbusters brown wall item, one can build an extra room in the loft and put in a bathtub and toilet or whatever else.
It’s a fun space. Wish that lady singing in the video was available as an item. Oh well
Nailed it! Very Nice Granny
Great video Granny you are learning this fast and I look forward to the next one we do together.
Nice job Granny! I recently purchased the Paris Clock Tower and decided to turn it into modern day office space. Even though this is a space that obviously reflects an older date in time, I wanted it to be seen as almost a reflection (in the office owner’s mind) of the past. A time when things were simpler in some ways. This, in my version, is a law office called “Twitter and Twit, Esq.,” Attorney’s at Law. LOL
Can’t wait to read about the next spaces in your series. There are so many great spaces that are probably now, kind of lost in the shuffle. I think I have about 65 spaces myself and I enjoy visiting each of these every few weeks to redecorate and enjoy. So many of these older spaces have games and other “extra’s” that make them worth purchasing just as much as any of the newer spaces, if not more.
Paris Clocktower was one of my first personal spaces and I love it.I bought mine from the New PlayStation Home Releases section of the store on the XMB.It comes in a bundle called PlayStation Home Starter Pack that costs $4.99 and comes with a bunch of other stuff.Btw check out the Home bundles available on the XMB if you haven’t recently…there are ALOT of really good bargains!
Just watched your video and it’s great!what a great song lol that I haven’t heard in a while…are you in the Maquis?Very Cool Vid! Vive la Resistance!
That Gargoyle gave me an idea for a game…it would involve flying around as the Gargoyle,feeding on Pigeons and maybe landing on certain landmarks or performing precise kills…all to earn one of the sweetest outfits in Home…The Paris Clock Tower Gargoyle!!!
Très bien, Granny. Je l’adore. La fin est une surprise. C’est tragique mais approprié!
The Clocktower is a nice space. For better or worse, it seems to be the template for all the more recent boxy spaces. The difference is that the Clocktower never claimed to be anything but a loft-type apartment, as opposed to a manor, a chateau or a palace.
Very nicely done, Keara. I love that we can see the full dimensions of the space, and get a little story to go with it.
It would be a fun touch to add a shot of the door and hear someone knocking on the door just before that last shot, althoguh I do think you get the point across rather well
The Paris apartment astonished me when I first saw it. The beautiful clockworks, the city below so detailed, and then that gargoyle suddenly coming to life.
To emphasize the exquisitely antique interior, I knew the elegant modern French furniture would suit perfectly.
What I think sets it apart from the new box spaces is that this design has purpose and as well as imagination, not only accommodating the clock but also integrating the upper floor into the library shelves and hallway below.
Flying with the gargoyle is a wonderful suggestion, in part already realized since it’s flight draws us into the streets beyond.
The other wonderful feature was the two extensive sets of furniture [and later, clothing] and their attentive detail, like the packet of letters for the desk and the first bathtub. No skimpy little 5-piece set barely distinguishable from the last or next.