My story:

When I first saw Taliesin I was surprised at how it looked repaired and still in need of repair. After hearing about how old it was, nearly a hundred years, and how part of it had burned down twice, I could see how a house changed over time. All the little repairs and additions showed it was never meant to be finished. Once I understood that, the imperfections weren’t irritating any more, but seemed like the face of a revered friend. I particularly liked having it pointed out that you could see the way the stone was laid up differently in different places and how the color of the walls varied. Taliesin shows history. It is a record of how places age just like the life of a person. It wasn’t a tidied-up mansion, but a story in stone.