    in architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or merely appearing to be so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or the class of building to which it belongs. 18th century english gardens and french landscape gardening often featured roman temples, which symbolized classical virtues or ideals. other 18th-century garden follies represented chinese temples, egyptian pyramids, ruined abbeys, or tatar tents, to represent different continents or historical eras. sometimes they represented rustic villages, mills and cottages, to symbolize rural virtues.yves-marie allain, janine christiany, l'art des jardins en europe, citadelles & mazenod, paris, 2006. many follies, particularly during famine, such as the irish potato famine, were built as a form of poor relief, 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 the builder", the oed's definition,oxford english dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989, vol vi, p4, "folly, 5". and were 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 "folie"; however, another older meaning of this word is "delight" or "favourite abode"" ... and many french houses are still named "la folie"" - oed. this sense included conventional, practical, buildings that were thought unduly large or expensive, such as beckford's folly, or fonthill abbey, an extremely expensive early gothic revival 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 smaller buildings with no practical purpose, or one that appears secondary to a striking and unusual design. but the term is ultimately subjective and a precise definition is probably impossible. ==characteristics== ===general properties===  the concept of the folly is subjecti
Building Folly_buildings Garden_features Landscape_architecture Landscape_design_history Landscape_gardens