Icing on the Eaves

How did a creepy fairy tale end up decorating our house façades? Rae and Andi trace gingerbread from the Grimm Brothers to Cape May, with help from the Industrial Revolution and a lot of paint. One thing Rae & Andi agree on: don’t eat the building materials. Eat the extras. Think of it as adaptive reuse for the leftover candy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spooky season is back, and Rae and Andi plunge into Paris’s strangest underworld—the catacombs—where shadowy tunnels, dripping ceilings, and endless walls of bones await. Andi, who grew up steps from the entrance, reveals how collapsing quarries and a burial crisis forged this vast subterranean ossuary. It’s history, eerie atmosphere, and pure October shivers for anyone who loves a little darkness with their flannel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Turns out the most universally beloved building type is basically a fancy candle in a stone tube. Rae and Andi cover whale oil, concentric prisms, and the surprisingly emotional case for saving obsolete towers nobody technically needs anymore. Calves of steel required. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gas stations get a second act: donut shops, roasteries, and beer gardens where the pumps used to be. Rae and Andi trace roadside architecture from Art Deco curves to Mission Revival tile to a baffling Tudor cottage phase (chimneys included) and land squarely in your coffee cup. It's architecture, nostalgia, and a mild caffeine addiction, all in one episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Verdigris goes feral in the Virginian suburbs as Rae and Andi join Gonzalo in his backyard. We talk Chilean courtyards, English cottage organized chaos, suburban lawn devotion, and mosquitoes. It’s history, horticulture, and mild pest warfare—all in one episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A whirlwind tour of columns at their most iconic: capital moments, load‑bearing drama, and centuries of standing their ground. Rae and Andi lean into Greek bulges, Roman rule‑breaking, and postmodern inside jokes.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rae and Andi dive into the chaos and charm of airports — the security scrambles, the gate‑change sprints, the lost‑passport panic, and the tiny design moments that somehow make it all feel magical anyway. They celebrate the clacking boards, the terrazzo floors, and the jet‑age swoops that turn terminals into portals. They also take on the big question: does a rainforest waterfall inside a terminal count as bold design or just architectural overkill?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month, Rae, Andi, and guest Colin tackle Xanadu, the 1980 neon‑drenched musical that “only vaguely refers to preservation” but somehow opens the door to a surprisingly rich conversation about what’s worth saving—and why. From roller‑skating muses to a once‑grand auditorium begging for a second life, the team digs into how even the most chaotic cult films reflect our shifting ideas about memory, place, and cultural value. It’s preservation with leg warmers on. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Save the theater! Save the old neighborhood! Save the hotel! Save the.... You get it. This trope is commonly mined in all kinds of different movies. This month Rae and Andi and special guest Colin Rafferty talk about movies that use this trope. Some movies use it just as a reason for the story, but others really *do* end up having something to say about historic preservation. Turns out some B-movies are surprisingly not totally off-base. Listen to this episode to find out if your guilty pleasure is among them! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month, Andi and Rae discuss two early visionaries of preservation, often described as foes: Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and John Ruskin. Their thoughts on architecture, authorship, and reuse are all still current today. In particular, Notre Dame would likely not have survived the disastrous 2019 fire quite so well without the work pioneered 150 years earlier. Plus, both men were charismatic fellows with excellent facial hair. So come learn about Mr. Beard and Mr. Sideburns, and discover how places like Carcassonne and Notre Dame got a new lease on life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.