Pastel colors, kitschy details, and extensive symmetry have come to define director Wes Anderson’s widely celebrated aesthetic. Films such as The Life Aquatic, Moonrise Kingdom, and The Grand Budapest Hotel are well-known—and commonly loved—for transporting viewers to impeccably stylized worlds. But the popular cinematic settings dreamed up by the director have often been embellished by incredible set and costume design.
Herein comes @accidentallywesanderson. This Instagram account spotlights destinations around the world that look like they’ve been specially crafted for one of Anderson’s film sets but are actually everyday locations that can be visited in real life.
Inspired by a Reddit thread named AccidentalWesAnderson, the Instagram account’s curator, Wally Koval, created the page just one year ago. The travel-, architecture-, and (of course) Anderson aesthetic–enthusiast originally aimed to create an online community where people with similar interests could marvel over Anderson-inspired imagery. But after a month of sorting through the #AccidentallyWesAnderson hashtag and reposting photos including only the destination names in each caption, Koval became curious about the stories behind the visually distinctive locations.
So he shifted his focus: The account would not just be a place for Wes Anderson fans to ogle over real-life manifestations of the director’s signature aesthetic. It would also become an online resource where curious people could learn unique information about unassuming locations around the world, such as the Eastern Columbia Building (pictured below), a 13-story art deco landmark widely considered to be Los Angeles’s greatest surviving example of the iconic architectural style.
Today, Instagram users submit photos for consideration alongside details about the location featured (building name, country, etc.), at which point Koval puts his detective hat on, sourcing information from any historical records he can find. Each image posted to the Instagram account includes a detailed caption outlining the background of the particular building, interior, or landscape on display.
Sure, the account’s 457K followers (and counting) might initially be drawn to the page for its elegantly curated grid of aesthetically pleasing places. But what turns an Anderson-esque photo submission into an @accidentallywesanderson feature, Koval says, is the discovery that the location pictured holds more than meets the eye.
“In my opinion, the narrative of each location’s history is just as important—if not more important—than the picture itself,” Koval says. “The background story in each caption is intended to provide the context for which you can further appreciate what you’re looking at.” For example, the beautiful bookstore pictured below, known as Cărturești Carusel, is housed in a 19th-century building in Bucharest, Romania, that was almost destroyed before it was refurbished. If that information were not provided alongside the image featured on Instagram, most of the account’s followers would probably never know the fact, although it adds to the building’s historic significance.
View this post on Instagram
_________________________ Cărturești Carusel | Bucharest, Romania | c. ~1860 • • Cărturești Carusel is a bookstore on Lipscani Street in the Old Town of Bucharest, Romania. Although the building has only housed the bookstore im recent years, the structure has a storied past housing numerous businesses since the mid 19th century • • Now known as Chrissoveloni House, the building was constructed around 1860 and was purchased by well-known banker Nicolas Chrissoveloni in 1903 to house his family’s bank • • During the first few decades of its existence, the Chrissoveloni Bank held its headquarters here until it was confiscated and nationalized during the communist period in the late 1940s. It was replaced by a men’s clothing store, then a department store called Familia • • Coming full circle, Jean Chrissoveloni, a descendant of the banking family reclaimed the last heir of the Chrissoveloni family in 1990. At the end of the decade the building fell into decay, up until a 5 year long rehabilitation, strengthening, and conversion project was completed in 2015 • • The interior now plays out over six levels for a total of 11,000 square feet with each mezzanine wrapping three sides of the building's perimeter. Books line full-height shelving everywhere alongside CDs and DVDs which are still popular in Romania. And the upper-mezzanine is today dedicated to a gallery of rotating exhibitions by local artists • • Know more? Please comment below! • @waqonthewildside @wikipedia + @interiordesignmag @atlasobscura • #AccidentallyWesAnderson #WesAnderson #VscoArchitecture #Vsco #AccidentalWesAnderson #SymmetricalMonsters #Travelmore #Wanderlust #VscoTravel #Bucharest #Romania #CărtureștiCarusel
A post shared by @ accidentallywesanderson on Aug 5, 2018 at 5:30am PDT
For those who travel frequently, the Instagram account can serve as a colorful “lookbook” to inspire a future trip, Koval notes. For those who aren’t often on the road, Koval hopes the page will help foster the realization that you don’t need to go far to see—and learn from—amazing sights.
“Many people wouldn’t sit down and read a dense book on the history of a destination,” Koval says. “But if you put a really cool picture book together with significant facts about the place, people might do more than just learn about the location; they might be inspired to visit it themselves.”
Scroll down for a look at more photos from @accidentallywesanderson.
Pałac Królewski
Wroclaw, Poland
View this post on Instagram
________________________ Royal Palace | Wroclaw, Poland | c. 1717 • • The Royal Palace (Polish: Pałac Królewski; German: Stadtschloss) is a palace in Wrocław, Poland. Originally a palace of the Prussian monarchy, it now houses the city museum • • Initially a Baroque palace of Heinrich Gottfried von Spätgen, the palace was built in 1717 in a Viennese style. It was purchased by the Prussian king Frederick the Great and converted into his residence in 1750 after Prussia took control over Silesia in the First Silesian War • • From 1751 to 1753, the palace was extended in the Baroque style with Rococo interiors designed by the royal architect Johann Boumann with additions including a transverse wing with a festive hall, throne hall and Frederick the Great's private quarters • • Frederick the Great’s successor, his nephew Frederick William II of Prussia remodeled the palace according to the design of Karl Gotthard Langhans between 1795 to 1796 in the classical style. As a result, the wings surrounding the northern courtyard, a new staircase and utility rooms were added • • Other renovations were performed during the middle of the 19th century and in 1918 the palace was donated to the city of Breslau. In September 1926 the Palace Museum was opened, displaying an exposition devoted to Frederick the Great, reconstruction of original interiors, and a collection of Silesian art • • In May 1945 the palace was heavily damaged during the siege of the city at the end of the Second World War. In the 1960s the palace was partially demolished, while the remaining wings were adapted to host the Archeological Museum until 1999 and the Ethnographic Museum until 2004 • • In 2008 a renovation was finished and a new museum was established, presenting 1,000 year history of Wrocław • • Know more? Please comment below! @piotrzemlak • @wikipedia • #AccidentallyWesAnderson #WesAnderson #VscoArchitecture #Vsco #Vscotravel #ArchitectureLovers #Travelgram #TravelMore #SymmetricalMonsters #Wroclaw #Poland #WroclawCityMuseum #FredricktheGreat #RoyalPalace
A post shared by @ accidentallywesanderson on Jul 17, 2018 at 4:46am PDT
Half Dome Village Camp
Yosemite Valley, California
View this post on Instagram
________________________ Half Dome Village | Yosemite Valley, California | c. 1924 • • Half Dome Village, previously ‘Curry Village’, is a camping ground in Mariposa County, California within Yosemite National Park. At an elevation of 4,003 feet (1,220 m), the location occupies a central position in the Yosemite Valley and lies on a talus cone of debris from old rockfalls • • In 1899 David A. Curry and Jenny Etta Foster (later known as ‘Mother Curry’) opened a tented camp site. They advertised "a good bed and clean napkin with every meal" for $2 a day (equivalent to $59 in 2017 dollars) • • It was developed in the early 20th century as a camp concession for tourists to the park and contains numerous rustic wooden cabins, tented cabins, and related amenities. In 1970 the community changed its post office name to Curry Village • • The entire complex is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and in addition to visitor cabins, it includes a store, dining facilities, a lodge and a post office. The camp's structures are rustic wood-framed cabins with hipped roofs, set on stone foundations • • Significant structures include the 1914 entrance sign, the 1904 Old Registration Office, and the 1913 dance hall, now adapted as guest lodgings known as the Stoneman House. Bungalows with en-suite baths were built from 1918 to 1922, and bungalows without plumbing were built during the Great Depression of the 1930s • • In 2016, Curry Village was forced to change its name to Half Dome Village due to a trademark dispute between the National Park Service and a private concessions company, Delaware North • • Know more? Please comment below! @enriquezfg @wikipedia • #AccidentallyWesAnderson #WesAnderson #VscoArchitecture #Vsco #AccidentalWesAnderson #travelmore #Wanderlust #SymmetricalMonsters #Yosemite #YosemiteValley #California #HalfDomeVillage #CurryVillage
A post shared by @ accidentallywesanderson on Aug 21, 2018 at 4:15am PDT
Noorderhoofd
Westkapelle, Netherlands
Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol, England
Húsavík Light
Húsavík, Iceland
American Fireworks Stand
Austin, Texas
Baan Pra Nond Bed-and-Breakfast
Bangkok, Thailand
Grand Island East Channel Light
Munising, Michigan
NANAN Patisserie
Wroclaw, Poland
St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral
Kiev, Ukraine
Jane Hotel
New York City
>>Next: Wes Anderson’s First Curated Exhibit Is Coming to Vienna
