Perhaps even more intimidating than the popular lion’s head knockers, sometimes meant to be a sort of symbolic protection for the home, is this Art Nouveau monitor lizard handle on a door in Paris. Personally, I don’t feel any danger from a lion’s head that is not attached to a body … those teeth need a heart to make the jaw muscles work! But this lizard looks as if it might be about to give you a nasty nip!
The Art Nouveau movement was all about organic forms, stylising nature, and this quite realistic adornment is the perfect complement to the Art Nouveau style architecture surrounding it.

A beautifully integaretd example of the Art Deco era is shown in this home in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, in Belgium.
Colour is a great way to highlight features that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, like the mix of panelling and flat material on the top left window, which is echoed in the lower ones, but in a different expression, as well as the sunburst guard on the balcony, which would have faded into the background if it were left in its natural metal colour.
Even the curtains are placed to accentuate the geometricity and style - much more dedication than I have!

“Wallace, I love the house you’ve found, but where on Earth will Grandma live?”
“Oh, bother! Well, I’ll just stick an extra room or two on the end, eh old girl?”
“Yes, dear.”
You can see that paying homage to the past is not a new phenomenon in this Victorian era photograph, where someone has built an extension onto the main, much older house, but tried to retain some of the original architectural elements, like the vertical brickwork above the windows and doors, as well as roughly the same tiles and bricks … yet the extension to the side is clearly of another time. If only they’d taken a bit more care measuring the height of the original roof before they ordered the bricks, it might have been a smoother transition!

Edwardian architecture is a lot less ornate than the Victorian style which preceded it … You can imagine King Edward coming in after old Vicky, looking around at the country and muttering “Bloody women! There’s crap everywhere! Look at all this trinketry and frou frou! Get rid of it all!” … then he’d sweep his arm over the tabletop of the country’s architecture, wiping off all the irrelevant details and leaving the bones. Although that is not to say that Edwardian architecture was boring - you can see how this house makes use of minimal colouring and decoration, but very precise integration of architectural elements.