There is something romantic about the idea of a holdout, a David to the big developer's Goliath, a protagonist for whom home matters more than money, a solitary survivor. In the Pixar movie "Up," the holdout is the hero. In the real-life Seattle version of the story that reportedly inspired the film's premise, an elderly woman who refused to sell her home became — along with her home itself — a city icon. — washingtonpost.com
In practice, though, modern cities grow out of older ones in large part through the unglamorous process of parcel assembly — of fitting together the once-smaller pieces of the city, "Tetris"-like. And while the result often produces fantastically bizarre neighbors, cities can't evolve if every property owner is such a hero.
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9 Comments
Anybody old enough to remember the house in front of Pelli's Blue Whale aka Pacific Design Center?
I am almost sure citizen would. Btw, I can't find any pictures of it on the web and I would appreciate if anyone posts it here, if they have it that is.
Is that a crack about my age, Orhan? LOL
Ask and ye shall receive...
This property owner held fast for a couple of decades. A thick stand of trees [not in these photos] hid it for a long time, and blended in with other landscaping along the street.. It was located about midway along the front facade. Below is a recent view-- holdout buildings gone, plaza completed.
I found another image showing the early heavy planting (at far right) done to screen the view of the holdout buildings.
thank you citizen. no it wasn't ;) but i am sure you were also aware how many rusted frame steel buildings stayed idle for years on wilshire blvd's billionaire condo row around westwood.
there is a mosque in bursa, turkey, ulu cami-the grand mosque, built by sultan bayezid I in 1399. inside, there is a water fountain that was added later because even she was offered a better home, an old christian woman didn't want to give up her home when they decided to build the mosque. so, they built the mosque around her house and after she died, they removed her home and built the fountain. water to her story. it is the only mosque in the world with a fountain inside.
I'd like to see that photo!
i assume you are talking about westwood condos. i can't find the rusted frames. la times archives have one but i don't have it. back to library. sometimes companies clean internet from any unfavorable photos. those condominiums are selling more than few million dollars a unit and many people don't know they have just sat there rusting for few years nearly 40 years ago.
No, I'm talking (half-kidding) about the house on the mosque site. What a sight that must've been!
that would have been a nice 14th century photo/drawing. but the story has lasted all these times. i'll keep searching if anyone has done a drawing (modern or historical) depicting it.
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