The Glass House, an austere glass-and-concrete confection in New Canaan, Conn., that Philip Johnson called his “little jewel box,” faces the prospect of demolition. NYT
I would love to live in a small modern gem. The house sounds very appealing.
But here's the real frustration of the current scenario: Ms. Ross is trying to exploit the appeal of this unique property by inflating the price tag. She's doubled the price in a relatively sort time frame. It's not that there isn't necessarily buyers...there just aren't many suckers amongst the crowd of modernist aficionados (not surprisingly either since we've had to swim upstream to gain nearly every cent we have).
Her inflated price tag conveniently leaves an out for demolition since, obviously, there are no buyers and clearly no one else values this building as much as she does. Shame on you Ms. Ross.
This is perhaps my favorite and also the most telling quote...
"The fact that such an architectural trophy has gone unbought for a year speaks less about any ambivalence for modernism, or even a softness in local property values, than about the domestic expectations of the superprivileged. 'No one builds with less than five bedrooms now,' said Prudy Parris, Ms. Ross’s real estate agent. 'People with no kids or one kid want five bedrooms'."
poor rich white lady... look how far our housing woes reach! seriously it's really no glass house, and not everything johnson did is worth saving. it would be nice if someone who appreciated it lived there, but no one should go out of their way to buy this woman off. this is essentially extortion in the guise of a nytimes architectural piece.
You would catch me anywhere close to living in a house like this and I wouldnt want to try.
As for hinting that I have something to hide, well not so much that, but I do have a deep sense of privacy, something that people fought wars over in the past.
Now people are more than happy living in glass houses and posting all personal information on facebook.
Believe me this carelessness about privacy will come back to haunt many.
vado's right, the glass house is surrounded by a rather large estate. one of the most underrated aspects of philip johnson was his talent for landscaping and his glass house certainly played to that.
but having said that, why is the glass house pictured above? it's clearly not the alice ball house that the nytimes is referring to in their arcticle?
if they posted a picture of the other house under question, no one would give a crap because most of us i assume would not even recognize it (or care) now that philip johnson's power in architecture is dissipating faster than the memory of him.
is accelerated forgetting really a common phenomenon of digital age as koolhaas described (archiving) 'as a hedge against the systematic forgetting that hides at the core of the information age'? I am curious if our categorial background is affected by computers while urban fabric does seem to affect memories. it's not a criticism particularly on the fast developments that have been going on in china since locals in a lot of big cities in asia have experienced such changes in environments. but i watched 'manufactured landscapes', and in one scene, an old woman is sitting on the stairs knitting in a perpetual shock without life's memories after the familiar settings have completely mutated in such a short period of time. that image sort of got stuck to my head although in most cases, i am oblivious.
May 28, 08 4:33 pm ·
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If Ms. Ross does decide to take down the Ball house, she has plans for demolition day. “I don’t want to be here,” she said"
So stupid ignorant hicks don't only live in Indiana, they can also be found in new Canaan, Connecticut!
I would love to live in a small modern gem. The house sounds very appealing.
But here's the real frustration of the current scenario: Ms. Ross is trying to exploit the appeal of this unique property by inflating the price tag. She's doubled the price in a relatively sort time frame. It's not that there isn't necessarily buyers...there just aren't many suckers amongst the crowd of modernist aficionados (not surprisingly either since we've had to swim upstream to gain nearly every cent we have).
Her inflated price tag conveniently leaves an out for demolition since, obviously, there are no buyers and clearly no one else values this building as much as she does. Shame on you Ms. Ross.
Ms. Ross, an architect my ass.
This is perhaps my favorite and also the most telling quote...
"The fact that such an architectural trophy has gone unbought for a year speaks less about any ambivalence for modernism, or even a softness in local property values, than about the domestic expectations of the superprivileged. 'No one builds with less than five bedrooms now,' said Prudy Parris, Ms. Ross’s real estate agent. 'People with no kids or one kid want five bedrooms'."
it isn't the Glass House that is threatened with demo, its the Alice Ball House. posting the Glass House picture in the news item is a bit misleading.
Someone abouve said they would love to live in the glass house????
Believe me these houses are not for living in.
- Bob Marley
lol... I did not post the picture with the news item...just felt like clarifying ^_^
Have you tried, zoolander?
Not everyone has something to hide.
poor rich white lady... look how far our housing woes reach! seriously it's really no glass house, and not everything johnson did is worth saving. it would be nice if someone who appreciated it lived there, but no one should go out of their way to buy this woman off. this is essentially extortion in the guise of a nytimes architectural piece.
I'd like to alter that sentence to read:
The Alice Ball House’s owner, a real estate investor, Cristina Ross...
LB,
You would catch me anywhere close to living in a house like this and I wouldnt want to try.
As for hinting that I have something to hide, well not so much that, but I do have a deep sense of privacy, something that people fought wars over in the past.
Now people are more than happy living in glass houses and posting all personal information on facebook.
Believe me this carelessness about privacy will come back to haunt many.
Zoolander
well you must consider that the house is on an estate and therefore quite private...
vado's right, the glass house is surrounded by a rather large estate. one of the most underrated aspects of philip johnson was his talent for landscaping and his glass house certainly played to that.
but having said that, why is the glass house pictured above? it's clearly not the alice ball house that the nytimes is referring to in their arcticle?
if they posted a picture of the other house under question, no one would give a crap because most of us i assume would not even recognize it (or care) now that philip johnson's power in architecture is dissipating faster than the memory of him.
is accelerated forgetting really a common phenomenon of digital age as koolhaas described (archiving) 'as a hedge against the systematic forgetting that hides at the core of the information age'? I am curious if our categorial background is affected by computers while urban fabric does seem to affect memories. it's not a criticism particularly on the fast developments that have been going on in china since locals in a lot of big cities in asia have experienced such changes in environments. but i watched 'manufactured landscapes', and in one scene, an old woman is sitting on the stairs knitting in a perpetual shock without life's memories after the familiar settings have completely mutated in such a short period of time. that image sort of got stuck to my head although in most cases, i am oblivious.
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