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Some of what went wrong that night has been reported in the French news media, including Le Monde and Le Canard Enchaîné. Now, The New York Times conducted scores of interviews and reviewed hundreds of documents to reconstruct the missteps—and the battle that saved Notre-Dame in the first four critical hours after the blaze began.
What became clear is just how close the cathedral came to collapsing.
— The New York Times
A stunning visual report from The New York Times lays out a chain of events chronicling the heart-wrenching battle to save Notre-Dame cathedral as it burned uncontrollably on April 15, 2019. The article points to several key lapses in the design of the cathedral's fire safety systems... View full entry
It can be difficult to picture what ancient architecture would have looked back when it was first erected. Reconstructions by NeoMam and Thisisrender help you visualize what these ancient ruins looked like at the height of their glory. Take a look back in time and watch these historical... View full entry
Richard Herber, owner of the [Frank Lloyd Wright-designed] home at 3901 N. Washington Road, said he wanted the [historic] distinction pulled because he wanted to sell the house for the best price.
Getting the property off the historic list was the only way to “cast a wider net to the widest number of people,” he said. [...]
Not everybody is a candidate for buying a home that’s historic, ... but those who are know exactly what they’re doing.
— journalgazette.net
More on the sticky business of historic preservation:The Seagram Building after the Four Seasons: maintaining a costly landmarkFrom Minnesota to Pennsylvania: moving a Frank Lloyd House halfway across the countryRIP: Bruce Goff's Bavinger House demolishedNo guarantees for historic residential... View full entry
The question still holds: What does the future entail for Philip Johnson's New York State Pavilion? Following the 1964-65 World's Fair, the elliptical “Tent of Tomorrow” lived shortly as a concert venue and a roller-skating rink before it eventually slipped into abandonment. But, the aging... View full entry
...it's tempting to turn cartwheels over the Chicago City Council's vote to grant permanent landmark status to Marina City, the city within a city best known for its iconic corncob-shaped towers.
Marina City was a landmark building that lacked official landmark status and was therefore vulnerable — if not to demolition, then to insensitive additions that chipped away at the sculpted beauty of its curving concrete.
— Chicago Tribune
Since the process began last July, Chicago City Council unanimously voted 48-0 (with the absence of two aldermen) to designate Bertrand Goldberg's midcentury icon as a historic city landmark as of Wednesday, according to Loop North News."Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, deserves credit for championing... View full entry
'Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland,'...Throughout the city, you now encounter the recurring colour schemes of salmon and teal, or pink and baby blue...These new spaces look like they have been assembled from crisp, unreal planes of colour and exude an anaesthetising aesthetic, candy-coloured decoys that distract from a reality of mass poverty across the country. — The Guardian
More on Archinect:This Wes Anderson-designed bar is retro with a capital RBuilding Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" out of 50,000 LegosChristopher Hawthorne reflects on the spatial design in "Citizenfour" and other Oscar nomineesArtist Charles Young crafts mini paper metropolis on the daily View full entry
The United States Embassy in Grosvenor Square, a Modernist concrete building in the heart of Mayfair, London’s most exclusive neighborhood, has been a potential terrorist target for years, creating anxiety for both employees and neighbors...So a new embassy [by KieranTimberlake] is under construction for a move by 2017, and the residents of Mayfair are relieved. But this being Britain, the new embassy has become the object of debate and, in some quarters, ridicule. — The New York Times
Related:KieranTimberlake’s U.S. Embassy in London celebrates groundbreaking View full entry
The Frank Gehry-designed Winton Guest House will embark on another lengthy roadtrip, moving roughly 1,200 miles from its current location in Owatonna, Minnesota to its new home in New York's Hudson River Valley. The geometric house sold for $750,000 at the Wright auction house in Chicago on... View full entry
[The Stahl House] may be more famous for its breathtaking view of the Sunset Strip, its immaculate midcentury design, and its oft-photographed pool, which is perched on the edge of a cliff, but I love it for another reason, too: It’s living history. [...] The city around the Stahl House has changed, but the house itself has not. — Alison Martino — Los Angeles Magazine
Writer Alison Martino interviews Bruce and Shari, two of Clarence and Carlotta Stahl's three kids, on their experiences growing up in The Stahl House a.k.a. Case Study House #22. View full entry
[JetBlue Airways] reportedly wants to get into the hotel business by partnering with New York-based hotel developer MCR Development to turn the landmarked terminal into a 500-room hotel. The deal isn't final—the parties are in 'advanced negotiations'—so things could still fall apart...The Port Authority previously chose hotelier Andre Balazs as the developer, but Balazs backed out after realizing how long the project would take. He told the [WSJ] his company had 'more interesting opportunities.' — ny.curbed.com
Previously: Hotelier Andre Balazs to convert JFK’s historic TWA terminal into a hotel and conference center View full entry
Top Turkish government officials, nearly 100 international dignitaries, and 500 members of the Turkish Jewish community took part in a ceremony commemorating the re-opening of the Great Synagogue of Edirne today after a five-year restoration. The synagogue is claimed to be the largest synagogue in... View full entry
Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House was recently announced to be up for auction on May 19 in Chicago. Designed for Mike and Penny Winton during the '80s in Lake Minnetonka, MN, the Guest House helped propel Gehry into international stardom in the '90s. Currently, the University of St. Thomas owns the... View full entry
When it was unveiled in New York City in April 1931, the starkly modern Aluminaire House was an overnight sensation that emboldened an architectural movement. Designed as a case study by architects A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey, the three-story house, which was built in 10 days, became the first all-metal prefabricated house in the U.S. — Palm Springs Life
After Sunnyside Gardens was a no-go, it looks like the Aluminaire House will be heading to sunny Palm Springs, California, according to an announcement by Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet during a fundraising event at Palm Springs Modernism Week last month. The Aluminaire House Foundation plans on... View full entry
Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House must be sold! Completed in 1987 for Mike and Penny Winton, the Winton Guest House in Owatonna, Minnesota is one of Gehry's few residential projects that contributed to his rising fame during the 1990s. According to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul -- the... View full entry
In the heart of Hollywood's Barnsdall Park, Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House will officially reopen on February 13, as recently announced by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, and the Barnsdall Park Art Foundation. This isn't the first time the iconic house has been... View full entry
