Paul Rudolph House Saved, Sort Of
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.30.07
We have written before about how Paul Rudolph houses and buildings are dropping like flies; here is one that will be saved. Two New York designers have bought the 3.900 square foot clapboard house and are moving it 200 miles to Catskill, NY.
Moving houses around isn't very desirable; they lose the context that they were designed for. Robert Stern says “It’s a nightmare; it’s become like a disease,” Preservation and renovation is the greenest way to build, reusing and recycling rather than demolishing and replacing. In the New York Times the owners say they wanted to keep it but "it wasn’t an easy house to maintain. The flat roof leaked. It was almost impossible to find replacement parts for the quirky sink fixtures. There was no separate dining room." Life is tough without a separate dining room.
New owners Daniel Sachs and Kevin Lindores thought that it could just be split down the middle and moved, but "In typical Rudolph style, the simple outside belies a complicated inside. The joists appear to be running one way, but actually run the other way. The center of the roof pops up, so it must be removed and transported separately. The foundation beams are intricate. And the house was three inches too wide to fit on the trucks, so they’re taking three inches out of the center. Still, Mr. Sachs said that none of these complications gave him pause. “It’s a great house,” he said, “a simple, understated house.” ::New York Times via ::Architechnophilia (read the comments)
"Life is tough without a separate dining room."
Don't get all snarky on the prior owners - if your living space doesn't meet your needs, you should be able to change it so that it does. That's why traditional building methods are so popular... have a new baby, add a new bedroom, etc.
Give the prior owners some credit, they did live with the problems and try to work with them. If I lived in a house I couldn't repair and couldn't adapt to my needs I'd get rid of it, too.