RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

That was one problem. Another problem was that it wasn't engineered very 
well. I take your point about maintenance, but if you saw the pictures 
of the state it was in . . . . the roof had come completely delaminated 
  & was literally falling to pieces.

In any case, had it been a true joy to live in, it wouldn't have sat 
vacant to begin with.

Don't get me wrong -- I love insane 20th-century architecture -- I've 
tromped all over the country looking at it, including some amazing 
Wright houses that are literally falling apart (got in to see the Ennis 
house last year just before it was closed due to being unsafe to visit).

But the ones that have sat vacant & are falling apart are by-and-large 
the victims of architects who didn't know or didn't care about 
engineering. Or, to be more charitable, of people whose ideas were ahead 
of the technology's ability to execute them.

Or the victims of clients who couldn't afford to do it right, and so did 
it on the cheap. Or some combination of all of those factors.

xo

Ross

p.s. going to see the Farnsworth house next year, hopefully. Fucking 
gorgeous, and a royal pain to live in, even when it's *not* 3 feet 
underwater.

Bo Williams wrote:
> Yes, but someone was living in (and maintaining) your house since
> 1962. The problem with the Catalano house is that it was empty and not
> maintained (or maintained poorly) for quite a long time.
>
> On 10/11/05, John Iwaniszek <Not AT hotmail.com> wrote:
> > grady AT ibiblio.org (grady) wrote in 434C1921.1000406 AT ibiblio.org:">news:434C1921.1000406 AT ibiblio.org:
> >
> > > John I wrote:
> > > > Chris Calloway wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > help. what was the name of the modernist house in
> > > > > raleigh that was abandoned and falling down? it may
> > > > > have already been demolished. it was on a wooded lot
> > > > > and the roof had caved in. i think it was designed by
> > > > > some ncsu designo in the 40s or 50s, maybe that polish
> > > > > guy who designed dorton arena? there was a really nice
> > > > > website devoted to finding a preservationist for the
> > > > > house.
> > > > >
> > > > > there's a matsumoto house in chapel hill off country
> > > > > club that's practically ready to fall over.
> > > > >
> > > > > 3
> > > > >
> > > > > -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> > > > > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
> > > > It's the Catalano House (no longer) located on Catalano Drive off of
> > > > Ridge Road.
> > > >
> > > > http://www.jetsetmodern.com/catalano.htm
> > > > -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> > > > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
> > > Preservation NC would want to know about any opportunities to preserve
> > > more 50s-era NC Design School houses, since they're feeling kinda
> > > shitty about the demise of the Catalano house: http://www.presnc.org/
> > >
> > > Did you see the article in Dwell about the moving of the Raleigh
> > > Matsumoto house to Bahama?
> > >
> > > (not online, annoyingly)
> > >
> > > & actually, you should snap some photos of the one in Chapel Hill &
> > > email them to Dwell.  http://www.dwellmag.com
> > >
> > > Or contact Nathan Wieler -- He'd probably be interested:
> > >
> > > http://www.wieler.com/
> > >
> > > (He's the owner (unless he's managed to sell it already - I heard it
> > > was on the market) of the first Dwell Home, out near Pittsboro. He's
> > > now in business selling similarly-modernist prefab homes.)
> > >
> > > Ross
> >
> > The problem I have with this whole thing is that if these houses served
> > their function, then they would not be decaying or fallen to disrepair.
> > My house is vintage 1962 single-family-detached and it is highly
> > livable, in good repair, and appreciating in value.
> >
> > I get that the Catalano house, et al. are objets d'arte, but why didn't
> > they survive as houses?  Wouldn't Bucky sigh and concede that form
> > somehow didn't serve function in these ephemeral dwellings?
> >
> >
> >
> > -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene