Thats cool Mike..My wife and I are members of a few similar groups in palm springs and the John Lautner foundation around here. You have to really stand up if you care at all about these houses or some jackass comes along and rips down a piece of history....For me house built in the 50's and 60's are the coolest. All the designs in that time came from the space race. all atomic inspired....I dig your house...Lucky
Ours is an 1880 "yankee" ( built frugelly) farm house that was moved from around the corner to the current location probably about the time of the first world war. It was a great find for us as the previous two owners ( an 80 year span) did little to mess it up by poor remodeling or updating. We have done a lot of work in the past eight years (resulting in little work on my modified roadster project) to the interior which we've updated, yet restoring it in keeping with it's era. It has a small 2 car detached garage with a second story. Right now there is no room for either of the old cars in there.
These pads are something else!! How did you start? I'm paying rent for 6fitty a month, and the bank laughs in my face when I apply for a home loan
Man very KOOL houses guys... Larry-man you need to charge admission....I'd pay to get the tour. Mike-Swank man!...i dig that alot.
Does anyone know of any message boards for old houses that are HAMB-like? I always seem to have a few questions as I am tackling remodel projects, and sometimes could use some ideas or answers. Jalopy Journal Jockey Journal J_____ Journal????
Actually, you probably don't. I'm probably gonna piss off a lot of people when I say this, but FLLW houses are art first and homes second. They're not comfortable at all. I spent three months as caretaker of a Usonian Automatic and by the time I was done, I was about ready to buy the place, level it and put up a McMansion just to spite the dude. Actually, more like to spite the crazy ass bitch that owned it. It could have been a nice house, but she spent money on stupid things first (full on Kohler bathrooms with whirlpool tubs) and left out the real basic stuff like weatherstripping and making the idiotic flat roof waterproof. It could have been a cool house, but even in 1946 when it was built, I'd have rather had something older and more practical. What good are two fireplaces when the chimneys are too short to draw and the house fills with smoke?
My place is not Wright, or even close. But I do have some books about him, and I hope to emulate some of his woodwork for interiors. It is a new house my wife and I designed. But a lot is old....the flooring is longleaf pine imported upriver from New Orleans in the 1880's. It was recycle from another, older building. It has mill marks indicating it was milled between c.1820-1860. This type wood was used as the keel for Old Ironsides. It was typically harvested at the age of 200-400 years old back then, and up to 500 year old trees were not unheard of. This was researched by the University of Arkansas, who is currently trying to date it by tree growth rings. Anyway, the trees were growing somewhere between about 340 to 680 years ago. That would be between AD 1335 to AD 1665. We like wood with character, and are using longleaf pine, ancient fir, walnut, cherry, pecan, oak of three kinds, one of which was thought extinct, (we didn't know that! Developers in Ark. cut it down in an old cemetary.), hickory, cedar, curly and plain maple, ash, etc. When it is too interesting for most folks, we start likeing it! It has a 3 car garage upstairs and a full drive in basement. Room to play!
We just bought our house this summer. It was built in 1929 on a logging camp and then remodeled in the 50's. The original 50's kitchen is still here with metal sink and cabinets. (it is sea foam green, not blue like in the pictures). Supposedly it is haunted...and I wouldnt doubt it. We are kind of in the middle of nowhere...right accross the street from a beautiul lake.
I can definitely handle emulating Wright. A lot of hardcore Wrightians hate the new Talliesin designs because they're not "pure" but actually liveable interpretations of prarie school for modern buyers. I find a lot of Prarie aspects pleasing, woodwork in particular, but I don't think they were putting enough thought into the function of what they were building back then. Plus, like I said, the house's actual owner sort of soured me on Wright people entirely.
we just closed today on our first hous. in the north encanto historic district, a 1,220 square foot block house built in 1941 I get the keys tomorrow, and will have more pictures!
Me and my girl bought this a month or so ago, but we don't get to move in until February....gonna be a looonng summer! It was built in 1941 and we'll be the 3rd "family" in there. The front is brick, so it's literally a facade..the rest is weatherboard. It's got great ceilings too, which are my favourite parts of the house. Garage is out the back (which I'll be ripping down to build bigger) and has duel street frontage. The whole street has houses like this.........very cool!
I do a bit of AM on 160 thru 40 with a Viking 1 and a big bottle linear. A 75A4 or R390A do receiving duty Also run a Clegg Zeus on 6M AM, 110 W out plate modulated. Use the matching Interceptor rx. Most of the time Im chasing DX on CW and some SSB. QRV from 160 thru 10GHz Carl KM1H
That is beautiful Me and wife are hoping to find a older traditional home. I would rather have a home with charector than some o fthe new modern cookie cutter 'burb homes. but we may have to start with something like that.
Kool posts.. Here is mine built in 1900, paid 30k, not bad start for a 20 year old huh?? here is my moms built in the late 1800s, the addition on the left built in 1900
It still needs alot of work, it was repoed and i got it from the bank..No sinks,bathtub, a/c untit. They took all that. I still got a REALLY good deal on it. My moms yellow house, she paid 15k fer it aound 1995... Of course she has around 80-100k in it now. And it still really isn't done. She just moved and I am currently living in her house when I am home, But I think my sister is gonna buy it off her. I hope so I love that old house. It was empty for 20+ years before we got it. I just love old houses.
Kind of OT, but kind of not. These houses you guys are showing absolutely kick ass. I love old houses as much as I love old cars. Both have a style about them that just cannot be duplicated today, IMHO. That being said, I truly envy you guys who are brave enough to live in one. To word it MILDLY, old houses scare the living shit out of me. I have seen a ghost face to face and have also been present in my uncle's 1892 farmhouse when things like a grandfather clock weight lifted itself off the chain and hook and crashed through the bottom floor of the clock. The room was still, neither opposing hook was bent, and the clock door was shut. It was reinstalled and has been hangin there without incident for almost a year. Running water faucets turn themselves off when you turn around, and light switches do the same. The dog frequently goes mouth frothing apeshit at "nothing". I hate going there, I refuse to be alone in any single ROOM when I'm there, and I even pee outside. I've even gone home in my socks when the ground was wet because nobody would get my shoes for me from the opposite end of the house and they all thought it was funny. I'm 6'2 and 240 and there is no shame in my game about being a sissy bitch scaredy cat about the subject. Hopefully I can overcome it someday, but I'm not too optimistic. So anyways... all you old house guys - confess here and now - how many of you know that you're not alone in your vintage house, even when you're the only one there - if you know what I mean?
Wrong-oh. I'm clean and sober and wasn't alone. The room was full of people - and we were all just sitting there eating dinner. No shrooms man. Not that day - not ever.
That is funny that you say that...I have a funny story. From the day we moved in, we were told the house is haunted. Neither one of us felt anything weird so we just kind of forgot about it. A few weeks ago Jonah got really sick so I made a bed for us in the living room. He was sleeping facing the bathroom and I was behind him. So about 3:30 am rolls around and Jonah kind of wakes up and sees me walk into the bathroom and shut the door. I never get up in the middle of the night so Jonah says my name to make sure I am alright. I hear him and go "Yeah?" But this is where it gets kind of creepy. I was laying behind him in bed- not in the bathroom. All of a sudden he pops out of bed and looks at me like he is crazy...well anyhow...it was a weird night. And we havent slept in the living room since. WOoooooohhhhhh..... But I would never give up my old house. I dont think my ghosts are bad ones anyway...they just have weak bladders...
We have had a few ghost experiences in our house, nothing too major but something. You'll hear footsteps, come home and the TV is on, and once we woke up and found a candle lit in the middle of the room. When I was real little I saw someone standing next to pop's GT350, looking into the engine well, then disapearing. I guess you should expect that for a somewhat vintage house (1727). -Dean
My house isn't "vintage" but it's full of vintage decor and mostly mid-century or 40's decor. I haven't taken and pics recently, but here's a shot of my dining room with "traditional" Christmas tree!
I like your Franciscan salt and pepper shakers. We have a china hutch very similar to that. Gotta love Mid Century!
OT.. I realize.. Anyone want to come over and spend the night with my ghosts at my B and B ?? My wife asked me to take some pictures of the decorations for Christmas open house. These were taken all within a 2 minute period. It was as clear an evening as youd want. And no I wasnt smoking The first pic I took indicates the clarity of the evening. I did not see any of this when taking the shots. It was noticed when I downloaded them. Say what you want. I don't have a good explanation for this. Yes, I too have a few stories that are unexplainable.
Easy for me to explain. I do a bunch of drag race photography. When the wind is just right, burnout smoke will look like it has dissapted, but some remains will hang in the air and you can't see it. But when I pop a flash, the stuff fogs up my pictures like you can't believe. That same thing could happen with a very light foggy mist that rose up out of the bushes or blew in from somewhere. You couldn't see it, but when the flash lit it up, it was plain as day. It could even be coming from your steamy self if it was cold enough.
We like it, but I gotta say my friend Joe Kunkel owns the flat-out coolest house I have ever seen -- a 1956 Ed Dart Palm Springs modern in Olympia Fields IL. These photos don't do it justice; it's probably 5-6000 sq ft, stone and glass, with 6 ft eaves. Also filled with incredible vintage Eames, Panton, etc furniture. More pics here: http://www.chicagobauhausbeyond.org/holiday2004.htm http://www.jetsetmodern.com/dart.htm Joe is president of the architecture group I belong to (Chicago Bauhaus & Beyond) and real estate agent who specializes in Midcentury modern properties. Here are his listings... http://www.jetsetmodern.com/realestatelistings.htm Sample pic of one...
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