Some people should be shot--a F.L. Wright bites the dust.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=14&u=/ap/20041116/ap_on_re_us/wright_home_demolished

 

laziness and greed, disrespect for your elders, etc. etc.
all in the name of homogeny

 

Heard that on the news today. It's the same mentality that bulldozes hundreds of acres of oak trees to put in a subdivision and then name the subdivision "Thousand Oaks" or some thing like that, after the very trees they destroyed to build it.

 

Kinda like cutting up an origional '32 3w that needs to be restrored just because the price of s**** metal is at an all time high. Give me a break, when an origional anything is gone it's gone forever, a reproduction just isn't the same.

Frank

 

My aunt and uncle have a Wright house. Man is that thing cool... I can't believe ANYBODY would tear one down, no matter how rough it was!

 

The same thing happened to my grandfathers house that HE built. I had a hard time with that...but the new owners can do whatever the hell they want with it.

Its just a house.

-Jason

 

I bet a Walmart would fit nice right there, 'course a few more houses will have to come down for the parking lot....

 

Did you even read the article?

A Wright expert himself said it was an insignificant house and deserved to be torn down.

You guys all condemn so quickly, when some of you are the same guys who would take a torch to the first virgin Model A you could find.

Get ALL the facts before you call other people names. And don't act too holier than thou.

(I personnally am restoring the oldest building in my county)

 

From what I heard it wasn't really his design, just his sig on the prints.

Some may ask how this would relate to traditional rods and customs. I think ol' FL's style translates perfectly in architecture what we all love automotively. Those 30's and 40's Deco styling cues.

 

Gee, two of the factors that **** in West Michigan conspire to tear down a little more of some of what makes the west side cool. Not suprising, I guess. Stupid Kent County and FIBs!

 

Even a self-proclaimed expert and Wright enthusiast thought it was a POS.



(William Allin Storrer, adjunct professor of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin and author of "The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion" and "The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Complete Catalog," was even more blunt in his ***essment.

"The building deserved to be torn down, and crying over its destruction brings to mind the story of the shepherd boy who cried 'wolf' once too often," Storrer said. "We must preserve that of Wright which truly represents his organic architectural principles, and the W.S. Carr house did not even when built, though it had the master's signature on the plan." )

'nuff said

 

Step 1. Produce an "expert" to absolve you from any blame.

I don't care if it was Frank Lloyd Wright or Frank Robinson, the feeling of walking into an old house is the same feeling you get when you drive an old car.

What if Boyd Coddington (who some might consider a "car expert") said it was alright to crush all the remaining Model A's because Fibergl*** is the wave of the future and it is lighter and it won't rust, and you can't get tet**** from it, etc....?
These street rodders call OUR cars junk every day.

 

[ QUOTE ]
I bet a Walmart would fit nice right there, 'course a few more houses will have to come down for the parking lot....

[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinking something similar...
I was thinking about the old excuse "If you wanted to preserve it YOU should have bought it," and that works as long as the local government/gang doesn't decide to "Eminent Domain" it and steal it out from under you for another Wallmart.

Long Beach is a ****ing doomed city. the ****ing City Council let Wallmart build THREE stores in this city

On the other hand, every artist produces some bloopers and therefore not every "sketch" found under their drawing board needs to be or should be kept.
The house in the picture doesn't look like one of his "landmark" designs to me, but then it might be bad additions or just a "the back of the house" shot.

 

I have a different take on this, I guess. To me, it's more like someone telling me that, having bought a ridiculously ugly and thouroughly trashed old car, that I have to put it back just like it was when new, even though that wasn't why I bought it. I bought it to cut it up, put it back together differently, in a manner of my choosing, rather than restore it to its previously ugly self. How many people would be in this life if they had to "restore" everything back to original? Just because someone somewhere might some day want to fix something like this house, and even if they had the resources to do it without government ***istance, should the person who wants it wait for all this to transpire? Hell, no! I guess, in some ways, I can understand this reaction to a supposed piece of history being demolished, but it had been changed, abandoned, and left to rot. Where were all these goodie-two-shoes while this was happening? They didn't care enough to save it, because it was a POS, and only cried after it was gone, so they could look like true devotees of "the master". They sure as hell didn't come up with the coin to buy & "restore" it to original.

 

yea I live in Thousand Oaks, I had a kid ask me the other day, "Why do they call it Thousand Oaks?" I use to be able to reply, "Because of all the tree's" but I went to say it, looked around, and I couldn't find a good reason either.

 

2 John Lautner houses for sale in the Hollywood Hills right now. Anyone got a million bucks I can borrow? Even though it would only get me one of them.

 

I dont think a walmart will fit there, unless Mr. Wright comes back to life and designs it so it sits on pods above the water...

-Jason

 

I live in Hot Springs Arkansas, the first land in America put aside as a National preserve. Besides this distinction it was the playground of the rich and famous during the 1800s, neutral playground of gangsters during the late 1800s thru the middle 1900s hosting almost every outlaw from the James Gang to Al Capone. It was also the countries largest gambling town before Vegas was built. This town was wall to wall with historical buildings and landmarks until around 1965 or so. About that time "the powers that be" began a wholesale remodling campaign to erase all evidence of our "seedy past" and promote an atmosphere of "Genteel Southern Elegance". Developers tore down all the cool old buildings and put up brick boxes with repro gas lamps out front, tore down all the art deco and "theme" motels on the surrounding hi-ways and forced almost all of the tourist attractions and private mineral water businesses to go under. They effectively destroyed the "soul" of the whole town and replaced it with a false front version of what they felt was "politicly correct". If they (a small handfull of local money people) didn't own it or control it, it was destroyed through zoning changes, code enforcment corruption or any other means open to them. It's a cl***ic case of The Golden Rule. "Them with the gold, makes the rules"

 

Even if it was a poor example, I do beleive every example of a great artist's should be kept. After all, who is supposed to judge what to keep and what to throw away. Besides, a lot of great house have been updated and ugliness "fixed" by finding an architect who is sympathetic to the original. Tearing it down is not like cutting up an old car, it's more like cutting up a Barris original. Isn't there another spot of land they could have bought? This happens way to much and usually the permiting is done a little under the radar. Probably another styrofoam and stucco mcmansion coming soon. I'd rather have a "****py" Wright.

 

It ain't nothin' but a thing and in many eyes no different than making a hot rod out of a cl***ic. There are bigger issues to bother me.

 

Another mans junk can still be another mans junk. Besides were not talking about a 32 ford here. I built a house all by myself a couple of years ago. Was it a miracle yes but do I care if it gets tore down no. Everything in this world can be and will be replaced. Except maybe a sweet all steel 32 Roadster.

 

Once destroyed, it's gone....forever. 'Expert' doe's not mean one has to agree. Condemn? No, but a couple of sinker's ducted tape to some old Hot Wheel track come's to mind!! Hey Dr.J, 3 Wally's? They are now ****** acre's of rich farm land right now, to build a Super Wally in this 'no where' town of 5,000. AR based Rockefeller's : Wal-Mart,Tyson Food's.

 

[ QUOTE ]
Gee, two of the factors that **** in West Michigan conspire to tear down a little more of some of what makes the west side cool. Not suprising, I guess. Stupid Kent County and FIBs!

[/ QUOTE ]

Dave, what does Kent County and FIB (whatever that is) have to do with tearing down a place 2 mi from the Indiana border?

 

Whatever credentials the house had, whatever condition it was in, whatever the intelligensia thought of it, I guarantee you that the McMansion that will replace it will be totally without character and value.

 

While I am a huge Frank Lloyd Wright and mission/arts & crafts style fan - This has to do with the Hamb and Hot Rods how?

Maybe its a sign of lost times or just plain stupidity but lets get back to rods and customs!

 

They just customized it. Or are working on a frame up restoration.

 

While I also hate to see this happen, I must say that many of his buildings were poorly built and consistently sacrificed function and structural integrity for form. The Johnson wax building leaked like sieve every time it rained and he figured they should just live with it for the privilage of having one of his designs. Many of those smaller homes were poorly laid out with little or no storage, like closets. I wonder why some outraged preservationist didn't mave it off the property and restore it. It sure would have been an good opportunity to have a FLW home for cheap.

 

this **** happens all the time... my folks sold their old place. It was 6 acres on clear creek south of houston. The house was a wooden and gl*** version of a Mies Van der Rohe home called the Farnsworth house. Granted it was a copy - but it was a stunning home with a truely unique lifestyle attached to living in it. You really felt like you went to sleep and woke up in the trees. The ****heads that bought the place from my folks paid too much for the house then leveled it and built a two story 5 thousand square foot cookie cutter POS! right on the creek.... Thank god for category 4 hurricaines.... i'm praying for a little cleaning action south of Houston

pic's of the original

 

It's not like he BUILT IT, as in drove any nails, he only drew the plans. You could take the same plans and build the same house. Wouldn't that be the same, in essence. Now if the plans got destroyed that would be different, they are the direct result of the 'artist', same as a painting.

Only my two cents.

-slacker

 

no - it's not the same - can you get the feel of a model A hotrod by looking at a 2 dimensional blueprint? can you communicate to your kids how great it feels driving one?...does that stir your soul?... nope!