Timpe, Jim wrote:
> AG (corn and beans) Schnozz said
>
Yeah, we had Mexican food last night, too.
> No kidding. You don't have to go far in your neighborhood, Moose, to see
> abominations from some archetect that must have been totally stoned at the
> time the place was designed. Of course, these things are structurally
> unsound or built out of pressboard too.
>
I didn't understand this the first time. I decided AG had a burr under
his saddle and/or that I couldn't see the smiley face(s)
Now that it's been resurrected ... There are a few unusual houses in my
neighborhood. A few designed by Bernard "Stoner" Maybeck, including one
he designed and built for his own family. Most of his commissions were
both architecturally interesting and quite livable. His own is an odd
house, looks like it grew without much thought. Amazing gardens, though.
The first house up on this part of the Berkeley hills hill was the Hulme
Cloister, a reproduction in concrete of a nunnery in Europe, complete
with - you guessed it - a cloistered interior garden with central
wellhead. A wealthy young couple came back from their European
honeymoon, built the first part of what is now the road to my house to
gain access to an outcrop with astonishing views, and built their house,
which looks rather like a castle, well above everything else at the
time. Did I mention how amazing the views are? The deck with Koi pond is
newer.
A little further down the same road is The Temple of the Winds. The
front is in the style of a full size Greek Temple. Originally, the
ground floor had no permanent walls. Heavy canvas "walls' could be
raised as needed to separate spaces. For several decades, a friend and
contemporary of Isadora Duncan, but with wiser tastes in clothing and/or
transportation, taught generations of children ballet. It now belongs to
a son of Gordon Getty, who has, I gather, installed regular walls.
Otherwise, just an eclectic mix of everything from cottages to mansions,
built in many styles over about 80 years. Nothing close to rivaling
Gehry, though.
My own humble abode is a 50s tract house layout inexplicably dropped in
the hills, but with a basement, due to the downslope lot, rather than a
slab. Before I bought it, a couple of additions had added space and
created an odd layout. One of these days, it's going to require some
foundation repairs, the cost of building on clay. But it's only falling
down in very slow motion. :-)
> Actually, being stoned is a prerequesite for living there, isn't it, Moose?
>
"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone ..."
Moose
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|