Owners of Wright-house in Phoenix consider Selling or Razing later

A development team that bought the David-Wright-house in Phoenix designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright will sell the house rather than accept landmark status, reports the NYTimes today.

The house's owners, John Hoffman and Steve Sells, are hoping to sell the house before Nov. 7, when the City Council is scheduled to vote on giving it landmark status, which they oppose.

But in Arizona landmark status shields a property from development or destruction for only three years. So if the Council grants the request, something else might happen, Mr. Sells said. 

“I’ll move in, invite everybody to come in and take their pictures, and I’m going to wait three years,” he said, interlacing his fingers behind his neck as he slouched on the orange cushions of the master bedroom’s seating area. “Then I’m going to knock it down to recoup my losses.” 

Please read the full NYTimes article here, and then voice your opinion on the possible demolition here.

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Photo: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives

The Kronish house by Richard Neutra in Beverly Hills threatened by demolition – for sale at $13.995M

For the first time in 30 years, this Richard Neutra Beverly Hills home has been offered for sale. In essence, it was listed as a tear-down in April for $13.995 million, with no real photos and no mention of the name Neutra. Those details were added a few weeks later.

Named for its original owner, Herbert Kronish, and built in 1954, the one-story house sits at the end of a 250-foot-long driveway on a 2-acre, flag-shaped lot with mature trees and a swimming pool.

With 6,891 square feet of living space, six bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms, the contemporary home is the Modernist architect’s largest in Southern California, according to his son, Dion Neutra. Walls of glass open to a terrace that steps down to the pool.

Dion Neutra, who runs Neutra Architects, says that the owners have refused to let anyone in to photograph the house and that he's hoping any plans for demolition can be stopped. Beverly Hills doesn't have strong preservation laws and has let other mid-century houses by big names bite the dust.

Eyewitness reports from commenters say the house is in bad shape, but it is large (6,891 square feet) and it does have a pool. Either way, a buyer will end up with a two acre flag lot off Sunset and an occasional next door neighbor named Madonna.

Commenting on the fact that a demolition permit has been applied for but not yet granted – or so it seems –  blogger Barbara Lamprecht writes

“The proposed demolition of any work anywhere by a master architect is automatically discretionary. Period.”

Please email me if you are interested in preserving this important property.

Via:
http://neutra.org/kronish.html
http://architectureforsale.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/richard-neutra-kronish-house-in-beverly-hills/
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2011/07/neutradesigned_kronish_house_looks_headed_for_demolition.php
http://barbaralamprecht.com

Three Modern Home Demolition-Alerts in NC

Headed for destruction unless quickly purchased, you can buy one of these three livable works of art and keep them from doom.


ALERT 1: Are you the ultimate tinkerer? Good with tools? Want a house for $14,000? The Collins Street Lustron in Nashville NC, less than an hour from Raleigh, is owned by the church next door which needs a new parking lot. 

This classic 1950’s prefab house will be carted off to the dump within two weeks unless you act now.  The demolition contractor hired recently by the church, Lane Johnson, has become a big Lustron fan and has offered a short “stay of execution.”  Lane will painstakingly disassemble the modular Lustron (like an erector set) and put it on a truck for $14,000. 

That’s an entire house, delivered to you, for the cost of a car. He’ll even get you the assembly manual. Bring this bad boy to your backyard! For more information, contact Tobias please.




ALERT 2: It takes a special kind of person to design and build their own home from scratch, and Raleigh city planner John Voorhees did just that in 1961.  

2727 North Mayview is wildly central inside Raleigh, just off Brooks Avenue. You could not get a better location. 

The owners have put the property on the market as a lot, which means certain death for this unique Modernist home. No doubt about it, the house needs some work, but can be saved by the right person. $269,900. For more information, contact Tobias please. 

ALERT 3: As reported earlier, News 14 Carolina picked up TMH's national preservation alert for A.G. Odell’s Lassiter House in Charlotte, NC. 

Steel beams support the roof and eliminate the need for load-bearing interior walls, thereby enabling large open spaces to predominate throughout the interior. 

A particularly ingenious scheme was an arrangement whereby the dining table could be set in the kitchen, complete with food and adornments, and slid through the wall into the dining room.  Appeared in Better Homes and Gardens September 1956. Charles McMurray did an addition in the 1970's. Included a saltwater pool at one point. In need of major renovations.

Unless sold, this unique modernist house will be demolished in June. 3 BR, 2.5 baths, $785,000. Watch the video, and contact Tobias for more information please.
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Via Triangle Modernist Houses