• news roundup, July 2007

    Several bits & pieces of interest to old-house aficionados, rehabbers and others interested in A&C:

  • Frank Lloyd Wright in Buffalo: a podcast conversation with Neil Levine

    Caroly Batt with the Buffalo-Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau writes to tell us about a very interesting podcast:

    Harvard University professor and noted Frank Lloyd Wright
    Scholar and author Neil Levine recently discussed Wright’s important
    architectural contributions to the Buffalo area. Buffalo is the home to many acclaimed Wright
    achievements including the Darwin Martin House Complex and Graycliff
    Estate    . The interview is available
    as an audio podcast on the Wright Now in Buffalo website.

  • Squak Mountain Stone: recycled fibrous-concrete countertops

    Squakcounter

    There are several different commercial formulations of concrete on the market for countertops, flooring and other interior architectural uses. Some are aerated or mixed by varying but mostly-similar techniques, some are molded or installed in different ways, and some are aerated, or treated with dyes or special sealants. But one in particular is as attractive as real stone, is made in a range of mineral shades and has a natural texture from inclusions such as recycled paper, glass and coal fly-ash.

    Squak Mountain Stone’s fibrous-cement material is beautiful and just as visually appealing as real stone – but it’s a truly environmentally-friendly countertop that makes great (re)use of some otherwise-ignored ingredients. It is available both in slabs and as tiles, and the maker is happy to work with clients on custom applications and mixtures. In that respect, it’s even more appealing than real or manufactured stone!

    According to developer and owner Ameé Quiriconi, the ingredients list reads like a how-to book for those interested in establishing a truly green, environmentally-friendly business:

    • Fly-ash is generated at a Washington-state coal-fired electrical generation facility. It’s collected and bagged for sale in Seattle.
    • The mixed waste paper comes from a small home-based document destruction business staffed by four young women with developmental disabilities (with the help of a job coach and the women’s parents.)This business is located in Issaquah, WA.
    • The recycled glass is mainly waste from local window manufacturers that is collected and processed by a local glass recycling company.

    We’ve put together a whole Flickr album of high-res images showing the product in use – if you are planning a kitchen or bath remodel, you really should take a look at this material before you finalize your countertop material plans.

    It is available from retailers up and down the west coast, including Green Sacramento, Ecohome Improvement in Berkeley, Greenspace in Santa Cruz, Eco Design Resources in San Carlos as well as EcoSpaces in Telluride, Colorado.

  • Frank Lloyd Wright & the house beautiful

    From June 28 through October 8, the Portland Museum of Art is presenting a new exhibit showcasing "Frank Lloyd Wright’s passion for creating a new way of life for Americans through architecture."

    In particular, the exhibition focuses on his legendary skill in
    creating harmony between architectural structure and interior design
    while fulfilling the needs of a modern lifestyle. Featuring
    approximately 100 objects, the exhibition includes furniture,
    metalwork, textiles, drawings, and accessories from the collections of
    the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and other public and private
    collections. Curated by Dr. Virginia T. Boyd, professor at the
    University of Wisconsin-Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright and the House
    Beautiful conveys the methods through which Wright implemented the
    philosophy of the “house beautiful.” The exhibition explores how Wright
    sought to develop a modern interior reflective of a uniquely American
    spirit of democracy and individual freedom, illustrates his development
    in integrating the space with furnishings and architectural elements,
    and shows his experiments with bringing these ideas to the homes of
    average Americans.

    Several podcasts and audio programs relating to the exhibit are also available:

  • delicious del.icio.us: Craftsman links from all over

    Delicious is a great way to keep track of your bookmarks between machines – and between people. I’ve been steadily adding to my own bookmarks, and hopefully will soon have several hundred links – furniture makers, blacksmiths, tile dealers, sellers of architecture salvage, antique buyers’ guides, auction notices, do-it-yourself directions and lots more.

    Eventually, I’ll get around to organizing it all, but until then, I’m sure you’ll find plenty to browse.

  • for sale: homes in Phoenix, Arizona

    1912_bungalow_2

    from Nicole Serrin:

    historic 1912 bungalow in the Roosevelt historic district: 3 bed, 1.75 bath, 1702 sq ft; carefully restored. $775,000 [48 W. Willetta St.]

    1930 Tudor Revival home in the Medlock Place historic district: 2 bed, 2 bath, 1795 sq ft, with a separate 532 sq ft studio or guest house. Lot is big – just under half an acre. $747,000

    1935 Tudor Revival with some Mission features in the F.Q. Story historic district: 2 bed, 1 bath, 1152 sq ft; lots of neat detail. $330,000

  • Preservation Brief 33: Historic Stained Glass

    I find that all of the National Park Service’s Preservation Briefs are interesting, and several have been especially useful in my own home repair projects; take, for instance, brief #33, which I had reason to consult this past month. It’s a general primer on historic stained glass, written specifically for those of us with stained glass windows or panels in our old homes and the need to either maintain or repair them. Neal Vogel & Rolf Achilles‘ essay on historic stained glass windows is full of extensive information on history, dating, identifying and documenting, composition (even going a bit into chemistry and other materials sciences issues), ways to halt deterioration, tips on photographing stained glass and various repair techniques. If you have stained glass in your home, you need to read this. And, like all the other briefs, it’s full of useful technical information but not written in an overly-technical style; it’s accessible, readable and (as always) interesting.

  • Minneapolis neighborhoods profiled in new book

    A recent article by Ellen Tomson in Minneapolis’ Pioneer Press describes local historian and author Larry Millett’s research and subsequent book on Minneapolis’ historic neighborhoods. excerpt:

    Larry
    Millett biked the streets of St. Paul and Minneapolis for three summers
    to produce his latest book, (the) AIA Guide to the Twin Cities, the first
    major neighborhood-by-neighborhood handbook of its kind.

    But the foundation of his 665-page book was decades of
    research and writing about the Twin Cities, first as a Pioneer Press
    reporter, columnist and critic, and then as author of Lost Twin Cities, Twin Cities Then and Now, and Strange Days, Dangerous Nights, all which focused on local structures and events.

    "The book is the result of three years of work and, in a sense,
    it’s the work of a lifetime since I’ve worked here all my life," says
    Millett, 59, who grew up in North Minneapolis and has spent much of his
    adult life in St. Paul.

  • Arts & Crafts gems shine in Berkeley’s velvet hills

    I was going through SFGate.com’s home section archive and found this great piece by R.W. Apple, Jr. (the New York Times‘ architecture critic), originally published in that paper in 2003:

    "Westward the course of empire takes its way," wrote the 18th century
    Irish philosopher Bishop George Berkeley, so the 19th century founders of a
    little city directly across the bay from San Francisco, almost at the western
    extremity of the American empire, chose to name it after him.

    Many famous men and women have walked its streets — Ernest O. Lawrence,
    the remarkable physicist who invented the cyclotron; Clark Kerr, who helped
    develop the nation’s best statewide system of higher education; Mario Savio,
    the leader of the radical Free Speech Movement during the turbulent 1960s; and
    in our own day Alice Waters, arguably the nation’s greatest restaurateur.

    Another — too little known, at least beyond Northern California — is the
    architect Bernard Maybeck, a precursor of the modern movement like Otto Wagner
    in Vienna, Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, Victor Horta in Brussels and
    the brothers Charles and Henry Greene in Pasadena.

    Much that he saw and so brilliantly succeeded in grasping still stands
    today in Berkeley, on and near the campus of UC Berkeley and in the hills
    above it, in the north side neighborhood where Maybeck lived for most of his
    life (1862-1957). More than anyone else, he made Berkeley one of the nation’s
    architectural treasure-troves.

    read the whole thing