2009.02.02 14:37
Venturi's Lieb House (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
I'd say that the Lieb House is now a museum peice. That's how the building's context has now changed. Villa Savoye hasn't moved, but its context has changed as well. It hasn't been a residence in many years, and it too is now a museum peice.
It was asked above what's going on at Guild House. According to "on the boards" of the VSBA website, Guild House is undergoing rehabilitaion. Just in passing, the physical context of Guild House changed drastically within the first decade of the building's existence. Spring Garden Street was much different/dense in the 1960s and bad zoning decisions changed the street into low-rise warehouses. It's kind of difficult to appreciate Guild House 'in context' now.
For what it's worth, I'm becoming much more interested in architectures within the context of the space-time continuum.
2009.02.02 13:07
Venturi's Lieb House (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
...and then/now there's museification
dossier in brief:
(at least) a Philadelphia tradition:
Cedar Grove and contents
Letitia Street House
Hatfield House
Briar Hill library and contents
Period Rooms of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Japanese House
Étant donnés
1977.02 antidote:
"If someone in the museum was truly interested in my work they would let me cut open the building. The desire for exhibiting the leftover pieces hopefully will diminish as time goes by. This may be useful for people whose mentality is oriented toward possession. Amazing, the way people steal stones from the Acropolis."
Gordon Matta-Clark
1993:
Robert Venturi, "Some Agonizing Thoughts about Maintainance and Preservation Concerning Humble Buildings of the Recent Past"
1998:
"Do you know the BASCO sign is now gone?"
"No! Do you know where it is now? We'd like to save it."
1999.10.06
A typed letter signed by Robert Venturi, wherein he laments the demolition of his BASCO 'baby', is currently up for auction at eBay
2000:
"What's the address of the Nurses' Office in Ambler?"
"It's better now if you just look at the pictures."
[found the building and took pictures anyway]
2002.11.23
Monument Hystérique
2004.12.17
"Took pictures of soon to be quondam building; visited museum exhibit without the museum building there yet; entered room that moved from inside one Trumbauer building to inside another Trumbauer building. Where do I get my best ideas?"
2005:
Best Building demolished; flower pattern porcelain enamal panels saved, many now in private and museum collections
2009.01.02
Lieb House; another chapter in the architecture of removement.
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2009.02.01 10:37
Venturi's Lieb (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
Gordon loves it even more like that.
As does Aldo.
architectures in the space-time continuum
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2009.02.01 07:54
Venturi's Lieb House (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
2009.01.29
2009.01.30
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2009.01.31 12:49
Venturi's Lieb House (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
from Skyline Online:
For the record, the buyer was hoping to avoid having to tear down this architectural landmark. In fact, relocating the home to a vacant lot on West 27th Street in Barnegat Light was discussed. As the broker involved with the sale, I too looked into relocating the home to one of the properties I own in Barnegat Light. I proposed the idea to my architect and friend Robert Musgnug who was kind enough to do some research and get some numbers together for me. Unfortunatley the time, money, and permitting fiasco typically necessary to accomplish such an objective made it impossible for me at this juncture. Kudos to Jimmy Venturi and the couple from Glen Cove. Kudos to Sheila Ellman for all of her hard work in getting the word out, and helping save this modern architectural landmark! It was truly fascinating watching the workers from the fleets of Atlantic Electric, Verizon, and our local police departments come together with Wolfe Movers to help wheel this boxy structure from 30th street in Barnegat Light, up to the 16th street dock where the home now sits--awaiting the mothership. Amazing.
The most ironic part of the move was watching a man climb down the inside stairwell--as it crossed 20th street and Bayview Avenue in front of my office. Wow. Moving the home itself is a modern marvel!
2009.01.30 17:01
Venturi's Lieb (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
Apparently, Vanna Venturi sitting in front of her house is an updated Annunciation painting, and the "Immaculate Conception" [sic] is happening.
I call Somol's criticism superficial because all he really talks about is pictures and not the architecture itself.
2009.01.30 16:29
Venturi's Lieb House (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
No, it's not a done deal (or at least it wan't on Wednesday), but the article makes it pretty clear that the process is starting, and the house is probably right now moved off the property.
My thoughts on Mrs. Lieb are in response to Somol's conjuring conjecture of the female figure replacing the automobile in the canonical depiction of modern architecture. (See what I mean by funny?) Granted, Mrs. Lieb may not have been bored in Loveladies, but, as Liberty Bell concurs, it's not an unlikely circumstance. And, if the bordom actually was there, the context was more than a bit bleek, and I wonder if the architecture helped or hurt.
If nothing else, the Lieb House has a whole lot of story to tell, and it looks like more story still to come. I think that's pretty neat for a little box house.
2009.01.30 11:05
Venturi's Lieb House (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
Is it true they're making a sequel to Mad Men called Loveladies? I hear it's gonna be like Desperate Housewives meets the Jersey Devil washed in the aura of '68 and '69.
2009.01.30 10:42
Venturi's Lieb House (No. 9) House to be moved (or demolished)
The article linked at the opening of this thread does not say that the Lieb House is in danger of being wrecked if it is not off the property by Monday, rather:
The company will begin today [Wednesday] to jack up the house and slip steel rollers under the foundation, said Kendal Siegrist, a manager. By Friday, it should reach the parking lot in Barnegat's marina.
How long it will sit there is anyone's guess. "Maybe several days," Siegrist suggested.
So, it seems while all of the above was being written, the Lieb House was actually being moved down a Loveladies street and into Barnaget Light.
I'm guessing the paperwork for the receiving end will indeed eventually materialize, and the house will sail on--Teatro del Mondo take 2.
Somol's "My Mother the House" really is a funny piece of architecture criticism. Funny in that it takes itself seriously as criticism while actually being very undercooked satire. Overall, what he accuses Scully's criticism of being, Somol then produces several times over--a magician who's tricks rely mainly on the likes of out-take editing. Very superficial and not surgical at all.
Two errors, one typical and sad, the other just strange. Again the Immaculate Conception was confused for the Incarnation, and Venturi did not "substitute the functionless TV antenna for the Madonna that he originally planned to place atop the Guild House." The Guild House was designed for a Quaker Institution.
What I see in the picture of the young Judy Lieb sitting on the steps with her kids is a bored housewife down the shore for the summer while Mr. Lieb remains at work in the city and only comes down for the weekends.
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