Glass House Modernism Circa 1883

Phillip Johnson's Glass House (1949)

Having wasted a little too much time yesterday with the Making of America periodical database, I couldn't stop thinking about the article about the future of lumber substitutes from an 1883 issue of The Manufacturer and Builder. Amongst the suggested materials was a reference to glass veneers that would be strong enough to replace wood and have an appearance of real ornamental lumber that would fool the experts.

Glass as Lumber Substitute (1883)

As absurd as glass lumber sounds, consider for a moment petrified wood. When mineral-rich water runs through a piece of wood, the natural cellulose gives way to decomposition as the material is replaced by mineral deposits. Instead of a chunk of wood, you are left with a fossil of stone. Perhaps the silica of glass could be constructed in a petrified wood-like order and fired to create glass lumber.

Clearly, I am out of my depth. If anybody knows about these 19th century glass veneers for construction, please let us know.

Phillip Johnson Glass House
Petrified Wood
Previously, Making of America archive

Perforated Building Threatened

Photo from Docomomo

I have always thought the Curran O'Toole building looked like recently separated paper perforations. The cantilevered segments make the hulking structure look like the paper was just ripped as the floors moved forward. Preservation Magazine reports that the former National Maritime Union building may be torn down to make way for a new hospital.

Designed as the headquarters for the National Maritime Union and now a part of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, this midcentury classic, set in historic Greenwich Village, is one of the most flamboyant in New York. With cantilevered levels and a facade covered in tiny white tiles, the structure is a playful anomaly among more sober neighbors, its highly expressive style reminiscent of buildings by Edward Durell Stone. It is also massive, spanning an entire city block. In 1964, architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable wrote, "There is no reason why the [National Maritime Union] could not have … added another cheap, dull, routine box with a shiny facade and a big sign to the New York scene...It decided, instead, to go for architecture. Whatever reservations may be held, New York needs more of those decisions." Today, the financially beleaguered Saint Vincent's wants to construct a new, more manageable hospital on the site, leaving the fate of Albert Ledner's building in doubt.

Link

Is the Westinghouse Atom Smasher for sale?

From waymarking.com

Three years before nuclear fisson was thought to be a possible power source, Westinghouse decided to build the first commercial atom smasher. Based on the faith there would be a marketable discovery, this magnificent 5 million volt Van de Graff generator was built in Pittsburgh in 1936. The bulb, proudly emblazoned with the Westinghouse logo, is a 5 million volt generator which shot high energy particles 47 feet down the vacuum tube to bombard a target.

N 40° 24.628 W 079° 50.544

If you look up the location of the Westinghouse atom smasher, there appears to be a for sale sign out front. NAI commercial real estate site states that McBubbles Car Wash is available for purchase, but there is no mention of the atom smasher.

Link to waymarking.com
Link to NAI Real Estate, Pittsburgh
Link to IEEE History Center

Side note, as everything is so goddamn fascinating in this crazy bingbong world, the Westinghouse logo is the work of design god Paul Rand. Not familiar with his work? Oh, yes you are. Link

Casino Carpet Gallery

Link (via Funny Garbage Flog)

Rent a Frank Lloyd Wright House

For under $300 a night, you can live in a Frank Lloyd Wright house. I can't think of a better two week vacation than being ensconced in one, hunkered down with stack of books as tall as I am.


Link

Historic Pabst Brewery For Sale - Cheap!

Pabst Brewery, Building 20, $2.1m

The historic Pabst brewery stretches over 20 acres of downtown Milwaukee and is being redeveloped into chunks of new urbanism. Though the brewery will undoubtedly become a cluster of uninspiring retail stores, hotels and chain restaurants, this tacky fate is far superior to the brewery being torn down. But, do not despair, now is your chance to buy a spectacularly collapsing old brick building to recast as your secret headquarters.

For $28 a square foot, you can buy building 20:

Historic Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee offers a hotel conversion in 74,000 sq. ft. of space. Hotel rooms, restaurant, and banquet space. The space features 40 ft. ceilings, copper brew kettles, cream city brick, and a 12-x-40-ft. stained glass window. Also available: 28,000 sq. ft. of land adjacent to site.

Of course, the purchase price is but a mere rounding error in the total cost of rehabilitation, but the tantalizingly low asking price is adequate justification to start picturing your office in an old copper kettle! Government mind control brain waves be damned!

Link
Link to Building 20

Uncommonly Beautiful Tiles from American Rag

Let's face facts - I am screwy for handmade, matte-glazed, French tiles of red sea turtles.

Link

Flying Saucer House For Sale on Ebay

Link to Ebay auction Via.

Laurie Crogan's Absolute Knock-Out Inlaid Linoleum Floors

Laurie Crogan doesn't know it, but I have been a big fan of her work for years. What look like painted floor designs are actually hand-cut linoleum or cork inlays. If you have ever wrestled with a linoleum knife, you'll appreciate just how astonishing the fine line work is.

Link

Covert Architecture Offices Hidden in Abandoned Auto Shop

Out near East 90th and G in Lancaster, California, there is a gutted concrete block homesteader cabin that has lost its roof, doors and windows to the tyranny of time with the fireplace being the sole interior feature. With the roof gone, sitting in the interior of the one time house feels like you are relaxing in courtyard garden surrounded by a hacienda. One day, I will buy the most outrageous 1960's Baroque-inspired, Sears-purchased, gold velvet and carved wood furniture that a $300 budget will allow and move into that concrete fort for a weekend.

David Yocum and Brian Bell had the same idea when they built a sleek architecture office inside a rusting hulk of an auto repair shop. Rather than tear down the collapsing building, they converted it into an atrium that separates their offices from the nutty-nut-town world outside the walls. Brilliant reuse. Very smart.

Via New York Times, Link to full slide show