I drop by here every once and a while ever since I read “The Geography of Nowhere” by James Howard Kunstler”. “Eyesore of the Month” is on his main website.
Some months entries are kinda funny and some are kinda sad, like this months entry…..A grand, well proportioned building and entry with a small sign on the door that says “This is not an entrance”.
http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore.html
Runnerguy
Replies
I disagree with that being an eyesore. That entrance was changed because you can't keep it from being slippery in winter without destroying it, and there is no way for wheel chairs to get up there... unless you want to maintain a REAL eyesore there. Having those words plainly visable so you can see them from the foot of the steps is a good thing.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
If your hair looks funny, it's because God likes to scratch his nuts. You nut, you.
The Geography Of Nowhere was a great book as was his follow up Home From Nowhere. Even though they are about 15 years old or so, the info is still fresh and the history very insightful. I corresponded with James Kunstler for a bit after I finished the first book.
I corrosponded with him for a while too after I read "Geography" about 10 years ago.
Being an architect, that book articulated for me the mediocrity (or worse) most people are willing to accept regarding planning and design.
I guess that's one reason why I like pubs like FHB; They're such a breath of fresh air amid an ocean of design disasters.
Runnerguy
I also liked The Geography of Nowhere. It put into words much of what I'd been feeling growing up in the suburban wasteland.
Thanks for the link. I'll have to check in there now and again.
What's sad is that even in Rhode Island they have to cater to the illegal aliens with a sign in Spanish.
That's sad.
Joe H
I think you are a little hasty there- I live near Pawkatuck, & work in the public library of my town, where I get daily requests from legal migrants about English classes, tutoring, courses on tape, etc.
These are good people, by and large, who work incredibly hard, are struggling learn a difficult language, and are welcome to our facilities.
i check that site out occasionally. It's entertaining, more or less. Sometimes his comments border on the bizarre. From last June he remarked about an "utter absence of any human feminine attributes in the elevations -- no ornaments or curves, no openings, no vocabulary. Nothing but an uptight, shut-in, sightless male box." Then he went on about the 'hatred of the feminine' in contemporary architecture, and wondered why feminists weren't in an uproar about it.
perhaps they were too busy shopping for shoes and applying eye liner to notice
someone has way too much time on their hands.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
"Soon, in fact, flying will once again become the preserve of the ultra-wealthy elite. The 'legacy' airlines are within a few years of going out of business. The last thing the world needs now are mega-gigantic airplanes designed for a hyper-mass market."
I think that quote basically sums this whiny character up. He wants to whine that these planes are being built to serve the masses, then whines that without them only the ultra rich can afford to fly.
I found his "nice" houses to be horrible. I'm no fan of retro mod but that shouldn't preclude those who love it to produce it. This guy thinks that if he likes it, everyone should like it. He sounds like a bitter, angry closeted fellow with dysfunction related to his personal life....which can't be discussed in forums like these.
FKA Blue (eyeddevil)
I note that many of the 'eyesores' are ... art museums! Often, some 'futuristic' mess is cobbled on to an older marble building.
In Reno, they also built an 'original' design as the art museum. To date, they continue to be plagued by leaks, etc. Maybe they should leave construction to the 'trade types.'